The Beautiful Butterfly

Starred review from February 28, 2000
The team behind Good Night, Dinosaurs here grants a happy ending to the tale of a heroine whose search for a mate traditionally ends with his death. In Sierra's comical version, a beguiling butterfly tests her suitors by asking them to sing. She listens patiently as the cricket "clicks," the frog "croo-ahs," and with a determined flick of her Spanish fan, she chooses the song of a gray mouse. But while the newlywed fellow fetches some pond water, a fish leaps up and swallows him. Sierra uses a repeated "The House That Jack Built" refrain to convey the ripple effect of the butterfly's sorrow ("The dove calls coo coo, and the tree drops its leaves," etc.) until the king enters and announces, "To show how sad I am, I will take off my robe and run around in my royal underwear." The fish laughs so hard at the king in his skivvies that he spits up the whiskered groom. Chess demonstrates the happily-ever-after conclusion with a family portrait of three "buttermice" (with mouse bodies, antennae and wings to match their mom's) playing jump rope and swinging from the branches of their hollow tree home. Sierra fills her cleverly and economically told tale with repeated phrases and sounds that trip off the tongue, while Chess's droll watercolors provide just the right amount of tartness for the sweet text. Ages 4-8.

August 4, 2000
K-Gr 2-In this melding of two classic Spanish folktales, an alluring butterfly turns down a number of suitors before choosing a gentle mouse because his soft, sweet song is absolutely perfect for singing babies to sleep. Just when it looks as though they will live happily ever after, Mouse falls in a pond and is swallowed by a fish. The grief-stricken butterfly cries up a storm, which sets in motion a chain of events resulting in her beloved's regurgitation and a happy ending. The story makes good use of repetition to build to the climax, and the plot is intriguing. Chess's signature illustrations are full of bright color, pizzazz, and humor. Her insects' and animals' faces run through a gamut of expressions, from pleased to appalled, and there are many details to look at and enjoy. This is a good addition to the canon of such animal-wooing stories as John Langstaff's retelling of Frog Went A'-Courtin' (Harcourt, 1955) and classic animal death tales like William Stobbs's Who Killed Cock Robin? (Oxford, 1990).-Ann Welton, Terminal Park Elementary School, Auburn, WA

Copyright 2000 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2000
Ages 5^-8. The subtitle, "A Folktale from Spain," might as well read "THE folktale from Spain" for the story's plethora of published versions and its close association with so many of the Hispanic tradition's far flung permutations. In this version, Sierra exercises the storyteller's prerogative by changing the usual tragic ending to one that will evoke smiles. After rejecting a succession of harsh-voiced suitors, Butterfly chooses Mouse for his sweet tones. The nuptials are cut short, however, when Mouse falls into a pond and is snapped up by a fish. Echoing Butterfly's grief, the tree drops its leaves, the dove weeps, and the king sheds his cloak to go about in his royal undergarments. That sight makes the fish laugh, out pops Mouse, and the reunited couple retire to their bower to raise a generation of "buttermice." Chess adds a madcap atmosphere with gouache scenes of staring, sunken-eyed, richly dressed figures posing in a grassy, sunlit glade. Sierra cites no specific sources but appends a background note and tells the tale in a simple, straightforward way that will make it equally easy to read or learn. ((Reviewed March 15, 2000))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2000, American Library Association.)