Glasswings: A Butterfly's Story

by Elisa Kleven

Overview

Claire, a glasswing butterfly whose transparent wings reflect her lush home, finds herself lost in the city after being separated from her family. She doesn’t know how they will ever see her, but she finds new city friends, a pigeon, an ant, and a ladybug, who search for the flowers Claire needs to live. They come upon a tiny urban garden, and as Claire drinks from the flowers’ nectar, she pollinates more flowers. Soon the garden—and Claire's clear wings—fill with color, allowing her family to recognize her at last. Together they create an oasis for all to enjoy.  Facts about glasswing butterflies and pollination complete this beautiful and educational picture book. Kleven’s latest offering is as colorful and delicate as a butterfly’s wings—a treasure that can be cherished for years.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780803737426
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	04/18/2013
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	1,043,467
Product dimensions:	10.10(w) x 10.20(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	3 - 5 Years

About the Author

Elisa Kleven grew up making dollhouses and collages out of doilies and postage stamps. Today, she is thrilled to carry on building her artistic dream worlds in the form of beautiful picture books. Elisa lives in Berkeley, California.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Seasoned illustrator Kleven presents a rich, colorful picture book with a strong ecological message...a joyously optimistic book." - Kirkus Reviews

"This emotionally satisfying story will be equally at home in storytime or science class." - School Library Journal
 

Editorial Reviews

As a “glasswing” butterfly with transparent wings, Claire blends in with her surroundings. In a rural area, that means flowers or ferns, but when the wind sweeps her into “a city of concrete and corners,” her wings take on the colors of traffic lights, sidewalks, and buildings. Kleven (The Friendship Wish) blends kaleidoscopic patterns with naïf forms (Claire herself resembles a child’s drawing), creating a vivid patchwork effect. The skyline resembles a quilt with clouds of boiled wool; apartment windows become tapestries of faces and collage prints, while newsprint gives gritty texture to a fledgling community garden. As a girl waters the flowers, Claire and the birds and bugs she has met help cultivate the urban ecosystem: “Claire fluttered among the flowers, sipping their nectar, carrying their sticky yellow pollen from plant to plant.... The ant stirred up the soil they grew in. The pigeon scattered their seeds this way and that.” Readers won’t mind the airy storyline or sentimentality; the radiance of each spread seems purely intended to provoke joy, kindheartedness, and optimism. Ages 3–5. (May.)

Publishers Weekly

"Seasoned illustrator Kleven presents a rich, colorful picture book with a strong ecological message...a joyously optimistic book." - Kirkus Reviews

"This emotionally satisfying story will be equally at home in storytime or science class." - School Library Journal
 

From the Publisher

PreS-Gr 3—In a lovely meshing of science and story, Kleven highlights a lesser-known species of butterfly and introduces concepts about insects and habitats. Claire is a Glasswing butterfly, a species with transparent wings found in Central and South America. One day the wind sweeps her away from the rain forest where she lives with her family, and she ends up in "a city of concrete and corners." She befriends a pigeon, a ladybug, and an ant, and together they turn a few scraggly flowers growing in a vacant lot into a beautiful garden, all by doing what each one does best: carrying pollen from plant to plant, scattering seeds, keeping flowers free from pests, and stirring up the soil. The garden becomes such a riot of color that Claire's butterfly family finds her easily when they come to the city in search of her. Kleven's trademark collages burst with color and are brimming with details that make readers want to walk right into the pictures. This emotionally satisfying story will be equally at home in storytime or science class.—Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, Carroll County Public Library, MD

School Library Journal

Seasoned illustrator Kleven presents a rich, colorful picture book with a strong ecological message. Readers follow Claire, a transparent glasswing butterfly, as she soars and swoops and sips nectar, always taking on the hue of her surroundings. Disaster strikes, however, when a gust sweeps her away from her family and her "bright, blooming home" and whisks her off to the city, with its forbidding concrete walls and dearth of life-sustaining flowers. The denizens of this Central American city, a pigeon and a ladybug, are friendly, and they lead the hapless butterfly to an empty lot, where she is able to revive her spirits with nectar from a few scraggly urban flowers. The butterfly's presence works its magic on the desolate urban setting, and before long, her activities help to pollinate the flowers. The pigeon and the ladybug also help with the gardening, and soon, the garden is a riot of color. And so is Claire! Miraculously, her transparent wings have taken on the flowers' colors, and they attract a family of glasswings from the country, who turn out to be none other than her beloved relatives. Young children will enjoy spotting the myriad details in the sumptuous collages that fill the pages, modulating the palette expertly as Claire transforms the gray city into a garden. A joyously optimistic book. (author's note) (Picture book. 2-5)

Kirkus Reviews