Not a Butterfly Alphabet Book: It's About Time Moths Had Their Own Book!

by Jerry Pallotta, Shennen Bersani (Illustrator)

Overview

This nature alphabet book from best-selling author Jerry Pallotta features moths (not butterflies!) of all shapes and sizes.

Meet dozens of moths—and a few bonus creatures—with engaging text and a laugh-out-loud narrative, from A (Atlas Moth) to G (Green Lips Moth—no kissing allowed!) to J (Jersey Tiger Moth, whose underwings are a completely different color than their upper wings, not to be confused with their underwear) to Z (Zigzag Moth). Readers of all ages will be entertained (and learning!) with every page turn.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781580896900
Publisher:	Charlesbridge
Publication date:	11/05/2019
Series:	Jerry Pallotta's Alphabet Books Series
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	634,788
Product dimensions:	11.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.12(d)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Jerry Pallotta is the author of more than twenty alphabet books, including The Crab Alphabet Book, The Sea Mammal Alphabet Book, The Icky Bug Alphabet Book, The Butterfly Alphabet Book, and The Beetle Alphabet Book, as well as more than twenty math books, a holiday series, an early-reader series, and a US military series.

Shennen Bersani is the author and illustrator of Achoo! Why Pollen Counts. She has also illustrated many books for children, including Butterfly Colors and Counting and Ocean Counting: Odd Numbers; Astro: The Steller Sea Lion; Sea Slime and It's Eeuwy, Gooey and Under The Sea (Sylvan Dell); and Icky Bug Shapes (Scholastic). www.shennenbersani.com

Read an Excerpt

A is for Atlas Moth

Don’t even think about calling this creature a butterfly! This is a moth. The Atlas Moth is the largest moth in the world. Wingtip to wingtip, this moth can be as wide as this page.

B is for Bella Moth

The word bella means “beautiful.” Most people think butterflies are more colorful than moths and have more intricate and interesting wings. It’s not true! Moths are spectacular, too. 

C is for Cow Moth. 

Butterflies and moths land differently. Most butterflies land with their wings folded up. Moths land with their wings spread out. Cow Moth, we want to say one thing. Moo!

Editorial Reviews

2019-09-29
"It's about time moths had their own book!"

Pallotta extends his many topical alphabet books (most recently The Crab Alphabet Book, illustrated by Tom Leonard, 2019) with this seeming rebuttal to the glut of butterfly books. Collaborator Bersani's Prismacolor pencil and Photoshop illustrations are hands-down the stars here. Up-close pictures in brilliant, naturalistic colors and patterns dazzle the eye and will surely send readers out the door to hunt for some moth species. (The absence of a map and info about individual species' ranges may hamper them, though.) Pallotta rounds out the single large-font sentence identifying the letter of the alphabet and the species ("G is for Green Lips Moth") with a paragraph of information. These vary widely in both amount of information and relevance, many of them addressing moths in general rather than a specific moth. C (cow moth), for instance, talks about how most moths land (wings spread, as opposed to butterflies, which usually land with their wings folded), and D (diamond moth) makes a snarky comparison to a Delta Dart fighter jet. Though several pages talk about ways moths camouflage themselves, it's not until the letter I that the term is used: "This yellow moth is camouflaged when sitting on a yellow flower." Other entries teach readers about wing scales, anatomy, moths' attraction to light, their life cycle, a bit about what they eat and what eats them, and a few other differences between moths and butterflies.

Indeed, moths do deserve to be recognized, and this a good springboard. (Informational picture book. 4-9)

Kirkus Reviews