Reviews

K-Gr 2‘Two colorful picture books that introduce the life cycles of butterflies and sunflowers. Each volume is broken down into two parts: a narrative comprised of somewhat dry sentences in large type and a double-page fact sheet. Growth outlines are included in each book: from egg through caterpillar to adult butterfly in the first and from seed to full-grown and finally withering sunflower in the second. Illustrations are bright, labeled, and, for the most part, accurate. Scale is occasionally a problem, as in Butterfly where an unrealistically huge spider is shown on the same page as the tiniest of birds. There are no pronunciation guides to help with such words as "germination" and "pupa." These "life stories" will be most appreciated by children who enjoyed Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Putnam, 1981) or Eve Bunting's Sunflower House (Harcourt, 1996) and who want to know more.‘Anne Chapman Callaghan, Racine Public Library, WI