By Seymour Simon
Collins, $17.99, 32  pages

Author, Seymour Simon, called by the “New Yorker,” “the dean of children’s science writers,” has lived up to this description through his book, Butterflies.

The brilliantly colored detailed photographs pull children, and this reviewer, into this book.  The photographs were so magnificent that my five-year old grandson, although definitely too young to understand all the science shared, asked me to read this book to him. He gazed, full of wonder, at the photographs. While I am sure much went over his head, when his parents came to pick him up, the first thing he asked them was, “Did you know that butterflies taste with their feet?”

It is specific interesting scientific details like that which makes this book not only a compelling learning tool for children aged five through nine, but a fun book, too, which will delight them as they discover the world of butterflies.  Instructions for making a butterfly garden give children an additional opportunity for hands-on experience to personalize their knowledge and enjoyment of butterflies.

“For many of us, butterflies are symbols of the wild loveliness and wonder of nature.”

Whether adults read this book to a young child, or older children devour it, reading on their own, it is definitely a book for every child’s library.

Reviewed by Angie Mangino