REVIEW of CLAUDIA & MOTH

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL

PreS-Gr 2—Claudia loves butterflies and spends her spring and summer days chasing and observing them. Her wise mother doesn't allow her to take them home: "No, it wouldn't be right" she says, more than once. Her wise father buys her a paint box and encourages her to paint them, and that works for a while—she is good at it and papers her walls with pictures she has made. But when winter comes, with all its white, Claudia despairs—"there is truly nothing left to paint." A surprise comes in the form of a sweater-eating moth. Knowing it's "not right," Claudia paints the wings of the moth to resemble a butterfly. Drama ensues when the moth escapes, but all is well when he returns and she paints a picture of him to add to her collection. Rolli's illustrations are painted in oil on brown paper and the bright, texture-rich, full-page spreads are a delight. Life is full of little frustrations, and finding ways to mitigate them is part of building resilience and creativity. VERDICT Recommended. Pair this read-aloud or read-alone title with Alan Madison's Velma Gratch & the Way Cool Butterfly for a discussion of our relationships and responsibilities to wild things.—Lisa Lehmuller, Paul Cuffee Maritime Charter School, Providence

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