• Age: 3 to 6
• Grade: p to 1

A boy loves his garden, and everything in it, especially all the tiny insects. But … his pet chicken Coco loves them too!

When a boy finds a clutch of butterfly eggs in his garden, he can’t stop thinking about the beautiful butterflies they will become. He keeps the eggs a secret from Coco, who finds all the insects in the garden yummy! The boy watches as the eggs hatch, and brightly striped caterpillars appear, growing bigger and juicier every day. But one day, when his back is turned, Coco gobbles up the caterpillars and falls ill. The boy is torn between worry for Coco and sorrow that the caterpillars have been eaten. But then he makes a wonderful discovery — his dream of butterflies in the garden just might come true after all.

Artist Geraldo Valério brings us a charming story inspired by his childhood passion for the butterflies in his family’s garden.

Key Text Features

dialogue

illustrations

speech bubbles

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.7

With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g., what moment in a story an illustration depicts).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.3

Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.9

Compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in stories.

Geraldo Valério was born in Brazil, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Drawing, followed by a Master of Arts at New York University. His many highly acclaimed books include My Book of Birds (described in Booklist as “striking and beautiful”); At the Pond (two starred reviews); Friends (one starred review); Blue Rider (two starred reviews); Turn On the Night (three starred reviews) and The Egg (two starred reviews). His work has been published in many countries, including Canada, the US, Brazil, Portugal, France, the UK and China. Geraldo lives in Toronto.

Geraldo Valério's profile page

Valério's collage illustrations are simply outstanding.

CM: Canadian Review of Materials

An age-appropriate introduction to the beautiful, vulnerable monarch butterfly.

Kirkus Reviews

A charming picture book ... An attractive choice for earliest readers.

Winnipeg Free Press