Joan Ellet Hogge

The Butterfly's Gift Joan Ellet Hogge

Creativity! That is what The Butterfly?s Gift celebrates and encourages in its readers. A beautiful story of the stages in a monarch?s development, it is certain to appeal to the curiosity and creativity of eight-to-twelve year olds. This book also includes a sketchbook with steps for drawing and painting a butterfly. Included, are drawing pages, which encourage a child to look closely and learn about other creatures in the world. This book uses colorful watercolor illustrations, combined with poetic rhythm, to weave a tale of the transformation of a chubby worm to a beautiful butterfly. The worm spends its formative first days eating constantly and growing rapidly. Then it hibernates alone in its chrysalis. During this time, it changes and grows and discovers its true self. When a butterfly emerges from its crystalline egg, it shares its secret that life is about touching others in your own creative, colorful way. An English teacher and Academic Language Therapist, as well as an artist, Joan Hogge understands the importance of art in helping children develop and appreciate their own unique gifts. Not only does this book beautifully describe the stages of the butterfly?s development, but it provides the sketch book as a ?safe, contemplative, chrysalis? for children to begin to explore and connect with their own imagination and creativity. Thus, the chubby worm?s transformation can be an inspiration for children to develop their creative wings and touch the world in their own beautiful way.