The Butterfly
Author/Illustrator: Patricia Polacco
Genre: Historical Fiction
Awards: N/A
Grade Level: 3-5
Monique, wakes up and notices a young ghost-like girl sitting in her window. This girl is holding her cat and Monique realizes that it isn't a dream, but the girl is truly in her room. Monique gets out of bed and begins talking to the young girl who claims she lives inside Monique's house. Monique is appalled and says, "But I live here!" The young girl, Sevrine, goes on to invite Monique down to her own cellar and explains that she and her family are Jewish and I are hiding from the Nazis. Monique's mother had been hiding them and other families down there during the war. In the weeks to follow, Sevrine and Monique meet up at night to play together. One night, though, they look out the window and see a neighbor staring back at them. Now that Sevrine was seen, her family is not safe. Monique and her mom have to take Sevrine to a new home and Sevrine's parents need to escape as well and meet up with Sevrine in safety. After passing Sevrine off, Monique somehow gets separated from her mother. Luckily they both end up home safely. The next summer, Monique still thinks of Sevrine often and wonders how she is doing. When spring comes and butterflies fill her yard, she gets a sense that Sevrine is alive and okay, as if the butterflies were a sign sent from Sevrine.
The illustrations are done with ink and watercolor and beautifully capture the character's emotions and the color draws your eye towards the harsh colors of the Nazi flags and symbols
This story would compliment a unit about the Nazi's as well as any other unit taking place during the same time.
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