cover image On the Wings of a Butterfly: A Story about Life and Death

On the Wings of a Butterfly: A Story about Life and Death

Marilyn Maple. Parenting Press, $14.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-943990-68-2

Lisa, who is dying of cancer, meets a talking caterpillar, which she names Sonya. The two confide in each other: the girl has had a friend die of cancer, and she is afraid; and Sonya is apprehensive about the changes she will soon undergo. When Lisa enters the hospital, her father brings her a milkweed plant--with Sonya on a leaf. As Lisa watches, Sonya becomes a chrysalis and is ``all wrapped up in her turquoise and silver world of would-be dreams.'' Such flowery language aside, this affecting story will comfort youngsters who are terminally ill or who know someone who is. Some children will be perplexed by the ending: when Lisa dies, she rises above her bed and flies away on the wings of Sonya, now a butterfly. The questions this may bring on, as well as the book's unusually small print, make this a better choice for a read-aloud than a read-alone. Haight's naturalistic pictures, though not particularly memorable, add color--and emotion--to this sad but ultimately uplifting tale. Ages 6-11. ( May )