Butterfly on the Wind

Two Deaf creators celebrate sign language in a buoyant story starring butterflies—further described in an author’s note as a “central symbol of Deaf culture.” Anxious in advance of performing a fairy tale at a talent show, “saying the words with her hands,” Aurora finds that her fingers “stumble over one another.” She wishes she could fly away, and remembers her father telling her that “some people say a butterfly’s wings create a wind that carries across the world.” When Aurora signs butterfly, the motion creates a breeze, shaped like the insect, that travels globally, joined by those of other signing children, until the many butterflies return to Aurora’s talent show as a “magnificent” surprise. Using a folkloric narrative pattern, Pottle unifies those using sign language by way of supplying a global, community-based balm for Aurora’s jitters. Chen’s cheery digitally rendered illustrations emphasize movement in flowing hair and water, signing hands of various skin tones, and swirls that symbolize the sparkling butterfly wind. An author’s note concludes. Ages 3–6. (Mar.)