Butterfly Butterfly: A Book of Colors

by Petr Horáček

Little ones will hover over this colorful look at insect critters as they peek through die-cuts and enjoy a final pop-up surprise.

Lucy sees a beautiful butterfly in the garden, along with a bright green beetle, a brilliant blue dragonfly, some red ladybugs, and many more flying and crawling things. But when will the radiant butterfly appear again? Petr Horácek uses his trademark saturated hues and simple shapes to create an enticing view of the world of colors —and a peekaboo look at the slow-paced life abuzz in the backyard garden.

Genres: Picture Books, Storytime, Childrens, Animals, Nature, Fiction, Summer

16 pages, Hardcover

First published March 13, 2007

About the author

Petr Horáček is the author-illustrator of Look Out, Suzy Goose and Silly Suzy Goose, as well as Run, Mouse, Run!; Bird, Fly High; A New House for Mouse; and Strawberries Are Red. He lives in England.

Reviews

[midnightfaerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a big favorite of my 3 yr old twins. Holes in the page to give you a sneak peak into the next pages, it keeps all my kids entertained every time we read it. Besides that, the front cover has a wonderful shiny rainbow type cover, that catches the light and makes rainbows whenever you move it. I often find my twins reading this one to themselves, almost word for work, remembering what I've read to them previously. A great addition to our collection of bug books.

[Meags · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars

A visually stunning picture book about a young girl who encounters all sorts of fascinating insects while searching for her butterfly friend in her garden.

This story also served as a perfect visual aide when teaching young children an explicit lesson about the letter B (butterfly, beautiful, beetle etc). (The images within also prompted a great array of creative ideas so the children could design their own beautiful butterfly gardens).

[Rossy]

I hate bugs but I loved the amazing pop up at the end! Spectacular!
Great for learning bug names and colors.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

We all enjoyed the clever cutouts, though the story was decent, the cutouts stole the show. All three kids flipped back and forth between them to check them out a couple times. The four year old (the more targeted child for this book) was more engaged with the book than usual for both story, illustrations, and the cutouts/surprise pop up.

[Cosette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful picture book.

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Big, bright illustrations.

Used in "caterpillars and butterflies" family storytime on 6/11/19.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alena and I love the surprise ending.

[Claudia G-D]

Symmetry

[Tegan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was fun. I liked how the author tied all the illustrations together. Pretty pop-up at the end. Using for my first storytime on Saturday.

[Cathie (ClassyLibrarian) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this one every year!!

[Sonja · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun book! With a bit of surprise!

[Belinda Vlasbaard · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5 stars - Dutch hardcover

Lovely picture book. The grandkids love it. All those colours.

[Luisa Knight · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

A little girl looks for a butterfly that she’d seen the day before but finds many other colorful bugs instead. But then…

A nice little surprise stands out at the end.

Ages: 2 - 3

Here’s some fun ideas and our book favs: watch my reel!

Content Considerations: nothing to note.

**Like my reviews? Then you should follow me! Because I have hundreds more just like this one. With each review, I provide Content Considerations, mentioning any objectionable content I come across so that parents and/or conscientious readers (like me) can determine beforehand whether they want to read a book or not. Content surprises are super annoying, especially when you’re 100+ pages in, so here’s my attempt to help you avoid that!

If you’re considering a book or looking for a new title to read, check out my highly categorized shelves, read my reviews and Friend or Follow me to spiff up your feed with clean, wholesome, living books.

I have an Instagram account that’s pretty bookishly unique too!

[Alice Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gorgeous book with colourful illustrations that will engage and excite young children (Reception-age). It could be used for teaching about insects and other animals that might be found in a garden. the children could create their own butterflies and hide them in the school garden. If resources allow, the children might be able to have classroom caterpillars and watch and document how they grow into something beautiful. This would be a wonderful opportunity for some fantastic literacy work. They could create insect dens, bug hotels etc. in the garden and explore outside to see what else they can discover. These could be documented in small fact files written by the class and made into an exciting display for the classroom. We could do some butterfly role play in PE to think about how they, and other insects might move and of course the children would create their own beautiful butterfly pictures.

[Laurie B · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like this book and would love to use it in a spring storytime. I know it would work well with preschoolers, but I wonder if babies and toddlers would stay interested in it as well. It might be a bit long for that age group, but I can envision waving different color scarves for each colorful bug, which would add interest. It's a great way to learn about colors, as well as many bugs you can find in your own backyard. The best part is the "wow" factor of the last spread, where the colorful butterfly returns as a big pop-up! I know the kids would love that!

[Katie Bruff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lucy saw a beautiful butterfly. The next day she lost it but found a pink earthworm, a brown spider, a green beetle, and red ladybugs surrounding her. All these bright colors help children match the colors with the insects. Then after looking at all these insects, she looked up in the sky and found the beautiful butterfly.

[Olivia S · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not much of a story in this one; it's all about the illustrations. The peek-through pictures are pretty cool, but I'm not sure if they'd be visible enough for a storytime. The last page is great, but I feel like it might get damaged quickly. Simple book with colourful bug illustrations, reminiscent of an Eric Carle book. Would work well with young kids, I think.

[Ali Book&Seaglasshunter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interactive book perfect for toddlers and preschoolers. Very simple but cute story about a little girl searching for a butterfly in her yard and finding many other types of bugs. It’s nice to see books where kids/girls have a positive interaction with bugs, especially since my daughter is a loves hunting for bugs.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

This isn't really a book about learning colors, but enjoying colors in Horacek's brilliant illustrations of the garden creatures that the young girl discovers. Horacek definitely has a unique way of expressing his ideas and I always enjoy his work.

[Roben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lucy sees a beautiful butterfly in the garden but when she tries to find it again, it's gone. Instead she finds lots of other colors in nature - pink earthworms, red ladybugs... and finally, her butterfly friend appears again. A lovely book to reinforce finding color in nature.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am living for the color peekaboo bugs and excellent pop up (not sure how that’s survived at my library). Sneaks in a review of colors and teaches about insects. Easy to get kids involved in this, and great for celebrating the letter B. Ages 1-4.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun color book with bugs and a spider, peek-a-boo holes in the pages, and a pop-up at the end. My friend recommends opening to the inside cover and naming the different bugs pictured there and asking if you think they will show up in this story.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very cute for story time, especially because the Butterfly pops out on the last page!

[Mary Luzader · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is beautiful. I love the art and the way Horáček uses cutouts tying together pages in ways I couldn't have thought of myself. Beautiful illustrations and a beautiful, sweet, simple story.

[Lexie · Rating 5 out of 5]

perfect for storytime

[Milton Louie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice surprise at the end of the book. B

[Peacegal · Rating 3 out of 5]

With the surprise pop-up at the end, this one will be a hit with the tiny tots. Themes include insects and colors.

[Dana · Rating 5 out of 5]

My wee one just loves this book with its super surprise ending!

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

beautiful, clever, fun!

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great with toddler and PS. Lots of bugs and colors to find and the big finish is always a hit.