Open House for Butterflies

by Ruth Krauss, Maurice Sendak (Illustrator)

Continuing a two-year program to bring back twenty-two Maurice Sendak treasures long out of print, our second season of publication highlights one of the most successful author-illustrator pairings of all time. A pioneer of great children's literature, Ruth Krausspublished more than thirty books for children during a career that spanned forty years. Krauss and Sendak collaborated on eight books, and we are delighted to reintroduce four of these gems in brand-new editions, together with a favorite Maurice Sendak picture book.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction, Humor, Poetry, Gemstones, 2nd Grade

48 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1960

About the author

Ruth Ida Krauss was an American writer of children's books, including The Carrot Seed, and of theatrical poems for adult readers.

Reviews

[Hilary · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful collection of beautifully drawn scenes from childhood accompanied by amusing and philosophical statements.

Yesterday shows another day is here

A baby makes the mother and father otherwise they're just plain people

Everybody should be quiet near a little steam and listen

Wonderful reading!

Read on openlibrary.

[Antoine · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The minute you meet some people, you know that you will dislike their mothers." Surely this is one of the greatest truths ever revealed in literature.

[Brigid ✩ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Apparently I've never added/reviewed this book until now ... How'd that happen? This is one of my favorite children's books in the world. Maurice Sendak's illustrations are super adorable and Ruth Krauss's text is very charming and laugh-out-loud funny. Just a few highlights:









I'm pretty shocked to see this has so few ratings because I think it deserves way more recognition than that. Go buy this for all the kids you know. Buy it for yourself. It's fantastic. Really.

[Manybooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yes, I do realise that Open House for Butterflies obviously appears to be both very much loved and appreciated by many (as the majority of the Goodreads reviews I have read are in fact unfailingly positive is nature). And indeed, a goodly number of author Ruth Krauss’ short and pithy nuggets of childhood inspired musings have definitely produced a certain amount of smiles, understanding and nostalgia in me (such as for example when Krauss points out that for many children, a new baby in the house would also probably mean that older siblings might now have someone younger than them over whom they can have influence, whom they can boss around a bit). However and personally, I would definitely much prefer it if Open House for Butterflies were a bit less random and more focused on a structured narrative (and not basically Ruth Krauss just presenting a list of short little sayings and ideas), if there were an actual story featured (or at the very least, even a few longer explanations regarding the featured words). Because I for one do kind of feel as though far too many of the sayings and musings are just kind of hovering around in space so to speak with no real reasons as to why the presented children would think and talk in the way they are.

And combined with the fact that while Maurice Sendak’s accompanying artwork is expressive and often imbued with quite a bit of subtle humour, I still do find the lack of colour a bit aesthetically frustrating, I can personally not really consider the combination of Ruth Krauss’ text and Maurice Sendak’s images as all that much to my tastes. And indeed, since I most probably would have had the same rather no-hum at best reaction to Open House for Butterflies as a child, for me, Open House for Butterflies is most definitely only a two star book, although I do of course realise that I seem to be the minority here.

[Satyajeet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations!

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could, and should, base my entire life on the wisdom found in this book. If you ever buy a childrens book... make it this one.

"The minute you meet some people, you know that you will dislike their mothers."

"If I had a tail, I wouldn't be a lion. I might eat too many people and then I'd get sick. If I had a tail I'd pull my wagon with it while I was picking flowers."

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

An odd little book, full of random thoughts such as "It is good to carry some milk with you in case you decide to pretend to be a kitten." I found it unusual, amusing, and strangely absorbing even though there really was no story here.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book--"A screaming song is good to know in case you need to scream." and "A baby makes the parents, before that they're just people" Pick it up for 30 seconds for a short hit of delight.

[Luisa Knight · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's supposedly a book for children. I mean, there are pictures and it's a tiny little book. But I feel that it's more for adults with it's funny little antidotes sprinkled here and there amidst queer questions and statements.

One I like has a picture of a little boy running with cereal falling on him and says, "When you run out of cereal can you run into it again?"

One I didn't care for says, "One thing no good about a big brother is when you hit him he hits you right back." There's a few of these.

And then some really odd ones like, "If you're pretending you're a lion it's good to know if you're pretending you're really a lion."

Ages: not sure

Cleanliness: a few bad attitudes are displayed by some children.

**Like my reviews? I also have hundreds of detailed reports that I offer too. These reports give a complete break-down of everything in the book, so you'll know just how clean it is or isn't. I also have Clean Guides (downloadable PDFs) which enable you to clean up your book before reading it! Visit my website: The Book Radar.

[Rachel Meyers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this little book! It is a fun childish almost poetry of word and picture together making short statements become beautiful thoughts of the humor and lovely simplicity of childhood. I would recommend it to anyone! My children love it and so do I :-)

[Debs · Rating 4 out of 5]

A screaming song is good to know in case you need to scream.

Chock-full of wisdom that it is essential for survival in this year of our lord 2020.

[Mahdiye HajiHosseini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everybody should be quiet near a little stream and listen

[Shawn Thrasher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved A Hole is to Dig very much. This book was certainly as enjoyable, and remarkably thought-provoking. Krauss, with Sendak's help, takes us out of storybook land into a world that Thoreau would have been quite at home in. Picture books can be philosophical - the best ones usually are. But this combination of Krauss and Sendak is special. The book starts with this bit of rebellious prose: "a screaming song is good to know in case you need to scream" and goes on from there, sometimes wonderfully surreal, other times wonderfully pointed. It's hard not to imagine a small boys and girls of the early sixties having this read aloud to them, and taking that "screaming song" and other bits of revolutionary thought into their classrooms and then to the streets (a line drawn from Sendak and Krauss to 1968). Who knows. I do know that this book is a small gem of genius.

[Katie Fitzgerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Ruth Krauss's books that are based on the speech of actual children. More children's authors should pay attention to how kids speak! Here are just some of the great quotable quotes in this book:

A baby is a convenient thing to be.

A screaming song is good to know in case you need to scream.

Open house for butterflies is a good thing to have.

And the Sendak illustrations make the delicious weirdness of this book complete!

[Dianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very similar to A Hole Is to Dig. "A baby is so you could be the boss."

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a bizarre and lovely wonder.

[Crissy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did not like it and actually couldn't finish it aloud. :/

[Patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun one.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been biking to salvation army, back and forth, all day long. On my last trip, at the bottom of a box outside the drop-off chute, i found this beautiful and lovely book. I love Sendak so much, anything and everything he does. The writing is phenomenal though and could have stood all by itself. It's all nonsequitur sandwiches, fulled with the sweetest little moralizing. They're all gems like "A screaming song is good to know in case you need to scream"" or "I think a race looks prettier when everybody comes in even", with a picture of kids holding hands and parading towards the finish line.

[Chiara Fudge Atoyebi · Rating 2 out of 5]

My daughter is two and loves books and this book has a lot of family imagery so you can follow along with your child to point out mommy and daddy and baby. The story line isn't really for a toddler and the pictures were sketched so there were some parts my almost 4 year old liked and some my 2 year old. But she is not an average book listener :-)

[Kayla · Rating 1 out of 5]

Another odd book by Krauss with *gems* like:
“The minute you meet some people you know you will hate their mothers.”
“A good thing to know is what a punch in
the nose feels like in case somebody asks
Do you want a punch in the nose?”
“If I had a tail
I wouldn’t be a lion
I might eat too many
people and then I’d get sick.”

🤨

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ellie read to mom....7/26/15

Ellie read to us. Jacob does not care for this book..krb 1/24/17

[Aditi · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a good thing to know that childlike wonder can still be arrived at by divine duo of Krauss and Sendak
:)

[Edmundo Mantilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Necesitaba este libro.

[Rachel Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book makes me happy 🤗

[Edward Sojuwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This rare treat from 1960 is one I was happy to have stumbled on, though I doubt anyone has read it or will have much interest. Hopefully, with my reviews, things might change. Thus book celebrates children at the age where they're just starting out at the ages of 3 to 6 and their creativity starts to peak. Author Ruth Krauss and illustrator Maurice Sendak, The Legend, explore all sorts of possibles that toddlers explore in one way or another. It's a world these kids inhabit, a world where boundaries are nonexistent and anything is cool wordplay with very deep meaning I think grownups should pay attention to. Example: while kids grow up, can grownups grow down? (In some cases, sadly this is true.) The worst thing about older brothers is if you bop them on the nose, they bop you back. And it's a cool thing to say with pride "I'm glad I DON'T have that cool toy!" And that the human race is a race we all can win. Ms Krauss knew her stuff then, and this book should be read now, but again it's rarely seen and not even published anymore. But again, miracles happen. Like the miracle of being young. Or being young again.
Four stars
Krauss and Sendak know that little kids rock in big ways!

[Juushika · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is very much a successor to A Hole is to Dig, but the conceit here is life lessons rather than definitions. It's often charming, and it's very much on the children's side, particularly in their play, their understandings of the world, their selfishness and needs. But it's less successful than A Hole: it feels less distinct and it lacks the conflicting, complicating definitions and cumulative details in the art which make that book greater than the sum of its parts. This still has great parts! but nothing extra, nothing that makes it remarkable.

[Medha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Open house for butterflies

Krauss, R. & Sendak, M., 1960. Open house for butterflies., United States of America: Harper and Row Publishers.

The book gives insight into an alternate and straightforward way of looking at things and events around us. There are reflections on what we may not notice as we walk our lives. For a moment, you can take away the idea that you are an adult, or you may forget what you think you are and read Krauss's and Sendak's revelations. It's joyful to be in that moment!

The one thing I take from this book is relationships around us - how a child makes a parent, how small makes big, and how absence makes presence!

[Tara Tiger Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

I came across an illustration of a child sitting at the edge of a stream with the caption, "Everybody should be quiet near a little stream and listen." I looked up the source and found the book on Internet Archive. It took me about 5 minutes to read it. It's a charming book with dated references, but it is sweet nonetheless. It reminded me of The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein (1964) and Where The Wild Things Are (1963), and then I noticed the illustrator was Maurice Sendak. :)

[Arielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maurice Sendak is a treasure and this book is adorable. I'm sad that the little preview page that prompted me to read this children's book was one of the few really delightful sentiments. But then again, maybe I shouldn't read a book for kids and then be surprised when I don't find that it 100% resonates with me.