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Butterfly Park
When a little girl moves to a new town, she finds a place called Butterfly Park. But when she opens the gate, there are no butterflies.
Determined to lure the butterflies in, the girl inspires her entire town to help her. And with their combined efforts, soon the butterflies -- and the girl -- feel right at home.
Elly MacKay's luminous paper-cut illustrations and enchanting story encourage community, friendship, and wonderment in the beauty of everyday life.
Free poster on reverse side of book jacket.
Determined to lure the butterflies in, the girl inspires her entire town to help her. And with their combined efforts, soon the butterflies -- and the girl -- feel right at home.
Elly MacKay's luminous paper-cut illustrations and enchanting story encourage community, friendship, and wonderment in the beauty of everyday life.
Free poster on reverse side of book jacket.
40 pages, Hardcover
First published March 24, 2015
2 people are currently reading
323 people want to read
About the author
Elly MacKay
29 books101 followersI’m Elly MacKay, a.k.a Theater Clouds. I live in Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada with my husband Simon and little ones, Lily and Koen. I live a short drive from where I grew up – in an old church in Big Bay. I am an artist, making scenes using paper, light and photography. I refer to it as paper theater, lightbox illustrations or illuminated papercraft… It has been several years, but I am still working on a name for this technique.
I went to the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and the University of Canterbury for illustration, printmaking and electronic art. However, it wasn’t until the birth of my daughter Lily, that I began working in this way.
Well, sort of…
I used to spend a great deal of time as a kid making dioramas and tunnel books. As a teen, I sold them at 1st Hand Gallery in Toronto. I stopped making them when I went off to art school to explore other interests. After graduating I was enjoying working at a gallery but the birth of my daughter sparked something in me. I wanted to create things in the way that I had in my youth. I wanted to make things for the simple pleasure of making… to create my own little worlds and explore childhood again through my daughter’s eyes. I told my husband about my wish and he made me a beautiful little theater to work in. These illuminated paper scenes are a return to working with layers of paper like the dioramas and tunnel books I had made as a kid, but with the addition of lighting and photography. I set up layers of drawings on a small scale in my very tiny stage. They are wonderfully fun to create. You can take a look at my process page, to see how I make them.
I use this technique to create photographic prints and illustrations for children’s books. At times I have worked on a larger scale, creating installations. In the future I hope to do some animation as well. Simon recently made an animation table so hopefully I will be able to show you my simple stop-motion animations. I take inspiration from several sources:
My work often plays with the themes of childhood, and the ephemeral. I look to my own childhood, and to my experience as a mother.
I have a fascination with Victorian curiosities, and set design. I love anything that involves a trick of the eye – zoetropes, paper theaters, tunnel books, pop-ups, etc. As a teen, I took a trip to meet members of The Movable Book Society with my Mom, Joan Irvine. She is a paper-engineer and author. The trip was an education in papercraft.
I am also always looking to the land and weather here on Georgian Bay for inspiration.
ETSY:
https://www.etsy.com/people/theatercl...
https://www.etsy.com/shop/theaterclouds
I went to the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and the University of Canterbury for illustration, printmaking and electronic art. However, it wasn’t until the birth of my daughter Lily, that I began working in this way.
Well, sort of…
I used to spend a great deal of time as a kid making dioramas and tunnel books. As a teen, I sold them at 1st Hand Gallery in Toronto. I stopped making them when I went off to art school to explore other interests. After graduating I was enjoying working at a gallery but the birth of my daughter sparked something in me. I wanted to create things in the way that I had in my youth. I wanted to make things for the simple pleasure of making… to create my own little worlds and explore childhood again through my daughter’s eyes. I told my husband about my wish and he made me a beautiful little theater to work in. These illuminated paper scenes are a return to working with layers of paper like the dioramas and tunnel books I had made as a kid, but with the addition of lighting and photography. I set up layers of drawings on a small scale in my very tiny stage. They are wonderfully fun to create. You can take a look at my process page, to see how I make them.
I use this technique to create photographic prints and illustrations for children’s books. At times I have worked on a larger scale, creating installations. In the future I hope to do some animation as well. Simon recently made an animation table so hopefully I will be able to show you my simple stop-motion animations. I take inspiration from several sources:
My work often plays with the themes of childhood, and the ephemeral. I look to my own childhood, and to my experience as a mother.
I have a fascination with Victorian curiosities, and set design. I love anything that involves a trick of the eye – zoetropes, paper theaters, tunnel books, pop-ups, etc. As a teen, I took a trip to meet members of The Movable Book Society with my Mom, Joan Irvine. She is a paper-engineer and author. The trip was an education in papercraft.
I am also always looking to the land and weather here on Georgian Bay for inspiration.
ETSY:
https://www.etsy.com/people/theatercl...
https://www.etsy.com/shop/theaterclouds
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 136 reviews
January 26, 2019
Now while I do appreciate (and have even mildly enjoyed) reading in Elly Mackay's Butterfly Park how a young girl who has recently moved to a new town makes new friends and begins to feel increasingly content and settled by restoring a decrepit and devoid of flowers and plants butterfly park to its (former) blooming glory, and of course, also thereby attracting the butterflies for which she had been homesick since her move, I cannot say that I have actually all that much enjoyed either Mackay's presented narrative or her accompanying collage-like illustrations.
And I guess that first and foremost, I just do seem to find it rather hard to believe and even accept that when the young girl first opens the gate to the butterfly park next to her new house and discovers it is empty of plants and flowers, she still sits down on a bench to patiently wait for butterflies to appear, that she does not make the immediate connection of butterflies needing flowers, and since there are no longer any flowers and plants in the park, that of course, there also would be no butterflies present there either (or even interested in visiting said park). For sorry, since Elly Mackay makes it rather abundantly clear at the beginning of Butterfly Park that the little girl used to live in a rural area with lots of plants, flowers and of course also butterflies, she would (or I guess I should say that she should) be aware of the fact that since the butterfly park next to her new residence has no flower beds and the like anymore, that it therefore would also not be attractive to butterflies.
And thus, while the storyline of Butterfly Park, while the general narrative of how the little girl and her new friends and neighbours reclaim the abandoned and desolate park by planting flowers attractive to butterflies is lovely and sweet enough in and of itself, I do find it rather problematic that the little girl does for one not immediately upon entering the park realise what is needed, that flowers are required, and for two that it it is not her but her neighbours who actually come up with the idea of making the park into a butterfly haven by planting flowers (until it once again and I quote is "brimming with flowers"). Combined with the fact that with regard to the accompanying illustrations, I really have only unreservedly enjoyed Elly Mackay's depictions of butterflies and plants, and albeit that Butterfly Park is not in any way inappropriate and in fact does relate a pleasant enough story with some very important messages, I just have not personally enjoyed Mackay's marriage of text and images enough to grant more than two stars (as yes indeed, I do very much tend to find some of the presented narrative of Butterfly Park a bit hard to fathom and realistically accept and would definitely have wanted the little girl to be a bit more "with it" right from the beginning regarding as to why her newly discovered butterfly park has no butterflies in it).
And I guess that first and foremost, I just do seem to find it rather hard to believe and even accept that when the young girl first opens the gate to the butterfly park next to her new house and discovers it is empty of plants and flowers, she still sits down on a bench to patiently wait for butterflies to appear, that she does not make the immediate connection of butterflies needing flowers, and since there are no longer any flowers and plants in the park, that of course, there also would be no butterflies present there either (or even interested in visiting said park). For sorry, since Elly Mackay makes it rather abundantly clear at the beginning of Butterfly Park that the little girl used to live in a rural area with lots of plants, flowers and of course also butterflies, she would (or I guess I should say that she should) be aware of the fact that since the butterfly park next to her new residence has no flower beds and the like anymore, that it therefore would also not be attractive to butterflies.
And thus, while the storyline of Butterfly Park, while the general narrative of how the little girl and her new friends and neighbours reclaim the abandoned and desolate park by planting flowers attractive to butterflies is lovely and sweet enough in and of itself, I do find it rather problematic that the little girl does for one not immediately upon entering the park realise what is needed, that flowers are required, and for two that it it is not her but her neighbours who actually come up with the idea of making the park into a butterfly haven by planting flowers (until it once again and I quote is "brimming with flowers"). Combined with the fact that with regard to the accompanying illustrations, I really have only unreservedly enjoyed Elly Mackay's depictions of butterflies and plants, and albeit that Butterfly Park is not in any way inappropriate and in fact does relate a pleasant enough story with some very important messages, I just have not personally enjoyed Mackay's marriage of text and images enough to grant more than two stars (as yes indeed, I do very much tend to find some of the presented narrative of Butterfly Park a bit hard to fathom and realistically accept and would definitely have wanted the little girl to be a bit more "with it" right from the beginning regarding as to why her newly discovered butterfly park has no butterflies in it).
February 6, 2019
Beautiful illustrations, as I expected from MacKay. It's a very sweet story about meeting new people and becoming comfortable in a new home, about how having a project or goal greater than ourselves is often the best way to feeling at peace and finding friends when we are unsettled.
July 25, 2015
I found this book mesmerizing for the imagery, which I enjoyed knowing simply that it was "paper-cut" as described on the book flap. However, that is truly understated, it is so much more. While children will surely delight in the colorful pictures an adult should enjoy upon careful inspection the details and appreciate the process taken to design them. These images aren't simply a drawing or painting, but a layered paper three dimensional process. A quick stop to the author's website after reading the book described the process and watching the trailer for one of her other books even made the images all the more special to me. I stopped by her Etsy page and want to purchase a few of the images and now I want to checkout a few of her other books. I have no connection with the author, so sharing the information above is just because I was completely blown away. In this day and age, I wouldn't expect a children's book to go through the painstaking process of building a diorama for each page. As for the story, it is sweet.
January 25, 2019
Butterfly Park is such a pretty and sweet book... almost too much, I think, for some tastes. The collage style illustrations are creative, but also have a retro vibe that's comforting & cozy. The two themes, of coming to feel at home in a new community, and of learning how to attract butterflies, are simply told and deftly interwoven. The fold-out spread is critical to the appeal; I hope it holds up in library use.
(Btw, if you want more about a girl who wants to learn about butterflies, I just finished The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science and can't recommend it highly enough.)
(Btw, if you want more about a girl who wants to learn about butterflies, I just finished The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science and can't recommend it highly enough.)
February 18, 2020
Fun story and beautiful illustrations!
July 5, 2015
This is one of my favorite artists. I have bought prints from her etsy shop and hope to buy more. When I saw she was going to release a picture book with Running Press I was really excited. While the illustrations are as lovely and luminous as all of her other work, the story leaves a little to be desired. The text felt a little stilted and forced and just didn't match the quality of the pictures. I actually think the book would have been more powerful if it had been left wordless and wonder if her editor kicked that idea around with her. Otherwise, more care needed to be taken with the text.
February 20, 2016
Blue Spruce 2016 nominee. Read-aloud to students from JK-gr6 a total of 12 times. The cut-paper and found object sculptures making up the illustrations in this picture book are phenomenal. Ellie Mackay's attention to detail, use of texture, colour, and lighting are what make this book a glory to look at.
The story itself is very simple: girl moves from country to city and, with the help of her new community, rejuvenates a dilapidated park. Without the pictures, the language and text is rather dull.
Themes of environmentalism, community and persistence make the book a useful tool for the younger primary students.
The story itself is very simple: girl moves from country to city and, with the help of her new community, rejuvenates a dilapidated park. Without the pictures, the language and text is rather dull.
Themes of environmentalism, community and persistence make the book a useful tool for the younger primary students.
June 3, 2016
No words can describe how beautifully done this book is because each page is photographs of paper cut-outs that are layered on amazingly painted backdrops.
The story is wonderful too. Moving to a new place is never easy, but there is always a silver lining.
The girl in the story loves butterflies and is elated to find out that there is a butterfly park near her new home. However, there is one problem, there are no butterflies. She sets out on a mission to get bring butterflies back and inspires the neighborhood.
The story is wonderful too. Moving to a new place is never easy, but there is always a silver lining.
The girl in the story loves butterflies and is elated to find out that there is a butterfly park near her new home. However, there is one problem, there are no butterflies. She sets out on a mission to get bring butterflies back and inspires the neighborhood.
November 3, 2016
Delightful story of a young girl who unfortunately has to move from the country to the city. She is sad to leave all the nature, trees, and wildlife but she finds herself living next to a butterfly garden! With a wonderful mix of 3D imagery and art, this book comes to life.
August 12, 2015
This is a lovely book - the flowers and butterflies and backgrounds are so great! - but something about the papercut people gave me the everloving wiggins. *shudder* I don't even know why.
March 25, 2016
very whimsical story with 3D paper doll like illustrations...H loved it!
June 5, 2018
Beautiful illustrations.
April 19, 2019
This is a beautiful story! Art work is so bright and colorful. I just loved it. The book follows a little girl that had to move with her family. She did not like it at all until she saw that she lived near Butterfly Park. She loved butterflies but there were not butterflies in Butterfly Park. One day, she spots a butterfly and follows it to find out where all the butterflies were going. I do not want to go into the story more as to not spoil it but I really loved how such a simple thing can bring everyone together. I highly recommend this book to kids of all ages.
Want to read
March 9, 2019This book was featured as one of the selections for the January/February 2019 Moving & Immigration-themed reads for the Picture-Book Club in the Children's Books Group here at Goodreads.
June 13, 2017
I absolutely loved the illustrations...so unique!!
August 22, 2017
You generally don't want your messages to be TOO obvious in children's literature, but this time, things are maybe a smidgen too vague. While adults will certainly see the focus on conservation and caring for our planet, the pre-makover Butterfly Park isn't the result of abuse or even neglect. It looks fine as a park. It just has a misleading name. I don't need to see the park full of trash, followed by obnoxiously prominent illustrations of recycling bins, but, just...something more than a fine-looking place being re-purposed. High-ho gentrification!
The art style here is interesting. It appears to be almost like paper dolls. The set pieces are all painted with a fair amount of realism, but each piece is just out and then placed where they fit in the fore or background and all in-between. It's a weird mix of flatness and depth. I quite like it, actually, which is what bumped ,y review up to 4 stars. Kudos on the cool pics, MacKay.
Try this from your library before purchasing. There's lots of butterfly books out there, though, so I think the best action would be read this in the first batch, and encourage your kids to help you plant your own butterfly garden at home. Once that's done and you're waiting for the guests to arrive, keep your kid focused with other butterfly books. You won't have a hard time finding any.
The art style here is interesting. It appears to be almost like paper dolls. The set pieces are all painted with a fair amount of realism, but each piece is just out and then placed where they fit in the fore or background and all in-between. It's a weird mix of flatness and depth. I quite like it, actually, which is what bumped ,y review up to 4 stars. Kudos on the cool pics, MacKay.
Try this from your library before purchasing. There's lots of butterfly books out there, though, so I think the best action would be read this in the first batch, and encourage your kids to help you plant your own butterfly garden at home. Once that's done and you're waiting for the guests to arrive, keep your kid focused with other butterfly books. You won't have a hard time finding any.
July 12, 2015
Charming story and illustration style. The cut paper and diorama background adds a unique look that enchants as the story comes together for a little girl who moves from the country to the city and misses her butterflies. When she sees a Butterfly Park next door, she has high hopes, but the butterflies she finds don't stay there. As she gathers more neighborhood kids to help in finding butterflies, they realize that they are missing a key ingredient to their park - flowers to attract them. As the community comes together to create a welcoming spot, the girl realizes that she feels at home.
May 4, 2015
Let me count the ways I love this book. Illustrators are getting more and more creative with their craft. Drawings and paintings are old news it seems. I absolutely adored the paper cut outs, which inspired me to hop onto the internet to look at other creative forms of artwork. I kept thinking about how neat it would be for students to create a class book similar to this one! My husband kept looking over as I said, "Ooooo." This would be a great resource for creative writing classes because teaches students to break the mold with the presentation of their prose.
January 25, 2019
Moving and being the new kid on the block takes sort of a back seat to the story of trying to attract butterflies to the park. I liked the story of the unnamed girl that has to learn that butterflies are attracted to flowers, and, along with her new neighbors/friends, takes steps to attract them back to the barren park. I liked the collage illustrations that were a combination of focused and unfocused areas.
May 9, 2015
Captivating, gorgeous picture book. It is a sweet story with the best cut out illustrations I have ever seen. This is the author/illustrator's best work to date. I think each intricate and lovely page will have a child mesmerized. p.s. You should check out Elly MacKay's website. Very interesting and informative.
May 11, 2015
Best of 2015. Absolutely gorgeous. Love the butterfly motifs throughout.
May 5, 2015
Gorgeous book. Extremely unique illustrations. Good for grades k-4
June 25, 2016
Lovely illustrations. Story gets a little too drunk on the "spirit-of-community" nonsense. The mystery/conflict is also hard to believe.
October 26, 2015
Pretty and a little disjointed.
December 24, 2015
So beautiful it gave me goosebumps!
July 17, 2016
Dit was echt lief, en ik vond de manier waarop de illustraties waren gedaan leuk en creatief.
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March 2, 2017
Note to publishers: printed images on the reverse of a book's dust jacket DOES NOT a "Free Poster" make.
November 12, 2017
This review was originally written for The Baby Bookworm. Visit us for new picture books reviews daily!
Hello, friends! Our book today is the gorgeous Butterfly Park by Elly MacKay, a joyful story of a little girl and her love for butterflies bringing a town together.
A little girl is moving to a new town and is sad to leave her country home, especially the beautiful butterflies that live there. Moving to a house in the city, she feels lost at first – until she finds that she lives next to a Butterfly Park! When she visits the garden the next day, she finds that there are no butterflies in barren park. She goes searching, and find one in a neighbor boy’s yard. She asks for his help to catch it and bring it to the garden, but when they release it, it flies away. Enlisting more neighborhood children, they capture more butterflies, only to have them fly away as well. The kids begin to follow the last remaining butterfly, chasing it through town and attracting a parade of amused onlookers. At last, the butterfly leads them to a garden and the girl realizes her mistake: butterflies are attracted to flowers! She returns to the park with flowers, but still no butterflies arrive – until the park is suddenly filled with the townspeople, who happily help the girl build a flower garden that attracts her beloved bugs.
This was a wonderfully sweet story, filled with a guileless innocence that captures a feeling of childhood awe. But the absolute star of the show here are the gorgeous paper-cut illustrations, arranged and captured using tilt-shift photography, that give the art of the book a positively magical air. The reader can practically feel the movement, energy, and warmth of the characters within a three-dimensional space, and it’s really quite beautiful. The length was good as well, and JJ enjoyed it. This is a genuine feast for the eyes paired with a charming story about community, and it’s Baby Bookworm approved!
Be sure to check out The Baby Bookworm for more reviews!
May 31, 2019
The premise of the book is about a little girl who moves from the country to a town/city and is delighted to find a butterfly park next door...except there are no butterflies in it. She and the neighbor kids try to catch some, but they all fly away, and finally she realizes the park needs flowers in order to attract butterflies. The neighbors work together to plant lots of them.
I really wanted to like this book more than I did. I do appreciate that the neighbor children have different skin tones and hair colors, so it's a multicultural neighborhood the little girl moves into. I do appreciate the message to plant more flowers and attract more butterflies.
I don't appreciate the use of butterfly nets to capture the delicate insects. I don't quite understand why a country girl wouldn't already know the butterflies need flowers to survive and after observing the lack thereof immediately set off to find and plant some. Even if you gloss over that and accept the premise that the little girl is ignorant of the feeding habits of butterflies, I don't understand why she didn't just skip the catching and go straight to following the butterfly to see where it went. And although the artwork is a fascinating mix of 3-D and flat paper cut-outs, it's just...not my cup of tea, so to speak. I do appreciate the skill it took to create the artwork, however!
My daughter wasn't particularly interested in this book either. I think she looked at it once the entire time we had it borrowed. Ah well, plenty of other butterfly books out there! I'll leave this one to the folks who find MacKay's style of artwork appealing.
I really wanted to like this book more than I did. I do appreciate that the neighbor children have different skin tones and hair colors, so it's a multicultural neighborhood the little girl moves into. I do appreciate the message to plant more flowers and attract more butterflies.
I don't appreciate the use of butterfly nets to capture the delicate insects. I don't quite understand why a country girl wouldn't already know the butterflies need flowers to survive and after observing the lack thereof immediately set off to find and plant some. Even if you gloss over that and accept the premise that the little girl is ignorant of the feeding habits of butterflies, I don't understand why she didn't just skip the catching and go straight to following the butterfly to see where it went. And although the artwork is a fascinating mix of 3-D and flat paper cut-outs, it's just...not my cup of tea, so to speak. I do appreciate the skill it took to create the artwork, however!
My daughter wasn't particularly interested in this book either. I think she looked at it once the entire time we had it borrowed. Ah well, plenty of other butterfly books out there! I'll leave this one to the folks who find MacKay's style of artwork appealing.
December 25, 2017
I was lucky enough to come across Butterfly Park by Elly Mackay a couple of months ago at Chapters Bookstore in Victoria, B.C. The illustrations are so enthralling and the time and detail put into each one is incredible. It is worth having a look at Elly's process for creating illustrations, which involves careful cutting of paper, painting, setting up of scenes and then photography. The images are whimsical and colourful with a balance of clear and soft focus.
Moving to a new town, the main character must leave behind the things she loves. She particularly misses the butterflies and must find a way to adapt and make friends in her new town which at first, appears quite bleak and grey. By the end, she creates and discovers friendship and beauty in Butterfly Park. And she finally feels at home in her new surroundings.
The story and images work together beautifully. The page turns are suspenseful and the story is totally relatable for young children. The story is a celebration of friendship, community, beauty, and change.
Moving to a new town, the main character must leave behind the things she loves. She particularly misses the butterflies and must find a way to adapt and make friends in her new town which at first, appears quite bleak and grey. By the end, she creates and discovers friendship and beauty in Butterfly Park. And she finally feels at home in her new surroundings.
The story and images work together beautifully. The page turns are suspenseful and the story is totally relatable for young children. The story is a celebration of friendship, community, beauty, and change.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 136 reviews