Flutterby Fly

Serendipity

by Stephen Cosgrove, Robin James

Flutterby, a little winged horse, tries to find out what scared the butterflies into scattering all over the field.

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books, Fantasy, Fiction, Animals, Horses, Art

32 pages, Paperback

First published May 29, 1984

Reviews

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good story about not gossiping and not believing everything you hear.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a cute concept of the flying ponies herding the butterflies but I wasn't really into this book. The story was basically showing how much a story can change into disastrous gossip while instead of bringing the old butterfly back with the others she left her there, which could possibly cause more mischief.

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Flutterby revisited and improved. She's a tiny winged horse again here, although grown up now, and taking her place as an official butterfly herder. The monarch butterfly appears again as well, older and wearing glasses in another of my favorite illustrations. The two stories otherwise don't really link together that well, since instead of telling Flutterby about the other horses like her, the monarch originally said that she should fly really high in the sky and watch for winter. Which sounds like a long, tiring, kind of pointless job. Although is herding flocks of scatterbrained butterflies really that much better...

Again, Flutterby goes on a mini quest, following a game of telephone from the butterflies to a grumpy old raven to a chattering chipmunk to the wise old monarch. When she returns to the butterflies to relay the true message they should have heard, the butterflies farthest from her mishear it and spread an even worse bout of gossip. I laughed out loud at this point and shook my head.

A funny, enjoyable little story that teaches the dangers of spreading gossip and the importance of listening carefully and fact-checking your sources.

[Arwen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gossip garbles very well
All the things you want to tell
So, if you hear some gossip true
Let the gossip stop with you!

A good book to teach children about the effects of gossip. Of course, it's helped by the beautiful work of Robin James' illustrations and the cute character of Flutterby.

[Anie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another favorite from when I was wee. A little parable on gossip.

[What's Dat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful artwork! My favorite set of kid's books ever!

[Dee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story about rumours and the dangers of gossip, not believing everything you hear, and going to the source for the truth instead of spreading lies. It's done in an age-appropriate way.

[Candice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a handful of books I loved so much as a child that I stole them from my school library. This is one of them. I still have the same copy and I feel guilty every time I see it.

[ForgetMeNot · Rating 4 out of 5]

This cute story about a little horse with butterfly wings goes on a journey to find others like them.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Basic plot: Flutterby investigates what scared the butterflies.

I think I got my first Serendipity book through a Scholastic book order or book fair. I quickly became obsessed and collected a ton and a half of them as a child. I would spend hours just looking at the pictures because the art is simply gorgeous. The stories were whimsical and fun, and always ended with some sort of life lesson for kids. I kept reading these books long after other picture books had been set aside.

[Ilana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series of books is the most wonderfully illustrated, sweetest series available for children. Each book is beautiful, the animals are so sweetly drawn and each book teaches a wonderful lesson. I still have all of my original copies from my childhood (the 90s).

[Punkie · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars
The second book in the wonderful Flutterby series.😊

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! The moral was great! Love the art I love all the books !