Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Nonfiction Wednesday- Handle with Care: An Unusual Butterfly Journey

My Friend Alyson Beecher at Kid Lit Frenzy hosts 
weekly link up to share Nonfiction Picture Books. 
Please visit her amazing website. 


Handle with Care: An Unusual Butterfly Journey
by Loree Griffin Burns
Photographs by Ellen Harasimowicz
Published January 1, 2014
Millbrook Press
32 Pages
Digital copy obtained through Netgalley.com

As the title says, this is not your typical butterfly story. This book describes how a butterfly "farm" in Costa Rica grows butterflies for museums. Through gorgeous photographs and descriptive text, Handle with Care takes you from egg to butterfly and all the stages in between.  Then you get to see how the "pupa" are packaged and shipped all over the world. 



I really enjoyed this book for several reasons.  First, the pictures by Ellen Harasimowicz are absolutely amazing, big, clear and colorful. Then, the book is very different from any other butterfly life cycle text I have seen. I loved being able to see the inner workings of the farm.  

Handle with Care would make a great informational text to use with younger students in grades 3-4. There is a ton of scientific information, vocabulary and text features to support the text.  In the back of the book there are facts about insects and their life cycles, vocabulary a glossary and suggestions for further reading.

This is a wonderful author/photographer team!

Loree Griffin Burns has written several science texts.  Please visit her website for more information.

Please visit Ellen Harasimowicz's website to see more of her beautiful photography. 

8 comments:

  1. I keep seeing Handle With Care on blogs. It looks like a beautiful book! I need to find it!

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  2. Just the idea of photographing these amazing creatures makes me want this book! Thanks for explaining what makes it different from other butterfly books. Otherwise, I may not have added it to my list.

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  3. Wow. Those photographs look incredible. I now have all kinds of questions though - about the packaging, how they are shipped, how they are displayed. Looks fascinating.

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  4. This book looks amazing. I definitely need to get a copy when it is published in March. Thank you for the recommendation.

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  5. I love butterflies and love the story of the Monarch. This one looks like another great butterfly to learn about. Thankds for sharing.

    Mary-andering Creatively

    Mary-andering Among the Pages

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  6. I have this book winging its way to my home. I can't wait to see it, Gigi. Thank you for this focus.

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  7. I cannot wait to get this book! I know our first grade team will eat this one up! This is the second review I've seen of this book so I'm pretty sure it's going in my Amazon cart!!!

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  8. I saw the ARC of this but want to see the finished book. I really liked it a lot.

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