Make Way For Butterfly by Ross Burach (2023)

Ross Burach is back at-it with “Make Way For Butterfly!” If you read “The Very Impatient Caterpillar” when it came out a couple of years ago, you know Ross Burach has an amazing way with humor. “Make Way for Butterfly” tells a story of a butterfly who desperately wants to help the ecosystem and become a pollinating bee. He pulls all sorts of funny antics to transform into a bee. All the while, the bee is encouraging the butterfly to just be himself. Once he learns that butterflies can travel longer distances and bees cannot, Butterfly sees his value and embraces being a butterfly. My kids couldn’t stop laughing when the butterfly looked at the pollen and said, “I thought that was cheese!” The silliness is just perfect - kids love funny books! 

Heart: I hope all children can embrace being their most authentic selves. I hope all children (and adults!) realize that they have value just as they are. Fred Rogers always ended his television programs saying, “I like you, just the way you are.” Don’t we wish we had more of that messaging going around these days? Well, this book imbues that same lovely message. Just be yourself. You have value as you are. 

Head: As we know, pollinators are on the decline. There are concerning drops in bee and butterfly numbers. Pollinators are critical to our survival. Kids need to learn about the value of not only pollinators, but also all insects. This book offers a great way to introduce Venn Diagrams in the classroom. There are many ways that bees and butterflies are similar: both pollinators, both insects, both can fly. There are also many ways that they are different. A teacher can read this book to the class, then have the students reread it on their own and make a bee/butterfly Venn diagram.