For the First Day of Spring - Butterfly Birthday

Butterfly Birthday finds all the insects awakening to springtime and preparing a celebratory feast for the occasion. But while the wasps and spiders and beetles gather up food (at the direction of the ants), the caterpillars satisfy themselves to munch on leaves.

While to the little ant, it seems as though they're lazy, the other insects know what's up, and let things play out to surprise the little ant when the caterpillars turn into chrysalises (hung like Chinese lanterns around the party) which later hatch open to release butterflies and moths.

Mark Jones' illustrations give Butterfly Birthday a look akin to "A Bug's Life," with insects that are as true to real life as possible while also giving them facial expressions. Harriet Ziefert's story is a gentle one, avoiding much of the natural order of the food chain (in one scene, a return cardinal flies over, but ignores the gathering of insects on this special day out of respect).

Vibrantly colored from edge to edge and filled with a variety of critters, Butterfly Birthday will certainly be enjoyed by young readers (and, in particular, younger readers who count "butterfly" among their first words).