Yellow Butterfly: A story from Ukraine

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Age range 4 to 8

A wordless picture book portrayal of war seen through the eyes of a young girl who finds hope in the symbolism of yellow butterflies against the background of a pure blue sky. Using the colours of his national flag, Oleksandr Shatokhin has created a deeply emotional response to the conflict in Ukraine and provided a narrative full of powerful visual metaphors for readers to consider as they travel from the devastating effects of war to a place of hope for peace and the future.

A portion of the sale of this book will be donated to the Universal Reading Foundation who supply children's books to Ukraine.

Back matter includes notes on sharing a wordless picture book and how to talk to children about war.

'Provocative, powerful, breathtakingly beautiful.' - Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

Reviews

Kirkus Reviews - A Best Picture Book of the Year
A USBBY Outstanding International Book 2024

A Bank Street Best Book of the Year 2024

"Responding to the Russia-Ukraine war, Ukrainian artist Shatokhin's wordless narrative offers a child's-eye view of military conflict .. . There is much for readers to interpret through conversations and multiple readings in these artfully designed pages, . . .Shatokhin employs color, scale, perspective, and pattern to great effect in timelyand timelessscenes that capture the protagonists fear, fury, frustration, and ultimately hope.Exquisite compositions depict a yellow swarm of butterflies becoming the childs wings,lifting them to see a blue sky amid the destruction (yellow and blue being the colors of the Ukrainian flag) . . .Provocative, powerful, breathtakingly beautiful."STARRED REVIEW,Kirkus Reviews

"Young readers. . . will connect with the emotion coursingthrough its apposite Expressionist illustrations. . .This moving story is bothtimely and timeless,evoking war and its aftermath without losing sight of hope."STARRED REVIEW,Booklist

"Stark images in black and white lead this sympathetic wordless picture book about a girl whos enduring the war in Ukraine."STARRED REVIEW, Foreword Reviews

"A beautiful and heartbreaking tribute to the resiliency of people in wartime; with support from adults, children will gain perspective on the need for hope under hardship."School Library Journal

"Using the colors of his national flag, the Ukrainian author-illustrator of this wordless picture book paints a moving portrait of a young child whose hope for the future transforms a dark world of war into a bright blue sky where yellow butterflies flutter freely."TheNew York Times

Using modest means, the author evokes the darkness of war and a vision of peace. Quite an achievement for a wordless picture book! Uri Shulevitz, Caldecott medal winner and author of the autobiography Chance: Escape from the Holocaust, Memories of a Refugee Childhood

Yellow Butterfly has realms of meaning for me. I grew up with the style and the hidden ideas just like that. It is all about freedom. My life is about freedom. And the War in Ukraine is about freedom. My adult life is formed by the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. Unfortunately, so is Oleksandr Shatokhins 55 years later. The book is like looking into the mirror of my life in style and in the sentiment freedom is never given voluntarily by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Free Ukraine! Peter Sis, Caldecott Honor artist and creator of The Wall, Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain

Breathtaking! Ruta Sepetys, New York Times bestselling author of Between Shades of Grey and I Must Betray You

"Via an emotionally tinged arc that moves from darkness to light, Ukrainian creator Shatokhin offers a visual prospect of a time when yellow butterflies will flutter freely in free Ukraine. . . . [an] unflinching response to current events from the perspective of a single child."Publishers Weekly

Author Bio

Oleksandr Shatokhinis an artist and children's book illustrator who lives and works in Ukraine.On the first day of the Russian invasion of Ukarine, Oleksandr and his family left their home in Sumy, close to the Russian border, for Poltava. On the way there, they were held up in occupied Trostianka (Sumy region), but finally managed to travel through the green corridor to reach their friends in Poltava. Oleksandr's wife and child continued on to the safety of Poland. The author stayed in Ukraine. After two months apart the family was reunited in Western Ukraine and are now planning to find a place to live in the city of Lviv.