The Butterfly

The Butterfly, written and illustrated by Patricia Polacco, is yet another book that looks at the hardships that people underwent during World War II, this time, instead of an Asian voice, it is in the French and European perspective. We learned in Rose Blanche, how the concentration camps weren't publicly known to the European people, but as we learn in The Butterfly, some families living under the Nazi regime, would hide people whom the Nazi's viewed as a threat to the Aryan race. This story is told through the view of a little French girl named Monique, who late one night discovers that her mother has been sheltering a little girl named Sevrine and her family, plus many others from being taken away by the Nazi army. This book relates really well to Rose Blanch, because obviously it discusses the same side of the issues being dealt with during World War II, but also because of how it's ominous and subtly hints tell much more about what exactly people were afraid of during a period of severe mistrust. This book also fits into my Patricia Polacco study, which is interesting, because she usually depicts a Ukrainian family, and here she tells a story of war through the French perspective, perhaps due to France's deeper involvement into World War II, Ukraine had their own issues being under Russian rule, much like the Korean-Japanese relationship at the time. But that's beyond what kids really need to know in order to grasp the point of this story.