A Butterfly Storybook Of Emergence And Discovery For Children

We can learn a lot about Emergence and Discovery from Butterflies. Butterfly Baby meets Mr. and Mrs. Toad at Siler Forest Pond and tells a whimsical tale about one Butterfly’s journey of discovery.

Children emerge day by day, and reading can be the biggest catalyst to learning and discovering themselves. Butterfly Baby meets Mr. and Mrs. Toad at Siler Forest Pond by Trina Astor-Stewart, who also illustrated the book as a journey of discovery where lessons are learned.

“Everyone is like a butterfly, they start out ugly and awkward and then morph into beautiful graceful butterflies that everyone loves.”

–Drew Barrymore

Butterfly Baby meets Mr. and Mrs. Toad at Siler Forest Pond is a fun story that children and parents alike will enjoy. The story’s setting is an old food forest where nature’s life cycles have played out for some time. Butterfly Baby wonders about her world and what she will be when she grows up.

Imagine being a caterpillar, losing your skin repeatedly, and wondering if you will become someone’s dinner in the next moment. How do you reconcile crawling about while wishing you could fly? Yes, it is a scary world, but if you have others along the way to answer questions and guide you, maybe things are manageable.

Did you know that Toads can live for forty years or more?

In the story, our wise old Mr. Toad knows all the answers. Mrs. Toad has her own unique viewpoint, and she finds delicious insects to catch and eat. Then there are the other characters from nature, like bees, bald-faced hornets, katydids, and crickets, who play various parts in the story. Nature has given them all a role to fill. Everyone gets into the scene at Siler Forest Pond.

One of my favorite lines in the book is uttered by Mrs. Toad when Butterfly Baby wishes she could fly.

“Fly, I cannot see why…”

–Mrs. Toad

The journey is about being who you are and evolving your own way. Of course, Toads and Fish swim. If they flew, it would be bizarre. Yes, truly strange indeed.

References to generations also help children learn about family relationships over time.

This story provides an opportunity to theatricalize the rhyming voices that emphasize the characters.

The Benefits of Reading to Children

Reading aloud to children at an early age teaches them many things.

• Reading aloud to children creates a bond between parents, grandparents, caregivers, and children.
• Reading stories helps children enter a world of imagination and wonder.
• They develop greater language skills and vocabulary.
• They develop a higher rate of cognitive functioning.
• Children learn how to develop aspects of their character to solve problems, understand social interactions, and learn to self-soothe their childhood fears.
• Adding more books to a child’s life can augment the school curriculum and broaden their education.
• Reading good and beautiful books teaches children to be their best selves.

Over time the book encourages children to learn to read. The story has a lot of depth, so you can read the Butterfly Baby series many times without it becoming boring.

The second book in the series, Butterfly Baby Teacher-Parent-Student Companion Book, expands the book into the study of natural science, where the student learns more about these creatures. It helps children become interested and discover more about nature and how we can be good stewards.

Discovery is a never-ending journey! Like Butterflies, children emerge daily, eventually grow up, fly free, and hopefully, feel secure.

Find out more about this series by visiting the author’s website.

V.L. Murray, A Writer’s Life