“Red Butterfly” is one of those books I picked up because the title sounded interesting, but then I was instantly drawn in by the narrator’s voice, and what a wonderful read! Kids will enjoy this book even though it is in verse because the story moves along at a nice pace, and Kara’s voice is just like any other child her age. The smattering of illustrations by Amy June Bates also complement the book.
There has been a recent trend of books written in verse getting a couple of award nods. “The Crossover” by Kwame Alexander won the 2015 Newbery Medal, and “Brown Girl Dreaming” by Jacqueline Woodson is the 2014 National Book Award Winner for Young People, as well as a 2015 Newbery Honor Book.
There are many people who shy away from books in verse — maybe it seems intimidating, or feels too much like reading a long poem, but whatever the reason, it’s actually one of the easiest forms of writing for a child to read. There are less words on the page, and it reads like a train of thought.
Reading verse is like getting a snapshot of the narrator’s mind. That point-of-view is crucial in “Red Butterfly,” where Kara is constantly in motion, moving from one living situation to the next.
Set in modern-day China, Kara is a Chinese girl who has only known life with her adoptive American mother in the city of Tianjin, China. She is not legally adopted, so when a random emergency throws their life into disarray, the authorities no longer allow her to live with her mother. She is sent to an orphanage where another family wants to adopt her. She is torn between finding the mother she knows and going to live with the new family who offers her a new life in America.
Influenced by the author’s own time living and working in China, Sonnichsen did a beautiful job depicting the different issues with adopting children from China.
Kara’s voice shines through in “Red Butterfly,” and several points in the book were heart-wrenching, such as her friendship with Xiao Bo, the little boy at the orphanage with cerebral palsy. “Red Butterfly” triumphs by showing that home and family is with the people you love, wherever in the world they might be.
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