This is a truly beautiful book.
Written by Antonella Capetti
Illustrated by Melissa Castrillon
And published by Greystone Books
A beautiful book about beauty and what it means to find something beautiful.
What is beautiful?
This is the question that the curious little caterpillar in this story would like answered.
One day while minding his own business he is lifted up by a little girl, who tells him that he is beautiful.
Beautiful.
But what does beautiful mean?
The caterpillar sets off through the forest asking the different animals what beautiful means to them. Bear thinks that honeycomb is beautiful. Blackbird does not agree. Squirrel thinks dry leaves are beautiful. Blackbird does not agree. Mouse thinks a mushroom is beautiful. Blackbird does not agree!
Poor little caterpillar is so upset. He was so happy before being told he was beautiful. Just munching, sleeping, crawling and sleeping again. Now he is all full of thoughts and questions and worries, and he still does not know what beautiful means.
Caterpillar asks deer what beautiful means. Deer shows caterpillar a favourite chair. The argumentative opinionated blackbird, of course, disagrees!
Caterpillar tries mole but it is no use, no one can really tell him what beautiful means. Poor little caterpillar is feeling quite distressed. At this point in the story the children were all calling out trying to tell caterpillar what their idea of beauty is, what beautiful means to them. They so wanted to help the incredibly cute little creature. We all did. We wanted to scoop him up and comfort him and tell him that everything would be alright.
Reaching the end of his tether with the exasperating blackbird caterpillar asks him to answer the question and of course he can’t.
As night falls in the forest the animals lie down together and look up to the sky and in one special moment in time they all see together and can all agree on something that is truly beautiful.
And finally at peace the prettiest little caterpillar we ever did see can curl up on their leaf and sleep.
This is such a brilliant book. It has led to lots of discussion in our house as to what we think beauty is and how we would describe beautiful. We have shared all the things that we find beautiful and talked about the saying, ‘Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.’
We have also talked about the blackbird in the story and how in our house often one of the children is the blackbird in discussions. There is always one sibling who likes to disagree to make a point or be different or just because they think their thoughts and ideas are better. We talked about how the blackbird may have made the other animals in the forest feel.
We also talked about the things we all agree on that are truly beautiful.
This is a book we will take with us on our adventures to remind ourselves to be present and to notice and savour all the beautiful things in the world around us. We are so blessed to live in such a wonderful world. Books like these are important for inspiring children to love the planet and want to help protect it.
This stunning story, with the trademark illustrations of Melissa Castrillon in autumn jewel colours filled with nature patterns and gorgeous animals with expressive features, would make a beautiful gift this Christmas.
Every page is a work of art to be explored. The interactions between the animals are beautifully portrayed and my children love to voice their conversations.
There is so much to love about this book and it is perfectly titled as every time we turn the page we think, How Beautiful!
We were sent one copy of the book in exchange for an honest review