The Prince of Butterflies by Bruce Coville

The Prince of Butterflies
(Sandpiper-2007)

By: Bruce Coville

Illustrated by: John Clapp

Grade: 1-3

*Giverny Award Winner 2008*

The Prince of Butterflies is about a young boy named John who "befriends" a large group of monarch butterflies. They seem to have lost their way on their path home and they need John's help to find their way again. He tried envisioning green meadows and when he imagined the right one they fluttered with excitement, but he didn't know how to get there. The butterflies helped him to fly through the air to the butterflies' path. Once he got there he was panicked that he wouldn't be able to make it home. He did make it home, but the butterflies would need his help twice more in the coming springs and he would always lead them to safety. I won't ruin the ending but it is such a touching story! I loved reading it and I think students would love it too because the boy is able to fly (and how many students have probably wanted to fly at some point in their lives?).

Theme/Skills Taught: New Paths in life/science lessons about butterflies (Monarchs)

About the Author: Bruce was born in Syracuse, New York, on May 16, 1950. Except for one year that he spent at Duke University in North Carolina, he lived in and around central New York until September of 1990, when he moved to New York City, where he lived for two years. Now he is back in Syracuse. The first time he can remember thinking that he would like to be a writer came in sixth grade, when his teacher, Mrs. Crandall, gave them an extended period of time to write a long story. He loved doing it. He started working seriously at becoming a writer when he was seventeen. He was not able to sell right away and had other jobs that included toymaker, gravedigger and salesman. Eventually he became an elementary teacher. He got married at nineteen to an artist and began trying to create books together. They did two books together! From the timehe was young, he had a dream of becoming a writer. Now that dream has come true, and he is able to make my living doing something that he really loves. Bruce Coville's Bio

About the Illustrator: John Clapp was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. Originally, what sparked his interest in art was comic strips, comic books, and cartooning in general. Just prior to college he "discovered" the field of illustration, and ended up majoring in illustration at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. Several years later, he received a Master's Degree in Illustration from Syracuse University. After getting his Bachelors Degree, he moved back to the Bay Area, and started freelancing as an illustrator, working for every conceivable type of client. Eventually, he began to find most of his work in the publishing world; first doing book jackets, and eventually, writing and illustrating children's books, which is what he still does to this day. Four months after graduating from Art Center, he was hired to teach Figure Drawing and Perspective at The Academy of Art in San Francisco. A year later, he was hired at San Jose State University to teach in their illustration department (now the Animation/Illustration Department) and I've been teaching there ever since. To date, he's published five books for children. John Clapp's Bio

Pre-Reading Activities: Show stages of a butterflies life. This will be after you review the stages of a butterfly.This can be done before or after a lesson on the life-cycle of a butterfly. Have students create a power point with pictures of each of the stages.


Post Reading Activities: This book can be in introduction into the monarch migration (Science) or an introduction/recap of the life-cycle of a butterfly.