The Rock and the Butterfly

Illustrated by Brooke Kerrigan
Published by Orca Book Publishers


What is a butterfly to do when the rock they’ve always counted on being there isn’t? A gentle and comforting story about friendship and loss

Age Level

Pre-school to Grade Two

Curriculum Connections

Friendship, Emotions, Death

Activities

Write your own story about two friends who are very different from each other. They might be human — or they might not be.

Talk with a parent, a teacher, or older friend about what makes you sad, and about what you do or might do to help you feel less sad.

Study the illustrations of the butterfly and discuss how they help convey what the butterfly is feeling.

Study the illustrations and discuss how the illustrator may have decided the rock disappears. Are there other explanations for how a rock can disappear that the illustrator might have chosen to hint at?

Learn all you can about butterflies -- how they fly, especially in the wind, how long they live, their life cycle, and anything else you're curious about -- and tell your class, friends, and/or family all about them.

Reviews

Kerrigan’s artwork complements Stinson’s simple, lyrical text... a poetic, attractive package [that] will soothe children grappling with grief. A moving, thoughtful meditation on life and loss.

Kirkus

... can help to open the conversation about loss... a washed pastel palette which expresses the emotions of the story in darkening and brightening colours.

CM

Kathy Stinson... always finds a way to tell important stories but in discrete plots and, often, with few words that are staggeringly impactful. It may be a story about a rock and a butterfly, but it goes beyond that simple premise, and speaks to the connection that bolsters life.

CanLit for Little Canadians