Friday 19 April 2013

Review: 'The Exquisite Butterfly Companion' by Hazel Davies

The Exquisite Butterfly Companion: The Science and Beauty of 100 Butterflies by Hazel Davies, 2011, Sterling Publishing Company, $14.95, softbound but comes in a box, 88 pages. Category/Genre: reference. Cover: Exquisite. Where we got it: publisher. Where you can get it: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books-A-Million.


You can get this beautiful book on Nook for only $2.99; however, then you would be missing the 100 punch-out paper butterflies, as well as the protective (and equally exquisite) box and ribbon. It isn't strictly a children's book, but kids would love it; however, you might not want to hand it over to them until they're old enough to take proper care of it.

The book doesn't contain only butterflies, but branches out into moths: the Madagascan sunset moth (black with sunset colours), the owl moth (made up of golden-brown and black patterns), and the giant leopard moth (who has lovely black markings on a white background), to name only three of the 20 moth species depicted here.There are a total of 80 butterflies represented.

But the book isn't just beautiful photographs (though it may be worth the price for those alone); there's plenty of fascinating information to be had: chapters on the differences between butterflies and moths; life cycles; feeding; survival strategies, camouflages, and toxins; migration (including a section specifically on monarchs); and conservation. The introduction is full of interesting information, too; for instance, in the Middle Ages, butterflies were thought to be faeries intent on stealing butter and milk. 

At the back of the book are paper butterfly projects for you to do with the punch-out paper butterflies. You can turn one of your paper butterflies into a butterfly flyer, or you can make a glider or a mobile, or you can pin the paper butterflies and moths in a humane display (rather than pinning actual butterflies and moths).

Definitely try this one if you're interested in butterflies or moths. 

If you like this one, try: Butterflies and Moths by Barbara Taylor.

Don't forget to check out the other sites on the tour!

Paper Tigers (papertigers.org) 





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