The Butterflies' Promise

Terri L. Lyons is an elementary-school librarian, who also teaches in
the Distance Education Department and specializes in readers’ advisory
services at Mohawk College.

The Butterflies’ Promise is a wonderfully evocative story of a little
girl and her very special grandfather. Ovenell-Carter has depicted the
often-scary changes brought on by aging in a touching and nonthreatening
manner that should appeal to readers of all ages.

Milly’s grandpa has a garden bigger than a whole city block and
together they tend it. For both, though, the special rewards are the
“flying flowers”— the butterflies that are drawn to the garden
each summer. But when Grandpa has a stroke, he must leave his beloved
garden and move to a nursing home. For Milly, the changes brought on by
Grandpa’s illness are frightening and disturbing. The next spring,
when she visits him in the nursing home, her father has a plan to help
both Milly and her grandfather to adjust to the new situation. Milly’s
father builds a special garden that Grandpa can tend from his
wheelchair. As the garden grows, the butterflies return. The story ends
with the dramatic fall gathering of migrating monarch butterflies.

This intergenerational tale deals honestly with the consequences of
aging for families. The illustrations are as brightly colored as the
summer butterflies. On the final page of the book, young readers are
shown how to attract butterflies to their own gardens. Highly
recommended.