About this story:
This is a gorgeously illustrated Asian-American inspired metaphor of an individual accepting who he is. You follow a cricket who has just been told how ugly he is. He feels so bad about this comment that he doesn't even want to go out in the world and so what he's known best to do: play "music". As he goes out on his own, complaining about how he wishes he were as beautiful as a butterfly, he comes across many different insects who all tell him that he's wasting his time wishing he were someone else. This doesn't comfort him because he believes that all these creatures are beautiful in their own way, which makes him think that that's easy for them to say. He eventually comes across an "old, wise spider" who shows him that she thinks he's beautiful in his own way. Only then does he realize that beauty can be defined in so many different ways--you just have to find where your own inner-beauty comes from.
What comes from this book:
This story is for younger children, but it sends a message to children of all ages--especially children around the middle school age who are trying to figure out who they are. Every child at this age or younger can put themselves in the cricket's shoes. They aren't sure who they are and they have not yet found themselves. Their confidence is weakened by seeing the positive assets of others and wishing they had positive assets of their own. Eventually every kid will come to the conclusion that everyone has something about themselves that they can claim as their own, and just because they can see someone else's beauty, doesn't mean that that person isn't going through the same struggles trying to find out what that beauty is, as well.
Classroom uses for this book:
Even though this is a short picture book, the message is geared towards kids around the ages of twelve or thirteen. Finding oneself is a struggle most middle school-aged kids go through and having this book as a reminder can help alleviate this problem and show them that even thought they don't think so, that every person around them has or will go through some sort of problem like this. This can certainly be used as a reflection activity for kids middle school and below.
Further information about this book:
Howe, James, and Ed Young. I Wish I Were a Butterfly. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1987. Print. ISBN: 0-15-200470-X
This is a gorgeously illustrated Asian-American inspired metaphor of an individual accepting who he is. You follow a cricket who has just been told how ugly he is. He feels so bad about this comment that he doesn't even want to go out in the world and so what he's known best to do: play "music". As he goes out on his own, complaining about how he wishes he were as beautiful as a butterfly, he comes across many different insects who all tell him that he's wasting his time wishing he were someone else. This doesn't comfort him because he believes that all these creatures are beautiful in their own way, which makes him think that that's easy for them to say. He eventually comes across an "old, wise spider" who shows him that she thinks he's beautiful in his own way. Only then does he realize that beauty can be defined in so many different ways--you just have to find where your own inner-beauty comes from.
What comes from this book:
This story is for younger children, but it sends a message to children of all ages--especially children around the middle school age who are trying to figure out who they are. Every child at this age or younger can put themselves in the cricket's shoes. They aren't sure who they are and they have not yet found themselves. Their confidence is weakened by seeing the positive assets of others and wishing they had positive assets of their own. Eventually every kid will come to the conclusion that everyone has something about themselves that they can claim as their own, and just because they can see someone else's beauty, doesn't mean that that person isn't going through the same struggles trying to find out what that beauty is, as well.
Classroom uses for this book:
Even though this is a short picture book, the message is geared towards kids around the ages of twelve or thirteen. Finding oneself is a struggle most middle school-aged kids go through and having this book as a reminder can help alleviate this problem and show them that even thought they don't think so, that every person around them has or will go through some sort of problem like this. This can certainly be used as a reflection activity for kids middle school and below.
Further information about this book:
Howe, James, and Ed Young. I Wish I Were a Butterfly. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1987. Print. ISBN: 0-15-200470-X