Hello, Little One: A Monarch Butterfly Story

The author teaches us about friendship, imagination, patience, acceptance and the cycle of life in this beautifully written and well-illustrated book. She also teaches us to be in the present moment. “For now, enjoy the yummy green leaves!”

This is a lovely and beautiful book , however, It is surprising to me that the author and illustrator took the time to write this lovely book to educate children about monarchs, But was very vague about an important part of their life cycle! The “J” hanging monarch was only touched upon, but there was no illustration. If it’s true that a picture is worth 1,000 words , how sad that in a book with such gorgeous illustrations, that the “J”was left only to the child’s imagination!

Little Caterpillar begins life in a world of green until he sees Orange, a magnificent monarch butterfly. Orange befriends Little Caterpillar and explains the ways of monarchs. Little Caterpillar loves to hear about the trees, water, and laughing children that Orange sees and longs to join Orange in flight. Sadly, Orange explains that she will not be there when it is time for Little Caterpillar to emerge from its chrysalis in this beautiful story of friendship, loss, and transformation.Why you need to add HELLO, LITTLE ONE to your bookshelf:1. The lyrical, uplifting language in HELLO, LITTLE ONE, is beautiful to read aloud.2. This friendship story between Orange and Little Caterpillar gently develops with question and answer dialog, as the older monarch encourages and instructs her young friend.3. The author’s experience of working with young children has resulted in a book that honors a child’s intelligence and curiosity about the natural world. It is field with information, wisdom, and heart.4. The last page includes an illustrated life cycle of the monarch butterfly which is just right for young children.5. You will want to spend extra time exploring the rich and luscious illustrations. Orange and Little Caterpillar are shown expressing their emotions in a soft and natural way. The vibrant colors of the insects and their world are a perfect tribute to these beautiful creatures.

Beautiful illustrations and wonderful story.

This book by Zeena Pliska is a poignant and simple introduction to the circle of life, showing grief, dying, living life to its fullest, and leading the next generation. Little One is a young caterpillar who forms an important friendship with Orange, a butterfly. I especially loved the symbolism of Little One's new butterfly wings being wet and dripping like tears. I could feel their sadness and uncertainty in that moment of reentering the world from a cocoon and coping with the loss of their older butterfly friend. And yet, they take off and fly and it is exhilarating and the life cycle continues. This book is powerful because of the equally evocative illustrations by Fiona Halliday. I love the world of green that Little One enters. Orange pops against this scenery and the scenes of both butterflies flying over landscapes are simply breathtaking. I'm not an artist so it's hard to explain but the illustrations somehow look realistic and painterly at the same time. There were moments when I simply had to pause and take in a spread. Such a beautiful book and definitely a good one to share with a young child.

This is a great book. It is well written for the age group and beautifully illustrated. My 3yo grandson loves how the caterpillar talks to the older butterfly and how the older butterfly takes the time to talk to the caterpillar even though he is small. We use the story to discuss growing up and how all little ones want to do what older butterflies are doing and they will get to if they focus on being good caterpillars. He does not quite get the chrysalis aspect of the transformation. But loves when the caterpillar turns into the butterfly. He gets the link of growing up. We are now working on some of the death messages with him as well. This is such a great work of art and a book to use to help young people understand life. I highly recommend it.

Zeena Pliska's HELLO LITTLE ONE is a beautiful, sweet and lyrical story about the cycle of the Monarch Butterfly--but also about the cycle of life, exploring themes of friendship, grief, and hope. I loved the relationship between Little One and Orange, and I loved learning about the Monarch Butterfly through this emotionally resonant story. The art is also gorgeously vivid, which makes for a wonderful reading experience.

My 5 - year old grandson and I met the author on Zoom (prek). She is vivacious and fun and so is this book. Also the illustrations are awesome. So I ordered the book and we had a wonderful time reading the story together!