When a Butterfly Goes to School

Written by Laura Purdie Salas
Illustrated by Chloe Niclas
Publisher: Creative Editions, 2025
ISBN: 978-1568463988 14 pages

Description

Classes. Lunch. Quiet time. The routine of school is a common experience for children. However, when a butterfly makes a migratory rest stop outside a school, such a typical day turns extraordinary. Her flashy wings provide a lesson in art. She zips and sips her way through lunch in the garden. Her life story of metamorphosis becomes history in the making. Young readers and observers will delight in watching the day unfold and be encouraged to search for the unexpected in their own lives.

When a butterfly goes to school…
art class is the flash
of her wings.
Black.
Yellow.
Blue.

Journal Reviews

[W]hen a butterfly makes a migratory rest stop outside a school, such a typical day turns extraordinary. Her flashy wings provide a lesson in art. She zips and sips her way through lunch in the garden. Her life story of metamorphosis becomes history in the making. Young readers and observers will delight in watching the day unfold and be encouraged to search for the unexpected in their own lives...especially and particularly recommended for family, daycare center, preschool, Kindergarten, and community library board book collections for children ages 4-6.

—Midwest Book Review

A beautifully illustrated exploration of a butterfly’s day at school, this title invites children to imagine what school might look like through the eyes of a butterfly.

—School Library Journal

This delightful board book uses vivid art to illustrate a “school day” for a butterfly. Mimicking the sequence of a pre-K child’s day, the butterflies head off to school through a wreath of flowers and then flutter their wings to create ribbons of color in art class...Children will be fascinated by the detailed art on each pair of pages with flying elephants, tiny butterfly eggs, and even an explanation of the butterfly’s metamorphosis from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly...A lovely gift for a young child fascinated by nature.

—Children's Literature

Reader Reactions

[A] wonder-filled immersion into imagining what it would be like if butterflies went to school. "Art class is a flash of her wings...her lunchroom is the colorful garden." A board book that will enchant children with its whimsical and adventurous feel, When a Butterfly Goes to School is also packed with life-cycle words like egg, caterpillar and chrysalis...one of my 12 month old's favorites.

—Where the Board Books Are

Have a wee one in your life? This pair of books [A Home Like This and When a Butterfly Goes to School] would be a lovely addition to your own snuggle time.

—Jilanne Hoffmann (for Perfect Picture Book Friday)

Videos

Playlist

1 Videos

When a Butterfly Goes to School book trailer

0:26

Downloadable Activities

Butterfly Art Class Coloring Page

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butterfly_history_coloring page_thumbnail

Butterfly History Class Coloring Page

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Butterfly Lunchroom Adult Coloring Page

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Butterfly storytime mini poster_thumbnail

Hang a storytime mini-poster

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Photo Gallery

20250304_Celebration Churros for Home and Butterfly

More for Educators or Writers

My Small Reads Roundup of school poems, including a few not pictured below
My page for my other school-themed book, Clover Kitty Goes to Kittygarten
Make a butterfly kite
Learn about butterflies and moths of North America
All about monarch migration
"Tigers on the Wind" - The Eastern tiger swallowtail (the type featured in When a Butterfly Goes to School)
Art project: coffee filter butterflies
Art project: butterfly suncatchers
Butterfly body parts: an anatomy video & activity sheet
Fun way to show the butterfly life cycle
Watch & listen to this butterfly life cycle song (warning--it might get stuck in your head!), plus try any of the awesome preschool activities here
Fun suggestion from author Jilanne Hoffmann: Imagine what school would be like for a bear, lion, or beaver, or any other animal of your choice. For example, what might a beaver’s art class be? What would be its lunchroom? Its life story?

How this Book Got Started

An editor at Creative Editions approached me to see if I might want to write board books about 1) animal homes and 2) school. Absolutely! For the school-related board book, I was playing with different ways an animal could visit a preschool and experience some of the daily activities. I tried a butterfly, a migrating duck blown off course, and a bear. The butterfly version was the winner, though it still went through several more revisions. And Butterfly began as a monarch, but illustrator Chloe Niclas transformed her into an Eastern tiger swallowtail. So gorgeous!