Yellow Butterfly - by Oleksandr Shatokhin (Hardcover)

About the Book

"A wordless picture book portrayal of war seen through the eyes of a young girl who finds hope in the symbolism of yellow butterflies against the background of a pure blue sky. Using the colors of his national flag, Oleksandr Shatokhin has created a deeply emotional response to the conflict in Ukraine and provided a narrative full of powerful visual metaphors for readers to consider as they travel from the devastating effects of war to a place of hope for peace and the future. Back matter includes notes on sharing a wordless picture book and how to talk to children about war."--Publisher's description.

Book Synopsis

A Kirkus Reviews Best Picture Book of the Year

A USBBY Outstanding International Book 2024
★ "Provocative, powerful, breathtakingly beautiful." -STARRED REVIEW, Kirkus Reviews
★ "Both timely and timeless, evoking war and its aftermath without losing sight of hope."-STARRED REVIEW, Booklist
★ "Stark images in black and white lead this sympathetic wordless picture book about a girl who's enduring the war in Ukraine."-STARRED REVIEW, Foreword Review

"Breathtaking" -Ruta Sepetys, author of Between Shades of Gray
"A beautiful and heartbreaking tribute to the resiliency of people in wartime;"- School Library Journal
"A moving portrait."-New York Times

A wordless picture book portrayal of war seen through the eyes of a young girl who finds hope in the symbolism of yellow butterflies against the background of a pure blue sky. Using the colors of his national flag, Oleksandr Shatokhin has created a deeply emotional response to the conflict in Ukraine and provided a narrative full of powerful visual metaphors for readers to consider as they travel from the devastating effects of war to a place of hope for peace and the future.

A portion of the sale of this book will be donated to the Universal Reading Foundation who supply children's books to Ukraine.

Back matter includes notes on sharing a wordless picture book and how to talk to children about war.

Review Quotes

Kirkus Reviews - A Best Picture Book of the Year
A USBBY Outstanding International Book 2024

A Bank Street Best Book of the Year 2024

★ "Responding to the Russia-Ukraine war, Ukrainian artist Shatokhin's wordless narrative offers a child's-eye view of military conflict . . . There is much for readers to interpret through conversations and multiple readings in these artfully designed pages, . . . Shatokhin employs color, scale, perspective, and pattern to great effect in timely--and timeless--scenes that capture the protagonist's fear, fury, frustration, and ultimately hope. Exquisite compositions depict a yellow swarm of butterflies becoming the child's wings, lifting them to see a blue sky amid the destruction (yellow and blue being the colors of the Ukrainian flag) . . . Provocative, powerful, breathtakingly beautiful."-STARRED REVIEW, Kirkus Reviews

★ "Young readers . . . will connect with the emotion coursing through its apposite Expressionist illustrations. . . This moving story is both timely and timeless, evoking war and its aftermath without losing sight of hope."-STARRED REVIEW, Booklist

★ "Stark images in black and white lead this sympathetic wordless picture book about a girl who's enduring the war in Ukraine."-STARRED REVIEW, Foreword Reviews

"A beautiful and heartbreaking tribute to the resiliency of people in wartime; with support from adults, children will gain perspective on the need for hope under hardship."-School Library Journal

"Using the colors of his national flag, the Ukrainian author-illustrator of this wordless picture book paints a moving portrait of a young child whose hope for the future transforms a dark world of war into a bright blue sky where yellow butterflies flutter freely."-The New York Times

"Using modest means, the author evokes the darkness of war and a vision of peace. Quite an achievement for a wordless picture book!" -Uri Shulevitz, Caldecott medal winner and author of the autobiography Chance: Escape from the Holocaust, Memories of a Refugee Childhood

"Yellow Butterfly has realms of meaning for me. I grew up with the style and the hidden ideas just like that. It is all about freedom. My life is about freedom. And the War in Ukraine is about freedom. My adult life is formed by the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. Unfortunately, so is Oleksandr Shatokhin's 55 years later. The book is like looking into the mirror of my life ... in style and in the sentiment ... freedom is never given voluntarily by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Free Ukraine!" -Peter Sis, Caldecott Honor artist and creator of The Wall, Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain

"Breathtaking!" -Ruta Sepetys, New York Times bestselling author of Between Shades of Grey and I Must Betray You

"Via an emotionally tinged arc that moves from darkness to light, Ukrainian creator Shatokhin offers a visual prospect of a time when "yellow butterflies will flutter freely in free Ukraine." . . . [an] unflinching response to current events from the perspective of a single child."-Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Oleksandr Shatokhin is an artist and children's book illustrator who lives and works in Ukraine. On the first day of the Russian invasion of Ukarine, Oleksandr and his family left their home in Sumy, close to the Russian border, for Poltava. On the way there, they were held up in occupied Trostianka (Sumy region), but finally managed to travel through the green corridor to reach their friends in Poltava. Oleksandr's wife and child continued on to the safety of Poland. The author stayed in Ukraine. After two months apart the family was reunited in Western Ukraine and are living together in the city of Lviv, close to the Polish border.