Butterfly Wings: A Hopeful Story About Climate Anxiety by Samuel Larochelle (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Butterfly Wings: A Hopeful Story About Climate Anxiety by Samuel Larochelle Kate Quealy-Gainer, Editor Larochelle, Samuel Butterfly Wings: A Hopeful Story About Climate Anxiety; illus. by Eve Patenaude; tr. from the French by Arielle Aaronson. Greystone, 2023 [104p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781778400827 $19.95 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 3-6 Florent is a happy, if a bit sensitive, kiddo, content to play with friends and bask in his mothers' unconditional love. One night, however, he overhears them discussing the possibility of having another child and wondering if it's fair to bring a life into a world that is quite literally on fire with a climate crisis. Like plenty of ten-year-olds, Florent doesn't quite grasp the nuance of the situation, believing his moms would rather have not had him and that he himself is a burden on the environment. Plagued by nightmares of a dying world and unwilling to worry his parents with his fears, he simply stops talking and retreats to his room. Eventually, however, his anxieties overwhelm him, and he tells his moms, who, for their part, offer a reassuring optimism rather than blind hope. The book strikes the tricky balance of acknowledging the reality of the climate crisis without falling into the despair it can certainly engender, and Florent's moms' grief for the safe world they had imagined for him is met by a sturdy determination that all is not lost. Descriptions of Florent's pain and sadness are visceral and urgent, made even more so by Patenaude's memorably symbolic art, as Florent is crushed by a deer with fiery antlers or choked by a burning tree. Thin linework and light, cloudy textures imbue scenes with a hazy dreaminess that captures the surreal, lonely experience of feeling helpless in the face of tragedy. There are no pat answers here, but the ending buoys the story with the possibilities of a radically different future that is perhaps not as grim as Florent—and others—fear it will be. Copyright © 2023 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois