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Butterfly Wings

A Hopeful Story About Climate Anxiety

Samuel Larochelle author Arielle Aaronson translator Eve Patenaude illustrator

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Greystone Books,Canada

Published:28th Sep '23

Should be back in stock very soon

Butterfly Wings cover

  • Print galley mailing
  • Submission to all major trade journals
  • Digital galley promoted on Edelweiss
  • Promoted at ALA, Children’s Institute, and other trade shows
  • Library promotion
  • International reviews 
  • Social media campaign and influencer outreach

    An honest exploration of climate anxiety, for kids 8+ and the adults who love them.

    When ten-year-old Florent overhears his mothers discussing the possibility of having another baby—and expressing their reluctance due to fears about the planet—his mind races off into a spiral of fear and guilt. Is the planet suffering because there are too many children—children like him? Do his parents think they made a mistake by bringing him into the world?

    One night, Florent dreams that the forests have all burned to the ground and that his parents are flying away on a spaceship, abandoning him on a ruined planet. When he wakes up, he decides to stop talking… until a discussion with his mothers changes everything.

    At a time when climate change is negatively impacting kids' mental health, Butterfly Wings provides:

    • Anxiety relief: provides a safe space for kids to process their anxiety, fear, and other emotions about the climate
    • A social-emotional learning tool for parents and teachers to talk about climate change with kids through a gentle and hopeful lens

    Through thoughtful words and gorgeous illustrations, this compassionate story confronts the very real challenge of climate anxiety in a way that is accessible to young readers. Butterfly Wings provides children with a way to understand their feelings, while also offering hope for a different future.



    FINALIST for the Prix Espiègle 2023, given by Quebec school libraries to reward daring children's books of great literary quality.

    “An invaluable mental health and ecological awareness tool... highly recommended."
    —Midwest Book Review

    Strikes the tricky balance of acknowledging the reality of the climate crisis without falling into the despair it can certainly engender...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."
    —Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books


    • Short-listed for Prix Espiègle 2023 (Canada)

    ISBN: 9781778400827

    Dimensions: unknown

    Weight: unknown

    104 pages