See the light and check out this book

I was all into Claudia & Moth right up until Claudia paints the moth (literally). My thought is “Wouldn’t this kill the moth?” At the very least, even non-toxic paint for humans could be toxic to a moth. It is only at the end that Claudia learns that the moth has its own beauty that she decides to paint the month in a special way.  I would have written a different ending, but this is Jennifer Hansen Rolli’s choice. However, their illustrations are quite lovely.

The story is Claudia loves butterflies. So much in fact, she wants to take them home. Her mother tells her that would not be right, and her father gives her paints to now paint the butterflies. That way, when she is in the park, she can take the butterflies home via her paintings. In the winter, of course, they go away, and this makes her sad. She does not want to paint. Or put on her heaviest, ugly, brown sweater to keep warm, until she sees the moth chewed patterns in it. She plays with moth, paints the moth and then paints the moth.

As mentioned, the ending I would have liked to have seen is she sees all the beauty around her. The snow, the lamp light, the things in her room. The ending is short and seemed rushed.  The illustrations on the other hand are pleasing. There are lovely colors, the details surrounding the characters, the butterflies, the characters themselves. Each is there to move the story along, but also be their own piece of art.