The woolly bear caterpillar by Julia Donaldson & Yuval Zommer

As the woolly bear caterpillar eats her way through the garden, particularly the dandelion leaves, she wonders what sort of moth she will become. When the gardener pulls up all the dandelions in her part of the green, she is forced to travel further and in doing so meets other caterpillars. The first she sees is a sycamore caterpillar, singing a song about how handsome she is. Rebuffed by her assertions that the woolly bear caterpillar will be plain and ordinary, she moves on and spies a red spotted caterpillar. He is also singing about how handsome he is, inviting people to look at his beauty. Woolly bear tells him that she too will soon be a moth and the red spotted moth tells her dismissively that she will be dull. And on it goes, the woolly bear caterpillar meeting caterpillars all convinced that they are the most beautiful.

But she feels the need to slow down, crawls under a leaf and begins to spin her cocoon. In the garden the others do the same thing, and the sycamore, puss and vapourer moths hatch from their cocoons to reveal a trio of very dull looking moths indeed. They flutter off to see how the woolly bear caterpillar is doing and are amazed to see her emerge as a bright, colourful beautiful moth, the queen of the air.

The vivacious illustrations will attract the readers, encouraging them to scan each page carefully, noting the range of things in the garden, the other animals, leaves and flowers, the gardener’s hand being the only intrusion from the world outside. I loved spying the different things illustrated, and the detailed observation of the ways of caterpillars and their brief lives.

Children will learn lots about caterpillars, and this information is reprised in a booklet in the back of the book, a non fiction summary of the life cycle of caterpillars and moths which will intrigue and educate young readers.

Themes: Life cycles, Caterpillars, Moths, Garden.

Fran Knight