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