Winley, the spider, captures a beautiful butterfly in his newly constructed web. He is excited and getting ready to eat, when he realizes that this butterfly is not struggling to free himself like the other insects. Winley is intrigued. The butterfly teaches Winley that you can choose to be peaceful, in your mind, even in a stressful situation.
Winley, the spider, captures a beautiful butterfly in his newly constructed web. He is excited and getting ready to eat, when he realizes that this butterfly is not struggling to free himself like the other insects. Winley is intrigued. The butterfly teaches Winley that you can choose to be peaceful, in your mind, even in a stressful situation.
Winley, the lovable purple spider, worked all night carefully sculpting his web. Now, as the sun rested high in the sky, all this delightful arachnid had to do was relax and wait for the lunch bell, and it didn't have to wait long. The tug of a silken strand alerted the web weaver that something was stuck in its web. Upon inspection, Winley discovered a beautiful butterfly was trapped. However, unlike past insects, this butterfly didn't struggle or fight to free itself from the sticky prison. Winley remarked that the butterfly looked "almost peaceful," which was a bizarre reaction. Why wasn't it afraid? This puzzling question prompted Winley to ignore their hunger in the search for answers.
Have you ever heard someone say, "Go to your happy place," when facing a stressful or frightening situation? That is precisely what the butterfly in Winley and the Butterfly did. Even though their physical form was trapped in the web, their mind wasn't. It was free to take refuge on a sandy beach, in the woods, on a mountain with goats, or any other place that gave them inner peace. Their mind was totally at peace. Winley found the butterfly's calm approach to this sticky predicament enlightening and eventually freed the winged insect.
The butterfly was correct; our minds can travel great distances. They can travel to the highest peaks, the farthest depths in the oceans, to worlds that have yet to be discovered, or ones entirely made up through our imaginations. Ask your family or class, What's your happy place? Where does your mind travel to when you feel bored or scared? Ask young listeners to draw their answers and display them on your fridge and classroom wall.
Most insects caught in a web are slated to meet a spider's fangs, but this butterfly lucked out; Winley set them free. A very happy ending for the butterfly! Speaking of the cute 8-limbed arthropod, I adored the artist's decision to enlarge only two eyes and keep the rest itsy bitsy. The tiny ones were drawn in a curved line, almost giving the impression Winley was wearing a hairband. A unique but delightful choice! The addition of the dark purple nose was unexpected. It was cute but not a real characteristic of the arachnid, though. The picture book was, for the most part, error-free. I noted only a single punctuation mistake. Good job!
I recommend Winley and the Butterfly for children between the ages of 3 and 7. The delightful story opens a child's mind to the endless possibilities of their imagination, begging the question: Where will your mind, your imagination, take you next?