SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
SLJ Blog Network +
  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About/Contact
  • Fusenews
  • Reviews
  • Librarian Previews
  • Best Books
    • Top 100
    • Best Books of 2022
    • Best Books of 2021
    • Best Books of 2020
    • Best Books of 2019
    • Best Books of 2018
    • Best Books of 2017
    • Best Books of 2016
    • Best Books of 2015
    • Best Books of 2014
    • Best Books of 2013
  • Fuse 8 n’ Kate
  • Videos
  • Press Release Fun

October 16, 2009 by Betsy Bird

Review of the Day: Adios, Oscar! by Peter Elwell

October 16, 2009 by Betsy Bird   2 comments

Adios, Oscar!: A Butterfly Fable
By Peter Elwell
Blue Sky Press (an imprint of Scholastic, Inc.)
$16.99
ISBN: 978-0-545-07159-8
Ages 4-8
On shelves now

Kids fill their brains with a lot of junk. A lot of that junk never ends up being useful. It just sits in brain and congeals there for years on end until one day, for whatever reason, there’s a spark and PING! A connection is made. Here I now hold in my hand Adios, Oscar! by Peter Elwell. Now when I first held this book, the cover started to muck with the ancient junk memories I had in my brain. I remembered watching old 20s and 30s cartoons on The Disney Channel as a child. Ancient cartoons where animals wore spats and heels, eyes consisted of emotional dots, and it wasn’t peculiar to see a ukulele pulled out for a musical number once in a while. Faith and begorrah! Author/illustrator Peter Elwell has tapped into an old vein of memory with a different twist on the whole Very Hungry Caterpillar tale. Fun to read with the requisite visual smarts, this book is a mix of fact and fiction. There’s a bit more fiction than fact, which may cause some problems, but in the end it’s a pretty enjoyable read.

One day, while sitting in a plant in a pot, a caterpillar named Oscar makes the acquaintance of a high flying butterfly by the name of Bob. Bob’s on his way to Mexico, and he assures little Oscar that one day he’ll have a pair of wings too and can follow. Bob is intrigued by this notion, and even though the other caterpillars mock him, he teams up with a local bookworm Edna to learn about butterflies and Mexico. By the time he’s ready to go for a long sleep, Bob has learned a lot of Spanish words and phrases. But oh no! When he awakes, Bob discovers that he’s not a butterfly at all but a measly moth! Yet buoyed by Edna’s faith in him, Bob determines to go to Mexico anyway. And if you happen to travel to Mexico someday and see a moth sitting there, you might hear him say, "Mi nombre es Oscar!" loud and happy and proud. A section at the end provides English to Spanish translations as well as some useful facts about butterflies and moths.

SCROLL TO KEEP READING THIS POST

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

  Oh, it’s a jolly little affair, helped in no small part by Elwell’s fabulous watercolors. And boy does he hit all the great tropes. The fellow caterpillars sport crooked crowns, baseball caps, and straw boaters. Butterflies, in contrast, always have black and white outfits and bear bows, bow ties, bowlers, and pearls. And as I mentioned before, the book looks straight out of an old cinematic cartoon. Betty Boop could walk onto the page and you wouldn’t blink twice. At the same time, there’s much to be said about the way Elwell captures the shifting shades of a butterfly or the papery quality of a moth’s wings when at rest. There are humorous details to catch on each page as well. Oscar sports a monarch butterfly shirt that is wretchedly removed when he discovers what he really is. The "diner" where the moths eat consists of a drawer (the "Top Drawer Diner" ho ho) with two very holey socks hanging behind the counter. I even love how Oscar’s body is green, until his transformation, and then becomes uniformly gray. There’s a lot to enjoy here, and Elwell makes it easy to do so.

Now there are certain subjects you can write a picture book about and expect a certain level of success. Write about fire trucks and you’ll have five-year-olds like little pint-sized zombies clawing at your legs to get at it. Write about dinosaurs and [see: previous fire truck statement about small zombies]. Write about butterflies, however, and you get a different crowd. The "teachable moment" crowd, if you will. Cause if there’s one unit teachers just luuuv to teach, it’s the old caterpillar to butterfly routine. I get `em in my library all the time. Children’s librarians are used to pulling every possible metamorphosis-related title off our shelves for these teachers. So it makes for a nice change of pace to be able to pull out a book that sort of upsets the reader’s expectations. I’d bet that there are a lot of kids out there unaware that moths also come from creepy crawlies. A forward thinking teacher might even *shudder* attempt to raise moths in a classroom as well as butterflies, just to show the differences. Might, I said.

Granted, the book makes a couple uncomfortable leaps to get where it’s going. At one point Oscar wakes up on a leaf to feel wings on his back, and the opposite page has his fellow moths discussing with him their newfound state inside a closet (while he is still outdoors). It makes more sense if you remember that Oscar’s in a flowerpot on the windowsill, but for a second there you get a bit confused. Then you get a little more confused because if Oscar’s a moth then wouldn’t he and the other caterpillars have been eating socks and wool all this time? Elwell mentions at the end that moth larvae eat socks and wool and not grown-up moths like in this story, so there are some creative liberties to contend with. What tends to kill a "fable" of this sort is when it deviates from fact into fancy. As a reader, I didn’t particularly mind, but I can see this sort of detail getting to a teacher who’s trying to teach preschoolers and doesn’t want fiction clogging up the facts. On the other hand, I see the book more as a title that reinforces information about butterflies than introducing information about moths. But that could just be me justifying things because I like the pretty pictures.

But let us not forget that a Professor of Biology at Dalton State College helped Mr. Elwell with this book. And let us not forget that it is, after all, a book where bugs were straw hats and croon at the moon. We’re not dealing with strict facts here, after all. I still wouldn’t have minded if that image of Nibbles eating that leaf had been removed, but whatchagonnado? Fact of the matter is that I really enjoy reading this book. I enjoy reading it aloud and I enjoy looking at it. Kids will definitely feel the same way. With Spanish and butterfly facts to sustain you, this is one of the most original flutterby tales out there today. Fun. Frolicsome. Flighty.

On shelves now.

Source: Reviewed from ARC provided by publisher.

Other Blog Reviews:

  • The Reading Zone

  • Booky Kids

  • Kids Lit

  • Picture Books, Novels and Bios, Oh My!


Professional Reviews:

  • School Library Journal


Misc:

  • According to a comment left at The Reading Zone, Edna the bookworm got her name from Edna St. Vincent Millay.

  • The book has also been release in Spanish, so that’ll make for a nice addition to your collection, I should think.

Filed under: Reviews

SHARE:

Read or Leave Comments

About Betsy Bird

Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

March 2023

Review of the Day - Trees: Haiku from Roots to Leaves by Sally M. Walker, ill. Angela McKay

by Betsy Bird

March 2023

Review of the Day: Hands by Torrey Maldonado

by Betsy Bird

February 2023

Review of the Day: Afterward, Everything Was Different by Rafael Yockteng, ill. Jairo Buitrago

by Betsy Bird

February 2023

Review of the Day: Nearer My Freedom: The Interesting Life of Olaudah Equiano by Himself created by Monica Edinger and Lesley Younge

by Betsy Bird

February 2023

Review of the Day: The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams by Daniel Nayeri, ill. Daniel Miyares

by Betsy Bird

ADVERTISEMENT

SLJ Blog Network

100 Scope Notes

BLUE FLOATS AWAY Turns Two!

by Travis Jonker

A Fuse #8 Production

Faced with a Parenting Dilemma? Write a Book About It! Jacob Grant Comes By to Talk About NO FAIR

by Betsy Bird

Good Comics for Kids

Pardalita | Preview

by Brigid Alverson

Heavy Medal

March suggestions: early Mock Newbery possibilities

by Emily Mroczek-Bayci

Teen Librarian Toolbox

Post-It Note Reviews: Wish granters, brotherly mischief, a high-stakes scavenger hunt, and more!

by Amanda MacGregor

The Classroom Bookshelf

The Classroom Bookshelf is Moving

by Erika Thulin Dawes

The Yarn

Jarrett and Jerome Pumphrey Try Something New

by Travis Jonker

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Articles on SLJ

Share Black Stories

Gregory Maguire and David Litchfield Weave a Colorful Tapestry of Life in 'Cress Watercress'

Regrowth and Resilience: Debut Author Anna Orentstein-Cardona Scores an SLJ Star with 'The Tree of Hope'

'Salt Magic,' 'The Legend of Auntie Po,' and 'Run: Book One' Among 2022 Eisner Award Winners

SLJ and Penguin Random House Create Poster Supporting the Freedom to Read

About Betsy Bird

Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sergio says

    October 16, 2009 at 11:31 am

    “Review of the Day: Adios, Oscar! by Peter Newell”

    Peter Newell is not doing books anymore!

  2. Fuse #8 says

    October 17, 2009 at 7:42 pm

    Zut! So he ain’t. Good catch.

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

  • External Links

    • A Fuse #8 Production Reviews
  • Follow This Blog

    Enter your email address below to receive notifications of new blog posts by email.

    This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

    This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

    Primary Sidebar

    • News & Features
    • Reviews+
    • Technology
    • School Libraries
    • Public Libraries
    • Age Level
    • Ideas
    • Blogs
    • Classroom
    • Diversity
    • People
    • Job Zone

    Reviews+

    • Book Lists
    • Best Books
    • Media
    • Reference
    • Series Made Simple
    • Tech
    • Review for SLJ
    • Review Submissions

    SLJ Blog Network

    • 100 Scope Notes
    • A Fuse #8 Production
    • Good Comics for Kids
    • Heavy Medal
    • Neverending Search
    • Teen Librarian Toolbox
    • The Classroom Bookshelf
    • The Yarn

    Resources

    • 2022 Youth Media Awards
    • The Newbery at 100: SLJ Celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Award
    • Special Report | School Libraries 2021
    • Summer Reading 2021
    • Series Made Simple Spring 2021
    • SLJ Diverse Books Survey
    • Summer Programming Survey
    • Research
    • White Papers / Case Studies
    • School Librarian of the Year
    • Mathical Book Prize Collection Development Awards
    • Librarian/Teacher Collaboration Award

    Events & PD

    • In-Person Events
    • Online Courses
    • Virtual Events
    • Webcasts
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Subscribe
    • Media Inquiries
    • Newsletter Sign Up
    • Content Submissions
    • Data Privacy
    • Terms of Use
    • Terms of Sale
    • FAQs
    • Diversity Policy
    • Careers at MSI


    COPYRIGHT © 2023


    COPYRIGHT © 2023