Yellow Butterfly

Oleksandr Shatokhin is an artist and children's book illustrator who lives and works in Sumy, Eastern Ukraine, close to the border with Russia.

A Kirkus Reviews Best Picture Book of the Year
A USBBY Outstanding International Book 2024
A Bank Street Best Book of the Year 2024
"Provocative, powerful, breathtakingly beautiful." -STARRED REVIEW, Kirkus Reviews
"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 Review
"Breathtaking" -Ruta Sepetys, author of Between Shades of Gray
"A beautiful and heartbreaking tribute to the resiliency of people in wartime;"- School Library Journal
"A moving portrait."-New York Times
A wordless picture book portrayal of war seen through the eyes of a young girl who finds hope in the symbolism of yellow butterflies against the background of a pure blue sky. Using the colors of his national flag, Oleksandr Shatokhin has created a deeply emotional response to the conflict in Ukraine and provided a narrative full of powerful visual metaphors for readers to consider as they travel from the devastating effects of war to a place of hope for peace and the future.

A portion of the sale of this book will be donated to the Universal Reading Foundation who supply children's books to Ukraine.
Back matter includes notes on sharing a wordless picture book and how to talk to children about war.