The Butterfly

Title: The Butterfly
Author: Patricia Polacco
Illustrator: Patricia Polacco
Type:  Fiction
Approximate Interest Level: 4th-12th
Publisher: Puffin
Date of Publication: 2009
ISBN: 978-0142413067

Synopsis: Monique lives in a small French village during WWII.  Nazis are occupying the village.  One night she wakes and sees what she thinks is a ghost in her room.  The ghost turns out to be a Jewish child, named Sevrine that is being hidden along with her mother and father by Monique’s family.  The two girls become friends even though Sevrine has been told many times not to leave her hiding place.  One night, a neighbor sees the two girls playing.  The families must rush to find a new hiding place.

Lesson plan link

Possible Teaching Points: 1) World War II, 2) Nazi occupation, 3) the Holocaust