I loved the illustrations in this book. They were so lively and inviting and the expressions on all of the creatures faces were priceless. They really showed the emotions of the characters well. The story line was a tad bit confusing for me, mainly because there was so much going on throughout the pages and the thought bubbles made things a little easier to understand but it was still a great book. Owly and Wormy were two friends and at the beginning they saw butterflies and wanted to have them come to their forest. So they went and bought a plant that they thought would attract butterflies and put it in their forest. Then two little green bugs, also known as caterpillars, came along and Owly and Wormy were upset because they wanted butterflies and didn't think they were ever going to come. But then they got to know the caterpillars well and became friends and then the two caterpillars had to go away for a little bit and Owly and Wormy missed them a lot and then they came back as butterflies because they had to go through their life cycle of caterpillar to butterfly and it ended with them being happy and loving each other. The text to self connection I made was in my friend group in high school. At first, I didn't think I would ever want to be friends with some of the people because of the way they dressed or how they looked but once I got to know them, I realized they were really amazing people and we became the best of friends. Which is what Owly and Wormy experienced when they thought they wanted butterflies but ended up only getting caterpillars but befriended them anyways. The text to text connection I made was to an episode of Caillou I watched while babysitting one time. Caillou and his friends started talking with a new kid in the neighborhood and didn't think they would like him because he was new and not what they expected, but then Caillou started hanging out with him and realized that he really like this new kid and showed all his other friends how awesome he was too. So they all became friends even when they thought they wanted something different. The text to world connection I made was along the same lines. In life, you always expect or want something and you may not always get exactly what you planned but if you think about it and realize how blessed you are to get it, you start to accept it and end up loving the situation or people that you never thought you would. This is a great children's book because it makes them think that they need to open up their perspectives and let the unexpected take place because it really can be a beautiful thing! Of the piles of wordless picture books I read a month ago, the story this one told stands out the most vividly to me. Runton is a practiced hand at communicating wordlessly. This story is about friendships blossoming, friends leaving and then returning vastly changed. Runton tells a great story with a lot of emotional changes, all shown through images instead of words. The only words in the story are in a "We'll miss you" banner, which isn't too terribly difficult for non-verbal/ESL readers to figure out, even if they aren't at the stage of sounding out the letters.I love that there are speech bubbles and signs in this book that are filled entirely with easy to understand symbols. A lot of wordless picture books lose clarity or abandon character interaction entirely, but Runton tells a more complex story using these symbols.Definitely recommended to anyone looking for wordless picture books. A great precursor to the comic books!
What do You think about Owly & Wormy, Friends All Aflutter! (2011)?
Charming, inventive way to do graphic fiction for young children.
—Hijinee
