This big, beautiful butterfly has won people’s hearts the world over.
The way a single specimen teeters on the merest of leaf-ends to place its egg, how the hatchling caterpillar doggedly demolishes its host-plant, how later it quivers and folds itself up inside a glittering jewel-casing that appears by magic before our very eyes . . .
And then the emergence of a completely transformed winged creature, a creature of stunning saturated hues, a creature that floats and lurches mid-air. . .
Causing us to hold our breath, hold the moment.
Written by award-winning Anne-Marie Florian and illustrated by one of New Zealand’s leading illustrators, Alistair Hughes.