Last month, BayNews began listing suggestions for Storytimes to go along with the Catch the Reading Bug Summer Reading theme. Of course, you can (and should) expand the theme to include other topics besides insects. To me, it naturally lends itself to all types of science and environmental themes, including habitats, recycling, nature, etc.

Many of us read Eric Carle's THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR on a regular basis for storytime. Use that as the foundation of a whole storytime on butterflies. For a craft, one of the simplest projects is a butterfly made from a coffee filter. Use watercolor paints to decorate the coffee filter (the filter paper causes the paint to run and looks beautiful). Then, use a pipecleaner to a cinch the coffee filter in the middle to form the wings, and curl the ends of the pipecleaner to form antennae.

Those titles marked T will be suitable for a Toddler Storytime as well as the traditional preschool storytime.

Carle, Eric. THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR. T
Listeners will chant the days of the week, the food items, and the repeated “but he was still hungry!” when reading this storytime classic.

Swope, Sam. GOTTA GO! GOTTA GO!
A little caterpillar knows she needs to get to Mexico, but doesn't know that is she is going to become a Monarch Butterfly.

Brawley, Helen. PERCIVAL THE PLAIN LITTLE CATERPILLAR.
A book about colors that has a great story about how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly.

Millbourne, Anna. THE BUTTERFLY.
Lovely soft watercolors illustrate this very simple look at a butterfly's life cycle.

Edwards, Pamela Duncan. CLARA CATERPILLAR.
An ususual story about a cream-colored, plain butterfly, who finds out she is just as good as the colorful butterflies.

Kroll, Virginia. BUTTERFLY BOY.
Set in Mexico, a boy and his grandfather look for butterflies.

Horacek, Petr. BUTTERFLY, BUTTERFLY.
Lucy's garden is full of various insects, including butterflies.

Tarbett, Debbie. TEN WRIGGLY, WIGGLY CATERPILLARS. T
Pop-ups and 3-D elements highlight this counting book.