Butterflies in My Stomach and Other School Hazards

by Serge Bloch

Book Overview

Award-winning artist Serge Bloch will have kids laughing their heads off at this child's-eye look at idiomatic expressions like 'ants in your pants', 'homework is for the birds', and 'cat got your tongue?'.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1402741588
• ISBN13: 9781402741586
• Release Date: August 2008
• Publisher: Sterling
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 0.61 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 8.7" x 6.6"
• Age Range: 4 years and up
• Grade Range: Preschool and higher

Customer Reviews

Charming, but a bit long

Reminds me of The King Who Rained by Fred Gwynne from when I was a kid and loved. I love the clear and simple pictures in t"Butterflies". I also like that the author has made all the figures of speech tie in to a topic kids can relate to--starting school. But I think many kids haven't heard of many of these expressions, so it's more fun for adults or older kids kids (upper elementary?) to read. Otherwise you first have to explain what being "in a pickle" means before kids would get the joke that the people are inside a pickle in the picture.

Cute book!

This is a very cute short story about a boy's first day at school. The 1-2 lines of text on each page include a commonly used metaphor like "cat got your tongue", "wrong side of the bed" and, of course, "butterflies in your stomach". The pictures, simple line drawings with color photo accents, visually depict the literal meaning of the phrase, like a cat running away with a pink tongue. You get the feeling you're seeing what the boy is imagining. I would say this book is better for introducing the idea of a figure of speech than curing first-day-of-school worries, although it could be a starting place for that discussion as well. Younger children who are still concrete thinkers may not grasp the humor of the literal vs figurative use of the words. I would say most children would enjoy this from about 1st grade on up; it would be fun for older kids when learning about metaphors in English class. It made me smile:)