A GOOD PLACE

Four insects set out on a mission to find the perfect home.

Bee thinks some flowers would do the trick, so the foursome install themselves in a cluster of yellow daisies growing out of a sidewalk; but human foot traffic poses danger, so they conclude that “this is not a good place.” Dragonfly suggests that they try living in a pond, but the one they find turns out to be a puddle in the middle of an unsuitably busy street. Beetle’s and Ladybug’s ideas also come to naught. “Hungry and sick and tired,” the little swarm succumb to despair. Luckily, they meet a sympathetic butterfly who knows “a good place to live.” The four friends follow Butterfly over a brick wall, where a better home than anything they could have ever imagined awaits. The simple text will draw young children in with its repetition and strong opportunities for making inferences. Instead of quotation marks, typographical shifts are used to distinguish narration from dialogue. Caregivers and teachers can use the book as a springboard to discuss insect habitats with youngsters. Cousins sticks to her trademark style of bold, simple, uncluttered gouache pictures against solid backgrounds. No human characters are shown, but Butterfly notes that a boy is responsible for creating the “good place” the insects ultimately embrace as their abode.

A subtly allegorical story about the universal search for home.