Binkle's Time to Fly

by Sharmila Collins, Carolina Rabei (Illustrator)

Overview

Binkle cant wait until he turns from caterpillar to butterfly. Hell finally have strong, beautiful wings to take him high into the sky! But when the day comes, something is terribly wrong. Why are Binkles wings so wispy and weak? How will he ever fly like the other butterflies if his wings are nothing like theirs?

Yet with some help and creativity, maybe theres more than one way to fly . . .

As this charming, gorgeously illustrated story reminds us, life can present us with unwelcome challenges, but inventive alternatives and the support of others can make all the difference.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781947888227
Publisher:	Westminster John Knox Press
Publication date:	02/04/2020
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	10.83(w) x 9.34(h) x (d)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Sharmila Collins was inspired to write this story by the bravery of her daughter and other children who face ongoing medical challenges. She is the founder of Cure EB, a charity dedicated to researching her daughters rare skin disease. Originally from Sri Lanka, she lives in the United Kingdom.

Carolina Rabei graduated with distinction from the Cambridge School of Art and has been honored with a Kate Greenaway Medal nomination. Her unique style employs traditional and digital techniques. She began her artistic pursuits in her home country of Moldova and now lives in the United Kingdom.

Editorial Reviews

"Agorgeously illustrated, heartwarming story that will touch the lives of many young children...It's ideal for those who feel a little different than the rest as well as those who struggle with life-altering conditions."—Manhattan Book Review

Manhattan Book Review

"[A]charming, gorgeously illustrated story for children...Thoroughly kid-friendly and impressively entertaining."—Midwest Book Review

Midwest Book Review

2019-10-27
A disabled butterfly's dreams come true.

Through his time as an egg and caterpillar and then waiting inside a cocoon, Binkle anticipates becoming a butterfly "with big and beautiful wings." But when he cracks the cocoon and emerges, his wings aren't what he expected. They're "weak and pale, silvery, wispy, and unfinished." Binkle's "sorrow and disappointed dreams" derive from his wings' lack of both function—they won't let him fly—and decoration—they have "holes instead of color." In a plot straddling the line between magical-disability cure and an insect version of a story about assistive technology, silkworms and spiders weave new thread into his wings, giving Binkle the power of flight; bees "inject" his wings with colors (how?). Binkle says he'll always be "different" from other butterflies, but there's no discernible difference aside from uneven coloration post-transformation. Binkle and his pals have expressive, mildly cartoony faces. Rabei textures her backgrounds, leaves, and nondisabled butterfly wings by leaving gaps in the fill, an intentional style that unfortunately mutes the visual difference between Binkle's original flimsy, hole-filled wings and everything else (including healthy wings). Collins' author's note explains her own daughter's excruciatingly painful and disabling condition; unlike her daughter, Binkle isn't in pain, and his disability has no (named) material consequences. Young readers will skip the note anyway—which is just as well, because it romanticizes sick children and their "positive spirit."

For an audience seeking a disappearing-disability arc. (Picture book. 4-6)

Kirkus Reviews