LitPick Review
Paper Butterflies is a riveting book about a young girl named June and the abuse she suffers at the hands of her stepmother. June wishes she could speak up and tell someone, anyone, about her cruel stepmother, but how could she when her own father doesn't believe her? Everything changes, though, when June meets a young boy named Blister. June can escape her stepmother, if only for a few hours, when she spends time with Blister at their secret place. But one night everything is ruined. Can June tell Blister the truth about how bad things really are at home? Can the paper butterflies in her stomach give her the strength to finally open up?
Opinion:
Paper Butterflies is an exquisite book that really makes the reader feel like a part of the story. It keeps the reader guessing as to what happened to June. It shows another side of abuse that isn't really talked about often, and it's interesting to see this different take on a difficult subject. It's not always the parent doing the abuse—sometimes its siblings, too, and at times the parent forces the siblings to take part in the abuse. Just because the focus of the abuse might be on one child, this doesn't mean the other children in the house aren't just as terrified.
