Today a caterpillar came to school in a jar.

Each day the children in the classroom watch in amazement as the caterpillar eats and grows, shedding its skin several times, until it disappears inside a shell that it creates for itself. For a long time nothing seems to be happening. But one day the chrysalis breaks open, and a beautiful Painted Lady butterfly flies out of the jar.

Deborah Heiligman and Bari Weissman depict the metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly with all the wonder of those seeing the transformation for the first time.