Module 5: I Lived on Butterfly Hill

Pura Belpre Winner in 2015

Amazon. (2016). I lived on Butterfly Hill.
Retrieved from https://www.amazon.com/
Lived-Butterfly-Hill-Marjorie-Agosin/dp/
1416953442 

Book Summary: Celeste Marconi is an eleven year-old girl growing up in Chile in the 1970’s, a time of great political unrest. Because her parents supported ousted Presidente Alarcón’s social justice reforms, they must go into hiding and send Celeste to live with her tía Graciela in Maine for safety. There, Celeste experiences middle school as a refugee, learning a new language and how to make friends who don’t understand the heartbreak and anxiety Celeste is experiencing from the separation from her parents and her beloved Chile. Two years later, Celeste is able to return home as the military is no longer in power. But, much has changed on Butterfly Hill. Most notably, her parents are still in hiding, so Celeste and her friend Cristobál head out to find her father. With some help from friendly seafarers, Celeste is able to bring her father home, and her mother arrives home not long after. Life in Chile is still very fractured as fear circulates and friends and family members are still missing. Slowly, Chile moves back toward a leftist democracy with a new (female!) presidente, and Celeste experiences stability and release from fear first hand with her plight to improve literacy by teaching Nana Delfina how to read, winning the essay contest with an emphasis on teaching the rural Chileans how to read, and the library Abuela Frida helps Celeste to create. Celeste’s and Chile’s futures are on the right track.

APA Reference:

Agosín, M. (2014). I lived on butterfly hill. New York City: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.

Hassan (from Iraq), Inga-Lil (Swedish neighbor who has
adopted "the boys"and my mom's second cousin!),
and Achmed (from Yemen)

Impressions: I love, love, love the poetic lyricism of I Lived on Butterfly Hill! It serendipitously adds verisimilitude to Celeste’s narration as she dreams of becoming a writer, especially one who is heavily influenced by the poet Pablo Neruda. Additionally, the story as a whole is an important one as the world is once again faced with an influx of immigrants; the empathy this story teaches readers is extremely important. While I applaud Agosín’s content, it felt like it was never-ending. It may have made a better series with each part separated into a different book. However, I did read it on vacation, so I was often quite distracted and read it in a more choppy manner than I usually read books. This was an especially poignant read as I met two refugees while vacationing in Sweden: one who is a doctor from Iraq and one who is a tv reporter from Yemen. Their optimism was inspiring, and I felt my heart breaking for them, as they experience separation from their own families, and, like, a pause in their lives as they have to wait to receive permission from the Swedish government before they can start to learn Swedish and then, eventually, look for a job in their new homelands. [Picture taken by me.]

Professional Review:

Lanterman, J. (2014, May). I lived on butterfly hill [review of I lived on butterfly hill]. School Library Journal, 60(5), 102. Retrieved from http://www.slj.com/

Gr 5–8—Celeste is a sixth-grader living in Valparaíso, Chile. Her life is idyllic, full of a loving, multigenerational family, a home she finds inspiring, and good friends. Things take a drastic turn when Valparaíso starts being affected by what Celeste's parents call "earthquakes of the soul"—the country falls under the grip of a ruthless dictator who is determined to eliminate dissent. Friends start disappearing, and Celeste's parents, who are seen as subversives for their work helping the disadvantaged, go into hiding. Celeste is sent to live with her aunt in the United States, where she struggles to acclimate, and to understand the larger picture of what is happening at home. Agosín has woven a historical story that draws on her own life experiences, with themes of exile, the quest for justice, and the power of the written word to preserve history. The story mirrors, but does not directly reference, the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet and its accompanying turmoil. The language is poetic and full of imagery and, while the book is long, it moves at a smooth pace. Occasional illustrations reflect the mood of each phase of the story. This is Agosín's first book for a younger audience, and she has managed to capture the wide-eyed curiosity and confusion of her narrator. Given its length and weighty themes, this book is best suited for serious readers.

Library Use: I would love to include this book as a book club read with tweens and lead the conversation toward the Syrian refugee crisis that is currently happening.