жовтий метелик (Yellow Butterfly: Blog Post #4 - Matthew Bergs)

    On Saturday, November 18, 2023, I attended the annual convention for the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), held here in Columbus. This convention was a great insight into the current publishing market for school-aged readers, making it valuable to attend as a writer and illustrator. While I was there, I took part in an Expert Class session hosted by Publishers Spotlight, an organization that works to promote the publication of international and independent published work. In this roundtable setting, I had the opportunity to learn about Red Comet Press from their publisher, Angus Yuen-Killick. Angus shared a number of international books that he published for English speaking audiences, such as the yet-to-be-released Japanese picture book Doshaburi, and the novelty French guide, 101 Ways to Read a Book. But the one he was most interested in sharing, and the one I want to share with you, was the Ukrainian picture book Yellow Butterfly, created by artist Oleksandr Shatokhin. 


Cover Artwork for the English release of Yellow Butterfly. Source: The Marginalian


Yellow Butterfly is a wordless story following a young child navigating her neighborhood, which has been forever scarred by war. Beginning in black and white, we see the child walk through wartorn spaces, and deal with emotions of sadness, loss, and anger. As she continues forward, a bright yellow butterfly appears, and begins to light within the child a spirit of hope and freedom. More butterflies appear and begin to lift away missile shells and rubble, healing the landscape in a culmination of bright yellow wings against a field of blue sky. Yellow Butterfly was created by Shatokhin in 2023, in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As his family fled, Shatokhin stayed in Ukraine and created illustrations that protested the war (Let’s Talk Durham). In an interview with the blog site Let’s Talk Picture Books, he states:


“I saw with my own eyes the destroyed homes, the troops of the occupiers, the frightened migrants forced to leave their homes. But at the same time, I see the strength and unity of Ukrainians in this struggle every day. It is also depicted in the book – all those feelings and emotions are in there.” (LTPB).



One of many illustrations Shatokhin made in protest of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Source: Let’s Talk Durham


The choice to depict his story without words is reflective of these feelings and emotions as well. Shatokhin explains that for a topic as weighty as war, words can sometimes be superfluous. By choosing to depict this narrative in silence, it creates a space for the reader to connect with their own emotions, and use those feelings to guide them as they read (Malilang). No matter what emotions one brings to the story, the meaning of the ending, punctuated with the vibrant colors of Ukraine’s flag, is always one of hope for the future. 


A two page spread depicting charged emotion in Yellow Butterfly. Source: LTPB


Through Ret Comet Press, Shatokin’s work has been adapted for an English audience, in a way that supports Shatokhin’s wish to share this narrative with a wider audience. One way that publisher Angus Yuen-Killick made the story more accessible was by including back matter that walks adults through reading a wordless book, and addressing sensitive topics with younger audiences (Baturevych, Sapozhnykova). Another artistic choice was reformatting the cover as a dust jacket, allowing the book to display more illustration on the bound hardback. Yuen-Killick also chose to include the subtitle “A Story of Ukraine” in the English release of the book in the United States (a Canadian publisher opted to not include this subtitle). These inclusions allow Shatokhin’s work to be rooted in its context, whilst celebrating its artistry.

After writing extensively about art in the context of warfare this semester, I selfishly hoped that I could find a story that could speak to a better world than what we are experiencing. Learning of Shatokhin’s Yellow Butterfly at NCTE, with its style reminiscent of Prymachenko’s work, gave me that hope in a beautifully resonant way. From working in elementary education the past three years, I’ve seen the changes that the Ukraine war caused first-hand. Ukrainian students from migrant families began attending the school where I worked, and though they often thrived in their classrooms, a constant language barrier made learning in an English environment more challenging. After learning of this book, I wonder what their reactions to this story would be. Would it offer them the space to express their lived experience? Could publishers like Red Comet Press collaborate with English publishers to reverse their process, and publish English books in Ukrainian to expand the library of Ukrainian refugees in the states? I certainly hope so. Like the yellow butterflies, maybe we can build up that hope for the future. 


Source: The Marginalian





Bibliography


1.  Popova, Maria. “Yellow Butterfly: A Moving Wordless Story About War, Hope, and Keeping 

the Light Alive.” The Marginalian, October 19, 2023.

https://www.themarginalian.org/2023/10/19/yellow-butterfly-oleksandr-shatokhin/


2.  “Let's Talk Illustrators #259: Oleksandr Shatokhin.” Let’s Talk Picture Books, September 5, 

2023. 

https://www.letstalkpicturebooks.com/2023/09/lets-talk-illustrators-259-oleksandr.html


3.  “Let’s Talk: Durham: Interview with Oleksandr Shatokhin.” Let’s Talk Entertainment LLC, June 

8, 2023.

https://www.letstalkdurham.com/lets-talk-magazine/ukrainian-artist


4.  Malilang, Chrysogonus Siddha. “The Wordlessness of Hope: A conversation with Oleksandr 

Shatokhin.” Bookbird: A Journal of International Children's Literature,Johns Hopkins 

University Press, Volume 61, Number 3, pp. 77-79. 2023. 

https://muse.jhu.edu/article/903442


5.  Baturevych, Iryna; Sapozhnykova, Yevheniia. “The Yellow Butterfly: Three stories of a silent 

book from Ukraine.” Chytomo, November 17, 2023.

https://chytomo.com/en/the-yellow-butterfly-three-stories-of-a-silent-book-from-ukraine/

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