Representation: Asian characters
Trigger warnings: Death of a pet bird, child and friend from an illness, near-death experience, hospitalisation, body shaming, deportation, child abandonment in the past, adoption, loss of limb, surgery, scars
Score: Five points out of ten.
This review can also be found on The StoryGraph.

Red Butterfly is an uncomfortable read at best, and yellowface and cultural appropriation at worst.

Let me tell you something, this book was a case where the author tried to make a story in poetry about an Asian but got it wrong because of reasons I'll explain later. I saw this book as the last verse novel one of the two libraries has to offer to me so not long after I finally picked it up and read it. When I finished it, I didn't feel comfortable reading it considering the author but even if that wasn't a problem, I could never fully connect to the story. I can't believe this book could win awards either. It starts with the main character Kara whose last name I forgot living with her adoptive mother in China while her stepfather lives in Montana (Did I mention Kara's right hand is a stump with no fingers and people shame her for it? It's not clear why she had that unless it's from her biological parents.) Kara stays there for a few pages but she longs to visit her father in America but due to some circumstances that never happens when there is an accident involving a visitor; the police sends her stepmother somewhere and now Kara is in an adoption centre or orphanage.

Here is where the flaws surface, I didn't think poetry was the right choice since it looked like the author, like others pressed the Enter key many times and called it 'poetry.' I could never fully connect to Kara as a character even though she's living a life no child should experience nor could I do so to the other people in the narrative. Towards the conclusion of the story the worst flaw appears where Kara's second foster family, the Guernseys, adopt her but I discover they're white except the other adopted children who are Asian. It reeks of white saviourism to me and it didn't help that the author was dissimilar to Kara as well (spoiler alert: she's also white.) It's off-putting at best and inauthentic at worst. I get that the author could write a story like this because she found an abandoned baby and lived in Hong Kong but it would be less problematic if an Asian author wrote it instead. It's such a shame that I could finally find a diverse story only for the author's attributes to ruin it. In the finishing pages Kara goes back to Montana so that her first and second adoptive mothers meet (technically she has gone through three families, two adoptive and one biological now) ending the novel on a high note. Note to myself that I should read more authentically diverse stories as soon as possible. ( )

This is an awkward telling of the story of eleven year old Kara. Awkward in a good narrative way because we view the world through Kara's eyes, innocent and confused. She is an orphan living in China born with a hand deformity living with an old American woman.

Based on the reviews, I was expecting more because this is one the highest rated books on goodreads that I have read. In the end, I cared for Kara but can't say I really felt for her. The book claims to be written in moving lyrical verse. It's not quite moving. And you're reading a review from a guy with a 3.5 month old daughter. I should be easily moved now.

I really like how there is no antagonist in this story. And though the story of abandoned Chinese babies (especially girls) is not mind-blowing news (at least for me any way), I appreciate the story being tailored for younger eyes.







( )

This book is written by A.L Sonnichsen. Surprisingly, this is her first and only book written. I say surprisingly because this book is such a lovely, heartfelt and emotional book. It is, actually, one of the only books that has made me cry. I remember when I first picked out this book: I read the blurb and knew it was a tragic story. But, I had no idea that it would make me cry two or three times during the reading experience. It seemed like a book that demanded to be read and given proper respect and recognition to, as it’s strong title would suggest. I already had that feeling in mind when I first flipped through the book. How marvellous!


Red Butterfly is about a very troubled, adopted girl named Kara. A Chinese Visa, a hidden child and a concealed life gone wrong is what this book is about. As an infant, Kara was abandoned then taken in by a kind lady. However, Mama didn’t adopt Kara immediately as she was hiding. Hiding from the authorities. But, the concealed truth couldn’t hide for long. Soon, when Mama’s real daughter comes to visit China and falls severely ill, the authorities discover their secret and send Mama back to Montana. Solitary Kara is stuck in the middle of all this, and is then taken care of by the police and nurses. Though Mama fights to get Kara back, another family (the Gurnsey family) adopts her. They are considerate, and were ready to lose Kara to Mama, but won instead. Kara, her heart shattered, struggles to adapt to her new life. Will she adapt? Or will her hope, belief and liveliness deplete?

I love this book for all its deep emotion and detailed descriptions of the character’s situation. This whole masterpiece was written in a lyrical verse and I was overcome with emotion and understanding. I found this intriguing as until then I had the notion that poems being short and brief, don’t always have the same effect as prose does! Instead, this is so powerful, bringing to life as a melody, how an innocent, perplexed girl is stuck in the middle of extreme crisis, unable to reach the only family she has ever known. Showing how much emotion and feelings an orphan goes through. I say that A.L Sonnichsen’s unique, but lyrical style of writing is extremely touching and a total triumph!


I love the title of this book and still ponder on it: ‘Red Butterfly’. At times when she is riding her bicycle, Kara says she feels and looks like a red butterfly, especially when she goes to her old house for the last time. However, the bicycle doesn’t have much significance in this book. I actually think that it’s called, ‘Red Butterfly’, because red is the colour representing China and butterflies are beautiful yet fragile creatures. They fly very swiftly from place to place and sometimes fly great great distances from where they were born, as Kara did. At times, she mentioned that her mother seemed as weak as a butterfly, but I think the title mostly refers to her.

Overall, this book is a truly woven miracle of literacy, having it’s own wondrous way of weaving in the plot and emotions back and forth. A.L Sonnichsen is a remarkable writer. This book isn’t inappropriate in any way, and the verses are light but the purpot and emotion may be a bit mature for slightly younger readers. So, I’d say this book would be for around ages 10-13 year olds. ( )

While I haven't read many books in the month of May, 2017, those read were stellar, including this gem. Young Kara lives sequestered in a small apartment with an older woman who rescued her. Abandoned in the streets of China, because of the one-child rule, this little girl, was left to die. With a deformity of her little hand, she is especially deemed a child not fit to pay the price of keeping a girl baby when perhaps another healthy boy could be conceived and raised in China.

We learn that the woman who rescued her is sacrificing greatly. Living near poverty, each day is a struggle. She could join her husband and daughter who live in the United States, but then, what would become of the bright, lovely Kara, like a Red Butterfly because she rapidly rides a red bike when she is left out of the house.

When the woman who rescued her writes to her husband asking for more money to live, Kara's life is in a spin when her surrogate mother's daughter makes the trek to China to see her mother. Finding this child rude and selfish, Kara longs for some sort of stability.

Alas, when discovered, Kara is taken to a home for children where again she must learn how to survive. Fortunately, a very kind social worker shows kindness, and eventually Kara is sent to the United States to live with a loving family who also have adopted other Chinese girls.

The transition is difficult for Kara. Not only learning the language and customs, but also learning to accept the unconditional love of her new parents, while longing for the woman who raised her and now lives in the United States, Kara hides food and money in the hope of taking a bus to find her surrogate mother.

Written in poetic style, this is not only excellently written, but it is heartbreaking and wonderful in redemptive qualities.

Highly Recommended. ( )

The author's life in China and the impact of the country's one-child rule inform this poetry novel about Kara who was taken in as an infant by an older American woman that Kara calls Mama. Now Kara is 11, yearning for more than her circumscribed, impoverished life in a small apartment. A quiet novel with moments of jarring suspense. ( )