A review by smphillips
I Lived on Butterfly Hill by Marjorie Agosín

adventurous emotional lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.25

At the beginning of the novel, eleven-year-old Celeste Marconi’s country of Chile is thrown into turmoil after the overthrowing and murder of President Alarcón. With the military taking control of the government, fear spreads throughout the people of Child as former supporters of Alarcón begin disappearing. Once Celeste’s parents are forced to go into hiding, Celeste is shipped off to the United States, to live in Maine with her Tía Graciela. I Lived on Butterfly Hill tells the story of Celeste’s two-year-long journey from Chile to the northern climate of Maine and back again to Chile as she seeks to find peace, safety, and happiness, as she seeks to reunite her family and friends after order is restored in Chile.

 On the inside flap of the book, the publishers note that this book is best for readers ages 10-14 years old. Given the short chapters and beautiful illustrations done by Lee White, I would agree with the age recommendation given by the publishers. On a quantitative scale, I Lived on Butterfly Hill was given a Lexile score of 770L meaning that it would be best for students in grades 2-5. When it comes to text complexity, I would argue that the structure and meaning of the story are easy to understand, given the chronological order with very few flashbacks, and very surface-level meanings throughout the story. However, given the measures of complexity based on language conventionally and clarity and the knowledge on demand, I would say that this book is a little more demanding than other books in the same age range because of the use of the Spanish language strewn throughout the novel-- sometimes with translations and others without and the need for a surface level background of Chile and it’s political history. When considering our readers, I think this would be best for early middle schoolers who may still be developing their reading skills because of the shorter chapters and helpful illustrations; however, I would be careful to give this book to late elementary students because of the length of the text-- 464 pages-- might be daunting, especially as an independent read. 

 I picked up this book partially because I have never read any books set in Chile or that incorporate Chilean politics into the plot line, and also partially because I loved Lee White’s illustrations that are peppered throughout the book. I found the pacing of the novel quick to get into; however, in the last one hundred pages of the novel, I felt like I was being dragged through plot points that could have been condensed. I enjoyed Marjorie Agosín’s writing and found it to be poetic at times but very ‘on the nose’ at others. As a future teacher, I think this would be a good choice for a read-aloud in a 5th or 6th-grade classroom-- albeit a bit long, and a good option to have for readers in my classroom library. I probably won’t read this book again because I enjoy working for the meaning and themes within a novel instead of being directly given them.