The Butterfly's Treasure - Marie-Fleur Borac - ★★

AUTHOR: Marie-Fleur Borac

ILLUSTRATOR: Sonny Lata Yiu

GENRE: Children's Illustrated Story.

PUBLICATION DATE: November 6, 2025

RATING: 2 stars.

In a Nutshell: An illustrated storybook about three unlikely characters coming together for a quest. The story is sadly a bit flat and disjointed. The hand-painted illustrations are the best feature of this book. If parents can add some embellishments to the events, this indie offering might work as a decent readaloud option.

Plot Preview:

When a butterfly’s treasure is stolen by an evil witch, the distraught butterfly decides to go to her house deep in the forest to get it back. He doesn’t have a plan but hopes to make one soon. Along the way, an anxious chickadee and a vain unicorn join him on his quest, though both of them do it for their own selfish reasons. How can the three work together to outwit the witch and get the treasure back?

At the surface level, this book shows a lot of promise. Fighting for what is rightfully yours even when the opponent is scary, asking others to help instead of dealing with tough situations alone, overcoming your fear to do something for your secure future, sharing the gains of victory with all those who contributed to it – all are worthy thoughts. However, the implementation of these didn’t work well for me.

For one, the story, fairly intricate for an illustrated book, relies too much on ad hoc developments and coincidences. We aren’t told many things but just expected to accept whatever occurs. While picture books don’t need to come with a chockful of logic, a certain minimal level of it is necessary, especially as children always ask questions during readalouds. I don’t think I have ever had so many questions while reading a picture book.

~~~~~SPOILERS BELOW~~~~~

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🤔 If everyone knew that the witch was evil and cunning, why did the butterfly fly directly into the forest before even making a plan?

🤔 Why did the butterfly stop at the chickadee’s house? Was she an old friend?

🤔 If the chickadee is “anxious and afraid of everything”, how did she readily agree to join the butterfly on a clearly dangerous quest? Was her love for money so great that she immediately forgot her anxiety?

🤔 If the three animals just met and are only together for the quest, why are they called “friends”?

🤔 When the trio were walking on the forest floor, how the heck did they spy the tiny needle up in the huge tree? How did they even know that there was a needle there, and which tree to search the needle on?

🤔 If the needle was poisonous, how did the butterfly pull it out safely, and how did they carry it to the witch’s house without risking their lives? Where was the poison? Most importantly, how did they know it was poisonous when it looked like an ordinary needle?

🤔 Similarly, how did they know that the witch hid her house key in the middle of a thorny bush?

🤔 If the witch was powerful, evil, and magical, why did she not charm that bush to keep the key safe?

🤔 How was the witch evil? Why was everyone in the forest afraid of her? And if the latter is true, how come the chickadee and the unicorn didn’t hesitate even for a second before agreeing to the mission?

🤔 Why did the witch have to be stabbed to death in her sleep? Isn't that a bit gruesome for a children’s book?

🤔 While I like the idea of the epilogue, I didn’t get two of the three developments. How did the unicorn suddenly discover a passion for art when there was nothing art-related on the quest? Also, why did the butterfly’s future involve marriage and “smart kids”? The book missed the golden opportunity of adding that he realised one’s family is the best treasure.

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~~~~~END OF SPOILERS~~~~~

I wish there had been clearer answers to the above. The book would have felt far more sensible had the story development been better planned. In the current structure, it just feels haphazard. That said, I do like how each of three characters has a role to play in the quest.

Officially, the target age is 3-8 years, which is quite a wide age range with vastly different reading and analytical skills. The text is written in simple prose, but it uses a few words that might be too difficult for the younger segment of that audience. I don’t appreciate the use of the adjective “fine” to describe a cigarette in a children’s book.

The page space is utilised well. While the book sounds hefty for a beginner-level work at 96 pages, about half of those pages contain full-page full-colour illustrations. The text is only on the remaining pages, and doesn’t exceed 3-4 lines per page. The content is thus never overwhelming to little readers.

The decision to write the story in a SMALL CAPS font is an interesting one. I like how the blurb says that a CAPS text layout is “approachable for beginning readers and children learning letter recognition”. But I wish the typeface used had been a little more beginner-friendly. A couple of the letters such as G and W were not that easy for newbie readers to interpret. A simpler typeface would have been much more effective.

The illustrations are the best part of the book. Handpainted for over a year, each watercolour artwork looks like a proper painting and lends a beautiful fluidity to the page. I liked the anthropomorphic depiction of the three creatures, though their sizes weren’t always in the same proportion.

The blurb mentions that this book would make a good gift for Easter and spring, but I didn’t really see any Easter or spring connection in the plot.

Overall, I wish I could have liked this indie illustrated book better, but sadly, the story just didn’t work for me. I hope other adult and child readers find greater value within its pages.

2 stars, mostly for the illustrations.

My thanks to the publisher for providing a complimentary digital review copy of “The Butterfly's Treasure” via BookSirens. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book. Sorry this didn’t work better for me.