The book depicts an immigrant boy's first-grade experiences at school. Isolated because
of his inability to understand English, Francisco turns inward to his
imagination and later to drawing to escape his situation. He takes
comfort in watching and caring for a caterpillar his teacher has placed
in a jar near his seat. We follow his struggles to fit in, but we
celebrate his triumph, as he discovers his artwork wins a prize.The
caterpillar's metamorphosis into a butterfly mirrors Francisco's own
transformation, as he begins to speak more English and fit in with his
classmates as the school year winds down. There is a subplot with a bully, and Francisco winds up giving his prize drawing to the boy who had bullied him.Wonderfully, the class had raised a monarch butterfly from a caterpillar, so the class could relate to the jar and its contents. Joseph spoke to the class about how an act of kindness has tremendous power to inspire others to kindness, and thus help to change the world for the better.
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