Butter comes from Butterflies
by Mat Connolley
Overview
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Windmills keep the cows cool, Napolean invented Neapolitan ice cream, armadillos live in Amarillo. Author Mat Connolley has made a hobby of collecting the funny things that kids believe. One website and tens of thousands of contributions later, Butter Comes from Butterflies gathers in one delightfully illustrated volume these silly, strange, and sometimes astonishing explanations for the way the world works. Equal parts misunderstanding, imagination, and good old-fashioned zany kid logic, the unique musings in these pages range from sweet notions — "birds grow from birdseed" — to hilarious mix-ups — "gorilla-cheese sandwiches" and "God is short for Godfrey." Scientifically proven to be impossible to put down, the off-base wisdom of Butter Comes from Butterflies is sure to charm and delight.
My thoughts
OK, so it's my birthday. No, I'm not telling how old I am. Suffice it to say I'm OLD! One of my co-workers who knows I enjoy reading gifted me with a whimsical book. Guess she thought I've been reading way too many serious books lately. (She's right!) The book starts: When I was a kid I used to believe... It's a great little book! If you ever want a few light moments, this is indeed a good book to pull off the shelf.
The best part about reading it is sharing it with someone else. This evening I read some of it to my 18 year old daughter. She started telling me some of the things she used to believe when she was small, and it started triggering some of my memories as well. For instance:
My sister and her friend Julie Bayes sprayed RAID bug spray on me once when they got mad at me. They told me it wouldn't kill me but it would eat my flesh. I believed them and went crying to Mom for a flesh-eating antidote! I was saved by water from the garden hose, but I checked my skin periodically for the next week or so looking for signs of rotten, decomposing flesh!
Favorite passage
There are too many to choose from but here's a sampling of two of them:
When I was a kid, I overheard my parents talking about the baby boom. I thought it ws a problem of small children suddenly exploding.
I used to believe that weather forecasters decided what the weather would be. When they forecasted rain for my area, I thought they were deliberately being mean.
If you want to write in, you can drop me a line with something goofy that you used to believe. My daughter says:
When I was little I used to see the lights glowing on the VCR at night and I thought it was a panther. I always ran to the bathroom and shut the door fast before the panther had time to jump out and attack me.
