Are We There Yet?

The familiar question in the title is one parents are used to hearing, but the story does not play on the phrase in the way I expected. The story is unexpectedly deeply philosophical as a bear befriends a butterfly and travels with it through nature. Bear keeps expecting to arrive at a destination and the butterfly always has a poetic response that could prompt thoughtful discussion about the meaning of a journey. Along the way, Bear finally appreciates the journey and inherent struggle in the places they have traversed and reaches an inner calm before arriving home in time to hibernate.
The story was thoughtful and the illustrations were gentle and a bit abstract. I am not quite sure about the target audience of this book. There is quite a bit of text, so grabbing the younger end of the age range’s attention may prove difficult. Butterfly’s responses are lovely and thought-provoking from an adult perspective, but I am not sure the older children in the target age range have the necessary life experiences and abstract thinking skills to gain from what the butterfly is saying. This book would benefit from reading it with an adult and having many discussions to aid comprehension and I would not recommend it as an independent read for the age group suggested.