Butterfly Sea
Author: Cynthia Mackey Illustrator: Marie-Laure Couët
Publisher: Tielmour Press
Skip to the butterfly sea and discover the wonder of nature in this celebration of childhood.
Butterfly Sea features a young girl with a camera who sets out in search of butterflies. She is followed by a loveable younger sister with a completely different agenda. A story that highlights empathy, pretend play, and leaves readers with a sense of awe at the beauty of the natural world. Ideas for butterfly gardening are woven into the lyrical text.
Kirkus Review
BUTTERFLY SEA
by Cynthia Mackey ; illustrated by Marie-Laure Couët ‧ RELEASE DATE: January 30, 2026
A sweet tale of childhood with lovely images.
A pair of kids go on a hunt for butterflies in Mackey’s picture book.
An unnamed protagonist dons a special khaki vest and borrows Grandma’s camera before heading out of a house to look for butterflies. They’re pursued by a much younger child, and the second-person narration recommends that “if trouble follows you, embrace it.” (Both characters are portrayed with pale skin.) As the older child continues to look for butterflies, the toddler pretends to be a mermaid, a pirate, and a shark. Each time, the protagonist keeps the younger one entertained: offering the shark Goldfish crackers, for example, and telling the pirate where to find secret treasure. The pair hide out in lilac bushes but only find snails and caterpillars, until finally “one butterfly, two butterflies, more butterflies flutter up, up, up into the sea-blue sky” as they look on. Mackey’s text is engaging yet sparse, offering tantalizingly few details about the kids, which effectively invites the reader to ask questions about their backstory: What are their names? Are they siblings? Where are the grown-ups? Couët’s watercolor-style illustrations drive the story, offering beautiful, sweeping landscapes of butterflies flying over a body of water and endearing close-ups of the children examining insects.
A sweet tale of childhood with lovely images.”