Chapter 1
In chapter one we get introduced to one of the main characters. His name is Stripe because he is a stripped caterpillar. He is curious about what is out in the world so he starts to explore. As he is searching, he runs into a pillar that goes into the clouds of other caterpillars who are climbing caterpillars.
Right off the bat I started to like the message of this story. I think it is important to explore the world around. Just like Stripe, we too get sick of the surroundings and the environment we live in. Being curious is not a bad thing and that is part of the message in the first chapter. The only way for us to grow as a people is to explore what options we have. This is a very important idea that I believe children showed be exposed to early in life.
Chapter 2
This chapter starts with Stripe starting his climb to the top of this pillar. Not knowing why he is climbing, he continues to because that is what everyone is after. Along the way he meets Yellow, a female caterpillar. Yellow is also questioning the climb but goes with the flow. Stripe has to eventually step on her to get by and this makes both of them sad. They both decided together to cling together to fall to the bottom of the pile.
This chapter is starting to present a sort of "ladder of importance". Both Stripe and Yellow believe friendship and teamwork is a much better value instead of stepping over each other to get ahead. The two characters begin to fall in love as well. These ideas are important for kids to understand. I think, from experience, that childhood is a big popularity contest. We often get lost in the competition of it all that we loose site of what we are really fighting for. We all can gain from taking a step back and looking at the bigger picture. This is a huge concept to understand but I think by presenting it with caterpillars, children are able to grasp the idea a lot better.
Chapter 3-4
In these next two chapters the reader gets to see the story from Yellow’s point of view. Stripes has left to climb the pillar because his curiosity is killing him inside. Yellow is alone and sad throughout these chapters. She sets off on her own adventure to try to find the meaning of life. She learns about cocoons and decides to make one.
These chapters really bring out some of the gender roles within society or rather the stereotypes some may have. Once the man goes off the woman is left with nothing and can’t go on without him. What I liked is that this caterpillar does go on without him. I think the strong woman figure was not a popular character of books from 1972. It’s important for children to see that their life shouldn’t be run or ruled by a man or strong figure. We are our own people with our own views of the world. We need to keep that in mind.
Chapter 5-6
Stripes is now climbing to the top of the pile. He is stronger than last time because he has had some rest and now he is ready to venture. We soon find out that we makes it to the top to find nothing. There is nothing there. The caterpillars up there say they are there because that is where everyone else wants to be. He is greeted at the top by a beautiful Yellow butterfly. He doesn’t know what this means but he climbs back down to find out. On his way down, he tells everyone he passes there is nothing there
This is the heart of the book. I think it is a beautiful metaphor for the social ladder and how we can get lost in the climb; the climb we can’t define. The part about this section that I don’t like is that fact that Stripes ventured out to find the truth in something he was curious about. He is then punished in a way when he discovers there is nothing there. I think that kids might get the wrong impression and maybe not what to go after their dreams after hearing this message. Even though that is not the angle the author was going for, I think it is another valid way of looking at it.
Chapter 7
This is the last chapter where everything finds its ending. Stripes finds out who the beautiful yellow butterfly is and he decides to make his our cocoon. He hatches into an even more beautiful butterfly and both butterflies learn to love each other again. We are then left with a couple of pages of pictures where there are now tons of cocoons and then the last page with tons of butterflies and flowers.
This is the expected ending for this kind of story but I don’t think that is a bad thing. I think it’s a good message for kids to see that no matter what happens in life, there are some things that will always be there for you. Love is an important thing, at least I think so, and relationship within people (friends, dating, family, etc…) are vital in the social world. Life is not always about fitting in with the “in crowd” but finding those people who you fit with. This is a great message that cannot be stated enough to children. Other than the message, I thought the pictures were beautiful. They were simple with only using the colors black, white, yellow and green. This made it easy to focus and enjoy the beauty of the book as a whole rather than just the pictures. Overall, I loved this book!
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