An Extraordinary Ordinary Moth (Hardcover)

Feeling quite ordinary, a plain gray moth sadly compares itself to its more exotic kin, such as the Luna Moth, the Spider Moth, and the Hummingbird Moth. And the little moth feels even worse when a young girl sees it and says "Eww!" But things change when her brother explains that this particular type of moth is his favorite kind of insect. Maybe an ordinary moth is really extraordinary after all. Back matter includes fascinating moth facts, along with a special activity.

Booklist

A humble gray moth opens the story, comparing itself to more notable species. Not as large as the Atlas moth or as cool as the spider moth, it sees itself as ordinary. Meanwhile, a boy is delighted to discover the moth. His little sister reacts differently, calling it dusty and gray, but the boy explains that the moth’s “dusty” scales keep it warm and flake off to free it from spiderwebs, while its coloring provides camouflage. When their mother asks what they’ve found, the girl adopts her brother’s attitude, introducing the gray moth as “an insect—and our favorite kind.” Doneva creates some nice effects in the digital illustrations, though the simplified, almost cartoonlike portrayal of humans contrasts with the relatively naturalistic pictures of moths. The rhyming, rhythmic text reads aloud pretty well, with a nice shift in tone from the opening pages, to the children’s conversation, to the ending, in which even the moth realizes that it is extraordinary. An effective picture book for preschool science units.