The Butterflys' Ball

AnonymousProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 5.7K words
Chapters: 1

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Butterflys' Ball by AnonymousAuthor: Anonymous,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Sep 24, 2011

Editor's review

This is a classic children's poetry picture book set at a butterfly ball, attributed to an anonymous author and presented by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain e-book. The work unfolds through an anthropomorphic insect world, with language rich in rhyme and rhythm, well suited to reading aloud and performance. The book displays the typical charm of Victorian children's literature—combining natural observation with imagined social etiquette; the description of butterflies attending a ball in formal dress is both innocent and touched with worldly humor. For readers studying the history of children's literature or early English poetry, this small book offers a light but meaningful sample. The electronic edition is easy to search and cite, but lacks illustrations and textual notes, so readers should note the raw state of its text form. It is suitable as bedtime reading material or a supplementary reader for English rhythm training, and also as an addition to a collection of Victorian children's books.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Parents looking for English rhythm primers for their children
Enthusiasts studying Victorian children's literature
English learners needing short English reading-aloud material
Casual readers who enjoy anthropomorphic nature stories

Not a good fit for

Visual readers expecting a fully illustrated picture book
Novel readers seeking deep plot and character development
Beginners who find classical English expression difficult

Reading tips

First read through once to feel the rhythm, then read aloud in sections and note the position of rhyming words.
Combine with knowledge of the butterfly life cycle and discuss with children the charm of the poem's anthropomorphic descriptions.
Compare with the metadata on the Project Gutenberg page to learn about the text source of this public-domain e-book.
Try adapting the ball scene into a short play, using movements to match the rhythm of the verses.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What age is this book suitable for?

Judging by the text difficulty, it suits upper-primary readers with some English foundation, or can serve as parent-child reading material for adults to read to younger children. The rhythm of the poetry helps develop language sense, but some classical expressions require adult explanation.

Why is the author listed as Anonymous?

The work has no specific author noted in Project Gutenberg and is an anonymous work. This is fairly common in early children's poetry and folk-adapted stories; readers may treat it as an anonymous text in public-domain literature and need not insist on knowing the author's background.

Does the e-book have illustrations?

This Project Gutenberg book is mainly plain text and usually does not include the original illustrations. If an illustrated version is needed, look separately for illustrated editions from the same period or digital collections in public libraries.

Comments

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About the author

Anonymous Author

Anonymous is a collective designation used in English-language publishing for works whose authorship is unknown or unsigned, rather than the real name of a single author. The 716 titles attributed to this name include the Gospel of John, Psalms, Romans, Luke, Philippians, and 1 Corinthians from the World English Bible, as well as the Gospel of John and Psalms from the King James Version. Such texts are mainly religious classics and ancient folk traditions that were copied, translated, and compiled over long periods, making their original authors difficult to trace; they therefore circulated anonymously. Public information is limited, and neither nationality nor dates of birth and death can be confirmed. The significance of anonymity lies in focusing attention on the works themselves rather than on authorial identity, and in reminding readers of the collective and variable nature of texts in transmission.