Velma Gratch and the Way Cool Butterfly

Velma Gratch and the Way Cool ButterflyBy: Alan Madison Illustrator: Kevin Hawkes It's hard to be Velma, the littlest Gratch, entering the first grade. That's because everyone has marvelous memories of her two older sisters, who were practically perfect first graders. Poor Velmapeople can barely remember her name. But all that changes on a class trip to the magnificent Butterfly Conservatorya place neither of her sisters has ever been. When a monarch roosts on Velma's finger and won't

Holmes and Watson went to Kent

She’s determined to change that but after her crush turns her down cold for Homecoming—declaring her too inexperienced—and all her back-up ideas fall through

a noble youth obsessed with her beauty

the regal seventy-two-year-old master of foxhounds of the Jefferson Hunt Club

and carefully leveled text

until he receives a mysterious visit from his grandfather who tells him about The Way - a secret martial art for cats

and three acclaimed films

HUGO AWARD FINALIST • NEW YORK TIMES READER PICK: 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY • ONE OF THE YEAR’S BEST BOOKS: Parade

and other dark zones where the frontiers of potential—to cure

All along the Mediterranean coast

and the fatal consequences that unfold

and this second edition features a new philosophical and empirical essay