'The Dream of the Butterfly Vol. 1: Rabbits on the Moon' by Richard Marazano with illustrations by Luo Yin is a graphic novel about a little girl lost in a strange city.

Tutu wanders away in the snow one day and finds herself in a strange city where animals talk. There are rabbits that are spies, but pretty bad ones. She is forced to take a job in a factory where her job is replacing tired hamsters that are heating the city in their wheels. She has strange dreams and a secret mission to find a butterfly and maybe end the endless Winter plaguing the city.

The story reminds me a bit of an allegory about dictatorships, but it doesn't quite gel. I did like the oddness of the story, though. The art is gorgeous and feels like animated cels from Studio Ghibli.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Diamond Book Distributors and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

Dream of the Butterfly has the most delightful, colorful and beautiful art. I was in love with the world-building and characters, not so much with the story. The plot is a little bit flawed, confusing and dragging, but it is also so interesting. The story explores corruption, power and the struggles of the working class. It is not a sweet or innocent story, it deals with complicated problems and it does pretty well. Magic, revolutions, and mysteries. I feel like I should have loved it, but the story lacked basic, important information about the world and the plot. It felt like the story was incomplete and I had hard a time getting into to.

It is not bad, but it could have been so much better. It definitely has wonderful, complex, compelling characters that could make an amazing series

*~~*ARC kindly provided to me for an honest review *~~*

- Review to come

Review originally posted on my blog with added content on Mikku-chan / A world full of words

Beautifully written and gorgeously illustrated! I loved the story and characters. This little beauty had my curiosity piqued and once I started I couldn't stop until I was finished.
Overall this book was beautiful, atmospheric, and thoroughly entertaining. I'm ready for book 2!

This book tells the story of a little girl who gets lost whilst on a hike.

Art wise, it's absolutely beautiful. It has a lot of color and coherent color palettes.

Story wise, it's simple but also has a second meaning (the way Tutu is treated could be a nod to real life xenophobia).

Character wise, they're great. The cast has a lot of different creatures and each one is special. My favorite are definitely the rabbit spies, they're goofy and made me feel whole.

Overall, I absolutely loved this graphic novel. It's beautiful, short and fun.

Rating: 5 stars

Somehow, the intrigue of the plot has me completely hooked, even though none of the characters are the least bit likable (except, perhaps, the rabbits?) Tutu is rude and often stupid with regards to who she should trust and listen to in this mysterious world, and if everyone else was just a bit more forthcoming (although perhaps then it would lose the intrigue!) What is the significance of the butterfly and why does everyone want to get their hands on it?? I loved the illustrations - very reminiscent of Studio Ghibli, and the use of color is fantastic at capturing the mood and feel of the scenes.

Reminds me if Studio Ghibli did a rendition of Alice in Wonderland set in an absurdist communist Russia. the art looks straight out of a Studio Ghilbi film while the film constantly has this "Off with her head" tone. while it looks gorgeous, the character of this world are so unlikable I don't find myself caring to see more.

The story is about a girl Tutu who sneaks off and get lost in a snowstorm. She finds herself in a valley of forever winter surround by strange animallike beings. They do not trust little girls and she is put under a sort of house arrest. While attracting the interest of both the Emperor and his nemesis The Flying Bandit, as well as several small resistance groups, being followed by spies, a talking cat, and a strange winter butterfly, Tutu tries to find her way back home.

The first word that comes to mind when reading this is beautiful. The art alone is worth the read, it's simple even in the colour choices and yet holds so much personality and life to it. It's charming and full of movement, it reminds me a lot of Spirited Away. The story as well has that same mysterious other dreamworld like feel to it. It's funny and cute and shows a lot of heart. I want this comic on my shelf.

Tutu is a little girl that was lost from a class trip due to a blizzard. She was swept into a town of talking animals and charged with the crime of being a little girl. In addition, she is expected to know rules without being told what they are and work in the factory to earn her keep. The Emperor can possibly send her home, but only in exchange for the only butterfly that lives in the valley of eternal winter.

Luo Yin's art style in this graphic novel is adorable and full of detail in every panel. Tutu is doing her best to deal with the odd characters she meets but is also easily frustrated by them. There seems to be a few different factions in the town, from the factory workers, the Emperor's rabbit spies, the Flying Bandit and the other human children of the valley. Because no one really explains anything to Tutu, we don't know what these factions are really after. The volume ends on a cliffhanger, just when the robotic form of the Emperor asks Tutu to guess why the butterfly is so important.

This book was nominated for the Angoulême Festival Youth Prize. It's an annual festival in Europe where prizes are awarded in various categories based on age, writing, art, and lifetime achievements in the field. I can see why this story was nominated for the Youth prize, given that Tutu seems to be nine or ten years old in the comic, and the art is so pretty. This volume raises far more questions than it answers, which might be the hook for young readers to continue with the series.

I was initially drawn to the beauty of this book even without reading the synopsis. I’m glad I gave it a try. The illustrations were strangely lovely with a wide palette of colors. They were very detailed and I loved the weirdness of them as well. I didn’t, however, care for the story as much as the pictures themselves. The storyline was somewhat intriguing, but the way the dialogue was written detracted from the actual story. It just felt a little subpar. I am mildly interested in seeing what happens to TuTu in the continuation though, so I’m sure I’ll be back for more.

Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this review copy.

Beautifully illustrated graphic novel. At points the plot was a bit confusing or that sometime was missing.

Dream of the Butterfly: Rabbits on the Moon by Richard Marazano is a graphic novel for middle grade and older readers. Blown from her home by a great blizzard, Tutu finds herself in a strange village of talking animals, where winter is eternal and the rabbits of the secret police find her guilty of one of the worst crimes imaginable-being a little girl! The Emperor of this strange town holds the key to her redemption, but it will come at a price. This is a story based on a Chinese parable by Chuang Tzu (“The Dream of the Butterfly”) with a bit of an Alice through the Looking Glass feel.

Dream of the Butterfly: Rabbits on the Moon is a story that caught my attention. I love the art style, it was a perfect presentation of the story and reminded me of some of my favorite manga and anime. I found myself engaged with the well being of Tutu as she struggles in the new world she has found herself in. I love that she voices many of the things I, as the reader, said to myself- even if it seems to get her into more trouble than it is worth. I will admit that there were a few occasions that I was a little lost or confused, like I missed a page- but after checking I had not. However, since Tutu is lost and confused- stuck in what might be a dream land or something equally full of fantasy and weirdness- that might have been by design. I liked the layers of personality in the different characters, and that no one was fully who they seemed. The spies are not all bad, the rebels are not necessarily all good. There are still so many questions, and few answers. I also like knowing that the story has some basis in folklore, even if it is not a story I know- yet. My biggest complaint is that it is not a complete story- it is the first part of what seems to be a series. It left me with only questions- and no feeling of resolution or contentment. That drives me absolutely crazy, I want some resolution when I finish a book and I was denied that here. I would have given the graphic novel more stars if only I had some resolution rather than more questions at the end of the book.

Dream of the Butterfly: Rabbits on the Moon is an interesting start to a story, and one that I might just follow up to see how it all plays out.

What a lovely and strand story. It gets you right from the beginning. Mainly because you are trying to figure out what is going on, and if you are missing a few pages. A little girl named Tutu gets lost in a snowstorm ending up in a new land. A land where rabbits are spies, the emperor is a robot and a canary is tasked with taking care of her. Plus you have the flying bandit and his furball aid the cat. The entirety of volume 1 is both the reader and Tutu figuring out this world and what is goin on. Why does she seem to be the only human. And what is this strange butterfly that has the land divided. A lovely story with amazing art and I can not wait to see what happens in volume 2.

Imagine a manga version of Alice in Wonderland where the heroine, "Tutu," encounters a strange world of talking creatures. Tutu doesn't know how she got to this strange land nor how to get home. What she does know is that this land of perpetual winter is ruled by a mysterious emperor who watches Tutu's every move and friends have been hard to come by.

From the first installment, I'm not sure if Marazano's tale is allegory, political commentary, pure fantasy or some combination of some of those elements. It is highly imaginative and the graphic panels offer much to examine and discover throughout the book.

This graphic novel is an intriguing start to a fantasy tale with a feisty heroine caught in a world full of mystery and danger. The artwork is a visual treat and the characters and setting very imaginative. Be warned that Volume 1 raises a lot of questions that do not really get answered. Characters are introduced but not fully fleshed out. Readers experience the fear and danger right along with Tutu and will be anxiously awaiting the second volume in the series. Hopefully future volumes will fill in more of Tutu's back story and offer an explanation about the setting of this fantastical tale!

Disclaimer: I received a free digital copy of The Dream of the Butterfly, Volume 1 from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was received.

Beautiful art. Some times it felt like there was a page missing, a little bit of a disconnect between one scene and the next. Other than that it was a truly interesting story and I really want to read the next part.

There was a wonderfully quirky fantastical setting for this graphic novel, and some excellent quirky characters that made a good impression. Our heroine, Tutu, is a brilliantly-confused and lost protagonist (much like the reader with what is going on, to be frank), and the ecelectic cast of (mainly) animal characters that support around her contain a number of equally fun folk - the cat who acts as her handler is hilariously eccentric, and the rabbits that are supposed to be secret police spying on her and really well presented as bumbling idiots who don't really know what they're doing.

I don't know how you'd categorise the art-style to be honest - it's got a manga feel about it without being true-manga, and it fits the feel of the book really well.

My main problem is just that I can't honestly say I really got what was going on half the time. There's certainly some flashbacks in there, and some suggestions of hallucinating, but plot-wise I got rather confused at times as to what exactly was going on.

Still, there was plenty there to intrigue (and there really were some great characters), and I'd certainly look to pick up the next volume.

This was fantastical, with a human child somehow making her way to an animal world, where she is essentially shunned.

The story: I enjoyed the feeling of the story, with the feeling of being in a completely different world and completely different mandates than the young girl is used to. She is thought to be very rude, is followed around by rabbit spies everywhere she goes, and manages to meet a talking cat., and other human children, too. She gradually comes to learn why she has to work at the factory, and the fact that the emperor hopes that she can end the endless winter.

The art: the art is dreamy but grounded, if that is possible. Everything seemed a little ethereal with dark and serious subject matter woven in.

Based upon a Chinese parable of similar name by Chuang Tzu, Dreams of the Butterfly tells the story of Tutu, a young girl living in a school/facility for children. One morning she gets left behind after the kids and their caregivers head out to play in the snow. Tutu sneaks out on her own, and gets trapped in a blizzard. She ends up in a hidden town in a valley. This isn't any ordinary town though. It's full of spirit beings, and humans aren't welcome. Tutu is taken into custody, and put to work in the factories, where hamsters in wheels are used to generate power. In order to get back home, Tutu must bring a special butterfly to the inventor-emperor who runs the city.

This artwork is absolutely beautiful! I loved the gist of the story. It reminded me a good deal of Miyazaki's Spirited Away. Like Chihiro, Tutu is a human who stumbles into the spirit world, and is subsequently put to work. The bumbling bunnies were adorable. I have some suspicion that Tutu either never left her home, or fell into hypothermia in her first ’shelter’ under the rock overhang though. Throughout the whole book, she is depicted with a reddened patch on her face usually indicative of fever, it cold, and her fingertips are reddened, also a sign of cold. It's a 'to be continued’ story, so I don't know if it's the case or not.

I didn't like Tutu at all. First, her name bothers me… It's not just that, though. She was a rude, bratty child who didn't really seem that grateful to those trying to help her. She openly insulted her host, a woman who had no reason to take her in, and even the emperor himself. She came across as entitled. Rather than trying to fit in, and understand this new culture, she was often offended they didn't confirm to her standards, and I get the feeling she saw them as 'lss than’ because of it.

Overall, the story is good, but I think it'd be an awesome story with a more likable protagonist.

***Many thanks to Netgalley and Diamond Book Distributors for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is a beautifully illustrated book about a young girl (Tutu) who gets lost during a snow storm and finds herself in a town full of talking animals and just about everyone seems to want something from her... without liking her. There is a very magical feel to it, and as many other reviewers have mentioned a studio ghibli vibe to it, I’m hoping the next volume has a little more answers to what’s going on though as this first part isn’t really plot driven rather just showing us the world she’s found herself in,

The plot and the art is quite amazing. I look forward to reading the next volume. The story line is interesting and makes you wonder just how she got to that land and what the butterfly can do and also why being a little girl is an offense in that land. I hope the next volume tells us a little more about these things.