Based upon a Chinese parable of similar name by Chuang Tzu, Dream 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, or 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 ‘less 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.