Yellow Butterfly

Oleksandr Shatokhin’s Yellow Butterfly is a wordless picture book from Ukraine. No text, just images — black lines, watercolor, and a single butterfly in yellow. The child walks through ruins and barbed wire, and the butterfly leads her toward light.

It’s simple but sharp: the butterfly is hope, the color yellow recalls Ukraine’s flag, and the silence of the book mirrors the unspeakable reality of war.

With Yellow Butterfly, Oleksandr found an international audience, offering a story that children can follow without words and adults can’t ignore.