Picture book
Soft as a butterfly
A story about Eli, who lives with Epidermolysis Bullosa, written to help children understand EB and to show that a diagnosis is not the whole of a person.
- Written by
- Chantelle G.
- Illustrated by
- Mehar Afroz
- Format
- Kindle edition
- Pages
- 29
- Published
- March 2026
About the book
Eli is born with a rare condition that makes his skin as fragile as a butterfly’s wing. Chantelle G. wrote the book to shine a light on Epidermolysis Bullosa, and to help other children understand it, but the story is really about resilience, friendship and treating people with empathy. Eli’s point, gently made, is that children are more than their diagnosis and deserve to be seen for who they are.
The illustration
A book about a medical condition can very easily become a book about being ill. The illustration deliberately keeps Eli a child first: playing, curious, in company, with the condition present but never the whole frame. Soft edges and gentle light throughout, and the butterfly motif of the title carried through as a visual thread rather than stated on every page.
What the studio made
- Cover artwork
- Full colour interior illustration across 29 pages
- Character design for Eli
- Files prepared for Kindle
