Katherine Pryor

This is a colorful children's picture book about monarch butterflies and the 3,000-mile journey they take each autumn, from their spring and summer grounds in eastern United States and southern Canada, to their winter home in Mexico.

The simple story at the beginning, with its vibrant illustrations, makes the book accessible to younger children, while the four pages at the end make the book relevant for older children, by providing additional factual information (such as the suggestion to plant milkweed, used by monarchs in nearly all stages of their life cycles).

I live in a flyway area for these migrating monarchs, so this book was of particular interest to me. In addition, author and good food advocate Katherine Pryor, and illustrator and science teacher Ellie Peterson live in Seattle, which was my home for 20+ years.

This book would be great for a science classroom and lessons on life cycles and threatened species. It's also a lovely addition to any library or personal bookshelf.

(Apologies for the delay in reviewing - the book was misdelivered, and the recipient didn't give it to me until five months later.)… (mais)

An Amazing Adventure!

Every year thousands of monarch butterflies journey up to 3,000 miles to central Mexico. For their spring migration, it takes four generations to go up north, but the fall trip is done by just one generation. The group heading south has never been to Mexico, yet their built-in compass causes large bunches of them band together, and make the trek.

The butterflies will fight bad weather, lack of food, and exhaustion. Many will not survive, but a surprising amount do. This book traces their southern trip, and the sort of things that the monarchs will face.

The format is done in a picture book; it is a large hardbacked volume with lots of colorful illustrations. Not only will the reader experience “travel” with a group of butteries, there are lots of facts about the them in the back of the book. This includes what monarchs like to eat, the parts of its body, dangers they face, what can be done to help them, and a migratory map.

This is a nice way to learn about these amazing creatures. Children four through eight-years-old will enjoy this five-star book.

Thank you, Worthy Kids, for providing Tickmenot with a book to review. Opinions are my own.… (mais)