Review by Booklist Review
Gr. 3^-6. From the publisher's Good Times! series, this paperback guide to monarch butterflies includes a great deal of information and excellent full-color photographs. Readers will gain a clear picture of the monarch's habitats, needs, bodies, migration patterns, and life cycles, and learn how to raise monarchs from eggs, how to grow the milkweed plants they need for survival, and how to create awareness of the fragile ecosystems the butterflies depend on. Monarch-related craft activities complete the volume. The overuse of exclamation points will put off some readers, but the many intriguing facts and clear, colorful photos make this an attractive book for research or browsing. --Carolyn Phelan
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-6-The first half of this colorful book focuses on the insect's life cycle, delineating each stage of its metamorphosis in a smooth blend of large-print text and snapshot-sized color photographs. The monarch's pattern of migration and the importance of its host plant, the milkweed, are also discussed. The second section gives step-by-step directions for a wealth of projects and activities such as rearing a monarch butterfly from either the egg or caterpillar stage; keeping a journal to track migration or chart growth; setting up a butterfly feeding station; constructing a pom-pom caterpillar; forming a club to promote monarch awareness; and joining an Internet group to track migration (Web sites are provided). Numerous sidebars provide additional miscellaneous information, define terms, or offer "see" references to projects (these are unnecessary, as all projects are listed in the index and on the contents page). Clear, full-color photographs and a few drawings and diagrams are also included. While the layout is lively, the many different elements appearing on each page detract from the main text. Another minor flaw-although every other stage of the butterfly's life cycle is described in detail, the text does not explain how the insects actually mate. These quibbles aside, the information provided is clearly written and well organized. Laurence Pringle's An Extraordinary Life: The Story of a Monarch Butterfly (Orchard, 1997) and Kathryn Lasky's Monarchs (Harcourt, 1993) provide similar information, but no other book offers the same wealth of related activities.-Karey Wehner, San Francisco Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
