Cover Image: Monarch Butterflies

Monarch Butterflies

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Member Reviews

A beautiful book about Monarch Butterflies by Ann Hobbie. If your child loves minibeasts or butterflies in particular this would be an excellent book as it goes into much more detail about this incredible creature. I particularly like the human element to this book and our impact upon the monarch butterfly population with concrete ideas that you can do to help support the life of these butterflies and their natural habitats.

Thank you #NetGalley for the eARC.

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I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. Great book with excellent information and illustrations of the life and journey of the Monarch Butterfly.

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Monarch Butterflies: Explore the Life Journey of One of the Winged Wonders of the World , written by Ann Hobbie and illustrated by Olga Baumert, is currently scheduled for release on April 27 2021. Monarchs are a favorite and familiar North American butterfly, and their incredible annual migration has captured the popular imagination for generations. As populations of monarchs decline dramatically due to habitat loss and climate change, interest in and enthusiasm for protecting these beloved pollinators has skyrocketed. With easy-to-read text and colorful, engaging illustrations, Monarch Butterflies presents young readers with rich, detailed information about the monarchs’ life cycle, anatomy, and the wonders of their signature migration, as well as how to raise monarchs at home and the cultural significance of monarchs in Day of the Dead celebrations. As the book considers how human behavior has harmed monarchs, it offers substantive ways kids can help make a positive difference. Children will learn how to turn lawns into native plant gardens, become involved in citizen science efforts such as tagging migrating monarchs and participating in population counts, and support organizations that work to conserve butterflies.

Monarch Butterflies is a well balanced non fiction picture book. The artwork is well done, ad both captures the reader's interest and supports the information text to help keep that attention. I thought the information shared was well phrased and selected, making it easy to understand and process with out being too over simplified. I was glad to see that information about both the monarch butterfly's life cycle and the trouble they are having with loss of habitat was covered, giving a well balanced understanding of what each generation of the butterfly's experience. I think this book would be good in school, classroom, and home libraries.

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Monarch Butterflies was a multi-dimensional book that would be welcome in any elementary or home school classroom. It is also an excellent selection for parents to have in their home library to support their child's learning in school. From the beautiful art to all of the details on the development of the monarch butterfly, this book captures your attention while teaching you so much! It can be used to support science class as well as connecting students to the environment through perhaps a gardening program to reinforce what they have learned scientifically about the monarch butterfly. It doesn't just teach children about anatomy, it teaches them about how we do and can interact with monarch butterflies through culture and through nature.

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An excellent early-reader picture book all about the beautiful, bright orange Monarch butterflies. If your kid is even remotely interested in butterflies or insects, then they will definitely enjoy this book. Loved the brightly colored and very detailed illustrations and the short, easy-to-understand scientific factoids. Kids will learn a lot and adults won't be too terribly confused by the science-y aspects of this book. Plus: butterflies! Who doesn't love butterflies?

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We really liked this book. It has a beautiful cover and the pictures throughout are really pretty. We found the text easy to read and informative and all enjoyed learning about Monarch butterflies. We also liked the glossary at the back where we were able to look back on words that people may be unsure of. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book.

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By now, I think most of us in North America are champions of the beautiful monarch butterfly whose numbers are dwindling. After reading Ann Hobbie’s Monarch Butterflies, a children’s book for ages 7-10, I am even more fervent about making my little land a monarch haven.

Monarch Butterflies is filled with some astonishing facts that will amaze children as they amazed me such as the monarch caterpillar grows to 2000 times its original size or that while the caterpillar has very poor eyesight, the butterfly it will become will have outstanding eyesight. Just imagine!

Hobbie takes her reader from the butterfly’s laying of eggs, through its life as a caterpillar, to it metamorphosis. We all know this happens but to read about the details and understand the process is so much another thing. It’s amazing, really. The reader also learns about the monarch’s favorite food, milkweed; its incredibly long journey from the Eastern US to Mexico (some monarchs will travel as far as 3000 miles!); and that in Mexico, monarchs are part of Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) because some believe they are the spirits of the dead returning.

Monarch Butterflies also talks about the monarch habitat, discusses the challenges to monarch survival, how the loss of land and the use of pesticides are decimating the population, and how each one of us can do our part to help the monarchs survive.

The illustrations by Olga Baumert are bright, detailed and so lovely. They are an absolute joy to page through.

Monarch Butterflies would be a wonderful treasure for any child, but I have to say that I enjoyed it and learned so very much from it as well.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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I really enjoyed this book. There are many fun facts presented in a way that keeps the reader engaged and captivated. They balanced the ratio of text to picture well throughout. I enjoyed learning from this text, well-written. I loved the beautiful illustrations throughout the book. This is a great tool for those wanting to learn more in depth about the monarch butterflies! Thank you NetGalley for a copy of this book to review.

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A beautiful book all about Monarch Butterflies. Everything from their life stages to their journey south for the winter. Very informative with bright and colorful illustrations. A book for the whole family to enjoy. I highly recommend it. Thanks #netgalley for the early review copy. I just loved it.

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Gorgeous illustrations. The prettiness of the pages is so wonderful!! The book does go into the life of the Monarch Butterflies and all about them. This would be a wonderful classroom book for the children to look through when talking about life stages!!!! I would highly recommend this book to a teacher or a parent who has a child who loves butterflies.

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Fascinating, beautiful non fiction book filled with interesting facts about Monarch Butterflies. Kids reading will often stop and share, "Hey, did you know....!"

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Did you know I love monarch butterflies? For years I have worked on a garden catered to monarch butterflies, so it was only natural that I wanted to pick up this book!

Monarch Butterflies by Ann Hobbie is a great resource for those looking for a little more information about these orange beauties!

My favourite part about this book is the illustrations - especially the one for the table of contents. The blue sky, the green leaves and the monarch butterflies... I almost want to frame that illustration and put it on my wall. It's beautiful! What a great way to finish off this book - insanely gorgeous illustrations. And you aren't even into the content yet when you see this work of art! I also enjoyed the pictures of the milkweed! You can tell research was done because milkweed is one of the only plants the monarch caterpillars will eat! The chrysalis picture is also on point!

This book is packed tight with information about monarch butterflies. I think eager children (probably aged eight and up) will enjoy this book, but I also think it's a valuable tool for education (whether it be with educators or parents/guardians). Whether you want to learn more about their growth cycle, their physiology and anatomy, what they eat or how they behave - this book is an excellent tool!

Four out of five stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Storey Publishing for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.

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The life cycle of the monarch butterfly is the focus of this fact-filled book, illustrated with close-up realistic paintings of the insect. Many of the illustrations feature the monarch at different stages, with brief captions. The narrative is just a paragraph or two per page, but it is packed with details. There two maps: one depicts the monarchs who travel from the east coast of the U.S. down to Mexico, the other shows the route of monarchs in the west which includes those in the California coastal areas, making this relevant to many Bay Area libraries. There is an activities section that students can use to create habitats supportive of monarchs, learn to count monarchs, and other things that can help this threatened animal. The book concludes with a glossary, list of relevant websites, and index.

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Monarch Butterflies by Ann Hobbie, illustrated by Olga Baumert published by Storey Publishing.

Thank you to NetGalley and Storey publishing for the opportunity to read and review this wonderful book.

🦋 This book had me captivated from the cover and turning the first few pages did not disappoint! Beautiful illustrations with gorgeous back washes and detailed diagrams. A thourough contents page detailing everything you could possibly wish to know about this spectacular buttery in aacesable and comprehensive sections. I rushed off to preorder before I even properly delved in.

🦋 The book starts at the beginning with the egg stage of the Monarch butterfly and follows the egg into caterpillar stage with wonderful facts I had never read before, that’s pretty impressive for a primary teacher who has covered the life cycle of a butterfly many times!

🦋 The anatomy of the caterpillar is presented in a wonderfully clear diagram with parts included such as the ‘Spiracles’, tiny holes a caterpillar breathes through, who knew! There’s information about the different kind of legs a caterpillar has and which ones remain once metamorphosis is complete.

🦋 Metamorphosis and the anatomy of a the chrysalis and butterfly are presented with exquisitely detailed illustrations that just make my heart sing. The favourite foods and habitat of the monarch butterfly is detailed and then comes the incredible part, the journey!

🦋 I have been lucky enough to watch the ‘flight of the butterfly’, painted ladies migrating over Cyprus. It’s truly a stunning event to witness. The Monarch migrates from North America to Mexico or California, depending on which side of The Rocky Mountains they originate from. This journey is beautifully detailed.

🦋The book then goes on to detail how Monarchs are in danger and wonderfully depicts the fragility of ecosystems and the connections between species. There are many examples of ways to help the Monarch butterfly and how to rear your own.

🦋All though the Monarch is mostly found in America, this book is a must have for any nature enthusiast and I really hope that more books like this are written about other butterflies. A personal plea for the Painted Lady to be next!

🦋 This book delivers in every single way. It goes above and beyond the usual books about butterflies and caterpillars. It imparts all the facts that get children (and adults) hooked, in a way that fascinates the reader. It gives you so much information yet in a wonderfully accessible and memorable way. This will go down as one of my all time favourite books and I can’t wait for it’s release date!

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My 5 year old really enjoyed learning about monarch butterflies, anything from the metamorphasis, to the parts of the body, to what they eat, to the migration to Mexico. What we did not like about this book. She got a little bored with the conservation/ how to raise and release them and wanted to stop reading at that point. What I did not like was this book bringing my family's way of life into this book. I am a farmer's daughter/wife and where our state encourages us to keep some of our land fallow (which we do in some areas by the way, plenty of unused pasture and timber behind our house), we cannot protect every single milkweed that exists simply because it saves butterflies. That's not the way it works. I did not like reading to my daughter that what daddy does is wrong when he feeds the world. Thank you NetGalley for the free sample, this review was honest and voluntary.

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**I received and voluntarily read an e-ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Great book with lots of information about about monarch butterflies. Covers everything from the stages of life to what we can do to help prevent the population from further decline.

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What a wonderful book! Perfect for kids (and adults!) interested in creatures, gardening or the environment. Illustrations are colorful and detailed, yet easy to understand.. Just the right amount of text to explain, but not overwhelm. Approaches the topic from life cycle, garden plants, cultural issues, environmental changes, and things we can do to help the monarchs survive. Will definitely be ordering a copy of this.

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This is a great guide to Monarch Butterflies for kids with beautiful illustrations and tons of information. It's a good book to grow into and is a very engaging science book for little ones.
Many thanks to Storey Publishing and NetGalley for the advance copy.

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Discovering the world of butterflies is a magical and beautiful thing.

Engaging young children to learn with appreciation and understanding of nature's wonders and will encourage life long interest in our living world.

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Packed with information, that even as an adult, was new to me. The information is presented in a clear manner with beautiful illustrations which will hold the young reader’s attention.

The author’s use of the word “it” to refer to a captiller or butterfly is outdated. We are progressing and non-human animals are being seen as people, therefore our language should evolve as well.

I was disturbed to find the author's suggestion that children rear monarch caterpillars indoors. Other animals are not here for our entertainment. Most caterpillars who are stolen from the wild will die prematurely either from neglect or improper care.

The two issues I had with the book greatly outweighed the knowledge I gained which explains the low review given. If the author were to change “it” to “he or she” or “they” and remove the how to rear section, my review would be higher.

Thank you to Ann Hobbie, Olga Baumert, Storey Publishing, and #NetGallery for an ARC of #MonarchButterflies in return for an honest review. Review will be posted on NetGallery and Goodreads.

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