An Extraordinary Life: The Story of a Monarch Butterfly [Hardcover]

Laurence Pringle (Author), Bob Marstall (Author)

Book Description

Series: Chelovek-Legenda

Introduces the life cycle, feeding habits, migration, predators, and mating of the monarch butterfly through the observation of one particular monarch named Danaus.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-8. Even libraries that already own Ethan Herberman's The Great Butterfly Hunt (S & S, 1990; o.p.), Kathryn Lasky's Monarchs (Harcourt, 1993), and Bianca Lavies's Monarch Butterflies (Dutton, 1993) need this book. It is written as a story, following the life cycle of a female caterpillar?Danaus?from an egg laid in a Massachusetts hayfield to her death in an Arkansas pasture many months and a fantastic migration later. The narrative is scientifically sound and includes information from the most recent research on these familiar aerial flitterers. The attractive, oversized book is lavished with realistic, full-color paintings of Monarchs in all stages of their development and their habitats. Colorful sidebars and a variety of maps are accompanied by informative captions, and the whole is arranged into a particularly appealing, readable, and accurate package. A modicum of anthropomorphism does occur, but it is infrequent and low-key. An effort to avoid an onrushing car or the state of a heavily gravid female Monarch with no milkweed in sight may well be "frantic," and these slight slippages are unobtrusive. Following the body of the work are chapters on protecting the remaining winter refuges of these feather-light migrants and on raising Monarchs at home or in the classroom. A list of further readings?many of them juvenile titles?and an index complete the harmonious whole.?Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 3^-6. A map of a monarch butterfly's migratory route from Massachusetts to Mexico sets the stage for this exceptional book. Rather than giving the usual survey of the habits, habitat, life cycle, and predators of butterflies, Pringle brings immediacy to his subject by focusing sharply on one monarch, whom he names Danaus. Beginning as an egg on the leaf of a milkweed plant, Danaus goes from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly and makes the long flight to Mexico. There she survives the winter, mates, and flies north to Texas, where she lays her own eggs in a milkweed field. The surprisingly absorbing story of Danaus' life is followed by a discussion of the monarchs' endangered winter refuges in Mexico and an explanation of how to raise monarch butterflies from the caterpillar stage. Throughout the book, Marstall's colorful paintings offer clear, brilliantly colored illustrations of the caterpillars growing, eating, resting, mating, avoiding predators, and flying, flying, flying. An excellent book on a popular species. Carolyn Phelan

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 64 pages
• Publisher: Orchard (March 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0531300021
• ISBN-13: 978-0531300022
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 9.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,084,480 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Extraordinary Butterfly, May 3, 2001

By 

Sharla Clack (Joplin, Mo.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Extraordinary Life: The Story of a Monarch Butterfly (Library Binding)

This book first captures your attention with all the bright butterflies featured on the front cover. Then, you are told of a butterfly that has traveled for a month, living a full life, enjoying nature's beauty, and then dies. Although, she hatched over four hundred eggs and one is about to hatch. Soon, there is a catepillar and then, a butterfly, and then the cycle of life starts all over again. The monarch butterfly, called Danaus, from the Danaidae family of butterflies, leads you through a series of beautiful places, mates, hatches her eggs, and dies. The author, Laurence Pringle, is qualified to write about the topic of monarch butterflies. He had professors who had studied the topic check the book for accuracy and someone who had studied monarchs give him ideas for the book. Also, the subject is adequately covered. There are illustrations, with labels and names that extend the text. The pictures really help you to understand what the author is talking about. This book has illustrations that appear throughout to give you an idea of what things look like and hold your attention. Moreover,the language is colorful; Pringle decribes well the beautiful nature scenes in which Danaus is exploring. The book has an index so that it is helpful and easy to use. I would definitely recommend this book for children. What a wonderful way to learn!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars illustrations grab you, October 10, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Extraordinary Life (Paperback)

This beautifully illustrated book takes one on a journey into the world of the monarch butterfly. While it is targeted to those 9 to 12, it works for older children as well. For that child who doesn't really like 'science' but must read a science book the illustrations, story, and side bar illustrations and information, lead the way to discovery.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous from beginning to end!, June 18, 2010

By 

Lisa (Fort Davis, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Extraordinary Life (Paperback)

I read this book to my fifth grade students every year when school starts as an introduction to our year-long monarch butterfly project. Every time I get to the end of the story where the butterfly (Danaus) lays her last eggs I get choked up and have to blink back a tear--so do my students. This book really opened my eyes to the struggle and the hardships a species will endure to ensure survival of that species, not to mention the incredible instinctive traits these butterflies exhibit.