*Starred Review* Frost, whose previous books include novels in verse such as The Braid (2006) and Printz Honor Book Keesha’s House (2003), found inspiration in her own backyard for this picture book, which shows the interconnected life cycles of the monarch butterfly and the milkweed plant. The story begins with the growth of a milkweed shoot and the northward migration of a monarch, which alights on the plant, finds a mate, lays her eggs on the undersides of milkweed leaves, and flies away. Soon an egg hatches and a tiny caterpillar walks, eats, grows, and forms a chrysalis. Then a monarch emerges and flies away. While the butterflies summer in the north, the milkweed’s leaves turn brown and seed pods form. In September, the monarchs wing their way southward toward Mexico, and the following spring, the cycle begins again. From the endpapers, with their lovely maps showing monarch-butterfly migration routes, to the author’s note commenting on monarch migration and the importance of the host plant, every aspect of this pleasing book contributes to the whole. With a fine sense of form and use of texture, Gore creates a dappled, organic look in the acrylic-and-pastel illustrations, which suit Frost’s spare, poetic story well. Preschool-Grade 2. --Carolyn Phelan
About the Author
Helen Frost won a Michael L. Printz Honor for her novel
Keesha's House. She is also the critically acclaimed author of
The Braid, Spinning Through the Universe, and
Diamond Willow. She has delighted in watching monarchs for decades, and now lives in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where her yard is a certified Monarch Waystation. To learn more about her go to www.helenfrost.net.
Leonid Gore moved to the U.S. from his native Russia in 1991. He has illustrated
The Sugar Child, The Malachite Palace, Sleeping Boy, Who Was Born This Special Day?, The Secret of the Great Houdini, The Princess Mouse, and, most recently,
Saints Among the Animals for Atheneum. He is also the author and illustrator of
Danny's First Snow. Mr. Gore lives with his wife and daughter in Oakland, New Jersey, where monarchs are occasionally sighted.
