In what is clearly an homage to Eric Carle’s iconic children’s classic The Very Hungry Caterpillar, this charming debut picture book follows a monarch butterfly. She emerges on a green leaf and stretches her orange wings “in the warmth of an autumn sun,” preparing to make her 2,000-mile journey to Mexico.

Through the pages that follow, the thirsty butterfly finds the energy she needs by sipping from flowers along the way and from a glass of fruit juice at a farmer’s stall before joining other monarchs as she “soared and surfed the warm air currents south” to reach her destination. The butterfly finds a mate, heads north, and lays her eggs on milkweed leaves. The acknowledgment of the completion of the monarch’s life cycle is soothingly stated: “Her work was done, her energy spent. Away she flew, life would begin anew!”…

The author/illustrator bookends the story with a labeled image showing the anatomy of a monarch and a list of facts about these butterflies.

This visually appealing tale gently relates the colorful life story of a monarch butterfly.” – KIRKUS