Winged Wonders: Solving the Monarch Migration Mystery

by Meeg Pincus, Yas Imamura (Illustrator)

Overview

2020 Finalist AAAS/Subaru American Association for the Advancement of Science/Subaru
2020 EUREKA Excellence in Nonfiction Awards - Honoree
Winner Best of 2020 Picture Book New Releases - Innovative Nonfiction Category
The Original Art 2020 Nominee

For decades, as the monarch butterflies swooped through every year like clockwork, people from Canada to the United States to Mexico wondered, "Where do they go?" In 1976 the world learned the answer: after migrating thousands of miles, the monarchs roost by the millions in an oyamel grove in Central Mexico's mountains. But who solved this mystery? Was it the scientist or the American adventurer? The citizen scientists or the teacher or his students?

Winged Wonders shows that the mystery could only be solved when they all worked as a team and reminds readers that there's another monarch mystery today, one that we all must work together to solve.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781534110403
Publisher:	Sleeping Bear Press
Publication date:	03/15/2020
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 11.10(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	NC1460L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 9 Years

About the Author

Meeg Pincus is a children’s author, humane educator, and speaker who loves celebrating and telling stories about real "solutionaries" who help people, animals, and the planet. She is a lifelong writer and has been a newspaper reporter, book editor, and essayist—but writing children's books is her favorite. It was as a newspaper reporter over 20 years ago that Meeg had the honor of meeting Miep Gies in person. She lives in San Diego, California.

Yas Imamura is an illustrator, graphic designer, and owner of the stationary company Quill & Fox. She grew up in Manila, Philippines, and now lives in Portland, Oregon.

Table of Contents

Beginning of text More about the monarch migration "discovery" How to help the monarchs

Editorial Reviews

★ 2020-01-12
So, who solved the mystery of the monarch butterfly migration?

Was it white Canadian scientist Fred, or was it the Indigenous people of the Sierra Madre mountains in central Mexico who had known for centuries about the monarchs' "secret" winter roosting place? This lively account relates the 30-year efforts of thousands of volunteers of all ages to piece together clues. From tagging the fragile wings of the intrepid butterflies to physically tracking their flight, people across the North American countries of Canada, the United States, and Mexico joined together to decipher the puzzle of "one of the longest known insect migrations on Earth." The chained answers to Pincus' question "Where do they go?" guide readers along the riveting path of scientific discovery that finally culminated in 1976 in the oyamel fir groves of Mexico. Imamura's colorful illustrations successfully capture the multiracial and multinational throng that was instrumental in unraveling the mystery of the monarchs' epic journey. The butterflies flutter gracefully over almost every page, sometimes singly and sometimes in joyous festoons. The backmatter gives a more detailed history and suggested projects to help sustain the majestic monarchs. Although the then-billions of monarchs have now dwindled to millions since 1976 because of insecticides and habitat destruction, Pincus ends the book on an optimistic note, encouraging the participation of us all in helping these "winged wonders" to not only survive, but thrive.

A fascinating and inspiring STEAM-driven tale. (Informational picture book. 5-11)

Kirkus Reviews