Mr. McGinty's Monarchs

by Linda Vander Heyden, Eileen Ryan Ewen (Illustrator)

Overview

Mr. McGinty and his dog Sophie love checking in on the monarch caterpillars and butterflies on their summer walks. But one day Mr. McGinty is shocked to find that all the milkweed in town has been mowed down! And monarch caterpillars, he explains, can't survive without milkweed. Can Mr. McGinty come up with a plan to save the monarchs? This is a tale that is informative, a call to action, and a sweet story time pick.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781585366125
Publisher:	Sleeping Bear Press
Publication date:	02/01/2016
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	1,135,779
Product dimensions:	10.10(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	AD590L (what's this?)
Age Range:	6 - 9 Years

Editorial Reviews

2015-11-11
Mr. McGinty and his dog, Sophie, perform a heroic monarch rescue. When the monarch caterpillars' host plants on the roadside are cut down, Mr. McGinty gathers the tiny creatures, houses them properly in aquariums, and shares them with schoolchildren who nurture them until they grow into butterflies and can fly away. This simple storyline serves as an introduction to the monarch life cycle for very young readers and listeners. Beginning with endpapers showing the monarch life cycle, a variety of other butterflies, a few children's drawings, and an artfully placed ticket to a zoo butterfly pavilion, cheerful and detailed illustrations (probably watercolor and ink) enliven the story and add important information. One page shows the well-equipped aquarium (the word "terrarium" is never used). On another, a series of vignettes demonstrates a monarch's journey from tiny caterpillar to chrysalis to the still-weak, just-emerged butterfly, providing a climactic moment. This is followed by two celebratory scenes: Mr. McGinty, Sophie, the children, and their teachers go to a park to release their now-strong butterflies and a double-page spread is filled with monarchs flying away. Finally, two pages of backmatter clearly and simply explain the relationship between monarchs and their milkweed host plants and the monarch migration. Even this text is aimed at young readers. An appealing and appropriate addition to the nature shelf in the preschool and early elementary grades. (Informational picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews