An Extraordinary Life

The photo on this listing was cropped in such a way as to not show that someone had written their name in permanent black marker on the cover. Not pleased.

My kids love this book. It is incredibly detailed and follows an individual monarch butterfly through her entire life-cycle; from egg to caterpillar, to her great migration south to Mexico, and then north again in the spring to breed, lay her own eggs, and complete her natural life cycle by dying. While most children's books leave my kids with more questions about the animals they read about, this one covers it all, yet still remains interesting and engaging, because it is written in story format, and the life of a fragile butterfly, migrating hundreds of miles, is full of peril and excitement. The illustrations are beautiful, too. If you homeschool, you will also be able to integrate some great geography lessons in with this story, tracking Danaus's journey on a map, talking about distance, etc. My daughter is now 7 and has loved this book since we first read it when she was about 5, though she required a lot of explanation from me at that age. I think for most kids it would be best from the ages of 6-12. If you like this book, I highly recommend "A Dragon in the Sky" by the same author. Same engaging format, but that one follows a Green Darner Dragonfly through its life cycle. I also really like this author's "Strange and Wonderful" books, but since they are not written in story format, they are sometimes less engaging for my particular kids. If you like the informational story format for books about animals, be sure and check out the "Smithsonian's Backyard Series." They are much briefer than this book, following a particular animal through a day or two of its life rather than a whole life-cycle, but are beautifully illustrated, informative, and short enough to make nice bedtime stories.

Great book w/ lots of interesting information! My students have found this book to be very useful for their research projects, and I'm glad that it's part of our library collection.

This is a fantastic book for young and old alike. I'm really interested in and indeed astounded by monarchs and what they do yet its been so difficult to find information about what they do, their life cycle past just the metamophosis etc. This book takes you all the way through from the spring migration from mexico to egg laying, development of the egg through caterpillar and into butterfly, migration back to mexico and then the start of the return journey north. An amazing book - I can't recommend it highly enough. Terrific!

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!

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.