When The Monarchs Fly

When young Ellie finds a late-season Monarch butterfly with tattered wings, she does not know much it will change her. She identifies with the freedom and lightness the Monarch represents, but not its need to migrate. Ellie would never want to leave her home, she thinks. When Ellie overhears her parents talking about a possible family move to find a new job for her father, she keeps her thoughts to herself. Clinging to the memory of the Monarch butterfly with the broken wings, she secretly makes a butterfly costume of orange and black -- Monarch colors. On Halloween night, with wings in place, she runs from house to house in a desperate flight from the changes she fears. A magical book that involves transformation, change, and a family coming together, this book will capture the hearts and the imaginations of readers young and old. Color illustrations capture the fishing community and Ellie's identification with the butterfly with the tattered wings. The book also includes a natural history endnote about Monarch butterflies: the transformation from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis and finally to butterfly, and their amazing migration.