Monarch Butterflies are probably the butterfly that most children are familiar with.
It's bright vibrant colors make it easy to identify, and the fact that
it makes such an amazing trip every year means that teachers like to
make it a part of science units on migration and hibernation.
I thought the following map, which is borrowed from Wikipedia, was amazing, in that it showed the many places that Monarchs have been sited. They are certainly more international than many of us think: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarch_butterfly
I thought the following map, which is borrowed from Wikipedia, was amazing, in that it showed the many places that Monarchs have been sited. They are certainly more international than many of us think: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarch_butterfly
Unusual
locations include Australia and New Zealand, and Western Europe. They
are regulars of the Canary Islands, the Azores, and Madeira.
**All ratings from GoodReads
by Connie and Peter Roop
4.00 avg rating — 3 GoodReaders
This early reader is from Scholastic. It talks about the monarch's journey to Mexico when the weather begins to change, and it's return in spring.
Reading Information:
Word Count: 145
Page Count: 30
Accelerated Reading level: 2.0 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 105774
--no sample pages but one review available
by Mary Alice Monroe and Linda Love
Barbara J Bergwerf (photos)
5.00 avg rating — 2 GoodReaders
This book is told from the point of view of a little girl who is outside exploring a garden. The book uses photographs and chatty text to teach children about the life cycle of a beautiful monarch butterfly.
Word Count: 497In my mother's garden there areand from another page:
many flowers: pink, blue, yellow
and orange.
They open their petals to the sun.
I call them flying flowers.
I look at a green milkweed leaf
and see a bright yellow and black
bug staring back at me.
Chewing... chewing... chewing.
Page Count: 32
Accelerated Reading level: 2.5 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 159802
--sample pages and one review available
by John Himmelman
4.00 avg rating — 5 ratings
This book features colorful artwork about the monarch's life cycle.
I
found this to be a beautifully illustrated book that manages to give
the best sense of season and how short, but beautiful, the Monarch's
life is. Himmelman's artwork is kid-friendly and interesting. He
manages to convey a lot of information without a lot of text.
Word Count: 317
Page Count: 32
Accelerated Reading level: 2.8 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 1592
--sample pages and other reviews available
(Welcome Books: Animals of the World)
by Edana Eckart
3.33 avg rating — 3 ratings
This little book from Scholastic
features VERY LARGE print and short sentences. In fact, the content
and sentences seem very short for Second graders. To give you an idea
of what I'm talking about, here is the text from the first page:
Monarch butterflies are insects.Other pages though, do have more sentences. Here, for example is the test you'll find on another page. These sentences are accompanied by a nice close-up picture of a Monarch's wing.
Monarch butterflies have four wings.
Their wings are orange and black with white spots.
The
format for the book is the standard text on the left-hand side, images
on the right. Most of the pictures are great: Kid-friendly and
interesting close-ups of a Monarch, a caterpillar, eggs on a leaf, and
the wing mentioned earlier.
Contents
Monarch Butterflies
Wings
Fields
New Words
To Find Out More
Index
About the Author
But
not all the pictures are so interesting. I thought the two pictures
that showed 'flocks' of butterflies were more-or-less useless, being
unattractive and not particular clear. Perhaps they are old stock
photos.
This
book looks rather simple for 2nd Graders, but it might work well for
children that are intimidated by a large amount of text. Overall, the images are engaging.
Reading Information:
Word Count: 102
Page Count: 24
Accelerated Reading level: 2.3 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 87070
--sample pages and one review available
(Penguin Young Readers)
by Emily Neye
Ron Broda (Illustrator)
3.64 avg rating —11 ratings
Lots
of good information here about the differences between butterflies and
moths. And artwork from Ron Broday is kid-friendly; he uses bright
colors and creative cut-paper collages.
Carolyn Phelan from the ALA BOOKLIST writes: Though the information presented is quite limited, librarians may want to have this on hand for beginning readers who prefer nonfiction.
Carolyn Phelan from the ALA BOOKLIST writes: Though the information presented is quite limited, librarians may want to have this on hand for beginning readers who prefer nonfiction.
Word Count: 436
Page Count: 32
Accelerated Reading level: 2.4 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 140660
Lexile: 180L
--sample pages and reviews are available
by Linda Glaser
Illustrated by Gay Holland
4.00 avg rating — 4 ratings
MAGNIFICENT MONARCHS features lovely drawings in muted tones.
The information is presented as a story. A young
boy talks about an egg found on a leaf. He continues by describing how the
caterpillar emerges and begins to eat milkweed leaves. And how she
grows and grows until she finds a place to hang upside down like a "J".
She sheds her skin once more. And look!
A chrysalis has formed.
My little friend is safe inside.
She stays in there for days and days,
while her whole body changes
in wonderful ways.
The
book then discusses how the Monarchs gather and migrate. And how the
pattern of their kind repeats as the cycle begins again.
IF
you are looking for a strictly scientific approach to Monarchs this
probably won't serve. BUT if you are looking for a book to share or one
to accompany lessons on life cycles and migration, this might be a
great choice.
The illustrations in this book are done in mellow colors. The drawings run across both pages.
Look at what I found here in these weeds.
A shiny white egg stuck on a leaf
A tiny monarch caterpillar pushes her way out,
my soft and wiggly friend.
She eats and eats the milkweed leaves
She grows and grows until...
How many eggs does a monarch butterfly lay?
Do monarch caterpillars eat any other plants besides milkweed?
Are caterpillars a type of worm?
How long does it take a monarch caterpillar to become a butterfly?
... and more
Word Count: 281
Page Count: 32
Accelerated Reading level: 2.4 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 48538
--sample pages and reviews are available
(Pull Ahead Books)
by Laura Hamilton Waxman
4.33 avg rating — 3 ratings
I like this little book. The
pictures are bright and interesting and it actually covers quite a bit
of material.
To
begin with the book defines what a Monarch is. It tells children that a
monarch is a butterfly .AND. an insect. That it has four wings which
are orange, black, and white. And unlike other books that I've read,
this one has a wonderful up-close photo of the
butterfly's wing's scales.
My favorite part though are the photos of the tiny larva hatching from a butterfly egg.
My favorite part though are the photos of the tiny larva hatching from a butterfly egg.
At the end there's a map of where
Monarchs live, a diagram with parts labelled, as well as a glossary and something called a "Hunt and
Find". The latter is a sort of game where children are given a phrase and some page numbers,
and are asked to find the phrase.
Each page features a picture, and one to three sentences. Here is some sample text from one page:
Take a closer look at these wings.Reading Information:
Do you see the scales?
The scales protect monarchs
from the rain.
Word Count: 414
Page Count: 32
Accelerated Reader: 2.5 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 66255
--sample pages available
by Helen Frost
2.67 avg rating — 3 ratings
Could not find much information about this book and the reviewers at GoodReads didn't seem to like it.
Word Count: 57
Page Count: 24
Accelerated Reader: 2.7 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 31804
Lexile: NC610L
-- no sample pages
compiled by Pam
I went and looked at the Butterfly Kits
that Amazon offers and below you'll find the ones that gave people the
most satisfaction. These kits, I should note, all use Painted Lady
butterflies, and not Monarchs.
Insect Lore Live Butterfly Garden by Insect Lore
Insect Lore Live Butterfly Pavilion by Insect Lore
The difference between these two --besides price-- is the size of the butterfly habitat
Live Butterfly Kit: SHIPPED WITH 5 Painted Lady Caterpillars Now by Nature Gift Store
I've included this one because it got a high rating but it's very expensive.
5 Live Caterpillars Shipped Now - Butterfly Kit Refill
