Sonderbooks Book Review of

by Susumu Shingu

Traveling Butterflies

by Susumu Shingu

Review posted July 2, 2016.
Owlkids Books, 2015. First published in Japan in 2012. 42 pages.
Starred Review

Here's a children's nonfiction picture book that is simple enough for preschoolers. Yet it's interesting enough for older readers, and the pictures are stunningly beautiful.

The story is of the migration of monarch butterflies. It shows their life cycle, then how very far they travel.

There's a fascinating author's note at the back. I didn't realize that most monarch butterflies live only two to six weeks. But the generation of monarchs that migrates south, traveling nearly 2,500 miles, lives six to eight months. Interestingly, the butterflies that fly back north from Mexico to Canada don't live any longer than the others -- so it takes three to four generations of monarchs to fly back north.

This is a wonderful introduction to the story of these butterflies. I couldn't stop looking at the beautiful and vivid paintings.