The Monarch Effect: Surviving Poison, Predators, and People

Dana L. Church, author of The Beekeepers: How Humans Changed the World of Bumble Bees, offers children ages 8 to 12 another fantastic, detailed exploration of an aspect of God’s creation, specifically, monarch butterflies. Though Church doesn’t acknowledge that God is the creator of all, Christian readers who spend time poring over The Monarch Effect will see God’s amazing fingerprints on every detail pertaining to monarch butterflies and will recognize God’s call to care for his world, including the habitat of these winged wonders.

Church points out that recently monarch butterflies were classified as vulnerable to extinction on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species. She adds, “The quest to understand monarch butterflies---and to save them---is a story as colorful as the butterflies themselves. There has been collaboration and conflict, colonialism and conservation, experiments and surprises. And there is still an abundance of mystery.”

Church’s narrative is engaging and replete with stories about citizen scientists and about children who loved science and grew up to become scientists and to make large contributions to the study of monarchs. She also explains how monarch butterflies have shaped the cultural, historical, and religious contexts of some communities.

Church skillfully relates thought-provoking questions. For example, “How do the butterflies know where to go? How do they make it to the Mexican overwintering sites when they have never been there before? And how do they know where to go when it’s springtime? What goes on in their little heads?”

Children (and adults) who love to study God’s creation will find in this intriguing book much to learn and enjoy. (Scholastic Focus)