When the seasons change, many animals migrate to new homes. Readers will learn about these fascinating creatures in Nature’s Great Journeys. This series explores the physical features, behaviors, and histories of migratory animals with easy-to-read text and vivid images. This is an AV2 media enhanced book. A unique book code printed on page 2 unlocks multimedia content. This book comes alive with video, audio, weblinks, slide shows, activities, quizzes, and much more.

When the seasons change, many animals migrate to new homes. Readers will learn about these fascinating creatures in Nature's Great Journeys. This series explores the physical features, behaviors, and histories of migratory animals with easy-to-read text and vivid images.

Monarch Butterflies is a richly illustrated, large-format book that celebrates North America’s most recognized butterfly and educates children and families about what they can do to help protect these beloved pollinators from the impacts of habitat loss and climate change.

“What a wonderful idea for an adventure! Absolutely inspired, timely, and important.” —Alistair Humphreys, National Geographic Adventurer of the Year and author of The Doorstep Mile and Around the World by Bike Outdoor educator and field researcher Sara Dykman made history when she became the first person to bicycle along­side monarch butterflies on their storied annual migration—a round-trip adventure that included three countries and more than 10,000 miles. Equally remarkable, she did it solo, on a bike cobbled together from used parts. Her panniers were recycled buckets. In Bicycling with Butterflies, Dykman recounts her incredible journey and the dramatic ups and downs of the nearly nine-month odyssey. We’re beside her as she nav­igates unmapped roads in foreign countries, checks roadside milkweed for monarch eggs, and shares her passion with eager schoolchil­dren, skeptical bar patrons, and unimpressed border officials. We also meet some of the ardent monarch stewards who supported her efforts, from citizen scientists and research­ers to farmers and high-rise city dwellers. With both humor and humility, Dykman offers a compelling story, confirming the urgency of saving the threatened monarch migration—and the other threatened systems of nature that affect the survival of us all.

The fascinating and complex evolutionary relationship of the monarch butterfly and the milkweed plant Monarch butterflies are one of nature's most recognizable creatures, known for their bright colors and epic annual migration from the United States and Canada to Mexico. Yet there is much more to the monarch than its distinctive presence and mythic journeying. In Monarchs and Milkweed, Anurag Agrawal presents a vivid investigation into how the monarch butterfly has evolved closely alongside the milkweed—a toxic plant named for the sticky white substance emitted when its leaves are damaged—and how this inextricable and intimate relationship has been like an arms race over the millennia, a battle of exploitation and defense between two fascinating species. The monarch life cycle begins each spring when it deposits eggs on milkweed leaves. But this dependency of monarchs on milkweeds as food is not reciprocated, and milkweeds do all they can to poison or thwart the young monarchs. Agrawal delves into major scientific discoveries, including his own pioneering research, and traces how plant poisons have not only shaped monarch-milkweed interactions but have also been culturally important for centuries. Agrawal presents current ideas regarding the recent decline in monarch populations, including habitat destruction, increased winter storms, and lack of milkweed—the last one a theory that the author rejects. He evaluates the current sustainability of monarchs and reveals a novel explanation for their plummeting numbers. Lavishly illustrated with more than eighty color photos and images, Monarchs and Milkweed takes readers on an unforgettable exploration of one of nature's most important and sophisticated evolutionary relationships.

William, a studious and curious North Dakota boy, captures a Monarch butterfly—a trophy he wants to present for show-and-tell at school next Friday. The captive girl butterfly, Anka, is able to speak. With a sad, trembling voice, Anka pleads for freedom so she may fulfill her life destiny. Worried to show up at school empty handed, William resists her pleas. But clever Anka bargains for her freedom by enticing William to accompany her as a passenger on her fantastic journey. There is one catch, though: William has to shrink in size and become a miniature boy in order to ride on Anka’s back. William faces a dilemma. Should he set Anka free and show up at school empty handed? Or should he join this girl butterfly on an adventure to an unknown destination? Intrigued, he agrees to join Anka on her special trip. Whisked away on the wings of a butterfly, a whole new world unfolds for William. Together, he and Anka soar south-southwest from North Dakota to the Oyamel fir forests in central Mexico. A strong friendship develops as they depend on each other for survival. They stay for five months at their destination high up in the mountains—the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. There, William learns much about Monarch butterflies, about survival, and about himself. During their return travels in the spring, William better understands the significance of Anka’s need for freedom. This story is about the importance of friendship and trust. It is also about one of nature’s most amazing wonders—the curious life-cycle and incredible migration of a fourth-generation, eastern Monarch butterfly.

Monarch butterfly populations have been declining for the last two decades, and scientists aren't sure why. Skilled science writer Hirsh takes readers on a quest to discover what is happening and what scientists know. Full color.