The Mystery of the Monarchs by Barb Rosenstock & Art by Erika Meza (2022)

As many of you know, my 6-book chapter book series’ main characters (coming spring of 2026) are two best friend beetles who visit different insect schools. The May 2020 National Geographic cover, “You Will Miss Them When They Are Gone,” really sparked my interest in the global insect crisis we are facing. I have had a voracious appetite for insect books these days. They are fascinating!

This fall, my children were lucky enough to have a local visiting author come speak at their elementary school. We had previously read Barb Rosenstock’s nonfiction picture book about the Great Lakes, but when the book order form arrived in my kids’ folders, I was pleased to see Rosenstock had also written about butterflies. The Mystery of the Monarchs is a fascinating picture book that details how entomologist Fred Urquhart and his wife, Norah Urquhart, engaged adults and kids across North American in citizen science to uncover the mystery of monarch butterfly migration. The illustrations in this book are stunning.

Heart: Fred and Norah’s persistent pursuit to figure out where the monarch butterflies migrate to in the winter is the epitome of how curiosity and wonder can lead to brilliant discoveries. Not only is this a story of scientific triumph, it is a love story - a love for our natural world and all that inhabit it. 

Head: Please read all of the information in the back of this picture book! It is so informative. Additionally, if you are a nature lover who cares about our environment, I highly recommend this adult book: The Insect Crisis: The Fall of the Tiny Empires that Run the World by Oliver Milman.