Learn more about the Monarch Butterfly, it’s amazing life cycle, and the insect’s migration from the United States to South America with our informational books – or share a story or two about wiggly caterpillars and fluttery butterflies. Check out these wonderful books!


Monarch Butterfly by Gail Gibbons

This informational picture book describes the life cycle, body parts, and behavior of the monarch butterfly. Includes instructions on how to raise a monarch.

Available formats: Book, Ebook (Hoopla)


Señorita Mariposa by Mister G

This bilingual picture book explores the Monarch Butterfly’s migration from Canada to Mexico with lyrical text. Enjoy bright whimsical illustrations and the author’s note on how to help protect monarch butterflies.

Available formats: Book


Butterflies and Moths by M.J. York 

This informational book explores the similarities between butterflies and moths, and how to tell them apart. Discover how traits like antennae shape, wing structure, and coloring can be used to identify these flying insects.

Available formats: Book


The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

Follows the progress of a hungry little caterpillar as he eats his way through a varied and very large quantity of food until, full at last, he forms a cocoon around himself and then emerges as a butterfly.

Available formats: Book


Ten Little Caterpillars by Bill Martin

Illustrations and rhyming text follow ten caterpillars as one wriggles up a flower stem, another sails across a garden pool, and one reaches an apple leaf, where something amazing happens.

Available formats: Book


Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert

Every spring, butterflies emerge and dazzle the world with their vibrant beauty. But where do butterflies come from? How are they born? What do they eat–and how?
With a simple, rhyming text and glorious color-drenched collage, Lois Ehlert provides clear answers to these and other questions as she follows the life cycle of four common butterflies, from their beginnings as tiny hidden eggs and hungry caterpillars to their transformation into full-grown butterflies. Complete with butterfly and flower facts and identification tips, as well as a guide to planting a butterfly garden, this butterfly book is like no other.

Available formats: Book, Audiobook (Hoopla)


Fly! Monarch, Fly! by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace

Join Minna, Pip, Mom, and Dad on a visit to Butterfly Place as they meet Bert the Butterfly Man. They hunt for monarch butterfly eggs and caterpillars, and see the amazing change from pupa to adult monarch butterfly. They learn all about monarchs, metamorphosis, and monarch migration.

Available formats: Book


Butterflies Belong Here: A Story of One Idea, Thirty Kids, and a World of Butterflies by Deborah Hopkinson

An immigrant girl explains how she learned English by reading about Monarch butterflies, and how, troubled by their decline, she got her classmates and neighbors together to build a butterfly garden.

Available formats: Book


Hurry and the Monarch by Antoine Ó Flatharta

Hurry the tortoise befriends a monarch butterfly when she stops in his garden in Wichita Falls, Texas, during her migration from Canada to Mexico. Includes facts about monarch butterflies.

Available formats: Book


Hello, Little One: A Monarch Butterfly Story by Zeena M. Pliska 

Caterpillar crawls from leaf to leaf, eating and waiting, all alone in a big, green world. Then Orange appears―Orange floats, and flits, and flies, graceful and beautiful. In this sweet, moving story of intergenerational friendship, a small caterpillar is befriended by a glorious monarch butterfly, and together they learn to see the world through each other’s eyes.

Available formats: Book


The Family Butterfly Book: Discover the Joy of Attracting, Raising & Nurturing Butterflies by Rick Mikula

Enjoy this informational book that includes: projects, activities, and a field guide to 40 favorite North American species.

Available formats: Book


Butterflies by Rachel Bach

This informational picture book uses words and language appropriate for emergent readers to learn about the life cycle of butterflies.

Available formats: Ebook (Hoopla)


Life Cycle of a Butterfly by Karen Latchana Kenney

In this book, readers will learn about the incredible transformation caterpillars make into some of the most beautiful flying insects on the planet. Vibrant, full-color photos and carefully leveled text will engage readers as they learn more about every stage of the butterfly’s life cycle.

Available formats: Book


Butterfly by Nancy Dickmann

This book describes the various stages of a butterfly’s life, from egg to pupa to caterpillar to butterfly.  Filled with vibrant photos and interesting facts, this title also includes a hands-on activity, table of contents, glossary,  and resources for further research. 

Available formats: Book


Monarch Butterflies by Rebecca E. Hirsch

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. A great informational book for elementary students.

Available formats: Ebook (Hoopla)


Arabella Miller’s Tiny Caterpillar by Clare Jarrett

A little girl feeds a tiny caterpillar and watches him grow into a butterfly.

Available formats: Book


Butterfly & Moth by Paul Ernest Stutton Whalley

This informational book is part of the DK eyewitness book series. This book looks at the life cycle of different species of butterflies and moths. It explores classification and endangered species.

Available formats: Book


Butterfly Garden by Margaret McNamara

Mrs. Connor’s first-graders watch as caterpillars slowly turn into butterflies in the butterfly garden at Robin Hill School.

Available formats: Book


A Butterfly is Patient by Dianna Hutts

This picture book’s colorful illustrations accompany simple poetic text that explores an  incredible variety of butterflies.

Available formats: Book


Winged Wonders: Solving the Monarch Migration Mystery by Meeg Pincus

For decades, as the monarch butterflies swooped through every year like clockwork, people from Canada to the United States to Mexico wondered, “Where do they go?” In 1976 the world learned the answer: after migrating thousands of miles, the monarchs roost by the millions in an oyamel grove in Central Mexico’s mountains. This informational picture book celebrates the contributions of citizen scientists and explores the questions still to be answered about these amazing creatures. 

Available formats: Book


 

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