This strikingly beautiful book brings us photos of the Monarch butterfly. The author Windle Turley was granted permission by the Government of Mexico to enter protected breeding grounds in order to illustrate THE AMAZING MONARCH. As the gaily decorated butterflies gather before flying north, they completely cover the trunks and branches of trees. Innumerable insects form a lively scene as they take flight like a sky full of flowers.

Whimsical quotes are presented by Chinese philosopher Chuang-Tzu, who "dreamt he was a butterfly, and famously when he awoke, he wondered if he was a man who dreamt he was a butterfly or a butterfly now dreaming it was a man." Emily Dickinson, Buckminster Fuller, Carl Sagan and Robert Heinlein are also quoted. A Native American legend holds that we should tell our wish to a butterfly, who will tell it to the Great Spirit. The wish will be granted in thanks for letting the butterfly go free.

Meanwhile, the powerful, inspiring photographs take us up close and personal as we watch these delicate creatures. With an artist's eye, Windle Turley shows us a single Monarch on a bright yellow flower, or a tree draped with so many Monarchs that the mind has to reconsider what it is viewing to make sense of the scene. The Federal Police of Mexico are shown slowing road traffic as a cloud of Monarchs flies across the thoroughfare.

Nature notes explain how the eggs are laid under leaves of the milkweed plant, ninety percent of the chosen plants being in the common milkweed species. The butterflies chase the newly flourishing plant north in a seasonal cycle depending on latitude. Chemicals in the leaves do not harm the caterpillars, which have found a way to store them so their bodies are distasteful to birds. Migrating butterflies may cover up to 150 miles in a day and may end up in Texas or the corn belt. Threats to the Monarch include environmental degradation, climate change, infestations of pine bark beetles in their wintering grounds, pesticides, weedkiller use on milkweed, and genetically modified corn pollen that kills insects.

The end notes contain many sources for further research on THE AMAZING MONARCH, should the spectacular pictures inspire you to find out more about their lives.