An Extraordinary Life: The Story of a Monarch Butterfly

by Laurence Pringle

Introduces the life cycle, feeding habits, migration, predators, and mating of the monarch butterfly through the observation of one particular monarch named Danaus.

Genres: Nonfiction, Childrens, Science, Nature, Picture Books, Animals

64 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1996

Reviews

[Tiffany Erickson]

Summary:
An Extraordinary Life describes the observation of one monarch butterfly, named Danaus, from an egg to an adult butterfly. Bright and realistic illustrations with corresponding captions accompany the text in outlining the life cycle, predators, diet, migration, and mating of the Monarch butterfly. The text is filled with interesting information and concepts.

Evaluation:
The writing in this text is completely factual, direct and straightforward. The text outlines the life cycle of monarch butterflies in chronological order. The text is long, but is organized in a chapter format with descriptive titles. Since it is long, this text is best read in stages, only specific chapters, or reading excerpts. The concepts in the text are presented in understandable and well-defined terms. The language of the text is high-quality and academic. Most terms are followed with an example in an illustration or in text, but some terms may need further explanation. The illustrations extremely realistic, so readers are given the opportunity to see nature up-close. Likewise, students will enjoy seeing the beautiful pictures of an animal that is relatively unfamiliar and not often seen. The pictures make the text more interesting.

Teaching Idea:
The text is long, so it is difficult to stay engaged because of the large amount of information presented. However, specific chapters or excerpts about life cycles can be incorporated into a lesson. Depending on the length or amount of chapter the teacher decides to read, determines if the reading and activity can be completed in one day, or over the course of several days.
After the teaching finishes the reading, the teacher will reiterate the four distinct stages in the butterfly’s life cycle. The teacher should write the name of each stage on the board, so students have a reference. Students will then create the life cycle of a butterfly using illustrations and short captions. Students could work in partners or small groups to complete this assignment. The life cycle illustrations and captions could be created on a paper plate, so further emphasizes the never-ending cycle.

[Hannah Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a reader, this book was super intriguing to me. I had never though about non-fiction, especially science non-fiction being so much fun to read. I loved that it was about one butterfly and that this butterfly had a name. It allowed for so much connection to be made with what was happening in the story and allowed for the science content to become more memorable. I also deeply loved the fact that there were many more things to learn from this story than just the life cycle of a butterfly. through reading this book, I was exposed to all the things that are challenging to a butterfly and caterpillar, the different parts of their body, and the wind streams that make their journeys easier.

As a future teacher I deeply enjoyed how this book integrates reading and science and it can be used to give students a different perspective on the life cycle of a butterfly. It is written in a story format, which enables students to connect better with the content as opposed to reading a text book. It also has illustrations within the book, which allows students the ability to connect visually with the content described in the book. I would recommend this book in a fourth through sixth grade class setting because of the reading level required for the book.

[Ashtyn Baribault · Rating 4 out of 5]

An adult female Monarch butterfly mates with a male Monarch butterfly where she has 400 eggs. As the last egg of the female Monarch offspring hatches Danaus arrives. She then grows into a caterpillar, a chrysalis, and then grows into a butterfly. As she knew her migration journey was soon to begin, Danaus found her colony to ensure a safer and less lonely voyage. She then goes on a trip from Massachusetts to Mexico in order to find a winter home. During migration, Danaus faces hardships in the form of extreme cold, predators, and many other obstacles. Danaus and all the other Monarchs live through this cold and predators. She then goes into detail about the feelings in the air that help her to determine winter is coming to a close, and she and her family will soon be able to return home. As spring arrives Danaus flies back north to find a mate where she will have her offspring. After she mated, Danaus sleeps beside her offspring waiting for her offspring to hatch and her impending death, she reflects on the remaining time of her life realizing it was an extraordinary life she had lived. This account of Danaus life allows for the reader to gain insight into the everyday life and struggles of the Monarch butterfly.

[Spencer Rice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Non-fiction books, especially informational non-fiction books have the tendency to be fact heavy, dense, and unengaging, especially to readers who might not have a developed interest in the subject of the text. I believe that author of An Extraordinary Life: The Story of a Monarch Butterfly, Laurence Pringle, solves this by presenting dense information and facts to the reader in the story of a singular monarch butterfly. With the reader following the peculiarities of Danaus’s life (Danaus is the name of the butterfly the book follows), from conception, to entering her chrysalises form and then emerging as a butterfly, and so on, the reader becomes enveloped in Danaus’s life, fearful at times, happy, sad, and other emotional responses that most other non-fiction books do not give the reader. This is all the result of the book doesn’t just regurgitate factual information onto the reader, but rather presents it as just another peculiarity in Danaus’s life.

[Asho · Rating 4 out of 5]

F (5) brought this home as her school library book this week. It's not really a picture book, as it has a ton of facts and a detailed and lengthy description of every stage of a monarch's life and migration. In other words, it was a lot for a kindergartner. If we owned it or had it checked out for longer than a week, we could have read the whole thing. Instead, since we had such a short time to enjoy it we opted to look through all of the illustrations together and talk in more detail about any parts that particularly interested her.
That ended up being a big hit. The illustrations were so beautiful. We were both amazed. We also both learned some really fascinating things about monarchs. I'm hoping she chooses to check this out again so we can read more of it in the future.

[Jean Bowen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written in the tradition of a Minn of the Mississippi, Paddle to the Sea, Seabird and Tree in the Trail Pringle tells the story of a Monarch's life. It has large beautiful illustrations and small detailed ones and of course, a map. I'm surprised I'd never seen this book in a homeschool curriculum or Book list. Maybe I just overlooked it. But this is excellent.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was extremely detailed and really written at the expert level. Can’t wait till I become a butterfly scientist! If you love butterflies or want to know about them, this is the perfect book especially if you’re wondering where the name ‘Monarch’ came from. #savethemonarchs

[Willow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such beautiful illustrations! We really enjoyed this living science book. We may have to track this down to add to our personal library.

Note: it does briefly mention "thirty million years ago."

[Catherine Sharp]

IT WAS AMAZING!!!!!!!! If you love monarch butterflies, you should DEFINITELY read this!

[Julia Woodard · Rating 3 out of 5]

An Extraordinary Life: The Story of a Monarch Butterfly by Laurence Pringle is a non-fiction story that is intended for children in Pre-K to 2nd grade. This book is a Newbery Honor book. The story follows the journey of a monarch butterfly named Danaus. Throughout the story we are introduced to the life cycle of a monarch, its feeding habits, its predators, its mating rituals, and its migration. I liked the story because it has beautiful imagery and many interesting facts about the monarch butterfly. I think this story would be appealing to young readers because it has a lot of colorful illustrations and is very informative, although, some of the vocabulary may be a little difficult and may need to be taught such as migration. Teachers can use this book for either a Science or Language Arts lesson. To keep the students engaged before, during, and after reading the story, the teacher and the students can create a KWL (What I know, What I want to Know, and what I have learned) about the monarch butterfly.

[Crissy · Rating 4 out of 5]

An Extraordinary Life: The Story of a Monarch Butterfly is a non-fiction work for children aged 9-12. It has an interest level which includes younger grades, however the reading material is much more advanced. It is a winner of the NCTE Orbus Pictus Award. The story begins with the death of a female monarch who has just lain over 400 eggs. It then continues through the development of the caterpillar within the egg and follows it throughout her life, her travels and adventures, and finally her death. This is a wonderfully complete and detailed story. The language approaches the life of a butterfly in a way that is very story – like. I have not always been the biggest fan of non-fiction because of the way the material is presented, however, this story is presented as the wonderful adventure that it truly is. Our butterfly gets a name (a scientifically accurate one) and experiences a number of challenges. We meet every potential downfall of a monarch, and yet, she carries on! In addition to captivating language, the book is full of colorful and realistic drawings that capture the attention of the reader and illustrate much of this story. There are also a number of small drawings with captions further elaborating on the text. They provide little anecdotes and fun facts that can be enjoyed by all readers.

[Alex Vargas · Rating 3 out of 5]

An Extraordinary Life is a great nonfiction children's book on the entire life of a Monarch Butterfly. This book tells the story of one Monarch's complete life cycle in story form. The book is written about Danaus, a female Monarch, beginning her life as an egg. She transforms into a caterpillar, then a chrysalis, and eventually into a butterfly. We experience the life cycle right along side her. We witness and learn about the stages in her life, the foods she eats, the wind patterns and direction she takes during migration and even her close encounters with predators. The book is written this way to give a personalized feel to an ordinary butterfly. This book contains many facts to learn, like the wind currents called thermals, which make it easier for butterflies to reach their destination. We learn about all the body parts of both a monarch caterpillar and butterfly. In the back of the book it provides information on how to help and track monarchs and a website to go to. It also provides details of how to care for monarchs on your own. I think this is a good book for younger readers, or to read as a class on the subject of science. In 2nd grade my school got to take care of, raise, and release monarchs which was a very fun part of the year. This book can help to learn even more about their life in the wild.

[Makenzie Sliva · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a sweet story about the lifecycle of a Monarch Butterfly. I can remember reading this book when I was younger. I can remember the vivid pictures that made it seem as if I was looking at the objects right in front of me. I enjoyed looking at all the detailed pictures of the monarch butterfly along with many other creatures. There were other bugs plants, and animals throughout the book as the butterfly, Danaus made its journey through life. The author did a good job demonstrating the life cycle of a monarch butterfly as he goes into detail about certain elements in a butterflies’ life. Such elements include predators that the butterfly comes into contact with, what the butterfly eats, and even specific mating patters of a monarch butterfly. Danaus really depicts the struggles and triumphs that the monarch butterfly can go through. As humans we never think of what different creatures have to go through, this book really helps show a different view of life. My favorite part about this book was that it didn't feel like I was reading an informational text. I just simply followed along with the story and gained a lot of knowledge along the way. This book was sweet and enjoyable and I would recommend it to others.

[Rita Date · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember reading this book when I was younger. Though I remember this story, it was not the information that I could recall. I remember the vivid pictures that seemed as if I was looking at the objects right in front of me. As I revisited the book recently, I realized that my perception of the amazing pictures was just about that same as when I was little. I really had fun looking at all the detailed pictures of the monarch butterfly along with many other creatures. There were other bugs plants, and animals throughout the book as the butterfly, Danaus made its journey through life. The author did a good job demonstrating the life cycle of a monarch butterfly because he goes into detail about certain elements in a butterflies’ life. Such elements include predators that the butterfly comes into contact with, what the butterfly eats, and even specific mating patters of a monarch butterfly. Danaus really depicts the struggles and triumphs that the monarch butterfly can go through. As humans we never think of what different creatures have to go through, this book really helps show a different view of life.

[Lauren Richards · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Extraordinary Life: The Story of a Monarch Butterfly by Laurence Pringle and illustrated by Bob Marshall is a stunning book about the Monarch Butterfly. It outlines the lifecycle of a Monarch Butterfly with very vivid pictures. The story is about a butterfly named Danaus and his life and journey. It is a cute twist on a informational book by giving it just enough character to capture kids attention. On the side of the pages there were also fun facts about butterflies, “The Monarch butterfly can fly at speeds ranging between 12-25 miles an hour.” This book is great to give kids to read that are interested in insects or to do a science lab and actually get a caterpillar to go through the transformation. This book deserved the Orbis Pictus Award for the amazing amount of facts involved and the beauty of the illustrations.

Pringle, L. (1997). An extraordinary life : The story of a monarch butterfly. New York: Orchard Books.

[Annette Ruane · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I liked most about this book was its colorful illustrations. It gave the story of the journey of the monarch butterfly. I enjoyed this book for the pictures but not for the word. This story was super long and drug out. I don’t think that there needed to be as many details as there were. I did enjoy the side fun facts along the margins of the page. Wonder if the book was illustrated with hand drawn pictures instead of actual photographs because it is hard to take a picture of a moving butterfly and I can imagine there are too many camera crews following the migration of this butterfly like we do for whales. Even though the hand drawn picture were not drawn to scale most of the time, the author did manage to note how much bigger the picture was compared to the real thing. I really enjoyed the map in the back in the book of the actual migration.

[Jordan Davidson · Rating 3 out of 5]

An Extraordinary Life: The Story of a Monarch Butterfly
Laurence Pringle
Orchard Books, 1997

Summary: This book tells the story of the birth, migration, and eventual death of a monarch butterfly. The story is accompanied by full-color illustrations and little blurbs in the margins meant to educate readers about butterflies.

Genre: Nonfiction.

Content Warnings: None.

My Opinion: This was a pleasant surprise. The writing was quite pretty (if a bit complex – I wouldn’t recommend this for younger readers) and the illustrations were gorgeous. Some parts were a bit dry, but that’s to sometimes be expected with nonfiction books I think. I don’t have a particular interest in butterflies, so this book didn’t appeal to me as much as it could have, but for a somewhat-older kid with an interest in butterflies (or science in general) I think this book would be a good choice.

[Leesa Savage · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Extraordinary Life: The Story of a Monarch Butterfly by Laurence Pringle is a book about a journey of a butterfly named Danaus. The story goes about the life cycle of a butterfly and the struggles Danaus came across and overcame. Danaus only lives for a month but follows through while she travels from Massachusetts to Mexico. Danaus lays her eggs and eventually dies and the story shows the hatching of her babies and the life cycle of a caterpillar starts over again. The illustrations in the book were colorful, the words did not take over the page and draws the reader in to finish the story. This would be a good book for a science lesson in the class room.


Pringle, L., & Marstall, B. (1997). An extraordinary life: The story of a monarch butterfly. New York: Orchard Books.

[Florence Baumgardner · Rating 4 out of 5]

An Extraordinary Life: the Story of a Monarch Butterfly by Laurence Pringle and Illustrated by Bob Marstall
ISBN-13: 9780531300022
An Extraordinary Life: the Story of a Monarch Butterfly by Laurence Pringle and Illustrated by Bob Marstall is The Orbis Pictus Award book for 1998.Written for I-Intermediate readers age 8-12. The story is about Danaus a monarch butterfly it talks about his life and journey . I have always loved the monarch butterfly. They are amazing from the start of their life until the end and this book contains it all. While working with children this is a great example of the life cycle.

[Debra Daniels-Zeller · Rating 5 out of 5]

The illustrations alone make this a book worth checking out. Beautiful pictures of monarch butterflies, bugs, spiders,birds, mice and flowers next to the story of a monarch's life span and the roundtrip journey the Monarchs take all make me thinks childrens' books have gotten sophisticated. I got this book to learn a little more about Monarchs and I actually learned so many details about the tagging programs, milkweed connections, predators, how monarchs' fly and the journey itself. This book would give a child a great appreciaton for this amazing butterfly that migrates to Mexico and California.

[Valerie Hernandez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not only were the images in this book extremely beautiful, this book also teaches you all about the life of a Monarch Butterfly through the life of the main character Danaus. Through Danaus's life we learn about the life cycle of a Monarch. This is definitely a book I will read to my students during a science lesson!

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful informational book for kids. The Monarch Butterfly actually does live an extraordinary life. I learned a lot about the life cycle of the butterfly. Great book for kids interested in animals, insects or nature.

[Bella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Danny is the main butterfly in this book and the book explains how he grows up and his life cycle. I really liked this book.

[Shala Abbott · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book will be great for learning the cylce of butterflies, feeding predators and migration. A great way to integrate reading into Science.

[Fly To The Sky · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the pictures in this book....THEY ARE SO COOL!! And it really is a good story!

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although out of date, the children's nonfiction book is a fascinating look at the endangered butterfly.

[Teshamae]

This is a long book that we'll come back to when the kids are older.

[Kristin]

Title: An Extraordinary Life
Author: Laurence Pringle
Illustrator: Bob Marstall
Genre: Ortis Pictus Book
Theme(s): Monarch butterfly
Opening Line/Sentence:
It was a moonless night in late August.

Brief Book Summary:
An Extraordinary Life is a non-fiction book that discusses the life cycle and span of monarch butterflies. The book focuses in on one monarch butterfly’s life. The book starts from the beginning of a monarch’s life as a caterpillar. The detailed illustrations give aid in understanding and visualizing all the details described in the book. Predators, death and migration are also discussed. The book wraps up discussing how to raise your own monarch butterfly.

Professional Recommendation/Review #1:
CCBC (Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices, 1997)
Laurence Pringle's skillfully written nonfiction narrative follows one butterfly on its migratory journey from the eastern United States to central Mexico, and back north again to Texas. His text unfolds with all the drama of a well-told story, but Pringle writes with the understanding that the drama is found in nature itself, not in embellishments. Bob Marstall's beautifully rendered paintings are filled with intricate, informative details. Many monarchs never survive the migratory journey southward or the wintering months because of predators, hazards both natural and man-made, and the destruction of the natural environment. But millions of butterflies still survive--one of nature's wonders that Laurence Pringle invites readers to behold.

Professional Recommendation/Review #2:
Marilyn Courtot (Children's Literature )
The life cycle and incredible migration of these small creatures are always a source of wonder. Pringle tells it all in a story form that is scientifically accurate and accompanied by the realistic paintings of Marstall. Readers follow Danaus as she develops into adulthood and journeys to her wintering site in Mexico. Sidebars, maps information about protecting habitats and raising monarchs, and a bibliography are part of the package.

Response to Two Professional Reviews:
I enjoyed how the book was written, following the life span of one monarch butterfly. If the book had between written in a different perspective or style, it would have been strictly an informational and boring book. Beauty, as well as other synonyms, are seen throughout each of the reviewers writings because of how beautifully written and illustrated the book is.

Evaluation of Literacy Elements:
Of course the illustrations and writing in this book are magnificent, which is the reason for why it was deserving of an Orbis Pictus award. The images help the reader to visualize the certain descriptions of monarch’s, as well as the high quantity within migrations. The illustrations include captions and labels that help the reader with clarity.

Consideration of Instructional Application:
I would love to use this book as an example for a unit on butterflies or even life spans. It would be fascinating to use this book in the beginning of the school year and try to house/support the birth and growth of a butterfly. A hands-on experience like this would show students just how much responsibility goes into helping other lives.

[Hailey]

An Extraordinary Life: The Story of a Monarch Butterfly by Laurence Pringle paintings by Bob Marstall won the Orbis Pictus in 1998. This book is about the trails, triumphs, and life cycle of a monarch butterfly named Danaus. The butterfly goes through its life cycle complete with mating, feeding habits, predators, and much more. This book has many colorful illustrations and diagrams by Bob Marhstall. This book was beautiful and filled with pictures that guided the reader through the story. Within this book there were many facts about butterflies and I found all of them fascinating. I liked that when they wrote the book they wrote it in the story form of one butterfly going from flower to flower and growing old in such a short span of time. If we could learn about more animals in this way I believe that students would be more engaged and inspired by these books.

[Maudie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genre:Informational text
Grade:5-6
This book is filled with all the stages of a little monarch butterfly. This shows the stages and the predators that it must stay away from during it's journey. This book is a great way to look at a monarch butterflies life and it can spark up good conversation in the classroom and the pictures on this book are unbelievably amazing.