On her migration south to Mexico, Monarch stops to rest in Wichita Falls, Texas, and befriends an old tortoise named Hurry. As the two friends converse, they reveal how biology has beautifully dictated their different perspectives on life: Monarch’s quick-moving and busy life strongly contrasts the slow, long life of the tortoise, which patiently awaits the changes of the seasons. Yet both lives intertwine and are filled with the magic of transfor mation. After winter ends and Monarch flies north from Mexico, she again stops in Texas to visit Hurry. She lays her eggs in his garden, leaving him to be the first to greet her offspring. This excellent addition to literature on butterflies takes the concept of metamorphosis a step future by placing it in a larger context. nrz

When the beautiful orange Monarch on her fall migration route from Canada to Mexico stops to rest at Wichita Falls, Texas, she makes friends with an old tortoise called Hurry. She tells him, "Maybe one day you'll break out of that shell, grow wings, and fly away," and then she is off again with millions of other Monarchs. In the spring, she stops again at Hurry's garden just long enough to lay her eggs and head north to Canada. Embedded in this lyrical and tender fictional presentation are the fascinating facts about the amazing 2,000-mile migration and the life cycle of butterflies. An afterword provides additional scientific data.

"From the Hardcover edition.