Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 05/01/2023 Rosenstock (The Noisy Paintbox, 2014) introduces Canadian zoologist Fred Urquhart, who, together with his wife, Norah Roden Urquhart, and thousands of volunteers, solved the mystery of where monarch butterflies go in the winter. Studying insects over the years, Fred realized that nobody could give him an answer, though many had theories. A highlight of the book is Rosenstock’s chronicle of the lengthy trial and error that’s often involved in science, as Fred is shown trying and failing, repeatedly, to mark monarchs so that others could find ones he released and tell him their location. Another great lesson is next: science is collaborative. Norah asked the public for help with tagging and volunteers responded with gusto, documenting sightings that allowed the scientists to follow the butterflies to Mexico, where more collaboration, and more years of frustration and legwork, lead to finding the monarchs. The mystery, the work, and the eventual triumph are all given engaging treatment by Rosenstock, whose informative lesson on how science functions is accompanied by Meza’s brightly colored watercolors depicting Fred and Norah and the many child and adult volunteers, always with butterflies flitting about. A lovely addition to classroom and library shelves. - Copyright 2023 Booklist.