by: Dykman, Sara

Published by: Timber Press, Inc., 2021

For purposes of this review, I read this book twice. I enjoyed it both times. The first time I read it, I enjoyed the descriptions of her travels through her biking experiences. At the end, I thought, did I miss something? Where were the monarchs? I read it again, after a few years had passed, and focused on the parts with the monarchs. The book is written much like monarchs in our daily lives–facts about the monarchs flit by and catch our attention during moments of our lives and then fly away just as quickly.

Dykman begins her journey in Mexico and the monarch overwintering habitat areas. She has settled there for a few months earlier and has acclimated herself with the people and the land. The people here have welcomed the monarchs for generations, relying on them for their cultural as well as economic significance.

When she begins her journey of following the butterflies, she bikes North on trails that run as close to the monarch migration as possible. There are detours since some routes are not passable due to there not being a road (and she does off-road but it slows her down) but as she navigates around Mexico, she meets the kindness of strangers who have very little of their own and are still willing to share with her.

When she enters the United States, she has support from friends and monarch fans who help provide shelter at a few of her stops. Many times, she finds a place to camp and pitches her tent. She describes her pieced together bicycle and the load she carries from her cooking equipment to the food she carries and important items like a laptop. I find this information to be an interesting part of her journey and she describes it well, especially parts like using a pot lid as a cutting board.

Dykman also makes visits to schools and connect with children to explain her journey. As she describes her biking and camping situation to the students, she also explains her purpose for riding along with the monarchs which is to bring awareness of their endangered plight and their importance to our environment.

What is discussed so well in the book is her own connection to Nature as she rides her bike. She will often stop and move monarch caterpillars to the side of the road or observe the lack of milkweed. Where there is a lack of milkweed, she notices the lack of monarchs. She observes other creatures that live in our environment from frogs to other insects. The experience of a flight of bats flying overhead is a thrilling spectacle.

Interspersed are some facts and discussions about monarchs. She explains the science basics of the butterflies, generations, and their migration pattern. There is a discussion of the controversy behind tropical milkweed, the tagging of monarchs, and the ability of the monarchs to route and locate their habitat in Mexico.

As Dykman ends her journey, this book will help you rethink your role on our planet and how it possible we could live more attuned to all that Nature has to offer.