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Little Monarchs
Last updated Thursday, November 2, 2023
Author: Jonathan Case
Date of Publication: 2022
ISBN: 0823442608
Grade Level: 4th (GLCs: Click here for grade level guidelines.)
Date(s) Used: Nov. 2023
Synopsis:
A ten-year-old girl may be the only person who can save humanity from extinction in this exciting graphic novel adventure.
It's been fifty years since a sun shift wiped out nearly all mammal life across the earth. Towns and cities are abandoned relics, autonomous machines maintain roadways, and the world is slowly being reclaimed by nature. Isolated pockets of survivors keep to themselves in underground sites, hiding from the lethal sunlight by day and coming above ground at night.
10-year-old Elvie and her caretaker, Flora, a biologist, are the only two humans who can survive during daylight because Flora made an incredible discovery – a way to make an antidote to sun sickness using the scales from monarch butterfly wings. Unfortunately, it can only be made in small quantities and has a short shelf life.
Free to travel during the day, Elvie and Flora follow monarchs as they migrate across the former Western United States, constantly making new medicine for themselves while trying to find a way to make a vaccine they can share with everyone. Will they discover a way to go from a treatment to a cure and preserve what remains of humanity, or will their efforts be thwarted by disaster and the very people they are trying to save?
| Note to readers: |
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This is a graphic novel set 80 years in the future when “sun sickness” has eliminated most mammals and humans. Elvire, age 10, and Flora, an adult, are traveling from the Oregon/Washington state line south to look for monarch butterflies. They may be the key to creating a vaccine against the “sun sickness”.
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| Discussion topics for before reading: |
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Read the above paragraph.
Vocabulary:
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Journal: a record of experiences, ideas and reflections. A diary.
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Monarch butterfly: a large migratory American butterfly this has orange-brown wings with black veins and borders.
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Kayak: a narrow boat with ends that taper to a point. Used with a double-bladed paddle.
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Marauder: one who roams from place to place making raids in search of plunder to steal.
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Naturalist: one who studies various aspects of nature.
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Milkweed: various plants that secrete latex, a juicy substance.
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Vaccine: a preparation that is administered usually by injection to stimulate the body’s immune system and a particular disease, like Covid-19 or measles.
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Flora: comes from the Latin word for Flora, the Roman goddess of plants and flowers. Used as a scientific term for all plant life (flowers, tress, fruits, etc.)
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Wattle - the extra skin that hangs down off the side of a turkey's face
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| Discussion topics for during/after reading: |
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Do you see butterflies in your neighborhood? What colors are they?
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While she is on her trip with Flora, Elvie must still complete school assignments. If you were on an extended trip with your family, would you want to have to “keep up with your schoolwork”? Does this remind you of a situation in the recent past when you had to do you schoolwork somewhere besides your class? (Covid-19 lockdown)
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Elvie has to do some thing with Flora that most kids wouldn’t want to do, like kayaking out to the abandoned container ship. Would you want to do anything like that?
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| Craft ideas: |
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Elvie has to do some thing with Flora that most kids wouldn’t want to do, like kayaking out to the abandoned container ship. Would you want to do anything like that?
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Thanksgiving is coming! Make place cards for your family. Take a sheet of paper, fold in half, then fold in half again. It should stand on the table like a little tent. Write names of each one. Decorate with flowers, plants, turkeys.
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Make a turkey handprint. Spread you hand out flat on a piece of paper. Spread fingers slightly. Trace around you fingers and thumb. Color in the turkey. Your fingers are its feathers and your thumb is its head. Do forget to add a face and the wattle.
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For illustrated directions on how to draw and decorate a turkey, see http://readingtokids.org/News/how_to_draw_a_turkey.pdf
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November is also reading to Kids College Spirit month! Have the kids create their own college logos based on the college logo you volunteer(s) share on something you are wearing. They can even create their own imaginary college logo!
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| Special activities: |
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Do the Word Search
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*Note: These craft ideas are just suggestions.
You can use them, but you don't have to use them.
You can expand upon them, or add your own twist.
Remember, though, that the focus of your time should
not be on the development and execution of a craft;
the focus should be on the read-aloud and the
enjoyment of the book!
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