“A delightful science lesson on Monarch butterflies.”
What do you get when you pair a spunky, nature-loving girl detective named “Pipsie” with a trusty turtle sidekick (who loves to eat!) named “Alfred” and introduce them to a baby caterpillar named “Frannie”? A delightful science lesson on Monarch butterflies. Bishop’s beautifully drawn characters take the reader on a hunt from Pipsie’s backyard, to her “Detective Tree House”, to the insect garden at the local Zoo, and home to the backyard again in a hunt for Frannie after Pipsie wakes one morning (two weeks after her arrival) to find her caterpillar friend missing. Two pages of “Fun Facts” about monarch butterflies, including their love of milkweed, speedy growth, and other “insect insights” provided by entomologist Jess King, are surrounded by beautiful illustrations of monarch butterflies, caterpillar, and milkweed (which upon close reading, we note is abundant in Pipsie’s backyard as well as the Zoo’s insect garden.) Certain to become a series, Pipsie, Nature Detective, and her nature notebook and nature detective treehouse, will become favorites of both boy and girl young science explorers. Reviewer: Debra Lampert-Rudman; Ages 5 to 8.
