Monarca by Leopoldo Gout and Eva Aridjis is a joy to leaf through. Though a novel, it is highly-illustrated with edgy, bright artwork. Pages are ink-splattered with motion and emotion. Text size changes, as does colour and orientation - taking the eye on rolling flights through its 220 pages.

The artwork amplifies the text, but it also surprises and shocks. There’s at least one violent jolt for the reader among the loveliness.

The story is told by Inés who, on her thirteenth birthday, transforms into a butterfly and finds herself on the other side of her bedroom window. She hollers and strikes the glass with mighty lightness, but who can hear a butterfly? And so, drawn by the call of the great southern migration, she joins the monarch swarm on its 3,000-mile odyssey to Mexico.

But there are dangers ahead. Inés has her human memories to guide her, but will need to learn the way of the butterfly in order to save the species.

...in order to survive, they each had to put their individual needs aside and operate as a unit. (95)

In Monarca, the message is stronger than the story, but the intent is so earnest and heartfelt that the medicine tastes sweet. Fiction makes a fresh vehicle through which to learn about monarchs and experience their epic migration in a first-hand way.

The story alerts the reader to unusual threats: North America’s increased appetite for avocados, being one; a taste which encourages avocado plantation expansion in the Michoacán central highlands - aka monarch territory. Other threats include a roll-call of usual suspects: habitat loss and the increased used of insecticides and herbicides.

I particularly liked the folklore idea of the butterflies being the souls of deceased Purépecha, and the magic realism of the old legends.

In short, Monarca is a feast for the eyes, with a gentle story and a call-to-action at the end.

Suitable for readers ten and up, and likely to appeal more to girls.

Many thanks to HarperOne for my advanced reading copy. It is a visual treat.

WHAT TO READ NEXT

Bicycling with Butterflies by Sara Dykman - following the monarch migration by road