Monarch! Come Play With Me
Ba Rea has created a sensitive, interactive narrative that focuses on the questions and answers between a monarch and a young girl. As the monarch progresses through a metamorphosis from larva to adult, the young girl compares her own needs and activities to those of the monarch. The illustrations are exquisitely simple, scientifically accurate, and truly a delight to behold. From preschoolers to adults, ALL ages will be captivated by this beautiful new volume.
A note from the author:
"Monarch Come Play with Me is my first work in which the illustratiions have fully imbedded photographs. The original text and illustrations were part of my Master's Thesis in writing on natural history subjects for kids. All of those illustrations were sketches and paintings, but when I got the opportunity to publish it I had several more years of teaching teachers how to use monarchs in the classroom behind me and my priorities had changed. The book was written for a pre-school through second grade audience and it was really important to me that the illustrations would offer a lot more to explore and discover than the words, crafted for an early second grade audience, could carry. I have an extensive collection of photographs of monarchs that I use for teaching teachers and doing school programs so I incorporated them directly into the illustrations. I kept the painterly illustration style for the flexibility and more lyrical quality. After I got over beating myself up for not doing "purely art" illustrations I actually really liked the results and will use it again for future pieces. I have posted a free full color pdf file on the website (http://www.basrelief.org) that is a guide for teachers and parents. It basically goes through the book page by page and tells you what is going on in the pictures so that you can answer kids' questions as they find things in the pictures. Hope you all enjoy it!" -- Ba Rea
Published: May 2006
Pages: 32