Kid Lit Classic

The Monarchs of Winghaven

 

Cover for THE MONARCHS OF WINGHAVEN. Two children peer through a gap in the trees and shrubs toward a pond. The girl has a long blond braid, shorts and a t-shirt, a pair of binoculars and a notebook. The boy has glasses, black hair, a long-sleeve shirt, boots and jeans, and carries a camera. Around them flit wildlife like monarch butterflies, a muskrat and birds.

The Field is Sammie’s place. It’s where she goes to be alone and to study birds, insects, and flowers like the naturalist she wants to be one day. So when Bram, a new boy, turns up with his camera, Sammie worries he’ll tease her and spoil her haven—after all, the other boys at school ruin everything. They make fun of Sammie for knowing too much and for being so serious. But Bram is a scientist like Sammie, and together they observe tiny pond creatures, a pileated woodpecker with a red crest like a pirate’s bandanna, and thriving monarch butterflies, whose habitats are becoming scarce. When Sammie and Bram discover bright flagging tape encircling the trees, they learn that this special place they’ve named Winghaven is in danger— and it’s going to take courage, and trust in each other, to save it.

This beautifully written story, full of details about the natural world, includes Sammie’s field illustrations as well as real life notes on keeping a nature journal, studying monarchs, and bird-watching.

 

Candlewick Press * Goodreads * Barnes and Nobles * Amazon


I have to give Naila Moreira a huge high five for bringing her love of the natural world to life with this superb middle-grade novel. If it doesn’t make readers want to go out and connect with the green and growing (and flying and burrowing) world right outside their doors, I will be surprised. It is a story about children trying to save natural spaces, written with a poet’s ear. A lovely, compelling book.
—Jane Yolen, award-winning author of Owl Moon, You Nest Here with Me, and An Egret’s Day


Nature journalists, sharpen your pencils. Follow Sammie and Bram as they trek into the wilderness of Winghaven and intrepidly model citizen science and activism for young readers. This meticulously researched eco-novel meets the moment and shows us how a connection to the natural world inspires connections between us all.
—Elaine Dimopoulos, author of The Remarkable Rescue at Milkweed Meadow


So pleased to be publishing this beautiful, empowering, and hopeful book that is a little bit Jean Craighead George and a little bit Terabithia.
—Susan Van Metre (@skeetermeeter)

 

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