The Monarch

MARKETING AND PUBLICITY HIGHLIGHTS: Review copies to national print media and radio (targeted) Review copies to leading bloggers in gardening, native plants pollinators, butterflies, and environment Promotion through author’s blog, Our Little Acre, and her strong connections with leading magazines (Fine Gardening, Modern Farmer, Better Homes & Gardens, Garden Design), and the Garden Writers Association. Niche marketing to garden centers and botanical garden and museum gift shops

The monarch butterfly is in serious danger. More than 90% of its population has been lost in recent years due to pesticides and other human activity. This book will show readers simple ways to help save one of nature's most beautiful creatures.Every fall, spectacular orange and black clouds of monarch butterflies fill the skies as they migrate from across North America to Central Mexico. West Coast populations make a similar though much shorter trip to coastal California. The National Wildlife Federation calls the monarch migration “one of the greatest natural phenomena in the insect world.” Not long ago, monarchs numbered in the billions, but in the last 20 years their population has dropped by 90%, due to habitat loss from pesticides, modern farming practices, urban development and other human activity. An estimated one million acres of habitat are lost each year. But today, an army of citizen scientists, students and gardeners is engaged in restoring this beloved pollinator’s habitat – the wildflowers and milkweed and feeding corridors – so that one of nature’s most beautiful creatures will still be there for generations to come. And it starts in our own backyards. The Monarch showcases this magnificent butterfly with eye-popping photos, fun facts about a monarch’s life cycle, and things to know about the vital role that pollinators play in our ecosystem. Monarch enthusiast and nature blogger Kylee Baumle provides “action” projects for all ages, from planting milkweed and wildflowers to making butterfly watering stations…to volunteer activism.