A Conversation with a Butterfly — Jim Daughton

A Conversation with a Butterfly features young Jim's encounter with a very unusual monarch butterfly. While asleep, awake, or in a hypnotic state, Jim hears in his mind the butterfly speak. The butterfly, Danaus Dahlai, speaks in rhyme. He describes how the monarch evolved to the world's longest migrating insect. He explains why milkweed for monarch larva's food is important for survival of the species because milkweed contains a poison for birds, and hence birds don't eat them. Dahlai credits ''The Powers That Be'' for the development of the marvelous monarch butterfly, and he requests that Jim tell others of the marvels done for his species by the ''Powers That Be.'' This picture book is wonderfully illustrated by Margarita Sikorskaia. The butterfly's name, Danaus Dahlai is from danaus plexippus, a scientific name for a common monarch butterfly and Dahai as in the Dahai Lama, guru and spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism. This story may help children respect nature and begin thinking about how this wonderful world of creatures has come to be.