Monarch Magic

“The small stuff is where the magic lies…” ~ Kristina Brooks

By Jean Anne Clyde, EdD, with Mark W.F. Condon, PhD

I’ve loved the outdoors since I was a little girl, spending summers with my brothers and sisters, exploring the fields and woods of rural western New York, climbing cliffs, hiking in the woods, building forts, and finding joy in all that Nature had to offer.  

As adults in Kentucky, my husband Mark and I turned to gardening, with a particular interest in flowers that would attract pollinators. One summer, there was an abundance of butterflies in our area, and we were delighted at the remarkable number of them that were drawn to our garden. I kept my eye on a brightly colored monarch butterfly that lingered in our lilac bush, landing and lifting off again and again.  I was thrilled…but also confused.

The lilac had finished blooming two months prior, and there were no flowers on which to feed. Still, the monarch persisted, repeatedly pausing momentarily before flitting skyward, then spiraling downward to land on another flowerless branch.

What was it doing?

Suddenly I wondered, Could it be laying eggs? 

Curious, I tracked where it had landed, eager to see if it had indeed left anything behind. But when I got closer, I realized that the butterfly hadn’t landed on the lilac at all. She had been on something else–winding up through and around the bush: bindweed, an invasive, incredibly fast-growing weed with which we’d wrestled for years. 

I was baffled by the entire enterprise. I had always heard that monarchs laid their eggs on milkweed plants. Yet, sure enough, on the backs of several bindweed leaves I found what appeared to be tiny white pinprick-sized…eggs? How was that possible?

I began reflecting upon what I’d learned about bindweed since taking up gardening. It quickly swallows other plants, leaving only a dense tangle of heart-shaped leaves.  And its complex root system makes it nearly impossible to eradicate. BUT, that wasn’t all. Bindweed also produces large green milkweed-like pods that—

Whoa-- wait a minute! Could bindweed be a relative of milkweed? 

In the next few weeks, we spotted four gorgeous identically marked caterpillars–ones we’d never seen before–feeding contentedly on the green stuff. 

Meanwhile, we were still confused by claims from every source we had consulted that a monarch caterpillar will only be found on milkweed plants. But we’d seen those caterpillars with our own eyes.  

Finally, we happened upon a little article on the Native Plant Gardening website entitled, “Can Honeyvine Milkweed Get a Little Love?” Its author, identified as Sigel Run, claimed that the bindweed-look-alike where the monarch was laying her eggs was actually “Honeyvine Milkweed,” a relative of milkweed that looked nothing like the traditional milkweed we’d known as kids.

Sigel Run says, “You probably know it as ‘That vine that looks a bit like bindweed, pops up everywhere, and climbs over anything it can find…  

‘Did you know it's a member of the milkweed family (Asclepiadaceae) and is a host plant for monarch larvae?’”

Mystery solved

In a few short weeks, each caterpillar had transformed to become a chrysalis, with the magical creatures undergoing a complete metamorphosis in 10-14 days. Each chrysalis became clear, and its resident's wing patterns could be seen, even before the stunning monarchs emerged.

 From growing gardens to growing readers

 So what does this story have to do with literacy? 

It turns out that monarchs don't look for the prettiest or most polished place we expected them to lay their eggs. They simply find what works–what nourishes. And sometimes, that nourishment comes from a plant we humans have dismissed as a weed. 

In similar ways, we adults often feel the urge to curate children’s books carefully. We want them to read books that we deem worthy or beautiful–classics, award winners, timeless tales. And we’re often baffled when they choose Captain Underpants, graphic novels, or silly stories we would never have picked for them. 

But just like the butterfly knew exactly where to land when offered a dozen choices, children are drawn to whatever books they find appealing, books that will continue to nourish their growing minds.

We know that we wouldn't question a choice these beautiful insects made for egg laying. We trust Mother Nature to arrange the perfect circumstances for its offspring. Similarly, if we’re interested in growing more readers across the world, we must provide a supportive context for them, print-rich environments filled with books that will naturally pull young readers into full literacy. We must teach them how to select personally delightful books from a wide range of choices, including enthusiastic recommendations from siblings or classmates. We also must help them feel comfortable in carefully “reshelving” titles that fail to capture their hearts or imaginations, even as their classmates may find them to be perfect.

For families from remote or otherwise isolated areas who are struggling to get books, we must  provide assistance for a range of ways that they can access books from neighbors, local schools, resources like community libraries, Little Free Libraries and bookmobiles. At www.UniteforLiteracy.com we also freely offer a kid-sized library through with which those new to reading and writing are invited to joyfully come explore, understand, and discover the powerful contributions that reading and writing can make to enrich and expand their lives. 

We offer new readers and language learners 600+ narrated picture books (all available in English and Spanish text, plus a few selections in 60 other languages to support beginning readers).

Finally, regardless of our tastes, we have to trust children and those new to reading enough, to let them select titles that get them reading…and that keep them reading!

Reflecting on our experience

Looking back on our monarch inquiry, It was fascinating to consider what we saw, the questions that left us baffled, and all that we had to find, read, and discuss to make sense of the complexities of this tiny corner of Nature. That process–observe, wonder, maybe research, and always reflect–is the heart of literacy. And it’s exactly what new readers do when they open a book and begin to find their way.  

We hope our story provides our readers with encouragement to consider that those of any age who are new to literacy will find themselves on similar paths of exploration and discovery. And we invite you, and those you know who are new to literacy, to explore and enjoy Unite’s free online library. Please come see what you think…and perhaps more importantly, what you and your children feel.