Mirabella the Monarch
Stories about the making of our book, Mirabella the Monarch’s Mysterious Migration. Part of the Make-A-Book Project. Synopsis: Mirabella the Monarch’s Mysterious Migration. The children’s chapter book about a butterfly’s inspirational migration from Canada to Mexico.
Below we highlight some more projects that coincided with our Make-A-Book Project. It was a busy year. Many students thought I was an official teacher and some of the teachers thought I was an employee.
Finally, the best part of the whole project — the book celebration. We were honored to have hundreds of community members attend and support both the book and the monarch butterfly.
Like many species on our planet, monarch butterflies face many challenges. The population has shrunk dramatically, and their great migration has nearly collapsed more than once. Here is how you can help.
This is another one of my favorite all-time photographs. Unlike the past three photographs where I was standing on the roof of the school, this is photographed using a drone. It took hours of preparation and was called off several times. Read more about how I made this photos.
There has been a lot of progress happening with the monarch butterfly book and all the related projects. Here are a few highlights, including the mosaic wall and glow show.
The schedule of classroom activities and upcoming celebration for the Monarch Butterfly Book.
How I sort illustrations for the book. After working with the elementary students for a week in the classroom (26 classes) as the author-in-residence, I get over 500 drawings to choose from.
How I run the character creation contest for the new butterfly book.
The following is a step by step summary of how the book is made, including: planning, creating, celebrating and making a difference in the world.
How I make the aerial view photos look real, including using satellite views and chalking the drawing out square by square.
