About book Four Wings And A Prayer: Caught In The Mystery Of The Monarch Butterfly (2002)
A few days ago, I watched the TV documentary based on Sue Halpern's book Four Wings and a Prayer. The programme follows the migration of the Monarch butterflies from Canada and the USA into Mexico and back again. The migration of these butterflies is one of the most iconic natural spectacles, specially as the monarch is the only insect that migrates like a bird in this way.The film focussed on the overwintering grounds in Mexico, which are threatened by illegal logging. Along the way, the film crew meet up with a lot of the academic and citizen scientists who have been instrumental in exploring the mysteries of the migration, along with Homero Aridjis, the 'poet laureate of monarch butterflies', who has done a lot to try to get their overwintering forests protected.They also show the celebrations that Mexican people make when the butterflies arrive (co-inciding with the Day of the Dead - traditionally the people living near the wintering grounds believe that the monarchs are the souls of the recently deceased)Once I had seen the documentary, I wanted to read the book immediately. The book goes into a lot more detail of the science behind the migration and spends more time with individual scientists, including exploring the rivalries and tensions that are probably commonly found in any group of professionals. The book also is a very personal document, Halpern outlines how her own fascination with Monarchs began and how she shares her fascination with her family.It's an engaging, interesting and important book.The book was written in 2001 and so is out of date. Given that the documentary is based directly on the book, then it too is probably out of date in its focus, despite being itself quite a new production. So both book and documentary focus on the threats to the monarch being such that the migration risks coming to an end, but this is different from the potential extinction of a species (there being populations of Monarch butterflies that aren't involved in the migration to Mexico).However, more recently it seems that populations of Monarchs across the USA are declining. The reasons aren't clear, but probably include loss of areas of milkweed (the monarchs' favoured plant) and pesticide use.
Four Wings and a PrayerBy Sue Halpern224 PagesInformationalWe see them everyday. They are miracles of nature, making journeys over millions of miles not only over their lifetime, but over generations. As flocks of thousands of black and orange wings beat over head, in spite of ourselves, we cannot help but think of them as almost magical. Weaving in her own story, Sue Halpern tells the story of these miracles of nature-their journey across the country, the threats they face from global warming and pollution, and their secrets that scientist are trying to unfold.I love butterflies. That's what drew me to this book, the fascinating topic. At first, it almost read like a fictional story. As you got deeper into the book, however, the author tended to go off on tangents and it (sorry, book and Sue Halpern) almost became stiflingly tedious. I couldn't bring myself to pick it up. It didn't draw me in. It was hard to stick with, but it was eye-opening. Mexican boys are payed five dollars a tree while chopping down crucial Monarch overwintering sites. Setting aside butterfly sanctuaries actually increased deforesting. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone, though, unless they are avid nonfiction fans or can steel their teeth against the more tedious parts, determined to finish.
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Sue Halpern is a fine writer. I enjoyed her intense interest in the fate of monarchs. She researched the subject from many interesting angles. What really followed the intense monarch migrations of 1997? Was there really a decrease in numbers the next year or had the monarchs simply chosen different migration routes? I enjoyed the description of Monarch migrations across the western end of Lake Ontario(p.49). I had witnessed this migration through a heavily industrialized area in the early 1980's. Crossing heavy iron bridges over factories and railroad yards, I suddenly noticed numerous monarch butterflies flying around us. This was not the usual place to observe monarchs. It was neat to have that observation verified. Also, I did follow the Monarch Watch web site for several months in the middle? nineties. It was interesting to read about the real users of this web site. This is a book I'm really glad to have read.
—Jackie
Terrible, ack! I love butterflies (especially Monarchs), and am fascinated by the migration, but this book just sucked. Of the 80 books I read in 2007, this is at the bottom of the list, and it took all my willpower to finish it.Her writing is not good. It's just not good. It's boring and overly descriptive about stupid things that don't need to be described. You can tell she's trying to set a deep atmosphere, and it doesn't work. And to top it off, she actually includes bits from defunct mailing lists on the web. Seriously, I didn't need to read that filler crap.
—Jamie R
