Butterflies are beautiful, fascinating, and in trouble. What can a school class do to help? They can build a butterfly garden at their school. Told in fun rhyme, with a refrain of a question and answer, an elementary school class learns about butterflies and their habitat at a local butterfly pavilion. When the class discovers that butterflies need help, they build a butterfly garden at their school. As the butterflies come to the BUTTERFLY INN, the children watch the life cycle of the butterfly from hungry caterpillars through metamorphosis into adults.
With lovely illustrations, Nancy Derey Riley shows what children can do to help butterflies and other pollinators. Nancy's niece, Jennifer Martinez, an elementary school music teacher, turned the story into a song and the book is complete with sheet music and guitar chords. You will be flitting like a butterfly after you learn it. Plus, there are plenty of butterfly facts and gardening tips for eager readers, budding entomologists, teachers, and caregivers.
Nancy Derey Riley is a writer, illustrator, and competitive adult figure skater. After completing two college degrees in wildlife biology, she had a 32-year career as a wildlife biologist. She loved working with schools and private landowners to restore or create wildlife habitat, including butterfly gardens. BUTTERFLY INN is her second published picture book. After retiring, Nancy turned her focus on writing children's books. She loves bringing science and nature to life in her stories. She's an active member of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. When she isn't writing, drawing, or skating, she's exploring the land around her home in the foothills of northern Colorado.
Jennifer Martinez is a musician, educator, and lover of the arts. She has taught for 12 years as a Music Educator in Kansas and Colorado. She's had the pleasure of teaching thousands of students during her career. In Colorado in 2018, she received the Poudre School District's Teacher of the Year award. Also, she has given presentations at national conferences for Music Education. As a child in a family of biologists, Jennifer has always had a special love and reverence for nature. She now passes on this love of music, science and plants to her son, Theo, while doing her best to field his endless questions about how things work!
