Favorite quote: “The sun’s warmth began to pour steadily through the branches, and the monarchs responded by opening their wings, every scale twinkling with gratitude. In the spotlight of spring, butterflies by the thousands sailed toward the sky as fluttering eruptions of orange. The monarchs crowded the skies, painted poems against the blue, and danced with the wind. The song of millions of wings hummed through the trees’ needles, and I felt the anticipation in their swirling flight.”

From the publisher: Science, nature, and adventure come together in this riveting account of a solo bike trip along the migratory path of the monarch butterfly.

Sara Dykman made history when she became the first person to bicycle alongside monarch butterflies on their storied annual migration—a round-trip adventure that included three countries and more than 10,000 miles. Equally remarkable, she did it solo, on a bike cobbled together from used parts.

In Bicycling with Butterflies—praised as “poetic” (Publishers Weekly) and called “a collective cry for climate action” (Booklist)—Dykman recounts her incredible journey. We’re beside her as she navigates unmapped roads in foreign countries, checks roadside milkweed for monarch eggs, and shares her passion with eager schoolchildren, skeptical bar patrons, and unimpressed border officials. We also meet some of the ardent monarch stewards who supported her efforts, from citizen scientists and researchers to farmers and high-rise city dwellers.

With both humor and humility, Dykman offers a compelling story, confirming the urgency of saving the threatened monarch migration—and the other threatened systems of nature that affect the survival of us all.

Dimensions:  6 x 9in / 280 pages

Softcover