Chapter 1

  M Is for Milkweed

  Marion Ballard was searching for a plant whose name starts with the letter C.

  She was on the Santa Vista Nature Walk. Her friends, Liz, Amy, and Ellie, followed, their feet crunching on the gravel path. They were playing the Plant Alphabet Game.

  “Coneflower!” Liz cried out. She pointed at a purple bloom swaying in the breeze.

  Marion turned to face Liz. “Also E for echinacea!” Marion said. “That’s its scientific name.”

  “No fair,” said Ellie with a frown. “Marion remembers all the science-y names.”

  Marion smiled. She did enjoy flexing her knowledge sometimes. She remembered a lot from when they had helped to create this Nature Walk.

  It hadn’t always looked this nice. This part of the park had been overgrown and unused. Once it was almost replaced by a shopping center! Then Marion and the girls found milkweed in the park. They learned it was an important plant for pollinators. So they asked Mayor Gomez and the town council to build the stores somewhere else. And they listened!

  Marion, Liz, Amy, and Ellie had made a list of all the plants that grew in the park. Mayor Gomez had educational signs made for each kind. They now dotted the path of the Nature Walk.

  “Look!” cried Marion. The path led them past a big patch of milkweed. The flowers were in full bloom. Bees were buzzing all around. Marion even spotted a couple of butterflies.

  Amy breathed in. “I can smell it from here!” she said with a smile.

  Marion sniffed. A sweet, spicy honey scent filled the air.

  At the same time, she was scanning the area for a D plant. “Daffodil!” she called out. “And F for fern,” she said, pointing to some plants growing in the shade of a tree.

  Ellie sighed in frustration.

  When the girls finished the Nature Walk, they were stuck on the letter J. But they were back where they started, and it was time to go home. Amy’s and Liz’s bikes were parked in the bike rack. Marion and Ellie were getting picked up by Marion’s mom.

  While the girls waited, they checked out the park info board. A flyer decorated with butterflies caught Marion’s eye.

  “Oh!” Marion said. “Gabby and I went to the ladybug release last year. It was so fun. Well, for me it was. A ladybug landed on Gabby’s head, and she ran in circles, yelling, ‘Get it off!’ ”

  Marion did not get her sister. Why was she so afraid of a tiny bug, smaller than her fingernail?

  Unlike Gabby, Marion was used to all kinds of wildlife, thanks to The Critter Club. That was the animal rescue center Marion and her friends had started. The girls had taken care of dogs and cats and goldfish. But also a turtle, a pig, and chickens. Once they even helped a boy find his lost chinchilla!

  “Maybe Gabby would like a butterfly release better than a ladybug one,” Amy suggested.

  “Less of a crawly critter,” said Liz.

  “More of a fluttery flier,” Ellie added.

  “Maybe,” Marion said as her mom drove up. But she wasn’t so sure.

  Chapter 2

  Meant to Bee

  The next morning, Marion got settled at her desk in Mrs. Sienna’s second-grade classroom. It was Monday. That meant they had science right before lunch.

  “Today we’ll learn about monarch butterflies,” Mrs. Sienna told the class, and Marion immediately perked up.

  Mrs. Sienna held up a diagram. It showed how a butterfly egg changed into a larva, or caterpillar. Then the caterpillar wrapped itself up and became a pupa. When it came out, it was a butterfly.

  “Then the adult female monarchs lay more eggs,” said Mrs. Sienna. “And the cycle starts again.”

  She told the class they could all work together on their classwork. They read a short handout about monarchs. Then they wrote down one fact for each stage of a monarch’s life cycle.

  Marion read out a fact on eggs. “A monarch egg is no larger than the tip of a pencil!” She held up her pencil. “Wow! That’s tiny.”

  Liz underlined a sentence about larvae. “A monarch larva eats only milkweed leaves,” she read. “That’s why milkweed is such an important plant. No milkweed, no monarchs!”

  Ellie found a fact about the pupa. “The shell of a pupa starts off green with shiny golden dots. Then it changes to white. And then it becomes see-through.”

  Amy found the last fact about adult monarchs. “The butterfly comes out of the pupa in its adult size,” said Amy. “It drinks nectar from flowers like clover and milkweed.”

  “More cheers for milkweed!” said Marion.

  Before lunch, Mrs. Sienna passed out copies of a flyer. Marion did a double take. It was the same flyer the girls had seen in the park! The butterfly release!

  “My friend is organizing this event,” Mrs. Sienna said. “She is looking for volunteers. So if anyone is interested, please let me know.”

  Then the lunch bell rang. Most students went to get their lunch boxes and line up at the door.

  But Marion went right up to Mrs. Sienna’s desk. She had thought about the butterfly release all last night and it seemed like fate that Mrs. Sienna had handed out flyers in class. She was meant to volunteer for this!

  “I’d like to help out,” Marion said to her teacher.

  “Great!” Mrs. Sienna replied. “My friend, Ms. Campbell, is an educator at the Arboretum. She would love your help.”

  Marion thought back to the ladybug release at the Arboretum. The nice lady who was running the event had gently removed the ladybug from Gabby’s head. That is, after Gabby had stopped screaming.

  “Was Ms. Campbell at the ladybug release last year?” Marion asked.

  Mrs. Sienna nodded. “Yes! Did you meet her? She was probably dressed as a ladybug.”

  Marion smiled. “Yes!” She remembered Ms. Campbell’s ladybug-print dress and matching hat. She seemed really fun.

  “I’ll get all the details for you,” Mrs. Sienna told Marion. “Ms. Campbell will be so grateful for your help! And so will the butterflies!”

  Marion beamed and hurried to get in line for lunch.

  Chapter 3

  Save the Butterflies!

  In the cafeteria, Marion and her friends sat down at a table near the windows.

  Liz hurried off to the hot lunch line. “Veggie fried rice today! Yessss!” she said excitedly.

  Marion laughed. Liz was vegan. The days when she could eat the school lunch were special.

  “So what were you talking to Mrs. Sienna about?” Ellie asked Marion.

  Marion was still holding the flyer. “The butterfly release,” Marion replied. “I’m going to be a volunteer.”

  Amy studied the flyer more closely. “What is a butterfly release, anyway?” she asked.

  “The people at the Arboretum raise the monarchs from eggs. Then the monarchs are released into the wild every summer. It helps boost their population,” Marion explained.

  Ellie finished chewing a bite of her sandwich. “What do the volunteers do?” Ellie asked.

  Marion frowned. “I don’t know yet,” she replied. “Want to volunteer with me? We’ll find out!”

  Ellie looked at the date. She shook her head. “That night I’m going to see a musical with Nana Gloria.”

  “I wish I could volunteer,” said Amy. “But that weekend I’m going to see my dad and stepmom and Chloe.” Chloe was Amy’s stepsister. They lived in Orange Blossom, the next town over.

  Liz sat down with her lunch tray.

  “How about you, Liz?” Marion asked. “Want to volunteer with me?” She showed Liz the flyer.

  But Liz couldn’t make it either. “Sorry,” she said. “Camping trip.”

  Marion frowned. She hadn’t thought she’d be volunteering alone.

  “Hey, what about Gabby?” Liz suggested.

  Marion thought for a moment. What were the chances her bug-phobic sister would want to do it?

  There was only one way to find out.

  Chapter 4

  Too Much Bug Talk

  That night, Marion walked into the kitchen after finishing her homework. Her dad was making pasta and her favorite tomato sauce. It was sweet and a tiny bit spicy.

  Marion peeked inside the pot. Her dad gave it a stir. “Almost ready,” he said. “How about you and Gabby set the table?”

  Gabby went around and put a napkin at each place. Marion followed with the forks. Gabby put out the glasses. Marion filled a water pitcher.

  Then Marion’s mom came in from their home office. “Mmm, that smells so good!” she exclaimed. She helped serve the pasta.

  Soon all four of them were sitting down to dinner. Marion passed around the grated cheese.

  “So how was everyone’s day?” Mrs. Ballard asked.

  Gabby described a craft she’d made in her kindergarten class.

  “We started a new unit in science,” Marion told them. “Did you know that monarch butterflies fly south for the winter? Some of them travel more than two thousand miles!”

  “Whoa!” said Gabby. “They must be tired when they get there!”

  Marion went on to tell them about the butterfly release. “Mrs. Sienna said they need volunteers,” she said. “I told her I’d help.”

  Mrs. Sienna had given Marion more details at the end of the day. All the volunteers would need to come for training. They would learn what to do the day of the event. “Training is this Saturday,” Marion said. “And then the butterfly release is the week after.”

  Marion’s parents nod

ded at each other. “Sounds great!” said her mom.

  “I’m happy to drive you,” said her dad.

  “Thanks!” said Marion with a smile.

  Then she turned to Gabby. “Doesn’t it sound like fun?” she asked Gabby. “Do you want to volunteer too? To help the butterflies?”

  But Gabby cringed and leaned back in her chair. “Butterflies? Ewwww! No way!”

  Marion sighed. “Oh, come on, Gabby,” she said. “They’re colorful. And gentle. They don’t sting. How can you be afraid of butterflies?”

  Gabby took a big bite of pasta. She couldn’t say anything. So she just shook her head and closed her eyes.

  “But butterflies are small,” Marion went on. “Think of how huge you look to them.”

  Gabby’s face was starting to turn red.

  “They’re way more afraid of you than you are of them.” Marion tried to convince her. “You should volunteer. You’ll see. It’ll be fun!”

  Gabby pushed back her chair. She jumped up. “No, no, no!” she shouted. “I don’t want to! I don’t want to be near butterflies!” With that, she ran away from the table and up the stairs.

  Marion started to go after her. “Gabby, wait!”

  But her mom stopped her. “It’s okay, Marion. Let her be for a bit. I think you hit a nerve.”

  “I’ll say,” Marion agreed, and sat back down.

  Why couldn’t her sister just relax when it came to bugs?

  Chapter 5

  A Place for Trees

  For the rest of the week, Marion tried not to talk about butterflies around Gabby. She wished she could change Gabby’s mind. But she felt like she would just make it worse.

  On Saturday, Marion’s dad drove her to the Arboretum.

  “Did you know that arboretum means ‘a place for trees’ in Latin?” Marion said to her dad.

  Marion loved the Arboretum. It was home to so many different trees and plants. Many of the trees were labeled. Little signs at their bases listed the types of trees and the years they were planted.

  “Mrs. Sienna said to meet Ms. Campbell on the West Lawn,” Marion said. She had printed out a map.

  They drove past a large greenhouse. The map showed it as the Potting Shed.

  They drove by a field of orange and yellow lilies. “The Lily Garden!” said Marion.

  They passed rows of prickly hollies shaped like Christmas trees. “Those must be the Holly Beds. So up ahead is the West Lawn.”

  Sure enough, they came to an open grassy area. Marion saw a check-in table with a sign that said VOLUNTEERS. A tall woman stood behind the table. She was dressed in a butterfly-print dress. A butterfly headband held back her long silver hair.

  Marion recognized Ms. Campbell right away.

  Mr. Ballard parked the car. Then Marion walked with him to the check-in table. Ms. Campbell greeted them warmly and asked Marion’s dad to fill out some forms. She reminded him when pick-up was. Then he drove off with a wave.

  “Well, Marion,” said Ms. Campbell. “I was so excited when Ruth told me you wanted to volunteer.”

  Ruth? thought Marion. Oh! Mrs. Sienna’s first name was Ruth. It was funny to hear someone call her that.

  “In fact, Ruth says you are a star in the classroom,” Ms. Campbell went on.

  Marion beamed. She loved school, and she had to admit that it felt pretty great to be called a star.

  Ms. Campbell showed Marion around. She introduced her to the other volunteers. Many were older kids, but a few were around Marion’s age.

  Four of the volunteers were making dioramas. “I’ll use them in my presentation on the day of the butterfly release,” Ms. Campbell explained to Marion. “Each one will show a different stage of the monarch’s life cycle: egg, larva, pupa, and butterfly!”

  Some other volunteers were fixing holes in a dome of white netting. “The butterflies will be in here before we release them,” Ms. Campbell said.

  A few people were making paper chain garlands. “We’ll use these as decorations on the big day,” Ms. Campbell said.

  Marion looked around. All the volunteers had something to do, except her. “What can I help with?” Marion asked.

  Ms. Campbell smiled. “I have one very important job left,” she said.

  Chapter 6

  Marion in Charge

  Ms. Campbell led Marion to a table near the diorama-makers.

  On the table there were boxes of markers and crayons. There was a pile of regular glue and glitter glue tubes. And there was a package of extra-large paper in a variety of rainbow colors.

  Under the table there was a box with ribbons, tissue paper, and cardboard.

  Marion’s eyes lit up. “Is this a craft table?” she asked excitedly.

  Ms. Campbell nodded. “Something for event participants to make and take home to remember the day,” she said with a smile. “What do you think?”

  “I think it’s a great idea!” Marion replied. “What kind of craft will it be?”

  Ms. Campbell pointed out some project ideas on the table. One showed how to make butterfly wings to wear like a backpack. Another showed a butterfly headband project.

  “Like the one you’re wearing!” Marion said. She pointed at Ms. Campbell’s hair. “Did you make it?”

  Ms. Campbell laughed. “Yes! I thought it could be a good project. I brought some plain headbands to use.” She pointed to the box under the table. “But you decide. You’re in charge!”

  Wow! Marion thought. Just her? In charge of the whole craft table? She felt so important.

  Ms. Campbell had an idea. “Whatever craft you choose, why don’t you test it out first? That way we can make sure it’s fun and easy, even for the younger kids.”

  Marion agreed. “I’ll get started right away!”

  She decided to try making a butterfly headband like Ms. Campbell’s.

  She traced a butterfly shape onto an orange piece of paper.

  She carefully cut it out.

  Then she picked out a black marker. She added markings to the orange wings. Now it sort of looked like a monarch butterfly.

  Finally, she glued the butterfly to a plain headband.

  Marion tried on the headband and looked in the handheld mirror on the table. The headband had been easy to make. And it was definitely fun. It didn’t look exactly like a monarch, but it was only her first try.

  Now she just needed to test out the butterfly wing project, and the craft table would be ready to go!

  Chapter 7

  A Butterfly Joke

  On the way home, Marion’s dad admired her headband.

  “Thanks!” said Marion. “But I can’t figure out why it doesn’t look exactly like a monarch,” she admitted. “And I want to make sure this craft turns out perfect.”

  “I think we have some nature books at home,” said her dad. “Maybe you could take a look and see if you can find a photo of a monarch.”

  “Good idea!” said Marion excitedly.

  At home, she scanned the books on the bookshelf. “Aha!” she suddenly exclaimed.

  She pulled out a big hardcover called Butterflies of the World. Inside were beautiful full-color photos—of maybe every type of butterfly in the world. That’s why it’s so heavy! Marion thought.

  Marion found a monarch butterfly photo.

  She held her headband up next to it. She knew what to do.

  * * *

  Marion was working so hard that she didn’t hear the doorbell. She jumped a little when Ellie appeared at her side.

 

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