Four Wings and a Prayer: Caught in the Mystery of the Monarch Butterfly

by Sue Halpern

Every autumn, the monarch butterflies east of the Rockies migrate from as far north as Canada to Mexico. Memory is not their guide — no one butterfly makes the round trip — but each year somehow find their way to the same fifty acres of forest on the high slopes of Mexico’s Neovolcanic Mountains, and then make the return trip in the spring.

In Four Wings and a Prayer , Sue Halpern sets off on an adventure to delve into the secrets behind this extraordinary phenomenon. She visits scientists and butterfly lovers across the country, offering a keenly observed portrait of the monarchs’ migration and of the people for whom they have become a glorious obsession. Combining science, memoir, and travel writing, Four Wings and a Prayer is an absorbing travelogue and a fascinating meditation on a profound mystery of the natural world.

Genres: Nature, Nonfiction, Science, Animals, Biology, Environment, Natural History

224 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2001

About the author

Sue Halpern lives in the Green Mountains of Vermont where she writes books and articles, consorts with her husband, the writer and activist Bill McKibben, looks forward to visits from their wonderful daughter Sophie, plays with their remarkably enthusiastic dog, and introduces Middlebury College students to digital audio storytelling. She is a Guggenheim Fellow and Rhodes Scholar with a doctorate from Oxford, the author of a book that was made an Emmy-nominated film as well as six others that weren’t, one-half of a therapy dog team, a scholar-in-residence at Middlebury College, and a major supporter of the ice cream industry.

(from her website)

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

(3.5) I particularly admire nonfiction books that successfully combine all sorts of genres into a dynamic narrative. This one incorporates travel, science, memoir, history, and even politics. Halpern spent a year tracking monarch butterflies on their biannual continent-wide migrations, which were still not well understood at that point. She rides through Texas into Mexico with Bill Calvert, field researcher extraordinaire; goes gliding with David Gibo, a university biologist, in fields near Toronto; and hears from scientists and laymen alike about the monarchs’ habits and outlook. It happened to be a worryingly poor year for the butterflies, yet citizen science initiatives provided valuable information that could be used to predict their future.

The book is especially insightful about clashes between environmentalist initiatives and local livelihoods in Mexico (tree huggers versus subsistence loggers) and the joy of doing practical science with simple tools you rig up yourself. It’s also about focused attention that becomes passion. “Science, like belief, starts with wonder, and wonder starts with a question.”

Halpern writes engagingly, but at nearly 20 years old the book feels a bit dated, and I might have liked more personal reflections than interviews with (middle-aged, white, male) scientists. I only realized on the very last page (in the acknowledgments) that she’s married to Bill McKibben, a respected environment writer. [She frequently mentions Fred Urquhart, a Toronto zoology professor, and I wondered if he could be related to Jane Urquhart, a Canadian novelist whose novel Sanctuary Line features monarchs. Turns out: no relation at all. Oh well!]

Readalikes: Farther Away by Jonathan Franzen & Ruins by Peter Kuper.

[Shannon Kirk · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're interested in a well-crafted and quick true story of Monarchs, this is the book. I had tried some longer, more scientific tomes on the topic, but being a lay person, I needed something with a storyline too. I really enjoyed this educational book.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading about this book about the Monarch butterflies only made me love them more and appreciate what an incredible feat their migration is. It made me want to book a trip to an over-wintering site for next year.

[David Tarantino · Rating 2 out of 5]

Alexa was right - why did I do that

[Juliet Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

After enjoying the novel, "Flight Behavior" by Barbara Kingsolver, I sought out one of the books that she read in researching for her book, "Four Wings and a Prayer" by Sue Halpern. This is a wonderful study of Halpern's search and studies as to why Monarch butterflies follow the flight patterns that they do (published in 2001, there are still many unanswered questions on this topic!). She teams up with many different scientists in the field, converses with world renowned field biologists and botanists from the USA and Mexico, and teaches us a lot alone the way in a very conversational, yet informative and questioning tone.
I, for one, have also been intrigued with the migration routes of the Monarch butterfly and eagerly found Halpern's work quite fascinating to read and learn from. We can only hope that these creatures who used to congregate by the millions on trees in Mexico as part of their migration, and whose population is shown to be dwindling, can continue to thrive and survive....

[Kylee Baumle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I devoured this book. Monarchs are a passion of mine and I found the information here incredibly fascinating. Sue Halpern has a way of writing that I suspect I'd find captivating even if she was writing about the phone book. I couldn't put it down until I'd finished it.

Unless you share that kind of passion for these amazing butterflies, you might not like it as well as I did, but in that case you might not choose to read it in the first place.

The monarch's story is still being written and I want Sue Halpern to write it when the time comes that it can be shared with the rest of us.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This past summer was the first year I ever raised monarchs - I learned so much along the way and was so happy not only to see these beautiful creatures close up for a couple of months, but also feel like I did my little part of helping the pollinator population. We had 65 monarchs released in total. This book might not be for everyone, it goes into a fair amount of detail about the theories of migrating monarchs and where they go, how they get there etc, but I was fascinated by it!

[Joe Moss · Rating 2 out of 5]

Joe Moss
I wanted to like this book more than I did. The author, who seems a warm and engaging person, is part of such narrative as exists and seems very committed to what she is doing. Looking rather like a novel it is nothing of the sort, it is an account of the scientific lacunae in our knowledge of the monarch butterfly and its migratory habits, and some of the people who are involved in trying to answer these questions. But as a "true mystery" story it simply doesn't work.

The problem with this book is that it falls between two stools: it is neither an academic treatise on monarch butterflies but neither is it a book which will hold the interest of the casual reader. It promises more than it delivers and there are limits as to how many times you can get excited by the fact monarch butterflies fly very long distances.

There is a tendency to anthropomorphise animals, a habit Halpern bemoans but then at times falls into. She writes well and lucidly but does rather ramble off at times. There is too much description, too much "set-up" and not enough delivery.

On the plus side you do learn quite a bit about the monarch butterfly. In my case, even though I love butterflies, probably as much as I'll ever need to know.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a Monarch Waystation Steward and someone generally fascinated by Monarchs, I really loved this book. It was fascinating to learn how recently some well known Monarch conservation efforts started taking place. I also found it interesting how Monarch tagging got started and how it wasn't as recently as I though. As with any niche, I wasn't surprised to hear about the drama and infighting in the community - needless to say, that was still pretty captivating to read about.

A few things I didn't like are how the author (who appears to be a femme person) mainly interviewed white men, with a few femme/women voices here and there. At one point, one of the few women discussed was referred to as "beautiful and charismatic". The author didn't describe any of the men by their looks so it was disappointing to read this sexist writing trope, from someone who I assume is a women, no less.

The author also failed to explain things that left me confused. For example, she described teachers keeping Monarchs in refrigerators and students catching hundreds of Monarchs at a time. Why were the Monarchs in the fridge? Were hundreds being caught in one net at one time? I had a hard time painting a picture when some details were left out.

Another thing that bothered me but is no fault of the book is how it's 22 years old at this point. I left the book wondering how much of the recent parts still apply today.

All in all, if you like Monarchs, I bet you'll like this book. I found it fascinating and it made me even more excited to be a part of conservation effort in my own yard.

[Jamie R · Rating 1 out of 5]

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, and she actually includes excerpts from defunct mailing lists.

[Taveri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book; I wrote the author for the film rights but never heard back. The documentary was okay but I envisioned a story told from the butterfly's perspective with camera work flitting gently using mostly overhead shots to tell the story and elevate to one of soul in our search to understand the life cycle of the Monarchs.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really interesting info on Monarch butterflies; lots of interesting quotes about scientists and their passions.

[Brad Dunn · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is an eerie quality to books about a biological niche. A book about worms, about arowana fish, or in this case, the monarch butterfly which migrates, much like a bird, across continents. What makes these books so emotive is you know how they all end; we take away their worlds.

It seems like every book like this is a cautionary tale of sorts. It starts the same, there is this fascinating animal for which we routinely overlook, its beautiful, and magical, and children, even us as children love them so. Then, as we get older, we need freeways and affordable apartments and immersive light installations to take pretty girls on dates to. This needs land, and so, we make a trade, our constant need for more shit, over these adorable creatures.

So goes the story of the monarch butterfly. This story, written over twenty years ago now, follows a range of lepidopterists (butterfly scientists?), as they set out to uncover where monarchs exactly go during these mass migrations, and why they do so, in the absence of biological hardware that might allow that to be likely. The story has elements of biologist politics, of naturalist elitism, and adventure. It's a great book in all the ways good biological adventure books are, they make you realise you picked the wrong career, and could be, if you’d just followed your dreams, be wandering around the Mexican countryside at night, sticking tracer tags onto monarch butterflies, and hoping, somewhere, somebody, will find it on the other side of the world and tell you about it.

[Nichola · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book tells more of the stories of the people involved in Monarch research going back to the seventies before it was known about their migratory patterns. It talks a lot about citizen science, which is all the rage today but was a new idea at the time and made an impact. It covers the Urquharts, Ken Brugger, Lincoln Brower, Bill Calvert, Paul Cherubini, David Gibo and others. Although the author's travels are used as a way of telling the story, it's not really a travelogue, and even though you can learn quite a bit about the butterflies along the way, its not a biology story. This is about the way science moves forward- interested people asking questions, observing things in measured ways, comparing, disagreeing, sometimes sharing and sometimes grabbing credit. And policy questions about how to proceed- who is harmed, who benefits, what do we know and what are the possible risks.

[Spenco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where I was expecting a mostly textbook explanation of butterfly migrations, I was pleasantly surprised to find a novel-like adventure of a search for answers and a discovery of the wonders of the monarch butterflies.

Published over 20 years ago, I imagine this text is behind on the current state of knowledge about monarchs, but it provides an excellent elementary introduction into what is known about them, how the research is conducted amongst professionals and civilians alike, and, perhaps most intriguingly, what questions remain unanswered.

Sue Halpern's work makes me want to grab a butterfly net and head down to Mexico in the name of science.

[Amy Fry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Urquhart: “is is not most satisfying to be involved in the project that takes us out-of-doors; that frees our minds of the petty annoyances of life; that brings us so close to the marvelous eorkings of nature, and trying to answer the many little and big problems that nature presents to us?”

[Lindalee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is for someone who loves Monarch butterflies. It follows the adventures of the author as she meets and joins up with key people in the Monarch research world - specifically the ones trying to figure out the yearly migrations.

[Joyce]

No rating as I skimmed the last half of the book. I find her writing does not engage me. Read this to give her writing a second try. In both cases they were subjects that interested me greatly, especially this second one.

[Linda Benedict · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have liked to learn more about monarchs, though I picked up some. I was interested in how the science was done. The bulk seemed to be about the personalities of the researchers.

[Penny Ramirez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe 3.5 stars. A fascinating story of various people who have dedicated their lives to learning about Monarch behavior & migration.

[Kam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Outdated

[Barb · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book. At times repetitive but factually satisfying. Hopefully there will be Monarch Butterflies here this year.

[Debby Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frustrations on scientific investigation focusing on Monarch Butterfly.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written 20 years ago so some science has changed but the declines of both monarch and milkweed continue. This book is especially good at discussing some of the ego and game-playing that is part of the scientific community.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

More of a book about Monarch researchers than about Monarchs or Monarch research.

[Tava Baird · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is amazing...I learned so much! Fascinating and well-written!

[Esther Cervantes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somehow, in a book about the science of monarch butterflies, Sue Halpern manages to cast herself as the main character, and that character could not be more plainly a 20th-century liberal white woman from New England who grew up wanting to be a 19th-century muckraker. Halpern aims for Nellie Bly, but the mark she hits is bumbling damsel in distress. Remember the show-girl/love-interest Willie Scott in Temple of Doom? Like that.

Halpern exoticizes everything you could imagine (and even some things you wouldn't), and swallows the fish tales of her Anglo Texan tour guide in Mexico hook, line, and sinker. Although the eastern monarchs spend half the year in Mexico, and Halpern visits several times, Mexicans hardly feature at all, and Halpern seems to travel in time as well as geography, to the fantasy land of Ye Olde Mexico, ole!

I did manage to get past the repulsive tone to glean some interesting information from the book, but the notes I took are laced with expletives. Reader beware.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Marlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will never look at a monarch butterfly the same way again. This book was educational but written with a personal tone that made it very easy to read. After watching the IMAX movie at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago and visiting the butterfly exhibit at the Museum of Natural History in DC, this book answered some of my questions about monarch butterflies but like all good books, it raised additional questions. I will have to do some more research before spring.