It’s a long, tough journey, but one that’s filled with adventure and natural beauty, new friends, and big dreams. Told in simple verse, the story works as a gentle but lively introduction to monarch biology and ecology, emphasizing habitat needs and our role as active stewards in the natural world. Sidebars add further information and details to engage and expand children’s fascination with butterflies and other pollinators. An afterword completes the story with additional explanation of environmental threats to monarch habitat and suggestions on how to learn more and help them through wildlife-friendly gardening. The afterword also makes explicit for any readers who didn’t recognize it already that Janey’s story parallels that of a true American folk hero, Johnny Appleseed.