Case, Jonathan. Little Monarchs. Jonathan Case, Illus. Graphic Novel. Holiday House/ Ferguson, 04/2022. 256pp. $22.99. 978-0-8234-4260-7. PB $14.99. 978-0-8234-5139-5. OUTSTANDING. GRADES 4-7.
It’s Summer 2110, and ten-year-old Evie, who is biracial, is keeping an illustrated naturalist’s journal, either as a record of their adventures or for the use of future scientists if something should happen to them. She and her white caretaker, Flora, are on their annual migration following the monarch butterflies down the Pacific Coast, trying to synthesize a vaccine to counteract the sun shift that has made above-ground living fatal to mammals. Colorful comic panels are interspersed with journal entries full of nature facts and survival tips. Both chronicle the action-packed dystopian adventures as Flora and Evie overcome natural disasters and human treachery on a postapocalyptic journey that Evie hopes may reunite them with her long-lost parents. Flora and Evie have a profound, humorous, and scrappy relationship, resonant of the best buddy road-trip movies. Strong art full of emotion and detail, extensive world building, believable science, plenty of laughs, and complex characters add up to a spectacular graphic novel adventure. This book has California-specific content.
Melissa McAvoy, Retired
