Author Kathleen Pryor Wins the Charlotte and Wilbur Award for Home Calling: The Journey of the Monarch Butterfly
Over 1,800 virtual attendees joined a livestreamed program on Zoom hosted by the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators’ Impact and Legacy Fund, according to Publishers Weekly. The “Children’s Book Changemakers” program included notable speakers like actor Goldie Hawn and author Barbara Kingsolver.
During the program, author-illustrator Karen Winnick announced that Katherine Pryor’s book, Home Is Calling: The Journey of the Monarch Butterfly, illustrated by Ellie Petersen (WorthyKids), won a new award she founded called “the Charlotte and Wilbur Award for Compassion for Animals.”
This award goes to books that that exemplify kindness towards animals and is named in honor of Charlotte’s Web’s characters (with the blessing of author E.B. White’s estate).
The entire livestream can be watched below, with the award presentation beginning 1:01:41 in the recording and Katherine’s acceptance speech starting at 1:06:31.
Learn More About the Book
As the sun dawns in Canada, a flutter of monarch butterflies take flight, ready to begin their months-long journey to their ancestral home in Mexico. The migration will not be easy, but it is necessary for the next generation of monarchs to be born. Brought to life with illustrations as vivid as the monarch’s iconic orange and black hues, this story invites young readers to experience the monarch’s migration from the butterflies’ point of view as they search for food, huddle together through storms, and tirelessly fly south.
Parents and educators alike will find much to love about this poetically written book. The story touches on how climate change and deforestation are impacting monarchs, and kid-friendly back matter provides additional information about the butterflies, including their life cycle, anatomy, and migratory patterns, as well as several simple ways children can help monarch butterflies themselves.
