Summer Birds by Margarita Engle

Summer Birds by Margarita Engle

In the Middle Ages, people believed that insects were evil, born from mud in a process called spontaneous generation. Maria Merian was only a child, but she disagreed. She watched carefully as caterpillars spun themselves cocoons, which opened to reveal summer birds, or butterflies and moths. Maria studied the whole life cycle of the summer birds, and documented what she learned in vibrant paintings.

This is the story of one young girl who took the time to observe and learn, and in so doing disproved a theory that went all the way back to ancient Greece.

Margarita Engle is a Cuban-American poet, novelist, and journalist whose work has appeared in a variety of publications around the world. She is the author of The Surrender Tree, a Newbery Honor Book, The Poet Slave of Cuba, The Firefly Letters, and Tropical Secrets, among other young adult nonfiction and verse novels. She resides in the state of California's northwestern region.