A Children's Guide to Arctic Butterflies

Inhabit Media
Mia Pelletier, illustrated by Danny Christopher
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There are 20,000 species of butterflies in the world, but only several dozen are found on the tundra of the North American Arctic. Many Arctic animals have warm, woolly coats, downy feathers, or thick layers of blubber, and Arctic butterflies appear fragile with their fluttering, delicate wings. Yet the hardy butterflies that live at the top of the world have many clever ways to keep themselves warm in cool summers and endure icy-cold winters. In A Children’s Guide to Arctic Butterflies, young readers learn about twelve of the butterflies that call the Arctic home and how they survive on the tundra from one season to the next.


With a simple layout and easy-to-follow headings for each butterfly, this beautiful book is filled with fun, useful facts, including introductory material about the life cycle and anatomy of butterflies and how they begin life as caterpillars.

Step inside and journey North—you may even spot a familiar fluttering friend. While some of the butterflies found in A Children’s Guide to Arctic Butterflies are among the most northern of butterfly species, many can also be found south of the Arctic and in high, cold places around the world!

Contributor Bio

Mia Pelletier grew up exploring the lakes and forests of the Canadian Shield. Drawn to shorelines and wild places, Mia studied ecology and lived in California and the Magdalen Islands before moving to Baffin Island, Nunavut, in 2010. In Nunavut, she works with Arctic seabirds and with Inuit on the co-management of protected areas. Mia enjoys exploring the Arctic tundra and learning about the fascinating plants, animals, and people that call this region home.

Danny Christopher has travelled throughout the Canadian Arctic as an instructor for Nunavut Arctic College. He is the illustrator of The Legend of the Fog, A Children’s Guide to Arctic Birds, and Animals Illustrated: Polar Bear, and author of Putuguq and Kublu. His work on The Legend of the Fog was nominated for the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustration Award. He lives in Toronto with his wife, four children, and two dogs.

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