Magical Butterfly Kingdom: Book 1

With over 40 full-page glossy color illustrations, Magical Butterfly Kingdom comes to life and delights children aged 5 to 105 with its rivoting story line. The author, Stephen Morris, is an accomplished artist, toy designer and storyteller who has been exibited at the Royal Academy in London.The author welcomes you to the Magical Butterfly Kingdom, home of the beautiful Butterfly Fairies and a peaceful abode benevolently ruled by King Red Admiral and his queen, Morphiana. Protected by a magical circle of chanterelle mushrooms, Butterfly Kingdom is the center of the universe for Butterfly Fairies, who live forever inside its protective ring. Take Poppy, a Butterfly Fairy who has embraced the good life. She has settled quite comfortably into a cozy flower cottage with its own trumpet flower-shaped bathtub.But what dangers await her when she wanders off alone late one night, drawn by a strange aura of light in the distance? Straying just steps beyond the ring of toadstools, Poppy is snatched up by a death hawk moth, triggering a chain of events leading to the death of King Red Admiral and the imprisonment of Queen Morphiana.All hopes are pinned on Butterfly Fairies Bluebell and Daisy to find the kidnapped Poppy, save the queen and assure a new Red Admiral king retakes command of Butterfly Kingdom. Bluebell and Daisy must also protect Queen Morphiana’s royal egg as it grows into a caterpillar with a jaunty, devil-may-care attitude and eventually metamorphoses into a fearless Red Admiral who will help the pair navigate a treacherous journey toward a secret waterfall that hides the key to reclaiming the kingdom. Along the way, the little band of Butterfly Fairies and their friends encounter assassin bugs, praying mantises, cave spiders and other ruthless killer bugs. Will they survive the journey? Can they rescue their friend, their queen and the kingdom? As humans go about their busy lives, many remain largely unaware of the insect world around them, one dominated by beetles, butterflies, moths and more. These insects rush about with as much determination and sense of purpose as the most important humans, in a teeming microcosm that mimics our world in surprising ways. Perhaps you have noticed a velvet-winged danaus plexippus swept aloft by a breeze in the garden, or maybe you found a fearsome rhinoceros beetle hidden under the canopy of leaves where the untamed dandelions, ragged-robin and wild violets grow. You could have even spied a sudden movement directly underfoot as you narrowly avoided an unpleasant end to a particularly fine member of the formicidae family. In Magical Butterfly Kingdom, you will enter a fascinating world filled with delightful characters that flutter, leap, creep and crawl. This enchanting and absorbing tale featuring the Lady Bug Warrior, Prince Alder Red Admiral, the Emperor Moth, Hawthorn Dragonfly, Golden Orb Spider and others includes more than 40 fanciful, full-color illustrations that help tell the tale of a life-and-death struggle for the survival of the kingdom. Suitable for children age 5 and older, as well as for grownups who enjoy reading about the wee creepy-crawlies of the woods and the high flyers up above, Magical Butterfly Kingdom promises to become a beloved addition to your family’s reading collection.