Sam Swope

The life story of the Monarch butterfly and its amazing migration told in simple language that makes children smile with wonder -- and giggle, too. This creepy-crawly bug knows only one thing: I gotta go! I gotta go! I gotta go to Mexico!

"... soars as a prose poem picture book..."
-- The Horn Book

"The words are simple and urgent. Even preschoolers will feel the excitement about this most fragile of creatures that can fly so far and prove so strong."
-- Booklist

"... Lest you begin to think that all philosophy involves such heavy lifting, consider Sam Swope's hilarious picture book, Gotta Go! Gotta Go! which my six-year-old informed me is a "book about knowledge." A caterpillar is born with an unalterable instinct to go south: "I don't know much but I know what I know. I gotta go! I gotta go! I gotta go to Mexico!" Inchoate monarch butterfly that she is, she does. There are lots of ways to enter this story: you can talk with your own young philosopher about knowledge, freedom, instinct, destiny—or you can just enjoy the beat."
-- Commonweal

"The clarity of the storytelling and artwork match the heroine's determination."
-- Publisher's Weekly


A CCBC Choice 2001

A Nick Jr. Best Book of the Year