Ellen Dalzell loves Monarch butterflies. She loves them so much that she raised and released 57 of them last year during their generational southern migration. But it was her special care of three of them that turned into her first children’s book called “The Missing Toe.” 

A former elementary teacher who spent 10 years at Daly Elementary School, Dalzell turned her care of the three caterpillars into lessons for children. She named the caterpillars Tik, Tak, and Toe and decided to teach youngsters about them during a children’s sermon at the United Methodist Church in Glasgow. Later, she displayed the soon-to-be butterflies at Lewis Library in Glasgow.

But after Dalzell returned home with the habitat enclosure, she noticed that one of the caterpillars was gone. Toe had escaped from the habitat where the zipper had not closed entirely. She looked high and low, and circled back to the library but could not locate him. 

“That little stinker got out,” recalled Dalzell. “I had no idea where he was.”

Until one day, she glanced down and noticed a chrysalis attached to a door hinge inside her house. It was Toe.

Once the newly transformed butterfly emerged from his chrysalis, he fell to the floor. Dalzell was able to safely transport him back to the enclosed habitat without damaging his wings. Later, all three Monarchs were set free to complete the next leg of the southern migration to Mexico.

Ever the teacher, Dalzell decided to turn the adventure into a children’s book, so the legacy of Tik, Tak, and Toe may teach and entertain young minds about the life-cycle and migrations of Monarch butterflies.

“The people from the church and the parents who brought their kids to the program at the library all said this would make a great children’s book,” Dalzell explained. 

She began writing the narrative in October of last year, and recruited the help of famed local artist Penny Brown to provide the illustrations. “She said, ‘Ellen, I’ve never illustrated a book.’ I said, ‘Penny, I’ve never written a book. Let’s put two inexperienced people together and see what we come up with’”, Dalzell said.

Once complete, she sent off the manuscript and illustrations to a publisher in December. By May, she had 150 hardcover copies and 150 paperbacks. She sells the hard-bound books for $22 and the paperbacks for $12. All proceeds are evenly split between the Methodist Church and Lewis Library in Glasgow.

Dalzell will sign books for customers at a special sale starting at 11 a.m. Saturday at Paisley Bowtique in Fayette. She said hardcover books are nearly sold out, but anyone who wishes to buy a copy may do so, and she will order more.