Amazon.com (ISBN 059093502X, Paperback)

Vanessa, whose father is a widower and a distracted scientist, spends her time alone, reading kids' books her best friend Ruth Ann says make her "look like a baby," studying up on butterflies, and concocting ways to realize her dream of flight. When she and Newton follow the path of the Emerald Rainbow butterfly, which visits their town Angel Falls each year, they stumble upon the mysterious secret of Hesperides Garden. "Life is a garden," reads the sign on its door. "Everything that grows must change."

Into the fresh days of spring fall golden apples, green butterfly dust, wings and swings and the dreams of Chinese philosophers. With help from lepidoptera and Edgar Allan Poe, the two kids solve a few mysteries and come to the rescue of both two-legged and six-legged creatures. By the end their lives, despite Newton's fears and protests, they have indeed been transformed. (Ages 10 and older) --Maria Dolan