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Promoting Monarch Butterfly Studies Nationwide | Writing Books About Natural History Since 1974

Authors

Bas Relief, LLC Authors

Bas Relief, LLC offers books that are products of collaboration and shared knowledge. Our authors value accuracy, thoroughly investigating the subject matter and presenting them in a friendly and easy-to-understand format for students and enthusiasts.

Ba Rea – Author, Illustrator, and Editor

Ba Rea has always been fond of investigating and enjoying what the natural world has to offer. Ba has done numerous research on plants, animals, and natural phenomena, documenting them through photographs, drawings, and written work. These days, she is based in the woods on the Knobs over Union, West Virginia.
She has worked with various organizations, including:
  • Indian Creek Watershed Association
  • Kenai Fjords National Park
  • Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania
  • Maine Audubon
  • New Hampshire Audobon
  • Monarchs in the Classroom
  • Lifestrands
  • Ridge 2000
  • Wings of Wonder
  • ASSET
  • Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens
  • Frick Environmental Center
  • Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh
  • Anita Purves Nature Center, Urbana, IL
Monarch butterflies are Ba’s personal favorites, although coming close to second are praying mantises, puffins, toads, American eels, and whales. Since 1970, Ba has raised and released monarchs. She started to introduce these creatures to school children and teachers in 1986, and for teachers interested in using monarchs in the classroom, Ba teaches a class called Monarchs Butterflies in Your Classroom Here and Now. It is offered for Pennsylvania Intermediate Unit credits and Act 48 hours every August through the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh. Ba earned her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Illinois in 1979 in an individual plan of study called Visual Literacy. She had combined studies in educational psychology, illustration, and natural history. Moreover, to better understand children’s learning processes and teacher instruction, Ba completed an elementary teaching certification program at Chatham College in 1996. She continued her studies and earned her master’s degree in children and adolescent writing (MACAW) at Chatham College in 2001, with an emphasis on natural history writing. Ba Rea’s published work includes:
Co-Authored with C.J. Rea
There Have Always Been Puffins. Bas Relief Publishing Group, 1997. A Whale’s Tale from the Supper Sea. Bas Relief Publishing Group, 1999. Illustrated a Web-Based Story by C.J. Rea for the Kenai Fjords National Park Website: Kenai, the Kid, 2000.
Designed and Co-Authored with Karen Oberhauser and Mike Quinn
Milkweed, Monarchs and More, A Field Guide to the Invertebrate Community in the Milkweed Patch. Bas Relief Publishing Group, 2003; Bas Relief, LLC 2010 and 2011.
Authored and Illustrated
Monarch! Come Play with Me. Bas Relief Publishing Group, 2005-2006. ¡Monarca Ven! Juega Conmigo. Bas Relief, LLC 2011. Learning from Monarchs, A Teachers’ Handbook. Bas Relief, LLC 2010.
Designed, Illustrated, and Co-Authored with Leah M. Spink
My Monarch Investigation, a science notebook, and The Great Monarch Investigation, its corresponding science curriculum, are both designed to encourage students in 4th through 8th grades to learn more about science using the monarch life cycle. Lifestrands, Inc, 2001, 2002. (Lifestrands closed in 2009. The remaining copies of My Monarch Investigation are available from the Monarch Lab Store. Reprinting is up for consideration.)
Co-Authored with Liz Goerhing and Others
Student Experiments At Sea (SEAS) is a web-based curriculum that tasks middle school students to design experiments to be included in scientific cruises to the Mid-Ocean Ridge. Ridge 2000, 2003.

C.J. Rea

C.J. Rea's passion for Alaska and its diverse marine ecosystem can be seen throughout her work as an author and a dedicated naturalist in the Kenai Fjords National Park.
C.J. completed her master’s degree in marine biology at Western Washington University. She was introduced to Alaska when she accepted a research position based in Prince William Sound to examine the recovery of algal species exposed to oil by the Exxon Valdez spill.
Since that experience, C.J. has fallen in love with Alaska. She returned in the following spring as an observer for National Marine Fisheries aboard 80- to 120-foot fishing vessels working out of Kodiak Island. Over the course of four years, she worked on 23 vessels in 5 fisheries in winter, spring, and summer. Her experiences allowed her to breach whales, see nets jammed so full of fish they could be walked upon, and interact with sea lions bold enough to climb aboard a fishing vessel for a meal. She learned firsthand what 25-foot seas mean to an 84-foot boat, what it means to be "iced up" in Shelikof Strait 12 hours from home port, and the relief one feels when arriving at port with a four-degree list from ice on the boat, but all hands accounted for. In 1995, C.J. used her knowledge of the Alaskan waters to help her fulfill her new role as a National Park Ranger. For several years, she has introduced visitors to Alaska’s ecosystems and the creatures of Kenai Fjords National Park during day trips into the fjords to view glaciers, whales, seals, sea lions, and sea birds. Visitors are always motivated to know more about the creatures they see for the first time so they can take these stories home to their friends and family. Inspired by her experiences, C.J. worked with her sister, Ba Rea, to create There Have Always Been Puffins and A Whale's Tale from the Supper Sea, masterfully combining fact and storytelling. Today, C.J. works as an Education Specialist at the Kenai Fjords National Park. You can find her web-based story, Kenai the Kid, introducing the ecosystem of the Kenai Fjords through the eyes of a young mountain goat on the park website.

Karen Oberhauser – Author and Editor

Karen Oberhauser is the director of Monarchs in the Classroom and the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project at the University of Minnesota. These programs teach biology, conservation, and science processes using monarchs. Karen, along with her students and colleagues, has studied monarch biology since 1984.
She is the chair of the steering committee of the Monarch Joint Venture and on the Monarch Butterfly Fund board. Karen has offered her expertise in writing many of Bas Relief, LLC’s books. Milkweed, Monarchs and More was originally created as a tool for the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project. With editing help from Karen and her staff and colleagues, Milkweed, Monarchs and More was reprinted several times to include The Enlarged and Updated Second Edition of Milkweed, Monarchs and More and Milkweed, Monarchs and More, Updated Second Edition, Field Version. Karen and Monarchs in the Classroom were instrumental in creating Bas Relief, LLC's children’s books. Upon discovering Mary Holland's Milkweed Visitors project, Karen worked with Mary and Ba Rea to perfect and polish the books, even investing in the initial printing costs. She also contributed valuable editorial and professional advice in the production of Monarch! Come Play with Me. Karen also suggested doing a Spanish version of Monarch Come Play with Me: ¡Monarca Ven! Juega Conmigo. Karen lives in Roseville, MN, with her husband and has two grown daughters who both like monarchs.

Mike Quinn – Author and Editor

Mike Quinn is an entomologist with an interest in beetles and a great knowledge of systematics. When Bas Relief, LLC started working with Mike, he was in Texas Parks and Wildlife's Nongame and Rare Species Division doing outreach and conservation. His outreach activities focused on the monarchs and butterfly diversity of South Texas.
As such, his knowledge and ability to track down information and experts on a wide range of insects proved to be an asset in writing Milkweed, Monarchs and More.
Mike and his wife, Gloria, live in Austin, where he maintains a website dedicated to a wide range of Texas-centric entomological topics.

Mary Holland – Author

Mary Holland was born and raised in Massachusetts on a turkey farm and is a Vermont naturalist, photographer, columnist, and author with an abiding passion for natural history. Her entire life, she has worked in the field of environmental education, sharing her appreciation of the natural world with everyone. Mary attended the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources (Naturalist curriculum). She had served as:
  • A naturalist at The Museum of the Hudson Highlands in New York state
  • A director for the state-wide Environmental Learning for the Future (ELF) program for the Vermont Institute of Natural Science (VINS)
  • A resource naturalist for the Massachusetts Audubon Society
  • A designer and presenter of the hands-on “Knee-High Nature Programs” for libraries and elementary schools throughout Vermont and New Hampshire
Mary has also written and photographed a column called “Naturally Curious” for several newspapers and magazines. For the past 10 years, she has been writing bi-weekly or monthly columns, with articles and photographs appearing in:
  • Valley News
  • Northern Woodlands
  • The Outside Story
  • Upper Valley Life
  • Here in Hanover
  • Woodstock Magazine
  • Harvard University Press
  • Vermont Guardian
  • Rutland Herald
Mary's Bas Relief, LLC children’s book, Milkweed Visitors, introduces readers to many species of insects that visit a milkweed patch. The book was placed on the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Science Books and Films’ list for the best books of 2006 for the Children’s Books category under Zoological Sciences. In 2010, her book, Naturally Curious: A Photographic Field Guide and Month-by-Month Journey through the Fields, Woods, and Marshes of New England, was published by Trafalgar Square Books of North Pomfret, Vermont. Mary’s photographic images are available as cards and prints. She also offers PowerPoint programs (Beavers, Milkweed Visitors, and Naturally Curious) that make use of her photographs and natural history artifacts in libraries, schools, and clubs throughout New England. For more information, you can contact Mary through email. You may also follow Mary’s blog.

Carol Cullar – Translator and Editor

Carol Cullar, a Texas and Southwest poet and author and translator for ¡Monarca Ven! Juega Conmigo, was the President of the Board and Executive Director of the Rio Bravo Nature Center Foundation, Inc. in Eagle Pass, TX. As a long-time resident of the Frontera, she holds the Rio Grande dear to her heart. Carol has a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene and an MFA in crafts from the Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico. As a true child of the 70s, she majored in a little bit of everything, such as textile design, jewelry, and ceramics.
A visual artist and photographer, Cullar has lived and taught public school art in or near Mexico since 1967, with only brief forays into the tamer regions of the West. She established the Rio Bravo Nature Center Foundation, Inc. after retiring 13 years ago. She now works full-time in promoting awareness of ecological conservation to residents in Southwest Texas, focusing on outdoor science adventures for the community’s youth.
She has been involved in citizen science projects for the past 12 years, with much of her focus on the monarch butterfly.