Review by Booklist Review
Bees, bees, bees! Worldwide, people express concern for the loss of bees and bee habitats, but what do we really know about these insects? How many varieties of bees are there? What do they eat? How do they make honey from nectar? Do they all sting? Where do they live? How can humans help them? Quigley enriches her book with bee folktales, poems, facts, games, experiments, recipes, and crafts to satisfy children's inquisitive nature (and sometimes fear) about these vital insects. Additionally, Morgan's colorful, humorous, yet detailed illustrations make the book's format varied and inviting. Using text boxes, speech bubbles, captioned diagrams and pictures, vertical and horizontal page layouts, and chapters with short two-page topical entries, the book invites children to explore, investigate, and create. Multiracial girls and boys are equally represented throughout, and adult supervision for activities is always suggested. This stands out among a plethora of nonfiction about bees because of its reader-friendly format and inclusion of various curricular areas. Pair with Piotr Socha's Bees: A Honeyed History (2017) for those still abuzz with curiosity.--Petty, J. B. Copyright 2017 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Horn Book Review
This colorful, charmingly illustrated exploration of bees encourages a hands-on, holistic approach to learning, combining poetry, myths, history, scientific explanations, and project instructions. Color-coded sections urge readers to "explore" the science concepts, "create" a bee-inspired poem or projects (e.g., a life cyclethemed board game), and "investigate" via simple experiments. The muted palette and slightly curled font further the book's gentle tone. Glos., ind. (c) Copyright 2018. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A green-themed instructive read, this will have nature enthusiasts buzzing. The cover tagline is "Explore, create, and investigate!" and that's what young environmentalists may be influenced to do after working with this hybrid biology-STEM-craft-trivia offering. It combines educational tips with bee-themed activities that vary from scientific experiments (one encourages kids to observe what colors bees like best) to such crafts as "Make a Fuzzy Bumble Bee." Quigley attempts to capture everything bee-related in this offering, and that all-in approach may overwhelm casual readers. Bee-themed poetry and Thai honeybee folklore intermingle with housing suggestions for bumblebees and recipes for seed bombs. Librarians and educators may find the book most inspiring, as swarms of bee-themed lesson plans and bulletin boards for the pre-K crowd fly off the page. An index and glossary make up the backmatter, but a pronunciation guide and list of further readings and citations would have sweetened the text. Morgan's digital illustrations are bright and attractive, but readers may wish there were labels identifying specific flower names and geographic locations. For example, the map of "Bees Around the World" is more of a geographic suggestion that actual cartography. Morgan's attempts to hint at diversity among the human characters are fair but limitedin a book this colorful, having only two skin tones seems uninspired. A solid worker for any library collection, but this wouldn't make it as the queen. (Nonfiction. 5-10) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
