ACCESS DIGITIZED EDITION
Guide/Reviews Database
SCIENCE
Ketchum, Liza , Martin, Jacqueline Briggs , Root, Phyllis

Begin with a Bee

40 pp. | Minnesota | May, 2021 | Trade ISBN 978-1-5179-0804-1 $17.95
(2) K-3 Illustrated by Claudia McGehee. This account of the rusty-patched bumble bee life cycle is told from the perspective of the queen. The story opens in winter, as a hibernating queen bee awaits the arrival of spring. That single creature's "tiny body (not even an inch) holds everything she needs to create a whole colony of bees." As spring arrives and turns to summer, the meadow environment awakens: plants populate the habitat, other wildlife return, and the bee proceeds to build a nest, start laying eggs, and raise the workers who will attend to her care. McGehee's wonderful scratchboard and watercolor illustrations are bursting with the colors and movements of flora and fauna, yet also delicately detailed in portraying bee anatomy. Even the negative spaces are not quite empty, filled with thin lines that indicate movement in the wind and a dashed line that traces the path of the bee as she finds a place for a nest. By the last days of autumn, just one bee--a new queen--is left. The text echoes the introductory pages to emphasize the beginning of a new cycle: "What's inside this hole in the ground? / Next year's rusty-patched bumble bee queen." End notes include more information about these creatures and the decline of the species, as well as steps readers can take to help conserve bees in their neighborhoods.
Reviewer: Danielle J. Ford | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2021

RELATED 

SCIENCE

How to Build an Insect
by Gibson, Roberta
SCIENCE

A Quick History of Math
by Gifford, Clive
SCIENCE

Butterflies Are Pretty...Gross!
by Mosco, Rosemary
SCIENCE

Summertime Sleepers
by Stewart, Melissa
SCIENCE

Birds
by Krestovnikoff, Miranda
More

Get connected. Join our global community of more than 200,000 librarians and educators.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

We are currently offering this content for free. Sign up now to activate your personal profile, where you can save articles for future viewing.

ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER?