A solid worker for any library collection, but this wouldn’t make it as the queen
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 limited—in 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)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68297-149-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: QEB Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere.
This book is buzzing with trivia.
Follow a swarm of bees as they leave a beekeeper’s apiary in search of a new home. As the scout bees traverse the fields, readers are provided with a potpourri of facts and statements about bees. The information is scattered—much like the scout bees—and as a result, both the nominal plot and informational content are tissue-thin. There are some interesting facts throughout the book, but many pieces of trivia are too, well trivial, to prove useful. For example, as the bees travel, readers learn that “onion flowers are round and fluffy” and “fennel is a plant that is used in cooking.” Other facts are oversimplified and as a result are not accurate. For example, monofloral honey is defined as “made by bees who visit just one kind of flower” with no acknowledgment of the fact that bees may range widely, and swarm activity is described as a springtime event, when it can also occur in summer and early fall. The information in the book, such as species identification and measurement units, is directed toward British readers. The flat, thin-lined artwork does little to enhance the story, but an “I spy” game challenging readers to find a specific bee throughout is amusing.
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere. (Informational picture book. 8-10)Pub Date: May 18, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-500-65265-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet and endearing feathered migration.
A relationship between a Latina grandmother and her mixed-race granddaughter serves as the frame to depict the ruby-throated hummingbird migration pattern.
In Granny’s lap, a girl is encouraged to “keep still” as the intergenerational pair awaits the ruby-throated hummingbirds with bowls of water in their hands. But like the granddaughter, the tz’unun—“the word for hummingbird in several [Latin American] languages”—must soon fly north. Over the next several double-page spreads, readers follow the ruby-throated hummingbird’s migration pattern from Central America and Mexico through the United States all the way to Canada. Davies metaphorically reunites the granddaughter and grandmother when “a visitor from Granny’s garden” crosses paths with the girl in New York City. Ray provides delicately hashed lines in the illustrations that bring the hummingbirds’ erratic flight pattern to life as they travel north. The watercolor palette is injected with vibrancy by the addition of gold ink, mirroring the hummingbirds’ flashing feathers in the slants of light. The story is supplemented by notes on different pages with facts about the birds such as their nest size, diet, and flight schedule. In addition, a note about ruby-throated hummingbirds supplies readers with detailed information on how ornithologists study and keep track of these birds.
A sweet and endearing feathered migration. (bibliography, index) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: May 7, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0538-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
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