A charming introduction to beekeeping that needs further elaboration on bees’ environmental importance.
Williams explores backyard beekeeping in this illustrated children’s book.
Readers meet a boy nicknamed “Bugzee” for his love of all things related to insects. Bugzee knows a lot about bees thanks to a backyard apiary where his grandparents tend to honeybees. He can’t get too close, because he doesn’t have a beekeeping suit; instead, he watches the action through binoculars from his “honeybee headquarters” in the greenhouse. Bugzee is excited about a new package of bees arriving soon. His grandmother asks him to help with the bee boxes and frames, where the bees build their honeycomb and the queen lays her eggs. A sidebar explains that beehives typically have one queen bee, hundreds of drones, and thousands of worker bees. The queen bee lays all the fertilized eggs for the hive—up to 1 million in her lifetime. The drones are male and do not have stingers; their job is to mate with queens from other hives. The worker bees are female and tend to the housekeeping, feed the babies, make wax, and collect pollen and nectar. Bugzee’s mom informs him that a garden of native plants will be a source of nectar and pollen for the bees. In the final scene, Bugzee opens a box to find a new beekeeping suit. “I can’t wait to help take care of my very own hive!” he exclaims. This engaging children’s book balances narrative and nonfiction deftly, juxtaposing Bugzee’s scenes with sections of facts about beekeeping (including photographs). Williams simplifies complex bee-related concepts, like defining an apiary as a “bee yard” where “human-made beehives are located.” Unfortunately, while the story stresses that “We must do what we can to protect all species of bees because they play a vital role in ecosystems around the world,” it is not fully explained exactly how bees help the environment. Goshay’s bold digital illustrations incorporate the honeycombs’ hexagonal designs and golden hues while also emphasizing the characters’ faces, effectively conveying the family’s enthusiasm.
A charming introduction to beekeeping that needs further elaboration on bees’ environmental importance.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 9798396752795
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: July 2, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A charming friendship story and great setup for future books.
Curious about the Big Wide World outside his Sasquatch community, Hugo makes a friend who is of it.
Sasquatch Hugo’s bedroom is inside a cave and possesses the charming feature of a small stream running through it that he can sail his little toy boat on. It’s cool, but he yearns to see the Big Wide World. When he asks his smart friend Gigi if a Sasquatch might become a sailor, she says it’s possible but would be difficult—the primary rule of their people is to not be seen by Humans. Then, in everyone’s favorite Hide and Go Sneak class, which is held outside, a Human appears; Hugo laughs at the sight, drawing Human attention in a taboo-breaking mistake. Shortly after, Hugo’s toy boat floats into the cave with a Human toy—soon, it’s facilitating a pen-pal–type relationship that’s derailed when Hugo confesses to being a Sasquatch and Human Boone, a budding cryptozoologist, doesn’t believe him. How Hugo and Boone resolve this misapprehension and become friends in a joint search for the Ogopogo concludes this series opener. Potter keeps the third-person narrative tightly focused on Hugo’s perspective, and the details she uses to flesh out the Sasquatch world are delightfully playful. Sala’s drawings depict a homey Sasquatch cavern community, Boone as a freckled, white boy, and Hugo as a hairily benevolent behemoth.
A charming friendship story and great setup for future books. (final art unseen) (Fantasy. 5-9)Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2859-4
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
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