It’s been a while since I have written a blog post so I’m excited to share a new “top ten” list this week! Bees! So many great new books coming out about these amazing and important insects that I thought I would feature some of my favorites new and not so new books about bees including fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. BEE-lieve me – BEES would BE a great topic for an end of the year inquiry project! Invite a local bee keeper into your class as a guest. And share some of these amazing bee books!
Follow That Bee! A First Book of Bees in the City – Scot Ritchie
I love Scot Ritchie’s “Exploring Our Community” series so was excited to see this new addition all about bees! Always just the right amount of interesting information but also high on the entertainment scale! The illustrations are great and I love that he includes a “call to action” toward the end of the story on how we can help the bees. Packed with interesting bee facts – did you know bees can’t see the colour red?
Willbee the Bumblebee – Craig Smith and Maureen Thomson
By the same team who brought us “Wonky Donkey” – this one is not quite as funny as Wonky Donkey, but a cute story, just the same. Great triple scoop words!
Bees – A Honeyed History – Piotr Socha
This fascinating, over-sized bee book is one you could spend several hours pouring over. Lots of interesting, scientific facts, gorgeous illustrations. While I may not read this aloud to a class due to the significant amount of small text, it would be a great book for looking at with a buddy.
Are You a Bee? – Judy Allen and Tudor Humphries
This is one of several books in a series called the “Backyard Books”, featuring insects you might find in your backyard. What makes this book different from your typical nonfiction text is how the narrative voice speaks to the reader directly, detailing the stages of the life cycle of a bee and all the challenges it faces. A unique point of view that I would certainly also use as an anchor for writing. Gorgeous pencil crayon illustrations.
The Honeybee – Kristen Hall
Love, love, love this enchanting book that reveals the day-to-day activities of honeybees. Lyrical wordplay, rhyming text, eye-catching black and white illustrations with pops of bright colors, and cute little bees with little neck ribbons. Adorable!
Busy Buzzy Bee – Karen Wallace
Perfect for K-1, this beginning reader is filled with interesting bee facts, eye-catching DK photographs and plenty of word repetition.
The Bee Book – Charlotte Milner
While many bee books focus on the honey bee, I enjoyed how this book introduces readers to various kinds of bees and emphasizes the importance of all bees in the world. Beautiful and simple.
UnBEElievables – Douglas Florian
Douglas Florian is one of my favorite children’s poet. I love the way he integrates poetry, facts, and visuals in such a seamless, interesting and entertaining way. Each page is complete with his signature art and also contains a short informative description connected to the topic of the poem. Poems and paintings about bees; puns and word play; humor – you can’t ask for more.
Give Bees a Chance – Bethany Barton
The author-illustrator of the delightful I’m Trying to Love Spiders is offering readers a plea to please give bees a chance! Written in the same engaging, interactive style, this book is not only packed full of bee facts, but makes a fabulous read-aloud for your class.
The Honeybee Man – Lela Nargi
Every morning, Fred climbs three flights of stairs—up to his rooftop in Brooklyn, New York—and greets the members of his enormous family: “Good morning, my bees, my darlings!” With beautiful and unique illustrations, this “Fact-ion” picture book combines Fred’s story with facts about what bees do in their hives, what they do to find honey, and how the pollen they collect affects the taste and color of the honey. It is full of such lush, sensory details, that you can hear the bees buzzing, see them collecting nectar, and then you can taste the sweet honey. A great writing anchor book for using sensory details!
Bee and Me – Alison Jay
This is a beautiful wordless picture book – perfect for teaching and practicing inferring – with a subtle message about the importance of bees in our world. This book has a whimsical feel to it but includes with an important closing note explaining the plight of the dwindling honeybee population and suggests plants that readers can grow to help bee populations.
Ant and Bee – Angela Banner
My last pick is not really a book about bees, but one I just had to include. While doing my bee search, up popped a book from a far corner of my memory pocket! And while I would not classify them as “books about bees”, Ant and Bee books were among my favorite growing up. I remember my sisters and I and reading and re-reading them dozens of times! (Ant and Bee and Kind Doggie and Around the World with Ant and Bee were my two favorites!) These books have been updated and re-released. Sadly, the original illustrations by Brian Ward have been replaced by those from the author, (who is now in her 80’s!) apparently after the two had a falling out. While lacking some of the original charm, I was impressed at how well the story is written in simple, scaffold-ed text, with new words highlighted in red. As an adult, I see the educational value of them for emergent readers. As a child, I just remember loving them!
Thanks for stopping by! I hope you found one or two BEE books that caught your eye!
I loved the Florian book, used it in the classroom. And Give Bees A Chance is great. Thanks for the others, Adrienne!