In the beginning, there was a meadow.
And in that meadow, a hive, and in that hive, a young queen bee emerged from her cramped wax cell.
When Queen Bee dares to defy the rules of nature, the hive hurls her into a world buzzing with the kind of peril you can only face with a stout heart. She meets a sharp-tongued worker bee with crooked antennae, a dog who’s fighting his instincts in order to be a good boy, a runaway mouse with terrible timing, and two crows who raucously caw at others misfortune.
Together (though not always willingly), they discover that nature isn’t always fair, that courage doesn’t need to be perfect, and that there are, in fact, a hundred ways to die — but many more ways to live.
Brought to life with black-and-white illustrations, this warm, witty, and wonderfully subversive novel hums with the heart of The Wild Robot and the poignant lyricism of The Tale of Despereaux, proving that even the smallest creature can make a mighty buzz.
Author
Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Susan Campbell Bartoletti is the author of picture books, novels, and nonfiction for young readers, including the ALA Robert F. Sibert Medal–winning Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine, 1845—1850 and Dear America: A Coal Miner’s Bride. She lives with her family in Moscow, Pennsylvania.
Learn More about Susan Campbell BartolettiIllustrator
Dena Seiferling
DENA SEIFERLING is a highly acclaimed picture book author and illustrator and needle-felt artist who graduated with a B.F.A. and Visual Communications Degree from the Alberta University of the Arts, where she now works as an instructor. She is the illustrator of King Mouse, which was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award, and its companion book Bear Wants to Sing. The Language of Flowers marks her exquisite debut as both author and illustrator.
Learn More about Dena Seiferling