The Book of Bee

A timeless tale buzzing with heart and honeybees about finding your purpose, questioning rules, and the strange sweetness of being, from Newbery Honor-winning author Susan Campbell Bartoletti.

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.