#10 Honeybee Man

Title: Honeybee Man

Author: Lela Nargi 

Illustrator: Kyrsten Brooker

Publishing Company: Schwartz & Wade Books

Copyright Date: 2011

# of Pages: 27

Genre/Category: Picture Books

     I chose this book while I was in the library. I could not find a book that looked interesting that was published in the year 2000 or later, but then I came across this book. It is about a man named Fred who lives in Brooklyn. He is a bee keeper, and keeps his bees on the roof of his house. He cannot wait for the day that the bees finish making honey, and he wistfully dreams about how the honey would taste if the bees used blueberry bushes. Fred makes honey and gives it to his neighbors. Then he takes a bite and realizes the bees did find some blueberry bushes in New York.

     The illustrations were done using oil paints and collages. They are very colorful, and they really show what it is like to be a bee keeper. On the inside of the front cover and back cover, there are diagrams showing the parts of a bee and different kinds of bees. There are also diagrams explaining how a bee house works and parts of flowers.

     This book is appropriate for children ages 4-9. It has enough of a plot to make it enjoyable for younger readers, but it also has enough factual information to keep older readers interested too. This book could lead to a lesson about bees. The book talks about how bees pollinate flowers, have a queen, and produce honey. This book could also be used to discuss the parts of a plant, or how different plants reproduce. The bees' house is also described as a small city, like Brooklyn. The students could study the differences between city, county, state, and country after reading this book. The author also uses several similes to describe the way the honey tastes. A teacher could talk about similes before reading the book, and then asks the students to pick out any similes they find. This book has not won any awards, but it is a very educational and interesting book.