Honeybee Man ~ Picture Book & KID KANDY

Honeybee Man
by Lela Nargi
pictures by Kyrsten Brooker
(Schwartz & Wade Books, 2011)

If you are like me and are concerned about the plight of honeybees, you will want to read Honeybee Man.

Fred lives in Brooklyn like so many other people. What is different about Fred is that he has three bee colonies (and hives) on the top of his home. All summer long, Fred visits, talks to, and watches his bees zoom to and fro, searching for flowering plants from which to drink nectar. When the hives are full, Fred harvests honey from the top of each hive and fills jars with the beautiful results of the work done by the sister bees.

Honeybee Man is a story about a man who loves his bees and the honey they make. But it is also a tale of bees and tells who lives in the hives, the jobs of each type of bee, the life cycle of bees, and the tasty treat that is found inside each hive. Readers will learn much about bees and how they create honey.

By the end of the book, you will definitely have to go have a peanut butter and honey sandwich or a cup of tea with honey.

KID KANDY:

Investigate Honeybees

Materials: flowering plants and magnifying glasses

1. If you do not have any flowers in your yard, honeybees will love it if you plant some! Flowers attract honeybees. In my yard, lavender, thyme, sunflowers, squash and zucchini, raspberries, and strawberry plants have flowers that the honeybees love to visit.

2. Holding a magnifying glass, slowly and calmly approach flowers that are being visited by honeybees. Hold the magnifying glass in front of your eyes and look at the bees. If you stay calm and move slowly, they won't mind you at all. They will just keep working.

What do you see? Can you see the body parts of a honeybee? The wings? The legs? The long tongue?

Have you tasted honey? It is super duper sweet and delicious. Try some on a spoon or spread a bit on top of peanut butter on bread. Don't forget to thank a honeybee!