Honeybee Rescue: A Backyard Drama
by Loree Griffin Burns; photos by Ellen Harasimowicz
Primary, Intermediate    Charlesbridge  40 pp.   g
5/22    978-1-62354-239-9    $16.99

This clear and engaging book documents the painstaking work of relocating a hive of honeybees that has outgrown its hive box. In Burns’s conversational text, readers are introduced to Mr. Connery, who owns a “ramshackle barn” where he’s discovered a colony of honeybees. He calls on the services of Mr. Nelson, a bee-rescue expert. Harasimowicz’s eye-catching photographs document the entire relocation process, showing each step required to carefully move thirty-five thousand bees to a safer spot. Nelson uses a lot of patience, specially designed tools (e.g., his bee-vac: a modified vacuum connected to a traveling case), and ­Connery’s assistance to gently collect the bees, disassemble their hive, and move the colony to a larger hive box on Connery’s property. Details about ­honeybee life and behavior are smoothly woven into the discussion. An illuminating interview with Nelson explains why rescuing honeybees is important and how he’s able to do his work without protective equipment. Back matter includes a glossary, a source list, further reading, and an author’s note. A book that will inspire ­further curiosity about this important ­pollinator.

From the July/August 2022 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.