Flight of the Honey Bee

K-Gr 2—On a golden fall day, a bee makes her first flight as scout, looking for flowers for the bees in her hive to harvest. Focusing on the insect's journey, the story introduces the shared work of the bee colony and the basic scheme of honey production. "An arresting smell drifts on the breeze. Scout locks onto this scent" and soon finds herself in "an ocean of flowers." Not all of the quest is pretty. There's an attacking blackbird and a thunderstorm from which the bee must find protection. The well-paced text is set in warm, bright scenes. The realistic figure of the bee contrasts with soft, impressionistic backgrounds in orange and gold, blue and green hues. The narrative, set to one side or the other of the spread, is accompanied by a bit of straightforward, factual explanation in smaller, italicized type. Scout carries the pollen back to her hive, dancing instructions to her sister bees, who then fly off to gather the precious nectar. There are many fine books on this insect, but this one will be welcome in libraries that can use just a little more for children in the early grades. Huber provides an opening note on the importance of the bee as "the planet's greatest pollinator" and closes with a cautionary note that "honey bees are dying out." He doesn't mention the current debacle of collapsing bee colonies in the U.S. (he's from New Zealand), but he does advise young readers on simple steps to help pollinating insects.—Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston