NONFICTION

What's the Buzz?: Keeping Bees in Flight

by Merrie-Ellen WILCOX
48p. (Footprints). ebook available. further reading. glossary. index. photos. reprods. websites. Orca Book. Sept. 2015. Tr $19.95. ISBN 9781459809604.
COPY ISBN
Gr 4–6—"There's more to bees than honey," to quote the back cover of this thorough and fascinating look at these insects. It includes side trips into the greater world of why bees matter to world and local ecologies. Why might whole hives be dying? Why do we need bees? Why do fish need bees? How do bees differ from wasps? Do all bees make honey in hives? How can we help bees become healthy again? What are neonicotinoids? Wilcox, who describes her own foray into beekeeping in the introduction, raises and answers these and many more questions in easy prose. Great photos of kids, bees, and hives enhance the text.
VERDICT A useful option for science teachers and students curious about bees and ecology.
Reviewed by Dorcas Hand, Annunciation Orthodox School, Houston, TX
Beginning with bee characteristics and habits, this book goes on to explain what beekeepers do and what is threatening both honey and wild bees, such as habitat loss, use of neonicotinoid pesticides and herbicides, and parasites and diseases. Plenty of "Bee Fact" sidebars and photos of bees, their keepers, and kids will maintain interest. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind.
, Jul 01, 2015

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