Tag the importance of bees

Kind Little Hands

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Kind Little Hands
Kathy Urban and Sally Garland
Little Steps Publishing

Noah, new to city life, is out walking with his Grandpa when suddenly a bee falls from the sky. Noah manages to catch the little creature and looks at it closely. It’s evident that something is wrong and his Grandpa agrees. They carefully place the insect in a discarded box and head off to their apartment. There Grandpa starts putting his plan into action: the box is opened and the bee put onto a flower, but it doesn’t move. Grandpa then mixes a sugar solution and positions it beside the bee. Noah watches closely and as he waits he tells the bee what he misses since moving to the city. Is the bee sipping the sugar-water?

Grandpa finds a book about bees and their role in nature and after a while, the bee crawls across the window ledge onto Noah’s hand and then off it flies through the window. Sensing Noah’s sadness, Grandpa suggests a walk and as they’re wandering, Noah notices some children busily working. This plants an idea in the boy’s mind and he shares it with Grandpa.

The following day, seeds in hand, the two set out scattering them as they walk. Slowly, very slowly, little by little the city bursts into bloom – an insect haven no less.

Yes, it’s been done before but you can’t have too many stories about helping our precious bees to thrive and the vital role that nature can play in urban areas. This one is engaging from the start and Sally Garland’s scenes of city life and Noah’s close encounters with the bee gently expand the words on the page.

The final three pages provide information about the importance of bees and offer some practical actions we can all do to help these important insects. A percentage of the sales from this delightful book will go to Bug Life’s conservation work, so get your copy and share it with young children.

When the Bees Buzzed Off!

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When the Bees Buzzed Off!
Lula Bell and Stephen Bennett
Little Tiger Press

Bees play a vital role in the natural world and now the creators of this picture book are helping to put the message across to young children through a ‘play along’ story.
On a warm sunny day in the garden there’s consternation among the other minibeasts: the bees are nowhere to be seen; without them how will vital pollination take place?
A decision is made: three of the bravest and cleverest, Snail, Beetle and Worm, set off on a bee search. They stop at the vegetable patch, the woodpile and the pond but of bees there is no sign.

Suddenly, having gone through a gap in the fence into the woodland nearby they hear a familiar, much welcome sound. In a clearing full of flowers are the objects of their hunt ready to explain why they’ve had to move elsewhere.

With its plethora of speech bubbles, Lula Bell’s gently humorous story will help young children understand how important bees are. In fact the bees themselves do much of the talking but they’ve hidden themselves away under flaps in the illustrations for readers to find. Stephen Bell echoes the humour in his busy mixed media scenes of the natural world in and around the garden.

I hope that children will do what those bee-hunting bugs do at the end of the story and plant some bee friendly seeds in their gardens; or perhaps create a bee-friendly patch in their school grounds.