The Bees of Notre-Dame

by Meghan P. Browne, E. B. Goodale (Illustrator)

Overview

This lyrical, poignant nonfiction picture book tells the fascinating story of the honeybee colonies that lived on the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris and survived the devastating 2019 fire.

High above the bustling streets and gardens of Paris is a little-known wonder: a cluster of beehives. They sit atop the roof of the Notre-Dame cathedral, lovingly tended to by a beekeeper named Sibyle. But when fire broke out in the catherdral in 2019, the bees almost didn’t make it. Firefighters battled heat and smoke, carefully spraying their hoses around the hives, pumping in water from fireboats on the Seine, and, miraculously, they survived.

Meghan P. Browne and E. B. Goodale imbue the story of Notre-Dame’s bees and the fire that almost killed them with great hope. After the fire, there is rebuilding to be done, but with hard work and collaboration, perhaps the cathedral can be restored after all. From the rooftops of Paris to the intricacies of a beehive, here is a moving picture book about resilience in the face of disaster.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593374566
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	10/17/2023
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	225,133
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.40(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Meghan P. Browne received her MFA at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her debut picture book, Indelible Ann, was named the 2022 Texas Great Read and received a starred review from Kirkus. She is also the author of Dorothy the Brave. Meghan lives on and runs a farm in South Austin, Texas, called the Honey Browne Farm, where she raises bees. Visit her on the Web at meghanpbrown.com or on Twitter at @meghanpbrowne.

E. B. Goodale is an author and illustrator who comes from a background of printmaking and letterpress printing. She made her foray into picture books with Windows by Julia Denos, which received an Ezra Jack Keats honor for illustration and was an ALA-ALSC Notable book for 2018. She has illustrated a handful of other books for children and is the author of Under the Lilacs and Also. Visit her on the Web at ebgoodale.com or on Instagram at @ebgoodale.

Editorial Reviews

09/11/2023

Graceful prose by Browne (Dorothy the Brave) pays homage to Paris’s venerable Notre-Dame cathedral, and to the bees that lived atop it before its 2019 fire. Highlighted in soft brown lines, multimedia spreads by Goodale (The Moon Remembers) trace a young queen’s mating flight above the city before she returns to a cathedral-top hive to lay eggs “in thousands of perfect hexagons.” Above Paris, the hives are tended by a brown-skinned beekeeper just visible on the cathedral roof, and clad in a white bee suit and veil. But then, sudden catastrophe: fire consumes the edifice, and firefighters work “to quench the flames, to save the cathedral./ To save the hives.” Goodale draws the cathedral’s beekeeper working in front of the scaffolding erected to repair the building. “Rebuild,” Browne writes, “Work with each other... just like the bees.” The story highlights the contemporary, as city-dwellers of many skin tones patronize bookstalls and drink coffee in spring; the ancient (“This cathedral has outlived kings and queens”); and the way each species contributes, together, to flourishing community. Back matter includes photographs and details about the fire and the rebuilding. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Alyssa Eisner Henkin, Trident Literary Group. Illustrator’s agent: Lori Kilkelly, LK Literary Agency. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

★ "A focus on bees is an unexpectedly engaging angle to this account of the 2019 fire atop the Notre-Dame de Paris." —Booklist, starred review

"Emphasizing resilience, this tale effectively captures a fascinating episode in recent history." —Kirkus Reviews

"Browne's lyrical picture book tells the story of the bees who call Notre-Dame home and the fire that threatened their hives." —The Horn Book

"Graceful prose by Browne pays homage to Paris’s venerable Notre-Dame cathedral, and to the bees that lived atop it before its 2019 fire." —Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

09/01/2023

Gr 1–3—An overhead view of Notre-Dame before the blaze of April 2019 sets the scene; the book opens on spring in Paris, as Sibyle the beekeeper tends to the hives that are situated on a high terrace of the cathedral's Sacristy, near the famous rose windows. The bees, dormant over winter, find their ways to the blossoms of a French spring while their queen lays eggs in the centuries-old wax of the honeycomb. Then fire breaks out, and the fire-fighting is swift as heartbreaking events unfold; there is never a thought but that all will be rebuilt. A second overhead view, post-fire, shows readers the extent of the damage and what was saved or salvaged. The facts are presented poetically, with license, so that text about the bees dancing directions for other bees as to the location of pollen is shown next to a scene of the queen laying eggs. The melding of two compelling stories—beekeeping at the cathedral and the fire—acts to weaken both, and the last sentence only underscores this: "When the tall black cloud of smoke and ash finally clears, the sun rises to say, ‘Come! Rebuild. Work with each other. You are stronger together. Just like the bees.'" Back matter includes more about the story in an author's note, along with diagrams of Notre Dame and recommended reading. VERDICT A messy hybrid of two promising stories results in a lovingly created book that will find an audience but reads like a lost opportunity.—Kimberly Olson Fakih

School Library Journal

2023-07-13
When Notre Dame Cathedral burned in April 2019, the honeybees on the roof above its sacristy survived.

Amid the world’s sorrow at the terrible damage suffered by the storied cathedral, the bees’ survival emerged as a story of hope. Browne treats it likewise, but her text focuses on the ordinary miracles of the honeybee life cycle as the context for the story of the fire. Loving scenes of Paris in springtime preface the bees’ emergence: “Bonjour, les filles!” Sibyle the beekeeper greets them. The bees fly above the city, then return to the “small pine box” where the queen “lays her eggs…in thousands of perfect hexagons waxed by generations of bees that came before her.” With this, Browne cleverly segues to the ancient cathedral and its construction; the parallel is evoked again in firefighters’ efforts “to quench the flames, to save the cathedral. To save the hives.” Goodale’s multimedia illustrations are set on warm, sepia-toned backgrounds; her bees flit among cottony pink and white blossoming trees and around the ornate architectural flourishes of the cathedral. Introduced by a wordless spread dominated by billows of gray smoke, the fire itself occupies just a few pages before scenes of rebuilding. An author’s note provides further information on both the fire and the bees and their keeper, whom Goodale depicts with beige skin. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Emphasizing resilience, this tale effectively captures a fascinating episode in recent history. (cathedral diagrams, recommended reading) (Informational picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews