The Honeybee

by Kirsten Hall, Isabelle Arsenault (Illustrator)

Overview

Buzz from flower to flower with a sweet honeybee in this timely, clever, and breathtakingly gorgeous picture book from critically acclaimed author Kirsten Hall and award-winning illustrator Isabelle Arsenault.

Bzzz...

What’s that?
Do you hear it?
You’re near it.
It’s closer,
it’s coming,
it’s buzzing,
it’s humming...

A BEE!

With zooming, vibrant verse by Kirsten Hall and buzzy, beautiful illustrations by Isabelle Arsenault, this celebration of the critically important honeybee is a honey-sweet treasure of a picture book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781481469975
Publisher:	Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	05/08/2018
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	96,321
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 10.70(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Kirsten Hall is a former preschool and elementary school teacher who has authored more than a hundred learn-to-read stories for emergent readers. Today, she is the founder and owner of a boutique children’s book illustration and literary agency, Catbird Productions. Hall is the author of the picture books The Gold Leaf and The Jacket, which was a New York Times Notable Book in 2014.

Isabelle Arsenault is an internationally renowned children’s book illustrator whose work has won many awards and much praise from critics. Her books include Virginia Wolf by Kyo Maclear, Cloth Lullaby by Amy Novesky, and Jane, the Fox, and Me by Fanny Britt, which was named a New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book. The poetry expressed through Isabelle Arsenault’s graphic universe, the gentleness of her lines, and the overall charm of her books have made her one of Quebec’s best-known and most esteemed illustrators. Visit Isabelle online at IsabelleArsenault.com.

Editorial Reviews

Hall's charming text proceeds in lightly cadenced lines that mostly rhyme…Arsenault's illustrations capture something of the alien vision of bees…through a neon orange that she uses sparingly amid paler gouache, pencil and ink landscapes…Children will love tracing the erratic paths of the honeybees, and come away with a not too distorted sense of the little honey factory inside the unprepossessing, and previously terrifying, hive.

The New York Times Book Review - Rivka Galchen

03/26/2018
The plight of the endangered honeybee is the raison d’être of this story, Hall (The Jacket) explains in a concluding note, though it’s a long and twisty flight to reach it. Readers hear the first bee (“It’s closer, it’s coming, it’s buzzing, it’s humming...”) before they see it arrive and land on a flower in search of nectar. The singsong verse is aflutter with strained rhyming: “There now, it drills now,/ the bee sips and spills now,/ there now, it swills now, it sits oh-so-still now./ There now, it fills now, it’s back to the hill now....” After the bee’s buzzing summons others to mealtime, they all swarm back to the hive to begin the honey-making process, whose description may need translating by adults: “We suck out the nectar, we suck it straight through./ Chew, chew—we’re changing its makeup, we’re giving the nectar a chemical shake-up.” Dominated by golden hues punctuated with splashes of neon yellow, the airy mixed-media art by Arsenault (Cloth Lullaby) helps kids decipher the goings-on, in and out of the hive. Tips on how to help preserve the bee population follow the story. Ages 4–8. (May)

Publishers Weekly

* "In bouncy, lilting verse and vibrant, inviting artwork, this ode to the humble honeybee is dripping with charm.... Hall's lively lines skitter around Arsenault's warm, honey-colored illustrations.... With occasional speech balloons and delightfully expressive gestures, the bees mirror the gleeful tone of the poem.... Arsenault's scenes are a captivating mixture of smudgy charcoals, soft yellows, and fluoresecent oranges, combining crisp shapes with more abstract figures. The entertaining tone and freewheeling art are a pure joy, but there's plenty of science here, too, and a closing note about the importance of bees to our ecosystem brings the point home. Boisterously written, gorgeously illustrated, and sneakily educational."

Booklist

Glorious... this lively work of nonfiction has a buoyant, enthusiastic tone... children will pick up not only a bit of information but also a sense of wonder and even admiration.

The Wall Street Journal

"Kirsten Hall (“The Jacket”) teams up with the gently magnificent illustrator Isabelle Arsenault (“Cloth Lullaby,” “Colette’s Lost Pet”) to bring readers the story of one year, from spring to spring, with the honeybees of a single hive. Hall’s charming text proceeds in lightly cadenced lines.... Arsenault’s illustrations capture something of the alien vision of bees — bees see a “bee purple” in flowers that is invisible to us — through a neon orange that she uses sparingly amid paler gouache, pencil and ink landscapes. Her flowers and grasses are drawn impressionistically, while the bees themselves are made more emotionally legible with cartoonish eyes and even smiles. Children will love tracing the erratic paths of the honeybees, and come away with a not too distorted sense of the little honey factory inside the unprepossessing, and previously terrifying, hive. The hexagons of honeycomb, as drawn by Arsenault, seem so perfect as to be fanciful precisely when they are fact."

The New York Times Book Review

"Hall’s nimble rhyming verse and Arsenault’s warm illustrations provide an upclose visit with a friendly colony of anthropomorphized honeybees.... The text’s varied rhythms mimic a bee’s movements in a summery world; that atmosphere is captured in the mixed-media illustrations’ muted palette.... Bright pops of yellow-gold are used sparingly for pollen, honey, and a few flowers.... Hall’s appended page-long letter to readers (packed with bee wordplay) provides more information about pollination and emphasizes what readers can do to help protect honeybees."

Horn Book Magazine

"Embraces the pleasures of listening as well as learning as it follows the denizens of a particular hive over the course of a year. . . . Hall’s poetic text lets internal and ending rhymes, imagery, dialogue, and onomatopoeias flit, zoom, and hover in consonance with the apian protagonist. Arsenault’s pencil, paint, and ink pictures are gloriously vibrant, judiciously balancing black, grays, and golds, and directing and refreshing young viewers’ attention with touches of her blazing yellow-gold. In an appended letter to readers, Hall notes the importance of honeybees and suggests ways children can help support these crucial creatures."

BCCB

* "The Honeybee is a delightful introduction to the crucial role of nature's hardest workers... Hall's language is rich and lively. Her cadence buzzes with all the energy of a hive. The Honeybee is a joyful read-aloud - the rhymes and repetition are as much fun to speak as they are to hear. Quebec illustrator Isabelle Arsenault...brings the text to life with her signature mixed-media style... Hall and Arsenault are a perfect match. Each of their work acts to strengthen the other's; neither the words nor the pictures are overshadowed. The Honeybee also strikes an ideal balance between fact and fiction, proving that accuracy and playfulness are not mutually exclusive."

*STARRED REVIEW* Quill & Quire

* "In bouncy, lilting verse and vibrant, inviting artwork, this ode to the humble honeybee is dripping with charm.... Hall's lively lines skitter around Arsenault's warm, honey-colored illustrations.... With occasional speech balloons and delightfully expressive gestures, the bees mirror the gleeful tone of the poem.... Arsenault's scenes are a captivating mixture of smudgy charcoals, soft yellows, and fluoresecent oranges, combining crisp shapes with more abstract figures. The entertaining tone and freewheeling art are a pure joy, but there's plenty of science here, too, and a closing note about the importance of bees to our ecosystem brings the point home. Boisterously written, gorgeously illustrated, and sneakily educational."

Booklist

04/01/2018
PreS-Gr 2—Hall celebrates honeybees with a lyrical poem. She hears a bee among the flowers, then finds and follows it as it searches for nectar, gathers pollen, and returns to the hive to dance. She watches other foragers leave as house bees make the nectar into honey. The bees huddle quietly with their queen through the long winter, reemerging in the spring. This simplifies the process slightly, but doesn't diminish the wonder. These well-crafted rhyming couplets beg to be read aloud. Set on gloriously illustrated pages and nicely paced, the text appears to be hand printed in varying fonts, becoming part of Arsenault's light and lively illustrations done in ink, gouache, pencil, and colored pencil. The artist uses neon orange to great effect, highlighting the pollen bees find and carry off. (Adult readers may want to point out that bees see the world's color very differently.) After the busyness of summer work, a wordless spread—a snowy landscape where the hive hangs peacefully from a tree—emphasizes the quiet rest of winter. Yellow-and-black striped endpapers and an embossed cover add to the effect. While the narrative and illustrations will appeal to very young listeners, the back matter, which touches on current threats, seems addressed to older children, suggesting ways in which they can help honeybees survive. VERDICT A sweet success; purchase for most shelves.—Kathleen Isaacs, Children's Literature Specialist, Pasadena, MD

School Library Journal

2018-03-18
Children will be buzzing to learn more about honeybees after reading this story.Hall takes her readers on a sunny romp through a springtime pasture abuzz with friendly honeybees in this bright and cheerful picture book. Hall's rhyme scheme is inviting and mirrors the staccato sounds of a bee buzzing. At times, however, meaning seems to take a back seat to the rhyme. The bees are suggested to "tap" while flying, a noise that adult readers might have trouble explaining to curious listeners. Later, the "hill" the bees return to may elicit further questions, as this point is not addressed textually or visually. Minor quibbles aside, the vocabulary is on-point as the bees demonstrate the various stages of nectar collection and honey creation. Arsenault's illustrations, a combination of ink, gouache, graphite, and colored pencil, are energetic and cheerful. Extra points should be awarded for properly illustrating a natural honeybee hive (as opposed to the often depicted wasp nest). The expressive bees are also well-done. Their faces are welcoming, but their sharp noses hint at the stingers that may be lurking behind them. Hall's ending note to readers will be appreciated by adults but will require their interpretation to be accessible to children. A sensible choice for read-alouds and STEAM programs. Readers (and listeners) will think that this book is the bee's knees. (Picture book. 6-8)

Kirkus Reviews