The New York Times
“A fascinating up-close view of the stages of a honeybee’s life. … The drama and suspense are positively riveting.”
The San Francisco Chronicle
“This stunning monograph lets young readers experience bees up close, with no chance of getting stung. … A sweeping gatefold shows Apis in her first flight, and the timely back matter tells us how to help threatened honeybees survive. They are, after all, vital to our survival.”
The Horn Book
* starred review *
“The art and text together convey a holistic view of environment and organism, with excellent pacing through the complete bee life cycle.”
Wall Street Journal
“Candace Fleming details the fantastic industriousness of Apis mellifera in ’Honeybee’, a picture book illustrated by Eric Rohmann with such intensity and accuracy that the squeamish reader may want to look on from a distance while someone else reads aloud.”
The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
* starred review *
“Oversized trim and a text artfully attuned to reading aloud work in harness together to rivet listeners as they follow Apis mellifera, nicknamed Apis throughout . . . Rohmann’s much larger than life oil paintings of so eventful a thirty-five-day life leave the audience momentarily bereft at the end of their intense involvement with personalized, but not anthropomorphized, Apis.”
Booklist
* starred review *
“Glorious illustrations and engaging text combine ... The vivid oil paint illustrations include minute details and, at times, seem indistinguishable from photographs. The pictures align perfectly with the text, showing the honeybee hard at work at various tasks ... this offering will captivate audiences.
School Library Journal
* starred review *
“This book is nonfiction at its best—a combination of beautifully crafted language and astonishing close-up illustrations. Fleming displays admiration for honeybees and conveys enormous respect for their work.”
Kirkus Reviews
* starred review *
“As they did in Giant Squid (2016), Fleming and Rohmann give readers a deep dive into the biology of a creature so alien from humans it’s hard to imagine we all live on the same planet... . Fleming describes in meticulous detail many of the myriad roles a worker honeybee plays in the colony ... Rohmann rises to the challenge of a story mostly set in dark, confined quarters and a limited palette of black, brown, and honey yellow with stunning views of Apis and her sisters, each tiny hair and segment lovingly delineated... . Like its subject, a wonder to behold.
Publishers Weekly
* starred review *
“The brief but complex life of a Apis Mellifera—a worker honeybee—is explored with depth in this richly detailed picture book... . Fleming renders her humble life a mesmerizing wonder. Rohmann’s realistic oil-on-paper illustrations artfully capture close-up details such as the glisten of transparent wings and the fine hairs covering a bee’s body.”
Shelf Awareness
* starred review *
“This dazzling picture book includes an essay and additional facts in the back matter, culminating in a phenomenal portrait of a tiny but indispensable component of nature--truly a delightful learning experience.”
A Fuse 8 Production
“This is the bee book we’ve all been waiting for. We just hadn’t met it yet.”
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