Bee and Me is a beautifully presented wordless picturebook all about friendship. My daughter, Little One, adores this book and it has made us both think more about nature and our lovely planet.
There is much coverage now that highlights the bumble bee population is falling. There are also many companies raising more awareness to encourage us to look after bees and to plant more flowers in the hope that what is being predicted, does not happen. Bee and Me echoes such messages but Alison Jay’s style of illustrations does so in a gentle, personable, child friendly way.
A young girl is startled when a bee arrives in her bedroom. In her panic her first reaction is to harm it but she soon realises that there are better ways to deal with her new visitor.
The unconventional friendship that develops is heartwarming. The illustrations reflect the girls nurturing side, taking care of the bee so well but also seeing the bee as her friend. They eat together, play together, even on swings and bikes, much to my daughters delight and they also go on an adventure. My daughter once said that the way the girl take cares of the bee is like “she was her mamma.”
With the increasing build up of concrete all around the city the bee longs to visit somewhere where there are more plants and greenery. They fly to a place that fits the bill perfectly and there they collect what they need to attract more buzzing friends to visit the city.
The bee and girl complete their adventure successfully spreading flowerful confetti on the journey home but back on arrival the bee bids farewell.
Equipped with what she needs the young girl plants what she can in her window flower box. She also befriends a young boy in the same apartment block. As the seasons change you witness her flowers starting to grow and the bees and butterflies it attracts. Such a beautiful ending to a lovely picturebook based upon friendship.
As the book is entirely wordless, it invites many retellings through the gorgeous oil painted illustrations. So much detail has gone into each page encouraging lots of careful observations for its young readers. At the end of the book there is also important information about bees, emphasising that bees should not be touched and explains what we could be doing to help the bee population. I would recommend this book for 2 year olds and upwards.
Little One and I think this book is bee-utiful and it inspired Little One to show all the bees out there some love also.
Equipped with flower seeds Little One completed some planting a few weeks. She had a lot of fun and is enjoying looking after them and making sure she waters them daily.
Disclaimer: We received this book from the publishers and Toppsta. All opinions are my own.
2 thoughts