100 Books Like Telling the Bees

This book has been on steady bedtime rotation in my house for the past four years—an eternity in a child's life. Every time we turn a page, my son or I say, “This is my favorite page!”

The author’s father was a beekeeper, and that level of intimate, insider knowledge is conveyed throughout. The images are exquisite—a combination of scientific accuracy and goofy playfulness. Socha never talks down to his readers, and every page is dense with information—about how bees communicate, build honeycombs, and select a queen; about what foods are dependent on bees for pollination (hint: seemingly every common fruit and vegetable); about what dangers bees face in an era of global warming, and on and on.

There is also a second book by this author called Trees, which is equally wonderful. 

You don’t have to have a beehive to help keep bees.

The honeybee, along with the thousands of other bees and insects that live alongside us, are vital to keeping us alive. At least a third of all we humans eat and drink is the direct result of bee pollination. So we owe it to the bees and to ourselves, to do all we can to create an environment to support them.

If you want to give over your garden to a wildflower meadow, or just plant up a window box, Sarah’s book will give you lots of easy ideas. And her illustrations are a rare treat.

Bees In America is a great read, as it chronologically takes you from the earliest European colonists who brought their bees with them—as honeybees are not native to North America—through to the present. It’s a mix of American history, biology, and American ingenuity, all rolled into a nonfiction account that’s chocked full of interesting facts and details.  For anyone interested in honeybees and/or beekeeping, it’s fascinating to learn the role they played in our developing nation. Plus, it’s exciting to read about all the innovations and advancements in beekeeping that have been discovered in America over the past 200 years. 

This quirky little title captures a wealth of information about the deep relationship between people and bees. Ransome delves into mythology and folklore from around the world and across a huge span of history. Every page seems to offer some new and unexpected connection or story, from ancient Egyptians ferrying their honeybee hives up and down the River Nile to the Mayans cultivating a rainforest species with the agreeable trait of lacking a sting. No other book gives the reader such an exhaustive and entertaining exploration of how bees, more so than any other insect, have been part of human cultures since the dawn of civilization.

When she was five years old, Meredith May’s father abandoned their family when he moved far away to California. Her mother moved Meredith and her brother in with her parents, then closed herself off, emotionally and physically by shutting the door to her bedroom and never coming out. The Honey Bus, an old school bus parked forever in the backyard, saved Meredith. Grandfather was a beekeeper and raised bees in that bus. Meredith helped her granddad care for them and learned all about bees, but also about how a family cares for each other. This story was difficult to read at times, but charming too. The author’s bond with her grandpa reminds me of the special relationship our granddaughter has with her grandpa. 

Death by a HoneyBee is humorous and suspenseful, and I love the heroine.

Josiah Reynolds is a snarky, fifty-year-old beekeeper in the southern town of Lexington, Kentucky. The story is intriguing and the quirky characters fascinating. The author inserts interesting details of beekeeping without interrupting the story. I later learned that the author is a beekeeper and hence was able to provide authentic details.

When Josiah finds her rival beekeeper dead with his head in one of her bee hives, she is thrown into a world of suspense and mystery…and humor! Josiah is a strong southern woman who greets problems with southern wit and wisdom! 

I love this book because it presents the story of a man in a very complex situation. He lives in the area of the Ukrainian Donbas region that is occupied by Russians who took over the area by force. So, his freedom is limited.

The time period in the book is just before the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine. He is a beekeeper and lives a very simple life. I like that the book takes you into his mind as he makes his way through the period covered by the story. Things that first seem good, after thinking, may be bad, and vice versa.

I felt that his thinking accurately relates to the process of how people think. It is a very gentle story, but so compelling that I wanted to apportion reading the book so that I could digest, understand and most of all enjoy the story. 

As I stated earlier, I simply love nonfiction children’s picture books, and this one is no exception. Dive into the life of one of the most beloved and indispensable creatures on earth—the hardworking honeybee. From birth to death to new life, Fleming takes us on a poetic journey through every important moment in the life of this incredible creature.

Rohmann's meticulous oil paintings bring us so close to the action that we feel like we're one of the actors in this epic tale. This is exactly the sort of book I would have been obsessed with as a child, and I truly believe if every human read this, they’d have a whole new outlook on these stunning creatures. 

This book was exactly what I needed to better understand what is involved in starting a beehive in an urban setting. Flottum starts his readers with the bare-bones basics and builds from there. He also goes into what he calls “Extreme Urban Beekeeping” with tips on considerations for those of us with close neighbors. I have not started beekeeping yet, but Flottum has inspired me to add it to my list of future endeavors. 

There are scores of beekeeping memoirs in print, many of them very engaging. But if I had to choose only one, there is something to be said for this little classic. The biological information is good, but the book rises above the average in the way Longwood conveys it - with charm, wit, and an obvious fondness for his chosen subjects. Paired with a modern how-to manual, this volume could convince just about anyone to try their hand with hive, suit, and smoker.