The Honeybee Man by Lela Nargi and illustrated by Kyrsten Brooker (Schwartz & Wade, 2011) is based on the true story of two beekeepers who live in Brooklyn, New York. With fantastic collage and oil painting illustrations, it tells the story of Fred, who checks on his bees every morning, and at the end of the summer collects the honey.
I love how this book made honey-making a community event, since The Honeybee Man reminds us that the bees are visiting the trees and flowers of the entire Brooklyn community. Fred dreams of flying over his community with the bees, so the picture book adds a degree of fantasy to the process, but a page of front matter and an author’s note after the story provide scientific detail for the interested young reader.
My four-year-old son has been fascinated by bees and their ability to make honey, so he was particularly interested in this book. We read it many times, wondering what flavor our local trees and flowers would give to local honey.
