Bee books for those charmed by bees

The holidays are upon us, and with tough economic times, books are still a great value gift. Here’s our list of bee books that we recommend for anyone interested in bees, but not yet ready to commit to keeping them.

The Bee Tree by Patricia Polacco

Patricia Polacco writes and illustrates kid’s books that often veer towards the serious, but in this hilarious book, a little girl and her grandfather go on a bee hunt, along with half the town.  It’s not really about bees. It’s about the little girl learning to love reading. But the bee hunt is wonderful, crazy fun.

The Magic School Bus Inside a Beehive by Joanna Cole, Illustrated by Bruce Degen, Bruce Degan

Part of the Magic School Bus series by Scholastic, this is a fun book for kids and grownups as Ms. Frizzle’s class takes a field trip through a bee hive. Lots of great illustrations.

Robbing the Bees: A Biography of Honey—The Sweet Liquid Gold that Seduced the World by Holley Bishop

This was the book that initially interested me in bees. Bishop is a beekeeper, and she’s clearly deeply in love with bees.

Fruitless Fall: The Collapse of the Honey Bee and the Coming Agricultural Crisisby Rowan Jacobsen

This is a scary book. Not good bedtime reading, but you’ll learn about the problems facing bees, beekeepers, and ultimately, the world. As dismal as it seems, he does end on a happy note as he talks about raising his own bees.

The Queen Must Die and Other Affairs of Bees and Menby William Longgood, Illustrated by Pamela Johnson

A book of essays about bees. You’ll get a good course in bee behavior and biology along with a dose of philosophy. Don’t worry, the philosophy is sweet because Longgood always returns to the subject of bees.

Ok, I have to admit, I haven’t read these last two books. They’re in my “to read” pile, but I haven’t gotten to them yet.

Letters from the Hive: An Intimate History of Bees, Honey, and Humankindby Stephen Buchmann and Banning Repplier

Sweetness and Light: The Mysterious History of the Honeybee  by Hattie Ellis