Daphne’s Bees
by Catherine Dempsey
illustrated by Veselina Tomova
Running the Goat Books & Broadsides, 2022
ISBN 9781927917503
$14.95, 48 pp, ages 6 – 10
runningthegoat.com
On her tenth birthday, Daphne is excited because this is the day she gets her very own beehive. She has been learning about beekeeping from her grand-mother, but now, instead of caring for her grandmother’s bees, she will have her own! With her father’s help, Daphne learns how to build a wooden hive box and prepare it for her bees. On a warm and windless spring day, they carefully transfer some bees from grandmother’s apiary into Daphne’s new hive box. Daphne visits her hive often during the summer, and her grand-mother teaches her how to be a good beekeeper. Daphne watches her bees all summer and when they settle down for the winter, Daphne enjoys the honey they produced and dreams about the spring.
Curriculum Connections: Young readers will learn about bees along with Daphne and share her joy in this natural wonder. A non-fiction section at the back of the book provides more facts about bees.
Review by Diana Mumford.
This review is featured in Canadian Teacher Magazine’s Spring 2022 issue.
