Flight of the Honey Bee
Age 5+
Children's & Young Adult: General Non-Fiction Nature, The Natural World
An exciting new addition to the narrative non-fiction series Nature Storybooks, about honey bees.
The cold is coming and Scout is on a daring flight in search of the last flowers of autumn. Scout’s mission is very dangerous, but it is also vital, because the flowers provide the precious nectar the hive needs to make honey. Can the hive make enough honey to survive the long winter months?
Creators
Raymond Huber lives in New Zealand. He has been a social worker, gardener, primary school teacher, lecturer, and is currently a writer and editor. He’s written Science and English textbooks and short stories for children. In 2010, Sting, his first novel for Walker Books Australia, was short-listed for the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards and the Sir Julius Vogel Awards, as well as being a Storylines Notable Book. His second novel, Wings, was short-listed for the 2012 Sir Julius Vogel Awards. In 2014, Flight of the Honey Bee won the LIANZA Russell Clark Illustration Award, was a Storylines Notable Book and was a finalist for the LIANZA Elsie Locke Non-Fiction Award and the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards.
Brian Lovelock is a scientist working in the power industry in New Zealand. He has painted all his life but has only recently ventured into the world of book illustration. His previous titles with Walker Books Australia include Your Mother Didn’t Do That! and Roadworks which won the Picture Book category in the 2009 New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children & Young Adults. In 2013, Brian was long-listed for the CILIP Kate Greenaway Award for his work on Demolition. In 2014, Flight of the Honey Bee won the LIANZA Russell Clark Illustration Award, was a Storylines Notable Book and was a finalist for the LIANZA Elsie Locke Non-Fiction Award and the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards.
Reviews
The vivacious water colour and pencil illustrations serve the story well, giving all readers, young and old, a firm understanding of the look of the honey bee and making it so endearing without giving it human characteristics, as the story is followed.
Read Plus
The perfect read as spring awakens nature, Flight will fascinate outdoorsy youngsters as they view spring through the eyes of a honey bee.
Daily Parent
This is how to tune younger readers into science: weave a factually accessible narrative, rich with expressive language, through a montage of beautifully crafted, high impact illustrations…
North & South
A beautifully told, deliciously rendered book about a day-in-the-life of a young bee.
NZ Booksellers Blog
The information captions reveal surprising facts … The drawings of the bees are spectacular.
4MBS Kerry Neary
a book that everyone — young and old — can enjoy as well as learn from.
Anouska Jones
The book is lushly illustrated in rich earthen colours that serve to enhance the story.
Sharon Greenway
Lovelock’s mixed-media art is simply stunning, pairing compositions of vigorous graphic strength with delicate watercolor mottling and precise biological detail.
The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
The prose is polished and informative… Lovelock’s mixed-media art is simply stunning
The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
an intimate portrait of bee life that children aged from 4 to 8 will find irresistible.
The Children's Bookshop
A delightful insight into the life of a honey bee.
Thirteenredshoes
There are many fine books on this insect, but this one will be welcome in libraries that can use just a little more for children in the early grades.
Margaret Bush, Simmons College
