Honeybee: The Busy Life of APIs Mellifera

Take to the sky with Apis, one honeybee, as she embarks on her journey through life! Now available in paperback.

An Orbis Pictus Honor Book
Selected for the Texas Bluebonnnet Master List
Finalist for the AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books
A Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books Blue Ribbon Book

A tiny honeybee emerges through the wax cap of her cell. Driven to protect and take care of her hive, she cleans the nursery and feeds the larvae and the queen. But is she strong enough to fly? Not yet!

Apis builds wax comb to store honey, and transfers pollen from other bees into the storage. She defends the hive from invaders. And finally, she begins her new life as an adventurer.

The confining walls of the hive fall away as Apis takes to the air, finally free, in a brilliant double-gatefold illustration where the clear blue sky is full of promise-- and the wings of dozens of honeybees, heading out in search of nectar to bring back to the hive.

Eric Rohmann’s exquisitely detailed illustrations bring the great outdoors into your hands in this poetically written tribute to the hardworking honeybee. Award-winning author Candace Fleming describes the life cycle of the honeybee in accessible, beautiful language. Similar in form and concept to the Sibert and Orbis Pictus award book Giant Squid, Honeybee also features a stunning gatefold and an essay on the plight of honeybees.

A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
Named a Best Book of the Year by Kirkus Reviews, NPR, Shelf Awareness, School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly and more!
A Horn Book Fanfare Best Book of the Year
A Booklist Editor’s Choice

Candace Fleming is the author of more than thirty distinguished books for children including Honeybee: The Busy Life of Apis Mellifera, winner of the Sibert Medal for most distinguished informational book, and Cubs in the Tub: The True Story of the Bronx Zoo’s First Woman Zookeeper. Her book The Rise and Fall of Charles Lindbergh received the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction.

Eric Rohmann is the award-winning author and/or illustrator of many beloved books for children. He received a Caldecott Honor for Time Flies and a Caldecott medal for My Friend Rabbit.

Candace and Eric’s other collaborations include Strongheart: Wonder Dog of the Silver Screen as well as the popular Bulldozer books. They live in Chicago, Illinois.