• Turn This Book Into a Beehive!
• written by Lynn Brunelle
• illustrated by Anna-Maria Jung
• published by Workman Publishing (2018)

We inherently fear that which we don’t understand. As adults, we can dance around those fears, force ourselves to ignore them, or use some calculated aversion therapy.

I admit it, though: I’ve jumped up, flailed around, and shrieked when a bee got too close unexpectedly.

My son is terrified of bees. I’m not sure why; he’s never been stung, though he knows my mom is allergic to the venom and his sister was once stung mid-bite of PB&J, her lip blowing up in about three seconds. Also, he’s not a huge fan of “stuff that hurts.” I mean, most of us aren’t, but just the idea of it sometimes gets him worked up such that he ends up inside while the rest of us are enjoying summer on the porch. Some things he fears to the point of not even wanting to look at pictures of them, let alone talk about them and, until recently, bees fell into that category.

That’s a huge part of the reason I was so excited to take a look at Turn This Book into a Beehive! And 19 Other Experiments and Activities That Explore the Amazing World of Bees by Lynn Brunelle and illustrated by Anna-Maria Jung (Workman Publishing).

The girl loves anything nature or animal related. She has a healthy respect for its potential hazards but has almost no animal/bug/etc related phobias. I’m pretty sure when she grows up she’s going to be a large-animal vet and will be texting me pictures of her head in a lions mouth or something. The first thing she wanted to do was, in fact, turn the book into a beehive, easily done with craft paper from the back of the book, the book’s own flyleaf cover, some string, and some tape. That one is a maker in the… well… making, and she’s the first one to go for construction and creation when opportunity presents. She’s also learned about bees in school in the context of pollination while working in their community garden and is very concerned about bees disappearing. She doesn’t care about potential stings; she just wanted to build them a house.

She also wanted to hang it on the porch.

We negotiated for a tree about halfway down our front path so we could watch the bees without confining her brother to the house for all eternity.

The idea of “helping the bees” piqued the boy’s interest as well. As frequenters of both the National Aviary and the Pittsburgh Zoo, and as fans of Lauren Forte and Jared Osterhold’s (Olivia originally conceived by Ian Falconer) Olivia Helps Mother Nature, we talk a lot about everyday conservation (e.g., turning off lights, responsible water usage, taking care of plants). In the end, his curiosity about why bees are disappearing and what we can do to make sure they hang around to help us with fruit and flowers and, thus, you know, oxygen, overrode his hesitancy to explore the topic further.

Which got him looking at the book.

Which is great, because once he understands something, knows how it works and what to expect as regards said thing, his fear diminishes or downright disappears.

With chapters about different kinds of bees, how they use their senses, when and why they may sting, how they help in plant reproduction, how they produce honey (my kids find it hilarious something we use in tea is, essentially, bee puke), and with hands-on art activities and science experiments to make the learning interactive,Turn This Book Into a Beehive! offers a thorough explanation of all the above topics with cartoon illustrations that are adorable and entirely unthreatening. As a result, the kids (and I) have a much better understanding of the humble apis hynmenopterans.

And we’ve been able to eat dinner outside on the porch.

Turn This Book Into a Beehive! And 19 Other Experiments and Activities That Explore the Amazing World of Bees by Lynn Brunelle and illustrated by Anna-Maria Jung (Workman Publishing) is available now.