Book Review: The Pollinator Victory Garden by Kim Eierman

The Pollinator Victory Garden
by Kim Eierman (639.97 Eie)

The introduction to this book sums up the entire point of this publication: Pollinators are critical to our food supply and responsible for the pollination of the vast majority of all flowering plants on our planet. But many pollinators are in trouble and our landscapes have little to offer them. Providing habitat that is pesticide-free and carefully choosing plants that are native to your area can help provide a garden that is good both for the environment and for the pollinators. This is an excellent book which describes in great detail the pollinators that work in our environment to help pollinate flowers, trees and plants. I enjoyed reading through this book with its beautiful photographs and excellent charts showing examples of the best plants for your garden and how to attract the animals to pollinate them.

[ official Pollinator Victory Garden page on the official Kim Eierman web site ]

 

Recommended by Kim J.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

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Book Review: The Thing About Bees: A Love Story by Shabazz Larkin

The Thing About Bees: A Love Story
by Shabazz Larkin (jP Larkin)

The Thing About Bees is a picture book written and illustrated by a man who’s afraid of bees. Shabazz Larkin decided to learn more about bees so he could pass on knowledge and appreciation to his two sons, instead of fear.

What we have here are informational pages at the start and end, with a little great read-aloud poem in the middle. The first two-page spread explains how pollination works. You could still use it in storytime by pointing to the picture and summarizing for younger kids. Mr. Larkin starts the poetry section by telling kids that bees can be bothersome and scary.

“We may want bees gone / because their sting hurts.

But if they were all gone / it would hurt much worse.”

We see and hear about all kinds of foods that we can have in life because of the work of bees. Then he turns it around on kids saying that they can be bothersome too, “But I never stop loving you.” He makes (literally) sweet comparisons between his kids and the foods that come from pollination.

At the end of the book, there’s another two-page spread that’s about the different kids of bees (and wasps and similar) and what to do to be safer around bees. The cover of the book shows what looks like one of his boys being concerned about a bee, then reaching out with careful attention toward a bee. The back cover says “Love will conquer fear.”

This is a beautiful, poignant, informative picture book. It just came out, but I can guarantee it will be raking in the awards over the next year. Strongly recommended for all children and adults.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try I’m Trying to Love Spiders by Bethany Barton or Bees: A Honeyed History by Piotr Socha.]

[ official The Thing About Bees: A Love Story book trailer ] | [ official Shabazz Larkin web site ]

Recommended by Garren H.
Bennett Martin Public Library

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Bees: Tales From the Hive

Bees: Tales From the Hive

Fascinating episode of NOVA from 2000, using a specially-designed macro camera to examine the life of bees within a beehive. Narrated by David Ogden Stiers, this documentary traces the life of one hive over the course of a single year, and features some truly astonishing footage of these industrious insects. Even if you have a fear of bees, I encourage you to watch this fascinating and educational show! -- recommended by Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[Also available in VHS format.][ official Companion Web Site to this episode of NOVA ]

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Ten (or more) new reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide web site. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog over the course of the entire month.