The second in the information book series Follow My Food, the first part of the book tells the story of a girl watching Polly Bee, a worker bee, as she collects nectar from flowers and gathers pollen in the sacs on her legs. The brightly coloured illustrations show the different kinds of bees: workers, drones and the queen as they all contribute to the process of making honey and feeding the baby bees with pollen to ensure the next generation. The girl then helps the beekeeper to collect the honey and carefully put it onto jars. After the narrative there is a ‘follow the dots’ game where coloured dots lead from a definition, for example, ‘honeycomb’, to an image of the object to help readers understand some of the terminology. The final spread explains the movement of bees and their signalling system, why bees are necessary for human life and how they can be helped by planting particular flowers and herbs. Suitable for sharing with children from 3 to 7, this book gives clear and accurate information, and does not patronise the reader as adult sharers may have to explain some of the language (besotted) and terminology (wax cells). A useful way to begin talking about the importance of the environment.
Eve Bearne
Illustrated by Julia Groves
Scallywag Press ISBN 9781912650705 £10.99
