I tore through this graphic novel about Nyuki, a Honey bee, and her hard earned acceptance of her place in her hive. Nyuki is convinced that she’s destined to do whatever she wants and can pick and choose jobs despite what her beloved older sister, Dvorah, says. After she adventures out and experiences a terrifying encounter with both a spider and a praying mantis, she withdraws into the hive and has trouble facing the fact that soon she’ll have to leave and collect nectar. I loved Nyuki, even when she was being difficult, and her quest to grow into her altruistic self. The book goes into intricate and fascinating detail about the life cycle of bees (they have spinnerets and spin their own larval cocoons?!) and it all works and flows within the context of the story. The characters are well developed and I admire how much emotion they were able to capture in the illustrations of the bees’ faces and body language. That couldn’t have been easy. The book also includes an introduction based on bee mythology and has an extended section in the back for further reading. Excellent for budding entomologists in middle school or even high school .

Reviewed by Sarah Maciejewski, Patten Free Library, Bath