February's Book of the Month--A Bear, a Bee, and a Honey Tree

A BEAR, A BEE, AND A HONEY TREE, written by Daniel Bernstrom and illustrated by by Brandon James Scott, makes clever use of its minimal text to to tell an entertaining story of—well, you guessed it—a bear, a bee, and honey tree!

“A hungry bear” wakes up and climbs to a golden meal in “a honey tree,” but a busy, “very angry fuzzy bee”—and another “million fuzzy buzzing bees”—all have something to say about this.

The simple story is greatly enhanced by the jaunty tone, with wordplay, rhyme, and repetition playing a huge part in its appeal. The vocabulary and structure make it a great choice for early readers, but pre-readers will enjoy the tongue-twistery aspect, as well.

Brightly colored digital illustrations do well by the text. The wide-eyed bear with a mouth full of honey reacting first to the one bee, and then to the emerging swarm, is picture book perfection.

Although he loses this first round, the final spread suggests our bear may be persistent… Pair it with Julie Hedlund’s and Michael Slack’s OVER, BEAR! UNDER, WHERE? for more beary low word count fun!

--Lynn