UnBEElievables: Honeybee Poems and Paintings

My students and I read about UnBEElievables: Honeybee Poems and Paintings in our Time for Kids magazine. I told the class I would get a copy of this book so we could read it together. When I received the book, it gave me an idea for a unit on insects. We studied each page of the book noting the rhyme and rhythm of the poem. Facts about bees were included on the page. We discovered that the poet incorporated his research into each poem. Each student researched an insect, then wrote and illustrated a poem about that insect. We "published" the poems in a class book. Great way to integrate language, science and art into one project!

Let me just BEEgin by saying on BEEhalf of all those that love quality children's books just how BEEguiling and delightful the illustrations and poetry of this book are. It BEEgins with clever rhyme and this certainly continues throughout...from cover to cover . BEEcause the author clearly performed his research well, this book provides a child with an interesting assortment of knowledge about bees, informative as to how bees BEEhave in the BEEhive. BEEfore I conclude my review, BEEtween you and I, let me honestly say that this UnBEElievable book is just as good as many of the author's previous works, if not better.

Perfect for the nonfiction section of my library! i have personally used it for lessons and find it to be entertaining and informative. Great work for use in school and may have to get one as a gift for my beekeeper friend. I do believe she'd love it too!

This is a book of poems, illustrations and facts about amazing bees. Children can enjoy the poems and pictures, and it also provides information about the incredible activities of bees.

My granddaughter enjoyed reading it and learning about bees. She likes poetry. We have a joke between us that she is my little bumblebee.

I first became acquainted with the poetry and artwork of Douglas Florian about a decade ago when my oldest child was a toddler. His poems are whimsical and kids enjoy hearing them read aloud. The first books we read over and over were just poems with artwork. Insectlopedia is our family favorite.This volume is entirely about honeybees. Besides the poem on a topic that educates primarily and entertains secondarily, there is a paragraph at the bottom of the page with factual information to read aloud or talk to your child about. Each topic has a two page spread with artwork on one page and the poems on the other.The last poem is about the current problem of honeybee die-off. It's not too doomsday, but I feel it may be unnecessary. Can we let little kids be innocent little kids for just a short while? The inclusion of factual information with each poem makes it an "educational" book not just a fun book to read that you can't help but learn from. Something more important would perhaps teach kids to not be scared to death of bees they see when they are outside and to just leave them alone rather than scream their heads off, think the bees are out to get them, and to try to kill them all. I can't tell you how many girls and boys I see flipping out over seeing a bee flying by or on a flower gathering pollen, minding their own business. Let's teach kids that bees are not out to harm us but irrational behavior of humans can scare them and make them sting us!I liked the book and enjoyed the artwork. It's a book that is perfect for a public library or school library to own so that the most kids can get the use out of it. It would be a great read aloud for any child at home or in the classroom, from toddler ages up through grade three.P.S. If you don't want to inform your kids about the die-off you can choose to just skip the last poem!

First off I think this is a great addition to any child's library for so many positive reasons. We HAVE to raise a generation which is ecologically literate. I have an 18 month year old and she will have no future, no planet, no home if things keep going the way they are.Bees have such a central role to society. The book contains wonderful poetry that explain how bee society works and the different roles of the bees; queen, workers, drones. It then contains poetry and prose on the important ecological roles bees have. What is great is that along with a poem there is also a short explantion in prose of what is going on. Such an important book as each and every homeowner by planting local plants and having a variety of blooming flowers in their yard can make a cruical difference. A child should care about bees. She should thank them and acknolwedge them and want to do things to help them. It goes without saying that every adult should as well.Where the book fell a little short for me was with the pictures. I know bees are yellow. But there is SO MUCH yellow on picture after picture it literally made me dizzy. Pictures are a 2 at best. But for how nice the poetry and explantions are and for such an important topic, overall a 4 for me.