MY HIVE

“The most important thing to a bee is its family.”

The narrator of this lyrical picture book knows this because she’s been watching her grandfather tend his bees around their home, “where the mountains hug the sea.” Today is a special day, because Grandpa has invited his grandchild to help with the harvest in his Honey Bus. Donning boots and veils, the beekeeper and his young helper pull “wooden frames heavy with honeycomb” from the hives and carry them into the Honey Bus. (This unusual honey shed goes unexplained in this book, but curious adults may want to seek out May’s 2019 memoir, The Honey Bus, to learn more.) The honeybees’ devotion to their family clearly resonates with the child—an attitude that can be inferred from spare details shared with seeming casualness. The child lives with “my grandpa and granny, [and] my mom….But mostly it’s just Grandpa and me—Granny teaches at the elementary school, and Mom is often in bed with a headache.” The illustrations glow with honey yellows. Swirling organic shapes evoke the natural setting and underscore the tale’s gentle tone; even the geometric hexagons of honeycomb seem to flow into one another like drops of honey. Grandpa and grandchild have pale skin; his hair and mustache are black, while the narrator’s hair is brown.

A sweet affirmation of a grandfather’s love.