HONEY BEES

This sweeping survey engagingly discusses bee biology and behavior and examines humanity’s relationship with bees, from prehistoric times to the present, through their significant roles in art, religion, literature and medicine. Buchmann, a beekeeper and entomologist, also offers a great deal of information about honey: how bees produce it and how humans collect and use it, including his forthright opinions about the best kinds as well as many tips on using honey in cooking and several recipes. He convincingly explains the critical role bees play in the ecosystem and in sustaining our food supply. Given this, the brief attention devoted to Colony Collapse Disorder is surprising; the author’s take on the problem does not have the urgent tone of Lorie Griffin Burns’s The Hive Detectives (2010), an in-depth examination of CCD and an excellent complement to this title. Appendices include brief descriptions of bees of the world, other products of the hive, the chemical composition of honey and an extensive list of resources. The text is illustrated with black-and-white photographs and documented with source notes. (Nonfiction. 12 & up)