Honeybee: The Busy Life of Apis Mellifera

Ages 6 to 9, Grades 1 to 4

Robert F. Sibert Medal Winner

Take to the sky with Apis, one honeybee, as she embarks on her journey through life!

An Orbis Pictus Honor Book

Selected for the Texas Bluebonnnet Master List

Finalist for the AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books

A tiny honeybee emerges through the wax cap of her cell. Driven to protect and take care of her hive, she cleans the nursery and feeds the larvae and the queen. But is she strong enough to fly? Not yet!

Apis builds wax comb to store honey, and transfers pollen from other bees into the storage. She defends the hive from invaders. And finally, she begins her new life as an adventurer.

The confining walls of the hive fall away as Apis takes to the air, finally free, in a brilliant double-gatefold illustration where the clear blue sky is full of promise-- and the wings of dozens of honeybees, heading out in search of nectar to bring back to the hive.

Eric Rohmann's exquisitely detailed illustrations bring the great outdoors into your hands in this poetically written tribute to the hardworking honeybee. Award-winning author Candace Fleming describes the life cycle of the honeybee in accessible, beautiful language. Similar in form and concept to the Sibert and Orbis Pictus award book Giant Squid, Honeybee also features a stunning gatefold and an essay on the plight of honeybees.

Cook Prize Honor Book

A Kids' Book Choice Award Finalist

An American Library Association Notable Children’s Book

A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year

Named a Best Book of the Year by Kirkus Reviews, NPR, Shelf Awareness, School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly and more!

A Horn Book Fanfare Best Book of the Year

A Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year!

A Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Blue Ribbon Book

A Booklist Editor's Choice

Named to the Texas Topaz Reading List

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

About the Author

Candace Fleming is the author of more than twenty distinguished books for children including The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia, winner of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Nonfiction, the NCTE Orbus Pictus Award, and a Sibert Honor, among other awards.

Eric Rohmann is the award-winning author and/or illustrator of many beloved books for children. He received a Caldecott Honor for Time Flies and a Caldecott medal for My Friend Rabbit.

Candace and Eric's other collaborations include Strongheart: Wonder Dog of the Silver Screen as well as the popular "Bulldozer" books. They live in Chicago, Illinois.