How to Bee

In a world without bees, 9 year-old Peony wants to be the best 'bee' the farm has ever seen. But her mother wants her to live in the city. Torn between two different worlds, fierce and loyal Peony fights to protect her family and the world she loves. Quirky, original and heartfelt, this is an all too plausible dystopian adventure, exploring themes of family loyalty and the environment.

How to Bee is a moving, intelligent novel, offering plenty of food for thought and a cast of appealing- and not so appealing – characters which linger with you long after the story is finished...

MacDibble writes with confidence and ease – the book feels different, atypical, which makes it shine brightly in the field of current children''s fiction. It turns out being is a complicated business, but with books such as this, children will buzz with excitement about their ability to influence their own futures.

How to Bee is perfect. It gave me the same shivers as Skellig. Not a word is wasted and the voice is compelling. This is a future classic.

This story, set in a dystopian landscape, reminds us of the vital role played by the bees that we take so much for granted, but there is even more to the story than environmental issues. We see extreme poverty and domestic violence but also courage and the ultimate insignificance of material comforts when compared to the love of friends and family. Set in a future Australia in a time when there are no bees and children are employed to scramble through the fruit trees with feather wands, like the pear farmers of Hanyuan in China do today. Peony wants to be a bee, a hand pollinator. She''s light, fast, and even though she''s a year too young, she''s going to be the best bee the farm has ever seen...except when you''re only 9, it''s hard to get everyone around you to go along with your plan. A beautiful and fierce novel for middle grade readers, ''How to Bee'' explores an all-too-possible dystopian social landscape with an intensely compelling and original voice.

• | Author: Bren MacDibble
• | Publisher: Old Barn Books
• | Publication Date: May 03, 2018
• | Number of Pages:
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• | Binding: Paperback / softback
• | ISBN-13: 9781910646441
• | ISBN-10: 191064644X