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HOW TO BEE

Bren MacDibble

How To Bee is a beautiful and fierce novel for middle grade readers. Set against an all-too-possible future where real bees are extinct and the quickest, bravest kids climb the fruit trees to pollinate the flowers by hand, How To Bee explores the subsequent social landscape with an intensely compelling and original voice. Encompassing themes of equality, diversity, loyalty, love, kindness and value, How to Bee is raw, interesting and page-turning. The protagonist, Peony, is courageous and intelligent. Her voice will stay with you long after you read the last page.
Peony lives with her sister and grandfather on a fruit farm outside the city. All Peony really wants is to be a Bee – to use her strength and agility to pollinate the flowers and ensure a bumper fruit crop – because in Peony’s world, real bees are extinct. Life on the farm is a scrabble, but there is enough to eat and a place to sleep, and there is love. Then Peony’s mother arrives to take her away from everything she has ever known, and all Peony’s grit and quick thinking might not be enough to keep her safe. The intense and original voice of this novel grabbed me from the first sentence and held me to the last. It’s a beautiful, fierce little novel that will appeal strongly to younger readers. Booksellers will love hand-selling this to fans of Rebecca Stead and Julie Hunt. Bren MacDibble was raised on farms all over New Zealand, so is an expert about being a kid on the land. She now lives in Melbourne with her family and a cheeky dog, works with gifted children, and teaches writing at TAFE.
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Published 2017-05-01 by Allen & Unwin

Comments

...a must read for all ages - for the adults who shape the world we live in and for the children who will guide the future. How to Bee is an engaging read; a story of challenging concepts offered within a heart-warming tale.

Winner: 2018 Children's Book Council Book of the Year Award for Younger Readers Winner: 2018 NSW Premier's Literary Awards Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children's Literature Winner: 2018 NZ Book Awards, Wright Family Foundation Esther Glen Award for Junior Fiction Shortlisted: 2018 Long Work, Norma K Hemming Award Shortlisted: 2018 Adelaide Festival Awards, Children's Literature Shortlisted: 2017 Best Children's Novel, Aurealis Awards Shortlisted: 2017 Queensland Literary Awards, Griffith University Children's Book Award

A highly original novel in a unique and authentic voice. Peony is fierce, flawed and absolutely endearing - a girl power model in the best, most subtle way. She and my Nim would be kindred spirits - I wish they could meet!

How To Bee is enchanting and atmospheric, achingly beautiful. Captivating until the final page.

USA: Groundwood ; UK: Old Barn ; French: Helium ; Korea: Namubooks ; Slovenian: Mis

This story has a passion and energy both in the characters and in the writing that sets it apart... MacDibble has created a vivid unusual world ... her dialogue is colourful and snaps with energy.

How to Bee is an engaging read; a story of challenging concepts offered within a heart-warming tale.

MacDibble has created a vivid unusual world through her use of made-up colloquialisms, which are quirky and easily understood. She is skilled at describing a scene in a few brief words and her dialogue is colourful and snaps with energy. The original voice in the writing is one of the main strengths of this satisfying story which will be enjoyed by most readers aged 8 to 12.