Follow a beekeeping bear through the seasons—and learn about the life cycle and ecology of bees—in this folksy step-by-step guide to caring for hives and harvesting honey.
With glowing, honey-hued illustrations and friendly text, this homespun year-in-the-life of a busy beekeeper and his bees is a definitive picture book primer—whether for families contemplating a new hobby or for readers just curious to know how bees make honey. Follow Bruno the bear through the seasons, beginning in late summer, as he demonstrates how he keeps his bees healthy and happy, from housing and maintaining the hive to harvesting honey and beeswax. Learn the anatomy and life cycle of bees, the difference between workers and queens, what flowers bees pollinate, and what predators they avoid. Gracefully translated from the original Czech—and paired with charming folk-style art that evokes the rural setting and cozy kitchen of a blended beekeeping family (complete with Grandma’s recipe for homemade honey-gingerbread cookies)—this charming ode to sustainability and fostering nature’s small wonders will delight readers of every stripe.
Aneta Františka Holasová studied illustration and graphics at the University of West Bohemia in the Czech Republic. She is the author-illustrator of several books and has had her work featured in Raketa magazine. Bruno the Beekeeper (originally titled Lumir vcelari) is her English-language debut. Aneta Františka Holasová lives in the Czech Republic.
Andrew Lass was born in New York City and grew up in Prague. He is a scholar, poet, fine art photographer, graphic artist, and translator and was the Ford Foundation Professor of Anthropology at Mount Holyoke College. He lives in Massachusetts.
Bruno the bear keeps bees in this Czech import. Holasová weaves Bruno’s activities with his bees in and around a bounty of information about honeybees and their keeping...There is a surprising amount of technical information conveyed in this gentle book; children familiar with beekeeping will recognize the activities depicted, and explanations are both accurate and friendly to children who are not. There is humor in the near-constant cloud of bees around Bruno’s head as he works, and beauty as well in lovely botanical watercolors...Utterly bee-guiling.
—Kirkus Reviews
This title presents interesting facts and illustrations about bees (worker bees, drones, and queen bees), the steps involved in the metamorphosis from egg to fully developed bee, the body parts of bees, and the life cycle of each type of bee.
—School Library Journal
Bruno, a patient, golden-colored anthropomorphic bear, handles his beehives with great care in this narrative vehicle for a compendium of bee lore, with sufficient descriptions of beekeeping, equipment, bee behavior, and biology to serve as a capable resource. . .this should capture the interest of young apiarists.
—Publishers Weekly
In a cozy work of narrative nonfiction, Aneta Františka Holasová lays out the traditional method of maintaining honey-producers in ‘Bruno the Beekeeper’ (Candlewick, 80 pages, $19.99), a picture book translated from the Czech by Andrew Lass. The color scheme here is earthy, being composed of the browns and golds you would expect from a story involving a bear—the beekeeper, Bruno—and the tiny winged occupants of the stacked wooden hives that he manages through the seasons.
—The Wall Street Journal
