The legend of the hive

We've been working at my Grandad's house over the last couple of weeks/month as it's a minor understatement to say there is a lot of work to do there.  My Uncle, Aunt and Mum have been doing a lot of clearing and I've been over about 6 times now.  My Grandad was something of an excessive in terms of buying and hoarding things- his house had all sorts of nooks and crannies in it to store things and my goodness, did he take advantage of that. However, amongst others, something really lovely thing I found was about 10 copies of a book called The Legend of the Hive  by Maria Owsianka and illustrated by Anna-Maria Syzmariska (both Polish-descended)


I took a copy home to read and was so glad I did so.  It is essentially a fictional account based on non-fiction about a honeybee.  It is told from the 1st-person perspective of Deborah,  a worker honeybee who is born in the summer.  We learn, like Deborah as she goes along, about all the different jobs and roles a worker bee must take on, how they fly, communicate, eat and more.  Deborah is a lovely narrator- she states things simply, without undue emotion, matter-of-fact and clear. I really like her and confess to shedding a tear at the end of the book which ends with the obvious.  The story of course progresses in a linear way and we learn about how worker bees are 'put to work' or feel the natural inclination to work from when they are only about 5 days old (past being a grub)and how their role changes from nurse to field-worker, how they carry the nectar and pollen and eat both. It's a great way of understanding all that the bee does. It's humorous as well- I smiled at the bee-ish description of the drones all sitting upstairs providing a layer of heat - in my mind, I had this image of a large group of lazy men all chatting whilst the women work hard downstairs!  I finally understand exactly how swarms work and learnt more about which plants and trees bees like and why. I really liked the idea of the bees passing on the 'Hive legend' rather like in our history- the practice of oral history- telling history to our ancestors in order that they may remember what came before. That's how bees who don't live all year around, know what to do and why to keep storing and making honey.

The illustrations are beautifully executed- gorgeous detail, vibrant colours but not cartoony and they really add to the book. There are also some smaller black and white ones dotted throughout, as well as the full-page coloured ones.






I would really recommend reading this if you are interested in what bees do but like me, aren't such fans of non-fiction.  It's a fascinating tale and really made me think.  This would be lovely for children to, learning about life-cycles and the suchlike. Very much recommended.
xx