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Bee & Me

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We hear much about the plight of the bumble bee population and its implications for our planet’s future. This beautiful picture book makes the story personal and brings a message of hope. A little girl befriends a bee, which takes her on a journey of discovery and to an action each child can take to aid in conservation. Alison Jay’s original artwork brings the story gently to life, pointing out the sadness of a world without bees.

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2016

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About the author

Alison Jay

95 books43 followers
Alison Jay was born in Hertfordshire, grew up in Derbyshire and studied graphic design in London where she now lives. After graduating she worked in animation for a short while but gradually started to get commissions in illustration. She works in Alkyd a quick drying oil paint on paper and sometimes adds a crackle varnish to give the work an aged appearance. She has worked in all areas of illustration including
advertising ,packaging, editorial and design. Her commission's include a 48 sheet poster for B.T, a TV commercial for Kellogg's corn flakes and has recently illustrated the new baby range of products for Crabtree and Evelyn. She has also illustrated lots of children's books including 'Picture This', 'William and the night train','The Race', 'I
took the moon for a walk', 'The Emperors new clothes, If Kisses were colours, 'ABC Alphabet', an unabridged fully illustrated version of 'Alice's
Adventures in Wonderland',Listen Listen', 'Welcome to the Zoo', 'A Child's first Counting Book', 'Today is the Birthday of the World' and 'Nursery Rhyme Rainbow'. She recently worked with Aardman Animation on the development
of a feature film and is currently working on a version of 'The Nutcracker'.

Her book 'Welcome to the Zoo' which is a wordless visit to a cage less 'animal hotel' has been selected as one of New York's Bank Street's 2009 best
books of the year.

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Community Reviews

5 stars
128 (29%)
4 stars
174 (40%)
3 stars
106 (24%)
2 stars
16 (3%)
1 star
3 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 106 reviews
Profile Image for Calista.
4,062 reviews31.3k followers
January 21, 2019
This wordless book tells a surreal tale. A girl takes care of a bee and learns about them along the way. She helps it grow and then lets it go saying goodbye. She is sad during the winter. The bee returns in the spring and all is happy again.

I enjoyed the art and as the cover shows, the bee grows big enough the girl takes a ride on the bee. It has the point of taking care of the bees who give us so much. It’s a simple sweet story. I appreciate the art and it is a soft tale.

The kids went through it fast and the nephew could read this on his own. We let him tell us the story and he had a great story. It was much more exciting than my story with more action too. He gave it 4 stars while the niece gave it 2 stars.
Profile Image for بثينة العيسى.
Author 23 books25.9k followers
November 12, 2016
كتاب مثالي لوقت ممتع وتأملي تقضيه مع طفلك الذي لم يتعلم القراءة بعد.
Profile Image for Colleen Fauchelle.
494 reviews63 followers
September 9, 2017
I know I am 51 but this book is beautiful and I have been looking at it at work for a year. My husband gave me a book voucher and I decided to use it for this book because I didn't want to miss out on owning it.

There are no words to this story, But the pictures are delightful and it is a beautiful story about a girl and a bee that flys into her home one day and the bee ends up staying. This book brings a smile to my face and isn't that the best excuse to buy the book. :)
Profile Image for J & J .
190 reviews59 followers
February 9, 2019
This book stole the plot to The Bee Movie. There's nothing original here.
Profile Image for Jess Jackson.
172 reviews1 follower
February 26, 2017
Bee and me is a picture book with no words. Which I loved.
My toddler and I enjoyed looking at the pictures and I enjoyed weaving the story using our imagination, because there are no words there is ample opportunity for discussion about what is going on in the pictures. It brings the child into the story and engages their imagination.
Beautifully illustrated it's one for all kids bookcases.
Profile Image for Michelle Olson.
Author 4 books60 followers
August 21, 2019
Cute illustrations and easy to follow story. Reminded me of when I was a kid trying to resuscitate the bees that had fallen in our pool.
Profile Image for Clarissa Unruh.
121 reviews1 follower
March 4, 2021
I don’t often rate and review the books I read to my children but this one deserves a review! It is my first ‘wordless book’ and I love it!! These pictures are so full of detail you can imagine and talk about what is happening on the pages forever. I got it at the library and I can’t wait to find more of these to read!
Profile Image for Beth Voecks.
319 reviews8 followers
May 17, 2017
So cute and really brings home the importance of bees and how devastating their loss would be to our planet!

The art is fantastic and doesn't need words to tell the story of a girl and the Bee she befriends.
Profile Image for Jen.
1,356 reviews1 follower
July 13, 2017
There's so much to delight in. A magical friendship with a bee. Examining the stories in the other illustrated apartment windows. Thinking about how each of us has the power to create pollinator pathways....
Profile Image for Michael Earp.
Author 4 books34 followers
April 24, 2016
Alison Jay's work is always beautiful! This is no different.
Profile Image for Jennifer B..
1,279 reviews28 followers
June 24, 2017
A nice little book about bee awareness.

I have seen that everyone has said this is a picture book without words. The version that I read (Spanish) most definitely had words.
Profile Image for Abigail.
7,174 reviews187 followers
November 5, 2019
When a weary bee lands on her windowsill, the little girl in Bee & Me decides to help him, rather than attack. Feeding him sugary syrup, she nurses him back to health and then sets him free, only to see him return during a rainstorm. Soon the two are inseparable, and as the bee grows to unexpected sizes, the two have many wonderful adventures together. Then summer comes to an end and they must part. Is it the end of their friendship...?

Intended (according to the dust-jacket flap) to raise awareness about bees and the important role they play in our world, this wordless picture-book is absolutely beautiful! The oil paintings by Alison Jay, whose work I know from various fairy-tale retellings, are luminous, and the narrative engaging. It's particularly important, with wordless picture-books, for the images to tell a story, and in Bee & Me, they certainly do. Recommended to anyone looking for children's books about bees, or wordless picture-books in general.
Profile Image for Brenda.
532 reviews
May 10, 2017
This delightful wordless book is not only entertaining; it also teaches readers/listeners about the importance of bees in our world. When a lonely girl in the city befriends a bee, the magical, fantastical journey begins. As the story evolves and the bee leaves for the winter, the girl makes friends with a boy in her building and the fun continues in a city changed by the bee. Alison Jay's lush oil painted illustrations enhance the magical quality of the story, but in a note at the end, she clearly explains the need to invite bees to our gardens and cautions children not to touch them. I highly recommend this title for both school and public libraries.
Profile Image for Kalynda.
583 reviews2 followers
November 21, 2017
I love wordless books! I really need to start a collection of them. They offer such a different type of reading engagement that you can return to the story again and again, and "read" it a different way each time, based on your new experiences or your creativity. This is one I would want for my collection. Although it is more of a fantasy tale, I appreciate how it starts out with fear of the bee, to seeking more knowledge and understanding, to going on an adventure with the bee and experiencing some of their impact. This would be a good addition as a class read or a center read, really at any time for a bee, flowers, plants, or respecting nature lesson.
Profile Image for Joseph Ghione.
20 reviews3 followers
April 29, 2018
Although there this is a wordless picture book, this one is at the top of the list. I was first introduced to Bee & Me while at one of my special education placements at Lock Haven University. A student with disabilities would come in every morning ecstatic to flip through this book with me. Alison Jay did an amazing job with her colorful and imaginative illustrations that takes you on a wild adventure of what a child saw while she was flying on the back of a bee. The book displays the hardship of bees and exposes that their importance of this world, also making it aware that they could become endangered if we keep living the way we are.
Profile Image for The Brothers.
4,118 reviews22 followers
July 22, 2017
This is a very charming wordless book about a little girl who befriends a bee. She feeds him sugar water and he begin to grow to humongous size. They live in a city and the bee becomes homesick for a field of flowers so the girl hops on his back and off they fly to such a field. It is late fall by this time, so they gather the seeds from the wild flowers and scatter them all across the city when they fly back home. Over the coming seasons, the seeds grow and bloom and turn the city into a beautiful place.

Illustrations are lovely.
976 reviews7 followers
June 14, 2017
This is a beautiful wordless picture book that talks about the plight of the bees and the sad fact that so much of our world is becoming concrete and buildings instead of green plants. I could see this book being used for the skill of inferring and summarizing because they have to use their own words since the author doesn't supply any but does supply a wonderful story.
801 reviews22 followers
August 29, 2017
This is a wordless book that captures the friendship between a bee and a little girl, then between the little girl and a little boy. This book gives information about how to help bees today. There is lots to look at in the beautiful illustrations. The story is told gently and within a story time you can use this for children to predict what is going to happen next.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
55 reviews1 follower
February 8, 2018
This is a wordless picture book that tells us the story of the friendship between a girl and a bee! Some of the pages have several panels of illustrations. It could be a little hard for a younger reader to follow. It would be a good book to read with someone who is unsure about bees. The last page has a little blurb about why bees are so good and how important they are!
Profile Image for Olivia Robertson.
2 reviews2 followers
September 15, 2018
Beautiful picture book, which communicates the importance of caring for our environment and looking after our bees. It also conveys a moral message about friendship. Would not hesitate to use this as a stimulus for a class topic!
644 reviews4 followers
November 4, 2018
Story of a little girl and a bee where the bee visits the little girl and they go on adventures together. The books aims to spread the message of the importance of bees.
Profile Image for Engel Dreizehn.
1,667 reviews
December 8, 2018
Beautiful if surreal wordless parable on why it's important to be nice to bees and their role in the environment.
305 reviews3 followers
December 15, 2020
This wordless picture book follows the story of a girl and a bee who flies into her house one day and she finds out how to look after it. It's a lovely story which could encourage children to think about how they can help wildlife, particularly bees which could link to science such as the different plants that attract bees. They could set up a little flower bed at school, I saw this at my SBT1 school.
Profile Image for Mary Stergioti.
173 reviews6 followers
June 28, 2022
Φοβερή εικονογράφηση πολύ ωραία ιστορία, θα ήθελα λίγο παραπάνω κείμενο. Θα μου πεις ότι καλύπτεται από την εικονογράφηση ότι δεν υπάρχει σε κείμενο αλλά και πάλι θα ήθελα κάτι περισσότερο στον γραπτό λόγο.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 106 reviews

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