The Honeybee and the Robber

by Eric Carle

Follow an adventurous honeybee as she goes about her busy day, sipping nectar from flowers, avoiding hungry birds and playing with butterflies. But when a robber bear comes looking for honey, all the bees must rush out to defend their home. This classic Eric Carle story is brought to life by movable pull-tabs that children can use to animate the action, as well as a beautiful pop-up butterfly. Available again for the first time in years, The Honeybee and the Robber will delight both longtime fans and first-time readers.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals, Fiction, Nature, Storytime

16 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Eric Carle was an American author, designer and illustrator of children's books. His picture book The Very Hungry Caterpillar, first published in 1969, has been translated into more than 66 languages and sold more than 50 million copies. Carle's career as an illustrator and children's book author accelerated after he collaborated on Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?. Carle illustrated more than 70 books, most of which he also wrote, and more than 145 million copies of his books have been sold around the world.
In 2003, the American Library Association awarded Carle the biennial Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal (now called the Children's Literature Legacy Award), a prize for writers or illustrators of children's books published in the U.S. who have made lasting contributions to the field. Carle was also a U.S. nominee for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2010.

Reviews

[Hilary · Rating 5 out of 5]

We came across this 1981 edition in our favourite second hand book shop. My daughter was choosing a book as a reward for some hard exam work and despite being out of the target age range she fell in love with this book. Moving picture/pop up books are just so appealing, I could soon see why she liked this one so much. I can remember being fascinated as a child by a pop up book from library but felt sad too seeing the results of it's flaps and sliding parts roughly treated by other readers.

This book follows the honeybee on it's perilous journey to turn nectar to honey. The bee pictures are very cute, and on every page there is a moving element-bees dancing, bird's beaks snapping, wings flapping, fish leaping until finally a robber comes and as the bears claws swipe and bees attack. The actions for the moving parts of the book are very creative and impressive, and we appreciate the previous owner of this book was so careful they all work beautifully.

Lovely end pages on the process of bees making honey.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Personally, I don't think the novelty of the pull-tabs and flaps add much to the book. And the text is mostly rather dry. But I do like that the honeybee reminds me of the MC of The Bees, and I appreciate the back matter.

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing!
Almost every page has a pull-tab, which moves the pictures! Animals opening their mouths, bees buzzing around, a bear running... The books incredible, if only because of that.

The pictures are bright and lovely.

It also mentions a few things about bees! Such as them dancing to show where they found nectar.

Great book!

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Loved the pop-up features!

[Kristin]

Title: The Honeybee and the Robber
Author: Eric Carle
Illustrator: Eric Carle
Genre: Movable Book
Theme(s): Animals, outdoor, nature
Opening Line/Sentence:
In a hive inside an old hollow tree there lived a honeybee.

Brief Book Summary:
The book describes a honeybee fetching nectar and returning back to its nest. Along the way, the honeybee encounters other animals who attempt to eat it. Then, once the honeybee returned back to the hive, a “robber” appears trying to eat and steal the bees’ honey. Finally, the honeybee flies out of the hive to sting the bear on its nose.

Professional Recommendation/Review #1:
Marilyn Courtot (Children’s Literature)
Eric Carle's collages are a treat. In this interactive book, kids can pull a tab to make the honeybee’s wings move and help her collect nectar from a bright red flower. The also help her evade a bird, a hungry fish and a very hungry frog. But she does join with her friends to play with a beautiful butterfly who leaps off the page. Once back at the hive, she directs other to the rich nectar, but not before they attack a big brown bear trying to steal honey from the hive. The story is solid and the added attraction of moving parts makes this a winner for little ones.

Professional Recommendation/Review #2:
(Children's Literature)
Follow an adventurous honeybee as she goes about her busy day, sipping nectar from flowers, avoiding hungry birds and playing with butterflies. But when a robber bear comes looking for honey, all the bees must rush out to defend their home. This classic Eric Carle story is brought to life by movable pull-tabs that children can use to animate the action, as well as a beautiful pop-up butterfly. Honeybee and the robber is a story about a honeybee who is doing her daily activities which include collecting nectar, scurrying away from birds, and making friends with butterflies. At the end of the day, honeybee heads back to her nest. But then, a bear, portrayed as the robber, comes to the honeybees nest. The bear tries scratching at the bee nest to get honey. Very scared from the bear, all of the bees fly out of the nest very quickly to protect their home, from the robber bear. Honeybee and the robber uses the five senses, sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. For example, the honeybee sees the birds flying and knows to avoid them, the honeybees hear the bear approaching the nest, the honeybees touch and taste the flowers as they are collecting nectar, and the bear can smell the honey which is why it tries getting in the nest. I would use this book in my classroom to introduce the concept of the five senses to my students. The book could be read once, and then read again twice. The second time around, students could pick out events in the book that go along with the five senses. The book provides all sorts of opportunities for the students to see all five senses.

Response to Two Professional Reviews:
Although both professional reviews were in favor of the book, I did not care for it very much. Eric Carle is a classic children’s author and a personal favorite, however this book was simply boring. I did not like how the bear was considered the robber and it just felt like there was barely a plot or point to the story.

Evaluation of Literacy Elements:
As always, Eric Carle has incredible illustrations. A few of the stanzas have rhyming within them. The moving aspects of the book are a great incorporation. The book also has children explore their five senses.

Consideration of Instructional Application:
I most likely would not use this book in my future classroom. However, I would use it to show examples of the different senses. I would bring in a sample of various items to have children touch, feel, smell, taste and see.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book follows the life of a small honeybee as he goes out to collect nectar. Along the way, he meets many animals who try to eat him or distract him from his mission, but upon his return to the hive, the honey bee meets an animal who is trying to steal all the honey from his hive.

Although this is not my favorite Eric Carle book, I did like that the book had interactive illustrations. I think small children would really love to play with this book while learning about the natural world around them.

This book could definitely be used in a preschool classroom in a spring unit. It might also be useful in discussing insets, and their job in nature.

[Emma Hendrix · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of Eric Carle's wonderful pop-up books. This is a story is of a honeybee's life on this earth. Including; sipping nectar from flowers, avoiding hungry birds and playing with butterflies. A bear had gotten into the hive to steal the honey. The honeybee defends his honey by stinging the bear. A wonderful book I would like to keep in my classroom library. It's an engaging book full of easy words and interactive pages. (portfolio 2)

[Sean Harding · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a number of book quests that I am attempting to complete in 2020 and one of them is to read as many of the books of one of the best Children's authors around - Eric Carle.
Known for his Caterpillar with a big appetite this one is a tale of a honey bee and someone trying to steal the honey.
Told in his usual simple style and with great illustrations this is a nice gentle read for the youngster.
Mission: Eric Carle - 18/80

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honeybees are workaholics. I enjoyed the interactivity of this book with its paper engineering. The story was a little short. The art design and characters were great. The information about bees was educational.

[Rubi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the interactiveness of the book and the fact Carle included FACTS about bees in the end! I learned a lot and realize how he'd incorporated the information in the story too, just very very simplified haha
Huge fan of Carle's work 😁 Can't believe I'd never read this one before lol

[Lindsay Lodge · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love a book with moving parts!

[Canette Arille · Rating 4 out of 5]

WoW! This book is great! Children will be happy, and they also can practice reading :) . I like the story and the illustrations

[Ashley Bianca]

Philomena's review "bears are soo cute'

[Alexis Espinosa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Honeybee & the Robber is about the adventure of a honeybee as she goes about her busy day. When a bear comes looking for honey all the bees scatter to defend their homes.

Comments/observations: This book is really interactive with its pictures that include pull out tabs. The reading level for this book is kindergarten through second grade and the theme include animals, bears, insects and manners. My emotional readers response to this book was that I thought it was put together nicely and I would use it in my classroom library.

How I would use this book in a classroom: There is a page in the book where the bee dances to show where the flowers are and I would use this book to teach that bees actually do dance show direction. As a class I would teach students the dance and how it works and then split the class in half and each half will preform the dance and the other half will have to figure out where they are talking about. Another activity I could do is to teach students about honeybees and bears. Bees collect pollen and so I would use this book to teach about the main characters lives.

Carle, E. (1981). The honeybee and the robber. Santa Monica, CA: Intervisual Books

[Lindsey]

Honeybee and the robber is a story about a honeybee who is doing her daily activities which include collecting nectar, scurrying away from birds, and making friends with butterflies. At the end of the day, honeybee heads back to her nest. But then, a bear, portrayed as the robber, comes to the honeybees nest. The bear tries scratching at the bee nest to get honey. Very scared from the bear, all of the bees fly out of the nest very quickly to protect their home, from the robber bear. Honeybee and the robber uses the five senses, sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. For example, the honeybee sees the birds flying and knows to avoid them, the honeybees hear the bear approaching the nest, the honeybees touch and taste the flowers as they are collecting nectar, and the bear can smell the honey which is why it tries getting in the nest. I would use this book in my classroom to introduce the concept of the five senses to my students. The book could be read once, and then read again twice. The second time around, students could pick out events in the book that go along with the five senses. The book provides all sorts of opportunities for the students to see all five senses.

[Mallori Allphin]

A honeybee is doing her daily activities which include collecting nectar, scurrying away from birds, and making friends with butterflies. But then at the end of the day, a bear, portrayed as the robber, comes to the honeybees nest. The bear tries scratching at the bee nest to get honey. All of the bees fly out of the nest very quickly to protect their home, the nest, from the robber bear. This book is able to give students a basic foundation of what a bee endures on their daily adventure. This book is beneficial for all levels of readers and should be used in all classrooms. This is a good book to introduce the five senses to children, sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. For example, the honeybee sees the birds flying and knows to avoid them, the honeybees hears the bear approaching the nest, the honeybee touches and tastes the flower as it is collecting nectar, and the bear can smell the honey.

[Chelsea Cameron]

I always think it is important to educate young kids while also giving them an enjoyable reading time in the classroom. It is awesome when they can take away useful basic information while also applying their reading skills. This book is such a great book because it is humorous and also informative. I think this would be a great book to introduce in the classroom and keep it around. I think it would be great for an outdoor activity maybe if it was nice outside, the teacher could take the students outside to read so they are a part of nature while reading about nature. This book starts out by going through all of the daily activities a honeybee completes such as, playing with butterflies, collecting nectar and dodging birds. The book introduces also the struggles that animals go through while they are working towards survival in the environment. The bear is the honeybee’s main problem. The bear is the robber because he tried to steal all of the honey from the bees.

[Randi Goodnight]

The Honeybee and the Robber is about a honeybee that gathers nectar for honey. One day she leaves the hive to collect honey, and when she arrives back in the hive a bear attacks her. The bear begins to try to rob the hive of the honey that the honeybees worked so hard to make. The bear is then driven off by the bees, because the bees began to sting the bear, and the bees get to keep their honey. This book is great for little kids because the language is simple and the font is large. The pages are also interactive to keep little kids engaged in the book. I really liked how creatively the book was put together. Teachers can use The Honeybee and the Robber to teach children about how bees collect nectar for honey, and how honeybees have predators like bears and birds. This book can also be used to show what bears like to eat.

Carle, E. (2000). The Honeybee and the Robber. Santa Monica, CA: Intervisual Books

[Mexy Gonzales · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book entitled “Honeybee and the Robber” tells the story about honeybees and how they see bears as honey stealers due to the fact that bears love to eat honey. This would be a great book in the classroom as a way of teaching your children all about honeybees in a fun way. I believe the vocabulary used throughout the book was quite simple to nature. I really enjoyed how put together it was with the book’s plot, theme, and picture’s creativity. This book is also interactive, the author incorporated movable pieces of paper to create action for some of the characters. This feature in the book is genius once is comes to trying to engage your children into the book as well as stress the idea of reading being fun. This book falls under the topics of animals, manners, and adventure. The reading level for this book is K-2.

Carle, E. (1981). The honeybee and the robber. Santa Monica, CA: Intervisual Books

[Caelyn Pietila · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Honeybee and the Robber written by Eric Carle is about a honeybee who is a victim of a robbery between a bear. The robber bear wants to steal the bee’s honey, and they all try to defend themselves and their honey. This book is extremely fun because it is a pop-out book and involves interaction when kids are reading the story. If I were an elementary teacher to younger students such as kindergartners ad fits graders, I would for sure include this story in my classroom library. It can also be used a teaching tool to teach young children how it is important to not steal, or to take things that do not belong to them. Because this is another Eric Carle book, it can be used as an art project as well since his illustrations are so unique and beautiful using his tissue paper water color art work.

[Elissa Still · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Honeybee and the Robber is about a very busy honeybee who is thwarted off of her busy schedule to deal with a robber bear stealing all of her hive’s honey. The reading age for this book is preschool through 1st grade.

Comments/observations: From the get-go readers will be fascinated by the interactive moveable pull-tabs tat will animate the animals reactions throughout the story. This book also features a pop-up butterfly that looks like it’s about to take off into flight at any second! This book focuses on insects, animals, and manners.

Using this book in the classroom: This book would be a great opener to finding out more about the process of pollenating flowers, and the life cycles of bees.

Carle, E. (1981). The honeybee and the robber. Santa Monica, CA: Intervisual Books

[Sabrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Honeybee and the Robber is another interactive book written by Eric Carle. The book is about a honeybee, who wants to collect nectar. However, this task is harder than anticipated because he is forced to endure many obstacles in order to achieve his goal. Despite having to conquer multiple challenges, he continues to work hard and doesn’t let the obstacles stop him from getting the nectar and bringing it back to the hive. Like a number of Eric Carle’s books this book is extremely interactive, each page includes a tab or a flap that add another component to the story. These include having eyes move, adding more to an illustration, and more. This book is great for young children because it would get them excited about books because of all the different interactive components in the book. I really enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it to others.

[Elizabeth Burr · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is awesome! It shows how bees pollinate by going from flower back to their hive. This is a great way to get children interested in pollination and how bees protect themself and their hives.

Eric Carle.
He has so many books! he is mostly know for his book The Very Hungry Catipillar but that was his 3rd book his very first was the well known, Brown Bear, Brown bear. he has a total of 81 books!

[Whitney Ward]

The Honey Bee and the Robber is a fun and interactive book about the busy life of a honey bee and the obstacles he overcomes, such as the honey robber (also known as a bear). The illustrations do much to attract the readers and make it a great book for younger students for the reason that it has pop outs, and moving pictures. This book is a great story time book for young students, but could also be used for learning about what honey bees are and what they do.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great mix of fiction and nonfiction. I was surprised that this book did very well at storytime with 30 preschoolers. The honeybee finds nectar and must get back to the hive. When she gets back, she is alerted to the fact that there is a robber near. Moving parts aide the telling and add interest.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another wonderful Eric Carle book! This one is interactive, which always adds fun to reading. Here we learn about bees and the making of honey. Then we learn that bears enjoy honey. Oh, no!

The illustrations, as always, add to the story.

[Michaela · Rating 5 out of 5]

it is such a cute littel baby book my little sister has

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

The only thing I did not enjoy about this book was the moving picture book. The tabs break and it's hard to use the book.

[Angela Barakat]

I read this with both my children.

[Nicole Flores · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun book for kids. It is about the life of a honeybee and the perspective of the worl through her. In the back of the book there are different facts about bees.