Synopses & Reviews
Review
Basking Ridge, NJ
June,2000
Laity, Soinbhe. A Hive for the Honey- bee. Ill. by Patience Brewster. Arthur A. Levine Books, Scholastic, 1999, 1996, 224 p. 0-590-52038-X
This allegory begins as the Queen bee leaves the hive and everyone awaits the birth of a new Queen. Thora, a just hatched worker bee, constantly fans the hive so it won't overheat. She meets Belle, a complaining worker, and two drones, Alfred, the poet laureate and Mo, who asks probing questions, cham- pions workers rights, and tells Thora that she should enjoy life more. What happens in the bee society is a reflection of human problems. Irelat7d (Gr. 6-up)
Synopsis
Out of the great lyrical tradition of Irish writing comes the astonishing tale of a group of flexible bee characters more movingly human than most "people" in contemporary fiction. With the help of two unusual, philosophical drones, worker bees Thora and Belle begin to look at their lives in a radical new way.