Good Picture Books About Bees

Good Picture Books About Bees

You Are a Honey Bee! by Laurie Ann Thompson, illustrations by Jay Fleck
You are a honey bee…chomp, wiggle, stretch! Chew, pull, lift, carry, squeeze, fetch, watch, scritch, scratch, scritch…Act out the actions of a honey bee as you read about its life, job, and family. 100% recommended!

Hello Honeybees by Hannah Rogge, illustrated by Emily Dove
Kids will love attached bees that can buzz through this hive-shaped shaped board book! Narrated by the bees, your young naturalists will learn about sipping the flower’s nectar, doing the waggle dance, and making honey.

When the Bees Buzzed Off! by Lula Bell, illustrated by Stephen Bennett
The bugs are panicked because they can’t find the bees. They search and search everywhere for the bees who pollinate plants which hungry bugs like to eat. Silly conversations filled with personality pepper their search as well as lift-the-flaps to learn information about bees. Soon Worm, Snail, and Beetle are almost ready to give up — until they finally find the bees in a field of flowers. To get the bees back to their garden, the bugs collect wildflower seeds and plant them…and the bees come back! Kids will resonate with these charming bugs’ search as well as learn the importance of bees in the world.

The Honeybee by Kirsten Hall, illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault

A Bear, a Bee, and a Honey Tree by Daniel Bernstrom, illustrated by Brandon James Scott
It’s a familiar story about a bear trying to steal honey from the bees, but I LOVE this book so much because the author uses simple language in a playful, funny way.

Kaia and the Bees by Maribeth Boelts, illustrated by Angela Dominguez
Kaia’s dad is a rooftop beekeeper but Kaia is scared of bees. She remembers how much it hurt to get stung. She even joins her dad on the roof one day, holding the bees in a frame, and gets stung again. Despite her fear, collecting honey in jars helps her realize that the bees are scary and also amazing. And something in her feels brave. A lovely character arc from fear to bravery!

Please Please the Bees by Gerald Kelley

Benedict the bear loves the fresh honey the bees make. Unfortunately, the bees just went on strike and Benedict is missing his honey. What can he do to help them have better living and working conditions? Take care of the hive, pull the weeds, and plant flowers. He just had to learn not to take the bees for granted.

Honeybee: The Busy Life of Apis Mellifera by Candace Fleming, illustrated by Eric Rohmann
Amazing, gigantic illustrations give us a bees-eye view of a honeybee’s life from her birth to the days of working in the hive, guarding the hive, and searching for nectar. Beautifully written and illustrated, this book accomplishes is an informative book about the life-cycle of bees that sensitively ends with a reflection of our honeybee’s accomplishments. (“She has visited thirty thousand flowers…Her work is done.”), her final flight in the warm air, and the birth of a new honeybee.

The Bee Book by Charlotte Milner
Beautifully designed so children can easily access the information, readers will discover why bees matter to the world with lots of information in kid-friendly language.

Bee and Me by Alison Jay
This is a beautiful wordless picture book about a girl who befriends a bee. She and her bee friend spread pollen for beautiful flowers around the city so that even when the bee must leave, the girl can always remember her friend through the flowers. Use this to start a discussion about bees and what they do for the world.

Bee by David Hawcock and Lee Montgomery
This is a short, fun, and factual lift-the-flap and pop-up book.

Egg to Bee LifeCycles by Camilla de la Bedoyere
Large pages, colorful photographs, oversized print, bolded vocabulary words, and interesting information make this a good addition to any elementary classroom. You’ll learn about the bees, the hive, laying eggs, growing and eating, queen, and more.

The Secret Life of Bees by Moira Butterfield, illustrated by Vivian Mineker
In this informational picture book about bees, Buzzwing explains all about her body, her life, her hive, different types of bees, enemies of bees, how to make honey, and more. Folktales about bees from around the world share the importance of bees in the world as well.

Honeybee Rescue: A Backyard Drama by Loree Griffin Burns, photos by Ellen Harasimowicz
Straightforward and fact-filled, this book is dramatic and very interesting. When Mr. Connery discovers a new hive in his barn, he hires Mr. Connery to help him rehome the bees to a new hive. But it’s trickier than you might think. The narration is accompanied by color photographs.

Bruno the Beekeeper: A Honey Primer by Aneta Frantiska Holasova
Excellent. This brown and golden illustrated treasuring gives readers important information with lots of picture support about bees, life cycles, beekeepers, flowers, beekeeping through the seasons, harvesting, and so much more, all following Bruno’s journey of learning from his grandma about beekeeping. It’s an essential children’s guide to everything bee-related.

 
Turn This Book Into a Beehive! and 19 Other Experiments and Activities That Explore the Amazing World of Bees by Lynn Brunelle, illustrated by Anna-Maria Jung
I think this book’s almost 100 pages of information and activities probably works better in a homeschool curriculum or with a parent/teacher facilitator. I do like the activities though– things like using Cheetos to make pollen or making anti-pest garlic spray for plants or making pop-bottle hives with straws– but in general, I find the book to be a tad overwhelming. Parents and teachers will want to use the table of contents to be purposeful about how you use this book’s resources and activities. The last about 100 pages are blank colored paper for making paper tubes to insert inside your DIY hive made with the book jacket.

Read Aloud Book Lists for All Ages

Poetry Books for Children

Nonfiction Books for Kids (Book Lists for All Ages)