A change from the usual apples and honey presentation, What’s the Buzz, through wonderful photographs and simple explanations, teaches both adult readers and young children how we get honey. The narrative begins with a trip to a bee farm in Israel. The children who go on the trip are concerned at first that they might be stung. However, the beekeeper shows them how he protects himself and assures them that only he, in his special suit, will go inside where the bees are. Using a plastic bee, the beekeeper explains how the girl bees do almost all the work. This includes sipping nectar from the flowers, making wax to build honeycombs and taking care of the babies and the queen. The queen lays the eggs and boy bees hope to mate with the queen. After the children get a taste of the honey, they receive beeswax and shape it into candles. The book concludes with a scene showing a child’s abba and ima dipping an apple into the honey she has purchased.
The “Fun Facts” at the end of the book are an excellent resource. They tell us that there are over 90,000 beehives in over 6,000 locations within Israel and that there have been clay beehives found there that are over 3000 years old. Unique as a resource for Rosh Hashanah, What’s the Buzz guides us on a delightful Israeli excursion. Recommended for ages 4 – 7.
