Affirm Press
April 2026
- Affirm Kids
- ISBN13: 9781923293526
- RRP: AU$ 24.99 / NZ$ 27.99
Sarah Jane Lightfoot’s books are always a treat and this one is certainly that. I knew we had different types of native bees but I’m pretty sure I didn’t know all of those described in this lovely flit around the country. And while I have bluebum bees in our little veggie plot regularly, and I’ve recently seen the chubby ‘teddy’ bear bees some of our others were new to me or, perhaps forgotten.
My thoughts are that children will love to find out about these different types of our native bees given many of them will not have seen even one variety. My Jen was part of the beekeeping club at her primary school back in the late 80s and got her Beekeepers badge in Brownies and I feel sure that there are quite likely even more beekeeping activities happening around various schools. And creating bee hotels in home gardens has become steadily popular, so this book plays right into both those trends.
The illustrations from Sarah are cartoonish enough to be cute but also provide an accurate representation of each bee so that they could be easily recognised. Our more regularly seen European honey bee is keen to meet the native bees and so makes its way from place to place all across the country to discover all the varieties who contribute to our ecosystems. Alongside that, her rhythmic text is a light and lilting way to convey the learning by stealth – I love it!
I would love to be basing some classroom learning around this one and there are plenty of resources freely available to support that, not to mention the practical aspect of setting up bee motels or hives if your school does not yet have those. Find learning resources and a terrific free learning kit from Wheen Bee –hurry that free offer closes 23rd October.
This is wings down a 5 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝– a real buzzzzz for readers from Prep upwards!
Leave a Reply