Inspired by her memoir, The Honey Bus: A Memoir of Loss, Courage, and a Girl Saved by Bees, author Meredith May’s debut children’s picture book relates the story of a young girl who lives with her grandparents after her parents separate. The girl spends most of her time with Grandpa, a beekeeper who harvests his honey in what he calls his Honey Bus.
Grandpa teaches his granddaughter to overcome her fear of honeybees and enlightens her about their emotions and social structure. The girl learns that “the most important thing to a bee is its family.”
One day, Grandpa invites the girl to help him on the Honey Bus, the place she regards as his “secret factory.” As the girl and Grandpa work together and she observes the structure of the honeycomb, she realizes that “the Honey Bus is our hive. Here my heart hums calmly.”
When the girl samples the harvested honey, Grandpa asks her how it tastes. She thinks, “I taste eucalyptus blossoms and coyote brush. I taste the boysenberries that sprout from the hood of the Honey Bus. I taste a bit of sage, and I taste something just a little bitter beneath the sweetness too. But that just makes it better.” Then she answers Grandpa: “Tastes like love.”
Artist Jasmin Dwyer’s exquisite illustrations and Meredith May’s moving narrative capture the intricacies of the bees’ world and the loving relationship between a grandfather and his granddaughter in need of a loving family life. (Abrams)