Billie B Brown 23 – The Honey Bees

Sally Rippin's The Honey Bees is a short, warm Billie B Brown story for 5 year olds about a big idea and a best friend who's gone very quiet.

What happens

It starts with three bees buzzing round the classroom. Everyone dives under the desks. Sam jumps up with a book to swat them.

Then the new girl, Sara, walks in, opens the window and lets them out (right past her nose!).

Billie is very impressed. Sara grew up on a farm. She had her own horse! She even kept bees.

Their class is finding out how to look after the planet, so Billie asks for Sara as her partner. Oh, and Jack. Of course.

Jack is Billie's best friend and he lives next door. And today he's grumpy, tired and not himself at all.

When Billie and Sara come up with the best idea ever, a beehive at school, Jack goes very red. He shouts that it's a stupid idea and runs back inside.

What's going on with him? The book asks your reader to guess, and plenty of them will. It's Billie's dad who helps her see there might be more to it than bees.

The sentences are short and bouncy, and the story keeps talking straight to your reader. It's lovely for a child who's just starting to read on their own, or for sharing at bedtime.

What it's really about is friendship. Getting excited about someone new and forgetting to notice the friend you already have is a very real thing at this age. Billie gets it wrong, then works out how to put it right. The worry in the dark feels big, and the making up is lovely.

There's a bit of saving the planet in there too. Reduce, re-use, recycle, compost bins and why bees matter all come up without it ever feeling like a lesson.

If your reader has had a wobble with a best friend lately, this one is gentle and reassuring.

What to read next

If Billie goes down well, there's plenty more of her. Billie's very first collection gathers her early stories, beginning with a day when Jack goes off to play soccer without her.