Honeybees and Frenemies by Kristi Wientge - ADVISABLE

Honeybees and Frenemies by Kristi Wientge, 246 pages. Simon and Schuster. 2019. $17                  

Content: G 

BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS - ADVISABLE   

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE                                

Flor is facing the summer, at home and working at her dad's mattress store. Her best friend is away at camp. Flor is forced into talking part in the Honeybee Pageant with her former best friend Candice. They work on their talents, a duet where Flor plays the recorder and Candice plays the piano. As part of the pageant service project the two girls are helping Mr. Henry, a recluse, clean up his yard. He ends up teaching them a lot about bees and bee keeping.  At home the situation is tense, mom and dad always arguing. Mom wants to move from Ohio to New Jersey and Dad wants to stay. He feels obligated to run the store his dad started. Can Flor help her parents? Will her mom make them move? and will Dad come with them? "         

Flor is a great protagonist. We see things through her eyes and I felt for her as she worked to help her parents, Mr. Henry, her dad and just trying to do things that they all wanted her to do. Flor has a lot of guts and gumption and she is not afraid to stand up for what she believes is right. She gains respect for her Candice as they again become friends. I really liked this book and I loved learning little known facts about bees in the process. I will book talk and recommend this book to the students at my school.  

Ellen-Anita, Librarian