Bonnie and the Honeybees by Peggy Recchia

Author and illustrator Peggy Recchia adds another story in her series of children's books to help make the world a better place with Bonnie and the Honeybees.

This short and sweet story, aimed at ages four to eight, stars Bonnie the bear and begins with her preparing her famous Ice Box Cake for her cousin Sandy. Don't worry, the recipe is included in the book for you to make at home with your little ones. Bonnie soon finds she doesn't have enough honey, and after visiting her local farm, she finds out the bees are in trouble. Bonnie and Sandy come up with a plan, and they go around the community to different farms and shops, educating people on what they can do to help the bees. Bonnie knows just the way each person can use their own skills to help in their own way. In the end, everyone comes together to celebrate their collective efforts for a better and cleaner community.

What Recchia does well in Bonnie and the Honeybees is how personable she makes advocating for the environment. She addresses the issue in a way for children to understand while still being entertained by the story. As for the illustration, it's obvious that Recchia has skill in art and graphic design. There is a lot of detail on each page that makes this book a labor of love and something that the author is very passionate about. However, I cannot give this book 5 stars because the formatting of the text could have been more polished.

That being said, caring about the environment and animals is important today as ever. Children are the future, and books like this one give me a little more hope that it will be a brighter one for them.

By Sarah Hinrichs

Re-posted from Reedsy Discovery.