Member Reviews
Apologies for the delay in this review, i have been battling ill health.
Great story, lovely setting, enjoyed the charcters and the story very much. I thought it flowed really well and it was a really good read.
This concept was brilliant and the book was a brilliant read, I will be reading more from this author
A debut novel, The Little Queen involves seventh grader Anthony and his mental connection with a displaced queen bee. This may be a story of interest and enjoyment to junior and senior high school age readers, especially those who appreciate fantasy.
The characters were well developed and I was drawn into the world of Bee keeping.
Unfortunately, at times I found this more like a documentary on Bee keeping and although interesting ,it did feel at times like you were being preached too.
Overall though this is an easy read about friendship and love.
An unusual concept with a sci-fi slant. According to bee lore, a hive of bees is destined to die by green gas before it has a chance to swarm. Little Queen has to escape the hive before this happens.
Anthony used to help his mum to care for her honey bees until she dies. He has become disengaged at school and misses her a lot. When he checks the hive after a while, he finds the bees have lost their Queen and are doomed unless they get a new one.
I was drawn to this book because I am a bee keeper and can see that the author has researched honey bees with many accurate bee facts within the story. However there were enough inaccuracies that spoilt the story. The major one being that while the Queen pheromone means the bees know who belongs in their colony, it is the worker bees, not the Queen, who decide how the hive behaves.
Worth a read. I think that teens would like this as well.