Kirsten Hall is a former preschool and elementary school
teacher who has authored more than a hundred learn-to-read stories
for emergent readers. Today, she is the founder and owner of a
boutique children’s book illustration and literary agency, Catbird
Productions. Hall is the author of the picture books The Gold
Leaf and The Jacket, which was a New York
Times Notable Book in 2014.
Isabelle Arsenault is an internationally renowned children’s
book illustrator whose work has won many awards and much praise
from critics. Her books include Virginia Wolf by Kyo
Maclear, Cloth Lullaby by Amy Novesky, and Jane, the
Fox, and Me by Fanny Britt, which was named a New York
Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book. The poetry expressed
through Isabelle Arsenault’s graphic universe, the gentleness of
her lines, and the overall charm of her books have made her one of
Quebec’s best-known and most esteemed illustrators. Visit Isabelle
online at IsabelleArsenault.com.
"Kirsten Hall (“The Jacket”) teams up with the gently magnificent
illustrator Isabelle Arsenault (“Cloth Lullaby,” “Colette’s Lost
Pet”) to bring readers the story of one year, from spring to
spring, with the honeybees of a single hive. Hall’s charming text
proceeds in lightly cadenced lines.... Arsenault’s illustrations
capture something of the alien vision of bees — bees see a “bee
purple” in flowers that is invisible to us — through a neon orange
that she uses sparingly amid paler gouache, pencil and ink
landscapes. Her flowers and grasses are drawn impressionistically,
while the bees themselves are made more emotionally legible with
cartoonish eyes and even smiles. Children will love tracing the
erratic paths of the honeybees, and come away with a not too
distorted sense of the little honey factory inside the
unprepossessing, and previously terrifying, hive. The hexagons of
honeycomb, as drawn by Arsenault, seem so perfect as to be fanciful
precisely when they are fact."
*The New York Times Book Review*
“Glorious… this lively work of nonfiction has a buoyant,
enthusiastic tone… children will pick up not only a bit of
information but also a sense of wonder and even admiration.”
*The Wall Street Journal*
* "In bouncy, lilting verse and vibrant, inviting artwork, this ode
to the humble honeybee is dripping with charm.... Hall's lively
lines skitter around Arsenault's warm, honey-colored
illustrations.... With occasional speech balloons and delightfully
expressive gestures, the bees mirror the gleeful tone of the
poem.... Arsenault's scenes are a captivating mixture of smudgy
charcoals, soft yellows, and fluoresecent oranges, combining crisp
shapes with more abstract figures. The entertaining tone and
freewheeling art are a pure joy, but there's plenty of science
here, too, and a closing note about the importance of bees to our
ecosystem brings the point home. Boisterously written, gorgeously
illustrated, and sneakily educational."
*Booklist, February 2018, *STARRED REVIEW**
* "The Honeybee is a delightful introduction to the crucial
role of nature's hardest workers... Hall's language is rich and
lively. Her cadence buzzes with all the energy of a hive. The
Honeybee is a joyful read-aloud - the rhymes and repetition
are as much fun to speak as they are to hear. Quebec illustrator
Isabelle Arsenault...brings the text to life with her signature
mixed-media style... Hall and Arsenault are a perfect match. Each
of their work acts to strengthen the other's; neither the words nor
the pictures are overshadowed. The Honeybee also strikes
an ideal balance between fact and fiction, proving that accuracy
and playfulness are not mutually exclusive."
*Quill & Quire, *STARRED REVIEW**
"Hall’s nimble rhyming verse and Arsenault’s warm illustrations
provide an upclose visit with a friendly colony of
anthropomorphized honeybees.... The text’s varied rhythms mimic a
bee’s movements in a summery world; that atmosphere is captured in
the mixed-media illustrations’ muted palette.... Bright pops of
yellow-gold are used sparingly for pollen, honey, and a few
flowers.... Hall’s appended page-long letter to readers (packed
with bee wordplay) provides more information about pollination and
emphasizes what readers can do to help protect honeybees."
*Horn Book Magazine*
"Children will be buzzing to learn more about honeybees after
reading this story. Hall takes her readers on a sunny romp through
a springtime pasture abuzz with friendly honeybees in this bright
and cheerful picture book. Hall's rhyme scheme is inviting and
mirrors the staccato sounds of a bee buzzing... the vocabulary is
on-point as the bees demonstrate the various stages of nectar
collection and honey creation. Arsenault's illustrations, a
combination of ink, gouache, graphite, and colored pencil, are
energetic and cheerful.... A sensible choice for read-alouds and
STEAM programs. Readers (and listeners) will think that this book
is the bee's knees."
*Kirkus Reviews, April 2018*
"Hall celebrates honeybees with a lyrical poem... well-crafted
rhyming couplets beg to be read aloud. Set on gloriously
illustrated pages and nicely paced, the text appears to be hand
printed in varying fonts, becoming part of Arsenault’s light and
lively illustrations.... While the narrative and illustrations will
appeal to very young listeners, the back matter, which touches on
current threats, seems addressed to older children, suggesting ways
in which they can help honeybees survive. VERDICT: A sweet
success."
*School Library Journal, April 2018*
"Embraces the pleasures of listening as well as learning as it
follows the denizens of a particular hive over the course of a
year. . . . Hall’s poetic text lets internal and ending
rhymes, imagery, dialogue, and onomatopoeias flit, zoom, and hover
in consonance with the apian protagonist. Arsenault’s pencil,
paint, and ink pictures are gloriously vibrant, judiciously
balancing black, grays, and golds, and directing and refreshing
young viewers’ attention with touches of her blazing yellow-gold.
In an appended letter to readers, Hall notes the importance of
honeybees and suggests ways children can help support these crucial
creatures."
*BCCB*
"The plight of the endangered honeybee is the raison d’être of this
story.... Dominated by golden hues punctuated with splashes of
neon yellow, the airy mixed-media art by Arsenault (Cloth Lullaby)
helps kids decipher the goings-on, in and out of the hive. Tips on
how to help preserve the bee population follow the story."
*Publishers Weekly, March 2018*
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