They Work

Honey Bees, Nature's Pollinators

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Book 4 of The Animal Life Cycles Series
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Pub Date Mar 11 2025 | Archive Date Mar 11 2025

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Description

The newest addition to June Smalls’s nature series, They Work is a gorgeous nonfiction picture book about life for a hive of honeybees, complete with factoids

She is the queen. She fought for that position from the moment she broke out of her cell. Her job is important, but she is not the leader. A hive is only successful if many, many bees are working. But only the females are hard at work. Experience the life cycle of the honeybee up close and personal with this striking picture book from June Smalls (author of She Leads, He Leads, and They Lead) and illustrator Yukari Mishima. Told in a poetic style along with fun facts on each page for older readers wanting a deeper dive, They Work is a beautiful exploration of life inside a beehive, as well as the dangers and predators bees face out in the world—including humans.
The newest addition to June Smalls’s nature series, They Work is a gorgeous nonfiction picture book about life for a hive of honeybees, complete with factoids

She is the queen. She fought for that...

Available Editions

EDITION Hardcover
ISBN 9781641709651
PRICE $17.99 (USD)
PAGES 32

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Average rating from 21 members


Featured Reviews

What a beautiful introduction to honeybees! The author does a wonderful job of explaining the many jobs that bees do, from feeding the larvae to gathering pollen to protecting their hive. The illustrations are simply stunning, with such a memorable, nostalgic feel to them.

All in all, this book is a great way to get kids interested in bees and create an awareness for just how much they do.

(Thank you to the author and NetGalley for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.)

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I will be purchasing this book immediately for my preschool class when it becomes available for our unit about bees and pollination!

The pictures are lovely and so descriptive of what the book is explaining.

My favorite part is the duel narrative, with a short story segment on each page, but then also a longer more descriptive and informative explanation. It gives the best of both worlds. There are days my class is only going to sit through a short story, but the pages are engaging enough that they will still be learning the basic concepts. But then if we have some questions or a class that is really engaged, we can go deeper and read the longer descriptions as well. It really adapts well for classroom use and multiple needs. And I always love a good bee book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Familius for allowing me to read and review this copy!

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This is a beautiful children's picture book with realistic illustrations and factual information about honey bees. There is some larger text that portrays a simpler story for young children and smaller text that goes into more detail regarding the lives of honey bees. Even as an adult, I learned something new! I was especially impressed by the mention and illustration of pesticides causing bees harm as I believe this is such an important message to pass on to the youth. I also appreciated the illustration of how bees communicate their directions to others in the hive. There is evidently so much care and passion put into the production of this book.

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This was such a beautiful kids story! My four kids and I cherished this! I loved every minute. It was beautifully done. Well done June! I was a preschool teacher for five years and wish I had this sweet story in my classroom.

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This is such an important topic to teach kids about, and this book does it beautifully! Bees are such hard workers and an important part of our ecosystem and between the illustrations and facts, this book conveys this message to all of its readers! 🐝

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Calling all curious bee-lovers!
The rich illustrations complemented with equally rich educational details in this book make the amazing lives of hardworking bees even more awe-inspiring!

The larger text is great for beginning readers. The smaller, more detailed text provides amazing insights that new readers can listen to and absorb as they look at terrific images. Well balanced, beautiful and highly educational.

Thanks to NetGalley for sharing this DRC with me for an honest review.

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A spectacular book; perfect for the spring and summer. It informs young readers of the life cycle and behaviors of bees. Beautifully illustrated in a way that enhances the text and eases understanding. This book would be great as a read aloud for ages 6-8 and for independent reading ages 9-13. Perfect for school and classroom libraries.

Note for editor: as I received this as a digital ARC, please correct the misspelled “nectar” on 15 of 18.

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They work is a beautiful nonfiction book by author June Smalls about the lives of honeybees.

I thought this book was beautifully illustrated. I love how the main story and small facts about honeybees on each page! Though the main audience for this book is children, I was able to learn some new things about honeybees as an adult. This book does a wonderful job of mixing educational and fun! I recommend this book if you or a child in your life are a bug or bee lover!

Thank you to Netgalley and Familius for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review!

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Beautifully illustrated non-fiction book about bees. I particularly liked the feature of using large font size for the main idea on the page, but also a paragraph of smaller text that gave additional details that readers could enjoy. Will definitely purchase for my library.

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Fascinating story detailing the many roles of bees in a colony. Fun facts accompany each page. Delightful illustrations will keep children interested.

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Such a sweet book. Read this to my 2 year old as she has a cold and she loved it. Informative but fun for a little one. We both loved the illustrations!

Thanks the NetGalley for the e-arc!

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