This month’s book review and giveaway is of a lovely little book called Curious Beekeeper Nina by Kristiana Ambrasa. Baby girl is now at that stage that when she wants to look at a book or me read it to her, she will find the one she wants and bring it up onto the sofa next to me. She will then snuggle in for storytime.
We not only do storytime before bed but in the afternoons as well (when I’m not at work and we are home together). I treasure these moments as she loves turning the pages and will babble along in her toddler speak as I read to her. I still don’t have much of a clue what she’s saying but it’s very important to her!
Nina, a busy city girl, is visiting her grandmother in the countryside as she does every summer, but this time there is a whole lot more to discover. When arriving in the lonely village, Nina discovers beautiful flowers and tiny worker bees. Excited about what the bees get up to during the day, she heads out every day in search to learn something new and interesting about these busy creatures.
While the summer is in full swing, Ricky the local postman tells Nina about the autumn farmers’ market. As she rushes to get the last few bits of honey from the bee hives, Nina decides that the countryside is her dream place to be, but will she want to go back to her beloved city where all her friends live?
We love the bright colourful illustrations, it’s what makes the book intriguing for curious minds. The book has mainly illustrations on the left hand pages and text on the right. The Curious Beekeeper Nina isn’t a book for very young children as it has quite a lot of text included, but it’s fantastic for slightly older kids around 5-7 years I would say.
Nina is a wonderful character who gets given a bee hive for her birthday. She is fascinated with what they do and when she gets the chance to visit her Grandmother in the country bees are everywhere! She loves learning about what they do and how they go about their jobs. She decides the countryside is where she wants to live, but if she stays she will miss her friends in the city.
After I read the book, I came across the author’s biography at the back of the book, to my amazement the Curious Beekeeper Nina was written by a 14-year-old girl from Jersey! What an achievement for a 14-year-old to get a book published, also one that is there to help younger children understand the importance of bees.
One thing I’d love to have seen in Curious Beekeeper Nina is some more facts on bees to share with the little ones, but otherwise it’s a fabulous introduction to the world of beekeeping and bees.
We have given Curious Beekeeper Nina 4 out of 5 stars.
Paperback, 26 pages
Published March 31st 2017 by Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd
Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you’ve enjoyed this post.
*I was given a copy of Curious Beekeeper Nina in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.