Explore bees!
The featured books are The Bee Tree by Patricia Polacco and The Life and Times of the Honeybee by Charles Micucci. The Bee Tree offers a lesson about the rewards of hard work. Mary Ellen is reluctant to spend time indoors reading, so her grandfather creates an adventure that has them-and half the village-following a bee to its home and to the results of its hard work — its honey. In The Life and Times of the Honeybee, detailed, full-color illustrations help explain the complex world inside a beehive and the fascinating process of making honey. Readers get the facts on the life cycle of bees, their work, and their relationship with people and plants.
How Bees Make Honey
You might want to try this related activity with your child, too. Download, print, and cut out our 8-page mini-book How Bees Make Honey and work together with your child to put the pages in the correct order. Your child will learn some great vocabulary, too — words such as “proboscis” and “evaporate.”
Get the books
The featured books were chosen for their quality and availability in most school and public libraries. For other book suggestions, check out the bookmark in the PDF.
The Bee Tree
Age Level:
6-9 
The Life and Times of the Honeybee
Age Level:
6-9 Genre:
Nonfiction What’s in the reading adventure pack?
- Parent information sheet with an introductory note that teachers can personalize, instructions about how to use the packet, and tips for sharing fiction and nonfiction books with children
- Two books: one fiction and one nonfiction, selected by Reading Rockets for high quality and wide availability in school libraries
- Creativity Activity: a hands-on craft project
- Imagination Activity: encourages imaginative play, writing, or drawing
- Get Real Activity: focuses on real-world experiences for parent and child
- Bookmark: lists the featured titles and alternative titles
- Parent survey
While designed as a school-to-home project, reading adventure packs are also great for summer programs, after-school programs, and home-schoolers.
Interested in more reading adventures?
Browse our full library of Reading Adventure Packs. And for additional information, read the article, Reading Adventure Packs: A School-to-Home Project.
Reprints
You are welcome to print copies or republish materials for non-commercial use as long as credit is given to Reading Rockets and the author(s). For commercial use, please contact [email protected].