Nicole's Readers' Advisory Blog

Honeybee: The Busy Life of Apis Mellifera (2020) Written by: Candace Fleming Illustrated by: Eric Rohmann Publisher: Neal Porter Books Book type: Picture book Grade level: K-4 Lexile level: 750 Summary Honeybee: The Busy Life of Apis Mellifera follows the lifespan of one female honeybee. Readers see "Apis" hatch from her wax cell in the beginning to join other worker bees in the colony. The narrative creates an anticipation of when Apis will fly for the first time. After Apis eats "sticky, rich pollen," darkens in color to a "warm yellow orange," and grains strength, the narrator asks, "Strong enough for flying?" "Not yet..." Apis must clean the hive's nursery to prepare each wax cell for a new bee egg. At three days old, Apis's special glands behind her face begin to enlarge, filling with a milky-sweet liquid to feed to the larvae in the nursery. At eight days old, Apis must tend to the queen by grooming her, feeding her, a...

Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear (2015) Written by: Lindsay Mattick Illustrated by: Sophie Blackall Publisher: Little, Brown and Company Book type: Picture book Ages: 4-8 years Lexile Level: AD590L Summary Finding Winnie opens with a young boy named Cole asking his mother to tell him a bedtime story about a bear. Cole’s mother proceeds to tell Cole the true story about a veterinarian who lived about one hundred years ago in Winnipeg; his name was Harry Colebourn. Harry left Winnipeg to travel far away to care for soldiers' horses during World War I. During his travels, Harry met a man with a bear cub on a train platform. Harry felt that there was something special about the bear, so he purchased the bear from the man and named the bear Winnie, after his home town of Winnipeg. Harry and the soldiers grew very fond of Winnie, often playing with her and giving her many good things to eat. Winnie became the mascot of the Second Canadian Infantry Brigad...