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Shop nowHow to Bee
This audiobook uses AI narration.
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Learn moreHow to Bee is a beautiful, fierce and ultimately hopeful dystopian novel, set against an all-too-possible future where the bees are extinct, and it is up to the quickest and bravest kids to pollinate the flowers by hand.
Peony lives with her sister, Magnolia, and their grandfather on a fruit farm outside the city. All Peony really wants is to be a bee. Even though she is only nineāand bees must be tenāPeony already knows all there is to know about being a bee, and she is determined to achieve her dream.
Life on the farm is a scrabble, but there is enough to eat and a place to sleep, and there is love. Then Peonyās mother arrives to take her away from everything she has ever known. Peony is taken to the city to work for a wealthy family. Will Peonyās grit and quick thinking be enough to keep her safe?
Bren MacDibble was raised on farms all over New Zealand, so she is an expert about being a kid on the land. After twenty years in Melbourne, Bren recently sold everything, and now lives and works on a bus travelling around Australia. How to Bee, her first novel for younger readers, won the Childrenās Book Council Book of the Year Award for Younger Readers, the New South Wales Premierās Literary Award Patricia Wrightson Prize for Childrenās Literature, and the New Zealand Book Awards Wright Family Foundation Esther Glen Award for Junior Fiction. She recently published The Dog Runner. Bren also writes for young adults under the name Cally Black.
Katherine Littrell is a Sydney-based audiobook narrator who studied English literature at Bryn Mawr College. She has lived in the United States and the UK, but is glad to be back home in Australia, where she enjoys knitting, making furniture, and talking out loud to herself in small spaces.
Reviews
āAs an example of how to write anthropocene. It is exemplary.ā
āThe narration captures the bookās mood perfectly, due to Katherine Littrellās performance. Her beautiful Australian accent doesnāt hurt, either.ā
āThis story, set in a dystopian landscape, reminds us of the vital role played by the bees that we take so much for granted, but there is even more to the story than environmental issues. We see extreme poverty and domestic violence but also courage and the ultimate insignificance of material comforts when compared to the love of friends and family.ā
āIn near-future Australia, ābeeā is both a noun and a verbā¦A vivid futuristic setting enfolds a fundamentally nostalgic plot.ā
āThe coming-of-age narrative tracking Peonyās journey is deeply feltāespecially when her mother puts her in dangerous situations where she must persevereā¦[A] middle grade tale of courage, with a unique story line that magnifies a realistic threat to one of natureās most helpful insects.ā
āMacDibbleās award-winning debut childrenās novel is a refreshing breath of organic, floral-scented air. She has created a recognizable, unforgettable voice in Peony, who is a vibrant personalityā¦Readers will root for her and her friends throughout their challenges and adventures, from surviving in the city to being promoted on the farm.ā
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