The Bee Tree

By Diana Cohn and Stephen Buchmann

Book Overview

This beautifully illustrated STEM picture book is both a fascinating insight into honeybee behavior and a satisfying story of coming of age.

Nizam lives in a village in Peninsular Malaysia. His grandfather Pak Teh is the leader of the honey hunting clan. It is Pak Teh who has the high honor of climbing the tall Tualang tree deep in the rainforest. Lying on a branch more than a hundred feet in the air, he uses the clan's secret method to harvest the honey without being stung. But Pak Teh is getting older, and he is ready for someone to take over his role. Even though Nizam and his cousin Shukor have climbed the mighty Tualang in the daylight, they have never done it at night. Will they be brave enough? Will the angry bees sting them? Or will they succeed and claim their place in the clan?

The creators of this book participated in the honey hunt with the Orang Asli, the indigenous people of Malaysia, and the extensive backmatter provides additional information on the country, the rainforest, the Orang Asli, and the giant honeybees.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1935955144
• ISBN13: 9781935955146
• Release Date: April 2012
• Publisher: Cinco Puntos Press
• Length: 40 Pages
• Weight: 0.44 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 8.0" x 10.8"
• Age Range: 6 to 9 years
• Grade Range: Grades 1 to 4

Customer Reviews

A stunning children's picturebook based on the real-life traditions of honey hunters

Entomologist Stephen Buchmann and award-winning children's book author Diana Cohn present The Bee Tree, a stunning children's picturebook based on the real-life traditions of honey hunters of Malaysia's indigenous people, who use special techniques to collect honey from dangerous, 1-inch long giant honeybees of the rainforest. Though fierce, the giant wild honeybees are also a critical link of the rainforest's ecology, and are deeply respected by the honey hunters. The Bee Tree recounts the legend of Hitam Manis, a servant girl who became transformed into a bee, and tells of the many precautions honey hunters take to avoid being stung (such as collecting honey only on moonless nights, and sending sparks to the ground to lure away guardian bees from the honeycomb), all through the eyes of a young boy being schooled in ancient ways. Illustrator Paul Mirocha made five trips to Malaysia to perfectly capture the color, life, and near-magical wonder of the Malaysian rainforest and its bees in this wonderful picturebook, supplemented at the end with a section of amazing facts about Malaysia's rainforests, bee trees with up to one hundred bee honeycombs, and honey hunters. Highly recommended.