ReFoReMo Mini-Monthly Writing Challenge: Bee-utiful

By Janie Reinart

“Handle a book as a bee does a flower, extract its sweetness but do not damage it.”

                                                                                                                       ~ John Muir


Our gardens are blooming and buzzing with our pollinators--our bee-utiful honey bees.
Do you know these bee facts? Your challenge is to write about these busy bees.

A bee must collect nectar from about 2 million flowers to make one pound of honey? 

It requires 556 worker bees to gather a pound of honey. 

Bees fly as far as five miles for food.

By Kirsten Hall

This is a story poem about the honey bees of one hive from spring to spring. The end pages are bee stripped. The author's note states, "The honeybee is one of our world's most marvelous creatures. And sadly, it's in danger. In writing this book, I was hoping you might grow a new appreciation for the honeybee--and that you'll join me in caring about its future."

A field.

A tree.

Climb it and see...

For miles, all around you,

grow wild and free

FLOWERS.

But then ...

SHHH!

What's that?

Do you hear it? 

You're near it.

It's closer,

it's coming,

it's buzzing,

it's humming...

A BEE!

By Craig Smith

From the bestselling author and illustrator behind the million-copy The Wonky Donkey book comes Willbee the Bumblebee, a catchy rhyme with sweet illustrations that will leave you buzzing! 

"Willbee the bumblebee is so embarrassed when he realizes that his black-and-yellow jacket has caught on a rose thorn and completely unraveled, showing his bare bum! With help from Monica the butterfly and Steve the spider, Willbee recovers his jacket and is back to buzzing around the garden in no time."
Willbee the bumblebee
lives his life in your garden
             so happily.

Up early in the morning
                   til the evening hour.

Flying around
           from flower to flower.

Now everyone knows, I suppose
without bees in your garden, nothing grows.

By Shabazz Larkin

This is a love poem from a father to his two sons comparing bees to rambunctious children and a tribute to the bees that pollinate the foods we love to eat. "Children are introduced to different kinds of bees, “how not to get stung,” and how the things we fear are often things we don’t fully understand." 


Here's the thing about bees. Sometimes bees can be a bit rude.
They fly in your face and prance on your food. They buzz in the bushes
and buzz in your ear. 
They sneak up behind you and feel you with fear.
And worst of all they do this thing
called sting.  Ouch!

Go out to the garden and enjoy the bees and the flowers. Get buzzing and write a sweet story about our bee-utiful bees.