Akeem Keeps Bees!

As a rural library serving a community filled with independent apiaries, small scale farms, and community pollinator gardens, this book is sure to be a hit with our families!

The cheerful illustrations, engaging photos, and graphic novel layout will appeal to younger readers, while the solid information and handy index will appeal to older readers who want to share "what my family does" with their friends and the community at large. Surprisingly comprehensive, this book pulls readers onto a small family farm and into the cycle of beekeeping across all four seasons, providing both a basic overview of bees and beekeeping and a more nuanced look at the challenges faced by the small scale farmer or beekeeper. A fantastic addition to any library, and a perfect book to bring along on a Farmers Market story time or as a highlight for a community garden or local pollinator program.

Through-the-year journey of bees and beekeeping, great insight.

I loved this. Akeem and his family have a farm, and this book focuses on their beekeeping - showing readers what thought and care goes into looking after these precious pollinators, and their life cycle through a year.

As an adult, I learnt a few things about their hives, habits and hazards. There's plenty of labelled illustrations and a good amount of detail for curious children of all ages and it feels like a realistic look at life for bees - sometimes they don't make it through the winter, for example.

Homes and schools could make a lot of use of this book.

With thanks to Netgalley for providing a sample reading copy.

Loved this book! It has beautiful illustrations and is a good mix of information and storytelling. As an aspiring beekeeper it was great to see how much information was share but in a kid friendly way. This will be great to use with my kids when we get to our gardening/beekeeping lessons.

What a perfect (and comprehensive!) introduction to beekeeping for this age!

Akeem and his father take us through a season of beekeeping at Sankofa Farms. I expected basic introductory information, but this book is so detailed! Everything from bee births and bearding to sugar water and swarming is covered alongside beautiful illustrations. Treating its readers with the respect and intelligence they deserve, this is a fascinating read. There's also such a sense of empathy throughout that I appreciate, as the questions Akeem asks (like what happens to bee colonies that don't survive the winter) are thoughts that many young kids will have in the process of beekeeping, and the facts are told truthfully but compassionately.

(Plus, it's just awesome to have representation of Black boy excellence in beekeeping! I'm so glad this book introduced me to Kamal Bell, his family, and their farms.)

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for providing me with a free digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

What a darling book!!! My four kids absolutely loved this story. It was full of great knowledge and just so fun for kids. The illustrations were beautiful! Such a wonderful kids book

A fantastic book on raising bees, with fab illustrations, info-rich text, and terrific photos, plus a helpful glossary. Geared to readers 6-10 and adults like me who are intrigued by the year long look at a real life farm that specializes in bee rearing. It's an OwnVoices story too, which adds a much-needed perspective. Highly recommended!

This is not a short read book that you can read for bedtime for small kids. But the content is reeking with information, facts and photos (or illustrations) that kids and adults will love. You might not be a big fan of bees this book will surely make you one.

It is very educational and extremely fun to read.
the characters are so relatable and beekeeping is explained so well that small kids can be engaged and stay interested throughout the book!
the illustrations are magnificent.