When Loretta dropped her armload of firewood on the hearth, a mysterious tube fell from between the logs. It was a leafcutter bee nest. Loretta took it back out to the woodpile and watched as holes appeared. But where were the bees?

She found more holes appearing in leaves on her rose bushes. And even some of the rose petals. But where were the bees?

Leafcutter bees are more efficient than honey bees for pollinating gardens. The book includes instructions for building a nest that may lure wild bees to your yard.

‘Bees in Loretta’s Bonnet’ is a delightfully informative book aimed at children between three and eight years, by American author Lois J Wickstrom. Not feeling qualified to review this work alone, I enlisted the help of someone of appropriate age.

Noah already knew about quite a bit about bees but enjoyed the story and particularly liked the interactive section in the final third of the book. The subtlety of the title was lost on him, but parents who read the book with their children will appreciate it.

At 34 pages it was possible to finish the book in one session, as there were a lot of pictures. We read it electronically and sadly the artwork didn’t convert well in this format. However the cover design was appealing and Noah liked it.

This book conveys information in an enjoyable way which will encourage children to learn about the life-cycle of the leafcutter bee. At seven, Noah is towards the upper age limit and his interest was definitely stimulated, so much so that we had to find out as much as we could afterwards about the leafcutter bee which is presumably what the author had in mind. The vocabulary is age appropriate and Noah managed to read the entire book himself.

I note that the author has written several other books about insects and will definitely look out for them in hard copy form for Noah’s younger brother, but Noah said he would have preferred a slightly more complex story. Nonetheless, ‘Bees in Loretta’s Bonnet’ is an engaging book and we award four stars.

Every morning and evening, my husband and I walk our dogs and pick up trash around the neighborhood. We live many miles away from our children and grand children, so we don’t see them very often. We have an organic garden, and a make-shift greenhouse in the basement for starting seeds.

We live in the inner city, so there’s no place to park a car. We ride our bikes everywhere that’s practical and we belong to a car co-op. When we want a car, we rent it by the hour. We only need a car about once a month.

At the moment, I’m taking a screen-writing class which I’m loving. I also belong to Toastmasters to improve my oral storytelling skills.

Francie Mion and I just put out a color edition of Ladybugs for Loretta and Bees in Loretta’s Bonnet. Francie is currently making the illustrations for Loretta’s Pet Caterpillar.

I’m working with Lucrecia Darling (co-author of Reluctant Spy) on Xenia and the Deekatoo, a book about undocumented aliens and mythical creatures.

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