Bumblebee at Apple Tree Lane

This book is an excellent learning tool full of beautiful, accurate illustrations bursting with eye catching color. I would recommend any book illustrated by Kristen Kest. Her work outshines other illustrators in this series, as well as others, for the quality of the artwork and the level of accurate attention to detail.

The latest addition to the "Smithsonian's Backyard" series of nature books for young readers, Laura Gates Galvin's Bumblebee At Apple Tree Lane is the charming and informative story of a bumblebee awakening from a winter-long hibernation in the backyard of the stone-and-wood cottage on Apple Tree Lane. She works hard during the spring and summer cleaning the nest, laying eggs, providing food for the larvae, etc. In the fall the young queens hibernate underground and the following spring the life cycle of the bumblebee colony begins all over. This accurate presentation on the life cycle of the bumblebee is superbly illustrated in full shining color with the vividly accurate artistry of Kristin Kest. This outstanding wildlife storybook is also available with a companion read-along audiocassette tape and realistically designed stuffed animal toy in a multimedia, interactive presentation for those who would prefer more than this simple, elegant, very highly recommended picturebook.