The year is 2036. Honeybees are nearly extinct, the world’s crops are disappearing, and Melissa’s origami may be the only thing that can save them. When she hears haunting music in a parched almond grove and starts having visions of an ancient shrine, thirteen-year-old Melissa Bui thinks she’s losing it.
Things aren’t going well to begin with. Her father isn’t thrilled with new custody arrangements and medication hasn’t cured her form of epilepsy–staring spells that erase entire moments of her life. Melissa copes with troubles by folding origami, so it seems like a good plan to fold a thousand origami honeybees as a prayer and, hopefully, a way to connect with her uncommunicative father. He’s a scientist in a race against time to save honeybees by tapping into their communication system that he believes may involve a special ability to rearrange quarks.
Melissa soon finds herself thrust back in time when her origami opens a portal to Ancient Crete. There she encounters a girl, Amethea, who is torn between an ambition to run in the Women’s Olympics or to save her disabled brother from becoming a human sacrifice. Melissa realizes that saving the young boy and pulling modern honeybees back from the brink of extinction are intertwined, but she may risk blinking out of existence like the quarks her scientist father studies.
Set in the Texas Hill Country and a small island off the coast of Crete, The Bee Maker is a 50,000 word Middle Grades novel that affirms that young people can overcome limitations, even of time and space, by drawing strength from the fire of creation within themselves.
Purple Dragonfly Award, Honorable Mention for Science Fiction/Fantasy
Story Monsters Approved! (Winner for Tween Novels)
Shagarika85 –
In the fabulous new YA novel The Bee Maker, author Mobi Warren combines diverse, endearing characters (human and animal), vivid descriptions of nature, detailed scientific knowledge and refreshingly imaginative science fiction to create a page-turner of a story. Set in the all-too-believable near future, the characters struggle mightily with climate change, and are particularly focused on the plight of the honeybees. Ms. Warren draws from Greek mythology, origami, Vietnamese Buddhism, foot races, 13th century Germany, and above all, the fascinating lives of honeybees to weave together an ever-intensifying plot. While this book would integrate beautifully with a middle school curriculum, I cannot imagine many people who would not want to just pick it up and read it for the sheer pleasure of the story itself!
Leslie A. Barton –
This is a beautifully written book. It is a great read for all ages. Mobi Warren is a talented and creative writer. I highly recommend this book to others!
Judith B –
From the very first chapter through the Epilogue this story held my interest. A wonderfully creative tale — woven with facts and lore — that is not just for young readers. While providing a terrific, unifying theme to the story lines in this science fiction read, the plight of bees is all too real. Ms. Warren combines bleakness with hope in her futuristic passages. What a fun read!!
Emily H. –
This book is highly creative and engaging and I could hardly put it down! From ancient Greece to the near future, the characters and settings are so evocative that I keep thinking about them long after finishing the book. Recommended for tweens and adults alike.
Rosalee de la Forêt –
Ms. Warren has written an impactful book for tweens and adults alike. The story kept me turning the pages, but it was the deeper themes that has stayed with me since setting the book down. Part science-fiction, the main character time slips to ancient Greece for lessons on love and endurance, both of which have consequences in the 21st century future where bees have all but disappeared. I highly recommend this book. I’ll be giving it as gifts!
J. Campbell –
“The Bee Maker” is an enchanting and mind-expanding experience for readers of all ages. It’s categorized as Young Adult Fiction, and I would have loved to have run across this book when I was prowling the shelves of my middle school library—but reading it as an adult, it was so entertaining, engrossing, and intriguing that I didn’t want to put the book down. Mr. Spielberg, I see your next blockbuster movie project in this timely book about family relationships, effects of climate change, and the re-framing/celebration of disability.
11-year-old reader –
I loved it! Cuz it was a really good book, and the integration of Greek myths with futuristic sci-fi-ness was really cool.
Jean H –
Ms. Warren takes her reader on a flight of fancy through mid-21st century Texas and ancient Greece on the wings of climate-endangered and origami bees. Alighting on topics as varied as the perfect numbers, divorced parents, goat herding, epilepsy, and marathon running, this short novel provides a point of departure for discussions of a multitude of both academic and social issues of interest to tweens and teens. A fun and fabulous choice for teaching across the curriculum. Bonus points for strong female characters!