The Boy and the Backyard Bees

Daniel enjoys his backyard with its soft grass, a large tree and a patch of bare brown dirt. When Mom proposes planting flowers in the empty spot, Daniel puts on his green gardening hat and helps. With Dad and Mom he digs small holes, places tiny seeds inside and waters them, then inspects the garden daily until the first green shoots push through the soil. Over the following weeks leaves unfold and buds appear, and one bright morning the first yellow flower opens like a little sun, soon joined by pink, purple and white blooms.

A new sound then arrives in the garden: the buzz of bees. Sitting very still, Daniel watches a striped bee enter a flower and emerge with golden pollen on its legs. Dad describes how bees visit flowers all day, and Mom introduces the word pollination, explaining how pollen travels from one bloom to another so flowers can make seeds. Daniel records the bees in a notebook, and when a small green fruit appears where a flower once grew, he grasps what their work has made possible. This gentle tale by Jane MEADOW can be read on Kids Tale Book.