Friendly Bee and friends by Sean E. Avery

Take one friendly bee, an angry wasp, an enormous hairy spider, a boring worm turned into a beautiful butterfly, throw in some witty humour plus detailed graphic images, and you have a recipe for an enjoyable and engaging new read for younger readers. With a colourful and appealing cover and pages printed in colours of yellow, black and white, this fun read tells the tale of a perpetually friendly bee who is desperate to befriend every insect he meets. Angry Wasp is a real challenge for Friendly Bee, but bee perseveres with the friendship even when they are trapped together on an enormous hairy spider’s web. Eventually, with Friendly Bee’s relentless optimism and super-helpful ideas, the spider, wasp and bee all become friends.

This entertaining book is full of amusing conversations between Friendly Bee and Angry Wasp as well as cleverly inserted facts pages giving interesting information about bees, wasps, caterpillars and spiders. A second book about Friendly Bee and a Pessimistic Earthworm is on its way.

Themes: Insects, Spiders, Humour, Graphic Novel, Facts, Perseverance.

Kathryn Beilby