The Queen bee and me by Gillian McDunn

The Queen Bee and Me by Gillian McDunn is a book that will walk out of the library into the hands of girls. I will certainly be directing the attention of our upper primary girls to this book because comfort can be found in stories that depict the real-life social issues that they face.

The Queen Bee and Me describes in the first person voice of Meg, the unwritten social rules of Middle and High School girls' cliques. Anyone familiar with Queenbees and Wannabees, Rosalind Wiseman's 2002 self-help book on which the film Mean Girls is largely based, might think that the subject of the aggressive behaviour of teenage girls towards each other may have been already done. However Gillian McDunn takes an additional refreshing, incisive and "Pitch Perfect" (Publisher's Weekly) approach to the subject.

The central character, Meg, is a highly likeable seventh grade girl. We see events unfolding through her eyes. She is anxious, nervous and frightened of things. Ever since sandpit days, she has lived in the shadow of her "friend", the strong and overpowering Beatrix. Meg's lack of self-confidence has led to dependence on Beatrix. Meg is scared of the consequences of leaving the safe haven of protection that she finds being Beatrix's "bestie". With a friend like Beatrix she is protected from loneliness and the stigmatisation of being out of the cool group. She dances carefully to Beatrix's drum because she has had experience of the freeze that happens if she steps out of line with Beatrix in any way. The arrival of a new girl in town together with the development of Meg's individual interests that don't match Beatrix's interests changes the status quo. Meg's eyes slowly and reluctantly open to the social cruelties inflicted by Beatrix on others and she has to make a choice.

The intertwining theme running throughout this story is the behaviour of bees. The bees, their individual roles within the hive, their collective work and the fight that Meg and her friends and family have in order to save them, shines a mirror on the behaviour of the students at school and members of the town community. 

This book is complex. It is bitter and it is sweet. Gillian McDunn is shrewd and has no illusions about the dynamics of girls' groups in Middle School. Girls who are feeling the rough edge of this phenomenon will find great encouragement reading about Meg. Place this book in the hands of the girls who might need it.

Highly recommended.

Themes: Girls' friendships+cliques, Middle school, Bees, Being true to yourself.

Wendy Jeffrey