Maribeth Boelts · mentor texts · picture book

A Review of Kaia and the Bees

Stacey Shubitz

One of my greatest parenting regrets happened in June 2012 when I freaked out upon seeing several bees near my daughter’s play set. I must’ve shrieked and yelled “Bees!” before scooping her up and running into the house. We were both okay, but I believe it was my huge reaction (to not wanting either of us to be stung!) that led to her fear of anything that buzzes when it flies. Despite me regulating my future reactions to bees (I’ve committed myself to being calmer, standing still, and not panicking since then.) and reading her several nonfiction books on the merits of bees, my daughter is still fearful of them.

Enter Kaia and the Bees — written by Maribeth Boelts and illustrated by Angela Dominguez — which will be on-sale tomorrow. It’s a book about a brave-type of girl named Kaia who isn’t afraid of anything, except bees! Kaia’s dad understands the importance of bees and keeps bees on the rooftop of their apartment building. But Kaia got stung once and became scared of them. (I can relate. I’ve been stung twice, which is why I had the above-mentioned episode back in 2012!) Through the 40 page book, Kaia takes small steps to overcome her fear of bees and comes to realize bees are not looking to harm her. As a result, Kaia and the Bees is a highly-relatable book for anyone who has overcome or is working to overcome a fear. It helps readers understand that they need to give themselves time and compassion if they are going to be brave in the face of something that scares them.

Clearly, this is a great book to read with students as springtime blooms — and bees come out — here in North America. At this point in the year, you’re probably long past teaching personal narrative. However, for students who are writing realistic fiction or engaging in independent narrative writing projects, there are a variety of craft moves you could teach students to make with Kaia and the Bees:

  • Compound Adjectives: Boelts joins two or more words together to form a compound adjective in a few places in the text. She does this as a way of making the text more descriptive than just using a single modifier.
  • Em Dashes: Boelts uses these longer dashes to emphasize, interrupt, or change thought in the middle of sentences. On a couple of occasions, she uses it to introduce extra material to a sentence. Therefore, you can teach students how to use em dashes in a couple different ways using the same mentor text.
  • Font Treatment: There are a few places in the text where words (e.g., brave, buzzing, flying, nonstop, zipping) are emphasized using a bigger font size. There are also places where the font size is increased and capital letters are used for emphasis (e.g., A BEE STINGS MY FINGER!; BEES; RIGHT. ON. MY. ARM.; SUPER). Finally, there are places where several lines have increasing font sizes to show emphasis across sentences (e.g., Bees. Bees. So many bees!) All of these different kinds of font treatment draw the reader in so as to emphasize a part of the text.
  • Dialogue: There are spoken words between characters throughout the text. Most of the dialogue is between Kaia and her father who is the beekeeper of the family. There’s also dialogue that happens among Kaia and her neighbors, Hector and Marcella, who call her out on her fear of bees when one lands on her arm.
  • Movement Through Time and Place: The entire story takes place in and around Kaia’s apartment building. So while the place doesn’t change much, there are different scenes, which require the use of key words and transitional phrases so that readers are clear how Kaia is flowing through the story. The story begins inside of Kaia’s apartment. Next, it transitions to the stoop in front of her apartment. From there, readers go back inside, then up to the roof of the apartment building. After being stung, Kaia goes back inside and some time passes. Next, Kaia is in the kitchen harvesting honey with her parents. The story ends, soon thereafter, with Kaia and her dad walking down her street at sunset on the same day of the honey harvest.
  • Setting Details: Though vivid descriptions, Boelts helps readers unfamiliar with beekeeping understand what hive boxes look like, what kind of equipment is required to safely work with bees, etc. While there is some technical language on the beekeeping pages of the book, the illustrations help younger readers get an understanding those terms by showing what’s being described in the text.
  • Show, Not Tell: Boelts’ picture books serve consistently of examples of how to show, rather than tell, readers what’s happening. Boelts uses action, internal thinking, dialogue, and figurative language to help readers know what is happening in the text. For example, in the beginning of the book, Kaia says she feels twisty inside when she brags to her neighbors that she’s like a beekeeper, it shows readers that she’s being untruthful. The word twisty appears at the end of the book when Kaia declares that “nothing inside me is twisty” because she’s discovered how brave she is. As a reader, I can feel relieved since Kaia has become braver over the course of the text. Having the same word — twisty — appear at the beginning and the end of the book helps a reader to understand how Kaia felt at different points in the story.
  • Turning Point: There’s a defining moment in this story where something of great significance happens to Kaia. As a result, she changes in a significant way that readers do not expect at the beginning of the story.

While I could keep listing additional craft moves you could teach (e.g., meet the characters lead, vivid verbs) students to do better by using Kaia and the Bees as a mentor text, I’m certain you will find those things upon multiple readings of the the book.

As I stated in Craft Moves, “There’s never enough time when you’re a classroom teacher. In a week filled with an end-of-unit celebration, a field trip, or a special guest visit, you may feel pressured to sacrifice your shared read-aloud time. Instead, try to find some mentor books that can do double or triple duty in your lessons. It helps to find books you can revisit during reading and writing workshop mini-lessons or content-area periods” (2016, 18).

Kaia and the Bees is one of those books that will transition beautifully from read aloud to a writing workshop mentor text. You can use it for explanation with example mini-lessons, in 1:1 conferences, and in small group strategy lessons. It’s a versatile text that is sure to become a class favorite!

Take a look at a few page spreads from the book:

KAIA AND THE BEES. Text copyright © 2020 by Maribeth Boelts. Illustrations copyright © 2020 by Angela Dominguez. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Candlewick Press, Somerville, MA.

Giveaway Information:

  • This giveaway is for a copy of Kaia and the Bees. Many thanks to Candlewick Press for donating a copy for one reader.
  • For a chance to win this copy of Kaia and the Bees, please leave a comment about this post by Monday, March 16th at 11:59 p.m. EDT. I’ll use a random number generator to pick the winners, whose names I will announce at the bottom of this post, by Thursday, March 19th. You must have a U.S. or Canadian mailing address to enter the giveaway.
    • Please be sure to leave a valid e-mail address when you post your comment, so I can contact you to obtain your mailing address if you win. From there, my contact at Candlewick will ship your book out to you. (NOTE: Your e-mail address will not be published online if you leave it in the e-mail field only.)
  • If you are the winner of the book, I will email you with the subject line of TWO WRITING TEACHERS – KAIA AND THE BEES. Please respond to my e-mail with your mailing address within five days of receipt. Unfortunately, a new winner will be chosen if a response isn’t received within five days of the giveaway announcement.

Thank you to everyone who left a comment on this post. I used a random number generator and Zelrae’s commenter number was selected so they will receive a copy of Kaia and the Bees.

Published by Stacey Shubitz

I am a literacy consultant who focuses on writing workshop. I've been working with K-6 teachers and students since 2009. Prior to that, I was a fourth and fifth-grade teacher in New York City and Rhode Island. I'm the author of Craft Moves (Stenhouse Publishers, 2016) and the co-author of Jump Into Writing (Zaner-Bloser, 2021), Welcome to Writing Workshop (Stenhouse Publishers, 2019), and Day By Day (Stenhouse, 2010). I live in Central Pennsylvania with my husband and children. In my free time, I enjoy swimming, doing Pilates, cooking, baking, making ice cream, and reading novels.

82 thoughts on “A Review of Kaia and the Bees”

  2. Love this! Thank you so much for sharing this title. I so enjoy sharing books with my students. When I find a good mentor text to support what they are going to be doing in class, I am super pumped. It also helps my kiddos see that “real” authors use these skills that I am asking them to apply to their writing. I can’t wait to use this title.

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  7. As a bee keeper, I try to teach my children the importance of bees (and all pollinators). I also talk to them about controlling their fear of the unknown. I think this book would be a wonderful addition to our school’s library. I hope whoever wins it will consider passing it on after they’ve enjoyed it; there’s an important message in there and it needs to be shared. Thanks for the opportunity! 🙂

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  9. I really appreciate the duality of this post. From a writing lesson perspective, I thought this was very insightful and useful. Mainly though, I loved that this post is also about helping people overcome their fears— especially children. As someone who works with children with disabilities, I’ll have to keep this book in mind for the future. Bees are such a common fear, especially for kids on the spectrum!

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  10. These are great suggestions for use as a mentor text. Thank you for the specifics on which craft moves are evident in Kaia and the Bees!

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  14. This book will be a welcome addition to my library, especially since I had an incident with a swarm of bees, hornets, or wasps (not sure which one). The illustrations are engaging as is the story. Thank you, Stacey, for your in-depth book review that shares explicit craft moves. (cvarsalona@gmail.com)

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  17. I loved “Happy Like Soccer” and used it as a mentor text in writing workshop and for reading mini lessons. I’m excited to read Boelts’ newest book. Sounds like another keeper!!

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  20. So cute! Whenever I teach personal narrative, I always use a story from my childhood involving a fear of bees! Will definitely be using this as a mentor text!

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  23. This picture books is a wonderful tool to show children how to deal with fear… and preconceived ideas of what is scary, like bees. I already love the illustrations too!

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    1. You’ll want to leave your comment on today’s call for slice of life stories (NOT on this post, which is about Kaia and the Bees since Slicers won’t necessarily see your link here).

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  25. What an excellent resource for both reading and writing! Looking forward to adding it to my collection of mentor texts!

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  26. This looks like such a wonderful book. Perfect for Spring and my life cycles unit! Thank you for sharing your ideas.

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    1. You’ll want to leave your comment on today’s call for slice of life stories (NOT on this post, which is about Kaia and the Bees since Slicers won’t necessarily see your link here).

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    2. I keep seeing this book in my Twitter feed! I am so excited that it is also available in Spanish so I can use it in my bilingual storytime. My three year old son already knows that bees help our plants grow, would love to share this with him!

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  28. The first time I remember being stung was when I was four. I still freak out when I see a bee. This book would be great in my classroom.

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  34. Thanks so much for recommending a text that helps conversation around overcoming fears. That is a very worthy classroom conversation – especially in these times!

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  36. Thank you so much for sharing all the craft moves in this book! I’m excited to use some of them with upcoming narrative unit in writing!

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  38. What a great personal connection for you and your girl. I loved Maribeth Boelt’s A Bike Like Sergio’s and have used it often as a mentor text. So fun to have another to look forward to using as the seasons change and those all important bees return.

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  48. I am so excited that Mary Beth Boelts has a new book out! I love and kids of ages love her books and they are always great mentor texts! Thank you Mary Beth!

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  50. I too can relate to giving my fear of frogs and toads to my two children. Their fear is completely my doing for they have no reason to be afraid of them. Maybe Maribeth Boelts can write a book about frogs and toads next 😉

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  51. This book sounds wonderful! I have a place in my heart for bees…my grandfather was a beekeeper and I sometimes had beehives in my backyard growing up. I lived in an urban area so beehives in backyards were not very common! Thank you for the opportunity!

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  56. What a cute story and book. I love that this looks like it would be a good mentor text with several craft moves for even older students. I am trying to incoorporate more mentor text and read alouds with my high school students.

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  60. I am ready to press the Buy Now button! I am always looking for fabulous, multifaceted mentor texts….and this one is sure to fit the bill.

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  64. I appreciate all the ideas for Kaia and the Bees.
    Showing not Telling the story is one of the main teaching points my 2nd graders need to learn.
    It is helpful to learn about something that frightens us.
    Thank You for the opportunity to be chosen to add this book to my mentor books collection.

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  65. In addition to supporting all of those craft moves, it sounds like this book is a great way to show how writers use nonfiction details to make stories come to life. As we learn about adaptations in the Fall in our Science unit, we are also writing narrative fiction. Perhaps this book needs to be in my unit basket. Thanks for the share.

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  67. This would be an awesome add-on to our plants/animals unit; a fun read-aloud about bees after talking about how they help with pollination! Thanks for sharing! Looks wonderful!

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  69. Speaking from someone who is afraid of bees 😉 I can relate to the message in this story! Love when mentor text ideas are shared and suggestions offered to help students with their writing.

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  70. This book looks beautiful! I would love to use it with my kindergarten class to help them understand better and not be afraid of bees.

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  73. This book sounds like an amazing text to support my learners. I look forward to adding it to my classroom library. Thanks for sharing.

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  75. This book looks wonderful; thank you so much for sharing, and highlighting her wonderful moves, that students should borrow.

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  76. This looks wonderful and I appreciate all the ideas you’ve shared about how to use it in the classroom. I’m already a fan of Maribeth Boelts, loving “Those Shoes” and “A Bike Like Sergios.” I’d love to add this book to my small collection.

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  77. Thanks for sharing, Stacey. This looks like a fabulous book with many opportunities for reading and writing workshop. It looks like it lends itself to the ideas of perseverance, optimism, and resiliency as well.

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