The Queen Bee and Me happily flies to its own beat

What’s the only currency that’s priceless one year and worthless the next? If you guessed the Venezuelan Bolivar you’re wrong. It’s popularity. To some teens popularity is the only thing that matters one year, until they get to the next year and realize that it’s all a John Hughes movie. The Queen Bee and Me by Gillian McDunn is a book that upper elementary through lower high school readers will take to like a Carpenter bee to the wood on my back porch.

Meg is a nice girl who has always been friends with Beatrix. But, Bea is more popular, a bit more confident (on the outside), comes from a wealthier family and is successful in seemingly any activity she tries. For the past couple of years the two girls had been in dance together, but Meg has been losing interest in it, plus she’s never been that good at it anyway.

Hazel is the new girl in town. She’s very independent, seems to have a secret or two and is just a little bit different then the other kids. Hazel has even told one of her classes that her mom is studying penguins in Antarctica, so she’s definitely lying about something.

These two different social circles from a vein diagram when Hazel and her mother move to a house in the area. Her mom is different also. She insists that everybody, regardless of age or relationship, call her by her first name. Hazel also collects bees. At least that’s the way that the town perceives her hobby.

In reality, Hazel has been working on a backyard beehive project for a while. Sure, they’re not a common pet and she’s quick to point out they aren’t her pets and that bees have a very unique relationship with nature. Everything in the town is going as well as can be in middle school drama land, when all of a sudden Bea’s dog gets stung by a bee and almost dies. Toss in the fact that Hazel and Meg has been partnered for their science project, (which they chose as bees of course), in addition to the fact that Meg and Bea are growing apart and you’ve got a book that’s absolutely buzzing with potential.

Thankfully for middle grade readers The Queen Bee and Me really sticks the landing. At the core of the book is friendship and realizing when what you want, isn’t really what you need. People change as they grow older, regardless of what stage of life you’re in. To Meg it seems like the world is against her and that every hard decision is hers to make.

What’s all the more frustrating for her is that she knows what the right decision usually is. It’s just that sometimes she doesn’t do what she knows is right because she’s sacrificing it to look cool or swim with the popular fish.

The Queen Bee and Me resolves all aspects of the story in a very pleasant and satisfying way. It lets middle school readers know that everyone is different to others to some degree and that is normal. Nay, it would be boring and far too homogeneous if we were all too much alike. The book also does a surprisingly great job at educating readers about bees. Believe me, I realize that’s not the main focus of the book, but you’ll leave the book knowing more about buzzing yellow or black and yellow insects then you came with. Readers nine and up will enjoy the book. Those who are in middle school will relate to it the most and dig the lesson, while those older readers will simply enjoy the literary comfort food.

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