Are We Still Friends?

November 28, 2016
Beatrice, a bear beekeeper, is best friends with her neighbor Abel, a mouse who grows apple trees. In winter, when “the bees and the trees rested,” their friendship endures: “Side by side, they spread crispy toast with apple butter, and sipped warm tea with honey,” writes Horowitz (Crab Moon). Gómez (Dear Bunny) brings to life this idyllic, tidy world with digital illustrations reminiscent of cut-paper art; her lines and shapes have a cheery, direct crispness. Then a misunderstanding triggers a cascade of scowls, insults (“Fuzz Brain!” “Wormy Core!”), and petty revenge, before the two patch things up. This ostensibly familiar story about crossed wires and stubbornness takes on deeper meaning, thanks to the presence of tiny and seemingly subsidiary characters who put the brouhaha in perspective: the bees. Unconcerned with Abel and Beatrice’s wrangling, they continue “sipping nectar and spreading pollen, just the same as always.” Without dismissing their characters’ emotions, Horowitz and Gómez alert readers to a core truth: whatever our trivial disputes, the world keeps spinning. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Linda Epstein, Emerald City Literary. Illustrator’s agent: Rebecca Sherman, Writers House.

November 15, 2016
Beekeeper Beatrice, a bear, and apple-grower Abel, a mouse, are best friends and neighbors.It seems to be a perfect match. In the spring, Bea's bees pollinate Abel's trees, gathering nectar to make their honey. In summer and fall, each animal helps the other with the harvest, and all winter long they eat "crispy toast with apple butter" and sip "warm tea with honey" together. Their symbiosis is threatened when, one spring day, Abel startles a bee and is stung. Bea mistakes Abel's howls of pain for laughter and joins in; hurt, Abel yells, inadvertently starting an exchange of insults: "Pie Face!" "Fuzz Brain!" In a snit, Abel erects a "no bees allowed" sign. (The bees ignore it.) Bea builds a fence. (The bees ignore it.) Furiously, the former friends pile high a heap of discarded items (including, in Gomez's colorful, matte illustrations, a tennis racket, a bird cage, and a French horn). "And you know what the bees did." When the pile of rubbish collapses on Bea, Abel forgets his pique and digs her out, and the friendship is restored. The pleasure in Horowitz's story comes from its rhythmic, patterned text, which consciously reflects the reciprocal relationship between bees and trees, and its gentle understanding of how a little misunderstanding can blow up into a big rift. A sweetly humorous story for the friendship shelf. (recipe) (Picture book. 3-6)

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February 1, 2017

K-Gr 2-Not only do next-door neighbors Beatrice, a bear, and Abel, a mouse, run complementary enterprises but they also happen to be the best of friends. While Beatrice's honeybees pollinate Abel's apple orchard, the pair share in the work of harvesting honey and picking apples. In the wintertime, they stay tucked indoors enjoying apple butter toast and tea with honey. When Beatrice mistakes Abel's hollering about a beesting for an attempt to be silly, he gets offended, and they begin a turf war and name-calling battle that jeopardizes both of their endeavors. The bees pay their feud no mind, and eventually the two sort out the confusion and return to their happy arrangement. A good example of how a misunderstanding can be suddenly blown out of proportion, the story employs excellent vocabulary, such as yammered and spluttered. Gomez's folk art-style illustrations are cheerful, if a little young for the presumed audience.

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2016
Preschool-K The sweetness of honey, a theme here, is like the sweetness of a friendship, something Beatrice and Abel, a roly-poly bear and a cuddly mouse, learn after a simple but painful misunderstanding. Beatrice raises bees; Abel grows apples. All is in harmony until Abel accidentally gets stung by a bee, and Beatrice, thinking his cries of pain are squeals of laughter, laughs too. Name-calling and hurt feelings follow until an emergency calls for help and forgiveness. Horowitz has fun with language, using descriptions like mishmash, insults like Pie-face, and onomatopoeic sounds like ZING!? and WHEE HEE HEE!? Gomez places each character in a cozy home with hints of their interests: instruments in Beatrice's; art materials in Abel's. Her soft palettelots of earth tones with a background of seasonal changes (enjoy the lush end pages)creates the appropriate reader response of overall well-being and notes the passage of time. Tea with apple butter (plus a recipe) round out the happy ending. Pair with David Covell's Rat and Roach: Friends to the End (2012).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)