Honeybees and Frenemies

Honeybees and Frenemies
By Kristi Wientge
Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2019. Fiction, pp. 246.

Flor is having an awful summer. Because of the local honey pageant, she has to spend most of her free time doing volunteer yardwork for a grumpy old beekeeper. Even worse, she has to volunteer with her former best friend. On top of all that, her parents seem to be fighting constantly, and she’s doing whatever she can to solve their problems so that they have nothing else to fight about. Flor’s summer is shaping up to be the opposite of relaxing.

“Honeybees and Frenemies” is a fun but thoughtful exploration on friendship and family dynamics, with a whole lot of exciting bee facts thrown in. Wientge balances the humor of Flor’s ridiculous summer with the lessons she learns from doing service, trying to mend her family’s problems, and patching up long-damaged friendships. This book is a fun and sweet-as-honey read!

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