THE HUMBLEBEE HUNTER

While his anniversary year is over as of Feb. 12, 2010, Charles Darwin remains an intriguing figure, as evidenced by this imaginative tale told from his daughter’s point of view. Hopkinson conjures a lovely summer day and a lively narrator in Henrietta, known as Etty. Stuck inside helping in the kitchen, Etty longs to be outdoors with her ever-inquisitive father. She labors dutifully but is thrilled to be summoned outside, where she joins her father and siblings as they observe the habits of the “humblebees” (aka bumblebees). Using a drift of flour to mark them, each child follows a bee from flower to flower to calculate how many visits it makes per minute. While the author’s note acknowledges that her story is fiction, her scientific method is sound and the activity is clearly in keeping with Darwin’s wide-ranging interests and methodical approach. Corace’s lovely, stylized images feature thin, precise lines filled with browns, greens and ochres, effectively evoking a long-ago time. A charming introduction to a well-known figure and his large but less-familiar family. (Picture book. 4-8)