AKEEM KEEPS BEES!

Young Akeem works with his father to tend the beehives on their farm.

Addressing readers directly in sequential panels, Akeem observes the ins and outs of a year in beekeeping. A hive that died over the winter becomes the site of new activity when a replacement package arrives in the mail. Together, Akeem and his dad (both Black, the former with locs and the latter bald and bearded) put on their bee suits and install the box of bees and their queen in the hive. As the seasons turn, readers learn about workers, drones, and queens, pollination and the making of honey, and more. The father-and-son writing team know their bees, and their fictional avatars experience some of the harsher realities of beekeeping, such as “seasonal dearth,” a neighboring colony robbing the bees of their honey, and parasitic varroa mites. Some of the details have clearly been simplified for the sake of concision and narrative clarity, but before Akeem’s year is out, readers will have learned the basic elements of beekeeping. Johnson’s graphic presentation is both accurate and kid-friendly—a particularly apt touch is the inclusion of bee dialogue in white-on-black speech bubbles, though information is occasionally awkwardly sequenced. Backmatter includes four pages of photo-illustrated notes that introduce the real-life Sankofa Farms in North Carolina, a two-page glossary, and an index.

Enthusiasm will carry readers to a buzzing bounty of information.