THANK YOU, BEES

Nature’s gifts are recognized and celebrated in this minimalist picture book that links gratitude with life itself.

“Sun gives us light. / Thank you, sun. / Bees give us honey. / Thank you, bees.” So begins the chain of connections between resource and product. Sheep give wool, clouds give rain, trees give wood, and dirt gives plants, all depicted with bold, figurative images created in digital collage with ink, tissue, fabric, paper, and wood and set on double-page spreads. Fuzzy, torn-paper edges combine with natural textures to reinforce the organic nature of these connections. Large black lettering alternates statements indicating the various gifts with simple thank-you’s. A pale-skinned child guides readers through each concept, depicted eating honey, wearing a wool cap, happily standing in a rain shower, perched in a wooden treehouse and then planting a tree, and eating a carrot. Finally, the child is seen peacefully asleep in bed after thanking Earth. “Earth gives us our home. / Thank you, Earth.”

Appreciation is emblematic in this attractive and uncomplicated narrative that may also serve as a nondenominational bedtime prayer for the very young.