No, girls and boys, the Silk Road was not a highway made of silk, and don’t think to compare it to Dorothy’s yellow brick Oz trail. Do they ever, and Belle is introduced not only to the forest’s fauna and flora (an Arnica flower tends to her hurt knee), but to an encyclopedic knowledge of everything bees contribute to the world-and daily life-and what it would be without them.

“But bees don’t talk,” says Belle as they start to converse. In situations like this, whether for princess or bouncy commoner, a hero must come to the rescue: Belle’s is a solicitous bee. And, wham, if she doesn’t take a tumble over the root of an old oak tree. Since her grandfather always tops that off with a present he works on all year, her transformation is complete-this time, he’s restored the sky-blue bicycle her mother rode as a girl.įull steam ahead is the only speed Belle goes.

(The spritely story’s opening lines also echo those of the immemorial Madeline and their rhythmic spell.) Belle relishes a ritual that city children love: every summer she and her parents-and her penknife, pencils, magnifying glass, camera, and journal-go to her grandparents’ house in the countryside. The first book in a fiction series intended to grow interest in nature, The Bee Who Spoke marshals the magic of the natural world. Vraiement, it is possible that you can take the girl out of Paris, but you can’t take Paris out of the girl.īut when Belle, a scrappy, inquisitive, and oh so chic Parisian tween -( love the striped pullover and the perky red neckerchief, illustrated by a contributor to The New Yorker and Vogue), is transported to a place that transforms her, all bets are off.

Suspicion by alexandra monir