Bee Boy: Clash of the Killer Queens

Melvin Meadly is a loner and spends much of his time tending his beehive on the roof of his tower block. He hopes to make some new friends when he gives his bee presentation during assembly, but unfortunately a rogue insect escapes, stinging his teacher on her bottom. Mel becomes a laughing stock and earns the nickname Bee Boy.

Feeling crushed, he visits his bees, where something remarkable happens: he transforms into a honeybee and enjoys an amazing bee's-eye view of life inside the hive. When his new buzzy friends ask for his help to defend them from predators, such as killer wasps and the death’s head hawkmoth, he readily agrees.

However, when he returns to the human world, Melvin finds it more challenging to protect the bees from bully Norman Crudwell, who vandalises the hive and leads the campaign to ban them from Meadow Tower flats, claiming they are dangerous.

With short chapters and comical black-and-yellow illustrations, this is a great book for independent readers. The first in a series, this humorous and uplifting tale incorporates a wealth of fascinating facts about these invaluable insects, highlighting how essential they are to our everyday existence.