Willbee the Bumblebee

by Craig Smith, Maureen Thomson, Katz Cowley (Illustrator)

Willbee the bumblebee is so embarrassed when he realises his stripy jumper has caught on a rose thorn and completely unravelled ...

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction, Animals

32 pages, Paperback

First published September 20, 2010

About the author

Author and musician Craig Smith was born in Clyde, central Otago, in 1972. Shortly after, the family moved to Queenstown where he, his mother and five brothers and sisters grew up. He now lives in Christchurch.

As a child Craig remembers telling his mother, 'When I grow up, I'm going to become a musician.' Her answer was 'You can't do both!' and she was right. When writing songs for the adult arena, Craig couldn't escape his childish side and was soon writing songs for non-grown-ups.

In late 2007 he released his first kids’ album, Not Just for Kids. The first track from this album, 'Wonky Donkey', won the APRA New Zealand Children’s Song of the Year 2008. He turned this song into his first children’s book by teaming up with illustrator Katz Cowley. He is working on turning more of his kid’s songs into books with a CD of the songs included in the future.

Source: https://www.storylines.org.nz/Storyli...

Reviews

[Susan Crowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

So cute!!
One of the books I'm sending the grandchildren in their one a day Christmas books!

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute rhyming tale about a bumble-bee who loses his "jersey". Beautiful illustrations.

[Karla · Rating 4 out of 5]

cute story with a lot of rich vocabulary

[claire dancer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Briar

[AMY · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sweet rhyming story about a hardworking bee who goes about his business until a problem occurs. The beautiful sweater his mom knitted for him begins to ravel. Illustrations are soft, colorful, and outstanding. Highly recommended for an insect unit or a great read-aloud. Kids will love this one. Highly recommended for Grades K-3.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the Wonky Donkey books better. This one is okay. Some of the rhymes seem a little forced. A bee loses his knitted jersey (his yellow and black fur) and he gets cold, even his bum. A butterfly and a spider help him out.

[Eric Edwards · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art is an unusual style so that’s nice but it’s borderline creepy - the big, sad eyes just don’t do it for me. I think the story is kind of weird. But it’s better than “the stinky wonky donkey” so that’s a plus?

[Maki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super cute! Such a great author.

[Devi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it. Such a heart warming story about a bumblebee whose jersey starts to unravel. A delightful story for parents to read to their children or just young kids to read for themselves.

[Karen Wales · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as good as The Wonky donkey.

[Alexis Hoffman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a cute story about a bee who loses his jersey. It made my daughter laugh when he showed his “bum.” The story is filled with rhymes and would be good to read to younger children.

[G L · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clearly a great choice as a introduction to the topic about the importance of bees. The illustrations drew me in and the rhyming text is bouncy and fun.

[Janée · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super cute kids' read!

[Leslie]

Q

[Tracy Schillemore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute book with bugs as the main characters. The best part of this book *spoiler alert* the spider knitted a sweater and he got the pattern from Women's Weekly. lol

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

10/5/20 videochat

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

A young bumblebee gets help from some friends.

[Lara Bate · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book about a Bumblebee who tears his jersey. A spider weaves it back together and he gets to wear his black and yellow jersey again.

[Angela Jones-Cuéllar · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
Monica the butterfly was kinda scary but yes a cute story all in all. (Still, the winky wonky donkey remains a fave).

[Gail Wylde · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a nice bedtime read.

[Jacquie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute, fun book.

[Maria Matthews · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this to my two granddaughters who now have a fascination with bees and insects. I too loved it.

[Vita Tatarinova · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apie bitę, kuri skraidydama išsiardė savo drabužį ir apie drugelį, kuris jai padėjo bėdoje.

[Ms. Whitaker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book for teamwork. I might not be able to read it to my littles. The bum references might be a bit much.

[Becca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adorable story about Willbee and an unfortunate event.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This week, this has been my son's favorite book. We've read it every day since we got it. I don't know how long our copy will survive. He searches it out whenever it's time to read. We could put it anywhere, even intentionally hide it to make room for other books to have a chance, and he'd drag it out and force us to read it again. He's addicted. I'm a bigger fan of The Wonky Donkey or The Dinky Donkey, but it makes my son happy, so I'll read it again and again, until it falls apart.

[Camille White]

This book made me cry- but its possible i was in a crying sort of mood anyway.

[Ruthauty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent NZ child story going back in my luggage to HK

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations and a lovely story. Great for reading to the little ones. A worthy companion to The Wonky Donkey.

[DiAnne Warfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

PJ story time 7-24-2019