Der Sommer, in dem ich die Bienen rettete

by Robin Stevenson, Bettina Münch (Tranlator)

Was würdest du tun, wenn deine Mutter von dem Gedanken besessen ist, die Welt zu retten? Wenn sie die ganze Familie auf einen Roadtrip mitschleppt, um die Menschheit über das Bienensterben aufzuklären?

Würdest du

1. deinen besten Freund fragen, ob du bei ihm einziehen kannst?

2. mit auf die Tour kommen, unter der Bedingung, dass du kein Bienenkostüm tragen musst?

3. das blöde Kostüm anziehen und hoffen, dass der klapprige Bus zusammenbricht?

4. abhauen (wie deine große Schwester)?

5. einfach aufhören zu sprechen (wie deine kleine Schwester)?

6. endlich den Mund aufmachen und den Wahnsinn beenden?

Wie plant man seine Zukunft, wenn die eigenen Eltern nicht glauben, dass die Welt eine hat?

Genres: Middle Grade, Fiction, Environment, Contemporary, Canada, Young Adult, Childrens

256 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2015

About the author

Robin Stevenson is the award winning author of over thirty books of fiction and non-fiction for kids and teens. Her books have received starred reviews and have won the Silver Birch Award, the Sheila A. Egoff award and a Stonewall Honor, and been finalists for the Governor General’s Literary Awards, the Lambda Literary Awards, and many reader’s choice awards. Robin was the Book and Periodical Council of Canada’s Champion of Free Expression for 2022, and received the Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence in 2023. She lives on the west coast of Canada.

Reviews

[Lata]

What do you do when someone you love cares so passionately and fervently about something? So much so that they forget the needs of their loved ones, and trample over their loved ones’ feelings and concerns. That’s the situation Wolf is in when his mother and dad decide the family is going on a road trip, but not for a vacation. The family will be stopping in small towns and cities across Canada and educating people on the plight of bees through performance art.
Wolf is conflicted about this mission, and deeply concerned about one of his younger sisters, who is no longer speaking and looks scared, thanks to their mother’s impassioned speeches about all life ending on the planet without bees.
The family drama plays out painfully as the children’s needs and feelings collide with their mother’s strong beliefs, and the author shows us how Wolf and his sisters experience the conflict. While the mother was difficult to sympathize with, Wolf is wonderfully drawn and easy to root for in this fairly fast and enjoyable story.

[Michelle (FabBookReviews)]

Canadian author Robin Stevenson is a writer whose novels I always look forward to reading. In contemporary YA novels such as Escape Velocity, Hummingbird Heart, and The World Without Us, Stevenson has explored a diverse roster of topics (everything from depression and attempted suicide to absentee parents) with nuanced and compelling teenage characters. In The Summer We Saved the Bees, we follow the fascinating narrative of Wolf, a twelve-year old with an inordinately heavy load on his shoulders. His scarily single-minded mom's latest mission involves the fight to save the world's honeybees from extinction. The only thing is that her plan involves yanking Wolf and his sisters out of school and forcing the entire family (somewhat blank stepdad included) on a cross-Canada road trip to spread the word about the demise of planet earth.

Stevenson has crafted such an interesting and complex story here with layers of raw emotion and surprise- against a rather timely backdrop of global environmental concern. I was completely hooked into Wolf's voice and the story from the get-go- and that pull didn't let up until the end of story. On the surface of it, it sounds as though Wolf's mom, Jade, is on to a noble cause: isn't it a good thing that she is so eco-conscious, stringently green, and fighting for the planet? Isn't it great that she wants all of her children to be involved and fighting for such a global issue? As readers become more exposed to how Wolf and his sisters struggle to be heard over Jade's increasingly erratic and potentially harmful demands, however, we discover just how deep the cracks in Wolf's family run.

The Summer We Saved the Bees is, I think, Stevenson's strongest work yet in an already great catalogue of work. Beautifully written, moving, and covering harsh realities of one boy's life, this is very strong read and one I definitely recommend. Readers who like their contemporary Canadian lit, those interested in smart and original contemporary middle-grade/YA, or those who like the writing of authors such as Susan Juby, Tom Ryan, Vikki VanSickle or Susin Nielsen may especially enjoy this novel.

[Sam Kellar-long]

Wolf's mother is obsessed with bees. Yep, bees. So this summer, his mom decides to take him, his 3 sisters and his stepfather on a tour around the U.S and Canada to raise awareness about bees dying and how it's affecting the world. Sounds fun, right? But Wolf has to wear an embarrassing bee costume. Not fun. His younger sister Whisper doesn't talk and keeps having meltdowns. Less fun. His older sister Violet runs away with her boyfriend. Even less fun. His mom is so serious about saving the bees that she doesn't take his opinions into consideration. The lack of fun is so big it's almost funny. But what can you do when you don't have the courage to tell your mother that you have different opinions?
This book was funny, interesting and just plain out entertaining. I liked that it felt like it was aimed at an adult audience while actually having a child protagonist. I felt really smart reading it and I do not know why. I did not have high hopes for this book because I had just picked it up for free at school, but after reading the beginning, I couldn't put it down. I would recommend this book to everyone. It is physically imposible not to enjoy this book. Read it. Now.

[Kelly]

The title and cover design made this book jump off the shelves for me when I was at the library. It's the first YA book I've read in a while and brought me back to my childhood bookworm days :)

Bullet points because my brain is struggling with writing rn:

- from the POV of a 12/13-year-old boy Wolf, I really enjoyed his affectionate and protective relationship with his younger twin sisters... especially Whisper who as her nickname suggests is an incredibly sensitive and quiet child.

- wonderfully captures how youth pick up on relationship dynamics, external and internal anxieties, and changes even if they don't have the language/skills to articulate this or are learning to do so
- such great lessons and reminders about communication, listening, and working to name difficult emotions

- a quick accessible story about how world systems and events (in this case the present and looming climate crisis) truely EFFECTS people, cause fear and anxiety, and propel people into different forms of action or inaction

[ChronicallyReading]

A really cute book that promotes a good message.
Time to save the hecking bees.

[Emmeline]

A solid three star book for me. I was worried at first about the direction that the book was taking but in the end the ending won for me. The characters were very flat I felt, and the description a little forced, but the overall message was good and clear!

[Page]

Such a great, quick read -- aimed at younger readers (older elementary school/early middle school) -- and lovingly portrays the eco-activists of the Gulf Islands/South Island area of BC (coincidentally my home). It is always nice to read about familiar places, but more than that I really felt an ache for Wolf, the boy at the centre of the conflict in this book, torn between helping his Mom with her campaign and looking out for his younger sisters (and himself) as her plan uproots them.

[A Ahmad]

Another book, Another look!

I rate this book 5/5 stars because the characters have such strong personalities, and I love how Wolf’s mother is passionate about bees. He cares too, but he isn’t overly obsessive about it, which makes his character feel real and relatable.

Wolf has three siblings—one stepsibling and two half-siblings. They all want to run away because their mom has become so obsessed with bees that she’s dragging them along with her.

Wolf doesn’t want to hurt his mom’s feelings, but he knows he needs to tell her that they don’t care about bees as much as she does. As they try to escape, even more problems arise, making the story even more exciting.

I highly recommend this book—it’s truly amazing! I’m almost finished, and I know this won’t be a one-time read for me. I’ll definitely come back to it again.

Here’s a quick take on the characters:

Wolf – A great brother.

Vi – She has her moments, but she still cares.

Saffron – Talks a lot.

Whisper – Doesn’t talk at all.

Overall, this is a fantastic book, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
But one thing I do wanna say, I wish the ending was better, like Vi was with them.
Truth be told, I know she loves all of them.
I didn't get that she had to leave.
She might say that "I was protecting them" or "I also wanna live my own life"
Like Girl, that won't happen, you will always be the older one.
Wolf, Saffron, and Whisper all look up at her.
Also, She's going through her teenage phase.

WELLL HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED THIS REVIEWW

NOW BACK TO READINGGG!
XOXO,
GOSSIP GIRL

[Claudia Bishop]

It was a good book overall. It was a pretty easy book to read so it only took me two days to read it, so I think it would be great for 4th- 7th graders. I loved that it was from Wolf's POV because he always seemed like he felt like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders even though he was only 12/13 years old. Wolf was always going back and forth between thinking his Mom may be right about the world ending if the bees died and thinking maybe she is a little bit exaggerated about the matter. You could feel Wolf's frustration throughout the whole book and teens could definitely relate to him. The only reason I gave the book a 3 star is because of how open ended the book was. I would have liked to see what happened to Violet. Did she come home? Or did she end up staying with Ty? I would have also liked to see what happened after that 1 week of traveling and doing the "save the bees" performances, and how Duncan and Wolf's website turned out. Finally, I wish there was more to Whisper than what was shown. We only really know that she is quiet, doesn't like loud noises, and is a picky eater. I was really hoping to see Whisper have a break through and start to speak up, so that kind of disappointed me. Other than that, it was a pretty good book and I can't wait to see some more of Robin's work!

[Kelly Mangan]

This is an amazing story about children being forced to grow up too fast. In my life, I have known people EXACTLY like Jade (my own stepmom was very similar), and I have seen how their ideologies & extremism harms their children. No child should be forced to become a “warrior” for their parent’s cause (whether one agrees with that cause or not).

All of the children in this story are so well-developed developed: these characters with rich & varied personalities. Their reactions to the same situations— while all different— felt entirely realistic. I loved the how the relationship evolved between “selfless” Wolf and “selfish” Violet— and the exploration of both of those ideas: is hope & wanting a life & home of your own truly selfish? Or is it merely self-care?

I think this book has a lot of important things to say about parental negligence & zealotry. I’m glad it exists. Because kids need to have the freedom to be kids, to choose their own paths in life, and to be activists in their own way.

[LybGyde]

It was actually an okay book. I was going to give it a 3-star rating even though some of the plot was a little shaky on believability. But then there was an abrupt character change in Mom at the end where she gave up on her hardcore obsession to spend the entire summer on the bee campaign that totally ruined it for me because it seemed either the editor had cut the book off before there was a sad or bad ending OR the author threw in a happily ever after at the last second without really thinking it through. This character change in Mom didn’t even happen after Wolf (son) explained he felt abandoned by her but rather when Wolf pointed out that Curtis (stepdad) really wasn’t doing anything to help with the bee campaign and therefore Curtis should be the one to take care of the twins on the road.

[Carolina Santana]

I read this one with 6th and 7th graders as a book club choice. Since English is the second language of all of the children and they had different levels of comprehension, this was the perfect choice. It was delightful and engaging, we laughed and we got mad. It’s a beautiful book about coming of age, speaking up our minds, choosing our battles and above of all... about family. One of the girls was extremely happy because the book wasn’t portraying a happy and perfect family, but one that (I think) we can all relate somehow. 4 stars because the ending left lots of open questions. But I’d recommend it.

[Carol]

I almost gave up early on in this book. I didn't want to read a whole book about such a dysfunctional family, shouting at each other all the time. I stuck with it, and I'm glad I did.

Wolf was a good narrator. As a young teen, he was also a good caregiver to his 5-year-old twin half-sisters. At times, it seemed he had been thrust into this role by his mother and stepfather. Wolf's mother is so involved in her passion to save the bees that she doesn't hear or see anything or anyone else.

By the end, it did seem the family was on a path towards better understanding and acceptance, but no one seemed to have changed or grown very much.

[Julia]

My book is about a boy named wolf and his family decides to go out for the whole summer to save the bees. He is sad about leaving his friend but soon through out the trip he realizes he misses home and wants to go back. His sister is planning on running away but he feels bad leaving. He tries to take his sisters but they are younger then him so he doesn't know what he should do. The book was no that interesting but still good.

[torikiii]

Really enjoyed this book. It was for my social studies class though, but it was interesting to follow and see some key concepts of the course. Also I like the characters in it: for me they looked like those teenagers who try to find themselves and their future in this fast developing world. Good book!

[Jo Budden]

Really only a 2.5⭐ read but it fulfilled a reading challenge prompt & it was my fault I didn't realise this was a YA read.

A really lightweight read even for JF level & it really brushed so lightly over every serious topic. Probably should've just been a short story in an anthology especially with the ending.

[Laurie]

A cute story about one family’s quest to save the bees.

There are some important lessons to learn not just about how crucial bees are to our food chain and humanity but also about family.

The big picture is important but so is your family and ensuring they are not lost along the way.

Having a future to believe in and doing things in their own way to make a difference is also a good thing.

[Nikki M]

This book is not what I expected it to be. I was surprised by my attachment to the character wolf. He was so endearing and wise for a young boy.
My take away is that above any societal cause is the importance of family and individual needs.

[Charlotte]

Great!

[Erica Stern]

There are so many metaphors in this book,and it makes you realize that all the characters intentions are so different from their actions.

[Patricia]

This novel had a lot of heart. The fifth grader and I both really enjoyed it.

[Belen]

I liked the book. It stirred emotion and opinions out of the reader.

[Sophia Stouzas]

I love bees and this book is Amazing and is about how too save the bees

[Kelly]

Lots of deep concepts but on too superficial of a level. My 5th graders agree.

[Bryce]

ok

[Danielle]

I really enjoyed Wolf’s character, and his relationship with his siblings. Always fun to read a novel in a setting I’m personally familiar with.

[Hannah]

Read it in one day. Was cute 🤷‍♀️

[Rachelle]

Fun summer read about Wolf and his family as they travel around Canada with their mom's bee show.

[Stephanie]

This was a cute story, well-paced and it kept my interest throughout.

I thought there would be a lot of information about bees and colony collapse disorder, but the story is more about family and establishing boundaries and standing up for yourself than it is about the environment. As a mom, the adults in this story infuriated me, but I know my 12 or 13 year old self would have loved this.

[Michael ಠ_ಠ]

I enjoyed this book even though it didn't exactly keep my on the edge of my seat the whole time. Cool book about adventure and science and the environment.