The Bee Maker

by Mobi Warren

The year is 2036. Honeybees are nearly extinct. The world's crops are disappearing and a young boy's life hangs in the balance. When Melissa Bùi's origami opens a time portal to Ancient Crete and connects her to a young athlete named Amethea, she has a chance to save both bees and boy. But she may risk blinking out of existence like the quarks her scientist father studies.The Bee Maker is a science fiction novel written especially for tweens (ages 10-14), but is a page-turner of a story for all ages. Finalist for Jean Flynn Award for Best Middle Grade Book Purple Dragonfly Award, Honorable Mention for Science Fiction/Fantasy Story Monsters Approved! (Winner for Tween Novels)

Genres: Fiction

198 pages, Paperback

First published March 25, 2019

Reviews

[Mikhayla Tokarski · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a good and quick read. This book will provoke many thoughts about the current lifestyle we live and our effect on the planet. It will also push you to wonder about the role of mathematics in our day to day lives, even where you don’t think math plays a role.

[Paméla Overeynder · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Bee Maker by Mobi Warren

This treasure of a book, written for young adults, is an intergenerational jewel. My grandmother heart loved it. Beekeepers and lovers of life will love it. Ecologists, earth keepers, and nature lovers of every stripe will find solace and inspiration in these pages. Lovers of math and ancient Greece will be intrigued by it. Part science fiction, part love story, part spiritual revelation, part mystery novel—food for heart and soul. A book of exquisite wisdom. Warren’s writing style is pure prose poetry.
There is so much to say about this book, small in size and vast in meanings. The story begins in 2036—a mere fifteen years from now. One of the central themes of the book is the way past and future belong to each other. Time is circular and if one finds the portal, the past and the present can interact, confer wisdom, and even heal each other. Warren seamlessly weaves the present—a changed world where honey bees have gone nearly extinct—with ancient Greece in ways that will surprise and delight.

Warren is a retired math teacher and her love of mathematics shines through these silvery pages. Pythagoras, a 6th century BCE mathematician and philosopher travelled widely in the ancient world. Some believed he had the capacity to travel through space/time. Warren cleverly uses Pythagoras to unlock the mathematics of origami—unknown to the ancient world—to save the bees in present time and the life of a small boy in ancient Crete. Interestingly, origami is an art form based on mathematics. The crease patterns follow certain mathematic principles. Ah, but I’m getting ahead of the story.

The central character, thirteen-year-old Melissa Bùi, begins folding origami bees as a way to offer hope and encouragement to her father. Paul Bùi is a research scientist who specializes in honey bee communication. He’s desperately trying to save the last honey bees from extinction. Melissa hopes to win his affections with her commitment to fold 1,000 origami bees, just as people of Japan fold paper cranes to promote peace. Warren herself has twice folded 1,000 origami cranes. Melissa’s mother is an archeologist who happens to be doing research in Greece for the summer on a tiny island off the coast of Crete. In the ruins of an ancient shrine, she finds a small bronze figurine of a victorious female runner some 2,600 years ago. The same runner Melissa will soon encounter.

Melissa begins the daunting task “like a secret prayer for the bees’ survival.” Magic unfolds. While accompanying her father on a honey bee caper to steal one of the last colonies of bees from a California almond farm in order to save the bees, she hears the sound of exotic music. She is being called from another time and place. What follows is an unforgettable adventure. I won’t spoil the story with more details. The modern and ancient worlds come together in the deft hands of Warren’s prose to tell a story more complete than past or present could imagine.

I hope this brief description will get you interested enough to read the novel. The story is, itself, an exquisite origami to be enjoyed in its wholeness, and to be unfolded, discovering the crease patterns, mathematically based, that themselves are the blueprint for creation—whether origami bee or a livable future. Healing, Warren seems to say, is deeply connected with the power to create. The created being, like the creator, takes on a life of its own. What Warren has created with the Bee Maker is a memorable story that offers hope for the survival of humanity.

[Shahla Werner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I ended up unexpectedly really enjoying this unique book that brings together honey bees and pollinator declines with math (perfect numbers and Pythagoras), origami and especially, ancient Greece (even though I was disappointed at first at the plot's seeming ignorance of the hundreds of species of native bumble, orchard and other important pollinators other than managed European honey bees, even though they are hugely important to crop pollination). Its depiction of artistic, creative teens and an entomologist from the not so distant future, along with characters from Crete from 2600 years ago left me somehow hopeful, even though they're living in a somewhat dystopian world where fresh bee-pollinated fruit is unknown to youth and climate change has ostensibly left areas uninhabitable. Finally, it was interesting to learn about the potential real connection between honey bee waggle dances and quarks! Good research.

[Shari · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the fabulous new YA novel The Bee Maker, author Mobi Warren combines diverse, endearing characters (human and animal), vivid descriptions of nature, detailed scientific knowledge and refreshingly imaginative science fiction to create a page-turner of a story. Set in the all-too-believable near future, the characters struggle mightily with climate change, and are particularly focused on the plight of the honeybees. Ms. Warren draws from Greek mythology, origami, Vietnamese Buddhism, foot races, 13th century Germany, and above all, the fascinating lives of honeybees to weave together an ever-intensifying plot. While this book would integrate beautifully with a middle school curriculum, I cannot imagine many people who would not want to just pick it up and read it for the sheer pleasure of the story itself!

[Katelyn Wells · Rating 5 out of 5]

An original, culturally intriguing, and important YA novel. I wish there were more books like this when I was in middle and high school but I am glad to have stumbled upon it at my local bookstore. Mobi Warren does and excellent job blending issues of our modern world with very probable consequences of our world in the near future and tying them back to Ancient Greece. Themes such as overpopulation, pandemic, societal fear, and of course loosing important species (in this case the honey bees) all tie together in a way that reflections of the past and prophecies of the future highlight our modern world. It is a highly interesting read. I would recommend it to young adults and adults alike.

[Rosalee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ms. Warren has written an impactful book for tweens and adults alike. The story kept me turning the pages, but it was the deeper themes that has stayed with me since setting the book down. Part science-fiction, the main character time slips to ancient Greece for lessons on love and endurance, both of which have consequences in the 21st century future where bees have all but disappeared. I highly recommend this book. I’ll be giving it as gifts!

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The Bee Maker” is a book I wish I had in my collection as a 5th-6th grader. It is a remarkable story of friendship, adventure, and magic. After reading this book, I found myself folding origami figures for my son and spending more time in our family garden. There are so many good lessons to share with the family after reading a book like this.

[Emily Han · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is highly creative and engaging and I could hardly put it down! From ancient Greece to the near future, the characters and settings are so evocative that I keep thinking about them long after finishing the book. Recommended for tweens and adults alike.

[Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came across this book by chance as I needed a book about bees for one of my monthly book challenges and I'm so glad I did! This is the most beautiful and magical story and I adored every moment of it!

[Sammy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A little bit apocalyptic, fantasy, historical... kept me reading with almost 2 stories going at once. Between two times, two places, two people but being connected in amazing ways. Really loved the characters.

[Robin Mcdaniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great read. This a story where hope, hard work, and love combine to make all things possible.