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The secret life of bees -
Sue Monk Kidd.
Contributor biographical information
Publisher description
Sample text
New York : Viking, 2002.
xii, 301 p. ; 23 cm.
Best Books:
- Best Books for Young Adults, 2003 ; American Library Association-YALSA; United States
School Library Journal Adult Books for High School Students, 2002 ; Cahners; United States
Senior High Core Collection, Seventeenth Edition, 2007 ; The H. W. Wilson Co.; United States
Senior High School Library Catalog, Sixteenth Edition, 2003 Supplement, 2003 ; H.W. Wilson; United States
State and Provincial Reading Lists:
- Abraham Lincoln Illinois High School Book Award, 2005 ; Nominee; Illinois
Colorado Blue Spruce Award, 2004-2005 ; Nominee; Colorado
Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award, 2004-2005 ; Nominee; Colorado
Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award, 2004-2005 ; Nominee; Indiana
Gateway Readers Award, 2004-2005 ; Nominee; Grades 9-12; Missouri
Iowa High School Book Award, 2004-2005 ; Nominee; High School; Iowa
Pennsylvania Young Readers' Choice Award, 2004-2005 ; Nominee; Young Adult; Pennsylvania
South Carolina Young Adult Book Award, 2005-2006 ; Nominee; South Carolina
Tayshas High School Reading List, 2004-2005 ; High School; Texas
Virginia Young Readers Program, 2003-2004 ; Nominee; High (Grades 10-12); Virginia
Young Adult Reading Program, 2004 ; Grades 7-12; South Dakota
Reading Measurement Programs:
Lexile, MetaMetrics, Inc.
Lexile Measure 840
Reading Counts-Scholastic
Interest Level High School
Reading Level 7
Title Point Value 22
Lexile Measure 840
Reviews:
- Judy Sasges (VOYA, August 2002 (Vol. 25, No. 3))
Fourteen-year-old Lily and Rosaleen, the black woman who has been Lily's stand-in mother for ten years, take to the road in 1964. Rosaleen is escaping from jail after insulting the town's racists while Lily flees her abusive father and the haunting memory of her mother's violent death. They journey to Tiburon, South Carolina, because Lily found the place name on the back of a black Madonna picture among her late mother's possessions. Lily hopes that she will discover a link to her mother in the small town. There the runaways are sheltered by May, June, and August--black beekeeping sisters who are also keepers of the truth Lily seeks. Lily finds the home she has always missed with the sisters and their eccentric friends. Lily learns more about her mother and herself from living with the sisters. This rich, engaging novel tells of loss and hope. Kidd is especially skilled at giving Lily a real voice. She has believable strengths, weaknesses, and reactions to the world around her. The other characters are wise and understanding mother figures, but Lily captures the reader. This novel also is of place and setting--the oppressive heat, the swarming bees, the countryside smells, and the pervasive racism are experienced through Kidd's words. When Lily, who has always felt unlovable, realizes that she is loved by many and that "there is nothing perfect... there is only life," the novel draws to its expected and hoped-for conclusion. Older teenage girls will enjoy this comforting read about the search to "find the mother inside yourself... the strength and consolation and rescue, and all the other things we need to get through life." VOYA CODES: 5Q 3P S A/YA (Hard to imagine it being any better written; Will appeal with pushing; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12; Adult-marketed book recommended for Young Adults). 2002, Viking, 303p, $24.95. Ages 15 to Adult. Subjects:
- Teenage girls Fiction.
African American women Fiction.
Maternal deprivation Fiction.
Race relations Fiction.
Beekeepers Fiction.
Sisters Fiction.
South Carolina Fiction.
Bildungsromans.
Domestic fiction.
| Language | Call Number | LCCN | Dewey Decimal | ISBN/ISSN |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English (eng) | PS3611.I44 S38 2002 |
2001026310 |
813/.54 |
0670894605 (acid-free paper) 9780670894604 |