“The Fascinating Adventures of Little Bee” by Beans On Toast [Children’s Book Review]

UK artist Beans on Toast recently released The Fascinating Adventures of Little Bee, a combo children’s book series and album. I’m a sucker for a series. More so when it comes to kids’ books. Call me a completionist, or maybe I just like the look of it on a nursery wall, but there’s something rewarding about having a full run of a children’s lit series. What’s better is when they’re a series you’re genuinely excited to read with your kid.

I was delighted by the disarming charm of the folksy collage-meets-illustration artwork, the handwritten lettering, and the stories themselves. The titular character sports a colander hat, bee-coloured shirt and shoes, and an ever-present look of delight and wonder. The art feels whimsical and accessible, as do the stories. Every book has something different to offer: “Little Bee Goes To The City” is a reflection on diversity, while “Little Bee Goes To The Woods” serves up the wisdom of patience as its setting’s lesson. Each destination offers up similarly well-coupled themes, and each of them is clever, effortless, and fun to read.

Folk singer and author Beans On Toast says in writing the series, “I feel like kid’s books are very similar to folk songs. They’re simple, to the point, with a message about being kind to the world and its people.” To that end, they succeeded in telling simple songs, but there’s so much more to them. For starters, each story is a different song, literally: every book has a different way of playing along to the book in a tune, whether it be guitar, ukelele, piano or any of a myriad of other ways to play along to the rhythmic, sing-song lilt of the words.

In addition, each book has a “Where is Bee?” section, asking kids to search for Little Bee among a scene consisting of characters from the previous pages. Equally clever is the addition of interesting facts about the theme in each book – this is great for kids who are older and able to grapple with the interesting trivia about each setting. It means there are other ways to keep kids engaged. And as with all books for kids, if your young ’un doesn’t like a particular section, it just takes a flip of the page to move on to the parts they do.

It also needs to be said the colours of the various books are visually pleasing. Each chromatic selection is underscored by textures appropriate to each theme (e.g., pockmarked earth rendered in luminescent yellow for “Little Bee Goes To The Moon,” clouds swirling under carnation pink on “Little Bee Goes To An Imaginary World,” etc.), and the variety of colours on display really lets the series stand out.

The Fascinating Adventures of Little Bee is a brilliant series, with classic topics ranging from dinosaurs to the moon being offered up to readers with a range of ways to engage and play along with each book. It’s a series I’ve purchased for my little guy, and I look forward to sharing it with him time and time again.

Book Series:

“To The Sea”
“To The Woods”
“To Town”
“To The City”
“Back In Time”
“The Rainbow”
“The Moon”
“To Space”
“To An Imaginary World”
“To A Gig”

Author: Beans On Toast, Jaime & Lilly
Publisher: Play on Words Publishing
Release Date: December 1, 2022
Format/Length: Paperback, 290 pages
ISBN-10: 1399936824
ISBN-13: 978-1399936828

Beans on Toast ‘The Fascinating Adventures of Little Bee’ book series