OMFG, bees! Bees are so amazing and you're about to find out why

Whether readers love or fear bees, this volume will teach most everyone something new about our fuzzy, flitting friends while making readers laugh out loud. Kracht, author of the bestselling The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America (2019), is back with another gloriously funny book about crucial and endangered pollinators. Bees are fascinating little creatures, and they are essential to life on our planet, but sometimes they get an undeserved bad rap. Kracht sets the record straight in this hilarious handbook that can easily be read in one sitting. Kracht's style is somehow simultaneously irreverent and genuine. He is very excited about bees and eager to impart his knowledge, yet he is determined to do so in the most silly and memorable way imaginable in a book chock-full of comically informative illustrations. A joy to read, Kracht's bees book leaves readers smiling and in possession of a thorough understanding of these important insects. Though written for adults, it will certainly inspire a childlike appreciation for our natural world and our life-sustaining bee neighbors.

The energy of artist and author Kracht (Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America) pours from these pages, with text and illustrations enhanced by arrows, underlining, and circled words. While often employing bold turns of phrase (northern giant hornets are "murdering bastards"), there is solid science here too, such as Kracht's descriptions of the seven classes of bees. Bee jobs (worker; drone), bee smarts, cool bees, and a list of "Bees I'd Like To Hang Out With" are all here as well, delivered with plenty of swearing and a boatload of exclamation points. Final chapters cover the environmental benefits of bees, bee-friendly flowers, and how to support a healthy bee ecosystem. VERDICT Playful watercolors and bee-enhanced modifications to classic art add to the humorous text.