Welcome to Storyline Online, brought to you by the SAG-AFTRA Foundation.
I'm Rashida Jones, and today I'm going to read Please Please the Bees,
written and illustrated by Gerald Kelly.
Benedict was a creature of habit. He liked to do the same thing every day.
Every morning he woke up at the same time. Every morning he stretched.
He scratched. He yawned a great yawn.
Every morning the bees delivered three jars full of honey.
Benedict ate the same breakfast he'd eaten since he was just a fuzzy cub: toast with honey and tea with extra honey.
Next came his daily routine: practicing, perfecting his honey cake recipe, knitting, and running errands.
At night he'd read then have one last cup of honey tea before bed. Life was sweet.
Until one morning... one morning things weren't the same.
In fact, something terribly un-same had happened.
There was no more honey. The bees had gone on strike!
Benedict's breakfast wasn't the same without honey. Without his honey tea, he couldn't knit.
Practice was dreadful. He didn't even bother with the errands.
Benedict became deeply discouraged. Just then he heard someone say, "Hey, you! In the fur coat!"
It was a very small bee with a remarkably loud voice. "We need to talk!" said the bee.
"Talk? Hmmph!" grumbled Benedict. "I let you all live in my yard. All I ask is for a few jars of honey."
"You should be grateful. Not go on strike!"
"A few jars?" said the bee. "Buddy, we deliver three jars of honey to you every day."
"Every month! Every year! Do the math, Einstein!”
“The hive is a wreck!” the bee continued. “It’s all we can do to keep the walls from falling in!"
"The roof leaks. Wind blows through the cracks."
"The last three queens up and quit on us because of the lousy work conditions."
The bee showed Benedict the garden. "Look!" the bee said. "Weeds everywhere."
"We have to fly miles away just to find enough flowers to make our honey. So we voted to strike.”
"You’re taking us for granted,” the bee declared. “You want honey? Things need to change. It’s up to you, bear.”
And with that, the very small bee flew off.
The thought of losing his honey sent a chill down Benedict’s spine. He had a lot to think about.
“Maybe I’ve been too selfish,” Benedict said to himself. “I never thought about what the bees need. But how am I going to make this right?"
So he did some research. He did a little shopping. And he did a lot of work.
Benedict even learned how to harvest honey.
“I suppose it’s a bit rude to expect them to do it all themselves,” he thought.
Finally, he was ready to show the bees all the work he’d done. What would they think?
He held his breath as he waited. Then he heard the remarkably loud voice of the very small bee…
“DROP THE SIGNS, GIRLS! TIME TO GET BACK TO WORK!”
These days, Benedict is still a creature of habit. He still has his daily routine,
but he doesn’t take the honey for granted anymore. He knows his life is sweet...
but now it's even sweeter...
for everyone.
The end.
I really enjoyed this book because it's all about being able to live with each other, and respect each other,
and give and take. Because that's the best part about being in a community,
is being able to live together and have everybody's life be sweet at the same time.
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