Darius Bell and the Crystal Bees

February 15, 2013
Grades 4-7 The Bells may no longer have wealth but they are still able to live on their grand estate in reasonable comfort and leisure due to the produce and honey cultivated by the dedicated specialists who work the land. When bees start to mysteriously die, the impact on the future of the Bellsand the families dependent on thembecomes evident to young Darius. Unlike his daydreamer father, Darius is a boy who recognizes a problem when he sees one, and he sets about trying to get new bees. A spiteful mayor goes out of his way to thwart the boy, which shifts the novel's focus from an environmental story line to one about a vendetta. The mystery of the dying bees is not resolved, or even investigated, and most of the adults in the book never rise above caricature. Still, readers who think grown-ups are all meddlesome spoilsports won't mind and will simply be rooting for Darius and his friends.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)