The Best Beekeeper of Lalibela

Title: The Best Beekeeper of Lalibela: A Tale from Africa

Author: Cristina Kessler

Illustrator: Leonard Jenkins

Publisher: Holiday House (June 30, 2006)

Readability Lexile: Grades 1-3

Children's Picture Book

Summary and Target Audience:

Young Almaz, who lives in a mountain village in Ethiopia, loves the honey she buys in the market. She wants to keep bees and make her own honey, but the men laugh at her: "That's men's work, little girl." Encouraged by the local priest, she proves them wrong, devising a way to put a piece of honeycomb in a container to keep away the water and the ants and draw in the bees.

I would use this with children in the classroom in Grades 1-3.  Another great read-aloud!

Evaluation of Literature:

This is a great story- not only does this book inspire young ones to "prove their elders wrong" and find a more innovative way of doing things but also gives hope to the girls in the classroom to do all the things the boys get to do.  It is so easy to get caught up in the gender differences in the classroom and this book truly inspires teachers as well to give equal opportunity to the boys and girls in their classroom.

Growing characters- Almaz is a fantastic growing character.  She is met with defiance when she wants to become the best beekeeper in her town especially among the men.  So she finds a solution and has the sweetest honey and the longest lines in the market.  When her solution is met with another difficulty she finds a way to overcome the ants that have invaded her hive and tries all sorts of new innovations until she finds the perfect solution.

Culture portrayed- the African culture is portrayed in this beautifully illustrated book.The scenery and characters are vivid and detailed with a hint of mystery.  The story gives an opportunity to show the strength of the African women.

Literary Elements:

Analogy- to describe the different experiences Almaz is having with her beekeeping adventure the author uses descriptive language and analogies to help the reader visualize the items: "Almaz let the honey drip down her finger like a string of golden diamonds and into her mouth."

Metaphor- the author also uses metaphors to capture the experiences Almaz has with the bees and the honey: "Her arms and legs were the bark on the tree."

Foreshadowing- from the beginning of the book the author hints at Almaz and the bees and what they will become in the future.  With her endurance and determination the reader learns quickly that Almaz is not one to give up and will find a way to have her bees and honey: "For months they chuckled each time Almaz passed their tree, saying to one another, 'She's learned her lesson.' But they didn't know Almaz."

Illustrations:

As mentioned before, the illustrations are amazing.  They are bright and colorful with depictions of all sorts of characters and animals that were involved in the story.  The test is almost a little difficult to find with all of the different colors and bright strokes across the page to show the background and the setting in Africa.

Mini-lesson:

This story is great to teach perseverance and women's rights.  You could tie this story into a history lesson on civil and women's rights and talk about other events in history that women weren't allowed to be in just because of their gender.  I would love to teach a history lesson using this book as a reference or starting out point.