It's Pollinator Week!

 It's Pollinator Week! That means every day I'll have something fun on this blog. Tomorrow and Thursday it's a look at pollinators at work. On Wednesday there's a pollinator scavenger hunt, and on Friday a review of a special book about bees.

 

 Before the Seed: How Pollen Moves
by Susannah Buhrman-Deever; illus. by Gina Triplett & Matt Curtius
40 pages; ages 7-9
‎MIT Kids Press, 2024

 

 If you want to grow a flower - or a tomato - you need to plant a seed. But before you can have a seed, you've got to move pollen. And if you've ever seen a pollen grain, you know they're too tiny to pick up. So how does pollen get moved? By animals. From beetles to bees, from bats to birds and butterflies, pollen is on the move!

 

 

 The Mighty Pollinators
by Helen Frost; photographs by Rick Lieder
32 pages; ages 2-5
Candlewick, 2024

Meet the pollinators through playful poems and stunning photographs. There are bumble bees and honey bees that carry pollen back to their hive, and solitary bees that live alone. There are beautiful photos of flies and butterflies, bats and fireflies, and back matter that explains more about pollen and pollination. Want to observe pollinators in your garden or park? Just find a flower and stand a few feet away and watch. Once you're still, you'll notice the pollinators visiting the blooms. They are busy working, so if you don't bother them they won't bother you.

Want to learn more about these books and the authors? Head over to the GROG blog and check out my interview with Susannah and Helen at the GROG's Fourth Annual Arthropod Roundtable