Kid's Book

Last Christmas, with my time off, I wrote a Children's Book I had been meaning to write for literally years. I spent some time trying to find someone to illustrate it, but after quite a bit of time invested, both fell through, and I gave up. So, I think I will start working on doing it myself. In the meantime, please read it, and hopefully help me clean it up.

Title: Sam’s Swarm

Page 1: One bright, spring morning, Sam ran outside. The sun was shining, the air was warm, a gentle breeze ruffled her hair. Pausing, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath in through her nose to catch the fresh, sweet scent of blooming flowers. She listened to the sounds of spring, and heard a strong buzzing. Illustration: (8x12) Girl with dark brown hair standing on a sidewalk, in front of a house with a porch and blooming bushes in front of the porch, garden on the other side of the the sidewalk, head tilted slightly up as she sniffs the air.

Opposing Page: Spotting a big, black mass on the branch of a cherry tree, she ran over to check it out. Illustration: (8x12) Girl with dark brown hair running down the sidewalk from behind towards a shop with flowering bushes behind it, in front of a flowering tree with and a blue sky. Flowering tree has a bee swarm hanging from a branch and running down the side of the trunk.

Page 2: It was a giant moving ball of bees! A swarm! One of the hives was so healthy the queen is able to take half the worker bees and go find a new place to start a hive. But first they move a safe place near the old hive as a group, so they kind find the best place to start a new hive.

Opposing Page: Most of the bees were crawling over each other, but quite a few were buzzing around the ball and Sam. Those bees buzzing around, they were dancing! Bees communicate with each other by dancing different patterns.

Illustration: (8x24) Girl from the back close up to see details of the bee swarm, the branch, and bees buzzing around.

Page 3: Sam helped her dad take care of the bees in their apiary, where their family kept the bee hives, so she knew just what needed to be done.

Opposing Page: Bees get upset and start stinging if you make too much noise. She kept quiet and slowly backed away from the swarm.

Illustration: (8x24) Girl backing up, zoomed out to see the corner of the shop, a couple of bee hives, the flowering bushes and the tree with the swarm and the bees buzzing.

Page 4: She put on her bee suit so that her body was protected from bees that landed on her. She pulled on her tall boots to keep bees from climbing under the suit and up legs.

Illustration: (8x12) Girl in a shop with hive supplies. Wearing a white bee suit and pulling on tall black boots with a yellow stripe on the top. Bee hood hanging down her back.

Opposing page: She put on her bee hat and veil to protect her face. She pulled on her bee gloves to protect her arms and keep bees from crawling up her sleeves.

Illustration: (8x12) Girl in suit and boots pulling on bee keeping gloves in room with hive supplies.

Page 5: Sam mixed up a sugar syrup to feed the hive: 4 cups of white sugar and 4 cups of warm, not hot, water.

Illustration: (8x12) Girl from back holding a clear pitcher pouring liquid that looks like water into the hive feeder. Top of hive feeder is to the right of the hive feeder. To the left of the girl is a bag labeled White Sugar and a kitchen sink and faucet. Opposing Page: She got a deep super with a lid, a queen excluder, a hive entrance, and a bottom board. She put empty frames into the super with the hive feeder.

Illustration: (8x12) On a light yellow background, show the parts stacked, with labels and arrows pointing to each part. Include frames next to hive feeder, above the super, lid above that. Under the super, the queen excluder, then the hive entrance, then the bottom board.

Page 6: Sam took the newly assembled hive outside and put it next to the cherry tree.

Illustration: Girl in bee suit and boots placing the hive under the cherry tree. You can see the swarm above and the flowering bushes next to her. There is yellow pine mulch on the ground.

Opposing Page: Then she went back to the shop to get the tools she needed to move the swarm of bees into the new hive. She got a bee brush and a butterfly net.

Illustration: (8x24) Girl in bees suit and boots holding a net and bee brush. Bee brush is up and net is flapping behind so as to be clearly visible. Girl is running toward the cherry tree (edge of picture) in front of flowering bushes, open shop on the other edge.

Page 7: Sam put the net under swarm and gently brushed some of the bees in.

Illustration: Close up of girl brushing bees from the trunk into the net. Some bees are falling in, there are still bees below the brush and above the net.

Opposing page: First she turned the net upside down over the new hive and gently tapped it so the bees would fall in. But some stayed stuck to the net, so she turned the net inside out and used the bee brush to get them loose and fall into the hive. Then she put the lid back on top.

Page 8: Slowly, gently, Sam brushed bees off the tree, and into the net. Slowly, gently, she moved them into the hive.

Illustration: (8x24) 4 Scenes laid out 1|2|3|4: (1)Girl brushing bees from the swarm into the net from under the branch; lid is on hive at her feet. (2)Girl dumping bees from the net into the hive, lid is propped next to the hive. (3)Girl is brushing bees into the net, swarm ball is much smaller; lid is on the hive. (4) Girl is dumping bees from the net into the hive, lid is propped next to the hive.

Page 9: Then, all of a sudden the bees on the tree started moving into the new hive! Crawling and flying, they got to the hive. They walked all over the hive until they found they entrance, and then they started going inside.

Illustration: (8x24) Bees massing at the entrance of the hive. Girl in profile standing and watching, holding bee brush and net down at her sides. Some bees still on the tree. Some bees in the air.

Page 10: Sam sat back and watched as the whole swarm made its way into the hive. Worker bees communicate with each other by dancing, but the queen communicates with the whole hive using by giving off special chemicals, called pheremones.

Opposing Page: She knew she had gotten the gotten the queen into the hive, and now the worker bees were following the queen bees pheremones to get to her and start getting their new home organized.

Illustration: (8x24) Girl sitting in a yogi ball, watching bees massed at the entrance to the hive. Lots of bees buzzing around the hive.

Page 11: The bees had lots to do to get their new home ready. First they had to build honey comb out of wax. Then the queen start to lay eggs in the comb, and the workers would start to store honey and pollen in the comb.

Illustration: (8x24) A frame with bees and clearly a queen but you can see the brood area, surrounded by the pollen, surrounded by the honey. Label for each area, and line drawn towards it. Queen also labeled.

Page 12: When most of the swarm was in the hive, Sam walked away smiling. Her dad helped her brush of any clinging bees with the bee brush. They would find there way back to the new hive.

Illustration: (8x12) Girl walking away from the hive with her Dad who is holding the bee brush, a few bees in the air around the hive. In front of the flowering bushes, 2 tall hives behind the bushes, and the cherry tree with the new hive underneath in the background.

Opposing Page: She put her bee suit and tools away.

Illustration: (8x12) Girl standing next to bee suit hanging on the wall with hood trailing down the back and boots underneath. There is a larger suit and boots next to it. She is placing the net and bee brush on the stand to the right of her with supers and frames and lids and a smoker.

Page 13: Sam and her Dad helped her set up a new bee stand in a protected spot near a flowering bush and away from the other hives.

Illustration: (8x12) Dad and girl setting a hive stand on cinder blocks up next to a corner of a privacy fence with a flowering bush on the other side. In original clothes.

Opposing Page: They waited until it was dark out, and the bees were all inside. Then Sam and her Dad carefully carried the new hive to it’s new home and placed it on the stand they had set up.

Illustration: (8x12) Girl and dad placing hive on cinder blocks and hive stand, each holding a side of the hive. Dark sky with moon and tiny stars.

Page 14: In the morning, the bees came out to start looking for flowers and water. They would keep coming back to the hive. In a few weeks, Sam and her dad would take out the queen excluder, refill the hive feeder, and check to make sure the queen had laid plenty of eggs. For now, the bees would be building their new home.

Illustration: (8x24) Bright morning, from the side of the hive, close up, you can see bees coming and going from the hive. Coming in with pollen in side saddles on their legs. Flowering bush in the background. Girl far off, playing to the right side.