We dedicate this book to
EMWD and all the bees in the world.
—Jude, Natalia, Paulina, and Vanessa

It was a sunny day. The birds were chirping, the bees were buzzing,
and, for Alice, this was a problem.

Alice did not like bees ever since one stung her during the hula-hoop
contest in second grade. She was about to win when a bee flew by her.
She swatted the bee, and it stung her. She ended-up losing the
contest, and that made her sad. Now, Alice thinks bees are mean and
useless insects that ruin people’s lives.

Alice was outside in the backyard with her little brother Jimmy.
She was squirting the hose to spray the bees. Her dad walked
outside and asked, “Alice, what are you doing?”

“I am trying to get rid of the evil bees with the water hose,”
she responded.

“Alice, don’t do that!” her dad said. “Bees are important to us
because they pollinate our crops, which provides us with food.
Plus you’re wasting water.”

“There’s more water in the fridge if we need it,” Alice argued.
“Plus bees are impolite.”

Alice’s dad shook his head and said, “Oh Alice, that is silly.
Please come inside for dinner.

Alice sat down at the dinner table, and Alice’s dad put Jimmy in his
high chair. When the family was seated at the table, Alice’s dad
brought up what Alice had done. “Alice, bees are important for
farming crops that we eat.”

Alice responded by turning to her mom and saying, “Mom, dad does
not understand. I was so close to winning the hula-hoop contest, and
then that small honeybee came and ruined my life!”

Alice’s mom said, “You may not like the bees, Alice, but we need them.
They are the reason we have food on our table. You also should not
waste water trying to harm them. Water is important and so are bees.”

Alice wasn’t convinced. Even after the talk, she still didn’t like bees,
and she had no good reason to care about saving water. After
dinner, Alice went to her room to do her homework and then
climbed into bed.

As Alice was closing her eyes, she thought about what her parents
had said. It didn’t take long for Alice to fall asleep.

Suddenly, Alice awoke to the sound of bees. She looked around and
saw she was surrounded by thousands of bees. She started to
freak-out, and it took her a few long breaths to calm down. After
she calmed down, she looked at her clothes and saw they had black
and yellow stripes. Alice looked over her shoulder and saw she had
wings. She touched the wall and felt something sticky. She tried it,
and it tasted sweet.

“Where am I?” Alice wondered
Suddenly a bee bumped into her. “Sorry, I’m in a rush,” said the busy bee.
Alice, still confused about what was happening, said, “It’s okay, I guess?”
“I’m Beatrice,” said the busy bee. “What’s your name?”
“I’m Alice. But, where am I? And why do I have wings on my back?”
“You’re a bee, silly,” said Beatrice.

Alice now felt even more confused.

“Come on, let’s go collect pollen,” Beatrice said. Alice followed her
as they buzzed over to a water-wise garden.

When Alice entered the garden she saw something incredible. The
flowers and trees were huge. She could land on a leaf and lay on it
like it was a bed. Plants were being watered with small amounts of
water, and Alice noticed it was very unlike the way she watered her
plants at home.

“What is this place?” asked Alice.

“It’s a water-wise garden that saves water,” said Beatrice.

There was a nearby river, and Alice pointed to it.
“Why do you need a water-wise garden to save
water when there’s a lot of water over there?”
“It’s important to save water, because there’s

only so much on Earth,” Beatrice explained.
“Did you know that, out of all of the water
on the Earth, less than one percent is fresh,
clean water that is readily available to us?
And if everyone wastes water, there will be
no water left for people, animals, plants,
and insects.”

Alice flew to the river and saw there were fish that looked
as big as cars, because she was so small! Alice had never
seen fish up close like this before. “I’ve been wasting
water my whole life,” she thought to herself.
“Maybe dad was right.”

“Let’s get a drink of water before we start collecting pollen
and nectar,” said Beatrice.

They flew over to a flower. When Alice landed on the flower, she could
see it up close for the first time. “Why do bees collect pollen and
nectar?” asked Alice.

“Wow, you must be one clueless bee,” buzzed Beatrice. “We collect
pollen and nectar to feed our hive, and make honey. When we do this,
we are also pollinating the plants. We also collect water to take
to our hive, as needed.”

“What happens if plants aren’t pollinated?” Alice asked.

“Well, plants wouldn’t be able to produce fruit and
vegetables which means the food won’t grow,”
Beatrice responded. “Here’s something to think
about Alice: Do you know humans love pizza?”
“Of course I do!” Alice shouted with excitement.
After all, she was a human (even though Beatrice
thought she was a bee).

Beatrice laughed and said, “Well here is
the thing, Alice, no bees means no pizza.”

“What do you mean?” questioned
Alice worriedly.

“Well, if we bees are not around to
pollinate the tomato plants, there will be no
tomatoes for pizza sauce. Therefore, no bees,
no pizza,” Beatrice said.

Alice remembered what her parents had said about
bees and why they were important. This information
about pizza confirmed it.

Alice looked over her shoulder and saw what looked like a giant
walking through the garden. She got scared and hid behind a flower
petal. She realized it was a person and not a giant. He looked large
because she was so small now. “Who is that?” Alice asked.

“That is the beekeeper,” said Beatrice. “He takes care of bees.”
“Really? The bees don’t frighten him?” Alice wondered, but then she
remembered something, “Hey! Speaking of people, why do bees sting
people? It’s very rude.”

“Bees only sting when they feel like someone or something is trying
to hurt them,” said Beatrice. “I was in someone’s backyard earlier
today when a little girl tried to harm me with a water hose. It wasn’t
very nice because all I wanted to do was collect pollen and nectar and
get a drink of water,” she continued.

Alice realized she was the one who had squirted the water hose at the
bees in her backyard. She felt guilty for trying to harm the bees when
all they were trying to do was collect pollen and nectar. Beatrice was
actually a really nice bee...and pretty smart too.

“You’re right, Beatrice,” said Alice. “That was not very nice at all.”

After they were done collecting the water, the pollen
and the nectar, Alice and Beatrice made their way back
to the hive. As they were buzzing through the air, Alice
felt a sudden shake. Then everything went black. Alice
opened her eyes and saw her little brother Jimmy
jumping on her bed. She gave him a quick hug, got
out of bed, and ran down the hall toward the kitchen,
calling out, “Guess what, Mom and Dad?!”

“What is going on?” asked Alice’s dad, as he saw Alice in the hallway.

“I turned into a bee and went to a garden where everything was
huge,” said Alice. “I learned about bees
and saving water.”

“Oh really?” asked Alice’s dad with
a smile.

“Yes,” Alice said with excitement,
“things are going to be
different from now on!”

Alice then rushed to the back door, determined to help bees and
save water. As she burst through the door into the backyard, she saw
a little honeybee buzzing through the air and wondered if it was
Beatrice. She smiled as she thought about all of the facts Beatrice
had shared with her and then, with a twinkle in her eye, she called
out to her parents, “May we have pizza for dinner tonight?”

Alice later grew-up
to be a beekeeper.

Vocabulary Words

Beekeeper: A person who raises bees.

Crop: A plant or plant product that is grown by farmers.

Drone Bee: A drone is a male bee. Unlike the female worker bee, drones do not have stingers and do
not gather pollen and nectar. A drone's primary role is to mate with a fertile queen bee.

Farming: The job or business of running a farm.

Fertilization: The state of being fertilized.

Garden: A piece of ground in which fruits, flowers, or vegetables are grown.

Giant: An imaginary person of great size and strength.

Hive: A container for housing honeybees.

Honey: A thick, sweet substance made by bees.

Honeybee: An insect with four wings that is related to the wasps, gathers pollen and nectar from
flowers from which it makes beebread and honey for food, and usually lives in large colonies.

Larva: The active immature form of a bee.

Nectar: A sweet liquid produced by plants and used by bees in making honey.

Ovule: The part of the ovary of seed plants that contains the female germ cell and after fertilization
becomes the seed.

Pistil: The female organs of a flower.

Pollen: The substance that causes plants to form seeds. Both flowering plants and conifers (plants
that grow seeds inside cones) make pollen. A grain of pollen is so tiny that it is best viewed through
a microscope.

Pollinate: Convey pollen to or deposit pollen on (a stigma, ovule, flower, or plant) and so allow
fertilization.

Propolis: Bee use this as glue for unwanted open spaces in the hive.

River: A large natural stream of water flowing in a channel to the sea, a lake, or another river.

Royal Jelly: A substance used by worker bees to feed the larvae being raised as potential queen bees.

Stigma: The part of a pistil that receives the pollen during pollination.

Sting: The burning itching swollen lesion produced by the stinging of a bee.

Queen Bee: The single reproductive female in a hive or colony of honeybees.

Wasting: Use or expend carelessly, extravagantly, or to no purpose.

Water: A colorless, transparent, odorless, tasteless liquid that forms the seas, lakes, rivers, and rain
is the basis of the fluids of living organisms.

Water-Wise: To be smart about water use by using water efficiently.

Worker Bee: Like the queen bee, worker bees are all female. They are smaller, their abdomens are
shorter, and on their hind legs they possess pollen baskets, which are used to tote pollen back from
the field. The life span of worker bee is a modest six weeks during the colony's active season.