Vintage yet enjoyable story of a bee who decides to explore instead of work gathering nectar. Maya's defection results in a number of adventures, both good and bad. Not for the youngest reader due to some depictions of death, as is common in the natural world. ( )

Charming! And (aside from the fact that insects don't chat and have strong personalities, and one fleeting encounter with a sprite) definitely based on some very real and specific insect behaviours. It was rather shocking how casually some of the predatory insects would devour a nearby prey insect (who may have just been chatting with Maya)--it's very honest about how nature works.

But beyond that there's Maya's belief in the wonder and beauty of nature (even humans), and despite all she witnesses and goes through, her ability to appreciate the goodness and sweetness of life remains the strongest impression. A delightful, fairly quick read.

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, but I grade on a curve! ( )

Waldemar Bonsels' Maya the Bee is full of story and feeling, and it also happens to be beautifully written, with the vocabulary and diction and wonder of other great children's books of this era--this is a book that rivals The Wizard of Oz, or Wind in the Willows.

In addition to its lush diction--0ne beautifully written sentence after another--this novel is different from modern children's books in the way it neither shirks from nor exploits violent happenings. Characters are mostly insects; throughout the book some die, or are subject to grave danger. Bad things happen and those who survive carry on. It's a look at life when the young deaths of innocents wasn't terribly uncommon. Before penicillin or cures for childhood diseases were discovered. I read this first as a child, a copy in my grandmother's house, and reading again this time I remembered so vividly the scenes when insect lives are cut short. They didn't scare me as a child--they did make me feel wiser and more ready for this business of growing up, though.

The German version is lovely. The English translation is also out of copyright and it is very good, too, available for free online. There are even illustrated versions on the Gutenberg project. You owe it to yourself to read it, and then, to read it with your children. ( )

Match found in the German National Library.

First published in German in 1912, this series of adventures stars a young rebel bee who leaves the hive despite warnings to the contrary. She encounters good insects and bad, dangers and delights. The overarching theme of the book is a hit-you-over-the-head moral play: obey, work hard, be loyal.

Wikipedia advises that it was originally published as a fable with a political message. “Maya represents the ideal citizen, and the beehive represents a well-organised militarist society. It has also elements of nationalism and speciesism.”

I understand this is now also a comic book and an animated television series with its attendant marketed products. The moral of that series, I’m sure, is not what Bansels originally intended.

P.S. This is a free Kindle ebook on Amazon. 3 stars ( )