The Queen Bee and Me
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
From the highly acclaimed author of Caterpillar Summer and Honestly Elliott comes a heartfelt story about the sweetness and stings of tween friendship.
Meg has always found comfort in her best friend Beatrix's shadow. Self-assured Beatrix is the one who makes decisions, and the girls have been a pair since kindergarten. But starting middle school brings new changes in Beatrix, especially when Meg tries to step outside her role as sidekick.
When Meg becomes fast friends with the quirky new girl Hazel who also loves science, Beatrix is quick to stake her claim on Meg. Meg doesn't know why Beatrix is being so mean to Hazel--or why it's so difficult it is to stand up to her friend. And Meg starts to wonder: Is being Beatrix's best friend worth turning down the possibility of finding her own voice?
This pitch-perfect exploration of middle-school friendship dynamics brims with heart and hope, and will resonate with readers of all ages.
Acclaim for Caterpillar Summer
An Indies Introduce Pick
A Texas Bluebonnet Selection
A Parents Best Book of the Year
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year
An Amazon Best Book of the Year
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Meg and Beatrix, 12, have been best friends since kindergarten, but in their hierarchical friendship, anxious Meg is compelled to follow popular Beatrix's lead or get frozen out. When Meg earns a coveted spot in an advanced science elective and drops the dance class Beatrix had chosen for them both, she's terrified to tell her friend. McDunn (Caterpillar Summer) deftly sketches Meg's struggles amid seventh grade's unspoken social order, highlighting how "Beatrix comes with her own set of rules." Tensions escalate further when quirky new girl Hazel is paired with Meg for a science project on bees, and the two form a bond that infuriates Beatrix. Told in Meg's strong voice, McDunn's narrative includes fieldwork updates on the bee project that effectively echo the story's human interactions ("How does the worker bee realize it is time to switch to something new?"). Meg's warm, tight-knit family contrasts with Beatrix's demanding and judgmental mother, who contextualizes some of the girl's motivations. Readers will identify with the pitch-perfect middle school dynamics and cheer for Meg as she navigates a toxic friendship. Ages 8 12.
