The text reads, “Let’s be bees.” “Let’s buzz,” says the dialogue bubble next to a father reading to their child. “Let’s be fuzzy, buzzy bees and … Buzz!” shout the pair as their bodies are transformed into buzzing bees. The playful interaction between text and illustrations mimics the imaginative play of the parent and child reading their own copy of Let’s Be Bees. Meta? Yes, but there’s no time (or need) to contemplate when each page-turn is a compelling command to become bees, birds, trees, and more! The father and child become the wailing wind, pattering rain, and silent snow, until … “Avalanche!” The boisterous crayon-like drawings and small trim size of this book are opportune for reading in laps and performing again and again. If the story content is not enough fodder for imitation, the endpapers offer additional inspiration.

Father and child become buzzing bees, rustling trees, and more in this delightful make-believe romp from Caldecott Honor winner Shawn Harris.

The only thing better than playing make believe is playing make believe with your favorite grown-up! Especially when that grown-up’s imagination is as big as yours, and you both get to make all kinds of funny sounds.

Fans of Shawn Harris’s Caldecott Honor-winning debut Have You Ever Seen a Flower? and illustrations in the Newbery Medal-winning The Eyes and the Impossible will find a new instant favorite in Let’s Be Bees. With bright, bold crayon illustrations, lilting, rhythmic words, and endless fodder for playing along, this is a read aloud guaranteed to bring on the giggles and requests to do it all again.