Reading these poems and essays by Naomi Shihab Nye makes one wonder: Is she someone to whom extraordinary things happen, or is she someone who gives extraordinary meaning to ordinary things? The answer seems to be both. It’s evidenced in the experiences she recounts in short essays such as “Museum,” about a hilariously memorable teenage encounter with art, and “Gate A–4,” about an uplifting affirmation of connectedness among once-disparate travelers who share the gift of togetherness—the unexpected sense of community is seeded by a distressed Palestinian woman in the Albuquerque airport. Along with essays are poems that celebrate the sweetness and wonder of the world, and poems that agonize over its sting. In “Consolation” she writes: “This morning the newspaper / was too terrible to deliver / so the newsboy just pitched out / a little sheaf / of Kleenex.” Nye’s most overtly political collection to date, she offers her perspective on politics and the president and war, but also people and moments in her daily life—and ours as well, perhaps—that are meaningful in ways both small and large. (Age 13 and older)

“Nye’s sheer joy in communicating, creativity, and caring shine through.”—Kirkus Reviews

A moving and celebratory poetry collection from Young People’s Poet Laureate and National Book Award Finalist Naomi Shihab Nye. This resonant volume explores the similarities we share with the people around us—family, friends, and complete strangers.

Honey. Beeswax. Pollinate. Hive. Colony. Work. Dance. Communicate. Industrious. Buzz. Sting. Cooperate.

Where would we be without honeybees? Where would we be without one another?

In eighty-two poems and paragraphs (including the renowned Gate A-4), Naomi Shihab Nye alights on the essentials of our time—our loved ones, our dense air, our wars, our memories, our planet—and leaves us feeling curiously sweeter and profoundly soothed.

Includes an introduction by the poet.

This is a book that asks the most important questions: How can we find our way back to one another and our world?

• Poems About Kindness: Inspired by the viral story “Gate A-4,” these pieces celebrate the small, powerful acts of empathy that connect us to strangers.
• Nature and Humanity: Using the honeybee as a central metaphor, Nye explores our communities, our conflicts, and what it truly means to work together.
• A Voice for Social Justice: Facing difficult topics like war and prejudice with unflinching honesty, these poems gently ask us to look closer and care more.
• The Beauty of Everyday Life: From a friendly postal clerk to a shared bag of cookies, discover extraordinary meaning in the most ordinary moments.