Not all buzz is good, and the fact that our bee population is on the decline really makes us want to get our stingers out and do something! Well, thanks to Honey Nut Cheerios, we can—the famous bee-branded cereal recently launched the third year of its Bring Back the Bees campaigns, which encourages Canadians to obtain and plant free wildflower seeds to help grow the natural habitat bees need for survival.
Not only that, Honey Nut Cheerios has partnered with Canadian author, Paulette Bourgeois (of Franklin the Turtle fame) to create a new children’s book—Bella and Jack Bring Back the Bees—to encourage Canadian kids to do their part to help, and there are 100,000 free copies available on a first-come-first-served basis! We had a chance to chat with Paulette about the book—read the interview below, and find out how you can enter to win a Honey Nut Cheerios Bring Back the Bees prize pack that includes a copy of her book, two boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios cereal, three packs of wildflower seeds and gardening tools! Good luck! —Noa Nichol
Hi Paulette! What does teaming up with Honey Nut Cheerios now, on their Bring Back the Bees campaign, mean to you?
So exciting to be part of such a great campaign and to know that the book will not only entertain but educate kids so that they can be part of the movement to Bring Back the Bees!
Have bees figured in your life or career as a kids’ book author before? Do you like bees? (We personally like the fuzzy, bumbly kind best!)
My cousin, the artist Aganetha Dyck is an award-winning artist who creates with bees and I created a documentary about her life. I love bees and this summer we will put homes for wild bees in our cottage wildflower garden.
Tell us a bit about Bella and Jack Bring Back the Bees—the making and meaning of.
I wanted to create a story that would involve young readers in a quest to help our heroes, Bella and Jack, find the bees missing from their favourite beekeeper’s hives. Jack isn’t crazy about bees, but Bella convinces him that they are amazing and they need their help. They’re amazed to learn that bees pollinate one in three types of foods that we all eat. Jack and Bella start a movement to by planting wildflower seeds everywhere to create habitats that bees need to survive.
Do you have any personal thoughts on bees/their decline—and on how kids and their grownups across this country can help?
There are lots of reasons for the decline of bees but we can all help by building more hives for honeybees, planting wildflower seeds, everywhere—especially in the cities—and by providing homes and habitats for wild bees.
Personal question: if you were a bee, what flower would you be most attracted to, and why?
What a fun question! I love purple, just like the bees so I would definitely head to a patch of Purple Coneflowers that bloom for up to three weeks in June and July. Butterflies and finches like them, too!
Win! A Honey Nut Cheerios Bring Back the Bees Prize Pack!
We have a winner! Congratulations to Janet D. of Hammonds Plains, Nova Scotia, who won a kid-and-adult-friendly Honey Nut Cheerios Bring Back the Bees prize pack, complete with a copy of Bella and Jack Bring Back the Bees, two boxes of cereal, three packs of wildflower seeds and gardening tools!
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