Imagine the world a long time from now, when technology has continued to advance but has not helped humankind find ways to preserve the environment. In The Last Beekeeper, author Cartaya creates such a world, and main character (protagonist) Yolanda Ciceron (Yoly) sets out to change that...one bee at a time!
Beekeeper is one of Cartaya' many books, and the second I have read. It has a lot of heart and I love the premise of the story, especially as it doesn't seem to be too fantastic or too far in the future, if you humans don't do things differently moving forward. The main characters are both strong, LatinX girls, third generation of smart women, farmers, scientists, and brave. All good things that made me like this book! Cartaya has a good story idea here, and as I mentioned above, you can feel his passion for this story throughout the book. However, maybe I've read too many books at this point (is there such a thing?), but the writing in The Last Beekeeper is really...poor. Not grammatically, but too simple for any middle grade reader I've ever met. The story line is meant for middle school, I'm sure, but the writing is too often just too basic. In too many places Cartaya tells us, the reader, too much, and doesn't let us fill in blanks where many of you could fill in those gaps by yourself. Filling those parts of a story makes a story better.
I love reading about bees. They are a vitally important part of our world, and our survival on this planet. Cartaya has a good story idea here that centers around bees and their importance to us all. I wish his editor, or a friend, would have asked him to write one more draft before sending this to be published. It likely would have helped. I give this 3 paws, and only because I can tell he really enjoyed creating this story, and it is an important story to tell. Too bad the writing is so basic. Darn.
No comments:
Post a Comment