I love stumbling upon friends’ projects that are just outstanding pieces of work. This past week I connected with my friend Reid about his kickstarter project: Bee You.
This story illustrates how important it is to be yourself, but also how important it is for society to allow all types of people to be part of the community.
Alfred could have left the hive when the other bees were mean to him, but instead, he stayed, continued with his dream, until he saved the hive because of his training. By the end of the story, the hive has made him the fire chief and is training other bees to be firefighters to keep the hive safe.
We, as moms, are the Queen Bee in our family and will do anything to keep our little hive safe from threats that abound. I’m so excited to share this book with Fox when it releases later this year! The author, Reid Markel, is a great friend of mine, but also a brilliant writer.
Just like Alfred, author Reid Markel has a dream to bring a big idea about a little bee to life. Reid is obsessed with bees and decided he needed to do something to help save them. After writing the story about Alfred, who learned to “bee” himself, Reid felt like the Kickstarter was a great place to launch this big idea about a little bee with big dreams.
I sat down with reid and did a quick interview with him regarding the book and I’m delighted to share it with you now.
Sarah: Why did you decide to write a book?
Reid: I love bees. I also love documentaries. Unfortunately, I’m not an expert in bees or documentary filmmaking. But I watched a documentary about bees that resulted in my partner (who seems to think you need more than one source of information to know if something is accurate or not) and her kids teasing me endlessly about the “facts” I learned.
At first I thought it was funny. Then came the memes and the bee themed “gifts.” Then came the Instagram chat channel named “bees man.”
Long story short, I’ve always wanted to write a children’s book. All it took was the stings from my “friends” and a trip with my family to Durango to get away from it all. Deep in the mountains Alfred was born.
S: What is the book about?
R: The book is about Alfred, a little bee with big dreams. He’s always wanted to be a firefighter, and he continues to train to become one, even when others make fun of him and tell him he can’t.
S: How will the book inspire kids and parents to “bee” themselves?
R: The goal of the story is to have kids and parents put themselves in Alfred’s shoes. We’ve all been told at one point or another that our goals were to big, not realistic, or to “be practical”. Bee You shares the story of following your heart, trusting your instincts and bee-ing yourself.
S: What’s been the most exciting part about this project?
R: Definitely all the bee puns. I know so many, it’s unbee-lievable. I’ve also gotten to hang out with some beekeepers as they worked to rescue a hive and save the bees. It was amazing.
S: When will the book be ready?
R: The Kickstarter ends Sep 13 and books will ship in time for Christmas.
S: Where will the book be available once it’s released?
R: Unfortunately with Kickstarter it’s all or nothing. So if we can’t reach our goal Alfred won’t be buzzing around.
S: Where we can we follow updates on the book now?
R: You can follow updates on our Facebook page or on our Kickstarter. 
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/amplitudemedia/bee-you-book/widget/video.html
Support this kickstarter and bring another piece of great literature to your kids’ library. Head over to the page and check out all the incredible bonuses you can receive for support the project!