#MMGM Middle Grade Review: Beholding Bee

Because I absolutely loved  The Secret of Honeycake (review in link) by Kimberly Newton Fusco, I nabbed Beholding Bee as an audiobook for my recent trip to Utah. I'm reviewing it for the fantastic Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays blog hop hosted by Greg Pattridge of Always in the Middle. Check out Greg's blog for a list of additional reviews of middle grade books.

 

 Title: Beholding Bee

Author: Kimberly Newton Fusco. Read by Ariadne Meyers

Publication Info: Listening Library, 2013. 8 hours. Original hardcover by Knopf Books, 2013, 336 pages.

Source: Library

Publisher's Blurb (via Goodreads):
Bee is an orphan who lives with a carnival and sleeps in the back of a tractor trailer. Every day she endures taunts for the birthmark on her face—though her beloved Pauline, the only person who has ever cared for her, tells her it is a precious diamond. When Pauline is sent to work for another carnival, Bee is lost.

Then a scruffy dog shows up, as unwanted as she, and Bee realizes that she must find a home for them both. She runs off to a house with gingerbread trim that reminds her of frosting. There two mysterious women, Mrs. Swift and Mrs. Potter, take her in. They clothe her, though their clothes are strangely out of date. They feed her, though there is nothing in their house to eat. They help her go to school, though they won't enter the building themselves. And, strangely, only Bee seems able to see them.

Whoever these women are, they matter. They matter to Bee. And they are helping Bee realize that she, too, matters to the world--if only she will let herself be a part of it.

This tender novel beautifully captures the pain of isolation, the healing power of community, and the strength of the human spirit.

 

My Review:
Beholding Bee is set (as one eventually figures out) during WWII. That helps explain the casual handling of the orphaned Bee, since it's only much more recently that the US started keeping a closer eye on what happened to such kids. It appears that Bee has never gone to school, and has been working (at about age 11?) for the carnival to earn her keep. Her life there might be okay, if it weren't for the owner, who is a nasty piece of work, and the tendency of people to want to stare at her birthmark, and bully her for it.

The story does a great job of showing Bee learning to live with herself and with others, discover the healing power of friendship, and find her way in the world. I liked her resilience (sometimes under protest), as well as subtle touches like the way she learns to accept change in the form of a piglet who won't stay small and fast.

For all that, I didn't love this book. I liked it, but I didn't love it. I think there were a couple of reasons for that. First, there's no denying that it felt like there was  too much made of the birthmark. I totally get that to Bee it would be huge, but I'm not sure other peoples' reactions to it--especially those of adults--are believable. Still, among kids, it takes less than that to make someone a target, so the juvenile bullying rings true. Sadly, so does the school's treatment of kids with special needs--lumping physical disabilities in with mental and emotional ones, and teaching none of the kids anything.

My bigger issue lies with the mysterious aunts, Mrs. Swift and Mrs. Potter. This is where the book tips over into magical realism (or something like that), and I wasn't prepared for that, nor is it something I really like. So, in the end, my failure to love the book is mostly because I wasn't expecting something that doesn't work super well for me.

In other words, for many readers, there's everything to love and nothing to dislike. Kimberly Newton Fusco writes well, and the reader will feel everything along with Bee, however you feel about mysterious aunts.

My Recommendation:
Beholding Bee is worth reading, and could offer a lot of perspective to a kid who has visible differences or is getting bullied. Maybe it would offer even more important perspective to kids who are bullying those with differences. Suitable for ages 8 and up.

 

FTC Disclosure: I checked Beholding Bee out of my library, and received nothing from the writer or publisher for my honest review.  The opinions expressed are my own and those of no one else.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."  



Rebecca M. Douglass, 2025
As always, please ask permission to use any photos or text. Link-backs appreciated.


Don't miss a post--Follow us!