Beekeepers have discovered that several of their bees have inexplicably gone missing. Without honeybees, many foods cannot get pollenated and be able to grow. In January 2007, beekeepers from across the world gathered to discuss the loss of the bees, calling the problem Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Without the essential worker bees, the hive cannot survive. Scientists have tried to find the problem with the disappearing bees, researching to see if urban development, overwork from farmers transporting bees year-round across the country for pollination, cell phones, mites, fungi, and other issues have contributed to CCD. No one knows for sure what is killing the bees, but scientists are hard at work to find answers and beekeepers do everything they can to keep the bees healthy.

The text itself is not particularly kid friendly or exciting, but kids who are interested in science or bees will enjoy the details and the bright, colorful pictures. The back of the book has some ideas to help local honeybees and resources for global efforts, making it more useful for classrooms and parents to help their child be involved in the scientific process beyond the pages of the book. The book provides a lot of detail into the biology of honeybees, the importance of pollination, and the scientific process that people go through to try to solve a problem. Although scientists have still not found a salutation, this book provides a good look of what is going on in science to protect this particular species and why it matters to everyday people. ( )

This is a very easy to read & understand book. It is also a very important book to read if you are interested in ecology and the protection of our natural food sources.

In October of 2006, Dave Hackenberg went out to check his bees..... Millions of them. What he found was only the queens of each hive & their broods... the rest were missing. Three weeks earlier, he had driven the group of 30,000 from FL to PA and all was well.

In January 2007, beekeepers from all over the u.s. met.... many had experienced the same form of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Beekeepers were losing anywhere from 30-50% of their hives.... The biggest issue wasn't the loss of beekeeping business, but the fact that without honeybees food crops would fail and people would go hungry.

Scientists & beekeepers found that: change of habitat (wide spread urbanization & single crop land utilization [usually corn]); overworking & improper diet (cutting short the honeybees rest time and feeding them sugar syrup); pesticides (especially neonicotinoids [nicotine based]); Varroa mites; and Nosema fungus are to blame.

The book goes on to talk about care & feeding of bees; the different types of honeybees; the splitting of colonies; and a new "Hygienic" breed of bees that help fight mites & diseases.

The book also has a short section on: Global Rescue Effects; Helping Your Local Honeybees; and Honeybee Websites.

What an amazing book which I am happy I took the time to read! ( )

The genre of this book is informational. This book launches the reader into a full-fledged scientific investigation of why honeybees are vanishing, and what scientists are doing to combat the onset of these disappearances. This book stops to explain terms and things that the reader might not understand, and I think it would be great for a 4th grade classroom. This could be used in a life cycle discussion, or even a discussion about plants and the concern for pollinators. ( )

This is an excellent book. The layout is good, the photographs are excellent. It combines a discussion of the current thinking on CCD with an introduction to honeybees. Appropriate for a young audience, and a nice introduction to some of the current research into CCD. ( )

You might not have noticed but honeybees have been disappearing specifically they have been declining at alarming rates. The Case of the Vanishing Honeybees by Sandra Marble looks at the effects of diminishing populations, the possible causes, and what's being done to save the honeybees.

For a short book — 48 pages, The Case of the Vanishing Honeybees is densely packed with facts. The information is presented in clear, succinct, and easy to understand way.

The section on Tokyo, for instance, has really stuck with me. It's the section I also go to when describing the book. Apparently the city has a crow problem. The birds have adapted to hunt garbage, being able to tear open the clear garbage bags everyone is expected to use.BUT there's a turf war between the birds and the bees. By introducing urban apiaries, the city is stating to curb the crow problem. ( )