Monk
Kidd, S. (2003). The Secret Life of Bees. New York: Viking.
Hardcover
| $16.00
USD | ISBN-13: 978-0670032372 | 320 pages | YA Fiction
Nightmares do not go away. Imagine having one repeating
image of your mother and that image involves you holding a gun the day she
died.
14-year old Lily’s mother is dead. Her father does
not show her love and rarely shows her any attention. Lily calls her dad
“T-Ray;” he certainly does not deserve a name like dad. Lily lives on a peach
farm and her only friend is Rosaleen, the family’s servant. Lily’s memory of
her mom is haunting her. Her father will not talk of her mother and Lily has unanswered
questions. She finds a few of her mother’s possessions including a picture of a
black Virgin Mary inscribed with “Tiburon, S.C.” This makes Lily wonder. Rosaleen
has been Lily’s stand in mother; she loves her dearly on the inside. On the outside
she has a tough exterior. So tough, that one day Rosaleen stands up to some
incredibly racist men in the town. Rosaleen just wanted to vote, but it is 1964
in South Carolina. When a black woman does this in the 1960s in South Carolina
it can only end badly – and it did end– with a beating and an arrest. Lily helps
Rosaleen escape and together they flee to Tiburon, S.C. all because of that
picture. Lily follows the honey to a pink house. Here Lily learns about her
mother’s past and herself. Lily meets the Boatwright sisters, who are 3 strong
African American women and beekeepers. These three sisters, along with
Rosaleen, show Lily tremendous love – and to say it brings changes is an
understatement.
Lily learns about her past while in Tiburon, but also
she is happy, despite her being a typical moody teenager! Through her experiences,
she learns about racism since she is growing up in a racially divided community
in the South in the 1960s. Lily genuinely accepts and loves the women she
meets, no matter their skin color, and she experiences love in return like she
never knew before. Each of the Boatwright sisters, named August, June and May,
are all in their own unique way a mother figure to her. Her love and
appreciation for them is obvious and charming, but life is not without
difficulties, even in Tiburon, S.C.
I would highly recommend
this book for middle and high school libraries, grades 7 and up and for all public
libraries. This coming of age novel would fit well in a section of the library
on books recommended for teenage girls because it shows how Lily was able to
grow and develop with the support of those loved ones around her. Loss is never
easy to deal with. Readers will enjoy the symbolism and parallelisms in caring
for bees, making honey and loving others that you must read the book in order
to see this. In addition to that, Lily still deals with other teenage issues
and it is nice to see her development. This novel would also fit in a
collection on love, social justice and positive race relationships. Women of
all ages and races will appreciate this book for its themes of motherhood and
love. Sue Monk Kidd’s novel has been
made into a film starring some big names including Dakota Fanning, Queen
Latifah, Jennifer Hudson and Alicia Keys. The novel itself won several awards.
It was a New York Times bestseller
for more than 125 weeks and a Good Morning America “Read This” Book Club pick.
(“Amazon,”
n.d.)
