Zinnia and the bees was a very interesting book. As long as you can overlook a few flaws that the premise has, it's a great book.

This book deals with loss, friendships, figuring out who you are, and trying to understand people. These things are something that everyone struggles with from time to time and can be difficult to cope with on your own. I think that this book can help someone going through these things to understand that they aren't alone and that it is normal.

My overall rating for this book is a 4.5. ( )

You’re either going to buy into the concept of Zinnia and the Bees or you aren’t, and I’m afraid I must confess to the latter. This has more to do with the limits of my imagination and grown-up sensibilities than Davis’s writing, though, and I feel confident that this book will appeal to actual middle-graders. For example, I think they will probably be more accepting of Dr. Flossdrop’s parenting and more willing to suspend their disbelief re: summer time hoodie wearing in California. (And, you know, thousands of bees inhabiting a girl’s hair.) The fact that I’m pretty sure Zinnia is an unreliable narrator helps. She is immensely likable as are the rest of the relatively eccentric individuals who round out the cast. (I absolutely adore Birch and his plaidness!) Really, this book reminded me an awful lot of Natalie Lloyd’s A Snicker of Magic , and I think the charming supporting characters had a lot to do with that. I mean, yes, there’s also the magical realism, mother-daughter issues, fun/crazy aunts, friends on a “mission,” ice cream, etc, but the characters give a story its heart. And both stories have a lot of heart. Definitely recommend Zinnia to any lovers of Lloyd!

Overall, a charmingly quirk tale that I plan to recommend.

ARC provided by NetGalley. ( )

A heartwarming story of friendship, family, and homecoming, with a dash of yarn bombing and bees. Zinnia is having a terrible summer: her best friends shun her, her mother ignores her, her brother abandons her family, and now bees have taken residence in her hair. Enter a new friend and a plan, and Zinnia discovers how to reconnect with the people she loves while saving herself and the lost bees. ( )