"Maya the Bee" is an inspired story that at the beginning seems like a guide to the world of nature and insects. Maya, just as every other curious girl, stepped into the world bravely and everyday she discovered it more.
While following Maya's footsteps the reader has an opportunity to get to know the beauties of nature but also the cruelty of the world. It not only human's life that's unpredictable, it's also animal's life where they confront happy as well as sad moments.
Maya wants to teach everyone that they should approach life with no prejudice and that everyone should accept people as they are. Maya is a bee that is looking for the good, even while she was held captive in the nest of the hornets.
Waldemar Bonsels pointed out in several occasions that we are supposed to respect all living creatures. The story has a strong moral to it and carries some valuable life lessons. Without courage and an open mind we can't learn anything. Accepting new experiences is a beautiful and much needed life adventure.
Genre: children's story
Place: hive, hornet's nest, trees
Book Summary
The time has come for Maya to get out of her hive. With the help of Kassandra she sees the world and starts getting her first life lessons. The very next they he goes flying for the first time. She was amazed with the colors and the freedom given to her by flying. She likes the outer world way more than the bee town so she decided never to go back to make honey.
She realized she wasn't like the other bees and she wanted to explore the world. When night came she hid under a big leaf under a tree. When she woke up she went on exploring simple things such as flower pedals, drops of dew on the leaves. She is welcomed by Kurt who lives inside a rose with his family. He gives her some rose honey.
Maya started to compare the dark and stuffy life with the bees to the beautiful and spacious life inside a rose. Maya was restless so she didn't stay there long. She landed on a lotus where a fly tried to kick her of the lotus but Maya confronted her. She used some of the tips about life Kassandra gave her and soon she got the fly's respect.
Maya and the fly talked about the dangerous frogs and right after they talk a dragonfly appeared and snatched the fly. Even though Maya protested against it the dragonfly swallowed the fly. She later on told Maya that the humans were used to using torture methods but Maya didn't believe the dragonfly because her description of humans wasn't consistent with what KAssandra told her. She believed that the humans were perfect and her best friends.
The next day it was raining and that was the first time Maya felt nostalgic about the safety she had in the hive. Bees can't fly while it's raining so Maya felt like a homeless wanderer. She craved the sun and thought about all the thing she learned.
While she was thinking about the sun she met some new animals such as earthworm. She saw that earthworms had an excellent capability of surviving because they would just cut themselves in half and their body would regenerate itself. She used the time when she was unable to fly to build a small hive where she stored honey and she sealed it with wax.
She also encountered a grasshopper that told her many interesting things. He told her that it's not proven that humans can speak. They sometimes mad some sounds but they weren't harmonious.
The weather got better so Maya flew towards a farm where she met another bee. Since bees spent a lot of time around humans she asked her to tell her something about them. She told them that some people are smarter than others and that their mirror is just a useless toy. Maya was, at the same time, happy and sad about the new information because some of them weren't the same as what Kassandra told her.
While she was flying, Maya got caught in a spider's net. She couldn't liberate herself so she came to terms with her soon death. She gave up to early because one of her friends saved her.
Maya moved on and she stumbled upon a bug that made it clear he does not want to meet her. He even left a brown stinky spot that made Maya almost faint. Soon she found out it was a stinkbug.
Her next friend was a bark beetle who lived in holes he drilled with his family. They were also joined by a spider. Maya told them that she has a desire to sing like a woodpecker. The spider told her that she in an unordinary creature and that the world would be upside down if all animals did what they wanted.
The bee still wanted to meet a human. She woke up one night, and that was uncommon for bees and she saw the stars and the moon. She met a cricket and then she made a special friend. He was able to make a wish come true to the creature he meets. Maya wanted to meet people at their best moment.
He took Maya to a young couple that was in love. A firefly lit up the place so that Maya could see their faces full of love and she saw that people were the prettiest whilekissing.
She was still under an impression of her new findings and couldn't wait to share it with everyone but there was no one excited about it. They were all just doing their jobs, not minding her happiness. She realized there was no one to share her happiness with.
Maya met a ladybug and a centipede that had no family so he just ate and suspected everything all the time. The centipede warned her about the hornet in the tree but Maya was kidnapped and taken to the hornet's queen. She was held captive in a hive that was about to invade her home hive.
Even though she was frightened, Maya pulled herself back together and she became determined to save herself and the other bees. She punched through the wall with the help of a guardian hornet who wasn't a bad person but he was in love with the dragonfly. Maya gave him her address when he helped her. Despite the cold Maya managed to fly to her hive and warn the queen about the attack.
When he hornet army arrived and attacked the bees defended themselves. Some of them were wounded and dead but they managed to beat the hornets. They won because they fought like a family - faithful and together. They didn't celebrate the victory nor cried over the dead. They just kept on working while feeling proud about their victory.
Maya showed once again that she was noble when she brought some water do a dying hornet. She stayed with him because to her he wasn't the enemy, he was just a living being who wanted to keep on living. The queen named Maya the assistant in managing the hive business and she was proud that Maya didn't forget her bees and stayed faithful to her hive.
Characters Analysis
Characters: Maya, Cassandra, Willy, Flip, Alexander, Kurt, Puck, Thekla
Maya - the main character of the story. She is a kind-hearted and simple creature that wants to meet the world.
Kassandra - she thought Maya important life lessons, she was an older bee, a bit nervous because he had to raise a lot of bees.
Willy - Maya's best friend who gets stuck in adventures with Maya against his own will
Puck - a fly that tells Maya a lot about people
Stinkbug - a bug that makes it very clear to Maya that he does not want to be her friend
Bee's queen - wise, kind, ready to forgive and reward hard work
Hornet's queen - careless and blood-thirsty for bees
Waldemar Bonsels Biography
Waldemar Bonsels is a well-known and appreciated German writer born on February 21st 1881 in Ahrensburg. He became famous because of his most popular story hero, and that is Maya the bee.
Waldemar had an interesting life and had had many experiences which he used in his books. Thanks to his exciting life he is still one of the world's famous authors.
He traveled a lot and published some books about his travels that involved cities in Egypt, Europe, North and South America and India.
He also wrote poems, novel and fairytales. Maya the Bee was his most famous work, published in 1912.
He died on July 31st, 1952 when he was 72 years old. He never lived to see Maya's first cartoon adaptation because of which Maya became famous all over the world.
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