They created her, then destroyed the thing she lived for: her children. When, miraculously, she discovers a new family, she'll fight any battle to keep it safe.

Deep in the Selkirk mountains, a mysterious queen bee fleeing the scientists who created her is rescued by, and then adopts, a boy grieving his mother's death, in this "glowing, powerful work of speculative fiction."

From his dying mother Anthony inherited a beehive-and the gift to speak with bees. But as soon as she is gone her hive slips toward ruin. And then Anthony finds the Little Queen, a remarkable bee hiding a dangerous secret. She assumes control of Anthony's hive and resurrects it with extraordinary changes, then she takes Anthony in her care so he can begin to heal, too. But the family they form is threatened by those who made her, who want ownership of the Little Queen and everything she represents.

* * *

The bees in The Little Queen may feel like fantasy to readers who think the only creatures on the planet who ache for community, plan for disaster, and know love, are human. The truth, of course, is that bees have been doing these things for millions of years. This is a story extending that ancient and ongoing legacy.