"Bee Season"

For the past couple of days, I've been totally immersed in a wonderful book-- "Bee Season," by Myla Goldberg. Wonderful, wonderful story... my sister found the book up in NY at Barnes & Noble and I found it on Half.com for just a couple of dollars. My sister was right... she told me to buy it because it would be one that I'd want to keep on my shelves and read again.

The cover of this book looks like a well-used dictionary. So well-done is this cover that when I removed the book from its mailing envelope, I thought the cover was damaged-- but it's actually an illusion created by the artwork on the dust-jacket.

I don't want to give the story away, and I'm only three-quarters through the book, but it's great reading. "Bee Season" is a reference to spelling bees... the book's nine-yr-old Eliza, previously plain and uninspired, has found her niche in the spelling contests that she enters. Her mother, father, and older brother are also forever changed with Eliza's brilliance.

The blurb on the dust-jacket hints that the "outcome is startling." My sister told me to "be prepared for the ending." I've never peeked at the ending pages in any book I'm reading, so I don't know what to expect in the last chapters of this book. I don't know want to know how it ends until I actually get to the last pages, so I asked my sister to stop talking about it until I've finished the book. When I do, then we can have our usual "long distance book discussion" over the phone.