World Bee Day, May 20, 2021
World Bee Day was established by the United Nations in 2017 to appreciate bees and bring more awareness to their place in the environment. Bees, butterflies, bats and hummingbirds pollinate and support plant growth. They are under threat of extinction.
The goal is to strengthen measures aimed at protecting bees and other pollinators, which would significantly contribute to solving problems related to the global food supply and eliminate hunger in developing countries.
The 2021 theme is “Bee engaged – Build Back Better for Bees.” You can participate in the day by:
planting a diverse set of native plants, which flower at different times of the year;
buying raw honey from local farmers;
buying products from sustainable agricultural practices;
avoiding pesticides, fungicides or herbicides in our gardens;
protecting wild bee colonies when possible;
sponsoring a hive;
making a bee water fountain by leaving a water bowl outside;
helping sustaining forest ecosystems;
raising awareness around us by sharing this information within our communities and networks; The decline of bees affects us all!
Our call to raise awareness comes from The Bee-Man of Orn by the 19th-century American writer and humorist Frank S. Stockton and illustrated by Maurice Sendak. Held in the Historical Curriculum Collection, our copy is the first Sendak-illustrated edition published by Holt, Rinehart and Winston in New York in 1964.
Frank S. Stockton was a late 19th-century writer, known for humorous and moralizing children’s books, who originally published his story, The Bee-Man of Orn, in 1887. He is most famous for his 1882 The Lady, or the Tiger?, which, like The Bee-Man of Orn, also showcases a philosophical conundrum.
The illustrator’s bio in the book states: “Maurice Sendak could never by advised by the Junior Sorcerer that he had been transformed from something other than his present being -- that of one of the best-known, best-loved illustrator’s in the field of children’s literature -- for there is no other Maurice Sendak.” Sendak was awarded the Caldecott Medal earlier the same year The Bee-Man of Orn was published for his most famous book, Where the Wild Things Are.
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Bee engaged!
-Claire, Special Collections Graduate Student Intern
