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Reviewed by Rosie Malezer for Readers' Favorite
Cate and the Garden Bandits is an illustrated educational children's book, written by Betsy Coffeen and illustrated by Ginger Seehafer. Cate the butterfly falls off her leaf as a loud buzzing passes by during her morning nap. A bumble bee had been in a big hurry when it woke Cate from her slumber. She had been helping her best friends Pete the Potato Bug, Davey the Dung Beetle, and Walter the Earthworm keep their garden's beauty at its peak with love and water, but the flowers were rather sparse. Cate discovered that the bumble bee had taken many of the petals from the hibiscus, sunflowers, roses, and daisies, all of which now adorned the nursery and the queen's chambers. When Cate realized that the petals were taken for nectar and pollen to feed the babies and queen, she felt quite humbled.
The educational aspect of Cate and the Garden Bandits is brilliantly presented to young readers. Betsy Coffeen shows one of the reasons that bees are so very important to our planet. When readers see at a very early age why some aspects of nature are too precious to lose, it ingrains in their minds that killing bees is a very bad thing to do. Introducing the three other insect species also teaches kids about our ecosystem and the different groups within it. The vocabulary list at the end of the story teaches young readers the meanings of the many new words that they will encounter during Cate and the Garden Bandits, thus presenting them with a boost in their literary education. Even as an adult, I very much enjoyed reading Betsy Coffeen's tale of nature and recommend this book to be stocked in home and school libraries. A brilliantly written and beautifully presented tale that will definitely be enjoyed by readers aged 4-10 years of age worldwide.
