Buzzy the Bungling Bee

Buzzy is a bee who can't make honey. He does everything according to the recipe, but no matter how hard he tries, he ends up with gum drops instead of honey. He becomes the laughingstock of the hive. Despondent because he doesn't fit in with the other bees, Buzzy packs up his suitcase with gum drops and goes out into the world. He meets a lightning bug who laughs at him when Buzzy says he can only make gum drops. He meets a lady bug who forgets her own problems when Buzzy tells her he makes gum drops, and she too laughs at him. Buzzy feels hopeless and tries to sleep rather than have to tell his story and get laughed at one more time. Then he meets a beetle. The beetle doesn't laugh. He asks Buzzy questions and listens attentively. Finally he asks to taste the gum drops, and exclaims that they are very good. He asks Buzzy if the other bees can make gum drops. Buzzy says no, and suddenly he understands that even though he is different, he has something special to offer. He goes back to the hive to share his discovery with the other bees and live happily in his hive.

Jane Cooperman is a retired RN, a practicing Health and Wellness Coach, a Mindfulness Meditation teacher, a yogi and a ballroom dancer. She was a professional reviewer for The Home Health Aide Handbook, and her essay "A few words about my mother," appeared in Home Healthcare Nurse. This is her first book. She has two children and three grandchildren, and lives in New Jersey with two cats who have approved this bio. You can contact her at healthcoachjane1@gmail.com.

Lillian Gross was a housewife, actress, and mother, who raised her family during the 1950s and 1960s. She was creative in many ways but frustrated in expressing what she had inside. In 1958 she wrote a children's story, "Buzzy the Bungling Bee" and sent it to one publisher who rejected it because there were too many stories about insects that year. And so the manuscript lay for many years in a drawer, never seeing the light of day. Her younger daughter Nancy Star (an author herself) found the manuscript and offered it to Jane, who subsequently decided to present it to the world.

Michael Bober is an artist, illustrator and art teacher. During the school year he teaches art at a high school in New Jersey, and he spends his summers relaxing, drawing and painting on Lake Dunmore in Vermont with his wife and their two daughters. View his work on his website: michaelbober.weebly.com, or follow him on Instagram @mboberart.