Killer Bees (Morrow Junior Books)

From School Library Journal Grade 4-7--Here Come the Killer Bees (Morrow, 1986) was a lucid and thorough examination of the ecological disaster caused by the release of African bees into Brazil in 1957, published as descendants of the bees were about to cross into Mexico. Now their U. S. invasion is imminent. In this revised, updated edition, only the first chapter is basically unchanged (originally the second chapter). This edition's second chapter is brief in describing where the bees come from and includes two recent reports of their deadly encounters with humans. An expanded list of precautions to take when near the bees is included. Some of the photos are new, as is the cover. The book is as succinctly written and well organized as the first edition, which has been the definitive children's title on the subject since its publication; Abel's Killer Bees (Crestwood House, 1987) lacks Pringle's thoroughness and scientific objectivity, and Kerby's Friendly Bees, Ferocious Bees (Watts, 1987) offers only a short section on killer bees. This timely book will be a valuable addition. However, the text implies that the African bee invasion of the U. S. has already occurred--which it has not. Perhaps Pringle has information as yet unreported in the news media when he writes "We will never know when and where the first swarm of killer bees flew into the U. S . . . in fall 1990." --Karey Wehner, San Francisco Public LibraryCopyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.