Patrick Canning’s tale The Colonel and the Bee is an action-filled adventure for readers of all ages. Beatrix is a barely teen-aged acrobat performing in a traveling circus. She is unusually perceptive and sharp tongued, much to the ire of her cruel boss, Ziro. The subject of frequent whippings, Beatrix longs for adventure and a sense of belonging. At a dinner party where she is the entertainment, Beatrix meets an enigmatic stranger who comes to her defense. That stranger, one Colonel James Bacchus, turns out to be a saviour of sorts. Once liberated from servitude, Beatrix and the Colonel embark on a quest to find a missing treasure. Their capers end in more than the two could ever have imagined.
Action? Check. Adventure? Check. Comedy? Check. Fantasy, steampunk, suspense? Check, check, check. This wondrous tale truly has it all. The witty Beatrix (Bee) and her friends will leave you in stitches. The characters are delightful and make you wish they were your own family. And who wouldn’t love a gigantic flying dirigible house complete with a library? The mission Bee and the Colonel are on really takes a back seat to the utterly sweet kind of unusual family they create. Pay special attention to the illustrations between chapters. They are delightful clues just for the reader. The Colonel and the Bee is an exceptionally well crafted novel told with humor and unrelenting positivity.
