The Nest

Oppel, K., & Klassen, J. (2015). The Nest. New York, New York: Simon & Schuster.

The Nest, is about boy, Steve, whose been overlooked by his parents, because his new baby brother is severely ill and optimizes his parents time. While feeling  neglected Steve begins to have strange and peculiar dreams about angels, which turns out to be bees. During one of these dreams, Steve agrees to allow these bees to help "heal" his baby brother, but what Steve doesn't realize is how the bees will "fix" his brother. As the story progresses Steve realizes these bees aren't going to save his brother, but replace him instead. It's up to Steve to remedy the problem and save his brother from being taken away and devoured by the Queen and her worker bees. Will Steve be able to save his little brother from the evil Queen bee?

When I read this story I was blown away by the idea of a evil "Bee Queen," who could build/make a new baby. Throughout the story I wondered why the parents didn't try to spend  time with their other healthy children, but I suppose if I had one child who was terribly ill and close to dying then I would dedicate my time to my sick child. I could empathize with the character Steve, because he thought he was being helpful and he was doing this for the right intentions. Perhaps the readers who have been in similar situation where someone in their family was sick could relate to how Steve felt, or even the case of the middle child could be left out because their other siblings need more attention.