Bee Season

Bee SeasonEliza Naumann, a seemingly unremarkable nine year old, expects never to fit into her gifted family: her autodidact father, Saul, absorbed in his study of Jewish mysticism; her brother, Aaron, the vessel of his father's spiritual ambitions; and her brilliant but distant lawyer mom, Miriam. But when Eliza sweeps her school and district spelling bees in quick succession, Saul takes it as a sign that she is destined for greatness. In this altered reality,

Eliza Naumann, a seemingly unremarkable nine-year-old, expects never to fit into her gifted family: her autodidact father, Saul, absorbed in his study of Jewish mysticism; her brother, Aaron, the vessel of his father's spiritual ambitions; and her brilliant but distant lawyer-mom, Miriam. But when Eliza sweeps her school and district spelling bees in quick succession, Saul takes it as a sign that she is destined for greatness. In this altered reality, Saul inducts her into his hallowed study and lavishes upon her the attention previously reserved for Aaron, who in his displacement embarks upon a lone quest for spiritual fulfillment. When Miriam's secret life triggers a familial explosion, it is Eliza who must order the chaos.

Myla Goldberg's keen eye for detail brings Eliza's journey to three-dimensional life. As she rises from classroom obscurity to the blinding lights and outsized expectations of the National Bee, Eliza's small pains and large joys are finely wrought and deeply felt.

Not merely a coming-of-age story, Goldberg's first novel delicately examines the unraveling fabric of one family. The outcome of this tale is as startling and unconventional as her prose, which wields its metaphors sharply and rings with maturity. The work of a lyrical and gifted storyteller, Bee Season marks the arrival of an extraordinarily talented new writer.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Anchor Books
Published: 05/15/2001
ISBN: 9780385498807
Pages: 288
Weight: 0.49lbs
Size: 8.02h x 5.30w x 0.65d

Review Citations: BookPage 05/01/2001 pg. 23
New York Times 05/06/2001 pg. 36
Entertainment Weekly 06/01/2001 pg. 82
Entertainment Weekly 11/18/2005 pg. 138

Accelerated Reader Quiz #/Name: 102710 / Bee Season
Reading Level: 7.2 / Interest Level: Upper Grade / Point Value: 17