'Beatrice' is a working bee who got at the end of her life, and not wanting to be a burden for her society, decided to retire. The book examines the structure and the social events in the life of a bee hive. The reader will find a lot of interesting facts about the biology of this social insect, in themiddle of a natural environment with predators, earthquakes, volcanoes, in an Indian village in a foreign country. The influence of the humans on plants and animals is explained in conversational terms, so that a youngster could enjoy this book, which could be classified as an adult story for children, suited for the third grade level up.