Honeybees and Frenemies by Kristi Wientge

Flor is stuck at home working at her family's mattress store while her best friend heads to band camp for the summer.  She wanted to do something too, but there's no money to spend on it, so she stays home.  It's just as well because she's been a festival queen in the third grade and they are bringing them all back for the talent show at this year's festival.  There's a $2,000 grand prize.  Maybe she could win it and help them keep the mattress store!

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers sent me an ARC of this book to read for review (thank you).  It will be published May 28th.

By being indecisive about the talent show, she ends up sharing the spot with Candice.  She used to be her best friend but now she's a frenemie.  And Flor's parents are fighting.  Her mom is going to New Jersey to see if she can get a teacher job there and she wants to move.  Her dad wants to save the store.  How can she make them get along again?

They start out playing together, Candice on the piano and Flor with her recorder.  It's not working out well.  They are doing community service work and they are cleaning up an old man's yard.  They learn he's a bee keeper and they see him covered with bees and almost panic until he just shakes them off.  Suddenly Flor has an idea.  What if they were to wear bee beards - that would surely win the contest.  Candice agrees that's a good idea and says she should do it.  But Candice is going to give a speech about saving the bees during the presentation so she won't be wearing the bees...

I especially liked the trivia at the beginning of each chapter that gave you tidbits of information about bees.  It's important we keep honeybees alive.  They pollinate a lot of plants for us.  Without them, we wouldn't have crops.

This is a story of growing up.  There are going to be changes in Flor's life and she's willing to do them since her parents seem to be getting back together again.  And she did wear a bee beard!