The Secret Life of Bees
Sue Monk Kidd
Sue Monk Kidd
- Early life: Sue is a writer (novelist, memoirist), born on the 12 of August in 1948 in Sylvester, Georgia. She graduated from Texas Christian University with B.S. (Bachelor of Science) in nursing. First she worked as a Registered Nurse and also as nursing instructor at the Medical College of Georgia.
- Writing career: First success was when she wrote a personal essay and it was published in Guideposts and reprinted in Reader's Digest (American general-interest family magazine). Her first three books spiritual memoirs describing her experiences in contemplative Christianity. Her first and best known novel is The Secret Life of Bees (2002). Her second novel The Mermaid Chair was written three years later (2005). This book was adapted as a 2006 Lifetime movie of the same name. A collection of her early writings was published in hardcover by Guideposts Books in 2006 and in paperback by Penguin in 2007. The Invention of Wings is her latest novel (2014) based on the life of girl, a 19th-century abolitionist (abolitionism = movement to end slavery) and women's rights pioneer. It was one of the best selling books in New York in 2014. She also wrote other not so known books like This is the Day, All Things are Possible and more.
- Personal life: She lives in Florida and she is married to Sanford Kid and they have two children, Bob and Ann. She won many awards and she also appeared in an interview with Oprah.
The Mermaid Chair
- 2005
- won the 2005 Quill Award for General Fiction
The Invention of Wings
- 2014
- debuted at No. 1 on the NY Times best-seller list
- selected for Oprah's Book Club 2.0
This is the Day
- 1987
- her first novel
The Secret Life of Bees
- About the book: The Secret Life of Bees has been her first novel, it was written in 2002 and is set during the American civil rights movement of 1964. It has been adapted as a play in NY by The American Place Theater. The book has made a strong impression on American director and screenwriter Gina Prince-Bythewood who directed film The Secret Life of Bees in 2008. Her book was a New York Times bestseller list and it won the 2004 Book Sense of the Year Awards. It was also nominated for the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction.
- Characters: Lily Melissa Owens, T. Ray Owens, Rosaleen Daise, Deborah Fontanel Owens, June&May&August Boatwright, Neil, Zachary ''Zach'' Taylor and The Daughters of Mary
- Short summary: The Secret Life of Bees is the story of Lily Melissa Owens from South Carolina in 1964 who probably killed her mother when she was 4. Between 4 and 16 years she lived with her dad T. Ray, he was very unkind, fierce and angry father. One they she ran away with her ''replacement'' mother Rosaleen who was black. First Rosaleen was beaten by white people on the road to the city. Then they were in prison and after they escaped from the hospital to Tiburon, the city which name was on Lily's mother photo. They met three black honey-maker and bee-keeper sisters Boatwright, August, June and May. They also became friends with Zach Taylor and Neil who finally married with June at the end. Lily and Rosaleen stayed with them and became a part of their family. While Lily lived with them she also discovered things about her mum. She also lived with August who explained to Lily that Deborah (her mum) loved her but she was depressed and was not perfect because nobody is. Lily also fell in love with Zach. May who became a good friend with Rosaleen killed herself because of her memories and she always cried and though that it is time to ''go''. She drowned herself in the water.Few days later Rosaleen was very happy when she finally got a right to vote. At the end her father found her but she stayed with Boatwright sisters and Rosaleen. They also said to him that Lily will go to the school next fall. He turned around and went to the car. When he was already in his car she ran to him and ask if she really killed her mum. He answered that maybe he killed her or Deborah did a suicide but he will lie. ''Yes, you killed her but it was an accident '' he said. For more details about book read this: http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/s/the-secret-life-of-bees/book-summary
Lily and Zach
Lily - Dakota Fanning (born February 23, 1994)
Zach - Tristan Wilds (born July 15, 1989)
Lily and T. Ray
T. Ray - Paul Bettany (born May 27, 1971)
August, May, Rosaleen, June and Lily
August - Queen Latifah (born March 18, 1970)
May -Sophie Okonedo (born August 11, 1968)
June- Alicia Keys (born January 25, 1981)
Rosaleen - Jennifer Hudson (born September 12, 1981)
The Secret Life of Bees Trailer
My opinion about the book
I really like the book because it shows us how black and white people lived in the past, love or hate each other and how can weaker people stand up together and fight against someone stronger with more privileges. I like to read about racism which is one of the main topic in the book and i like books where people are searching and discovering different things. Maybe the end is a little to ''easy'' because the father was strong, angry and violent man so I don't believe he could just left Lily, I thought he would resist until he won't get her daughter back. But generally this book is very instructive, it teaches us different things about love, racism, growing up with a bad memory, growing up without mother and ''bad'' father and people who are prepared to help you even if they don't know you! The best thing about the book was when August, June, (May), Rosaleen and Lily became one big happy family, stood together and helped each other.
Racism
- I decided to tell you a few words about racism just because I think it is one of main topic in The Secret Life of Bees and is important that you say: ''NO to racism!''
- It started because of wars, slavery, the formation of nations and legal codes. Racism is a type of discrimination which is usually explained as extreme aspect of negative nationalism and it has existed through all human history. It may be defined as: - the hatred of one person by another - the belief that another person is less human because of the skin color, language, customs or any factor that supposedly reveals the basic nature of that person
"DESPICABLE" - Portuguese anti-racism advert
Say No To Racism
Honey
Is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. Honeys are also produced by bumblebees, stingless bees and other hymenopteran (third largest orders of insects) insects (honey wasps). Honey is collected by beekeepers and consumed by people. Honey use and production has a long and varied history. Honey collection is an ancient activity. Humans apparently began hunting for honey at least 8.000 years ago, as evidenced by a cave painting in Valencia (Spain). People who have a weakened immune system should not eat honey because of the risk of bacterial infection. China is the top producing country of honey then Turkey, Argentina, Ukraine and Russia. They produce 1,5 millions of tonnes honey per year. We use it most in cooking, baking, desserts, in sauces, we put it in tea and we spread it on bread. Honey is the main ingredient in the alcoholic mead (alcoholic beverage created by fermenting honey with water) which is also known as ''honey vine'' or ''honey beer''. It is also used as an adjunct (unmalted grains such as corn, rice, wheat...) in some beers. If you want to know how honey is made, click here: http://www.honey.com/honey-at-home/learn-about-honey/how-honey-is-made/
How It's Made Honey
Resources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sue_Monk_Kidd
- http://suemonkkidd.com/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_Life_of_Bees
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_Life_of_Bees_(film)
- http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/s/the-secret-life-of-bees/book-summary
- http://suemonkkidd.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/005__E7C4802-Edit-2.jpg
- http://suemonkkidd.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/TheSecretLifeofBees-movie-tie-in.jpg
- http://www.novak.si/files/vprasalnik.jpg
- http://fightthatcase.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/no-racism2.jpg
- http://www.globalissues.org/article/165/racism
- http://archive.adl.org/hate-patrol/racism.html#.VkPERnarSUk
- http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ZWC3V5R1L.jpg
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVCil2oSNYY
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjRT2HUpBW0
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yVMik5Mfwk
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey#Modern_uses
- http://dreamteaboutique.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/honey-tea.jpg
- http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01372/beekeeper_1372129c.jpg
- http://fairtradeusa.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/feature_image/products/photo_carousel/honey.jpg
- http://www.honey.com/honey-at-home/learn-about-honey/how-honey-is-made/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iT6IQx26eHk