Perfect Picture Book Friday AND Book Birthday: THE DOG WHO SAVED THE BEES Plus Giveaway

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Well, dear friends, this is a very special post!!! It’s a double your pleasure/double your fun because it’s a Happy Book Birthday for this book…PLUS, it’s a Perfect Picture Book Friday also!!!

THE DOG WHO SAVED THE BEES

Written by Stephanie Gibeault

Illustrated by David Hohn

Published by Sleeping Bear Press (August 1, 2025)

Why I Love This Book:
1. I love stories that are inspired by true events!
2. I love stories where the text engages young readers…and encourages them to get in touch with protecting our planet!
3. I love stories that have glorious illustrations!

This Perfect Picture Book Friday/Book Birthday post includes quite a bit from author Stephanie Gibeault…I’m grateful to her for stopping by to chat and share.

ME: Hello Stephanie! Thank you so much for giving us your time…and for the generous giveaway of a copy of THE DOG WHO SAVED THE BEES…and for telling us about this fabulous new book of yours. Can you tell us what the book is about…and how you came to write it…and how we can get a copy of our own?

STEPHANIE:
Thank you so much for having me, Vivian. It’s always a pleasure to stop by your blog.
Summary of book:
Cybil Preston needs a dog. But not just any dog. She needs a dog to help her with her
work. Cybil is a beehive inspector who works to ensure the health of commercial
beehives in Maryland. Hundreds of hives are shipped across the country as farmers
need bees to pollinate their crops. Without the bees, there wouldn’t be foods like apples,
almonds, and strawberries. But the bees must be healthy to be shipped, and there’s a
deadly disease, foulbrood, that is highly contagious. If even one infected hive left the
state, entire bee populations could be wiped out. Dogs, with their ultrasensitive sense of
smell, can sniff out even the tiniest scent of foulbrood in a hive. A well-trained, focused
detection dog can inspect 50 hives in 10 minutes. Work that would take Cybil an entire
day to do. When Cybil meets Mack, an unruly and lonely dog, she wonders if she has
found her canine colleague. Can rambunctious Mack be trained to meet this important
challenge? Readers of all ages will enjoy this warmly illustrated true story of Cybil and
Mack as they work to save the bees.

Inspiration:
Thank you, Vivian, for celebrating The Dog Who Saved the Bees with me! This is a
book of my heart, so I’m overjoyed to see it out in the world. And David Hohn’s
illustrations are incredible. The first time I saw them, I cried.
The path to publication for this story started in 2018 when I first met Cybil Preston, the
apiary inspector in the book. I interviewed her about her sniffer dog Mack for an article I
wrote for the American Kennel Club. After I sent the article in, I couldn’t stop thinking
about Cybil and Mack’s story. Before she rescued him, Mack was living all alone in a
garage. He was untrained and unruly, but Cybil couldn’t bear to leave him in that
situation. So she took him home and began months and months of training. First, she
had to teach this easily distracted dog just to listen and focus. Then Mack needed to
learn to detect the scent of foulbrood, a deadly bee disease. Eventually, Mack became
the only certified foulbrood scent detection dog in the United States! After working for
the Maryland Department of Agriculture for nine years, Mack retired last summer. He’s
now enjoying a life of leisure on Cybil’s farm.
The story of Cybil’s determination and Mack’s transformation pulled at my heart, and I
just knew I needed to share it with young readers. Thankfully, Cybil was on board for
countless interviews. Over the years, I tried many approaches to this biography,
including a middle grade version. Eventually, after loads of revisions (a special thank
you to my critique group The Word Weavers) I received an offer from Sleeping Bear
Press in April of 2023.

ME: Oh, this is wonderful, Stephanie. And dear friends, here’s a little bit about Stephanie and illustrator

Here’s a little bit about Stephanie:
Stephanie Gibeault is an award-winning author of children’s picture books and middle
grade nonfiction including Making Sense of Dog Senses (a Eureka! Honor book),
Calculating Chimpanzees, Brainy Bees, and Other Animals with Mind-Blowing
Mathematical Abilities (a Mathical Honor book and Best STEM Book by the NSTA), and
Dogs vs. Humans: A Showdown of the Senses among others. As a former biologist with
a Master of Science in animal behavior, Stephanie used to spend her time grunting with
gorillas and stinking like marmoset monkeys. Years later, being a certified professional
dog trainer meant being covered in fur and drool. Now she spends her days just outside
of Toronto, Canada, sharing her love of dogs and other animals through her writing.
Find out more at stephaniegibeault.com.
Social Media Links:
Bluesky: @stephaniegibeault.bsky.social
Instagram: @stephanie_gibeault
Purchase Links:
Blue Heron Books (my local indie in Uxbridge, Ontario)
Bookshop.org
Barnes & Noble
Walmart
Amazon Canada
Amazon US

Some of Stephanie’s other books!

And here’s a little bit about the illustrator:
David Hohn is the illustrator of Just Like Beverly: A Biography of Beverly Cleary, which garnered starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews and Booklist. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

Thank you for spending your precious time with us today, dear friends! And please remember to leave a comment for a chance to WIN a copy of THE DOG WHO SAVED THE BEES…you get one ticket in the giveaway hat for the comment, and if you share on social media, you get another ticket…so please share widely…that’s a wonderful way to help new books get discovered by parents and teachers and the kids who will love this book!

This is the dog who inspired the book!!!

58 thoughts on “Perfect Picture Book Friday AND Book Birthday: THE DOG WHO SAVED THE BEES Plus Giveaway”

  1. i also love stories that inspired readers of all ages to work towards saving our planet, so I’m excited about reading this one. Today, I was inspired to write a story about wildlife by a visit to a conservation center in Costa Rica :). And, OMG, the inspiration doggie is adorable!

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  2. Oh Wow that is such a wonderful true story. I am in Brisbane Australia and I would love to buy that book. I have written and self published one children’s book which is a true story. I have 6 more books to get art done and pay artists which is costly. One is on a true story that could be a ballet. And a trilogy that that could be made into a cartoon. Art costs is holding me back. The trilogy needs old fashion classic art. I have been published in writers’ groups over the years. So can you let me know how to get this copy of the amazing dog. I use my author name of Julie Y Check after my great grandfather who was the original Picture Show Man and Photographer.

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      • Sorry but I can’t find where the details are to buy the book. I tried but can’t find details.

        Also how much is the cost of book and postage to send to Australia. Julie

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        • There are purchase links in the blog post just above the image of my other book covers. Just scroll through the post. Or you can search for it on your preferred bookstore. I’m sorry but I don’t know what the cost or postage would be for Australia. Thank you for your interest!

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  7. What a beautiful story behind the story. I love dogs, I love honey (so I love bees) and I love stories that are inspired by true events. This one is a trifecta of terrific-ness! Cngrats to all!

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  12. The word dog is enough to get my attention and then reading about the nose work that turned a stray into a hero has me reeled in. I love that you tried the story multiple ways and never gave up on it. Congratulations on your new book!

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  16. Thanks, Vivian, for bringing Stephanie’s wonderful new book to my attention! Here in Plymouth, Massachusetts I look forward to seeing the pollinating-bee boxes temporarily arrive in the area cranberry bogs every July. This book would be perfect for the Story Walk in my residential development!

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  17. such a wonderful story! Congratulations on bringing this book to readers. It has everything a kid will love – double hook combo of saving a dog and saving bees! Bravo!

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  19. I am so excited to hear about The Dog Who Saved the Bees. I just added it to my “to read” list on Goodreads. I recently read aloud Dogs vs. Humans: A Showdown of the Senses to my husband while we were driving in the car. (I often read aloud books when we drive together. It is fun to get his take on the books I am reading.) We both thoroughly enjoyed it. Now I will have to read aloud Stephanie’s latest book to him. I can’t wait. Happy Book Birthday! It is a great day, as it is also my birthday.

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