Varun's Quest
Into a Bee Tree and
Other Adventures
“Varun’s Quest is a wonderful story that kept me engaged from beginning to end. There is real magic in nature to be enjoyed by both children and adults. What a shame that our standard textbooks instead make learning a chore.
In Varun’s Quest, not only does the magic stand out, but the science sticks with you effortlessly. And the drawings are perfect.”
— Bruce Alberts, Editor-in-Chief of Science magazine, President Emeritus, The National Academy of Sciences, Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California San Francisco.
A Special Place for the Curious
Varun's grandfather tells him about a mysterious and special place pictured on a dinner plate: a place "for the curious and closer than it seems." Still perplexed as he goes to bed, Varun wakes in what appears to be the very place pictured on the plate, and soon thereafter he finds himself in the company of an Elf named Aubrey. They begin a game in which the Elf's guiding rule is "you can see a lot just by looking." Among his adventures, Varun encounters a sleepy bat; reduced in size, he comes face to face with a saucy honey bee; and he has a narrow escape from the clutches of a hungry praying mantis. In time, Varun realizes the game is a personal quest with an important goal. He discovers that the lives of plants and animals are a source of fascination as well as mystery, for much remains about the world that is not yet understood. He also learns that experiments are ways of discovering new knowledge, and doing an experiment is both rewarding and fun.
