Book request: There wasn't much of a plot as it was a picture book meant for kids who don't have a long attention span. The bee's name was either Barry or Jerry. He was about the size of a human child, I think some of the illustrations showed him wearing a red hat, and he basically was just trying to assimilate/make friends but everyone was afraid of him because he was a giant bee. I used to shelve it a lot at the library where I work and can remember it a bit because I saw it about the same time as The Bee Movie came out. I actually thought The Bee Movie was based on this book, in fact, the way Shrek and The Boss Baby are based on picture books. Our librarian at the time was a bit of a hoarder. (I couldn't convince her to weed a book on New Kids On The Block even though they had been broken up for YEARS at that point. We even had science books from the 1970s! And I started working there in 2000!) So this book could've been from the 1970s or even the 1960s. The illustrations were very simple and bare bones. I want to say the title was simply "The Bee Book" but googling that I come up with a LOT of books with that title. And searching for "Book about a human size bee" comes up with nothing.

Matching book description: To bee or not to bee? A lonely, overlarge insect tries a new identity onfor size in a wacky, wonderful tale of true friendship.All Jerry Bee wants is to make friends, but that's hard to do when you're the most enormous bee anyone has ever seen. Then a wig changes Jerry's life: when he puts it on, he looks just like a boy! Jerry creates quite a buzz with his kindness and ge To bee or not to bee? A lonely, overlarge insect tries a new identity onfor size in a wacky, wonderful tale of true friendship.All Jerry Bee wants is to make friends, but that's hard to do when you're the most enormous bee anyone has ever seen. Then a wig changes Jerry's life: when he puts it on, he looks just like a boy! Jerry creates quite a buzz with his kindness and generosity, and for the first time, he has friends. But will his new pals stick around when his true identity is revealed? In this zany and tender tale, written and illustrated by Cece Bell, Jerry finds that having friends you can "bee" yourself around is as sweet as honey. ...more