Beehive Mystery Search

[Sojourner]

I have been searching in vain for a book I checked out as a teenager back when I lived in Virginia. I was on a Graeme Base-kick and in love with anything had had the same kind of lush illustrations as Base's books did.

I recall checking out a book that was an illustrated mystery about bees and a beehive. The style and illustrations were very much like Animalia and The Eleventh Hour. It had something to do with a man that had been turned into a tree, or perhaps the tree was simply personified as an older man. The mystery was drawn out over seasons, and there were illustrations of the man-tree in each season. The cover of the book, which itself was large, was very thick and was intricately decorated as the inside of a beehive and in the center was the opening of the beehive looking out into a meadow. From what I remember, the answer to the riddle/mystery was locked inside the cover of the book, which you would have to somehow open if you couldn't figure out the mystery. Also, there was something to do with a beautiful queen bee pendant that either author had, or one was locked inside the cover of the book, or something.

I have tried Google-ing every relevant combination of words to try to come up with information on this beautifully illustrated book. If someone out there has any info, or a good resource that could help find this, I would greatly appreciate it.