A bumblebee can fly, and so can I

5 Star Review

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Editorial Book Review:

By Robert Avila

There is a particular kind of book that doesn't argue for belonging so much as simply assume it, and build everything from that assumption outward. A bumblebee can fly, and so can I is that kind of book. Alona Yorkshire chose her central image with real precision: the bumblebee, that stubborn, buzzing creature that aerodynamic theory once insisted shouldn't be able to fly and that flies anyway, is not just a metaphor here. It is a quiet manifesto.

Reading it feels like being handed something you didn't know you needed. The affirmations move with a gentleness that never tips into condescension, which is a harder balance to strike than it sounds, especially when the subject is disability and self-worth. Yorkshire writes as someone who understands that the most damaging limitations are often not the ones imposed by a body or a diagnosis but the ones quietly absorbed from a world that keeps signaling who belongs and who doesn't. Her counter-narrative to that signal is not loud or combative. It is steady and certain, and that steadiness is exactly what makes it land.

The eco-therapeutic grounding gives the book a texture that purely motivational collections rarely achieve. Nature here is not decorative but purposeful, a framework for understanding that difference is not deficit, that strength takes forms the standard measures consistently miss. The original artwork paired with each affirmation invites readers to slow down rather than consume, to sit with an image and a thought together rather than move quickly through.

What Yorkshire has built is something that works on multiple levels simultaneously: as a daily practice for individuals with disabilities, as a tool for educators and families looking for more genuinely inclusive language, and as a quiet challenge to anyone who has never had to fight for their sense of belonging.

This is the kind of book that finds exactly the reader who needs it most.

About the Author 

Alona Yorkshire

Alona Yorkshire, M.Ed., BCBA, is the Deputy Executive Director of The Adult Skills Center (TASC), where she has served in leadership roles since 2012, including Clinical Director and Services Coordinator. With more than 20 years of experience in the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities, she has worked across all levels of care—from direct support to executive leadership.

Alona holds a Master of Education in Applied Behavior Analysis and is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst. She has developed innovative programs supporting high-risk and dually diagnosed individuals transitioning from institutional settings.

In addition to her professional work, she is a foster parent to children with special needs and the founder of a therapeutic farm sanctuary that provides eco-therapy and vocational programming. Her lived experience, combined with her clinical and leadership expertise, has shaped a holistic, nature-based approach to care that continues to impact hundreds of individuals and families each year.