The Grouchy Ladybug

Among the chief goodwill ambassadors of Class Insecta, the ladybug is a beetle of which most have a good opinion. Playing against type, Carle’s protagonist has a chip on its several shoulders. After encountering and threatening another ladybug over a morning leaf of aphids, this grouchy ladybug flies off looking for a fight. A big one. The die-cut pages typical of Carle books soon come into play as the first page of his adventure is very narrow, just big enough for itself and the yellow jacket it challenges to a rumble. Deciding that an insect only three or four times its size is an unworthy opponent, it finds a bigger creature to pick on and then another and so on as the page and typeface size grows, the sun rises higher and higher on each opening, and the clock which appears in the upper right of each two-page spread ticks forward an hour with each proposed and abandoned showdown. Full-bleed collage illustrations crafted from cut paper add an expressive dimension of menace or bemusement to the various animals the ladybug challenges, while the vivid color palette and texture provided by the patterns on the paper will stimulate interest for young audiences. After an unsuccessful bout with the biggest animal on Earth, the ladybug returns to the aphid-covered leaf where the other ladybug is still grazing in time to be a much more pleasant dinner companion.

The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle; illus. by the author
Primary Crowell
48 pp.
Published 1971
ISBN 978-0060270872
$17.99

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