The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle
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Book Reviews of The Grouchy Ladybug
Book Review: Good Book
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of my all time favorites by Eric Carle. We even made it into a puppet show! FunBook Review: Very good!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have had to read and reread this on time and time again! Very good!Book Review: Life lessons learned by a ladybug
Summary: 4 Stars
This story about a petulant ladybug who sets on a quest to find someone big enough to fight with was recommended to me by Barbara Haymann-Diaz, a long-time children's librarian who has now retired and volunteers weekly at the Adriance Memorial Library. Eric Carle is a powerhouse in the world of children's literature. Together with his wife, Bobbie Morrison, he founded The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, a museum devoted to the art of children's books in Amherst located near Hampshire College (one of the places I want to visit really badly).
Before the story starts, Carle explains that aphids are pests which are eaten by ladybirds in order to help plants grow. When the eponymous ladybug meets a nice, friendly ladybug who offers to share aphids with him, it turns it down and asks for a fight. However when its invitation is accepted, it backs out, claiming the ladybug isn't big enough to be a worthy opponent. The grouchy ladybug then flies around challenging one creature to another, meeting a yellow jacket, a stag beetle, a praying mantis, a sparrow, a lobster, a skunk, a boa constrictor, a hyena, a gorilla, a rhinoceros and an elephant.
Each animal appears on a different page, at a different hour of the clock, thus helping children learn how to read the time. The book is unique in making each page a little wider than the one before. The grouchy ladybug finally threatens a giant whale, only to be ignored and then slapped by its tail. The page is cleverly shaped like a whale's tail and the reader flips it to find the ladybug back to where it started, this time, much softer and kinder to its fellow bug. The two share the aphids and are thanked by the leaf.
This classic, which came out in 1977, teaches what I've identified in my still young life as one of the most important skills - gratitude. The ladybug comes across bigger and bigger obstacles in the form of larger and larger creatures, but it does not cower in fear. It learns humility from the kindness of a fellow ladybug. The ending is an example of companionship and compassion as the two ladybugs do a good deed by ridding the leaf of pests. Without being didactic, Carle seems to subtly imply that petty pride can do no good.
Book Review: The antihero
Summary: 4 Stars
A lot of reviewers didn't think well of this book. My son loves it and so do I. Most people's complaints are about how the grouchy ladybug tries to pick fights, but I think they miss the big picture. Stories, like life, sometimes require an explanation to properly highlight the good for kids.
The grouchy ladybug is an antihero. He starts off to not wanting to share with another ladybug aphids on leaf, instead wanting to fight for them. The other ladybug stands up for itself in a polite, nice way, and the grouchy ladybug runs off to find someone bigger to fight, trying to prove himself better.
In the end, the grouchy ladybug ends up right where he started, by the leaf with the aphids and the kind ladybug. He ends up hungry, tired, and beat, all for nothing. The kind ladybug still shares the remaining aphids, and the grouchy ladybug thanks the kind one for sharing.
While the book theme may be more geared towards an older crowd than toddlers, the moral is not. The grouchy ladybug behavior is shown as being futile, gaining him nothing, and instead nearly costing him a meal he could have shared with the kind ladybug. The book highlights the virtues of sharing, kindness, and manners, while downplaying comically the futility of impatience, pride, tantrums, and poor manners.
Book Review: A Good Preschool Read-Aloud With Some Learning Opportunities
Summary: 4 Stars
The Grouchy Ladybug follows an insect through her day, providing some preschool-level humor along with a little bit of learning. This ladybug, however, has a serious attitude and challenges every creature she sees to a fight. When her challenge is accepted, she spits "Oh, you're not big enough" and flies on. The story progresses on cutaway pages, each revealing a larger animal, until she finally meets a whale who dramatically puts her in her place. Each page also shows the trajectory of the sun as the day goes on, and a small clock with two hands is drawn in the corner of each page to show the hour that has elapsed.
The simple, predictable format of this story is most likely to appeal to preschoolers, and early elementary students may benefit from using the story as an exercise in telling time, especially if they have enjoyed it previously. The ladybug's absurd behavior provides a humorously dramatic example of how pride can deceive people into acting in crazy, self-destructive ways (Proverbs 16:18). Young children will enjoy the silliness, even if they don't absorb the moral, and the story ends happily. It's not quite as charming as Very Hungry Caterpillar, but it's a very enjoyable read-aloud.