Friday, August 8, 2014

_Ladybug Girl at the Beach_ by David Soman and Jacky Davis

When my oldest daughter was but a wee babe and crawling about on the floor, she enjoyed eating ladybugs. While I found ladybug remnants in all three older brother's diapers, she had, by far, the most.* That, plus the fact that lots of people bought her ladybug-themed clothing, sort of caused me to associate her with ladybugs.

This spring when she turned 5, she received another ladybug gift-- a book by David Soman and Jacky Davis. Ladybug Girl at the Beach is one of several books about Lulu, aka Ladybug Girl, a young girl who loves wearing her ladybug outfit. This girl reminds me of my daughter. Headstrong. Sensitive. Energetic. Enthusiastic.

In this particular book, Lulu joins her family for a day at the beach. She just knows she loves the beach, even if she's never been to it. Once she sees the big waves, however, she's not quite as excited. Over the course of the day, Ladybug Girl learns to overcome her fear.

This is a fun picture book. My daughter wanted to read more like it, so we checked a few out at the library. I like that each book teaches a nice lesson (about being brave, saying you're sorry, etc.) without hitting you over the head with it. Best of all, they can open discussion with your own girl about important topics. My own daughter isn't often receptive to such talks, but using these books as a starter, she was immediately engaged.


*Please note that our rural, woodsy location puts us in the way of seasonal invasions of both ladybugs (or Asian lady beetles, to be more precise) and stinkbugs. We try to keep them vacuumed up, but we don't always win the battle. There are just that many of them.


4 comments:

  1. Sorry this comment is so delayed, I don't usually pay attention to the girl books! When my boys were younger they loved the Ladybug Girl books, we own several of them and read the rest from the library. It doesn't have to be a girl book because Bumblebee Boy is in many of the books. Plus her adventures are something boys could imagine doing too. When we were reading them often VBS gave out bumblebee headbands, I can't remember what the VBS theme was, but my boys were Bumblebee Boy at home almost daily until the headbands broke due to boy abuse.
    I do agree, I like the lessons in them without seeming like lessons. We read/own very few books written recently, we try to stick with classics, but Ladybug Girl books were worth adding to our collection and they'll be ones that I keep for my grandkids no matter if I have grandboys or grandgirls.

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    1. Yes, I agree! My boys liked the books, too. That's part of the problem I have with these two book blogs; I'm finding that I think most books would be fine for either. But you know, a wise person warned me that I might have difficulties with two ;)

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  2. I just had to purchase a baby gift. I rarely have to buy gifts where a religious book is not appropriate but in this case it wasn't. Then I remembered this post and decided since she knows she is having a girl this book would be perfect. The book is wrapped and I can't wait to give it to her later this week!

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  3. I love giving books. My nieces and nephews (back in the day when they were little) could always count on books from me.

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