Bright Beetle

Children's Literature - Children's Literature

The ladybug's journey from an egg to a fully developed adult is a beautifully chronicled. Beginning at the end of a warm summer day, a ladybug climbs into a cool shadow under the petal of the black-eyed Susan and lays her eggs. The eggs hatch into hungry larvae seeking food. Each time a larva outgrows her skin, she attaches her hind end to the bottom of a leaf, hangs down and the old skin splits along her back. A more colorful skin appears and the larva is now a fierce orange and purple predator that eats aphids to satisfy her appetite. When the larva sheds her skin one final time, she is covered by a hard orange shell with bumps and black spots and a beetle crawls into the world. Children will experience the awesome life cycle of a ladybug in this simple, but informative format. It is an excellent source for research projects and for general information. Artist Chrustowski used forty layers of colored pencil over a watercolored wash to create the bright illustrations. 2000, Henry Holt and Company, Ages 5 to 10, $15.99. Reviewer: Shirley Long—Children's Literature

School Library Journal

Gr 1-3-Colorful, eye-catching illustrations and a storylike text result in an exciting introduction to the life cycle of a ladybug. This readable story follows a female ladybug from late summer when she hatches from an egg to the cool autumn day when she climbs inside a rotting tree branch to hibernate. "Deep inside the log, the ladybug rests quietly and waits for spring to come. When the warm sun melts the snow [she] will lay her eggs-and a new generation of beetles will brighten the meadow." The carefully chosen vocabulary, short sentences, and prose style of the text will grab the attention of young listeners as surely as the bold, flashy colors and minute detail of the close-up graphics. Chrustowski credits Heiderose and Andreas Fischer-Nagel's Life of the Ladybug (Carolrhoda, 1981; o.p.) and Sylvia A. Johnson's Ladybug (Lerner, 1983) for the book's factual information, from which he has managed to create this simplified story without humanizing the small beetle or losing any important facts. His use of layers of colored pencil over a watercolor wash has resulted in sharp, bright colors and clear contrast that allow readers to see the larger-than-life world from the ladybug's point of view. A page of further information is appended. A fine addition to insect collections.-Susan Scheps, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

Kirkus Reviews

It's super beetle! The life cycle of the ladybug is presented with splashy colored pencil illustrations, which leap off the page. The illustrator heightens the visual contrast by putting the red and black beetle on a bright yellow flower petal and placing the orange and purple larva against a broad green leaf. This dramatic telling, a first picture book by the author/illustrator, will appeal to the lovers of the animated movies Antz and Bug Story as it describes the battle of the bugs, and shows them up close and huge. When the story begins, the coffee-cup-sized ladybug, is resting on the petal of a black eyed Susan. The rice-sized eggs she lays on a leaf hatch into wriggling larva, which scurry away leaving just the one who is the main character. She soon sets to lunch on aphids the size of golf balls. After eating fifteen aphids, the larva splits her skin and emerges as a fierce purple-and-orange predator, ready for more meals. Life is not all lunch, however, the larva must escape the menacing ants, and later, the fully developed ladybug, must outwit an inquisitive praying mantis. The author follows the development of the ladybug from egg to adult through brief, but exciting and detailed text. For example, the ladybug secretes a bitter orange fluid from out of her legs to deter the praying mantis. `The praying mantis gets a drop of it in his mouth and is so shocked by the awful taste that he drops his prey immediately.` At last, as winter approaches, the ladybug, finds a hole in a log, a safe place to wait out the winter. The author concludes with more facts about ladybugs. An appealing introduction to a familiar and useful insect made especially suitable for reading aloud becauseofthe accessible text and bright, dramatic illustrations. (Nonfiction 5-9)