Title: The Grouch Ladybug
Author and Illustrator: Eric Carle
Publisher and date of publication: Haper Collins Publisher, 1996
Genre: Picture Book, Fiction
Age Range: K-2nd Grade
Awards: 2003 Laura Ingalls Wilder Award
Summary: This is a story about two ladybugs. A friendly and a grouchy ladybug and their fight over aphids. The Grouchy Ladybug wants them all. The grouchy ladybug tries to act tough and fight everyone but when they agree to fight, the grouchy ladybug says that "they are not big enough." Finally a whale's tail slaps the ladybug right back to where the friendly ladybug was sitting. The friendly ladybug offered the grouchy ladybug some aphids and he accepts. He learns humility from this experience.
Response: I enjoyed this book alot. I think it would be wonderful for kindergarteners. The grouchy ladybug shows children that you should be humble and willing to share things. The grouchy ladybug didn't want to share, he wanted to be the bully. I liked that at the beginning of the book, it tells what aphids are because most people, including me, had never heard of these bugs. I also like the small clocks in the upper right-hand corner of the page that shows the time in clock format when the page shows the time in word format. This teaches young children how to tell time. The pages that vary in sizes showing the grouchy ladybug trying to find someone to fight keeps the story interesting when each page repeats itself. I think that this story is a very good moral story for kindergarteners to learn to share when you have something and not want the whole thing.
Teaching Ideas: As I said above, I think this would be a good story for kindergarteners. "The Grouchy Ladybug" would be good for children up to about 2nd grade. Children could cut and glue pictures of the ladybug or talk about times when they have been the friendly or the grouchy ladybug. They could also create their own story. This could also be an intro to learning about insects and bugs. This book has a lot of practical application to the classroom. I'd love to use Carle's books in my classroom and I found a wonderful lesson plan on scholastic.com for classifying different things for kindergarteners.
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