Title: The Grouchy Ladybug
Author and Illustrator: Eric Carle
Publication Year: 1977
Prompts: Plot Summary: This is the story of one Grouchy Ladybug who doesn't want to share food with the Friendly Ladybug. The Grouchy Ladybug suggests they should fight but then says that the Friendly Ladybug is not big enough to fight. So, the Grouchy Ladybug travels all over looking for someone big enough to fight. In the end the Grouchy Ladybug ended up back where it started and shares the rest of the food with the Friendly Ladybug. Artistic Medium: This book was done in watercolor paint as you can see a lot of the large brush strokes in the images. Bold colors are used throughout this book. All the colors are naturally found in wildlife and fit the animal they represent. Also to make each of the animals really stand out Carle only uses one shade with large brush strokes giving the look of texture. Style: The style of this book is almost like collage cut outs. Each of the animals look like they were pieced together and then placed on the page. Also this book is very interactive because not only do the pages flip but when the ladybug goes searching for someone to fight the pages start out small and get progressively bigger and have clocks at the top to tell the time. In addition to that interactive flip element in the end there is a flap on one of the pages that shows the ladybug being sent home. | Strong Vocabulary: Some of the names of animals may not be familiar to children but there are images to help them figure it out. Also the food the ladybugs eat are "aphids" which many won't be familiar with. To fix that problem Carle put a definition in the front of the book. Figurative Langauge: Relationship of Pictures to Words: This book has a direct relationship between words and pictures. Everything the words say is represented in the pictures and since the pictures don't have much detail that don't give anything the words don't. Themes/Central Concepts: The theme of this book is sharing. If the Grouchy Ladybug had just shared in the beginning it wouldn't have to travel all over and end up defeated. Uses for this book: This book is perfect for a kindergarten or first grade class learning about sharing. Also they will stay interested in the book because of all the flaps and page size changes. |