Lulu and Sam both want to play different games but then come up with a solution of playing a game that they both like... saving the playground from hairy monsters and big mean robots!

This is a great book to teach children about friendships and compromising. The illustrations in this book are full of detail and color. This book is a part of the Ladybug Girl Series and I would love to have it on my bookshelf in my future classroom. ( )

LADYBUG GIRL AND BUMBLEBEE BOY is a fiction book that is a slice of the life of two children who spend their day at the playground. They use exaggeration as well as their imaginations to make the day fun as they use superpowers to save the day. They called their group the Bug Squad with Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy leading the way. The pictures in this book were done with black outline and pastel colored watercolors. They try to make it look real world. This book could be used in the classroom to teach about imagination and exaggeration to the elementary crowd. ( )

There are three specific reasons why I feel Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy is a story worth reading!!! This adorable children's book is written by a husband and wife duo, David Soman and Jacky Davis, based on the pretend play of their two children. The story captures the adventures of Ladybug girl and Bumblebee boy so well through each beautiful illustration, the descriptive language, and the characters to portray a message of friendship and perseverance and innocence.

First and foremost, the characters, Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy, are simply the cutest make believers. Their imagination makes the story. Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy are most likely around six years old, thus, their imagination is 100% believable. I can see all sweet and innocent children playing like they do. For example, the two run towards the swings and Bumblebee Boy says, “Watch how high I can fly!” as Ladybug Girl then says, “I can fly high too!” Most all children, even adults talking to their children, have said “we are flying.” Children can relate to these two imagination masters, making it a great children’s book.

Next, the illustrations most definitely enhance the story. Each illustration goes along with the descriptive language to emphasize the acting being done by the two imagination makers. For instance, in an illustration Ladybug Girl is standing on a tire swing, looking very determined, as Bumblebee Boy is using a stick as a stinger, like he is stinging the tire swing, also looking fierce. The language to support the picture says, “They rush over to the Mean Robot. Ladybug Girl grabs on, and jumps on top of its head! Bumblebee Boy stings it with his stinger again and again.” They are just the cutest two little imagination masters. ( )

I really adore this book. Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy is a story I had not read before, and I am so glad that I had the chance to read it. It is one of the most delightful contemporary realistic fiction children’s books I have read this semester. In my opinion, the author’s offer a very simple, lighthearted story about something all young people experience: playtime disagreements. The first aspect of this text that made it so likeable is the characters. The main characters, Sam and Lulu are two very well-defined characters in that their personalities are bold and representative of the qualities of most children their age. This fact makes these characters, and therefore this story very relatable. I also enjoyed the way the authors incorporated some interactive material in their writing because this encourages readers to participate in the story and think critically about the problem. For example, Soman and Davis write, “Lulu’s cheeks are getting hot. She is very frustrated. Why doesn’t Sam want to play?” This leads into yet another aspect of this book that I like very much: the plot. The plot itself is actually quite powerful in terms of addressing a younger audience, but the authors have turned the important concept into a cute, fresh, and humorous story. “’If we’re going to play together,’ says Ladybug Girl, ‘we don’t fight each other.’” The big idea of this book is that even though you may not want to compromise, but often times, fighting will make matters worse, whereas simply working together can produce a more favorable outcome. ( )