Ladybug Girl Hardcover – Picture Book, March 13, 2008

My daughter is 3.5 and LOVES playing dress up and anything fairies or princesses. The problem is that most princess and fairy books have stories that are too fantastical, materialistic, or have a female character not find happiness until she finds a man. Ladybug Girl is the story of a girl that could be your neighbor or your child's best friend. She has an older brother who isn't always nice to her, a messy room, busy parents, a pet dog. But instead of complaining, creating a mess, or needing an adult or magic to have fun, Lulu/Ladybug Girl uses her imagination. She plays outside, she does deep thinking, she realizes that she is a strong, fabulous person without needing the approval of others. She is a strong, smart, creative child - an example I like sharing with my daughter. Not only that, the text is the perfect length for a bedtime story; there are "big" words to teach to my daughter, but enough "small" words to let her try reading the book on her own.

I bought this book for my 5 year old who has a BIG imagination! It also promotes independent play which is something we have been working with our daughter on. It’s a fun, easy read and keeps her engaged throughout.

I absolutely LOVE this book. This is perhaps the best, most empowering story for little girls that I have ever read. The best part is that my kids get so caught up in the storyline that they don't even notice all the good stuff they are getting from this book: Encouragement to play outside, create your own fun using your imagination, and believe that you "can do anything!" (All while wearing a tu-tu and wings:)If I could, I would make sure that every single little girl out there was read this book at least once!

This is a very inspirational book for little girls--my granddaughters love when I read it to them.

My 4 year old fell in love w/LBG over the summer while visiting her older cousin. Ever since then it was all she wanted to read/talk about/act out. These books really struck a chord in her. I bought her two to get her started. She is saving up to buy the rest. Cannot recommend these books enough. All of them have differing empowering themes but aren't so overwhelming that they're redundant. Great storytelling and beautiful illustrations. Lulu is a great friend and role model.

Great stories for the 2-6 year old age group.

Great book! There is a first-grade neighbor girl I've been working with on her reading and writing, and this was one of the books I got from the library for her for their summer reading program. The problem is, she loved it so much she wouldn't let me take it back. So I had to buy a copy for her so she would surrender the library's copy. It's an excellent example of what I call a "girl power" book, as it shows Ladybug Girl solving her own problems and creating her own activities. High recommended.

Lulu has the day to play by herself - mom and dad are busy, and her brother doesn't want her around.So she DOES play by herself. She rescues ants. She climbs a log. She splashes in a puddle and counts Ls on the books. She proves to herself how big and grown-up she is.I like that we see what she's really doing as she pretends. I've found that my nieces, when younger, often didn't understand more fantastical illustrations. They couldn't tell if the pictures showed what was REALLY happening or not, and it confused them. And I like that Lulu reacts realistically to her brother's comments that she's "too small" to play with him - "I'm not small, YOU are!"I don't like that the inside front cover shows a picture of her dressed up as an "Indian". In this day and age, seriously? That's like dressing up in blackface or something. Not cool, not cool at all. When I saw this, I seriously considered giving the book away, but I decided that since this is the only time we see this and I don't typically spend much time poring over the inside cover anyway, it wasn't worth the effort. I'll probably send a note in to the publisher and author complaining, though. I doubt they had any ill intent, but that doesn't make the illustration inoffensive or acceptable.