Okay, I feel silly, but I swear I didn’t know that the Ladybug Girl appeared in more than one book, even, though I had read one in the series before. My bad.
I didn’t learn this until I picked up Ladybug Girl and the Rescue Dogs, a 2018 picture book written by Jacky Davis and illustrated by David Soman. This book had pictures of 11 related books on the back cover flap. 11! (Actually, a quick glance at Wikipedia says there are at least two dozen now–and informed me that the creators are married to each other.)
I probably wouldn’t start with this one, but only because it seems to take the existence of Ladybug Girl (a human girl wearing wings and antennae), Grasshopper Girl (who wears a cape, and what appear to be shorter antennae) and Bumblebee Boy (cape, stripes, and a mask, no antennae). The book largely focuses on Ladybug Girl’s efforts to find the eight shelter dogs she meets the farmers’ market homes, but the other kid-bug-heroes pitch in and help.
I was not surprised when they found one of the dogs a home–but I was surprised the book was realistic enough to stop there, so the kids had to plan to come back next week to celebrate the other dogs and help them get adopted.
The images are pleasing: both the kids and the dogs are painted with affection, and the illustrator captured canine body language well.
This book is both pleasant and instructional: it shows kids how to give dogs individualized attention, and teaches them kids can be heroes too. And wear capes and wings in public.
