If you know a little girl who likes to play dress-up, then you know someone who will love this book. The spunky imaginative little girl, Lulu, and her friend Sam have captured reader's hearts as Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy in this New York Times Best Seller. The adventures of these superheroes are great; the tone of children interacting and playing pretend is captured perfectly through fun, casual dialogue portrayed in a playful font and bolded words to emphasize tone. The titles Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy are always in red and orange, respectfully, which will help your child learn to recognize those words. The pictures have the characters always in the foreground and in prominent, bold colors and definite lines, while the backgrounds quickly fade into white. Readers will recognize the playground setting with swings, teeter totters, twisty slides, bouncy dinosaurs, and tire swings.
Lulu and Sam's imagination will easily get your child involved in the story, seeing the same exaggerated "giant canyons" and "scary monsters" Lulu sees, and believing that they can swing high enough to touch a cloud. Your child will understand and enjoy the humor throughout the story. As many kids play pretend and like to dress up, your child may want to share their own stories, dress up before reading the book, or create their own superhero to join Lulu's Bug Squad.
My friend Adam loves to dress up as a pirate, so I thought he may relate to Sam in this book. Adam enjoyed the pictures and seemed to easily visualize the 'pretend' aspects of Lulu and Sam's game. When we finished, Adam said someone should have chosen to be "Beatlejuice", since they were all choosing bugs. I thought that was a great idea!
--Audra