Lucy Ladybird

Description

Follow her as she goes on a journey through the seasons, being given different coloured spots by her beautiful friends. Eventually, when she has four spots, she learns that being different is no bad thing... as a huge fold-out surprise reveals all the other ladybirds want multi coloured spots too! Lucy Ladybird

Sharon King-Chai is Senior Commissioning Designer at Two Hoots. She also owns Eye Fly High illustration, where her diverse clients include Universal Music Group, Egmont Children's Books and Ted Baker. Lucy Ladybird is her debut picture book.

A great story for introducing the subject of 'difference' to younger children, Lucy eventually realises that even though she has tried to look the same as the other ladybirds, she is still different....and actually, that's a wonderful thing! The other ladybirds admire Lucy's multicoloured spots and the last page reveals a beautiful, fold out illustration of a lot of multicoloured ladybirds. This story is simple and easy to follow as it has quite a repetitive structure. -- Lizi Coombs * Reading Zone * This beautifully illustrated book is a wonderful way for young ones to explore the changing seasons as they follow Lucy on her quest. A stunning gatefold reveals all of the creatures' amazing new spots as they jump on board with being different in this lovely book about accepting what we are and being glad to be different. * Parents in Touch * Take flight with the adorable Lucy Ladybird and enjoy the sweetness and freshness of Australian-born Sharon King-Chai's classic picture book. This warm-hearted story of colours, seasons and individuality has a striking new cover but offers the same reassuring messages and visual delights that have been winning young hearts and minds for nearly four years. This simple story, brought to glorious life by bright, bold illustrations in a rainbow of fabulous colours and a spectacular fold-out spread, provides positive messages about giving, sharing and accepting differences. A riot of colour, some special surprises ... and lots to talk about! -- Pam Norfolk * Lancashire Evening Post * Treating everyone equally is such an incredibly important message to instill in our children from a very young age. And in Lucy Ladybird by Sharon King-Chai this is the main theme. Published by Templar Publishing it is a beautifully colourful book about embracing and celebrating difference. Lucy Ladybird has no spots. She looks at her fellow ladybirds and wishes she could be like them but they cruelly tell her she isn't one of them. So Lucy leaves, alone and sad. As she travels through the countryside, watching the seasons change, she meets four different creatures. Lucy reaches out to each of them, wishing she could be as beautiful as them but each one in turn helps Lucy to see just how special she is. Still desperate to have spots, Lucy accepts a different colour spot from her four new friends before heading back to see the other ladybirds. Inspired by Lucy's new found confidence in herself they soon realise how positive differences are and don't hold back in expressing their own individuality. Using a mixture of collage and painted illustrations Sharon King-Chai has created wonderful images that are rich in colour and texture. As well as using this book to help teach children their colours it would also be a helpful when discussing the seasons. Lucy meets a new friend in each season with beautiful spreads showcasing the beauty of all four. There's a brilliant fold out surprise at the end of the book which always creates that "Aaaahh!" moment from my children. With so many colourful spots in this book we decided to make our own spotty pictures. We collected circle shaped items to help us create spots as well as lots of different coloured paints. It was interesting to see how different a four-year-old and a one-year-old would approach this task. My four-year-old was keen to keep his spots neat and create patterns whereas my one-year-old is in the stage of marveling at his own abilities to make marks. If I'd done this activity just with an older child I would have introduced cutting circles out of collage materials to practice scissor skills and glued them on to the paper too. My four-year-old loved the images of Lucy and even painted her out of spots. We always enjoy linking our craft activites to books we've read. We're always on the look out for new ideas so we'd love to read about your bookish activities. Have you been inspired by a book to be creative? * Acorn Books Blog *