The Bad-Tempered Ladybird is another beautifully illustrated picture book by Eric Carle. At the start of the story a friendly ladybird is eating a breakfast of aphids on a leaf, when it is joined by a very bad-tempered ladybird who also wants to eat the aphids, but refuses to share.

The bad-tempered ladybird then proceeds to pick a fight with every animal he meets, never satisfied that they are big enough to fight. As the story progresses, the animals get bigger and bigger and this would be a good story to discuss the concept of size with a young child. The book is cleverly laid out and as the animals get bigger, so to do the pages. The illustrations in this book are of the usual high standard expected from Eric Carle. This book would also be excellent for consolidating a child's understanding of time, as at the top of each page it shows a clock face with the time that the bad-tempered ladybird meets each animal.

Finally, the bad-tempered ladybird arrives back where it started and is now prepared to share the aphids with the friendly ladybird. The story ends happily with the ladybirds helping the leaf by eating the aphids and both ladybirds going to sleep, as the fireflies come out to dance around the moon.

This book would be suitable for children aged 4-7 years old. --Amanda York

Genre: Fiction (Childrens)