Title: Miss Lady Bug Learns a Lesson
Author: Tracy L. Shires
Illustrators: Kodi Galvan & Mary Woodard
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 978-1504911436
Pages: 22
Gener: Illustrated Children’s Book
Reviewed by: Barbara Bamberger Scott
Hollywood Book Reviews
In this debut work, author Tracy L. Shires has constructed a dynamic tale as a lesson for mothers, and indeed all parents, as they make decisions about their children’s care. Using the example of the book’s central character, Miss Ladybug, sweetly and colorfully depicted by illustrators Galvan and Woodard, Shires demonstrates how easy it can be to “fly away” and thereby possibly neglect one’s youngsters. Miss Ladybug is clearly an adventurous soul who wishes to cruise her environment. She chooses her time carefully, when her babies are taking their afternoon nap. Surely, they would be safe as they sleep, so it seems the perfect opportunity for her explorations. On the first day of her excursion, she encounters Robbie Raccoon, who, while cleaning some fish, greets her with the time-honored rhyme: “Lady bug, ladybug, fly away home…your house is on fire and your children are all alone.” Panicking, Miss Ladybug heads for home where she finds her brood still slumbering. “Silly raccoon,” she thinks, so the next day she embarks on a similar quest. Then she meets Randy Rabbit in the nearby farmer’s garden. He repeats the rhyme she heard before and again she rushes back, once more to find the little ones safe, sound asleep. The third day, encountering Bobby Beaver who shouts out the same verse as while building a dam, she is inclined to resist, until she senses smoke in the air, and everything changes. From that day onwards, she will hold fast to the inner message for all times: “Never leave her children unattended.”
Shires is a mother and grandmother who composed Miss Ladybug’s dramatic saga while raising four daughters. She offers a valuable moral message for parents, through this well-conceived and simply told fable, notable for its clever linkage of folk poetry, lovably drawn animal actors, enjoyable and credible pictures accompanying the narrative, and a vitally important alert to parents, who may well be readers of the book, along with their older children. One could envision this work providing rich discussion among concerned parents and childcare providers, who will acknowledge both her message concerning the need for direct supervision of children at all times, and the reminder put forward at the book’s close: there will be time enough once one’s youngsters are grown to “fly away” and see the world. Readers will be looking for further creations from Shires after enjoying this offering and absorbing its important implications.