Butterfly, Dragonfly, Ladybug, Bee

I understand about the teddy bears. I get it about the Disney princesses and Thomas the Tank Engine. There are just certain things that naturally endear themselves to children.

But bugs? A Pixar movie expounds on A Bug's Life. Beenie likes a little board book named Lucky Ladybug, which comes with a built-in plastic ladybug toy that squeaks when you press it. Sooby, Pooh, Bootsie, and Zoomba loved a library book, The Bugliest Bug, that I took to their house over the winter and reviewed in a previous blog post.

So I guess it's not surprising that even little Heero, seven months old now, is into the bug scene with this soft, chewy insect-laden play ring:

The other day, as I was bouncing Heero on my knee in an effort to entertain him and score a few "Googie" points, I found myself pointing to the various insects and naming them in a kind of chant: "Butterfly," I would say, and then, "Dragonfly, Ladybug, Bee."

Well, as I was doing this, a cadence popped into my head and later morphed into the following verse that catapulted Googie onto the band--er--bugwagon.  My little critters and I hope you enjoy the sound devices and imagery as you recite it to a little person you love.

Butterfly, Dragonfly, Ladybug, Bee

Butterfly, dragonfly, ladybug, bee--

Buzz about a buttercup,

Scuttle up a tree;

Flit about a flower,

Fly away free--

Butterfly, dragonfly, ladybug, bee.

Butterfly, dragonfly, ladybug, bee--

Flash your colored spots and dots

For everyone to see:

A red and black and yellow

Palette of potpourri--

Butterfly, dragonfly, ladybug, bee.

Butterfly, dragonfly, ladybug, bee--

Flap your wings a-flutter

In a buggy jamboree!

Sing a fuzzy, buzzy song;

Sing it just for me--

Butterfly, dragonfly, ladybug, bee.

Bonus:  As I was typing this just now, I realized that the verse works roughly with the tune of "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep."    

Bugs for the Book Lady

I have said many times that perhaps the most gratifying thing about being Googie is the experience of watching the grandkids learn to talk.  I love that delightful process of trial and often-hilarious error it takes for them to master the complicated rules of grammar and syntax and to tame the wild randomness of English idiom.

Watching them acquire a love for books is a close second.  This is why, on a surprise trip out to visit the Kansas foursome a few weeks ago, I disguised myself as the Book Lady.  The Book Lady rings the doorbell of unsuspecting children and, with their mama's foreknowledge, approval, and supervision, tells them she has brought them a bag of books.  They are delighted, and their mama invites the Book Lady in.

The disguise--a cape, sunglasses, and a ball cap--doesn't work long.  Before the Book Lady steps even one foot over the threshold, the six-year-old has figured things out.  "Googie!" Sooby hollers, and I am outed. We all head to the couch and dump out the eight books I checked out from my county library the day before and brought westward with me like some incognito literary pioneer.

Of the eight books, I think we read  four, but with two of those I truly struck pay dirt. We read them again and again over the course of the day, and since then I have been contemplating reasons why those two particular stories struck the collective fancy of children 6, 4, and 3.  Following is a brief review of the first of those; the next blog post will discuss the other one.

First is The Bugliest Bug, a story in rhyme written by Carol Diggory Shields and illustrated by Scott Nash. In it, an unlikely heroine named Damselfly Dilly saves her fellow insects from a bogus "Bugliest Bug" contest advertised by a group of diabolical spiders interested in their six-legged counterparts only for their potential as a tasty lunch.

When Dilly notices that the contest judges, all spiders, appear to have fake wings AND FANGS, she sounds the alarm and rallies the troops.  She goes on to organize the insects into an effective cohort wherein each bug's individual strengths contribute to the group's victory over the evil arachnids.  As a reward for her diligence and leadership--and for saving their lives--Dilly's fellow-insects unanimously bestow upon her the coveted title of "Bugliest Bug."

In addition to the story's delightful appeal as an imaginative, wonderfully-illustrated piece of children's literature, it offers an elementary lesson in entomology.  From it, children take away an awareness of different types of insects (ladybug, praying mantis, stink bug, cicada, glowworm, etc.) as well as a rudimentary understanding of the basic physical differences between insects and arachnids, which, incidentally, becomes the vocabulary word of the day.

Publisher's Weekly has called The Bugliest Bug "a rollicky, tongue-in-cheek entree to the entomological world,"  and the Book Lady heartily concurs.  This perfect selection promises your little ones a boost to the imagination, a delightful earful of rhyme and meter, eye-candy illustrations, a fun science lesson--and a chance to root wholeheartedly for the underbug.