Ladybugs play an important role in our world as eco-friendly pest controllers and plant pollinators—and they bring us good luck, according to lore. This Czech import opens as spring rolls in and a “loveliness” of seven-spot ladybugs wake from their winter slumber and stretch. One of them, Mariella, launches into an account of one year in the life of the species; our peppy guide points out their main body parts (elytra are the outer wings), notes where they like to live (everywhere except the polar regions), and covers the variety of ladybugs in the world, how they help humans’ gardens (by eating aphids), and the ways they defend themselves (by emitting a bad smell). Sekaninová folds in facts through Mariella’s cheery narration, discussing courtship, egg laying, hatching, and young ladybugs’ subsequent pupation and metamorphosis, all of which spans roughly a year. In Dao’s whimsical, heavily anthropomorphic illustrations, ladybugs roast aphids over a fire, push baby carriages, tussle over food, and settle into leaf hammocks for the night; with their dark faces, bright-red lips, and large eyes with prominent whites, some of these depictions inadvertently suggest racial stereotypes common throughout U.S. history. One spread called “Miracle of Nature” lays out the ladybug life cycle, each phase surrounded by a frame featuring joyous and quizzical insect faces, ideal for budding entomologists and garden aficionados.
