by Corey R. Tabor
2022 / 68 pages

Pell is a Roly Poly bug with a mission: he wants everyone to know just how important his friend is. Who is his friend? As Pell puts it, he is “duke of the dandelion patch,” the champion of truth and justice,” “the one, the only, Sir Ladybug!” Sir Ladybug is different from most other bugs in that he has a sword. Pell is his self-appointed herald, and their snail friend Sterling serves as Sir Ladybug’s very slow, but trusty, squire. More importantly, in a Dr. Who-ish quirk, Sterling’s shell seems to be bigger inside than out, with bedrooms for all three, a kitchen, hot tub, and, of course, a video game room.

In this, their first adventure, Sir Ladybug is recruited to stop a Chickadee from eating a caterpillar. Now, birds gotta eat, and caterpillars aren’t wild about getting eaten, so how is this dilemma going to be solved? Well, not wanting to give it all away, I will note that Sir Ladybug doesn’t have to unleash his fierce swordsmanship skills… though he does have to get baking. And, of course, by comic’s conclusion, everyone is friends.

Caution

The word “poop” makes an appearance, when a couple of worms pop up, and one notes that the Chickadee shouldn’t eat them either, because “Worms are very important to the ecosystem, you know. We aerate the soil. The whole world is built on our poop.”

There is also a “gosh” in the second book in the series, Sir Ladybug and the Queen Bee, and a mention of “bum” when Pell notes that the queen “has a very sharp stinger on her bum.”

In the third book, Sir Ladybug and the Bookworms, they briefly help a dung beetle, who is – as dung beetles do – rolling a dung ball around. So, a smidge of potty humor, but again, as with the instances above, the juvenility here is in keeping with reality, so I find it pretty inconsequential.

Conclusion

There are two others in this charming series. In Sir Ladybug and the Queen Bee they have to deal with a queen who is a bully, and in Sir Ladybug and the Bookworms our favorite bug knight sets out on a quest to return an almost overdue library book.

Speaking of libraries, these come in hardcover, so they will stand up to some library usage.

This trio of Sir Ladybug adventures are sweet, goofy, and have just a bit of quirk that’ll appeal to parents too – these would make for a fun read together on the couch with your little ones. I sure hope the author keeps creating more.