Teach your child to read the time with the Bad-Tempered Ladybird

My son was gifted The Bad-tempered Ladybird on his second birthday. A fan of Eric Carle, we were both delighted. When I opened it, it looked like a lesson in time reading. ‘Will my two-year old enjoy it?’, I wondered. But we read it together anyway.

The story is about a ladybird that gets up on the wrong side of the bed and refuses to share his breakfast (a meal of aphids) with a cheery, fellow ladybird. The bad mood lingers, making him challenge everyone he meets through the day to a fight, whether it is a mantis, a chimp and even a whale!

The beauty of the book lies in the way the pages are structured showing a tiny clock that displays the time of the day against the position of the sun. What a fun way to initiate time reading! Carle’s illustrations, of course, are captivating and my son and his friends learnt several new words through the book.

But the most striking aspect of the book is the lesson in humility and how to never underestimate others. Read it to your child, his friends and also, to yourself. Age is no criteria for this one.

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