One of my favourites. The large format hardcover book is ideal to showcase Gréban's wonderful pencil/watercolour illustrations. The Spanish edition names the little ladybug "Encarnita" which is a joke, as "encarnado/a" means "red." I love Encarnita's satchel, her little antennae, and the buttons and straps that hold her carapace to her back! The pencilled outlines give a feeling of "the artist at work". We always chuckle over the "clever ants" (the only insects in the book with the regulation number of appendages) and the baby dragonfly with its pacifier, and hold our breaths when Encarnita speaks to the frog who eats ladybugs--but only when they're ripe!
We've read this book repeatedly since we found it by a lucky chance in a bookshop. I get the feeling Gréban may have been adressing a real child's fears of getting lost...or perhaps one who did, but was found again.
Read it to someone you love, even if that someone is just yourself.