I love these magazines. We subscribe to Ladybug, Spider, and Cricket (each for a different child). The stories are great, as is the illustration. An illustrator friend of mine says that it is very prestigious to be asked to illustrate a story in these magazines, and I figure it is the same for the stories. No advertising, of course. The thing I like the best is that each magazine is geared toward a certain age of child. Highlights tries to be something for everyone, so we look through the magazine to find an appropriate story. In Ladybug, we just start at the beginning and read straight through. As the publisher will tell you, when your child outgrows Ladybug, you just let them know and they change your subscription to Spider (and later, Cricket. That's as far as we've gotten).
I LOVE this magazine, and more importantly my four year old daughter LOVES this magazine. I agree with all the other rave reviews on this page.
I do want other parents to be aware of one thing, though. This company sold my daughter's name and address to other companies and we have begun to receive inappropriate consumer catalogs addressed to her. Because no other company has her address, I called the customer service number on the back of Ladybug and spoke to a rep there. Her supervisor called back the next day very professionally, and quite apologetic, and told me that yes, they did sell/give out my daughter's name and address. She then said she would remove my daughter's name from the list that they share/sell. I appreciated the call and the admission, however, I thought other parents might want to be aware of this.
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We received this magazine as a gift subscription last December. Beautiful illustrations and interesting short stories with large letters so they are easy for children to read. My daughter (age 4) can read some of them herself, my son (age 3) looks at the words and the pictures and listens to my daughter read and I have even enjoyed reading this magazine from time to time. This is a great children's magazine! I recommend this magazine for children who have just learned to read and for children and parents to read together.
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A while back I read an interview with Maurice Sendak. He was talking about the last word in his book, "Where the Wild Things Are" and how "the entire staff at the publishing house were keen on changing the word "hot" to "warm" on the last page. Because "hot" meant "burn." He continues to say that the controversy over that one word "turned into a real world war." So why fight over one word? What's the difference between hot and warm, what does it matter? Sendak says warm sounded dopey, unemotional, undramatic, and that "everything about that book is 'hot'."
Well, in my opinion, everything about this magazine is warm. Tepid, even. Safe to the point of boring.
And that surprised me, truly.
You see, we have been receiving Babybug for a few years now. And as my 3 year old daughter began to outgrow it, Ladybug seemed like the next logical step. The only other Carus magazine I was familiar with was Cricket, circa the early 90's, and I was so impressed by it and the complex and interesting stories and non-fiction pieces it contained, and by Babybug as a sweet simple toddler publication, that I had pretty high hopes for Ladybug.
All of the other reviews concerning the magazine, not the ordering process are glowing in their praise. In fact the Amazon reviews contributed greatly to my decision to subscribe to the magazine.
What annoys me primarily about Ladybug is just how dumbed down it seems in contrast to both Babybug and Cricket and to some extent to Spider, of which I've had the occasion to review a single issue. It's both the stories and poems themselves, as well as the language used. I mean, we have a library of nearly 1000 picture books, so we have a wide variety of reading tastes but in all the many, many books we own, spanning decades of children's literature, I can't conjure a single one that seems to be written with such cheesy condescension. The end result and this is the crux of my dissatisfaction in this publication is that the stories are unsatisfying, dry, dull, flat, and totally lifeless. Some of the poems just don't make much sense at all. The recurring themes like Max and Kate are certainly 'safe' but their value doesn't extend much beyond that. Also, I find the illustrations with Max and Kate to be quite unattractive, but a better storyline would grant them forgiveness on that count. Mop and Friends grates on my nerves terribly. Ugh. Even the cartoon Molly and Emmett, which, as a cat lover, I thought would be *fantastic!* just falls flat. Usually, in a publication like this, I would find one redeeming piece where I'd say, "Now why can't the rest of the magazine be like that?" and I might even hold out hope that future issues would be better, but after six months, I feel confident that I've seen the best they have to offer. I'm just not impressed. I don't think we've read most of our Ladybug magazines more than once the day they arrive. They sit directly on our coffee table for the month after they arrive and are ignored entirely though I would happily read them with accompanying animation if it were requested of me. I often read books I loathe (with proper enthusiasm, I might add) because the kids love them but when it comes to Ladybug, they simply never ask.
My second issue is with the presentation sometimes to excess of multicultural themes. Don't take that sentence the wrong way, I certainly desire for my children to learn about other cultures, but my desire is for them to learn about them in a way that feels authentic, not forced and trite, and this is my feeling with the presentation of other cultures given by Ladybug. It feels like the publishers are just throwing this stuff at you out of a desire to be politically correct, but there's no real passion behind it. This is in such stark contrast to the Cricket magazines of the early 90's, which also presented pieces on other cultures but did so in captivating, honest, 'real' ways which inspired young readers to want to learn more.
I began to write this review six months ago when we got our first issue, and shamed myself into keeping my rather harsh opinions to myself. Who would write such an ugly review about a sweet little kids magazine? Would you believe I actually feel guilty for disliking this magazine so much? But dislike it I do, and my kids' lack of interest in it seems to mirror my opinion.
I think it comes down to what Sendak fought for in the difference between hot and warm. When you go for something so safe that you intentionally avoid any real conflict, you miss out on the drama and danger and excitement and even the relief of resolution at the end. All these fantastic emotional ranges that reading can draw out of a person. These are the things that have made the most timeless of stories endlessly appealing. These truths especially apply to kids. You don't have to scare the wits out of them, certainly not, but sometimes things have to be hot instead of warm. Sometimes that risk should be embraced for the sake of literary excellence, and respect for the reader.
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Ladybug is full of useful resources for early childhood teachers and the material is useful even if the magazines are out of date. The ideas in the magazines can be modified for use in the classroom. I teach children from kindergarten to year three, so I need a wide range of suitable materials. Since I am also a parent, I really enjoyed borrowing the magazines for my daughter when she was small. She loved the magazines and when she grew out of them, she graduated to 'Cricket' which is the magazine that follows on from 'Ladybug'.Since 'Ladybug' contains lots of activities, stories and songs, it doesn't take long to build up a useful library of resources. What's more! The activities are age appropriate and they all work.
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I have been subscribing to this magazine for the last nine years, since taking my first cruise 10 years ago. Although a small publication that is published every two months or so, it is full of information. My only complaint is the abundance of ads, but at least they are travel/cruise related, and do feature some great deals with cruise only agents. The one thing Cruise Travel stresses is that cruising is not for the rich set anymore. Each issue has a port of the month -which might be in the Caribbean or Alaska, Australia, Africa, the Far East or Europe (cruise lines go EVERYWHERE these days). They review a new ship in detail, from cabin size to what one will find on-board. They always feature a ship of the month -which might be the latest Carnival monstrosity or some ship of more elegance. Their letters to the Editor section is always worth a look, as you see messages from the most experienced to young people in their teens finding a love of cruise ships. Some of the writers are a tad pretentious, wanting cruising to return to the days of the Queen Mary or Mauretania. Others are middle of the road (like myself). Some love what Carnival offers. Most of all, the magazine encourages everyone to find a love of cruise ships and traveling this way. It's a great little magazine I highly recommend, especially if you're just discovering cruising...or just want to daydream.
