WHAT ABOUT LADYBUGS?

In an effort to eliminate harmful insects, a gardener sprays his fruit trees, vegetables, and flowers with bug killer. The spray causes helpful insects like ladybugs to leave the garden. Harmful aphids who survive the poison simply multiply and sap the strength of plants; caterpillars chew and chew destroying plant leaves. The garden becomes a sorry place with few flowers or fruits and sickly plants until the gardener's friend asks, ``What about ladybugs?'' and points out that they are nature's way of controlling aphids. The gardener sends for a fresh supply of the vivid red and black hunters, and a healthy garden is restored. Softly colored chalk drawings provide drama in greatly enlarged insects, vegetables, and blooms. Children will enjoy the fist-sized aphids that look rather like alien invaders. However, the caterpillars that feast on the pea vines (and the butterfly that sips the nectar) appear to be monarchs—they eat milkweed leaves, not peas. But even if The Gardener's Bug Book (1994) doesn't list any caterpillars partial to peas, young naturalists will still enjoy this brief ecology lesson. (Picture book/nonfiction. 5-8)