Look for Ladybug in Ocean City

April 15, 2020
An errant ladybug once again wanders off to lead animal detectives Daisy (a pink-and-brown-striped rabbit) and Basil (a blue lizard with red baseball cap worn backward) on a merry chase. It was tough enough to Look for Ladybug in Plant City (2017)--here, the undersea realm offers 10 more big, populous, and bewilderingly busy sites artfully designed to conceal the mischievous mite from searching eyes. As if the challenge of picking Ladybug out from the swirling plethora of small, red, spotted sea creatures in each scene weren't enough, Manolessou tucks in dozens of additional figures to winkle out. Readers are prompted to find (among others): one crab on a swing in Octopus Gardens and another wearing eight hard hats at a building site; an octopus holding four brushes near the thermal vent spa (featuring signs for various attractions as "Salt Scrubs" and "Mud Jacuzzis" as well as slogans urging visitors to "Go With the Flow" and "Let Your Hair Down"); a Portrait of a Fish With a Pearl Earring at the Ocean City Museum; and five sea snakes in every picture. Happily, the perky pet rejoins the exhausted detectives at the end (briefly, anyway)...and equally happily, the author provides a visual key to stave off incipient eyestrain in young viewers. A bright and bubbly outing for confident seek-and-find fans. (Picture book. 5-7)

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