''Ladybug'' is an illustrated literary magazine for children ages 2 to 6. It is published in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Carus Publishing Company The Carus Publishing Company, now subsumed into Cricket Media, was a publisher with offices in Chicago, Peterborough, New Hampshire and Peru, Illinois. Its Peterborough office was closed June 30, 2015. Its Peru offices have closed as well, and op ...

, and appears 9 times a year, every month except for combined May/June, July/August, and November/December issues. The magazine is based in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

History and profile

''Ladybug'' was founded in 1990 by

Marianne Carus Marianne Carus (June 16, 1928 – March 3, 2021) was a German-born American editor and publisher known for creating the children's magazine ''Cricket (magazine), Cricket''. Responding to educators who were using the basic readers created by her ...

, the editor-in-chief of ''

Cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

'' magazine. Carus wanted to provide an art and literary publication for young children as a precursor to Cricket. ''Ladybug'' features four regular serials in each issue. “Max and Kate” is written and illustrated by the British team

Mick Manning Mick Manning (born 1959) is a British artist and creator of children's books. Biography Manning was raised in Haworth, near Keighley, Yorkshire, England. He first attended Bradford College, then studied graphic design at the University of ...

and

Brita Granström Brita Granström (born 1969) is a Swedish artist who graduated from Konstfack Stockholm in 1994 and now lives and works between Great Britain and her homeland as a painter and illustrator. Painting In 2011 Granström's self-portrait ''Mother of ...

, and chronicles the everyday adventures of two best friends, Max and Kate. “Mop and Family” is a

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

by the Dutch husband-and-wife team Alex de Wolf and Martine Schaap centering on a brother and sister and their

sheepdog A sheep dog or sheepdog is generally a dog or breed of dogs historically used in connection with the raising of sheep. These include livestock guardian dogs used to guard sheep and other livestock and herding dogs used to move, manage and con ...

, Mop. “Molly and Emmett” is the longest-running serial in the magazine, created by children's illustrator Marylin Hafner, and follows a young girl named Molly and her mischievous cat, Emmett. In January 2008, ''Ladybug'' introduced the rollicking trio, Ladybug, Muddle, and Thud, characters that appear in the margins of the magazine in their own parallel universe and draw kids into the content. In addition to original stories and poems, ''Ladybug'' offers

non-fiction Non-fiction (or nonfiction) is any document or content (media), media content that attempts, in good faith, to convey information only about the real life, real world, rather than being grounded in imagination. Non-fiction typically aims to pre ...

articles on the natural and cultural world, as well as songs, games, and activities to introduce children to

language Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...

and

reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

. As with the other magazines published by the Cricket Magazine Group, ''Ladybug'' accepts no

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...

. In 2008, the magazine launched a

website A website (also written as a web site) is any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, educatio ...

for children, www.ladybugmagkids.com. The site features

book review A book review is a form of literary criticism in which a book is merely described (summary review) or analyzed based on content, style, and merit. A book review may be a primary source, an opinion piece, a summary review, or a scholarly view. B ...

s by Ladybug, Muddle, and Thud, and recordings of songs.

References

Children's magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1990 Magazines published in Chicago {{child-mag-stub