''Ladybug'' is an illustrated

literary magazine A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry, and essays, along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letter ...

for children ages 2 to 6. It is published in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

by The Cricket Magazine Group/

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 (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

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''. Responding to educators who were using the basic readers created by her and her husband, Car ...

, the editor-in-chief of ''

Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

'' 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 Nort ...

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 F ...

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

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

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 co ...

, 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 Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with be ...

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. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...

and

reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

. 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 or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

. In 2008, the magazine launched a

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google Search, Google, Facebook, Amaz ...

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

book review __NOTOC__ 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, opinion piece, summary review or scholarly revie ...

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