A Good Place

by Lucy Cousins, Lucy Cousins (Illustrator)

Overview

From the creator of Maisy, a joyful picture book with a gentle environmental message finds four insect friends in search of a good place to live.

Bee, Ladybug, Beetle, and Dragonfly are looking for somewhere to live. And each has a different want: Bee loves flowers, Ladybug prefers leaves, Beetle is fond of dead wood, and Dragonfly likes ponds. But every time they find what seems like the perfect spot—with beautiful flowers, a tiny pond, some dead wood, or gorgeous green leaves—they discover it’s underfoot, near traffic, or otherwise not safe. Will these four friends ever find a good place? Lucy Cousins brings her bold artwork and endearing characters to an inviting story that leads to a dazzling conclusion, showing children that even in an urban environment, encouraging wildlife and natural ecosystems can create a healthy and beautiful habitat for all of us.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781536226638
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	04/05/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	12 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Lucy Cousins is the creator of the beloved Maisy series as well as a series about Little Fish. She is also the author-illustrator of the widely acclaimed Yummy: Eight Favorite Fairy Tales, a New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Children’s Book of the Year, as well as Let’s Play Monsters!; I’m the Best; Hooray for Fish!; Hooray for Birds!; and Splish, Splash, Ducky!

Lucy Cousins is one of today’s most acclaimed author-illustrators of children’s books. Her unique titles fascinate babies, toddlers, and preschoolers with their child-like simplicity, bold outlines, and bright colors. The engaging adventures of characters such as Maisy reflect the familiar experiences that young children have every day. “Maisy does things that children all over the world do,” Lucy Cousins says of her superstar mouse. “The way she dresses, the way she acts, are typical of children all over the world.”

With Maisy appearing in more than one hundred books as well as her own TV show in the U.S., Lucy Cousins continues to create new characters. Where does the prolific author-illustrator—mother of four children—find the energy? “I’m quite disciplined,” she says of her productivity. “If I´m having an ‘ideas’ day, I just sit at my desk and draw and write until I feel something happening—though I admit that this is usually helped by a cup of tea, some lively music, and an abundance of sunshine.” As for outside inspiration, she says she’s sometimes influenced by the work of other artists, especially if those artists are children. Says the author-illustrator, “I get more pleasure and inspiration from walking around a primary school than from any art gallery.”

Lucy Cousins lives in Hampshire, England.

Editorial Reviews

Cousins conveys a very important lesson on ecosystem preservation nestled within an engaging story for preschoolers. The illustrations of the crawly critters and their escapades, in her bold and energetic style, make this title a welcome addition to the shelves. . . this is spring story time perfection.
—School Library Journal (starred review)

Caregivers and teachers can use the book as a springboard to discuss insect habitats with youngsters. Cousins sticks to her trademark style of bold, simple, uncluttered gouache pictures against solid backgrounds. . . . A subtly allegorical story about the universal search for home.

—Kirkus Reviews

In Ms. Cousins’s vivid illustrations, thick with paint and naif in style, we meet a bee, a ladybug, a dragonfly and a beetle who are all searching for decent accommodation. . . . . ‘I can help you,’ says the butterfly, who knows—as children ages 2-5 will delight to see—just the lush, lovely place for the insects to make their new home.
—The Wall Street Journal

Cousins always creates a colorful, engaging world, and her new title, ‘A Good Place,’ is no exception.
—The Florida Times-Union

With good cheer (and zero lecturing), Cousins makes the case for making the world a friendly place for the little creatures, and for the joy humans can find in making a home for them and observing them.
—The Virginian Pilot

From the Publisher

★ 04/01/2022

PreS-K—A quartet of six-legged friends—Bee, Dragonfly, Beetle, and Ladybug—are on an adventure to find a good place to settle. And what should a good place have? For each of the bug buddies that differs: Bee would like flowers, Ladybug needs leaves, Beetle must have dead wood, and Dragonfly yearns for a pond. Every time they think they have found their spot in the busy city, they quickly realize it is too busy or polluted to be safe. As luck would have it, the very discouraged bugs cross paths with a beautiful butterfly who has the inside scoop on a well-kept garden nearby. Cousins conveys a very important lesson on ecosystem preservation nestled within an engaging story for preschoolers. The illustrations of the crawly critters and their escapades, in her bold and energetic style, make this title a welcome addition to the shelves. VERDICT An accessible tale of conservation told from the perspective of nature's tiniest creatures, this is spring story time perfection.—Sarah Simpson

School Library Journal

2022-01-12
Four insects set out on a mission to find the perfect home.

Bee thinks some flowers would do the trick, so the foursome install themselves in a cluster of yellow daisies growing out of a sidewalk; but human foot traffic poses danger, so they conclude that “this is not a good place.” Dragonfly suggests that they try living in a pond, but the one they find turns out to be a puddle in the middle of an unsuitably busy street. Beetle’s and Ladybug’s ideas also come to naught. “Hungry and sick and tired,” the little swarm succumb to despair. Luckily, they meet a sympathetic butterfly who knows “a good place to live.” The four friends follow Butterfly over a brick wall, where a better home than anything they could have ever imagined awaits. The simple text will draw young children in with its repetition and strong opportunities for making inferences. Instead of quotation marks, typographical shifts are used to distinguish narration from dialogue. Caregivers and teachers can use the book as a springboard to discuss insect habitats with youngsters. Cousins sticks to her trademark style of bold, simple, uncluttered gouache pictures against solid backgrounds. No human characters are shown, but Butterfly notes that a boy is responsible for creating the “good place” the insects ultimately embrace as their abode.

A subtly allegorical story about the universal search for home. (Picture book. 3-7)

Kirkus Reviews