Ten Little Ladybugs in my Jar

Ten active little ladybugs live within the brightly illustrated pages of this sparkly picture book. Little readers will learn subtraction through this interactive storybook as one by one, the ladybugs escape the jar in which they spend their days. Ten Little Ladybugs in my Jar is a unique little book written and illustrated to build confidence in young readers. After reading it through once or twice, they will be sure to share it with others around them! Carey Rigby-Wilcox is a self-taught artist who struggled with reading until she received help from a literacy tutor. Before she improved her reading and writing skills, she was scared of books because of the words, but her passion for art made Carey love to look at the pictures. Ten Little Ladybugs is the first in her See a Book Take a Look ™ series. Learning to read gave her the courage to believe in herself, and a desire to expand her life by becoming an author and illustrator. But to achieve this, the only place she where she could learn all she needed was one of the scariest places she could think of--the local library. The library was a scary place, filled with books filled with words. She had taken her children there so they would become comfortable with books, but now she need to use it for herself. Carey took out every book and DVD on art she could find to teach herself different techniques of painting with watercolors. She needed training how to use computer programs to create a book. The resources from the library helped her learn about self-publishing, printing, and marketing. Becoming able to read has given Carey many opportunities, freedom to have choices and create her life's dreams.

Ten active little ladybugs live within the brightly illustrated pages of this sparkly picture book. Little readers will learn subtraction through this interactive storybook as one by one, the ladybugs escape the jar in which they spend their days. Ten Little Ladybugs in my Jar is a unique little book written and illustrated to build confidence in young readers. After reading it through once or twice, they will be sure to share it with others around them! Carey Rigby-Wilcox is a self-taught artist who struggled with reading until she received help from a literacy tutor. Before she improved her reading and writing skills, she was scared of books because of the words, but her passion for art made Carey love to look at the pictures. Ten Little Ladybugs is the first in her See a Book Take a Look ™ series. Learning to read gave her the courage to believe in herself, and a desire to expand her life by becoming an author and illustrator. But to achieve this, the only place she where she could learn all she needed was one of the scariest places she could think of--the local library. The library was a scary place, filled with books filled with words. She had taken her children there so they would become comfortable with books, but now she need to use it for herself. Carey took out every book and DVD on art she could find to teach herself different techniques of painting with watercolors. She needed training how to use computer programs to create a book. The resources from the library helped her learn about self-publishing, printing, and marketing. Ten Little Ladybugs is a very special book because it helped Carey overcome her fear of libraries and create a dream come true--becoming an author and illustrator. She wants to create lively beautiful books that anyone can enjoy. They are meant for adults and children to experience together, to become comfortable with holding a book, and even to use the illustrations to create their own story. Becoming able to read has given Carey many opportunities, freedom to have choices and create her life's dreams.

Carey Rigby-Wilcox is a committed literacy learner, activist, volunteer, business owner, illustrator, and author who is deeply dedicated to promoting literacy at the local, provincial, and national levels. Carey is an adult learner from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Most of her life she felt ashamed because of her low reading level. She did everything to keep it a secret. Shame was her biggest barrier, but along with it came loneliness. This caused her to keep herself quite isolated. Fear of someone finding out about her low literacy level frightened her. She always felt that if anyone knew her secret, it would turn out to be a disaster and create an unbearable amount of embarrassment for her. So she continued to keep herself well hidden. Year after year she worked on her reading with her volunteer tutor. The better her reading ability became, the better she felt. Unfortunately the shame was still within her, so she continued holding on to her big secret even though her reading ability was improving. Then she came to meet other adult learners across Canada. Attending literacy conferences and making connections with adult learners helped her feel less alone in the world. It was so encouraging to know others just like her. She came to understand that a startling number of Canadian adults have literacy issues, and as sad as that is, there was comfort in it for Carey because the more adult learners she met and heard about, the more normal she felt. It helped her feel like she had a right to be in the world. As she observed other adult learners’ abilities and not their inabilities, she was able to do the same for herself. Looking past people’s ability at reading and writing, and seeing the core of who they really are was inspiring and supportive. Carey has found so many amazing and highly gifted individuals throughout her literacy journey. It all comes down to this: there is a common thread of similarity between every adult learner, which ties them and links them together. That connection is the key that allowed her to let go of the personal pain and struggle. Knowing that other adult learners were striving along with her to better their literacy skills helped her break free from the shame. Carey realized she was not alone, and intends to help stop the shame for others. Carey’s mission in life is simple: she intend to shed light on adult literacy though telling her story so others may come out of the darkness and enter in to the light of freedom. She travels across Canada sharing the importance of learning to read, and how exciting it is to be an illustrator. Carey has given numerous keynote presentations, speeches, and workshops on literacy issues to local organizations, as well as to provincial and federal governments. Her passion to be an advocate for literacy has even taken her to Parliament. Carey is the recipient of the Saskatchewan Council of the Federation of Literacy Award (2006), the Canada Post Literacy Award for Achievement in Learning (2001), and the Saskatchewan Literacy Award of Merit (1999). She was also nominated for a YWCA Women of Distinction Award. Her highest achievement to date is her self-published book My Mummy Couldn't Read. Written and illustrated by Carey, it describes her personal challenges with literacy. This was her second book in her See a Book Take a Look Series and it was short-listed for the 2008 Saskatchewan Book Awards Book of the Year.