Glorious Ladybirds

The Guardian has a rather turgid article on the paintings that illustrated the Ladybird 'reading books'.

I recall that we had some of these book at home, and they were immensely readable at the age of four or five. I think they featured children called Peter and Jane, and they used to do vaguely interesting things. At school we had Robert and Judy, which were supposed to last for the entirety of one's Infant career, but I had finished them by Christmas of Infant 2. They were okay, if a little uninspiring. My younger brother had the Dick and Dora books which were dreadful, truly dreadful. they applied the laws of attrition to reading.

Dick is in the garden. Dora is in the garden. Dick and Dora are in the garden. Nip is in the garden. Fluff is in the garden. Nip and Fluff are in the garden. Mummy is in the garden. Daddy is in the garden. Mummy and Daddy are in the garden. Dick, Dora, Nip, Fluff, Mummy and Daddy are in the garden.

. When you are twelve and have to hear a five year old read this, you would actually far rather tidy your bedroom!

Many of the Ladybird books were splendid. Between us, my sister and I had ones on subjects as diverse as Birds, Flowers, Ordnance Survey Maps, British Customs and Festivals, King Alfred the Great, Roman Britain, and knitting, many of which are now being utilised by my sister's children.

We then moved onto the Observer's Books - I still have my Observer's Book of the seashore, and always forget to take it to the seaside with me. Another great source of education was the PG Tips cards and the albums into which they were stuck. We had many that my uncle had collected in the Fifties eg Vintage Cars, Battle Ships. Pauline added collections such as the history of fashion and the 150th anniversary of the Metropolitan Police. The last time I saw PG Tips cards, they featured pictures of the advertising chimps...

Comments

[Moi]

I started on the little blue books and worked up to the Janet and John series. I managed to get hold of a few old copies when my children were very small and taught them to read using them before they even got to school. Strangely enough that got me into an awful lot of trouble with the teachers as teaching methods had changed by then and I'd "used the wrong teaching method".
I think I still have one somewhere that I keep safe. They're becoming positively antique!

[RM]

These short stories are far better for children than Penguin or Ladybird.

www.bowlingball.co.uk/blogger.html

Yes. That will have the little darlings sleeping better at night

[Jess Lat]

one of the problems with being a military brat... you have to move lots, and every time, you have to go thru your stuff and toss out the non-essentials. as such, i really don't have anything from my childhood. none of my books or toys that defined my life at that age. i was a huge fan of he-man and she-ra and had all of the toys. they're in a landfill somewhere now i'm sure... which is a shame, since the series is becoming popular again, i could have hawked the old toys on ebay for a profit.

[Green Fairy]

I had Janet and John, and after that a series called things like Roger Red Hat and Billy Blue Hat, etc. Most disturbed twenty years later when I stumbled upon a porn video called Billy Blue Hat...

[zed]

i had ladybird books too, and amazingly, my parents kept all my childhood books - throughout moves from japan to england to africa and so on. i treasure them greatly, but my all time favourite has to be dr suess's 'green eggs and ham'.

[Moi]

Green Eggs and Ham! A splendid little book. I've just given the family copy to one of my daughters so that she can read it to the grandchildren.
I do hope they never attempt to turn it into a film though; The Grinch was ok but I'm not too sure over what they may have done to The Cat in The Hat.

[laura]

my boyfriend didn't believe in Fluff and Nip and just thought I was trying to raise a gratuitous smutty laugh...Oh the cynicism of this modern age!