old Ladybird Books

Party Games

2012-02-01T03:55:00.001-08:00

Did you see those packs of vintage Ladybird postcards that were on sale around Christmas? I was, of course, tempted by them but then the obvious question was 'Why?'. I mean, what do you do with a box of Ladybird postcards?

Well here's an answer. Why did I never think of it? It came in an email I received this week from a Ladybird-loving friend.

We had a jolly Ladybirdy Christmas, especially on Boxing Day at my sister's.

I'd given her the Box of 100 Ladybird Postcards (yet another spin-off, postcard sized reproductions of the covers) and her lot decided they were going to play Charades with them, as in: take a card, hide it, mime the title to the rest of the party, they have to guess it.

High point was my 27 year old nephew, 6'5", being 'Bunnikins Picnic Party'; low point was me getting landed with 'The Public Services: Gas'. I will leave it to your imagination - wine had been taken. (Maybe a new feature of your website could be suggestions for party games that can be played with Ladybirds, the ruder the better?) They didn't guess my 'Come to Holland' which was very disappointing, I thought the windmill, and little-boy-with-finger-in-the-dyke mimes were excellent.

So there you go? New section for my website? Any more such inspired party-game suggestions?

Christmas Quiz 2011 Winner

2012-01-23T01:29:00.000-08:00

And this year's winner is ...
Sangitha Vineeth - who sent her screenshot from India, with a day of my opening the quiz.

Sangitha, if you want to send me your address, I'll post you your prize (but don't hold your breath with excitement!)

Notebooks

2011-12-18T03:33:00.001-08:00

The company Ladybird, having taken a number of years to feel anything but embarrassment about the National Treasure status of old Ladybird Book imagery, has had a volte-face. In the last few years, especially at Christmas, an increasing range of nostalgia-fest products have been for sale: jigsaws, mugs, lunch-boxes, pencil-cases etc. Notebooks have been one of the more affordable products - Ladybird Book-proportioned soft-back notebooks (like the Shopping With Mother one above) destined for the Christmas stockings and the scribbles of the nostalgic baby-boomer.

Recently another sort of Ladybird notebook has appeared at Hertfordshire craft fairs this winter. These are actual old Ladybird Books which have been operated upon - they've been unbound, had the covers removed and then been re-bound with a strong spiral coil, and with the pages interleaved with blank pages.

Assuming the original books had major flaws - no spine, missing pages etc - I like the idea of re-purposing them in this way. You can buy these books (not just Ladybird Books but a range of others too) at this website:

Always assuming ...

Ladybird Christmas Quiz 2011

2011-11-29T08:38:00.000-08:00

So here we are again.

This year I've made a version of 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire'.

You'll find it here.

Sorry the questions don't start easy and get steadily harder - the application randomises them.

Want a prize this year? If you complete the quiz all the way to the end, take a screenshot of the final page and email it to me.

The first one I receive will receive a mystery, ladybird-themed prize. (A mystery because I haven't thought of one yet).

Hay-on-Wye

2011-10-30T04:52:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been to Hay-on-Wye? If you love books, you have to visit at least once. And once is never enough. Hay is a very small, pretty town just across the Herefordshire border, in Powys, Mid-Wales.

The area is very rural and very pretty, but what makes Hay remarkable is that it is stuffed full of 2nd-hand bookshops. Some people know it for its annual book festival, but I've never been to that. Over the many years that I've been collecting Ladybird Books, I've visited many times.

There are specialist children's bookshops and general shops - and once upon a time it was possible to find a bargain or a rare book in either. For example,I bought a DJ copy of Jeremy's Day in the Country for £5.00 in a specialist children's bookshop a few years ago and a proof-copy of a history book for 50p in another.

I was back in Hay last week, and it was still a lovely place to be in the sunshine of a mellow Autumn. Despite the doom and gloom in the bookshop world, Hay seems to be flourishing still - although the antiques shops that used to be well-represented in Hay seem to be finding times harder.

But Ladybird bargains? No longer easy-pickings. The specialist bookshops are still there, with well-stocked shelves. But the most popular books (such as the original Well Loved Tales 606d books) are conspicuously absent, and the prices have caught up too.

In this challenging climate, there's a new kid on the block. A small shop has opened near the centre of town called 'Barnabee Books'. And this small cave of a shop is planning on being niche indeed - advertising just Obervers and Ladybird Books for sale.

The shop looked brand new - it's not yet on the list of bookshops in town - but if you're just starting your collection or are prepared to spend a bit of money to fast-track your way through the series, you might want to pay a visit.

An app for THAT?

2011-10-09T06:58:00.000-07:00

Yes, what was the wait all about? Of course, there's now a Ladybird Book app.

No, not made by me. It's produced by the people who now own the Ladybird name, the Longman Group.

And it's actually very good!

Whilst focused on young children starting to read, they haven't made the mistake of forgetting the age of the parents or grandparents who own the iPhone or iPad (not iPod at the moment).

The range of Ladybird books that can be used within the app are Ladybird classics rather than new ones: a couple of old style Well Loved Tales, a couple of later style, a couple of original Read it Yourself and Talkabouts and a Ladybird Leader: Dinosaurs. This is more or less the extent of the current range of books which can be purchased in addition to the one that comes free when you download the app - The Zoo.

I expect they will wait to see which ones prove popular before adding to it.

Anyway, what does the app do?
Well, first of all, the Ladybird Book is reproduced in usual virtual flip-book style. No surprises there and the page-flipping sound is very satisfying. Secondly, the book comes with built-in 'hotspots' - so that when the child touches text, it activates an audio file and the text is read. When an image is read, a sound-effect is activated.

Again, this is much what you would expect from a purpose-built book app. The clever level of interactivity is that you can customise these 'hotspots' - replacing the default text and sound effects with your own, using the iThing's own microphone. It takes a couple of goes to get your head around how to navigate, record, restore and exit - but once you've got the hang of it, I can imagine a 4 - 6 year old having a lot of fun 'reading' with a carer and making their own version of a story.

Got an iPad or phone (iPhone 3GS or later) and a suitably-aged child to justify the purchase? Then You might want to give it a go. The initial app is pretty cheap (a pound or two) and comes with one book 'The Zoo'. After that, subsequent books currently cost £1.99 each.

I feel compelled by convention to add the following to end this post:

Of course, it's not the same as the real thing ...

First and Last

2011-09-05T11:36:00.000-07:00

Son goes back to school tomorrow and so we begin turning our attention to What to Look for in Autumn.

Not the last day of the holidays for me. For me it's the last week before I go on holiday again. Having recently been made redundant, it's also the first day of the rest of my life.

So next week I'm going to shake things up a bit and do a bit of solo travelling - to China.

Scary but interesting, I hope.

The Digital Ladybird

2011-06-26T12:05:00.000-07:00

In the week that there has been much discussion on the future of the book in a world of eBooks I thought you might like to see this article from The Guardian, on the Ladybird brand's venture into the digital age:

'Ladybird Books' flies away to a new age

Thanks for the tip-off, Jenny

A Private-Eye upon Cinderella

2011-05-18T06:41:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Jenny for the tip-off.

Here's the cover of Private-Eye mentioned in the comments of my last post.

Royal Wedding and Cinderella

2011-05-16T12:22:00.000-07:00

Ok, the link is very tenuous - but since Ladybird don't seem to be continuing in the earlier tradition of rushing out a Ladybird Book to commemorate the latest Royal Wedding, perhaps I should do my part and celebrate it here with this picture which I have found in different places on the internet:

Cruel, of course, but ...

Sorry I'm late

2011-04-22T03:40:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter!

I've been away for several days and didn't had access to a webcam so apologies to those of you who left messages on the audio Q&A below.

I've just caught up now with 4 new responses if you want to check them out below.

If you'd like to leave me a message, please do. Just type in the box and press 'Send'. But look out for the next message which requires you to press Send a second time. I'm up to date with responses, so if you haven't received one, it's because it never arrived.

Have a great break - which will also mark the start of my car-boot Ladybird-hunting season!

Ask me a question

2011-03-20T12:40:00.000-07:00

Here's a Question and Answer application that I was experimenting with for work. I didn't originally intend to share it as it looks like a bit of an ego-trip. But having created it and had a few people ask me questions ...

Ask me any question (about Ladybird Books)and I'll try to answer them for you here.

After typing your question in the box, click 'send'. But watch out for the next message which also requires you to click Send - it seems to need reassurance - and to be told to SEND 2 or 3 times! Click just once and I won't get your message - regardless of what I tell you! Give it a go.

Or click on the questions that someone has already asked me (below):

Cassettes

2011-03-15T10:56:00.000-07:00

Cassettes - remember them?

It seems a lot of people do.

For a short period, I think between the late 1970s and 1980s, Ladybird started to publish many fiction titles with an accompanying cassette. Occasionally at a car-boot sale I'll still come across a cassette from a Puddle Lane, WLT or Children's Classic book.

Although these cassettes don't seem to have been issued for very long, they seem to have been valued, at least in retropect, by erstwhile owners. This email, which I received last week, is quite typical:

For some years now I have been searching for the "well loved tales" series by Ladybird with the accompanying audio cassettes. Especially their 1979 version of "The Ugly Duckling" would be a fantastic find. I see you offer most of the books but there is no mention of the audio tapes, do you happen to have these as well? Or know where I can find them, possibly converted to MP3?

I have no answer to these enquiries. Does anyone know if you can still get hold of them anywhere?

A Ladybird Books promotion - new and old?

2011-02-07T00:23:00.000-08:00

Collect tokens for free Ladybird children's books - mirror.co.uk via kwout

The newspaper The Mirror's latest collaborative promotion.

I wonder if this promotion might encourage people to think back to the 'real' Ladybird Books of their childhood? (See my previous post)

A new Ladybird article

2011-02-04T11:36:00.001-08:00

In March's edition of 'Home and Antiques Magazine' (BBC) there's an article on 'charming Ladybird Books'. It's subtitled Instant Expert and has been put together by Antiques Roadshow presenter Katherine Higgins - with a little help from a few Ladybods including myself.

Lots of lovely, retro images of lovely retro Ladybird Books (most of which came from my own shelf via Royal Mail to the magazine 'stylist' - and back again).
Coming to a newsagent near you ...

Hannibal Seeks a Buyer

2011-01-23T13:53:00.000-08:00

Hannibal (The hamster, not the Alps and elephants one) would probably be my pick for the most under-rated Ladybird Book series. The stories are likeable and informative and John Berry's artwork is fantastic - his photographic style leavenened by the fact that his hero is a small furry animal, not a work-worn 1970s state employee.

This evening I have received an email from someone who has a piece of John Berry artwork that she would like to sell. If you are interested, she is quoting '£500 or nearest offer'.

So do email me if you'd like more details and I'll put you in touch with her.

nmccar1063@aol.com

Endearing Indira?

2011-01-16T12:40:00.000-08:00

If you often visit eBay - perhaps in quest of Ladybird Books - you might some times have tried searching by 'Most expensive item first'. If you've tried that in recent weeks you might have seen a Ladybird Book 'Indira Gandhi' at the top of that list.

Yes, that's right. £350.00 for a laminated Ladybird Book which dates from 1986. A seller's typo? Did the seller mean £3.75? Isn't even that quite dear for a relatively recent book?

Well clearly £350.00 wasn't a typo. When the book failed to sell at that price, it swiftly re-appeared at £325. As you can see, it is currently listed with a starting price of £325.00 (Buy-it-now option of £350.00).

So should you 'Buy it now'? Well, guess what. I wouldn't if I were you.

Yes, actually this is a pretty rare book. Not many were printed. Perhaps the book was commissioned shortly after her assassination, when the world was still shocked at the turn of events. Perhaps when the book was finally ready for distribution in 1986, the world had moved on. Perhaps now Ladybird was concerned that they might be accused of political bias. Or perhaps it simply didn't sell very well.

At any rate, there were never many copies in circulation and so Indira Gandhi today is perhaps the hardest-to-find Ladybird Book ever printed with a glossy cover (ie after 1983).

But it's not exactly 'The Impatient Horse'. There are copies out there. I've come across 3 copies on sale in charity shops for charity-shop prices since I've been collecting. If really want one to complete a collection, you'll find one sooner or later if you hang on for long enough.

Can't wait? Just look a bit further down the list of the same eBay search and you'll find this one

A 'mere' £49.00 ...

And the winner is ...

2011-01-04T00:39:00.000-08:00

I am proud to announce the winner of this year's Ladybird Christmas Quiz as ...

Robert Fearn. Robert, I can send you your grand prize of Ladybird wind chimes if you let me know your address.

Here are the answers. In general it was the classical music which foxed people.

Question 1

(2 words)

Answer: Black Beauty

Question 2

(3 words)

Answer: Boys and Girls (Peter and Jane book 3b)

Question 3

(Various contenders for this one. Choose the first of the series. 3 words)

Answer: The Silver Arrow(Theme to 'Robin Hood' Prince of Thieves)

Question 4

(1 word)

Answer: Fireworks(Music for the Royal Fireworks - Handel)

Question 5

(3 words)

Answer: Bonnie Prince Charlie(Skye Boat Song)

Question 6

(2 words)

Answer: Sleeping Beauty(Tchaikovsky)

Question 7

(2 words)

Answer: Baby Jesus

Question 8

(2 words)

Answer: The Snowman

Thanks to all those who took part

Happy New Year!

Winning score now stands at 6 out of 8

2010-12-20T00:31:00.001-08:00

Can you beat that?

Click here to try

The Story of Music

2010-12-10T03:13:00.000-08:00

Have I made it a bit hard this year? So far no one has scored more than 4 out of the 8 Christmas Quiz questions.

If you think you can beat 4, have a go here.

Ladybird Musical Christmas Quiz 2010

2010-11-30T08:52:00.000-08:00

This year, a musical theme - and a prize! The winner of the quiz will win some Ladybird wind-chimes. If I get more than one submission of the correct answer (which usually happens) I'll put all correct answers into a hat and randomly select one after Christmas.

OK so down to the serious business:

1) Listen to the 8 clips below. Which mainly pre-1980s Ladybird Book is referred to by each tune? In most cases the clue might be in the title of the song, or it might be a theme tune to film or programme. In one case, the clue is a bit more tenuous - more to do with the origins of the song.

2) Jot down the answers somewhere, you won't be able to go back to listen again easily once you click on the 'submit here' link. (You can re-submit/change your answers any number of times). Alternatively, you can just email me your answers: nmccar1063@aol.com

3) When you think you know the 8 Ladybird Books, click on the link at the bottom of this post, type your email address in the 'name' box (so I can identify the winner) and submit your answers.

4) Check back after Christmas to see the winner

Good luck!

Question 1

(2 words)

(Remember, the link to submit your answers is at the bottom, below the 8 clips but it's easier to jot down your answers on paper before going there). Alternatively you can email me: nmmcar1063@aol.com

Question 2

(3 words)

Question 3

(Various contenders for this one. Choose the first of the series. 3 words)

Question 4

(1 word)

Question 5

(3 words)

Question 6

(2 words)

Question 7

(2 words)

Question 8

(2 words)

Think you know all or most of the answers? Click here.

REMEMBER to type your email address in the 'name' box (so I can identify the winner) and submit your answers. Use only lower case and no punctuation.

Identified a song too late? You can resubmit - I'll take your best answer.

Good luck - and Happy Christmas to everybody!

Stumpy the Bear?

2010-11-23T04:14:00.000-08:00

I am often asked to identify books from fairly little information - someone will email me asking if I can help them identify a much loved childhood book from some vague recollection of an illustration or a line of text.

To be honest, it's usually easy to help. I'm surprised by how often it is the same books that are enquired about in this way - the same images which have lodged in peoples' heads over several decades.

For example I'm often asked about a book of poems that has one about cleaning out a porridge bowl or that contains a poem about daddy falling into a pond. (Bedtime Rhymes, edited by Audrey Daly). The earlier Lapage incarnation of Bedtime Rhymes is another which seems to haunt people, who fondly remember 'Old Tom Tomato' 'Gee Gees and Hee Haws' etc.

However, sometimes people will contact me, convinced that the book that they recall is a Ladybird Book, but which I don't recognise at all - and that's happened this week:

I'm trying to track down a book from my childhood to give to my daughter .
I'm pretty sure it was a ladybird book called Stumpy . The story was about a teddy bear found on the beach by a young child . Sorry i cant be more specific about the story . I have looked on various web sites and even on the ladybird site . It would mean a lot if i could get hold of a copy .

Can anyone out there help? I don't recognise it, but maybe the writer of the email is quite young and the book is outside my range of interest (1940 - 1985). Do let me know if you can help.

New Martin Aitchison artwork for sale

2010-10-12T13:36:00.000-07:00

Martin Aitchison has released some more pieces of original Ladybird Book artwork for sale.

Take a look at his gallery here. There are some lovely pieces here. I think my favourite is 'Liang Painted a Storm' from the Read it Yourself story 'The Magic Paintbrush'. It's magical. I also particularly like one of the Puddle Lane pieces.

Clipped from: martingallery.webnode.com (share this clip)

Martin's main website: www.martinaitchison.co.uk

The Night Sky

2010-08-24T11:28:00.000-07:00

I received this 'video response' today to a Ladybird Book themed video on YouTube.

This captures so well the power that a well-pitched, well-written, beautifully illustrated book can have on a child.

Reading on the tube

2010-08-22T10:36:00.000-07:00

A couple of good friends visited me from the USA this summer. Of course they wanted to visit London and were especially keen to see The Tower of London.

Since you get more out of a visit when you know a bit of background reading, I started looking around the internet for some engaging potted histories – when it occurred to me that I had shelves of them behind me. I took down a couple of History series books – Henry VIII and Elizabeth I and rather tentatively, suggested they might want to look them.

Once my friends had got over their surprise that Ladybird Books weren’t just about fluffy bunnies and obedient school children – an impression they’d picked up from the books they’d noticed lying around my house – they picked up a book and started reading. And reading.

They read right through a book each in one sitting and then swapped books , occasionally reading out snippets to each other – and asked for more! My friends are both over 50 and educated to Post Grad level – but as an engaging intro to interesting periods in British history, these little children's books ticked the box as no other.

The following day, they headed off to the Tower of London, sitting on train and tube happily reading their Ladybird Books. “Yes”, they said afterwards, “they’d got a few strange looks”. But these two aren’t the sort to care.

Perhaps Ladybird should have produced an alternative 'grown up' cover to spare adult blushes when reading in public - as Bloomsbury did with Harry Potter. Oh wait, Ladybird did try that once of course:

"How it Works: The Computer was used by university lecturers to make sure that students started at the same level. Two hundred copies of this same book were ordered by the Ministry of Defence. But it was a special order, with the the books in plain brown covers, to save embarrassment!"

http://www.ladybird.co.uk/aboutus/companyhistory.html

The Great Cirencester Ladybird Hunt

2010-07-06T10:07:00.000-07:00

Cirencester Ladybird Book Hunt

How's this for dedication - and a bit of creativity! In Cirencester, the Oxfam bookshop has organised a special week featuring old Ladybird Books. They have had the idea of involving other local shops and children can take part in a Ladybird Book Hunt.

Here are the instructions if you'd like to take part:
Ladybird Book Hunt Word Doc

If you live nearby and would like to take part, ere's the Ladybird Book Hunt sheet, which you can print off:

Ladybird Book Hunt

2010-06-22T11:10:00.000-07:00

A Ladybird Book featured pretty prominently on Doctor Who this week. Not a 'proper' Ladybird Book, you might say. Not a Ladybird classic. The Romans, 1994 - not the wonderful L. du Garde Peach/Kenney classic from 1959.

But then it's unlikely that Amy Pond, now aged 19, would have the 1959 version by her bedside. Even in Doctor Who.

This year's car boot season

2010-06-17T12:38:00.001-07:00

So far the car boot season has been a bit disappointing. We've had pretty good weather - but weekend mornings have been a bit wet. Or maybe I'm getting old and the attraction of the early morning car boot field in quest of rare Ladybird finds is not quite as strong as the counter-attraction of a weekend lie-in.

Last year I had a one-off car-boot stall at the St Albans Rugby club (ah! so that's where the picture fits in). The SA Rugby Club appealed because it isn't too big, is on a Saturday not a Sunday and starts at a much later hour than most - 9.30 a.m ish. I sold lots and lots of surplus-to-requirement Ladybird Books, mainly for 50p each, some for £1.00 and some modern ones for 20p. My husband didn't think I would cover the cost of the £8.00 sellers fee, but actually things went pretty well.

So I'm thinking of doing the same this year. If you live in the vicinity of St Albans, come along and say hello. Don't expect any Wonks or High Tides for 50p but if you live locally and there's something you'd like me to bring, email me in advance. When? Well it will depend on the weather, of course but I'm thinking of next week (Saturday 26th June).

View Larger Map

A Pop--Up Ladybird Book!

2010-06-07T12:55:00.001-07:00

Ok, this is very silly. But experimenting with an new online tool, I might as well share the product.

The story of how I became a collector of Ladybird Books:

You'll find it here.

A Room Full of Peters

2010-05-25T06:32:00.000-07:00

I once went to the launch of a Ladybird exhibition or nostalgia-fest book and the speaker (who worked for Penguin) opened by asking,

"Is there a Peter or Jane in the room?"

She went on to say that at most Ladybird functions, about half a dozen middle-aged people emerge one-by-one over the course of the evening to say that they were Peter or Jane - that is to say, as a child they had modelled for the artwork.

Every now and then an article will appear in the press, entitled "The Real Jane" or "The Real Peter", telling us that x or y was the 'original model'. A year or two ago on the Antiques Roadshow someone was presented as 'Peter' - along with the artwork he modelled for. Sometimes we are shown the artwork that the child modelled for and, as in the A.R. man's case, it isn't even from a Peter and Jane book at all!

The two main artists who worked on the Key Word Reader scheme both stated several times that there was no one model who 'was' Peter or Jane. Instead a variety of children were used over the years - with the artists using their imagination and a few consistent features to ensure that the characters were clearly recognisable to young children. (That said, I think Adrian Heath's claim to be 1970s Peter is stronger than most as I can recognise him in quite a number of Martin Aitchison pieces).

But that's why it was so reassuring to write the piece "The Boy who ISN'T Peter" some years ago. Sorting out my files, I came across it and thought I would dust it off here. Click in image below to read:

Open publication - Free publishing - More peterandjane

Sniffup? Spotera

2010-05-09T04:42:00.000-07:00

If that means anything to you, you may have been in the Puffin Club as a child. Or perhaps you still are :)

This weekendI read an article on Puffin Books, and for many of us, there is a real connection between the golden ages of Ladybird and Puffin. Both publishers played a key role in revolutionising children's publishing - so if you missed the article, here it is:

I loved Puffin Books - I read and re-read masses of them at school and at home. I was a paid up member of the Puffin Club. So why is it that I'm a Ladbird Book collector today and am rarely tempted to buy when I see a much loved puffin book in a charity shop today?

Two answers, I think. The first is 'age' - Ladybird influenced me at a younger age so the nostalgic attraction goes deeper. The main answer though is 'pictures'. I might love the story it contains, but it's hard to love a fall-about paperback with only the occasional black and white illustration. You might read and re-read 'The Little Wooden Horse' or 'Cue for Treason' - but you couldn't 'pore over' a Puffin Book. They weren't a treat to hold in your hands - whereas with a Ladybird Book the enjoyment was derived more from the pictures, the colour, the details and depth that the artwork added to the story.

Toys and Games

2010-05-08T04:10:00.000-07:00

Here's the 4th episode of the story behind some of Robert Ayton's Ladybird artwork, as told by his nephew. This one is my personal favourite so far, as I loved this book as a child.

Click on the book below. Then to turn the pages, click on the right hand arrow. (To get rid of ads, click the small arrow top right):

Open publication - Free publishing - More ladybirdbooks

Reading with Roger

2010-03-22T12:32:00.000-07:00

I have just come across the following wonderful poem here - and it seems so appropriate for this blog.

From "from The State of Poetry by Roger McGough"

Children’s Writer

John in the garden

Playing goodies and baddies

Janet in the bedroom

Playing mummies and daddies

Mummy in the kitchen

Washing and wiping

Daddy in the study

Stereotyping

The First and Second Books of Aesop's Fables

2010-03-21T07:47:00.001-07:00

Here is the third instalment of 'The Story of ... Robert Ayton'.

Recollections through Books - Robert Ayton, Part 1

2010-03-12T03:51:00.000-08:00

Here is the first part of Rupert Ayton's recollections of his Uncle Robert, the Ladybird Illustrator.

There will be several more 'chapters' to follow. But for now ...

Part 1 - The Story of Flight

Robert Norton Ayton

2010-02-21T09:44:00.000-08:00

I've added a new biography page to Below you'll find a biography of Robert Norton Ayton, illustrator of many Ladybird Books from the 'golden age' of the 1960s and 70s.

You'll find it here

Coming soon: Reminiscences of Ayton's life - via his Ladybird Books.

Links for searching

2010-02-21T05:24:00.000-08:00

A new 'Search Cloud'.
Click on the words to search and explore some of my Ladybird pages.

Another obituary for John Berry

2010-01-24T11:04:00.001-08:00

A very warm piece, written by a journalist who knew John Berry, appeared in the Guardian yesterday.

Here's the link to the online version.

A Quick History of Ladybird books

2010-01-09T13:50:00.000-08:00

I've made a new 'History of Ladybird Books' presentation.

To view it you need to click the arrow at the bottom of the presentation - it might take a few seconds to load. Keep clicking that arrow to advance through it:

Hope you enjoy it

RIP John Berry

2010-01-03T04:02:00.001-08:00

I have only just heard that John Berry died just before Christmas, aged 89.

When Ladybird was reaching its peak in the 1960s and 70s John Berry was one of the favoured artists. His style is photographic and was the perfect choice to illustrate, and indeed document, the working world of 1960s Britain in the People at Work series, for which he is best known (in Ladybird Land). However, he illustrated books from numerous other series - including a couple of original Peter and Jane books and, one of my favourites, the Hannibal the Hamster series of the early 1970s - a rather underrated series imho.

Colleages of Berry's said: "If you could photograph it, Berry could paint it" - but to paint successful portraits requires more than exceptional mechanical skill; outside Ladybird Land, I heard once that Berry painted a portrait of George Bush (senior) which was on display in the White House. He certainly painted Dina Pricess of Wales on one occasion.

I never met John Berry, although I have acquired a couple of pieces of his artwork. a relative of mine lives in the next village and gave me his phone number which she took out of the phone book, but I was too shy to make contact.

You will find an obituary from The Telgraph here.

This year's Ladybird Christmas Quiz

2009-12-05T10:07:00.000-08:00

That time of year again?
How did that happen?

Anyway, this year's quiz, in the true spirit of Ladybird, is non-competetive. There are no prizes on offer - except the prize of the warm flush of triumph which accompanies the knowledge that you know your Griffle from your Gruffle - as they say.

12 questions in total. I hope you enjoy it - click the picture below to play it:

Xmas Quiz

Not a blog person? Prefer to print out and read?

2009-11-28T09:40:00.000-08:00

If you'd prefer to 'print out' this blog, to read in your own time, click on this link:

A pdf

Toys and Games

2009-11-27T16:03:00.001-08:00

I was delighted to be sent this picture this week. Does it jog any memories?

The picture was posed for one of the illustations of classic Ladybird Book 'Toys and Games to Make' (first published in 1966). The child in the picture is the newphew of the artist, Robert Ayton.

Here's the picture he was posing for:

If you look closely in the black and white picture, behind young Rupert you'll see his little sister, Robert's niece. She also posed for this book - a picture of bubble-blowing innocence.

This book has very deep-rooted memories for me. I don't think there was a toy or game in there that we (my brother and I) didn't make, or try to make at some time in the late 1960s/early 70s. Life is full of disappointments; I don't think any of our finished products looked anything like Robert Ayton's enticing illustrations.

You could never be certain whether you were actually hearing your companion's voice via the string/cocoa tin or simply hearing it because he was 8 feet away from you. But I don't remember resenting the book for that.

Happy Birthday Martin Aitchison

2009-11-21T14:56:00.001-08:00

Today is Martin Aitchison's 90th birthday. Martin started illustrating for Ladybird in the 1960s and was one of the main illustrators for over 25 years. He is one of only a couple of key players from Ladybird's mega-successful days in the 1960s who is still with us today. Even if his name isn't familar to you, there's a good chance that you'll recognise at least one of the pictures below - and this is just a small sample of around 100 titles that Martin illustrated for Ladybird.

Google doesn't love me

2009-11-13T10:01:00.000-08:00

Any day now, Google is going to change the way that it provides search results. I've taken a look at where my websites/blog will be after the changeover - and they go plummeting down the listings for some reason. A search by the term 'ladybird books' prioritises all the commercial sites over the homespun ones like mine, which is a bit sad.

So if you tend to use 'Google' to get to this blog or my www.ladybirdflyawayhome.com site - please take a moment to bookmark me, before I vanish!

Ladybird Books in ITA

2009-11-10T10:38:00.000-08:00

I received this message last week:

"I am trying to find a book to buy written in ITA. I learned ITA at school from 1965 to about 1968. I think it must have been pretty new then because when I went up to the junior school, there were only 6 of us who read ITA. They had to split the class and write everthing twice, once in ITA and again in English"

I replied:

Yes, it was a very odd period in British education - a really mad-cap idea that was dominant for several years and then dropped rapidly from favour. Although I was born in 1964 so must be a bit younger than you, I managed to escape ITA, although my cousins (about 6 years younger than me and so learning to read in the early 70s, were taught using ITA and still blame it to this day for their problems with spelling! So that would span about a decade.

If you have no idea what ITA is - and many people look completely blank if I mention it - this picture above should give you an idea.

Ladybird were only following a widespread initiative in issuing books in the ITA alphabet; I remember most children's publishers doing the same.

As I say, I had always thought of ITA as an experiment of the early 1970s and considered that my cousins were 'hit' with ITA as a result of being that bit younger than me. But clearly this correspondent was a little older than me and she was taught to ITA. That must be the case, thinking about it, because I have heard of Ladybird books in ITA with dustwrappers - so earlier than 1965.

So what dictated the decision to adopt ITA? Why did some schools adopt it and others did not over quite a number of years? And why did it sink so quickly and almost without a trace? If anyone knows, do get in touch.

Are Seumus agus Síne middle-class?

2009-10-26T14:13:00.000-07:00

Strangely enough, this week I've had two separate questions emailed to me about the Key Word Reader series in Gaelic. The first writer concerned reading schemes in general and asked:

"Janet and John were very English children; they
spoke very proper English, which is fine for teaching English language.
However, the language and the culture are so closely linked that the culture
also ended up being taught. Were there, or are there now any early readers
of this sort for Scottish children, set in Scotland and using the Scots
language, or at least English in a Scots setting?"

I replied:

'The reality of the prose of Peter and Jane or Janet and John is that (apart from being the almost inevitable consequence of trying to build dialogue using - initially - on 12 key words) it is tied up with 1950s/60s notions of education and class - but not really of geography. The fact is that the childhood depiction of these children would have had much more in common with a privately educated middle-class child in Edinburgh than with a working class English child in Bradford or Portsmouth. The 'culture' represented is not Scottish, Welsh or English - but some 1950s concept of what, as you say, was considered 'proper'. Indeed it might suprise you to know that Janet and John who you call "very English children" are in fact American! The books were copyrighted from 1940s American books and simply reprinted in this country'.

Peter and Jane, on the other hand, were 'English', but you only have to read the article by the very English Libby Purves to see how 'posh' reading-scheme children inhabiting their rosy, idealised suburban worlds push all sorts of people's buttons - you certainly don't need to be Scottish to resent them!

Then of course it's easy to measure the Peter and Jane books with a contemporary yardstick (a metre stick?)and to forget their real context. To repeat an excellent observation made by journalist Cressida Connoly, in their time Peter and Jane were actually ...

"...an antidote to the privileged country children of popular literature, such as Swallows and Amazons or the Famous Five. Ladybird children didn't go to boarding school; they went to the local newsagent's on their bicycles. The childhood of Ladybirds was egalitarian and unsnobbish, depicting suburbia as the kind of utopia that town planners always intended it to be."

In an interview shortly before his death, artist Harry Wingfield, speaking of the criticism of the Key Word reading scheme said:

"no kids want to be dustbin kids, you can’t illustrate the dustbin kids all the time....I was illustrating what the average council family would like to be regarded as they were, but of course you can’t illustrate disadvantaged kids all the time, it’s not what your business is doing... you’ve got to sell to the parent, you’re not selling to the five year old or the three year old, you’re selling to the parent or the grandparent, who’s trying to please these children or teach them and that’s the recognised way of doing things. But you’ve got to make them nice to look at".

The second email question I received was a simple request for more information about Peter and Jane in Gaelic - and I wasn't able to be much help. I have a complete set of the Key Word series in Welsh (24 books - I don't think any 'c' books were published) and quite a few swaps. But I have only two books in Gaelic, so I don't think they can have been in print for long.

Besides, it seems to me to be a rather odd thing to do, to devise a whole reading scheme based on meticulous study of the 'key words' used of one particular language - and then to translate it into another completely different language! I wonder how comfortable William Murray was with this?

Lucy Mangan's Guardian Article

2009-09-29T11:13:00.000-07:00

In this weekend's Guardian, Lucy Mangan writes a short piece that reveals the soul of a Ladybird Book lover.

If you missed the article, you'll find it here:

I know, I know - it sounds like a case of typical Ladybird stereotyping, but the description of the books she remembers fondly, as opposed to those remembered by 'Tory Boy' fit the usual pattern. In my experience, the men who visit my website are looking for the History, Achievement, Science or Nature books. The women are looking for the fiction they fondly remember, preferably involving pretty princesses and nice ball gowns. I know, I know! But that's how it seems to BE.

Perhaps the time has come to put 'stereotype' to the test. I know from my stats counter that a lot of people read this blog; but the Ladybird Book lover is a timid creature who prefers to lurk in the background rather than leave comments. But this is your chance to vote on this frankly crucial issue. Rest assured that your response is anonymous.

If you are male, vote here:

Men, which Ladybird Books do you best remember from childhood?(polling)

If you are female, vote here:

Women (or is that 'Ladies'?) which Ladybird Books do you best remember from childhood?(answers)

Unless you are male or female, I'm afraid I have no poll for you; this is Ladybird land, afterall.

The value of old Ladybird Books

2009-09-22T05:11:00.000-07:00

I don't know if more people are interested in old Ladybird Books, but more people seem to be interested in them as money making collectables.

Although I've been getting fewer enquiries about buying books recently, I have had many more enquiries from people wanting to sell them. Perhaps this is a sign of (relatively) hard times, or perhaps programmes like the recent edition of 'Flog It!' and the interview with Kathie Layfield have led people to believe that even fairly modern books such as the Read it Yourself series 777 are valuable to collectors.

Of course, from the 1960s onwards, Ladybird was very well established as a publisher of children's books - and these books were to be found in every school, Sunday School and many homes around the country. They were published in vast numbers, so with very few exceptions, (such as the elusive 'Indira Ghandi', 'Discovering Alton Towers' or some of the original 606d series) books published after the 1960s are not hard to track down and the words 'First Edition' printed in a laminated 1980s book are meaningless in terms of value.

But it's very nice to see that the genuinely scarce titles from the 1940s and 1950s can still command a high price on eBay. Of course, it would be less 'nice to see' this price if I hadn't completed my own collection years ago. But for you determined collectors without lots of money to throw at the really rare books you lack - it's not getting easier, so I salute you.

Ignore me

2009-09-10T06:58:00.001-07:00

I'm just playing around with a new 'slideshow-maker' I've found:

Ladybird Life - in video

2009-09-02T06:54:00.000-07:00

I've just come across the wonderful archive clip. I think it was made by Harvard University to 'represent' English life in 1949.

But isn't it quintessentially Ladybird? How many different classic Ladybird books can you see echoed in this clip? Going to School, Uncle Mac, Tootles the Taxi, Helping at Home and even the 1960s version of Peter and Jane ...

Enjoy!

A bit late ...

2009-08-31T12:55:00.000-07:00

... as a result of the summer holidays, but here's the link to the great feature on the BBC's episode of 'Flog it!' from Loughborough with a lovely little feature on Ladybird Books and interview with the lovely Kathie Layfield.

From Writer to Artist - part 2

2009-08-09T09:14:00.000-07:00

Back in June I mentioned having a couple of letters from L du Garde Peach, writer of the History series, written in the early 1970s to his illustrator, John Kenney.

By popular demand - both of you :) - here are more details.

First the background.
A year or two ago, someone contacted me who was a close family friend of artist John Kenney (best known for illustrating some of the original Thomas the Tank Engine books, Tootles the Taxi and the History books of series 561) . This person asked my advice about some books that he owned. Having given this advice as best I could, I asked if he could provide more information about Kenney so that I could make a biography for my website. He agreed, we met up and the page was written. A year or two pass.

I understand Kenney's wife died quite recently and when the house was being cleared, this friend saw the letters and wondered if they would be of interest to me. Very kindly he sent them to me.

I was not exaggerating when I said that L du G's prose is complex and whimsical. Here's a taster of an opening paragraph:

Dear John

It is exactly - or as that gentle voice (not the one which breathed o'er Eden) out of the vague unknown would say "at the third stroke it will be twenty-three days, six hours, and thirty seconds precisely" since I received your letter of June 15th from the hand of the most, if not the only reliable link in the postal chain, Clarry the Post: the weather being fine, the wind NW, the barometer steady and the temperature 53 F. The note in my diary - apart from the meteorrol - damn it! - meteroloical details above, states that I was working on the "Ladybird" book about that dull and distressingly pious old party Elizabeth Fry".

L du G goes on to say that he had also just finished with "Henry II and that turbulent priest with whom you will no doubt deal from your angle in due course" and reminds him that Henry was reputed to be very tall. In fact, Kenney was to illustrate neither Henry II nor Elizabeth Fry - he died the following year, at the age of 61).

His thoughts ramble in similarly entertaining but tortuous prose for some paragraphs before coming to the apparent main reason for writing "to congratulate you on the much over-due upsurge in the American market for the works of the English painter, John Kenney". This leads him to fret about the "commercial exploiters of the work of needy painters" and to marvel at what a bargain is to be had by those who can get such wonderful pieces of art for just 15p - then the cost of a Ladybird Book.

He then talks about The Pilgrim Fathers, which Kenney appears to have been in the process of illustrating:

"you are quite right about the "Thanksgiving" picture - though what anyone now living in the USA has to give thanks for, is one of those sixty-four thousand dollar questions to which - as far as I know - there is no convincing answer. And I applaud your reason - or was it a sub-reason - that the early pilgrims praying in the fields might have looked like "The Angelus"."

He discusses a future meeting to discuss matters 'over the table'- although I'm not sure which table this would be as I understand that he was not one of the group of writers/illustrators who would plan their work at the house of Douglas Keen). Towards the end of the letter he compares himself to Shakespeare's Lear - and the end of the letter is a very dense stream on consciousness that takes him from Lear's daughers to Cassandra and Clytaemnestra to the "dozens of young men" who were currently installing heaters in his house!

The second letter, written two months later, is shorter and deals with his concern at hearing that Kenney was ill. He again expresses his dislike of Elizabeth Fry - his chief grievance being, apparently that she was "not one of your more luscious glamour girls ever" and concern that "The Pilgrim Mothers" would be little better!

Well what else is there to do ...

2009-07-29T09:28:00.001-07:00

... on a wet day in July?

To identify a word/phrase, just click on the first and last letter.

Free Word Search Puzzles Make Your Own Word Search

I've just discovered ...

2009-07-28T15:22:00.000-07:00

... another interesting site:

exhibitone

A fairly random and very nicely made image gallery of odd classic Ladybird Books - presumably from the creator's own collection. Nice because it gives you a peek inside the books - and the pictures s/he (now why do I think this is a 'he'?) has chosen from each book have been selected with loving care. (To visit this 'gallery' click on the image above, not the one below)

A Couple of Interesting New Sites

2009-07-25T11:00:00.001-07:00

I have recently come across this unusual website: The Visual Telling of Stories

Ladybird:
http://www.fulltable.com/VTS/m/mcov/lbb.htm
Navigation around the site is unconventional - I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't more things Ladybird than I've uncovered. My favourite part so far is the 'feature' on The Nurse, which allows you to click around and zoom in the images:

http://www.fulltable.com/VTS/a/aa/nurse/b.htm

If there's more that I've missed, let me know.

ALSO
Austalian Nicole has started a new project intending to catalogue as many different variations on Ladybird Book covers as she is able to. This is certainly a project to keep an eye on especially if you are interested in the different styles of Ladybird cover and Foreign language Ladybird Books.

Gender Specific

2009-07-25T09:40:00.001-07:00

It was my birthday recently and this was my favourite card.
It's from the great set of Ladybird captioned cards that Simon Spicer sells, but I don't recall seeing this one before. Perfect.

Series 563

2009-07-14T11:44:00.001-07:00

One of the best loved and nostalgic series for Ladybird lovers is series 563 - 'Learning to Read'. A sort of early precurser to the Key Word Reader series of the 1960s, the artwork of Wingfield, Driscoll, Robinson and Tunnicliffe glows with innocent zeal. I've nearly completed a new Series 563 page on my gallery But in the meantime, have a slideshow:

Peter, Pat, a life-jacket and the Beeb

2009-06-29T15:15:00.001-07:00

The BBC are making a series of 4 programmes, hosted by Kirsty Young I think, exploring aspects of social change through children's books - or something like that.

Anyway, I was contacted by one of the programme team who had come across my website and had noted my article on the changes of family roles depicted in the original and revised versions of Peter and Jane.

After asking for my thoughts on father figures in Ladybird Books, I was asked if the BBC could borrow some of the books that show pictures like those in the article. So they sent up a very pleasant young lady to my house - who left with a box of books. There was no clear idea of how the books are going to find their way back home when filming is over, but this is the Beeb, so mine is not to reason why.

When I was thinking about which LB books would best depict ideas of fatherhood, it occurred to me that actually the Peter and Jane books are almost the last time that Ladybird dealt with the cosy nucleur family. From the late 60s on the new books that were published no longer focus on family life. Either non-fiction or fairy-tales or tales of animals (Hannibal the Hamster) or fruit and veg! (The Garden Gang) or science fiction. Even the next reading schemes avoid looking too closely at the family - Puddle Lane is vaguly set in fantasy distant past, late-Victorian England with Gruffles and Griffles. The children involved are always playing out on the street. The adults are neighbours or The Magician. The cats - Tim and Tessa - seem to be raised by a single-mother and even the parents of the mice are absent for most of the series. The Sandlewood Girl and Iron Boy are parentless and are sort-of adopted at the end.

It's as if, from the 1970s the cosy Peter and Jane family was no longer felt to be relevant, comfortable territory. But this was Ladybird - safe, national treasure - who could hardly bring out their own Ladybird version of "Jenny lives with Eric and Martin". So instead they averted their Ladybird eyes and focused elsewhere and anywhere else.

Oh, and the picture of Peter in a life-jacket is because the programme makers were also interested in depictions of how children's freedom becomes restricted. The picture of Peter paddling on the river was revised in the early 70s; the artist, Martin Aitchison, was asked to paint a life-jacket over the original picture (shown above).

I think the programmes are coming out some time in August - BBC2.

More on Peter and Jane

2009-06-20T15:32:00.000-07:00

If the slideshow below isn't quite enough for you, you'll be relieved to here that I have just about completed the Gallery pages for the original Key Word Readers Books.

You'll find it here

I've also finished the Gallery pages for the 11 books in the Key Word series which I call the '1st Revision'.

You'll find them here.

Now, which series next? It would be logical to finish off the Key Word Readers - with the mid 70s editions. But I fancy a change ... Perhaps that wonderful nostalgia-fest which is series 563 ... or the History series ... or 'The Story of ...' series. So little time, so many Ladybird Books.

Something soothing (or terrifying?)

2009-06-16T10:02:00.000-07:00

Do the words 'Peter and Jane' take you back to a warm, fuzzy, nostalgic place in your memories? The rosy-tinted hues of distant childhood? Or do they remind you of the horrors of primary school, of being tortured into reading by the terrible two (and Pat the dog).

If the former, indulge in a wee nostalgia-fest.

If the latter, perhaps this will help you probe your fears and gain relief.

Ok ok, so the following is a bi-product of playing with slideshow tools for work. But still.

From Writer to Artist

2009-06-15T13:39:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I delighted to be given a couple of letters which were written by L du Garde Peach to John Kenny. Now if you love the History series of Ladybird Books, (Series 561) those names will be familiar to to you. L du Garde Peach wrote every one of the History books from the first, 'King Arthur the Great' in 1956, to 'Elizabeth Fry' in 1973. Almost all of these were illustrated by Kenney.

These letters, written when du Garde Peach was in his early eighties, are a wonderful insight into the powerful personality of L du G (as he signed himself), his attitude to his work, the cordiality of relations with his long-time colleague Kenney and a caustic bewilderment at the world he was now living in. They are also particularly poignant as they were written only two years before his death in 1974 and in them discusses the books 'Elizabeth Fry' and 'The Pilgrim Fathers', which were to be among the last two books he was ever to write for Ladybird. At one point he mentions having just finished 'Henry II and Thomas Becket' but perhaps ill-health meant that his writing was not up to the usual standard - the 1st edition copy of the book on my shelves says it was written by John Roberts and illustrated by Roger Hall.

At the time of these letters - although neither of them can have known it - The Kenney/du Garde Peach collaboration had come to an end after 17 years and 27 books.

Home visits

2009-06-05T11:20:00.000-07:00

Not everyone likes the internet. There's something about actually browsing through books, especially old ones, which can't be reproduced online.

I vividly remember a trip to a little bookshop called 'Peakirk Books' shortly after I started collecting Ladybird Books. I had noticed from listings on the internet that this shop seemed to specialise in Ladybird Books so did some research and discovered that it was less than two hours away. So husband and young son kindly agreed to accompany me to the tiny village of Peakirk, near Peterborough.

The shop was small but the tiny attic-like upstairs was dedicated to children's books and, at the time, contained more old Ladybird Books than I had then ever seen in one place. The owner, who I recall was called Heather, made us a cup of tea as we browsed. It was heaven. Although the books weren't cheap (this was before Amazon and eBay increased availability and bought down the cost of common titles)there were lots of them and the browsing and sellecting was delicious. Finally I made my choice of books on my 'wants' list, paid the bill and came home - aware of having been extravagant, but having passed a great day (ok, there was also a trip to a local wild-fowl park, just to show husband and son a good time too. We collectors, selfish? Never!)

Well I remembered all of this this week because on Monday evening a man, a Ladybird Book collector, rang me, asking me if I only sold books online or if he could come around to browse through my vast hoard of swaps. And so the next day he did just that, embarking on a journey of about 2 hours, bringing his 'wants' list and tiny daughter with him. I made him a cup of tea, he sorted through the books in the attic, and went away happily with a box full of books.

Who knows if one day,he too will have an attic groaning under the weight of Ladybird swaps and the cycle of ladybird collecting will go on?

An interesting way to research

2009-05-30T12:53:00.001-07:00

This is a bit different - give it a go: click on the link below:

Ladybird Research

Drag one of the 'spots' and drop on the 'i' for a larger snippet of information. To search for info on a term, drag and drop the 'spot' onto the page symbol.

Drag any snippet across to the notepage to keep hold of it.

Click here for a demo of what I mean

Or just click around and see what happens ; )

The Nation Need No Longer Fear ...

2009-05-29T12:26:00.000-07:00

... acquiring the wrong edition of a Well-Loved Tale on the internet. Yes, that nightmare of purchasing 'The Princess and the Pea' on eBay or Amazon, only to find that it isn't the wonderful version with the fantastic pictures that you remember! Instead it's some shiny, fall-about, cartoony thing, masquerading as a vintage Ladybird Book. But it said it was from series 606d on the online description. So how were you to know?

How indeed. I have now completed my gallery pages for the 606d series, so you should never make the same mistake again. The cover picture, publication years and illustrators are all covered, to make sure you get the right version next time.

You'll find it all here.

Despite other woes and preoccupations, I flatter myself that the nation will sleep just a little more peacefully tonight.

Later well-loved tales and James May

2009-05-10T14:47:00.000-07:00

I've just added a new section to my Ladybird Gallery: the later Well Loved Tales.
This contains the stories in series 606d which were introduced from 1979 onwards - after Ladybird decided to change the original format from the oh-so-popular original 27 books.

You'll find it here

The next stage will be the stories in series 606d which were issued in two very different versions (thereby confounding everybody who would later try to buy a copy of a well-remembered childhood book from a description on Amazon and invariably ended up with the wrong edition!)

This evening I noticed that BBC was repeating the edition of James May's 'My Sister's Top Toys' which featured Ladybird Books. You'll find it on the 'Videos' page of my website.

The Nature of Obsession

2009-04-25T09:41:00.001-07:00

A visual discourse on the nature of obsessive hobbies (assisted by www.photofunia.com)

The 'A Team'

2009-04-08T14:33:00.000-07:00

A collection of Ladybird Books.

One wall in my study:

Panorama of Ladybird Books

Sorry Firefox users, this doesn't seem to work for you.

What to Look for in Spring?

2009-03-23T15:33:00.001-07:00

... Ladybird Books! (surprisingly)

Not long now until car-boot sale season ...

Anyway, On the subject of questions and answers, I'm planning on setting up a new page on my website - Ladybird FAQs.

Question number one will be "Where can I get hold of the Peter and Jane Reading series?"

I get asked this question about once a week.

Any suggestions for other questions just let me know here or via my website: www. ladybirdflyawayhome.com

Wingfield and Flog it!

2009-03-03T14:16:00.001-08:00

A lady brought in a piece of Harry Wingfield artwork on a recent edition of Floggit! The picture was from 'Going to School' and featured Ethel, Wingfield's wife. The piece was valued at between £600 and £800 - much nearer the mark, I think, than the valuation on Antiques Roadshow, a few weeks earler. You should be able to see the episode here for a little longer. The Wingfield bit is quite near the start.

The owner had no intention of selling her artwork. Very proper too.

A Quick Tour through the Well Loved Tales

2009-02-24T14:50:00.000-08:00

Uploading a few more pictures to the very slowly progressing project that is my Ladybird Gallery, I played around with the video presentation tool on Picasa and almost by accident ended up posting a video of the 27 original 606d Well Loved Tales books on YouTube!

But hey ho! If you have fond memories of the 1960s and early 70s Ladybird Fairy Tales, here's the link.

Flog it?

2009-02-21T13:04:00.001-08:00

I was contacted by a researcher last week, who said that the BBC might be doing a feature on Ladybird Books if the programme 'Flog it!' goes to Loughborough. Apparently nothing has been decided yet, but I'll keep you posted here.

Fritz and self-selection

2009-02-03T07:03:00.001-08:00

Fritz, originally uploaded by helendawntreader.

Fritz, the gentleman mentioned in the post below, is an actor - principally an 'extra' - or whatever the correct term is.

With his wild beard, matching scraggy pony-tail and nose ring he gets very particular parts - he says he is usually asked to play the down-and-out, the tramp, the survior of the atrocity several months on or something like that. He told me all this before we met up - as a warning that he might look scary.

Well he did look a bit scary, but was warm and interesting. And this leads me on to the point of my post. This turned into one of the very many odd, friendly and off-beat encounters that I have had as a result of my Ladybird hobby.

How many weekend mornings have I dragged husband (and sometimes son) off to meet the god-son of an artist, the grand-daughter of a writer or some other interesting character with their own collection of books or tale to tell.

And invariably the individual is intelligent, warm and friendly - if a little off-beat. Can this be coincidence? I doubt it. I think that there's something of a natural self-selection when it comes to anything to do with Ladybird Books.

To be an adult with an unabshed fondness for these little books seems to require a certain set of characteristics - which include self-deprecation and mild eccentricity.

Hold your heads high, Ladybods of the world.

The Best Sort of Car Boot

2009-02-03T06:40:00.001-08:00

Uploaded - 02\02\2009-2 .

Now here's a sight to warm my heart.

I was contacted by a very interesting sounding man who said he had a few box loads of Ladybird Books that he had been about to take to a charity shop. Having found my webiste online he asked me if I would be interested in them.

Now working my way through a lot of assorted old Ladybird Books is a rare treat for me so of course the answer was 'yes'. We arranged to meet at the Hatfield Galleria and, after a pleasant coffee and chat, I became the new owner. This man, Fritz, wasn't concerned about payment, although I gave him something for having made a fair old journey to get to me. We loaded the books into the car boot and I was about to close the door when we were both struck by the beauty of the scene - a whole car boot filled with 1960s Ladybird classics.

Now the fact that you have found your way to this blog and have read this far means that there's an evens chance that you will understand this view of aesthetics. Perhaps you will also appreciate what a great afternoon I had sorting through this 'haul'.

Or perhaps not.

Did anyone see ...?

2009-01-28T12:04:00.000-08:00

This question on a programme on tv last night?

No need to phone a friend

Learning with Harry

2009-01-11T15:16:00.001-08:00

Did anyone else see the Antiques Roadshow this evening?

I caught the tail-end of the piece on Ladybird Book original artwork and had to catch up on what I'd missed on the BBC iPlayer.

Just one comment (leaving aside the irritation of hearing the young child models for the 'Learning with Mother' series referred to as 'Peter and Jane' - the inaccuracy of which would bother no one but an anorak like me).

The programme's 'expert' rather under-values the very attractive Harry Wingfield artwork. I'm pretty sure that if those pieces came up for sale on eBay tomorrow they would sell for about twice the value that he stated. I know for a fact that attractive pieces of 'real' Peter and Jane artwork by Martin Aitchison sell for over £800, whilst a large, good quality print of Ladybird artwork can cost around £200.

And the winner is ...

2009-01-04T01:57:00.001-08:00

It will come as no surprise to regular visitors to www.ladybirdflyawayhome.com that the winner of this year's Wise Robin Christmas ladybird quiz (see posting below) is Nicole.
Let nobody doubt that Nicole knows her Ladybird stuff; she has been a regular winner of this annual Christmas quiz.

The two pictures above were the interlopers in the video montage. As Nicole correctly pointed out, they are both 'Jack and Jill' books and not 'Ladybird' at all. In the 1960s Fleetwood tried to emulate the success of Ladybird Books by issuing the J&J series using almost exactly the same design and layout. I can't remember how many titles were issued - but fewer than 20 and they weren't in print for many years.

Happy New Year

A Ladybird Christmas

2009-01-03T12:52:00.001-08:00

How does that John Lewis ad go? If you know the person, you'll find the present.

Here is a quick insight into what my friends and family think of when choosing a gift for me. These are some, but not all, of my Ladybird themed Christmas presents this year.

What's not to like?

This year's Christmas quiz.

2008-12-19T11:53:00.001-08:00

Better late than never ...

This year's Ladybird Books Christmas Quiz is here.
Click the white arrow in the green box below. (Below, not the one to the side). Watch the video. Which two featured books are intruders and shouldn't be in the montage?.

One should be fairly easy to spot - the other a bit harder. The first one to email me - or post the correct answer as a comment below - wins the glory of being this year's Wise Robin Christmas Ladybod.

Good luck and Happy Christmas
Helen

2008-12-19T08:27:00.000-08:00

Two more broadsheets have printed full obituaries to Douglas Keen this week. Here are the online versions:

The Times

The Independent

Following The Guardian obit, readers wrote letters for days afterwards saying why Ladybird had been important for them too. This is a flavour of what they wrote.

It was not just children for whom Ladybird Books opened up the world of learning (Douglas Keen obituary, November 29). As an IT training officer in the early 70s, I used to recommend the book on computers to trainee programmers as the clearest guide to the basics of computing. They usually found it extremely useful.
Charlie Withall
Sheffield

Required reading on our design course at the London College of Printing was the Ladybird Book of Printing Processes (Letters, December 9). Presumably so the typesetters and machine minders could pull the wool only so far over our eyes.
James Alexander
London

Some years ago I put the excellent Ladybird Book of Spelling and Grammar on the reading list for my first-year journalism students. I was quietly advised to remove it before the Daily Mail found out.
Bernard Pratt
Cheadle, Cheshire

Studying for my history A-level as a strapping 18-year-old in 1970, I used to receive what could be described at best as quizzical looks from my local librarian every two weeks as I repeatedly withdrew the Ladybird Book of Napoleon Bonaparte (Letters, December 1). I have to this day not seen a better overview of the great man. It served me well too!
Bob Buntine
Northampton

As a Methodist minister, I have regularly recommended, and frequently given, the Ladybird book on John Wesley to people asking about the origins of Methodism (Letters, December 5).
Kip Bennett
Greenford, Middlesex

Douglas Keen's younger daughter Caroline contributed the following touching letter:

My father Douglas Keen was an avid Guardian reader until he died aged 95. He would have been honoured by the full-page, full-colour obituary (November 29). But for his beloved Ladybird Books to be praised on the letters page - now that's a true compliment.
Caroline Alexander

Looking up these hyperlinks I came across an online discussion which had taken place last year, but which I'd missed. One commentator suggested that Ladybird Books were overrated and the debate really kicked off. You can follow it here and take up your own position. For me, this contributor summed it up beautifully:

"After all this there's probably an opportunity for someone to do The Ladybird Bird Book of Missing the Point. These amazing little books are continually bandied about in the pursuit of some obscure politically correct agenda, when the truth is that any pre-1975 Ladybird Book [ie the Douglas Keen years] has enormous visual appeal for anyone with an eye for sheer quality of design, illustration and printing. That's it."

The Daily Mail article

2008-12-04T15:17:00.001-08:00

Here's the link to the online version of the article on Douglas Keen, which was published in the Daily Mail today.

The Guardian - Douglas Keen

2008-12-01T11:57:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, The Guardian - Keen's favourite newspaper - published an obituary. If you missed it, you'll find a version of it here. It was written by Cressida Connolly , who I've never met but who I think must be a Ladybird-loving journalist as she wrote a very thoughtful article on Ladybird Books a few years ago.

I think The Daily Mail will pick up on events in a day or so too.

Last Word

2008-11-23T15:20:00.000-08:00

I'm pleased to say that BBC Radio 4 decided to feature a Douglas Keen's life on the programme 'Last Word' this week.

I got a phone call on Wednesday asking if I'd be interviewed for the programme - apparently to give a bit of Ladybird 'context'. The programme featured some archive materials of Douglas Keen himself speaking, and an interview with his daughters and I found their contribution a fascinating insight into those years of Ladybird's greatest success.

I was late to my appointment at Broadcasting House having missed the train and then turning up at the wrong building. By the time I got the right building I was about 20 minutes late, out of breath and a little flustered. This helps to explain why I sound like Mary Poppins on speed. But here's the link to the programme on iPlayer. The Douglas Keen bit is the first feature.

Why the silence?

2008-11-15T07:37:00.000-08:00

Douglas Keen was a remarkable man who lived a remarkable life. He was:

visionary; arguably the main reason for the transformation of Ladybird from jobbing printers to publishing phenomenon
the man who led Ladybird to enter the market of non-fiction and educational publishing
the force behind the Peter and Jane reading scheme
the only person to see Ladybird through from the early post-war days of the Bunnikins books through to the sale of the company to the Longman group in the 1970s
an influence on the childhood of several generations of British children
socially aware all his life and an advocate for women's rights
a much loved family man and loyal friend

Yes, of course I'm an anorak when it comes to Ladybird Books but the achievments of this man transcend niche interest. Why hasn't the press picked up on any of this yet? Does anyone out there have any ideas about what can be done to get a little due tribute to be paid?

I attended his funeral on Thursday. Apparently Douglas Keen did not like funerals but this was a lovely, warm, friendly tribute to his life and his family had set up a corner of his house just as it would have been in the early 1950s with a letter on Wills & Hepworth headed notepaper in the old-fashioned typewriter and his hat on the desk - as you can see in the picture above. I was also shown an amazing prototype book; early on Keen could see a gap in the publishing market for well-produced children's non-fiction aimed at older children and which could be enjoyed by adults. Unable initially to convince the board of W&H to back his vision, he got his mother-in-law (herself trained as an artist) to produce some illustrations and himself wrote the text to create a mock up of the sort of book he had in mind.

The strategy worked; this was the prototype of 'British Birds and their Nests' and the beginning of a new and extraordinarily successful direction for Ladybird.

I hope to write a fuller account of this man and his life as soon as I can. In the meantime, you can read about Keen and 'The Ladybird Years' - part of the tribute spoken by his family at his funeral.

Douglas Keen 1913 - 2008

2008-11-10T09:50:00.000-08:00

I learnt today from a family friend that Douglas Keen has died. Douglas Keen was Editorial Director of Ladybird over the period of the 1960s and 70s - the publisher's 'golden age' - and was in no small part responsible for this tremendous success.

It was Keen who pushed for Ladybird to extend into the educational market with factual books, convincing the Board of Wills and Hepworth that this was the right direction to pursue. He was also responsible for promoting the most successful Ladybird series of all time - the Peter and Jane Key Word reading scheme - which is still in print today, over 40 years later.

I never met Douglas Keen, but I wish I had. I would like to pass on my commiserations to his daughters and the rest of his family and friends.

My brand new 'Gallery' of rather old Ladybird Books

2008-11-07T12:49:00.000-08:00

For quite a while now I've been working on a new Ladybird Book gallery, featuring lots of pictures and some commentry, slideshows etc. The old gallery is looking extremely dated and isn't interactive. But this all takes time and so far only the Early Animal Fiction pages on the new bit are worth looking at.

Here's the direct link. Please do take a look; feedback welcome.

Martin Aitchison on 'See Hear'

2008-10-16T10:31:00.000-07:00

If you missed the feature on Martin Aitchison on BBC2's "See Hear" yesterday, you've got a week to catch it on the BBC iPlayer.

A great mini-feature on a wonderful man and a very interesting life.

BBC iPlayer: See Hear

2008-09-24T11:27:00.000-07:00

The BBC 2 programme 'See Hear' is planning to make a Ladybird feature "along the lines of a montage of illustrations, photos of children through the ages reading Ladybird books". 'See Hear' is a deaf magazine programme presented entirely in British Sign Language and will include an interview with the wonderful Ladybird artist of the 1960s, 70s and 80s Martin Aitchison, who is himself deaf.

All being well, the programme will be broadcast on Wednesday 15th October, BBC2 at 1pm. If the day job gets in the way of day-time tv, remember the BBC iPlayer and catch up with the show later.

The FT-reading collector

2008-09-08T11:42:00.001-07:00

Do you collect Ladybird Books? Do you read the Financial Times? I have been contacted by a journalist who is considering writing a feature on Ladybird Book collecting.

If you have the sort of job typically associated with an FT reader (?) (I think that means business executive, someone who works in finance, a senior professional etc) then please email me via my website. This journlist is interested in profiling one or more LB-collecting FT-style readers. Please note the word 'style' here. Even if you rarely read the paper, the point is that you have the sort of job that means you might!

Some oddities

2008-08-28T08:11:00.000-07:00

Well, what a washout this car-boot season has proved to be! No interesting finds at any of the few that weren't rained off.

I have come across a couple of other oddities in the last couple of months, though.

The first was a roll of paper discovered by someone walking down a Leicestershire street. He fished it out of a skip and realised that it was an uncut page used to produce an old Ladybird Book. In fact there were 3 rolls - from 3 different books. I've always been fascinated by the way the pages were laid out to maximise efficiency in printing - the reason for Ladybird Books success in the early days of paper shortage - so it's great to have an actual uncut page to see for myself. It's an added bonus that one of the pages is from an early Well Loved Tales book, one of my favourites.

The other oddity is from the Key Word Reader series. It's called 'An Outline Picture Pad' and is basically a colouring-in book with line drawings from the original Peter and Jane books but where every picture in the whole pad is the same drawing. Presumably it was to be used in schools and from the teacher's perspective I can imagine it might be of use for those tricky moments at primary school - wet play, last-minute cover for absent staff - but in terms of a contribution to the skills and literacy of our nation in the 1960s it possibly wasn't the work of Ladybird's finest hour - and I doubt if the pads were re-issued with the revision of the books in the 1970s. Unless anyone out there knows different ...

Your thoughts on reading schemes

2008-07-16T08:15:00.000-07:00

Did Peter and Jane do it for you?

Ladybird Books are looking for help from parents and carers.
Please read the following message from Shaleeza on behalf of Ladybird:

*Free Ladybird book !*

Dear Parents/Carers,

My name is Shaleeza and I work for Ladybird publishing.

My apologies for bombarding you with yet another discussion topic, but we really value your opinions and are asking for your assistance.

Here at Ladybird, we are all but too familiar with the difficulties faced when encouraging young children to read. For this reason, we want to bring you the most up to date methods and easy to use resources to help you along. However, to achieve this, we want to know what you want.

I am trying to gather information on our three primary Reading Schemes: Read it Yourself, Key Words & Phonics.

I would be incredibly grateful for your opinions on these schemes, if you have encountered them?

I would also be very interested in how your experience of assisting your child in learning to read was?

In order to collect your responses, please click on the following link and complete a short survey: ...The survey

Mums (or Dads or Grandparents), any feedback you give is greatly appreciated and, just to say thanks, we are offering a free Ladybird book to the first 25 people who respond!

To claim your free book, please e-mail me upon completion of the survey, at shaleeza.hasham@ukpenguingroup.com with your name, postal address and child's age/sex.

Thank you all in advance!

Shaleeza (on behalf of Ladybird books)

Describing old books

2008-07-11T06:58:00.000-07:00

"Tootles the Taxi, in mint condition (no spine, missing page 3)"

Ok, I made that one up. But bookselling is now no longer the province only of the professional. Now that books are bought and freely sold on the internet, you're increasingly likely to come across books that have been mis-described - especially in terms of condition.

Of course, there's always something subjective about this. One person might feel that a dog-eared page or name on the endpaper are faults bearly worth mentioning. To another collector the same characteristics might be seen as serious flaws. And then there are the overall summaries of book condition: Fine, VG, Good, Poor etc - is there a definitive criteria guide?

I would say that this page gets pretty close to my use of these terms:

Describing book condition

Today I also found these video clips which explain some more jargon used for describing flaws in books - not all relevant to Ladybird Books, but even so.

Video clip: Describing book flaws

and part two: Describing book flaws

A new exhibition

2008-06-17T13:41:00.000-07:00

The dates of the next Martin Aitchison exhibition - this summer - have been published. His website states:

"The next exhibition of Martin Aitchison Ladybird artwork will place between July 2008, between 1st - 27th inclusive, at Newby Hall in North Yorkshire.

This will be a Comprehensive exhibition of Martin's Ladybird work spanning 3 decades: the 1960s/70s/80s. The original artwork exhibited will include well-remembered and much loved Peter and Jane 'Keyword Reader' series. There will be over 100 pictures on display which will include pictures from the Sunstart series, Great Artists, Great Composers, Puddle Lane, Science Fiction, Children's Classics and Well Loved Tales (606d).

Most of the artwork on display will be for sale. Prices will start from £100 and will all be displayed in Newby Hall's very attractive gallery."

I missed last year's - so hope to make it this time.

Can anyone help?

2008-06-17T13:33:00.000-07:00

Someone has contacted me, trying to find a book. The only lines they recall are:

"Porridge piping hot with cream on,

How they loved it, weren't they glad"

This person believed that these lines came from Piggly Plays Truant - but bought the book and found that they weren't. I normally have a very good hit rate at identifying missing books from the odd line or description of a picture. But these words don't ring a bell. Although they do sound as though they could have come from a Perring 401 Bunnikins sort of book, I've had a quick look through most of the 401 series, without success.

If anyone can identify the book, please let me know - by email or leave a comment.
Thanks

New Stuff

2008-05-30T09:05:00.000-07:00

On my website I've added quite a few new bits recently, so here's a summary.

John Murray, son of the writer of The Impatient Horse sent me some background to the writing of the story - which has become perhaps the most sought-after Ladybird Book of all.

I've added a page of 'Videos' featuring Ladybird Books. Let me know if you think there's a Ladybird video out there that should be on the page.

I've also added a Quintura cloud search on the 'Fun Stuff' page. Helps to while away a moment or two.

There's probably some more stuff but I can't think what right now. I'm just off to do a 'sun dance' (see Ladybird Books: "Learnabout - Things to do during rainy Half-Term Holidays". I need good weather because I plan to take a few crate loads of Less-Loved-Tales to get rid of at the St Albans car-boot sale tomorrow.

Well it works for me!

2008-05-20T08:23:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful sight!

These are two pieces of original Ladybird artwork which I acquired recently.

I've picked up lots of different pieces over the years, but none has ever quite hit the Ladybird spot the way these two do. One is a Peter and Jane classic from the 1960s book 2a, We Have Fun and the other is the cover illustration for the 1970s version of 'Boys and Girls'.

Somehow - the colours and the detail and the memories - they cheer me up every time I turn round from my computer and look at them. Pure escapism. In a week of worldwide disaster and tragedy, of talk of recession and of 'toxic childhood' it's very comforting to escape briefly into the illusion that is Ladybird Land.

Car Boot Season

2008-05-08T07:33:00.001-07:00

The fine weather cometh and what does that mean?

Car boot sale season is upon us again.

Last year was a bit of a wash out - too much rain, too many muddy fields, too few boot sales so I've got pent-up treasure-hunt energy and am particularly looking forward to this year.

It's a bit of a triumph of hope over experience; the fact is that you almost never find anything special at car boot sales these days. Gone are the (albeit rare) days when you would come across a box of pristine matt books - fresh from their time-warp. Gone are the days of turning over a dust-jacketed copy of 'The Party', 'In the Country' or 'A Little Silk Apron' in a box filled with bits of curtain pelmet and sewing patterns. I was spectacularly lucky when acquiring the 6 books in the original Tasseltip series - 474. I found all of them, one after the other, in car boot sales or neglected in bookshops and never paid more than £5.00.

Now people know that Ladybird Books are collectable. My local charity shop has 3 rather scruffy 'Words for Numbers' books in the window, priced at an optimistic £5.00 each. So the chances of coming across that Benny Smith haul are frankly not great. But hey ho!

Memories of Ladybird

2008-04-21T12:29:00.000-07:00

Ladybird nostaligia - variations on a theme.

Hope you enjoy it:

More on Ladybird Prints ...

2008-04-06T10:07:00.001-07:00

I am pleased to say that the company offering the Ladybird Prints has agreed with my comment below about the fact that the artists should be credited on the website. They got in touch to acknowledge the point (as did Jo from Ladybird) and now the artists are cited. So now you can browse away with a clear conscience :-D

A new dawn

2008-04-01T11:39:00.000-07:00

Martin Aitchison has just released another 9 pieces of original 1970s Peter and Jane artwork for sale on his website. You can see them here: www.MartinAtichison.co.uk
There are some really great one there.

Also I have made a small clip about the earliest ever Ladybird Books (that is, the earliest books from the 401 series when Ladybird began to publish pocket-sized books). You can find it on the 'Gallery page'.