Tuesday 16 January 2007

Memories of Ladybird Books


I receive so many messages to my website (www.ladybirdflyawayhome.com) from people who had fond memories of Ladybird Books as children, who grew up and threw away their old books - and who now have children (or grandchildren) and want to get the books back to share with them.




My Mum was a teacher, so I grew up with Ladybird Books at home, at school, at Sunday School. They are tied into my childhood. I can remember memorising book 1A of Peter and Jane one night (which doesn't take much as there's only one word per page) and my teacher thought a miracle had taken place in that I had learnt to read overnight. I loved the Well Loved Tales series - but I also liked the History books. Queen Elizabeth was my heroine, but I had a soft spot for Oliver Cromwell.

Let me know if you have any memories of these books

4 comments:

Doreen said...

I loved Uncle Mac's In Green Pastures, Auntie Muriel's Cinderella and Nursery Rhymes,and the Wonk books Fireworks, Strawberries & Cream, Going to Sea and The Secret. My (late) sister, eight years my junior, had Uncle Mac's ABC, and we all knew it off by heart because we read it it to her so many times! Unfortunately I got rid of all my original Ladybirds, but have managed to re-collect them again, together with other books I loved such as the Flower Fairies and Little Grey Rabbit series. I learned to read with the Radiant Way books, but my three children were taught by the Ladybird scheme, and that's when my love of Ladybirds was re-kindled. I bought them so many over the years, but didn't discard them when they were outgrown, so now 'we' (me really) have a large collection. My grandchildren haven't shown quite the same interest in them, but they do come in useful for topics occasionally, although of course the internet is an ever-present source of information these days. Thank you for the opportunity to remember. Best wishes - Doreen

Helen said...

"Radient Way books? I've never heard of them. Something for me to research.
Thanks Doreen

hera said...

One of my oldest memories is my first plane journey (Lisbon to London) with my mother. I was not older then 4. During our stay my mother bought several ladybird books (the 'learning with mother' series, several 'talkabout' and 'leaders', 'the zoo', '3 little pigs' and 'shopping with mother' ...) The worn out state some of the books have today, show how they were read over and over. I now have a 5 yr old myself and have decided to widen my scarce collection a little... she loves to hear peter and jane's adventures (some become a little odd in translation) and her first english words were learnt from the 'first picture book'! I guess mine were too!

Helen said...

Hi Hera
Funnily enough it was reading 'Shopping with Mother' and a couple of the Talkabout books with my young son that got me into collecting Ladybird Books. You have been warned ...!