2016 is the year that I'm going to get back into reading. Both for pleasure and to educate. There are so many subjects that I am interested in, but feel like I know very little about, so this is the year to change that. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry - Rachel Joyce This was passed to me a while back by a member of my knitting group. She told me it was a book she'd received from a friend on World Book Night, but she thought it might be a bit too sad for some of the older members of the group, so she gave it to me instead. I wasn't too sure what to make of that, but actually I ... read more
January – all the things I’d forgotten I’d done
Did I fall asleep or something? Where on earth did January go? It seems like only two minutes since Christmas and New Year, but then at the same time they also feel like a lifetime ago. So, what exactly have I been up to in January. Sitting here now it seems a bit hard to work out exactly what I've been up to for the whole month, but I'm sure I'll work it out. The biggest thing has probably been that January has been the month in which I started running again. Here I am on the 29th of the month and I'm delighted to say that I've clocked up a whole 70km in January (so far!) and am ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: Learnabout Camping
I couldn't really feature any other Ladybird book after last week's blog post, could I? Learnabout Camping is one of the later books in the Learnabout series (series 634) and was first published in 1977. The thing which sets it aside a bit from some of the other Learnabout books that I've featured here before, is the inclusion of cartoons like the one on the cover. Whilst the book contains the typical Ladybird illustrations (this time by Eric Winter) there are also a series of cartoons by Martin Aitchison dotted throughout the book. These are very different in style to the illustrations ... read more
Stick Man at Wendover Woods #weloveforests
Stick Man, oh Stick Man, beware of the mud... I think that's probably what we should have been chanting as we went round Wendover Woods just after Christmas. After loving the Super Worm trail last year we had been invited back to try out the new Stick Worm trail and we were not disappointed. Stick Man seems to have become a huge celebrity this Christmas. Not only did he get a Christmas Day show on BBC1, but he was also on the cover of the Christmas Radio Times. Do you get any more famous than that? Still not got round to watching everything I recorded last Christmas but that's not ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: How it Works The Husband
Happy New Year Ladybird fans! All that Christmas card and letter writing put me a bit behind schedule in the run up to Christmas, but now the kids are back at school (and most importantly Master C in pre-school on Tuesdays!) Ladybird Tuesday is back to stay. And how else to start, but with the Christmas best seller The Husband. The Husband is one of the new series of comedy Ladybird titles which take a look at some of the modern day problems that now face those who grew up reading original Ladybird titles. All written by Joel Morris and Jason Hazeley these books combine original ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: The Ladybird Book of Commercial Vehicles
Oh Ladybird Tuesday, how I've missed you! When Ladybird Tuesday first started years ago Tuesday was a day when I was childfree and able to ensure a Ladybird post went up every week without fail. Have you realised yet that for the last 18 months I've been running a playgroup every Tuesday and always had at least one child with me and so completely failed to post regularly. Argh! Sorry about that. Something just had to give and Ladybird Tuesday was sadly the victim. Still, only two more weeks left running playgroup - one voluntary role that I'm really looking forward to giving up at Christmas ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: Understanding Numbers
The thrill of the chase is one of the things I love about collecting Ladybird books. A trip to my local Oxfam bookshop last week to try to buy something else entirely resulted in me coming home with this Ladybird gem last week. It's a couple of years since I last featured a book from The Words for Numbers series (series 661) and it's not a series that I often find in charity shops, but this was sat on the shelf for just 99p, despite being in excellent condition, and there was no way I was leaving without it. Understanding Numbers is Book 1 of the Words for Numbers series and whilst I ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: Ladybird by Design, the exhibition
Well that was a bit of a longer than planned break from Ladybird Tuesday - sorry! There's been no decrease in the Ladybird hunting activity here, but school summer holidays have got a bit in the way of writing about Ladybird books over the last month or so. But as September and the autumn arrives Ladybird Tuesday is back, and restarting with a bit of a different one. I had one of those getting older life events back in July and to mark it Mr C and I had a rare child-free day together in London. Over the years I've learnt that if there's something you really want to do, rather than dropping ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: The Princess and the Pea
On Facebook I follow an account called The 80s Magazine which simply posts up photos of things that you are bound to remember if you were a child in the 80s like I was. It never fails to make me smile when I see all those reminders of my own childhood, especially as I keep seeing Ladybird books pop up on there. Now, most of the titles I see come from the learning to read r fiction series, in particular series 606D which was called Well Loved Tales, and that title sums up the books in it rather well. From classics like Cinderella and Jack and the Beanstalk through to Little Red Riding Hood ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: Jesus by the Sea of Galilee
At last week's WI meeting one of my friends came over as soon as I arrived and whispered this magic words: "I've found you come Ladybird books" and oh boy had she come up trumps! As well as the large history and nature series that Ladybird are quite famous for they also published a large number of religious titles (split over a couple of series) that are not so well known. I've picked up a couple of these over the years (St Paul being one such example) but there generally don't seem to be many of them about in charity shops. Imagine my delight therefore when this set that E had found ... read more