My Ladybird collecting obsession is now at the stage where I have to carry round in my handbag two little notebooks containing a list of all the Ladybird titles in my collection, arranged by series. Otherwise it seems I can no longer remember which ones I have or which ones I just dream of having. Against each series I also have a tally number so that I know just how many there are out there in the series. Ladybird were a bit strange in that they had several series where there was only one or two titles, yet other series that had many more. One series that is exactly the right size is ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: Robin Hood Outlawed
Oh my - there are some varied Ladybird books joining my collection right now. I have to admit that there are some that I am more fond of than others, but it's still fascinating to see how my collection is growing, and what is available when in local charity shops. This week on Ladybird Tuesday I'm looking at Robin Hood Outlawed. Now, these Robin Hood books were part of series 740, called Classics, and were a sub-series of 4 titles which came under the Robin Hood Adventures banner. Whilst this book has a copyright date in it of 1978, I think this is actually a later version, possibly ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: Sunstart Reading Scheme – On the Beach
Do you know what one of my smartest moves ever was in collecting Ladybird books? Realising that Danny from Clouds in my Coffee goes to loads of jumble sales and the like and that he's fab at seeking out Ladybird books! When I heard he was off to a car boot sale on Sunday I cheekily reminded him to keep a look out for me and I was therefore somewhat delighted when he sent me this picture asking if there was anything I could see that I wanted. At just 30p each I'm delighted to say that several came home to me and even more delighted that I took the effort to zoom in and notice one ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: Learnabout… Party Games
Whoops - it appears to be Tuesday again, despite me spending the morning convinced it was Monday. And worst still, last week's Ladybird Tuesday appeared to go AWOL. Apologies. But, this is the last Ladybird Tuesday of the summer holidays here (noted by the torrential rain falling outside) so let's celebrate with a spot of Party Games from the Ladybird Learnabout series 634. And first thing's first - you can't have a party without party hats. Party Games was probably one of the last new titles in the Learnabout series that was published with a matt cover, coming quite late in ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: The Story of Saint Paul
There's nothing like a Ladybird book for making you realise just how little you know! That's certainly the case with the second of my finds from our Cornwall holiday - The story of Saint Paul. I was rather pleased with this find as it's my first book from their Religious series (series 522), but when I came to read it I soon discovered how much of my Religious Education from school I've either forgotten, or was never taught in the first place. Now St Paul was actually born around the same time as Jesus and as a child was called Saul. He was the son of two prominent Jews in the Mediterranean ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: The Story of Houses and Homes
So, away I came on holiday totally forgetting to schedule a Ladybird Tuesday post before I left, and also without a single Ladybird book to be able to blog whilst away. Luckily the Ladybird gods were looking after me though and thanks to the wonderful secondhand books shops that so so many National Trust properties have these days I'm now sat here with a selection of six new titles (none costing more than 60p and one from a series that I didn't previously have any books from!) to choose from. Seeing as I'm away from my home right now I'd decided to go with The Story of Houses and Homes from ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: Lost at the Fair
We're jumping about a bit between the years here on Ladybird Tuesday as we're going from the 1980s last week to a book that was first published in the 1940s - 1948 to be precise (although this is a 1970s reprint I think). Lost at the Fair is part of the Animal Rhymes series (series 401) which was a set of lovely stories, all written in verse, making them perfect to be read out loud to young children. Lost at the Fair is the story of two little dormice whose mother is woken one morning by Mr Squirrel telling her that the fair has some to town. She wakes up her chidden and as soon as they ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: my day
I'm going through an 80s phase with Ladybird books at the moment. After ignoring all the glossy covered ones for years I'm suddenly finding some absolute gems in charity shops and in a big pile that a friend passed on recently. I thought I'd got my collecting habit nicely limited, but it seems maybe not. Series 833 was called Toddler Books and they're just perfect for Master C now that's heading towards his second birthday. Now I think there were seven books in this series, but I have to admit that I'm not totally sure. I originally picked up one of these for 20p when Master C showed an ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: Packed Lunches
I have had the most amazing couple of weeks when it comes to finding vintage Ladybird treasure. So much so that I have a pile of six new titles sat here on my desk waiting to be written about, and that's in addition to the shelves full upstairs. The book that caused the biggest response when I posted a picture of it on Instagram is the one I'm going to feature though - Packed Lunches. Forget your modern day Bento Box lunch that everyone's busy posting photos of all over social media - we're very much talking 1980s packed lunches here as this book was published in 1983. It's part of ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: The Frozen Planet of Azuron
Let's be totally honest about this post upfront. I'm no science fiction fan at all and this is actually the kind of book I normally avoid. But, it is a vintage Ladybird book so when I found it in a charity shop it came home with me and it's certainly part of Ladybird history. The Frozen Planet of Azuron was first published in 1982 as part of series 823. The series contained a total of 4 science fiction titles (The Energy Pirate, The Frozen Planet of Azuron, The Giants of Universal Park and The Planet of Death) and each book contains a short story. The Frozen Planet of Azuron was written ... read more