It's been a little while since we've visited the Ladybird Key Word Reading Scheme here on Ladybird Tuesday, but that's where we're headed today with book 10b in the series - Adventure at the castle. The early books in the Ladybird Key Words Reading Scheme are the ones that everyone seems to be familiar with. Simple sentences about Peter and Jane were how many of my generation learnt how to read. I'm guessing that many of us moved on to other books though and didn't progress on to the later titles in the series like this one. By Adventure at the castle we have left Peter and Jane ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: The Public Services – Water Supply
Way, way back in the early days of Ladybird Tuesday I dipped into series 606E, The Public Services, looking at Electricity. I even commented at the times about how the whole concept of Electricity, Gas and Water being public services was vintage in itself. Years on, it's time to revisit the series again, but this time we've moved on to the Water Supply. I still smile to see this book labelled as being "A Ladybird 'Easy-Reading' Book", but then when I consider some of the slightly obscure titles that Little Miss C brings home as school reading books maybe it isn't as strange as I used to ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: Learning to Crochet
I've been trying to bring Ladybird Tuesday back several times now, but each time I appear to get half way through writing a post and then everything goes a bit wrong. This time though I've chosen a title that I do feel very passionate about in the hope that it keeps me on track somewhat - Learning to Crochet! Now, anyone who follows me on Instagram or who has read my post about 2016 in Crochet will know that over the last couple of years I have become a complete crochet addict. I have two crochet blankets on the go at the moment (the Moorland CAL from Lucy at Attic24 and also my third Spice ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: We go to the gallery
Tuesday's haven't quite been the same for a few months now. The Ladybird collecting hasn't slowed down here, but there's just not been much time to write about them and share them here. I've really missed Ladybird Tuesday though. I've missed going through my collection and selecting gems to share. There's something rather comforting about Ladybird books - a reminder of a previous time when the world didn't seem quite such the confusing and screwed up place it is right now. Last week's news of Ladybird planning more humorous titles later this year (just in time for Christmas) made me think ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: Cataloging the Collection
You may have noticed I've gone a bit quite again. There's a very simple reason this time - I'm spending every spare minute finally cataloging my Ladybird collection! When I started collecting Ladybird books I have to admit that I had no real idea what I was doing. I remembered them fondly from my childhood, but had no idea of how many Ladybird books were out there - I just liked the ones I'd spotted in charity shops so decided to start buying them. Several years down the line there are over 400 books in my collection and they are somewhat scattered across the house. With the help of a ... 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
Ladybird Tuesday: King John and Magna Carta
Now that my Ladybird collecting hobby is so well know I feel like I have an army of spies out there looking for Ladybird books for my collection. One such spy (more commonly known on twitter as Tall_Rich) tweeted me one Saturday evening from St Albans Abbey to tell me that he'd spotted a new Ladybird book. @BeingMrsC seems this has been reprinted (c) 2015 of an original 1969 book for the 800th anniversary pic.twitter.com/subIKYFK7C — Richard Gillin (@tall_rich) February 28, 2015 In fact it seems that there was a whole display of Magna Carta related books, with the Ladybird reproduction of ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: Coffee
I do sometimes wonder just how Ladybird decided which books to put in some of their series - in particular the Ladybird Leader series (737). Whilst they're all subjects where there is plenty to learn about, the list can seem a bit random when you first read it. From water to bridges, apes and monkeys to fruit, and deserts to coffee. Coffee is obviously a huge commodity in the world today and if anything the way people drink coffee has changed even more since 1977 when this book was first published. Now there are coffee shops every few meters (well in St Albans there certainly are) and it's ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: ‘People at Work’ The Soldier
The Ladybird People at Work series (number 606B) has to be one of my absolute favourite ones, mainly as it just gives such a fascinating insight into what everyday life was like at the time. I find all the illustrations fascinating and they really are packed full of interesting facts - as well as a few sexist comments of the time! I've previously featured The Policeman, The Car Makers and In a Hotel on Ladybird Tuesday and if I had been planning more ahead I probably should have featured The Soldier in last week's post - after all it was the 11/11 last week. The role of a soldier is ... read more