Whilst this is not one of the oldest of the Ladybird books in my collection is it one of my faviourites purely based on the subject: Brownie Guides. The uniform on the cover is exactly the one that I wore when a Brownie in the 1980s. The book was actually first published in 1978, but it seems that not much had chanegd by the time I joined.
The book covers everything from how the Brownie Guides were created as a youth section of the Girl Guides and how they fitted in with the already formed Scout movement through to Brownie Guides around the world. The structure of the Guiding movement is explained along with many of the small things that each pack does at its weekly meetings.
The book then spends a large amount of time discussing what it means to be a Brownie and all the good deeds that a Brownie does as part of their everyday lives. What makes this book somewhat different from the Brownie Guide Handbook which I have written about before, is that it doesn't say much about all the different badges that Brownies can work towards. This is one of the key things that I remember from being a Brownie yet there are only a couple of pages about it at the end of the book. Inside the back cover though there is a list of some of the Interest Badges that Brownies can work towards and for each badge a list of other Ladybird books that they might find helpful.
Looking back at my three years in the Brownies I can still remember some of the things that we did and the badges that I worked for. I almost wish that I could still work for badges today – it could be a great way of adults trying out new hobbies and maybe I could finally get the knitting badge that I never managed as a child!
If you have a collection of old Ladybird books then please feel free to join in with Ladybird Tuesday. There are no formal rules to follow, just leave a link to any post you write in the comments below and if you're feeling kind link back to my Ladybird Tuesday category here on Being Mrs C. Thanks!
I've also compiled an index of all the vintage Ladybird books I own and everyone's Ladybird Tuesday posts to date – organised by series. It satisfies my inner geek and hopefully will also be of interest to others too!
Mrs Fox says
Oh fantastic, this one is ACE Mrs C! I was a rubbish Brownie, if only I had had this book.
Over at Mrs Fox’s I’ve posted on The Story of Our Canals this week; http://mrsfoxs.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/ladybird-tuesday-story-of-our-canals.html