My entry into yesterday's Magpie Monday shows the latest additions to my Ladybird collection and it's one of those that I'm turning to for this week's Ladybird Tuesday with Flight Three USA.
I've been on the look out for books from the various Ladybird travel books since I started collecting them and was thrilled to pick this up for such a bargain price, especially since it was in such excellent condition and I believe a first edition with the original dust jacket completely intact too.
The book plate inside the front cover is also a nice touch, adding a bit of personal history to this particular copy. I do still find it slightly mind-boggling to think that this book was awarded to someone over 46 years ago though.
Series 587 was the Ladybird Travel Adventure series and I believe there were six titles in total in this series. At the time this book was published in 1959 there were just three titles in the series – Flight One: Australia, Flight Two: Canada and this one, Flight Three: USA. Each book follows a brother and sister, John and Alison as they take a flight to a foreign country where they explore in some style, mainly thanks to their father's business contacts.
In this book they fly from London to New York and then travel right across the states, experiencing this huge country.
As the children travel they keep a scrapbook of the sights they see and the experiences they have.
In a way the story of their travels does seem a little forced in terms of being able to fit as much in as possible, but on the flip side I can see children responding much better to it than they would if just presented with dry facts.
After starting their travels in New York, they then move on to Washington, Frankfort Kentucky, Chicago, Nebraska, Yellowstone and the Rocky Mountains, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, the Grand Canyon, Houston, a trip into Mexico and New Orleans before returning to New York.
On their travels they learnt a huge amount about the geography and history of the country as well as learning about the people who live in the different parts of the country and where they originally came from.
Everything they discover is seen with a childhood innocence rather than having any preconceptions making it all seem rather quaint.
I'm fascinated by this series and (possibly romantically) like to imagine my kids reading them one day before we plan some family travel adventures. The world, and air travel, has certainly changed a lot since the 1950s though and I'm not sure we can afford to travel in the way that Alison and John manage with their father, but we can all dream!
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!
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