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: 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: 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
Ladybird Tuesday: Helping at Home
This original Ladybird Tuesday post has now been revised and is over on Penny Reads. You can find it here. ... read more
How to make a simple paper plate ladybird
Sometimes when doing crafts with children you just need something that is dead simple and that's exactly what I hope this paper plate ladybird is. We've been busy re-reading some of our old picture books lately and Lucy Ladybird has once again become a firm favourite. A school trip to the woods, combined with the new CBeebies series Mini-Beast Adventure, means that the interest in bugs, insects and creepy-crawlies has gone through the roof. Little Miss C was convinced that she wanted to "craft a ladybird" so that's exactly what we did. All you need for this is: A paper plate Red ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: More words for Numbers
I'm sticking with the slightly scientific theme introduced on the blog yesterday for today's Ladybird Tuesday: More words for Numbers. I have to admit that when I picked this book up I wasn't really sure what to expect. What do they mean more words for numbers? Is this a thesaurus with just one entry? I'll let the description inside the cover of the book take over here: When describing the changing approach to the learning of mathematics, the Schools Council observes in "Curriculum Bulletin No. 1" that we can accelerate learning by providing suitable ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: A Second ‘Do You Know’ Book
I remember as a child sitting down with my Dad to look up some facts about planets as part of my school science homework. In those days the only way to do so was to sit down with some books yet I'm pretty sure that when I have to do similar with Little Miss C and Master C we'll be using the Internet instead and I think I feel a bit sad about that. Yes Google is very useful, but there was a certain satisfaction in finding the answers there on my bookshelf. My choice for today's Ladybird Tuesday is a book that fact loving children would have jumped upon at the time - A second ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: Magnets, Bulbs and Batteries
There's absolutely no doubt that I was something of a geeky child. I had a chemistry set and also a selection of batteries, bulbs and electric wires. I also had a magnet set that I loved so much that when I saw the same one for sale on eBay last year (in new condition) I bought it instantly to put away for Little Miss C and her, then still a bump, baby brother. It's no wonder that I went on to study physics and chemistry at A-Level and engineering at university. I would have loved the Ladybird Junior Science Book Magnets, Bulbs and Batteries - in fact some of the projects look so ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: Learning About Insects and Small Animals
If you look at all the Ladybird titles originally published what really stands out to me is the number of natural history books that there were. They were not all confined to Ladybird series 651 (Ladybird Natural History Books) but that series is where this particular book sits - Learning about Insects and Small Animals. First published in 1972 and written by Romola Showell this books concentrates on those smaller creatures that small children seem so fond of finding in their back gardens or whilst out and about. The level of detail in this books is vast and covers everything ... read more