Entertainment For Lively Minds
That Warm Glow Of Recognition......
Posted by marsonator on 28 December 2009 - 5:42am.
.......swept through me today upon flicking through a book my young daughter received for Christmas called "Boys and Girls - A Ladybird Book Of Childhood."
Great artwork of a simpler time. Anyway I then discovered that there's a website where you can order prints of said artwork if you so desire (www.ladybirdprints.com) - well cool.
Might order one of the pages from "Exploring Space" which still sits on the bookshelf with torn spine as it was the best one for me.
Anyway what's your favourite Ladybird book and memory of this very British institution that conquered the world.
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Thanks for this
it is great that you can order prints. I will be checking that out.
I was terrified by the illustration of the troll in the Three Billygoats Gruff, when I was four. And read, and repeatedly re-read The Gunpowder Plot aged seven. I'm sure I have Ladybird to thank for my love of books in general and history in particular. A fine institution!
It looks like Sky Sports' partisan Pinocchio of the pitch...
Phil Thompson!
The billy goat is obviously a Manchester United supporter.
Aaaaargh!
Still terrified!
lovely link
- perfectly titled thread. Cheers marsonator - I don't need my Readybrek now.
Goodness me
The Elves and the Shoemaker - that hasn't entered my consciousness for almost four decades, but just one look at the pictures and it all comes flooding back. The colours were so rich that you could feel the fabric even as you read the book.
Excuse me...something in my eye!
Tootles The Taxi
My copy of this beautifully illustrated, slightly surreal 50s classic went missing years ago and I've never found another, but some of the images have stayed with me for decades. It's strange and wonderful to see them again. Might just order myself an early birthday present…
http://www.ladybirdprints.com/image.php?id=213199&idx=5&fromsearch=true
Ditto
Tootles was the one I always remember.
I also liked this "adaptation" of The Policeman book...
http://seorant.ath.cx/police/ladybird.html
'Magnets, Bulbs And Batteries' was the one.
Or maybe, 'Levers, Pulleys And Engines'. Then again, 'Air, Wind And Flight' and 'Light, Mirrors And Lenses' were pretty good too. On the other hand, the 'Robert The Bruce' one was excellent, as were the series called 'Our Land In The Making', with pictures of the same scene gradually becoming more modern as the centuries rolled by. Of course, the 'Ladybird Book Of Cars' from 1964 has my Dad's first car in it, which was pretty cool.
I used to love Ladybird Books; they were easier to save up for at half-a-crown each, while the factually denser and slightly more serious Observers Books were a staggering six shillings each at the time.
Hmmm. I think I may get that box full of Ladybird books out of the loft; there must be nearly fifty of them. Never mind 2010, this calls for a brief yet warming nostalgic visit to the 1960s...
Nailed it again, Mr Fox.
I was struggling to remember them all. 'Magnets, Bulbs &c' was the very finest. How much fun could be had with iron filings and a bar magnet? And the 'Air Wind and Flight' one taught me so much regarding the true mass of air.
The local general store and Post Office had a big rack of Ladybird books. I was allowed to get one every couple of weeks because they were Educational.
The Ladybird book of Our Bodies was grabbed by a four-year-old me. And perused. I got to the page concerning reproduction. My mum had to suffer a small boy walking up to her in the checkout queue and asking "MUMMY.. WHAT'S A PENIS?"
I also remember, a couple of years later, the nudie pictures of people on the frontispiece and ..er.. backispiece (?) being passed around with great delight on the school bus.
My wife
has managed to keep all hers and the stories and images are wonderfully evocative.
Rumpelstiltskin is the one for me when he stamps his foot through the floor in anger.
Bloody hell, I hadn't seen that for about 35 years!
I used to love that book. Ahh, memories...