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My top-10 of Ladybird book trivia Or ‘ten things you have probably never wanted to know about Ladybird books’ 10 The price of a Ladybird book (2 shillings and 6) stayed the same for 31 years -from 1940 until 1971…
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As we’re at that time of the year for looking back, it seemed a good time to share with you (or remind you) of some of the past winners of my Ladybird caption contest. @distracteddan This contest takes place every…
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Pond Life – an abridged short story inspired by a Ladybird book I couldn’t say how many childhood hours I spent on my stretch of the Cromford Canal in Ambergate. Probably fewer than I remember, but as time passes the…
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The Ladybird pastiche, parody or spoof Since the autumn, a new breed of ‘Ladybird’ has arrived on these shores and has been having a dramatic effect on native biblio-ecosystems. I refer, of course, to ‘Ladybird Books for Grown Ups’ which…
Read moreIntroduction The Little Red Hen in Hambledon A couple of weeks ago a journalist called Steve Clark got in touch. He was thinking about writing an article about the real scenes captured in Ladybird Books. Previously he had written a…
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A Ladybird book quiz. For confirmed Lady-nerds only as it’s super-challenging. No checking bookshelves, now. Who illustrated the 497 (character defect stories)? What was the last matt book to be published in the Children’s Classics series? How many books in…
Read moreThis Ladybird book quiz is slightly tougher. The challenge is to do this quiz from memory, without recourse to your bookshelves. What are the names of the 2 children in the Travel Adventure series, 587? What colour is Cinderella’s dress…
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This Ladybird book quiz is nice and easy to start with. The challenge is to do this quiz from memory, without recourse to your bookshelves. What was the original name of the publishers now known as ‘Ladybird’? ‘Flight One…
Read moreIn my last post, I talked about the fairy tale characters that frightened us most as children. These characters were all story book ‘villains’ – designed to be scary. However, as I said last time, children can often respond to…
Read moreChildren’s responses to things can often be surprising. My son, for example, would sit cheerfully through the most alarming scenes of Doctor Who but then was kept awake for night after night after a particular episode of Thomas the Tank…
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