Helping at Home, 1961 (matt)

Helping at Home, series 563, is, for me, one of the more nostalgic and evocative of all Ladybird books.  It was written by child-education expert Margaret Gagg and beautifully illustrated by Harry Wingfield.   It takes the reader through a number of domestic situations – two children helping their parents in the house, in the garden and shopping.  Now I was born in the 1960s and what is most appealing about this is the way Wingfield’s depicts domestic scenes with a perfect blend of accuracy and fantasy – yes, all the details of the book could be from my earliest memories and yet … everything is so shiny and perfect and happy.  Yet, despite this, this book is a helpful way to counteract some of the lazy assumptions that are often made about Ladybird books.   Yes, the little boy (not Peter) helps his dad with the gardening – but so does his little sister.  Yes, the little girl (not Jane) helps her mum in the kitchen – but so does the boy.  Dad goes shopping with the rest of the family and Mum joins in with the garden bonfire.

In common with all the books in seried 563, Helping at Home was originally issued with a dustwrapper.

This matt copy is in very good condition externally but only ‘good’ inside.  The main fault inside is that there is a small area of loss to the bottom of front free endpaper (which doesn’t affect text or images in any way).  There’s a scuff to the back endpapers too.  The reading pages are in very nice, clean condition.  This copy dates to the 1970s and has the original price of 18p on the back although this (and earlier prices) have been cancelled out.