Penny Reads

Ladybird Tuesday – The Wonderful World of Ladybird Books for Grown-Ups

February 3, 2020 by penny Leave a Comment

Something a bit different on Ladybird Tuesday this week. As much as I love all the vintage titles in my collection, today I’m sharing with you one of the newest Ladybird books and one that’s not the normal format for a Ladybird book – The Wonderful World of Ladybird Books for Grown-Ups.

The Wonderful World of Ladybird Books for Grown Ups Ladybird Tuesday

You must quite frankly be either blind or have never set foot inside a bookshop if you haven’t seen the recent comedy Ladybird titles. Perfect as birthday or Christmas presents, these books by Jason Hazeley and Joel Morris take original Ladybird artwork and re-purpose it in new titles.

With titles ranging from *The Ladybird Book of The Hangover right through to *The Story of Brexit there isn’t really a topic that the pair are prepared to tackle for comedy purposes. I heard them being interviewed by Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie not so long ago, and in that interview they talked about their planned next book: The Wonderful World of Ladybird Books for Grown-Ups.

What they’ve done with this book is bring together a collection of a whopping 337 Ladybird book titles and covers, combined with example pages and text from some of them. It is an utter delight! Proper laugh out loud funny. I’m just kicking myself that I’ve only just got a copy.

Having worked through so many Ladybird books over the years with Ladybird Tuesday, I recognise much of the artwork that they have used, but the combination of it with suggested Ladybird book titles is done superbly.

The Wonderful World of Ladybird Books for Grown-Ups

The famous Ladybird picture of the magic porridge pot pouring out porridge whilst a woman shrieks in horror appears under the title Learnabout… Risotto. Learnabout… Asthma has a cover featuring four power station cooling towers billowing out smoke. Meanwhile The Ladybird Book of The House of Commons features four chimps having a tea party on its cover. Toilet roll tubes feature on the cover of the helpful How to Make Your Own Cigars book.

If you love seeing your favourite Ladybird artwork in brilliant comedy titles, *buy this book.

If you know someone that loves Ladybird books, *buy them this book.

If you know someone who has a sense of humour, *buy them this book.

Without a doubt the funniest thing in my Ladybird collection!

Ladybird Tuesday is a regular feature here on Penny Reads where I delve into my Ladybird book collection and choose a title to share with my readers. The weekly series originally started on my old blog, Being Mrs C, and this post originally appeared on there. I’m now in the process of moving all those posts over to Penny Reads and also adding titles that I have acquired since then. A list is currently being compiled here of all the titles I have in my collection.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links which are marked with a *. If you click through on these links and buy anything (not just the item linked) then I receive a small amount of commission. It costs you no more than it would do normally. I am grateful for all affiliate purchases. Thank you.

Ladybird Tuesday – You Must Be Joking!

January 27, 2020 by penny Leave a Comment

In an attempt to curb my Ladybird collection in some way I don’t normally pay much attention to the ones with glossy covers. It’s just my way of trying to reduce the number that come home from the charity shop with me. That plan doesn’t always work though, and in the case of You Must Be Joking! I’m glad it didn’t.

I suppose the glossy Ladybirds that I keep an eye out for are the non-fiction ones. The titles that were released as some sort of a special edition. You Must Be Joking! is a collection of children’s jokes in aid of Save the Children. Released on 1986 the book has a forward by HRH The Princess Anne as HRH The Princess Royal was known then (she became Princess Royal in 1987). For those of you that remember the 80s, this was a year before she appeared on the, ill-fated, Royal version of It’s a Knockout representing the charity.

All the jokes in You Must Be Joking! were submitted by children of the Ladybird Book Club, and inside the back cover is a list of the schools that they attended. Inside the front cover is a page of photographs showing the work of Save the Children and a description of the work that they do, both overseas and here in the UK.

The book is split into different categories, with pages of Knock, Knock jokes, Doctor, Doctor ones, Limericks and Cross the Road jokes in addition to more general pages of jokes. All pages are illustrated in a bright, eye-catching way, an the credit for the design, illustration and calligraphy is given to Judith Wood and Michael Nicholls of Hurlston Design Ltd.

Working out what series Ladybird books of the 1980s belong to isn’t easy. There is one list that I often use, but I have previously found that this doesn’t contain everything. You Must Be Joking! doesn’t appear on the list and to be honest I”m not totally sure which series it belongs to. It sometimes is listed online with Hobbies written in brackets after the title (as also appears in the British Library Cataloguing section inside the front of the book), suggesting that it might belong to the hobbies series, but it’s not totally clear if it is or not. Yet another ladybird book to investigate further. There’s certainly a theme here when it comes to Ladybird books!

My Top Five Books for One Year Olds

January 23, 2020 by penny Leave a Comment

Disclaimer: This book contains affiliate links marked with a *. For a full disclaimer please see the bottom of this post.

I’ve always loved books and it’s a love that I hope to have passed on to all three children. Whilst nine year old Little Miss C is a complete book worm and devours pretty much any story you give her, seven year old Master C is more of a non-fiction reader. He loves books of facts and those that explain how things work. He’s also got quite a thing for audio books with Roald Dahl and David Walliams on regular rotation in his bedroom. But what about the youngest bookworm in the family? One year old Tube Stop Baby.

It’s hard to pin down at exactly what age children start to enjoy books, but at 14 months old now I know that TSB is definitely doing just that. We keep a collection of board books in the living room in a box that she can easily get to and we often find her going through all the books in the box, turning the pages and chattering away to herself about what she sees in them. There’s a second shelf of books upstairs that we sit and read with her as part of her bedtime routine.

Even at such a young age it’s clear that she has favourites. Books that she keeps going back to and ones that she brings over to us to have read to her. It’s beautiful to see and something that I hope continues.

I remember favourite books with LMC, but I never made an effort to keep a record of what she favoured when. This time around I’m determined to change that. So here are mine and TSB’s top five books for one year olds.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar – Eric Carl

Probably the most well known title on the list, there can’t be a parent alive who isn’t familiar with the story of the little egg laid on a leaf that went on to be a *Very Hungry Caterpillar. With beautiful artwork, lots of opportunity for children to count along with you, complete with holes in the page to help little children use their fingers for counting.

As well as teaching little ones about the lifecycle of a caterpillar the book also contains lots of familiar looking food that little ones will recognise. TSB is always particularly excited to see the watermelon come up on the list of food that the caterpillar tucks into on Saturday.

There are so many reasons this book is a 50 year old classic and rightly so.

Rabbit’s Nap – Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler

I’m not sure how *Rabbit’s Nap first came into our possession but I’m glad it did. A beautiful tale of a rabbit who is desperate to have a nap, but various other noisy animals make it rather difficult for him to do so. With a flap on each double page there is plenty for little fingers to discover as you read the story. I just need to convince TSB to be a bit less enthusiastic about the flaps – ours are held together with rather a lot of sellotape now.

The rhyming text gives the story a lovely rhythm when you read it aloud, making it perfect for a pre-bed story. The fact that it ends with rabbit actually getting her nap (sorry for the spoiler!) makes it ideal for leading on to encouraging your little one into bed themselves.

Goodnight Moon – Margaret Wise Brown

“In the great green room there is a telephone, and a red balloon, and a cow jumping over the moon…”

With words that form in your mouth as wonderfully as these who wouldn’t want to read this aloud?

The artwork in *Goodnight Moon is different to most of TSB’s other books, with pages alternating between black and white and a colour illustrations, between views the whole room and close ups. It’s stylised, but with loads of detail that grabs children’s attention.

That combination of artwork and delicious words and rhyming is what makes me love reading it so much. After all, who can’t help but smile when they read “a bowl full of mush, and a quiet old lady whispering hush”?

Peepo! – Janet and Allan Ahlberg

As you may have gathered from my collection of Ladybird books, I love books set in the 40s and 50s and part of me wishes I had been alive then. *Peepo! fits into that category perfectly.

Again, rhyming text makes it wonderful to read aloud, but to me it’s the illustrations in this book that I love most. There is so much detail on every single page and lots that is referred to in the text meaning that you can point lots out as you read it. I just wish I could jump into the pictures and take a proper look around.

Each double page spread includes a cut out that you can peep through and the way that the text uses the word peepo in the rhyme means that you can then encourage your little one to peep through the hole to the picture on the next page.

That’s Not My…

*That’s not my… books are known and hated by parents across the country, but there’s no doubt that children love them. Their formulaic text makes them somewhat dull to read, but each page has a different texture on it for your children to discover and at this age discovering new things like this is incredibly exciting. TSB can spend ages with a pile of these books, touching the pages whilst making sounds of wonder. That makes it worth putting up with the words!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links that are marked with *. If you click through on any of these links and buy anything then it will cost you no more than normal, but I will receive a small commission. Normally only just enough to buy about a quarter of a cup of coffee, but appreciated all the same. Thank you.

Ladybird Tuesday – The Story of Newspapers

January 20, 2020 by penny Leave a Comment

This week’s Ladybird Tuesday looks back at a book that was originally featured over on Being Mrs C – The Story of Newspapers.

Ladybird Tuesday The Story of Newspapers

The story of Newspapers is the sort of Ladybird book that I really love. It really shows its age, yet I love that glimpse into this frozen period of time. Published in 1969 this book explains how newspapers came into being and also how they were produced and run at the time of publication.

It’s fair to say that the newspaper industry has changed a crazy amount since this book was published. Broadsheet newspapers have slimmed down, internet based news has changed how newspapers work, there are daily freebie papers available across the country and then there’s all the more recent news surrounding the Leveson Inquiry and the closure of the News of the World. Whilst some things have stayed the same, it’s fair to say that you could easily fill another Ladybird book with changes that have taken place.

All the illustrations in The Story of Newspapers are done by Ron Embleton and they are beautifully detailed, having a great 60s look about them. They all seem to really easily take the reader back to that time.

The one above showing the Evening Standard being delivered to a London street corner really does just speak volumes to me of London rush hour back then.

As was the case with many Ladybird books from this era there is a clear reflection of what the role of women at the time was. This meeting if newspaper management deciding what should be going in the next morning’s edition features just one woman and it’s pretty clear that she’s there as a secretary, rather than an editor.

There’s one thing that’s a bit strange with this particular Ladybird book though – you don’t see many children’s books with a copy of Playboy on the front cover, but if you look closely below that’s exactly what there is!

Now, I’m told (not being an expert on this subject myself!) that Playboy was a different kind of publication in those days – possibly more like GQ today – but I can’t say that that stops me being surprised though.

Dancing the Charleston – Jacqueline Wilson

January 17, 2020 by penny Leave a Comment

One of my aims for 2020 is to read more. I miss curling up with a book in bed – somewhat impossible when you have a 14 month old sharing the room with you half the time – but there’s nothing stopping me from sitting elsewhere to read. That may sound a tad radical, but totally possible if I Really want to end this book drought. In addition to just treading more, I also want to actually finish some of the books that I’ve started over the last couple of years. To my knowledge I’ve only managed to finish two recently, but more on them another time. Let’s kick off with what is actually a children’s book – Dancing the Charleston.

Dancing the Charleston Jacqueline Wilson cover

Nine year old Little Miss C has been a huge Jacqueline Wilson fan ever since she started reading her books. She was lucky enough to get to meet her at the Foundling Museum in London and she still talks about that day so much. We were also fortunate enough to be able to take mum mum with us on that visit – an extra [pair of hands is always useful! – and she too was blown away by Jacqueline Wilson when she spoke to the gathered children and adults.

A while back I recall mum telling me and LMC about a newspaper interview she’d read with Jacqueline about how she sometimes finds it hard writing about modern-day childhood, as she can feel a bit out of touch with it. Instead she was turning her hand to writing some books set in history. That’s exactly the case with Dancing the Charleston, as the title may suggest.

Mona lives with her aunt on the edge of the Somerset Estate, with her aunt holding the position of dressmaker to Lady Somerset. For years the closest Mona has got to life inside the big house has been through her aunty being friends with one of the maids who used to visit and bring stories about the comings and goings.

All that starts to change when Lady Somerset falls ill and Mona is taken to see her shortly before her death. Understandably the child is confused as to why, yet Lady Somerset’s death is the start of a change in Mona’s life. With one of her sons, Mr Benjamin, taking over the house a new lease of life is brought to it, in proper 1920 style. Parties and a more bohemian lifestyle are just the start of the changes that Mona sees and Mr Benjamin seems intent on including this dress-makers daughter in this new life. But why?

I started reading Dancing the Charleston simply because LMC had got it out of the local library and on the way home we stopped at a playground and whilst the older two were playing and the youngest one sleeping in her pram I wanted something other than my phone to occupy me. I was instantly hooked, although I had to admit that this is actually the first Jacqueline Wilson book that I’ve read all the way through.

I was enthralled by the story and the various twists and turns that it took along the way. One in particular had me let out an audible gulp of surprise when I got to it! What I really liked though was how she had managed to set a story in a time that many children may not know much about and help the reader see it all through a child’s eyes.

At school this term LMC is taking part in a “reading through history” challenge where children are encouraged to read books set at different points in history. Dancing the Charleston fit the brief perfectly as her first book to tick off the list.

The other thing that I loved about reading Dancing the Charleston is that LMC and I could sit and talk about it together – especially as she started getting to all the reveals within the story. We read together often, but have been poor at seeing a book all the way through from start to finish. This is something else we’re trying to change, but it was lovely to have both read the same book in quick succession and to be able to talk about it. It’s a beautiful bonding thing that I’ve realised we’ve lost since we used to have more traditional bedtime stories together.

Our next book that we’re reading together is LMC’s choice, and happens to be another Jacqueline Wilson book – We Are The Beaker Girls. After that we’re going to move on to my choice – a book that several people have recommended to me: The Boy at the Back of the Class. I’ll let you know how we get on with them both.

Where to buy the books mentioned in this post

Disclaimer: Any links marked with a * in this section are affiliate links on Amazon. If you buy through them it will not cost you any more, but I will receive a small (not enough enough for a cup of tea normally) commission for sending you there way. Thank you if you do buy anything as a result of reading this post. It is appreciated.

Dancing the Charleston is currently only *available in Hardback, but will be published in paperback on 20 February 2020 and is *available to pre-order now.

We Are The Beaker Girls is also *only in hardback now and whilst you can *pre-order the paperback, it won’t be published until 11 June 2020.

The Boy at the Back of the Class is written by Onjali Rauf and is *available in paperback here.

Ladybird Tuesday – Cub Scouts

January 14, 2020 by penny Leave a Comment

The very first sentence in the Ladybird Cub Scouts book gives away just how out of date it is.

“A Cub Scout is a boy between eight and eleven years old.”

Quite what the author would have made off the fact that my nine year old daughter is currently a Cub I have no idea! I think if I called her a “Cub Scout” she’d also give me a weird look. As far as she’s concerned she’s a Cub. Also, the idea of her having to wear a cap, shorts and knee high socks seems as alien to her as not being allowed to be a Cub because she’s a girl.

As a woman who was only able to be a Brownie and a Guide as a child, some of the history of the Cub Scouts is actually quite interesting, and puts lots of things into context for me. I had never understood before as to why all the leaders were characters from the Jungle Book (starting with Akela who in my daughter’s case happens to be one of my friends – I’d just never dared admit that I didn’t know why!)

Baden-Powell had realised that boys that weren’t yet old enough to be Scouts (aged 12 and up then) needed something similar to join. He found the right background for what they wanted in the Jungle Book where Mowgli, the man cub, is growing up in the jungle with wolves, in particular obeying Akela, the wise old wolf. He also was taught the law of the jungle from Baloo the bear, Bagheera the panther, Kaa the snake, Chil the kite and Raksha the mother wolf. This led to the Wolf Cub part of Scouting being started in 1916, with the Wolf part of the name eventually dropped.

As much as Scouting has moved on since 1970 when this book was written (50 years ago – let that just sink in…) there are some elements that are still reassuringly familiar. Things like the Cub Scout promise, motto, handshake and salute are used today (or at least are in my daughter’s experience).

Ladybird Cub Scouts Picture of Cub Scouts at a meeting

An outline programme of a typical pack meeting also looks familiar with the Grand Howl, Flag-break and Flag-down and Inspection are all part of the weekly meeting that LMC knows. The badges may have changed and been updated somewhat (although I must admit that I much prefer the look of the old badges!) but the general idea behind them remains the same, and children still feel the same level of pride when they wear them on their uniforms.

Ladybird Cub Scouts Cub Scout Proficiency Badges

I do love reading the requirements though for the Arrow badges. They are just so of their time. Things like knowing how to behave when National Anthems are played in public and having to make a scrap book on the Royal Family almost seems comical in 2020.

From a Ladybird book perspective, the Cub Scout book, like the others in the Scouts and Guides series (series 706) is packed full of relevant information for any boy (as it was only boys then!) who wants to join Cub Scouts, or has already done so but wants to be the absolute best Cub he can be. In the way that Ladybird did so well, at the end of the book is a list off other Ladybird titles “which Cub Scouts may find particularly helpful in their training”. Some great titles are on the list, including some of the Junior Science series, nature books and titles from the How it Works series. Also on there is A First Book of Saints and books on Stamp Collecting, Coarse Fishing and Cricket and Football. Unsurprisingly for 1970 they don’t seem to think that the Ladybird book of Knitting or the similar book of Sewing are of interest to Cub Scout boys!

Ladybird Tuesday is a regular feature here on Penny Reads where I delve into my Ladybird book collection and choose a title to share with my readers. The weekly series originally started on my old blog, Being Mrs C, and I’m now in the process of moving all those posts over to Penny Reads and also adding titles that I have acquired since then. A list is currently being compiled here of all the titles I have in my collection.