Figure 1.--The children in the Ladybug reading scheme were Peter and Jane. (Americans were accustomed to Dick and Jane.) The stories were every day adventures around the hime and at school. Peter was also a Cub Scout.
|
Figure 1.--The children in the Ladybug reading scheme were Peter and Jane. (Americans were accustomed to Dick and Jane.) The stories were every day adventures around the hime and at school. Peter was also a Cub Scout. |
Ladybird Books also produced a reading scheme for beginning readers. It was
highly praised in the 1950’s because the books were available from many outlets. Parents who wanted to help in the teaching of reading to their children had
easy access to an excellent reading resource. It was written by an headmaster called W. Murry who was careful to design the books to engage younger children. The Ladybug reading series was one of the first reading schemes which was
about the everyday life of primary school children.
It was written by an headmaster called W. Murry who was careful to design the books to engage younger children. He said, "The full colour illustrations have been
designed to create a desirable attitude towards learning… this attractive reading scheme embraces - the natural interests and activities of happy children."
The Ladybug reading series was one of the first reading schemes which was
about the everyday life of primary school children. The characters were a boy and girl called Peter and Jane. They were about 9 and 10 years old. The family had a pet dog called Pat. They were happy children, leading a care free life. Peter was Cub Scout but the only reference to this was his Cub Scout cap featured in one of the early books.
They lived in a detached house which had a large garden. The children were dressed in a variety of contemporary clothing. These were casual clothes such as jeans and
t- shirt worn by both Peter and Jane. Sometimes Jane wore a dress. At the seaside Peter wore shorts and Jane wore a colourful casual dress. Winter clothing was never worn because the story took place in the spring and summer months. There is hardly a rainy day. The climate is always dry, warm sunny.
They did ordinary every day activities such as going shopping for their mum. They travelled on public transport. Often they travelled alone but they went
further a field with their parents. Their dad had a car and he some times took them to their state primary school. In some books the children went to the seaside
but mostly the happenings were around their home town somewhere in England. I always suspected that the town was near a famous seaside town called Brighton. Some
of the seaside stories appear to have a pier similar to the one at Brighton. The books often contained pictures showing a display of Ladybird books.
Sample text from these books reads: Jane's cat is not big. She likes to go up the tree for a game. "Stop her," says Jane. "She gets up the tree and can not get her. Peter can not stop the cat. "She can not get down," he says. "There is no danger. You or I can get her, or we can get Daddy to help." "No," says Jane, "all we have to do is get some milk." The cat sees the milk and then comes down.
At the bottom of the page new words like "not", "Stop", and "stop" are introduced.
Another feature is to ask questioins about the story and illustrations. In a story about goung to a sweet (candy) shop the reader has to read the question about who is in the shop and then answer yes or no.
A reader reports, "These Labybug Books were not just available at many outlets in Britain but overseas as well. I used the scheme to teach a child in Nigeria in 1996. He liked the Ladybird books. I did not have the full set. I found many of the books
in stores in Kano. The remaining titles were found in book stores in Ireland and England. A large selection of Ladybird books were also available in Nairobi, Kenya."
An Australian reader tells us, "In years 6 and 7 I was a very poor reader and I had lots of eye tests and puzzles to unlock but they never had a realo clue why the
words on the pages seemed to pop up off the page and becoming hazy but these Ladybird books were part of my learning help and believe I 'DID' relate to those 1960s book series not the hippy moppy ones from from the 1970's where boys are wearing straggley long hair and stupid flares and this former boy I hated them."
Navigate the HBC literary pages' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to the main Main Ladybird Books page]
[Return to the main Main children's literary page]
[Return to the main Main literary page]
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Clothing styles]
[Countries]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[Glossaries]
[Satellite sites]
[Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]