Ladybird Books

[Kiop]

We were heavy on the Ladybird books when I was at junior school in the 70's. A great range of books for kids - some educational, some stories. I always remember the cover to 'Beauty and the beast' - it traumatised me and scared me to death and gave me nightmares for weeks. It got so bad that my mum had to go to school and complain about it.

Here's the offending book cover:-



Yes, looks innocent but in the eyes of a 6 year old it was very frightening. It must have had a huge impact on me as I remember it to this day and when I just viewed this cover again after all this time it brought back all the bad memories.

What young kid these days would be scared by something like this? Not many I reckon.

Apart from this bad experience, I always thought Ladybird books were great.

What are your memories of them?

[HG]

Re: Ladybird Books

The earlest memories are of course the Peter and Jane books which were used for educational purposes.

I also remember having Rumpelstilkskin and Bob Bushtail's Adventure.



I remember the cover you highlighted, can't say it scared me

Ladybird books pre 1970 are very collectable and worth a few quid.

[chrisredditch]

Re: Ladybird Books

This is an excellent site

Ladybird Prints

[HG]

Re: Ladybird Books

This is an excellent site

Ladybird Prints

Great site

Reminds me I used to have the Elves and the Shoemaker too

[Marine Boy]

Re: Ladybird Books

Oh wow, what a great thread!

I have such happy memories of these books and looking at that site has brought them all back.

This is probably the one I remember the most.

[Richard1978]

Re: Ladybird Books

My parents have still got a load of 1970s -80s ones in their attic. Me & my brother & sister really liked them.

A few managed to stay in the house, Tootles The Taxi & The Story Of Our Canals come to mind.

[Kiop]

Re: Ladybird Books

I remember the cover you highlighted, can't say it scared me

I must admit that I was a bit of a wimp when I was a kid, lol.

Didn't the educational books have some sort of code on them like, for eg 6E? Could anybody ever figure out the meanings of these strange codes?

Heck, I might go hunting round the charity shops now and see if I can find any, but they will have to be the issues I remember from school and not the more modern ones.

Can anybody remember the scene in Doctor Who - Planet of the spiders when Tommy the thicket was reading a ladybird book?

[sixtyten]

Re: Ladybird Books

That website brings back a few memories!
Some I had forgotten and some I still remembered like that Blue Whale cover

[rossobantam]

Re: Ladybird Books

Have you seen the lovely Ladybird mugs for sale on various sites? eg HERE

[kazboot]

Re: Ladybird Books

One of my most treasured childhood books was Sleeping Beauty by Ladybird. The pics were great.

[wispa lover]

Re: Ladybird Books

I used to have Ladybird's 1st and 2nd books of nursery rhymes. A few of the illustraions used to scare me.

[Kiop]

Re: Ladybird Books

I used to have Ladybird's 1st and 2nd books of nursery rhymes. A few of the illustraions used to scare me.

Ah! So I'm not alone in the terror that Ladybird struck into my young heart!

[branny]

Re: Ladybird Books

Seem to remember the troll under the bridge looking quite scarey in the 3 billygoats gruff. Trip trap trip trap.

Just found it on the site mentioned earlier. It looks like Rod Stewart.

[BlitzKid]

Re: Ladybird Books

The Ladybird books were definitely good for scary illustrations... anyone else remember the Ladybird Horror Classics series, which were kids' versions of the Gothic Horror classics? The cover of The Mummy (based on Arthur Conan Doyle's story "Lot no. 249") scared the **** out of me, whenever my Mum took me into a bookstore I'd make her go and check if that book was there before I'd go in, so she could hide it!

Bizarrely though, I wasn't at all scared by Frankenstein even though the monster in that was absolutely terrifying... he looked far scarier than in any of the many movie versions I've seen... yet I was completely enthralled by that book rather than scared, and it holds much responsibility for my love of Gothic Horror which has continued well into adulthood!

[tulip]

Re: Ladybird Books

I remember so many of these books.I got A Christmas Carol one year from a shop Santa,thought it was a Ladybird book,but its not there.I remember the talkabout books,tootles the taxi and the nursery rhymes in particular


tulip