TOTAL LICENSING
LADYBIRD
CHILDHOOD REVISITED
Second World War. For mothers and make up 25% of all the words we
fathers, the price was the thing - half speak. And this led to the launch of the
a crown. Real value for money! (A world renowned Key Words Read-
principle that Ladybird still maintain) ing Scheme by Ladybird in 1964. The
The books stayed at half a crown method works, and children learn to
(2 shillings and sixpence = 12 pence read quickly and easily. More than 40
today) for thirty years, because the years later, the scheme is still in print
56 page standardised format (made and has sold over 90 million copies!
from just one sheet size 40 inches by The illustrations of Peter and Jane
30 inches) meant that quality books have become renowned and people
could be produced at a low price. Up
to 1964, the books also had dust jack-
ets.
After the War, Ladybird took a great
step forward. They knew that school
books, though dull, always sold well,
and they expanded into educational
THE HISTORY OF
non fiction. This was a great innova-
LADYBIRD BOOKS
tion, bringing really attractive books
that children could learn from.
Ladybird books are known and loved
Well known authors and artists
the world over. For millions of peo-
were commissioned to write and il-
ple, they bring back the golden days of
lustrate books on nature, geogra-
childhood - learning to read, discover-
phy, history and religion - the series
ing the magic of books, and growing up.
What to Look for: in Spring, Sum-
The very first Ladybird book ever
mer, Autumn and Winter was illus-
was produced by a jobbing printer
trated by C F Tunnicliffe, for example.
called Wills & Hepworth during
The media are all powerful nowa-
the First World War. The company,
days, but even in the forties it was all over the world, from the UK and
based in Loughborough, Leicester-
recognised that their names car- India, to Africa and Pakistan, recognise
shire, began to publish ‘pure and
ried weight. Presenter of radio’s them and have learned to read and
healthy literature’ for children, reg-
Children’s Hour, Derek McCulloch write English using them.
istering the Ladybird logo in 1915.
- Uncle Mac - wrote the first of the The Learnabout books of the 60s
It is more than sixty years since
factual books for Ladybird, beginning that helped children to develop new
the first familiar
with In the Train with Uncle Mac interests, but focus on the factual side
pocket sized Lady-
and In the Country with Uncle Mac. brought some unusual results. How it
bird saw the light
The first inkling of a possible glo- Works: The Motor Car (published in
of day in 1940, dur-
bal market came in the fifties, 1965) was used by Thames Valley police
ing the
with the translation (into Swed- driving school as a general guide. How
ish) of Child of the Temple. Today, it Works: The Computer was used by
Ladybird books have been trans- university lecturers to make sure that
lated into over sixty languages. students started at the same level.
Unprecedented success came in the Those books of the 60s were so
1960s. In the course of his research popular they were even affection-
with a colleague, J McNally, William ately jeered at. Michael Crawford in
Murray had found that just 12 words ‘Some Mothers Do Have ‘Em’ had a
58
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