Books From My Childhood

I've been enjoying the Ladybird Tuesday posts which Anne writes on her Marmalade and Catmint blog so much that it got me thinking about a favourite Ladybird book I remember from my childhood.

It was called The Runaway and was about a rabbit that was locked inside a hutch. He was so envious of all the other wild rabbits playing in the sunshine that he decided to try and escape.

I couldn't remember the full story so I though I would try and track down a copy for a nostalgic look back. I was thrilled when I managed to find a copy on Ebay.

I loved the thought of all the Woodland animals gathering round a picnic laid out on a Toadstool Table.

As a child, I remember being frightened for the animals when the Mr. Fox came prowling.

This was my very favourite picture in the book, two rabbits snuggled up in the warren. I love the little lantern and all the root vegetables hung up. It looks so cosy.

This book is from the Ladybird 401 series, a collection of stories which were told in rhyme. It was first published in 1948 but was reissued again in the early 1970's.

You may remember me showing a photo of my very first school report on a recent post. It was written in 1974 when I was five years old. There was mention on there that I'd reached Indigo Book 2, but I had no idea which reading scheme this book was from. Mum from Mum's Simply Living Blog left a comment saying that the book was from the Through the Rainbow scheme, so I decided to try and find a copy. As I could read when I started school, I thought it would be interesting to see what I was reading towards the end of that first school year.

I found a copy for sale on Amazon. I have to say that I don't remember these books at all. I presume that the books went in order of the colours of the rainbow, starting with red as the easiest of the set and working the way right up to violet. I know there were three books in each colour.

What a lot of writing on each page, and the book is quite substantial, there's 63 pages.

There are some quite hard words too.

A list at the beginning of the book shows all the new words which are being introduced. It also states how many times each of these words are used in the book.

Enid Blyton was a favourite author when I was a child. I read so many of her books, but my favourites were The Five Find-Outers (And Dog) Mystery Series. I remember visiting the library many times to take back the book I'd had out on loan and borrow the next one in the series, I absolutely loved these stories.

One of my all time favourite books was The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I remember being very young when my mum read it to me for the first time. I have memories of sitting together by the fire and wanting the story to go on forever. I was fascinated by the tale of Mary Lennox arriving in Yorkshire from India after her parents had died. Together with her cousin, Colin, and her maid's brother, Dickon, she discovers a door which leads in to a secret garden. It's a really beautiful story about friendship and learning how to appreciate the simple things in life.

I read The Secret Garden to Eleanor, I wanted to share such a beautiful story with her just as my mum had shared it with me. She loved it too. Last Christmas, I stumbled upon Literary Emporium. They sell some great gifts for book lovers, and I knew as soon as I saw The Secret Garden Key Necklace that I had to buy it for Eleanor. The necklace has a key and rose charm on it, and it's presented on a print featuring a beautiful quote from the book, 'If you look the right way you can see that the whole world is a garden'.

How very true.