Tuesday 25 February 2014

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.

34 comments:

  1. My favourite Ladybird book was "Piggly Plays Truant" I read it to my children too. I then lost it and so didn't read it to my grandchildren ( they are too old to appreciate it now at 22,19 and 8!)
    I'm trying to get a list of my favourite ten books together and keep changing my mind!
    Gill

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    1. Piggly Plays Truant is one of the rhyming stories from the same series as The Runaway, they're such lovely little tales. I can understand why you would keep changing your mind when trying to make a list of your favourite ten books, it must be so hard to do given the choice.

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  2. I vaguely remember the Through the rainbow books, if not the ones I used at school were very similar. I was always an Enid Blyton girl myself. I have a stack of her books upstairs still which I flick through from time to time.

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    1. It's such a shame that Enid Blyton went out of favour, generations were brought up on her stories and I don't think they did us any harm. I wish I still had all my old books, I haven't got one of them.

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  3. What a lovely trip down memory lane. The Secret Garden is one of my daughters favourites. I still have quite a few ladybird books hidden away somewhere that my son's had when they were little and they will be passed on one day when one of them has their own family, but I think that will be sometime off yet.

    Mitzi

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    1. I had some beautiful books as a child, they were all in fantastic condition as we were taught how to respect and look after them. I passed most of them on to my younger cousin, though I wish I'd kept hold of them all now.

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  4. Hello Jo,

    Mention of these childhood favourites of yours has, of course, instantly transported us back through the decades.

    We can remember collecting Ladybird books although do not possess a single copy now, unfortunately. We are sure that these must be quite collectable these days. And yes, Enid Blyton was part of the staple reading diet although we had different favourites!! Indeed, she must have been a phenomenally successful and influential writer in her day as we recently came across copies of her works translated into Spanish. What girls in South America made of Mallory Towers we have no idea!!!

    Thank you for your comment on our blog to which we have made reply.

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    1. Ladybird books are very collectable now, there are various posts on them in Blogland. I remember having lots of them as a child, but they got passed on to another family member. Ha ha, yes, I can see Mallory Towers being a big hit in South America, or not.

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    2. I remember Janet and John - and not for the exciting plot! lol!

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    3. I remember Janet and John too, perhaps more because I had an older brother and sister rather than reading the books myself though. I think they were going out of favour by the time I was born.

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  5. The Secret Garden is one of my very favorite books. I love it so much! I'm so interested in these Ladybird Books, they seem to have been a really important part of childhood for people of a certain age. I would have enjoyed this one too; I always liked books about animals. I remember particularly liking it when an animal was depicted with its tongue sticking out (not in a mean way, just showing when laughing or smiling, I think). I don't know why! I just thought it was cute, I guess. I remember having readers in school that were in a color-based series but they were different from yours. I think they were called "SRA" but I have no idea what the letters stood for!

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    1. It's one of my favourite books too, it's such a lovely story. Anyone born in the 70's or growing up in the 70's would have had Ladybird books. This series of books were all about animals, you would have enjoyed them. I'm quite keen to build up a bit of a collection now, though some of the books can be quite expensive. Charity shops have grown wise to people collecting them so you don't find them in there anymore. It's such a shame that I don't still have my childhood collection.

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  6. What a delightful post, which brings back plenty of fond but rather faded childhood memories. Flighty xx

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    1. Thank you. Looking back on the books my older brother read, they were somewhat different to those I chose. I remember lots of Rupert the Bear annuals in his collection from when he was young, though I can't think of many more books he collected.

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  7. What a lovely present for Eleanor. My favourite Enid Blyton books were the Famous Five books.
    Love from Mum
    xx

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    1. I couldn't resist the necklace when I saw it, I just thought it was lovely. I loved the Famous Five books too. Mick was a Secret Seven reading, I think you either liked one or the other.

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  8. Gorgeous necklace, what a perfect present.

    It was Janet and John books when I started school and some of my favourites were The Milly Molly Mandy Stories. My grandaughter is enjoying the Mallory Towers books at the moment, she is 10. We have a few Famous Five books in the loft that belonged to my hubby, they were his favourites.

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    1. Thank you, Eleanor liked it. I remember the Milly Molly Mandy stories, though I can't remember reading many of them. I enjoyed the Mallory Towers books, they always made me want to go to boarding school.

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  9. I don't remember those rainbow books ... but then I am a good bit older than you are - and in Scotland too. I think we read Janet and John but can't remember for sure. We've got a few Ladybird books in our attic from when our girls were wee. Their favourite story was about the little hen who asked all her animal/bird friends to help her make bread. I think it was called "The Little Red Hen" but that might be nonsense! I feel an Amazon search coming on! :o)

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    1. I think schools changed the reading schemes they used fairly often. I remember the Little Red Hen title but I don't remember the story, I remember Chicken Licken though who thought the sky was falling down.

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  10. Those Ladybird books look fab and I'm sure we never had them here in Oz. Think I showed a couple of my fabourite books some time ago, from my childhood. I also love the Secret Garden and have read it quite a few times. Also purchased it for my daughter and granddaughter over the years.
    I'm sure my love of UK comes from that and the Enid Blyton books. Remember one with an attic bedroom with gingham curtains which always stuck in my mind and was an idyllic dream. Eleanor is one lucky girl to have a Mum like you. Take care.

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    1. I think most people around my age will have had Ladybird books in their childhood, there was such a huge range of titles, both fiction and non fiction, and they were reasonably priced too. Books can conjure up such wonderful images, I think all the cottages in Enid Blyton books had gingham curtains at the window. What a lovely thing to say, thank you so much.

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  11. Thank you for bringing back such powerful memories I had tears in my eyes.
    I too read through the rainbow and loved it when I could change to another colour!
    We would ask each other in class what colour they were on.
    Great post, cheers
    Valentine

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    1. I can't seem to remember reading the Through The Rainbow series, but I must have done as it says so on my school report. They can't have left a very big impression on me. I was an avid reader as a child, I absolutely loved books.

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  12. I used to love Enid Blyton and remember hating my English teacher when she told me to stop reading such drivel and gave me a list of classic books to read such as Black Beauty! I was only nine!! I let the boys read whatever they want although we do use Oxford Reading Tree books to start them all off on. They can get whatever they want from the library, it's all about enjoyment!

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    1. I agree, you'll never instil a love of reading in anyone if they're forced to read things they don't like. I always had loads of different kinds of books available for both Daniel and Eleanor, but neither of them are passionate readers.

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  13. I never read a lot of Enid Blyton, Mikayla liked Noddy when she was little, so we have some of those books. I remember reading 'The secret garden' it is good, the necklace is lovely.

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    1. I must have gone through most of Enid Blyton's books when I was young, I loved them. Eleanor loves the necklace, I thought is was so pretty when I saw it. I hoped it would remind her of the times we sat and read together.

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  14. I know Kindles and the like are supposed to be 'good things' but I worry for our children's children who will perhaps never have memories like these that unite us down the generations. My mother knew her great great grandfather and he used to read to her from books that had been his when he was young ... Dickens being a great favourite apparently. The texts change but the activity didn't, until now :(

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    1. I've always said that I wouldn't have a Kindle, but after buying Mick a tablet for Christmas, I've changed my mind. I think there's room for both ereaders and books, but I agree that Children should have the pleasure of reading from actual books. I just can't imagine a child's bedtime without the turning of a book's pages and looking at the wonderful pictures. What a wonderful memory for your mother, having her great great grandfather reading to her.

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  15. Think I may have left this comment twice! I think I missed this post last week. In fact I missed lots because we were so busy prepping for this week. I'm glad you managed to track down the book. It looks great and is one I'm not familiar with. I have about a hundred or so of the old ladybirds and love them. They will of course one day be passed on to the grandchildren probably for them to sell on!!

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    1. I often wonder what Daniel and Eleanor will do with everything they've been given over the years. They've both got lots of old coins which my dad has passed on to them, as well as other bits and pieces. I wonder if they really are interested in them or if they'll eventually get sold. This Ladybird book is one I remember fondly from my childhood so it's nice to have a copy again.

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  16. I hope all those animals stayed safe with Mr Fox on the prowl!
    I love the bracelet you bought for Eleanor, I'm going to investigate that site. S recently watched a film version of that book and she loved it.
    Lisa x

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    1. That would be telling, I can't give the story away. The Literary Emporium is full of beautiful things for book lovers, I could spend a fortune there. We've seen the film of The Secret Garden, I love that too, but not as much as the book.

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