Ladybird Key Words with Peter and Jane 36 Books Box Set (HB)

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This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Ladybird books were originally conceived in 1915 by a Loughborough company called Wills & Hepworth. Their ownership has changed over the years, moving to the Pearson group in 1972 and then absorbed by the publishing behemoth, Penguin in 1999. But in her Telegraph Magazine article of a couple of years ago, Cressida Connolly makes a point that is easily forgotten. She describes these books as ‘radical’- which may initally seem an unlikely choice of adjective. These books were, she states,

From the late 19 60s on wards the new books that were published no longer focus on family life. Either non-fiction or fairy-tales or tales of animals (Hannibal the Hamster) or fruit and veg! (The Garden Gang) or science fiction. Armitstead, Claire (22 September 2015). "The flyaway success of the Ladybird art prank". The Guardian . Retrieved 30 December 2015.What he means by this is that you can easily teach a child that C A T = cat, but that’s not going to help the child read the word “caught” and that this child might then get demoralised. It’s as if, from the 1970s the cosy Peter and Jane family was no longer felt to be relevant, comfortable territory. But this was Ladybird – safe, national treasure – who could hardly bring out their own Ladybird version of “Jenny lives with Eric and Martin”.

And she’s right. Her satire – a combination of original painting and mixed media – perfectly encapsulates the conceptual vacancy that is, unfortunately, at the heart of many of our arts institutions. She explains: The good news is, if you want to acquire a set of these books to help a child to read, it doesn’t matter which version you get – just go for the cheapest. The text is just about the same throughout the versions. It is only the artwork, layout and design that change.If you want to collect a particular version or all the different versions, then read the section below: ‘How can I tell the difference between the different versions?’. Peter and Jane and social history: Why were the books revised? The books were designed as materials for teaching a small child to learn to read, using a system of key phrases and words devised by teacher William Murray. Murray was an educational adviser at a borstal and later headmaster of a "school for the educationally subnormal" in Cheltenham. From research undertaken in the 1950s by Murray with Professor Joe McNally, an educational psychologist at the University of Manchester, Murray realised that only 12 words account for a quarter of the vocabulary used in normal speaking, reading and writing in the English language, 100 words for half, and 300 words for three-quarters.Ladybird drops gender-specific children's book titles". BBC News. 21 November 2014 . Retrieved 24 November 2014. This change was considered so imp ortant that even Murray’s text – so carefully wor ded and so rarely tampered with – was adapted in the revised books. ) Gani, Aisha (12 October 2015). "Ladybird books introduce Peter and Jane to hipsters and hangovers". The Guardian . Retrieved 30 December 2015. The Key Words with Peter and Jane books work because each of the key words is introduced gradually and repeated frequently. This builds confidence in children when they recognise these key words on sight (also known as the 'look and say' method of learning). Examples of key words are: the, one, two, he.

I have managed to make a mistake in laying the books out for this photo. In the 1B row I have switched over the original version and the ‘first revision’ version. Tut tut. (I should also mention that book 2b is a bit of an anomaly to my neat classification. It has the front cover to classify it as a ‘First Revision’ book, but inside it has the split layout design of the late 70s books and must have been produced on the cusp of the revision period). Since then the 3rd version has been tinkered with; the boards were issued with a laminated finish from about 1983 and recent years have seen other cosmetic changes to the covers – for example to incorporate the spotty strip on the spine that was a feature of Ladybird books from the end of the 1990s. But to this day the contents remains much the same as it was in 1979.The stories are fun and engaging, and Peter and Jane’s world represents life in modern Britain. From swimming to trips to the park, beach clean-ups to a street party, Peter and Jane’s antics will feel familiar and keep children entertained. The detailed illustrations support children’s learning as the pictures reflect the stories and the Key Words in the book. What to expect inside the books So far I’ve been referring to these books as thought there were only one versions – the 1960s version. However, in 1970, only 6 years after first publication, Ladybird decided that the books needed some up-dating. joint venture with Leonine Holding, The Walt Disney Company, Bauer Media Group and Hubert Burda Media.

Some changes are fairly subtle: Here are the two shop windows of the 60s and 70s versions. Spot the difference.For one reason or another, people seem to mix up the characters ‘Janet and John’ with ‘Peter and Jane’. ( I think the late lamented Terry Wogan had a hand in adding to the confusion). You see the pictures on the right? Not Ladybird. The two children in the best-known Ladybird reading scheme were Peter and Jane. I just thought I’d clear that up from the start. There are extra resources available to support you and your child as you read Key Words with Peter and Jane. In the 1960s, Ladybird produced the Learnabout series of non-fiction (informational) books, some of which were used by adults as well as children. The first book in the series, Ladybird series 641, was published in 1964, and the series was completed by the first publication of the 36th book in 1967. Over 80 million books in the series have been sold worldwide, and the books remain in print in 2012.