Ladybird began publishing books in other formats in 1980. Most of the remaining titles in the classic format were withdrawn in 1999 when their printing facility in Loughborough closed. Even the next reading schemes avoid looking too closely at the family – Puddle Lane is vaguely set in fantasy distant past, late-Victorian England with Gruffles and Griffles . The children involved are always playing out on the street. The adults are neighbours or The Magician. The cats – Tim and Tessa – seem to be raised by a single-mother and even the parents of the mice are absent for most of the series. The Sandlewood Girl and Iron Boy are parentless and are sort-of adopted at the end. As well as the Key Words, the stories gradually introduce phonically levelled vocabulary. This combined approach of Key Words and phonics sets children up to become fluent readers and supports the way that they learn to read in school. More about the stories Ayton’s CV serves as a pattern for the other freelance illustrators who were responsible for turning Ladybird into a global phenomenon during the 1960s. John Berry designed the Tiger in Your Tank logo for Esso before producing the People at Work series for Ladybird, which gives an unparalleled account of the social landscape of late-industrial Britain, one filled with miners, potters and engine drivers. Then there’s Frank Hampson, creator of the Eagle’s Dan Dare, who illustrated that quintessential Ladybird series, Kings and Queens of England. Most distinguished of all was CF Tunnicliffe RA, the renowned wildlife illustrator who produced the lyrical What to Look For (in Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn) series.

And that’s just the books. The ‘childen’ will, of course, be even older since they were meant to be between 5 and 10 years old when they were created, in 1964. This will be a worrying thought for most of us Brits aged between 30 and 45 (and a good many younger) who will remember Peter and Jane as childhood aquaintances who where charged with the task of teaching us to read.

The first books were issued in 1964. Ladybird employed a number of different artists to bring to life Murray’s text: Harry Wingfield , Martin Aitchison, Frank Hampson, Robert Ayton and John Berry. These artists all had very different painting styles (Aitchison and Frank Hampson had previously worked on the classic comics The Eagle and The Marvel) but the brief was to produce appealing, naturalistic artwork and obviously the main characters, Peter and Jane, had to be recognisable throughout. a b joint venture with Amperwelle Studio München Programmanbietergesellschaft, Axel Springer AG, Burda, Studio Gong, m.b.t. Mediengesellschaft der bayerischen Tageszeitungen für Kabelkommunikation, Medienpool and Radio Bavaria Rundfunkprogrammgesellschaft. This is reassuring and confidence building for the young reader – but doesn’t make for punchy prose or dynamic dialogue. Here’s an example of chit chat in the P & J household:

Skelton, C. (1997). Revisiting gender issues in reading schemes. Education 3-13, 25(1), 37–43. Chicago 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. Perhaps there was an awareness even then that these idyllic domestic tableaux were unreal and presented a world that had never existed. Or is it that those years, between the mid-sixties and early seventies saw exceptionally drama tic social change for families?Spoof Ladybird books target adult market". BBC News Online. 12 October 2015 . Retrieved 12 October 2015. Based on Head teacher William Murray’s system of teaching reading using key phrases and words, apparently over 80 million of us have learnt to read with them. And some of the books are still in print; I still see them for sale in my local bookshop. Whiting, D. S. (1981). "Sex Role Stereotyping and Ladybird Books". In Forum for the Discussion of New Trends in Education (Vol. 23, No. 3, pp. 84–85). Chicago

By August 1914, Wills & Hepworth had published their first children's books, under the Ladybird imprint. [1] From the beginning, the company was identified by a ladybird logo, at first with open wings, but eventually changed to the more familiar closed-wing ladybird in the late 1950s. The ladybird logo has since undergone several redesigns, the latest of which was launched in 2006. That’s the 1960s version of Peter and Jane . However, in 1970, only 6 years after first publication, Ladybird decided that the books needed some updating. Goodbye sweetshop I wonder if the original target audience were aware of the nostalgic, retrospective feel to the Peter and Jane books when they first came out? This, I think, is one of the most interesting aspects of this series, because you can immediately see the point. The softly luminous, idealised pictures of Peter and Jane’s home life and activities have their roots firmly in the 1950s and before. Not to be outdone, they had Hazeley and Morris create a series of spoof Ladybird books just for Penguin. Depressing comedy

The Key Words Reading scheme – or “Peter and Jane” books

The craftsmanship of these men, along with that of Berry, Harry Wingfield and Robert Lumley, is all the more remarkable because they worked in an analogue age when a mistake meant starting again. “If my students could draw like that today I’d be over the moon,” says co-curator of the De La Warr exhibition Lawrence Zeegen, dean of the School of Design at the London College of Communication, before adding candidly, “actually, if I could draw like that I’d be over the moon”. Two more characters, Simon and John, were introduced further into the series, as the books developed in length and detail to become targeted at growing children who had developed further reading skills. These two characters are cousins of Peter and Jane.