When I was a child I, like countless other children in the UK, read and owned a considerable number of Ladybird Books.
Ladybird Books was one of the best-known publishers of children’s books in Britain. They produced affordable, pocket-sized books that introduced whole generations of young readers to a wide range of subject matter, including original and well-known stories, history, science, nature and the world in general. Their aim was to make learning accessible, enjoyable and visually engaging, whether through reading schemes such as Peter and Jane or through their extensive range of non-fiction books.
Ladybird used some of Britain’s finest illustrators to produce the artwork for the books, which were packed with images full of detail, accuracy and warmth. They might show a medieval castle, a steam locomotive, a fairytale character, or simply an ordinary family kitchen, but the illustrations had a realism and beauty that made the subject matter extremely engaging and memorable, and they remain one of the defining features of the Ladybird Books series.
About ten years ago there was a documentary (The Ladybird Books Story: The Bugs that Got Britain Reading) produced and broadcast by BBC4 in the UK about the books and their legacy. The programme featured, amongst others, a lady by the name of Helen Day, who runs the wonderful Ladybird Fly Away Home website and has been a collector of not just the Ladybird books themselves, but also the history of the publisher and the writers and artists who made the books what they were.
In 2018 she was asked to produce an exhibition on the books, and The Wonderful World of the Ladybird Artists has been touring the country since then. It has been at Mansfield museum, which is less than an hour from me for the past few months, and I’ve been meaning to get along to it for a while (especially as it is only there until November). I finally got the opportunity to do so this past weekend.
The exhibition was a delight, full of fascinating information, and packed full of artwork, historical artifacts related to Ladybird Books, plus a huge number of the books themselves, including a reading corner with a range of title to brows and enjoy. The exhibition isn’t huge but I found it interesting enough to devour everything there and enjoyed a good couple of hours of happy nostalgia.
I don’t have any of my original Ladybird books (unless there are some squirreled away at my dad’s house still) but I do have a small collection that I have picked up in the past couple of decades – including some of the titles I originally owned, plus a bunch of others. They’re still an absolute delight to look at and the artwork is gorgeous, enriched by the fact it depicts a world as it was fifty years ago and beyond. I’m not someone who thinks everything was better in the “good old days” – I think most things were worse – but some things are to be treasured. Ladybird Books are one of them.
Samsung Galaxy S25+
Taken on 24 October 2026
