childrens books – Retro from Scratch

Instagram can be a wonderful thing! As you know my business is all about recycling and reducing waste. So when I saw on Instagram last month, that Linzi Loves Books was throwing away some of her Ladybird Book collection – I was quick to ask if I could have her old covers.

A little note from Linzi with many wonderful covers which so many of us would have read when we were little

I’ve been following Linzi for some time on IG and she has thousands of Ladybird Books in her collection now, so much so she can afford to get rid of doubles, and the ones that are so damaged they’re not worth anything. (To collectors at least…)

She had removed the original papers from the books to use for paper crafts but the covers were destined for the bin. She didn’t know if I would be able to save any, but we both thought it was worth a try, so I paid the postage and she kindly sent them over.

Amazingly there were very few that I had to get rid of. The rest, although well loved, will make fantastic notebooks and are available to buy from my online shop, now.

Some of them needed a bit more love than others. For example this Little Red Hen book had an unfortunate sticker on the front cover (often the cause of damage for old ladybird books – charity shops are a nightmare!) however I was overjoyed at successfully removing it!

Let’s face it, we all love Ladybird Books and I think Lawrence Zeegan, author of Ladybird by Design, explains it perfectly: “A Ladybird book evokes strong feelings; deep-rooted memories of a time and a place when a simply designed and cheaply produced book could resonate across generations of readers.”

These books have passed through many generations, and it’s a lovely thought to know they can get a new lease of life as a notebook. As they are a little extra worn and don’t have their original pages, they are just £4 each. (Instead of £6) I have also added a drop down menu on the shop listing if you would like to add metal book corners for an additional £1.

They can be purchased with any of the upgrades from my shop; so they could come with lines, or as an address book, a diary etc.. just add the upgrade to your basket before you checkout.

There are so many things you can make with vintage book paper…

And if you fancy a bit of recycling yourself, you can purchase bundles of leftover paper from my notebooks to make all sorts of wonderful things. I hope to show you some craft ideas in future blogs -watch this space!

I am sure that we all have at least one book from our childhood that we have fond memories of, and the wonderful thing about children’s books is that they can be enjoyed by all ages.

As I work with children’s books everyday I wanted to share with you some of my favourites.

1. Danny the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl

It is probably of no surprise that Roald Dahl was going to feature in my top 5, and rightly so. Roald Dahl was an amazing author. I have fond memories of reading this book at Chigwell Row School. I think I must have been 8 years old. I was totally gripped by the story. I was fascinated about Danny driving his dad’s car and catching pheasants with raisins!

2. Mouse Tales by Arnold Lobel – ‘The Journey’

This is a short story about a mouse that wanted to visit his mother, so he bought a car and drove it until it broke, so then he bought some roller skates and rolled as far as he could until the wheels fell off. He then buys boots, some trainers and eventually has to walk barefoot until his feet are too sore – so he buys some new feet! As you can imagine at the age of 6 or 7 I found this hilarious! Considering it was written in the Psychadelic Era (1972) it makes perfect sense!

3. The Story of the Little Mole who knew it was None of his Business by Werner Holzwarth / Wolf Erlbruch

I first came across this book whilst on holiday in the Lake District, only a few years ago, despite it being first published in 1989. Basically a mole pokes his head out of the ground and a poo lands on top of his head! So he then asks a lot of animals if they were the culprits, each of them then giving the mole a sample to show they were not to blame! Eventually he realises it was a dog and gets his own back! This book had me in tears of laughter in what was, a very quiet book shop!

4. A Bit Lost by Chris Haughton

This comes in a gorgeous board version and I just adore Chris’ artwork. In my previous job running a museum, this book featured in one of my lesson plans for my monthly toddler groups. A baby owl falls out of a tree and starts to look for his mummy. A similar format to the mole story, a friendly but not very clever squirrel tries to help the baby owl by introducing him to a variety of woodland animals until he eventually does find his mummy, all thanks to a frog.

5. ‘Well-Loved Tales’ Sleeping Beauty retold by Vera Southgate

In particular this 1970s version illustrated by Eric Winter. There is one picture in this book that stuck in my memory and it’s not because it’s beautiful, far from it! Although I should add that the illustrations are absolutely amazing, the detail is something else!

Anyway, on page 31 there is a picture of a prince trying to make his way through the rose thorns and in his failed attempt, is covered in cuts and is bleeding. I don’t know why I remembered this picture so vividly but all I can think of it must have been quite a shock to see such a graphic image (with blood) in a children’s book.

Nevertheless I love a fairytale and I do remember recreating this as a play in the reading room at my infant school and also mum making me a Sleeping Beauty birthday cake, so Princess Aurora was clearly my favourite!

I thoroughly recommend re-reading your favourite children’s books – it has bought back such happy memories for me, and I’ve had a good laugh too!

Tag: childrens books

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