23 Comments

I read these books as a kid and they scarred me - now I know why.

I haven’t laughed so hard in a long time. Thank you for that!

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Thanks Barbara! Nice to know you enjoyed it. Rereading these was one of many fun parts of researching my novel 1983.

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I love all of your posts but you outdid yourself with this one. I am an avid (slow) reader and a late-in-life librarian - I am sure my colleagues will enjoy it as well.

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Loved this piece! I still have most of them too. Have you got The Old Woman and her Pig? Really ramps the insanity/psychedelic levels up to the max.

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Thanks Estelle. That’s one of the few I haven’t got! But I remember reading it…

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I must find this now.

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Brilliant! This is why you read books mindfully; because you consider everything you read with such attention! I on the other hand who read at least 4 books a week, couldn’t tell you half an hour later what I’d just read, it just needs to pass my eyes and escape me from raging anxiety before I go to sleep.

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What a fascinating analysis. And you are absolutely right about the way the internet is ruining reading and victim blaming about it.

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Thanks Alexandra!

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I loved the comment about the Boris Johnson lookalike kid. Hilarious.

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Brilliant! Loved this :D

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Thanks Kay!

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Reading through, chin on palm, smiling like an idiot. Thankful

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Thanks Patris!

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I loved these books. Such great memories. Thank you

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Tom, your article really made my day. Ladybird books were wonderful. I credit them with encouraging my love of art. The illustrations were just magical. I still have a few in a cupboard. Time to dig them out and have a read, I think.

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Tom, you’ve really outdone yourself here! As a New Yorker, i never had these books as a child so i thoroughly enjoyed seeing them through your eyes! So thankful for making me chuckle on a Sunday while an orange madman rages across our land. Can you send us a fox to eat him? Thanks, Cathy

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Will do! Thanks Cathy!

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I never, ever saw the Big Bad Wolf as Pan, not before this deconstruction.

Thank you, I think.

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Wonderful. A friend has just scoured the net to re-build her collection of these originals. Part of childhood, as you say. Really enjoyed reading this commentary!

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can I use that image? also if I just share the link will it be accessible?

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Which image do you mean? There are several. And, yes, it will be!

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Done...I will read it and comment if that's okay?

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