Ladybird Tuesday - Stories of Special Days and Customs

You may have noticed my absence from Ladybird Tuesday lately. This wasn't because I had lost interest. The truth was that I'd actually worked my way through my meagre collection of Ladybird books, and hadn't had the opportunity to search for any more! I've been finding the really vintage ones that I love harder and harder to track down, and when I did find them I couldn't really justify the cost.

And then at the weekend, this happened:

We were visiting my husband's parents and they had retrieved three boxes of old books from their loft for him to go through. Well, as you can imagine, I was in Ladybird book heaven. I was so excited to see books that went with books I already had, and so pleased to find so many books that Harry will be able to read and enjoy now and that both children will be able to read and refer to as they grow up.

It was so difficult to choose one to start with for this week. In the end I chose Stories of Special Days and Customs. It was published in 1972 and is from Series 644. This series only contains two books, and I wrote about the other one a few months back - The Stories of our Christmas Customs. I'm quite chuffed that I've managed to complete a series!

Stories of Special Days and Customs takes us through a variety of special days which are celebrated throughout the year. They are the occasions that we celebrate in this country and are mainly based around the Christian calender, but it also covers days like April Fools Day and Bonfire Night. It's actually a really good reference book to have around, as I really enjoy doing seasonal crafts and activities with the children.

A page is devoted to each special day, accompanied by a gorgeous picture. Some are of people celebrating the day itself, others are of some of the Gods and Goddesses or historical figures that are the reason for the celebration.

In the introduction, the book boldly states that the most important anniversary in the year is Christmas, although this may just be because they have inserted a plug for the Christmas Customs book. Once again the Ladybird book manages to present plenty of information in an easy to read and understand fashion.

I learned a great deal from reading this book, especially about how the pre-Christian festivals were adopted by the church. The children will learn about and celebrate a lot of these occasions at their school, and it will be nice to be able to share this book together at those times.

If you love Ladybird books, do pop over and visit Ladybird Tuesday, where Being Mrs C is assembling a really comprehensive catalogue of Ladybird books and reviews.

Below you can find links to all my Ladybird Tuesday book posts.

Snow White and Rose Red
Hansel and Gretel
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
The Three Little Pigs
The Old Woman and her Pig
Little Red Riding Hood
The Ugly Duckling
The Railway Children
A Little Princess
A First book of Aesop's Fables

A Ladybird Book about Knitting
More Things to Make - For Special Occasions
Easy to Make Puppets
Learning to Sew
Stamp Collecting
Tricks and Magic

Prehistoric Animals and Fossils
Dinosaurs
Stone Age Man in Britain
Great Civilisations - Crete
Charles Dickens
Nelson
Lives of the Great Composers Book 1
Lives of the Great Composers Book 2
The Story of Music

Plants and How They Grow
The Ladybird Book of the Night Sky
Sea and Air Mammals
The Farm

The Story of Nuclear Power
The Motor Car
How it Works - The Computer
How it Works - The Rocket
The Story of Ships
The Postman and the Postal Service
People at Work - The Nurse

Understanding Numbers
Talkabout Clothes
Going to School
Teaching Reading

Stories of Special Days and Customs
Christmas Customs

Girls and Boys - A Ladybird Book of Childhood