Ladybird Tuesday - A Second Ladybird Key Words Picture Dictionary and Spelling Book

Yay, we're back!

A Second Ladybird Key Words Picture Dictionary and Spelling Book by J McNally with illustrations by Eric Winter, published in 1966.  McNally along with William Murray is the co-author of Ladybird's Key Words Reading Scheme which is still in publication today.

vintage children's books, ladybird






"Some words in our language are used much more frequently than others.  Three hundred of the most frequently used words make up about three-quarters of the total number of those used in juvenile reading. "










Based on the simple concept that if children are taught the most frequently occurring words in the English language it is easier for them to learn to read, the Key Words Picture Dictionary presents all three hundred key words in a series of illustrated sentences.  As below:

Vintage Children's books Ladybird

Vintage children's books, Ladybird Tuesday

Children are expected to recognise these key words on sight, also known as the "look and say" method of learning.  The illustrations of course reinforce this style of learning.

My daughter's school which teaches children to read using a synthetic phonics approach.  Excellently I might add.  Also uses the 'look and say' method to teach these key words.  The approach seems imminently sensible considering that the English language is not phonetic.
Vintage children's books, Ladybird Tuesday

This post is part of Ladybird Tuesday started on the Being Mrs C blog, take a look at her posts here.

And the rest of Mrs Fox's Ladybird Tuesday posts are here and if you have a collection of Ladybird books, please do feel free to join in.


1 comment

  1. Finally catching up with some of the old comments you've left on my blog and linking them up to the Ladybird Tuesday index page. Somehow I'd never even heard of this series - do love it though!

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