There are many different approaches, repetitive patterns, picture cues, grammatical context and the 'shape of words' sometimes works better for some children. Our Non-Fiction Range includes: Academic, Photography, Audio books, Business, Cook Books, CraftBooks, Health and Fitness Books, Mind, Body, Spirit (Tarot). So it is interesting to look through the original and revised versions of the books to try to understand what it was about the 1960s books that was deemed unacceptable in the 1970s.

For further information about your statutory rights, contact your local authority Trading Standards department or consumer advice center (for example the Citizen's Advice Bureau if you are in the UK).

Amongsy all this parody, one piece that is attracting attention and no little controversy is Miriam Elia’s recent book: ‘We Go the the Gallery’. The artwork needed to be instructive as well as illustrative, regardless of whether the reader was learning to sew, discovering nuclear power or taking up coarse fishing.

I remember at school writing essays about what the future would be like in the year 2000, and I remember writing a letter which was pretending to be from my own child who was on a moon base back to me, because you were so sure that by 2000 it was going to be like a Ladybird book.

This builds confidence in children when they recognise these key words on sight (also known as the 'look and say' method of learning). I taught my 2 sons with the same method and they too could read very well before starting school and had reading ages of 7 1/2years and 8 years.

On one page, an Elizabethan merchant gloats over a chest of gold; on the next, the Cavaliers skip with merriment during a stroll in the grounds of their stately home. Certainly through the 1960s we weren't well travelled, we had a particular view of our place, our standing in the world, we had won the Second World War, and the British Empire was still fairly intact," says Prof Zeegan.Key Words with Peter and Jane is a trusted series that has taught generations of children to read by introducing and repeating 300 high-frequency Key Words. Few changes have been made to the books since the 1970s, and they may be considered a source of social history.