M.E. Gagg

Do kids today lay the table, wash up, help Mummy make the bed, dust, polish, do some cooking, hang out the washing, feed the animals, sweep the floor, pick flowers, plant bulbs, clean shoes while Daddy smokes a piper, weed the garden, carry logs, pick apples, dig potatoes, clean the car while Daddy smokes his pipe, mend the fence, paint the gate, rake the leaves, sweep the paths, tidy the shed while daddy smokes his pipe, and make a bonfire. This may happen on another planet. Kids these days jusT play about with iphones as far as I can see.… (más)

Ladybird's The Zoo includes all the animals you would expect to find.
Like all Ladybird books, the sentences and pictures match to help early readers work out the words for themselves.
I love the typeface, which reminds me of the way a school teacher would write words on the blackboard when I was little. But, what makes these books so special is the illustrations; which are filled with so much detail that your eyes simply melt into the scenery, recording every detail to memory that will last the rest of your life.
I have opened books that I have not seen for over forty years and still remember the pictures as if I had only viewed them yesterday.
No wonder these books have so many collectors eager to recapture a little of the nostalgia of their youth.
What better book to teach your own children to read!

Review of the 1960 edition, with illustrations by Barry Driscoll.… (más)