Peter and Jane
Encyclopedia
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
early readers
Basal reader
Basal readers are textbooks used to teach reading and associated skills to schoolchildren. Commonly called "reading books" or "readers" they are usually published as anthologies that combine previously published short stories, excerpts of longer narratives, and original works...
children's books
Children's literature
Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...
, published by the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
publishing company, Ladybird Books
Ladybird Books
Ladybird Books is a London-based publishing company, trading as a stand-alone imprint within the Penguin Group of companies. The Ladybird imprint publishes mass-market children's books.-History:...
. The series are also often referred to as Peter and Jane, the names of the main characters.
The first book in the series, Ladybird series 641, was published in 1964, and the series was completed by the first publication of the 36th book in 1967. Over 80 million books in the series have been sold worldwide, and the books remain in print in 2006.
The books were designed as materials for teaching a small child to learn to read, using a system of key phrases and words devised by teacher William Murray
William Murray
-Nobility:*William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield , British jurist*William Murray, 4th Earl of Mansfield and Mansfield , British nobleman*William Murray, 8th Earl of Mansfield and Mansfield -Nobility:*William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield (1705–1793), British jurist*William Murray, 4th Earl of...
. Murray was an educational adviser at a borstal
Borstal
A borstal was a type of youth prison in the United Kingdom, run by the Prison Service and intended to reform seriously delinquent young people. The word is sometimes used loosely to apply to other kinds of youth institution or reformatory, such as Approved Schools and Detention Centres. The court...
and later headmaster of a "school for the educationally subnormal" in Cheltenham
Cheltenham
Cheltenham , also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a large spa town and borough in Gloucestershire, on the edge of the Cotswolds in the South-West region of England. It is the home of the flagship race of British steeplechase horse racing, the Gold Cup, the main event of the Cheltenham Festival held...
. From research undertaken in the 1950s by Murray with Professor Joe McNally, an educational psychologist
Educational psychologist
An educational psychologist is a psychologist with a Master’s degree in Educational psychology An educational psychologist (many countries use this term to signify those who provide services to students, their teachers, and families while other countries use this term to signify academic training...
at Manchester University, Murray realised that only 12 words account for ¼, 100 words account for ½, and 300 words account for ¾, of the words used in normal speaking, reading and writing in the English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
.
Starting with book 1a, a budding reader of primary school age, from 3 to 5 year old, is introduced to brother and sister Peter and Jane, their dog Pat, their Mummy and Daddy, and their home, toys, playground, the beach, shops, buses and trains, and so on. The first book uses the 12 key words which are used repeatedly ("Here is Peter", "Peter is here", "Here is Jane", "Jane is here", "I like Peter", "I like Jane"). Additional words are introduced gradually, page by page, to expand the reader's reading vocabulary, with the new words on each page set out in a footnote. The reader can consolidate their learning with books 1b, or practise writing in book 1c, all with the same vocabulary; or progress to book 2a (and 2b and 2c), and so on, with 12 sets of three books in all.
All of the books are small, thin hardback volumes with 56 pages, measuring 112×170 mm. Each book has text on a left page and an illustration on the facing right page, drawn by artists Harry Wingfield
Harry Wingfield
John Henry "Harry" Wingfield was an English illustrator, best known for his drawings that illustrated the Ladybird Books Key Words Reading Scheme in the 1960s through to the 1980s,...
, Martin Aitchison
Martin Aitchison
Martin Aitchison was an illustrator for the Eagle comic from 1952 to 1963, and then one of the main illustrators for Ladybird Books from 1963 to 1990....
, Frank Hampson, Robert Ayton and John Berry
John Berry
Sir John Berry was an English naval officer of the Royal Navy, and was in 1675 the captain of the annual convoy to Newfoundland that took place during the years of the colony's founding....
. The illustrations vary in style from books to book, depending on artist, but Peter and Jane are recognisable throughout. The clear sans serif typeface
Typeface
In typography, a typeface is the artistic representation or interpretation of characters; it is the way the type looks. Each type is designed and there are thousands of different typefaces in existence, with new ones being developed constantly....
used in the books starts at a large size and gradually becomes smaller as the reader progresses through the series. The sentence structure also becomes gradually more complex.
The books were first published in 1964, with a firmly 1950s feel to the illustrations provided by the furniture and clothing depicted, and the social context reflecting the life of a white, middle-class family. The books were revised and updated in 1970, and again in the late 1970s, to reflect changes in fashions and in social attitudes. For example, golliwogs were airbrushed out; Daddy takes a more active domestic role; and Jane moved out of skirts and dresses into jeans, and abandoned her dolly for rollerskates. However, it remains notable how often Peter goes out to help Daddy, or actively plays with a ball, for example, while Jane stays at home to help Mummy, passively watches Peter, or plays with her doll.
Few changes have been made to the books since the 1970s, and they may be considered a source of social history
Social history
Social history, often called the new social history, is a branch of History that includes history of ordinary people and their strategies of coping with life. In its "golden age" it was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in history departments...
. The books make use of the whole word or "look and say" technique which is generally considered outmoded as a method of reading education
Reading education
Reading education is the process by which individuals are taught to derive meaning from text.Government-funded scientific research on reading and reading instruction began in the U.S. in the 1960s. In the 1970s and 1980s, researchers began publishing findings based on converging evidence from...
when not used in conjunction with phonics
Phonics
Phonics refers to a method for teaching speakers of English to read and write that language. Phonics involves teaching how to connect the sounds of spoken English with letters or groups of letters and teaching them to blend the sounds of letters together to produce approximate pronunciations...
. Nevertheless, the books remain on sale in 2006, priced relatively cheaply at around £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
2.50 per book.
In some Asian countries, particularly those which are also part of the British Commonwealth, the books are still widely used as a teaching aid in nurseries, preschools and kindergartens.
See also
- Dick and JaneDick and JaneDick and Jane were the main characters in popular basal readers written by William S. Gray and Zerna Sharp and published by Scott Foresman, that were used to teach children to read from the 1930s through to the 1970s in the United States...
- Janet and JohnJanet and JohnJanet and John are the main characters in a series of reading books for children aged 4–7 years.-Origin:Originally, these stories were published by Row Peterson and Company as the Alice and Jerry books in the USA....
- Harry WingfieldHarry WingfieldJohn Henry "Harry" Wingfield was an English illustrator, best known for his drawings that illustrated the Ladybird Books Key Words Reading Scheme in the 1960s through to the 1980s,...