How the ‘racist’ Janet and John books taught my daughter to read
WHEN my daughter started school, she brought home her first reading book. Bronwyn was excited, but could not make head or tail of the confection of words. I spoke to her headmistress the following day, asking how my daughter was expected to pick up hard words without any prior practice in pronunciation. I was told this was the new standard. I then asked about the Janet and John Ladybird series — and was informed they had been withdrawn as New Labour had declared them to be racist. So I did what any proud dad would do: with Amazon’s help, I was able to amass the whole Ladybird series and began teaching my daughter to read myself. It is telling that Bronwyn excelled at reading, was always top of her class and has just started her second year at university studying to be a lawyer. I am still waiting for the signs of trauma from having been raised on the ‘racist’ Janet and John books, plus Noddy, especially given the fact we are a mixedrace family.
D. TURNER, Ipswich, Suffolk.
WHEN I started school in the Forties, it was expected that our parents would have helped us to get a basic grasp of reading, writing and numbers. So I don’t understand why it is no longer thought to be incumbent upon parents to try to teach their children these fundamentals and not rely on TV and iPads. ALAN STACKMAN,
Calne, Wilts.
I WAS pleasantly surprised to see the letter from David Patterson suggesting that children who are befuddled by a difficult new word should look it up in a dictionary. The previous day, my nineyear-old granddaughter had brought home a dictionary given to all year four pupils in her school by the local Rotary Club.
KEN FINCH, Ipswich.