‘A taste of earth and sunshine’
ELDERFLOWER blooms and briar roses frame a ripened wheat field. In the distance, a farmer in orange overalls is cutting corn. Two swallows swoop across the page, disturbing a meadow brown butterfly. Fluffy clouds and a blue sky provide a backdrop for the words What to Look For in Summer: a Ladybird Nature Book. Inside my edition is an inscription: ‘To Christopher, with love from Mummy, July 1963.’ No doubt this was Christopher’s first field guide, one of a quartet of Ladybird books that have guided millions of children —and adults—through the British seasons since the series first appeared in 1959.
The four
