Ladybird colouring books from PRH Children's

Penguin Random House Children’s is publishing two colouring books featuring images from classic Ladybird titles from the 1950s-70s.

The first, A Ladybird Book of Colouring, will have 24 Ladybird covers from books such as The Ladybird Book of London, Learning to Sew, Cooking with Mother and Understanding Maps. It will go on sale on 4th August.

The second book, Well Loved Tales Cinderella: A Ladybird Colouring Book, has a September release date and will contain reproductions from the Ladybird Cinderella book. Both will be published in the same format (hardback miniature) as the original Ladybird books and priced at £6.99.

They will be released under the Ladybird imprint even though they are aimed at both children and adults.

Jo Garden, art director at Ladybird Design, said: “Re-imagining these iconic images for colouring in opens up a whole new way of seeing them. And after spending hours as a child adding ‘extra' colour to my favourite Ladybird books, now everyone can do it, with the added bonus of not being told off.”

PRH Children’s said it decided to create the colouring books after the “unparalleled success” of the Ladybird ‘Books For Adults’, published by Michael Joseph in 2015. That series, which includes The Ladybird Book of Mindfulness and The Ladybird Book of the Hangover, was the runaway Christmas hit last year, selling 1.3m copies across eight titles, according to Nielsen BookScan.

The release of the colouring books will be supported by “dedicated” publishing and marketing campaigns in the run-up to Christmas, the publisher added.