You wouldn't see this in Waterstones!

[Grabaspoon]

The other day I unearthed an old ('75) Alan Ahlberg book in a charity shop.

The Brick Street boys - A place to play.

It's a lovely little book for 3-6 year olds and I was quite surprised but happy to see the children portrayed were quite diverse and also several had additional needs. However I wondered if we would find some of the language in a book on the shelves of Waterstones these days.

On Wednesday they play football on the bus, they play at heading. But the conductor says "I'll smack your bottoms good and hard" "If I see that ball again I'll jump on it and flatten it and chop it up into a thousand pieces"

... But the park keeper comes "I'm not having this, this is a respectable park" he tells them to go home. "This is a respectable park. We didn't do things like this when I was a boy. We were seen and not heard. And if we did play up we got the strap and put in the coal hole for an hour and sent to bed with no supper - so there"

I would love to find some more "old school" books

[nenevomito]

I love books like that. I have a stack of them bought in second hand book shops and from when I was a child.

I also love old household advice books and ones for "young ladies".

Great books!

[nenevomito]

Can you imagine it today. The kids with the ball would have turned around, kicked the ball at the bus conductor and gone "you can't threaten me, I'll tell the police you threatened me and you're a paedo."

[Ivortheengine8]

My parents still have many of our old books, especially Enid Blyton stuff.
But lots of her charaters have been changed I read recently because of PC stuff.

[Grabaspoon]

Haha so true Babyheave - or would respond with "Do I look bovvered!"