Danger Men

by W. Murray, Color and B&W (Illustrator)

Genres: History, Childrens

52 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

William Murray was an educational adviser at a borstal and later headmaster of a "school for the educationally subnormal" in Cheltenham. From research undertaken in the 1950s by Murray with Professor Joe McNally, an educational psychologist 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.

He developed 'The Key Words Reading Scheme,' a series of 36 English language early readers children's books, published by the British publishing company, Ladybird Books.

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. (wiki)

Reviews

[Judith Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

As ever with Ladybird Books, the illustrations, in this case by F. Humphris, are vivid and charming, and must have appealed to young readers. The Key Words reading scheme was a really clever way of introducing new vocabulary to learners.

Were these two Easy Readers (this and The Record Breakers) designed specifically to appeal to boys who were reluctant to read, I wonder? Hard to believe that even then the author could only find one woman example for each book! There must be many amazing women they could have chosen from!

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this as a kid a million times. It is a little disturbing that the only picture of a "Danger Women" is a diver in basically no clothes diving for shell fish in Japan!