The Eye

These Books Are Manuals for Adulthood, Illustrated Like Vintage Children’s Books

Since Ladybirds for Grown-Ups launched in October as a collection of manuals of adulthood in the style of beloved Ladybird children’s books, cheeky titles devoted to subjects such as hipsters, mindfulness, hangovers, and the midlife crisis have spent 37 weeks on Britain’s Sunday Times best-seller list, selling 2 million copies to date.

Encouraged by the success of the first series, publisher Penguin Michael Joseph is releasing a back-to-school book, How It Works: The Student on Aug. 25, with eight additional titles coming Oct. 20 to explain topics such as meetings, red tape, the people next door, and the zombie apocalypse, wittily told through the nostalgic lens of the massive Ladybird archive of illustrations.

The publishers said in a press release that authors Jason Hazeley and Joel Morris “have been writing together since they secretly produced spoof versions of their Head Teacher’s newsletter at school,” before becoming successful comedy writers. “We’ve been fans of Ladybird since we were old enough to fall over with any dignity,” the authors said in a joint statement. “Being allowed to have fun with Ladybird’s astonishing picture archive is a ridiculous privilege—like being the official custard pie supplier to a Buckingham Palace garden party. It’s great to see how many people love Ladybird books as much as we do, and that it’s not only us who’d appreciate a helping hand with the baffling world of being a grown-up.”

Check out a selection of page spreads from the new series below.

Spreads from Ladybird Book of The Meeting_Page_1

Ladybird

Spreads from Ladybird Book of The Meeting_Page_2
Spreads from Ladybird Book of the Meeting.

Ladybird

Spreads from How it Works The Student_Page_1

Ladybird

Spreads from How it Works The Student_Page_2
Spreads from How It Works: The Student.

Ladybird

Spreads from Ladybird Book of The Sickie_Page_2

Ladybird

Spreads from Ladybird Book of The Sickie_Page_1
Spreads from Ladybird Book of the Sickie.

Ladybird

Spreads from Ladybird Book of Red Tape_Page_1

Ladybird

Spreads from Ladybird Book of Red Tape_Page_2
Spreads from Ladybird Book of Red Tape.  

Ladybird

Spreads from Ladybird Book of The People Next Door_Page_2

Ladybird

Spreads from Ladybird Book of The People Next Door_Page_1
Spreads from Ladybird Book of the People Next Door.

Ladybird

Spreads from How it Works The Cat_Page_2

Ladybird

Spreads from How it Works The Cat_Page_1
Spreads from How It Works: The Cat.

Ladybird

Spreads from How it Works The Dog_Page_1

Ladybird

Spreads from How it Works The Dog_Page_2
Spreads from How It Works: The Dog.

Ladybird

Spreads from How it Works The Grandparent_Page_1

A spread from How It Works: The Grandparent.

 

Ladybird