ABSTRACT
The Ladybird reading scheme, which featured Peter and Jane, was based on careful research into ‘key words’, the name given to a group of the most used words in the language (Murray 1969). The research established that a relatively few English words form a very high proportion of those in everyday use. It was calculated that 20,000 words form the vocabulary of an average adult, and of these, 12 key words make up a quarter of all the words we read and write. One hundred key words make up half of those in common use. It seemed very sensible, then, to build a set of early reading books on the basis of the gradual introduction of a few more key words each time, until children felt confident enough to read them.
