O2: Orphaned Baby Bear Solved: Knobby Boys to the Rescue
O5: Oliver Owl This was a book that my mother used to read
to my brothers and I. It is about an owl named
Oliver. One day he looks up in the sky and declares that
it is going to snow. All the other animals doubt him,
stating that "how can it snow, it's the middle of
July?" Another line that I recall is something
like... "Oliver Owl, who was thought to be wise, looked up to
the skies and declared, "It's going to snow." It was a great
story and I would love to find a copy for my nieces and
nephews. Thanks for your help.
George Tarry, Animal Stories: Oliver
the Owl. Other
possibilities could be: Alice Crew Gall: Mother
McGrew and Oliver Owl or Edward Holmes: Oliver
Owl and the Old Boots
Eliminate Oliver Owl and the Old
Boots- those lines do not appear here! Gall, Alice Crew, Mother McGrew and
Oliver Owl. NY
Cupples & Leon 1917. I don't have a plot description,
but I'm going to suggest this one because the stories (there are
several in the Mother McGrew and her animal friends series) are
told in rhyme, and the excerpts remembered are also in rhyme.
"Mother McGrew gave many sharp lessons to our animal friends,
and these pictures and stories tell how it happened and
why." One of the Mother McGrew titles (and Tommy
Turkey) is online, so here's some quotes from it for a style
comparison: "One of the children of Mother McGrew / was
young Tommy Turkey of whom I'll tell you / In most ways young
Tom was passably good / But he had one fault, he would gobble
his food." "You surely will have indigestion one day / Unless
you eat slowly now mark what I say." Gerry Taines, The crow and the snow, 1963, copyright. what a truly wonderful
book! Gerald Taines, The
Crow In The Snow (with Oliver Owl), 1963,
copyright. I am Lauren Taines, the daughter of Gerald
Taines. I happened to find your site mentioning Oliver Owl
who was a character in one of the books my dad originally
wrote for me when I was little. The book was reissued for
charity purposes in Tennesse I think a year or two ago, per the
request of a family friend. If someone is interested in
obtaining the book, let me know and I'll get the contact
information in Tennessee where they can purchase it. Best
Regards, Lauren Taines. my email is Bandinusa@aol.com
O9: Oregon
Trail Story This has come to be known as the "Abigail on the Oregon Trail"
book. I didn't read it at the time because I was working on my own
Oregon Trail novel, and I didn't note it as I thought I read about
it in "The Writer's Digest" and we kept all our old WD issues.
When I was unable to locate it, I wrote WD, and when the bums
didn't answer I went through all the issues in a library and
wherever I read about it it wasn't there! This article, which most
likely appeared in 1985 or 1986, was by the author of the book, a
woman who explained how she made her story of ten-year-old
Abigail's 1846 journey realistic despite being unable to visit the
trail herself as she was living in Kentucky. Incidents included
throwing away a plant cutting nurtured by someone who had died,
and Abigail scaling the dangerous Snake River cliffs in what is
now Idaho to obtain water. I had the Oregon Historical Society on
a wild goose chase for this, and NOW HERE'S THE KICKER: a man
contacted me who is listing "every" book ever done on the Oregon,
California, and Mormon Trails, and he'd never heard of it! He has
listed about 200 titles per trail, many with my help, but neither
of us has come across this one. I did send him the list of
everything under these headings in the Library of Congress online
database, and since he was unable to look at every single one it
might be among them, but I doubt it. Now OHS wants to know, he
wants to know, and I want to know! (2 answers, both
wrong! I know this has to be obscure but I've been amazed at
how hard it has proven to find!)
This may be one of the 2 wrong answers, but
Horn Book Sep-Oct '38 has an ad on the back for Junior Press
books which includes a line drawing cover of a book by Portia
Howe Sperry and Lois Donaldson, illustrated by Zabeth
Selover. The book is called Abigail and the cover
shows a little girl wit blond braids, holding a doll dressed
like herself in one hand and pulling her skirts up with the
other. Behind her is a covered wagon. #O9: Yes, Abigail was one of the wrong
guesses. In that story, Abigail was the doll's name, not
the girl's, and they weren't going to Oregon, but traveling an
entirely different trail several years before the Oregon Trail
started. Anyway, I'm sure this book was MUCH more recent
than the 1930s!
There have been several books written by and
about Abigail Jane Scott (married name Duniway), who traveled
the oregon trail around 1852. She's better known as the
first woman to vote in Oregon. Books about her include "Ladies
Were Not Expected" (published 1977) and "Rebel
for Rights" (1983). I don't think either of
those is a children's book, unfortunately.
Regarding O9 - Oregon Trail. Funny
thing, one of the books I came here to find was about a girl who
traveled with her family on the Oregon Trail. They
traveled in covered wagons, and one of the wagons was full of
the saplings that her father was going to plant when they
reached Oregon. There are great descriptions about
landmarks on the trail, and also about how to graft an apple
tree. I would love to know what this book was.... #O9--Oregon Trail Story: Yes, I can
identify the query in green, and just about any other Oregon
Trail novel EXCEPT this one, which I am STILL looking
for! The green one is Tree Wagon, by Evelyn
Sibley Lampman, which I've read twice. Word of
warning: Lampman was a terrific entertaining writer, but didn't care much for historical
accuracy. Don't take the book seriously when it says
that Indians "killed Dr. Whitman and all the children at his
mission." They did no such thing and not even
close. The only juveniles killed were a boy of 16 (an
adult for that day and place) and 14 (practically adult by the
standards of that tribe.) About 60 other kids present
were all let go. I'd venture to say the only people who
know more on this subject than me were those present--the last
of whom died in 1933--and it's a shame that some people write
such things and other people print them. Another book by
the same author, Cayuse Courage, is a great idea but
unforgivably inaccurate in places when so much written
material is available on this subject. Lampman, Evelyn Sibley, Tree Wagon. The story of a orchid man and his family
bringing their nursery stock by wagon to Oregon. The
little girl is given her own gooseberry bush to care for and has
lots of adventures along the way. Tree Wagon = Lampman. Thank
you - that's it - the gooseberry bush was the clincher.
I'm glad to know more about the history behind it, too, thanks
for the update.
I'm afraid this is another wrong answer, but
just for the record: Ketchum, Liza, 1946-, West
against the wind. New York: Holiday House,
c1987. "Fourteen-year-old Abby seeks both her father
and the secret of a handsome but mysterious boy during an
arduous journey by wagon train from the middle of the country to
the Pacific coast in 1850." I know, wrong age, wrong
year. Bargain bride by Evelyn
Sibley Lampman, 1977. "Because married settlers
could claim twice the land of a bachelor, orphaned Ginny
was married when she was ten-years-old. Now fifteen, her
husband comes to claim her." Trouble for Lucy by Carla
Stevens, 1979. "As she and her family travel the
Oregon Trail in 1843, Lucy's puppies persist in creating
trouble." Brave buffalo fighter by John
Dennis
Fitzgerald, 1973. "Ten-year-old Susan relates the
adventures and frustrations of her family's wagon train west,
culminating when her twelve-year-old brother is asked to turn
himself over to the Indians in order to save the lives of the
rest of the party." Abigail goes west by Gladys
L.
Switzer, 1963. A kind bookseller has listed the
following info about this book: "The
unexpected news that her own sister Nellie
was going way out to California, to join her husband, was
enough of a surprise to Abigail Wheeler. But then Mother
said firmly," Our Nellie's not going to set out for California
by herself. Someone has to go with her, and it had best be
Abigail!" So I guess this cannot be it. On to Oregon! by Honoré
Morrow, 1954 & 1969. "When their parents die on
the way to Oregon in 1843, seven children decide to complete the
2000-mile trek through the wilderness on their own; based on a
true story." Okay, I definitely checked Addie Across the Prairie,
Trouble for Lucy, On to Oregon!, Abigail, and Tree
Wagon, which I'd read, but I need to check my
Oregon/California Trails titles list again. It numbers
about 150 titles each for Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails,
but you STILL seem to have come up with several I never heard
of! Including one by Evelyn Sibley Lampman, who wrote Tree
Wagon.
OK, this came out much later, and I can't
find the date it takes place, but how about this one: MISSISSIPPI
MUD:
THREE
PRAIRIE JOURNALS by Ann Warren Turner,
1997. "As their family travels on a wagon train from
Kentucky to Oregon, Amanda and her two brothers keep separate
journals, and the journal entries show how they each see the
same trip in a different way." It appears that it was
written as poetry?? Thanks, that makes another title I didn't know of, and will be
an interesting addition to the list. If the article I read
was written when the book was in pre-publication, there is the
possibility that not only might the publisher not have printed
it, but that the author decided to rewrite it! It would
mean extensive rewriting. Some details, such as the death
and plant cutting, could apply to almost any trail, but others,
such as the treacherous cliffs above the Snake River, are very
specific to the Oregon Trail. If it was rewritten to
happen in some other time and place--yikes! But that's not
likely, and look at all we're discovering searching for a
"non-existent"(?) book.
How about Abigail Goes West
by Gladys Switzer. Morrow. 1963?? Mary Jane Carr, The Children of the
Covered Wagon,
1934. Maybe- unfortunately so out of print that I can't
find any kind of quote, review, or description. I read this as a
child, and actually saw (but did not buy it) at a library book
sale a few years ago. Very realistic. Main charater is a young
girl although there is an older boy who becomes a friend through
the trip. Very fat hard cover book. The typeface was
oldfashioned and seemed hard to read when I was a kid.
O10: Outsiders Solved: Outside O11: Orphans on the frontier It's great to have a site to go to instead
of standing in front of a patient librarian trying to explain a
plot to a book with no title or author. I am looking for a book
about a family of kids that are orphaned. The older sister is
being courted by some guy that she doesn't want to marry. They
do a lot of canning and freezing of food for the winter. Must be
a pioneer type setting. The kids, 3 or 4 of them manage to
survive the winter and the older sister meets some young
handsome guy later in the book. Thats all I remeber. A novel for youth? I read it 25 -
30 years ago.
Sounds similar to Where the Lilies
Bloom, by Vera Cleaver. Published in 1969.
O11 - Sounds very much like Where The
Lilies Bloom by Vera and Bill Cleaver.
At first I thought this books wouldn't be old enough but then I
realized that 30 years would only put it back in the early 70's
so this one might be possible. I submitted O11. Orphan story. It is
definitely not Where the Lilies Bloom. (a book I
personally dislike very much). It is more of a Little House
in the big woods without the parents type of book.
Chinking the cabin walls with mud played a part. Frontier/west
setting. It was a frontier story. The kids were survivalists
in a pioneer setting.
Not frontier, but some other resemblances: Ann
Lawrence
of
Old New York by Gladys Malvern, illustrated by
Christine Price, published Messner 1947, 203 pages "Ann
Lawrence is the heroine of this story which takes place in the
New York City of 1811. Her struggles with the farm and
bringing up her orphaned brothers and sisters are the
ingredients of the plot."
Another possible - Hannah's Brave
Year, by Rhoda Wooldridge, published New
York, Bobbs-Merrill 1965, 151 pages. "After a cholera
epidemic has orphaned a family of six children, Joel,
eighteen, goes off on a winter trapping trip to earn the money
needed to prevent foreclosure on their rich Missouri farmland
and sturdy cabin, while Hannah, twelve, and Nat, fourteen,
work to keep the family together despite avaricious neighbors.
Full domestic detail lends compelling vitality to a book that
might have been just one more pioneer story." The children
are all too young for courtship, though.
Yet another possiblity - The
Jumping-off Place by Marion Hurd McNeely,
illustrated by William Siegel, published New York, Longmans
1929, grades 6-8 "A genuine home story of the Dakota
prairies. A family of children headed by a 17 year old girl
and a boy of 15 settle on a homestead to which their uncle has
staked a claim." "The four young orphaned Linvilles, ranging
in age from 8 to 17, went to Dakota at their uncle's death to
take up his claim on the Jumping-off Place. They endured heat,
drought, snakes, lizards and vindictive neighbors like the
good sports they were, and at the end of 14 months the claim
was theirs, as well as the respect and liking of all their
neighbors."
O11 orphans on frontier: Yet another
possibility: The House in No-End Hollow, by May
Justus, illlustrated by Erick Berry, published Doubleday,
Doran 1938 "Three orphans living on the homestead in the
Applachian mountains attempt to preserve their independence."
another possibility is The Long
Valley, by Helen Markley Miller, published
New York, Doubleday 1962. "Taking her mother's place and trying
to make a home for her family on the Idaho frontier was Marny's
first responsibility. She didn't realize that over-shielding her
little sisters was not the way of a wise mother but of a
young girl fearful of growing up. Much that
is interesting here is typical of many pioneer stories for
girls: the hardships of a severe winter, the birth of a baby
during a blizzard, the community house-raisings, and pioneer
festivities. Marny's persistence in misunderstanding the
intentions of John, whom she loves, ..." (HB Feb/62 p.57)
O11 orphans on frontier: they're not orphans
and the time-span is shorter, but there's a blizzard - The
Children Who Stayed Alone, by Bonnie Bess
Worline, illustrated by Walter Barrows, published
Scholastic, 1971.
Originally entitled Sod House Winter."Hartley
and
Phoebe
are
left
to
watch
their
young
brothers
and
sisters
while
mom
visits
a
sick
neighbor
and
dad
goes
into
town
for
supplies.
They
are
all
alone
when
an
unexpected
blizzard
strikes
leaving
the
snowbound
with
the
stock
animals
and
their
siblings to watch. Will they be able to take care of
everything until the storm lets up and their parents can come
home?"
O11 orphans on frontier: yet another, Oh
Susanna!,
by J.R. Williams, illustrated by Albert
Orbaan, published Putnam 1964, 223 pages. "17-year-old
Susanna, assuming responsibilities beyond her years, trying to
take a mother's place with her young brother and sister,
enduring with seeming patience life in the inevitable dugout
or soddie, cannot help rebelling in her heart. She is fearful
that if she marries the young man she loves, life will hold
little but more drudgery." (HB Feb/64 p.69) Catherine Marshall , Christy. -- I think this one is set in
Appalachia rather than on the frontier, but this could be
another possibility. I remember Christy had a strong
determination to keep her siblings together, even at the expense
of her own best interests.
O11 orphans: They're not orphans, but could
it be this? Winterbound by Margery Bianco,
Viking Press 1962 8vo hardback 234 pages. "Gorgeous decorated
endpapers of winter scene by Kate Seredy. Four children have to
fend for themselves in a Connecticut farmhouse when their
parents are called away. How they survived a tough winter is the
basis of this wonderful story."
I wrote yesterday that I thought the book
was Seven Alone. I found a copy of that one today
and its about kids on a wagon train who become orphans.
The book I meant to refer to was mentioned by a previous poster
as the Children who Stayed Alone.
Maybe Stout-Hearted Seven by
Neta Lohnes Frazier. I haven't read it but the time frame
is right. HBJ (1973)
O12: Orphan Annie Solved: Annie O13: Oliver Greenwood Solved: Fifth Form at St. Dominic's O14: Orphan & aunt in cabin Solved: The Long
White Month O15:
Old woman is protected by animals Solved: The Story of
Mrs. Tubbs O16:
Odd friendship An English story (for young adults more than children) about a
boy who befriends a homeless "crazy" man, and the bittersweet
consequences. It was illustrated with expressive charcoal or
pencil drawings, all black-and-white. I browsed through this book
once at a Waldenbooks in Kansas City, Missouri, and never got back
to it, so my memory is quite scanty. But I recall one segment: the
boy buys some fish and chips to bring to the man (who is extremely
fond of it), only to find out that he has died or has been taken
away. In a rage, the boy flings the packet of fish and chips to
the ground and screams "Hell!" or suchlike. This scene was
illustrated, as I recall. This is a long shot, but if this
triggers a memory with anyone...let me know!
This doesn't exactly match, but I keep
thinking of David Almond's Skellig. The
boy brings food to a man he finds living in his garage.
The boy is dealing with a recent move, a very ill younger
sister, and a new friendship with an independent-spirited,
home-schooled little girl who lives nearby. The man in the
garage is very skeletal and odd (I won't give away the plot) and
the boy brings him Chinese takeout food. I don't remember
fish and chips, but it is a haunting story... the format looks
like it's for young readers, but the content really makes it
more appropriate for young adults.
One possibility - Dark Dreams,
by C.L. Rinaldo, published Gollancz 1975, 154 pages. "Carlo,
aged
about 11, physically not strong, lives with his Italian
grandmother in a city alley. Father goes to the war (1943).
Mother is dead. Carlo, persecuted by the alley gang, befriends
Joey J, a mentally retarded adult. Joey J is sent to a home,
let out on condition that he will not act with violence, but
does so defending Carlo. He returns to the home and dies."
(Junior Bookshelf Jun/75 p.203) Later - saw a copy and checked
the ending, the fish & chip scene doesn't occur, so this
probably isn't it.
O16 odd friendship: perhaps worth looking at
The Nothing Place, by Eleanor Spence,
illustrated by Geraldine Spence, published Oxford 1972, 144
pages. Title describes "the Sydney suburb where all the
events of the story take place ... There is Reggie, an old
meths drinker who befriends the children about whom the story
revolves, 'he was old, with sparse grey hair and whiskers, and
his face had the roughened texture of bark that had been long
shed.' The friendship between him and Glen, the partially deaf
'hero' of the story, is movingly but never sentimentally
described." (CRB Jun/72 p.89) Other children are Lyndall,
clever, plain and confident, spiky-haired Shane who loves
cricket, and his pretty, selfish sister Shelley. Another
possibility is The Rare One, by Pamela
Rogers, published Hamilton 1973, 96 pages, no
illustrations mentioned though. "Unhappy at home with a new
stepmother and stepsister, 13-year-old Toby writes an essay
for a World Wildlife competition, and takes as his subject an
old man, Josh, whom he finds living wild in the woods. He wins
the competition but ... reporters harrass the old man, and
finally he is put into a Home for Elderly Citizens. Toby
visits him, and finds he has died, and realises what his own
actions have led to. 'He cried for Josh, who had been big and
brave under his many coats. Who had known how to live.'"
(CRB Sep/73 p.114)
Possibly this one – The Snailman,
by Brenda Sivers, illustrated by Shirley Hughes,
Little, Brown 1978 "The village children taunt the strange
man who asks only to be left alone. 'He's weird. Funny in the
head. So would you be if you kept snails for pets' , the
villagers whisper. Eleven-year-old Timothy, a newcomer to the
village, imagines the snailman must be a hideous cross between
Frankenstein and the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Since his family's
move from London, Timothy has made no friends - and the boys
next door seem to enjoy nothing so much as bullying him. He
becomes obsessed by the mysterious hermit whom he's never seen.
Finally, driven by loneliness and curiosity, Timothy approaches
the snailman. He discovers in th e huge, ugly man a gentle
friend, someone he can trust and turn to when his parents
quarrel or when the children at school are spiteful. He wants to
keep their friendship a secret, but when the villagers bring a
serious charge against the snailman, Timothy knows he must come
to his friend's defense. This is a moving story about two lonely
people - a young boy and the village outcast - and how they help
each other."
O17: Other world through a pond Solved: The Silver Nutmeg
O18: orphan girl gets
adopted Solved: Adopted Jane
O19: Orphan maybe named Peg Solved: Heads Up!
2002 O20: Orphan goes over wall
and finds a cottage Solved: Mandy O21: Orphan girl sails to Barbados Solved: Magic Island
O22: Old Fairy Tale Book In the early 70s I was given an already old fairy tale book (ca.
1940s)...red faded hardcover, but missing its illustration plate,
and no title page inside. I've never known the title! The
first story was "Marushka and the Twelve Months" and the last was
a series of "Dapplegrim" stories. It also had "Farmer
Weatherbeard" and, I believe, "The Wild Swans". It had b/w and
color illustrations that were very much in the early Maxfield
Parrish style. It is NOT The Red Fairy Book by Andrew
Lang...I've tracked that one down, and while similar, and
seemingly published around the same time, it just isn't the right
one. I'd so appreciate any leads...I've searched for years
and this forum is a great idea! I just wish there was a search
engine here on the site to make hunting a lot less painful. :O)
Cinderella Fairy Book, 1890-1899,
approximate. This may be a long shot, and unfortunately
this book is so old there's practically no information available
about it. I found it listed on Worldcat, but there isn't any
author information. The stories in the book include: The
glass slipper -- The three dwarfs -- Dapplegrin -- The twelve
brothers -- Two little wooden feet -- Little Thumbkin --
Farmer Weatherbeard -- Aladdin and the wonderful lamp. Old Fairy
Tale Book. This sounds very much like the book described
in stumper F63/solved "It Must Be Magic."See
the latter entry for author and content details.
O23: Ocean exploration with boy and dog Solved: Rip Darcy,
Adventurer O24: Owl with love in its eyes Solved: The Ghost Next
Door
O25: old lady
lives in treehouse Solved: Miss Twiggley's Tree 2003 O26:
Orphaned
Russian
boy Orphaned Russian boy survives war in big city: rescues other
orphans
Jaap ter Haar, Boris, 1969. Seems like a possibility.
I'd read The Wild Children by
Felice Holman, 1983, so I looked that up and another name
with the same general theme also popped up - Wild
Children of the Urals by Floyd Miller, 1965.
"The story of 800 children, sent to Siberia from Petrograd
during the Russian Revolution because of food shortages, then
cut off by the war. They were rescued by the American Red
Cross from Vladivostok and returned to their
families two years after their original departure." Floyd Miller, Wild Children of the
Urals , 1965.
Could this be the same book as M197. It sounds very
similar. Ian
Serrillier, The Silver Sword.This is a long shot as
the action is set in Poland. Orphan Jan helps three siblings
survive in war torn Warsaw until their father returns. There was
a Russian soldier somewhere in the story.
O27: Orphan Annie and goblins poem Solved: Little
Orphant Annie O28: old cat dies in car SOLVED: Across the Meadow O29: Old Saint Mary's Solved: Restituta Tue O30: Old Lisette Solved: The
Birthday O31: Otho and his brother A work of romantic fiction, two or three volumes. It concerns two
(or three?) brothers, one a sober home-loving man, one a dashing
adventurer (named Otho) who eventually loses his life getting a
lifeline to shipwrecked sailors. 1933? O32: orphan girl named Alice Solved: Runaway Alice O33: Otter book Solved: Otter Swims O34: Orphaned California Girl Solved: Her Father's Daughter O35: old man thwarts kids with fence, raspberry patch My husband remembers this book from the 60s
when he was a kid. This old man (maybe a fox) doesn't want
kids around his house, so he builds a fence. But the kids
have fun with walking along the edge of it. So then the
man plants raspberry bushes along the fence hoping the thorns
will keep them away, but the kids enjoy the berries
instead. That's all he can remember. Hope
someone can remember it. Thanks! O36: Old Woman's House on Hill during a Flood Solved: Alexander
and
the Magic Mouse O37: Orphans of the Sea Solved: Orphans of the Sea O38: Old woman bakes cake All I remember is an old woman who goes
into the woods and gathers sticks. Then she goes home and bakes
a cake. Idon't remember if there was a younger girl in the book
too. But it had nice drawings and I think it was an early reader
book- not too many words, or very big words. And just a sense of
yellow- on the cover. It may have been a series book?
Patricia Polacco, Thundercake. Probably not, as it isn't an "easy
reader"
O39: orchestra Solved: The Palace Made
Music O40: Okie Kid Picture book Solved: Augustus Rides the Border O41:Omni Magazine Solved: Unaccompanied
Sonata O42: Old Man Shivers, rabbits' revenge Solved: The Rabbit's
Revenge O43: Overweight Woman
SOLVED: Wally Lamb, She's Come Undone. I found it!!!! O44:
Original fairy tales Solved: A
Dream of Dragons O45:
Organ
Grinder
Monkey and Woman Solved: Along Cherry Street O46: outer-space fiction A young girl is one of the main characters.
The only scene I remember involves two young people looking up
into the sky and there are either two moons or two suns in the
sky (I don't remember which). This may be at the end of the
book. I also seem to remember some sort of trial or some
controversy involving travelling to other worlds. Telekinesis
and/or ESP might have been involved. There may have been
something about a Federation, inter-planetary
organization, or something like it, but I could be confusing
this with Enchantress from the Stars by Sylvia Engdahl.
(This is not a book by Sylvia Engdahl I wrote to her and
asked.) I think the book was off-size. I read this book when I
was young in the early 70's. I would love to be able to read it
again.
Robert A. Heinlein, Have Space Suit,
Will Travel. Just
a guess...one of the characters is a girl, and some details
match interplanetary travel, telepathy, the trial at the
end. Karl, Jean, Turning Place, 1976. A long shot -- it's a collection
of linked short stories that begin with an alien attack on earth
and move forward through millenia, tracking changes in humans
and galactic relations. Some stories involve
interplanetary organizations one story deals
with being able to project one's mind to different places girls
are main characters in some of the tales. (And it's about the
same period as Engdahl.) Pamela Reynolds, Earth Times Two, 1970. The other planet, in a
double sun system, is much like earth, but without television,
which the evil scientist hopes to use to control people. Two
girls (one is the E. scientist's daughter) who look alike switch
places back and forth between the planets. Earth Times Two, maybe?
Isaac Asimov, Foundation Trilogy. Several things about this
description remind me of the Foundation Trilogy
by Isaac Asimov, though I haven't read it for years, and
I don't remember whether there are any children who play
significant roles.
Robert A. Heinlein, Have Space Suit - Will
Travel. (1958) There are other similarities. Near
the end of the book Peewee (a young girl) and Kip (teenage boy)
are standing on the planet Lanador in the Lesser Magellanic
Cloud. They look up and see, not two planets or two stars, but
two galaxies - the Greater Magellanic Cloud and the Milky Way.
Also, the book had a Federation-style interplanetary
organization called "The Three Galaxies". If you go here
you can read the original story and see if it's the one you
remember. Alexi Panshi, Rite of Passage,
60s?? The heroine of this
book must survive a rite of passage. Her society lives on a
massive space ship. After training, all children are
dropped on a planet, where they must survive until picked
up. This time, something goes wrong - The humans on the
planet have enslaved a native race, and they capture/kill many
of the children. At the end of the book, when the girl is
back on her asteroid home, her society votes to destroy the
planet & its inhabitants. This could be the book that you
remember. Hoover, Children of Morrow,1972.I
read
a
book
when
I
was
a
kid
about
a
pair
of
children
(Tia,
Rabbit)
who
escape
from
their
"colony"
for
lack
of
a
better
word-
and
travel
to
the
sea
where
they
are
met
with
other
telepathics
like
themselves. This book is set in the future. Tia (the girl) can
physically hurt people with her thoughts. It turns out that they
belonged to a more civilized race of people, not just the ones
who "worshipped the missile. Key, Alexander, The Forgotten
Door. Sounds like it could be this. An
injured telepathic boy with amnesia meets with a farm family who
take care of him. He can communicate with animals and
'make himself light'\'' so he can run. Bigoted neighbors
find out and go after him. He finally remembers that he's
from another planet, and he and the family go to his home
through the forgotten door. His home has two moons which
are in the nighttime sky when they get there. Barbara Bartholomew, The Timekeeper. Madeleine L'Engle, A
Wrinkle In Time, 1962, approximate.
O47: over the big hill Solved: Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill O48: old lady's house gets moved to top of highrise Solved: Mrs Tortino's
Return to the Sun O49: Outhouse infested with bees Solved: Two Sisters and
Some Hornets O50: Orphan's Christmas wish is for mother I am searching for book of Christmas stories published in the
late 1970's, early 1980's which included a touching story about a
young orphan whose deepest wish at Christmas is for a/his mother.
There is a portrait of Mary and the Christmas child over the
mantle at the orphanage that moves him deeply, showing him a
mother's love. The child becomes ill, dies and is taken to heaven
to be with Mary, the mother he never had.
Marcelino Pan E Vino. Sounds like the plot of Marcelino,
which is shown on EWTN from time to time. The boy had been left in
infancy with the monks who found him at the convent, who have
raised him. He is shown to be rather naughty, but out of
loneliness for his mother, presumed dead. Marcelino seems to make
a friend, later presumed to be Christ, who is hidden in the attic,
the little boy brings him food in secret. When Christ asks the boy
what he want, he only wants to be with his mother, it could be
Mary. At the end he joins her in death. It's a sad, sweet story,
the monks weep at the end over the "little saint". There must be a
book about this somewhere. O51: Outside fun in the Fall Soap box car fun?, early 1960s. The only thing I can
remember is that a young boy and girl are riding in a (red) soap box car down a sidewalk, and autumn leaves are falling down
around them. It's a little book, and I thought it could be one of
those Little Golden books or Elf books. I'm not sure. Please let
me know if you do find it. Thank you.
Could be Now It's Fall by Lois
Lenski (1948), from a small format series on the
seasons. Some have been reprinted, including this one
(Random House, 2000, $12). RIDE AWAY,1953. Ride Away has exactly
the picture you describe, with a boy and girl riding down a
sidewalk in a red wagon with red and yellow leaves falling-but
the picture is inside the book on the first page. page. The
cover picture is similar-yellow, with a boy and girl riding a
red bike and scooter and orange leaves falling around them.
O52: Order vs. Chaos This was a Science Fiction book I read a long time ago. I think
it was part of a trilogy but I’m not sure. The premise was Order
Verses Chaos. Order had won out thinking that this was the best
way to function in the society, but it was out of balance however
this one man who was a pretty high individual in the Order had the
soul of chaos the very thing they were all trying to repress. His
soul was kept in his ring but he did not discover this until later
on in the book. The only other thing I remember is they were able
to travel long distances on these tornado kind of black holes that
would carry you to some other place, I think those tornado’s were
part of the chaos element that the order was trying to destroy or
control. Hope someone can find this for me, Thanks
Could this possibly be
Roger Zelazny's Amber SF series? The first book
is Nine
Princes in Amber and the books do deal quite a bit
with the conflict between order and chaos - and there is a very
unusual mode of travel, too. Just a thought. Cooper, Louise, TIME MASTER (trilogy), 1984. Another very good
possibility is Louise Cooper's TIME MASTER trilogy (THE
INITIATE, followed by THE OUTCAST and THE MASTER), published in
the US by Tor Books back in the 1980s. The Order/Chaos
conflict, very much as described by the poster, is the focal
element of that trilogy. L. E.
Modesitt Jr, Magic of Recluse
Series,1991.Sounds
like this could be the series you are looking for. This
series of fantasy books is about order and chaos with a male
protagonist, Lerris. First book is The Magic of Recluse,
second book is The Towers of the Sunset. Don'\''t remember the
name of the next one, but I have copies of the first two.
O53: One Hundred Years of Sailing A British Press. Owners Sailing Buffs. Photos and
descriptions of various sailing vessels by the publishers.
Approximately '96.2004 O54: Orphan Train I don't know if that book is a biography, or if that book is an
autobiography. It was published approximately 25 years ago. It is
about a boy approximately 8 years old, or approximately 10 years
old. Perhaps there was an Orphan Train connection.
Perhaps his parents sold him to that farmer, or perhaps he was
adopted by that farmer. Perhaps that farm was in Missouri, or
perhaps that farm was in Arkansas, or perhaps that farm was in
Alabama. That boy worked on that farm. That farmer was very
mean to him, including the sale of that boy's teeth. He was
forbidden to go to school - but he learned to read and write with
the help of that farmer's son. Later, that boy became a minister,
or a preacher. If I remember correctly, that black and white book
jacket included a black and white photo of that white boy.
He was wearing a cap, a shirt, and knickers...likened to the kind
of clothes the boys wore during the 1920's. I don't know the
title, and I don't know the name of the author of that book. O55: old woman fools wolf while sitting in rocking chair I am looking for a book (I thought it was a Little Golden Book)
that is about an old woman who tricks a wolf and stops him from
eating her. (I think it is a wolf--I suppose it could be a
man/thief). She tells him things like "I'm up here on the roof
looking at the stars" and when he goes up there to eat her, he
falls off into a bush of briars,etc. Eventually, something
finishes him off--can't remember what. I remember the drawings had
brightly colored fall leaves. O56: Once in a Blue Moon Solved: Once in a Blue Moon O57: Older brother loves blueberry blintzes Solved: The Remarkable
Return of Winston Potter Crisply O57: Oops, I forgot Solved: I Just Forgot O58: Old man in cave on small island Every time I drive past a small pond with a small island I think
about this book, or probably really a short story. In this
story a man returns to the home of his youth, which is an English
manor house I believe. As I recall the property is being
sold off and he is making a last pilgrimage. On this
property is a small pond with a small island. He has this
fuzzy recollection of an adventure on this island (about as fuzzy
as my recollection of this story). In his memory he went to
this island as a young boy, where he encountered a raffish old man
who lives in a tunnel or cave on the island. He stays for
days or weeks in this cave with this old man, who wears a pot on
his head as a surrogate crown. He wakes up on the island and
all evidence of his adventure is gone, and apparently only hours
have passed. He is unable to repeat the adventure and spends
his life wondering about it. On his return to the island as
an adult it is of course much smaller than he remembers,
etc. Anyone ever heard this story? O59: oversized crown I saw a character when I was in Germany and
they told me it was a book about a lion cub who did not want to
be king. He had on a red robe with some dots and crown that was
too big and covering his eyes. I am so curious about the
book but I can't find information on it anywhere. Please
help, it will be the best $2 I have spent in a long time:)
The Lion King. I know
this is probably too obvious to be correct, but could it be the
one that Walt Disney made famous? I'm not sure if Disney
is the one who wrote it or someone else, but it's about a lion
cub who is the son of the King of the jungle, and he has to
learn to be King. But he keeps getting into trouble and
doesn't really want to do it because he wants to play with his
friends all day instead. Then something happens, a fire I
think, and he grows up fast and helps his friends to get away
from the fire.
O60: Olaf stays home Solved: Gone is
Gone O61: one person plays apocalypse This was a book of one person plays that I think had apocalypse
in the title. The play I remember is one where a person is
trapped in a box and it is getting smaller and smaller. O62: old German kids book Solved: Struwwelpeter O63: Old Lady Who Won't Get Out of Bed on Fridays Solved: A Christmas
Memory O64: Old Church Ghost Story Solved: Wait Till Helen Comes O65: Old Childrens Treasury illustated Solved: Young Years 2005 O66: Obedence moon - maiden moon Historical fiction read in 1975-1980? Indian maiden moon --
traces her life from young age to trail of tears - she becomes a
woman leader at young age goes meetings and talks. on trail
of tears meets a doctor (anti-slavery) named Nicols? they
marry - settle in Okla. Back of book contains bio.
references and mentions a US President who grants her and heirs
land? Not sure why any more. Also in back is list of
children and records cited. O67: Orphan becomes milliner's apprentice Solved: Faraway Dream O68: Orphan boy has nightlight shaped like globe Solved: The Secret Life
of Dilly McBean O69: Object found under arctic ice Solved: Deception Point O70: Old Lady with yak Solved: Alexander
and
the Magic Mouse O71: Otter Solved: Follow My Leader O72: Orange and Blue book with line drawing of boy and
old woman Solved: The Dream Watcher O73:
Owl
walks
with moon Solved: Owl at Home O74:
Old
fashioned
games Hi. I'm looking for a book that shows
approx 4 or 5 girls / children on the front cover playing ring o
ring o roses or skipping. I think it is about children
playing old fashioned games. The photos were taken in and
around St Aidans school in Bamber bridge Lancashire around 1982
and the book was published at a similar time. My daughter is one
of the children and I would like to buy it as a surprise for her
30th birthday, this year. Hope someone can help. Thanks
very much.
Could it be one of Iona and Peter Opie's
books?
I
remember a copy of the Opie's The Lore and Language of
School Children had a group of children playing on
the cover. I think that this book first came out in the 50's, so
it might be too early, but perhaps they reissued it with a new
cover later on.
I am pretty sure this is an Iona Opie
title, The People in the Playground. It is
her journal of a year or so observing the games the children are
playing at a particular school in England, and does feature a
photo section in the middle showing the school and some of the
children. My paperback copy does have cover art with a few
kids (girls?) playing a game (marbles or rope?) on it.
It's a marvelous book and generally available (used). Hi thanks for comments but its not one of the Opie books. Can
anyone else help? Thanks
O75:
Orchard
to
Oregon A family crossed the plains to Oregon in a covered wagon, but
this family was unique because they also took an orchard with
them. The father planted a bunch of fruit tree seedlings in
a wagon bed and hauled it across the plains. Because of this
the Indians did not bother them as they crossed. Their
biggest worry was finding enough water all the time.
Lampham, Evelyn , Tree Wagon. See Solved
mysteries
O75 typo Lampman, not
Lampham
O76: Orphan, Scotland, Wordsworth Solved: Run Away Home O77: Oil-Painted Yellow Hippopotamuses The book I'm thinking of has full-page, highly detailed
oil-painted illustrations of little creatures that look like
yellow hippopotamuses. They are about as tall as a blade of
grass, or about the size of a dragonfly. In each picture,
there are tons of hidden objects to find, and an answer key in the
back of the book. I believe the creatures wear clothes --
more like some sort of medieval garb than any contemporary
style. Each illustration had a caption, and I can only
remember one -- this was an underwater scene and the title was
"Subterfuge!" The book I had was hardcover, and had glossy
pages. I assume it's from the 1980s because when I had it in the
1980s it was new. I have searched on Google for all search
terms I can think of associated with my memories of this book and
come up with nothing -- it's very frustrating. I may be
wrong, but I think the book had a one word title, the name of the
place where these creatures lived. It might have started
with a T, M, or P. I'm not entirely sure about this
though. Any help would be appreciated!
Is this the same as Stumper #T198?
O78: Old woman; salesman; mischevious, hiding monsters;
and a boarding house I had a children's book in the 1970's about a vacuum cleaner
salesman (I think) who came to stay at a boarding house of an old
woman (I think she turned out to be a witch). I remember the
man having a really large, beak-like nose. At night, little
monsters would come out and antagonize him while he slept. I
remember them looking at, tickling, or putting things in his nose.
He would wake up and get really annoyed. There were other
mischevious incidences as well. I think he eventually realized
there were monsters in the house and I think he eventually got
used to them. The illistrations in the book were really
detailed and sort of creepy- reminiscent of the illistrations in
Mercer Mayers books, but even creepier.
Sounds like THE WIZARD COMES TO TOWN
by Mercer Mayer~from a librarian Mercer Mayer, Mrs Beggs and the
Wizard, 1973. My
sister discovered this book the day before I posted it.
The original book was entitled Mrs.Beggs and the Wizard (1973).
The 1980 reprint was called The Wizard comes to town
O79: Old people steal youth of lazy children My sister and I read a story in 6th or 7th
grade in our school reader in the mid/late 70’s. It began
with a little boy (perhaps named Peter) who arrives at school
late and is turned away because the teacher doesn’t recognize
him. He then looks in the hallway mirror and realizes he
is no longer a boy but an old man. He later meets other
children who wasted time and woke to find themselves old
people. I don’t recall how they learned that old people
were stealing the youth of lazy, wasteful children but they did,
and they worked together to recapture their youth. I think
that a glass ball and hidden room may have been involved.
I remember the illustrations included the boy in school looking
in the mirror and seeing an old face and an old woman sitting on
a bench throwing a ball into the air. I think there was
also a picture of young children dancing in a hidden room.
We always talk about this book and have tried to remember the
title to no avail. We have been searching for this book
for years. You’ll be our hero if you could get us a title
and perhaps even a copy of this story.
Check out New Stumper B441. Does any
of this sound familiar? Schwartz, Evgeny, A Tale of Stolen. (1963) OK, I think I've got it! Title: A tale
of stolen time, Author(s): Shvarts, Evgenii, 1896-1958.
Hogrogian, Nonny, (Illustrator -
ill.) Publication: Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall, Year:
1966 Description: 1 v. (unpaged) col. illus. 16 x 21 cm.
Language: English Standard No: LCCN:
66-10817 SUBJECT(S) Descriptor: Tales --
Soviet Union. Note(s): Translation of Skazka o poteriannom
vremeni. Class Descriptors: LC: PZ8.S3454 Dewey: 398 Responsibility:
by Evgeny Schwartz. Translated from the Russian by Lila
Pargment and Estelle Titiev. Illustrated and designed by Nonny
Hogrogian. Note that the author listed above with the yellow
highlighting is the standardized way libraries are supposed to
use his name. The title page of the book apparently spells
it as seen under "Responsibility." What this means is that
you may find it attributed to Shvarts or Schwartz depending on
who is listing it for sale.One bookseller provided this summary:
"Evil sorcerers change children who waste time into old
people--but the children are given the opportunity to change
back into children. " Here'\''s another description from
the Children'\''s Picture Book Database at Miami University:
"Peter is a lazy boy that never does his homework. He soon falls
behind all the other students. Peter always thinks he will have
time to catch up. Until one day, he becomes an old man."Makes
sense that Prentice-Hall published it -- they are one of the big
textbook publishers, and O79 remembered it from a textbook.'
O80: Optical device Solved: Asimov's
Mysteries O81: old man Solved: Mr. Pudgins O82: Old claytoon(?)/3D looking childrens book with moon,
elf/fairy & owl I am looking for a book I had around
1965. I believe the illustrations were claytoons???
(Similar to the "Pointers for Little Persons" series from the
1940's) or they may have just been drawn to look three
dimensional. The book may have originally been my fathers
so it could have been from the 1930's or later. I don't
remember what the story was but I specifically remember a
crescent moon with a face, an owl, and one illustration where an
elf or fairy was standing beside a bed looking at a (sleeping?)
child and behind the elf/fairy was the bedroom window. The
illustrations in this book were very detailed and almost life
like...almost scary if that makes any sense. Any and all
help greatly appreciated and Thank You in advance! O83: Ookpik visits the USA Ookpik visits the USA. Not sure
if this is the exact title but it is about a little Canadian (I
believe he's Canadian) owl who travels in his car to see the
United States. The owl OOkpik actually is in a
little car with a magnet on the back of it; each page of
the book has a winding road that takes him to different places
in the USA. As he winds through the different areas a
cutout in each page (a hole) allows him to 'drive' from page to
page without ever being lifted off the page. A large
magnet on the entire back cover of the book holds him onto every
page all the time. As for content I remember that he talks
to different people and I believe animals on each page and they
repeatedly ask him "little owl where are you going?" and
he responds over and over, "I'm on my way to see the USA!" and
drives around a bend or through a tunnel which takes him to the
next page or place on his journey. Does anyone else recall
this super sweet unique book?
O83 Ookpik is the Inuit word for snowy
owl. There are a number of Ookpik titles by
different authors. Kent Salisbury, Ookpik Visits the
U.S.A., 1968.
Found this description on an online auction: "Ookpik
Visits the U.S.A. by Kent Salisbury and illustrated by Beverly
Edwards. This classic hardback book measures 9 ½ inches by 13
inches... Comes with a small magnetic owl (Ookpik) figure that
you move through out the story as you read. OOKPIK is the Eskimo
name for the Snowy Owl of the Arctic. In Eskimo stories, he is a
friendly, furry creature who enjoys living among people."
O84: Otto Solved: The Silver
Crown2006 O85a: Ordinary Street This is a vintage book about an ordinary
boy on an Ordinary street, (goes on and on about his ordinary
life) and at the end of the book he flies. Maybe from the
60's? Little black/white illustrations? Thanks!
Raskin, Ellen, Nothing ever happens
on my block,
1966. Could it be this one? Little boy who thinks nothing
ever happens on his block, while in illustrations many fantastic
things are occurring.
O85b:
Orthodox
Jewish
boy Solved: The Chosen2006 O86a: Orphan Solved: Adopted Jane O86b: Out of place items in a picture book Solved: Odd One Out O87: Old man and boat Here's the general plot of the book as I can recall it. My
teacher read this story to us in the closing weeks of the 4th
grade (1978). It was about a boy who spent his summer days
at the boat docks. A white haired man was busy refurbishing
some sort of boat and befriended the boy who in turn helped out
with chores and tasks on the boat. Despite the white hair
the man was portrayed as being strong and athletic. One day
the boy was upset to find a group of young men arguing and
fighting with the white haired man. The man reassured the
boy that it was nothing to worry about. The next day the boy
arrived at the boat to find the man dead on his boat in what
appeared to have been a murder. Unfortunately, that's all I
know of the book and I was never able to hear the end of it.
There was a death in the family that week and I missed the last
few days of school as we traveled to the funeral. As much as
anything I'm curious to find the book so that I can finally know
the ending.
O88: Orphan gives voice lessons Solved: Emmy Keeps a
Promise Girl and older sister orphans who must earn a living - sister is
a singer?, gives voice lessons and they end up staying in a
student's home when the sister gets sick. Some romantic
element involving music student's uncle?brother? with older
sister. Think one is named Arabel but not sure. Some ongoing
thing with pickled clams and the younger sister not brave enough
to try new things. Set in New York or Boston in the late 1800's to
early 1900's, I think. Any help greatly appreciated -
driving me nuts to not remember this!
L,M. Montgomery, Marcella's Reward,
collected in Akin to
Anne. This is a long shot, but I thought I would suggest
it-- Marcella and her sister are orphans, younger sister is
sick, they end up going to stay in the country with their new
friend. Although there are no voice lessons, a DIFFERENT short
story in the collection does involve an orphan who takes voice
lessons...just thought I would suggest it in case.
This could be Dicey's Song,
by Cynthia Voight.
Sorry to disagree, but this is definitely
not Dicey's Song: the plot elements don't match at all.
Dicey's Song features four siblings who are not orphans, and it
is set in contemporary Maryland. There are no voice
lessons, pickled clams, sick sisters, or romantic elements.
Madye L. Chastain, Emmy Keeps a
Promise, 1956. Just spending a few idle
minutes browsing through the archives and I saw O88. This
sounds like it's probably Emmy Keeps a Promise.
Everything matches right down to the pickled clams. I don't
know how long ago someone was looking for this but perhaps she is
still interested.
O89: Orphaned peasant boy singing to the moon Solved: The Moon Singer O90: Old lady, alligator/crocodile in old Victorian house Solved: Alexander and
the Magic Mouse O91: Owl says "tu wit tu woo" Solved: Peter Puckle and Other Fairy
Tales O92: Orphan girl Solved: No Flying in
the House O93: Orangina The book was I think called "Orangeena" or "Orangina". It
was about an orange that rolls off a boat and falls into the hands
of a little girl who is sick. The orange sacrifices itself
to the little girl to drink so that she can be cured. It is a
children's story and maybe Swiss/European and is probably about 15
years old. O94: Old couple spruces up house for sale Children’s book, early 70’s at the latest, possibly much
earlier. An old man and woman live in an old, tumble-down
shack. They want to sell it and move somewhere nicer, but no
one wants to buy it. They decide to paint it, then plant
flowers, then do another and another improvement….at the end of
the book they like their spruced up house so much that they want
to live there after all.
O95: One room schoolhouse Chapter book from late 50's or early 60's - possibly scholastic
or weekly readers book club. featured children who lived in
a rural area in late 1800's or early 1900's and attended a one
room school house. described walking mile to school and
getting summer break to bring in the crops.
Could this one be one
of the Lois Lenski series? Two titles come to
mind: Strawberry Girl and Cotton in my Sack.
Could this be Caddie Woodlawn
by Carol Ryrie Brink? Caddie and her siblings walk a
long distance to school and then spend part of their summer
breaks tending to crops.
Could this be the series by Rebecca
Caudill? I don't think it had a collective title,
but some of the books were Schoolhouse in the Woods, The
Happy Little Family, The Saturday Cousins, Schoolroom in the
Parlor and Up and Down the River.
They're
about
Bonnie, her siblings and her cousins "in the days of copper toed
shoes". I believe they were originally published in the
1940s. Helen Fuller Orton, Mystery at the Little Red
Schoolhouse, 1942. maybe this or one
of her other books? Laura
Ingalls Wilder, Farmer Boy. Could it be this part of the
Little House On The Prairie series. In it Laura describes her
husband Almanzo's childhood. Almanzo was the youngest of four
siblings, and they only went to school when there was nothing
more important to do on the farm. The school was definitely a
one room (and one teacher) school.
O96: Orphan girls Solved: The Wolves of
Willoughby Chase O97: Oral Report Cleary? Pre 1990 Childrens book - A
children's story centers about a 3rd grader(?) having to give an
oral report which demontrates something. It concludes with the
principal getting a hair cut.
Beverley Cleary, Ramona the Pest, 1968. Tracy Dockray (Illustrator)
All about Ramona Quimby, I learnt how to spell secretary
throught this book, hope its this one or one of the others, Ramona
the Brave, Ramona Forever Suzy Kline, Horrible Harry and the
Green Slime,
1989. Is this the book you're looking for? It has some
similarities to what you described, but I don't think the
principal gets his hair cut. However, he does get his hair
spiked and his office is slimed.
O98:
orphan
potscrubber
in castle kitchen Solved: The Book of
Atrix Wolfe 2007 O99: Old West boy - riverboat captain grandfatehr Solved: Humbug Mountain O100: Our earth as an setting Solved: Heaven Eyes O101: Oomah (a Husky Pup) Solved: Oomah O102: Oregon by Train - Children travel alone Solved: A Head on Her
Shoulders O103: Orphan/foster girl Solved: Sally O104: Onion Soup for Dinner The book I am searching for is most likely
from the 70’s, probably mid to late 70’s. The story was
about a man who lived alone and ate the same thing every night
for supper – for some reason French onion soup is what I
remember, but it could be any type of soup. I also
remember the man being short and bald with a moustache and
possibly owning a dog. The man would go to the grocery
store and always buy the same items. I wish that I had
more details, but this is all that sticks out in my mind other
than my fond memories of this book from the 3rd grade.
I’ve even contacted my elementary school library for assistance,
but the librarian wasn’t able to locate anything. I would
greatly appreciate any suggestions or comments that might help
in solving this mystery.
Black, Irma Simonton, The
Little Old Man Who Could Not Read. The plot as
remembered is a bit different, but I'm just about sure this is
your book. He went shopping, but he couldn't read, so he
bought things based on the shapes of the boxes, so he wound up
with onion soup that he hated, waxed paper instead of spaghetti,
salt instead of oatmeal, etc. Jack Kent, Socks for Supper,1978.This
title
came
to
my
mind
when
you
mentioned
the
little
bald
man
with
the
moustache.
The
book
is
about
a
poor
older
couple
who
have
no
food
and
no
money.
So
the
wife
knits
socks
with
thread
from
the
husbands
sweater
for the husband to barter for cheese and milk from a younger,
richer farmer and his wife. This happens repeatedly, with
the husband's sweater shrinking with each transaction. As
it turns out, the rich farmer's wife had been using the thread
from the socks to make a sweater for the farmer, which turns out
too big, and which they then give to the little bald man.
Very cute book.
O105: Older Brother, Younger Sister The book or story i am looking for
is where There was an older brother and a younger sister who were
bestfriends and from a poor family. They lived in a place where
their country was being attacked. The sister made the brother
promise that he wouldn't go to war. A while lator he felt that he
had to. She and he were out having fun under an old tree one
evening. The boy had decied that it was the evening that he had to
go. The sister told him that he couldn't and hugged him. He told
her a story looking up through the tree branches about a great
place where the stars were diamonds and all he had to do was shake
the tree and they would fall out and everything would be okay in
the world. She didn't believe him but after a few minutes was
convinced to close her eyes and trust him. She closed her eyes and
let go. Holding out her hands her brother said that it would be
just a minute. He then walks away while her eyes are closed. She
waits and asks him to shake the tree. She knows that he's gone but
refuses to open her eyes, just wishing for the good world to come.
Ellen
Byron, Asleep on the Wind, 1998. This
is
the
plot of the one-act play Asleep on the Wind by Ellen Byron.The girl is Rootie.She doesn't want her brother to go to war (Vietnam, I
think).They live in the south, and
their family life is bad.Her brother
is her friend, also.She (or he or
both) is obsessed with Elvis Presley.At
the end of the play, the brother tells Rootie to close her eyes,
and when she opens them he is gone.The
action
all
takes place under a special tree.The
sequel, Graceland (also a one act) tells the brother's fate, and
in it Rootie is a young woman.I
don't know if Asleep on the
Wind is a book, but this is definitely the plot to that
play.I knew as soon as I read the
plot description.My daughter was in
it a few years ago and played Rootie.It's
a tearjerker. O106:
ostrich Hi, I am looking for a book that was read to me as a child . I
believe it was published between the early 1950's-1990's (Im not
sure of the exact date ) It was about an ostrich that thought she
was not pretty enough ,and thought by trading different animal
parts it would make her more beautiful. At the end she looked
quite ridiculous and realized that she was beautiful just the way
she was . I am not sure if it was an ostrich or a different
bird,but im pretty confident that it was an ostrich . If you find
this book for me , I will be VERY grateful. I have been looking
for this book for years . PLEASE HELP . Thanks
Ginsburg, Mirra, What Kind Of
Bird Is That? Crown, 1973.There are several books
with this theme, but in this book it is a goose that envies
everybody else and trades parts - swan's neck, pelican's beak,
crane's legs, crow's little black wings, peacocks's tail,
rooster's comb/wattle/crow. But these other bird's parts
don't work too well for him and a fox almost catches him because
he can't fly with the little wings. Some geese fly to save
him and he realizes what he has to do - give back all the other
bird's parts so he can be a goose like all the other geese,
except now he's not envious anymore. Mirra Ginsburg, What Kind of
Bird is That?,1973. A silly goose trades body parts
with many other animals, but in the end (after a narrow escape
from a wolf) realizes that she prefers her original, wonderful
self! Arnold, Katya, Duck, Duck,
Goose?, 1997. I didn't suggest this title before
since it's a relatively recent copyright date, but since there's
no confirmation on the other title, I figured I'd send this
along. The back of the book says that it's inspired by an
animated film called Who Is This Bird?, which was directed by
the great Russian director, Vladimir Grigorievich Suteev.
From the flyleaf: "Goose is miserable. Being a goose is so
ordinary, but our vain heroine craves glamour and style.
Tired of being just one of the gaggle, she wants to shine!
This headstrong goose is convinced that she can be just as
lovely as the other birds she envies, if only she could have
Swan's graceful neck, or Stork's long, shapely legs,
or.... When this silly goose gets her wish, she discovers
that looks aren't everything. This hilarious tale reminds
us all that beauty has its price." After Goose gave back
Swan's neck, Pelican's beak, Stork's long legs, Rooster's red
comb and cock-a-doodle-doo, and Peacock's tail, it ends with,
"Now she looked like every other goose. Only she was
smarter, kinder, and happier. And still prettier than a
duck!" Could be "Heather's
Feathers"? Library of Congress entry here:
http://tinyurl.com/cxcfen. There are several copies on
abebooks - one going for $65 - eep! I don't remember
whether she "traded parts", but it was about an ostrich that had
to learn to love herself/her looks. I loved that book as a
kid. I would have read it in the early '80s. Thanks
for hosting such an amazing service! I'm sure I'll be
using it soon.
O107: Orrefors crystal vase Soved: Going Steady O108: Our town Solved: This is Our
Town O109: Orphans, foster home, Communist Czechoslovakia Love your site! I am loking for a
book I read back in the 1970's. It was about a group of
orphans in a foster home in Communist Czechoslovakia in the late
1940's, early 1950's. The authorities are about to close
the home and disperse the children, so the oldest boy decides to
steal a train to escape with all of them to the west.
Nevil Shute, Pied Piper, 1941.
Homeless,
refugee
children
are
traveling
in
a
small
band
through
Europe
during
World
War
II.
As
they
travel,
they
keep
picking
up
more
children
who
are
alone
and
also
orphaned.
Eventually
a
man
attempts
to
lead
them
to
safety.
The
book was originally published in 1941 but was reissued in
paperback in 1963. Although it may not be the book being sought,
the plot is similar, and it is a wonderful novel! Not the Neville Shute book (great author,
though). It was definitely Czechoslovakia in the late
40's. A boy teams up with the Engineer on the train to
escape with his foster family to the West. The story was
supposedly inspired by an actual event in the early years of
the Cold War. Marie McSwigan, All Aboard for
Freedom, 1954. A group
of orphans escape via train from their country, and pick up a
few other kids along the way. I don''t remember if it was
Czechoslovakia, but it was definitely in the wake of WWII.
I don't believe they steal the train, but they aren't on it with
permission. (I read this a long time ago!)
O110: Orphan girl, red braids Solved: Sensible Kate O111: Opal Duncan, pickles Solved: Double Trouble
for Rupert O112: Others think girl is boy Solved: Nice Little
Girls O113: Overweight Elsa competes for boy's attention I read a typical coming of age book back in
1987, 1988, or 1989. I believe the main female character
was in a rivalry with this perfect girl over a boy's attention,
but don't remember many details about that. I remember
that an overweight girl, Elsa, joined the class after the
schoolyear had already started and befriended the
main character. Elsa's mother was very mean to her about
her weight and made comments to her and forced her to
diet. Elsa's sister was thin and perfect, which made
her situation worse. I believe their father had left
the family and Elsa associated that with her weight also.
Halfway through the school year, Elsa begins to lose weight but
her mother hardly notices and won't buy her any new clothes, so
Elsa pins her clothes to make them smaller. One day, a boy
bully steps on her skirt and it falls off, the whole class
laughs and calls her fat. The main character stands up for
Elsa and points out that the reason her skirt fell off is
because she has lost so much weight that her clothes are much
too big. I always thought the message was good and would like my
niece to read it. Please help me find it!
Bartha DeClements,
Nothing's Fair in Fifth Grade. This is definitely it. There's no boy but other
than that every detail is identical. Barthe
De Clements, Nothing's Fair
in Fifth Grade.Yes, this is Nothing's
Fair in Fifth Grade. The overweight girl's name is Elsie,
though, not Elsa.
O114: orphans dance around maypole, illustration Solved: The Giraffe Who
Went to School O115: old harlequin romance, cherry ripe female surgeon This is an older Harlequin Romance. I
remember no names, no title, no author. However I know it was
50-60s. The plot was about a female doctor studying to be a
surgeon. She was working with a brilliant surgeon who she did
not like at first, but then fell in love with him. I remember
she kind of pushed him away until she had completed her training
or whatever. The characters used the Campion poem, there is a
garden in her face, to signal she was ready to continue with
their relationship. It took place in England, and the heroine
had a father that lived near by and I want to say she lived with
him, he may have been a vicar, not sure. Both the main
characters had dark hair. The thing I remember most about it is,
Cherry Ripe. As I said this was used quite a bit, he promises
her he will leave her alone until her lips, cherry ripe
themselves do cry. I always called the book Cherry Ripe,
although I know that is not the right title. I have tried
several search forums already to try and find this book, I do
not know if ever I will find it, but I really want to. Also, I
have ruled out Betty Neels and Anne Vinton (Juliet Shore) even
though they both wrote in the same subject matter at the same
time. Good luck!! You might try browsing through
this collection: http://www.tinypineapple.com/nursebooks/ There
are photos of all the covers and brief summaries of each
book. Something might jog your memory. O116:
Orphaned mountain lion cub Solved: Yellow Eyes O117:
Old man who lived in a shack Late 1960s to early 1970s. It was about an old man who could not
sleep because of all the noises, his shutters banged against the
house, the trees blew in the wind ect. He went to a wise man who
told him to get an elephant which made it worse; Then the wise man
told him to get a bird, then a donkey ect. Then he went back to
the wise man and told him it was worse the ever so the wise man
told him to get rid of all the animals. Then he was able to sleep
because it was so quite and peaceful with just the wind blowing
the trees and the shutters banging on the house.
Ann McGovern, Too Much Noise, 1967. Peter complains that his house is too
noisy, until the wise man teaches him a lesson in perspective by
advising him to obtain some rather unusual house guests.
O118: Og gorilla football 1960-70's (or earlier?). This was a favorite book of a
son's friends. She recalls that the gorilla named Og played
on a football team and knew only one pass.
Gault, Clare & Frank, A Super
Fullback for the Superbowl, 1977, Scholastic. illus. - Syd
Hoff. I don't have the book so I can't check the plot, but
the subjects are 'gorillas' & 'football'.'
O119: Orphan girl, witch Childrens, 1955? Little girl that is
a witch. Lives with grandmother or foster parent.
Always dirty, kids make fun of, wants to be a princess and at
the end she gets her wish.
Probably Anne Bennet's "Little
Witch". See Solved Mysteries.
O120: Overweight Girl & Thin Girl - Love Horses,
Become Friends Solved: Panky and William O121: Ori I am looking for a children's book that my mother read to me in
the early 80s. From what I remember it was about 2 young Asian
siblings, possibly twins that went for a magic teacup ride one
night. I think their names were Ori & Dori and the adventure
may have been a dream. They ride in a teacup and explore space.
Finding this book would mean the World to me, as it is a very fond
memory of my mother and I named my child after my memory of this
book. Please Help! O122: "Ouch you naughty lion" A girl sticks her finger in a crib and says "Ouch you naughty
lion. You mustn't bite." May have been a board book.
Edward Fenton, Fierce John, 1959?, approximate. Possibly this one?
See a picture on the Loganberry site under "Mother's Druthers."
Patricia Scarry, my
teddy bear, 1953. illus by Eloise Wilkins.
2008 O123: Ohio - Young Adult - New Girl Solved: Best
Friend O124: Overweight woman wants to enjoy life the story is about an overweight woman, who wanted to enjoy her
life. the book is fiction, funny and with some romance in
it. cover is blue with the top of a woman's head, her eyes
looking up. I believe the author is a female.
2002-2004.
Wally Lamb,
She's Come Undone. Your description of the
cover sounds a lot like this book -- not written by a woman, but
very convincingly in a woman's voice. Wally Lamb, She's
Come Undone, 1998, copyright. Definitely
not a children's story, but an excellent novel. Here's a
synopsis from the B&N website: "Meet Dolores Price. She's
13, wise-mouthed but wounded, having bid her childhood goodbye.
Beached like a whale in front of her bedroom TV, she spends the
next few years nourishing herself with the Mallmomars, potato
chips, and Pepsi her anxious mother supplies. When she finally
rolls into young womanhood at 257 pounds, Dolores is no stronger
and life is no kinder. But this time she's determined to rise to
the occasion and give herself one more chance before really
going belly up." The cover is blue, rather surreal-Dali-ish,
with the woman's head on a sea, surrounded by clouds. The
author, Wally Lamb, is
not a woman but you would swear this book had been written by
one. This might be EVERY INCH OF
HER by Peter
Sheridan, 2004. Overweight Philomena is running away
from her abusive husband (and leaves her 5 children with him)
and ends up taking refuge in a convent. Though her smoking,
swearing and tattoos startle the nuns, they take her in and
put her in charge of entertainment for the senior citizens.
Though unconvential, she is a breath of fresh air, and soon
makes a positive change in not only their lives, but her own.
The cover doesn't match the description exactly, but is
close.~from a librarian Helen Fielding, Bridget
Jones's Diary, 1998. Have you
considered Bridget Jones's Diary? The cover isn't
blue, but it does have the woman's face looking up. The
sequel, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, has
just the eyes looking up. Most of your details fit, other
than the date and the cover being blue. O125: Oz
book I had several OZ books when I was a
child but can’t remember the titles. There was a part of one that
I just loved, and have been trying to figure out which book it is
in. I can’t remember who the characters were, but I do
remember them walking on a long journey and being very
hungry. As they passed by trees, the foods they were
thinking of would appear on the branches and they would pick and
eat them. I know this was a very small part of the book, but
it was my favorite!
L. Frank Baum, Ozma of Oz, 1907,
approximate. You may be thinking of this one, in which
Dorothy and a hen named Billina are swept off a ship during a
storm and wash up on a strange beach. Dorothy, who is hungry,
finds two trees, one bearing lunch-boxes, the other dinner pails,
both filled with good things to eat. All the food items are
attached to the insides of the containers with little stems. Other
memorable characters from this book include the vicious Wheelers,
who wish to kill Dorothy after she has plucked the food, Tiktok,
the machine man, The Princess Langwidere, who keeps a cabinet full
of heads so that she can change her face at will, and who wants to
add Dorothy's head to her collection, the Nome King, who has
transformed the Royal Family of Ev into small ornaments and
bric-a-brac to decorate his palace, and threatens to do the same
to Dorothy and her friends, should they fail in their attempts to
correctly identify & restore them, and of course, Ozma, the
young and beautiful ruler of Oz.
O126: Old woman who
stops getting up in the morning I read this book in the 70s.
It's a picture book with text. It's about an old woman who
lives alone, in a high-rise, it seems. One morning, she
decides she isn't going to get up - she doesn't see the
point. All day long, people come knocking on her door to say
what happened. One person was late to work because he/she
depended upon the old woman's tea kettle going off at 7:00 a.m.
(or so) like clockwork. Since the old woman didn't get up
and make the tea, the neighbor didn't get up either. And so
it went until there was a line of people at the door who had
gotten messed up because the old woman hadn't gotten up and gone
about her daily routine.
Mildred Kantrowitz, Maxie, 1970,
copyright. Maxie lives in three small rooms on the top floor
of an old brownstone house on Orange Street where she feels rather
unnecessary until the day she stays abed. Mildred Kantrowitz, Emily A. McCully (illus), Maxie, 1970,
copyright. "Maxie lived in three small rooms on the top
floor of an old brownstone house on Orange Street. She lived
there for many years, and every day was the same for Maxie.
Every morning, seven days a week, at exactly seven o'clock,
Maxie raised the shades on her three front windows. Every
morning at exactly 7:10, Maxie's large, orange cat jumped up
onto the middle windowsill and sprawled there in the morning
sun. At 7:20, if you were watching Maxie's back window, you
could see her raise the shade to the very top. Then she
uncovered a bird cage. On the perch inside the cage was a yellow
canary. He was waiting for his water dish to be filled, and it
always was, if you were still watching, at 7:22..." In fact,
Maxie did everything at exactly the same time and in the same
way every day. When her tea kettle whistled, she let it whistle
for exactly one full minute. One day, feeling lonely and
unneeded, Maxie decided to stay in bed. She didn't raise her
front shades at 7:00. Her cat did not jump onto the middle
windowsill. Her teakettle did not whistle. Maxie soon found out
that the sounds coming from her apartment each morning kept the
neighborhood running like clockwork. O127: Old woman and
cow pat Solved: The
Old Woman and the Rice Thief O128: Orphan sisters/Mean
Headmistress/Boarding School/Uninformed-Neglectful Uncle with a
Kind Heart This is a book that our school
librarian read to us in 4th grade (mid-70s). Since the other book
I remember her reading was the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe,
I'm surprised that I'm having such difficulty tracking it down as
children's literature. (I was and am a voracious reader and read
for myself as soon as she finished it). The plot details I recall
include two orphaned sisters who have been placed in a boarding
school by their guardian uncle. The sisters and other girls in the
school are forced to wear shabby old clothes, eat less than
desirable food (I specifically recall mentions of stewed fruit),
and have no toys while the Headmistress's daughter or
granddaughter is decked out in beautifl silks and ribbons, has
gorgeous dolls and eats cake and ice cream (she's also very snooty
to the other girls). One day the sisters discover opened crates in
the attic that indicate that the dolls and clothes that the snooty
girl has were originally sent by their uncle and other girls'
relatives to them and the headmistress has taken them to give to
her child/grandchild. The girls somehow run away or something and
make contact with their uncle who was unaware of the true state of
things and the boarding house. It ends happily, but I can't
remember the details. I'm trying to establish a children's library
or reading list for my own two small children and would love to
share with them some of the stories that I enjoyed--even if I
can't remember the name of the book!
Betty MacDonald, Nancy and Plum.
I'm
pretty sure this is Nancy and Plum by Betty MacDonald, who also wrote the Mrs.
Piggle-Wiggle books. It was one of my favorites growing up. Oops!
I
inadvertently
posted the answer for O128 as O125. The answer to O128
about the evil headmistress and the benignly neglectful uncle
is most definitely Nancy and Plum by Betty MacDonald.
Sorry about the mix-up!
Betty Macdonald, Nancy and
Plum. This is definitely the
book you are seeking. O129: Orrefors
crystal mystery I have a vague memory of a mystery
story as a child which involved, at its resolution, an Orrefors
crystal vase, possibly decorated with an etched dolphin.
This would have been in the mid sixties, no later than about
1967. Then, I read a lot of Nancy Drew, some Dana
Girls, and other "girl sleuth" books (I think there was a series
about a camp counselor). It's not Dana Girls "Secret of the
Silver Dolphin," although the title suggested to me that it might
have been. I have a feeling it was one of the series books,
but which of the series, I don't know. Do you have a clue?
Anne Emery, Going Steady, 1949, approximate.
I'm only throwing this out there because of the Orrefors crystal
vase, but you might look at this one in the Solved
Mysteries section. Part of a series of books about Sally
Burnaby. O130: Old
Man on Apple Pie island Solved: Mother Goose: A Treasury of Best Loved Rhymes O131: Old-fashioned
girl lives with modern cousins, sees ghost Alice Solved: Mirror of Danger O132: orphan Solved: They Loved to Laugh O133: Old
Mr. Rivers A friend remembers the line, "Old
Mr. Rivers, caught in a flood," from a book read to him, aged 4 or
5, about 194l. The illustrations were in blues and
browns. I thought the source might be Thornton Burgess but
have had no success finding it. Help! Thanks very
much. O134: Old
Lady
in Upside-down House Solved: Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle O135: "Oh, Stanley" Solved: And I Mean It, Stanley O136: Orphan boy rescued by
girl and captain father Solved: Trina Finds a Brother O137: Orphan lives with old aunts who eat
peppermint candy Solved: Peppermints
in
the
Parlor O138: Old doll cast aside for new doll A little girl has a favorite old
doll and gets a beautiful new doll as a gift, casting her old doll
aside (I think leaving her outside in the rain). When she begins
to miss her old favorite doll friend, she realizes that beauty
doesn't matter, and rescues her old doll. Large flat book, 1940's.
Clara Grant, Ukelele And Her New Doll, 1951, copyright. This seems
like such an obvious suggestion that I almost hesitate to offer
it, but is it possible the little girl lived on a Polynesian
island? Ukelele has a wooden doll that she loves, but casts it
aside when visiting sailors give her a beautiful store-bought
china doll. However, after realizing that she can't really play
with the china doll as she would like, for fear of breaking it or
getting it dirty, she goes back to her beloved wooden doll. Jean O'Neill, Cotton
Top, 1953, copyright. Rare and expensive
book about a little girl named Sarah Jane (but called "Cotton
Top" because her hair was as white as cotton) growing up in the
Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. When someone gives her a
beautiful store-bought china doll, she discards her beloved
home-made doll (made by her mother). She discovers that the new
doll can't be played with the way the old one can, and learns
the value of the old doll.2009 O139: Old
man helps boy survive on mountain It's not Hatchet, even though that
book sounds almost dead on. Late 70's/Early 80's. City boy has to
survive in the wilderness and gets help from an old hermit, who
teaches him survival skills, including hunting, trapping, and
making your own jerkey. The old man dies and he stays until
rescued.
If the wilderness is actually an island in the Caribbean,
then you may be thinking of The Cay, by Theodore Taylor. Phillip is shipwrecked and
blind, and has to rely on an old black hermit named Timothy for
survival. The book was published in 1969. It does not
take place in the Caribbean. It's definitely in North American in
the mountains. Everything about the book Hatchet sounds exactly
right (including the plane crash), EXCEPT the absence of the old
man. The book I remember definitely had a hermit old man who took
in the boy and taught him how to survive in the wilderness. After
the old man dies, the boy is totally equipped to live on his own.
When he's eventually rescued, I think the boy even contemplates
staying in the mountains. Robert Newton Peck, Kirk's Law.
I'm
pretty
sure this is the book you want. Jean Craighead George, My Side of the Mountain, 1959,
copyright. Possibly this one? Description:
Every kid thinks about running away at one point or another;
few get farther than the end of the block. Young Sam Gribley
gets to the end of the block and keeps going--all the way to
the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York. There he sets up
house in a huge hollowed-out tree, with a falcon and a weasel
for companions and his wits as his tool for survival. In a
spellbinding, touching, funny account, Sam learns to live off
the land, and grows up a little in the process. Blizzards,
hunters, loneliness, and fear all battle to drive Sam back to
city life. But his desire for freedom, independence, and
adventure is stronger. No reader will be immune to the
compulsion to go right out and start whittling fishhooks and
befriending raccoons. Lanny Cotler (screenplay), The Earthling,
1980. Just wanted to comment that this sounds so much
like the film "The Earthling" that starred Ricky Schroeder
and William Holden, except that the boy's parents die in an
RV that goes over a cliff in a very remote area of
Australia. He is found by a man who is dying and
resolves to teach the boy everything he can about survival
so that the boy has a chance. I wonder if there may
have been a movie tie-in type book. Morey, Walt, Canyon Winter,
1972, copyright. (Walt
Morey is also the author of Gentle Ben.)
Here's the synopsis from the inside dust jacket:
"When the private plane carrying fifteen year old Peter
Grayson crashed in the Rockies, the pilot was killed, and
Peter, a complete tenderfoot, was stranded alone in a
wilderness canyon. When he was unable to find his
way out, and had lost almost all hope of rescue, he
followed a deer through the dense terrain to the cabin
where Omar Pickett, an old 'canyon rat,' lived with his
wild animal companions. Begrudgingly, Omar took
Peter in for the long six months before spring would bring
boats from 'outside.'..." Walt Morey, Canyon Winter,
1972, copyright. I knew I had read this book just
a few months ago and looked through my books for 1 1/2
hours to find it. It is Canyon Winter and I found
the synopsis on the internet: The private plane taking
Peter to his wealthy father's ranch crashes in the
Rockies, and its pilot is killed. Struggling to survive,
and sure that no one will rescue him, Peter stumbles
across rough and unforgiving Omar Pickett, who has lived
in the mountains for years. Peter must rely on Omar--and
learn to rely on himself. O140: One footed hopping creature author: hyphenated name ?Spanish,
1975, childrens. Imaginative colourful children's book
that featured a creature that hopped on one giant foot. We
loved this book which we borrowed many times from our Public
Library in the suburbs of Toronto.
You might be describing
Medio Polito, the Half-Chick. He is a chicken with only one eye,
one wing, and one leg, going hoppity-kick down the road on his one
foot. He is very boastful about going to Madrid to visit the King,
but his misadventures land him on top of the highest steeple in
Madrid, where he's now a weathercock. Hope this helps. Stephen Cosgrove. I would suggest taking a
look at books by Stephen
Cosgrove. He wrote many books about colorful
creatures around this time. Many were translated into the
Spanish language. If your book had a moral to it, Stephen
Cosgrove just might be the author. O141: Oriental
children's book with colorful kites @1958, childrens. I remember
Oriental children flying kites that were dragons, open boxes (I
think) and very colorful. I don't remember the story but as a
burgeoning artist it was powerfully visual and exotic for me. I
still have an avid interest in anything Oriental!
Kurt Wiese, Fish in the Air, 1948. Could this be the
1949 Caldecott Honor book, FISH IN THE AIR? Little Fish, who
because of his name had fish-shaped shoes and a lantern decorated
with a fish, wanted the biggest kite that looked like a fish for
kite flying season. When he got it, however, a Big Wind blew
it - and him - away. Eventually, a fish hawk attacked the
kite, and sends Little Fish, buoyed up by his starched gown, down
into the net of a fisherman. Little Fish decided that he
wanted a very small fish kite. The colors are very vivid. Possibly
Children of
Foreign Lands by Elizabeth
F. McCrady, 1936? Long shot, I know. Be sure to look in
Solved Mysteries under Ching
Ling and Ting Ling (that was one story from the book,
which was originally published as several 8-page books in
"linenette format"). Mildred Whatley
Wright, A Sky Full of
Dragons, 1969, copyright. I hope this
is it! It was one of my childhood favorites. Lee Chow wished he had some
marbles so that he could play with the other boys in the park,
so one night he and his grandfather set to work with rice
paper and paints and from their efforts emerged a sky full of
dragons that brought marbles (including the yellow one that
looked like the eye of a cat) and friends to Lee Chow. Leo Politi, Moy Moy. A long shot, but does have some
beautiful illustrations of oriental children and kites,
dragons. O142: Old Gray the cowpony Solved: Old
Blue the Cowboy O143: Old
Woman Repairs Dolls Solved: Mystery at the Doll Hospital O144: ORPHAN RUSSIAN TWIN GIRL COLD
War Era
LOOKING FOR NOVEL I READ
AND LOST THE BOOK. THE PLOT STARTS OUT IN MOSCOW DURING THE COLD
WAR ERA. A LITTLE TWIN GIRL IS STANDING IN FRONT OF A
ORPHANAGE GATE. A YOUNG AMERICAN BOY TAKES HER PICTURE. THE BOY
WINS A PHOTO CONTEST WITH THIS PICTURE. SHE IS A ORPHAN BECAUSE
HER PARENTS WERE KILLED THEY WERE SPYS. SHE HAS A TWIN SISTER A
DANCER WHO SEEKS ASSYLUM IN THE US. THEY FIND EACH OTHER YEARS
LATER.THE PAPER BACK COVER HAS A PICTURE OF THIS LITTLE GIRL
STANDING BEHIND A GATE OF THE ORPHANAGE IN MOSCOW.
O145:
Old man in winter turns into tree in summer and kids
transform into birds after falling into the tree's hallow Solved: Magic
in the Park
O146:
Orphan girl with doll and locket
This book featured an orphan girl post-Civil War era who received
a trunk with a doll and a locket - I remember that parts of the
book were told from the dolls POV. I think the trunk held a
missing will. The girls father was a Yankee soldier - picture of
him in the locket in blue uniform.
Friedman, Tracy, Orphan and the Doll,
1988.Amanda was the
orphan and Henriette was the doll. I think I remember there being
something about a will, though I'm not sure.
O147: Orphan Girl
Alien
An orphan girl is an alient turns into a bird.Parents died in a car accident; lives in an orphanage.
One day gets a visitfrom
strangers; turns out her parent were from another planet and
alients came to take her back. At the end she decides to stay,
turns into a birg and flies back over the sea
Kris Neville, Bettyann,1951, approximate.This
is a classic. There is a sequel, Bettyann's Children.
O148:
Old Grey House A short children's book: a woman
decides to move from her old house. She packs her stuff in a mule?
cart, looks for a new house, turning right at each road and ends
up in front of her old house being painted. The painter says
"Certainly, certainly, come right in". She now likes it and moves
back in.O149: An
Orphan and Her Horse
I need the name of a book about a girl
who lives in orphanage and who loves horses. She runs away with
one of the horses and stops at a creek. People are looking for
her. She runs away to other towns and works on farms. The book is
a grade school reading level.
Pam Munoz
Ryan, Riding Freedom,
1998, copyright. Based on a true story. At two, Charlotte
Parkhurst survives the wagon crash that kills her parents, but is
placed in an orphanage where she is the only girl. Ten years
later, she is kept out of sight when prospective adoptive parents
come to visit and must work hard in the kitchens. She can't sew,
hates cooking, and doesn't want to be like other girls, but she
has a deep love and understanding for horses. Her friends are a
former slave, Vern, who cares for the horses and allows her to
ride them, and a boy named Hayward. She is already an accomplished
rider, winning races against the boys regularly, when she suffers
a series of losses: the death of Freedom, her favorite horse
the adoption of her friend Hayward and a ban on riding or
being around the horses (because it isn't ladylike). Faced with
the prospect of spending the next six years slaving away in the
orphanage's kitchen, she runs away. She stops by a river, where
she cuts off her hair and dons boy's clothing. She throws her old
clothes into the river so that people will assume she has drowned.
Using the name "Charley" and passing as a boy, she finds a job as
a stable hand and learns to drive a coach, eventually becoming a
highly sought-after driver. She later moves out West to
California, where she must overcome the loss of her left eye
(while shoeing a wild horse) and prove herself capable of riding
and driving a stagecoach again. Still living as a man, she becomes
the first woman to vote in a US presidential election (in 1868).
It wasn't until after her death that people discovered that she
was really a woman. O150: The Old Castle
Children find an old castle in the
woods. Later, the whole village has a festival in the shadow of
the castle.Children's picture book with story, approx
5th grade level, poss. 1980s. Animal characters? Possibly part of
a series that had a map in the front of the book of the village
they lived in.
Additional details: The book was thin, maybe
30 pages. The book was a picture book with words, very richly
illustrated.
O151: Otter canal boat
UK England Picture book about an otter who
obtains a houseboat, and sails it up and down the canals of
England with a crew of friends. He plays the accordion at one
point, wearing a jaunty sailor's outfit, and I remember their
having to use a boat hook to maneuver through a brick-lined
tunnel. Thanks!
Cynthia and
Brian Paterson, The Foxwood
Regatta,1986.
The big Regatta is coming up, and the cheating rats are up to
their old tricks. With the help of Captain Otter, Harvey Mouse,
Willie Hedgehog, and Rue Rabbit build a paddle steamer and foil
the rats' scheme to win dishonestly. Part of the series of
Foxwood Tales. Other books include The Foxwood Kidnap, The
Foxwood Smugglers, and The Foxwood Surprise.
O152: Obelisk German
Novella/Story Pre-1950's anthology.
Husbands and wives die in succession and their names are placed on
the obelisk (they may have been buried there). I read it in German
and don't know if it was actually translated into English but want
to find an English copy. O153: Olive,
star, sun, moon, bracelet Childs book about child
Olivia (think that name is correct) that cant’ sleep so goes out
and dances with the moon and stars and watches the sun come up,
they give her a bracelet to remember her night, she wakes up
thinking it was a dream but finds a real bracelet on her wrist, I
think it was written in the 90’s or so.
Armand Eisen,
Wish Upon a Star: A Tale of
Bedtime Magic,1993. After wishing that she did not have to go to bed,
Olivia embarks on a magical nighttime journey through the
heavens. She spends the night frolicking with the stars, riding
on Saturn's rings, and chatting with the Man in the Moon. In the
morning, she awakes to find the perfect memento of her adventure
- a beautiful bracelet with charms depicting a star, the moon,
and the sun. The book comes with a real charm bracelet for the
young reader.
O154:
Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe variation A children's book based on The Old
Woman Who Lived in a Shoe. "There was an old woman who lived
in a house and the house fell down on her head. She took her
twelve children up under her arms and went to live in a
shed. But the wind blew up and the shed blew down and the
children blew far and wide.
Jessica
Nelson North, The Giant's Shoe. Rand McNally Start-Right Elf
Series 1967, reprint. It was originally
published as "A Long Story" in The Children's Treasury, ed. by
Marjorie Barrows (Consolidated Book Publishers, Chicago, 1947). 2011 O155: Orphaned Greek
siblings go to Israel with other orphans after Holocaust No memory of the title or author of
this book. Leo and Mia are orphaned in the
Holocaust. They are taken with other children to live on a
kibbutz in Israel. There was an English girl whose name
might have been Judy and a Dutch boy who was a good farmer as
well. Would love to find this!
Sally
Watson, To Build a Land,1957. In
1947, Leo and Mia Morelli, young orphaned Italian Jews, are
smuggled by boat to a kibbutz in Palestine, and deal with events
leading to the establishment of Israel. O156: Old Crock car Date approx
1930. Story of a little racing car. I am looking for a book
that was my fathers favourite as a child. He was born in
1930 and I imagine this book was for a young child. He
recalls it as being called The Old Croak Car or maybe crock. It
was about a little racing car. O157: One
Day on One City Block
This was a wordless book but not for toddlers. It would be from
the 60s or early 70s. Every page depicts the same corner of a city
block (all on white background with black pencil/pen sketches – no
color) and shows the residents in various activities across one
day. It begins in the morning with everyone waking up and getting
ready for school/work, and on the last page everyone is sleeping.
I remember that the children could be seen in school in the
background, while the parents could be seen at home (e.g. the
mother in one apartment cleans, cooks, etc., and teaches a ballet
class to children after school) or at work (one family runs the
grocery store on the ground floor of the corner building). Please
help – I ache to see this again!
Tibor
Gergely, Busy Day, Busy People.Sounds like it
could be Busy Day, Busy People by Tibor Gergely. I noticed that someone posted a
possible title to my stumper, Busy Day, Busy People. I checked it
out, and that's not it. It doesn't seem like I can post on the
webpage, so I just wanted to let you know and perhaps offer some
more details that might help: The book I'm referring to shows the
*exact* same view of one block/ city street at different times of
day. There's no text, no color. Just sketches. Probably sounds
boring, but it wasn't at all! Goodall,
John
S.I don't know your book, but here is a
suggestion:This description is
similar to the work of John S. Goodall.It
doesn't seem likely that your book is actually by Goodall because
he typically illustrated change over seasons or centuries.But if you look him up, there might be
references to other illustrators who do similar work, which could
eventually lead to the book you're looking for. O158:Orphan sisters
Peace, Charity, Hope Orphaned sisters Peace, Charity,
Hope living on a farm. Peace is a tomboy who gets into trouble.
Charity is the oldest sister raising the others. Peace eats a
neighbor's watermelon. In sequel she is adopted and falls off a
roof, paralyzed. Old, maybe 1930's. O159: Old children's story collection
in ten (ish) volumes SOLVED: Bryna and Louis Untermeyer
(Ed), The Golden Treasury of
Children's Literature - Ten Volumes, 1962-1963,
approximate. O160: Overweight girl
has a magical summer I read this book about twenty years
ago. A lonely overweight girl falls in love with a nice boy and
has a wonderful summer. When she goes back to high school she
loses him out of her own foolishness. I really loved this book.
Hope you can help! Thanks!
Nan Gilbert, The Unchosen, 1963. Ellen, who is overweight,
decided that she and her other two social outcast high school
friends will change their lives by trying to get dates.
Ellen does find a boyfriend whose name I think is Norman but there
is a misunderstanding that comes between them. The book is
set in England was one of my favorite young adult books. Elisabeth
Ogilvie, Blueberry Summer, 1956. My copy of this book about
Cass, an overweight teenager who is, at the beginning of the book,
daydreaming of the perfect summer, is a Scholastic reprint from
1968. This might be your book. O161: Otto hates
his hat and trades it to mermaids
I loved this book as a kid because of its pictures and somewhat
quirky story. Otto (?) is made to wear this hat when he goes out,
and at some point he and his grandpa are being chased and he
trades it to mermaids who give them a ride away. The mermaids also
have a comb and a bubble pipe. Thanks! 2012 O162: Orphaned girl
lives in attic The story is about a little girl
orphaned and sent to live with her very depressed ?Uncle? in an
old house. She lives in the attic and he is fairly
mean. The plot is involved: a rescued grey kitten she hides
in attic, a ghost in a garden in back and ultimately hidden
treasure buried in a stream.
A Sound
of Crying, Rodie
Sudbery, 1970.aka The House in
the Wood. See solved stumpers. Rodie
Sudbery, The house in the
woods,1968. I think this is Rodie Sudbery House in the
woods (US edition A sound of crying) Modern day child Polly and
siblings go to stay with cousin Frederick. Polly dreams about
Sarah, who used to live in the house. She tells the others
Sarah's story day by day as she dreams. Sarah is an orphan badly
treated by her uncle, he has an Alsatian called Thugdon. She has
a grey kitten called Grey One. Polly finds the "treasure" in the
lake - a chest which contained paper money, which crumbles as
they open it. Rodie
Sudbery, A Sound of Crying. Polly comes to stay in a house and
has dreams about a girl who used to live there, Sarah. Sarah
Gray is living with her uncle Simon, who treats her as a
servant. She finds a cat and keeps it secretly, naming it
Gray One. O163: Old lady makes
goose featherbed SOLVED: Gates, Huber, Peardon, Salisbury, Good Times on Our
Street, 1950, reprint. O164: Orphans told
story about spooky house that comes true Scholastic children's book from the
early '90s. It's set at an orphanage, where one of the
caretakers tells a story to the kids. Whatever happens in
her story happens to a nearby house. I remember someone
getting turned into a stone statue in the story, and the kids
finding a statue shortly after.
Carol Beach York, The Secret
House, 1992.
"Miss Plum tells a scary story about a wicked wizard to the girls
at the Good Day Orphanage, but only Phoebe and Tatty notice the
house down the street that seems to be the one that belongs to the
wizard in the story. O165: Old children's
health/safety textbooks In elem
school, I remember some text books prob from the '60s that told
stories of kids who were overly-curious or disobedient and got
into some often gruesome predicaments! A girl getting her arms
caught in a towel wringer, other kids falling off their bikes,
getting hurt, etc. Did I dream this?? O166: Overweight girl
actress
SOLVED: Marguerite Vance, Secret
for a Star.
O167: Olden days
setting, oldest daughter of family I *thought* that it had the word
"Rainbow" in the title.Olden days setting.Oldest daughter of a big
family. Family makes pull taffy, at some point in the book. Mom
has miscarriage.mom has baby,dies at birth.Girl makes pancakes,
eats her rolled up with br. sugar. Family was german? cover is
yellow?
Taylor, Sydney, All of a Kind Family series.
Not really sure, but your description puts me in mind of the All-Of-A-Kind
Family series, a Jewish family with four? daughters and a
son who live in New York at the beginning of the 20th century, the
girls help their uncle and aunt. Don't recall the episodes you
describe, but they do fit the tone of the books. Hope this helps. I sent in info a couple
weeks ago about a book that I am looking for but cannot remember
the title or author. I was given the # O167 and Ive been waiting
anxiously to see if the mystery would be solved. :) I checked back
this evening (March 5th 2012) and the stumper made a suggestion as
to what the book title might be. Alas , its not the book. :(I'm still hopeful that this book
title/author, will be found!! Maybe my book stumper still has some
tricks up their sleeve?!? :) Thank you!!
Thanks, we'll keep trying! I'm sure I read this
one. The oldest daughter is named Etta or maybe Ella. She resents
having to be the responsible older sister and then is regretful
when her mom has miscarriage. Seems like there is also a bit about
a lice breakout at school. Can't remember the title but I bet the
book is still on my mother's shelf! I'll look the next time I'm
there. Hello There! :) Book Stumper #O167 , a lady gave a
description about a book that she had read that sounds similar to
the one Im looking for. (Girls name was Etta or Ella, lice
outbreak, etc.) I am pretty sure that she is RIGHT! It sounds
exactly like the book Im looking for!!! She was going to check to
see if the book was still on her Mom's bookshelf, because she
couldn't remember the title or author off hand. Just wanted to let
her know, that YES, it sounds like that might be the book!!!!
Getting excited. :) Thanks!!! Etta Webb, Yesterday's Girl. A possibility? Hello There!! I am writing
to reply to a suggestion that was given on my Book Stumper #O167
. Etta
Webb's book was suggested, (Yesterdays
Girl) and that is not the book either!! Still
hoping that someone will be able to respond with the title and
author. :) I am desperate for this booK!! Thanks so much!! O168: Old lady, cat
or cats Circa 1960, over-sized thin hard
cover. 3 main colors, black, white & a bright
pink/purple-ish. Highly illustrated, with curly-ques
effects, cover was the pink color, and every page had some
pink. Story of a sophisticated type 'old' lady who lived w/
cats, (a widow?) Meets a gentleman in the end.
Virginia Cunningham, Veronica Reed (illus), Those Cats!,1947. Miss Simpson, a dressmaker, is a lonely old spinster.
The postman, Mr. Tooks, brings her two mischievous kittens,
Marmalade and Pinafore, to keep her company. They make terrible
messes and get into all sorts of trouble - but manage to win her
over. A few days later, Mr. Tooks brings her two boys from the
Children's Home(Tim and Bud) to look after. Finally, he suggests
that she needs one more thing - a husband! There is a lot of pink in
the illustrations - flowers, ribbons, curtains, cushions, rugs,
wallpaper, Mrs. Simpson's dresses, and the filling of a jelly roll
Mrs. Simpson bakes for the boys. O169: Orphaned girl Date: pre 1970. I am looking for a
chapter book about a young orphaned (?) girl sent to live with
(relatives?) family on farm. Family may have only boys and she
gets bowl haircuts, the boys might poke fun at her. In one part
she tells of working hard to fix breakfast, clean up afterwards
and then it is time to "red up" (prepare) the kitchen for the next
meal.
Kathryn
Worth, They Loved to Laugh,1950. "He surveyed Martitia with
the bowl on her head. He spoke amusedly: ''Are you ready for the
shearing, Martitia?'' ''I'm no sheep, Barzillai. Stop talking like
that." Kate Douglas
Wiggin, Rebecca of Sunnybrook
Farm, 1903.Your
description made me think of Rebecca of Sunnybrook farm, which I
read in 1972, so my memory is a bit fuzzy. I only recently
passed it on to the library's book sale, so I don't have it to
check details. But, Wikipedia had a detailed description. O170:
Orange Sherbet (cat name)
Children's book with large colorful illustrations (watercolors,
maybe) about a cat named Orange Sherbet. "Orange Sherbet"
might have been the title of the book. Circa 1970.
Probably purchased in Cincinnati. Text is about the cat's
typical day. O171:
Orphan girl dream walks Young orphan girl who can dream walk and take others along
with her. People in charge find out about it and kick her out
because other kids show up to class tired. She's sent/ goes on a
journey to find a special tree. could be part of a series. O172:
Old woman coins on eyes SOLVED: The Letter, The Witch, and the Ring,1976.
O173:
Old lady lives alone on a boat with animals SOLVED: Irene Haas, The Maggie B. O174: Ogre running with club There is a red-haired ogre running on the front cover of
the book dressed in cavemen's clothes with a club raised in his
had. He has red leg hair and a bad complexion. The picture
of the ogre may not be on the front cover but inside the book.
That's all I remember. I am excited to find this book
because my little grandson told me it looked like his mom.
That was in 1989.
P1: Mr.
Pig I work in a public library, and a customer has come in looking
for these two stories/books. A librarian suggested your web site
as one of the best for this stumper. Please help. Customer read
these two stories about 30 years ago(at least) to her nephew. No
author, no title, but she thinks they are "Golden Books." First
one has a plot where a little pig does things without thinking.
Another character cautions him with, "You
must think, Mr. Pig." That's all she remembers.
We've tried sources, and so far, we have nothing. She's flexible
on when she wants the info too. Thanks for any help you can give!
This wouldn't be one of the Sweet
Pickles series, would it? We had these in the
very late 70's or early 80's.
P1 I went back to the list of pig
books. No book with the title Mr Pig, but
you could email her at niresk@hotmail and see if she happens to
know a book , besides Mr
& Mrs Pig, that has a Mr Pig in it.
P4.5 P55 P73 P79
P80 Ditto
If it is a Sweet Pickles
book, it might be this one - Pig Thinks Pink,
written and illustrated by Richard Hefter, (Sweet
Pickles Series) edited by Jacquelyn Reinach and Ruth L.
Perle, Weekly Reader, New York, Henry Holt Books for Young
Readers, 1979 ISBN:0-03-042051-2. However, the publication date
looks too late for the book wanted.
P1 mr pig: another possible is Pigs
in the Pantry, story by Amy Axelrod and
pictures by Sharon McGinley-Nally. "Poor Mrs. Pig has the
sniffles. What can Mr. Pig and the piglets do to make her feel
better? Cook her favorite snack (five alarm chili) of course!
But the Pigs Mess up the kitchen, and to top it off, they
don't know how to follow the recipe and measure the
ingredients. Call in the fire department! These Pigs are
headed for Big Pig Trouble!" However, given that
it's remembered as a Golden Book, could it possibly be Poor
Frightened Mr. Pig, by Dorothy Kunhardt,
illustrated by Garth Williams, published Golden 1949 as Tiny
Golden Book #14? No plot information, but maybe one of the
Golden Book collectors might know?
I have the Tiny Nonsense Stories
here, and volume titled Poor Frightened Mr. Pig is a
Halloween story, and does not contain the desired refrain.
Series-Freddy the Pig.
There are a great many Freddy stories and I would not be
surprised to learn that he has rose colored glasses in one of
them! They are available now as reprints. Don't recall the
author, but they are very popular old chapter books. Freddy the Pig series is
written by Walter R. Brooks, but again, I didn't find
the desired refrain.
P1 mr pig: not a Golden Book, but perhaps Mr.
Pig
and
Sonny Too, an I Can Read Book, written and
illustrated by Lillian Hoban, published Harper 1977, 64
pages, would be worth looking at. "Four short stories relate
Sonny Pig and his father's adventures skating, exercising,
finding greens for supper, and going to a wedding." Richard Scarry. Don't know if
these books are old enough, but it seems to me that Mr.Pig in
Richard Scarry's books is always doing foolish things that he
needs to be reprimanded for.
P4.5: Pig & otter Solved: Hooray for
Pig!
P5: poetry anthology Solved: For a Child:
Great Poems Old and New P7: Pipe Cleaner Man Solved: Me And Frumpet
P8: Pie for a beggar Solved: The Road in Storyland
P9: Purple Solved: Pitidoe the
Color Maker
P10: Patsy Doll Solved: The Old Rag Dolly
P11: Pussy willows You helped me find a book some time ago (The tales of Jimmiboy or
similar title) and now I need your help again. I remember reading
a library book in the 1970's (after '72 because we moved that
year) about a little girl who had a pussywillow plant and the pussy willows sproated little baby kittens
(pussies). They got into everything. That unfortunately
is all I remember about the book. I think she lived with her
grandparents, but I could be wrong. If you could find this book I
would be thrilled. I think my daughter would love it.
Going by the title only, and it's probably
way too early - Pussy Willow's Naughty Kittens,
by Lillian
E. Young, published Funk & Wagnalls, 1924, 54
pages, small quarto, orange cloth with paper pastedown
illustration. Illustrations by the author include color
frontispiece and twelve color plates; six plates have panels
that open like doors to reveal the contents, most portraying
cats, inside. Jack Bechdolt and Decie Merwin,
Fairy Kittens. 1947, copyright. Girl buys
pussywillows from a man in the park, who tells her they're
"fairy kittens." During the night they turn into tiny little
kittens that are rather naughty.
P12: Pinkwater/Pinkerton? SOLVED: Duncan
Emrich, The Whim-Wham Book. P20: Percival the Kitten An Illustrated children's story about a kitten, possibly part af
a collection of stories. His mom always encouraged him by saying "Purrrrserverance, Percival." It was read
on Romper Room, I would love to see this story again. I learned a
lot from it.
P20 percival kitten: maybe Pussy Cat
Talks to Her Kittens, by Fannie Mead,
illustrated by Drummond Doyle, published Rand McNally 1924,
1933, illustrated by Nell Smock, reprinted Rand McNally 1942,
1944, 1949, 1960. "Adorable color plates by Drummond of
black-furred mother "Pussy Cat" and her 4 little kittens. The
stories are really instructional tales on proper behavior for
young children. All ages will be captivated by the pictures of
the 4 kittens' antics."
P22: Portrait Gallery This book was set in the 1800's and was a mystery that had
something to do with portraits in a gallery.
It might have had something to do with the underground railroad.
The lead characters were a boy and a girl, the boy's family might
have owned an inn where the portraits were housed. I read it in
the 60's and would appreciate any help with the title.
Thanks.
P22 - Some similarities to Nesbit's House
of Arden/Harding's Luck I always get mixed up which comes first
but there are chimneys/tunnels and the Mouldiwarp,
the bad-tempered 'mascot'/badge of the family come to life.
Not much information, but some similarities:
Raftery, GeraldSlaver's Gold NY, Vanguard
1967 "A story for older children set against an authentic
background of country life in Vermont and the Underground
Railroad as a group of children try to find out if there is
any truth in the stories Grandpa told about an old house."
Maybe House of Dies Drear by
Virginia Hamilton, NY Macmillan 1968? "A huge, old
house with secret tunnels, a cantankerous caretaker, and
buried treasure is a dream-come-true for 13-year-old Thomas.
The fact that it's reputedly haunted only adds to its appeal!
As soon as his family moves in, Thomas senses something
strange about the Civil War era house, which used to be a
critical stop on the Underground Railroad. With the help of
his father, he learns about the abolitionists and escaping
slaves who kept the Underground Railroad running. While on his
own, he explores the hidden passageways in and under the
house, piecing clues together in an increasingly dangerous
quest for the truth about the past." Still
nothing firm about a portrait gallery, though.
You might want to check out The Ghost
of Follonsbee's Folly by Florence Hightower.
Some of the things mentioned in your request are in this book.
No solution but I remember reading a similar
book in the 60's also. I believe there was only one portrait
that was missing or
stolen and it is found in a room that no one
knew was in the house. It was set in more modern times and
no one knew that the house had been a stop on the underground
railroad until they found the room with the portrait. Harriet Evatt,Secret of the
Old Coach Inn, 1959. I believe this book is Secret
of the Old Coach Inn, by Harriet Evatt.
The portraits in question have blank faces, which creeps the
children out it turns out that they belonged to an itinerant
painter, who would fill in the faces of the people whom he was
hired to paint.
P23: Pirates Solved: Robin and the Pirates
P29: Penelope Solved: Traveller in
Time P32: Peacocks This has stumped me for decades, but I have faith in you and your
Web visitors. Pictures of a peacock and a girl, or children,
in a garden, behind an ornate iron fence or gate. An
illustrated children's book, maybe 5" tall and 4" wide, hardbound,
from the 30's or 40's. Printed in navy blue and orange on
white.
Hmm, not quite The Wicked, Wicked Pigeon Ladies of the
Garden...
#P32--the only book I know about peacocks is
The Plaid Peacock, by Sandy Alan.
Maybe an edition of Walter de la Mare's
Peacock Pye? Was it poetry? The 1927 Henry Holt
edition had green boards with gilt lettering and "picture of
a peacock and a boy with a quote from Isaac Watts".
Nothing about blue text though.
P34: Playmate and Crosspatch I am searching for a book from my childhood. I am not sure
of the exact title. It could be Playmate
and Crosspatch. The story is about a
little girl who is poor, but happy and friendly
(Playmate). The animals of the forest love her and keep her
warm in the cold weather. The other character is
Crosspatch. She is rich and spoiled. I wish I had more
information. I think the book was published before 1930.
Please let me know if you can help me. Thank you!
Susan Coolidge has a book called Cross
Patch, written in 1881. Susan Coolidge's Cross Patchis a scarce book that contains 6 stories adapted
from the myths of Mother Goose, with 44 illustrations by Ellen
Oakford.
see #P98
P34 and P98 playmate and crosspatch: no real
luck, but there is a book by David Cory (Happyland
series, Little Jack Rabbit series etc.) called The Which
Book, the Doings of Mary Sunshine and Willie Cross Patch,
published by Platt probably in the 1920s, and another called The
Tale of Mary Sunshine, published Platt 1918. Margaret
Baker wrote a story called Cross-Patch, but
I don't know if it was published separately at all. And of
course no plots for any of these, though the first one looks
promising. Mabel Guinnip La Rue, In Animal Land, 1924, 1929. I have this book in front of
me. It might be an old school reader, since there are questions
at the end of each chapter. Crosspatch and Playmate appear in
several of the stories.
I hadn't realized that the Racketty-Packetty House
by Frances Hodgson Burnett was subtitled As Told by
Queen Crosspatch. Here is the Introduction by the
Queen Crosspatch herself, in case this helps any. Now
this is the story about the doll family I liked and the doll
family I didn't. When you read it you are to remember
something I am going to tell you. This is it: If you
think dolls never do anything you don't see them do, you are
very much mistaken. When people are not looking at them
they can do anything they choose. They can dance and sing
and play on the piano and have all sorts of fun. But they
can only move about and talk when people turn their backs and
are not looking. If any one looks, they just stop.
Fairies know this and of course Fairies visit in all the dolls'
houses where the dolls are agreeable. They will not
associate, though, with dolls who are not nice. They never
call or leave their cards at a dolls' house where the dolls are
proud or bad-tempered. They are very particular. If
you are conceited or ill-tempered yourself, you will never know
a fairy as long as you live. --Queen Crosspatch.
P36: Penguin pet There's a long lost book I've been wondering about for a long
time. It was about some children in England, and they
had this pet that was some sort of cute, loveable, fur-bearing
penguin, and it was a mystery, because it seemed to be the only
one, but then later they learned that there was a whole colony of
these fur-bearing penguins on the Amazon in Brazil, and they
repatriated their little friend. Or something like that. I know,
it sounds really stupid, but it was adorable. Does this ring a
bell?
#P36--instead of penguins, try puffins or
some related bird. Looking up birds of South America might
reveal a word to use as a keyword.
P36 Penguin Pet -- sounds like the Bogwoppit
descriptions in Solved Mysteries, incidentally the LC
description is "Abandoned by her guardian, Samantha moves in
with an unwelcoming aunt whose dilapidated house includes
bogwoppits, ratsized creatures with wings, fur, and blue
eyes."
Possible - Sparrows and Bouins
by Susan Skinner, illustrated by Laszlo Acs, published
London, Heinemann 1967 "What became of inventive Great-Uncle
Horace Sparrow, who vanished, saying in a note: "Men are
ungrateful ... I will maybe find some gentler beings who will
listen to me and will learn what I have to teach"? He did. He
found the bouins, a sunny-tempered, furry, miniature people
- something between a teddy-bear and a lemur, only
smaller - and to them he gave a culture including not only
language (English) but washing machines and such. Without
these things, as a bouin observes, "we'd never get finished;
there'd be no time for songs and dancing and stories and
picnics". When this story starts they are making contact with
one of the five Sparrow children (humans) in whose overgrown
garden - a bouin forest - they still reside; their bouin-baby
is lost. A clever, happy, likeable family story, with or
without the magic." Richard and Florence Atwater, Mr.
Popper's Penguins,1938
I think that P36 is Mr. Popper's Penguins.
It is a delightful book, with lots of pictures, about a family
that receives an Antarctic penguin from Admiral Drake.
They use their refrigerator for a nest and flood the cellar for
aswimming pool in the summer and an ice rink in the
winter. When the penguin (named Captain Cook) gets lonely
they acquire another penguin named Greta. Eventually Mr.
Popper has 12 penguins that he trains as a vaudeville
troupe. At the end of the book he sends them to the North
Pole to live.
Illustrations for Mr. Popper's
Penguins are by the Caldecott and Newberry-Award
winning Robert Lawson.
Could this be E. Nesbit's Five
Children and It? English children find a strange
creature?!?
P39: Pixie Trink Solved: Water Babies P41: Prime Minister and barefoot queen Can you recollect a book about a Prime
Minister and a barefoot queen?
Could this be the book by Sue Townsend
(of Adrian Mole fame), called The Queen and I?
In
it,
the English
public votes out the monarchy, and the Queen
and her family have to go live on a public housing
estate. She is befriended by her working class
neighbors, but Prince Phillip can't bring himself to accept life
outside Buckingham Palace, and never gets out of bed.
Prince Charles discovers a love of gardening, etc.
P41 - There isn't much info here but it made
me think of the story The Cat That Looked at a King,
and of the chapters in Mary Poppins Opens the Door.
By P.L. Travers, of course. Hillary McKay, Happy and Glorious. This might conceivably be Hillary McKay's Happy
and Glorious, a collection of
stories about a rambunctious ten-year-old
queen. She has a fuddy-duddy prime minister who wishes he
had been cleverer in school so he could have had a better job.
P43: Pigeons who were once children Solved: Magic in the
Park P44: A present for the princess Solved: Present for the
Princess
P46: Pirate with no lips My grandfather had this book as a boy in England. It was a
delisiously scarey book with one part about a pirate with no lips
looking through a window. It had a few ink drawings and was
quite thick for a childrens novel by today's standards. My
grandfather probably read it around the age of 10 - he was born in
1902 if that helps with the search. My family has been
trying to find a copy of this beloved books for years and will be
thrilled if someone can help us! Good Luck
J Meade Faulkner, Moonfleet, 1902. This sounds like Moonfleet (first
published
1902),
a ripping yarn of
piracy and adventure!
P46 pirate with no lips: this one is about
30 years too late to be the one wanted, but in The Island
of Adventure, by Enid Blyton, published
Macmillan 1944, while exploring the old copper mines the
children encounter the villain Jake. "He had a black patch
over one eye and the other eye gleamed wickedly at them. His
mouth was so tight-lipped that it almost seemed as if he had
no lips at all." He's a counterfeiter, not a pirate,
though, despite the eyepatch. Our library's copy of Moonfleet
has gone missing, so I can't check it for lipless pirates. It's
about smugglers, actually, but that's a technicality.
P48: Pumpkin
princess This is a book I read to my daughter when
she was quite young so it is about 15 years or so ago. The
story was about a mother and daughter and the mother called the
little girl "Pumpkin Princess." Can you help me?
A remote possibility - Sing-Along
Sary by Margaret and John Travers Moore,
illustrated by John Moment, published Harcourt 1951, 150 pages.
"The 'Great Pumpkin Flood' took place in rural Pennsylvania
in the 1850s and Sary had to watch the pumpkins she had been
raising for the fair go sailing down the river entirely out of
her reach. The loss of few pumpkins might not seem so
important to an adult, but to Sary they represented her only
chance to buy her brother Zeke a fiddle for Christmas, and she
knew that Zeke wanted a fiddle more than anything in the
world. If Uncle Ed had not had a bright idea, the story might
have ended unhappily." (Horn
Book May/51 p.183) It doesn't seem to involve the mother much,
and no mention whether Sary has any pet-names of that sort, so
I'm not too hopeful about this.
P48 pumpkin princess: a slightly better bet
is A Golden Coach for Callie Rose, by Martha
Gwinn Kiser, illustrated by Gloria Gaulke, published
Bobbs-Merrill 1964 "Callie
is upset when a party is announced at school, for everyone is
to bring refreshments, and Callie has no money. Her discovery
of a big yellow pumpkin and her mother's surprise idea turn an
unpromising situation into a worthwhile lesson. Ages 8-12."
(HB Dec/64 p.562 pub ad) At least this one is about a mother and
daughter, and the pumpkin (coach) could be associated with a
princess (Cinderella).
P49: A present for a mother I am trying to remember a book that I loved
as a child. It was about a boy that wanted to buy his
mother a present. He raised watermelons on a terraced
hillside and when they were ripe he sold the melon to buy his
mother a piece of jewelry. I hope you can help because
this is driving me crazy because I've seen the name a few years
back and saw the book in our library.
P49 Present for a mother sounds the same as
W2 Watermelons
Could be Little Wu and the
Watermelons by Beatrice Liu, illustrated by
Graham Peck, Follett, 1954, 96 pages. "A delightful tale of
a small boy of the Hua Miao tribe of southwest China and his
efforts to earn enough money to buy a present for his mother.
Little Wu wanted to show his mother that he thought her the
most beautiful mother in the world and he decided that the way
to do that would be to buy her a piece of jewelry. When he
finally had enough money, most of it gained from the sale of
watermelons he had painstakingly raised, he realized that
jewelry was not what she wanted most, but for the family to be
able to buy a small field of their own."
P49 present for mother and W2 watermelons:
If it isn't Little Wu and the Watermelons, maybe
it's Magical
Melons by Carol Ryrie Brink, illustrated
Marguerite Davis, published Macmillan 1945? Granted, that's a
girl (Caddie Woodlawn again) not a boy, and melons growing
accidentally in the cornfield not purposely on a terraced
hillside, and Caddie buys a bonnet for her mother, not a piece
of jewelry, but it is about melons...
P54: Pirate captain Wonderful site, I was wondering if you could help me with the
titles of a couple of books. One (sorry this is a little
vague), was about a little boy who would be magically whisked away
to a pirate ship where (I think), for some strange reason he was
the captain. Even though he knew nothing about sailing. I distinctly remember a section where the sailor who was captain
when the boy was with his parents explaining to him that the
tablecloth was wet because it stopped it slipping around with the
motion of the ship. For the life of me, I cannot remember the
title of this book.
P54 Pirate Captain -- from Horn Book again,
Jan-Feb/43, review section The Secret Voyage by Gordon
Grant, 62 pages, published by Morrow. "Aided by his
own delightful pictures, Gordon Grant draws upon his
imagination to tell how Tommy, who loved ships and longed to
to go sea, found satisfaction by means of a paint brush. It
was given to him by his uncle and it was not only Chinese, but
it had magic powers which carried Tommy back to the days of
sail. When he found his old sea captain had sailed with
Tommy's grandfather, the boy was doubly happy. Besides having
the fun of the story, ship-minded boys will value three pages
of line drawings showing different rigs ..." It doesn't
sound like a pirate ship, but it's the closest I've seen so far.
McPhail, David, Edward and the
Pirates,
1997. This picture book sounds like it might be it..
P54 pirate captain: again, not pirates, but
If I Were Captain, by Louise Lee Floethe,
illustrated by Richard Floethe, published Scribner 1956 is about
"the exciting dreams of a small boy sitting before the fire,
who suddenly becomes captain of the old-time
ship on the mantel. Told in gay rhymes, this is a wonderful
book of faraway places. Ages 4-7." (HB Oct/56 p.397 pub
ad) Then again, the description of the book wanted didn't
mention rhyming narration. More on the suggested McPhailbook,
Edward and the Pirates, published Little, Brown
1997, 32 pages. "Young Edward really lives all the stories
he reads and one night he wakes up and his bed is surrounded
by pirates. Wonderful illustrations." It might be a bit
too recent, though.
P54 pirate captain - it would be nice to
know if the book being looked for is a picture book or a
'chapter book'. If the latter, perhaps Captain Whackamore,
by Michael Mason, illustrated by Victor Ambrus,
published Deutsch 1971, 224 pages. "The story tells of Joe
and Mike Roberts who, after their father has made some models
of the captain and crew of an 18th century sailing vessel,
take part in all kinds of adventures with them through the
medium of dreams. ... on successive nights, just before
Christmas, they can each participate in a series of
humorous episodes with Captain Whackamore and his motley
crew." (Children's Book Review Jun/71 p.90) Margaret Mahy, The Pirates' Mixes-Up
Voyage,1983. It's a
humorous pirate story! They sail on a ship called The Sinful
Sausage!
P55: Pig with rose-colored glasses I was born in 1948 and remember a story about a pig who wore
rose-colored glasses. I do not remember title or author but
it was probably read to me around 1951 or 1952. If you
could assist me I would be eternally grateful.
P55 - Is this Sam Pig? Alison Uttley
wrote several collections of stories about Six Pigs and
Brock the Badger, Sam was the main character and
some of the books, Sam Pig and Sally for
instance, had his name in the title. They were ever-so-slightly
magical - with the country magic of talking animals but in other
respects quite down to earth, and rose-coloured spectacles sound
quite likely - but I don't have them all to check. I'll see what
I can find and get back to you if I can shed any more light.
Yes, in response to your note, please search for
me. I feel obsessed with finding this story--a link to my
earliest memories. Whatever light you can shed will be
appreciated.
P55 - I've checked the 2 'Sam Pig' titles I
have here and it isn't any of the stories in them so I may have
led you up
the garden path there!
P57: Paige I am named after a character in a
book. I was born in 1963, so the book was probably
published in theearly
60's. My mom can't remember anything else about the book
but that the heroine was named Paige.
The only "Paige" I've ever heard of is in
the book Parrish which was published in the
'60's, I think. This is an adult book and the book was made into
a movie with Troy Donahue. Paige is the good girl who gets him
in the end.
P57 paige: more on the suggested - Parrish,
by Mildred Savage, published Simon & Schuster 1959,
movie tie-in paperback 1960, 408 pages. It's apparently about
young Parrish MacLean, tobacco farming, and steamy
relationships. Couldn't find anything on the
names of the three women in the story. I would assume that the
book wanted is an adult rather than children's book, since the
poster's mother read it. I've seen a couple of teen books from
the late 50s-early 60s with heroines called Page, but no Paige.
About Paige: I read a book in about 1960 in
which the heroine's full name was Serena Paige MacNeill
(McNeill?). She was known as Paige. That much I am
fairly sure of, but what follows is tentative. She was
one of several children in an American
(eastern seaboard? Virginia?) family of Scottish descent. All
her siblings had very Scottish names, but someone (Father?
grandmother?) told her she was the most Scottish of the lot, in
spite of her name. She was in her mid to late teens and
trying to decide what to do with her life. An attractive
character and what seemed then to be an unusual and even
romantic name.
I, too, thought the answer to P57 was the
story about Serena Page MacNeil when I first read it. But,
I have a copy of this book (The Fair Adventure by
Elizabeth
Janet Gray, 1940) and she definitely spells it Page, not
Paige. Maybe her mother didn't remember the way it was
spelled in the book, or liked it better with an "i"? Hildegarde Dolson, We
Shook the Family Tree, 1950s ,
approximate. This childhood memoir describes the various
escapades of a family during the early 1900's. The
author's friend/neighbor is a very spunky girl named Paige
Campbell who always came over to the Dolsons' house to eat their
toothpaste because it tasted so good!! Maybe this is the
Paige you're named after.
P58: Postman Pops Hello! I got your address from Jill at
Purple House Press. I'm desperate to find a children's
book called Postman Pops. It's for an ailing
relative who remembers it from his youth. As he's now 49
I'm guessing it was published in the '40's. With that very
little bit of information I have searched the Internet to
exhaustion and found nothing. Any information you have
would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
There was a postman story from the early
1950's, Margaret Wise Brown's Seven Little Postmen
(1952). The story follows a little boy's letter cross
country until it is delivered to his grandmother. The final
postman, who receives the most attention in the story, is not
named Pops but is a Pops type of character.
stretching here, but it's about the right
date and subject - The Postman by Charlotte
Kuh, illustrations by Kurt Wiese, published
Macmillan 1949, 6 x 6" 42 pages. "Cute book on how the mail is
processed and delivered - sometimes by dog sleds and horse
carts. Begins with writing a letter, how it is sorted,
cancelling machine, and on through delivery."
P61: Phillipino fables I am looking for a folk tale book with stories from SE Asia,
probably the Phillipines. As I remember my uncle brought it back
from WWII for me, but he may have just purchased it at the time.
The book was small, probably about 6x7, with maybe 40-60 pages,
with short, unconnected fables and stories, which I remember as
very frightening. It was illustrated with what I now know
are woodcuts, with heavy black ink, and intricate borders on the
white paper (not plates). I was three or four, but I am pretty
sure that these were not from the Jataka tales and that the
stories were not from India. I remember it as spare, direct
writing, easy to understand, but maybe it was a collection of
fables for adults and that's why I can't find it. It was read
aloud to me and then it "disappeared"? Maybe my mother edited it
as she read.
very maybe - Acacio, Arsenio B. et
al, illustrated by Esther Brock Bird WORK AND PLAY
IN THE PHILIPPINES. Boston, Heath, 1944
80 pgs, color/black & white illustrations. Children
Illustrated 8-3/8". Red full cloth, paste-on pictorial. or maybe
Perkins, Lucy Fitch The Filipino Twins 1923, 154
pages
Still trying, here. The Philippine
Beginner's Book by Blue, Reyes, Brown,
Ayer, published Macmillan, NY 1933 (1st published in
1929). "Illustrated
by Manuel Reyes Isip, this reader was intended for schools in
the Philippines, and is written in English. The charming
2-color illustrations depict Juan and Maria's life in 8
chapters, and would be an unusual addition to the library of
collectors of children's primers."
P61 Phillipino fables: could it be Fairy
Tales
from the Philippines retold by Dorothy Lewis
Robertson & illustrated by Howard Burns, published
New York, Dodd Mead 1971, 7" x 10" hardback, 127 pages. "Exciting ilustrations throughout the book - 11
fairy tales from the Philippine Islands - many appear to be
warrior tales - detailed foreword by the author." Probably
too long, though.
How about- Elizabeth Sechrist's Once
in the First Time Folk Tales from the Philippines,ill. by John Sheppard. Macrae-Smith Co.,1948??
P62: Pram Girl An English book (color is spelled "colour") no later than 1970
and no earlier than when picture books began to have vibrant
colors, in which a little girl, perhaps with long, dark hair,
pushes a pram.
This may be too long, at 61 pages - Meet
Mary Kate, by Helen Morgan, illustrated by
Shirley Hughes, published Faber 1963. "When this collection
of stories begins, it is the night before Mary Kate's fourth
birthday ... Mary Kate is a kind, practical little girl, with
some of the nicest relatives it is possible to imagine. ...
Shirley Hughes makes Mary Kate a stout determined little girl
in sensible shoes, with a doll's pram which is just the right
one for a four-year-old's doll or kitten." The ad for the
book shows a dark-haired little girl in bed, with a stuffed
penguin and a book. (Junior Bookshelf Jul/63 p.137, ad p.70)
P62 pram girl: almost certainly too late,
but Susie's Dolls' Pram, written and illustrated
by Renate Meyer, published Bodley Head 1973. "Susie
is given an antique Victorian baby-carriage for her birthday.
She is proud of her present - and bitterly hurt when the other
kids make up mean rhymes about it because it is old. But her
teacher saves the day by admiring the pram and basing a lesson
on the sort of little girl who might have been the original
owner of it. The pictures throughout are clear, colourful and
overbrimming with emotional content." (Children's Books
of the Year 1973, p.22) P62--Pram Girl: After someone made
this suggestion, I wrote, "Hadn't heard of this one and don't
recognize the plot, but the date is right and sounds like
exactly the sort of book I'd pick up." The Magic
Perambulator. Brooks, Jeremy. New
York: John Day, 1966. Illustrated by Robert
Bartelt. Children's book, story of Sultan's daughter and
a flying pram. Google and eBay searches for both author and
artist of The Magic Perambulator failed to
turn up any further description of the book or pictured
examples of the artist's work. What I remember is a
slender little girl of about 6-9 years (probably not as young
as 4, and not stout) pushing a pram down a walk which might be
in a garden or park. It is lined with bright and
beautiful flowers. Colors in the illustrations are very
solid and vibrant, in some ways like the work of Ezra Jack
Keats--not soft or sketchy-looking. The girl has long
dark hair worn loose except for perhaps a headband, with
bangs--very much in the Marlo Thomas "That Girl" look of
the times. Wearing a bright print dress with a short
skirt, not very sultan's daughterish, but there could be
another girl in the story--don't exactly remember a
plot. Anyone have The Magic Perambulator and
care to describe it, or have any picture book like the one
I've described? I'd appreciate any leads! Thanks.
P65: Poems about families and their animals Hi! I received a book of poetry when
I was younger and I'm afraid that I don't remember much about it
at all. They were poems written from one person's
perspective about an aunt and some other family and maybe their
animals...I don't know. I know that the pages were all
white with black outlined drawings...and maybe a few spots of
color here and there but I don't think so. The cover that
I had was a celophane-type jacket and it was reddish
orange. The book was about 8 inches tall and about 4
inches wide I guess, it must've been in the early 1980's that I
received it.
P65 poems about family and animals: perhaps
Meet My Folks! by Ted Hughes, illustrated
by George Adamson, published Faber 1961 "Former Laureate’s
first book of verses for children. Nine rhymes tell of the
writer’s singular family, who seem to undertake ordinary
activities with extraordinary results (often involving
animals!). His mother cooks: "I took her an alligator that
attacked us: She served it up curried with Crème de la Cactus"
Each verse illustrated with a full page cartoon type drawing
by George Adamson, who also designed the cover and
dustjacket."
P66: Poetry book with a Beatles poem Solved: Remember Me
When This You See - A New Collection of Autograph Verses P68: Pancakes and rafts Solved: Duck and His Friends P71: Putnam and the wolf Solved: Putnam's Cave P73: Pigs rebuild the world! Solved: Wump
World P74: Parallel universe Solved: Misplaced
Persons P75: Primer, linguistics My Fundamentals of Linguistics professor
was talking about a book he wish he had kept when teaching a
similar course years before. He described the book as
having a blue cover with rings on the front. He said that
they were widely used in elementary schools during the
1970's. The book covered Linguistics or a similar subject
matter. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated, thank
you.
In the classroom long ago we used a text
called Cracking the Code. It was a supplemental
book that was used with the children who needed some extra
practice with their reading. I believe it was put out by
SRA to go along with their basal readers. This series used
a linguistic approach.
P76: Possums go topless Solved: Three Billys Go
to Town P79: Piggy puff I am looking for an old book, possibly a
Little Golden Book, with the name of or with the main character
of "Piggy Puff". Published around the 1940's? P80: Pig loses his curly tail I am searching for a story about a pig who
lost his adorable curly tail because he did not listen to his
mother. My son used to recite this story when he came home
from pre-school back in the early 80s. Have you ever heard
of such a story?
I think I also remember this story from
this time frame(my oldest was born in "77). I, unfortunately,
can't remember the name, either, or if it was a separate book or
just a story in an anthology. The detail I want to add is that
the pig loses his tail because it freezes in ice and he has to
pull it off to escape. He went onto the water after his mother
told him not to. Janeen Brady, Standin' Tall:
Obedience, 1980s.
I know I heard this story on the Standin' Tall cassette
and book series by Brite Music. I suppose it could have
originally been from somewhere else, but I know you can find it
there. www.britemusic.com
P83: Peanut family Solved: Goober Village P84: Polka dot detective Solved: Rootie
Kazootie P87: Phobos fudge Solved: Phobos, the
Robot Planet P88: Pinocchio variant Solved: Pinocchio, illus by Howard Waring P89: Poncho or Pancho Storybook concerning pigeons from the mid to late 1930s.
Mukherji, D Ghopal, Gayneck,
the Story of a Pigeon, 1928. Could the poster
be thinking of this Newbery Award-winner? The date is about
right - it would have been around in the 1930s, though I admit
the title doesn't sound the same.
P89 poncho or pancho: could this be Chico,
the
Story of a Homing Pigeon, by Lucy Mansfield
Blanchard, illustrated by K. G. Healy, published Houghton
1922? "Story of Andrea, a boy of Venice, and his prize
homing pigeon; and of the service rendered by Chico during the
World war." (that'd be World War One ...) (Children's
Catalog 1936 p.77) It's a somewhat similar name.
P91: Puddle Duck Looking to find this children's picture book, which I believe is
out of print, titled "Puddle Duck" Not either of the "Puddle
Ducks" by Nancy Huendal or Beatrix Potter. Any help would be
great!
P91 Beatrix Potter'sThe
tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck???
Try this one - Puddle Duck by
Ruth Van Ness Blair, illustrated by Elizabeth Rice,
published Austin, Steck-Vaughan 1966 "Puddle Duck
liked wading in puddles left by rains, but he really liked
swimming, so he went in search of a puddle big enough to swim
in every day. But each time he found one, something happened.
Ages 4-7." (Horn Book Dec/66 p.759 publ.ad) Louis Ross, Puddle Duck. (1979) This book, illustrated by my
aunt's college roommate, Pat Schories, is so obscure it isn't
even listed on Schories' own web page! It is a large
hardcover picture book about Puddle Duck, who doesn't like
sleeping with his siblings because they like to be wet and muddy
and he doesn't. Whether or not this is the right book for
the original requester, I would love to have a copy myself.
P92: Poison Ivy Solved: Herself the Elf P93: Phillipine Pixies boy friendship The book I'm looking for has eluded me for years. I
had it read to me by my second grade teacher, and it involved a
young boy living in the Phillipines who is befriended by a pixie
who is only 3 inches tall. The book chronicles their
adventures together, and at the end, the boy decides to record his
adventures and they become the basis for the book.
Might this be Anne Perez Guerra's Poppy, the Adventures
of a Fairy?
P94: Pittsburgh's underground river There was a set of books written back around the early
1970's. I don't remember if they involved the same
characters, or were separate ones, but they were by the same
author. In each book the children (who I believe were
siblings) encountered strange creatures who helped them battle
against evil characters. One of them was set (or at least
had part of it set) in Pittsburgh, PA. My father was
particularly interested in this one because it mentioned an
underground river running under the city. We lived near
there, and he thought it was interesting. I know the author
is not Susan Cooper, as I have checked her books. Any ideas
of who the author might be, or the titles of the books would
really be helpful.
Jane Louise Curry. Sounds like
the author you're looking for may be Jane Louise Curry. Many of
her books have been set in the Pittsburgh/West Virginia area.
P95: Pelican finds boy's boot Solved: Come
Again, Pelican
P96: Popcorn pops out of
control in old lady's fireplace! Solved: Popcorn Party P97: Percis rides on a turles back into Forest Solved: The Little One P98: Playmate and Crosspatch I have been looking for the books with
these two girls for years. Do you have anything on them?
As I recall, I had more than one book when I was young.
Where can I get them now? To tell the truth, I came on the
website by accident, and I need an answer where I can find it. -- Playmate was a good little blond girl, kind
to animals and obedient. Crosspatch was dark haired, spoiled and
cruel to the animals. The two lived in a forest.
There were possibly more than one book about them. --- Playmate and Crosspatch, 1920's. Two girls:
One blond, Playmate, and kind, the other Crosspatch dark hair,
cruel
See P34 also
P34 and P98 playmate and crosspatch: no real
luck, but there is a book by David Cory (Happyland
series, Little Jack Rabbit series etc.) called The Which
Book, the Doings of Mary Sunshine and Willie Cross Patch,
published by Platt probably in the 1920s, and another called The
Tale of Mary Sunshine, published Platt 1918. Margaret
Baker wrote a story called Cross-Patch, but
I don't know if it was published separately at all. And of
course no plots for any of these, though the first one looks
promising. Mabel Guinnip La Rue, In Animal Land, 1924, 1929. I have this book in front of
me. It might be an old school reader, since there are questions
at the end of each chapter. Crosspatch and Playmate appear in
several of the stories.
I hadn't realized that the Racketty-Packetty House
by Frances Hodgson Burnett was subtitled As Told by
Queen Crosspatch. Here is the Introduction by the
Queen Crosspatch herself, in case this helps any. Now
this is the story about the doll family I liked and the doll
family I didn't. When you read it you are to remember
something I am going to tell you. This is it: If you
think dolls never do anything you don't see them do, you are
very much mistaken. When people are not looking at them
they can do anything they choose. They can dance and sing
and play on the piano and have all sorts of fun. But they
can only move about and talk when people turn their backs and
are not looking. If any one looks, they just stop.
Fairies know this and of course Fairies visit in all the dolls'
houses where the dolls are agreeable. They will not
associate, though, with dolls who are not nice. They never
call or leave their cards at a dolls' house where the dolls are
proud or bad-tempered. They are very particular. If
you are conceited or ill-tempered yourself, you will never know
a fairy as long as you live. --Queen Crosspatch.
P99: Pop-up cats A popup cat book.... I remember only that cats are running around
chasing mice in the house and also fighting playfully with each
other. A huge stretch of the imagination is required for this one
unless you know of any popup books from the 80s that involve
mostly cats running around chasing mice.
Nearly spoilt for choice, here. Possibles:
ERIC GURNEY'S POP-UP BOOK OF CATS
published NY Random House 1974. "20 pages of great cat pop-ups
& moveables by Eric Gurney. Shows kittens & cats
playing, hiding, fishing, drinking milk and of course, chasing
& being chased. A great pop-up, especially for cat-lovers."
"This is number 28 in the Random House Pop-Up Series. Paper
engineering is by IB PENICK. Eric Gurney takes a clever look at
the all too familier and delightful behavior of cats. Note the
fire department efforts to get the cat in the tree. Do cats
really sit under rocking chairs??" CATS UP by Ray Marshall,
illustrated by Korky Paul published NY: Little Simon Book, 1982
Hard Cover. A Pop-Up Book. 7 1/2 x 9. "The first cat book where
cats literally spring into action! Fat Cats, Alley Cats, Classy
Cats- all here in the most fantastic pop-ups to turn even the
coolest cat among us purr-ple with laughter." "Six double pages,
with numerous pop-ups, pull tabs, lift-the-flap. Outstanding,
especially for cat-lovers. Vivid colors. Also printed in England
under title ACTION CATS. ALL KINDS OF CATS: A
POP-UP BOOK, published NY: Scholastic Book Services.
Hard Cover. ca 1980's. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. Colorful
pictorial paper covered boards. [10]pp. Pop-Ups, Pulls, Lifts,
Adorable book for cat lovers.
P100: Plane crash only survivers I remember this being my favorite book, but my memories are very
sketchy. It was a boy and girl involved in a plane crash ? and
they were the only survivers. Read it in the 60's-70's
Perhaps Mayday, Mayday by Hilary
Milton. I think the parents were only injured, not killed,
but the plot deals with a boy and a girl who need to get to
safety after a plane crash in the mountains.
could this be Walkabout by James
Vance Marshall? They crash in the Australian desert
and are helped by an Aboriginal boy to find civilisation.
Also a film by Nic Roeg starring Jenny Agutter.
P100 a slight possibility . Rambeau,
John;
Gullett, Dorothea Jim Forest and
the plane crash illus by Joseph
Maniscalco Field Educational
Pubns 1967 Jim Forest series
P100 plane crash: might be worth looking at
To the Wild Sky, by Ivan Southall, though
that is about several children surviving a plane crash, not just
a boy and a girl. Monique Peyrouton de Ladebat, The
Village That Slept,
1961,1963, 1965, 1980. Just a possibility, if any of these
details sound familiar: The children survive a plane crash in a
remote mountain area (the Pyrenees). They both have
amnesia but know their first names: Franz and Lydia. They
find a baby alive too, and a deserted village where they make a
home in one of the houses, get supplies from a climbers' hut,
find several abandoned animals (dog, cow, chickens), make a
garden, and stay for over a year. Eventually rescued by
searchers for a downed pilot, and reunited with their
families. Very tender and touching story. (It's one of my
favorites too!) Translated by Thelma Niklaus. Illustrated by
Margery Gill. A Google search turned up a reference
to Peyrouton de Ladebat, M. (1980). The village that
slept. (T. Niklaus Trans.). Goston: Gregg Press. [? misprint for
Boston?]
Two youngsters find themselves stranded with
an infant near a deserted village high on a desolate mountain.
This is a reprint my copy says First American Edition 1965
/ c by Editions G.P., Paris, 1961 / English translation and
illustrations c by The Bodley Head Ltd, 1963 / LCCC No. 65-10881
Arthur Catherall, Prisoners in the
Snow,
1967. This is a long-shot. The children Tom and Trudi live
on a farm in the mountains of Austria when a plane crashes
nearby and causes an avalanche. The house is buried under snow
and they have to both save themselves and try to rescue the
pilot. The time-frame is right but are the details ?
P101: Prickly Pear This was my fav library book when I was about ten (1950s).
It was about a group of animals on a search for what I was
remember a prickly pear. The dog was the leader of the
pack. They find the fruit and need to bring it back.
WHy I forget. That's one of the reasons I'd like to find the book
again. I remembe they had to go thrugh a river and other
terrains to find the fruit. Does this sound familiar to anyone?
P101 prickly pear: could this be The
Bojabi Tree, by Eleanor Rickert, mentioned
elsewhere in the Stumpers list, or perhaps another version of
it? That does involve several animals and an oddly named fruit
that they try to bring back, and difficult terrain. See
description under B96 bonjo.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if this book
were Rutgers and the Water-Snouts by Barbara
Dana, c. 1969. In it, a bulldog and his animal
friends go on a search for Rutgers' missing "water-snouts"
(which some of the animals think must be prickly pears, because
they're kind of like potatoes with spikes) and bring them back
just in time to use them to plug the holes in a beaver
dam. Oh heck, forget that last -- I knew it was too good
to be true -- the
poster said the book was from the 50's.
P102: Picky eaters Solved: Golden Book of 365 Stories P103: Poor Little Rich Girl Solved: Poor Little Rich Girl
P104: Parents divorcing and
kids relocating Solved: Cricket P105: Pancakes Solved: The Perfect Pancake P106: Problems, math and emotional I don't know the author or title, a bad start. I read this book
in high school in the early 1960's. It is British, I believe, and
takes place in London after World War II. The heroine is about
18-20 years old and lives with her father. She has a married older
sister. She is confused about life and relationships. She can't
understand the reIationship her sister has with her husband.
I think the heroine wants to be a writer and takes a course
in writing but is so confused about her feelings that she spends
most of her time alone in an upstairs room of her house solving
math problems. She finds this satisfying because math problems
have discrete answers whereas life problems do not. Of course, she
finally meets a young man she can relate to, albeit tentatively at
first, and who seems to understand her. I believe she only
ventures out at night. There are visible signs in London of the
damage caused by the Blitz. In fact, I think the book opens with
her return to her London home after having been evacuated during
the war, perhaps. The book has a light rather than a ponderous
tone. I have been trying to find this book for several
years.I had initially thought this book was Ann Veronica by H.G.
Welles which I also read in the early 60's. It is not, although
there is a similarlity in that both books deal with a young woman
finding her way in the world. Any ideas?
Jane Gardam, ? Can't remember
which of hers it is - *not* A Few Fair Days I
don't think but possibly Bilgewater, Summer after the
Funeral or Hollow Land. Whatever the
title, it's about a girl who starts out wanting to be a writer,
then thinks she never will be, and eventually (after meeting a
professor or poet (???) and showing some of her work to him)
gets the right sort of encouragement. Does this sound familiar
to the poster? Jane Gardam, Long Way from
Verona. I've looked through a list of her titles
now, and almost sure this is the one - if it's her at all!
The book is definitely not A Long Way
to Verona by Jane Gardam. That is set in the north-east
of England and, though set in WW2 has nothing to do with
London. Nor is it any of the other books by Jane Gardam that
you have mentioned. I read each of them recently.
P107: Piracy Solved: Look Out for Pirates! P108: Puffin I am looking for a book that I used to have as a child (c.
1975), it has a few poems in it. One is something
about a Train Driver Mr Macgyver and a Train to Glasgow, another
is something like Michael Finnegan who grew whiskers on his
chinegan. Unfortunately that is all I am able to remember,
if you are able to help I would appreciate it greatly.
There was a series of programmes by the BBC
in the 1970s called Playaway which featured these
poems I think they were specially written for the programme.
They were written by a woman and I think there is a collection
of them with Playaway in the title, or it may be called "The
train to Glasgow" I have tried to trace details but no luck.
Eleanor Graham , Puffin Book of
Verse. I also
remember this book from my childhood, and think this may be the
one. If not, it may be Barbara Ireson's Young Puffin
Book of Verse.
I'm not going to be very helpful here as I
don't know anything about this particular book, although I know
the words to both poems - but although the poems may have been
used in this programme, Michael Finnegan at least is older than
that (I have a book from 1967 which lists it as an 'English
Traditional Song'), and I think the Train to Glasgow
might be older too (my mum thinks from the 60s. Eileen Colwell, Tell Me
Another Story,1964. This is definitely the one- a
favourite of mine at the time'
P109: Pegasus, Christmas Cookie Childrens book with Pegasus on the cover I think. Pegasus
was a Christmas cookie that hung on the Christmas tree and I
believe he comes to life by making a wish on Christmas Eve.
This is all I remember, my mother read it to us as very young
children in the early 60's
John Brangwyn, Pegasus
and
the
Star, 1955?. I
have a Golden "Christmas Book" that contains short Christmas
stories, recipes, etc. In it is a short story about
Pegasus who sees a bubble with a reflection of a house
celebrating Christmas. He asks the bubble how he can get
there and he flies into the North Wind. He finds a
town with all the houses shut for the night except the baker's
shop. The kindly baker's wife feeds him and as he tells
her of his wish to see Christmas celebrated, she turns him into
a gingerbread horse, frosts it in white and hangs him on the
Christmas tree. He almost gets eaten by a
child, but when a fire breaks out at the baker's shop he turns
back into a winged horse and saves the day by getting the water
cart. The story says "adapted from the
story by John Brangwyn". Maybe this is the same
story - hope so! I am looking for the
particular "Golden Christmas Book" which contains the Pegasus
story mentioned. Do you have a specific title or author/editor
or published year to help me identify which Golden book it is?
(They published numerous Christmas titles over the years.)Thanks
so much. The guess is Pegasus and
the Star by John Brangwyn. Hope this helps! Corinne Malvern
(illus) Compiled by Gertrude Crampton, The
Golden Christmas Book (A Big Golden Book),1947. The story about the
winged horse posing as an ornament is in this book. It is
"Pegasus and the Star" by John Brangwyn. In it, the mythical
winged horse Pegasus sees an image of a Christmas tree in a
floating bubble, and goes to a village to learn more. The
baker's wife is able to transfrom him into a frosted gingerbread
winged horse to hang on the tree, so he can see it for himself -
though he is terribly afraid of being eaten by mistake. He is
very nearly eaten by a little girl, when a fire breaks out at
the baker's house. Pegasus is restored to his own form and pulls
the water cart to put out the fire. The book contains many other
Christmas stories, and poems, including Granny Glittens and her
Amazing Mittens, The Peterkins' Christmas Tree, The Cratchits'
Christmas Dinner, A Visit From Saint Nicholas, and If I Were
Santa's Little Boy, plus 10 songs and an assortment of riddles
and puzzles. The front cover shows Santa with two small angel
children seated on his lap: a boy in a purple robe, beating a
yellow drum, and a girl in blue, blowing a trumpet and clutching
a candy cane in her free hand. The wings on both children and
the stars in the background are printed in a metallic golden
ink.
P110a: Pig and moonlight I have a friend who lived in Montana. Her grandmother used to
read her this when she stayed with her (late 40's, early
50's). She only remembers three lines: "See
by the moonlight, Tis most midnight. Time me and my pig got
home." I would appreciate any help you could give
me. Thanks so much.
I'd assume some version of The Old Woman
and Her Pig, the cumulative folktale about the old woman who
buys a pig but can't get it over the stile to get it home. She
asks the stick to beat the pig, and it won't so she asks fire to
burn the stick, water to put out the fire, cow to drink the
water, and so on. Good luck, it's been published many
times in many variations. I don't recognise
the version quoted, unfortunately.
P110b: Pasting stars in the sky Solved: The Gingerbread Shop P111:
peanut
butter
mystery The girl in the story work in her family's grocery store. she
notices that she is filling the peanut butter shelf a lot, but not
selling that much. No one takes her seriously so she goes looking
for answers. She suppects the sherrif and a rich,
elderly customer before discovering it's her brother, who is
making fudge or cookies with it. It's driving me crazy, because I
think there was more to it than just that.
I don't know about making cookies, but if
he was putting it on his head it could have been The
Peanut Butter Solution.
I'm virtually sure this was The Case
of the Crunchy Peanut Butter, though I don't
remember the author right offhand. The girl was Andrea, or
Andy, right? And the brother was Ted? Andy took over
the fudge-making operation, til eventually their parents caught
on to the missing ingredients. A fun book. Her
parents nicknamed Andy "Kitten," and she had an elderly friend,
Mrs. Mack, who did listen to her about the thefts. I hope
this helps! J.M. Goodspeed, The Case of the
Crunchy Peanut Butter. 1975.This
is definitely the book. Illustrated by Gilbert Riswold,
c.1975, Xerox Education Publications (Weekly Reader Children's
Book Club Edition), ISBN
0-88375-209-3.
P112: Prince eats lots of desserts Does anyone have identifying information on
this record? Prince eats a lot of desserts read along book
with 45 rpm record.
John Stratford, Lick a
Pickle,1968.Could it be Lick a Pickle?
This is a story included in All About (Volume III), which came
with a small record, and included five other stories. The
story starts out with a Prince who will only eat pickles and
pickle-flavored food, and commands that everyone else shall eat
them too. However, he is won over, in the end, to sweet
foods.
P113: Poems veg. fruit flower With my Collier set of Classics in the
early 50's, I had a set of about 10? 8x10 primary colored hard
covered books. One book was a poem book, one poem was about a
little girl Hetty who bit her fingernails, (navy I think) There
was a yellow and green book about stories of people. The other
books my favorites, were called something like the Animal book
(it was red) a fruit book, flower book, bird book and vegetable
book. Inside were little poems or verses, of each.
The pictures above the little verses, were of fruit children,
bird children, animal children, and vegetable children. It was a
very nice set of childrens books. I can't remember the
publisher and name of this set. I'd love to find them,
purchase them, and read the poems to my
grandchildren. Can anyone please help me. It would
be wonderful to have them again.
Collier's
Illustrated Classics, 1948, approximate. I have
a set of 10 Collier's Illustrated Classics from 1948; my
father bought them, along with the encyclopedia, the year my
brother was born!! Each book in the set is a different,
bright color. Volume 1 is called Fairy Tales and Fables, and
has a drawing of an elf on the spine. It is dark red in
color. Other volumes are called "Stories That Never Grow
Old," "Myths and Legends," "Stories About Boys and
Girls." The fairy tale book has the kind of
illustrations you describe, and the 3 Little Pigs story about
the apples and going to the fair. It also has "The Old
Woman and Her Pig" that you mention. Each book is about
2" thick. The series was revised and a new edition
published sometime in the 50's so the stories are a bit
different, but I do think this fairy tale book is the one you
are looking for. A seller had them on eBay recently, so
check that out. Good luck!
2002
P114:Pierrot, mute boy with traveling players Solved: Burnish Me Bright
P115: pasting cookie stars in the sky Solved: Mary Poppins
P116: pig eats donuts
and explodes Solved: What Happened to George P117: Pete and Repeat Solved: Arm in
Arm P118:
Parents Magazine Press Solved: Young Years
P119: Polar Bear Travels
South on Iceberg In the 70s a book was read to me about a polar bear who couldn't
stand the cold, so he decided to go south. He floated off to sea
on a large iceberg. It gradually melted and became smaller. Toward
the end it was just a tiny piece of ice that barely held him, and
then it became so tiny, it collapsed. By then, he was close enough
to shore to swim for land, and he reached a warm sunny beach. It
might have been in California.
There's a 1944 Disney Little Golden Book called The
Cold-Blooded Penguin about a penguin named Pablo on an
ice float who dreams of warmer weather. But this sounds more
like Hans de Beer's Ahoy There, Little Polar Bear,
but I believe that was first published in the early 1990's. PB on holiday or possibly PB's
holiday, or even PB goes south. There
was a short series - only 2 or 3 titles about PB (short for
Polar Bear of course) but I can't remember who did them - they
were in picture book format. Has to be worth trying to find PB
as a title...
If your polar bear can be a penguin, this
matches Walt Disney's The Penguin Who Hated the Cold.
In the end Pablo winds up on a tropical island with palm
trees where he builds a home- happy at last!
This sounds like one of Eric St. Clair's
bear
stories which he used to read on "Programs for Young People" on
KPFA. I do not know if they were ever published. As I recall the
bear was living in a lighthouse, and rescues a shipwrecked seal
with some mixed feelings as he remembers how tasty seal was back
home.
P120: Princess story, Nielsen-lite illustrations This one is similar to my Maria in the
Meadow stumper (M67). Both of them I remember as being oversize
picture-books, possibly Giant Golden Books or Giant Elf, or
whatever Giant/Big format Wonder had. So about 9x12" size,
probably about 32 pages long, your basic picture-book length.
And I am almost certain that both of them were single stories.
This one had more plot but I remember almost none of it. It was
a fairy story, but I think maybe an original one, since I
haven't run across another version of it (or rather, none I've
read have snagged that memory back). The very vague memories I
have are that the main character was a princess, possibly with
sisters. The sisters may have been captured by a giant?ogre? and
kept in a castle. The princess had to wander alone, perhaps
barefoot and ragged, and maybe perform certain tasks. It seems
to me that she did this on her own, however eventually a prince
showed up - I don't know whether he helped or was sort of the
reward. NOTE: any or all of these plot details may be incorrect!
What I do remember is the illustrations. They were very distinctive. Again, a fairly flat style,
not terribly painterly. But the artist was obviously very
influenced by Kay Nielsen - in fact for some years I thought he
was the artist, but his colours are much darker and more vivid,
and his work is generally more intense. I have a quite clear
memory of the princess taken up on the prince's horse, with her
long hair and the horse's long mane and tail trailing thickly
down to the ground. (There is a Kay Nielsen illo very much like
this, but the horse's tail is braided). Again, I had this in the
early 60s, and lost it in 1974. P121: Picnic inside due to rain Solved: Fun with Decals P122: Peacock and white alligator Solved: Seals on Wheels P123: PJ the Cat Solved: P.J., My
Friend
P124: Pirate eats
pickled onions - children's anthology Solved: The Treasure
Bag: Stories and Poems Selected by Lena Barksdale My grandmother had a book (anthology?) with various stories in
it. Stories I remember: Mean pirate loves pickled
onions. Crew puts onions in narrow-mouthed jar. His
hand gets stuck, crew mutinies. Pirate has pickled onion
juice run into his eyes - successful mutiny. Lazy boy who won't
get out of bed when called in the morning. Maid strips beds,
and the boy is sent to the laundry - goes through washer, wringer,
bluing, etc. Always gets up after that. Boy finds "tadpole"
in a puddle. "Tadpole" is put in a teacup and larger
containers - is actually a whale. Children come and feed it
ice cream cones. I'm praying your service is the answer to my
fruitless search to date. Thank you for any help you can
give!
Lena Barksdale, The Treasure
Bag: Stories and Poems Selected by Lena Barksdale,1947.
This is the book I was looking for - it took 13 years to find
it. The book was illustrated by Maurice Brevannes and was
published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. The three stories I
remembered so distinctly were "The Teacup Whale" by Lydia
Gibson, "The Pirate and the Pickled Onions" by Rose Fyleman, and
"The Little Boy Who Wouldn't Get Up" by Rose Fyleman.
P125: Plains of Asia adventure I'm looking for an adventure set in the plains of Asia--fields of
poppies sticks in my mind--there is an incident, with a full-page
color illustration, in which a ferry-line breaks, girl is being
rescued on a swimming horse. I read this in late 50's early
60's, I think it was new then. I know this is vague!
Good luck. Thanks.
?Kate Seredy?, ?The Good Master? Could this be The Good Master?
It takes place on the plains of Hungary, and in Chapter 6,
"The Mirage" the mother tells a folktale about soldiers being
led into a field of poppies (illus.). In Ch. 9, "Strange
Waters", the children Kate and Jancsi (about 10 or 12) are
playing on the ferry and headstrong Kate goes swimming. When she
is swept away, Jancsi rescues her on his horse (also illus.)
Most of the book is about Kate getting used to her horse-farming
relatives, and it's been reprinted many times, so it could have
been new when you read it.
P126: Perry, an animal (squirrel?). Solved: Perri P127: plane crash survivors in the wilderness Solved: Northland
Castaways 2003 P128: penguin who wants to fly This is a children's picture book -
probably published between 1953 and 1958. It is the story of a
penguin whose overriding ambition is to fly. I recall him
being ridiculed by the other penguins as his various attempts
failed. Finally, he comes upon an iceberg that has a
plateau with a slope that resembles a ski jump. He lies on
his belly with his wings outstretched and goes down the slope,
launches into the air and flies. The last page of the book
shows hundreds of penguins lined up waiting their turn to try
the slope as the hero sells them rides for 25 cents each. The
overall visual impression I recall of the illustrations is a
great deal of blue for water and sky, white for the ice and the
black of the penguins.
I remember reading this also, but I believe
it was much newer -- perhaps a reprint, or a retelling of the
story? I don't remember him charging the other
penguins. The title maybe had "slippery" in it? Berkeley Breathed, A Wish for Wings
That Work. If
this isn't it, try it anyway. It's cute.
P129: pancakes snowstorm kids cabin woods Solved: Winter Cottage P130: Penguin on Ice Floe from Antarctic to Tropics Solved: The
Cold-Blooded Penguin P131: Peter's Wonderful Adventures Solved: Peter Opens the
Door P132: peanut butter Solved: Peanut Butter's Slide P133: poetry for young people? Solved: Rocket in My
Pocket P134: poetry anthology Solved: 200 Best Poems
for Boys and Girls P135: Polka Dot Thief Solved: Rootie
Kazootie, Detective P136: Poppy Solved: Poppy or the
Adventures of a Fairy P137: Pirate book Solved: Look Out for
Pirates! P138: poetry, famous Americans in history Solved: A Book of Americans P139: Poor family eats bread Solved: The Fence: a Mexican Tale P140: Poppy, tiny fairy Solved: Poppy or the
Adventures of a Fairy P141: Pilgram or Thanksgiving The first Thanksgiving/The Pilgrams, 1960s. The only thing
I remember about this book is the pictures. I remember
reading it in our elementary school library in the late 1960's
early '70s. The book had beautiful illustrations of a family
of pilgrams inside their house by the fire, eating, etc. I
don't remember much more than that, I just have fond memories of
being captivated by the images of those early Colonists.
There are lots of versions of this. Here's one possibility:
Barksdale, Lena. Illus. by Lois Lenski.THE
FIRST THANKSGIVING. Alfred Knopf, 1942. 5 full page
& 1 double page 3-color illustrations by Lenski, + black and
white drawings throughout. Decorated end papers. Lenski's
authentic drawings in the folk-art style add a warmth to the
story. Lois Lenski, Puritan Adventure. Another possibility is Lenski's own
"Pilgrims" book, in which a family of children (names I remember
are Seaborn, Comfort, Thankful) are delighted but confused when
their non-Puritan aunt comes to live with the family, wearing
bright colors and such. I'm not sure if Thanksgiving is
involved, but I recall the girls stirring "pumpkin sauce"!
Unfortunately, neither of those descriptions ring a bell.
I'll keep checking back. Thanks again.
P142: Pet Store The book I am looking for is a children's story about a pet store
in which the old owner does not return and all the pets get very
worried, begin to cause mischief, while an old dog tries his best
to keep order...finally a monkey breaks out of his cage and
mortally shoots the dog. Can you help me locate it? P143: Puffin talks and yells about closing doors, windows Solved: Adventure series P144: prairie dog 1953-1954. This was one of my sister's favorite books, so I
don't remember much about it. I remember my mother saying
she could hardly get through the book, because my sister was
constantly asking her "why?" the prairie dog did this or that.
I've got a couple of possibilities here --
unfortunately, without more information, it's really hard to
make a guess at what book you're looking for! Grace
Coolidge, Paddy-Paws:
Four Adventures of the Prairie Dog with the Red Coat,
1914. L. Frank Baum, Prairie-Dog Town, 1919. Those are the only two I can find that
were written early enough for the time frame specified. I'm sure
there are more of them out there, though. Florella Rose, Peter Picket Pin, 1953. This book was about a prairie dog
that had dozens and dozens of cousins that all looked just like
him.
P145: Pygmy people I am looking for a book which was read by our family in the 40s
and 50s. It may have actually been older that that but that
was when it was read to me. It was about pygmy people.
I remember that the book was in black and white and the pygmy
people wore grass skirts and carried spears. That's about
all I remember except that I loved to hear those stories!
Two possibilities - Bomba the Jungle
Boy and the Cannibals, or Winning Against Native
Dangers by Roy Rockwood (Cupples & Leon,
1932) and Saranga,
the Pygmy by Attilio Gatti and Kurt Wiese
(C. Scribner's Sons, 1949, c1939).
P145 Does black and white mean photos or
drawings? I have King of the Pygmies by Lahey
published by St Anthony Guild Press. It is written for children
but is as big as an adult book. Joe, whose father collected
African animals for zoos and circuses, finally gets to go
to Africa, but runs into all sorts of dangers including
capture by pygmies. The illus are black and
white ink drawings.
P145 I have a report on Saranga; It, too, is
almost an adult book. [Maybe we read harder books in those
days.] There are many black and white illus by Kurt Wiese, most
of animals or of the boy, Saranga, wearing a loincloth, not a
skirt, and the "spears" are bows and arrows. Gray cover
has elephant outlined in green. Gatti, Attilio.
Saranga, the pygmy. illus by Kurt Wiese.
Scribner, 1939 daily life of pygmy boy, Saranga, in the jungle
full of animals, ritten by famous explorer.
P146: post-apocalypse psychic kids Solved: Children of Morrow P147: "princess" buried up to her neck in a pond ? Solved: The Light
Princess P148: Popcorn Solved: Popcorn Party P149: Puppy wakes up... "Puppy wakes up, he yawns and stretches and runs to his bowl for
a drink of water..." Is the first line fo a childrens book
from the 1950s. My sister and I beleive this is the first
book our parents ever read to us.
Puffy the Puppy,I
remember this book as a young child and I was actually on this
site to search for that books origins. I do believe a few lines
from it would jog their memory if it is indeed the same
book."Puffy the Puppy is fat and well fed/ Puffy the Puppy is
asleep in his bed/ His tail is cut short/ His long ears are
dragging..." I seem to recall the story is about a little cocker
spaniel puppy'\''s daily activity
P150: Prince drowns in hold for love of Princess Solved: Junior Classics P151: Possum hanging upside down smiling Solved: The Possum that Didn't P152: Peddler/Veggie/Fruit Man I remember a book from when I was little (i.e. early 60's) about
a man (Italian or Spanish or something) who was a peddler or
veggie/fruit seller who wore a white apron and sold his produce
from a cart. It was a pre-school aged book and I'd love to
know the name of it because I loved it so much and want to share
it with my grandchildren.
Hogrogian, Nonny, Apples. (Macmillan, 1972) "The apple
peddler replenishes his cart from the trees that grow from the
discarded cares of the apples he sells." This
stumper has been driving me nuts because I could see the peddler
and his cart in your description, but I couldn't remember what
book it was in. Maybe this isn't the book you're looking
for since the date is a little later, but at least I finally
solved my own 'stumper.'
P153: Paper Craft Art Project Book Solved: Paper Projects
for Creative Kids of All Ages P154: Pot Licker the Coon Hound Solved: Haunted Hound P155: Pixie Trink I remember sitting on my grandmother's lap as she read a story
with wonderful pictures of fairies and pixies, at least that's how
I remember it. I was probably only 3 or 4 and this was the
mid-1950s. I believe these fairies and pixies lived in a forest
and used acorns and mushrooms for furniture, but I may be
confusing this with other stories. My grandmother called me her
"Pixie Trink" all my life based on one of the characters -- a
red-haired pixie named Pixie Trink. I would love to find this
book. Any help would be so appreciated.
I don't have a copy in hand to check the name, but consider The
Golden
Books
Treasury of Elves and Fairies.... It's on the Most
Requested Pages.
Argh! This isn't in the Giant Golden
Book (my childhood favorite), but I *know* it has to be
somewhere on the Solved pages, because I remember seeing the
name "Pixie Trink" in the Stumpers when I first found your
website a year or so ago. But I can't find it! Back to the
search...(Harriett, I don't know if you keep records of past web
pages, but a Google search
turned it up in a different request, P39)
Here's that older stumper for reference (she never answered if
this was the correct match):
P39: Pixie Trink
I am also looking for a book my grandmother read to us in the
early 1950's. The book could be much older though. It
was about fairies and pixies living around a pond or a
brook. I only remember that there was a pixie named Pixie
Trink who may have lived on a lily pad. Pixie Trink had red
hair. I would love to find out what this book was and if it
is available.
P39: keeps sounding like Zeee
by Elizabeth Enright.
I saw the Golden Book posted for sale and wrote to the woman
selling it to ask if Pixie Trink was a character. She replied
"There is a story about a little boy named Dicky who finds a
pixie's scarf called The
Pixie's Scarf, but no Pixie Trink." She did suggest ZEEE
-- but I'd be surprised if that is the book because from I can see
it was first published in the mid-1960s. I'm sure that I remember
sitting on my grandmother's lap as a small child, and that would
put it in the mid-1950s. My sister reminded me that my grandmother
was Swedish and perhaps it was a Swedish fairy tale.
Thanks for helping and I'll keep checking back.
After seeing these two books for sale on-line
I thought they might show promise! Both are full of fairies,
pixies etc. The Story Wonder Book, edited by
Harry Golding, and Ward Lock's Wonder Book,
a picture book for boys and girls. Both books are related in some
way. One came out in the 1920's and the other was put out later,
maybe 30's. Hope this is a lead!
P156: Pirates, Octopus, Hidden Cave, Treasure Solved: Once Upon a Pirate Ship P157: Paris after WW-I 1920s or early 1930s. I read this book in the early fifties
when I was a young teenager. The book was a novel, probably
French (in translation) about post WW-I life in Paris
romance, lower middle class with life's ups and downs. I was
enchanted by the whole loaf-of-bread, jug-of-wine and thou
lifestyle. P158: Party disaster for bear This one's from a colleague of mine. She remembers a book
of the Little Golden Book style about a fat bear who wore a
(pink?) bow in her hair. The bear gave a party but nobody
came--she thinks that the bear may have done something to cause
this, and that people eventually showed up at the party. P159: puffins in the 50s I am looking for a book I read as a child in the 50s. Think it
was a picture book..at least it has a lot of pictures. The thing I
remember most is the puffin. There was at least one, maybe more.
Not sure if s/he was the main character or just one I remember. So
I think of it as the puffin book, although there may have been
other stuff gonig on. The illustrations were very detailed...I
especially remember one with a beautiful seaside village ( maybe
in Maine? Northern Canada? ). I have looked at all the Library of
Congress listings, but they have nothing this old, or withpictures.
I REALLY want to see if i can find a copy of this. Please help!
Thanks.
Miss
Flora MacFlimsey. This is a long shot but the
puffins illustrated in this book would stick in anyone's
mind. Miss Flora is a doll who flies to Puffin
Island with Tuffy Puffin. There is a wonderful illustration
of the puffins interacting. P160: Plum Tree Solved: The Delicious Plums of King Oscar the
Bad P161: Pink Toy Trumpet Solved: The Toy Trumpet P162: Praying mantis and beatle swap bed and chair Solved: Humpty Dumpty's Bedtime Stories P163: Perseverance wins My grandmother read me a story when I was a little girl (sometime
between 1950 and 1959) and the key-phrase from the book
"Perseverance wins!" has been with me my entire life. When times
were tough, it gave gave me that little extra push I so often
needed (thanks, Grandma!) The other things I recall about the
story are a sea captain and, I believe, a brown and white dog. I
would like to find this book, but have no clue where to begin. I
hope you can help me!
Edward Ardizzone, One of the "Tim"
books. Not at all sure but the date is about right, and a sea
captain does feature prominently. I don't remember the phrase
"Perseverance wins" but it could have occurred, as it would fit
a lot of the plots. There is a dog in some of the books, but I
think he may have been just brown.
I've read almost all of the Little Tim books
and I don't remember any of them having a repeated line like
that.
P164: Prose and Poetry There are two, that I know of, series of books called Prose and
Poetry. I beleive they were used as school books. I have some of
both series published by The LW. Singer Co. my problem is that I
don't have a full list of the titles so I can fill out my
collection. Does anyone have a list of either or both series? The
series I have are 1. One through ? year by Avery-Leitzell and 2.
Prose and Poetry for Appreciation by McGraw. Thank you.
Well, these are the
titles I could dig up on a web search: Prose and Poetry
for the Eighth Year Including a Study of the Life and Poems
of James Russell Lowell the Grade Poet (1924) ed.
by Fannie L. Avery, Mary M. van Arsdale & Emma D. Wilber; Prose
and Poetry Adventures (1935) ed. by Margaret Greer
et al; Prose and Poetry Journeys (1935) ed.
by Margaret Greer et al; Regional
America. Prose and Poetry of Toda (1941) by Harriet
Marcelia Lucas; Poetry and Prose Journeys (1945)
by Donald MacLean Tower, Cora J Russell, Christine W. West; The
Firelight Book Prose and Poetry (1946) ed. by
Barbara Henderson, Marion T. Garretson, Frederick H. Weber; Prose
and Poetry: The Emerald Book (1947) ed. by Fannie
L. Avery; Prose And Poetry Of America (1950) ed.
by Harriet Marcelia Lucas & Herman W. Ward; Prose and Poetry Adventures
(1951) ed. by Andrew J. Kenner; Blue Sky Book: Prose and
Poetry (1953) by Henderson, Garretson, Weber; Prose
and Poetry of England (1955) ed. by McCarthy
Rodabaugh; Along the Sunshine Trail , part of Prose and
Poetry Series (1960) by Iverson, Delancy, Leet,
Foes, and Smith; Story Carnival: The Prose and Poetry
Series (1960) by Floy DeLancey and William Iverson
Tower, Donald Maclean; Russell, Cora J;
West, Christine W Prose and
poetry adventures [Part
1] illus by Guy Brown Wiser
L W Singer c1945 Many,
Prose and Poetry of America, 1955, approximate. I used 4 of
this series in High School. I have three of them. This one was
stolen on the last day of class. It has wonderful essays, poems
and the annual Shakesperean play. I have been on a quest for
years to get a copy.
P165: Perfectionist at Lawn Cutting Solved: Countess and the Impossible P166: Paint Pigs Solved: The Color Kittens P167: Praying Pines Solved: Praying Pines P168: Pug Tree Pug Tree, 1950s. The is a story about children choosing a
pug puppy by the balled-up pugs' curly tails when they were
hanging on a tree. Then they would pick a pug off the tree to keep
and love.
I found this using Google... there is a
short story from the Christian Science Monitor called Pug
Island. However, the only way to get to this
article online is through Goggle's cached version, found
here.
P169: Panda Solved: Dear
Uncle Looy P170: Prince Hal and the Monster Solved: My Friend the
Monster P171: Pickle Book I am looking for a book that my fiancee
calls "The Pickle Book". He used to get it out from the
library, according to him, every other week. (This was in
the late 80s, early 90s.) It is a children's book about
having too many pickles and making all kinds of things out of
the pickles like pickle juice etc. I know that this isn't
much to go on, but it would mean a lot to him. Thank you.
I'll bet this is the popular Pickle-Chiffon Pie by
Roger Bradfield. Your fiancee isn't the only one who
remembers it fondly; check out Loganberry's
Most Requested page. I'm almost positive that this isn't Pickle-Chiffon
Pie. That story involves a king who loves
pickle-chiffon pie and three guys who go out to find the most
unusual thing that they can in the kingdom. One guy
finds this unusual creature who has baby creatures and he lets
it go rather than drag it away from its family, even though he
knows that he won't win the contest, and he is rewarded for
his kindness. It really doesn't involve pickles at
all. I love to use this book when I do a 'food'
storytime. Actually, the first book I thought of was
Marc Brown's Pickle Things, though that story
describes all the things that a pickle *isn't*. Pickle Juice. I remember
reading a book called Pickle Juice and it seems
to me it was quite similar to what you describe.
P171 I don't think this sounds quite
like it. My copy has been sold, so can't check: Wolcott,
Patty. Pickle, pickle, pickle juice.
illus by Blair Dawson. Scholastic Pickle Pickle Pickle Juice by
Wolcott has a vocabulary of only 10 words -- repeated
over & over & over...
I agree, I'm sure there was a novel (not an
easy reader) called Pickle Juice (it had
something of the same "flavour" as How to Eat Fried Worms)
but I can't find it on abebooks or Alibris or in our local
library's catalogue. Any other ideas? Oops--I guess
I was thinking of Judy Blume's Freckle Juice.
I'll keep my eyes open for a pickle book, though. Thank you all for your suggestions, but it seems as if none of
them are exactly right. If this helps, he said that he remembers
piles and piles of pickles (that's what they made the pickle
juice out of). Acutally, I got a copy of Pickle Things from the
library to show to my fiancee and it wasn't what he had
remembered. I don't know why men are so difficult. I
am hoping that someone has a moment of revelation. Thanks
so much, though.
Just a couple more titles to run by your fiance: Purple
Pickle Juice by Farber, ill.Mercer Mayer and Hot
Fudge Pickles by Andersen. Pickles to
Pittsburgh by Judy Barrett, Pickle
Pizza by Beverly Lewis. Pickle
Creature by Daniel Pinkwater. Oh dear, I'm
starting to obsess on this.......... Judi Barrett (author), Ron
Barrettt (illustrator), the talented duo who
created Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and its
sequel, Pickles to Pittsburgh.
I havn't found the book, but would just like
to validate the girl who is looking for it. Your boyfriend
is not nuts. Things I remeber from the book are: one page
there is a lady with a pickle nose, and maybe another with
pickle hair. The cover of the book is mostly white with a
green pickle border. My sister and I read the same book as
children, I know exactly what he is talking about and am looking
for it for my sister. If I ever find it I wil be sure to let you
know. Marc Brown, Pickle Things. (1980) Did a little research and looked
it up on the Library of Congress Webpage
P172:
Pilot father Solved: Patricia's Secret P173: pigs/planecrash Solved: Mellops Go Flying P174: Panama Canal voyage Panama Canal voyage. This was a young adult novel read in
the late 1950's about a girl whose name was probably
Natalie. She had a serious illness and then took a trip with
her father through the Pananma Canal. Patron thinks that the
girl's mother had died young and that an aunt or other female
relative had moved in to help raise the girl.
Svenson, Lillian M. , Panama to the
North Cape.
Boston, Christopher 1955. Might be this one: "The story of
one family's passage from Los Angeles to England and Norway via
the Panama canal aboard a combination freight and passenger
steamer. a delightful ocean voyage. very educational and a
wonderful story."
P175: Phoenix friend Solved: David and the Phoenix P176: picture book with rock cooties monsters blowfish
with lantern Solved: Little
Monster's Bedtime Book P177: Penguin named Richard Solved: Well, About The Penguin P178: poetry anthology with silhouettes Solved: 200 Best Poems for Boys and Girls P179: pig cheats at cards A man dies and his family puts his ashes in an urn on top of the
fireplace. The maid knocks it over and scoops up the ashes
but accidentally puts in a pigs ashes from the fireplace
too. The man and the pig are stuck in hell together
forever. They play cards and the man discovers that the pig
always cheats.
Natalie Babbitt, The devil's
storybook. The is
definitely one of the stories in Natalie Babbitt's "The devil's
storybook."
P180: penthouse pastor Solved: Reverand Randollph series P181: poetry book Solved: Golden Books Treasury of Elves and
Fairies P182: Puzzle Adventure Solved: Puzzle Island P183: PALACE MADE BY MUSIC by RAYMOND MACDONALD ALDEN, 1912-1945. "The Palace Made By
Music" appeared in an illustrated book of children's stories that
may have been, 1) all by R.M. Alden or, 2) in a book with stories
by other authors too. I would have had the book in the late
30's to mid 40's - and clearly remember a blue and white, very
vertical palace rising from the ground once the orchestra had
played. My memory of the other stories is vague, but I seem
to recall Oscar Wilde's story of the Statue and the Bird.
However, it is the large - for a child - format picture book
containing "The Palace Made By Music" that I am interested in
locating and BUYING!
Well, there is a collection by that name: Alden,
Raymond MacDonald: The Palace Made by Music. Bobbs
Merrill. 1910. Red cloth hardcover, illustrated by Mayo
Bunker. It's hard to find, but I can get you one in Good
condition, some wear, for $50. Let me know. I'm "sure" the book I had was NOT illustrated by Mayo Bunker
and I'm "sure" it was a later edition than 1910- and may not
have been all MacDnald stories. Let's see what your Wonder
Working Stumpers come up with!
I found two editions of Why The
Chimes Rang And Other Stories by Raymond
Macdonald Alden that have this story. Both are by
Bobbs-Merril Co. and have the same stories, but are illustrated
by either Katherine Sturges (1924) or by Evelyn Copelman
(1945). The contents are: Why the chines rang / The
knights of the silver shield / The boy who discovered the spring
/ The brook in the king's garden / The hunt for the beautiful /
The boy who went out of the world / The palace made by music /
The forest full of friends / The bag of smiles / The castle
under the sea / In the great walled country. The only book
I found with stories by both Wilde and Macdonald was a
collection of Christmas stories.
There is a collection by this author called
Why the Chimes Rang that was published in 1924 and
again in 1945. Illustrated first by Katherine Sturges and
later by Evelyn Copelman. The stories are: Why the chimes
rang.--The knights of the silver shield.--The boy who discovered
the spring.--The brook in the king's garden.--The hunt for the
beautiful.--The boy who went out of the world.--The palace made
by music.--The forest full of friends.--The bag of smiles.--The
castle under the sea.--In the great walled country.
P184: Psychic Girl Meets Dead Guy Solved: The Haunting of Cassie Palmer P185: Poor girl has double-life Solved: Bewitching of Alison Allbright P186: Parents killed by Indians Solved: Dickon Among
the Indians P187: Pot Head Solved: The Story of
Little Kettlehead P188: Pirate parrot with stripy socks This is an English children's book, so I hope you can help. I
read this in around 1985 and it was a fairly large hardback book
with full page pictures which the text ran over. It made my Dad
cry with laughter, so was obviously funny and was about a group of
pirates including a parrot with a wooden leg (I think). There was
certainly stripy socks anyway. I have had the Ballad of Bad
Ben Bilge suggested by Abebooks, but I'm not sure this is
correct and can't check as there are no pictures to see. I really
hope you can help!
P188 Shot in the dark, but I came across
the title BARNABY SHREW, BLACK DAN, AND THE MIGHTY
WEDGWOOD by Steve Augarde, 32 pages with
illustrations, published in London in 1979. The short summary
said that the crew of the
ship the "Pied Piper" meet Black Dan and his
parrot Tough Eric. I can't confirm if it was funny or if the
parrot has a peg leg. Perhaps someone else has read this book.
~from a librarian
I've got a copy of Ballad of Bad Ben
Bilge and don't think it's particularly funny.
It's told by Bad Ben's parrot, Timber Toe Bob, who does indeed
have a peg leg. Some other characters in the book are
Rickets, the stowaway rat Katey and her sister Meg their
mynah bird Pompous McVain -- who all work together to destroy
Bad Ben and his ship, the Devil's Delight. The pictures
are in brown and teal blue, very rough and sketchy (the girls
are almost scary looking). I doubt that this is the book that
you dad thought was so funny. As to the other suggestion,
there's another Barnaby Shrew book, Barnaby Shrew Goes to
Sea, which may be the book you're looking for.
Good luck!
P189: PITCH WITCH Solved: Which Witch? P190: pa . . . little Clarinda, cold winter Solved: McBroom series P191: Psychiatrist's book psychiatrist takes evening writing class,sends tape of proposed
book to teacher, then he dies. teacher writes book. P192: Puff I am looking for a book I remember from childhood. It is a large
illustrated childrens book perhaps 9" X 12" or 10" x 13". There
was a one page story for every day of the year. The story/text
appeared on the left page and the illustattion for the story
appered on the right page. Many of the stories were about a white
cat or kitten named Puff.
Dick and Jane readers, 1950s,
1960s. The Dick and Jane readers had a white kitten named
Puff. The description sounds like those readers, too.
Nan Gilbert author, Jill Elgin
illustrator,365 Bedtime Stories, 1955. The
Dick and Jane readers feature a kitten named Puff, but Puff is a
golden tabby, not a white kitten. Dick and Jane also
didn't have a "story for every day of the year." Is it
possible that the original stumper requester is confusing Dick
and Jane's kitten with the kitten in another book? If so,
I'd like to suggest that he or she examine 365 Bedtime Stories
by Nan Gilbert, illustrated by Jill Elgin. This Whitman
Giant Book measures 7 1/4" x 10 1/2" and has a story for every
day of the year (unless it happens to be a Leap Year). At
least six of the stories are about a white kitten named
Velvet. The book also contains several stories about two
other cats, Tiger, a golden tabby, and Tom, a black cat with
white paws, vest and nose. Twelve of the stories in
this book have a full illustration on the right hand page, three
stories have a full illustration on the left hand page, and the
rest of the stories have an illustration at the top of each
page. For more information, please see Most Requested Books.
P193: paige Solved: Mary
Frances Sewing Book P194: Pork chops in the woods I read this book in 5th grade (1965) in Roseburg Oregon. The part
I remember was about a boy and his dad who live in the
forest. One day, the game wardens came to take the dad away
based on some alleged violation of the law. The dad asked if
he could make dinner first. The game wardens agreed.
The boy and his dad made a huge amount of mashed potatoes, pork
chops, etc. which was way more than the four of them could
eat. After dinner, the game wardens took the dad off to
jail. However, while driving into town, with the dad sitting
between the game wardens in the truck, as they went around a bend
in the road, the dad just kind of slipped out the truck, and took
off through the woods back to his cabin. He and his son
quickly packed the extra uneated pork chops and mashed potatoes
into jars, etc., then the dad took off into the woods to hide, so
the game wardens could not find him. Of course the game
wardens came back, but the dad was long gone. P195: pessimistic brother This is short story I would have read around 74-75 but it could
be older, about an older brother and sister living together.
Brother is very crabby. Near the end he bangs his head and doesn't
know who he is. Thanks for yourhelp.2004 P196: purple hippopotamus I know someone looking for childhood favorite about a purple
hippopotamus. Hers was paperback and prob the size of a
Tell-a-tale
Thomas Baum, Hugo the Hippo. A young hippopotamus explains why he
trusts children but has a healthy distrust of all grownups.
Roger Dvoinsin (spelling?), Veronica
and
the
birthday present. Don't know if this is it?
Veronica is a hippo who lives on Farmer Pumpkin's farm (with
Petunia the goose, whose in other Dvoinsin books) Farmer
Applegreen gets a kitten--Candy--for his wife and it escapes the
box on way home and finds friendship in Veronica. When found and
taken back to Applegreen's farm, there's a series of back and
forths as Veronica and various animals from Pumpkin's farm keep
going to Applegreen's to fetch Candy back. I'm almost sure
Veronica is illustrated as purple. Candy is white with blue
eyes. But it is a large book in hardback, at least 8-1/2 x 11"
P197: Pixie & Dixie running into a birthday cake Solved: Pixie, Dixie & Mr. Jinx P198: Pinky or Binky Solved: Binky Brothers,
Detectives P199: Peashooter stunguns in Wales, UK Title unknown. Described by a friend as
follows: ... a childrens novel I once had. We're going
back to the early 1960s here, but it may have been published
earlier, possibly in the midFifties. The plot centred around the
inauguration of Cardiff as the capital of Wales. The
protagonists - young teenagers - were against this and in favour
of either Caernarfon or (more reasonably) Machynlleth. They were
campaigning for a change. The secondary element of the plot -
really quite scifi - is that they had access to what can only be
called some kind of nerve agent. A solution which if
painted on a object which then struck a person intensified the
sensation to a degree that the person would instantly pass out
for an extended period. (No 'pain' apparently was felt -
it was some sort of nervous system crash. Clever stuff, really!)
They used this in their campaign by dipping dried peas in the
stuff and firing them at 'enemies' with peashooters. Cheap and
effective, if short range. P200: Peter in land of many colors Solved: Gnome King of
Oz P201: The Pot that would not walk I have been searching for this book for
years. I read it as a child for hours and hours. It
had a red cloth cover and contained fairy tales that were
numbered. Some included The Three Little pigs, The Three
Little Pigs Go for a Walk? (a continuation of the Three little
pigs where the wolf tries to get the pigs to come out of the
house by telling them about various things they can do or eat,
they set a time to meet but each time the pigs get up an hour
earlier, go and do what the wolf told them about and get back
before the wolf comes to get them. The third time he beats
them at their own game and meets them at the apple orchard while
they are picking apples and they have to escape), The Pot that
would not Walk (a story about a woman who buys a pot, leaves it
at the store, tells her husband to go pick it up and on the way
home, the husband notices the pot has three legs and he has only
two and he tries to get the pot to carry him instead), the Three
wishes (a story about a man who sees a Leprachaun, is given
three wishes... inadvertantly wishes for a sausage, the wife
wishes the sausage was on the end of his nose and then sadly,
uses the last wish to wish the sausage off his nose).
There was also a story about a pig that would not go through the
gate so the woman asks a dog to bite the pig, and when the dog
does not, a stick to beat the dog and so forth, until the woman
asks her own cat. I know these stories so well, but I
cannot find the collection anywhere! At the beginning of
each story, there is a simple illustration. I remember them
being black and white. Some more titles include: the Three
Billy Goats Gruff, and may or may not have the Three Bears.
Hi, I remembered another story in this collection: A
woman is in her home baking some bread when a tired, hungry
traveler comes by her door and smells the yummy smell. He
knocks on her door and asks her if she could share a loaf of
bread with him. She says she will. He sits and waits
for the loaf to be finished. The woman gets it out of the
oven, but it is too big to share. She puts a smaller piece
of dough in. When it is finished baking, the loaf is
bigger than the first. She puts a third piece of
dough in, smallest of all, bakes it, and the loaf comes out
bigger than the second. She tells the traveler that all
the loaves are too big to give away and sends him on his way.
Maybe some info will help in the search- Kettle
Story is by Joseph Jacob. It can be
found in a book called More English Fairy Tales
by same author. I do not have this volume so I cannot check for
the other stories but this might start your hunt!
I believe that the book you are looking for
may be one from a set of books that contained short stories for
children. Each book had a theme to it and the beginning
started out with easier to read stories leading to the harder to
read ones towards the back. There was a book of poems and
a book of fairy tales as well as the themed books (I
specifically remember a Science Fiction theme). Each book
had a red cloth cover and I think gold lettering on the cover
and each story was prefaced by a small black and white
sketch. There were otherwise no pictures in it. I
cannot remember the name of the set of books but I think it was
something like Children's Book of ... (the theme
like poems, fairy tales etc.) I think the first or second
story in the book of fairy tales was about a princess that was
unhappy. I remember the story about the pot, continuation
of the three pigs, the wishes, and the bread but I do not
remember the one about the pig. I had the entire set of
books when I was a child so they were probably published in the
late 60s early 70s. We always referred to the books as the
red books. I really loved the set of books (they were lost
in a move) and will continue watching this post to see if anyone
else remembers this.
I have the set of books that the poster in
blue is describing but I'm not sure they are the solution to the
original poster's query. We also called them the red books!!
They are The
Children's Hour, published by Spencer Press. My set
was published in 1953. I didn't see the stories described by the
poster in the fairytale volume, but didn't check the other 15
volumes yet. I am familiar with most of those stories so they
could be in another volume-some of them were in my Childcraft
set from the 40's (the piggy over the style story!). Thanks for the leads. I am checking them out! The
one who's post is in blue mentioned that the book had a black
and white illustration at the beginning of each story and
otherwise there were no illustrations. This is exactly
what I remember! For example, the story about the three
wishes had a line drawing of a man and a woman at a table with
the sausage on the end of his nose. The Continuation of
the Three little Pigs had an illustration with the pigs up in an
apple tree. I think the title DID contain Fairy Tales
somewhere, because otherwise I didn't know what fairy tales
were. If Someone has the Children's Hour Book:
Fairy Tales and Fables, Could they check out if it has the
stories I mentioned? Or better yet, list the first several
of them? The book I remember did have the stories numbered
1. 2. 3. etc. at the top of the first page of the story. I
will be so excited if I find this book! Thank you for your
help!
This is the poster in red again---The first
few stories in the Children's Hour Vol.2 Favorite
Fairy
Tales are: Many Moons by James Thurber, The
Last
of the Dragons by E. Nesbit, The Open Road by
Kenneth Grahame. Those stories are in part 1 for youner readers.
The first stories in part 2 for older readers are: The
Swan Maiden by Howard Pyle, The Piping on Christmas
Eve by Florence Page Jaques, The Great Quillow by
James Thurber. The stories are not numbered and the
illustrations are black and white line drawings that have a
single color wash such as red or green. The poster in blue
mentions their edition was in the late 60's so those stories
could have numbers, etc. Please look at my lengthy
response to P113; I think both stumpers refer to the same set
of books: (pasted here
below) Collier's
Illustrated Classics, 1948, approximate. I have
a set of 10 Collier's Illustrated Classics from 1948; my
father bought them, along with the encyclopedia, the year my
brother was born!! Each book in the set is a different,
bright color. Volume 1 is called Fairy Tales and Fables, and
has a drawing of an elf on the spine. It is dark red in
color. Other volumes are called "Stories That Never Grow
Old," "Myths and Legends," "Stories About Boys and
Girls." The fairy tale book has the kind of
illustrations you describe, and the 3 Little Pigs story about
the apples and going to the fair. It also has "The Old
Woman and Her Pig" that you mention. Each book is about
2" thick. The series was revised and a new edition
published sometime in the 50's so the stories are a bit
different, but I do think this fairy tale book is the one you
are looking for. A seller had them on eBay recently, so
check that out. Good luck!
P202: Peter Johnson's Boots Here goes- looking for short story-may only be in anthology-circa
1940. Title ' Peter Johnson's Boots' or something similar. Peter
tires of his boots, which were still servicable, and sells them.
After buying and trying several new pairs-which did not suit,
Peter buys back his old pair. Wish me luck, and so many thanks for
your very prompt reply. P203: The Pink (or Blue) Chest I read this book in 1966, at age 10. It was about a family
who moved to the city to an apartment, and had little money.
One day the kids discovered an unopened room in the apartment, and
somehow a chest of drawers played into the plot.
Ruth Chew, What the Witch Left. Long shot... Johnson, Siddie Joe, Cathy, illustrated by Mary Lee Baker. NY
Longmans 1945. I know this was the answer for the one
right next to this, so it would be kind of a coincidence, but
... Cathy (just one child) moves to an old house (not an
apartment) and discovers a way into the unopened attic, where
she finds a blue-painted chest of drawers, which figures into
the plot. She has to earn her own pocket-money, so that might be
remembered as having little money. And an unopened room seems
likelier in a house than in an apartment.
P204:Potato
Bugs Solved: Cathy P205: Pony Cart If I remember correctly ... No more recently than the
1970's, I read a children's story told from the point of view of a
young boy who travelled by pony cart with his grandfather, in
rural England, in the 1800's. They travelled from place to
place where grandfather carved gargoyles for cathedrals. I
would appreciate any help you could offer me in finding this book,
as I would like to pass it along to others. P206: Penn and Yan Solved: Two Little
Savages P207: Paris Girl/ book with photographic plates This is a small book of under 100 pages that recounts the
everyday life of a Parisian girl in the 50s. It was a chapter book
for a 5th or 6th grade reading level. It had
photographic plates showing the girl going home from the bakery
with her baguette and that sort of thing. It might have had
something in it to do with lacemaking. It enchanted me and so
began my enduring fascination with France. P208: Parents go to India Solved: Donna Parker On
Her Own P209: Penpals Plot is as follows: Rich, East coast preppy type becomes pen pals
with a small town Appalachian girl during World War II. They
finally meet after he returns from the war. He proposes on their
first date. After overcoming his family's initial opposition to
the match, they have a big wedding, move to her hometown, uses his
family money to help revitalize the town after the local mill
closes, he runs for congress and is defeated when he runs for the
Senate. They then leave Washington for good and move back to the
small town to live happily ever after in retirement. First part of
the book is just their exchange of letters. This book could
possibly be the first volume of a family trilogy, the later
volumes deal with the subsequent generations. Any suggestions or
clues would be greatly appreciated. P210: Puzzle book with ghost stories and calculator games Solved: Super Colossal
Book of Puzzles, Games and Tricks P211: Pulley between houses of best friends, a boy and
girl I had submitted this some time ago and thought it was solved
(B271) but after reading the entire Katie-John series I realized
it has not been solved. Again, I read this in the early to
mid-70's, there was something about an overgrown garden that the
boy and girl work on, and they would communicate with each other
using a sort of basket on a pulley line to tap on each other's
bedroom window.
B271: I read this in the early 70's I think--about the
adventures of a girl (age 10?) who was best friends with a boy,
her next
door neighbor, and they used a sort of pulley line connected
between their houses whenever they wanted the other
one to do something. I think there was an overgrown garden
somewhere in the story. Louisa May Alcott, Jack and Jill. This is probably not the book, but it does
mention a basket on a line between the
characters' houses. I don't remember
the garden, though.
P212: Psychic sisters Solved: Stranger With
My Face P213: potato, potato, come back, alack Solved: A Little
Child's Book of Stories P214:poetry
collection Solved: East of the Sun, West of the
Moon P215: papa bear tries to kill a fly Wordless book. A fly goes into a house with 3(?) bears. The
papa bear tries to kill the fly and in the process smashes up the
house. The fly then goes out a window.
Shot in the dark because I haven't read the
book, but it matches the description for THE BEAR &
THE FLY: A STORY by Paula Winter, 1976.
~from a librarian Emily Reed,Let Papa Sleep!,
1963. Possibly Let papa sleep.Not bears but
bunnies. Papa is having a nap and Pip and Chip are told not to
make noise. They try to find something quiet to do. Papa sleeps
throught it all. Then a fly comes in and walks on Papa's nose,
he wakes up and sees the mess. The bunnies blame the fly.
P216: Princess with Twelve Swan Brothers Solved: The Wild Swans P217: Plane crash Solved: Walkabout P218: Pocketbook pocketbook. before 1980. story about a
women whose husband buys the house she longs for. At back
of master bedroom closet, she finds a door which leads to a
series of secret rooms. At end of book turns out it was
all in her mind. On front cover in foreground, picture of
women in a rocking chair with a small picture of a house in the
background. ( PLEASE help me find this book- my sanity
depends on it) P219: Psychodelic Kids Activity Book 1970's Psychedelic Kids Activity Book
Trying to remember the name of this book has been making me
nuts! I remember it from my 1st grade class, which would have
been around 1983, however the style of the book suggests 1970's
all the way! It was an oversized paperback filled with mazes,
puzzles, games, and TONS of weird old style clip art! It was
like a combination of Monty Python, late 60's psychedelica,
Edward Gorey, weird antiquated artwork (ie..like on the original
Trivial Pursuit gameboard---the pointing hand, bicycles, etc.)
It was pretty disjointed and not just games-- I believe one one
page there's an old guy in a wizard hat saying "WHOOPS!" and on
the other side, it's either jumbled sentences or crazy artwork.
If anyone has ideas about what this could be, please do tell!
Susan Striker, The Anti-Coloring
Book, 1978. Could
it be the Anti-Coloring Book series by Susan
Striker? Each page in the book (there were 6) is a
partially completed weird drawing with a suggestion for
completing it, such as "Do you see your future in this crystal
ball?" The drawings in her books certainly sound like the
Python-Gorey hybrid described above.
This sounds very familiar. Could it have
been British? It would have been the 70s. I remember a series
called Old King Cole or something like that. I
was in Australia at the time, though, & remember it being
very British. It was a strange assortment of puzzles etc. as you
describe. Sorry, but I can't remember the exact title. Coles EW, Coles funny picture book
for children. The
second poster is referring to the Coles funny picture book which
was produced by EW Coles of Melbourne, Australia (and
subsequently his family) Very collectible now. They
are kind of psychadelic looking and had a hodge podge of
stories, puzzles, cartoons, odd photographs etc. Very non pc,
especially the earlier ones but incredibly funny to kids (and
adults!) All of Coles publications had his "trademark" rainbow
on the front, often with bizarre colours. A hunt of online
auction sites in Australia will often turn up pictures of
covers.
P220: Purple Princess Solved: Shadow
Castle P221: Peter Tumbledown This book was published awhile ago, as my 60 year old father read
it when he was a child. All I know is that the title was
possibly "Peter Tumbledown" or the main character's name was Peter
Tumbledown. It is possible the main character was a
rabbit. This is a children's story.
Spring, Howard, Tumbledown Dick: all
people and no plot..
NY Viking 1940. I'm somewhat doubtful about this, since
the comment that the book may have been about a bunny suggests
that it was a picture book for younger children - perhaps Peter
Rabbit? However this book does fit for time and title, so I'll
suggest it. It is a longer book, the adventures of a young boy
at the Manchester Market, where he meets many odd characters,
some of whom are his relations.
P222:
Planters
Made
of Logs Solved: Tough Enough and Sassy 2005 P223: Polka dots Solved: Rootie
Kazootie, Detective P224:
Potty training Solved: I'm a Big Girl
Now P225: pioneer sod house Bethany girl named Bethany marries young man just
rejected by their mutual friend-they go west -live in sod
house-many challenges-brush fire-in the end he says he loves her
(she thought he loved friend not her)-thought it might be an
Elizabeth Howard book -similar but I haven't found it (also
similar to Beverly Butler books but again not it)-it's an author
who had other historical fiction writings-thanks!
Erdman, Loula Grace, Edge of Time. Bethany marries Wade Cameron instead of
her cousin Rosemary, doesn't want to stake a claim in
Kansas. They travel to Kansas and have a very hard first
year and in the end Wade does have to go back home to borrow
money from Rosemary's husband. Wade says at the end that
Bethany is the one he really wanted.
P226: poetry book Solved: Poems to Read
to the Very Young P227: Pirate Adventure Solved: Once Upon a Pirate Ship P228: Prospect Park Solved: No Such Thing
As a Witch P229: Penny Jelly Solved: Sugarplum P230: Pig contests I have no real memory of this book but both my daughters have
asked about it recently. It is about some pigs who have
contests. One contest is who can get dirtiest. At the
end of the mud contest they can't find the girl pig and she turns
out to be completely covered with mud. She wins. My other
daughter says that then they have to get cleaned up and when they
are checked (by mama pig??) one has some mud behind it's
ear. That's all the information they gave me. Any
ideas? P231: Penelope was five Penelope was five and small, late 50's early 60's. Don't
have title or author - just remember reading this book to my baby
sister. She's going to be 45 in May and I'd like to find the
book for her birthday. Only thing I remember is the first
line. "Penelope
was five and small and seldom misbehaved at all" SOLVED: Velma Ilsley, The Pink Hat. I did not know
name/author just the first bit of the book. "Penelope was five and
small"......Title of the book is "The Pink Hat" by Velma Ilsley.
P232: Plain wooden box Solved: Escape from
Warsaw P233: Polar bear changes color Solved: Animals Who Changed Their Colors P234: Pink wagon for grandma, seashore Solved: What's A
Cousin? P235: Puzzles in Philadelphia Solved: The Treasure
Code P236: Primer with raking leaves I am looking for a reading book that I read
in the 3rd or 4th grade around 1969 -1970. The book was probably
written in the 50's or 60's. It had a number of stories in it
but I can only remember a picture from one of the stories.
It showed a picture of a father and son raking leaves in the
front yard. There was a dirt driveway and a car or truck sitting
in the driveway. I think there was a garage or shed next to the
house that the vehicle was sitting in front of. There may or may
not have been a pile of leaves burning. I do remember some piles
of leaves and some wind blowing through the yard. The house may
have sat up on a hill and might have been white. I believe the
mother and sister were inside the home. I beleive there was a
dog running around in the yard. The boys name might have been
Ned or Ted but I'm not sure about that. It may have been a
Foresman or Macmillan reader or another reader of that day. I am
certain that it was a reading textbook with stories or lessons
in it. I have been looking and looking for this and just don't
seem to have enough info to trigger anyone's memory even thought
the picture is emblazoned in my mind. Thanks for any help anyone
can give me in solving this mystery. P237: Pig lady without mail Solved: The Rand
McNally Book of Favorite Animal Stories P238:
peppermint
stick
and the candy bar Big Big Story Book, 1960? childrens anthology.
Looking for all the words to a poem/anthology in above book
perhaps titled "Picnic in the Pantry." words are The peppermint stick and the candy bar sat
and dreamed in a big glass jar. We will see the wolrd one day
they cried and hand and hand they ran away. I did notice on
your web site that C84 has a response to someone elses
request... I would like to give it as a memory gift to my
daughter who only remembers part of this and would like to tell
her children this poem Thanks
Big Big Story Book, Whitman,
1941, 1955. Found this on your old stumper page --
"Big Big Story Book. I have an anthology of childrens stories
from the 1960's called Big Big Story Book. Mine is
hardcover wtih a picture of a circus on the front. Your requests
sounded like the story PICNIC IN THE PANTRY, although there is
no store owner or car backfiring. This is in rhyming verse
with the first verse being: The peppermint stick and the
candy bar / Sat and dreamed in the big glass jar. We'll
see the World, they cried one day. And hand in hand they
ran away." Big Big Storybook,
1960s? I'd like to comment on P238 about the poem
beginning "The peppermint stick and the candy bar, Sat and
dreamed in the big glass jar..." I remember reading this
poem when I was a child and I am pretty sure it ended with "And
Bobby said, 'Say, isn't it funny? Even the peanuts taste
like honey!" I think it was in the Big Big Story book as
suggested. I had that book (Big Big Story Book) and am fairly
certain that the poem was in it. Hope this helps solve the
mystery and doesn't muddle things up.
Various authors, including
Alice Sankey, Jane Flory, Mary Elting, Madye Lee
Chastain, Nan Gilbert, Jane Curry, Dorothy
Grider. Big Big Story Book.
many black and white illustrations, some with green,
yellow, or blue background swashes. Whitman,
1955. Large red glossy book with boy and
girl leading a group of animals in front of a calliope,
corners worn, spine half-fastened on with now-brittle
tape; pencilled owner on fly; pages very good, but
yellowed. G. [IQ10517] $18
P239: poor little girl named Penelope A little girl named Penelope, around eight years old, who lives
with her impoverished mother. No father, perhaps he died? Penelope
lives in a small town, on a street with small houses. She
sometimes had milk-toast to eat. She played in her yard under some
kind of large tree with low-hanging branches, making a sort of
hidden playhouse. An elderly man lived alone on her street, and I
think he got chickenpox. I read this during the 1950's, but
I believe it was an old book, maybe from the 30's or even the
20's. It is from a similar time as "The Brown Castle"
by Rebecca Rice, which I think was written in 1926. P240: pig gets lost in laundry it is a children's book, maybe a little golden book, and it was
read to me in the early 60's...but since i am the youngest, it
could have been published sometime in the 50's...the story was
about a family of 3 pigs(mom,dad and boy) who lived in a very
messy house...and because of this mess, the boy pig was lost in
their dirty clothes and sent to the laundry ... when his
parents found him, they swore that they would keep a clean
home.... my favorite part of the book was flipping back and forth
between the drawing of the messy house at the beginning and the
drawing of the neat house at the end of the book. thank you for
your help with this.
miriam clark potter, what happened
to piggy. (1955) We had
this book when my son (now 14) was younger. Piggy was the
only son of a happy but laissez-faire set of parents. He
was caught up in the laundy when his mom made a last minute dash
through the house gathering up items for the laundry
truck. He apparantly had overslept and was still in the
"bedclothes." His parents were so upset by the mishap that
they reformed their ways. (I, too, loved seeing the order
after the chaos in their home. Perhaps it gave me hope we
would not always live in the realm of "toddler-itis decor."
) Our copy of this book (ironically) was also in very poor
condition as some child (long before we bought it at a book
sale) had sliced through most of the pages with scissors.
(I think we paid all of a dime for it.) We threw it
out, once my son was beyond enjoying it, assuming no one
would want such a raggy copy. Alas, it is a rare book
(only Alibris seems to have information on it) and an expensive
one. If only we had known - we would have been happy to
give it. P.S. It is a Wonder book, not a Golden.
P241: Pirates, children and treasure This was a childrens picture/story book from the mid 1970s.
A group of kids boards a pirate ship that then sails thorough a
cave and out to sea. They arrive at a small sandy island with a
one palm tree and everyone proceeds to dig up the island for
buried treasure. They find an empty chest and nothing
more. Then one of the kids discovers the treasure is
underwater just near the island and they recover it. Finally
they sail back through the cave to the dock and the kids get off
the ship.
Arthur Ransome, Peter Duck. From your description, I'm not sure if
you're looking for a picture book or something longer. If
it was a chapter book, could it have been one of the Swallows
and Amazons books like Peter Duck?
The children do go to an island and find treasure in that one.
P242: Pindy I remember this children's book around 1958 or 1959. The
first line was "My name is Pindy and I go to school." It was
a picture book in black and white. I think there were one or
two lines on each page and a picture. I was 5 in 1959 and it
was in print then. It was about a girl going off to school
for the first time, I think it was kindergarten. It was
about being apprehensive and making the best of it. P243: Pig, bear, alligator Solved: Taking Care of Carruthers P244: Parents Magazine Press cookie tree? Solved: Cookie Tree P245: Packy A boy’s father was an engineer, and somehow
had obtained the full skin and extremities of an African
Elephant. He used this skin to build a four-legged mechanical
marvel, covering it with the real elephant “stuff.” It traveled
with ease at elephant speed, slept four in comfort in its
spacious belly, and had all the amenities of a small RV. The
driver sat at the controls in the elephant head. Really
neat, huh? To guide the elephant down the road, the
father pushed and pulled rods and levers.
Frederick W. Keith, Danger in the
Everglades, 1957. This
one features a boy and his electric elephant. Another
possibility is Frances Trego Montgomery's The Wonderful
Electric Elephant (1903). Frederick W. Keith, Danger
in the Everglades, 1957, copyright. The
question concerned "Packy" and that was the name given to the
mechanical elephant (short for "pachyderm") that the father had
made. I don't remember if he used the skin of a real
elephant or not but that's definitely a possibility. The
boy takes Packy into the Florida Everglades to search for his
father, and along the way picks up two other children, a boy and
a girl, I believe they were siblings. The father was in a
plane that went down in the swamp and was presumed lost, but the
boy did locate him. Together the four of them returned to
civilization and solved another mystery too, I think, in the
process. I read this in 5th grade in 1958. green
cloth binding with black lettering.
P246: Pig baby lost in messy house family of pigs lose their baby son in their house that is a mess
inside and out. the baby son ended up being found in the laundry
at the cleaners. the family then cleans up the house and fixed
everything up. the book was small from about the early to mid
1950's. I think it may have been a golden book or perhaps another
book similar in size.
Potter, Miriam Clark, What Happened
to Piggy. (1955)
This is also the solution to P240. We had this book when
my son was small. It apparantly is very rare.
P247: Pancakes turn zero to hero Solved: The
Lawrenceville Stories P248: Pranking siblings Solved: Nobody's Fault P249: Peter, Penelope, Patti.. Solved: Secret World of
Og P250: Pilgrimage Contemporary Artist Student Europe This is a vague description- young woman takes time off of
college to follow the routes pilgrims from medieval times used to
take to Santiago De Compostela in Spain. She is an artist, or at
least sketches a lot at the various cathedrals she visits. It is
not quite a coming of age story, more of a coming to terms story.
No idea of title, author or anything else. This book is absolutely
NOT a historical fiction story. It was written as a contemporary
probably in the 1970's or 1980's. No time travel, no medieval,
nothing at all related in any way to historical fiction. P251: Patents I believe this was a book about American patents, published
somewhere around the 1920s. Small and nondescript from the
exterior, what I remember most about the book are small diagrams
and drawings inside, including templates for envelope design, with
mathematical calculations for which templates produce the least
amount of waste material. I also remember drawings of early
paper clip designs, but this book is much older and more technical
than Henry Petroski's popular Evolution of Useful Things.
I suspect the book was actually a history of American patents for
common, everyday objects.
No help I'm afraid, but I must tell you
that even if you had a childhood reading about the design of
paperclips, it's still not too late to enjoy a pile of juvenile
books about magic, adventure, witches, castles, lost treasure
and talking animals! I'm sure Loganberry will sell you
some good'uns. Travis Brown, Popular
Patents: America's First Inventions from the Airplane to
the Zipper, September 2000,
approximate. That last posting wasn't very nice.
Those of us who are interested in patents didn't read the
usual fairy tales that other children did. I hope I can
help you. I think this book (Popular Patents) may be
close to what you were looking for. If not, the US
Patent Office in Alexandria VA has a wonderful gift shop that
sells all sorts of children's books about patents. You
may want to look for a contact number from the uspto.gov
website and see if someone there can help you too.
P252: Parallel-Universe Boy Traveler Solved: Towers of
February P253: Peach/apricot Solved: Apricot
ABC P254: Proud princess marries prince disguised as swineherd I'm looking for an elementary school reader
from the mid-70's, probably 3rd or 4th grade level. I
think it had a green cover. One of the stories that I
remember was a fairy tale about a proud princess who found fault
with everything and rejected all her suitors. Her father
finally swore to give her to the next man who asked. A
prince disguised himself as a peasant (possibly a swineherd?)
and asked for her hand. She was married to him, and he
took her to live in a filthy, run-down shack. He told her
that she would have to get a job and help to support them, as he
had little money. She went through a series of jobs, all
of which she was poorly suited for (possibly cooking, cleaning,
spinning), and all of which he sabotaged. One of her jobs
was to sell crockery in the market. He then came through
the market, disguised as an arrogant nobleman, and smashed all
the pots she was supposed to sell. At the end, when she
had learned her lesson, he revealed himself as a prince and
they, of course, lived happily ever after. (This is not
"The Swineherd" by Hans Christian Anderson.) Another story
that I think might have been in the same book involved a young
man who was either seeking his fortune, or had already
squandered it. He went to a palace to beg for food, but
when they offered him bread, he complained that they could
surely afford to give him meat instead. I think he was
initially thrown into prison for his arrogance, then released
and promised all the meat that he wanted - but he couldn't eat
bread or potatoes for some specified number of years. He
might also have had some kind of tasks that he had to
complete? Or maybe they just gave him a job. After
the first year (?) they relented and allowed him to eat
potatoes, but still no bread. By the end, he had come to
appreciate bread (and a lot of other things as well).
Thanks for your help!
Hello again. After I submitted this query, I was able to
identify the story w/ the princess as some version of King
Thrushbeard by the Bros. Grimm. In the book I'm
looking for, the king/prince might have had a different name -
the name "Thrushbeard" isn't ringing any bells for me, but the
story itself is dead on. Or I could have just totally
forgotten the name - it was a long time ago. Thanks again! Johnson, Sally Patrick, The
Princesses: Sixteen Stories About Princesses, 1960s. This collection of princess
stories has one story called "The Princess and the Vagabone". It
is an Irish fairy tale, very similar to what you describe.
The public library in my city (Omaha) has several copies, maybe
your local library will too.
The first tale you mentioned is "King
Thrushbeard" I hope that will help. Grimm brothers, King
Grizzlebeard.Same story as "King Thrushbeard" with a
different translation of the name into the English language I'm not sure about the
name of the reader you're looking for, but I know that there's
another version of the Thrushbeard story called "Bristlelip." I
think it's one of the Grimm brothers' stories. It's
possible that the version you're trying to find is under this
name.
P255: Prairie girls Solved: Once Upon a
Time in the Meadow P256: Peach in a Jar Solved: Like
Jake and Me P257: poem book I am looking for a children's poem book I bought in the 1980's
from JCPenney catalog. It had the following poems with
illistrations:Hiding by Dorothy Aldis and Mice by Rose Fyleman.
The book had a light green cover. It also had a poem about a
butterfly and kisses. Your help would greatly be appreciated.
Illustrated by Marjorie Cooper, Read
Me Some Poems, MCMLXVIII, copyright. This
poetry book is published by Rand McNally and Company. I
have a tattered old copy with no cover, but my copy does contain
the "Hiding" poem, and "Mice". The book is the same size
and thickness of a Golden Book, ( but it isn't a Golden Book). I
hope this is the one it is a neat book with great
illustrations.
no author given, A Child's First Book
of Poems, 1981. A Child's First
Book of Poems containt both of the poems Mice and
Hiding, but I don't see anything about butterflies or
kisses. This book has four mice on the front, in the rain,
three of which are holding pink flowers for umbrellas. The
light green cover says "with pictures by CYNDY
SZEKERES." The title page lists "Golden
Press/New York, Western Publishing Co., Inc., Racine,
Wisconsin."
P258: Paige McNeil Solved: The Fair
Adventure P259: Primer Very vague, but these are details. I was born in
1953. When I was young, I remember practicing reading a
primer that belonged to my older brothers and sisters (born
between 1934 and 1942, a wide spread in our family). All I
can remember is that the words were at the bottom of each page,
and under each line of words stood a little boy, face upturned and
arms spread, with a pointer stick in each hand, underlining the
line of words. I’d love find a copy, depending on the price! P260: Primer with Model T Ford Sorry don't know the publisher or author, only the
contents. It was a school reader when I was in the 5th grade
in 1944. Publishing date near 1944. It was a reader
with the contents about Hastings New York shortly after the turn
of the century. It told of the town and about it's
infrastructure such as the street lamps powered by gas. It
told how the gas was generated and distributed. Furthermore it
told about the life in the town and of a car race or what we would
now call a rally. The rules of the rally was, that the car
complete the race and points were deducted for failures. A
1910 Model T Ford finished first but the driver admitted he lost
the brake band and had to stop using reverse. He lost the
race on points and the next car won. I hope you can identify
this book, I have been looking for it for years, even going to
Hastings and talking to the Historical Society but to no
avail. I am now 71 and living in California, near San
Diego. I hope you can help.
Mabel O'Donnell, Engine Whistles. This book is from the Alice &
Jerry series of primers (although it doesn't feature the Alice
and Jerry characters). Later editions came out under the
title The
New Engine Whistles.
P260 O’Donnell, Mabel
Engine whistles illus by Hoopes
& Hoopes Row,
Peterson 1942 school used
1951-4 trains; railroad engines-
juvenile readers Alice & Jerry Reading
Foundation series O'Donnell, Mabel. Singing
Wheels.The details go
with Engine Whistles, but original poster may
also like Singing Wheels (details in solved
mysteries). Engine Whistles is the sequel to Singing
Wheels. The main character (Tom Hastings) is the
father to the boy Tom Hastings in Engine Whistles.
Hi Harriett: I looked at
P260, looks close but, alas, I don't believe a
match. It was interesting that Tom Hastings was
included although the Hastings in my book was Hastings New
York and it didn't have very much to do with trains.
Please let me know if someone comes up with a closer
match. Thank you!
P261: Patience and playmates Solved: Play with Me P262: purple people eater Series of books about a kid/kids who
befriend a purple people eater. I read this in about 1972 in
California. The book was written for 6-10 year olds. I think
there were about 3 books in the series.
Slepian, jan, The Hungry Thing, 1967. I'm taking a chance and thinking
that your poster is perhaps remembering the book THE HUNGRY
THING. The others were THE HUNGRY THING RETURNS, and THE HUNGRY
THING GOES TO A RESTAURANT. It doesn't eat people, but it is
befriended by children and it eats a lot and I think it is
purple.
P263: Pug Puppy tree I'm looking for a collection of dog stories
from the 50's. There was a story about an island that had
a tree that grew pug puppies. Can you help me find out the
title of this book?
Hi there, I did find out some information, the short story in
the collection is by Henry Beston and was originally published
in the Christian Science Monitor as Pug Island, however
I don't know the name of the collection of Dog Stories from the
1950's. The book also had a story about a Cocker Spanial
named Penny and as I remember had beautiful illustrations.
Thanks, hope this helps.
You might want to check an older query that
someone solved #P168 which is titled Pug Tree.
Appears to be very similar.
P264: Pig family I am looking for a book about a family of
pigs. They live in a very messy house. One day while getting the
laundry together for the laundry truck to take, they
accidentally send the baby pig to the laundry with the clothes.
Then the book goes back and forth between the pigs, who by
searching for the missing baby are actually cleaning the house,
and the baby himself going through the cycle at the
laundry. Back in the fifties, a wonderful woman used to
gather the neighborhood children onto her porch in the summer.
She made us Kool-Aid popsicles and read to us. This would have
been about 1956. Can you imagine any mother having time
for that now? This “pig” book was my favorite. I would
love to find, but don’t know anything more about it than I have
just told you.
Miriam Clark Potter, What Happened
to Piggy. (1955)
This is also the solution to P240, and P246. Miriam Clark Potter, What Happened to
Piggy? (1955)
This was a Wonder book, there might be a 1964 big Wonder Book in
a later edition.
P265: Princess with a tiny dog Solved: No
Flying in the House P266: Poem book - children flying, possibly foreign A small, slim hardcover volume of brief original poetry, very
simple -- on an almost "Dick & Jane" level. Illustrations (I
believe acrylic paintings, predominantly black-white-red and again
very simple) on left-hand pages, verses on right-hand pages. The
only one that sticks in my mind is the one where the children are
flying up in the starry evening sky and their mom comes out to
call them inside. The whole book was like that. Saw it on
clearance in a university bookstore (IU-Bloomington) early 1980s.
Couldn't afford, came back for it, it was gone. This may have been
an independent publisher or a foreign (English?) import. I have
always regretted not being able to buy it. If you can find this,
I'll believe in miracles forever.
Thought for a moment it might be The Space Child's Mother
Goose, but no, I don't think so.
P267: Paper dolls I am searching for a kids book: It was published prior to
1970. I think that the author had a last name in the second
half of alphabet (?probably P-W). The story was about a girl
who moved with her family to a house in the country into an old
?white house. She befriended a girl who lived nearby and the
girls had fun playing with a trove of paper dolls they found in
the attic of the house. P268: Peggy I’m 31. I read a book as a child (maybe 10-12 yrs old) that
my Mom kept from when she was a child (late 1950’s).
However, it was a used book when she found it too, so it may be a
bit older than that. It contained about four stories about a girl
named Peggy who had adventures (just regular little girl
adventures – not major mysteries). At least one of the
adventures took place on a banana plantation with a pet
monkey. My mom thinks she remembers her mom telling her that
the book was a compilation of smaller stories previously printed
in separate books or in a magazine. The book we read was
about 2-3 inches thick. I never knew the title or author
because the book was very well read and didn’t have a cover by the
time it got to me and it was missing the last few pages too which
I found immensely frustrating as a kid :) . About 3-4
years ago, I actually read an article in the Los Angeles or San
Francisco newspapers by someone who reminisced about the
stories. I was SO excited because I finally had the title
and author! Unfortunately, this was during my disorganized
stage and I lost that article shortly afterwards. Does
anyone recognize my description? I’d love to find out how it
all ends, and to get another copy of the book to share with my
niece.
Anna Andrews, The Peggy Lee Stories
for Girls, 1936,
reprint. From the internet: The Peggy Lee series, set on a
coffee plantation in Central America, consists of four titles
published by Cupples & Leon in 1931 and 1932. The dust
jackets featured artwork by Russell Haviland Tandy (1893-1961).
Tandy is best known for his work as the first illustrator of
Nancy Drew. Titles in this series include: Peggy and
Michael of the Coffee Plantation, Peggy Lee of the Golden
Thistle Plantation, Peggy Lee and the Mysterious Islands and
Peggy Lee, Sophomore. In 1936, all four volumes
were released in a single oversized edition entitled Peggy
Lee Stories for Girls.
This is a pure guess, based on title
alone: Title: Peggy stories, Author(s): Batchelder,
Mildred. Publication: New York, Scribner's
Year: 1924 with illustrations by Eunice Holmes Stephenson.
Anna Andrews, Peggy Lee Stories for
Girls, 1937. If
the book really was about 2-3" thick, it may be the omnibus
volume that reprinted four Peggy Lee series books. They
were Peggy and Michael of the Coffee Plantation, Peggy
Lee of the Golden Thistle Plantation, Peggy Lee and the
Mysterious Islands, and Peggy Lee Sophomore.
One source describes the first book as "life on the
plantation [with] two episodes of theft of gold bars and
Michael's rescue of an injured Peggy. Accompanied by her
friends Alice and Billy Carter, Peggy leaves for boarding school
in New York." She "return[s] to Central America for the
summer" in the second story. Thank you so much! I'll check your suggestions out and then
I'll post another note on the website.
P269: Puppy so shy, becomes invisible Solved: Nothing at All P270: Princess underground Solved: Princess and
the Goblin 2006 P271: Pinky early to mid 1950s. A family is
expecting the birth of a new baby...there is a mother, father,
and I think, a sister and a brother. When the baby is
born, it is so pink, they name it Pinky. I seem to
remember, although I could be wrong, that the illustrations are
in blue ink, much like Blueberries for Sal. This was
a larger hardback book, not a Golden Book. P272: Pumpkin Pie This is a childrens book that was read in
the '80s but i don't know when the publication date was, it
could be earlier. The most information i can give is it involves
a young Southern girl who names her horse (or pony) Pumpkin Pie.
The quote from the book is "I do declare, it's Pumpkin Pie!" P273: Psychic skills used for space travel Solved: Dream Voyagers P274: Phil and Penny I read this in the late 70s. It was a story
about teenagers during one traumatic summer in their lives. Two
characters' names were Phil and Penny. They were an unlikely
couple, but they eventually went out and liked each other. They
were killed, and I remember the narrator said, "Phil and
Penny.they're dead." Another character was tarred and feathered
because some bullies suspected he was gay. The narrator was a
girl, and I remember her thinking or saying something like, "Who
knew that by the end of that summer, one of us would be tarred
and feathered and two would be killed."
Sandra Scoppettone, Trying Hard to
Hear You, 1973.
The narrator's name is Camilla. During a summer production of
"Anything Goes", Camilla's best friend, Jeff, and her crush,
Phil, become attracted to each other, then shunned when others
find out about their relationship. Eventually the harassment is
too much for Phil, and he agrees to go on a date with Penny and
let her try to convert him. Very dated now, but a great
early-70s time capsule.
P275: Possessed In the late 60's-early 70's I read an adult
book that I thought was titled "Possessed" or "Possession", but
I have not been able to find, under those titles, anything that
matches my memories. It is about a prosperous female executive
who has been receiving threatening phone calls and who has had
strange things happen. I believe one of those things was
that she found her coat cut to pieces. In the end she learns
that is emotionally ill from the sexual abuse she suffered at
the hands of her father when she was a child, and that she has
been doing all those things to herself. I believe she had
a no-good brother who constantly wanted money from her.
Gene Stone, Little Girl Fly Away, 1994. I am the one who submitted P275. It is not Little
Girl Fly Away because that one was published in 1994 and I
read mine in the late 60's or early 70's. Also, the one I
am looking for is fiction. But I do appreciate the efforts
of others to help me locate my book.
P276: peanut butter squirrel/chipmunk Book for toddlers about a squirrel or
chipmunk or ? who loves peanut butter. Latest publication date
would be 1965 but most likely title is older than that; dfntly
not newer. Please note that peanut butter is mentioned a lot and
not just peanuts. P277: Puppy Travels Spanish Village Book about little brown puppy that traveled
a Spanish village. I think the puppy got in trouble (not
sure). Seems there was a red parrot in the book, and a
heavy woman who scolded the puppy. Time may have been
1960-1965. It was a hardback with brown cloth
texture. The pictures were soft pastel colors. Not much to
go by, but this was my favorite childhood book read to me by my
grandparents.
Griffiths, Helen, Patch, 1970. When a mongrel puppy is taken in
by an English boy and then left when the boy returns home, the
dog travels through Spain to try and find his master again.
Patch is not the book I am looking for. The book I
am looking for had a solid brown ‘puppy’ with short hair, not a
spotted, black and white dog. Thanks.
P278: Picaninny Childrens picture book about a picaninny
born inside a flower. I can remember no more than that. P279: Patchwork Quilt world The book I am looking for is a childrens
bok with an audio tape with it. Its about a girl who I believe
falls asleep and wakes up in a patchwork quilt world. There she
rescues a sheep trapped in a cave-in and learns that biggers not
better (the original wish she had was to be bigger). Had a cute
song too, "oh no biggers not better oh no biggers not best
.............but little can be a big sucess (forgot middle part)
thanks P280: Prince Edward Ecker John I am looking for a children's book about
two twin princes (I think one of their names is Prince Edward
Ecker John) who won't share their toys with the other one.
Finally the nanny takes all toys away except one (a train, I
think) until they learn to share. Hope you can help me!
The Just Alike Princes, Meek,
Pauline Palmer, 1966.
This is definitely the book - I love this book too - it is
pricey and hard to find though unfortunately. The twins
are Prince Albert Edgar John and Prince Abner Elmer Tom
and they have many disagreements - one is dressed in blue and
one in red and the colour theme is carried through their
toys. The royal nurse does indeed separate them and puts
them alone in the room back to back in chairs, with just the one
toy. A happy ending ensues. I think I was just
jealous of all their neat toys!!
P281: Phonics Book Bookstumpers P236 and H168 were sketchy
details and my early attempts to remember the facts about a book
that I have been looking for. I recently sat down with my
brother and we gathered all of the details that we could
remember about this book. This is my last ditch effort to try to
find it. I read this book in 2nd or 3rd grade in the late
60's in my elementary school in Massachussetts. It was a phonics
book/reading primer of some type. I remember that they were
color-coded. There were probably 6 books in the series. When you
finished with one, you moved onto the next color (I think that
the colors were green, yellow, orange, two shades of blue etc).
There were no pictures on the covers but the stories had
pictures on every page. The one I am looking for had a blue
cover. Someone I spoke with thought that they may have been
called "Basic Readers". Each book had stories that taught on the
theme of responsibiity, honesty, maturity, etc. The stories
taught phonics and used alliteration to help improve reading and
speech. One story was entitled "Kit(or Kip) Loses his Cap". A
boy loses his hat on the way into the woods and finds it hanging
on a tree-branch coming out of the woods. The other
story I remember is entitled, "Hal and the Hammer" and is about
a boy and his father raking leaves together in the yard. The
boy's name was Hal. When his father runs into the house for a
minute, Hal goes to the garage and finds a hammer. He then
accidently dents the family car's (or pick-up truck's) fender.
He then hides the hammer in a pile of leaves and hides in his
treehouse. His father finds him there and talks to him about
owning up to what he did and being honest and responsible. The
first picture of this story is the one I remember most vividly.
The house sits up on a hill. The driveway leading to the small
garage or shed is dirt. The family car is sitting in front...
SRA series, 1960s. I remember
a similar color coded series in my elementary school days in the
mid 1960s. I think it was called the SRA series, and the
material was coded by color for reading level. I know aqua
was the lowest level because we cruelly teased the poor kids who
were aquas. I don't believe the stories were in books, but
were on laminated sheets of plastic with the appropriate color
at the top. You read the story, then answered questions
about it, and as your reading skills increased you moved up the
color chart. I think we used appropriately colored pencils
to fill in a square on a big wall chart every time we finished a
story. Thanks to the stumper for jogging my memory!
SRA Series. I think the reader who
posted an attempted solution is confusing the SRA series of
brief card-mounted readings with the actual series the original
poster described. I still have my copy of Six Ducks
in a Pond, a blue-covered book from the
series. The Purple Turtle was another
title. McGraw-Hill still publishes some of this stuff,
repackaged and re-illustrated. Titles I recognized from my
childhood: A Hen in a Fox's Den, A King on a Swing, A Pig
Can Jig. This might help jog the original
poster's memory. Source.
P282: Post-apocalyptic novel post apocalyptic novel about a group of
people living underground in complete darkness who click stones
together as sonar, have never experienced vision or light,
worship or revere a lightbulb
Daniel F. Galouye, Dark Universe
I agree that this is almost certainly DARK
UNIVERSE. It first appeared as a Bantam pb
original in 1961, and was nominated for a Hugo (science fiction)
award for that year. A more detailed review/plot summary
is online here.
P283: Pond reflection Girl looks at reflection in pond, starts
hearing voices. I think she had schizophrenia? It
wasn't Lisa Bright/Dark, was for a younger audience. Book was
published mid 1970's-early 1980's. May have had a tree on
the cover or in the title? The girl was fairly young -
probably between 9-12.
Zibby O'Neal, The Language of
Goldfish. In this
book, an eighth-grader named Carrie suffers a nervous
breakdown/emotional troubles...it's been too long since I read
this for me to remember the connection with the pond and the
goldfish, but this sounds like the right book. O'neal, Zibby, The Language of the
Goldfish, 1980. "The
Language of Goldfish is a coming of age novel
featuring Carrie Stokes, a confused 13-year-old girl on the
verge of a mental breakdown. Carrie is the middle child in an
affluent, seemingly happy family, and she is struggling with
insecurities about growing up and forming relationships with
other people. Carrie lives in a chaotic world within her head,
and her absorption with her own thoughts leads her to believe
that she is going insane."~~e-notes.com. It's one of my
favorite books, beautifully written and seems to match your
description. The Language of Goldfish.
If
you can get hold of a copy of Eleanor Cameron's second
book of children's writing essays, "The Seed and the Vision",
she has quite an extensive analysis of "The Language of
Goldfish" in there and you could see if it's the same one. It
sure sounds like it to me, from your description and what I know
of the book from Cameron. Good luck. carol matas, of two minds. This may not be the book, but it does
have a princess who looks into a well and sees and hears things.
She isn't mentally ill though, it's kind of a disturbing sci fi
book someone marketed to youngsters. The cover has the girl's
hair sprawled out until it blends with some kind of trees or
thorns. The characters are the princess whose imagination makes
things real which causes problems and the mind reading prince
that she is trying to escape marrying. If it isn't familiar it
isn't worth the read!
P284: pewter Solved: Johnny Tremain P285: Pony riders run from home Solved: Runaway Riders P286: pig pen Solved: Small Pig P287: poetry collection I am looking for a large book w/ collection of poetry read to me
in late 70's. Illustrated w/ soft colors. Includes
Wynken,Blynken and Nod and Sugar Plum Tree and many more than I
can't remember. I think the cover was pale green.
Gyo Fujikawa (illustrator), A
Child's Book of Poems, 1969. I'm pretty sure
this is the one you're looking for. In addition to The
Sugarplum Tree and Wynken, Blynken, and Nod, this book also
contains The Owl and the Pussycat, The Duel (Gingham Dog &
Calico Cat), Queen Mab, Santa Claus and the Mouse, The Young
Lady of Niger, The Little Elfman, The Months, The Kitten and the
Falling Leaves, Mr. Nobody, Twenty Froggies, The Swing Song, and
many others. Picture for Wynken, Blynken, and Nod is in
color over 2 pages, shows the wooden shoe with a mast and sail,
in a starry sky, with three small black boys in pajamas holding
a fishing net in which they are catching stars. One boy wears
green polka-dot pajamas, one wears tan pajamas w/ red stripes,
and the third wears blue pajamas w/ lavender polka dots. The
full moon is in the background. The illustration for The
Sugarplum Tree is a black and white line drawing, also over 2
pages. The tree has a candy-striped trunk, and its
branches are full of cupcakes, lollipops, ice cream cones, candy
canes, peppermint drops, etc. There are lollipops growing
out of the ground around the tree like flowers, and the
chocolate cat is perched on one of the branches. A little
girl w/ curly hair, wearing a short dress and pinafore, stands
below the tree with clasped hands and a big smile, with the
gingerbread dog sitting beside her. In the background is a
sailboat. Big Golden Book of Poetry.
This might also be what you're looking for.
P288: psychic powers Solved: Power series P289: poetry It was prob printed in the 60's or 70's-it
was an orange hardcover book, It was a book of poetry--it had
all kinds of poetry from nursery rhymes to long poems--it was
from a series/set of books-the other books in the set were
stories and other things-it might have been some kind of young
illustrators or treasury set. Please help
Young Folks' Shelf of Books.
Don't
know
if this is the right series, but the poetry volume in my Young
Folks'
Shelf
of Books is orange. (1957 edition) Collier's Junior Classics
(1950's-1960's, approximate) This could be it. This is a
set of 10 books, each with a different colored cover and each on
a different topic. Book 10 was bright orange and has poetry.
ChildcraftThere may be a later orange editon available,
but 1947 is the only vol 1 I have, and I'd rather not
break up the set. Childcraft[vol 3 has
Little Black Sambo.]
P290: purple syrup Solved: Mr. Pudgins P291:
Prince questing for kingdom I am looking for a children's illustrated book that my sister and
I loved back in the late 60's/early 70's. A prince loses his
kingdom for some reason so he sets out to find a new kingdom and
meets some friends along the way. One is an elephant who is
afraid of a mouse. The prince helps him and he changes into
a very large man. Another is a snake tied in a knot.
The prince helps him and he changes into a skinny tatooed
guy. Another is a campfire that is crying when it starts to
rain. The prince helps him and he changes into a red-haired
freckled buy. There is also a huge tree that changes into a
big hairy beared buy. They end up coming to a kingdom and to
earn his right to the kingdom and to win the heart of the princess
certain tasks must be completed. Cross a canyon to get a
flower...eat a huge banquet one mile long..Each friend that he
helped is crucial in helping him complete each task. I
really want to buy this book for my sister.
William, Jay, The King With Six
Friends. This is
from the Parents' Magazine book club. All baby boomers
seem to remember these books with great fondness. Thanks
to our OWN parents for signing us up for this great set of
books! Jay Williams (illustrated by Imero
Gobbato), The King with Six Friends Parker Fillmore, Longshanks, Girth,
and Keen. This
stumper sounds like a variation of this children's story,
supposed to be Czechoslovakian. Check Solved Mysteries to
read more about other variations.
P292: Pig eats donuts and explodes I want to find a book, I think it was a Golden book, about a pig
who ate so many doughnuts he explodes. I thought it was
titled "the Trouble with George" but I can't remember and I can't
find a book by that title. Please help, or help me list my
question on your site! Thanks.
Betty Engebretson , What Happened to
George. (1958)
Rand McNally Tip-Top Elf Book #1006 "George Pig was a very good
pig, but he had one very bad habit - he ate too much, way too
much! One day he ate 12 donuts and - boom - he blew up!
P293: Plantation house trilogy Solved: Deep Summer P294: Polish girl named Josephine Solved: Hugo and
Josephine P295: Phoenix, sultan, golden apples, princess, short
stories Solved: The Golden
Phoenix
P296: Pig goes to bakery for mother A pig (I believe it was a girl pig!) is asked by her mother to
go to the bakery. She receives a small amount of money from her
mother and goes to the bakery. While there, she daydreams about
eating all of the yummy treats. This book came in a white
plastic case with a cassette tape. I remember listening and
reading along to this book as a child in the 1980's. Please help
me find it!
Rose Greydanus, Susie Goes Shopping. I've read this and I think it may be the one
you're looking for. Susie's Mom just wants bread but Susie
would really like to spend the little bit of money she has on
all the wonderful things at the bakery.
P297: Porridge
or bone? I checked the website first but I didn't
have any luck. Anyway the book was a picture book (thick
cardboard pages sort of like present day "board" books.) The
"illustrations" had that cloth doll or clay figure look (but
smoother, not like davey & goliath) more like maybe Izawa or
Hijikata illustrations...anyway it was a take on the porridge
pot story but it was either a little girl or a lady and it was
the thing about she couldn't remember how to stop it from
cooking, but for some reason I keep thinking there was a soup
bone involved.Maybe not..Anyway, I loved the pictures in this
book.
The Magic Porridge Pot, (1959). An edition of "Best in Children''s Books" Volume
21 (1959)(Doubleday) had the story The Magic Porridge Pot, with
illustrations by Andy Warhol. I don''t know if it was
published as a stand-alone book.
The posted answer to this stumper is not
correct. I also had this book and am pulling my hair out
trying to find out what it was. The person posing the
question did a good job as I thought of posting this question
but didn't know how to describe the book. I remember that
the pictures used to frighten me for some reason.
P298:Peg
legged cat Solved: King and the Princess P299: Peter Pan I had a copy of a children's picture book that was the story of
Peter Pan. The illustrations weren't hand-drawn though, they were
photographs of posed dolls or models. I remember reading it in the
mid-1980's, but it may have been from earlier. I also seem to
think that they had books with these sorts of illustrations
for other stories, but the one for Peter Pan is the one I remember.
James Barrie(author) Tadasu
Izawa & Shigemi Hijikata, Peter Pan, A Living
Story Book1967, Sounds like one of Izawa
& Hijikata's delightful books, illustrated with puppets.
They did a lot of these books during the 1960's and 1970's, most
of them popular fairy tales and nursery rhymes.
P300: Puffins in the Arctic The book that I recall was from the early or mid-1950s, concerned
puffins in the Arctic, had at least one picture of a colorful
twilight sky, and perhaps had a green cover.
Crosby Bonsall , What Spot?, 1963. This book definitely features at
least one puffin - it may be the book being sought. A delightful
book from the "I can read" series.
P301: Plantation Summer Solved: Fair Bay P302: Pond Lucy's Hat?, early 1960's. This was a large illustrated
cloth bound book for ages 4-8 I read in the early 1960's. Two
mouse siblings, Simon and Lucy, are taking a walk around a large
pond when Lucy's straw hat blows off and lands in the pond. The
children have to figure out how to get it back.
I've never read it, so I don't know if
there is a pond and a hat in this story, but there are brother
and sister mice named Simon and Lucy in Hurry Up,
Slowpoke written and illustrated by Crosby
Newell (1961).
Thank you for the valuable service that you
provide. I happened to be looking at the site the other day and
found the title and author of this book! It is Hurry Up,
Slowpoke by Crosby Newell, published in
1961. Crosby Newell, Hurry Up, Slowpoke (1961)
P303: Pippin / Pippa named by her kidnapper 1935 to 1968. A young girl kidnapped by, I think, a man
with a dark beard. May have been a friend or a relative of
her family. Told from the girl's perspective. Kidnapper
calls the girl 'pippin' or 'Pippen' because the color of her
cheeks is that of apples. I read the book sometime in the 1960's.
May have been from my grandmother's collection, so could be much
older than the 60's. The gilrl despises her kidnapper
initially...eventually grow attached to him. In the end he
cannot take her with him and so he breaks her neck. Don't know if
it was a children's book (doubtful because of the subject
matter)...Or an adult book.
Rohan O'Grady, Pippin’s Journal, 1962, approximately. This is a serious
long shot. Also published as The Curse of the
Montrolfes or Pippin's Journal: Or, Rosemary
is for Remembrance.
Illustrated by Edward Gorey. Heroine's name is Catherine,
nicknamed Pippin.
P304: Pony for Christmas Solved: Winter Pony P305: Pheasant hunting - first time This is a short story we read in a upper
level, perhaps high school literature book. It was about a
young boy bothering his parents for a gun so he can go pheasant
hunting. Eventually they give in and he gets the
gun. But his dreams are dashed as he has no idea how hard
shooting and hunting can be. Eventually after having
nothing but bad luck he is befriended by someone who takes pity
on him and takes him to an all night restaurant, buys some
pheasant and put some shot into them, so he can go home a
victor, of sorts. He does a lot of growing up
in this story.
I don't remember much about Roald Dahl's Danny the
Champion of the World, except that it was about
pheasant hunting, and I loved it. It's not a short story,
though.
From the details in the stumper description,
I doubt Danny, the Champion of the World (Roald
Dalhl) is the book they are looking for. Unless the
stumper remembers that part of the book is hilariously funny.
Then it might be worth a check - easy enough to do as it's still
in print. Sorry that I can't make a suggestion of a book
title, this is the only story with pheasant hunting that I know.
P306: Paris during the occupation the title I've been trying to locate for
years is an old out of print YA novel. The lead
character is a preteen boy living in Paris during the Occupation
in an apartment building address that is also the title of the
novel. One set of neighbors ingratiate themselves on the
Nazis, hosting dinner parties and threatening the rest of the
tenants with their connections. The boy's hero is Daniel,
the leader of the French Resistance. He finds one day, injured
in the sewers of Paris with a message to deliver. The kid
helps Daniel and ends up helping the Resistance until the
liberation of Paris (when he tells off the Nazi neighbors, which
was a great moment.) Any help you can provide in finding
the title or author would be awesome. I've been looking
for this book for years. P307: pink clouds dragons drinking nectar Solved: Shadow Castle P308: Pobody's Nerfect Pobody's Nerfect, multi-colored cow,
children's book P309: Pink Prom Dress Solved: The Pink Dress P310: Plagarism Solved: The Unlucky
Winner/My Next Girl P310: Plagarism Solved: The Unlucky
Winner/My Next Girl P311: Patty and grandmother Solved: I Would If I
Could P312: Princess Who Could Not Laugh Solved: The Princess
Who Never Laughed P313: Penguin hates the cold i am looking for a children's book that was
around in the 1940's about a penguin who hates the cold (not the
barbara breener one because that came out in the 70's) and takes
off for the south seas in a bathtub...do you know the title?
I think that's Disney's second Little Golden Book titled Cold-Blooded
Penguin, 1944.
(Walt Disney), The Penguin that Hated
the Cold, 1973. There is another version of
that story called, The Penguin that Hated the Cold..
It was in the Disney's Wonderful World of Reading
series. I believe it is an adaptation (or maybe shortened
version?) of The Cold Blooded Penguin. The
artwork and storyline are basically the same, I think. Hope that
helps!
P314: Plaster dress Solved: Always Anne P315: Pet Day Contest at an Elementary School In any case, here is what I remember, some details may be off
because I am three to four when I last saw the book. It is a book
of children's short stories and contains a story with the title
"Pet Day" or, at least, that's what I called the story. My mother
read the story to me in the early 70's, but it may have been
published in the 60's (or possibly in the 50's). The story was
illustrated in color and I believe the pages had both print and
pictures on each page. I would say that the illustrations
would are characteristic of the 50's or 6O's, but I am not an
expert. They were cute. Not like "Tagalong," "Curious George," or
Richard Scarry, but more like Dick and Jane (in terms of the
pictures of attractive children and pets). The book itself may
have had a white cover possibly with red on the binding or red
lettering. In my three year old head the book is somewhat
oversized and not very thick compared with the Richard Scarry book
of stories (the pink one with a lion riding a bike). I don't think
the reading level was very high maybe first or second grade. The
story was probably set in North America and is unlikely to be
European in origin. The plot of "Pet Day" was that an
elementary school class had a pet day. Each child brought their
pet and discussed it (conveniently every child had a different
pet). The teacher in the story was female. I don't remember every
pet but their was a child, a boy I think, with a pet turtle. He
discussed painting it's shell. There was a girl who was sad she
couldn't bring her pony to school to show the class. Someone's pet
may have shown up as a surprise (this detail is fuzzy in my mind
an I may be mixing it up with another story). Finally there was a
child, a girl I think, suffering from a serious, but
not permanent (I'm thinking measles or something similar) illness.
She could not come to school and had been absent for more than few
days. Every so often the teacher would dutifully remind the
children that before they could vote for a favorite or best pet,
they had to wait for a call (on some sort of speaker system on the
teachers desk I think) from this child and hear her report. She
gave her report. I am not positive, however. I believe the girl
had a bird. It was either a parrot or parakeet. If she
didn't then another child in the class did. In my mind I think the
sick child had the talking bird and it made quite an impression on
the class because they could hear the bird over the speaker. The
sick child wins the contest and looks happy at the end (she is at
home in bed with her pet). I realize this isn't "Corduroy"
or the "Velveteen Rabbit" (both or which I have copies of and
cherished as a child). This book is important to me because I
loved the story before I learned to read. I may have learned to
read while my mom read me this story. I drove her to the brink
demanding she read "Pet Day" every night (this may be one reason
why the book disappeared). I loved animals and wanted every pet in
the book (another probable reason for the book's disappearance). I
would love to own a copy of this storybook. I could finally see if
my mom was right and there were other really good stories in
there. Alternately, I'd be interested in the story as a book if it
was ever published separately.
Anna Ratzesberger, Pets. Forgot to add- the other stories in the book are''The
Seven Wonderful Cats'', ''Forest Babies'' and ''The Little
Mailman of Bayberry Lane." Anna
Ratzesberger, Pets.I have this story in "The
Rand McNally Book of Favorite Animal Stories" (Illustrated by
Elizabeth Webbe) Most of the details given match. The pony, the
turtle with the painted shell...and the first line is "It was
Pet Day at school." Peggy is at home with a cold, but telephones
the class to participate.
P316: Paper dolls visit Space Zoo I used to check out a library book that was a cross between a
storybook and an arts-and-crafts book. The narrative
followed a girl and boy who made a rocket ship and traveled
into space. Therewere instructions for making paper dolls to
look like the children, and then you could make paper furniture
for them, a paper rocket ship, and animals from the "space zoo"
that they visit - I vividly remember making a two-headed crocodile
(which the text might have called a "mugger"). In their
travels, they are offered "space soup", which was a paper-folding
project. There was also a project that involved wrapping
pebbles in foil, then putting them in a shoebox of sand and rocks
to make some kind of treasure-hunting game. The
illustrations were just black-and-white line drawings, and I seem
to recall that the book was square with a white cover, and a black
line drawing on the front. For some reason, I thought it
might be titled Time to Play, Play With Paper, or Paper Play, but
everything I've found under those titles so far has not been a
match. I'm pretty sure it's not by Michael Grater or Thea
Bank-Jensen. It could have been published anytime between
1970-ish and the mid-80's (when I found it at the library).
G Roland Smith, Paper for play, 1975. This is a real longshot - just
going by the title & approx age. This was a British
publication so probably not widely available in US libraries.
P317: polka dots Solved: Rootie
Kazootie, Detective P318: Puny cheese I am looking for a children's book from the 1970's in the UK
(although it could have been published anywhere!) I was born in
1970, so I would have been reading this book in the mid / late
70's. It was a yellow hardback and a compilation of fantastical
children's stories. The one that sticks out was about "A PUNY
CHEESE". in fact I am convinced this book namechecked the Puny
Cheese in the title, but I could be wrong. The story was about
this poor small cheese that could mercilessly teased for being too
puny / petite in size. I remember it had a good moralistic ending.
I liked many of the stories in the book, but this one sticks out
as being my favourite! I am pregnant with my first child so would
love to track this book / story down. If anyone has any leads i
would be delighted, or to put me in the right direction of
compilation story books in this period, that would be great! Many
thanks. Please help me locate the Puny Cheese!! P319: Piggly Wiggly I'm looking for a book I had in the 70's. I believe it was
called Piggly Wiggly (or Piggy Wiggy). A repeating line
was: Piggly Wiggly danced a jig. The book was about a
pig that leaves the farm to catch the sun. The sun leads him
back to his pen, after a long adventure, at the end of the day.
David L. Harrison, Piggy Wiglet and
the Great Adventure, 1973. A pig's chase after the sun takes him away
from his barnyard, into town, and to the zoo. David Harrison, Piggy
Wiglet & the Great Adventure, 1973,
copyright. This book was illustrated by Les Gray.
Golden Press,Wester Publishing Company, Inc.,Racine,
Wisconsin. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 72-93773.
P320:
Paper Boy Piggy the Paperboy. I'm not sure if
this was the title of the story or just the main
character. It may have been a short story from a
collection of them.Any help you can provide is sincerely
appreciated. My gandmother read this to me when I was a young
child, around 1971-1974. 2007 P321: Princess and foreign children dance
SOLVED: Rudy Finst, The Dancing
Queen, 1946.
P322: Puppy living with rabbit family Looking for old (1950s or earlier) children's book; a
clumsy puppy living in a rabbit's den with a rabbit family.
Remember it being a fairly large (9x12" at least?) gray
book. Remember one illustration with the puppy's wagging
tail wreaking havoc in the rabbits' dining room. Dog
probably finds a human family in the end - all my childhood
stories had happy endings!
Carroll, Ruth, Bounce and the
Bunnies, 1934. "A
lonesome puppy goes to live with a rabbit family, but he grows
so quickly that Mrs. Hoppit decides she must give him a birthday
going-away party so she can have her beds back."
P323: Peter Stuyvesant Surreal, weird book mostly consisting of intricate black and
white pen and ink or woodcut illustrations, with Peter Stuyvesent
either throughout the book or possibly just being mentioned
once. I don't remember there being much text (though the
library shelved it with the beginning chapter books), and I don't
think there was much of a story - just those weird, weird
pictures. I remember an illustration of a man that was
repeated from page to page (as if it had been cut out and repasted
on the next page), being upended and falling down a hole. The
library's copy was about 9 by 12 inches and had a red cover.
I used to check this book out of the library often in the late 80s
/ early 90s, but it looked like it was published earlier -
probably 70s or even late 60s? Please help, I'm starting to
think I'm hallucinating this!
Lobel, Arnold, On the Day Peter
Stuyvesant Sailed Into Town, 1971. All in verse. Also reprinted
in 1987. About Peter cleaning up New York when he sails
into town and finds it a bit messy . . . Arnold Lobel, On the Day Peter
Stuyvesant Sailed into Town, 1971. Could this be Arnold Lobel's On
the Day Peter Stuyvesant Sailed into Town? The artwork
sounds a little like Lobel's pen-and-ink style. I'm afraid the book I'm thinking of is definitely not On
the Day Peter Stuyvesant Sailed Into Town. This book
didn't really have a plot, and the overall aesthetic was more
dark, geometric, and two-dimensional than Lobel's work.
(Lots of intricate patterns, but not any portrayal of depth -
near, far, etc.). I'm actualy thinking that Peter didn't
appear in the title at all. I think it had a long, absurd
title. Thanks for racking your brains, everyone!
I am also trying to identify a book in which
Peter Stuyvesant was a character. It was about a brother
and sister that took a subway train, and it took them back in
time. They had to wear wooden shoes and they had thatched
roofs on their cottages. They went to dinner at the
mayor's house (Peter Stuyvesant) and they asked for a fork to
eat with. The mayor thought this was a great joke, as only
very rich people had forks. They finally found a way to
get home in the end. I may be as crazy as you, but does
any of this ring a bell? Caroline Dwight Emerson, The Magic
Tunnel. Can't help
with the original request, but the person who is looking for the
book about the brother and sister who go back in time to meet
Peter Stuyvesant probably wants The Magic Tunnel.
I just wanted to say "thank
you" to the two posters above me---I read "The Magic
Tunnel" many, many years ago (it was either my mother's
or her siblings' copy) and have spent ages trying to remember
the title. I kept thinking "The Time Tunnel" which was
completely wrong!
P324: PRINCE BUCKETHEAD Solved: Snow White-
Prince Buckethead P325: poor boy named peter Solved: A Tree for
Peter P326: post-apocalyptic california Bird I am looking for a fairly long novel about
post-apocalyptic california. The protagonists are a colony of
artists (future hippies?) who believe in restoring the world and
trying to plant and grow things, nurture art, etc. There is a
main character named Bird who goes out from this city to maybe
lead a raid against the evil ones (Los Angeles?) who have armed
gaurds and hoard resources. There's also a young girl back in SF
who loves him. Eventually, the war is brought back to the
artsits' shores, and they use pacifism to try to defuse the
situation. I loved this book and it led me to great other ones
like Oryx and Crake, Anthem, etc. But I can't remember the name
of this one where it all started. HELP!
Starhawk, The Fifth Sacred Thing, 1994, approximately.
There is also a prequel, Walking to
Mercury.
P327: parakeet I am looking for a book I read when I was
young. It was about a man that somehow got a parakeet and hated
it at first and then they became best friends. It was such
a touching story that I still remember it. I don't
remember the name but I think it had baby or blue in it. The
parakeet was blue. P328: picture puzzle book This is a really hard one, I don't have
much to go on, and I've looked in the puzzle sections of
libraries and bookstores with no luck for years. I read this
book in the late eighties, early nineties. It's a full color
fantasy-style visual picture puzzle book. The only puzzle I
remember is of a giant two page machine consisting of many
interlocked gears and levers. Their was a prince deciding which
way to pull a lever, and a princess whose life was at the mercy
of the machine. You had to help the prince make the right choice
by following the motion of the gears and pulleys depending on
which way he moved the lever. One way would release her, and the
other would kill her, you had to examine how the machine worked.
It was thrilling, and has left an indelible impression on my
adult mind. Unfortunately, every other detail about the book
disappeared in the intervening years. Help me please!!
This entry sounds like V50 in the Unsolved
Stumpers. No solutions there, either, but maybe it will
give more clues.
P329: poor, outcast, ring I read this children's book in 1983 or 84.
It is the story of a girl who is poor, considered an outcast,
who lives in a barn type home with her family. She befriends a
popular girl who is the complete opposite of who she is. I think
at one point in the story the poor girls home burns down.
Anyhow her friend loses the stone to a ring she got. The girls
spends her time looking for it. I think she might actually get
accused of stealing it.The girl spends every chance she can
looking for the stone. At the end of the story, the stone was in
the girls dress tie all along. It was never lost or stolen. P330: Pig the Hedgehog I am trying to find a book of inter-related
short stories about wild animals in a forest. I am sure the
title was just PIG. The first story was about a meek hedgehog
called Pig who narrowly escapes being killed by an owl. Other
stories included one about a toad that was a sort of mystic
martial arts expert. The real villain in the book was a really
mean Pike. I've tried to find the book on the net or on various
book sites but I just get hundreds of results all with the word
Pig somewhere in the title. If anyone knows the author's name I
would be very grateful.
Cris Freddi, Pork and Others.
P331:
Photo Story Photo story of a young white girl living in Africa who has an
elephant as her best friend. (My favourite book as a young girl
growing up in England in the sixties. Isn't nostalgia a strange
and wonderful thing?)
I found two elephant "photograph" stories:
The Little Elephant, Ylla, 1956 and Mamba-kan, the
sotry of a baby elephant, 1954. Mary Bradley, Alice in
Elephantland,1929. I've not read the book myself,
but possibly Mary Hastings Bradley's ALICE IN
ELEPHANTLAND? The "Alice" in question is her
daughter, who grew up to Alice Sheldon (better known under her
usual writing pseudonym of "James Tiptree Jr"). This and
Bradley's earlier ALICE IN JUNGLELAND come to mind because of
reading about them in the recent Julie Phillips biography JAMES
TIPTREE JR.: THE DOUBLE LIFE OF ALICE B. SHELDON. I should have mentioned that the photos
in the book are in full colour, so it must have been a newly
published book in the sixties.
P332:
patch of the color blue Solved: The Fairy Rebel P333:
Padme Lampo Solved: Secret of the
Third Eye P334:
Pollution damage I read this book when I was in grammar
school during the 1970's. I only remember some of the story,
nothing else. It's a futuristic story about a world so damaged
by pollution that no one has gone outside for years. People shop
from home computers (funny right?) and teleport everywhere, even
to other countries, in mere minutes. The main character, a
little girl, wants desperately to see the outside, sky, grass,
etc. I think she read about the world as it used to be, and can
think of nothing else. In the end, she finally goes outside and
the world has recovered from the pollution damage.
If this were a boy, not a girl, I'd say it
was Isaac Asimov's story It's Such a Beautiful
Day.
Probably OUTSIDE by Andre
Norton. There were two suggestions to my
Bookstumper request. I reviewed the storylines of each
suggestion and neither of them is correct. Thanks for the
suggestions :-) I'll keep searching. I know the mother of the
girl in the story teleported to China one day. While the
mother was away, the little girl wanted to sneak outside. That
may have been the ending when she finally did go outside and
everything was fine because the earth had healed itself over
time.
Is the requester sure it's not the Asimov?
The boy's mother does go to China, by teleport, in that. It
still sounds familiar, even if it's not the Asimov, though. Any
more details? I'm sure it's not It's Such A
Beautiful Day or Outside. I appreciate the
suggestions, though. I sometimes wonder if I have it wrong and
the reason they couldn't go outside was because of nuclear
devastation. But, I'm pretty sure it was pollution. And I'm
positive it was a girl, not a boy, because I always related
better to girls in stories. In a way, I was able to place
myself in their shoes and become part of the story. If it
wasn't a girl, I'll be extremely surprised at my memory. I
know in the end, the world was better than it had been before
they went inside. I'm tempted to check myself and get copies
of both of those books to make sure. But, they just don't
sound right to me. I really want to know the name of this
book. Thank you for the suggestions.
P335:
Pig's tail 1960s-1970s, My sister and I loved this
book about a "married" pig couple who came into money (can't
remember how) and then decided they liked the dirty life best of
all. I remember a jewelry box or treasure chest of pearls
and fancy clothes. I also remember the pigs' clothes
flying off in the end of the book.
Lillian Hoban, Mr. Pig and Family,1980. A long shot, but it might be worth
looking at Mr. Pig and Family. "When Mr. Pig marries Selma Pig,
there are many adventures in store for the new family." Another
possibility is Mr. Pig and Sonny Too (1977, also
by Lillian Hoban). "Four short stories relate Sonny Pig
and his father's adventures skating, exercising, finding greens
for supper, and going to a wedding.") Hope this helps.
P336:
Practical princess Solved: The Practical
Princess P337:
Past life regressions Looking for a title of a book dealing with
past life regressions - there were three regressions for one
person and the book switched from present to past times.
There was a object that tied all the regressions together. One
of the time periods was during the reign of King Henry VIII with
details around the destruction of monestaries and the
dispersment of their treasures. The book was published in
the mid 70's - hope you can help.
Mary Luke, The Nonesuch Lure. Does the name Chloe Cuddington sound familiar?
Seton, Anywa, Green Darkness, 1972. Might be Anya Seton's Green
Darkness. Whether there were three
regressions, I can't remember, but here's a partial summary from
wikepedia: In the 1960's, young Celia Marsdon travels to
England to visit the ancestral lands of her husband, Richard
Marsdon. Once they get there, things get strange--Richard begins
acting out of character, while Celia starts to have strange fits
and visions. Celia's mother has befriended a Hindu guru, Dr.
Akananda, and it is he who figures out what's wrong with the
young couple. The troubles of the present time can only be
solved by revisiting a tragedy from the past. And so the
older story begins, in the reign of Edward VI, as lovely young
Celia de Bohun and her loving aunt take up residence with a
grand family as "poor relations." Anything sound familiar?
Mollie Hardwick , I Remember
Love, 1982.This is a reincarnation story involving
the Wars of the Roses (1st incarnation), the Dissolution of the
Monasteries (reincarnation) and the Victorian era (final
reincarnation).Another possibility is Theo
and Matilda, by Rachel Billington. I
remember that one had at least four incarnations. One took place
in Anglo-Saxon times, another during the Dissolutions of the
monasteries, another in Victorian times, and one in contemporary
times. But it wasn't published till 1990. Mary M. Luke, The Nonsuch
Lure, 1976. Almost certainly The Nonsuch
Lure - I have a copy of this floating around
somewhere. The modern-day hero is Andrew Moffat, an
architect who visits Britain. He finds out about an
excavation site where there used to be a monastery
the property was taken over by Henry
VIII to make into a hunting range and a palace named
Nonesuch. Andrew is unaccountably drawn to the site, but
there is an evil presence there that threatens him. With
the help of a psychologist friend of his, Andrew undergoes past
life regression and discovers two past lives - one as Julian
Cushing, a young American artist from the 1700s who visits
England, meets a young woman named Chloe Cuddington, and then
mysteriously dies on the site of the monastery another past life
is Brother Thomas, a monk who lived at the monastery at the time
it was leveled, and who was secretly in love with a local young
woman also named Chloe Cuddington - and who also dies
tragically. At the center of the story is the Nonsuch Lure
itself, a fabulous royal orb made of gold with encrusted with
jewels that at one time belonged to Catherine of Aragon. A
painting of one of the Chloe Cuddingtons also figures
prominently in the story. Thomas and the original Chloe
and Thomas are separated by death, only to be reborn over and
over as they try to solve the mystery of the Nonsuch Lure and
become reunited. Wonderful book, full of history, and
unusual for a romance novel because it is told almost entirely
from a male point of view.
P338:
Peanut butter sandwiches, sky Solved: The Thinking
Book P339:
Panther, Moria Solved: The Forgotten
Beasts of Eld P340:
Psychic boy stranded on planet You are 2 for 2! This book was a
sci-fi book I read in th 70's. There was a boy stranded on
a distant planet. He was able to communicate psychically
with friends in the main human empire light years away. A
hostile empire sends a being to befriend the boy in hopes of
making use of his psychic abilities.
Jean and Jeff Sutton, Lord of
the Stars. I think this is Lord of the Stars
by Jean and Jeff Sutton
P341:
Pixie, pith helmet Solved: Parsifal Rides
the Time Wave P342:
Pirates of the Jolly Roger Published prior to 1981, cica 1970-1982.
Fun children's book describing the fictional adventures of some
cartoon pirates who drink and dance and carouse in taverns.
Illustrated, full color picture book. Approximately 8.5" x 11"
format. Maybe 30 pages in length, total. Hardcover, I believe.
Full scene pages depicting lots of little pirates enganged in
fun, frenzied action (think Where's Waldo). Just a few
sentences of text per page. More humorous fun than
educational. First book I checked out of the school
library. I Read it in 1st grade. I have not been able to locate
it through advanced searches. I would recognize the cover if I
saw it.
Vasiliu, Mircea, Once Upon a Pirate Ship,
1974, copyright.Did
you try this book? It seems to fit your description.
P343:
Prison father Solved: The Fabulous
Year P344:
Punkin seeds under stone 1960s, I remember my teacher reading the book to our class in the
60's it was about a boy who was to help his father plant the
garden and he was t plant the punkin seeds but threw them under a
stone and began having dreams about the seeds under the stone
instead of planting them as he was told. P345:
Pre- "Where's Waldo" Solved: Where's Wallace P346:
pig, Purcival, searches for yellow ribbon This is a book that had several stories in
it...and one story was about a detective pig named Purcival who
was trying to find a yellow ribbon that belonged to Nell (the
pony). The ribbon ended up being tied to Purcival's tail.
Someone in the story referred to the ribbon as the "Rellow
Yibbon" or the "Nellow Yibbon". We have no idea the name
of the book or the author, or the plot to the other stories. The
book was around in the mid to late 60s. Thanks!!
Walter Brooks, Caravan of Fun (The
Children'\''s Hour Volume 4). 1953. Marjorie
Barrows.'This is a bit of a long shot, but if there's a chance
you might have mis-remembered the characters' names, it might be
worth checking out. The only Detective Pig I'\''ve been
able to locate, from that time frame, is Walter Brooks'\''
character, Freddy, who features prominently in a series of 26
books, in which he is a detective, pilot, magician, explorer,
politician, cowboy, football player, poet, etc... The most
likely book in the series is Freddy the Detective, in which
Freddy becomes an amateur sleuth after reading "The Adventures
of Sherlock Holmes". Convinced that there must be some sort of
crime to be prevented on Bean Farm, Freddy begins to investigate
several mysterious situations. A selection from this book,
titled "Freddy the Detective Solves a Mystery" is included in
"Caravan of Fun" from The Children's Hour series. This is
the only book in which I can find an anthologized "Freddy the
Detective" story. Other stories/poems in this volume include
Custard the Dragon, The Elephant'\''s Child, The Huckabuck
Family, Dr. Dolittle and the Pushmi-Pullyu, The Ransom of Red
Chief, The Walrus and the Carpenter, and many more.'
P347:
polio A young woman just started college. She is popular and
pretty. She refers to a young man who asked her out as a
"wolf". Then she gets polio and winds up in the hospital for
a long time. She is very depressed because she had loved to
ride horses and her now she can't. She befriends an old
lady. A young charming man visits the hospital and cheers up
the residents. Turns out he is a con, and steals from
them. But because he also brought them happiness, they don't
press charges. Eventually she returns to college. I
read it during the mid-1970's so it was written before that. P348:
pioneer girl, desk in tree A young girl is unhappy when her family
plans to move west. She loves her home, especially her own
special tree where she has a writing desk. Finally she comes to
love her new home and has a special place there too. I remember
this as an oversized, slender book in the primary school
library, with a cover illustration of the girl in her old
fashioned dress, maybe in the tree. I don't remember other
illustrations, but there may have been line drawings. I
think the family was moving from a settled town area (New
England?) so the wagon trip and the new life were quite
different from her old life.
Fritz, Jean, The Cabin Faced West.
The Cabin Faced West
might be the book you are looking for, some of the details
match. I read a scholstic edition of this book in the early
1970's. I believe it is still in print.
P349: Pennsylvania Dutch Designs by Girl Solved: Winter on Her
Own P350:
Post-apocalyptic fish people A short story - part of a larger
compilation - in which a boy travels to the future to discover
it devastated by nuclear war. Humanity has retreated under
the sea to escape the fallout, and evolved into a race of
fish-people. The boy intends to document this horrible
future and return to his own time to prevent the war from
occurring. Unfortunately, he becomes infatuated with one
of the locals and (a fish-person girl about his own age) and
confides in her about his plan; it transpires that he hasn't
thought things through, and doesn't realise that if he succeeds,
she'll never be born. Later, she sneaks away and smashes
the time machine, stranding him in the future.
Louise Lawrence, Extinction is Forever and other
stories, 1991,
approximate. This may be the story "Extinction is
Forever" in this collection of short stories. P351:
penguin, cold feet, whale, iceberg may be an Australian author and book?
1940s, childrens, As I recall, the story was a sort of variation
on Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer. A young penguin is
ostracized because it has cold feet, and maybe its mother puts
socks or something on his feet to keep them warm? As the
other penguins won't play with him, he makes friends with a
whale. When the iceberg his colony lives on breaks, he
gets the whale to push the pieces together and reunite the
colony. Everyone loves the coldfooted penguin then, etc.
Walt Disney, The Cold-Blooded
Penguin, 1946. A definite long-shot, as it does not
include a whale at all, but if it's possible you're combining
elements of multiple books, as I've often done, this might at
least be worth a look. Pablo the Penguin hates the cold, and
refuses to join the other penguins in their ice and snow-based
games. He decides to set out for warmer climates. After
failed attempts involving snowshoes, a wood stove, and hot-water
bottles, he cuts loose a piece of the ice floe on which he
lives, and sails it like a boat to South America. Neptune,
King of the Sea, assists him by lifting up the equator, so he
can cross under it. As it gets warmer, the ice melts and
he is forced to complete his journey in his bathtub, using the
shower sprayer to stop a leak in the tub and propel the boat.
This book has been reprinted as "The Penguin Who Hated the
Cold."'
P352:Patty
spends
summer
with Grandmother in Ohio Solved: I Would If I
Could P353:
Perennial Beet Solved: Ellen Tebbits P354:
Princess not getting enough sleep This book was about a little boy and girl
who worked in a castle. The princess of the castle was
very grouchy and demanding. One night the boy and girl noticed
the princess was playing when she was supposed to be sleeping.
They told the King who said that his law required every adult in
his kingdom to get 8 hours of sleep and kids must get 10. Once
the princess started getting 10 hours of sleep she became nice
and friendly again.
Jane Yolen, Gwinellen: The Princess
Who Could Not Sleep, 1965,
copyright. A long shot, but this might be worth looking
into.
P355:
Pink rain slicker with black trim Solved: The Luckiest Girl P356:
Paula Opossum I am looking for a book about Paula
Opossum. It was probably published about 30 years ago.
Clair Jones, Whose Baby is That?, 1969. A Whitman Tell-A-Tale book, illustrated
by Stina Nagel. Paula Possum finds a human baby in the
woods, and all the animals wonder whose baby it is?
P357:
Princess, house burning, saving other children Solved: The Silver
Crown P358:
Poor family, newspaper on walls Solved: Neva's Patchwork Pillow The book is about a poor family living in a
cabin in the south, possibly Appalachia. They line the
walls with newspaper to keep warm in the winter. On the
cover is a color drawing of a girl's face with a tear running
down her face and she's holding a patchwork quilt. It was
a from a Christian publisher, I read this in the mid
1970's. I think the size was 5" x 8"
Dorothy Hamilton, Neva's
Patchwork Pillow, 1975. Yay! After all
these years I found a copy at the thrift store! P359:
Pink room Pink room in new house. I read this book in
the mid-1970s about a little girl whose family (mom, dad, her)
moves to a new house, where she gets a beautiful pink room. She
gets to see her best friend when she comes to stay for the
weekend. Maybe her walls were made of cherry wood?
Judy Blume, Otherwise Known as
Sheila the Great, c.1972.
It might be a long shot, but this book is about a girl whose
family decide to leave NY for the summer and sublet a house in a
small rural town. Sheila spins all kind of daydreams about the
room she's going to have (very girly, frilly lampshades, a
fluffy rug on the floor) and is dismayed when she arrives to
find she'll be sleeping in a boy's bedroom. Since she told all
her friends back home about the pink room she was going to have,
a NY friend who comes to spend the weekend is surprised to find
that the room is not at all as Sheila described it.
P360:
Porcelain dog Solved: No
Flying in the House P361: Playground comparisons There is a book I read in the mid 80s to early 90s
(although it could have been published in the 70s). The book was a
square paperback maybe 20 pages long or so. It was all about
different kinds of parks and playgrounds. One had lots of space to
run one was in a city and didn't have grass. Some were big some
were small. One had a grill and picnic tables. My grandparents
used to have it and no one remembers it but me. Thanks for listing
it, I've been going crazy. P362: Pictures come alive in mud hut I am looking for a book I read in the 1970s as a young child
about a Chinese boy (he could be Japanese, or of any Asian
ethnicity) who lived in a mud hut who would draw pictures on the
walls of his hut that would come alive. I remember the pictures
possibly being of warriors and other characters. The book was
probably published before/around 1970. My mother probably bought
the book somewhere around where we lived in Rocky Point, New York,
or Sound Beach, New York.
Hisako Kimishima, English version by
Alvin Tresselt, Ma Lien and the Magic Brush, 1968, A Parents' Magazine Press book. Ma
Lien, a poor Chinese peasant boy who dreams of being an artist,
is given a magic paintbrush by a mysterious old man. He
uses the brush to paint animals that come alive and to help
other people, in the end he also uses it to defeat an evil
mandarin. Hisaka Kimishima, Ma Lien and the
Magic Paintbrush, 1968,
copyright. Charming story about a poor Chinese boy who
dreamed of being an artist. One night, a wizard appeared to him
and gave him a paintbrush, on the condition that he must use it
wisely. When he discovered that what he painted became real, Ma
Lien began using the brush to help others. A cruel Mandarin
found out and threw Ma Lien in prison because he refused to
paint for him, but Ma Lien escaped through a door he drew in the
cell. Eventually, the Mandarin found him and made him draw him a
mountain of gold, but Ma Lien was able to outwit the greedy
Mandarin. Demi, Liang and the Magic Paint Brush,
1980, approximate. The Boy Who Drew Cats.
This is a fairy tale from Japan that has been written about by
many different authors. The boy draws cats on screens and
they come to life at night, protecting him from attackers.
Loganberry has a copy of The Boy Who
Drew Cats by Arthur A. Levine and
illustrated by Frederic Clement, if this is indeed what
you are looking for.
P363: Pigs save ship when foghorn breaks Solved: Gaston and
Josephine P364: Photographs of mom Solved: This Quiet Lady P365: Prank-playing dog This is a thin paperback book from (I believe) the mid or late
70's where a dog continuously plays pranks on another animal
friend (of a mellower nature) and annoys him - I think at one
point he covers the windows of his friend's house w. cardboard so
he thinks its nighttime for days, which makes him miss out
on some important event and the dog ends up feeling bad...?
Dick Gackenbach, Hound and Bear, 1976, copyright.This
must be it.The book has three
stories - The Long Night (Hound paints Bear's windows so Bear
oversleeps and misses Hound's Birthday), The Package (Hound
returns a package delivered to Bear's house, but package was a
gift for Hound)and
The Best Present (Hound finally sees the errors of his ways and
promises not to play jokes on Bear anymore.)
P366: Prison Escape Magician Solved: The Problem of
Cell 13 P367: Pots Pans May I? children's book Here is a real challenge. I used to have a children's book
in the early 1980's about a man with a wagon cart who went around
selling pots and pans. If I recall correctly, he would
called out "Pots! Pans!" and one of the children would ask "Mother
may I?" No idea of the title or author. This is a
stretch, I know. P368: Princesses, series, fighting kingdoms Solved: The Bracken
Trilogy P369: Porky Pig Golden book Little Golden Book Porky Pig on cover in cowboy hat & chaps
Annie North Bedford, Bugs Bunny and
the Indians, 1951,
copyright. A long shot, but might this be the one you're
looking for? This is a Little Golden Book with a red
cover, featuring Bugs Bunny in full western garb, including a
ten-gallon hat, fringed gloves, a yellow shirt and neckerchief,
and big furry chaps. He is holding a six-shooter in each hand,
and there are two Indians standing behind him. After looking
through a number of Golden and Whitman titles, this is the
closest I've been able to come up with to what you describe.
Porky Pig is not on the cover, but it's possible that he might
be one of the characters in the story. While Bugs was typically
the title character of most of those old Looney Tunes books, his
friends usually provided the supporting cast. Bugs Bunny, Pioneer, 1977,
copyright. I looked through a Little Golden Book reference
book that I have, plus I looked at some of the Warner Brothers
Golden Books on ebay, and the closest I could come up with is Bugs
Bunny, Pioneer. The cover is of Bugs leading
the way, with Porky Pig and Petunia Pig carrying all their
supplies.
P370: Picture-find, rabbit, rose garden, not Beatrix
Potter Solved: Masquerade P371: Pumpkin that wasn't picked Solved: The Last Little Pumpkin Looking for a book about a pumpkin that wasn’t picked at
Halloween to be a jack-o-lantern, etc. etc.. he wasn’t picked at
Thanksgiving to be a pie, etc. etc. just about the time he
thought he wasn’t going to be used and stuck in the food pantry a
family of mice make a happy home out of him for Christmas.
Sorry, don't know the answer but want to
reassure you that the book DOES exist - my kids had it,
too. There was a wonderful orangy-goldy light inside the
pumpkin when the mice move in. The edition we had was one
of those roughly 8"X 8" square paper covered books. Yes you are correct. I'm not giving up. I
know someone knows the name of this book, it was such a cute
book with a meaningful story line. R. A. Herman, Betina Ogden (illus.),
The Littlest Pumpkin, 2001, copyright. The
Littlest Pumpkin longs to make someone happy for Halloween, but
is left behind as one by one all the other pumpkins are chosen
to become jack-o-lanterns. When Bartlett's Farm Stand closes for
the season, the Littlest Pumpkin is devastated to be the only
one left. But when a group of mice come along, they make
the Littlest Pumpkin the happiest pumpkin in the world! T. Corey Hansen, The Last Little
Pumpkin. Maybe
this one? Like every pumpkin in the pumpkin patch, Little
Pumpkin looks forward to harvest time. Little Pumpkin dreams of
becoming a delicious dessert or a jack-o-lantern. However, his
dreams aren't as easy to accomplish as he had thought. As the
workers pick each pumpkin in the patch, he wonders when his turn
will come. Little Pumpkin demonstrates that through
determination even the "little guy" can have the greatest impact
on someone's day. Edna Miller, Mousekin's Golden House. Found this over in the Most Requested -
it's the one I remembered (above).
The book as described here is NOT "Mousekin's
Golden House". "Mousekin's Golden House"
is about a single mouse (not a family) who finds an abandoned
jack-o-lantern (not a pumpkin) after Halloween. At first,
he's frightened of it, but as he explores it he decides it would
make a perfect winter home. So he prepares it with
feathers, split grasses, etc., as the other forest animals (a
turtle,a bird, a chipmunk) prepare for winter. He climbs
in just before a big snow and as the pumpkin freezes, the mouth,
eyes and nose close, making a safe, warm home. The
pictures are lovely and the text is lyrical, but the
point-of-view is the mouse's, not the pumpkin. (And nothing
about Thanksgiving is mentioned.) Thank you for your comment. You're right
about the ending. Thank you for you suggestions, those are cute and the The Last Little pumpkin
is close, however those are not the one I had in mind. I
remember the ending very well, and the family of mice had
Christmas in the pumpkin and the pumpkin was very happy. T. Cory Hansen, The
Last Little Pumpkin. One of the comments
WAS the correct book.. It is The Last Little Pumpkin I was looking
for, however I cannot locate it at all. I do have an
order with Amazon for a cd-rom of it. Thank you for
this suggest. Problem solved, almost.
P372: Perfect Day I'm looking for a chldren's book called either A PERFECT DAY or
THE PERFECT DAY (I think). I don't know the author. I
think the book may be british. It's about a little boy that
leaves home for the day and has a meeting w/ all the animals in
the forest to see who can do the best trick. The kid wins
because he's the only one who can laugh.
Marie Hall Ets, Another Day, 1953, copyright. I believe this is the
book you are looking for.
P373: Pet bird flies away, then returns Solved: Lucky Mrs.
Ticklefeather P374: Parade of animals following boy This was a hardcover book that was around in the mid-70's. There
was a boy in the woods (I believe it was winter time) who was
being followed by animals. It starts with the boy being followed
by one animal, that animal is followed by another, and so forth
until there is a big parade of animals. The animals I remember
included an otter, a wolf, a fox, a moose, and perhaps a bear. I
think in the end they all slide down a large ice/snow bank and
land in a heap together. Any help is appreciated.
Marie Hall Ets, In the Forest. No snowbank, but this one does have a
young boy leading a parade of animals through the woods.
P375: philosopher's stone, gargoyle book from the 1950/1960's - foreign author (swiss?) story set in
basel, swizterland. philosopher's stone. there were
humans and gargoyles - the main character/hero was a gargoyle and
he was trying to turn lead into gold.
Marian
Parry, The Birds of Basel, 1969. I
think the book you are describing was one of my favorites -
originally published in Switzerland, but then translated into
English.I finally found a copy after
a long search.The main character
isn't a gargoyle but you could say he looked like one.He is a basilisk - a green, slightly
dragonish looking bird.All the
citizens of Basel have been put under a spell that turned them
into birds and he sets out to save them (with his companion, a
black crow). The illustrations are all rather medieval in spirit.
Their adventures include encounters with a salamander that lives
in a stove, a dragon, a devil, animals on a medieval tapestry, and
eventually ends up in a tower with the counciler enchanter who is
trying to make gold with a philospher's stone but has figured out
the one thing he lacks is a piece of a basilisk eggshell.So the basilisk makes a deal with him to
give him some of his baby eggshell in exchange for removing the
spell from the citizens of Basel. P376: Priest and flood Catholic reader - has a story about a priest and a flood or
broken damn, in a small town. I read the story in 1960 - 62. I'm
trying to find a copy of the book to purchase.
Sr. M. Marguerite & Sr. M.
Bernabernaida, This Is Our Town, 1963, copyright. There may be several
editions of this story, it was a Catholic-school reader.
P377: Play about "the afterlife" This is in a play (I think) people are sitting around talking in
'the afterlife' and someone says that you aren't really dead if
the people who loved you still think about you or remember you.
Thornton Wilder, Our Town, 1938, copyright. Thornton Wilder, Our Town. Are you thinking of this classic play
where Emily who dies in childbirth gets a chance to observe the
living she left behind? Maurice Maeterlink, The
Blue Bird.
In this play there is a scene in which dead characters explain
that they live when people remember them. The plot is about a
brother, Tyltyl, and sister, Mytyl, searching for the blue bird
of happiness, accompanied by their dog and cat. Thanks, but it isn't either of these - the dead
people are having cocktails and discussing the living.
2008 P378: Plane crash triage girl body bag I think (but don't know for sure) that this book is from the late
80s to mid 90s, and the part I remember centers around a plane
crash at a farm where a girl living there (again, not sure about
that detail) ends up helping with the rescue efforts. Details that
really stand out for me are the discussion of triage (green tag=
light injury, red tag= critical, etc) and the interactions the
farm girl has with a victim of a crash, a girl wearing a purple (I
think) sweater and also a necklace (again, not sure). Later in the
story the farm girl sees the sweater and/or necklace peeking
through the zipper of a body bag (saddest part of the book). So
far my efforts on google have been fruitless, so I hope someone
knows this book! Thanks for offering this service!
Caroline B Cooney, Flight #116 Is
Down! This might
be it - lots of details match. Caroline Cooney, Flight #116 is Down. This is it, no question. Great book!
Caroline B Cooney, Flight #116 is
down, 1992,
copyright. Teenager Heidi Landseth helps rescue people
from a plane crash on her family's property, and the experience
changes her life forever. Cooney, Caroline B, Flight
#116 is Down, 1993, approximate. Even
before I started reading the other responses to your stumper, I
thought it must be this book. Many details match.
Thrilling story for a YA book!
P379: ponies girl meets ponies in the mist and wears a ring braided from hair
from their tails
Zilpha K. Snyder, Season of Ponies. The answer to Stumper #P379 might be Season
of Ponies. I read this book quite some time
ago... I remember it as a subtle, lovely, fairy-tale-ish story
of a lonely girl who meets a mysterious boy she calls Ponyboy
and of course, ponies. Like most fairy tales, it has a
villain... the ponies and Ponyboy get captured by an evil
person- the Pig Woman?- don't recall the exact name- who wants
to turn them into pigs. Lots of swirling mist in this
story, so this might be it. I don't remember the ring of
pony hair the girl wears, though. It's a wonderful read,
whether it is the answer or no. Zilpha Keatley Snyder, Season of
Ponies. This
sounds like Season of Ponies, where a girl is
staying with her aunts temporarily, and hears a boy piping
music. She follows him to find him playing for a herd of ponies,
all different colors. At one point, he braids some of their tail
or mane hairs into a bracelet for her. It's a very magical book,
and it seems very dream-like and misty. Zilpha Keatley Snyder, Season of
Ponies, 1964,
copyright. This is definitely the book you're looking for.
Zilpha Keatley Snyder, Season of
Ponies. Zilpha Keatley Snyder, Season of
Ponies. I never
could understand why this book is so seldom available.
It's a beautiful, ethereal story. Zilpha Keatley Snyder, Season of
Ponies. A young
girl sees a herd of magical ponies. Shirley Rousseau Murphy, The Sand Ponies, 1967,
approximate. Could this be The Sand Ponies?
Karen and Tom, who used to live with their parents and their
horses on the coast of rural northern California, run away from
their abusive aunt and uncle in the city and try to get back to
the area they love. They eventually encounter the wild
sand ponies, and Karen collects some loose hairs she finds from
the ponies' tails and makes a "wishing ring." This is a
beautiful, bittersweet story that's an old favorite of mine.
P380: Pancake
that
goes on an adventure Solved: The Jolly Pancake P381: Polka
dottie
and
the stolen polka dots Solved: Rootie Kazootie, Detective P382: Paint
color
for
new house Before 1968, childrens. In
this illustrated story, a family buys a new home and has to choose
what color to paint it. Each family member has a different
suggestion that corresponds to what color he/she thinks will look
nice in a particular season. Mother wants brown with blue
shutters (autumn), one child wants green with orange shutters
(looks good against winter snow), etc. In the end, the
father of the family takes the children to the paint store and
shows them how a color wheel works: if you paint it with
various colors and then spin it, all the colors coming together
make white. So in the end the family paints their house
white, everyone is happy, and the house will look attractive in
every season. The version I knew of this story was a
hardcover picture book, targeting children perhaps five years old.
Roger Duvoisin, The House of
Four Seasons,
1956, copyright. This is the one - it matches the
description exactly. Duvoisin, Roger, The
House of four seasons, 1956, copyright.
Sounds like this must be the one. Kirkus Reviews: "Father,
Mother, Billy and Suzy buy a house in the country, a nice house
with shutters, and their discussions about what color to paint
it come to more than family quibbling. Suzy wants it red for
spring, Billy wants it yellow for summer, Mother brown for fall,
and Father green for winter. But when only the three primary
colors are available at the local store, Father shows them how
to make a white house- nice for any season." P383: Psychic
boy
jumps
through time-space hoops It's about a ~12 year old boy who
learns how to jump through space (and maybe time?) by envisioning
a hoop in front of himself and throwing himself through it. He has
a mentor who teaches him how to do this. Also he can do into
people's minds and help them to discover their psychic
ability. Everyone has a room in their heads with a sleeping
baby, and he goes in and wakes the baby to get the person to
awaken psychicly. I read this in about 1983-1984, so it must
predate then. I don't know the author, title, or any of the
character names.
Richard M. Koff, Christopher and His Magic Powers,
2001, reprint. "The Headmaster teaches Christopher how to
unlock the secret powers of his mind." I think this is the
book you are looking for. The original version of this book (I
believe from the early 80's) is called simply "Christopher", but
after MUCH searching I found it recently reprinted under this new,
easier to find title. Richard M. Koff, Christopher,
1985, copyright. P384: Prince
solves
mystery
of family's disappearance I'm looking for a children's
fantasy book, originally in paperback, probably published around
1965, about a boy prince who returns to his family's castle which
is deserted and he is led or directed by whispering voices to
solve the mystery of his family's disappearance/deaths. P385: Popcorn I am looking for an old children’s
story that I believe was called Mrs.
Popper’s
Popcorn. No it didn’t involve penguins. It was
about a lady that had an old fashioned popcorn popper and one day
there was so much popcorn it overflowed through the house, out
windows and doors and into the streets down a hill I think.
My Mom used to read to us when we were kids back in the early
50’s. She’s gone now but I believe if she weren’t she’d remember
as she loved books and children. Eventually she became a librarian
in a local grade school. I’m sure she’s smiling. During the
same time periods another one of my favorites was Mike Mulligan
and his Steam Shovel. Thanks again.
Ruth Adams, Kurt Werth (illus), Mr. Picklepaw's Popcorn,
1965, copyright. A long shot, but the title is similar to
your recollection, so if there's any chance you read the book a
bit later, and that it was a man rather than an old woman, this
might be worth looking into. Mr. Picklepaw stores his
popcorn in a sheet-iron shed, until one hot day when it all pops,
leaving him trapped atop a mountain of popcorn. Front cover
shows Mr. Picklepaw, wearing a checked shirt and overalls, bending
over a kettle of popping corn on an old wood-burning pot-bellied
stove. Carl Sandburg, The
Huckabuck Family, 1923, copyright. After
Pony Pony Huckabuck finds a silver shoe-buckle inside a squash,
a fire destroys the family's popcorn crop, burying the entire
farm in drifts of popcorn. Taking this as a sign, they travel
from state to state, working other jobs, waiting for a sign that
their luck is changing. When Pony Pony finds the mate to the
first buckle inside another squash, they return to their
Nebraska farm, to raise everything except popcorn.
Interestingly, since you mentioned Mike Mulligan as another
favorite from this time, both stories appear in the 1953 book, Caravan of Fun,
the fourth volume of The
Children's Hour series, along with an excerpt from Mr.
Popper's Penguins, The Tale of Custard The Dragon, The
Elephant's Child, Eletelephony, The King's Wish, Freddy the
Detective, The Magic Glass, The Lobster Quadrille, and other
stories/poems, so if you are remembering the story from a larger
anthology, that might be the one you want. How about Mr.
Picklepaw's Popcorn by Ruth Adams, illustrated by Kurt Werth-1965? I think
this is it!!! Hazel Krantz, 100
Pounds of Popcorn, 1961. No Mrs.
Popper, just Mrs. Taylor and later, a Mrs. Henderson.
The Taylors find a 100 pound bag of popcorn on the highway
and take it home. When no one claims it, the kids decide to
set up a popcorn business. Eventually, all the kids
and mothers in the neighborhood become involved. The
Popcorn Party, 1950s, approximate. Have you
tried The Popcorn Party? Or just Popcorn? Trudy Boyles and Louise
MacMartin, Popcorn
Party, 1952, copyright. This
sounds like exactly the one you have in mind. One of my
favorites too! It happens on the Little Old Woman's
1000th birthday. She takes pumpkins downtown to trade
for popcorn and the grocer talks her into getting 5 lbs
instead of 1. She invites all the neighborhood children
to her birthday party, and the popcorn takes over the
house. P386: Purple
mom
cleans
pollution Solved: Barbapapa's
Ark, Barbapapa's New House P387: pueblo indian
boy This book is about a Pueblo Indian
boy who is out hunting rabbits one day with a throwstick and is
captured by Spanish Conquistadors exploring the Southwest U.S. He
escapes by drugging the food of his captor with a native plant
that has sleep inducing qualities. He returns to his pueblo with a
beautiful palomino horse that he liberates from the conquistadors.
His pueblo is visited by the Spaniards later and they exchange
gifts, but the boy hides the horse and keeps it. 1950-1965,
childrens. P388: Photograph
book,
kids
make things appear Solved: The Magic Lollipop P389: Personality
test
book
"What's your
spice?" I'm looking for a little
personality test type book (kind of like Myers-Briggs) that types
you as a parsley, pepper, garlic or ginger. I want to say it was
something like, "What's your spice?" I read it in the late 1980s,
it was a thin paperback book that was in our business college
library. P390: Perspectives/Perceptions?
literature textbook This is a textbook we used in my
middle school gifted and talented class. I'm not sure the grade
level it was intended for. I'm having a hard time finding it
because when I do searches, I come up with every book that
includes "perspectives" or "perceptions" and I'm almost positive
that this had a single-word title. The cover was dark blue and
black and may have had a picture of a tree on it. It was a large
hardbound textbook, 8.5 x 11", I think. I'm not sure of all of its
contents, but it had a mix of poetry, stories, and plays, and
included the lyrics to Eleanor Rigby under the poetry section. I
think it also had Kafka's Metamorphosis. It was most likely
published in the 1970s. I need the publisher name and publication
date to make sure I'm looking for the right book and edition.
(ISBN, if possible, too.)
Various, Perspectives, 1987, copyright.
7th grade reading book by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. copyright
1987. ISBN 0-15-330513-4. 640 pages with many stories in it by
such authors as Mark Twain, Isaac Asimov, Jules Verne, and more.
The book is broken into 4 units titled “odysseys”, “panoramas”,
“paradoxes”, “and “mosaics”. After each story there is a section
that asks questions about the story and what it means. The cover
is gray with white lettering across the top. The rest of the cover
pictures a large tree and a white picket fence. Kennedy, X. J., Gioia, Dana, Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and
Drama. I bet this is it: "Literature: An
Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama." The cover's wrong
but it includes a section called "Writer's Perspectives." You
can check it out here:
http://www.ecampus.com/book/0321087682. I found it by
googling: "Eleanor Rigby" Kafka metamorphosis textbook. X. J. Kennedy, Literature:
An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing,
Portable Edition. From the 'net:
"Designed for college literature courses, this text contains
four main sections devoted to fiction, poetry, drama, and
critical writing. The volume contains classic and contemporary
works, including 67 stories, 501 poems, and 18 plays."
From the Back Cover: "Reflects a balance of classic works
along with contemporary and non-Western authors. Writer's
Perspectives sections give commentary on the craft of writing
and revising from authors which provide insight and a more
human perspective on literature and the writing process.
Writing Critically sections expand coverage of composition
with accessible and pragmatic suggestions on writing. Critical
Approaches to Literature section provides three essays on
every major school of criticism with sections on gender
criticism and cultural studies. More than 150 photographs,
author portraits, production shots of plays, and actors in
performance-gives readers important perspectives. New
casebooks on Flannery O'Connor and Raymond Carver, as well as
two new drama casebooks: Sophocles and Shakespeare. New
Stories and poems have been added. Two new plays: Stoppard's The Real Inspector Hound
and Beckett's Krapp's Last
Tape. A New Glossary of Literary terms has been
added." Thanks
for the suggestions. it is
definitely not either of these books (HBJ, 1987, or Kennedy,
2002). The copies I was reading in about 1987 were old
enough then that it couldn't have been published after 1982
or so, and I think pre-1975 is more likely. G. Robert Carlsen, Perception: Themes in
Literature.
I'm unsure when this was originally published, but the 3rd
edition is from 1979. It is an 8th grade literature
book published by McGraw-Hill with the following library
summary: "A thematically arranged anthology of poems,
short stories, plays, and novellas for the eight-grade
reader." One website I read said "Carlsen believed
there was room for both the classics and young adult
literature in the classroom," so you may want to check
into this title. Used copies are not that expensive
so even if you can't get a confirmation on the contents or
a cover description from a bookseller, it may be worth a
shot. Good luck! But the *first*
edition of X.J.
Kennedy's book came out in 1976, which is early
enough to qualify. (I don't know if that first
edition already had the Kafka and Beatles pieces, but it
seems probable.) P391: Psychic
girl
escapes flood, finds friends Solved: Mind-Call P392: Pie
baker meets prince I am looking for an illustrated
children's book about a young girl who bakes pies, set in the
Middle Ages. She is portrayed as having a mind of her own.
She runs off with a troupe of traveling players and eventually
meets a prince (the Prince of Mince? Prince of Minsk?). The
illustrations are detailed, ink? pastel? The text is a paragraph
or two on each page. I think it is of fairly recent vintage,
but probably ten years since first publication. Hard to tell the
age - maybe 4-6? 5-10? Thank you!
Helen Cresswell, The Piemakers.
It might be worth looking at this to see if it's the one. I read
it when I was a young kid, so I don't remember it that well, but
what I do remember seems to fit. P393: "prettier than the picture on Freddy Frog's barn" I'm looking for a book for my
aunt. She'd like to find a 1st grade reader from 1930 that
has the phrase, "prettier than the picture on Freddy Frog's
barn". She went to grade school at that time in Landis,
North Carolina. P394: Popularity in 50’s Solved: The Charmed Circle P395: Poor
Little Girl Who Drew Pictures of Dresses This is a book I read back in the
70's, but it takes place in a much earlier era. There is a
very poor little girl, who wears the same clothes to school every
day. Every night she washes her clothes out and then
sits down and draws the most beautiful clothes. At school
all the little girls make fun of her until they see her drawings
and then they end up liking her and wanting to be her
friend. I remember that all the little girls are rated
as being the richest to the poorest by the amount of different
outfits they own.
This sounds very much the The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes, illustrated by Louis Slobodkin. From the
back cover of the 2004 reprint: "Wanda wears the same faded blue
dress to school every day -- yet she says she has one hundred
beautiful dresses at home, 'all lined up.' The other girls don't
believe it, and when Peggy starts a daily game of teasing Wanda
about the hundred dresses, everyone joins in. Maddie, Peggy's
best friend, goes along with the game, but she secretly wonders
whether she can find the courage to speak up in Wanda's
defense. It's not until Wanda fails to come to school one day
that her classmates learn the truth about the hundred dresses -- and
Maddie and Peggy learn the meaning of kindness and generosity of
spirit."
Estes, Eleanor.
The Hundred Dresses.
Illustrated
by Louis Slobodkin. Harcourt Inc., 1944, 2004.
New paperback. $7.00 Estes, Eleanor.
The Hundred Dresses.
Illustrated
by Louis Slobodkin. Schoolastic Inc., 1944,
1973. Paperback. VG. $2
P396: Post-apocalyptic
dream
in coma Solved: A Time of Darkness P397: Pioneer Woman Named
Mercy I'm looking for a reader I had in
the early 60's. It probably dated from the 40's. One story I
remember in particular was about a pioneer woman named
Mercy. One day when she and her children were alone in the
cabin, Indians came. She and the children hid in the back
room behind a curtain. The baby started to cry and she gave her
maple sugar to hush her. There may have also been one about Pecos
Bill and possibly The Tinderbox. I thought it was Widening
Horizons, but it turned out not to be.
In The Way West,
by A. B. Guthrie, there
is a teenager named Mercy McBee. There were sequels, so she
might be a pioneer mother later. Or you might be mixing this
one up with Little House on the Prairie. I don't remember this story,
but the elementary school reader you remember was called Wide
Horizons, not Widening Horizons. Lots of great stories in
that series. P398: Purple Rainbow Under Water Adventure Solved: Under Plum Lake P399: Pastor,
Minister's Wife I read this book at my grandma's
house around 1980. It was her library book, but it was an
easy read for me at around age 10. I suspect it was a
popular list book for elderly readers in St. Petersberg,
Fla. It was a story about a pastor/minister and his
wife. I think they were immigrants--maybe Swedish?, and they
led a very simple but lovely life. The focus of the book was
the minister's wife and her life. I'd say it was a bit
similar to the style of All Creatures Great and Small but not of
that caliber in writing.
Thyra Ferre Bjorn, Papa's Wife, 1955, copyright. The author
wrote several books about her Swedish-immigrant family, which was
headed by her father, a minister. Dear Papa and Papa's Daughter
are two of the others. Thyra Ferre Bjorn, Papa's
Wife, 1970, approximate. When I was 12,
(in 1976) I loved a series of books about a Swedish Pastor and
his family. The books are Papa's Wife, Papa's Daughter,
and Mama's
Way written by Thyra
Ferre Bjorn.
I loved them very much and still remembered the name of the
first one 32 years later even though I don't own the books any
longer. I think these may be the one of the books you are
looking for. Thyra Ferre Bjorn, Papa's
Wife.
This book has two sequels, Papa's Daughter, and Mama's
Way. P400: Pelican hides jewels from robbers Solved: Nanette the Hungry Pelican P401: Princesses (3) save their kingdom Ok, I recall a book that I read in
high school that I think was probably published in the 80's or
90's. I don't recall the title or author, but it was very
good. It was something along the lined of the black
rosepetal or something to that effect. Anyhow, there is a
kingdom which is in the middle of a war with another. the
first kingdom has 3 princesses who want to help their
kingdom. The second kingdom invades but the 3 sisters
escape. They split up and each does soemthing different to
help save the kingdom. The eldest sees a sorceress or
enchantress and recieved a black petal with a map on it that she
follows to her destination. I forget some of the details,
but the youngest eventaully marries the prince of the opposing
kingdom (he didn't share his father's views) once the conflict is
resolved and becomes queen. The eldest sister becomes an
enchantress herself, and I forget with the middle sister.
She was more of a fighter if I recall, but I forget what she went
on to do. Anyhow, if you can find out what this book it, I
would be very grateful.
Bradley, Marion Zimmer, Black Trillium, 1990, copyright. You had
the color right, but not the flower! P402: Parent's
Magazine Press book Solved: Arm
In Arm P403: Puss n Boots, Specific Edition I am looking for a specific edition
of Puss n Boots that I had in my childhood. I remember it
had a green cover and Puss had pinky coral boots. The book
was rectangular in shape (taller than wide). I used to read
it at my Grandmother's house, and she died in 1984, so it would
have been published before that.
Heirloom Classics (published
by Rand McNally & Co.), Puss
in Boots, 1980, copyright. Possibly this one? Cover is
green, with a design that looks like it's leather or
something, with a delicate gold filigree-type rectangular
border. Inside the rectangle is a smaller oval filigree frame,
surrounding a picture of Puss, who is a white cat with orange
patches, standing upright in reddish boots and wearing a fancy
jeweled collar. At the top center of the cover is a picture of a
little gold key, and there is a picture of a gold lock at the far
right, so that it looks like an old-fashioned book that one would
have to unlock to open. Jane Carruth, My
Book of Puss in Boots (A Giant Maxton Book),
1963, copyright. Possibly this one? Published by
Follett. Back cover and top 1/3 or so of front are a
yellowish-greenish shade. Lower 2/3 of front cover shows
Puss (a black and white cat) wearing a large plumed hat, a pale
greenish shirt and cape, pinkish pants, and large boots, which
appear to be a pinkish-tan color in the picture I was able to
find online. Behind Puss, his owner is helping a blue-clad
princess down from a lavendar carriage, while the white-beareded
king stands opposite him, wearing an orangish robe beneath a red
cloak with ermine trim and capelet, and of course, a gold crown.
On the back cover are listed the titles of other Giant Maxton
Books. P404: Poem named Glory? swain, soldiers
tale I am trying to track down a poem
for my father in law... he thinks that the title was GLORY and
that the first verse went, ... "And is this glory quoth the swain who'd listened to a
soldiers tale. To fall upon the battle plain or maimed for life be
should one fail. To scape of bullet, sword or gun, tis monstrous
surely to misname, that wholesale murder I have done, both with
carnage, field and fame.. " Thanks for you help. :o) P405: Potato famine Solved: The Potato Eaters P406: Pearls
found in picture frame The
Pearls?, 1974 when I was about in the 5th grade,
juvenile. A girl learns of a hidden treasure in the house
where she is staying. While dusting she accidentally knocks
a picture from the wall. The frame breaks and out come
pearls that had been hidden inside it many years before. She
wraps the pearls in a scarf and hides them in a hollow tree trunk
where they are stolen from her by someone who is watching.
She finds a pearl or two that have been left behind and searches
for the thief. P407: picture book of house changes Solved: The Story of an English Village P408: puppy
saved from drowning (becomes show dog?) All I remember about this book is
that a child rescues a puppy from a sack in the river. The
child trains the dog to become a show dog (I think). I read this
book somewhere between 1987-1990. Also, I think it might be
set in England? And the dog might be a labrador? Not
positive on those details. Thanks so much.
Christine Pullein-Thompson, A Home for Jessie, 1988, approximate. "There's
something in there!" Matt stared at the sack he had pulled from
the water. He could feel his heart beating as he put his hand in
it. Something alive was in there. It was a puppy, a Labrador,
barely breathing. Matt was determined to help it survive. He
believed that fate had sent the puppy to him. No one would take
the Labrador away from him, now or ever. But Matt didn't know the
incredible adventure awaiting him and Jessie. And danger was right
around the corner!" The first of the Jessie trilogy, A Home For Jessie
begins when ten-year-old Matt Painter finds a black Labrador puppy
being drowned in a stream. The pup has a speck of white on her
chest, which is unthinkable for show dogs, but Matt rescues her
and takes her home. His parents insist that he cannot keep a dog,
not when they're moving to America, so he leaves her with his
Uncle Eric. When a car accident sends Eric to the hospital for
months and Jessie into kennels, she escapes, determined to find
Eric and Matt. Sequels are "Please Save Jessie" (about Jessie and
her son, Jasper) and "Come Home, Jessie," in which the unlucky
Labrador has the misfortune of being trapped in a car when three
men steal it. Afraid that she might give them away after they
ditch the car, they beat and abandon her. Jessie loses her memory
and wanders around trying once again to get home, with a little
help from a well-meaning but snippy old couple. P409: Polar bear, arctic adventure,
shipwreck Solved: The Iceberg Hermit P410: Puffin looked out to sea Late 70's, childrens. This is
a story about a Polar Bear and an Artic Fox that find a red wagon
buried in the snow. Each phase of the story ends with "and the
Puffin looked out to sea".
Crosby Newell Bonsall, What Spot? 1963. P411: Palomino horse stolen, found painted Solved: Linda Craig and the Palomino Mystery P412: Pea soup & Johnny cake Solved: Ellen Tebbits P413: Preacher's
kid chapter book Chapter book I read in the 80's,
but probably written in the 50's or 60's. May have been part
of a series. Teenage girl Joy struggled with popularity issues as
a preacher's kid. In one chapter she was ridiculed for
taking a Bible on a camping trip. Another involved breaking
a high heel in church.
I recall the book you're
talking about, it was in a series about a PK girl. Can't recall
the title or author, but I read it in the early seventies, here's
some other clues: the girl sees what looks like a communion glass
in the bathroom, where it's used as an eyewash cup, then gets the
giggles about it being used in church for the same thing. In
another book an old woman is dying and planning to leave her
estate to overseas missions, much to the dismay of her grandsons,
who try to change the will. Hope this helps. Ruth Johnson, Joy Sparton Series, 1955,
approximate. This was a series put out by Moody Press, I
believe. Joy had a twin brother named Roy. Hope this
helps. P414: Pre-historic
time travel During 6th or 7th grade, in 1975 or
1976, I read a book that I found in school about a girl who
travels back in time to pre-historic days. She makes friends
with some cave dwellers and I remember some key events in the book
being about a cave-person getting a fever and the girl knows that
she could help the person if she only had aspirin / women
celebrating menarche. I thought the word xanadu was in
the title but many google searches have led to nought… I
probably got the book through the school library in Avon Lake,
Ohio. Can you help me find the title or any info? I’d
like my pre-teen daughter to read it and see if it resonates with
her… Thanks so much!
Norma Fox Mazer, Saturday, The Twelfth of October.
The
girl's
name is Zan; that may be why the requester thought of Xanadu. Mazer, Norma Fox, Saturday,
the Twelfth of October, 1975, copyright.
From the dustjacket: "Loonies, Zan thought, her throat tight.
Loonies! Crazies! She had never seen anything like the boy and
girl who faced her. Naked, except for flaps hanging down from
the front of woven belts, the two of them fingered, sniffed and
tasted everything Zan wore, down to her dirty old sneakers.
Loonies! But even as the thought came to her, Zan rejected
it: there was another explanation, one that made her recoil. The
terrifying "storm" that had wrenched her out of Mechanix Park on
a Saturday morning in October had set her down in this meadow
lush with strange foliage and teeming with birds, insects and
animals she couldn't name. Something awesomely out of the
ordinary was happening to her, and the two naked kids poking her
and chattering in an unfamiliar language were further evidence
of just how far from her normal existence she may have been
swept. At first Zan cannot accept that there is no way
back. And then she finds herself irresistibly drawn into the
gentle community of cave dwellers. But even as Zan settles into
the rhythms of life with the People, she clings fiercely to her
own memories of home. All that she has to remind her of
civilization is a button, a key, a safety pin and a jackknife,
which she guards jealously. Only Diwera, the wise woman, senses
the threat Zan poses to the ages-old life of the People. And it
is Diwera who takes it upon herself to rid the People of Zan." I don't recognize the book,
but there's a lengthy annotated bibliography of "prehistoric
fiction" at http://www.trussel.com/prehist/prehist1.htm
(almost 1100 titles, 186 of them "juvenile") which requestor
might look at to see if anything rings a bell. Norma Fox Mazer, Saturday the Twelfth of
October, 1975, copyright. Look in
the Solved-S
section for more, this is definitely your book. P415: Poor family - girl gets box of
trinkets for birthday gift, stays up late This was a book that came out in
the 70's or 80's, I think, about a very poor family with 2
daughters (?). The oldest has a birthday and for her gifts
she gets a box of trinkets that have been saved from cereal boxes,
and she gets to stay up late and see what her parents do at night.
Mary Stoltz, The Noonday Friends, 1965, copyright. This
wonderful book is about a poor family in New York with 2 boys and
a girl, Franny. Her little brother Marshall celebrates his
5th birthday and receives a huge gift of cereal box trinkets from
his neighbor who is also his babysitter. His parents allow
him to stay up late and take him for a nighttime walk through his
Greenwich Village neighborhood. Mary Stolz, The
Noonday Friends, 1965. This book is
definitely The
Nooday Friends by Mary
Stolz, but there are three children in the family-one
girl and two boys. The younger boy Marshall has a birthday
and receives an entire box full of cereal surprises from the
elderly neighbor who babysits for him. He also gets a
ticket from his parents good for staying up all night while his
brother and sister have to go to bed. He gets to go out
walking with his father through the streets of Greenwich
Village, eats popcorn, and gets read to by both parents until
they fall asleep. P416: Pink
hardcover children's book with short stories Solved: My favourite book of bedtime stories - 250
short stories P417: ponytail
wanted by little girl 1960, childrens. I loved a
picture book about a little girl who wanted a have a ponytail, but
her hair was too short. She got very sick, and was in bed
for weeks. When she woke up, her hair had grown enough for a
tiny ponytail.
Winifred Bromhall, The Pony Tail That Grew, 1957, approximate. "The Pony Tail
that Grew" by Winifred
Bromhall published around 1957. That is the closest
I can find. P418: Professor, garden, new baby brother,
peppermint striped flower Published no later than 1960. It
featured a little girl squeezing through a fence to her neighbor's
garden; the neighbor was a professor; the garden was full of
flowers including buttercups and a peppermint-striped flower; the
little girl had a new baby brother about whom she wasn't happy.
Thanks! P419: Picture
Book, pages split into two sections horizontally to form unusual
landscape and scenery pictures Solved: Graham Oakley's Magical Changes P420: Penny, circus, red ball, lost 3 part book possibly Dick &
Jane series 1. Penny loses her red ball, looks everywhere finds it
in her pocket. 2. Penny goes to circus with family, gets lost then
found. 3. Penny creates her own circus in the backyard with her
dog. I bought Dick & Jane "fun with our family" but it
was not right.
McKee, Paul, The Big Show, c. 1949, 1957, 1963, 1966.
contents: Penny and the
Ball (she looks everywhere with Mother and eventually
finds the blue ball in her yellow sweater pocket), Here is the Milk (Penny and
Tip look for Janet, go the store to buy milk, Tip takes someone's
ball and Penny leaves the milk on the ground where Janet find it
and brings it home), Come to the
Big Show (Daddy takes the kids to the circus, Janet gets
lost and a clown lets her ride in a wagon during the show so her
father will see her holding a sign that says Daddy Come And Get
Me). I have the 4th edition - the cover is gold and has a
clown in blue waving and a monkey in a red jacket on a
unicycle. Maybe you're looking for another edition, because
one of our stories doesn't match. It's part of Houghton
Mifflin's Reading For Meaning series. P421: Planets
and their creatures My boyfriend talks about his
favorite picture book when he was a kid, and he hasn't been able
to find it in years. It is a picture book for children where each page is a
different planet with different creatures on it. One
sticks out in his mind where there are jellyfish like creatures
being speared by swordfish type creatures (I think he said it was
on Jupiter). I have no idea what the real name of the book is.
Please help! I would love to surprise him with this!
I realized after I sent my description in yesterday, I forgot the
time period I think it was published. I think it's circa
1985 or earlier.
National Geographic Picture Atlas of Our Universe, 1995, copyright. Date given
above is for the revised edition currently available on Amazon,
but the book seems to have been around in various editions for a
while. I am pretty sure this is the one with the paintings
of imaginary creatures living on the other planets in the solar
system. P422: Penny Doll Solved: The Golden Book of Nursery Tales P423: Peanuts I am hoping you can help me.
My 27 year old daughter mentioned an old book she remembered from
her childhood, at least 20 years ago. All she could
remember was that peanuts had something to do with the
characters. Peanuts on all of the pages. She thought
it could have been a party situation or something to do with
animals. One would think that her mother could remember a
story like this, but alas, I can't.
Scholastics-wonderful world
of disney series, The Mystery
of the Missing Peanuts, 1974, copyright. this was
orig published in the 70s but I am sure there were still versions
(or reprints) floating around in the 80's...donald duck is a
detective trying to figure out who was eating all the peanuts from
the zoo's feed area...tries all kinds of ways to catch the thief
(blue dye to make footprints?) and it ends up being Chip &
Dale... I want to update information on a previous stumper you
have posted for me, P423. After questioning my daughter for
more information, she mentioned that the peanuts are hidden in
the pictures on the pages. I imagine the book must be
one where the reader has to find the hidden peanuts on the
pages. Graeme Base, The Eleventh Hour, 1989, copyright. A long
shot, but the mention of hidden pictures and animals at a
party made me think of this one. When Horace the Elephant
decides to throw himself a party for his 11th birthday, he
never suspects a crime will be committed by lunchtime. Who has
stolen the birthday feast? The solution lies hidden in the
myriad clues embedded in each glorious illustration. P424: Picture book, black and white
drawings, story fragments Solved: The Mysteries of
Harris Burdick P425: Pioneer
girl with speech impediment Pre-1977, childrens. I saw
this in an elementary textbook, most likely in the 1970s. It was
either a short story or one chapter of something longer. The girl
is under ten(?). She can't quite speak in coherent sentences or
use specific words most of the time, but is intelligent. She's
with her mother when the latter is either mixing boiling water
with soap in a washtub or making soap with hot lye. The girl spots
two Indians out the window, looking for ways to break in and
attack. She tries twice to tell the mother, but can't say it
clearly, until she finally gasps "two VARMINTS!" The mother throws
the tub of hot liquid out the window and into the men's faces.
They run away, screaming. The story ends with the girl's father
telling everyone that she can speak plainly enough when necessary.
Finally found the
text, though not the schoolbook I first read it in. (Or the exact
title of the story.)One book it appears in is the
1948 "Village Greens of New England."(It's
for adults. One chapter is all about Boston's Public Garden.)The girl was a four-year-old named Hepzibah Gray and it
happened - for real? - in 17th-century Massachusetts.Here's
another place to read the first two thirds or so of the story:http://tinyurl.com/yahcxrt. Found the textbook the
Hepzibah Gray story is in - it's Joys and Journeys, 1968,
eds. Marjorie Seddon Johnson, Roy Kress, John D.
McNeil, and Pose Lamb. The glamorous cover, with a decorated
elephant, is by Caldecott Medalist Ed Young. Other stories
are: The Fun They Had (1951) by Asimov, Rococo Skates by
Marjorie Fischer (1936) Spelling Bee Blues by Laurene Chinn,
1940s, Mystery Guest at Left End by Beman Lord, 1964,
Beneath the Saddle by Russell Gordon Carter (1936, American
Revolution spy story), The Silver Rattle by Vrinda Kumble
(exciting theft story), The Horse that Played the Outfield,
by William Heuman, The Punk (1947) by the prolific Charles
I. Coombs, It's a Tough Life by William D. Hayes (about a
preteen who helps pay the family food bill and hires younger
kids), a chapter from Ruth Sawyer's Roller Skates, Elephant
Ears by Ruth Holberg, about a Finnish boy and a new pastry,
a Papuan story, Storm on the Lake by 2 authors - both
named Neelands, the poem The Song of Lafitte by
Kathryn Hitte (about the pirate Jean Lafitte) and First
Flight (about Daedalus and Icarus) retold by Jean Lang (in
1914).
P426: Polar
bear, moon polar bear kicks "Snow" off the
moon- fable about the moon's phases. Read to my daughter mid
1990s.
Ryder, Joanne, Bear On The Moon, 1991. This sounds like it.
From Publishers Weekly: According to legend, the great white bears
at the North Pole once spent all their time swimming in icy
waters. Not until one adventurous bear swims to "the place the sea
touched the sky" does everything change. All the way to the moon,
this bear climbs a stairway of light; there, she starts breaking
off pieces of rock and ice and throwing down the chunks, creating
land masses in the sea below. This diminishes the size of the moon
until it is a sliver and finally disappears altogether. The bear
is sad to see the moon gone, but pleased at the many changes in
the environment. Although Ryder's ( Chipmunk Song ) story rambles
a bit--and might be confusing for readers at the young end of the
age range--her fantasy is generally engaging. Lacey's debut
picture book art features striking, realistic bears and haunting
glimpses of their barren world. Ages 6-up. Joanne Ryder, Carol Lacey (illus), The Bear On The Moon,
1991, copyright. According to legend, the great white
bears at the North Pole once spent all their time swimming in
icy waters. Not until one adventurous bear swims to "the place
the sea touched the sky" does everything change. All the way to
the moon, this bear climbs a stairway of light. There, she
starts breaking off pieces of rock and ice and throwing down the
chunks, creating land masses in the sea below. When her efforts
take most of the moon away, she returns home. She is
disappointed when the icecap she has created shrinks as the moon
increases in size. Since that time, she has returned to the moon
each month so the bears will have ice to live on. P427: Pig seen as sections for eating after
befriending the foxes? wolves? I'm looking for a book where a pig
is befriended by a bunch of wolves and is happy to have
friends! Later on we see the pig (point of view of the
wolves) in sections for eating. Moral of the story, although
I didn't get it at the time unfortunately, beware of the friends
you choose. First saw the book about 13 years ago.
Thank you. 2009 P428: painted animals come alive Solved: The Children in the Jungle P429: Porridge
running down street Maybe an Elson Reader of McGuffy
Reader, Used in 1952 or 1953. A Primer used in 3rd of
4th grade in 1952 or 1953. One story had a pot boiled over
with porridge running down the street with a little boy eating a
path to town. It also had the poem "The Swing" by Robert
Louis Stevenson in it. My mom went to Chestnut Ridge School
in Walnut Creek, OH when they used it as a reader. I think
the cover was dark green.
These two stories, and
your description of the book sound like one of the volumes of the
Book House series. I
still have mine. The book you're talking about also may have "The
Tale of the Quick Running Squash" about a boy riding a squash with
legs--pretty wild. Hope this helps. The Magic Porridge Pot. I don't know if someone was
looking for the name of this book, but it is "The Magic Porridge
Pot" and was one of my favorites to read to my first graders. P430: panda donkey TRUE STORY zoo friends Description: 1970's Large format HB
w. watercolor (?) illustrations each page; new giant panda given
temp pen next to donkey (or wild ass/onager) in zoo (London?);
they become close friends, are sad on being moved apart, then are
moved back side-by-side. P431: Puffin,
Man bakes Muffins Solved: Snarly
Snuffin P432: Play therapy for little brother of
railroad hobbyist Solved: He
Is Your Brother P433: poetry anthology for youth from the
'80s Slim illustrated, soft-cover poetry
anthology for youth from the '80s. Approx. 8" X 10",
possibly British (bought in Canada), mostly white cover. Included:
Esme on her Brother's Bicycle, Pied Beauty, & The Pasture by
Frost. It's NOT "The Place My Words Are Looking For". Thanks!
Zenna Henderson, Ingathering: The Complete People
Stories of Zenna Henderson. Zenna Henderson
wrote many stories about the "People" that were first published in
science fiction short story magazines, and were collected in book
form later. Ingathering is an omnibus that contains all of the
previously published stories.
P434: Pussy
willows are changed into cats by fairies (excerpt from a circa
1940 children's poem/story anthology) My father had a story/poem book
when he was around 8 years old (about 1939 or 1940). It is
presumably an anthology, but could have been by one author.
He remembers very little about it, except that he is pretty sure
that it had fairies on the cover. There was a poem in the
book that he particularly liked, but he can only remember the
first part which went like this: "Pussy willows dressed in
gray, sitting on their tree one day, wished that really cats they
were, with long tails to match their fur. Fairies playing
around nearby, heard the pussy willow's cry. Told them not
to weep or fret, for their wish they'd surely get. Waved
their wands about the two, tails and whiskers on them grew.
Now you're free to leave the tree, out the wide, wide world to
see." As my father remembers it, they left the tree and went
out into the world and had some unpleasant experiences which
caused them to come back and become pussy willows again. He
doesn't remember any other stories or poems in the book. My
father has done a lot for me over the years and I would love to be
able to find this book for him. Thanks!
I definitely had a book
containing this story as a child. I think it was probably in "Gateway to
Storyland" by Watty
Piper. I was born in 1956 so the edition I had was
probably from 1958-1962. The other anthologies I had were the 1948
set of Childcraft
and a set entitled "The
Children's Hour", a set of red books from the early
sixties. It had to be in one of these. P435: peanut shell people In the late 1940s and early '50s,
my grandmother and grandad (or a school library) had a children's
book that was a darling story told by "peanut shell people."
Pictures of peanut shells talking were throughout the book and on
the cover. Does anyone remember the book or have any
information?
Madge A. Bigham, Goober Village, 1936, copyright. I wonder
if you're looking for Goober Village. Check the solved page "G"
for further details, but it seems to be charming moral tales
featuring peanut families (even the animals look like peanuts,
apparently!). P436: Pilar,
woven straw mats Solved: What the Witch Left I remember a book from my childhood
(1970s) about a young girl (maybe 8 or 9 years old) named Pilar
and all that I can remember is that she used to weave straw mats
to make money. She might have lived with her grandmother or
uncle (don't think she had her parents). There might have
been some use of "magic" in the story, could be a Scholastic book,
since I used to order a lot of books through my school. I
wish I could remember more.
Ruth Chew, What the Witch Left. It's either What the Witch Left, or The Witch's Buttons--I don't have either of them here
so I can't check, but I think it's What the Witch Left. The girls with the "magic
stuff" take themselves to Mexico and meet a girl named Pilar. Ruth Chew, What the
Witch Left, 1973, copyright. Definitely
the book you are looking for and one of my favorites as well! Ruth Chew, What
the Witch Left.
I'm not positive it's this particular book by Ruth Chew but I
am pretty sure it's one of hers. This is the one I've read
most recently so I think it is likely. It was a scholastic
paperback. Pilar is a minor character in the story. The main
character in the book watches Pilar and her grandmother make
the mats and emulates the mat making. In this particular
story, there is a cache of magic items left in a chest of
drawers by a witch found by a little girl and she has many
adventures. Ruth Chew, What the Witch Left,
1973, copyright. It has to be this one. Pilar is the
name of the Mexican girl that Katy and Louise befriend when
they walk to Mexico, wearing the Seven-League Boots that
they have "borrowed" from the bottom drawer of the bureau.
While there, they help Pilar with her weaving, using magic
gloves (also from the bureau drawer) that help them to do
the job quickly, neatly, and artistically. All of the
magical items in the drawer (the gloves, the boots, plus a
robe that makes the wearer invisible, a mirror that allows
them to see someone far away, and a metal fruitcake box that
finds lost items) belong to Katy's Aunt Martha - who is a
witch. Ruth Chew, What
the Witch Left, 1973, approximate. Many
thanks to all of you who commented and correctly named
this book and author for me! Just reading your
comments made most of this story come right back to me -
what a joy! I found a copy of the book online and
ordered it right away (brought back so many memories
just seeing the cover of the book) and read it as soon
as it arrived. What a great story - especially
reading it as a 9 or 10 year old! I am sharing it
with my younger two children and know they will enjoy it
as much as I did. This is my second "book stumper"
and I can't tell you how grateful I am to you for your
website and to all of your wonderful followers who help
solve our "long-forgotten" books! Thank you all! P437: Prince with Talking Cat on a Quest Solved: The
First Named This is a fantasy novel - not
really "juvenile" but with quite a bit of humor in it. The
prince has a cat that communicates with him telepathically.
The prince's older brother is next in line to the throne, but the
older brother is bossy and selfish and takes credit for
everything. They get caught up in a quest to stop an evil
witch who is trying to take over the kingdom. There is an
ancient prophecy that is supposed to help them, but no one
understands it. There is a very old wizard helping them,
along with a young and somewhat sexy sorceress. I don't
remember much more except for some parts near the end. Near
the end of the book, while they are on their way to confront the
witch, they find a scrap of paper with information about a special
magical berry that could give them protection from the evil
witch's spells - except that the berry is poisonous. On the
back is a recipe for a cake that uses the berries in a way that
makes them non-poisonous. The sorceress makes the recipe -
there's a funny part where she sticks the recipe under the
wizard's nose and asks him about some of the ingredients, and he
wants to know what she's doing. But the main character's
older brother ends up eating all the cake, so only he is
protected. The cat saves the day - part of the prophecy has
the words 'unearthly scream, no human sound', and the cat ends up
hissing and screaming, jumping on the witch and distracting her
just long enough for the heroes to defeat her. The prince
becomes king - there's a line near the end of the book where he
worries about 'how he would break the news to his subjects that
their king talked to his cat.'
Right after I sent you the stumper, a friend of mine tracked down
the book I was looking for and was able to give me the information
on it. In case you're curious, the book is "The First Named," by Jonathan
Wylie, the first book of the "Servants of Ark" trilogy.
Anyway, thank you for your book locator service. P438: Princess dreams of horses and prince I lived in Colorado and was about 5
or 6 when I looked at this book, so the details may not be
entirely accurate, but I figured I'd try. The book was a
children's picture book. I don't know its publication date,
but I looked at it during either 1988 or 1989 so it was published
either during that time or before then. I remember the
pictures the most because I thought they were absolutely
stunning. I don't even think the book had words (but again,
I may be mistaken). The story was about a girl - possibly a
princess - who was stuck in a room or tower by a witch (possibly
her mother). She would dream about a man/prince riding a
horse (I want to say white) and rescuing her. But sadly it's
only a dream. Until one day, the prince really does show up,
and the two ride away together. It had a very dreamy quality
- I remember a lot of clouds and nighttime scenes because she
dreamt it so often. I hope that's close enough and I
hope someone finds it. I've never forgotten that book and
would love to look at it just one more time. Updated: This is
still driving me crazy, but had a bit of thought.While Charles Santore is not the author/illustrator (that I
can find), the illustrations I remember are comparable to his in
scope and beauty.
This is a
long shot (and I'm not sure how you'd research it, but maybe a
librarian could help with that).Could
this be a version of the fairy tale "Rapunzel"?Because
that's the classic instance of a young girl imprisoned in a tower
by a witch.
I've thought of
that being a big fairy tale buff, but I don't remember her hair
being long like Rapunzel's.I just
remember a very dream-like quality.A
lot of clouds.
P439: Paper Dolls Family story Solved: Big Susan P440:Purple or
Pink Hippo who Bakes Cakes I read this book when I was in the
1st grade (1991). I believe that it was published around that
time. It was about a hippo who was pink or purple in color, who
was baking a lot of cakes. All of the pictures were in pastel
colors. Possibly the hippo wore a tutu? I wish I could remember
more!
Sandra Boynton, Hippos Go Berserk! 1977, copyright This book has been reprinted
many times, so 1991 sounds reasonable. In this book,
hippos go to a party in a counting rhyme: "One hippo, all alone,
calls two hippos on the phone.." Grey,
Judith, Yummy, Yummy, 1981, copyright. "Undecided
what kind of cake to make, a hippo mixes apples, carrots, honey,
and chocolate and puts them in the oven." This is from the Giant
First Start Reader series, which means its probably right around
a first grade reading level. The cover shows a hippo wearing a
dress and balancing several cakes.
Sadly, this is not the book i am thinking of.
James marshall, Yummers. Could this be a James Marshall book, such as Yummers? I
think several of his books feature hippos. Mercer
Mayer and Gina Mayer, Rosies
Mouse,
1992, approximate.This Golden Star Reader might be the
one. It is about a hippo and the time frame is
right. Rosie the Hippo likes to keep her house very neat,
but when a little brown mouse moves in, he causes messes
everywhere. 1990s, approximate. Could this
be one of the "Alpha-pets" books with Emily the Exaggerating
Elephant? In book about numbers, Emily, a pink elephant,
bakes a bunch of pies all different flavors: lemon, peach,
cherry, apple, etc. and puts them out on a table in front of her
house to cool off. Her friends think that the pies are for
them, and they each take a pie, leaving Emily with one pie at
the end of the day. Just thought I would throw this out
there. Good luck!
P441:
Paratropper Solved: Simple Sounds of Freedom
P442: Pittsburgh
in the 70s
Young Adult Fiction; 70s--Pittsburgh,
the Monongahela River and the song"Suite Judy Blue Eyes" figure
prominently. Chabon,
Michael, The Mysteries of
Pittsburgh, 1988. I assume you have considered this,
even though its later than your date.I
remember the river figuring prominently, dont recall the song.The
Amazon info is sketchy, but heres the link:http://tinyurl.com/leyzkrP443:
The People--alien race on earth with psychic abilities Solved P444: Polish
Boy in NYC after WWII A Polish boy comes to NYC after WW
II with his mom and teddy bear that was given to him by a U.S
soldier. The boy doesn't speak English, and, one day, he gets lost
in the city, trying to find the soldier who gave him the bear. I
think, in the end, he finds the soldier. (I read it in the late
70s.)P445:
Painter
I think it was written by a male, and the illustrator MAY have won
an award for it. in the l980s/1990s. I am searching for a book
that I used to read my brother when he was little. He is 21 now,
so Im guessing it came out in the early 1990s. It was a story
about a very special painter that followed one of two story lines
(I vaguely remember this). Either: No one hires him to paint, and
finally one person does. The painter made the house a very strange
color (grey, icky green?). In the morning, the house was more
colorful and beautifully decorated than any other. OR, he painted
the entire town but then had no paint left for his own home so he
had to paint it the yucky color. Agian, the sun comes up and its
the most beautiful, colorful house ever. Cant remember if it s the
painters talent, or a magic paintbrush. It is not the Magic
Paintbrush (by Laurence Yep),Liang and the Magic Paintbrush
(Demi), or The Magic Paintbrush (by Robin Muller). It was an easy
to read type book. Something similar to a Polar Express type
reading level, and that had amazing, colorful illustrations. It
was taller rather than wider. If you can find it, Id be entirely
grateful.
Daniel Pinkwater, The Big Orange Splot. This is a long shot, but could this person be
looking for The Big Orange Splot -- the story line is different,
but the colorful painted houses and reading level are about right.
P446:
Penpal My favorite book growing up was
about a girl sending a letter to her penpal. As soon as she
mails it, some wild stamp-loving monster steals the letter so he
can eat the stamp. Then a different, larger monster steals
the smaller monster to eat him & so on & so on... Please
help, thank you!
Mercer Mayer, One Monster After Another. I just reread this book, Im
sure its the one youre looking for. It features the
Stamp-Collecting Trollusk and a series of other monsters in a
long chase after Sally Anns letter. Mayer,
Mercer, One monster after
another,
1976, copyright. Definitely this book: Sally Ann’s letter falls
into the clutches of one monster after another before finally
reaching Lucy Jane. Mercer
Mayer, One Monster After
Another,
1970's, approximate. My brother had this early book by Mercer
Mayer when we were growing up and we all loved it. I think
it'\''s out of print. "At the beginning of the story, Sally Ann
writes a letter to her friend Lucy Jane. However, before the
mailman can pick up the letter, a top hat-wearing Stamp
Collecting Trollusk steals the letter from the mailbox. BUT,
before the Trollusk can collect the stamp, a flying creature
called the Letter Eating Bombanant flies out of Nowhere and
snaps up the letter..."
P447: Painted
Carriage for Gypsy Girl Read in early 90s. Girl travels in
carriage painted bright red or yellow, w/ birds & flowers. She
often sings the 1st verse to raggle taggle gypsy "O there were
three gypsies a come to the door/They sang both loud & boldly,
O/One sang high & another sang low/&the other sang bonny
bonny Biscay O.P448:
Phoenician Tyrian snails indigo dye fishing
I'm looking for a children's book written either in the late 60's
or early 70's. The book is about the Phoenician (possibly
Etruscans) fishermen that used to fish for Murex snails for their
Tyrian purple or Indigo dye. The book cover was Tyrian
purple with a picture of a ship on the front cover.P449:
Pictures doll snow Sovled: et
les quatres saisons P450: Princess Goes to
the Opera I'm
trying to remember the title and any details about a
children's story/fairy tale about a princess who loved to go
to the opera, but she couldn't clap--every time she tried to
applaud, her hands missed each other. At the end, she
gets a pair of gloves that are connected at the wrist, so
she's able to go to the opera and not be
embarrassed. I think there was also something
about "Jumble Mints" in this story, but am not sure how that
fits in. I think she ate some mints that made her talk
nonsense? P451:
Pirate Pop-Up/Activity Book The book's cover was "3D." I
believe a pirate ship layed in it and was covered by netting. The
pages had pockets in the bottom and one had a boy with a pole, and
its string revealed a fish when pulled. Another pocket reveled a
bag of jewels when the string was pulled. Two pages of the
book were glued together and a circle was cut out at the top of
the page. It also had a white balloon between the pages, making it
resemble the moon.P452:
Catholic School Story about Patches Looking for childrens reader
possible Catholic School containing a story possibly named
Patches. A poor young girl whose dress is always in patches goes
to a birthday party. Her mother puts animal patches on it and she
is a hit. Also another story about a poor man who stops at a house
for food. The woman makes a cake but it is to large and keeps
trying to make a smaller one! Could be 1950's or 1940's. Help
These Are Our Neighbors. I believe you're looking for
one of the books in the Faith and Freedom series. These Are Our
Neighbors has a story called Pretty Patches in it, and as I
recall that fits the story you remember. The Blue Dog is the
story I remember best from this particular book - the children
accidently dye their white dog blue when they wash him with
bluing. I'm not sure about the other story you're thinking of,
but if it's not in this book it may be in one of the other
readers from the series. I remember this book
too! I used to read it when I was just a few years old in
the early 70's, and the book seemed old then. There was a
family with definitely two but possibly three children.
Two of the children were an elementary school aged boy and girl,
and I think there was also a toddler. The two stories I
remember are when the mother talks to the kids about doing
laundry and using bluing for whites (another hint that this is
an older book). The kids then hit on the bright (no pun
intended) idea that if bluing is good for washing white laundry,
it must also be good for washing their white dog. They
wind up using WAY too much bluing, and the dog turns blue.
The other story I remember vaguely is that the boy falls ill
with I think the mumps and his cheeks are all swollen like a
chipmunk. I remember the book definitely had Catholic
overtones there was always a moral to every story.
P453:
Pirate Treasure Island Longboat Pearl Ring
Girl visits relatives on island, who need money to keep it. She
& cousins search for pirate treasure, find a cave where main
treasure was washed to sea. She finds small chest of treasure in a
longboat, with enough coins to save the island, and jewelry that
they share. The girl picks a pearl ring.
Elizabeth Honness, Mystery of the Pirate's Ghost,1966, copyright.This
may not be the right book, but it has all the elements except for
the longboat. Abby and Kit move to their old ancestral home, which
their parents are going to have to sell, because they don't have
enough money. There is a mystery with the caretaker, and
mysterious noises coming from the house, reputed to be from the
ghost of an ancestor captured by pirates. Eventually, the kids
find a secret passage, a treasure, and the skeleton of the missing
ancestor. The treasure saves the house, and each family member
gets to pick a piece of the treasure to keep.(and if it's not the book, it still is worth reading!)
After
obtaining
a
copy, I regret to say that the suggestion Mystery
of the Pirate's Ghost is not the book I am looking for. There are some
similarities, but enough differences that I am quite sure. For
one thing, I remember that the book was narrated in the first
person, from the viewpoint of the girl. When I read it in the
1960s, even then it seemed to be a rather
old-fashioned story. I'm pretty sure that the girl talked
about making candied orange peel somewhere in the book. As I said in my brief description, when they found the
location in the cave where the treasure had been hidden, there
was a connection to the ocean that had washed the treasure
away. The girl found a small chest hidden in a longboat that
had been left in the cave. They theorized that member of the
pirate crew had stolen and secreted it to recover
later. The small chest contained both coins and jewelry. The
coins were to be used to save her relatives' property, and as
the one who found the chest, the girl was given first choice
to pick from the jewelry. She picked ring with a single pearl,
saying something like it wasn't the most valuable piece
available, but that it would have been selfish of her to pick
the most valuable piece. After everyone had picked something,
they spent some time comparing their choices and trading with
each other.
P454:
phillippe, swans, emerald necklace
This was a book I read in middle school in the mid 80's. It
belonged to my older sister.It was about a girl who was
returning to a place she vaguely was familiar with. Her stepmother
moved there after her father's death but I am not sure if she knew
it was her step-mom, she may have thought it was returning to a place she vaguely was
familiar with. Her stepmother moved there after her father's death
but I am not sure if she knew it was her step-mom, she may have
thought it was her real mom. And, I don't think her 'mom' knew or
was aware that the girl had been there before. She felt she knew
where she moved to but couldn't place it. The swan(s?) seemed to
remember her. There are people in the story who do not want
her to find out the truth. There is a pond and bridge (or
something) over it. In the end, she remembers being a baby and
someone killed her mother (I think) and a box containing an
emerald necklace was tossed (by her mother) into the pond and
subsequently buried in the mud. The truth is revealed. I think
this is what the people were looking for and didn't want the girl
to find. I believe the girls name was Phillippe. I know for
sure it was something that I could not pronounce and asked my mom
how to say it so it must have been unusual enough that I hadn't
seen it before.
Christie, Agatha, Sleeping Murder.
This is a wild guess - but enough of your description reminded me
of the Miss Marple story Sleeping Murder to make it worthwhile
suggesting.
P455:
Pregnant Good Girl 60s Teen
From the late 1960s/early 1970s This book is similar to
"Phoebe," but it is NOT that book. Same time period, I
believe.Perfect teenage HS senior girl - nice
family, good grades, good girl. Has a perfectly nice boyfriend.
Has a best friend named Suzanne, but nicknamed Suki. Perfect
girl finds herself pregnant. Scared. Tries all kinds of old
wives tales to have a miscarriage including sitting in a bathtub
drinking Quinine (?) - i don't know why. Anyway, she becomes
more and more paranoid trying to keep her secret and then
realizes that everyone around her - family, boyfriend and Suki -
seem to be talking about her behind her back. They stop
conversation when she appears - that sort of thing. One night,
Suki is sleeping over her house. The entire household seems on
edge, and Perfect Girl is just about at the end of her rope -
sure that they all know and she is mortified. Suki is acting
strangely while they listen to records and eat popcorn in her
bedroom. Just when the tension between the girls reaches a
breaking point, Perfect Girl hear singing from outside. It would
see that the Boys Glee club is standing on her front lawn
serenading her (...right...). It's what they always do at this
time of year at the house of the girl picked as...Homecoming
Queen? ...Senior of the Year?.... something like that. At this
moment she realizes what all the whispering among her loved ones
has been about - they were in on it. She also realizes that she
won't be able to accept and as her parents call up the stairs to
her, she knows she must go down and tell them the truth.
Zoa Sherburne, Too Bad about the Haines Girl,
1967, copyright.I
hunted for this one last year and bought a copy - the same scenes
had stood out in my mind.
P456:
Princess and the Pea Interactive Story
As a child I had a Princess and the
Pea book, that was interactive. On the side it had buttons that
you could press that made sounds that went along with the story.
It told you in the book when to press the buttons. It came out in
the early '90s I think. I think it had 10 buttons. I can't find
it.
P457:
Princess Named Aurora who Can't Smile
I am trying to find a beautifully illustrated
children's book about a princess named Aurora who could
not laugh or cry. I read it in the 1950's growing up in
Ohio, and loved the beautiful illustrations in the
oversize book. The illustrations were persons in France in
dress circa 1500-1600 hundreds(Elizabethan?Rennaisance?) The
story is how she was taught to feel sadness and happiness.Any
help would be greatly appreciated.
I am sorry that is not the way
your website wanted this but I could not get it to work
properly.
P458: Pinocchio (1960s or 70s Edition)
Looking for English-language edition of Pinocchio I enjoyed in the
1970s (could have been pub. earlier).It
was
a large hardback with very beautiful color illustrations in a very
naturalistic, almost photographic style. The Blue Fairy looked
like a little girl with long straight blue-black hair.
Carlo
Collodi. Sergio Rizzato (illus), Pinocchio, 1966,
approximate.A De Luxe Golden Book, from
Golden Press, beautifully illustrated in a fairly realistic style.
I can't find a picture of the fairy online, but here's a link to
the cover, in case it looks familiar: http://www.alephbet.com/pictures/30868.jpg
P459:
Puppies, Tree
Children's picture book was about a tree that grew little puppies
- they were on the tree looking like furry balls and children
could pluck one and once plucked it would be a puppy.
Elizabeth
Jane
Coatsworth,
The Pug Tree, 1957. Apparently
this is a short story included in the anthology "The Giant
Golden Book of Dogs, Cats and Horses", which features over 50
stories by Coatsworth, plus poetry and stories by her daughter,
Kate Barnes. The puppies are plucked from the tree by their
curly tails. Illustrations by Feodor Rojankovsky.'
P460: Pet Rabbit Late 1958 or early 1959 when I
was six I got a library book. Boy carried his pet rabbit by the
ears. Rabbit started acting sick and went to vet. Vet said it
was because of the carrying and showed the boy how to carry the
rabbit. Hard cover w/ pastels. Many illustrations. Thin.
P461:
Patches Looking for 1950's possible
1940's childrens reader (possibly Catholic school)
containing a story possibly named Patches. A young
poor girl whose dresses are always filled with patches goes
to a birthday party. Her mother puts animal
patches on the dress to dress it up, Another story is about
a poor man who stops at a house for food. The woman makes
him a cake, but the cake is always to big so she keeps
trying to make a smaller one. Could be in Dick and Jane
readers. Tried looking but sellers don't always list the
stories they contain. Please help, have been looking and
looking!!
Pretty Patches, Not a real solution but--I
remember this story from my friend's Catholic School reader.
'Pretty Patches'--the child gets to go to the birthday party in
her dress that the mother stayed up all night patching with
animal-shaped patches. I mentioned this story in college to a
fellow student from a Catholic school background and he
remembered it as everyone's favorite. Sister M. Marguerite, These Are Our Neighbors.I think this is part of the Faith and Freedom readers
series for grade schoolers. I remember this story and it might
be in "These Are Our Neighbors" for second graders. Faith and
Freedom Readers, These Are
Our Neighbors,1942,
1962, copyright.This
was a reader in the "Faith and Freedom" series. The book was
published in 1942, and again in 1962. I don't know what
changes were made when it was reprinted, but the story "Pretty
Patches" is definitely in the 1962 edition, in the section
titled "New Neighbors." The book is divided into seven
sections, titled We Live Together, New Neighbors, School
Neighbors, City Neighbors, Story-Time Neighbors, Farm
Neighbors, and Stories We All Like. Each section contains 5-10
stories or poems. Some of the other stories in the book
include: The Twins Birthday Surprise, A Blue Dog, The Boy Who
Could Not Forget, The Wise Little Owl, How Mary Saved Her
Father, The Little Soldier, The Old Woman and the New Bird,
Mrs. Goose and the Rain, Little Half-Chick, Bobby Squirrel's
Funny Tail, Uncle Tom's Surprise, The Little Fir Tree, The
Soldier Saint, The Story of Saint Bernadette, Saint Francis
and the Birds, and Christ Our King.
P462: Phoenix & Egg
book from when i was a child in the 80's it had beautiful
illustrations (8/12 x 11).Descriptions
of the stories I can remember:
-a phoenix and its egg
-a 2 inch man and he hid in a reed by a river -a giant got tricked
and beat his 3 daughters in a burlap sack!
-a dwarf got carried away by an eagle
Kincaid, The Kincaid's Book of Wizards, Giants, Trolls and
Magic, 1984.
P463:
Prairie Dogs
Book I loved as a child in the late 1950's is about a prairie dog
colony. My mother remembers the title as Peter Picketpin (sp?) and
His Dozens and Dozens of Prairie Dog Cousins. I have searched high
and low under that title and wonder if it correct - or misspelled?
Can anyone help? Thank you.
Flavia Ga'g (sister of well-known auther Wanda
Ga'g), Tweeter of Prairie Dog
Town,1957.
Ok, so the title doesn't quite match - but how many prairie dog
books can there be from the 1950's? And "Tweeter" does sound a
bit like "Peter" - especially if you last heard it as a child,
50-odd years ago. In any case, I thought it might be worth
looking into. "A plump little prairie dog lives in a crowded
burrow with dozens of relatives. He is very sad because he can't
learn to whistle loud enough to act as a guard for the town.
After much practice, however, he unexpectedly becomes the town
hero." Dust jacket shows one prairie dog (presumably Tweeter)
sitting at the mouth of his hole, holding a red flower - either
sniffing or eating it. More red flowers bloom around the hole,
with cactus off to the sides, and the sun rising (or setting?)
behind some hills in the background. Florella
Rose, Peter Picket Pin,1953."Picket Pin" is a
nickname for a type of ground squirrel that is often seen
sitting up on its hind legs, watching for predators. Florella
Rose, Peter Picket Pin,1953, approximate.This
is in Solved Stumpers: Peter and his dozens and dozens of
cousins tricked the coyote by popping out of different holes. Florella
Rose,
Peter Picket Pin,1953. Peter the prairie dog
and his dozens of lookalike cousins fool the coyote by popping
out of different holes. This is on the "Solved Mysteries"
page - I posted it last week but for some reason, it didn't make
it onto the site. Rose,
Florella,
Peter Picket Pin, 1953. Found the answer
in the "Solved Mysteries" section of this very site. "Peter and
his dozens and dozens of cousins tricked the coyote by popping
out of different holes."
P464: Pet
Can Talk at Midnight My grandmother read me this story
about a young girl who loved her pet (a hamster or a guinea pig
perhaps) and she wished they could talk to one another.
Something happens where the pet can speak while the clock strikes
12. She finds that she has nothing to say but "I love you"
or they just look at each other and communicate without words all
the affection they have for each other. My grandma used to
cry every time she read it and I would love to find it for her
now. I believe it is a very old story.
Paul Gallico,
The Day The Guinea Pig Talked, 1963. Probably this one. I
looked it up a few years ago for our girl who has guinea pigs.
P465:
Princess and the Pea A version of "The Princess and the
Pea" illustrated with a black/white ink cross hash shading
technique. Has no or scarce color highlights. Princess is a young
woman (not juvenile). Last image in book is the pea on a pillow.
Was an old book when I checked it out from library in 1989. P466:
Pumpkin stealing witch and wizard
I am searching for a children's book about a 600 year
old witch and an 800 yr. old wizard who, I think keep
stealing a pumpkin from each other...or.. I can't quite
remember the details...the last page the witch has won
whatever the contest is and says "I want my pumpkin
pie"....hope you can find it... I am searching for a
children's book about a 600 year old witch and an 800 yr. old
wizard (not sure of the exact age..but in the 100's)....they look
for a pumpkin, fool each other and the last page the witch is
victorious and says "I want my pumpkin pie"...would have been
1980-1995 era..thanks
The Vanishing Pumpkin. 600 yr. old witch 800 yr.old wizard P467:
Poppy name of character or town book set in I
read this book as a child in the 80's and can't remember the
title or author of it. It's about a girl named Poppy or
who lives in a town where there's a hill or field of poppies.
She has dark chocolate eyes and a pet. I can't remember the
name of the pet but I think it's a mouse (although my aunt
thinks it's a cat) a little gray one who follows the little
girl everywhere. (It's not Poppy by Avi, that I'm sure of.)
She an orphan perhaps or a caretaker of sorts I'm a little
vague about that and I believe there are other children in the
book too with "cutesy" names. Thank you!
Dorothy Haas, Poppy and the Outdoors Cat,1981.Because their house is too small for a pet in
addition to their large family, Poppy Flower trains her
newly-found cat to be an "outdoors cat."'
P468a:
Poetry Book Pre 1945. I had this book as a
child in the 50's, but I think it belonged to an older brother, so
the book was probably published in the 30's or 40's. It was
a light blue book, about 9" by 12", rather thin with all the
common nursery rhymes such as Little Boy Blue, wynken blynken and
Nod, Mistress Mary, Old Mother Hubbard. It was nicely
illustrated in color and print was fairly large. I don't
remember what was on the cover and it was a hardback. The
last poem in the book was Little Orphan Annie. This oversized book
9 x 12 was light blue in color. I think there was some picture on
the cover, but I don't know what it was. The book was quite thin,
with lovely colored pictures and usually one poem to a page. It
was a compilation of nursery rhymes and poetry with examples like,
The cow jumped over the moon, Little jack horner, Three men in a
tub, I have a little shadow, Wynken, Blinken and Nod, Three little
kittens, Old Mother Hubbard, Little Boy Blue, and jack Sprat. I do
remember that Little Orphan Annie was on the last page and the
picture showed her going up the stairs with dark shadows on the
wall! 2011 P468b:
Pig, Monkey, Fez
Hats, Storytelling Contest Solved: Hamid
of Aleppo I read this book in the 1970s (so written
in the '60s or '70s I think). I remember 3-4 animals, one of
which was a pig and another a monkey. One or more of them wore
a Fez hat and a vest. I recall 3 animals traveling together
and coming across a 4th animal. They decided to have a
storytelling contest to see who could tell such a whopper that
the 4th animal would have to say "I can't believe it". If the
4th animal said that, then the other 3 would win. Each of the
3 told their story and they got more ridiculous than the one
before, but the 4th animal said he believed it each time. Then
the 4th animal told his story of coming across the first
3 animals and how they were escaped slaves of his and that
they were to return to his home and be slaves. That forced the
3 animals to say "I don't believe it" otherwise they'd lose
their freedom. In the end, the 4th animal won the other 3
animals' clothing and they ended up being naked.
From
Druscilla of Druscilla's Books in Baltimore: this is Hamid of
Aleppo by Clive
King! The Macmillan Company, New York, 1958.
Illustrations by Giovannetti. The story of a "little creature"
from Syria on a quest to find out what he is; he turns out to be a
kind of hampster. Scarce. P469:
Prince loses family in storm, remakes them as clay figurines Illustrated children's book I had
sometime around 1952. It told the story of a young prince that
loses his family and kingdom when they are carried away by a
storm. He makes figurines of his family from clay and when he
cries on them, they come to life as his family.
Ruth
Rempel, Deegie and the Fairy
Princess,
1949. Your memory vaguely resembles this story of
a little boy who lives all alone in a castle, surrounded by his
beloved pets (barnyard animals), until the castle and animals
are all swept away by the North Wind. A fairy princess is moved
by his tears and takes him to a safe new world, where he
recreates his animal friends using clay from a nearby stream. He
uses the fairy's wand to bring his friends to life. P470: Penguins show
stuffy lady how to have fun? A prim & proper lady
winds up w/ some penguins in her apartment who rattle her nerves
by getting into her things, like her refrigerator. She eventually
loosens up & gets tipsy with the penguins by drinking
"raspberry woozle" (or something silly like that) and enjoys their
company. P471: Puppy saves
something, possibly winter/christmas/animals Oversized hardback, puppy that
saves/does something around christmas/winter. Lots of blues and
purples, publish date before 1979. Not sure if any people,
remember other animals, lots of illustrations. Possibly forest
scenes or vintage settings. Not the Pokey Puppy book, but may be
related somehow.
Kathryn
Jackson, The Animal's Merry
Christmas.I
can't remember the title of the story but I remember a Christmas
puppy story in The Animal's Merry Christmas, illustrated by
Richard Scarry. The edition my sister had in the 1970's was
oversized [...]and Kathryn Jackson also wrote The Poky Little
Puppy, which may be why it seemed related. Irma
Wilde, Polly's Christmas Present, 1953. I don't know
if this was ever an over-size book, but Polly's Christmas
Present was a Wonder Book (like Little Golden Books) about Santa
giving one of his own dog's little black puppies to a child who
desperately wants one -- the puppy basically ''saves the day'' P472: Party Pig story
but NOT Richard Scarry Saw Party Pig by Kathryn Jackson on
your "solved" page, so excited. Looked it up, and the Scarry illus
are NOT what I recall. The story sounds right but I recall more
60s-70s illus., and I think it might have been part of an
oversized hardcover anthology (NOT Bedtime Book of 365 Stories).
Redone?
Helme Heine,
The Pigs Wedding, 1985, approximate. Not sure if
this is the book you are looking for or not but....it is one of my
favorite picture books! "As Porker and Curleytail's wedding gets
underway, the guests all have a great time despite the threat of
rain. Later, when the creative-thinking hosts mix some colorful
paint with some vivid imagination, things really start to get
interesting." It's definitely the same or
similar story to Party Pig (see Solved Mysteries, "Party Pig"): a
pig gradually gives away all the food his mother intended to use
for his birthday party. In the end, his friends come back bearing
dishes they cooked with the food they borrowed. But it had totally
different illustrations: not the 1954 Richard Scarry ones. I would
have been reading it circa 1977. P473: Polar Bear rug Mom(age 66)remembers her mom
reading a story about a little girl Ellie(?)who went to visit her
father at his office. She lay down on a Polar Bear rug and
fell asleep. She was then transported across the ocean to
Antarctica (?). Black & white drawings of birds. Was a dream!
story in lg bk of lit. P474: Picture book,
woman moves, house needs painting Picture book: woman w/ house, cow
in pasture, brook running by. Perfect for her but needed to
be painted. She moved out and went around the corner to the
next house 3x cuz ea. was missing 1 item her old house had.
Ended up back at her old house which a nice man had painted and
she was happy. P475: Prince, ice
cream sundae
Children's book, maybe from the 1970s, about a young prince who
demands something both hot and cold and gets an ice cream sundae.
Hot as Summer Cold as Winter, 1946. I remember reading a story
with this premise in a reading primer (More Streets
and Roads) when I was
in elementary school. The publisher was Scott Foresman and
Company, which is still in the business of creating reading series
for schools. Perhaps they used the story in a later reader, also,
or maybe it was put out in a trade format. According to the
description the textbook had a green cover, 319 pages and 39
stories including Uncle George and the Voices, Hot as Summer Cold
As Winter, The Five Hundred Hats (Dr. Seuss), The North Wind and
the Sun, and Cinderella. P476: Picnic Looking for a book I read from
library 1976-80. Kids (blonde and freckled) out of school in
summer. Mom packed a picnic basket for them. I
remember she packed what I thought was waffles could have been
syrupwafflen or pizzelles. they were out on a blanket in a
field. I wish I remembered more!
Lindgren, Astrid,Have you looked at any of the "Noisy Village" books by
Astrid Lindgren?I am not familiar
with the way they were published I read the UK versions and I know
in the third UK book Happy Days at Bullerby there is a picnic. The
time frame fits - they were published in th early 60s through to
the mid seventies. The blonde hair and freckles fit with
illustrations I remember.Actually, I
think picnics might have been a feature in most of them except the
Christmas one. This stumper is not solved.
What I am looking for is not Noisy
Village by Astrid Lindgren (good suggestion).From what I remember this was a picture
book not a chapter book.There
were several kids. They had a blanket they put down to picnic on.There might have been dandelions or
queen ann's lace.The waffles are
what really stick in my mind.And
drinks that were in blue (?) bottles. P477: Princess
seeking children dancers recital 1950 or before. Children's picture
book. Princess who lives in castle loves to dance. Perhaps a
ballerina, she travels though the neigborhood/kingdom looking for
children to perform dance with her for a recital. Encounters
various children and parents in assembling her cast. P478: Playhouse
built by father, may have playhouse in the title
Date:1967 or earlier. I
checked this book out of our church library no later than 1967.It was an oversize hardcover about a
little girl whose father built her a playhouse, a real little
house in the back yard.I was around
four, and I loved this story so much that I pestered my own father
until he built me a playhouse for my next birthday!It was not written on a four year old reading level, more,
for an adult to read to a child.As I
recall (but I could be mistaken) the illustrations were black line
drawings with two colors (blue and something else, maybe?).I've
been looking for this book for years. I hope someone here can
help! P479: Peanut- or
bowling-pin shaped creatures When I was growing up in the late
70's/early 80's, there was a book I liked to read about colorful
animals that were shaped like peanuts or bowling pins. Each one
was a different color. The problem is I don't remember what in the
world the book was about or what the animals were. Rabbits, maybe?
Annette
Tison and Talus Taylor, Barbapapa (series), 1970s. Just do a google image search on the
name of this series, and you'll be able to tell immediately if
it's what you're looking for! You can also see more details in
the Solved
mysteries section. Savannah, Barbapapa.This possibly sounds like the Barbapappa
series, which feature large friendly blobby creatures that change
shape and try to help their human friends. The Barba creatures
come in various colors, tending generally to a duckpin shape, with
each one having a various talent such as music, taming animals,
etc. Hope this helps. Annette
Tison, Barbapapa, 1970's, approximate. This sounds like it might be one of the
Barbapapa books. Talus Taylor
and Annette Tison, Barbapapa, 1970. Barbapapa,
or
one
of its sequels, perhaps?There were
ten books in the original series, originally written in French but
soon translated into English.A
Google image search for Barbapapa should give you plenty of
pictures to help you decide. Annette
Tison and Talus Taylor, Barbapapa.This sounds like the Barbapapa books (and
tv show). P480: Pug tree book Pug tree; all I remember is a picture of a big
tree like an apple tree and instead of apples there were little
pugs. The kids could "pick a pug" to take home and love. I would
dearly love to have a copy of this book--thanks for all your
help!
Elizabeth
Coatsworth, The Pug Tree, 1957. This quest appears to be the same as Unsolved P168, P263,
and P459 (to which I submitted a response). The answer seems to be
by Elizabeth Jane Coatsworth, The Pug Tree, 1957. Apparently this
is a short story included in the anthology "The Giant Golden Book
of Dogs, Cats and Horses", which features over 50 stories by
Coatsworth, plus poetry and stories by her daughter, Kate Barnes.
The puppies are plucked from the tree by their curly tails.
Illustrations by Feodor Rojankovsky. P481: "Pitcher and
Me" boarding school boys US 60's 4-6 grade chapter bk I read
circa 1963. Robert the regular kid, Pitcher nerd/oddball.
Pitcher is surprise hero of football game, Robert tries to run
away from school, Pitcher backs into a radiator & gets
embarrassing burn, last scene Robert meets a girl. I can give more
details even after 50 yrs.
Stephen Cole, Pitcher and
I, 1963.
"Robby Armstrong and Pitcher, roommates in boarding school."
Alternate author's name: Gale D. Webbe (same person). P482: Puffin Buried
in Snow SOLVED: Crosby Bonsall, What
Spot?, 1980,
approximate. P483: Poem about a
circle of people May I ask for a poem title?
It's short, about 16 lines or so. The narrator sees all the
people inside a circle, and she is outside. It ends with
saying that 'they could erase the circle, and I could step inside
where it had been, but they would still be in--and I would still
be out.
Markham, Edwin, Outwitted."They drew a circle that shut me
out heretic, rebel, a thing to flout./ But love and I had the wit
to win /
We drew a circle that took them in.” P484: Penguin a boy
recieves a package from his uncle from north pole, it is a
penguin. he lives in the refrigerator..he collects buttons shiny
things etc and takes the trinkets back into
refrigerator......read to us by 5th grade teacher.... so enjoyed
and have wondered and tryed to find for years.....and thats all
i remember....thank you
Mr. Popper's Penguins Atwater,
Richard and Florence, Mr.
Popper's Penguins, 1938. The details don't all match exactly as you
remember them, but you have to be referring to Mr. Popper's
Penguins. Be glad you had this wonderful book read to you before
the Jim Carrey movie came out. The movie isn't bad, but it
really has nothing to do with the book,except for cute penguin
antics. P485: Puffin toy gets
misplaced A boy is out with his mother,
perhaps shopping. He has his favorite toy with him. It's a soft
toy puffin. While they are sitting having lunch he accidently
throws the puffin and it lands in the hood of a strangers jacket.
The stranger walks away and the boy trys to get the toy back.
Sarah Garland, Polly's Puffin,1988.
From the library catalog: While they are in a restaurant, baby Jim
tosses his sister Polly's toy puffin into the hood of a stranger's
coat, and he leads them on a merry chase through the city. A
really sweet picture book. P486: Picture
book from 1970s Gorey-esque
Hardcover picture book from mid to late 1970s maybe early 80s...
pen/ink illustration in style of Gorey or Sendak... spooky family
day out (maybe vampires?) and specific picture I remember was them
getting into a car that looked like a caterpillar. basically
they just were having a day out...
I would be willing to bet
this is something by Charles
Addams. He and Ray
Bradbury together
created the original Addams Family (Bradbury called them the
Elliotts) stories and illustrations. They were really popular in
the New Yorker. Gorey,
Edward. You might want
to check all of Gorey's picture books for children many of
them are very weird indeed. P487:Picture
book showing monsters as people before they transformed SOLVED: How to Care for your Monster. 2012 P488:
Picture book, girl lives in bus, very poor, only eats apples SOLVED: Joan Aiken, The Cat Sat on the
Mat, 1968. P489: Psychic link
between teens, time travel I think I read this book in the
late 80s/early 90s. I believe it was set in England. It was about
a loner boy who meets a popular, beautiful girl, and they begin
developing a psychic link together. At first, she imagines
something and he draws it. Later, they begin to be able to travel
back in time and see medieval scenes together. Other details: His
father is having an affair, and his home life is suffering because
of it. His mother wanted to be a pianist but ended up a housewife.
The girl (who he eventually falls for) is the child of a rape, and
her mother is very protective of her. Also, she has a boyfriend
who at one point drives a car into a reservoir or lake and, using
their psychic link, the boy "hears" her call for help. Hope
someone can help me find this!
Lynne Reid Banks, Melusine, 1990. This sounds a little like Melusine, but
it's set in France, not England, and I'm not sure about the
psychic powers. The rest of it is very similar though, so it's
worth checking out. Sherryl
Jordan,
The Juniper Game, 1994.P490: Poem about
Sammy the snail Our teacher in an English primary
school in the 1960s used to recite a very gloomy poem about Sammy
the snail, who said 'I fear I shall never get out of this pail'.
He ends up getting killed and the last line is 'And that was the
end of poor Sam-u-el'. Where could this depressing poem come
from? P491: Pineye
Thrumeye SOLVED: Letbridge, K.G., In search of
Thunder. P492: Plastic walking baby doll I am looking for a book I read as a
child. All I can tell you is it was one of those "walking
dolls" ( those dolls that are hard plastic & about 3ft tall )
this doll was like that sorta and she had a bear with her.
I remember her looking at herself in the mirror and can't
remember a thing story wise. I checked it out every week from our
school library ! This was in 1969 -- the book must have been
older. IT was a hard back book - larger than a little golden
book but not a huge book.
Wright, Dare. The Lonely Doll, Edith & Mr.
Bear, etc. Sounds like one of the Edith books
by Dare Wright. Check out Loganberry's Most
Requested for more details.
P493: Prince Looking for Princess In the early 80's I remember
reading a paperback book dealing with a Prince looking for just
the right Princess for him. He kept refusing the princesses
that were found and they were then put/imprisoned in a palace
together (the princesses). There was an Indian Princess with
an elephant, a modern Princess who flew airplanes and one with
horses I believe. As far as I remember the illustrations had sort
of an Indian or Middle Eastern flare lots of color and the outfits
also seemed to fit this idea. I'm guessing it's the
seldom seen The Five Wives of Silverbeard (1977), originally written in
Italian by Adela Turin, Francesca Cantarelli, & Nella Bosnia .
Lucky I own it, or I'd never have guessed! Original title:Le 5
mogli di Barbabrizzolata ."Silverbeard's concept of perfect spouse
differs greatly from that of his five wives." At least two arrive on elephants, but
one does arrive in a plane - and is dressed in 1920s American
fashion. He gets tired of one wife, another wife changes and
outgrows him, and all the wives end up in a separate palace with
their pets, books and instruments, and form a traveling orchestra
and comedy troupe. You can see the cover of the book in Google
Images - if you search on the authors' names. It's illustrated in
bright colors - as is the rest of the book. P494: Peter's
Adventures, rainbow doors The book was middle level with some
illustrations (black and white). There's a boy who finds himself
in front of 7 doors, each a different color (rainbow). In
one he is underwater and angers an octopus and he ends up growing
a third arm. the book was only approx 1/2" thick spine, blue
binding. P495:Potlicker
A dog named Potlicker (1958) was afraid of eating with the other
dogs, so he waited until they left. Then he would lick the pot. A
boy loves him. The dog is killed on a track. Boy gets one of his
puppies. (fifth graders)
P496: Playground toys
made out of people SOLVED:
Monika Beisner, Fantastic
Toys. P497:Puppy SOLVED: Ole Risom, Jan Pfloog (illustrator), I Am A Puppy,
1970. P498: Pit, Trombone,
Cookbook saves Band Trip Young adult book, a boy named Pit
(or Pitt). He plays trombone in the school band. His parents are
health nuts, and he writes a cookbook about healthy food that
tastes good, then sells it as a fundraiser for his band trip. He
crushes on one of the cheerleaders. P499: Pancake runs
away SOLVED: UKNOWN, THE RUNAWAY PANCAKE. P500: Pioneer
Stagecoach Family SOLVED:Mabel O'Donnell, Singing
Wheels - The Alice And Jerry Books. P501: Prisoners sent to colonize other planets SOLVED: Douglas Hill, Exiles of
Colsec P502: Pear and baby growth compared This is an elementary picture book
comparing a pear that grows in a bottle after the pear blossom is
placed in the bottle to a baby growing in a mom. P503: Police Family
Drama Police family drama involving
veteran southern California policeman being investigated due to a
shooting incident. He lives with his wife, teen-age son and
daughter and family dog on or near a beach. A raft moored just
offshore plays a prominent role in story. Primarily a coming of
age novel. Published in 1990s (I believe, but certainly
prior to 2007). Perhaps a paperback only. Do not remember anything
about author or title except at the time I read it, I looked for
other books by same author and it appeared to be only book author
had written. P504:
Pitter Pat, Pitter Pat SOLVED: Else Holmelund Minarek, Little Bear's Visit, 1961.
P504a:
Paul Bunyan stories from 1950s
Paul Bunyan and Other Tales (something like that), 700 pages or
so, about 20 stories... all the typical tall tales but a couple of
tales I can't remember the names of, a boy pulled into the lake
(illustration here, very creepy) and a man doomed to ride the
train forever. From 1950's, hardbound. P505:
Pegasus and Bellerophon
I'm looking for an illustrated book about Pegasus and Bellerophon
from the late 60s or possibly early 70s. It was a hardcover and
beautifully illustrated. I don't think it's the Turska book; the
cover on the Turska book is a different style of illustration.
Best in Children's Books vol 21, 1959. This is an
anthology series, and the Pegasus story had some absolutely
beautiful illustrations. The dust jacket can be seen if you
... search "The Winged Horse:Pegasus". It may not be the one you
remember, or it may have been published as a stand-alone book. P506:
Plague, young girls, reign of Charles II
Can't remember if this was an adult book, but I read it before
1985. Set during the reign of Charles II, the plague hits
and a young girls is forced to nurse her young man (lover) back to
health. I remember graphic details about the plague sores,
and I'm pretty sure Nell Gwynn features in the story.
It's been a long time since I read it, but could this be Forever
Amber by Kathleen Winsor?
Constance Gluyas, The King's Brat: this one is a romance.
There are also some young adult level stories which involve young
girls coping with plague and their loved ones. One is "Beyond
the Weir Bridge", by Hester Burton. The other is "A Parcel of
Patterns", by Jill Paton Walsh.
P507:
Palominos
Children's or young adult series about a young lady that raises
palominos . I must have read this series in the early 60's.
They were in paperback. Thats all I remember.
The Tizz series, by Elsa
Bialk. I don't know if the family raised all palaminos, but
the "star" horse of the series, Tizz, is definitely one. It
may be the book you're looking
The possible solution is the Linda
Craig series. Resembles a “Nancy Drew on
horseback” mystery series. There was an “original” series
with a palomino named Chica d’Oro and an “updated” series with the
palomino renamed as Amber. P508:
Pink and purple birds eating birdseed Printed prior to 1986/1987, but other than that I have no
idea of the age. The image that I have is of little painted (maybe
watercolor?) pink and purple birds eating bird seed. It is either
a page in the book or on the cover - it was a thin, hard covered
young children's book (picture book?). P509:
Pink fluffy popcorn creatures Childrens book from the 70's, Toronto, Canada. read it at
school or library. a boy goes on an adventure to outer space or
some imaginary world with his small white dog and they meet some
pink fluffy creatures that look like a page full of pink fluffy
popcorn. P510:
Poor Minnie car This is an infant rhyming book that I had as a small child in
1970. It began "Poor Minnie car has shed a wheel, she's truly
stuck let's face it. She cannot move another inch till someone can
replace it. Along the hot and dusty road the tired toys came
tramping. With a tent and lots of food... P511:
Pioneer girl captured by Indian Tribe 1950's vintage - story about a young pioneer girl captured by
a tribe of Indians. Her hair is blonde & they name her
"Cornsilk" or "Cornflower" (something like that) and the story
recounts how she assimilates into the tribe.
Lenski, Lois, Indian Captive: the story
of Mary Jemison. In this classic frontier adventure,
Lois Lenski reconstructs the real life story of Mary Jemison, who
was captured in a raid as young girl and raised amongst the Seneca
Indians. (Her father compared her hair to corn stalks.)
This could be Indian Captive, the true
story of Mary Jemison, by Lois Lowry. It
was originally published in 1941, so it definitely would have been
around (and probably still popular) in the 50s. If that's
not the right book, it could be another version of Mary Jemison's
story.
I believe Lenski, not Lowry is the author of
Indian Captive. P512:
Person stuck on top of rising bread Kahl, Virginia, The Dutchess bakes a Cake. P513: Portraits come to life, spooky book The book I am looking for is a children's book
for approximately 4th-6th grade reading level (I believe).
I purchased it at a school book fair in the mid to late 70's, I
think. I believe it has a purple cover and it was sort of
a spooky book. It is about a girl who goes into a quiet
but elaborate mansion and spots 7 to 9 portraits on the
wall. One of them is a woman named Mavis, who had a snarly
look on her face. There MAY have been another character
named Tovis. As the story progresses, the portraits begin
to come to life.
I think P513 is The Wicked Wicked Ladies in the Garden by
Mary Chase This is the very scary The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden by
Mary Chase. (The paperback is sometimes titled The Wicked, Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House).
It's about a bratty girl named Maureen Messerman who breaks into
an old mansion, insults the portraits of seven ladies on the
stairway, and is chased out of the house by seven pigeons.
When she returns to the house, the ladies are there, and they
want her to join them and stay...forever. It's deliciously
creepy! The Wicked,
Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House by Mary
Chase, 1971. This book is also called The
Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden. I think one of
the older editions of the book had a purple cover. The
story is about Maureen, the meanest girl in the neighborhood,
who gets curious about an old, abandoned mansion and decides to
sneak inside and have a look around. She finds the
portraits that you remember and says nasty things to each of
them. The problem is that she also finds a pretty bracelet
and keeps it for herself. The bracelet belongs to one of
the women in the portraits. These women are a group of
sisters who used evil magic to turn themselves into pigeons
years ago so that they could fly wherever they wished and follow
their own selfish whims instead of staying with their more
philanthropic parents. The women pull Maureen back into
the past and keep trying to get the bracelet back from
her. Maureen is helped by a leprechaun that lives in the
mansion's garden. Is this Mary Chase, The
Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden again.See solved
mysteries. This must be "The
Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden", by Mary
Chase, 1968 (originally published as "The
Wicked, Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House") P514: Pig Stuffed Animal This book was both a craft and story book, it taught you to
make a stuffed pig and it had a story about the animated lives of
the pigs. This book was probably from the 90's.
Could the book beThe
Wonderful Pigs of Jillian Jiggs?http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2642142-the-wonderful-pigs-of-jillian-jiggs P515:
Pirate Adventure
Looking for a book about 2 boys who go on a pirate adventure with
their uncle. I remember swords with "no retreat" " no surrender"
on them. At the end of the book when they return home they have a
magic black dot on a finger to send them on another adventure. At
least 30 yrs old, I had it in UK. P516:
Promotional Storybook
I had a book in the 1960's as a child. It is possible it was
a promotional children's book from a TV repair store (Zenith, RCA,
Motorola). I believe it had a white, hard cover.
Inside were all kinds of stories, including The Emperor's New
Clothes, Tar Baby, Wynkin, Blynkin and Nod and The Gingham Dog and
the Calico Cat among many more. I have ruled out: Children's
Stories
selected by the Child Study Association, Young Years: Best Loved
Stories and Poems for Little Children, Better Homes and Garden's
Story Book from the 60's, The Tall Book of Make Believe,The
Bookhouse Series
The Illustrated Treasury of Children's
Literature? See Solved
Mysteries.
P517: Pre-teens on a
picnic on island
The book I'm looking for was read
to me in an Iowa 3rd grade classroom in 1955. I
believe it was a short "chapter book". The plot
involved a neighborhood group of children (pre-teens I
think) who go on a picnic on a small island in the
middle of a shallow creek. Not sure if they got to
the island by raft, row boat, or stepping stones.
No adults were present. They picked wild
strawberries or raspberries and had a lovely picnic
lunch. I've searched for this book/story for
40 years, unsuccessfully. Have looked at
series publications including Bobbsey Twins, Boxcar
Children, and Betsy-Tacy stories and haven't found it.