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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 Crown
2006


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 Chosen
2006


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 visit  from 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, Gerald Slaver'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 Patch is 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 the early 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's The 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 with pictures. 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 LewisPickle 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 your help.
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.
 Interpreting
Condition 
Grades
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.
Childcraft  There 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 Book  1967, 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."

 Interpreting
Condition 
Grades

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/leyzkr
P443: 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 be The 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.





 
 
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3/14/13