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Could this be The Boy Who Could Fly?
It was about a boy who had a younger brother that was very different,
special,
and could do weird things. At the very end the boy levitates in
front
of many other witnesses, looking to the older boy like Buddha.
Very
dream-like ending, and it was in the Sci-Fi area of our gradeschool
library,
(for lack of a better classification - today it would be called new
age).
Some scenes you might remember - going on a train with younger brother
to spend a month with their grandparents. The older boy disliked
his little brother for being so special, getting all the attention,
etc,
but comes to realize at the end that he IS special, and he loves him.
I haven't read this, so it's vague, but what
about The Keeper of the Isis Light by Monica Hughes,
published 1980? It's part of a trilogy (Guardian of Isis, The Isis
Pedlar)
set on another planet, or an a beacon in space. Olwen, 16 Earth years
or
10 Isis years old, keeps the beacon by herself. She's the main
character
but there is a boy involved. She's also been genetically altered in
some
way to fit her for the work and environment, and there's some question
whether the boy and his colleagues can adjust to dealing with her. No
idea
about floating, though.
K12 - this is defintely NOT Keeper of the
Isis Light - no flying in that, I've just read it again for a
children's
literature conference.
Definitely not Keeper of the Isis Light
where the girl who is the Keeper (whose name eacpes me for the moment)
has been 'genetically modified' (!) by her robot companion to be able
to
survive the conditions on Isis without breathing apparatus, extra UV
protection
etc. But there is no flying except in 'floater'-type vehicles. Has the
poster checked Penelope Farmer's The Summer Birds-
though my memory of this is more 'magic' than sci-fi.
Isaac Asimov. Story of a boy
visiting
a planet with his mother to decice whether the human colonists can take
over the whole planet. He realises that the rock like creatures are
intelligent
by telepathy with one of the young ones. Coming of age involves flying.
In order to convice everyone of their intelligence he suggests that the
young rock creature make the shape of something to do with Christmas
(angel?)
in the sky, thereby proving that they must be intelligent to have
understood
his suggestion. It's the only children's book by Asimov that I know of
Robert Heinlein, Podkayne of Mars,
late 60's. This is one of my least favorite Heinlein book for
kids.
In it there is a male main character, a female who is extremely bossy
(I
think) and a fairylike creature from another planet that the female
character
adopts. It may be far fetched, but when I read this discription and the
other solutions...I thought of this book.
Robert Heinlein, Red Planet.
Maybe this book set on Mars. Definite coming of age story. As a part of
it, a teenage boy has a pet "martian" named Willis who is small, cute,
etc. Later in the book, Willis transforms into something else much
different.
The colonists never knew this would happen because they had not been on
Mars long enough to see the creatures go through adolescence. Thought
there
were several species of Martians. Turns out it is one species but
different
ages take different forms.
King Nunn the Wiser, 1970?
Picture book - King travels through all sorts of adventures in the dark
that are not at all what he thinks they are
Thank you. I would like to find information of the title that
you mentioned. Do you know who the author might be?
I think the author of King Nonn (?Nunn)
the Wiser is Colin McNaughton, but no longer have a
copy
in stock to check - thought I had and have been looking for it - hence
the delay in getting back to you about it!
I haven't been able to find reference to this...
More on the suggested - King Nonn the Wiser,
written and illustrated by Colin McNaughton, published
Heinemann
1981, 32 pages. "King Nonn was very happy in his library, reading
all
day and getting always more short-sighted. But his subjects wanted him
to fight dragons and right wrongs, so sadly he and his short-sighted
horse
went off in search of adventure. It was all around him - giants,
haunted
forests, distressed maidens, dragons - but he saw none of them. After
unhorsing,
by accident, his warlike neighbour King Blagard of Rong, he
returns
home to find himself a hero. Thankfully he returns to his library." (Junior
Bookshelf Dec/81 p.242)
Fred Gwynne, The King Who Rained.
This may not be your book title but Fred Gwynne wrote and illustrated a
few children's books, word play, etc.
K30: Kumquats
and pitter patter
Solved: Gunniwolf
K31: Kim
and her dolls
I am looking for a beautifully illustrated book c. 1950's-1960's
about a little girl and her dolls. I think the little girl's name
was Kim. Either the little girl, or her doll was Kim, and I believe it
was the little girl. I bought it for my daughter named Kim and
she
has always remembered how much she loved the book and we have looked
for
a copy of it for years. Can you help me?
Kim Yaroshevskaya, Little Kim's Doll.
Might not be this one as it seems to be more recent, could be a reprint
though?
K32 know nothings: could this be The
Secret
World of Og, by Pierre Berton, published McClelland
&
Stewart 1961, 146 pages? The first edition was illustrated by William
Winter,
with a green cover, but the 1974 edition with illustrations by Patsy
Berton,
does have some purple on the cover. The story is about Penny, Pamela,
Patsy,
Peter, and the baby Paul (Pollywog) who find a tunnel under their
playhouse
that leads to the world of Og. The Ogs are short and greenskinned with
floppy ears who have learned about the upper world by stealing and
reading
comic books. There is no actual reference to 'Know-Nothings' but the
Ogs
are pretty ignorant.
Juliana Horatia Ewing, Amelia and the
Dwarfs,
19th century. The description sounds as though it *might* be this
story, which was part of a collection of short stories by Mrs. Ewing,
"The
Brownies and Other Stories". Amelia, a naughty spoilt child, is
spirited
away to a fantasy land, where she has to complete several tasks, which,
as far as I remember, include not learning to *like* certain foods, but
finishing the foods that she has wasted. She also has to mend the
clothes
that she has torn repair the conversations that she has
interrupted
(!) and possibly something else as well.
I may be way off base, but if the book you
read
was heavily illustrated, it was possibly the Adventures of the
Black
Hand Gang.
No, it wasn’t Adventures of the Black Hand Gang. I checked
into that one and it isn’t the same book. Someone told me about a
series
called The Secret Seven by Enid Blyton, but I’m not familiar
with
it and don’t know whether any story is similar to my recollection. I
looked
up some information about her and the description of the kids and types
of adventures in the series sounds somewhat similar. I’m not sure how
much
my memory melds different recollections into one, but the detail I
recall
as being in the story most is the incident with the man wearing the
mackintosh
in the warm sun as what the kids notice to solve the mystery.
I am not sure, but am wondering if this could
be one of Roy Brown's books. He wrote quite a few mystery/
adventure
stories about working class London children. Titles include A
Saturday
in Pudney, The Day of the Pigeons, The Viaduct and several
others.
Robert Martin, Joey and the Mail Robbers.
The "Joey" series by Robert Martin was about a group of working class
kids
in London who solve mysteries and prevent crimes. There are many titles
in the series and the author wrote similar books under other names as
well
as "Robert Martin". "Joey and the Mail Robbers" is a likely title but
there
are other possibilities including non-Joey books by this author.
Astrid Lindgren, Bill Bergson Lives
Dangerously.
I have the vaguest feeling that the raincoat scene is in this book or
one
of the other two Bill Bergson books.
Kind of a longshot, but some elements are the
same. Here's teh plot synopsis: "A bunch of French children with a
headless
wooden horse get involved with a gang of thieves who plan to rob the
Dijon-Paris
Express. The theft completed, the money is hidden overnight in a nearby
novelty factory and the key to the money inside the wooden horse.
Helped
by a horde of dogs the children manage to catch the crooks before they
can get away with the money." Working class children, adventure,
crooks- but in Paris. And its probably not right because I would tink
you'd
remember the horse
C. Day Lewis, Otterbury Incident.
This
could be it. Try it anyway it's very well written. Two English
working-class
kids groups play war games with each other (this was pretty soon after
WWII) but then work together to catch the bank robbers. Very well
done. I believe Ardizzone was the illustrator.
K58 is NOT
Longman The wonderful tree house
Gertrude
Chandler Warner, Tree House Mystery (Boxcar Children #14).
All
of the Boxcar Children mysteries take place during the summer, so that
part fits. In this one, they get new neighbors and the 2 sons on
the family want to build a treehouse, so the Aldens help them.
The
new boys have a spyglass, and the group discovers a hidden room in the
house when they see a window in the end of the house that is not
visible
from inside the house. They discover a child's room that was
boarded
over because the child moved away for some reason. The room
contains
toys the child played with. I think they used a flashlight to
signal
the Alden children from the treehouse, which would have probably been
the
morse code in the description.
I am the
person who wrote the stumper. I had not checked on this in a
while
and I now see that my book is in the solved pile. Sorry! It
hasn't been solved! The book is not a Boxcar Children book.
At the time I loved that series and if a teacher read me one that would
have registered and this would not be a mystery to me. The book was
entirely
new to me, not part of a series I had read before and loved. Most
definately
not the Box Car children. A lead from Chinaberry has me wondering
if the book isn't Either Then There Were Five or The 4
Story
Mistake by Eizabeth Enright.
Peggy
Parrish,
Clues
in the Woods.
Rosemary Sutcliffe, Knight's Fee.
Knight's Fee may be it, but the reviews I found of it on
the internet say the boy's benefactor was killed in battle...still a
possibility
depending on how many benefactors he had. In the book I read he
was
definitely captured and beheaded by a band of renegades or marauders or
something.
K63 Isn't it just Sutcliff?
Rosemary Sutcliff's Knight's Fee is definitely not the
solution
to my stumper. The book I'm looking for is not about knights,
courts,
and squires, it's about common people alone together in a real scary
world.
Richard Paul Evans, The Spyglass, 2000. Could this be it? "K-Gr 5-This original fable offers a lesson about faith through the fall and rise of a kingdom. A once-great realm has declined into poverty, both of wealth and of spirit, until a passing stranger loans a magical spyglass to the king. Through it, the ruler and his subjects can see "what might be." A barren pasture appears as a fertile field and a crumbling cathedral looks magnificent when viewed through the spyglass. These images restore faith to the people, who then work together to restore the land to its past prosperity."
Newberry, Clare Turlay, April's Kittens.
NY Harper 1940. Perhaps this one. April's family lives in a
one-cat
apartment. When her black cat Sheba has three kittens, April must
decide
which cat to keep and find homes for the others. The kittens are
Brenda,
Butch, and Charcoal. I don't know their markings, but the kitten on the
cover is all black (Charcoal?).
I don't think April's Kittens
sounds
right she doesn't give them away to matching people. At the end
of
that book her parents agree to let her keep one of the kittens along
with
the mother cat since they have decided it's time to move to a
two-cat-sized
apartment.
Kate's Kittens. Not sure if this
is it, but I had a book about a very small girl named Kate living on a
city block (it listed all the neighbors - she was much smaller than the
grocer, etc). She finds an orange cat with kittens and puts them
in her wagon and gives them to all the neighbors, and at the end she
feels
big. The colors were mostly black, white, brown and orange in the
pictures. I can't remember the title or author, unfortunately!
Phyllis
LaFarge, Kate and the Wild Kittens,
1965, copyright. I found this book! Randomly, at the
library, displayed on a shelf... All the cats in the neighborhood are
disappearing, and only little Kate can find them. They are with a
mother cat and her kittens, and she must return them all to their
owners, keeping the mother cat and kittens for herself. Very New
York/Eloise style. Hope this is your book!
Beatrix Potter, The Tale of Tom Kitten. Any possibility it could be a Beatrix Potter book? In The Tale of Tom Kitten, Tom and his sisters Moppet and Mittens are sent upstairs as punishment, and they end up making a wreck of the bedroom there's an illustration with them all over the bed and one of them is wearing a bonnet.
Louis Ross and Margot Apple, In
the
Peanut Butter Colony,1979.This could be a long shot, but this
may
be this book which was about a boy who traveled to a land of peanut
butter
creatures who battled jelly creatures. He traveled there by means
of a saltine cracker on a tomato soup river, using a spoon as an
oar.
Was mainly about a young boy's lunch time fantasy. It happened to
be a child hood favorite of mine that I also can not find.
Cook, Bernadine. Looking for Susie. illus by Judith Shahn. Young Scott, 1959. farm life - juvenile fiction; cat & kittens in loft This is not a Little Golden but the story definitely matches. It has been put out in several editions.
|
Condition Grades |
Cook, Bernadine. Looking for Susie. Young Scott, 1959. library binding, slightly soiled, initials on endpaper [SQ14486] $12 |
 |
A couple of details I forgot to mention (sorry!): the book
was a paperback, regular size, and I read it around 1980 or so.
It
was a new (i.e. modern day) book then, so it couldn't have been written
before 1978. Thanks!
This is definitely Starring Peter &
Leigh by Susan Beth Pfeffer. "When her mother
remarries,
16-year-old Leigh abandons her acting career and tries to lead the life
of a normal teenager. She is coached by her 17-year-old stepbrother,
homebound
with hemophilia."
Pfeffer, Susan Beth, Starring Peter and
Leigh: A Novel,
1979.
When her mother remarries, 16-year-old Leigh abandons her acting career
and tries to lead the life of a normal teenager. She is coached by her
17-year-old stepbrother, homebound with hemophilia.
Wow, that was fast! Yes, that's the book. Thank you
SO much!!
Jan Biggers, Big Little Kitty,
1953. Are you sure the kitten was white? Because this sure
sounds like Big Little Kitty, a Whitman Tell-a-Tale
book.
These books are smaller than the Little Golden Books (approx. 6 1/2" x
5 1/2"). The cover is pink, showing a little girl in a pink and white
dress,
with golden blonde curls held back in a little ponytail with a blue
ribbon.
In her arms is a yellow and white kitten with a blue ribbon around its
neck and big blue eyes. The girl's name is Karen Kay.
Jan D. Biggers, Big Little Kitty,
1953. Sounds like Big Little Kitty except the
kitty
being held by the little girl on the cover is orange, not white.
I believe one of the other kitties that appear at the end of the book
is
white. It begins something like "Karen Kay is four years old, how
about you?" It goes on to tell about how she got the kitty, how
it
disappeared one day, and then how it reappeared on Christmas day with
three
other kitties. Here is a picture
of the cover.
Betty Molgard Ryan Florence Sarah
Winship
(illus), Socks. (1949) I'm sure this is it.
Socks
was published by the Whitman Publishing Company, and is a small book -
about the size of a Jr. Elf book (5.5" x 6.5"). Cover shows black
kitten w/ white paws & tail tip and big green eyes sitting on grass
w/ daisies & violets, in front of a brownish board fence.
Only
instead of 1 white sock, the kitten has 4 white socks and a white tip
on
his tail. Some children and the other animals in the barn where
he
lives tease him about his white socks & tail. He wishes he were all
black like his 4 siblings, so he goes to the cow, horse, and pig for
advice
on getting rid of his white feet. Finally, he sees the farmer's
wife
using some black polish on a pair of shoes. She leaves to answer the
telephone,
and he dips his paws & tail into the shoe polish bottle to make
them
black. He then writes a note saying "Thank you" to Mrs. Morgan
(the
farmer's wife) on the sidewalk in black footprints, before making his
way
home to the barn.
Betty Molgard Ryan (author), Florence Sarah
Winship
(illustrator), Socks. (1949) Whitman Tell A Tale book,
#886-15.
Charming story of a kitten, Socks, with four white paws and a white
tipped
tail who was teased by the children and barnyard animals about his
"socks",
until he finally did something about it. You can see what he did
here.
It's shoe black, not ink, but this seems to be the right book!
A couple of possibilities that might be worth
looking into: In the King's Shoes by Enid Blyton,
orig. published in the 1940's or 1950's, reprinted in 1999. Shoes
Fit for a King by Helen Bill, illustrated by Louis
Slobodkin,
c. 1956
Just an idea -- could this be some kind of
gender-reversed
version of the 12 dancing princesses story?
Check in "Solved Mysteries" for Big
Little
Kitty by Jan D. Biggers.
Several googles [incl an old one of yrs] were
of people looking for Karen Kay and her kittens, but an expired
e-Bay
item had this: >>(1953-Whitman Book-Tell-a-Tale series) Big
Little Kitty by Jan D. Biggers. Story of Karen
Kay
and Christmas Day when she received the present of a new kitty
named
Muffin, who runs away (of course), but comes back home to have
her
own kittens. Cute story for kitten and cat fans.>>
Another
entry implies that you had a K18 solved as the Biggers book. And
here is your solved mysteries B - referred to by Google so IO
think
I'll stop: Big Little Kitty
Zilpha Keatley Snyder, The Famous Stanley Kidnapping Case, 1985, reprint. This probably isn't the book you are looking for, but maybe it will help trigger someone else's memories. In The Famous Stanley Kidnapping Case, the Stanley family is living in Italy for a year, and a local gang sets out to kidnap Amanda, thinking her biological father will pay their ransom, but unfortunately ends up with her two stepbrothers, David and Blair, and stepsisters, Janey and Tesser(Esther), as well. I don't think anyone was ill, but the younger boy has visions of the Virgin Mary which spooks the (apparently Roman Catholic) kidnappers. Good luck finding your book.
Is there any chance the poster is conflating
parts
of a movie with a book? This sounds a great deal like "Journey
to the Beginning of Time," which is described in detail here
(Brief
excerpt from that site: "Four young boys visit the American Museum of
Natural
History . . .After viewing the dinosaur skeletons, they rent a rowboat
at the lake in Central Park. They enter a cave, and come out . .
. into a strange new world. They see a Wooly Mammoth, and realize they
have traveled back to prehistoric times!") I can't find any
indication
it was ever novelized, though.
Just wanted to respond to the previous comment.... Nope, not
confused with a movie :) This book was about two
(maybe
three?) families on vacation together, and while the parents were busy
with something (can't remember what) one day, they sent all of their
kids
on a cave tour. I can't remember how many kids there were, but at
least five (and definitely some brother/sister pairs).
This probably isn't it, because I don't think
the dinosaurs are alive...but the first thing that came to mind upon
reading
your stumper was Question of the Painted Cave, by Winifred
Mantle. But there are five kids from three families, and they do
find
a cave. It could also be The Narrow Passage by Oliver
Butterworth,
which is a sequel The Enormous Egg about a boy who
hatches
a dinosaur.Whatever it is, I know this book exists, because I read it
too!
This description rings a vague bell with me.
I have a feeling that the book may have been translated from French, as
when I read it I was young enough to be confused by the fact the male
main
character was called "Jean." Hope this may help.
Miriam Clark Potter, Bedtime Stories, 1951,
copyright. This is a Junior Elf book. It has a blue cover
showing
Mama Cat, wearing a pink-and-white gingham dress, seated in a green
chair
on a yellow rug. Mama Cat is reading from a book titled "Cat Tales" to
her three kittens, who are gathered around her, wearing their
nightclothes.
The stories are "Three Jumpy Kittens," about kittens who jump around on
the furniture when they should be napping, until they wear themselves
out
and fall asleep, "Mrs. Groundhog's Grapevine," about two greedy young
squirrels
who devour all the grapes, then buy fruit and vegetables to tie to the
grapevine as replacements, and "Mrs. Rabbit's Birthday Cake" about
three
little bunnies who bake a surprise birthday cake for their mother. Cute
illustrations by Tony Brice.
The
book suggested is not the one, unfortunately. The book I am
looking for had three stories about the same small kitten. In one
his mom was baking, in another he was being babysat, and I cannot
remember what he did in the third story. I’m wondering if the
book was always small and blue. I know the books offered by the
school book clubs are sometimes in a smaller format.
Betty Crocker, Betty Crocker's Cookbook
for Boys and Girls, 1957,
1975.
There are a few different editions of this with different covers. The
one
I remember from the mid-'70s had a kid holding a plate of food
festooned
with smiling faces. I don't believe there's a version with the flaming
ghost cake on the cover, but that is the recipe/photo that stands out
most
clearly in my memory as well! The description of the '50s
version,
which is currently available in reproduced form, doesn't mention the
ghost
cake, whereas other editions do, so be sure to check before
buying.
While I was searching for this on the web, I came across a YouTube
video
of someone lighting the flaming-eyed ghost cake! Apparently they got it
from a recipe in Amy Sedaris' book "I Like You."
I had this in the 80s! I remember my mom
wouldn't let me make the ghost cake for some reason. I'm pretty
sure
it's a Betty Crocker book.
Thank you for posting this on your site. I
just wanted to elaborate about the book a little. I can't find
what
I originally submitted with my request, but the flaming-eyed ghost cake
was on the front hardcover. It was made using boxed vanilla cake,
baked in a rectangular pan and with the top 2 corners cut off, frosted
with vanilla frosting and decorated using egg shell halves which were
set
aflame. Other recipes included in the book were Purple Cow
Milkshakes,
and a salad appetizer which was a canned peach half set on a bed of
lettuce. You decorated the peach half
to look like a little mouse by affixing raisins with toothpicks for the
eyes and a maraschino cherry half for the nose, etc. I loved this
cookbook. I received it from my Grandmother around
1982-1983.
I went to summer camp in 1988 and my mother gave it away or sold it at
a garage sale. I was crushed. Now that I am a mother, I
desperately
want it for my own kids. Could you please post the additional
info
to my request in hopes of helping jog somebody's memory? Thanks
so
much!
Betty Crocker, Betty Crocker's Cookbook
for Boys and Girls, 1975,
copyright.
I own the 1987 reprint of the 1975 edition of Betty Crocker's
Cookbook
for Boys and Girls. The ghost cake isn't on the cover, but
there
is a full-page picture inside. There is a recipe for Purple Cow
Milkshakes.
And the peach with raisins and a maraschino cherry that looks like a
mouse
on a bed of lettuce mentioned by the stumper submitter is, in my book,
a pear with a prune, a raisin and a maraschino cherry that looks like
Snoopy
on a bed of lettuce (though the book calls it Friendly Dog Salad to
avoid
copyright infringement). In short, I'm sure this is the cookbook you're
looking for! Just be sure to get the right edition in case earlier
versions
are different.
Richard Peck, Lost in Cyberspace.
This one is probably it, but there's also a Xanth book
by
Piers
Anthony in which someone gets sucked into a computer game, but I'm
not sure which one.
Gillian Rubinstein, Space Demons
[or the sequel, Skymaze]. 'Late 1980s, reprinted
in
the 90s as well. When I read the description this came to mind at
once... very special computer game given as present to 12 year
old
Andrew (i think that is the name), who gets his friend to play and the
game comes to life and they go into it... it affects them, haunts them,
changes them. Second book: life empty without thrill of Space
Demons,
then package comes-- new game--... Skymaze. And this time it is
not
they who go through the computer into the game, but the game which
comes
out through the computer and into the real world...
Kidd, Ronald, The Glitch: A Computer
Fantasy,
1985, copyright. Your mention of there being letters and numbers
made me instantly think of this book. The letter "M" is a main
character,
and other letters, numbers and symbols appear. "Eleven-year-old
Benjamin
Bean dislikes modern machinery, particularly computers, and is dismayed
to find a new microcomputer in his favorite second-hand bookstore.
There's
a "bug" in the store's computer program, however, and when Benjamin
casually
picks up a loose electrical cable, he is sucked into the machine.
Inside
is a chaotic world full of regimented people and living data-animated
numbers,
letters and punctuation marks, etc. With the aid of the letter "M" and
Professor Babbage (inventor of the mechanical digital computer),
Benjamin
travels through the kingdom, surviving encounters with a dragon and the
police, until he finds the true bug in the system and returns home."
Vivian Vande Velde, User Unfriendly,
1990, approximate. "Arvin and his friends risk using a
computer-controlled
role-playing game to simulate a magical world in which they actually
become
fantasy characters, even though the computer program is a pirated one
containing
unpredictable errors." I think the mother ended up in the game
with
them, and they had to get out because she started having headaches and
fainting.
|
Condition Grades |
McMurtry, Stan. The Bunjee Venture. Illustrations by the author. Scholastic, Inc. 1977. "An Apple Paperback". Lightly used; inside is clean, cover shows usual wear and tear. G. $3. |
|
Animal Bedtime Stories. I
know exactly which book you're talking about, in fact my grtandmother
used
to read it to me. Unfortunely the only book I kow that it is in is Animal
Bedtime Stories, and the only person I know who has it is my
grandmother
and she's not selling, sorry.
#L24--Legend of the white buffalo: Very
long shot, but this legend is well-known among a number of Native
American
plains tribes. A few years ago, a calf fitting the legend was
born
on a bison ranch. The story was
featured on "Unsolved Mysteries." According
to the legend, the calf was to be female (which this was) and was to be
born white, but turn three other colors (I believe red, yellow, and
brown
or black, but don't remember the sequence) to show that it was really a
magical beast and not just an albino or freak of nature. The calf
turned the proper colors in the proper sequence. It's possible
that
the people now keeping this bison on their ranch may have collected
literature
on it and be familiar with this particular version, or know who might
have
it.
Title not quite matching, but there's The
Great White Buffalo by Harold McCracken, illustrated by
Remington Schuyler, published NY Lippincott 1947, 268 pages "It was
in the days when the Indians had this country to themselves that a
young
Dakotan saw the almost unheard-of sight of a pure white buffalo calf
with
its mother on the grassy plain. His report of the powerful good luck
symbol
was not accepted by the Wise Elder members of the tribe and Wakan was
sent
away. He was to find the White One again and form with him a strong
bond
of friendship."
(Horn Book Mar/47 p.120)
-------and the white buffalo. I
received this book for my 7th birthday in 1944. It was the story of an
Indian boy who found a white buffalo. The first word in the title was
the
Indian boy's name I believe it was something like
Tah-Neek-Ah.
I think this may have been a Platt and Munk book.
Ann Lawrence, The Good Little Devil,
1970? sounds as if it might be this?? Know I've read this, and also
know
I've read something like the poster is asking for - but are they one
and
the same ...?
More on the suggested title - Good Little
Devil, published Macmillan 1978, illustrated in b/w by Ionicus.
"Humorous juvenile novel about an Abbey choirboy in the Middle Ages."
Which
would seem to rule it out.
could be The Devil Did It, written
and illustrated by Susan Jeschke, published Holt 1975, 32
pages.
"After
Mama tells Nana that the devil made the tangles in her hair, only
Grandma
believes Nana when she says that the devil is hiding under her bed. The
devil - small and furry, with curved horns, pointed ears, and long,
sharp
nails - gets Nana into a heap of trouble. He puts Papa's socks in the
refrigerator
and Cousin Joey's clothes on the dog. But gradually Nana learns to
tolerate,
outwit, and even like her devil - and then he leaves in a huff. As
Grandma
says comfortably, 'These demons, that's how they are. They come and go,
come and go ...'" (HB Apr/76 p.149)
L25 Is the girl African American? Seems so
familiar
to me... but I haven't got the book right here. The one I'm thinking of
includes an episode where the girl spills a pail of milk she is
carrying
home, possibly devil's fault, or possibly she just blamed him.
Check out the solutions posted on the solved mysteries pages to see
if your book stumper might be Little Witch or
Little
Leftover Witch. Possibilities?
Does sound like Little Witch by
Anna
Elizabeth Bennett, illustrated by Helen Stone, published Lippincott
1953. Minikin (Minx) lives with Madame Snickasnee the witch. At night
she
has to make Black Spell Brew while the witch goes out, and is supposed
to sleep during the day. However, she sneaks out and goes to school for
the first time. Her teacher tells her to wear a clean dress next time,
but she only has one, until her friend gives her some clothes. However,
she seems to cry without any difficulty, and I couldn't find anything
in
the book about witches not crying (though this is a point in several
other
books).
I'm not sure if it is Little Witch.
I've asked my mother, and she seems to think that it is. I am
trying
to find a copy at the library to look at so I can confirm it.
Try The Resident Witch.
about a little girl witch who sneaks out and goes to a carnival, makes
a friend and gets into all kinds of trouble! I have it at home,
but
can't remember the author.
The lamb story is probably Barbara Lamb,
written and illustrated by Cam, published Roy 1950, 32 pages "A
gay picture-book about Barbara the lamb whose ambition was to sing so
that
tears came into people's eyes. There are colored pictures on every page
filled with the kind of detail that children love. Ages 4-6." (HB
Nov/50
p.466) No guess on the other one, though. "Cam" is kind of a pain to
search
online.
a possible for the other story, assuming that
Cam
is the right author/illustrator, is The Story of Buttercup Fairy,
written and illustrated by Cam, published by John Lane Bodley
Head,
1946. The second in this series of picture books (Barbara Lamb
being the first). Pale blue pictorial boards. Bright colourful pictures
every page.
L30 lamb learns to sing: there's another story
on this subject! The Song of Lambert, by Mazo de la
Roche,
illustrated
by Eileen Soper, published Macmillan 1955, Little Brown 1956, 51 pages.
"The amazing adventures of a singing lamb, including a hazardous
trip
to the South Pole and a return to the farm of his youth." "Lambert is a
little lamb with a lovely song, which very few can hear." Now to
find
whether Eileen Soper illustrated a book about a fat fairy ... Later -
couldn't
find a fat fairy book, but she did illustrate a lot of Enid Blyton.
L30 lamb sings: now that I've looked at The
Song of Lambert, I don't think it's the right book. Lambert is
a boy lamb, not female, and he doesn't have to learn to sing, it is a
natural
gift. Also he never loses his voice, though he doesn't sing for a long
time after he leaves the farm. So Barbara Lamb sounds like the better
bet,
being about a female lamb who has to learn to sing. Also, Cam's
illustrations
are much more distinctive and memorable than Soper's.
Thornton Burgess, The Adventures of
Poor
Mrs. Quack. Mr. Quack is
missing,
feared dead, during hunting season and Mrs Quack flees from the"Big
River"
to the "Smiling Pool." They are, of course, reunited in the end and all
is well. This is a possibility for your stumper.
I'd suggest The Story About Ping,
by Marjorie Flack, illustrated by Kurt Wiese, published Viking
1933,
about the duckling who runs away and is found again. But perhaps that's
too obvious?
L34 lost duck: Another suggestion, but a goose
rather than a duck, is Rebel by John Schoenherr,
published
Penguin/Putnam 1995, 32 pages. "Soft, realistic watercolors evoke
the
bleakness of early spring and its dangers for newborn geese. The
illustrations
portray an individualistic gosling going his own way, while the
narrative
tells the parents' story of protecting their young from predators.
Although
almost abandoned, Rebel is reunited with his family as they prepare to
join other geese at the brooding ground." (1996 Horn Book review)
L34 lost duck: another is Little Duck Lost,
by Anna Standon, illustrated by Edward Standon, published
Constable
1965, 48 pages. The story is set in Paris, and French words and phrases
are introduced.
L34 lost duck: here's another, probably too
recent
- Have You Seen my Duckling? written and illustrated by Nancy
Tafuri, published New York, Greenwillow 1984, 25 pages, "Cheerful,
bright pictures depict a mother duck's search for an errant duckling."
The Little Wild Ducklings. This
book is illustrated in photographs. It's about a family of ducks going
to swim in a big pond. One in particular is curious and wanders off to
explore. He is frightened by a larger bird but his mother comes to the
rescue. At the end of the book they take a nap. Ends saying "Sleep
tight
little wild ducklings!
Mrs. Richard Crowley, Echoes from Niagara: Historical, Political, Personal, 1890. I wonder if this could be it... Mrs. Richard Crowley is how it appears on the title page, but her name was Julia Corbitt Crowley. The book was published by Moulton in Buffalo, NY. I cannot find any details on content, but there are several on the net.
I wonder if this could be the Teenie-Weenies
series of books (don't know the author). In the 50's I know it was a
book
series and a comic strip too. The description of the homes in the
vegetable
garden sounds pretty typical, and they did have encounters with small
animals/birds/insects.
Don't know if it dates as far back as the 30's.
I've checked out the Teenie-Weenie
series, and that's not them. My garden-town people were more
nursery-tale
fantasy types, not so realistic (if you can call 4-inch people that!).
L44 little people vegetable houses: maybe Twinkie
Town Tales, by Carlyle Emery, llustrated by Arthur
Henderson,
published St. Louis, Hamilton-Brown Shoe Company, 1926 "This delightful
book is Book I of the Twinkie Town Tales, The illustrations of the
Twinkies
are wonderful. The Twinkies resemble pudgie little elves or pixies."
About
33 pages, 12 full page illustrations, the other pages are also
illustrated.
Riesner, Charles Francis., Little
Inch-high
people. (1937) LC Control Number:
38004096 From the Library of Congress: Type of Material: Text (Book,
Microform,
Electronic, etc.) Brief Description: Riesner, Charles Francis. Little
Inch-high
people, by Charles Francis Riesner, illustrated by George Wolfe. New
York,
N.Y., Junior progress, inc. [c1937] 9 p. l., 7-97 p. illus., col.
plates.
26 cm. I have an original copy of this incredible children'\''s
story,
which included the rich illustrations your write describes: Read it
myself
as a child, and my children loved it as well!
The Little Lost Duck, Little
Golden
Book
I pursued that Little Lost Duck as
a Golden Book, but this is not the right story. I had talked to
Strawberry
Hill Books and they said that Golden Books started a little later,
perhaps
in the 1940's, so my book request is too early for this. I'm
sorry.
Perhaps somebody else will come up with an idea. Thank you.
Adda Mai Sharp & Epsie Young, Downy
Duck Grows Up, 1947. I don't
find where Downy Duck winds up at the ocean, but he does run away and
has
many adventures, then goes back home. This is part of the
Woodland
Frolics Series.
L48:
Lipstick-eating outsider girl
Solved: Honestly, Katie John!
Dr. Almute Grohmann, Dragon Teeth and
Parrot
Beaks. 1998. A little chick
brushing his beak also sounds like it could be Richard Scarry or
something
by Margaret Wise Brown. Can the customer give any more
information?
L52 little chick brushing: maybe Little
Yellow Chick, by Ian Munn, illustrated by Helen Adler,
Rand-McNally
Junior Elf 1961. or Little Chick's Story by Mary
Deball
Kwitz, illustrated by Cindy Szekeres, Scholastic 1978, 32 p.
L52b: little
boy, little dog, big black umbrella
Solved: Happy Orphelines series
Charles Perrault's Puss in Boots is almost too
obvious.
The original Little Golden Books format was published in 1959 in an
adaptation
by Kathryn Jackson and with illustrations by J.P.
Miller.
There was also a 1991 version with illustrations by Lucinda McQueen.
L53 Could this be about a bunny instead
of a cat? There is a Little Golden book called Bunny's New
Shoes.
Edith Thacher Hurd , Johnny Lion's Rubber
Boots, 1980s-currently in
print.
Not a kitten, but a feline. And the boots are red.
Kathryn Jackson. Author of a
number
of picture books with somewhat similar themes, though I can't identify
the particular book
Johnny Gruelle, Eddie Elephant.
(1921) There is a picture of Eddie Elephant, who lives in
Jungleville,
looking at the field of 'flowers' (lollypops) shown him by Grandpa
Monkey.
Eddie wears a red/white striped outfit, inlcuding a hat. Other
characters
in the book are Christopher Crocodile, Alonzo Alligator, Cousin Katy
Kangaroo,
Uncle Hippopotamus, the Cocoa Boy, Mabel Monkey, and Bertram Buffalo
(to
whom Eddie gives his shiny new blue bicycle (tricycle) with the bell
that
goes "Tinkle, Tinkle.'' It was a "Volland Sunny Book Series"
book.
The illustrations are wonderful. I spent many years thinking it
had
been a "Babar" book.
Well, there is a Little Witch book. See W86
above,
and more on the Solved Mysteries page.
Although Bennett's Little Witch sounds sweet, I'm really
not sure it's the answer. I don't think the little girl's name
was
Minx; is there any character in that book named Lavinia?
Palmer Brown, Beyond the Paw-Paw Trees
or
The Silver Nutmeg, 1954, 1956. Both of these are
extremely
long shots and only because the reader seems insistant that the girl's
name is Lavinia, and these are the only books I can think of where the
protagonist is both a young girl and has the name of Lavinia (or
actually
"Anna Lavinia"). Beyond the Paw-Paw Trees: "On the way
to
visit her Aunt, little Anna Lavinia has some remarkable adventures." The
Silver Nutmeg: see the Solved Stumper page.
ooooh! I remember this book being mostly
concerned
with the fact that mother has to go off to work- just so happens she's
a witch.
P.L. Travers, Mary Poppins
books. Sounds like a Mary Poppins story, though, if so, I can't
identify
which one. I think
that "Mary Poppins and the House Next Door" does
involve a visit to the Man in the Moon - I can't remember if a ladder
was
involved.
I checked -- Mary Poppins climbs up cloud stairs,
no ladder involved.
Since no one has offered any other possibilities
than Mary Poppins, I wondered if this could be The
Peculiar Miss Pickett again. I don't remember the book
well
enough to know if there's an incident like this, but Miss Pickett is a
magic babysitter... (see more in M187)
Maybe? Upham, Elizabeth, Illustrated by Marjorie Hartwell. Little
Brown Bear. Platt and Munk Co, 1942
I checked my copies of Little Brown
Bear and Little Brown Bear and His Friends.
In the latter, he does go on a picnic but there is no monkey or fish
involved.
Should probably rule out this series.
L63 My Upham Little brown bear
is c1942; in many ways it sounds like the stumper but doesn't fit
exactly;
others listed in the series have even later dates.
Leslie Brooke, Johnny Crow's Garden,
etc.. Could be one of this series (Johnny Crow's Garden; Johnny
Crow's
Party; Johnny Crow's New Garden)
Are you positive about the 'Lancelot'
suit?
The story I kept coming up with is Have Space Suit--Will Travel
by Robert Heinlein. It was published in an anthology as
well
as a book. "A high school senior wins a space suit in a soap
jingle
contest, takes a last walk wearing 'Oscar' before cashing him in for
college
tuition, and suddenly finds himself on a space
odyssey."
Fred Saberhagen, Berserker stories.
Maybe one of his short stories? Here is a description of the suit. 'In
a sense it was a suit of armour that provided a life support system, a
means of propulsion and weaponry. When Michel first donned it, Lancelot
had the appearance of gauzy veils surrounding him. As his skills at
using
it developed, Lancelot moulded itself closely to his body, rather like
a suit of armour.'
Olde English Fairy Tal
