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U1: Uncle Wiggily
Solved: Uncle Wiggily and the Alligator

U2: UFO's and aliens
I'd like to find a copy of a science fiction book I read in the mid 1950's. I don't remember the title or author but the main characters were three young men who were involved with crashed UFOs and alien technology. One of the characters was an electronics whiz. Any ideas?

Maybe one of the Rick Brant Electronic Boys series? They were written by John Blaine in the late 1940s. Rick and his friend Scotty lived on Spindrift Island with Rick's father and other scientists and solved mysteries. No idea about UFOs, though. Maybe The Rocket's Shadow 1947?
Raymond F. Jones, SON OF THE STARS. 1952.
Jones, Raymond F., Son of the Stars, Winston 1957.  More information on the suggested title, but it doesn't confirm anything. "In 'Son of the Stars', Raymond Jones has written of a forthright friendship between a young castaway from space and his earthly counterpart. How a cold and suspicious military, recognizing Clonar only as an alien from an astonishingly advanced civilization, turns friendship into treachery that threatens earth's existence, makes this an electrifying story with a thought-provoking theme. In scenes uncomfortably vivid, you'll meet soldiers and citizens of a typical American city  people like calculating General Gillispie and frightened Mrs. Barron, whose reactions to an 'interplanetary' situation bring the world to the brink of destruction.." The term 'castaway' suggests that there may be UFO crash technology involved, but only the alien boy Clonar and his friend young Barron are mentioned, not 3 boys. If it helps, Clonar has 6 fingers.
I don't know the teens and UFOs novel sought, but it's none of the Rick Brant series.  Rick Brant gets involved in some mildly sftish situations with new inventions and such, but the only trace of aliens in the whole series are some thousand-year-old ambigious radio signals from space picked up in THE EGYPTIAN CAT MYSTERY.


U5: Unexpected wilderness survival esperience
This is a book about either a boy or a boy and an adult friend that went for a hiking experience in the mountains. They wind up with a snow storm that strands him/them in a high valley for the winter. The book talks about the things that had to be improvised to survive. I believe it talked about tanning deer hide. And I think there was some reference to cinnabar (an ore from which mercury is derived). It seems the book ends as spring arrives and he/they are able to return home.

#U5--Unexpected wilderness survival experience:  The plot is somewhat like Walt Morey's Canyon Winter, but not enough to be the book described.  The main differences are that the stranding was due to a plane crash and I don't believe there's anything about deer hide tanning or metal ore--just a lot about tree conservation. The deer hide tanning is like My Side of the Mountain, but that wasn't an accidental experience--Sam did spend the
winter, and did have a friend, but went up there on purpose.  It is also definitely not Viereck's Terror on the Mountain, as that takes place during the summer.
Would this be one of the Gary Paulsen books?  I was reminded of either The River or Hatchet.  Neither match exactly, though.
U5 unexpected wilderness survival: Not an exact match, but there's Lone Woodsman, by Warren Hastings Miller, illustrated Kreigh Collins, published Winston 1943, 230 pages. Dan Pickett loses all his supplies when his canoe capsizes on Lac Seul, leaving him with his belt knife, swim trunks, and dog Pepper. He makes his way to Factory St. Joseph to meet his father, foraging for food, killing animals with a hand-made bow and traps, tanning hides, smoking meat and so on. He loses supplies and shelter once to a wolverine and once to a moose. Diagrams are provided for several of the things he makes. Couldn't find a reference to cinnabar, though. Most of the journey takes place in snowy weather.
Jean Craighead George, My Side of the Mountain.  A long shot.  Parts of the plot don't match, but the parts about a boy tanning deerskin and surviving a winter alone in the mountains do.
U5: Unexpected wilderness survival experience - just a note from the original poster of this puzzle. I have checked in every few months and pursued the suggestions. In fact, I have enjoyed purchasing and reading My Side of the Mountain. Unfortunately, none of the suggestions is the book I remember. Thanks for making this forum available - and I hope someone will yet be able to help me find this book.
Hobbs, Will, Far North, 1996. You might take a look at Far North by Will Hobbs. Two teenage boys and an elderly man (who dies part way through) are stranded for the winter in a high valley in Canada's Northwest Terr. after a float plane accident.

Farley Mowat, Lost in the Barrens, 1956, This mystery reminded me of this book, which I really enjoyed as a kid. Some elements sound similar but it may not be the one either. Either way, thanks for reminding me of it!



U6: Upon my word
Solved: Alice and Jerry primers


U7: Upset house
Solved: The House That Had Enough
U8: Under One Roof

Solved: Under one roof

2003

U9: Underground river with families living on rafts
Solved: Journey Outside 
U10:  Unicorn healing

Solved: The Beast with the Magical Horn


U11: Underground lost world
Solved: The Perilous Descent


U12: unicorn & geraniums
Solved: The Little White Horse


U13: underground stream or bush bower
book was read in the late 1940's or early 1950's by teacher in a rural school for children 6-12 years old.  In book children had a bower on a hill made of brush or tall weeds. Also there was a portion that talked of a river or stream that ran under a house.  There was a ladder that went down into the stream.

Goudge, Elizabeth, Henrietta's House, London, Hodder, 1942.  I wonder if it might be this. Henrietta, her brother Hugh
John, and assorted adults go for a picnic in the hills. The story blends fantasy and reality. There is a sinister hulking gatekeeper who is like the Giant who had no heart in his body, and an old gentleman who builds bowers in the forest for imagined Sleeping Beauty and Babes in the Woods, and a mysterious house fitted up just as Henrietta had dreamed. Hugh John and the Bishop find an underground river and a boat, and go down it, to find a robbers' den and the place where the young saint of the hills may have prayed. I believe there is a ladder out of the den.



U14: Useful Cart
believe it was published in UK, c. 1970.  described all the uses children found for a wagon. not a lot of text, no plot.

Mollie Clarke, The Useful Cart, 1966. No description, but the title's right, it was published in the UK, and there was a
reprint in 1969.
U14 Do you want me to look in Petersham's The Box with Red Wheels to see?
I don't think The Box With Red Wheels fits the description; it's a very short story about some animals wondering what could be inside that box with red wheels (it turns out to be a baby).
Donald Hall, Ox-Cart Man, 1979. Could this be Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall? Man who has a wife and two kids on a farm loads up the Ox-Cart each year and sells everything in it for presents/goods for the family including the cart itself at the end. Then the story starts over again.



U15: undersea animals (starfish, etc.) interact
Solved: The Garden Under the Sea


U16:  Unicorn awakes after 500? years
Solved:  Unicorn Magic


U17: Up the Hill
Solved: Up the Hill


U18: Utensils teach child to cook
Solved: The Mary Frances Cook Book

U19a: Under the Sea
Solved: Valley of the Song



U19b: US sailor with smuggled puppy
1955 - 1958. I remember a book about a US sailor (homesick?) in a ship in the Med Fleet, peacetime, post WWII. He finds (and smuggles aboard)a puppy while on shoreleave in an Italian(?) port. Many adventures later, the book ended and simultaneously broke my heart and began a life filled with the great joy found on the printed page. This was the first "real book" I read. Borrowed it from the Carrol Park Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library.

U20: Ugly (or evil) dolls
I have only foggy memories of this book, but what stands out is that the protagonist(s) are afraid of a certain house or person because this person (an old woman?) makes really ugly dolls with patches for eyes, and yet the dolls seem to "watch" people and know what they're up to. It was really creepy and it seems to me that these dolls, as well as the protagonists, are part of some mystery. Any help would be appreciated.

U20 Sounds like it could be REVENGE OF THE DOLLS by Carol Beach York, 1979. Definitely creepy. The old aunt makes ugly evil dolls. They do not have patches for eyes, tThey have glass button eyes, and they do watch. Although, as revenge for Paulie destroying one of her dolls, she creates a sinister pirate doll which has an eye patch. So it might be worth looking at. ~from a librarian



U21: Underground City Children Escape
Solved: This Time of Darkness


U22: Unfortunately
Solved:  Fortunately

2004


U23: Up the stairs
Solved: Surprise for Sally


U24: Under the ? Tree
Solved: Beyond the Pawpaw Trees


U25:  Unfinished Stories (Illustrated)
Solved: The Mysteries of Harris Burdick

2005


U26:  Under the Maple Tree
Solved: Miracles on Maple Hill


U27: Upside down book
I am looking for a book published in  the late 1940's or early 1950's. I don't remember anything about it except  that you had to turn the book upside down and there was another related story that you read when you turned the book upside down at the end of the first story. I know this is very farfetched, but it is a book that I loved when I was in kindergarden around 1958-59 and I want to locate it and buy it for my granddaughters.

There are several Wonder and Elf books that fit this upside-down theme: Good Morning and Good Night by Frank Luther, The Goody-Naughty Book and The Sunny-Sulky Book by Sarah Cory Rippey, and  The Goody Naughty Book by Mabel Watts.  If these were longer juvenile stories, there's a whole series of Dandelion Books, but the stories aren't necessarily related.  Check the Solved Mysteries pages to see if any of these work.
Upside down books.  I had one of these books in the 50's when I was a child.  It wass called Just Like Mummy/Just Like Daddy.
Charlotte Zolotow, When I Grow Up???, 1950's.  CZ has  a book like this where one side is a little girl, "when I grow up, I can wear party dresses to school, etc."  The other side is a little boy. Maybe this?
Margriet Heymans Annemie, The Dolls' Party
Annemie and Margriet Heymans, The Doll's Party.



U28: Underground Railroad
Solved: Steal Away Home


U29: Umbrella, hat and broom
I had a book when I was a kid in the 70s....it was a collection of stories and one included an umbrella, a hat and a broom - they could talk and I think it was a rainy day and they found something to keep themselves busy.....  It's driving me NUTS!

I want to say that this is an Enid Blyton story.  There's a vauge recollection of having read this, and I had a lot of the Blyton short story collections as a child.  However, there are a lot of short story collections of hers to check!  The smuggler's cave and other stories has a story called "The surprising broom."
I think this sounds a lot like Stumper D186.  Both have unbrellas, which seems unusual.



U30a: Umbrella
Hi, I am looking for a book I read as a child around 1968-1972.  Story was about a young girl and her adventures.  Something somewhat magical from what I remember.  The only clue I can offer is that at one point she had to jump from a cliff so she opened her UMBRELLA and she drifted safely down to the ground.

Brown, Palmer, Beyond the Pawpaw Trees.  When I read this stumper, my first thought was of this book.  Didn't she always carry her umbrella?  And the description of her jumping off a cliff and floating down with her umbrella sounds familiar.
Palmer Brown, Beyond the pawpaw trees: the story of Anna Lavinia, 1954.  I also think this could be the book you're looking for. Maybe some of this description will sound familiar?  Pages 60-63 of the 1973 Camelot Book reprint describe how Anna Lavinia has thrown stones, a tea cosy and a jar of pawpaw jelly over the cliff and noticed a peculiar phenomenon. She has then watched her cat Strawberry fall over the edge of the cliff with no ill effects.  She decides she has no choice but to follow him, pushing a carpet bag and gardenia bush over the edge ahead of her. "Finally, just to be on the safe side, she opened her umbrella and reached into her pocket to squeeze the silver key for good luck.  Then she took a deep breath and stepped off into the air."
Just to confirm, U30 is indeed Beyond the Pawpaw Trees: The Story of Anna Lavinia by Palmer Brown. I just read it a few weeks ago and remember the scene quite clearly.



U30b: Uncle sends lion skin for birthday, boy gets back at sisters
After all these years, I am still seeking a PICTURE BOOK about a little BLACK BOY (maybe in an urban setting) who is picked on by his MEAN SISTERS. At one point his sisters lock the boy in a CLOSET and eat his birthday cake while he watches through the KEYHOLE. And all they save for him is a candle with a little bit of cake stuck to the bottom! His uncle sends a LION SKIN (head and all--like a rug), or some other large cat, from somewhere abroad (Africa perhaps), and with it, he's able to scare the beejeebers out of his sisters and exact revenge.  My best guess is that it could have been published between 1960 and 1975, definitely not as late as 1980.  While the plot is remarkably similar, it is not JAMES THE JAGUAR, by Mary Lystad, illustrated by Cyndy Szekeres (1972).   Please help!  Thank you.

This description is nearly identical to B282, which is still unsolved.
Also, just so you know, I was indeed the one who posted B282--perhaps two years ago.  I too hope the mystery is solved soon.
Ruth Cavin, Timothy the Terror, 1972.  Very rare and hard to find, expensive too (saw a copy for sale which cost $104.99). Great story though.



U31: Unicorn Tapestry Mystery
Solved: Secret of the Unicorn


U32: ufo short stories humor flying saucers
Weekly reader or Scholastic magazine had a special issue that had short humorous stories about flying saucer experiences.  My recollection is that they were penned by Buddy Hackett (the late comedian).  One story starts "I was flying my private plane to Lubbock Texas to bomb some people whose religious proclivities I didn't wholly agree with"  another ends with a description of the effects on a mans wife "she had to be pulled around on a dolly and could only communicate with the aid of a hand puppet". Any assistance in finding these stories would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

U32 Do they remember if it was 8 1/2 x 11?  If so, it might be this:  The Scholastic Funfact book of UFOs.  Scholastic, 1977.
U32 Please keep trying :-) The short stories I'm trying to find were purely fiction. Thanks.



U33: Unicorn book with necklace
I'm looking for a kids book about a unicorn.  The book was probably published in the late 70s or early 80s, and the book came with a little necklace (I believe the necklace had a unicorn on it as well).  I know that's not much info to go on, but I'm trying to find both the book and necklace for a friend.  If anyone has any ideas I would really appreciate it!

Perhaps it was one of the books by Elizabeth Koda-Callan. She wrote a bunch of books that came with charm necklaces around that time and some are still in print, I think. Good Luck!
Thank you for the response.  I checked into this author, though, and she doesn't appear to have written any books about unicorns.  Also, my friend who had the book was a boy, and these are all books for little girls.
Scholastic frequently packaged necklaces or such that related to a books subject.  Escape of the Unicorn by Suzanne Lord or Sarah's Unicorn by Bruce Coville were both publish by Scholastic in that era.



U34: "Underground Railroad" Jeanie Quakers Orphan
Solved: Voices in the Night


U35: Upside-down or backwards book
I am not sure of the correct term but it was an "upside-down or backwards book" with 2 stories in one book both about a child's bedtime, sleep, not wanting to go to bed.  I am pretty sure that there were 2 Covers, 2 titles, 2 fronts to the book. You would read in one direction , one story. Flip the book over and there was another cover and another story.  The 2 stories were on reverse pages, upside down, as I recall , if you looked over the page of story #1.  Year I read this would have been in the early 1950's, maybe even the late 1940's.  One story was about a little girl who did not want to go to sleep and stayed up all night wandering through the empty house, as I recall.   the other story , when you  flipped the book, was about what goes on in the house when everyone is asleep.   I just recall it was quite clever and really got the message across that it was better to go to sleep than stay up all night,.  I would so love to find this book  Thanks for any help.  Such a cool web site.  I was able to solve one of them...

U36: Uncle-niece thing
Solved: Me, My Goat, and My Sister's Wedding


U37: Underground monsters
This is a book I read in the late 50's.  I am very vague about it, but it was fairly large and had many full page black and white or sepia drawings.  It had as many pictures as a normal picture book but more writing.  A boy goes ?underground in a ?castle, or possibly down a well and comes to a world with many strange and grotesque creatures.  It's more like an art book, can't really remember the plot, but I think he has to try to get out.  I'm not certain if the creatures are threatening him or not.  Not much to go on, I know!

Could this be George MacDonald's The Princess and the Goblin? You can read it online here.
Thanks, but it's definitely not The Princess and the Goblin.  It's not a fairy or folk tale, I'm sure, but a modern fable of some kind, with the emphasis on the artwork and strange underground monsters.
I remember reading this book but i haven't a clue waht it's called, although i recall the pictures looking vaguely like those in where the wild things are by maurice sendak, maybe it was by him?



U38: Unicorns
Solved: The Secret of the Unicorn Queen

2006


U39: Underground maze
Solved: The House of Stairs


U40: Utah pioneer
Solved: The Great Brain Series


U41: Underground Society
I happened to browse onto your page in search for This Time of Darkness.  I also have a very (quite similar) issue.  I am also looking for a book about an underground society.  Since you seemed to be (somewhat) versed, at least reading three books on the subject ( This Time of Darkness, Outside and The City Under Ground), I was hopeing you can help me out.  When I was a kid, I read 1/2 way threw a book and my mom returned it, without my knowledge, and we just never bothered getting it out of the library again (something I truly regret).  So anyway, this is what I remember from the book:
* The society did live underground
* The main character was not over the age of a teenager...but most likely pre-pubesent.  Not sure of the gender, but I think it was male.
* There was a scene with a "town meeting" where the male and female adults stood on opposite sides of the room (maybe a theme of segregation?) and the children were either not present or split from both groups of adults.
* The main character describes a "beating" he received for looking up a "smoke stack" to the surface to see the sky.  Something that was obviously forbidden.
* The main character and his/her friends went exploring, following "train tracks" to somewhere...something i believe was also forbidden.
The last two bullets, the overall idea I'm sure is correct, but I am fuzzy on the details.

Zilpha Keatley Snyder, Below the Root, 1975.  I think you're looking for the Green-sky trilogy - the books are "Below the Root", "And All Between", and "Until the Celebration".  The novels are about a planet with two different groups of people - the Kindar, who live in villages in the treetops and wear long, wing-like outfits that allow them to glide from tree to tree, and the Erdlings, who have been imprisoned underground and developed an industrialized society.  A Kindar teenager named Raamo is invited to join the ruling council, and finds out about the existence of the Erdlings.  The clues you provide sound a lot like descriptions of the Erdling tunnels.
The book or series described in the query wouldn't be Green-sky. No child abuse (almost no violence at all) or gender segregation in those books. Could you be remembering two different series with similar ideas?
Ayn Rand, Anthem, 1937. Not everything matches, but you might be looking for ANTHEM.
Jean Duprau, City of Ember. The plot sounds like Duprau's book about Ember, where people had gone to escape some coming global catastrophe. By the time of the book, two children had discovered a route "up there". The time doesn't sound right for it though.


2007


U42: Uncle gloves mansion cabin snakes wash basin
This is a paperback book I read about 10 yrs ago, might have been written sometime in early 90's: A boy is sent to live with his evil aunt and uncle in a giant old creepy mansion (I believe he is orphaned, and he might have had a sister who went too...)   His uncle and aunt put him to very hard labor; his hands get very blistered, and  on his birthday, they only give him work gloves (!).  In his bedroom, there is a scary wash basin painted with a scene of a very chaotic and violent cavalry battle (that happened a few hundred years ago).  Eventually, the boy flips over the basin and finds a secret passage, which he follows down to find a log cabin buried deep within the house where a nice old lady lives, who helps him.  He even crosses a snake pit at one point, I think.  I forget how the happy ending wraps up...


U43: Uncle Popacatapetl
I dimly recall reading, circa 1965, a children's fantasy novel which I suspect was published at least thirty years earlier. The book was written in third-person narration, but always focusing on the child protagonist (as in Alice in Wonderland or The Wizard of Oz) The main character was a little boy I can't remember his name for certain, but it might be Peter. At one point in this book, the boy meets a very jolly bald fat man whose name is Uncle Popacatapetl. I'm pretty sure of that spelling. In real life, there is a volcano in Mexico named Popocatapetl notice the spelling difference.I don't remember the name of the book's author or illustrator. At one point, there is an illustration when the boy meets a lot of human or humanoid figures. One of the figures is a pair of tongs or a pair of pliers walking upright, with a male human face. The strange thing about these figures is that they seem to be parodies of the "Happy Families": these are characters in a children's card game which is very popular in Britain, similar to American children's games such as Old Maid and Go Fish, except that Happy Families requires a special dedicated card deck. I think that these characters in this book even have names similar to the names in the Happy Families card deck: Mister Cutts the Butcher, and so forth: surnames linked to a trade, and punning on it. I get the impression that this novel was written and published in America (I saw it in a shipment of books from the USA), but the presence of the Happy Families characters might indicate that the book originated in Britain. Any ideas?

Not a direct solution, but I found reference to your Uncle P. character being in a book titled Alternative Alices (Twenty stories by different authors giving an alternative picture of the heroine of Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Often less flattering than the original, they were written between 1869 and 1930) --   so here's the contents of that book.  Hopefully, you'll recognize the story you're looking for in there.  Contents: Mopsa the fairy : Reeds and rushes;  Queen's wand;  Failure / Jean Ingelow -- Amelia and the dwarfs / Juliana Horatia Ewing -- From Speaking likenesses / Christina Rossetti -- Behind the white brick / Frances Hodgson Burnett -- Wanted-a king, or, how Merle set the nursery rhymes to right / Maggie Browne -- New Alice in the old wonderland : Peggy the pig;  Dutchess and her house;  Tweedles
 Pageant / Anna M. Richards -- Justnowland / E. Nesbit -- Ernest / Edward Knatchbull-Hugessen -- From nowhere to the north pole: a Noah's ark-�ological narrative : How Frank fared in Teumendtlandt;  What happened to Frank in Quadrupedremia / Tom Hood -- Down the snow stairs, or, from good-night to good-morning : naughty children land / Alice Corkran -- Davy the goblin, or what followed reading "Alice's adventures in wonderland" : the moving forest / Charles E. Carryl -- Wallypug of why : Way to why;  Breakfast for tea;  Girlie sees the wallypug;
 What is a goo? / G.E. Farrow -- New adventures of "Alice" : Found in the attic;  To Bunberry Cross, or along came a snipe;  Peevish printer
 Fire!! / John Rae -- Uncle Wiggily in wonderland : Uncle Wiggily and wonderland Alice;  Uncle Wiggily and the march hare;  Uncle Wiggily and the cheshire cat / Howard R. Garis -- From David Blaize and the blue door / E.F. Benson -- Westminster Alice : Alice in Downing street;  Alice in Pall Mall;  Alice and the liberal party / Saki -- Clara in Blunderland : in a hole again / Caroline Lewis -- Alice in Blunderland, an iridescent dream : off to Blunderland;  ownership of children / John Kendrick Bangs -- Alice and the stork: a fairy tale for workingmen's children : Alice visits the American eagle / Henry T. Schnittkind -- Alice in the delighted states : Through the drinking glass;  Jealous island;  Humble pie
 Censor incensed / Edward Hope
Benson, E. F., David Blaize and the Blue Door,1918. Acting on the above information, I found that the story in the book Alternative Alices with Uncle Popacatapetl is "David Blaize and the Blue Door," by E. F. Benson.  I'm not certain it's the right book, because there is only an excerpt available in that book, but it seems like a good lead!



U44: Upside Down Land
Thanks GOD for this site! There is one book I�ve been looking for this book for YEARS! Please help! I used to take this book out from the library when I was very very young, maybe 15 or 20 years ago. It was in the Children�s section, one of those thin hardcover picture books. I remember that the cover was brown and possibly and the cartoonish picture on it like the inside of the book. What I REALLY remember is the pictures. The story was about a young boy who traveled to all these different worlds. Like most picture books there wasn�t a lot of words but big pictures of these worlds. One of them was an �Upsidedown land� where everyone walked with their shoes on their hands and birds flying upside down and people walking around doing handstands. Then he traveled to a chocolate World (possibly Chocolate and Marshmallow it was all brown and white) Actually that was the world that reminded me of the book (Anyone else seen the Chocolate Quik commercial where everything turns to chocolate � that�s what triggered my memory) Now this book looked like it was written in early 80s, possibly older (by a few years, nothing more than 60s) Please Please help!

James Flora, Pishtosh, Bullwash, and Wimple.One of my favorites as a child.  A boy has three friends (Pishtosh, Bullwash, and Wimple) that take him on wonderful adventures.  One place is upside down land, another is growly forest (where trees growl), another is chocolate lake (my favorite!) where they go fishing for marshmallow fish with vanilla wafer fins and he catches a big chocolate fish with a peanut eye.  Once he catches a peppermint turtle.  At the end of the book they have to find the north pole (taken by a polar bear to share with his homesick relatives in a zoo) before all the gravity spills out of the earth.  They replace it in the nick of time, just as everything is floating off of the earth.
Not a solution, but this sounds similar to a book I've been trying to unearth from my memory for a long time. The one I read would have been in the 70s.
Mattel, Upsy-Downsy Land,1969.You may be thinking of Upsy-Downsy Land - one of our all-time favorite books!  It lists no auther - just "Mattel."  Brilliantly colored cartoon pictures where everyone walks on their hands...



U45: Unfinished picture book
Solved: The Mysteries of Harris Burdick

U46: Uncle Toby, boys adventures
I vaguely remember 2 boys in a children's book who had an uncle Toby who sent them on really fantastic, almost surreal trips.  I think there was a series of the books.  Sadly, I can't remember much else.

Gordon Boshell, Captain Cobwebb.  That could be this long series - the uncle was Septimus Cobwebb (and was invisible) but Toby was one of the boys (his older brother was David). If Fanty the elephorse, the Leopillar, the Golden Cactus, the shershl (an invisible bus) and/or being kidnapped by a sort of ground-effect horseshoe crab with tentacles ring any bells then the requester's looking for this.



U47: Ugly Duckling
The Ugly Duckling, publication date approx. between 1950-1960; large edition, approx. 8 1/2" x 11"; white boards; final page in book has small drawing in a box centered in upper half of the page (maybe a plain white page after that).  Good luck!!  I've spent a LONG time looking!


U48: Upside Down Hatbox Cake
I am looking for a children's book from my childhood. It featured a group of animal characters that acted like people. There was a Mrs. Duck (I think - some kind of "Fowl") The premise of the book is that there is a village fete going on where baked goods will be sold. "Mrs. Duck" makes a cake and places it in a Hatbox on a shelf in her closet to cool. When she goes to retrieve the cake it tips upside down. She's upset, but takes the cake anyway. It sells and the folks want more! She makes another, puts it in the Hatbox and turns it upside down. The "Up side down Hatbox Cake" is born. Any of this sound familiar? I got the book from my Elementary School Library.  It might have been part of a collection of stories. Somewhere around 1965, although it wasn't new then.

Miriam Clark Potter, Mrs. Goose series.  The story "Hatbox Cake" is anthologized in Let's Hear a Story - 30 Stories and Poems for Today's Boys and Girls, ed. by Sidonie Matsner Grunberg, c. 1961.  The story is from one of Miriam Clark Potter's "Mrs. Goose" books, but I'm not sure which one.  Titles in the series include "Mrs. Goose of Animal Town" (1939), "Hello Mrs. Goose" (1947), "Here Comes Mrs. Goose" (1953), "Our Friend Mrs. Goose" (1956), "Mrs. Goose's Green Trailer" (1956), "Just Mrs. Goose" (1957), "Queer, Dear Mrs. Goose" (1959), "Goodness, Mrs. Goose!" (1960), "No, No, Mrs. Goose!" (1962), "Goofy Mrs. Goose" (1963), "Mrs. Goose and Three-Ducks" (1964), and "Mrs. Goose and her Funny Friends" (1964). "Hello Mrs. Goose" was reprinted in 2000, and "Just Mrs. Goose" was reprinted in 2004.
Miriam Clark Potter, Mrs. Goose, 1957, copyright.  This sounds like it could be a Mrs. Goose book. There are at least three of them: Just Mrs. Goose, Mrs. Goose and her Funny Friends and Goofy Mrs. Goose.
It's the only reference I could find to a 'hatbox cake' so maybe------Let's hear a story: 30 stories and poems for today's boys and girls / Sidonie Matsner Gruenberg / 1961 [1st ed.]. English  Book : Juvenile audience 160 p. illus. 29 cm. Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday.
Miriam Clark Potter, Our Friend Mrs. Goose, 1951, copyright.  This is in response to a question about where to find "The Hatbox Cake" story by Miriam Clark Potter.  The story, according to the acknowledgments in an anthology containing the story, was originally in Miriam Clark Potter's "Our Friend Mrs. Goose," published in 1951. The anthology referred to above is:  Let's Hear a Story, by Sidonie Matsner Gruenberg (1961).



2008


U49: Unicorn, maiden, greyhounds
The book features a beautiful maiden, a white unicorn, and white greyhounds that hunt the unicorn. It is a children's book that contains mainly illustration, as opposed to text. The drawings are detailed, elegant, and realistic. I believe there may be a tapestry feel to the art and layout. My strongest image is that of the unicorn being attacked by the white greyhounds. I also recall the maiden having beautifully illustrated hands and fingernails. I encountered this book in the mid-eighties, and I have no idea what the title or author could have been.

Gale Cooper, Unicorn Moon, 1984, copyright.  "One night a lonely princess dreams of a handsome hunter on a unicorn, forever riding through the land of Unicorn Moon. His only companions are his hunting hounds. He is enchanted by a powerful spell - and can be freed only if she solves a great riddle: What is the meaning of true love?" Front cover shows a unicorn and two white greyhounds running, with a full moon behind them. The dogs are on either side of the unicorn, with open mouths and tongues hanging out, and could be construed as either attacking it or as simply running alongside and panting. There is an interior picture of a blonde prince, in lavendar tights & shirt, with a burgundy tunic, sitting at the edge of the water, with three white greyhounds sitting behind him and a full moon over his shoulder. He is reflected in the water, and the unicorn is standing in the foreground.


U50: Upside down world
Solved: The Silver Nutmeg


U51: Underground Society and Names
This book was found in a middle school library. It may have been a children's book, but then again, it may not have been as it contained some things I would consider very adult.  I am fuzzy on the plot of the book. Its been so many years; all I recall is a vague impression of the two main characters getting themselves into deeper and deeper trouble until they fled to a passageway above ground I'm not sure they believed existed.  I know the premise was that long ago a society had to go underground due to war or possibly environmental catastrophe, and believed they could never go back again, and that this was the world the main characters lived in. The entire book except the very end takes place underground.  One of the traits I do recall about the society was how they passed on names. If someone died, they would take the names of the person who died and give it to a newly born babe. So, say your father was named "Sam" and he died...the first male child to be born would then carry the name "Sam."  This became especially vivid when the main characters (a boy and a girl, not fully grown, I think) escaped to above ground up a long staircase (again, I think). They found a group of people who lived on the surface, and in the course of things one of the above-grounders died. One of the main characters asked who would take on his name, and the question earned them a lecture on honoring the dead.  Help?

This almost never happens to me, but as I was reading your stumper to post it, I suddenly had this thought that I might know what this is.  It reminded me of this movie trailer that I saw just yesterday (when I went to see Prince Caspian), called "City of Ember."  From the trailer, I gathered that there was this underground society, a refuge from Earth, meant to last 200 years; now the electricity generator is failing, and these 2 teens have to find the way out to save their society.  I did some online research and found that it's based on a young adult novel by Jeanne DuPrau also called The City of Ember, which is the first of the series Books of Ember.  I could be totally wrong, since these books are only a few years old and I don't know how long ago you found your book, but this just flashed into my mind, and I had to write this down. :)
City of Ember.  This also sounds like City of Ember to me, though I don't remember the part about the names being taken. There is also the Windsinger series, in which a brother and sister have to leave their town because they get into trouble.
The City of Ember is not the right book. The book I found was back when I was in middle school, and I'm 32 now. It was a lot of years back. However, there are some similarities, enough that I have wondered if the writer of "City of Ember" also read the same book.
Logan's Run.  
Okay, as I read the description again, there were a lot of similarities to the movie Logan's Run. I never read the book, but it could be what the reader is looking for--has the staircase and the upper/lower world with the belief that the world didn't exist anymore.

Gregory Maguire, I Feel Like the Morning Star, 1989, copyright. I haven't read this, and nothing mentions the names, but the book sounds right in other ways. There's a post-nuclear underground society, rigid, static, and frightened, which is shaken up by three teenagers who are determined to be free.
Louise Lawrence, Andra. I remember the book Andra having an underground society with a strange way of choosing names.  But the rest of the details don't fit, and Andra had quite a downbeat ending that i thought would be mentioned in the query.  So it's not a strong possibility.
I remember this one!  The city underground is cramped and dirty and overcrowded.  The girl and boy decide (there is some overwhelming reason) to just keep going up the staircase until they find out where it ends.  I remember one level, the girl has to go to the restroom and pretends she has to vomit to move up the line of women waiting quickly. It was definitely published in the mid to 1980's.  I will try to jar my memory some more about this book.

U52: Underground girl
I think that this was a serial in Jack and Jill magazine in the 1950's.  A girl lives both on top of and under the ground.  This seems to be in tunnels and perhaps in Ireland.  I don't remember any time traveling taking place but just that she goes underground when there is trouble on top.  Thank you.


U53: Unicorn kept on apartment roof
The Secret Unicorn (maybe?), 1975.  This is a children's novel about a girl who lives in the city (I believe it was NYC, but it may have been Chicago or another big US city) who secretly owns a unicorn and keeps it on the roof of her family's apartment building. Eventually the unicorn becomes unhappy living there and the girl has to let it free -- a very sad, but sweet ending.  I remember it having a light blue cover with a whimsical illustration of a unicorn, possibly with a girl riding it. I think the type may have been orange. I think I may have ordered the paperback from a school book fair.

Georgess McHargue, Stoneflight,
1975, copyright.  Any chance it was a griffin, instead of a unicorn? Set in Manhattan in the 1970s, Stoneflight is about a pre-teen girl (Janie) who escapes her parents marital problems by hiding out on the rooftop of her apartment building.  There, she spends her time cleaning a beautiful stone griffin (whom she calls "Griff") until he finally comes to life for her and she is able to soar over the city on his back. Janie then travels around New York City, discovering other stone animals decorating the City�s architecture and bringing them to life.  However, when the animals start to turn her into stone, she learns that having feelings is the price of remaining human. Front cover shows Janie riding on the back of the griffin. Dominant colors are blues, greens, and lavender.
Foster, Elizabeth Vincent, Lyrico: the only horse of his kind,
1970. This crops up twice on your site! And answers the above! THanks for a fantastic resource!
I am trying to find this book as well. It is not a unicorn but a pegasus and the title might have something like ''rico'' in it. It was scholastic with a blue cover, and in the story the horse might have needed a certain (alpine?) plant to survive and this is why she lets him go. Mid 70's.


U54: under a purple moon
Hi there. I remember reading a book when I was kid during the late '70's, early '80's and I swear it's called Under the Purple Moon. It was set in the future and cars would fly. I remember the little boy in the book traveling to a different world that was under the purple moon.

Lionel Davidson, Under Plum Lake,
1980, copyright.  I wonder if you are thinking of Under Plum Lake. Another person remembered it as "Under a Purple Moon", or "Under a Purple Sea". It is the story of a boy who is taken to a fantastic, futuristic subterranean world. See the Solved Mystery pages for more.
Crockett Johnson, Harold and the Purple Crayon, 1955.  Perhaps it is Harold and the Purple Crayon, or one of the other Harold books?  Wikipedia says, "The protagonist, Harold, is a curious four-year-old boy who, with his purple crayon, has the power to create a world of his own simply by drawing it. Harold wants to go for a walk in the moonlight, but there is no moon, so he draws one. He has nowhere to walk, so he draws a path. He has many adventures looking for his room, but, in the end, he draws his own house and bed and goes to sleep."


U55: Undertaker fakes ghosts to rob town
Solved: The Ghost on Saturday Night

2009

U56: Underground Railroad Christian novel?
A teenage girl is sold as an indentured servant to her uncle.  A man named Freeman receives an inheritance but must get married and have a child in order to get the money.   He marries the girl.  The Underground Railroad is involved.  A Christian historical fiction novel.

Stahl, Hilda, The Covenant, 1991, copyright.  I FINALLY found the book!  I did another search on a Christian bookstore website and got a hit!  Ive been trying to remember this book title for more than 16 years. :)


U57: Urban Fantasy
A friend of one of my cousins was telling me about this one, its kind of an urban fantasy in which a scientist working somewhere very cold (the guy telling me about the book said someplace like Alaska or the Yukon Territory) discovers that there are really elves and fairies in the world. At first he wants to reveal them to the scientific community, but decides to protect them instead. He got the book at a public library in Denver, Colorado, but couldnt remember the name, title, or a whole lot of important plot stuff. I sincerely hope that this book is not a figment of his imagination, as I would VERY much like to get my hands on it because it sounded really interesting.

Eoin Colfer, Artemis Fowl and the Arctic Incident. Just to eliminate the obvious, could your friend be thinking of the Artemis Fowl series? One takes place in the arctic.

No, it wasn't Artemis Fowl-he's exploiting the fairies that he found, and this was published before "The Arctic Incident"'


U58: Uncle Wiggily
1970s uncle wiggily book- christmas book - I think it was about someone getting lost in a snow storm on christmas eve.

U59: Up All Night
Children's book about a little kid who stays up all night for the first time. Definitely a children's book, not young adult; kinda short, and I seem to recall more pictures than text. Gist of it was how the noises and shadows in the house, and outside in the street, change as the night wears on. This book had to be published sometime between 1960 and 1990. Updated: So far, the book stumper page lists 3 possible books for my mystery book, # U59. I just wanted to report back that I've gotten copies of all 3 books and, sadly, none of them is the right one. I'm hoping for some more suggestions...

Bill Harley, Nothing Happened, 1995, copyright. A possibility. Jack stays up all alone one night because he believes that everyone else stays up and has fun all night, but all he experiences is the small noises of his quiet house: a cat, the furnace, etc.
Teddy Jam, Night Cars. Maybe Night Cars?  Daddy and sleepless baby looking out the apartment window at the night's goings-on, told in rhyme. "Chocolate for baby, coffee for dad, even night cars go to bed."
Harriet Ziefert, I Won't Go To Bed!,1987. It sounds a lot like this one.  Harry refuses to go to bed, so he stays awake all night and finds out that it's not so much fun being awake alone.

I remember this book, too and she's right  it's not any of the 3 suggestions. I remember that the little girl's name was Amy and her dig stays up with her, tho I don't recall its name. Her name, Amy, is in the title, something like Amy Stays Up or Bedtime For Amy. I so hope you can find it!
Nancy Garber, Amy's Long Night
Nancy Garber, Amy's Long Night (1970).
I remember reading this book. It was a fave!! For some reason, I am recalling it was made into a TV special...but, I could be wrong about that.

U60: United Nations picture book explains children living in different conditions
I believe this is a hardcover children's picture book published by the United Nations.  The pages were large.  It explains to children how some children in the world don't have enough food, or clean water, or live in war conditions, etc.  I think I saw this book in the 1990s.

Annabel Kindersley, Children Just Like Me, 1995. This book was printed w/ cooperation of UNICEF.  Each page spread shows a real child, and has details and photos about where the child lives, what he or she wears, eats, and studies at school.
Barnabas & Anabel Kindersley, Children Just Like Me, 1995. This is a book of photographs of real children living in various countries around the world with accompanying text describing their various living conditions and what they do.  It has a foreward by UNICEF.  It is a DK book and spawned "Children Just Like Me Celebrations!"

Sorry, the book I'm looking for is definitely not Children Just Like Me.  The one I remember had much, much simpler pages and pictures.  Like, just one or two sentences on a whole page.
Kermit the Frog/Louise Gikow, For Every Child, a Better World, 1993. A United Nations book about children around the world who lack basic necessities. One 2-page spread per idea.

2011

U61: underground homes, mushrooms, flowers, trees, dwarf like characters
1970's children's picture book; underground homes, mushrooms, flowers, trees, dwarf like characters

Arlene Mosel, The Funny Little Woman,
1973. Might this be the Caldecott winner Funny Little Woman?  A large part of the story takes place in an underground world occupied by the Oni.
Sibylle von Olfers, When the Root Children Wake Up, 1906, approximate. This has been re-issued several times since its original publication, with various illustrators. Little Men Underground by Austria's Ida Bohatta? Translation: Mary Lee Theobald. Bohatta did several books about gnomes, plants, animals, etc. so you'll want to look at as many titles as possible - especially in Google Images. Only trouble is, that book was supposedly written in 1981. (Bohatta lived from 1900 to 1992.)
Berton, Pierre, The Secret World of Og, 1974. I think this could be your book.

U62: Under the Big Umbrella
I've been looking for a book that was read to me as a child in the early 1980s.  It had the phrase "under the big umbrella."  I had in my mind that it was a Golden book, but I really do not remember.  My mom thought it may have had the word "beach" in the title.  I know it isn't "Harry by the Sea."

Literature Committee of the Association for Childhood Education, Told Under the Green Umbrella. There was a series of anthologies of folk tales and other short stories for young children: Told Under the Green Umbrella, Told Under the Blue Umbrella, Told Under the Magic Umbrella, etc. I don't know if you're thinking of one of these books?
Under the Big Umbrella was a Golden Book that my mom read to us, and I think it was earlier than the 80s.  "Under the big umbrella, mother sits from the sun.  Under the big umbrella, there was only one."  The book builds up to 10 under the umbrella, I think, and then maybe takes the people under the big umbrella down again.  Sorry I can't be more helpful.  But I keep hoping I'll find it, too!
I think this person is talking about "Numbers" (Little Golden Book)
It's a little golden book called Numbers (1955). We read it almost every night. It's a counting and math book, but the section in question takes place at the beach. It's a wonderful book, and the beach section is absolutely the best part.
"Under the big umbrella
Mother hides from the sun
now there is ONE
under the big umbrella"
etc.

U63: Unicorn coral necklace
The book was about a little girl (? Astrid) who had a coral necklace. There was a stream at the bottom of the garden and the necklace broke into the stream, tinkling into the stream and then she saw a tiny unicorn drinking from the stream. I'm 40 now so I would have read this in the 70's.

Irmelin Sandman Lilius, The Unicorn,
1965. "The story of Muddle's search with her doll Aster-Pippi for her broken pieces of coral necklace left her by the tiny unicorn has a quiet, dream-like quality and is a dream-like ramble through a series of incidents in a fantasy world." Muddle and Aster-Pippi appear again in The Maharajah Adventure.

2012

U64: Unrequited Love
this is to find a book/story.  I thought it was by Edith Wharton, but can't locate it.  It is about a man who is in love with a woman whom he can't tell.  In his old age he finally decides to find her and tell her how he feels.  He finds the house but sits outside on a bench and does not go in.

Edith Wharton, Age of Innocence, 1920.

U65: Unicorn stampede is stopped by griffons
Picture book I read in the 90's. A king(?) & griffonish creatures in a castle see a herd of unicorns stampeding. Going to run over a cliff and fall. The griffons fly over with a giant board that has holes drilled in it and drop it on their horns to stop them. Uni's come to live at castle at the end.

U66: UMA
Title Guess: Death on the Beach / Isle of Death, c. 1965. I believe this was a mystery, paperback novel. It was called something like "Isle of Death" or "Death on the Beach", but I can't find it under those names. The cover was yellowish (sky and beach) and I'm pretty sure it had a close up of a skull dangling on a stick stuck in the sand. One of the main characters was an island girl named Uma. I believe it was about the adventures of several people on a south sea island.

The Beach of Fales�, Robert Louis Stevenson. The story can be read at http://www.fullbooks.com/Island-Nights-Entertainments1.html. It includes an island girl named Uma, a taboo, and a nefarious character suspected of several murders.
SOLVED: The Beach of Fales�, Robert Louis Stevenson. Thanks!
U67: Unicorn, lost black kitten, witch that wants to be an actress again, bad wizard in castle next door, forgetful pony, alicorn
The book is a large hardbound glossy print book. The pictures are very beautiful, colorful, and many details. I would most likely compare the artwork to Susan Dawe, specifically the print of the long haired black and white cat sitting on a wall with its back to the viewer touching the nose of a unicorn with it's paw. I think the story was set in England as the buildings in the story are a stone castle and a thatch cottage with a fairy garden and pony paddock. I remember reading this book in the late 1980's/early 1990's.


Tuttle, Lisa, Catwitch, 1983. I read this book dozens of times as a little girl and it's definitely the one you're thinking of! "The book follows the adventures of Jules, a small kitten in search of life, who becomes apprenticed to a witch, Eva Eden. Eva is a former actress, who needs to perform the great spell in order to restore herself to her former glory. The problem is that she needs alicorn and can't remember what it is. Jules finds out, but it's too late, the alicorn has been stolen by a rival warlock, and Eva's landlord, Alexander Wylie."

U68:Uncle Matthew gets young boy visitor
In 1985 I read a book about a young boy that is sent to stay with his Uncle Matthew. The uncle's house had many secret rooms and passages and there was a mystery for the boy to solve. Notable part - The uncle says, "It's bad luck to call someone "Uncle Matthew" give me a nickname."

U69: Underground flotilla of a lost tribe
I've been trying to find a children's chapter book that I remember being assigned to read in about 4th or 5th grade (for me, that was about 1974-5). I don't remember the title or author at all, but the plot was surreal: It was about a tribe of people who lived on a flotilla of rafts, drifting endlessly on an underground river. No one could remember where they were going to, or how long they'd lived there, only that they had to stay on the rafts. One boy decided he wanted to explore the riverbanks and he abandoned his people. He found a tunnel to the surface and was amazed to see the sun and the rest of the outside world. On his way back to find his people and share the news, he discovers that the river they're traveling on is a giant loop, and they've been traveling in circles for generations. I've been looking for this one for years. Help!

This sounds like Mary Q. Steele's Journey Outside, see Solved Stumpers.




V1: Valley of Mystery
Perhaps you may be familiar with a series I remember reading in 1947 while in grade school concerning a boy detective who resided in the town of Edinburgh, Scotland. After the mystery presented itself, the boy would track down clues by riding his bicycle to various locations in and around Edinburgh. I cannot recall either the name of the author or the name of the boy detective, but I believe one of the books was entitled The Valley Of Mystery. Thank you for any assistance you or your online readers can give me.

V 1's search might focus on part of the "Plupey" (Plupy?) series my brother read as a young boy.
Although the name "Plupey" doesn't sound familiar at the moment, this is the first clue I've received.  I'll do searches under that name and will let you know of any positive findings. Thanks so much for the information!!
The Plupy series was written by Henry Shute and published in the 1900s. It was set in small town America, NOT Edinburgh, and had no apparent mystery themes. Sorry to be negative, but it's a false trail.
Not likely, because of the date, but William Mackellar wrote The Mystery of the Ruined Abbey, a boy's mystery set in Scotland, 1954; Danger in the Mist 1956; Ghost in the Castle 1960; and many sports stories. I haven't been able to track down any earlier books, though.
Well, a possible author, anyway. Agnes Mary Robertson Dunlap, who wrote under the name Elizabeth Kyle, was writing juvenile mysteries in the late 1940s to early 60s, published in England by Peter Davies and in the States by Houghton. Several are set in Scotland. Titles include The Provost's Jewel 1950, The Holly Hotel Mystery 1947, The Mirrors of Castle Doone 1947, Mally Lee 1947, Mystery of the Good Adventure1950, etc.
Oswald Dallas, The Valley of Mystery. I haven't read the book but at any rate it's the right title.


V3: Vardon, Beth
Solved: Davie and the First Christmas
V5: Viking ship

Solved: The Ship That Flew

V6: Viking ship again
Solved: Reindeer of the Waves

V7: Victorian lady
Solved: Lucky Mrs. Ticklefeather 

V8: Vacation cottage
Solved: Fun With Decals

V10: Viking boy
Solved: Young Viking

V11: Visual Perception
I have been searching for a children's book that was popular 20 years ago in pre-school. It was a large book with grand illustrations of scenes and objects that fooled the eye. One page that I remember was of two stem wine glasses but if you turned the book up side down the image became that of mountains. The entire book, of 20 - 30 pages, was about visual perception. Do you recall such a book? If so can you obtain a copy for me?

I think of  Tana Hoban's work, and a picture book called Black and White which tells one story front-to-back, and another when you turn the book upside down and read it again, but I don't think either is your book. I'll post this as a stumper and see what other ideas come up.
V11 Visual Perception: Maybe Mitsuma Anno'sTopsy-Turvies Walker-Weatherhill 1970? I don't recall that specific illustration, though.
V11 - Anno's Topsy-Turvies is about a pack (deck) of cards, but this picture could be in one of his other titles.
Perhaps - Topsys and Turvys, author-illustrator Peter Newell, published by Dover 1965, 72 pages 9"x6" "Selections have been made from two of Peter Newell's books, first published in 1894 and 1902. The pictures are to be looked at first rightside up and then upside down, a device that used to delight six- to eight-year-olds" (Horn Book Aug/65 p.406)
Not a lot to go on, but maybe - Now This, Now That: Playing with Points of View, written and illustrated by Howard Baer, published Holiday House 1957. "Through simple text and bold, full-page drawings, the young observer is encouraged to discover the fun of looking at things in different, imaginative ways. Ages 3-6." (Horn Book Oct/57 p.338) The illustration shows a thin book wider than tall, with a cover showing two boys with backs to each other, each with short dark hair and slightly old-fashioned clothes, wide collars and Norfolk? jackets, one smiling, the other looking surprised.
I immediately thought of Beau Gardner's books from the 1980's.  On each page is a bold, 2-color graphic. The reader can turn the page a quarter turn and the picture appears to be something else (ex. - teddy bear foot, pipe bowl, periscope, & lamp).  I've checked The turn About, Think About, Look About Book and The Look Again...And Again, And Again, And Again Book but didn't see any wine glasses.  However, he does have several other books (What Is It: A Spin About Book, etc.) that may have the wine glasses picture.  Incidently, I think the black & white book mentioned above is Round Trip by Ann Jonas.  It portrays a trip out to the
country, then you turn the book around and the pictures become a trip back to the city.  Hoban's Black On White & White On Black are board books with simple outlines of common items for babies to look at.
I wonder if the bookstumper V11: Visual Perception might be Graham Oakley's Magical Changes. There are no wine glasses and the book is not turned up-side down, but it is definitely a "large book with grand illustrations of scenes and  objects" and there are many pages with items that have long stems similar to wine glasses.  The pages are split horizontally and you flip them to make different combinations.  I've had the book at least twenty years, so the time frame is right. Thanks for maintaining this wonderful site!



V12: Vocabulary book
I'm looking for a reprint of a late ninteenth or early twentieth century children's vocabulary  book.  I think it was reprinted by Dover or Merrimack in the 1970s (at least that's when I  received it).  The book is fairly small, about 4 by 7 inches, and has a hardcover, possibly  green.  Each two-page spread has a largish engraving, surrounded by smaller engravings of words related to the large picture.  For example, one double page spread shows a ship at sea.  Around the margins are words and pictures
such as "astrolabe," "sextant" and other nautical terms.  I loved reading the unfamiliar, old-fashioned words when I was given this book.  It was definintely a reprint of a children's book, but I have never seen it since my copy was tossed in the give-away pile. Please help!

DMIRAL W.H. SMYTH, THE SAILOR'S WORD-BOOK OF 1867, 1867. AN ALPHABETICAL DIGEST OF NAUTICAL TERMS.  This book has been re-released.  I don't know if it has pictures or not.  Just a long-shot



V13: Vanishing Airliner
Solved: Bringing Down the Air Pirate 

V14: Vegetable children
The book I am looking for is a book that my nursery school teacher had.  I'm 39 and it was old then.  The characters were children who were all vegetables (really)!  They had names like Little Miss Endive and Baby Brussel Sprout.  I've been thinking about that book for years.  I you have any luck I'd love it.

Sounds like Vegetable Children in your solved pages.
V14 vegetable children: maybe Mother Earth's Children: the Frolics of the Fruits and the Vegetables, by Elizabeth Gordon, published Volland 1914, 95 pages, reprinted Derrydale 2000. Less likely is When the Root Children Wake Up, by Sybille Olfers, English text by Helen Dean Fish, published Lippincott 1941, 22 pages, reprinted by Green Tiger 1976.
The Elizabeth Gordon books (Flower Children, Vegetable Children, etc.) feature animated creatures (ie, Daisies or Carrots with human baby faces and hands) with short rhymes underneath each illustration.  I do not believe the rhymes are related to each other in any way, but they do often have cute names.  So if the book sought is a portfolio of characters rather than a story with a plot, the Gordon may well be the one.


2002


V15: Viking Game fictional book
In the late 1960s or early 1970s I remember reading a book about a boy who found an ancient Viking game similar to chess. I think that when he held the pieces he may have been able to talk to a Viking, who explained the Viking way of life. The book very intrically explained the game and Viking ways. There were many line drawings in the margins. This book probably would have been 4-6th grade reading level.

Not a solution, but a possible lead.  There was a beautiful Viking chess set discovered about the time the enquirer read the book, and perhaps the book was published by a museum, like the British Museum?  I'll try to find out more.
Moyra Caldecott (pseud of Olivia Brown), Weapons of the Wolfhound, 1976.  This may not the book you're remembering, but the Lewis Chessmen almost certainly are the game pieces the boy holds. Here's an interesting note on them from the Guardian 30 Oct '99: "The Lewis chessmen Probably Scandinavian, walrus ivory, 12th century, when the Outer Hebrides were part of the kingdom of Norway.  Finest medieval chess set in Europe. Confused records of discovery, 93 pieces found buried in a sand dune in Uig in 1831, possibly in a stone lined burial chamber. Some in National Museum of Scotland. Isle of Lewis council has repeatedly requested the return of the set."
Would the following word help solve the mystery? There is an ancient Viking game something like chess called hnefatafl.


V16: Volcano in the basement
Solved: The Fiches Fabulous Furnace 
2003

V17:  Very long-necked girl
Solved: Struwwelpeter: Phoebe Ann


V18: victorian house with lady and alligator
Solved: Alexander and the Magic Mouse


V19: Vanishing Lessons
Solved:  Jimmy Takes Vanishing Lessons


V20: Virginia, a horse that secretly talks
Virginia is a horse owned by a little girl.  Virginia talks only to the girl, and they keep this communication a secret. The girl and horse learn riding, teaching each other.  At the end, they win a big race, like the Grand National (National Velvet style), with the horse talking the girl through the course.  This book was maybe 200 (or fewer) pages, had a red/orange hard cover, about 5x8".

Hallowell, P. C, Dinah and Virginia. Great horse story, very nice illustrations.  Virginia, the horse,teaches Dinah, her owner, to ride and jump.  They didn't win a race, but the open jumping event at a horse show.  Virginia retires from jumping to have a foal.  Dinah, the girl, had a younger brother who wanted to be Roy Rogers.This should be it.  Virginia (the horse) teaches Dinah (her new girl owner) how to ride.  Ultimately, they win the open jumping event in a horse show.  Virginia retires to have a foal.  Dinah has a younger brother who wants to be Roy Rogers.  Her father is allergic to horses.  The illustrations are a cut above.



V21: Viking
Erik,  The Red-Tempered Viking, c.1970.  Erik (Eric) was an irrasible cartoonish seafarer of about the eleventh century, who sailed the northern seas in search of conquest and adventure with his crew.  An explorer/real estate developer, he was from Denmark or Norway.  He started his career in grass-covered island he called "Iceland" and talked some settlers into joining him, but after a time they pushed him out of the colony because he was always making trouble.  He sailed west, discovered a huge ice-covered place which he named "Greenland" in order to entice settlers.  After a time the Greenlanders also voted him off, and again he sailed west.  This time he found an even better place he named "Vineland" but when nobody believed his tales of discovery, he learned a lesson.   The illustrations are very funny, and kids, especially boys  find many lessons in behavior, manners, truth-telling and other social skills. I think it might be Houghton-Mifflin publishers.

As for Eric the Viking, these are details from the life of Leif Ericson.  The book could be The Story of Leif Ericson, by William O. Steele (1954), as Steele sometimes wrote about historical figures with exaggerated humor.
V21 The book for younger children, Leif the Lucky, by Erick Berry, tells of his father, Erik, and his grandfather, Thorvald, both having been evicted from their countries because of arguments. They and Leif went from Greenland to Iceland. I'm saying that the wanted book may indeed be about Erik, even though Leif might be in it.
#V21--Viking:  Also try Leif Eriksson:  First Voyager to America, by  Katherine B. Shippen.  Harper, 1951.
Nathaniel Benchley, Beyond the Mists: A Novel, 1975.  Found this while searching for something else.  Here is a brief description: "The ambience of eleventh-century Scandinavian life is portrayed through the eyes of an adventurous youth who travels to Vinland with Leif Eriksson."



V22: velvet purse
In the late 50s I had a book about a little girl who goes shopping with a velevt purse. Can anyone recall a story like this?

Sounds like Sally to me.  Louise Eppenstein, Sally Goes Shopping Alone, 1940.
The book I'm looking for may be Sally Goes Shopping Alone, I'm not sure  though. Would you have another copy available? Does she have a velvet purse?
I don't have a copy of Sally Goes Shopping Alone right now, but I have a sequel called Sally Goes Travelling Alone, in which she refers constantly to her "little red purse."  She doesn't actually call it velvet, but it looks like a small hand-held purse with a string handle.  Maybe?
Hey! That could be her. It's amazing the impact books have on us as children that stay with us and hold such tenderness in our hearts. TY so much. I'd like to get it.
Just recieved Sally Goes Traveling Alone and am sorry to discover that it is not the book I am looking for, so Sally took an adventurous trip once again. The book I remember had a sepia look to the art work in it and I think the hardcover had a kind of fabric texture to it and may have been brownish. The size may have been 6 x 8.5" approximately, if I recall it correctly. This would have been in the late 50s that I had it as a child. The search continues.



V23: Virgin Prince and Talking Unicorn

Virgin Prince and Talking Unicorn.  Please help!  Looking for a 1970's-ish short fantasy paperback I read as a child, and would dearly love to find once more.  It's about a virgin prince who is sent on a quest to rescue a princess (from a dragon?) by his not-so-nice older brother (father?).  The prince rides a (talking?) unicorn (a source of much grief, as only virgins ride unicorns), and duly falls in love with the rescued princess while depositing her back at the castle.  He goes on to do great things (?), returns, rids kingdom of not-so-nice brother, and marries her.  Any ideas?  Thanks!

Simon Green, Blue Moon Rising, 1991.  Although this is later than the date in the clue, there is  the second son, Prince Rupert who rides a talking unicorn, and enlists a dragon and a princess (who is supposed to marry his elder brother) in his struggle to save the Forest Kingdom from evil. At the end they knock out his unpleasant brother and leave to find their own fortunes.
Stephen R Boyette, Ariel: Book of Change, 1983.  This is more of a young adult book, but worth a mention. This site has a good summary.
John DeCles, The Particolored Unicorn, 1987, copyright.  Could be this novel.  The unicorn is multicolored (as the title suggests).  The setting is futuristic fantasy.  Protagonist is Piswyck and at some point mentions his family is named alphabetically and there is some prophecy about "when the alphabet runs out".  The unicorn isn't named until the very end as Lifesaver (after the candies).



V24: Vansel
I have a friend (male) who was given a most unusual middle name:  VANSEL based on a character in a book his mother was reading during her pregnancy (mid - 1940's) - but he does not know the book, title, nor author - we assume it was fiction and published before 1947. and of course I'd like to buy the book from you if it can be found. I have had no success finding that name in lists of names (such as name you baby this) - which supports my belief that it was a work of fiction.  {I'd even be willing to buy a book of names that listed it}

Not a solution, but looking on Google, there are lots of mentions of Vansel as a surname, so it was probably a case of someone being given a surname as a first name, thus unlikely to be found in a book of baby names.
This isn't a solution either, but I happened to be looking through "From Aaron to Zoe: 15,000 Great Baby Names" & ran across "Vencel," which I though was close enough to "Vansel" to mention. According to the book, "Vencel" is an unusual Hungarian name meaning "wreath" or "garland."
Not a solution, but an observation. My first thought when I read this stumper was "how would one pronounce this name?" Stories can change when they go from parent to child, over time. If the Mom was a radio fan in the thirties and forties, maybe she heard "Von Zell"  as many times as I did as a kid, (actor/announcer Harry Von Zell) and spelled it the way she preferred it.


2004


V25:  Victorian House is Alive
I am looking for the title of a children's book. This book is about an old victorian house that is "alive". The house has human characteristics. It has colorful illustrations and possibly the old house is on the front cover. The windows served as eyes, etc. This book is from the early 1970's or before. It might be a golden book.

Virginia Lee Burton, The Little House, 1942.  This may seem too simple but could this be it?  I don't think the house is really Victorian but everything else matches.
This could be the Wonder Book Once There Was a House-(1965).  Victorian (GingerBread) House empty and abandoned-one morning feels sick (pain in the boiler, etc) gets up off foundation and goes to doctor (Dr. Pim) "tight squeeze" to get into office! "Nurse surprised!" After thorough exam- "You have mice"! Gets prescription at hardware store- mice gone- Gets New Family! THE END!



V26: Visiting Grandpa's farm
I had a story book in the early 1950's when I was 8 - 10. It was about a brother and sister(I think) that visited their grandpa's farm. They had several learning experiences as grandpa taught them about nature. The book had well drawn line illustrations - I can still see in my mind's eye the drawing of a mud dabber wasp and its beatiful ewer-shaped nest. I think the kids had to crawl under a stone fence to get into the orchard, but I'm not sure. I wish I could remember more about the book. I surely enjoyed looking at it all those years ago.

V26 is NOT Read, Helen,  Grandfather's farm,  1928.
This is a bit of a wild guess, but has the poster looked at the Maple Hill Farm books created by Martin and Alice Provensen? At least two of their books deal almost entirely with animals.  I know the Provensens started illustrating books in the 40s, though I'm not sure of the copyright on the Maple Hill Farm books.
V26 is NOT Provensen. I checked.



V27: Veronica Ganz
Solved: Veronica Ganz


V28:  Voodoo Kit
Solved: Mrs. Coverlet's Magicians


V29:  Very Scary Book
Solved: Grandpa's Ghost Stories


V30: Villain steals town's polka dots
Solved: Rootie Kazootie, Detective

2005


V31: various animal characters go into a cave
Childrens book with pastel coloured fat flumpy cartoon animal characters (think rabbit crossed with pastel coloured fat pillow/marshmallow). They all go into a cave for some reason and use crayons i think to mark there way on the wall.There could have been bats in the cave im not sure.There was a rabbit, a cat possibly a green sheep and a blue dog maybe; i cant think of the rest.Very thin book, mostly pictures.

Sounds like it could be a Puffalumps book, based on a series of puffy stuffed Fisher-Price animal dolls from the 1980s and 1990s. Possibly Puffalump Pillow Tales by Nora Smith, Puffalumps Annual Book, Puffalumps and the Big Scare by Jon Chardiet, 1987, "the story of a Puffalump camping trip and three monsters that they meet" or The Puffalumps Treasure Hunt by Cathy West, 1987.


V32: Victorian House
Solved: Nothing Ever Happens on My Block


V33: Vanishing Island
Solved: Dangerous Island


V34: Victorian dolls
Solved: Behind the Attic Wall

V35: ventriloquism french and indian war
A teenage girl in America, I believe during the French and Indian Wars, is left in charge of two young boys. She knows ventriloquism, and amuses the children by making chipmunks talk and the like. Indians kidnap them and take them to their camp, where the medicine man wants the tribe to go to war against the settlers. The chief doesn't want to, but he gets sick. The girl is present when the chief dies, and suddenly a voice says he is the chief's spirit and that the whites are responsible for his death, and the tribe should go and fight. The girl realizes what is happening, and makes a little bird "speak" and say that the medicine man is wicked and should be thrown out of the tribe. The Indians believe her, and war is avoided.I read this in the 70s, but I think the book is older.


V36: Viking brother and sister
Solved: Hakon of Rogen's Saga


V37: Grandma's Boat
Solved:  The Maggie B.


V38: Vast Cream Bun, Running From
Solved: 123 and Things


V39: visit to the doll hospital
Solved:  Doll Hospital


V40: Vermont heroine saves children's class
Solved: Katie Kittenheart


V41:  vocabulary picture book
OLD! (1940?) childrens vocabulary picture book.  Three elves explain the difference between three closely related words.  On an inital page: a storm is coming up in the forest.  The three elves huddle together and say "what is this? a hurricane? a cyclone? a tornado? The following three pages each illustrate one of these while an elf gives the definition.   The word groups ranged over a number of subjects (not just weather) but this is the only one I remember.  Wonderfully illustrated with rich colors.  Wish I knew the title !!

V42: victorian paranormals
Solved: The Children of Green Knowe


V43: Victorian England
I read this series of books in the mid-seventies at my school library, but they looked as if they had been in print for some time. The stories centered around a very large family in Victorian times, the father of which worked for the Indian Ink Company. The parents had hired a nanny, with possibly a German name, who dressed in black clothing trimmed in jet beads. She was quite magical, and used different forms of magic to get the many children to behave. In one book she turned one of the smaller children into a pig! In my mind, the books were small in size, but not in length- they were decent length chapter books.  Thanks for any info- I have wanted to find these books for a long time, they were so enjoyable.

V43 Go to this site for an excerpt of a book it may be.
Christianna Brand, Nurse Matilda books.  There are three in the series:  Nurse Matilda, Nurse Matilda Goes to Town, and Nurse Matilda Goes to Hospital.  They are small-format books and she does wear black with jet beads.  If you do a search for Nurse Matilda, you can see a photo of a boxed set of the books.
Surprised no one has yet noted that the Nurse Matilda books have just been made into a movie: "NANNY MCPHEE", starring Emma Thompson.


2006


V44: Vacation Spent Living in Swamp Trees
This is a book about a family on summer vacation in the (Louisiana?) swamps where everyone lives in trees over the water.  Again, probably a Weekly Reader book club issue of late 60's or early 70's.

Patricia Cecil Hass, Swampfire, 1973.  A Scholastic book about "three youngsters camping in the Great Dismal Swamp bite off more than they expect when they decide to catch the ghost horse running loose in the swamp." Except, as I recall, the story is also about two kids from the city who are spending the summer with their family in the swamp. They meet a kid who actually lives in the swamp year round. One theme from the book that always stood out for me was the fact that each of them longed to be more like the other.
Chad Walsh, Nellie and Her Flying Crocodile, 1956, copyright.  Not sure if this fits well enough: this is a fantasy book and originally published earlier than the time period mentioned, but maybe it was reprinted then (it was definitely reprinted 1979). The characters first meet the "flying crocodile" while on vacation, and later on I think they do end up living in houses in trees above the water, which might be swampy.



V45: Visit to Venus by a disabled male
When in sixth grade (1961) the primary school teacher read to students a book which featured a disabled person who went to Venus with other people from earth. I think this was a section where he was examined by a doctor who said that because the planet Venus had a smaller diameter than Earth, that the male character would weigh less on Venus. The nature of his disability: perhaps he was in a wheel chair? I have a vague recollection that the description of the planet Venus included aspects like warm, and had islands. This book ends with a comment on the disabled person "and he didn't need to use the hand rail" or something similar. Can anyone identify this book?

V46: Vicki (?) series, road trip w family
Solved: Meet the Austins

V47:  Vacation with bus and professor
Solved:  Professor Diggins' Dragons


V48: Vikings
Solved: The Faraway Lurs


V49: Vain Girl
Vain girl is imprisoned in a beautiful room where the windows and walls gradually become mirrors.  This was a story in a book of stories for (probably older) children that I read -- once -- in the late 1950s/early 1960s, but the book was old at the time and could easily have been published any time in the previous half-century. It had a dark, nondescript cover and was about the size of a novel. I do not remember any of the other stories in the book, but they probably all had lessons to teach, as this one did. I do not remember any illustrations, but there may have been some. In the story, I do not remember the girl's name, or how she came to be in this situation, but she was made to stay alone in a beautiful but enchanted room, where she had everything she could ask for or want. She spent all of her time gazing at herself in the mirror, and each morning when she woke up, more of the room's walls had become mirrors. She enjoyed having more ways to look at herself, but soon the windows were changed to mirrors also, and there was no light to see herself by. She realizes the error of her ways and, magically, the room becomes as it was before, and she is freed.  Any ideas? I did search your site for "mirror" and "vain," and did check your anthologies page, with no luck.

V49: Sure it wasn't a boy? In that case, it would be Prince Harweda and the Magic Prison (see Solved Mysteries) by Elizabeth Harrison. A 19th-century story you can read online.
I read the same story, but the protagonist was a boy!  A young prince was an only child and utterly spoiled and selfish.  His parents were unable to change his ways, so a magical person (fairy godmother?) stepped in.  She transported the boy to a beautiful tower room where windows and mirrors were alternately placed on the walls.  The room was filled with toys, books, cushions, plates of food, beverages, and a cage with a bird in it.  The boy was so vain and self-absorbed that he spent every day admiring himself in the mirrors.  He didn't notice that the windows were getting smaller and the mirrors larger until one day, he was completely sealed in darkness.  He was furious at first, then self-pitying, especially when he realized that the food and drink were no longer being renewed.  His situation didn't change until he realized that the bird was trapped with him.  He groped around in the dark until he found a small amount of drink, then decided to bear his thirst so that the bird might drink.  The windows opened a tiny bit.  He found a bit of food that hadn't spoiled, and gave it to the bird.  The windows opened a bit more.  Then he decided that even if he couldn't be freed, the window opening was large enough to liberate the bird.  The prince did this, and his unselfish act allowed him to escape his prison.  He returned to his parents, forever a changed boy.  My copy of this story was in a set of books with multiple volumes that included stories, crafts and games.



V50: Visual puzzle book with gears
This was a full color picture puzzle book. All I remember is a two page complicated machine puzzle. There was a prince in the upper-left corner of the left page, and a princess in the bottom-right corner of the right page. She was attached to a death machine, and in between her and the prince were hundreds of gears, pulleys and levers. It was a complex maze-type puzzle, you had to decide which way the prince would turn the gear he was next to in order to free the princess, not kill her. It was very difficult and I could not solve it. The whole book was filled with similarly difficult and fiendish puzzles. I don't remember if there was a plot. I took it out from the library somewhere between 1989 and 1995. I would love to find this book, even more than the book about warring toys.

Steve Jackson, The Tasks of Tantalon
, 1985.  I think this might be it. It was a VERY tricky puzzle book, set in a fantasy world, with knights and princesses and witches and suchlike, and there was definitely one puzzle with cogs and wheels.


V51: Valerie Anne and Alligator Eugene
I remember a series of books from the 1960s that involved a French girl named Valerie anne who travels somewhere and possibly is shipwrecked, or somehow winds up in New York. She has a friend named Eugene who is an alligator. The books were almost like board books but not quite. Perhaps there was 5 or 6 books in a series. They were brightly colored. 

V52: Veronica
Back in the 70's there was a book that was my favorite.  All I remember about it was it was a pink hardcover book and the girl's name in it was Veronica.  She was a little thing with blonde hair and there was a house in the book.  That is ALL I remember.  I believe the title had something to do with Veronica but....don't recall.   Her name could have been Vanessa but I am almost positive it was Veronica.   HELP!

Marilyn Sachs, Veronica Ganz, 1968.
Marilyn Sachs, Veronica Ganz. This book was about a bully-ish girl always getting into scraps until she meets her match, Peter Wedemeyer, who outsmarts her.
Marilyn Sachs, Veronica Ganz.
I wonder if the reader might be actually thinking of Marilyn Sach's Amy and Laura . Amy is blond, and Laura does battle with the bully Veronica Ganz during the course of the book.



2007

V53: Viney
Solved: Mystery at Moccasin Bend


V54: Virus on Earth
Solved: The Girl Who Owned a City


V54b: Victorian boy and family, troublemaking antics, series
I am looking for a series of books from the mid to late 1970's.  It's about a boy and his big victorian family.  He gets into trouble quite a bit, and i recall one of the books telling about the "new flush toilet" his dad ordered.  Or how the family ordered every year out of the sears and roebuck.  There were some illustrations at the beginning of each chapter.  I cannot remember the name of the boy.  I think it may have been Ted, or Theodore.  Maybe it was slightly based on how teddy roosevelt would have grown up as a young kid.  It was really tom sawyerish, and I think his dad owned a store in town.  The young boy with his friends, and older and younger brothers were always getting in to scrapes.  My 6th grade teacher read us the series, and we loved them!  Do you have any ideas?  Thanks!

John D. Fitzgerald, The Great Brain. This sounds a lot like The Great Brain series, by John D. Fitzgerald, although this series was not Victorian
 it was set in late 19th century Utah.  The narrator is the youngest of three brothers, and the books focus on his middle brother Tom, who is something of a juvenile con man.  The incident with the flush toilet is out of the first book (The Great Brain) and I'm pretty sure that ordering from the Sears catalog is mentioned in that book as well.  The other books in the series are:  Me and My Little Brain, The Great Brain Reforms, More Adventures of the Great Brain, The Return of the Great Brain, and The Great Brain is Back.
John D. Fitzgerald, The Great Brain series, 1967 - 1976. The Great Brain series, set in the fictional town of Audenville, Utah, is loosely based on the childhood experiences of the author. Mercer Mayer did the original illustrations. Tom Fitzgerald is the middle son in this family of three boys, and his clever plans to make money are frequently at the center of the adventures.
John D. Fitzgerald, The Great Brain, 1967. This has to be the one you're looking for.  In the first chapter of The Great Brain, titled "The Magic Water Closet," the boys'father (who has a reputation for buying odd contraptions and inventions, most of which don't work) installs the first flush toilet in town.  Enterprising Tom, with the help of younger brother John (J.D.), charges other children a penny apiece to watch the installation, and later to see the completed bathroom.  This is the first in a series of eight books about the misadventures of Tom and J.D. Their family is Mormon, living in Utah in the late 1800's - early 1900's. J.D. serves as the narrator in most, if not all, of the books, which feature charming black & white illustrations by Mercer Mayer.



V55: Victorian doll's hospital
Solved: Nelly's Hospital


V56: vegetarian agrarian society
I'm looking for a book I read in the 1970's.  It was sci fi.  It was about some future society, many years after a war had reduced mankind to a vegetarian agrarian society.  A boy at the time is able to communicate with the domestic animals.  The pre-war society had been forgotten.  A giant bear with a grudge from the pre-war years appears (never says from where) and begins tearing up the place and turning the animals against the humans.  Can you help me with this?

Alexander Key, The Golden Enemy,1969.
Andre Norton, Iron Cage, 1974.
Andre Norton. I think you're looking for one of Andre Norton's books...but I can't remember which one.  Maybe Iron Cage or No Night Without Stars?



V57: Valiant Woman
Solved: The Valiant Women


V58: Victory cow and Gettysburg Address
1945 to 1950, childrens. A friend had a favorite book I would like to find.  It was set during World War II.  A family with children live in the country and have a Victory Cow.  There is a school assembly where one boy must recite the Gettysburg Address.  He has practiced while milking the cow.  To help him remember during the performance his sister ties a rope to his belt so that he can make milking motions behind his back and keep the rhythm.  I know those are odd recollections but they are the ones that stuck in her mind.  She was born in 1944 and this sounds like a grade school level book so I'm guessing at the publication date.


2008


V59: Veronica
I am looking for a book that I believe had a pink cover.  There was a character whose name was Veronica I believe.  She had arms that could stretch and reach as high as a tree.  Please help!!


V60: vampire animals on Venus
Solved: Five Against Venus


V61: van, learning, summer holiday on beach
Solved: Professor Diggins' Dragons


V62: Vikings Northumbria Charlemagne Roncevaux Saracens
The book starts and ends in Northumbria, in England, in the eighth century AD - in fact in the coastal area between the Tyne and Wear rivers. The hero helps to fight off a Viking raid at the beginning of the book, and then is sent to Charlemagne's court in France, possibly to ask for help in repelling the Vikings. I remember he meets Alcuin of York at some point, but whether it's in England or at the court I can't remember. I think he is unsuccessful in obtaining any promises of help, but subsequently joins the Frankish invasion of Spain, and fights and is defeated at Roncevaux. Along with a friend (who I think is Welsh), he is enslaved and sold to the Saracens; they row in a galley for some time, but then take the opportunity of a sea-fight with a Christian ship to lead a slave rebellion and free themselves. (I remember that some of the violence is quite graphic, which suggests it may have been a book for older readers.) They then become traders in the Middle Sea, have various adventures and prosper, and eventually return to England. The last scene sees them successfully fighting off a much larger Viking invasion of the same area.

This sounds like it could be one of the many books by Rosemary Sutcliffe, but I can't remember which one would fit best...
Someone's added the comment that the book sounds like it's by Rosemary Sutcliffe. It isn't, unortunately - I'm familiar with all of her books.
I am not sure what this is but am guessing a book by Geoffrey Trease or Ronald Welch.
It sounds a little like one of Madeleine Polland's books, but it's been so long since I read them that I can't remember which is which!  Beorn the Proud was the first one I thought of, but I'm pretty sure that one is told from a girl's point of view, watching Beorn's struggle.


V63: Video game boy
Solved: Demons Don't Dream

V64: Veterinarian and his dogs, adventures
I think the vet's name is Dr. Box. He's got a lot of dogs who ride in his funny car on many adventures. They figure out why the ducks in the park are sinking; they save a gorilla (or find a gorilla?); they figure out why a greyhound is so tired and slow at the races; they encounter a boxing kangaroo. The copy I had was hardcover (possibly library binding) with a balding Dr. [Box?] on the cover. Thanks!

Andrew Davies, The Fantastic Feats of Doctor Boox,
1972, copyright.  Ducks that sink, a gloomy gorilla, and a kangaroo that can't stop boxing.....Who can help them? Dr. Boox, the famous animal doctor, can. Front cover shows a front-view of the balding Dr. Boox and a whole bunch of dogs in a red open-top jalopy.


V65: Very Quiet Forest
My mother read this story to us as children at naptime.  It was SO relaxing and quiet.   Probably in the 1960's -  It was in a volume or treasury of other stories.  My brother and I remember it was a child who went to this "very quiet forest."  I remember some description about a little pool of water, maybe drawing in the mud, picking a little cherry that hung from a branch (there was a picture of this), and maybe something about moss.  Any ideas??!!??  I am pretty certain the title was The Very Quiet Forest.  No idea of author.  Any help is greatly appreciated!

Tibor Gergely (illus), The Golden Story Treasury (A Big Golden Book In Full Color)
, 1951, copyright.  Cover is pink, with a montage of images from many stories, including children flying a kite, a kangaroo, an elephant, a panda, a camel loaded with bundles, a rooster, a fire engine with firemen, a steam shovel, a trolley car, a tugboat, a lion, a frog, a donkey wearing a staw hat, and a sheet with a green jack-o-lantern head on top.  Stories include Samson, Biffington Bop, The Very Quiet Forest, William the Rooster, Genevieve Goes to Bed Early, and many more.


V66: Vet's son communicates with animals
Solved: H. Phillip Birdsong's ESP


V67: Victorian ghost ship
Read in late 60's. Picture book with a large amount of  text.  Hard cover - no words or pics on cover - maybe red. A girl lives in Netherlands (?), goes ice skating past where she is supposed to go, finds a victorian ghost ship, visits daily, last time she goes ice is melting and she can't say goodbye to ship.


V68: Victorian era, man sells fish
Victorian era fiction about a man who builds up his business and family starting by selling fish on the beach. Thought it was called "Hardcastles" or some variation. Was in paperback 15 years ago. He meets his wife when she tries to steal from him at the beginning of the novel. They become rich.


V69: Vain, outcast horse eventually accepted by the other horses and realizes he no longer needs vanity
Hi! Book: around 1979--a horse--vain, outcast from other horses--grew very lonely. He got muddy and was then accepted by the others--they didn't know who he was. Rain returned him to beauty, he no longer cared or needed it--just happy to be loved for him.

The only thing close to this I can recall is a book, name uncertain, by the author of Danny and the Dinosaur. The white horse is wild and free, only to be captured by some cowboys. They treat the horse kindly, brushing his mane and feeding him, teaching him to allow a rider and saying "There, there, big fellow." Eventually the horse does escape back to the prairies, but realizes he misses his human friends. He returns to the cowboys and thier ranch and is accepted back by thier horses. Hope this helps.
Stephen Cosgrove, Nitter Pitter, 1978, copyright.  The is the delightful tale of a horse named Nitter Pitter who thinks his good looks make him "better" than all the other horses. As a result, they exclude him from their games. After being accidently knocked into a pond one day, Nitter Pitter learns that having friends is more imporant than being beautiful. Like the other books in the 'Serendipity' series, this one teaches an important lesson in a subtle and friendly way.

V70: very nosy woman

A cutely illustrated book about a very nosy woman who always had her nose in other people's business.  I remember one page where she was sticking her nose into someone's order at the market--it was live snails, and they crawled on her nose.  It was from the 1970s or earlier (1979 at the latest.)


V71:Vampire comes back from the grave
  I read this horror novel from a library around the mid-1980s. A man falls prey to a (female?) vampire.  He falls at a crossroads; the stake in her heart sticks through his hand, causing him to pull it out and wake her.  Has a recurring phrase something like: 'I am the dead, and I will abide.

2009

V72: Victorian era heroine
Read these books in the late 80s-early 90s, they were slightly worn then!  The heroine was a clever, independent young woman in Edwardian/Victorian times who lived with her father.  I think her name was Amelia or Lydia or Imogene, etc.  The cover was white with pink, purple and blue.  Please help!

More details about the book - I think it was part of a small series.  The main character was the head of her social circle, and was fairly well-off.  She had a suitor (maybe something like Roger or Reggie) and I think they became engaged towards the end of the series.  I think she might have also had a dog to whom she was very attached.  The books (physically) seemed more old-fashioned in their bindings and illustrations, not at all like the other things published in the mid-80s.

Pullman, Philip, The Ruby in the Smoke.This is a longshot, but could you be looking for The Ruby in the Smoke (and the sequels) by Philip Pullman?  The girl's name is Sally, but she's independant. Her father is killed in the first book, but he's talked about enough that he could be remembered as a character.  Everything almost fits...just not quite.
Lloyd Alexander, Vesper Holly series, 1986.Could this be one of the following?
The Illyrian Adventure (1986)
The El Dorado Adventure (1987)
The Drackenberg Adventure (1988)
The Jedera Adventure (1989)
The Philadelphia Adventure (1990)
The Xanadu Adventure (2005)
Martha Finley, Elsie. Maybe the Elsie Dinsmore series?


V73: Vikings Canadian museum time travel
A children's book he read in 1950s: kids in a museum in Canada are transported back to Viking times. Title probably has Vikings in it. (Submitted on behalf of one of our customers).

Wuorio, Eva-Lis, Return of the Viking, 1945, copyright. Viking time-travel: Joan, Wendy and John visit the Royal Ontario Museum on a rainy Saturday during WWII, and meet Thorvald, a young Norwegian refugee who points out the Viking sword exhibit as proof that Norwegians discovered Canada. In the reproduction of an English 16th c. room, they try the "very ancient looking, thick, wooden door" and it opens, to reveal Lief the Lucky on the other side. He fell asleep almost 1000 years ago while exploring "Vinland'', woke up and couldn't find his sword -- which is of course, the one in the exhibit. Lief is invisible to adults, but ends up going for commando training because his homeland is in danger from the Nazis. At the end of the story the children read a news report about a commando raid on a Nazi-held Norwegian seaport supported by a ghostly figure in a strange costume. This is the first story of 4 in the book, all involving time-travel and Canadian history, and the same children and their friends.


V74: vignettes of the flood

Solved: Promises in the Attic


V75: Victoria
Childhood book. small hard cover red book. this is an extract from the book , it is read in a home video on the 9/2/1995 on my 5th birthday. I think i had the book since i was born(1990) 
 A doll named Victoria whom she loved very much indeed. The only thing she wished for was that victoria could walk and talk instead of just lying or sitting perfectly still, staring out with her eyes open. i can pretend you talk to  me and i can pretend you run about and play said Anna. but you don't really and truly and it would be such fun for if just for once you really came alive. anna felt quite certain that if only she could walk and talk she would make her a wonderful friend for anna had no brothers or sisters so she was often lonely that was why she played so much with victoria but victoria just sat and stared. and didn't move a finger or say a word. then one day a very strange thing happened when anna took victoria for a walk in pixie wood although it had such a lovely name anna had never seen any pixies or anything at all exciting in pixie wood it was just like an ordinary woods but today it seemed a little different...Sorry, thats all the information i have. perhaps the doll gets lost through out the story? i hope you can help!

Enid Blyton, The Enchanted Doll."While walking in Pixie Wood Anna finds a tiny pram, a pram that can run away all by itself."


V76: Vampire in winter
I'm trying to hunt down the first book I ever read--or, more accurately, the first book I have a concrete memory of reading. I remember checking it out of the library. I would have been young, no older than five or six, which means at the latest the book would have been published in the early 80s. But I don't think it was a new book, so I'd say it's more likely it was published in the 70s. I want to say it was a young adults book, but maybe it was a children's book. In either event, it was all prose, no pictures. A slim read. It involved a vampire. In my mind I want to remember the title as "The Last Vampire," though it's most likely not that or I'd have found it by now. "Vlad the Last Vampire"? I have no idea. I remember crying at the end of it. I don't think the vampire died, but he made some manner of sacrifice that involved him having to leave the world of humans, and it was pretty heart-breaking for a five year old. The cover had him sledding, I think. I remember it being winter themed, but again, the odds of other books and memories sluicing into this memory are high. All I know concretely is this was an all-prose book for young adults or children, published most likely in the 70s, and involving a single vampire interacting with humanity. This is probably why I keep remembering it as "The Last Vampire." I remember he was it as far as vampires went. I'm now 33 years old and would love to be able to go back and read this book that apparently moved a five year old me to tears. The library I got the book from has since been torn down, and besides I doubt it'd still be in their circulation. Any help you could give would be greatly appreciated.

Willis Hall, The Last Vampire. Could it be The Last Vampire by Willis Hall? It's part of a series (Vampire's Holiday, Vampire's Christmas, Vampire's Revenge). The series is humorous, and the vampire (Alucard) is a vegetarian...but he's also the last vampire on Earth, and I think he may make some kind of sacrifice to save the boy narrating the story. It could have made you cray, since it's difficult to know what kids will remember, and how they remember it. (a child I know cannot watch The Little Mermaid and cries every time it comes on because Ariel has no family. In her mind the merfolk can no longer interact with her since she left the sea. )
Willis Hall, The Last Vampire, 1982. This is a British book, first published in the UK in hardback in 1982 (paperback edition 1984).  It's a children's book, 156 pages long.  The front cover is by Babette Cole, and shows a vampire at the reins of a sleigh drawn by four wolves.  There *are* some pictures in the book, but they're black and white sketches rather than colour plates, and they're incorporated into the text rather than being full-page drawings.  Easy to forget they were there, if you were concentrating on the story. The story is about the Hollins family from England, who get lost on their European camping holiday and encounter the rather nice, gentle, vegetarian Count Alucard.  He is having a spot of bother with the villagers... It's a summer holiday, but it does snow at a crucial moment in the story, and the cover picture illustrates that scene, so you'd have come away with the impression of winter. The tone of the book is actually quite light and humorous, but here's your sad part at the end: The family agree to bring the Count home with them, but he's arrested at the border.  He turns into a bat to escape through the bars of the cell, and flies to England, but: "Since flying across the sea and arriving in England, Count Alucard has never once returned to human form.  He has spent all of his time, in the guise of a bat, searching for his young friend Henry Hollins. [...] Go out though, into street or field or garden after dark, stand staring upwards and - who knows? - you could just be lucky enough to spot Count Alucard, the very last of the vampires, scudding across the night sky..." Two notes.  First, your five-year-old self might have been comforted to know that that wasn't *really* the end: Hall eventually went on to write a number of sequels.  Second, you thought the title might be "Vlad the Last Vampire".  Vlad is a fairly obvious vampire name, but you might be conflating the title of the Hall book with "Vlad the Drac" by Ann Jungman, which dates from the same period.  That would definitely only be the source for the title, not the story, though.'

2011

V77: Victorian England, Historical Romance, Love Triangle
Set around the 1880's.  Young woman travels from Cairo to London to visit her sister, Leonie.  Falls in love with her sister's husband though both try to hide their feelings.  Leonie is later murdered, and is revealed as having had a lesbian affair. Written in the 1st person. Published in 80s or 90s 

Leslie O'Grady, The Second Sister, 1984. Just a guess, based on the names and locations, but this could be your book. Described as Victorian Romantic Suspense. Cassandra Clark is happy as the "Right Hand" of jovial Cousin Cyrus in a Cairo tourist hotel when she is suddenly summoned to London by her mother, who had abandoned her years before to marry an Earl. In London she meets her heretofore unknown beautiful (and nasty) half-sister, Leonie. Publisher's description includes references to the mysterious death of one of the Prince of Wales notorious mistresses, scandal, and intrigue.
Leslie O'Grady, The Second Sister, 1984, approximate.

V78: Versailles
Fairly long novel going through several generations of women in one family whose lives revolve around Versailles Palace in France. One of the women paints fans to sell to the royals, then I think her daughter becomes an attendant to the queen, one is kicked out, etc. (not the novel by Kathryn Davis)

Rosalind Laker, To dance with kings, 1988, approximate. Publishers weekly description: Her storytelling skills displayed with panache in this captivating historical novel, British author Laker ( The Silver Touch ) should gain an appreciative audience here. Set during the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XVI, the sweeping saga takes place mainly in the Chateau of Versailles and the surrounding town from which the magnificent edifice took its name. The narrative is enriched with intriguing period details, and beautifully paced with fast-moving events, drama and romance. Spanning four generations, the protagonists are the women of one family, named, in turn, Marguerite, Jasmin, Violette and Rose, all of whose destinies are entwined with those of their monarchs as well as the dashing men who bring them love and heartache. Involving her heroines in the art of fan-making, Laker interpolates fascinating information about the fashions of the time and the codes of social etiquette. The sybaritic luxuries of the French Court are set against the brutalities of the Huguenot persecution and the barbaric excesses of the Revolution.
Rosalind Laker, To Dance With Kings.

V79: Visit To City Play Grown-Up
In the 1960's I read a children's book about a young girl who visits her aunt? in the city where the girl has her own room in an apartment and dresses up and is treated as if she were a grown up - going out for tea, I believe.

Maybe this is too obvious, but is the poster thinking of Eloise, by Kay Thompson?  

V80: Valentine's Day book
SOLVED:
Lorna Balian, A Sweetheart for Valentine, 1979.

V81:Victorian romance pub about 1910
frumpy putupon companion to dowager meets duke? at house party and gains his love.  Endangers life by walking to village on errand in rain.  Came with "the rosary" by Barclay.

Grace Livingston Hill?Just a suggestion -- if there is any hint of self-sacrifice or religion in the book, given the date it may be one by Grace Livingston Hill, who wrote "wholesome" stories for girls around that time.

V82: Victorian cab horse
When I was a child I had a picture book about a Victorian cab horse (or omnibus horse) called, I think, Brandy - tho I may be wrong there.  The book was something to do with the horse getting its foot but on a piece of glass, and featured a Victorian scene on the front cover complete with lamp post.

Dorothy Craigie, The Little Horse Bus.

V83: Valentine
SOLVED: Evan Carrol, Valentine. Thank you for solving my stumper. I always thought Valentine was the title but when I tried typing that name into Abebooks, etc. I got hundreds of books about the holiday. I ordered the book and am looking forward to reading it again!


V84: Victorian? story collection
8vo coll. of kids's stories, fantasy/ fairy, most likely Victorian, green cover Three plots from book: - Girl Merle goes to land of story book characters, Princess loses magic posy kept in locket and becomes grumpy (variation of sleeping beauty) and evil lady keeps 1 child in dark other in light.

Jonathan Cott, ed., Beyond the Looking Glass: Extraordinary Works of Fairy Tale and Fantasy,
Stonehill 1973. This is definitely your book. Merle in the land of storybook characters is "Wanted -- A King" by Maggie Browne. The one where the princess loses the magic posy is "Petsetilla's Posy" by Tom Hood. The evil lady who raised one child in dark and the other in light is in George MacDonald's "The Day Boy and the Night Girl". Other stories in the collection include MacDonald's "The Golden Key", Ruskin's "King of the Golden River", Mrs. Clifford's "Wooden Tony", "Tinykin's Transformations" by Mark Lemon, "Through the Fire" and "Wanderings of Arasmon" both by Mary de Morgan, and the classic poem "Goblin Market" by Christina Rossetti. There are two in-depth introductions, one by Cott, the other by Leslie Fiedler, and many Victorian era illustrations, some in full color, along with two of the Cottingley fairy photographs. There's more info on the solved-B page.

V85: Vintage mystery, teen girl stone staircase, in cliff, k-k-k katy
Probably from the 40's or earlier, a teen girl hears piano music, the song is k-k-k katy, discovers a damp stone staircase leading down the cliff to the sea. It is most definitely not the Nancy Drew novel that sounds so similar.

V86: Victorian girl learns from accomplished seamstress
I read this book in the 1960s.  Chapter book, perhaps a few illustrations.  Set, I believe, in Victorian or Edwardian times, in England or America. A young girl is taken underwing by an accomplished seamstress who teaches her how to sew doll clothes and also, I believe, teaches her petitpoint.  One striking image is the girl being allowed to rummage through drawers and drawers of fine remnants, ribbons and notions to select her materials.  The girl displays her creations at some sort of show or competition and wins a prize. Similar to Polly Poppingay, but I�m almost positive the focus was on creating doll clothing, not hats.

Jane Flory, Faraway Dream,
1968. I am quite sure this is the wrong book, but when I read the description this was the one that popped into my mind.  It had been a very long time since I read it, and when I finally figured out which book I was remembering and checked the details, I decided to send this in because even though it probably isn't the one wanted, the stumper requester might enjoy it anyway.  And I figure I owe the requester something because Polly Poppingay sounded so fascinating I just ordered a horribly expensive copy of it!

V87: Vintage Reader
Circa 1930- 1957. I am looking for a school reader or primer (like a Websters reader). It had an orangish cover and I think it had "East of the Sun" written on the cover. The stories included in the book were: Princess on the glass hill, Rose White and Rose Red, East of the sun and west of the moon, a story about a farmer and his wife who change places and several others. There were many illustrations in black & white and also many in color. It was probably a 4th to 6th grade reader. It was not called a fairy tale book.

V88: Vampire, brush fangs, mummy, stinky bandages
A vampire loses his fangs if he doesn't brush them; a mummy's bandages are stinky until someone washes them for him (but then he's not a very good mummy anymore??).  Dimly remembered by my husband from childhood in early 80s.  Thanks!!!

Since no one answered, I thought I'd take a shot in the dark. Could the husband be thinking of Norman Bridwell's How to Care for Your Monster. Someone's blog post features the cover and interior illustrationshttp://frankensteinia.blogspot.com/2008/04/norman-bridwells-how-to-care-for-your.html

V89: Violets, boyfriend, girlfriend
I'm looking for a YA book from the late sixties or early seventies about a boy and girl who were friends and as time goes on they become boyfriend/girlfriend.  She loves violets and he has a man make a pendant or necklace for her fashioned like a violet.





W1:
Wimbly Lane

Here is an almost impossible task. If you don't feel up to it, I quite understand. I don't know the author. I don't know the title, exactly, except that it was something like this: No. 5, Wimbly Lane. It could be any number, but I remember it as a single digit - it could be street, lane, close, circle, avenue, etc - but I am almost positive it is street. I don't know the name of the street. I made up Wimbly. It is about a boy who confounds the neigborhood bully. It would be geared for children 8-11. It is British, fifties or early sixties, illustrated by someone who is, or who illustrates like, whomever drew the pictures for Edward Eager's books. It was in the Dimond Branch of the Oakland Public Library in Oakland, California in the fifties/sixties.

In response to the book with the street name in the title, I remember reading a book in the 5th grade about Pudding Lane. It could have had illustrations similar to Edward Eager's, but I don't remember the plot at all, or the street number. Sorry!
This isn't The Family From One End Street series, is it? There were, I  believe, several stories about the family, all with One End Street in the title.
I did check these out, thank you - very kind of you, but neither is the one.  I'll keep searching until I find it!
I was wondering if you might be thinking of  The Dog on Barkham Street.  Although this book is neither British nor has a number in its title, it was written in 1960 and is about a boy, a dog, and the neighborhood bully.  Here's a descriptive clip I copied: Stolz, Mary.  A DOG ON BARKHAM STREET (8).Edward Frost faces two challenges-the bully of Barkham Street and getting a dog of his own. When his uncle arrives with a collie named Argess, Edward's life begins to change.  There's also another book by this author entitled The Bully on Barkham Street.  I know this book doesn't fit all the seeker's criteria, but the "Street" and "bully" thoughts made me think of this book.
Found a book in a www search (while looking for another title) called # Five Hackberry Street written by Christine Govan and illustrated by Peggy Bacon published  in 1964.  Plot: apparently the children Jessie, Tilly, and Frank have moved to a new house.  No other synopses given.
#W1--Wimbly Lane:  A book catalog description I found of Number 5 Hackberry Street identified it as taking place at the turn of the 20th Century in Tennessee.  If the wanted book took place later and in England, it is not
that one.
#W1--Wimbly Lane:  Jean Fritz wrote a book titled 121 Pudding Street.
W1 wimbly lane: well, it's English, involves a bully, has a street name in the title, and the illustrator did do several of Edward Eager's books - Songberd's Grove, by Anne Barrett, illustrated by N.M. Bodecker, published in the US by Bobbs 1958, 247 pages. "Songberd's Grove lies in London, a street of beautifully proportioned Georgian rowhouses now in slummy condition. The author creates a living picture of the row, particularly of No.1, from which Lenny, a Teddy-boy type of dictator, has ruled the street, and No.7, where 12 year old Martin moves in to establish a new balance of power with a determination to make things peaceable and attractive." (HB Feb/58 p.43)
Stanley Watts, Number 21.  This was illustrated by Robin Jacques. I think that Songberd's Grove sounds most likely  but if it isn't, then this may be a possibility. Yet another possibility is Kathleen O'Farrell's Number One Victoria Terrace, illustrated by Shirley Hughes  but I don't remember a bully.


W2: Watermelons
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 melons to buy his mother a piece of jewelery. 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.

I have a bit of information on W2.  I know I read that when I was in grade school, so it dates back at least to the mid-1960s.  I remember it as being an odd size -- squareish like a picture book, but written for 4th to 6th grade readers.  It was about a Chinese boy, and I remember thinking the melons were smaller than I was used to.  I think there was something about the melons or the money going missing, and then either they were recovered,
or something was found for a reward that brought in the same amount of money.I think it may have been published in the same series that 31 Brothers and Sisters by Reba P. Mirsky was published in -- I think it had the same format, and it was also a foreign setting.
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."


W8: World War II
Here's one for you: When I was child in the '50s I remember reading, a book about a little girl whose father, I believe, was killed in World War II and she one day finds an old letter from him in a trunk in the attic. That is ALL I can remember--along with a picture in my mind of an illustration, the girl kneeling next to the trunk, letter in hand. Any clue as to what this one might be??
2002

W9: Wood Nymphs
Solved: Little House in the Fairy Wood
W17: Witch Actress

Solved: Catwitch
W18: West Wind

It was a set of books, undersized hardbacks in my library, that were something like the west wind tales. They were around 150-200 pages each, and I think there were 6-8 of them. The stories were about the west, north, east and south winds, and various things they did...and something else I can't quite remember. I remember one of them had a person waiting in the cave for whichever wind it was to return, and something about riding on the shoulder of the wind.

There's Thornton Burgess' tales of Old Mother West Wind (including several books on her Why Stories, Where Stories, Who Stories, etc.), but this doesn't sound like exactly the same thing.
Maybe George MacDonald?
W18--East 'O the Sun and West 'O the Moon. These are collection of fairytales which have many stories about the wind. I have two books with this same title but they have completely different stories.  One is a small hardback(6 inches or so).


W19: Where's Charlie?
I am looking for a lift-a-flap book that I had when I was little. I think  the title is Where's Charlie? but I'm not sure. It was probably first  published in the late 60's to early 70's and I don't think it is still in  print. The object of the book was to find Charlie who turns out to be a  mouse. Any help would be appreciated!

My sister had this book.  Could the title be "Let's Find Charlie."  Hope this helps.
I definitely remember this book--it was all in very bright primary colours, and I especially remember opening the "refrigerator" flap and all the food inside (I think you could even open the freezer!).  It was all very blocky and cartoonish.  I remember it as being hardback, probably yellow, horizontal.  I'm so sorry I can't remember the name of the author; it was a great book. [And later...]
I think the author's last name may be Arthur.
"Let's Find Charlie" written by Lois Morton, designed and illustrated by Elissa Scott.  Random House.  I adored that book.
Lois Morton, Let's Find Charlie.I found this old children's book.  A little girl looks for her mouse. Lift the flaps of doors, cabinets, etc. to see where he is hiding. Charlie ends up in her dollhouse fast asleep. It took me a long time to find this book, but it was definitely worth it!'


W20: Witch and cat series
OK, I hardly remember anything except that I loved these books.  I now have a  daughter that is about the same age, and I'd love for her to read them ...  You've seemed to work magic elsewhere, so here goes!  While living in Paris in 1972, I read an english-book series that was still being published in paperback at the time.  They were chapter books about a girl who was magical, or a witch.  There may have been a cat in the series too.  My Mom thinks that they were a Puffin series and that the cat's name was Tabitha ... but I cannot confirm that.  There were definitely at least 4 books in the series ... Oh, I can't really be of much help!

Is this the series by Ruth Chew that includes The Trouble with Magic, The Wednesday Witch, Witch in the House, etc.? published by Scholastic, mid-70s.
I am wondering if W20 might also be referring to the Barbara Sleigh's Carbonel series  (see L15) -- although I think there were only two of them, not four.
W20 I just bought a copy of The Wednesday witch. The witch's name is Hilda, and the cat's name is Cinders and they all appear to fly thru the sky on a vacuum cleaner
W20 witch and cat series: Barbara Sleigh's Carbonelseries was published by Puffin and includes - Carbonel (Puffin 1955), Carbonel's Kingdom (Puffin 1961), Carbonel and Calidor (Kestrel 1978), that I know of. The children are John and Rosemary.
Jill Murphy, The Worst Witch, 1974.  This sounds like it could be the Worst Witch series by Jill Murphy but the first in the series was written in 1974. There are 4 books in all and the little witch was called Mildred. Her cat was Tabby. The books are still available in the UK published by Puffin.

Patricia Coombs, Doorie the Witch series, 1970s-1980s.Sounds like the Doorie the Witch books to me. Doorie was a little girl witch (yes she had a cat: Jinx, I think it was). She was always getting into some kind of mischief, but always ended up saving the day. Loved these books as a little girl! I hope this helps :).


W21: Witch upside-down on swing
Solved: A Witch in the House



W22: Witch's eyebrows
I think this is a short story and not a book.  It has to be dated in the 1980s or earlier (probably earlier).  It was for young adults, I think. A pretty little girl wants something she sees in an old woman's window. I think the thing she wants is a doll house, but I'm not sure.  The old woman turns out to be a witch.  The little girl wants this thing more and more.  The old woman offers to trade it to the little girl for the little girl's eyebrows.  The little girl agrees and sees her pretty little eyebrows flit off her face and land on the old woman's face.  I seem to recall that the little girl immediately regrets her decision to trade, but there are no "refunds," so to speak.

#W22--Witch's eyebrows:  A book called The Good American Witch contains a similar premise.
The Good American Witch by Peggy Bacon (Watts, 1957) includes stories told by the children's Uncle Robert about the 'good American witch', one story involving Susan who wanted her black hair changed to gold, another about Rufus who wanted his poodle to talk. Perhaps this was one of these stories, anthologised or read separately?


W27: Witches & Wizards on HBO
Wanting to find out title and author of children's book about witches and  wizards turned into HBO series.

It is the Worst Witch series byJill Murphy.


W28: Widdy Widdy Wurkey
Solved: Sugar and Spice 



W29: Witch's garden
Solved: The Ghost Garden

W31: William Tell's son
I am looking for a book I read at about age 12 back in the fifties that was about William Tell, told from the viewpoint of his son, Walter.  This book is not the Apple and the Arrow, which I do have, but a longer and more fictionalized book. I remember something about the boy Walter being forced to climb a dangerous castle wall as a kind of entertainmentfor the lords and ladies.  Thanks for your help--this site is so much fun to read through!

Regarding Stump the Bookseller, W31:  Could this the The Magic Meadow by Ingri and Edgar d'Aulaire?  I haven't read it in a long time, but I know it is about William Tell in the Swiss Alps.
W31 william tell: perhaps William Tell, by Katharine Scherman, illustrated by George Schreiber, published Random House 1960, 52 pages? It's in a historical series for children, but no information on whether it is narrated by Tell's son.



W32: War over redheaded girl
Solved: The Cybil War

W35: Witch book with tragic feel
Solved: Benjamin the True 

W37: Wind is my friend
I checked this book out of the Seattle Public Library, Queen Anne Branch, sometime in the mid-60's.  The title is probably wrong; I think I may be right about the title having the words "wind" and "friend" in it, but can't be positive.  It was a story about a little boy who, for some reason, is alone out in the snow.  He tries to survive on his own, but one of the only parts I can remember clearly is him killing a rabbit for food.   I also remember him lying down to die in the snow at the end.  It was a very moving
story for a young child; without the typical "happily ever after" ending.  It did have illustrations, I don't remember them being very detailed - maybe black and white, but when he killed the rabbit, there was red in the illustration.  I have been looking for this book everywhere, in every possible way, for twenty-five years with absolutely no luck.  I know it exists out there somewhere. I can't be the only one who read this book, or was touched by it.  Please help!!!

W37 - George Macdonald's At the Back of the North Wind has a boy called Diamond (shades of D41 but I don't think this is the answer to that!) whom the North Wind, in the guise of a beautiful woman, befriends, and takes on journeys - including one to the land at her back. There are scenes of some violence though I don't remember a rabbit being killed, shipwrecks feature I think and the ending is certainly very sad.
A very long shot, but just possibly The Magic Forest by Stewart White? It was published in the 1920s, reprinted several times. It's about a small boy who falls off a train in the Northern woods and is found by Indians who take care of him - he is eventually returned to his parents. It's been years since I read it, but I think there was a sequence where he wanders lost in the snow, perhaps before being found by the Indians. Although he doesn't die, the ending is sad, since he's almost forgotten his parents, and will in turn forget his Indian 'family'.
Another possibility - Moccasin Trail by Eloise Jarvis McGraw, NY Coward-McCann 1952, 247 pages "Runaway 10 year old Jim Keath, trapping for beaver in the vast wild country beyond the Missouri River, is left for dead after a grizzly's attack. Found and adopted by Crow Indians, he grows up knowing only the Indians' wandering restless life." If the first part of this book was anthologised, it might be what the questioner remembers.
Alice Curtis Desmond wrote a story called "The Snow is Your Friend" that was collected in Told Under Spacious Skies (p.313-23), Macmillan 1952. No idea of the plot, but she also wrote American historical fiction and tales of other lands for children.
W37 wind is my friend: this time I'm pretty sure - The Boy and His Friend the Blizzard, by Gregor Marton, illustrated (in 2 colours) by Brian Wildsmith, published Cape 1962."A young orphan boy is making his way
westward from Budapest. His only possession is a medal of St. Anthony, left to him by his dying mother. He encounters another wanderer, a pregnant woman, and shelters her in a shack by a frozen lake during a fierce snowstorm. In the woods he finds food for her, and through a hole in the ice of   lake tries to catch fish. The blizzard he regards as a friend-it shields him from the marauding soldiers but racks his frail body. Fearless of the hostile forces of nature, he responds heroically to the demands of the woman's plight and his own desperate situation while dreaming of a life of freedom on the high seas." The title is close, and the mood of the story is certainly sombre enough.
Cypher in the Snow.  This comment reminded me strongly of a movie called "Cypher in the Snow" that I watched in a religion class when I was young - it was about a young boy who was ignored by everyone, had no friends, and finally dropped dead in the snow at the end!  Maybe a connection?
Gregory Marton, The boy and his friend the blizzard, 1962. The boy and his friend the blizzard is most probably the book your after. I read it this year and lent it to a friend. I absolutely loved it. The boy makes friends with a rabbit and, like the blizzard, kills the boy he kills the rabbit.
The illustrations in the book are monotone of various colors throughout.



W38: Women growing up
Solved: This Year's Girl

W42: When I grow up...
Looking for a picture book--"When I grow up, what will I be?" is a recurring refrain with different professions.  The character is a girl.  The cover is orange.

There's a book in the Easy Reader series, When I Grow Up, by Jean Bethell, illustrated by Ruth Wood, published Wonder Books 1965, with a little girl imagining growing up to be a nurse, cowgirl, stewardess or ballerina. The cover is light orange and shows a red-headed girl in a green plaid dress with her back to us, looking into an oval mirror where her future selves wave their arms in an excited fashion. The boy's version (same title) was published a few years earlier (1961?) and the boy imagines himself as a cowboy, marine, etc.



W43: Why the Maple Leaves Turn Scarlet
Solved:  Perhaps and Perchance: Tales of Nature

W44: Wiggly worm
I was in a children's play about books in the 6th grade. Some of the characters were a wiggly worm and some kind of animal with a sausage nose (yes, believe it or not). One of my lines was, "Wiggle, wiggle, brainy worm. How I wiggle, how I squirm. Through the pages as I munch, yummy, yummy, books for lunch!" Any ideas on the name of the play or how I could locate it?

W47:Winkie book
Solved: Day by Day


W48: Willie's bed
Solved: Tucked-In Tales


W49: Whitman Tell-A-Tale about a cat
Looking for a book I remember my babysitter reading to me over and over (she must have been very patient). It was a whitman tell-a-tales, with green or teal edges outline around the front cover and a drawing of an orange/yellow kitten.  I think it may have had a bow on her neck.  This would have read to me in the early 1960's. I don't really recall the story, but I think maybe the cat came home.

W49- Possibly Pitty Pat The Fuzzy Cat or Big Little Kitty (Tell-A-Tales)



W50: Who needs doughnuts?
Solved: Who Needs Donuts? 

W51: Wright, Dare
I am not familiar with Dare Wright yet one of my friends is looking for one of her books.  I have looked at many titles   yet she thinks the title has something to do with a little girl's prayer.  She thought that the title had the word prayer  in it...but she wasn't certain and I haven't found any such books. She is 21 years old and says she used to read it  every night when she was a little girl, so I'm trying to locate one.  I would appreciate any help that I can get.  The  only thing I know for certain is that the title is NOT "The Lonely Doll."  If somebody replies to this please send the  information to [email protected].  Thank you very much.

I don't know any Dare Wright book with Prayer in the title.  Here are the list of non-Edith titles:
The Little One  (features small naked doll lost in woods, small book); Date With London; Lona, a Fariy Tale  (features more sophisticated doll, very large format); Take Me Home (similar to The Little One); Look at a Gull (photography of seagulls); Look at a Colt; The Kitten's Little Boy; Look at a Calf; Look at a Kitten and 10 Edith Lonely Doll books....  nothing religious here, although Edith does sometimes learn a lesson  (as in Lonely Doll Learns a Lesson and Edith and Little Bear Lend a Hand).
W51 wright, dare: Is the poster absolutely certain that this is a Dare Wright book? It keeps reminding me of Prayer for a Child, by Rachel Field, illustrated by Elizabeth Orton Jones, published Macmillan 1945, 26 pages. "This childlike prayer, written for Hannah (Field's daughter), has been printed before, but not in illustrated form, as a book by itself. A realistic, unsentimental picture on each page makes the meaning of the phrases more clear to little children, closer to daily life." (HB Jan/45 p.33) Part of the text: "Bless this milk and bless this bread / bless this soft and waiting bed / Through the darkness, through the night / let no danger come to fright / my sleep ... Bless the lamplight, bless the fire / Bless the hands that never tire / in their loving care of me ..."
W51 Dare Wright prayer: just possibly A Child's Grace, verses by Ernest Claxton, photographs by Constance Bannister, published Dutton 1948. "In this book of exquisite simplicity and vibrant beauty, every alternate page has a photograph of a child, depicting some phase of daily life for which he thanks God. New photographs and a beautiful four-color jacket. Ages 2 and up." (HB Dec/48 p.406) The photo shown is of a little girl with shoulder-length dark hair and a doll-like face.



W52: Willo the Wisp
Hi. I'm looking for the title of this story. It's about a little boy who lives by a marsh. At night he sees lights out on the marsh and his mother tells him it is Willo the Wisp. He goes out in search of this light. I can't remember exactly what happens next, but somehow the Wisp falls into the marsh and the little boy never sees him at night anymore. Can someone help?

#W52:  Willo the Wisp:  An incident like this appears on page 28 of Barbee Oliver Carleton's Mystery of the Witches' Bridge (The Witches' Bridge in hardcover.)"Then Dan narrowed his eyes.  Had he seen a light out there in the marsh?  He stared into the blackness until his eyes shifted in their sockets. Yes!  There it came.  The light winked again, and yet again.  With a thrill of relief Dan realized that it was flashing a signal.  No will-'o-the-wisp would be sending the Morse code!"   The other similarities are that Dan never does see this light again, and there is talk of things falling into salt ponds in the marsh.  Dan's mother, though, is dead before the story starts, and I would guess this is not the one you're after.  I've just been waiting for someone to ask about Mystery of the Witches' Bridge, as it is one of my alltime favorites!
W52 I don't have the answer, but just a hint that might help the search. The spelling is usually will-o-the-wisp or will o' the wisp.
Maybe one of the Willo the Wisp series by Nicholas Spargo? Published by Windward in the early 1980s. I don't know anything about the stories though.
The book wasn't just one story, and the only other story I remember (I was about 3 or 4 at the time, this is pretty good going) was a boy that finds little people and gets turned into their size and walks through underground caverns with them. It's all very vague and the original poster remembered more than me already, but there you go.



W53: Willy mouse
Solved: Willie Mouse series
W55: Whaling captain

I'm searching for the title and author of a book I read as a child (aren't we all?!) It was about a whaling captain from Nantucket who took his family with him on a voyage. It was set in the mid-1800s and focused primarily on the daughter in the family. Thanks for any help you can give!

Has anyone suggested Aiken, Joan Nightbirds on Nantucket il by Robin Jacques  Doubleday  1966
Maybe Keturah Came 'Round the Horn: a story of old California by Ada Claire Darby, published by Stokes in 1935 and 1940? "Tale of a New England girl who came round the Horn with her sea-captain father in 1846, to Monterey and Sand Diego, at a time when revolution brewed between the Spanish regime, Mexican rebels, and an American Government that sought California for herself." Or there's Captain Ramsay's Daughter by Elizabeth Fraser Torjesen, published by Lothrop in 1955, 223 pages "Nantucket in whaling times is the backdrop for a story of a teenage girl's adventure." Though that doesn't say anything about actually sailing. Another is Elizabeth CoatsworthThe Captain's Daughter published by Macmillan in 1950 "Adventure and romance are the  ngredients of this delightful novel for young adults, about a young girl's trip to the Orient in a clipper ship."
Yet another - Holberg, Ruth, The Wonderful Voyage illustrated by Phyllis Cote, published Garden City, Doubleday Doran Junior Books 1945 "Eight-year old Randy and her older brother Jay go on the most exciting trip that could happen in the 1850's - a whaling voyage on their father's ship, from Gloucester, around Cape Horn and up through the Pacific Ocean. Randy forgot she was "puny" ... cut the frills off her pantalettes and vowed to do everything her brother did." The cover shows the two children standing by some rigging, with Jay pointing at a leaping whale and Randy's voluminous petticoats blown by the wind. Less likely - Crowe, John Congdon, In the Days of the WindjammersToronto, Ryerson 1959 9x6, 176pp. 9 illus. "This is a factual account of the life of the Captain and his family who lived aboard a full-rigged ships, starting with the launch of the 'BEDFORD' in 1877. This narrative was written by one of Captain Crowes sons who, not in any unique way for the times, lived and sailed with his mother and father."
Rachel Field, Hitty her first hundred years.  I realy enjoyed reading this book. it is a doll's memoirs on  her first 100 yrs. Her first owner was a girl named Phoebe Preble who lived in Nantucket,Maine. Phoebe's father was a whaler. At one point he takes his family on a whaling trip with him and they get shipwrecked on a island and have several more adventures.Then the doll writes about her other owners.
Corinne Demas, If Ever I Return.  About a 12-year-old girl on her father's whaling ship - not sure the location. I think the story is told through letters to her cousin.



W56: Watermelon stealing and its consequences
I remember a story possibly from the early 60's or late 50'sabout a little black child who steals and eats melons from the neighbor. I think he may have also either tore or lost his jacket or some other item of clothing. A large storm brews and he believes it is chasing him possibly as punishment for stealing. Does this sound familiar at all?

W56 - sounds like either Epaminondas or one of Helen Bannerman's Little Black Sambo/Little Black
Quibba/Little White Squibba etc series
Pal, George, Jasper and the Watermelons,c 1945.  I was looking for a copy of Jasper and the Watermelons" which I remember reading at the home of the librarian who lived across the street from us when I was a little girl in the mid 1950s. When I saw your stumper, I seemed likely this was the book you were seeking. Jasper steals the watermelons, doesn't come home when called, eats until he falls asleep, and is menaced by watermelons, a storm and the fantasy of his tummy exploding. He goes home remorseful and grateful to be in one
piece. I hope this is it, and I hope you find a copy -- I'm still looking.
W56 watermelon stealing - I saw a copy of one suggested on EBay - Jasper and the Watermelons, written and illustrated by George Pal (famous animator and special effects creator) published New York, Diamond Publishing, 1945. "FANTASTICALLY illustrated bit of our past. Little Black boy doesn't listen to Mammy and eats too much watermelon and has wild dreams."



W57: Witch sets free the animals!
Solved: The Little Broomstick

W59: Witch wishes
It was a book about a witch who grants wishes i seem to remember there was a girl and they may have met on a play ground  i remember it being as large as 8 by 10 hard cover possibly light blue it was illustrated any thoughts greatly appreciated.  I read it when i was eight that was in 72 and the book seemed old to me  it was a chapter book

Helen Cresswell, Lizzie Dripping and the Witch, 1970?  It's a long time since I read it, but I know this starts with Lizzie meeting the Witch in a playground.
W59 witch wishes: more on the suggested - Lizzie Dripping and the Witch, by Helen Cresswell, Illustrated by Chris Riddell, published London,  BBC Books 1991 "Everyone knows a Lizzie Dripping. It's the name people call the kind of girl who is dreamy and daring at the same time and who turns things upside down and inside out wherever she goes and whatever she does. But our Lizzie Dripping is even more special. Because Lizzie, out of all the people in Little Hemlock, has her own private witch. A witch that only Lizzie can see and talk to. So that although life for Lizzie is often exciting, or strange, or even rather scary, it is never, never dull. In this book, the author has written six new stories about one of the most delightful and best-loved characters in modern children's literature." The first book, Lizzie Dripping, published 1973, also involved a witch, possibly the same one. "Lizzie knows there is a Witch in the village, but no one believes her." There are several other titles in the series.



W60: W.A.V.E.S. in WWII
The fiction book was about Navy WAVES during World War II. One of the main male characters was a man named, as I recall, Seth and he had salt and pepper hair.  At least some of the action may have taken place in Hawaii.  I remember that the book was hardback and had a dark blue cover.

If it was a really old book (1940s), for middle grades, it might be Sally Scott of the WAVES, by Roy J. Snell, part of Whitman's Fighters for Freedom series.   I don't have a copy to check, but Norma Kent  of the WACs
from the same series has a blue cover. A synopsis of Sally Scott can be found online.  It does NOT mention a character named Seth, but does refer to an older, unnamed man who invented a radio  that apparently plays a key part inthe story.



W61: Weird Illustrated Book
This is a black humor book. It is all illustrations, such as drawings of a car with a "real" picture of a bra for headlights. There was spaghetti bowls with meatballs for swimming. Very weird humor. My siblings and I discovered this book in 1978 but we have no idea when it was published. We can't seem to remember the title at all, but I think that the author's name is Ungerer or Unger. If you can help me at all it would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks.

Does either Tomi Unger's Beastly Boys and Ghastly Girls or Ron Barrett's Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs look familiar?  Or perhaps one of the  Harlin Quist books?  I thought it worth a try...
Nope. Also, just so ya know, it's not a children's book really. I mean we found it and it amused the heck out of us, but I don't think it would be "labeled" as a children's book. I really appreicate the help though, it would save me a few sleepless nights! ;)
James Thurber?  This has a strong 'family resemblance' to the kind of thing that James Thurber wrote - often illustrating his books himself, with odd line drawings.
Besides illustrating and writing children's books, Tomi Ungerer also draws quite adult, rather surreal cartoons, some with erotic or misogynist content. There have been a few collections of his work, including Adam and Eve, published London, Cape, 1976; and Testament, covering his work from 1960-1980, published London, Cape, 1983. Given the artist's name as remembered, one of these would be my bet.
Weird black humor!! I would certainly look at Edward Gorey.  Some of his titles around in the seventies- Amphigorey, Too
Cobweb Castle,Epileptic Bicycle, Awdrey-Gore Legacy, and others. Check them out! 



W62: Willy Churchmouse
Solved: Peter Churchmouse

W63: What Miranda Knew
Solved: What Miranda Knew

W64: Willy woo
Solved:  Willy Woo-Oo-Oo

W65: When Herbie McNally was seven...
Solved: The Wonderful Magic-Motion Machine

W66: Woman's autobiography series
Solved: Marty
W67: Witch's cat didn't fit in

Solved: Gobbolino the Witch's Cat
W68: Wormood???

Solved: The Secrets of Hidden Creek
W69: WWII gold

Solved: The Rescue of the Hidden Gold
W70: WWII pig

Solved: Ernestine, the Pig in the Potting Shed 
W71: Waffles & other memories

Solved: What Katy Did at School
W72: Wynken, Blynken and Nod record

I am going crazy looking for this.  I don't know if it's actually a book or just a record.  I remember my mother getting it out of the library several times when I was YOUNG!  I am 25 now ans if ANYBODY knows where I can find info on this great old record I need to know!
I posted this as a stumper but I do not think it ever was a book. I am looking for an old, old record called Winkin Blinkin and Nod.  It had Halley's comet in there somewhere. I got it out from the library so many times as a kid and to this day I am still looking for it. HELP ME!!!   For nostalgia's sake! thanks

Well, I don't know about the record, but the nursery rhyme Wynken, Blynken and Nod was written by Eugene Field and widely anthologized.
#W72--Wynken, Blynken and Nod Record:  Because I am seeking a particular edition of Wynken, Blynken and Nod (Paperback, Wonder Books, 1964), I search for this on eBay all the time.  It appears on LOTS of records!  I find as many recordings of it as books.  The only one I have is a recording by the Irish Rovers, but records come up all the time, including very old ones.  You might be advised to keep doing searches on eBay; there is also some website devoted to old vinyl.  Here's one:  OLD CHILDRENS 78 RPM RECORD This is an old CHILDRENS 78 RPM RECORD. By LINCOLN records #529. Year 1950. songs are, WYNKEN BLYNKEN AND NOD / RAPUNZEL..
I have two records with Wynken, Blynken and Nod.  The first one is mine from the 60's and is titled Song Time for Young People published by Treasure Records. The cover is pink with a circus scene on the front and has 18 songs including Katie the Kangaroo, Over in the Meadow, Pop Goes the Weasel, and Clementine. The other I purchased in 1980 and is a two record set called A Golden Treasury of Mother Goose published by Golden Records.  There are 82 songs and rhymes directed by Mitch Miller.
Little Golden Book records has a record with Wynken Blyken and Nod on side one, Storm in the Bathtub on side two. Is it possible that Storm in the Bathtub makes mention of Halley's Comet? Maybe someone can help with that part. I do not know that song.
The wonderful world of Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.  Author(s): Lande, Kay and Denning, Wade.   RCA Camden, 1966. 33 1/3 rpm. stereo.  Contents: Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.--We must be brave, brave, brave.--My name is Haley Comet.--Miss Guiding Star's song.-We're gonna go a-searchin' for a rocket ship.--Mister Parrot's lament.--Catch me, catch me.--Trouble.--Due North.--A perpetual cold in my nose.--We're going to Australia to ride a kangaroo.--Sing me a rhyme.--Jack Yak.--Wynken, Blynken and Nod.  Note(s): Participants: Story and songs  written by Wade Denning and Kay Lande  performed by Kay Lande and cast  Wade Denning, arranger and conductor.


W73:  Who spilled the paint?
Solved: Big Orange Splot
W74:  Wishing Tree by Faulkner

Solved: The Wishing Tree

W75:  Werepony
girl who travels around in van and, I think, moves into parallel world where she becomes a werepony; also features a couple who are werewolf and werehuman [wolf who becomes human] and are expecting respectively a cubs and a baby.

W75 werepony: there's a rather odd book that may be it - Horse of Air, written and illustrated by L. Campbell, published Routledge 1957, 160 pages. The author was 15 when she wrote it. "It concerns Lindsey, a girl whose imaginary world becomes her real world. Here she roams with her band of horses, having the ability to become one herself at any time. They journey through countries together, meeting were-wolves or Indians, or cowboys or people from small townships. With two or three of her horses she takes journeys back to "Reality" and occasionally in time. The portrayal of the horses is excellent and each becomes a real personality to the reader." (JB Nov/57 p.258) More likely it's a recent paperback fantasy for adults or YA, though.


W76: World War II U-Boat Stories
Not your usual fare, but I read this book as a teen; not sure if it was really targeted at younger readers or not.  This was a collection of  stories about German U-Boat operations during WWII, and  was probably published in the 50s.  Each chapter was about a different sub, as I recall.  I've tried some searches and I've concluded that "U-Boat" probably  is NOT in the title, but I can't be certain of that. The book itself had a light brown cover with the title on the spine in navy blue;  my copy didn't have any dust jacket.

Could this be one of the Random House Landmark series books for young people. The cover description and date sound right. Check out the lengthy list of titles. Battle for the Atlantic, The Story of Submarines, The History of the U. S. Coast Guard, etc. 


W77:  Witches and Blueberry Pancakes
Solved: Old Black Witch
W78: Whitman publishing?

title: something...Christmas book, maybe My Christmas Book?  Whitman mid 1950s.  containing approx. 20/25 children's Christmas stories mostly about Santa, gift giving, helping those less fortunate  It was about 12in x 8in approx. 150-200 pages with some illustrations the title was "My Christmas Book" or something Christmas Book  On the cover was a big picture of Santa's face with his eyes closed.  Overlayed in his white beard was a decorated Christmas tree with children dancing around the
tree holding ribbons, similar to the Coca-Cola kind of Santa    two stories from book: Bertrum's Reindeer and The Little Blue Dishes.

W78 whitman christmas: the cover description sounds like The Christmas Book, Whitman 1954, which is on the Solved List. The only difference is that the children are dancing hand-in-hand around the tree, though the garlands strung around it do give the impression that they are holding maypole ribbons.


W79:  white poodle babysitter book
Solved: The Bunny Sitter 

W80:  Wilkin book
Solved: My Dolly and Me 
W81: Witch in a Rhododendrun bush

Solved:  Late for Hallowe'en


W82:  Whale, Woman Overboard
Solved: Overboard
W83:  washing machine

I read a book of short stories as a kid.  Probably from the 1940's about a girl named wendy who falls asleep on a washing machine and dreams.  In this short stories book is also a story about invisible elves that come out and are visible at night.  Any information you have would be great I would love to read it to my kids.

In a Ginn second grade reader Around the Corner (green cover)(1966) there is a story called "The Wonderful Washing Machine". In this Ann falls asleep and she dreams she is flying out across the country atop the washer. The story is by Miriam Young and is attributed to Story Parade magazine. I do not see an elf story here, however. 



W84: Witch with colored powders
Solved: Little Witch 
W85:  Woman & Children escape Germany

I am looking for a book I read in the early 80's.  It is about a young Jewish woman who escapes from a ghetto (possibly Warsaw) and ends up hiding in a Convent with several Jewish children, possibly acting as a teacher.  At the end of the book, she and a man from the convent smuggle the children across the border on a train (I think they were in baggage or bundles.) I cannot remember anything else of the content, except that at one point while hiding she has the children act in a play about Purim.

Claire Huchet Bishop, Twenty and Ten, 1952.  I'm a little uncertain whether this is the book referred to, except that the children in the book do act in a play (as far as my memory serves me).  A short synopsis of the book follows:  "During the Nazi occupation of France, twenty ordinary French  kids in a boarding school agree to hide ten Jewish children.  Then German soldiers arrive. Will the children be able to  withstand the interrogation and harassment? Twenty and Ten is based on a true story -- one of many similar incidents that took place all over Europe during World War II. It is a book that has much to say to children of any age." Assuming this is the book (there are a number of books on the  same theme) there was a 1990 made for TV movie based on it,  starring Loretta Swit, called "Miracle at Moreaux".
I still think the book you are looking for is something else, whose title I cannot recall, but a friend suggested a lot of plot elements are like Kathryn Lasky's The Night Journey.
Claire Huchet Bishop, Twenty and Ten.  This is the solution I coulnd't think of last time, and I believe I've got it now.
I do not remember the title, but I taught this book to 6th graders in New Jersey.  Look at the videos at your library  I believe it is also a movie.  You can ask the research librarian to look for the topic with Juvenile literature for 4th to 7th grade material, and she will probably find it.
I'm not positive about this, but W85 might be Escape from Warsaw by Ian Serralier.  It's about  three children from a Warsaw ghetto running  from the Nazis.   This book is back in print.
My Hundred Children, Lena Kuchler, 1987.  This is a book about a woman who helps 100 children (Holocaust survivors) get to Israel. I remember very little about it and it is long out of print, but I thought it might help as it looks like this stumper hasn't been solved.
I checked out briefs on Twenty & Ten, Escape from Warsaw, and The Night Journey, but unfortunately none of them are the book I'm seeking.  I did, however, remember that the name of the main character is Lena or Leni, if that helps.
I do not believe that Claire Huchet Bishop's Twenty and Ten is correct.
Also published under the title The Secret Cave (Scholastic-1969) the story concerns French school children who vote to aid some Jewish children by hiding them at their convent school. There is no adult who is fleeing nor do the Jewish children escape from France in the end. The story merely ends with the Nazis departing, believing they were mistaken. The ten hidden children come out and everyone feast on some food left behind by the soldiers. The children had been subsisting on very meager rations. The school barely food had food for the twenty and they were actually sharing their supply with the extra ten! They were nearly starving!
Lena K�chler-Silberman, translated from the Hebrew by David C. Gross., My Hundred Children, 1987.  maybe? - Trying to find reason to go on living after her family died in the Holocaust, Kuchler-Silberman directed a postwar orphanage for 100 of the few Jewish children who remained alive in Poland. Her aim was to provide physical and emotional wholeness for those children who had lived in closets or forests and for the many who had seen their parents killed. She encountered aggressive anti-Semitism directed toward the children. Finally leaving Poland for safer Czechoslovakia forms the crux of the first-person narrative, but as much drama is found in moving vignettes, such as the intoxicated hilarity the children and staff enjoy, dressed alike in pink flannel pajamas (their first such warmth after the war). Kuchler-Silberman is truly a hero  her accomplishments will be honored in a forthcoming TV movie.


2003

W86: Witch with pastel pantry
Solved: Little Witch


W87: "Who's that happy hippopotamus hopping heavily in the hall"
Solved: Is That a Happy Hippopotamus?


W88: woodsmen with wine jugs
Childhood book wanted: Read in the 50's. Picture book. Woodsmen with axes and jugs of wine or milk? Trees prominent in pictures

The Golden Goose.  I had a book in the seventies called The Golden Goose, which had all the elements you describe, including a woodsmen being cut with an axe, and treesy, earth toned pictures.
W88: Sounds like the Grimms' The Golden Goose, though the only time I remember seeing it as a book was a pre-1970 edition in which the youngest son is called, not Simpleton, but "Dumming" or some such. A lot of dialogue. Very plain illustrations - what sticks in my memory is when the brothers cut themselves with the ax and you see the gaping cuts in profile, but no blood or redness.
W88  L. Leslie Brooke, The Golden Goose.  Oddly enough, I just saw this in my doctor's office among the books they had
for the kids. It had simple line drawings done in color. Lots of trees in the pictures.
W88 This one?  Brooke, Leslie. The golden goose and other favorites.  ilus by Leslie Brooke. Avenel old fairy and
nursery tales; Mother Goose rhymes.



W89: witches
Solved: Little Witch


W90: The wolf who wanted to be a horse
This was a library book I read to my son in the early 1970s. It was wry and funny and I would love to read it to my granddaughter. I believe it was called The Wolf Who Wanted to Be a Horse. (Or it may have been a horse who wanted to be a wolf.) I simply can't remember for sure.

Kristine Willis, The Long-legged, long-nosed, long-maned wolf,  1968.  It' not an exact match, but it was close enough that I felt I should mention it.  Summary: "The strange wolf doesn't make a very good horse, and the strange man doesn't make a very fierce bandito, but they make a good pair because of the unusual favors they do for each other."  It's 48 pages long, so it's probably an "easy reader" type book.
I have no summaries for these two but the time period fits: Wolf Who Had a Wonderful Dream by Anne Rockwell (1973), Mouse Who Wanted to be a Man by Margaret Howell (1976)



W91: Witch saves witch school with thorn bush
This short story was in an anthology of witch stories. In the story, a young girl, who is a witch, is sent to a (boarding?) school for witches.  There is a portrait of one of her famous witch ancestors on a wall in the school.  Somehow the girl saves the school by growing a thorn bush all around the school.  I think the book was oversized.  It may have had a picture on the cover of a witch riding a broomstick and wearing a billowing cloak.  I read the book sometime around 1977-1983.  Thanks!

Hoke, Helen, Witches, Witches, Witches, 1953.  This is a slightly oversized J fiction with a black cover.
I just thumbed through Witches, Witches, Witches and didn't see a story resembling the above description.  Likewise, A Book of Witches by Ruth Manning-Sanders and 13 Wtiches by Dorothy Gladys Spicer.
W91 The Helen Hoke book is a collection of stories. I'll read the copy of it that I own to double check it. In the meantime, check SPELL ME A WITCH by Barbara Willard, 1979, 1981. It could be the one you're looking for. ~from a librarian
Diana Wynne Jones, Witch Week, 1982.  Could this be it?  "There are, in the universe, an infinite number of worlds, each split off from its neighbors by the turnings of history. In one world, very much like ours, witchcraft is illegal and witches are burned, unless they can manage to escape. A large number of witch-orphans have been sent to Larwood House, a government-run boarding school. A note accusing someone at the school of being a witch is only the beginning of the strange occurrences.  Young Charles Morgan has just discovered that he can cast spells. Nirupam Singh's brother was burned as a witch. Nan Pilgrim has just taken her first flight on a broom. Among the other students at the school are Estelle Green, whose mother used to run part of the witches rescue service; Brian Wentworth, whose father is assistant head and who has begun acting decidedly odd; and the perfect Simon Silverson, whose every word suddenly starts coming true. When one of the students disappears and a note is left blaming the witch, everyone begins to get scared and several students run away. Nan and Estelle, trying to reach the witches rescue service, are given a spell that will summon help, in the form of the wizard Chrestomanci."
It's definitely NOT Witch Week (or anything by Diana Wynne Jones.  It was a short story and I don't even think the anthology was that thick.  I also forgot to add that it was in my elementary school library (Indianola Elementary in Columbus, Ohio).  Thanks for the ideas.
The Worst Witch Ever.  I know the cover of my edition was of the girl flying (looking fairly disheveled) with a cloak on.  She went to a boarding school and was often in trouble, but managed to save the day. A thorn bush sounds vaguely familiar.  There were 2 books I read in the series, I think.  I would have read this book around 1985ish and it was in paperback then.



W92: Witch's house has chicken legs
Solved: Baba Yaga


W93: weather explained to girl
Louis Slobodkin (illustrator),  1955-1965.  In a dream, a girl rises up to a cloud, where weather is explained to her.This was a picture book.

Is the poster sure this book was illustrated by Louis Slobodkin? There seems to be information about all the books he illustrated at http://www.slobodkin.org/books/index.html, but none look like they fit the poster's description.


W94: Willie the Wisp and cousin
Solved: The Day Willie Wasn't


W95: woody woodpecker fireworks popcorn birthday
Solved: Woody Woodpecker Shoots the Works


W96: WWII & Jewish life
a book I read in late 60s, when I was about 10.  Book had four sections, each with a girl's name, one of which was Nina, and it covered WWII & Jewish life.  One of the girls was a dancer but gets killed in WWII.  Her daughter is raised in the next (final?) section by her mother (the girl's grandmother), who one day asks about the child's mother's dancing.  THe girl looks blankly at her grandmother & says that her mother never danced she could barely hobble, they'd burned her feet in the camps.  THanks for looking.  YOu MUST be overwhelmed with NPR--you're a dream come true!!!!

Ruth Arthur, A Candle in Her Room.  I was haunted by this one when I was a kid. I'm sure this is it  it matches in every detail.
I don't think this one is A Candle in her Room by Ruth Arthur. I don't remember it containing Jewish people. It takes places in the English countryside and centers around an evil doll named Dido.
This is really whistling in the dark, but is it possible that the person who submitted the first clue was really thinking of  A Candle in the Dark by Adele Geras & Elsie Lennox? Though I've never read it, I know it's about the Holocaust and the title is very close to A Candle in Her Room.
It is A Candle in Her Room. The section with the evil doll is (mainly) the first generation. The dancer is a second generation girl who moves to Europe. Her child is orphaned and lost after the war. An aunt who had been crippled (because of the doll) has a vision of the child and is healed so that she can go find her. Then the child comes back and deals with the doll.
Arthur, Ruth, A Candle in Her Room, NY Atheneum 1966.  I think this IS A Candle in Her Room. The book is in 4 sections, each narrated by a girl or woman, covering 3 generations of women at an isolated country house. This particular episode occurs - The first narrator finds her grand niece after WWII in the DP camps, her mother having been murdered by the Nazis for involvement in the Polish Resistance. The grand niece is named Nina, and her mother had been a dancer, but the Nazis had burned her feet so that she was barely able to hobble, news which horrifies her great aunt.  Nina, because of her early hardship, is a tough kid, and she is the one who finally has the strength to defy the power of the evil doll Dido and free the family of her influence. The characters are not Jewish, and WWII is mostly offstage, but I wonder if the seeker has invented that memory to explain this incident?

Additional notation regarding the answer to the original question. Thanks first, I've been haunted by the book for years too. I read it as a young girl.  The questioner was accurate. The second or third generation girl(nina) is talking to her grandmother and grandma asks about her daughter(the girls(nina?) mother) and her dancing. The granddaughter(nina?) says "Dance? My mother couldnt dance. She could barely hobble, the Nazis tortured her. They burned the soles of her feet". I remember it verbatim.  Thanks for the info, I've always wondered about the book and have tried to recall the title/author. It was geared to girls about the age of 12-14 because I read it about the same time as I blew through Lois Duncan's books.  



W97: Widowed sisters
Solved: The Widow's Adventures


W98: Whitey the Rabbit?
Solved: Whitey, the Bunny Whose Wish Came True


W99: walnut ship in the park lake
Solved: Pirates in the Park


W100: Wumpy Dump can't fly
We used to read this book to our daughter (now 27) who still refers to herself as Wumpy Dump when things aren't going well! The story concerned a mother and father bird and their baby in the nest. Father bird felt that baby was ready to leave the nest but mother bird said "But wumpy dump can't fly." I don't think it was a Golden book but wouldn't rule out anything. I've checked the title in a number of places so I don't think it contains the words "Wumpy Dump".  The father bird seemed to have kind of a military bearing. I think he said something like, "Get that bird out of the nest!"


W101: Who Needs Doughnuts
Solved: Who Needs Donuts?


W102: World War II book about European girl sent to America
This book features a European girl who had an upper-class lifestyle in Europe (perhaps Paris?) but who was sent to a farm in America by her loving parents in order to get her out of harm's way in World War II. The adjustment to lower-middle-class American farm life is very difficult for her, but she gradually warms up to the American family hosting her. At the end of the book, her parents find her out in a field, dressed very poorly, and are shocked at the change in her.  I would have read this in the late 1960; it is probably written for a late-elementary reader.

Back Home, Michelle Majorian.
Unless the person who submitted the stumper has confirmed it, I think W102 should be reopened - sorry.  Back Home by Michelle Magorian wasn't published until 1984, and while it is about an English girl who was evacuated to America during WWII, it deals with her struggle to adjust to life in England again after the war, rather than focusing on how hard it was to adjust to life in America.
P. L. Travers, I Go By Sea, I Go By Land, 1966.  Maybe?  This is non-fiction and is written in diary form.  Story of an English girl and her younger brother who were sent to live with relatives in America during World War II.
I'm the original poster of this stumper.  Neither of these answers is correct (although I appreciate the help!):  I know I read this book when I was in elementary school in the late 1960s, and it was written in the third-person, as a piece of fiction (even if based on a true story).  I remember that at the beginning of the book, she was very happy with her mom and dad in a major European city and was horrified at her new host family in America or Canada; in the scene at the end when the parents from Europe come to the farm to get their daughter, she is in a field, and if memory serves, is chewing a bit of straw and may even have not had a shirt on!  (She was prepubesent, of course.)  She had grown to love her country life, too, and I think dreaded the adjustment to life back in Europe.  That was where the book ended.  Thanks!
Haywood, Carolyn, Primrose Day, 1942.  This is simply a suggestion.  I haven't read it, so can't say whether it contains the exact details you've described, but the plot sounds right. "Because of the war, 7-year-old Merry Primrose Ramsay goes to live with her Aunt Helen and Uncle Bill in America, where she finds things very different from England."
This book is DEFINITELY NOT Primrose Day, as that is a very sweet and wonderful book with a very happy ending!  And thanks for this great service, because I was actually looking for Primrose Day's title and found it here!!!



W103: Who Dun It
I think I remember this as a 'soft back' book, but (?)! It contained a series of "situations" in a brain twizzler or brain teaser format.... there were pictures or sketches (?) pertaining to each one... seem to remember many murder mystery related puzzlers! I especially remember a particular one depicting a hanging rope......apparently the person hung himself and the puzzle was to find out "how" this was done, because there were no chairs or step ladders or any way for the person to climb up to the rope...... he was found 'dangling' with no clues! I do remember that the answer to this "HOW WAS IT DONE" twizzler, was that the person climbed up on 'dry ice' and that was the end!  I would like to resume my search for this book..... I do not know whether it was called Who Dun it or Who Done It or the book of Who dun/done its..... murder mysteries "May" or may not be a part of the title!

Oh my, I remember that brain teaser.  Brain teasers were part of an oral tradition and dinnertime activity in my family.  I'll be eager to see this one solved.
Well, there's Donald J. Sobol's Two-Minute Mysteries series featuring Inspector Haledjian.  I couldn't find such a case in More Two-Minute Mysteries or Still More Two-Minute Mysteries, though it could be in Two-Minute Mysteries.  A book featuring a female detective with the same initials as Sherlock Holmes is Mini-Mysteries, by Julia Remine Piggin, but I couldn't find such a case in that book or any sequels to it.  All of these came out in paperback from Scholastic in the early 1970s.  The mysteries were about a page each with the solution printed upside-down at the bottom of the page.
Ken Weber, Five Minute Mysteries (series).  Since Weber's books involve murders, I think it's the Five Minute Mystery Series.
W103 Not a definitive answer, but try doing a keyword search on your library's computer catalog or on the internet with the words "minute mysteries". I didn't get a sense of what year you might have read these books, but from the 70s to the present, there are various minute mystery titles - like Two Minute Mysteries, etc. Might be worth investigating. ~from a librarian
Very early- but The Baffle Books by Randle McKay and Lassiter Wren?? (1920-30's)?
I have read the "Two-Minute Mysteries" books mentioned above, and I'm sure that these are the books you are looking for. I remember the exact story you have mentioned. I believe it was the butler who killed the master of the house by hanging him, and claimed that he was merely walking into the house and saw the man kick over the stool he was standing on and hang himself in the attic. The mystery was solved because there is no way the butler could have known it was a stool from way down on the ground. Hope this helps!



W104: Walk In the Forest
Solved: In the Forest


W105: World War II
Solved: Animal Stories


W106: Weasel becomes an ermine
Children's storybook read to me in 1945. Little brown weasel (in Russia or a snowy country) is being hunted by hunters. His brown fur against the white snow makes him very vulnerable. But then he bcomes an ERMINE, and with white fur, now has the perfect camouflage! And, as they say, lives happily ever after,,,,,,

W107: Willie?  Smokey Joe?
Solved: The Cold-Blooded Penguin


W108: White kitten cleaned up and adopted
Solved: Peppermint


W109: West Point Family
Solved: Penny Parrish


W110:  Way out west in Chicago
I was born in 1937 in San Francisco.  My mother read a book to me that began "Way out west in Chicago." It was a collection of stories, as I recall, and I really don't remember much beyond that. The geographical irony of the west being far to our east always stuck in my mind, and perhaps contributed to my lifelong interest in geography.  The book was hard bound and green as I recall.  I have looked at used children's books to try and find this, but without luck.


W111: world champion hammerer
was in a hilton anthology.  It was about a guy who got a job at a factory and at first he couldnt hammer a nail (that was his job). they said they would fire him. Then he got obsessed with it and practiced all the time. He took great pride in it and got really carried away with it. One day the company replaced all the hammerers with a machine. He tried to break the machine.

Sounds a little bit like the story of John Henry, who I think is a fictional folk hero.  Probably in multiple anthologies  I do distinctly remember hearing one where he breaks a machine that threatens to replace him.



W112: We three
Solved: Three Without Fear


W113: witch
Solved: Little Witch


W114: WWI Ace to Ace Dogfighting Game Books
Solved: Aces to Aces WWII Air Combat Game


W115: Will
In 1955 or so, a substitute teacher read a story to a rowdy junior high English class. A man's  will provides that his child may benefit from his estate as long as he wears a cloak. Cloaks go out of fasion, and something else (perhaps coats) come into fashion.  THe will is interpreted so that "cloak" means "coat."  Coats go out of fashion, and something else (perhaps jackets) come into fashion.  The will is reinterpreted so that "cloak" means "jacket."  And so forth until "cloak" comes to mean "scraf."  I think the author of the story was English.  I would like to read the story to my students.


W116: Widget and Wodget
Solved: The Widget, The Wadget, and Boff


W117: Weekend adventures, children take turns
Solved: The Saturdays


W118: Witch in a tree
Solved: Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley and Me, Elizabeth


W119: Wedding and junior bridesmaids get pearl necklaces
Solved: Aunt Sharon's Wedding Day


W120: Winds, Stories about
This was a story my mother read to me.  The story related the four winds (north, south, east, and west) and their certain characteristics in the form of a short story. I remember something about a cave or montaintop as their home. It wasn't a friendly story.  It was more of a fable, fairy tale, or myth.

This may not be what either is looking for, but let me try to hit 2 stumpers with 1 stone: C 219: Children's book of how stories and W 120: Winds, Stories About could both be Old Mother West Wind, by Thornton W. Burgess, 1910. Put that title, in quotes, into Google, and you'll even find entire online versions of it; for example, chapter 2, Why Grandfather Frog Has No Tail.
Hans Christian Andersen, The Garden of Paradise, c.1838.  W-120, story about the four winds with different characteristics, could this be The Garden of Paradise, one of Andersen's fairy tales?  Here's a link.  As the poster relates, it most definitely is not a friendly story.
W120 is NOT Tresselt  Follow the windNOR Brindze The story of the trade winds NOR Conger Who has seen the wind
W120 Could this be EAST OF THE SUN AND WEST OF THE MOON, an old tale from Norway? ~from a librarian



W121:  WW2 Army Engineer unit M*A*S*H-like
Solved: Hanging On


W122: Witch little sister Mousie
Solved: Witch's Sister


W123: wishes
Solved: Pinkety Pinkety, a Practical Guide to Wishing


W124: Warrior
A young man's father (or loved one) is killed by an evil (dark) menacing warrior, who possesses great power.  The young man spends man years preparing to meet this warrior in a final match.  He is coached in his preparation by a mentor.  He must learn to conquer his fears and his anger. (I remember much emphasis on this)  Of course, he is successful.  My shaky  memory places the era in the dark ages a time of heavy armor and heavy swords - and other weapons charicteristic of that age. I remember something that struck me related to this young man washing his hands in water, during his preparation, but I don't remember what or why.  I don't know what is meant by the "approximate date" field above.  I read the book in 1982, but I remember it was well used, thus I'm guessing the book was published some years before.

Rosemary Sutcliffe?  This sounds as if it might be any of a number of young adult novels by Rosemary Sutcliffe, set in early Britain. I am sorry I can't be more specific.
Walter Dean Myers, Legend of Tarik, 1981.  Could this be The Legend of Tarik?  Synopsis: "After witnessing the annihilation of his people by El Muerte's legions, young Tarik undergoes the training, which will enable him to destroy this fierce leader.



W125:Wolf catches girl with medals
Solved: The Story-Teller


W126: William Wigglesworth
William Wigglesworth, 1940s.  I remember this book, from my childhood, as being very gentle and dear, but I don't have any clue beyond that.


W127: Wrong side of bed
Solved: My Giant Story Book


W128: Wilderness survival after floatplane crash
Two boys and a pilot (uncle?) are in a small private float plane. The plane experiences some sort of mechanical trouble and sets down on a lake.  After repairs the pilot takes the plane up to test it out but crashes leaving the two boys to fend for themselves in the woods. The story deals with how they survive.  They make a fish trap to catch fish.  At one point they capture and train a river otter to help them with the catching of the fish. One of the boys even dives to the sunken plane to try to get supplies. They finally make a raft to take them down river to civilization. The book was read sometime around 1960-65.

Fea, Henry R., Adventure In The Sierras, 1959.  Survival story. Plane with uncle & 2 children crashes. Ginn & Company. 180 pages.
I'm the original submitter for Stumper W128 "Wilderness survival after floatplane crash".  This stumper is shown as solved with the book identified as "Adventure in the sierras" by Henry R. Fea. Unfortunately this is not the book that I'm searching for.  The solved book is a crash survival story but has two children in it, a boy and a girl.  The book I'm searching for is based around two boys, a floatplane and ultimately a river trip by raft back to civilization.
Burton L Spiller, The Young Crusoes, 1959. I'm sure this is the book referred to. It is my favourite book but have not read it for a number of years. I was searching the internet to confirm the title and typed in my idea of the plot summary...it was almost identical to the stumper W128. I was pretty sure the title was "The Young Crusoes" and further internet searching has confirmed this.
Burton Spiller, Northland Castaways.  This book is Northland Castaways.  Look it up in the Solved Mysteries section.  It is now very rare - no copies on ABE! - but can still be found on interlibrary loan.



W129: When I Went for a Walk in the Forest
Solved: In the Forest


W130: Witch rides on a vacuum
I am looking for a book that I read in elementary school back around 1960. It was about a witch that rode on a vacuum instead of a broom.

The Wednesday Witch by Ruth Chew, 1969.  See more comments on the Solved Mysteries page.
This book (the Wednesday Witch by Ruth Chew) was not published until 1969. The book I want is one that I read in 1960.
Dan Wickenden, The Amazing Vacation.This book was published around the right time.  I read it in elementary school about 1960.  Two children, Joanna and Ricky, go to visit their eccentric uncle and aunt, and end up going through a strange stained-glass window into another country.  One of the characters in the book is a witch who rides on a vacuum cleaner instead of a broom.  This book is set in the 1920's.  I found this book recently at Alibris or ABEbooks, and it's as delightful as I remembered.
Mary Calhoun, Wobble the Witch Cat. Although the other answer might be the right one -- if you remember an early reader picture book instead of a novel, it might be Wobble the Witch Cat. Wobble hates riding on the witch's broom, so he throws it away. On Halloween, the witch is desperate to take to the skies, so she enchants her vaccum cleaner and rides that instead. Wobble finds it very comfy.



W131: WW2 Underground
Solved: Snow Treasure


W132: Whale saves russian submarine crew
Solved: Sounding


W133: Where is "The Dangerous Game"?
Solved: Terrible Game


W134: Window, child looks out
Solved: Out Of My Window

2004


W135: Witches, Goblins, Trolls, Ogres and other fantasy
Solved: Kincaid's Book of Witches, Goblins, Ogres, & other fantasy


W136: Western Showdown Stumper
I am looking for a book read to me about 15-20 years ago about a western town that has been harassed by a group of 'bad guys'.  There is a boy in this town who decides to challenge these guys and divides them into 3 different groups.  One group he tricks into having their horses tied to their backs.  Another group he challenges to a race up a ladder to a building roof where he knocks down the ladder so they are stuck.  The last group he challenges to a race to a barn/shed where he is able to lock them in.  Then the last guy he challenges to a shouting contest down at the river where the sheriff hears him and returns to find 5 men on a roof, 5 tied to their horses and 5 in the barn.  So the boy saves the day.  Any thoughts?

Could this be one of Alan Coren's Arthur books? A British series of humorous books with titles like Arthur the Kid, The Lone Arthur, etc. The plot generally involved Arthur, a ten-year-old boy, outwitting assorted wild west bad guys. The story that your correspondent describes doesn't ring any bells, but it sounds like the kind of resourceful thing Arthur would do.
Richard Kennedy, The Contests at Cowlick, 1975. Illustrated by Marc Simont.  "Wally outwits a gang of outlaws and saves the town of Cowlick."



W137: Warring neighborhood children "War of Roses"?
Solved: Bill Bergson and the White Rose Rescue


W138: The White Bed
My Mother purchased this set of books from a door to door saleman, my Father thought it was a waste of money! Sometime in the 1950's. There was a set of smaller red/ burgundy books (6 X 8?) and two larger books (12x 14?), one green and  one golden yellow. The large books had raised covers that you could put paper over and do a sort of rubbing on to get picutres. One of the large books had pictures of works of art and pictures to trace.  One of the books had nursery rhymes and poems. The stories I remember were one about a little boy who did not want to go to bed but laid on the floor in front of the fireplace and read and heard his little white bed come down the stairs and run away. After he got cold and begged for the nice warm and comfy bed to come back it did. I remember my Mom reading the sound the bed made coming down the stairs, clumpity clump, clumpity clump.  Another story was about Jack Frost "Nips your nose" and the Winken Blinken and Nod poem, also Three Men in a Tub. Hope someone can help. Thanks in adadvance.

The story The Bed that Ran Away is found in Volume 2 of the Book Trails book (For Baby Feet), and Volume 1 is full of poetry. I believe these book sets were sold door to door, so it's probably worth investigating.
Multiple Contributors - Introduction by M.V. O'Shea, Junior Instructor, Books 1 and 2, 1943 (orig. 1916), copyright.  The green-covered and yellow-covered Junior Instructor books were sold along with the Book Trails series.  The 1943 copyright was published by United Educators, Inc.



W139: wagon train trapped on mountain pass
When I was a teenager I read a book about a wagon train heading west that was trapped on a mountain pass buy a sudden snowstorm for several weeks and/or months and as they did not have enough food they may have been forced to cannabalize others who did not survive. I believe the story was narrated by a young girl.

Laurgaard, Rachel K, Patty Reed's Doll:The Story of the Donner Party, 1956.  Sounds like this might be about the Donner Party, a group of emigrants to California who in the winter of 1846�47 met with one of the most famous tragedies in Western history. The California-bound families were mostly from Illinois and Iowa.  Early snow caught them, trapping them in the Sierra Nevada. Resources ran out, and survivors resorted to cannibalism to survive. The story is told from a child's doll's perspective.
You didnt give an approximate date of when you read the book, and there are a LOT of books about the true story of the Donner Party, which your description certainly sounded like. I did find a possibility - Across The Plains In The Donner Party: a personal narrative of the overland trip to California, 1846-47 by Virginia Reed Murphy (Outbooks, 1980).  "This is her story, recalled 45 years later at the request of the editor of Century, a national magazine of that day, and reprinted here with the original illustrations and some additional ones. If you could give a date, it would be easier to narrow down possible titles.
Jane and Paul Annixter, Wagon Scout.  If the original stumper requester is mixing up the Donner Party (starvation) with lack of water, this could be the book.  The protagonist is a sixteen-year-old boy.
Rachel K. Laurgaard , Patty Reed's Doll,1956.  This is just a guess. A lot depends on when the poster was a teenager. If the book was about the Donner party, then this link may help.
I can't imagine anyone writing a children's book on The Donner Party, but that's sure what this sounds like!  Also there's a short story by Mark Twain: Cannibalism in the Cars, but its not narrated by a young girl.
I'm willing to bet this is a story based on the Donner Party.  Three possible titles: Patty Reed's Doll: the Story of the Donner Party by Rachel Laurgaard, Lorina's Song: A Pioneer Girl's Journey with the Donner Party by Marian Rudolph, and Palace Wagon Family: A True Story of the Donner Party.
Winter Harvest, by Norah Lofts, a novel about the Donner Party. I remember it was narrated by one of the members of the party, either a teenage girl or boy.
Laurgaard, Rachel K., Patty Reed's Doll, 1956.  The stumper must surely refer to a book about the Donner party--could this be the one?
W139 is presumably talking about a story based on the real-life Donner Party.  There are many possibilities, and since I don't know when requestor was in high school, I've sorted them by date:
Grim journey : the story of the adventures of the emigrating company known as the Donner party, which, in the year 1846, crossed the plains from Independence, Missouri, to California ... by Birney, Hoffman, 1934.
The mothers : an American saga of courage by Fisher, Vardis, 1943.
Winter harvest : a novel by Lofts, Norah, 1955.
Beyond the pass. by Headen, William, 1956.
Palace wagon family: a true story of the Donner Party. Sutton, Margaret, 1957.
West through the wilderness: a story of the tragedy at Donner Pass. by Bowlen, Ruth, 1961.
The ungodly: a novel of the Donner party.  by Rhodes, Richard, 1973.
Tamsen by Galloway, David D., 1983.
Left hand turn : a story of the Donner Party women by Maino, by Jeannette Gould, 1987.
Patty Reed's doll : the story of the Donner party by Laurgaard, Rachel K., 1989.
Trapped! the true story of a pioneer girl by Boeve, Eunice, 1997.
The Donner Party : a diary of a survivor : historical fiction by Olson, Tod, 1999.
Lovina's song : a pioneer girl's journey with the Donner party by Rudolph, Marian, 1999.



W140: woman's 1920's solo Mongolian journey
(Kazakhstan) rendez vous", 1950? Fiance of American ambassador diplomat to ?Tibet? Peking? travels solo across parts of eastern Soviet Union and western China to be reunited with him. She was first white woman to travel these parts and slept in yurts and ate whatever food was available. It was terribly cold and they bundled her up warmly in a cart.  I am fairly sure she wrote the book. She was legendary for her great packing skills along the journey.

Sounds as though it might be THE POWER OF NOTHINGNESS by Alexandra David-Neel & Lama Yondgen; Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1982  Janwillem van de Wetering translation.  First English language edition. [Not a children's book.] For more  information, see this website.



W141: wishes for another birthday
The character is the story wishes for her birthday to happen all over again on the following day.  I think she makes the wish on a star.  "Star Light, Star Bright.  First Star I see tonight I wish I may, I wish I might have the wish I wish tonight." And day after day it works, until she gets tired of having her birthday again.  I think at the end she wishes for a new lunch box.  Also it may have been a scholastic book because I remember my teacher playing it on tape.

Some of the details may be muddled here (for example, I don't recall the story being that the wish is for the birthday to happen over and over, but it's been 25 years since I read it, so maybe that's what happened), but this is definitely Bear's Magic and Other Stories by Carla Stevens.  It was indeed a Scholastic book from the 1970s, and my copy came with a record.
Hi.  Thank you for your help.   It is not the correct story listed.
Well, I still think this is Bear's Magic and Other Stories by Carla Stevens.  This info from another solve on this site: Not exactly firetrucks but... The first story, Wish I May, Wish I Might, in the book Bear's Magic and Other Stories is about a rabbit with an old lunch box.  Everyone else in his class has pictures on their lunch boxes.  So rabbit wishes on a star several nights in a row for a new lunch box.  There's no answer at first, but rabbit reminds himself how far away the stars are.  After three nights (and after his mother overhears him), he gets a new lunch box with "trucks on it -- a dump truck, a garbage truck, a tow truck -- more than ten different trucks!"  The other two stories in the book are about a mouse who makes a birthday wish, and a bear who wishes it would stop snowing.  It's by Carla Stevens, with pictures by Robert J. Lee.  Scholastic, 1976.  Does that ring any more bells?



W142: What if icecream ozzed from the garden hose
Solved: What If?


W143: Wilds of Scotland
I'm looking for a book (teen/young adult) first published in the UK, I'm fairly sure, and published here in the mid to late 70s?? The book is about a teenaged girl who is living in an intolerable situation (slum? abusive parents?) in a Northern English city. She runs away and ends up in the wilds of Scotland, living in a cave of sorts. At one point she rescues an injured mountain climber, nurses him to health in her cave and , I think, becomes pregnant by him. I don't remember much more than that but if you could help me find it, I'd be thrilled.

Renvoize, Jean, A Wild Thing.  London: Macmillan 1970.  This sounds possible - "Morag runs away to try to live by herself in the highlands of Scotland." "The townspeople believed she was a demon spirit...They frightened each other with tales of a wild young creature glimpsed here and there for an instant, then vanished. In truth, Morag was a lonely young runaway, a girl, not quite sixteen years old, who had deserted the poverty and pain of life as an unwanted child to live out a harsh dream of freedom in the wilderness. Her home was a cave, her companions two goats and a moss-covered skeleton-until, one day, a boy wandered into her strange, solitary existence and brought with him all the joys and evils of the civilization she had fled."



W144:  Wishing Star
Solved: The Wishing Star


W145: Whip-poor-will: naughty rabbit gets a spanking
I had a collection of fairy tales in an oversized hardcover book with color illustrations.  There were many stories, but I remember there was a version of the Brothers Grimm story of King Thrushbeard (or Roughbeard).  In this version, at the end, it specifically mentioned the queen being told by a guest to compliment the kitchen staff because a pastry was so delicious, and she said she would, but she actually had made the pastry herself, "by her own hand".  There was also a story about William Cottontail, a rabbit who was naughty all over the village and finally got a spanking over his
mother's knee, while a bird announced it to the whole village, calling "Whip-poor-will! Whip-poor-will!"  The book dated somewhere between 1900-1950, if I had to guess, I would say it was from around 1920.  I've been looking for years!


W146: Wordless children's book
I am looking for a wordless children's picturebook that was read to me in the mid eighties. All I can recall is that on one page there was a bunny (maybe white?) who was cooking dinner for all his forest friends. The story was definately about the bunny and life in the forest. I also recall there was a strip of white that ran along the bottom.

W146 possibilities?  Haven't dug it out to check for white line. These are wordless and have at least one rabbit in them:
Bruna, DickMiffy's dream. illus by Dick Bruna. Methuen, 1979.  white rabbit, brown rabbit. Fromm, LiloMuffel and Plums. illus by Lilo Fromm    Macmillan, 1972.  lion, rabbit; friendship; books without words.



W147: Witch causes July snowstorm
Solved: The Frightened Forest


W148: Waverly
Solved: Waverly


W149: Waste Not, Want Not
Solved: The Parents Assistant


W150: Witch's yellow cat
Solved: The Witch of Hissing Hill

2006


W151:  What's that big lump in your bed?
Solved: The Big Tidy Up


W152: What Will I Dream Of
Solved: What Can I Dream About?


W153: Wizard and "The Arch of St. Louis"
I once got this book from the library about a spell-using wizard whom I think lived in the Arch of St Louis.  I think it was dated in the 1940s or 1950s and was hardcover, I believe yellow.  Any idea on author and title? I have never been able to find it again, even upon returning to the same library.  Thanks in advance!

If the date is 1940s-1950s then it couldn't mention the Arch of St. Louis, which wasn't built until the late 1960s.
From the Special Collections, St. Louis Public Library:  We have checked several sources including reference books, databases, and the Internet, plus the memories and expertise of staff members, but could not discover the title of the book, which you mentioned.  You may have placed the date of publication a bit too early, since the competition for the Gateway Arch (formally known as the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial) took place in 1947-48 and the Arch itself was completed on October 29, 1965.  I have also asked the library's Youth Services librarians for assistance. If they identify a possible match, I will pass the information along to you.
Thanks for the dates and education about the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial.  The book appeared to me to be somewhat old, but given your dates, it likely was a used and liked book.  I would have read it around the years of 1974-1977.  Given your information, it must have been not even a decade old.  It may have been in a collection of short stories; I just cannot remember any other details.  Again I would be grateful for any details.  I have tried looking at some online card catalogs to no success.


2005


W154: Wood Nymph
Solved: Peterkin


W155: Witch girl
Solved:  The Active-Enzyme, Lemon-Freshened Junior High School Witch


W156: Where the animals live?
I have a friend who has told me about a book she had as a child that she would give anything to find again - she is a painter and aparently the colors in this book really influenced her stuff. All she can remember is that it was a very vividly colored picture book that was titled something like "Where the animals live" and showed the animals and the different types of homes they lived in. She stressed that the illustrations were very, very vividly colored, possibly with highly contrasting bright colors that would vibrate against eachother. I would LOVE to find her a copy & suprise her with it!!

W156 Daly, Kathleen N. The home is best book [former title: The nest book].  Illus by Jan Pfloog. Golden, 1968, 1976.
animal homes; Golden Shape Book.  This is probably not it. The pictures are nice, but not arty. 1st spread is of orioles and their nest; next spread "A cave is home to big black Bear" then "A cozy den is Fox's lair." Then the head of a cat peering at the goldfish in their bowl, etc.
I really doubt it is The Nest Book - from how she described it diddnt have traditional painted illustrations, they were more graphic and luminous...copyright early to mid 70's, I assume, since she is in her late 20's...
Mary Anne Hoberman, A House is A House For Me, 1978.  Maybe?  "A web is a house for a spider" is the first line.  Many other animal homes are mentioned in this long illustrated poem.  Illustrations are interesting.



W157: WWII carousel horse
Solved: The Little Riders


W158: Windmills
- a yellow cover children picture book with descriptions [80 (or so) pages]
- about a kid who lives in the woods
- story about how he makes windmills (or so), and how he lives there
- I read it while i was a kid, around late 80s
i know my description is a bit vague. But any help is appreciated. I have been spending hours online trying to hunt this book to bring back my nostalgic memories.. Thanks so much.


W159: Williamsburg (colonial)
Solved: Williamsburg series


W160: Wheat grows in silted port
Solved: Tales Told in Holland


W161: Wrecked red race car
Solved: The Red Car


W162: Witch at amusement park
Solved: The Resident Witch


W163: War on a planet (or 2 planets?) between musicians and non-musicians
Takes place on a planet (or on 2 planets?) involving a ware between 2 "tribes" of peoples:  one who are all musicians and one who are not.   It's very fuzzy and I may be getting the details wrong.  But I seem to remember a battle and a march to a distant castle and climax in a great hall. (?) The musicians played symphonic instruments.  I read it as a child in the late '50's or very early '60's.  I always thought it was called "The Musicians of Mars," but have been unable to track down anything matching that title...  Does this ring a bell for anyone????

This sounds a bit like The Phantom Tollbooth...the book did have an 'otherworldly' feel to it. A long shot, but perhaps helpful.
W163 I'm quoting from blurb of Phantom Tollbooth: "In his quest for Rhyme and Reason, Milo helps settle the war between words and numbers, visits the Island of Conclusions (which can only be reached by jumping), and ventures into the forbidden Mountains of Ignorance whose all too familiar demons menace his every step."  As to musicians, Milo runs into a big symphony orchestra but it produces no sound; it produces the colors in the world, starting with sunrise. They don't seem to be involved in any wars.
Thanks, but I don't think it's The Phantom Tollbooth. The book I "remember" (hah!) is probably not as clever as that one sounds.   :)   I've been to many a library and consulted with many a veteran children's librarian and been sent to many a bibliography of children's science fiction and fantasy, to no avail...
This isn't a solution exactly, but I have fond memories of a Walt Disney Silly Symphony cartoon about a war between 2 islands - one peopled with symphonic instruments (violins, oboes and the like) and one peopled with jazz instruments (saxophones and trumpets).  A sweet young violin and a shy young sax fall in love and their respective parents throw a collective tizzy which involves everyone on both islands hurling music note "bombs" at each other until the inevitable happy ending.


W164: Witch in a cave
My stumper has to do with a children's book that is dated some time back. I am 31 years old and remember reading it when I was a small child.  I know it contains the word "Witch" in the title and has to do with a witch who lived in a cave.  She was evil to all the people until someone did an act of kindness for her.  Any ideas would be GREATLY appreciated!

The requester might look at some of Ruth Chew's books.  The witch in The Wednesday Witch lived in a cave.
W164 Total shot in the dark, but it might be worth looking into the Old Witch books by Ida DeLage. Titles include OLD WITCH AND HER MAGIC  BASKET; OLD WITCH AND THE SNORES; OLD WITCH AND THE DRAGON and more. Old Witch lives in a cave (at least in some of the stories), but I haven't read them so I don't know if the other details match.~from a librarian.
Susan Cooper, Greenwitch. (1974) 'This might be GREENWITCH, the third book in Susan Cooper'sTHE DARK IS RISING SEQUENCE.  The title character is a sort of Wicker-Man type effigy that the locals in a Welsh village toss over a cliff into the ocean each year, and upon which the town's women can make wishes (to obtain husbands, children, wealth, etc.)  Jane, one of the four child protagonists, feels sorry for the Greenwitch, and when it is her turn to ask for something, simply hopes that the Greenwitch "is happy."  The Greenwitch "lives" near an underwater cave, guarding a treasure (an ancient scroll) within that the children must secure from the powers of the Dark.  It is because of Jane's kindness that the Greenwitch, which has a terrifying power of its own, ultimately relinquishes the scroll.
Eleanor Estes, The Witch Family, 1960, approximate. Is this it?  Old Witch is sent to a Glass Mountain which includes a cave.


W165: wedding of Jack and Jill
Solved: The Wedding of Jack and Jill

W166: witch, children, soap
This is a children's book from the late 70s to early 80s. It involved a witch and some children and a bar of soap, and also (I think) a key and maybe a comb?? The children had these common items and used them to perform magic that allowed them to escape the witch.

This sounds like one of the many versions of Baba Yaga.  The comb becomes a forest of trees, the mirror becomes a lake (sometimes it's a towel that becomes a river) allowing the girl to escape Baba Yaga.  I don't remember a version with soap, though, so maybe that's the clue that will halp narrow down the version you're looking for.
W166: Maybe Teeny-Tiny & the Witch Woman?   "Despite their mother's warnings, three brothers go into the forest to play and encounter the witch-woman
who eats little children." Barbara K. Walker, illustrated by Michael Foreman, 1975. Very eerie pictures. The other brothers are called Big-One and  In-the-Middle. Walker has retold many other fairy tales, especially from Turkey and Nigeria.
Perhaps?  Cole, Joanna Bony-Legs.  illus by Dirk Zimmer.  Scholastic, 1983.  Baba Yaga, Russian witch
Nina Beachcroft, Well Met by Witchlight, circa 1976.  Could this be it?



W167: witch cake with prizes
I have a book stumper about a children's book I used to read in the 70's. It was about a witch and I  remember the book ending with the townspeople baking her a cake that included a prize in every slice. Can you please help?

Not quite the same plot, but maybe worth a try is Wende and Harry Devlin's Old Witch and the Polka Dot Ribbon. The witch bakes a cake for the town's fund-raising carnival, and is given a special polka-dot ribbon for most original cake.
Ida Delage, The Old Witch Goes to the Ball, 1969. This book is The Old Witch Goes to the Ball by Ida Delage.  There is a sign on a telephone pole that reads "Come One Come All to the Halloween Ball..."  The sign is carried by the wind up to the old witch who lives in a cave on a hill.  She comes to the ball where everyone is in costume and everyone thinks she is another woman of the town dressed as a witch.  The prize for best costume is a cake with prizes baked in it.  She doesn'\''t win and starts seeking revenge.  A farmer's wife decides to bake the witch a cake with prizes to make her happy so that she won'\''t do any damage to anyone.  The witch takes the cake back up to her cave and is very happy and plans to come again to the ball next year.



W168: witchina
I think the title was something like "witchina the teenaged witch." The part I remember best is Witchina participates in a "witch" contest of normal people pretending to be witches. She is afraid that if she is too authentic and they will guess she is a real witch.

Marian T. Place, The Resident Witch.  This one's in the Solved Mysteries listings and has a heroine named Witcheena.
1960s or 1970s?, I remember this book too.  There was a Halloween Ball that was to be held.  There was either a sign or a written invitation that stated: "Come one come all, to the Halloween Ball".  I remember the cake with the prizes bake in as well.  I cannot remember the title either.
Marian T. Place, The Resident Witch, 1971, approximate.  I think you're actually describing two books by Marian T. Place.  The book with Witcheena is "The Resident Witch" and involves the resident witch contest.  I believe the Halloween Ball could be "The Witch Who Saved Halloween" -- also written by Place but with a male protagonist named Witchard.  I just learned that Place wrote a third witch book, "The Astrowitches," that included both characters.



W169: Wilkin
Solved: The Surprise Doll


W170: WWII
Solved: The Innocents Within


W171: witch
I've read over the "solved" area (w's) and haven't seen this one.  I'm looking for a children's book that I read in the 70s.  I don't remember title or author or even much of the plot.  It was about a young girl, I believe she was a witch, or just had to deal with them.  In one point of the story, she was in a store and a bad witch made a candy bar appear in her pocket so that our heroine got in trouble for shoplifting.  Also in the book, there were references to the magical properties of trees of different types, such as oak, beech and linden.  I believe that the setting was London.  Any help?

Eva Ibbotson.  My daughter says this description could be possibly one of Eva Ibbontson's stories.  She has read many of her books, but not all - so she didn't recognize this particular plot point.  But it sounded to her typical of Ibbotson.
Lynne Reid Banks, The Fairy Rebel.  Could your witches maybe be fairies? I haven't read this book for a long time, but it involves a little girl (who was given to her parents by the 'fairy rebel'). The wicked queen of the fairies is angry that the fairy rebel helped the humans have their child and makes war both on the rebel and on the little girl and her family. I think tere is something in the book about the little girl eating lots of sweets and it is possible that the wicked fairy queen made it look like she stole them. I think it takes place in England, but I don't remember about the trees. Hope this helps!
Unfortunately, neither of these sound right to me, although I haven't gone to the library yet to really check through those books.  Thanks for the help, though.
Could it be Wispey the Littlest Witch written by Rosemary Varney, illustrated by Robert Masheris, a paperback published in 1977, ISBN 0913778702?
Margaret Storey, The Dragon's Sister and Timothy Travels, 1967.  The Dragon's Sister starts with a grey lady magically sending sweets into Timothy's pockets while he is out shopping with his mother.  It is a sequel to Timothy and Two Witches, where his babysitter, Melinda, is a good witch, battling a mean witch next door. In that book, rowan and ash are mentioned as good trees that block black magic when Timothy and Ellen run into the mean witch and Melinda is not around to protect them.  In the later story, the grey lady turns out to be the first mean witch's sister.  Both Dell Yearling books.  Loved these books, where little cakes (with your name in frosting!) grew on trees for tea and baby dragons could show up in your back garden!
Adding to previous RE:  The Dragon's Sister.  Later in the book, Ellen is with Timothy and they encounter the Grey Woman again, which may be why the original poster remembers a girl being accused of shoplifting.  The children have put ash keys (seeds) into their pockets to prevent the witch from "magicking" items into their pockets again.
Margaret Storey, The Dragon's Sister and Timothy Travels.  Agree that the shoplifting scene happens in Timothy's Travels. It is described in detail on the T Solved page under Timothy's Travels.



W172: Whining bunny
An extra long children�s novel about rabbits (no, it is not Watership Down).  These were more child-like rabbits, and each chapter was a separate adventure for one of them.  One of the bunnies was always whining and complaining, and eventually another rabbit told him to stop acting so childish.  This rabbit then goes out alone and gets hurt, and does his best not to cry as he limps back home.

Lawson, Robert, Rabbit Hill. I haven't read this book for years, but this might be Rabbit Hill by Rbt Lawson.
W172 Nope, Rabbit Hill doesn't fit. Nor does his other one abt a rabbit.
Is there any chance that the seeker could be remembering one of Thronton Burgess' books?  Many of them were set up as a series of small stories about the same character or set of characters. I can't remember this incident in the ones I read, but it's the type of thing that happened in these books.



W173: Witch, two girls, and hypnosis
Solved:  Witch series (Naylor)


W174: Warriors bounding with prehistoric cat
Solved: Gandalara Cycle


W175: Windmills War Children on the Run
Solved: The White Mountains


W176: Woman loses weight and floats away
Solved:  Over the Gate


W177a: Woman finds money after murder
Woman working for department store advertising department gets fired for proof reading error. Woman has to find a cheaper place to live, finds place owned by elderly lady, the old lady is murdered. Murderer was after money, lady who worked in department store finds the money in the end, when the murder is solved. I read it in the 1970's. It is a Mystery book, written by an American Author (?), possibly in the 1950�s.


W177b: wooden doll and mice
Solved: The Little Wooden Doll


W178: Watch me daddy
Solved: Patricia's Secret


W179: war bride tale
I am looking for a story about a dramatic actress named Modesta Mason.  She impulsively marries a man named Tony, who is a pilot, in the war. Somehow, she thinks he has betrayed her and when her flatmate dies, she impulsively switches id's. She has a stepmother named Muriel that Tony meets on his impassioned search for Modesta. Modesta, under her assumed name, gets a comic role in a small time production ofBlithe Spirit. She is living with her godfather at the time and she dies her hair blonde. Tony's nickname for her is cariad.  I can't remember the title, the author or the date of publication. I have an impression of age, not a current book perhaps 50s or 60's. I believe it was in hardcover but there maybe a paper edition. If anyone can help I would appreciate it. This has been driving me crazy for years. I have tried my local library, Library of Congress and other online search services. Lib/Cong. mentioned your site so please help me find " A war bride"

'Cariad' is a Welsh endearment, if that's any help.
I'm sorry that I don't have any information about your book.  I'm sending along this detail in case it somehow helps you or others remember more:  the word "cariad" is a Welsh endearment, something like "love" or "darling".  Maybe Tony was Welsh?



W180: WWII Saipan
Following are the details I know about the book:  1. Authors name begins with an "O" (I think).  2. It was a paperback book sold at Waldenbooks in the 1990's.  3. The book was about World War II and a soldier in a village in Saipan.  4. The book was purchased 1990's at Waldenbooks in New Mexico.  5. There are four sentences (or lines, I'm not sure) at the top of the book and Saipan is the last word. I don't know if this is the title or not.  6. There are two pictures in this book.  One of a soldier drinking from a canteen with eight or nine soldiers around him.  Although this is an authentic picture, I do not believe it had the soldier's name (Evangelo Klonis or it might say T.E. Underwood).  I believe there was a caption under the picture.  The picture on the opposite side of the page is of the same soldier smoking a cigarette.  7. Evangelo Klonis is Greek (don't know if that will help) but fought for the U.S.  8. The photographer was W. Eugene Smith.  9. The book was a greenish color and approximately 250 pages.


W181: witch torments two girls
Solved: Witch Series


W182: Wales Wolves Fog Mountain
Solved: The Grey King


W183: woodpecker
I have been looking for a book of fables/tales could be legends, but it contained a story about how the redheaded woodpecker got it's red head.  I remember it began with a mean old woman who work a gray cloak and a red scarf on her head.  She was horrid to most everyone, and somehow she was turned into the woodpecker.  I was trying to find the story itself and or the book it is in.

This sounds like Road to Storyland (see Solved Mysteries) but I wanted to add that the Cary poem is here.  And the Christ version is Welsh.
I have found your story! The book: The Magic Story Tree (Fifteen Favorite Fables and Fairy Tales)illustrated by Lucille and H.C. Holling, Platt and Munk,1964. The Old Woman and the Magic Cakes is the woodpecker story. A beggar smells the old woman'\''s cake baking and asks for some. The cake is too big to give him any so she prepares a small cake for him! It grows and grows. This is too big to give away. She prepares a very small piece of dough for the oven. Again it grows and grows. In the end she gives none away but keeps it all for herself. As she sits down to eat all her cakes her nose feels strange. It turns into a beak, etc. She becomes the woodpecker. Other stories in this very nice book: Olaf and the Three Goats, Anders' Wonderful Cap, The Stone in the Road, The First Easter Rabbit.
Elson Basic Readers Book Two, Old woman and the cakes,1930s.At the moment I only have Book Four, publisher Scott, Foresman and Co so I am assuming that Book Two was the same timeframe. These were school books that included many types of stories. I loved this story, and "The Star Dipper" which was also in this book.


2006


W184: Witch Accuses Boy of Shoplifting
Solved: Timothy's Travels


W185: Witch romance saves brother
Solved: The Changeover


W186: Witch called Miranda
Solved: Timothy and Two Witches


W187:  Witch, Children and Junkyard
Solved: Witch's Business


W188: where's jacobs bed
Solved: The Trouble with Jacob


W189:  Wind from the South
I am looking for a book, probably from the 40's, probably published by a left-wing publisher:  The Wind From the South.  It is the story of a run-away slave who makes his way north.

Leonard Nathan, A Wind Like a Bugle, 1954.  Later than the 1940s, and publisher (Macmillan) is not left-wingish, but the only novel about fugitive slaves/underground railroad I can find anywhere near the 1940s with the word "wind" in the title.  Worth a look, I suspect.



W190: Witch, Blueberry Muffin Recipe and something like "Boo Scat and Ratchafratch"
This is a book I used to read to my kids in the early 70's and I think it is something about a boy and a girl who got lost in the woods and stumbled upon a witch who scared them with these words and then ended up making muffins for them and the actual recipe for blueberry muffins is in the book - - -I remember we bought the ingredients and made them - - now I have grandchildren the same ages that my kids were then and I"d love to find the book-

If it was blueberry pancakes in an old house converted into a tea shop, then it's Old Black Witch by Harry and Wende Devlin.  See more nostalgic memories on the Most Requested page.



W191: WWII French Resistance action novel
Here's one for the Stumper - WWII action novel buffs may recognize this one as well.  The plot of the novel goes something like this: an Allied airman (he was American I believe) is shot down over France in the spring of 1944.  He survives the crash and is taken in by the local resistance group.  He is sheltered in the nearby village, which is in a very rural part of France.  Initially his resistance group friends are concerned with keeping him hidden and out of sight, as he doesn't speak a word of French and his presence would surely grad the attention of the Germans.  Eventually however he becomes involved in planning and carrying out resistance group activites, as the Allies have landed in Normandy and the Germans are in full retreat.  The climax of the novel is an ambush the group carries out on a column of Germans on a road just outside the town.  The ambush is a success and the Germans are slaughtered.  The action sequences are geat.  The ambush scene forms the latter part of the book.  Does this ring a bell with anyone?  I've been looking for this book for a while now - I need help!

Just a suggestion--if this is a children's book, you might try the WWII books by Eva-Lis Wurio.  I don't remember too many specifics, but this does sound very similar to one of hers.  Good luck!



W192: World geography with Bunga, Pedro
"My World" or "World Geography," early 1950s, A fourth grade geography text book used in many Catholic grade schools in the '50s.  This text helped children learn about the continents by highlighting a fictional child's life from each area. Crops, climate, resources, exports, etc. were studied. (E.G.:  "Bunga" from Africa, "Pedro" of the Andes in South America, "Souvanne" of the Steppe in Asia, "Netsouk" and "Claya"(sp?) from North America.)


W193: Witch plays a flute while standing on rock in sea
Solved: The Haunted Cove


W194: Wagon
Solved: Mr. Mysterious and Company


W195: Warring hippos
Childrens picture book, beautifully illustrated. It has these fuzzy little hippo looking creatures that are quite war like and has several "battle" scenes. Mixing some bow and arrow type siege warefare, some have pictures of them driving motorcycles with sidecars circa WW2 vintage. I loved this book 20 years ago, now I can't find it anywhere.

A long shot--could you be remembering the scene in one of the Babar books where the elephants disguise their back ends (and walk backwards) to scare off the attacking rhinos?  (Their bottoms with faces painted on them and hair on top do look a little like some kind of hippos.)
Peter Cross, illus., Trouble for Trumpets. (1982)  Story by Peter Dallas-Smith. Here's a description from the Solved Mysteries: The creatures have faces shaped like hippos', and are the Trumpets ("We..live in a summer world of warmth and sunshine...in winter we go down into our warm homes underground") and the Grumpets ("They live in the dark, frozen mountains...a sharp, pointed, cross-looking lot") who want to take over the Trumpets' country. The Trumpets are helped in their military defense by wrens, owls, snails, mice and other creatures. The Grumpets wear pointy helmets and invade using submarines and helicopters (the rotors are made of seed pods)... The whole thing is like a takeoff of British military lore, in the midst of fields and hedges! W196: World War II family saga
I am looking for a young adult series I read in the 60s, although they probably were not new then. The series was about the lives and adventures of an extended family during World War II. Each book was about a different family member. The heroine of one of the books was a young actress in New York. Her romantic interest was a producer I believe.
Janet Lambert, Penny Parrish/Tippy Parrish series.  It could be these books about the Parrish family, starting with Star Spangled Summer. Penny becomes an actress, and eventually marries Josh MacDonald, a producer. The books continue through the war with Tippy's stories.
Lambert,  Janet, Up Goes the Curtain. (1946) 'After working hard in a summer stock company, Penny Parrish is cast in a Broadway show where she meets stage manager, Josh MacDonald. Penny learns more about life in the theatre and how it feels to wait for the curtain to go up on opening night." I recommend you look at http://www.imagecascade.com/ They are republishing these books - just look under Lambert and there is a summary of each book and a lot more similar series if this isn't the one.



W197: Windy city ballet
I am looking for a book I read in the 50s or possibly early 60s about a young girl studying ballet. One windy morning she gets the idea for a ballet while watching newspapers and leaves being blown about. She choreographs the "Windy City Ballet" and dances the role of a newsboy in it. I remember a drawing of her in the newsboy costume.  Thank you.

Smith, Eunice Young, Jennifer Dances. (1955)  One of the series of books about Jennifer Hill.  The books in the series are The Jennifer Wish (1949), The Jennifer Gift (1950), The Jennifer Prize (1951), Jennifer is Eleven (1952), Jennifer Dances (1954), and High Heels for Jennifer (1964).  I believe Jennifer Dances is the rarest.
Eunice Young Smith, Jennifer Dances.  This is Jennifer Dances, in which young Jennifer visits her beloved aunt as she recuperates from a prolonged illness, and gets involved with ballet. One of the best of the Jennifer series, which include The Jennifer Wish, The Jennifer Gift, Jennifer is Eleven, and High Heels for Jennifer.


W198: Witches terrorize town
Boy & girl (?) something to do with the witches meeting in cave & terrorize a small town, but the clever child hides clothes in cave then appears to witches and tells them he is a wizard and can teach them to walk through the rain drops - the witches come out of the cave and the rain hits them and they die - the town is saved! REally enjoyed this book as a child - cannot remember name or author - want to share it with my kids - please help!

There might be another variation of this Talmudic legend, but the one I know is THE RABBI AND THE TWENTY-NINE WITCHES retold and illustrated by Marilyn Hirsch, published as a book in 1976, and also included in the collection of scary stories, THE SCARY BOOK compiled by Joanna Cole and Stephanie Calmenson ; illustrated by Chris Demarest, 1991, 1992. A Rabbi is asked to do something about the witches, so he gathers up a lot of
young men who trick the witches into dancing with them in the rain. The rain shrinks the witches.~from a librarian



W199: Walt Disney story collection
Looking for an old book that was a collection of Walt Disney stories in a single book. If I remember correctly, it was a hard bound, dark blue (I don't remember any pictures on the cover) in color and was about 1-1/2" thick. It contained a number of illustrated Disney stories, including mickey mouse stories where Mickey was Jack and the Bean stock. stock. I believe it was from the mid to late 1950s.

The Wonderful Worlds of Walt Disney. (1965)  You may be thinking of one of the four volumes in this hardbound set: Stories From Other Lands, Fantasyland, America, Worlds of Nature.  Jack and the Beanstalk is not included, but the Fantasyland volume (with red binding, America has a blue binding) has several Mickey Mouse stories like The Sorcerer's Apprentice and The Brave Little Tailor, also many Mother Goose rhymes with Disney characters portraying them.  All four volumes contain  adaptations of Disney films and cartoons. They were sold by mail during the 1960s.
Adapted by H. Marion Palmer, Walt Disney's Surprise Package, 1944. Adaptations of classis tales with Disney illustrations of many stories: Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, Wind in the Willows, Peter and the Wolf, The Little Fir Tree, Brer Rabbit, Emperor's New Clothes, Lady (early version of Lady and Tramp), Happy Valley (Early Disney movie version of Mickey in Jack and the Beanstalk)



W200: Witch and chicken noodle soup
I read a book when I was a child about a little boy who gets sick and a witch in small town who everyone hates brings him chicken soup and he gets better and the witch is liked by everyone.  I thought witch and chicken noodle were in the title but I can't find this book anywhere.  I hope you can help.

Norman Bridwell, The Witch Next Door.  This seems unlikely but I'll mention it anyway as no one else has had a guess.  In The Witch Next Door two children have a witch move next door to them. They love the witch and enjoy her unusual habits (sleeping upside down, painting her house black, etc.)  There is a picture of a boy sick in bed and the witch sending in soup and cookies (they're floating through the air!) but it's not a major plot point of the book.  At the end two grouchy adults try to make the witch move but she turns them into a beautiful princess and handsome prince and they forget all about her.



W201: White dresses
I am looking for a book about a girl that was only allowed to sit on the porch because every time she went out to play her perfect white dress was ruined.  She wanted to be able to play in the mud and eat orange popsicles and all the other stuff that kids do.  One day the mother finally decided to dye all the white dresses to colors.  She got a brown dress for making mud pies and a pink dress for eating strawberry ice cream.  She got a green dress for rolling in the grass and an orange dress for eating orange popsicles.  I believe that the front cover had the girl sitting on the porch in a white dress with a white bow in her hair.

De Paola, Tomie, Marianna May and Nursey. (1983)  A little rich girl is miserable because she isn't allowed to do anything but sit still and keep her white dresses clean, until Mr. Talbot the iceman has a clever idea.
Tomie dePaola, Marianna May and Nursey. (1983)  Marianna May feels stifled and bored, required to keep her fancy dresses clean all day. Nursey and Cook come up with a creative solution so that she can act like a child again. Charming Victorian-inspired illustrations, yet current and colorful.
I find the book I was questioning about. Someone else recently asked for it under w201.  And it is without a doubt Marianna May by Tomie de Paolo.  Thanks for all the help. I couldn't have found it without this website.



W202: Witches on a glass mountain
This was a children's book about a little girl who lived on a glass mountain with 1 (or 2?) witches.  I believe there was some sort of insect (spider?) that she talked to.  Published in the 50s or 60s perhaps.

Eleanor Estes, The Witch Family.  Easy one!  The insect is Malachi the Spelling Bee.



W203: Woman and wolf set out on quest
I don't remember much about this series except that I really enjoyed it.  I believe, since I read it when I was in early teens, it would have been published at least between the late 1980's to the mid-1990's.  From what I can remember, this book is about a young (warrior) woman and her wolf who set out on a quest to find something (stones, maybe).  It is possible that she is a healer and I think that she can communicate telepathically with the wolf. She does not live in "civilization", she either lives with or has lived with the wolf.  On their quest, they are join and helped by a several people that they encounter on their way.  One of the people they encounter is a man, who is possible a prince.  In one of the books, she is either captured and sold into a harrem or as a slave or she volunteers herself to be sold into a harrem or as a slave.  She excapes from this situation.  I also remember the group making it to a house or some structure, where they found something important.  But the wolf or one of the people became sick.  I know this is not a lot to go on, but I hope someone recognizes this book.  Thank you.

Graham Diamond, The Haven Series. (1977-1981)  The description is likely one of the books in the Haven Series, by Graham Diamond.  The first, The Haven, is rare and expensive, but the other four are much more readily available.  The description certainly sounds like this series! (if I had to guess at a specific book, I think it's the Dungeons of Kuba, but I am not sure).  The wolves were named after Shakespere characters.
Tara K. Harper, Wolfwalker.(1990) If 203 isn't by Graham Diamond, could it be by Tara Harper?  Here's the description of Wolfwalker: Dion was a healer and a wolfwalker, and the unique telepathic bond that she shared with the wolf Gray Hishn sometimes seemed to amplify her sensitivity to her patients. But she never guessed how strong that bond could be, or what kind of power it could wield, until she found herself lost in the wilderness, with angry slavers at her heels and war on the horizon. Suddenly she and her fellow travelers were fighting for their lives in the snowy winter wastes, where the wolves were their only guides, the greatest secret of the ancients their only salvation...and Dion their only hope to survive.
Tamora Pierce (author), Wild Magic, (1994). This also sounds like Wild Magic, the first of Tamora Pierce's Immortals series. Daine is a young woman who can talk to animals, and has a special affinity with wolves.  I think one travels with her.  After her family is killed, she joins a mage named Numair (who might also be a prince in the end)to battle the dreadful immortal creatures that have recently begun to attack the kingdom of Tortall. I think there's a situation with a harem in one of the later books: Wolf-Speaker, The Emperor Mage and Realms of the Gods.



W204: Weird animals from A to Z
Solved: Zoophabets


W205: Woman goes from religion to politics
Solved: Daughter of the Empire


 posted 8/12/06
W206: Witch in thorns
Solved: Suppose You Met a Witch


posted 8/12/06
W207: Woozy children study fear
Solved: The Gruesome Green Witch


posted 08/21/06
W208: witch stepmother, gargoyle helpers
A girl has lost her mother. Her father is dating someone, but she has a bad feeling about her. She goes to her aunt's apartment where the aunt is painting leaves to decorate a set. Somehow she realizes her future stepmother is a witch who has gargolyes that come to life and help her.
I submitted this stumper, and I thought of some more information that might be helpful. I would have been reading this book sometime in the early 1970's. Also, I have the feeling that the book was translated from another language, possibly something Scandanavian.

Benary-Isbert, Margot, The Wicked Enchantment,1955. Anemone and her father live in the town of Vogelsant peacefully until the "foolish virgin" and the gargoyle disappear from the cathedral.  Then under the mean housekeeper and her mean son, Anemone and her dog Winnie are driven away.  They go to live with her Aunt Gundula who paints wonderful easter eggs.  A magical story.
This does sound like Margot Benary-Isbert's The Wicked Enchantment, but beware! The new edition doesn't have the lovey pictures of the original, so you might want to look out for a second-hand copy rather than buying a new one.



posted 08/21/06
W209: Wooden spaceship, dwarves, bleeding plants
The book involves a human, dwarves and a wooden spaceship. They crash on a planet and eat plants that grow at night (I believe the plants screamed and bled when they died). Also one of the dwarves gets killed but the rest of them see him or think they do towards the end. They also might have had special weapons or abilities, but I'm blurry on that.

Pat Murphy, There and Back Again.  Could this possibly be "There and Back Again", which is a science fiction version of "The Hobbit"?



posted 8/28/06
W210: Witch chicken pox
I read this book sometime before 1969. I was between 9 and 12 years old at the time.  I think the witch caught the chicken pox from a child and she was very annoyed about it!

T.H. White retold by Mary Carey, The Sword in the Stone. (1963)  A long shot, but the only reference I can find to a witch with chicken pox is in "The Sword in the Stone," in which Merlin rescues the young Wart and defeats the witch, Madame Mim, by infecting her.  The Disney animated film (released in 1963) was based on a children's novel of the same name, written by T.H. White in 1938 (but reprinted many times). The book version of the Disney film, also dated 1963, is retold by Mary Carey. If you're looking for a picture book, try the Disney version.  If it was a novel, you might look at the original, which is also back in print.


W211: Witch lives in swamp, wears goggles
Solved: The Strange Story of the Frog Who Became a Prince


posted 9/18/06
W212: Women's novel
I'm looking for a book about 300 pages long.  It revolves around the lives of 3 or 4 women who are all connected to each other.  One of the women rekindles a romance with her college sweetheart Ben, who ends up being elected President.  He was formerly married to one of the other women's cousins, I believe, but she died.  They refer to her once or twice as "The Peach-Tree Princess".  There is also a woman named Georgie, who is Texan, I think.   There is a section that deals with the first woman's marriage and the death of her husband and unborn child at an airport bombing.  It would have been published mid-90s I believe.  I read it in ninth or tenth grade, having snuck it from my mother  :-)

Doris Mortman, The Lucky Ones.  "When rising politician Benjamin Knight gets married on a perfect summer day, the four women watching don't realize how prophetic the best man's toast for success is. And over the next 20 years, the women all forge their own ambitious careers: Zoe becomes a foreign affairs analyst, a career choice made in order to get as far from Ben as possible Celia, Ben's sister-in-law, uses her beauty and talent to build a career in national television Georgie, Ben's childhood friend, becomes a congresswoman and Kate, Ben's college classmate, founds a national child protection organization following the murder of her daughter."



posted 10/3/06
W213: The Witch's cove
Solved: The Haunted Cove


posted 10/3/06
W214: Witch - spells ALWAYS go wrong
Solved: Witch's Gold



posted 10/3/06
W215: Who am I?
Solved: I'm nobody! Who Are You?


posted 10/09/06
W216: witchy little girl
Solved: The Little Leftover Witch


posted 10/09/06
W217: Witch uncovered
Solved: The Letter, The Witch And The Ring


W218:  WWI  and hunting
Looking for a 7th-9th grade book about WWI-remember a story in it about Sgt. York and how he used his childhood hunting experience when he fought in the war. 150-200 pages? Possibly from the 80's and a Scholastic book. Can anyone help?

Louis L. Snyder, WWI, 1981.
Burton Spiller, Northland Castaways. W128 sounds like the solved Northland Castaways, especially the detail about the boy diving into the crashed plane for supplies.



W219: Wind and the Humble Sand
Solved: Old Wind and Liu Li-San


W220: Wait a minute
I am looking for an old book I don�t know the author or title but one of the stories in the book is about a child who always says wait a minute or is always late one day when the family is going someplace fun a rock grows on the childs foot and they cannot walk so they are left at home. another story is about a messy child who ends up under a pile of clothing so she cant be found.

Norah Smaridge, The Big Tidy-Up, 1979. The messy room book may very likely be THE BIG TIDY-UP, one of my favorite books when I was in grade school.


2007

W221: whale paints itself red?
This was a children's book about sea animals that liked each other's colors better than their own.  I think a macaw painted herself green, the whale might have painted herself red, the turtle painted himself blue, etc.  After awhile, they all decide they liked their original colors best and washed the painted colors off.

I came to this website to find this same book! I remember the main animal being a whale  I think there was monkeys that rubbed an animal (possibly the whale) with leaves to turn him green, another animal, possibly the crocodile that rolled in earth clay to turn itself red like the macaw. I believe the whale was swimming through a river in a rain forest. The whale itself was dark grey, almost black. The drawing was very primitive, much like Roger Duvoinin. It could be him, infact, though I haven't been able to find the book with his name linked to it. Hope this helps! Really want my favorite childhood book back in my hands.

The Animals Who Changed Their Colors by Pascale Allamand. I just commented on this one, and I found these results on another site! This is precisely the book I was talking of. I hope this is yours too!



W222: Wolves eat a fallen puppy, other stories
I am searching for a book from my elementary school days(I read it during the 80's but I have no idea when it was written).  It was a collection of children's horror stories.  One story had a boy climbing a wall of a castle with a backpack of puppies.  One puppy falls and is eaten by a pack of wolves.  Another story is about a witch living in a lake with part of her face missing.  I'm sorry that this is all I have for a description, but this is all I can remember, other than being absolutely petrified!!

Alvin Schwartz, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark,1986..There are 3 books in this series, but this was the first one



W223: Witch turning something into giraffe type animal
Solved: The Whingdingdilly


W224: White girl "cursed" to be Black
Circa 1965, I had a hardcover anthology of fairy tales published many years earlier (I'm guessing the 1930s.) The fairy tales were in the classic medieval folklore style of Charles Perrault or Hans Christian Andersen -- lots of princesses, castles, happy endings, no modern inventions -- but the prose was written in American English, and revealed American prejudices of the early 20th century. I don't believe that there were authors bylines for the individual stories, so the anthology was probably published either anonymously or with a single byline (probably a house pseudonym) for the entire collection.  I only remember one story clearly. A beautiful young blue-eyed golden-haired girl lived in a hut in the woods. I'm not sure if she was a princess, but for some reason she had to live in this remote hut. A witch came along and cast an evil spell on this girl: at night she would be her true self, but in the daytime she turned into a Negro girl. There are detailed descriptions of how "ugly" she is as a black girl: I remember the phrase "crisped hair", and there are descriptions of her big red lips, rolling dark eyes, etc. Very racist! One day, while the girl is in her Negro phase, a handsome (white) prince comes along. For some reason I can't recall, he decides to stay in the hut for a while, even though this means he's co-habiting with the black girl, whose ugliness repels him. At night, the girl reverts back to her true beautiful (blonde) self, but the prince is either away at night or else he's asleep and she can't wake him up. (I forget which.) There is a happy ending, with the girl being "cured" of turning black, and the prince discovering her true self.  This is not a hoax! I genuinely remember this book, and I recall (40-plus years ago) being shocked at the author's casual conflation of Negro features with ugliness. No, the book is not "Black Alice" by Thom Demijohn. Please help!

Edmund Dulac, Fairy Tales of the World, 1984. This sounds very similar to this book and there is a story in there called White Caroline and Black Caroline.  Perhaps there is an earlier version that matches this more throughly.


W225a: What Happened to ...Davey
Circa 1965, I read a much older (1940s?) children's book (American?) with a title which I recall as "What Happened to Davey". Possibly the name was Davy instead of Davey, or maybe it was something else altogether: anyway, the name in the book's title was the name of this novel''s boy protagonist. I am NOT referring to "Davy and the Goblin". This book's title was definitely "What Happened to (Boy's Name)". No question mark in the title. There was an elaborate embossed illustration on the cover, but I don't believe that there were any interior illustrations. In the first chapter, the boy meets some sort of small magical creature (an elf?) and taunts it viciously. The creature threatens to cast a spell on Davey (or whatever the kid's name is), and then shows the boy his reflection in a hand mirror. The boy discovers that the words "BE BRAVE", "BE KIND" and "LEARN" are now printed on his forehead in huge letters. The elf(?) then tells the boy that, in order to remove these words from his forehead, he will have to journey through seven magical lands. I recall that the transition from each world to the next is through a door. Each of the magical lands is a different color of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet in that order. The author (whose name I don't remember) gives each magical land a theme appropriate to its color. For instance, the green country resembles a fairytale version of Ireland, and is inhabited by leprechauns. The indigo country is underwater, and the boy can magically breathe underwater while he's there. Whenever the boy is cowardly or cruel, the words "BE BRAVE" or "BE KIND" grow larger on his forehead whenever he is brave or kind, the words grow smaller. Whenever he learns a lesson, "LEARN" grows smaller.I n the last chapter -- after several moral lessons -- Davey(?) returns home and discovers that "BE BRAVE" and "BE KIND" have vanished from his forehead, but "LEARN" is still there in very tiny letters ... because he must never stop learning. The elf(?) assures him that the word is only visible in a magic mirror. End of story. Again, this book is NOT "Davy and the Goblin". Answers, please?

Olive Thorne Miller, WHAT HAPPENED TO BARBARA,  Long shot, but since this doesn't have a question mark in the title, I thought I'd mention it.  There was a series of books by Lois Lenski with a boy named Davy.  That might be a lead.



W225b: Wendy
Solved: A Secret Friend


W226: Witches Brew
Solved: The Old Witch and the Snores


W227: what happened after
Solved: What Happened After?


W228: witches use crochet to communicate
I read this book in the mid to late '80s but it could have been published much earlier.  I think there were a brother and sister staying with relatives.  There was a group that crocheted together and it turned out that they were a coven who communicated with each other in secret using the crochet patterns as code that the others would decipher.  It got a little scary toward the end.

Ruth Manning-Sanders, The Crochet Woman,1930.Novel of the English countryside and the works of a modern day witch, who accomplishes with gossip and innuendo what earlier witches did with spells and curses.
Thx. for trying, but the word "crochet" was not in the title and the plot focused on 2 children, a boy and his sister, I think, who were endangered by a group of middle-aged people who held meetings as a crochet club, but in fact were witches who communicated secrets through the code in their stitches.
Nicholas Stuart Gray, Down in the Cellar. Bit of a long shot, but it could be this one. The grannies of the town, the people who run the sweet shop and tea shop, etc, are actually witches (or bad and magical in some way). I remember something about the knitted or crocheted tea cozies.  There is a young man being sought by them that the children hide in the cellar - eventually he goes off to the magic land they can access from there.
Mine hasn't been solved



W229: wizard's sash
All I remember about this book was that the children in the book had to find 3 things to save someone or something. One of the things they had to find was the sash of a wizard's robe. I read this school library book, a chapter book, in about 1978 when I was in fifth grade. Sound familiar? Thanks!


W230: Witch upside down
Solved: Witch in the House


W231: Winter holiday ends in murder
Solved:  Slumber Party


W232: Woman, photography, romance
Solved: To The Ends Of The Earth


W233: Witches, wizards, sorcerers
 I read a book as a child ( born in 76) that might have been something like a Golden Book. The only lines I remember from the book are " witches and wizards and socerers too with a magical broom and a magical brew" and " but ahh there's a ring on the hall telephone" and it showed a picture of a pink princess phone. I don't think the whole book was about witches but do remember they were mentioned in that line. I've been searching for this book for years and would love to share it with my kids. Thanks so much


W234: Weird creatures on island
Solved: Rotten Island


W235: Whales need bandaids, fisherman
Solved: Burt Dow, Deep Water Man


W236: War, griffins, phoenixes, cyclops
Solved: Beyond the North Wind


W237: Woman runs from abusive relationship
A woman is running from an abusive relationship and goes to her great-aunt's in New Mexico or Arizona for refuge.


W238: Whatever Happened to Jennifer?
Solved: What Happened to Amy?


W239: Woman, flower pot
Solved: Read Aloud Funny Stories


W240: Wet kitten, French
I was born in 1954 and this was an illustrated children's book, written in French about a wet kitten.  Very cute illustrations,wish I could remember more.  Thanks!

Probst, Pierre, 1950s. This could be a shot in the dark, but there's a chance this could be a Pierre Probst book. My knowledge of him is limited to a Golden Book called Puff the Blue Kitten that had been translated into English, with a few sentences explaining that he had written several extremely popular books about Puff in French (he's called Pouf in the French version) in a series about a girl called Caroline. I have no idea what each book was about, but they MIGHT point you in the right direction. You can read more about them here:
Gladys M. Horn, Pitty Pat the Fuzzy Cat, 1954. Is there any chance your book was originally written in English and you had copy translated into French?  Because Pitty Pat in this story does get caught out in the rain. You'd remember it because it was a Fuzzy Wuzzy Tell-a-Tale book (with "fuzzy" pictures)
I'm sure that neither of the guesses are correct.  The story only had cats/kittens, no people, no little girl named Caroline.  And, I'm 99% sure that it's a French book.  My Mom was in the Red Cross at the end of WWII and was stationed in Nancy, France.  She's remained good friends with a French woman who still lives there and I know they bought the book there.  Isn't it funny how something like this just sticks in your head and you can't forget about it?  "Pouf" did ring a tiny bell so I will take a look through the illustrations that were suggested as well.



W241: Witch, imp, boy, girl, adventures
I am looking for an old children's book, it was a large book with color pictures and pretty thick. It had to children characters a boy and girl (they were siblings) it also had a witch and an imp in it. The book started by the witch arriving in their bedroom and then they leave with her on her broom and they go and have adventures. I think they may end up as princes or princesses in the end...or something.

It sounds as if it could be one of the Ruth Chew novels. I don't know which one though.
Ruthanna Long, Witches, Ghosts, and Goblins, 1974, copyright.  Wow! On this site for the first time and I decided to read through the W's to see if anyone was asking about this book I fondly remember (and have next to me right now) - this must be Witches, Ghosts, and Goblins. Miranda Witch flies to the house of Polly and Oliver to ask them to help find her cat Cactus. They visit her castle where Imp joins them, and they journey on to the land of the Goblins where the King sends them on quests (to the Ghosts, Witches, and Giants) in exchange for his help.



W242: What was that?
Solved: What Was That!


W243: Witch, teahouse
The book I am looking for is most likely a Parent�s Magazine Press book published around 1964. I remember it as part of a set my Mother had for us which included Miss Suzy, Alexander, and of course Never Tease A Weasel. This books had a witch that lived upstairs from a tea house (or something like that) and was scaring customers, until somehow she started serving or brewing the tea. I don�t remember everything about the book, but I remember the witch serving tea near the end of the story. My sister doesn�t remember any more details then I do. What a wonderful website! Glad I found it!

Devlin, Harry and Wende, Old Black Witch. of course. see your website



W244: Witch Girl Picturebook
Solved: Dorrie the Little Witch


W245: wagon wheel shaped space station
I am looking for a book I read in the early 80's or late 70's. It is about a boy who lives in a wagon wheel shaped space station. He goes outside the station and meets up with Orion from the constellation, and Cygnus. I think he battles a blob at some point, and I think Cygnus dies in the battle, then he goes back home to the space station. Thanks in advance for any help.

Nancy Etchemendy, The Watchers of Space, 1980. Illustrated by Andrew Glass. It's about a boy (William?) who has to go outside the spaceship and defeat bad guys before he can find a planet for his people. He works with Orion in the process. A sequel is The Crystal City, where he and his sister meet some alien spiders.



W246: Wild Prairie Sky
Soved: Wild Prairie Sky


W247: Witch's "daughter" actually daughter of fairy queen
Solved: Weeny Witch

W248: Wizard Book
Solved: Magic Everywhere


W249: Widow with daughter
Solved: Sometimes I Don't Love My Mother


W250: Wounded man, hungry panther and sting rays
A wounded man lies on the bank of a river with a hungry panther on the other side.  Sting rays in the river prevent the panther from crossing.  Illustration: a sting ray with his head out of the water, talking to the man.  From an illustrated, oversize boy's adventure anthology of 50s vintage or earlier, but what is the name?

W251: Witch and fairy
This book was published in 1974 or earlier about a little girl raised by a witch as a witch, but the girl learns later that she is actually a fairy.

Check out W247 (above). Is this what you are looking for?
Bennett, Anna, Little Witch. See solved Mysteries.
Anna Elizabeth Bennett, Little Witch. Could be either this one or Weeny Witch -- two differnt books.



W252: Witch, spider's web
Looking for children's book, read 25 years ago, about a young girl witch in the woods one night with older witches. Older witches take a broom ride, but she is not allowed to go. She cries while the others are away. Meanwhile a spider creates a beautiful web from her hat to her surroundings such that she is the envy of all the witches when they return.

Jeanne Massey, The Littlest Witch, 1959. This was one of my favorites! On her first Halloween as a witch, Littlest Witch misplaces her broom, arrives late at the witches' circle and uses all her magic to help instead of haunt, those whom she encounters during the evening. Although she does not participate in the annual race to the moon, Littlest Witch has her own adventures, and ends up with a very special prize. The other witches in the witches' circle finally, grudgingly, accept that Littlest Witch is a "good witch".



W253: Whiz kids, rocket to the moon, barber chairs
This is a follow-up requenst to one that I made several years ago (R122) but is still unfortunatley not solved.  I am looking for a book that I read in elementary school in the late 60's - early 70's.  I am guessing the book was written sometime from the late 1940's to the late 1950's.   It is about two or three boys who build a rocket and tavel to the moon.  What was memorable about the book is the boys were "whiz kid" types who both have barber chairs in their bedrooms, that they pump up out of the roofs of their houses hundreds of feet up into the air.  There was a great illustration in the book of this.  The other memorable item was the detailed descriptions ofthe food they took along with them on the rocket trip - this book must have been written way before the advent of fast food, as they took along potatoes, carrots, etc.

It was suggested earlier that this may have been one of Eleanor Cameron's "Mushroom Planet" series, however I don't beleive that was it.  Unfortunatley, reprints of these books no longer include any illustrations, however from perusing a few of these books recently I don't think these were it.  The book was reasonably long, I do not think it was part of a serial or series.



W254: Wales girl, mystery castle
It was in the junior section of the library.  I guess Nancy Drew age.  There was a series with an author that I THINK had 3 names or a first, middle initial and last.  It was a mystery about a girl who inherited a castle in Wales.  She wanted to check it out, so she went there.  People were robbing all the contents.  I remember the boy friend doing a, what they called, military run...they ran 20 steps, walked 20 steps, ran 20 steps etc.  Any help?

Hilda Boden, Mystery of Castle Croome. This fits the bill! I just read it recently!
Hilda Boden, Mystery of Castle Croome. Scholastic reprinted it, so it was in fairly wide release.  The author wrote several other mysteries featuring the same characters.  The girl who inherited the castle was American, but her friends were British.  The castle was in Scotland.
Allan, Mabel Esther, Catrin in Wales. It might be this book...  Can't remember all the details, but it was about a girl staying in a castle and I think there was a singing contest.



W255: woman in well
This was a harlequin book from more than 5 years ago. My mother read a promo for a book and she's talked about it for years but never found it. She does'nt remember the name or the writer. The book was about a prince who gets amnesia, falls in love with a commoner, gets his memory back and leaves her not knowing that she is pregnant. Some one from his country has her thrown down a well and left for dead.

W256: witch, halloween, party, picture book
For YEARS now I've been looking for this book. Google and ebay and Yahoo answers have given me nothing. When I was around 7 or 10 I'd say (I'm 21 now) there was this book I'd check out from the Sewickley Library about this witch. It was super similar to a Where's Waldo book because those were big back then. I remember it being hardback and oversized but thin.  I think her name was like Wenda Witch or something (tho it could have started with a G, I am unsure), and you go through the book looking through finding spell ingredients and other things. I remember she had a little goblin boy helper or something but the very first two pages were of her spooky mansion house, cut in half so you could see inside.  I also remember a cemetery and other's witches graves, like Witch Hazel's had plants on it.  I tried going back to find it when I flew home, but the library has been completely remodeled and I didn't have a title or author to go by. I LOVED THIS BOOK THOUGH.

Wenda Witch and the Dragon's Tears.  I'm sure you're describing the books in the Wenda Witch series. Apparently they are only available through a Belgian publisher called Abimo. "Little Wenda lives in the witches' wood. When all the other witches suddenly begin to suffer from a strange illness, Wenda and her friend Mogs set off on a dangerous journey to find the cure: dragon tears." Other books in the series include "Wenda Witch and the Dragon's Egg", "Wenda Witch and Lily the Elf", and there is apparently a Wenda Witch Birthday Party coloring book. There is a Wanda Witch series which is not the same thing. Hope this helps. Abimo Publishing.
Tallarico, Anthony, Where's Wendy, 1991.  I immediately thought of this book, but the first couple of pages are NOT in her mansion, so it probably isn't your book.  Tallarico has a ton of search and find books, and this one features Wendy the Witch, dressed in black with green hair, and you look for a list of items on each page - in the classroom, on the witches' class trip, in the lunchroom, in Dr. Frankenstein's laboratory, in the mummuy's tomb, etc.  Good luck in your search!



W257: witch, school, pta, cookies
Solved: Glenda


W258: WW Dogg
May be a Golden or Little Golden book with a poem about WW Dogg: "A curious pup / with a curious name / was W.W. Dogg. / He lived in a flat / with a curious cat / in the curious city of Habitatat, / and he never went out / without wearing a hat..."

I can't find the author, but the lines certainly sound like A Curious Pup, which is included in the Better Homes & Gardens Storybook, Vol. 1., 1950. See the Anthology Finder. It comes right after Peter Pan, late in the book.
Found it - it was excerpted from the book The Mouse With the Small Guitar by Al Graham, illustrated by Tony Palazzo, 1947.



W259: witch switches daughter
Solved: The Tredana Trilogy: The Broken Citadel, Castledown, The Great Wheel


W260: Welsh family, manor house, artist
I'm looking for a book I had as a child and I'm hoping you can help me.  I don't know the title or authors name, but its about a welsh family who moves from their beloved home to a small house under or near railroad tracks.  The main characters name is a girl named Dilys, she has siblings and a cat I think the cats name is red or its a ginger cat.  They met two kids, brother and sister who live with their aunt or their dad.  Dilys and her siblings stumble across them throwing rocks at a cat or other animal.  While exploring they find an abandoned Manor House in the woods and they want to fix it up.  They also meet an artist who they befriend and has painted their house, The artist gives the painting to Dilys who hangs it up in here bedroom.  Dilys, her family and friends save the manor house from ruin and the artist moves in and opens the house to tours.  Can you help?

Mabel Esther Allan, The Flash Children, 1975.  Dilys, Arthur and Megan move with their parents, and the cat, Red,  to new house near a railway embankment. and near a "flash" - stretch of water with a causeway over. The other two children are Dan and Edith. There's also a partially-sighted boy, Brian, whose family own the old manor house. The artist is Mr Laurie. There's a sequel, The Flash Children in Winter.



W261: Witch girl, boy, and bear
A little boy who lives in the woods meets a little girl witch. She bewitches a bear and the bear learns to speak. The people of the town are afraid of the bear and kill it. The little witch leaves forever. The boy always watches her house, looking for smoke coming from the chimney.

Peet, Bill, Big Bad Bruce, 1977, copyright.  Bruce, a bear bully, never picks on anyone his own size until he is diminished in more ways than one by a small but very independent witch.
The Second Witch.  See the solved mysteries page under S for more details.



W262: Witch vs. bear
Solved: Old Witch and The Snores


W263: Witch's Cat is Wrong Color (not black!)
Solved: The Witch of Hissing Hill


W264: Witch Becomes Flower
1950?, childrens.  A little girl witch turns herself into all kinds of things. (I remember a picture of her face in the middle of a flower.)
a few more pieces of information: this little girl witch sometimes turned into things that she hadn't intended to turn into and would get into trouble... and mostly i remember the pictures... like that flower with her face in the middle of it... the flower pot was on a windowsill, i think.

Anna Elizabeth Bennett, Little Witch.This sounds like it could be Little Witch again.  Check the "solved mysteries" to see if the clues add up to your book.
Jane Yolen, The Witch Who Wasn't.  1964, copyright.  A long shot, but possibly this one? Isabel doesn't look like the other witches, with her blue eyes and curly blonde hair, and she can't get her spells to turn out right. See solved mysteries for more details.



2008


W265: Werewolves in high school
Solved: Private School


W266: Wrong clothes
Solved: What Will I Wear


W267: Wallis enters contests
Solved: The Luck of Pokey Bloom and Anything for a Friend


W268: white bear wants to change his color
Solved: The Animals Who Changed Their Colors


W269: Woman has child with alien
There is a human colony, maybe from a shipwreck? A woman is kidnapped by one of the aliens. The aliens are native to the planet. Maybe colored blue? Somehow she is able to have a baby with one of them. I remember they lived in something like cliff dwellings. I read this in the 70s or 80s but I was reading a used book.

Octavia Butler, Survivor,
1978.  It sounds as if it could be Survivor. A young woman is captured in a raid on a human colony and eventaully marries one of the non-humans; the color of the skin- or possibly fur- denotes social status if I remember correctly and blue is high-status.


W270: Witches who can't travel over water
I probably read this book back in the 80s.  The main character is a young girl.  She finds out that her aunt and uncle (I think) are witches.  One day they're pursued by bad (?) witches.  They travel at night over a bridge spanning a river.  Evidently, the bad witches can't cross the water.

John Bellairs, The House with a Clock in its Walls
.  Some of the details don't match, but I'm pretty sure this is your book. The main character is actually a boy, Lewis Barnavelt. After his parents die in an accident he goes to live with his uncle Jonathan and soon discovers that both his uncle and the next-door neighbor, Mrs. Zimmerman, have magical abilities. At one point the three of them are being chased in a car down a country road at night by the resurrected spirit of the evil witch Mrs. Izzard. They escape by driving across the Wilder Creek bridge, because the evil spirit can't cross running water.
John Bellairs, The House with a Clock in its Walls.  If the girl was actually a boy, it might have been Lewis Barnavelt.  When he is orphaned he goes to live with his uncle Jonathan, who turns out to be a wizard.  Mrs. Zimmerman, who lives across the street, is likewise a good witch.  The previous owner of Uncle Jonathan's house was an evil wizard, and Lewis accidentally sets events in motion that could re-animate the dead wizard and end the world.  At one point he is riding in the backseat of his uncle's car when a mysterious car starts following them.  (The headlights in the rearview mirror make a gray glare just like the reflection off the glasses of the evil wizard's wife.)  Eventually Uncle Jonathan drives across a river and the other car cannot follow.  There are several related sequels featuring a female friend.
John Bellairs, The House With A Clock In Its Walls, 1993, reprint.  I believe this is the book you are looking for, although the main character is a boy named Lewis. He goes to live with his uncle Jonathan, and finds out Jonathan and his next-door neighbor Mrs. Zimmerman are witches. There is a part in the book where they go for a drive at night and are chased by evil witches, who stop when they get to a bridge.


W271: Woodman's Three Wishes
It's a story about a poor woodsman (or wood cutter or wood SOMETHING) that travels all day (or whatever) to his job site and returns with three gold coins for his (week's? month's?) wages, and on his way back home he crosses paths with a shabbily dressed hungry looking beggar, and takes pity and gives him one of his gold coins. This scene repeats itself a second time with the same results. The third time the woodsman protests that if he gives up his last coin, he and his wife will have nothing to live on, but the beggar pleads, so the woodsman gives up his last coin... and then the beggar transforms into a shimmering shining beautiful angel, and announces that it was also the other two beggars, and because the woodsman was so generous these three times, that the angel was granting him three wishes. Although I don't remember the first two wishes, the woodsman was a very humble man, and the first two wishes were trivial and for the benefit of someone else (his wife? his neighbor?) But when it came to the third wish, he thought and thought, and said, you know, its time I did something for ME! And so the reader assumes tons of gold or something will follow, but the woodsman (demonstrating once again his humbleness) tells the angel about this lovely apple tree in his yard, and how tired he is of everyone (neighborhood kids?) stealing his apples (specifically picking them from his tree without his permission perhaps?) and makes his third wish that anyone who picked an apple from his tree would stick to it until he released them! He then proceeds home, and the story continues to unfold about untold fortune befalling this man due to the most unexpected twists resulting from the seemingly trivial first two wishes (which again I don't remember the details) but finally one day the grim reaper (although I think they came right out and called the visitor the devil) showed up at his house and told him his time on earth was up (or whatever) so the woodsman went with him, and as they passed the apple tree the woodsman asked the devil if he could have one last request, and the devil asked what (yeah, sure! but anyway) and the woodsman asked if he could enjoy one last apple from his tree, and could the devil go pick one last apple for him, so the devil went to get an apple for him (sure!) and promptly stuck to the tree! So the woodsman merrily went his way (yet again - I think perhaps the first two wishes had him inadvertently avoiding death - and by this time he was getting pretty good at it!) and from there all I remember is something in the first two wishes had resulted in him offending God or St Peter or something, and when he finally agreed to step out of this life, he ended up at the gateway to Heaven (?) and a voice hollered at his escort for them to go away! So his escort took him down to the gateway to Hell, but the devil (who had presumably somehow pryed himself loose from the apple tree at some point during the past 500 years or so?) hollered at his escort to get him (the woodsman) out of there! So the escort (angel?) asked the woodsman what he wanted to do, since neither Heaven nor Hell would take him, and he responded that he wanted to always be the big fish that every fisherman told stories about, but could never catch!!

Traditional, The Smith Outwits the Devil.  The good news is I know exactly what story you are talking about... the bad news is that it's a traditional story which is spread (from ancient Greece, some researchers suggest) all over Europe and the Americas, so I don't know what specific book you are remembering. The most well known versions of the story are "The Smith outwits the Devil" from Norway and "Gambling Hansel" from Germany. In most versions the main character either ends up wandering the earth for eternity or slipping through a crack of heaven's door. This story has been classified as Aarne-Thompson tale type 330.


W272: WWII England time travel
I used to be a member (via my parents) of a book club. Young Adults Books. So, I'm thinking I read this book around 1970ish. The book takes place in England. The opening of the book is 'current day' England. Teenage girl gets in a bit of trouble at school and her parents decide to get her away from the crowd she was running with. She, I believe, goes to stay with a relative (Grandmother?) and begins to learn about life in England during WWll. She eventually time travels back to WWll England, meets a family where there is a daughter named Lark who eventually is killed in a bombing in London. She meets a young man named Hillary (sp?) and she experiences all sorts of situations in worn torn England. Back in the current day she meets and falls in love with Hillary's grandson.  I'd love to find the name of this book but it's GONE from my brain.

Mabel Esther Allan, Time to Go Back, 1972, copyright.  "After a disastrous protest meeting in Trafalgar Square sixteen-year-old Sarah Farrant is ill, unhappy and at odds with her former friends, as well as with her mother.  At this time of self-searching she discovers the wartime poems of Larke Ellesmere, who would have been her aunt if she had lived.  The poems vividly evoke the bombing of Merseyside and Larke's moving love story..."  "Something - perhaps her obsession with the poems - takes Sarah back to 1941..."  And the young man next door is Hilary.


W273: Walking scissors creature
Solved: The Ice-Cream Cone Coot and Other Rare Birds


W274: Wars of the Roses
children's book that uses a code that revolves around the war of the roses; we read it in the 1970's.

Astrid Lindgren, Bill Bergson and the White Rose Rescue,
1970, approximate.  This Bill Bergson mystery does have kids who use a code based on the War of the Roses...not sure it's the one you want though. There's a bit with poisoned chocolate, and an older man who holds Eva-Lis (Bill's friend and teammate) prisoner.  If that sounds familiar, it could be the book you're looking for!


W275: washer woman at the ford, celtic druid, second sight
My mum got me the book in the mid seventies.  A young lad meets up with what might be celtic druid who walks with a staff; the druid passes his gift of second sight to the lad, and also teachs him how to "throw" his own image. The young lad meets a "washer woman " at a ford ; the druid throw the lad aside to prevent the washerwoman from slapping the lad with her washing, and claiming his life. But in doing so the druid is hit, and he is taken instead.  Would love to read this again and also read it to my kids.


W276: Witch with hollow back containing spirits
This was such a long time ago, probably mid-seventies when I read the book. I must have been about 6 or so, and I remember this book made a big impression on me because of its scary cover. Depicted was a beautiful witch (in green, I think) with a strange ragged hollow in her back with faces looking out. I don't remember much of the story but I think the hero discovered her inner evil when he saw her back in a mirror.

That is a Norse-Celtic legend which could be in any number of books. They are referred to as Elle or Ullafolk. They disguise themselves as beautiful, siren-like women, but the disguise is incomplete -- they wear their hair long to conceal that they have no back. A lot of fearful tales have been told of them, but apparently they can also bring good luck. They live on moors, where lost travelers have been said to have met them. If you suspect someone you meet of being one, don't try to look at their back, it's rude. Be polite and they'll help you.


W277: World War I, Spanish Flu
I think this was a new book when I read it in 1974.  It was about two women, who met at the time of the first World War.  I think one of them had a romance with a married man. The "Spanish Flu" epidemic was an important part of the plot. One of the woman contracted it, but she survived.  Despite the serious content, I think it was a fairly light-hearted book! I read it when I was home sick and became very absorbed in it. That's all I can remember.


W278: Witch picture book
This was a picture book about witches, probably published in the late '70s or early '80s. The book was very funny, and I remember there was a witch with a big wart on her nose, and in picture a fat witch was in the bathtub.

W279: Witch eats glass and coffee grounds
Solved: Witch in the House

W280: Witch figure moves through windows of house
Solved: Nothing Ever Happens on My Block


W281: woman washed up on shore beneath tower
This is a young adult/teen fantasy book probably written in the mid 90s about a woman who washes up on shore beneath a tower inhabited by a scholarly young man.  I don't believe he possessed any magical talent, but the world may have been magical in nature.  He of course falls for the woman and finds out that she is wanted by various other factions for various reasons, but he just wants her for her.  They must overcome many obstacles to stay together.  This is a memory of a book summary like those found on the back of a softcover book, thus the very vague plot and character recollections.^_^  Its a shot in the dark, but maybe someone has read it out there.  Thanks.


W282: WW1 era "young adult" novel
Solved: Sarah


W283: War book
The book was an old war book and my son read it in the 1970-80s timeframe.  He thought it was more of a satirical memoir or some such about a military person who kept being dropped behind enemy lines and the screw ups the US Gov't did to cause him so much pain.  The cover had a guy hanging onto an umbrella and if his sketchy memory serves, it was titled Operation (something).   It was a loose biography of sorts.  I hope you can find it - and thanks!

Roger Hall, You're Stepping on my Cloak and Dagger,
1957, copyright.  I seem to recall the Bantam pb reprint of this one having a cover somewhat as described (cartoon of a guy using an umbrella as an emergency parachute), and as I recall the book is humorous nonfiction about the origins of the OSS; checking ABEBooks though I was shocked to see the prices asked for it, so perhaps you ought to hope this is not the title...


W284: Wizards strings forest
In this book there were wizards roaming around in a forest that had invisible strings crossing and hanging all over the place. They would pull certain strings or twist them around each other to perform magic. I've been pursuing a physics degree and just can't get this book out of my mind...

It sounds like you're thinking of the Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede.  There are four books in the series: Dealing with Dragons, Searching for Dragons, Calling on Dragons, and Talking to Dragons.  I loved these books when I was in junior high!  You're partly right about the details: there are wizards (who are the bad guys) roaming around causing trouble for the King of the Enchanted Forest and his friends.  But it's the King of the Enchanted Forest (not the wizards) who can control the magic of the forest, which he sees as strings that cross the forest and can be pulled or twisted to perform magic.  Searching for Dragons (book 2) is the one where this fact is first mentioned.


W285: Woody Woodpecker book
Book contains the following words in the first page or first few pages "Rat-a-tat-tat-tat.  Woody Woodpecker knocks on Wally Walrus' door.  BBBRRRR it's cold outside".  I had this book when I was a child in the 70's.


W286: Wagon train, girl stowaway
Solved: The Golden Venture


W287: White witch, invisible castle, clouds, Hilarion
Read between about 1975/1982. Maybe a human child occasionally in witches world. I thought one of the books was called "The White Witch" but no luck with that title yet. Lazy necromancer named Hilarion with invisible castle in clouds sometimes helps. Not "Castle in the Air" by Diana Wynne Jones - published too late.

Margaret Storey.
  A somewhat similar query on Usenet elicited an opinion that Margaret Storey was the author - I think her "Timothy and the Two Witches" series must have been meant.  Wizards named Hilarion also occur in Andre Norton's "Sorceress of the Witch World" and other Witch World books, as well as Caroline Stevermer's "A College of Magics"; however, these don't fit the description as well.
Margaret Storey.  Although I don't remember a 'Hilarion', this has some of the elements from the Timothy books by Margaret Storey. They're originally British, but were republished by Dell in 70s. The two I've read are "The Dragon's Sister" and "Timothy Travels", there's another called "Timothy and the Two Witches".  I think there were more though, that never made it over here.
Norton, Andre, Witch World Series.  Book 5 in the series - Sorceress of the Witch World - seems to be the one that includes the character Hilarion.
Andre Norton, Witch World Series.  You might want to look at Andre Norton's Witch World series - there is an adept (or wizard) named Hilarion in that one and a powerful witch named Kaththea Tregarth.
Storey, Margaret, Timothy and the Two Witches.  The suggestions for Margaret Storey sound promising to me.  I am going to order a couple of them (most are way too expensive) to check.  I'm sure Andre Norton is not the one because I would have been reading these books whan I was about 7 or 8 -not that I mentioned this in the original query.  Melinda though definitely rang lots of bells as the White Witch (I nearly put this in the original query).  I am British so I probably would have been able to read all the titles and I remember borrowing them from our local library.  Will report back to confirm once I have read the books to my 5 year old.


W288: Wall and Dyke, Inc. [title]
Surnames of the teenage boy and girl protagonists.  Grossett and Dunlap but not 100% sure.  1920's 30's, maybe 40's.  The mother and sister look alike, both wore red Chinese shaws.  Bracelet stolen from aunt. Set near sea cliff.  Gypsy woman. Life size marble statue, hidden door behind it.


W289: Woman and child kidnapped by ruler of small middle east country
Read in late 70's.  Woman and child were kidnapped by ruler of small middle east country.  Agents sent to rescue them.  Might have been English?  The ruler thought to be magical because he could walk across a crater & live, when others died.  Turns out was a trick, he was very tall, carbon dioxide.


W290: Welsh boy whose mother lives in a lake
early 1970s?, childrens.  Small chapter book.  I don't remember much more than what I wrote above: little, Welsh boy whose mother came from the lake.  I don't remember if boy visits the lake or what happened to the family.  PS It's not The Grey King.

A Welsh fairy tale, The Lady of the Lake
.  Sounds like this Welsh fairy tale.  Maybe it was made into a short book.  http://books.google.com/books?id=R8LUDdb0b_EC&pg=PA1&lpg=PT1&dq=boy+falls+in+love+with+fairy+book&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html.

2009


W291: Wordless and surreal island/ship switching children's book
Wordless, surreal, confusing. Large ship with Titanic-like smokestacks is at island populated by natives; possibly invading or somehow conflicting with native population. Protagonist from shore sees the smokestacks magically on the island and vice versa, huts on the ship. Other things switch too?

Istvan Banyai, Zoom
, 1995, copyright.  Sounds like ZOOM (1995) or RE-ZOOM (1998).  Love them both, have used them in my classroom and with my daughter.  In Zoom, the camera pulls back from a farm toy set that is part of a magazine ad, shows a cruise ship that is part of a banner on the side of the bus, pulls back to show a stamp on a letter that is handed to an islander and ends showing the airplane mailman flying into the sky.  http://www.wilderdom.com/games/descriptions/Zoom.html; http://www.istvanbanyai.com/.


W292: Where do babies come from?
I am looking for a childrens' book I believe from the 80's or earlier.  I want to say the title was Where do babies come from?  It has nice drawings of a mother's uterus with the fetus showing in eight illustration as well as drawings of the male and female reproductive systems, both inside and out.  Any ideas?

Jonathan Miller & David Pelham, The Facts of Life
, 1984, copyright.  Six accurately detailed, movable three-dimensional models and dozens of instructive drawings accompany a text that explains the process of human reproduction from the moment of conception through birth.
Peter Mayle, Where Did I Come From.
Peter Mayle, Where Did I Come From?
  Sounds like his two books combined as one memory.  Both are usually given to kids during the "facts of life" stage.  "Where Did I Come From?" (for younger kids) and "What's Happening to Me?" for pre-teens.  Both long standing excellent books.


W293: "We're having milk and cookies while we wait for him to dry"
"We're having milk and cookies while we wait for him to dry" (book quote) 1970-80's children's book, possibly 1960's, a boy takes his stuffed teddy bear out in a boat(?) and has to hang teddy up on a clothesline by his ear to dry out, and I think he has a tea party with his other stuffed animals.


W294: Woman With Flame Red Hair
Possibly "The Woman With Flame Red Hair".  I read it years ago, and it was about a woman with fire-red hair, who married a preacher who controlled her. He was killed in a tornado, she ends up in a tree, rescued by a man who she later marries, I think. Subplots included an interracial affair and an older woman who loses her house.


W295: Willy Woo-oo-oo words
I am missing part of a page and, therefore, some words in my Willy woo-oo-oo book.  I need to know the next sentence after "This is pumping engine, Pete, who comes behind me down the street."

W296: Woman is hunted down by murdered sister's husband
I remember reading the book in 1993. It was a paperback book. It was a story about a woman whose sister is killed. They think her mean husband did it. The sister then takes the two children away with her and moves somewhere. I think it's a boy and a girl not really sure. The husband tries to basically hunt them down. He is upset at the sister and wants to do her harm. He doesn't speak too highly of women, especially his late wife. At one point in the story he finds out where the sister and children are living. He breaks into the apartment. Sister has no clue she has been found. At one point while the "dad" is in the apartment he finds his sister in law's underwear drawer takes out a pair of panties and leaves her his essense. To put it nicely . I believe he also cuts open her toothpaste so that when she squeezes it a mess will be made. I am not really sure why I want to find this book but I do. I for some reason think the word Ghost might be in the title but I have had no luck finding it so I am starting to doubt myself. I am not sure of any further details. Maybe if you can ask the right question I could answer it. Thank you for your help.


W297: weaving, rose coverlet, mother, Debbie, sick, deadline, Pennsylvania
It's about a mother who weaves overshot coverlets, and has a commission to weave a rose pattern coverlet, but she falls ill before it's completed. The family really needs the money, so the daughter, Debbie, has to finish it. Although usually you can tell where one weaver leaves off and another begins, Debbie matches her mother's work perfectly, and the the coverlet is finished in time, and the mother gets well. I think the book is from the 1930s or 1940s, but I think it is set in the 19th century; I think they are in rural Pennsylvania.  Thanks for your help. I hope you can identify this one!

Cornelia Meigs, Wind in th Chimney 1934, copyright. The pattern of the quilt is Wheel of Fortune.


W298: Winged Horse Apple Orchard Boy Color Illustrations
Looking for title/author of a children's book that I remember reading +/- 1975. It was a thin book with great color illus. about a boy who found a winged horse hiding in a orchard and with the help, managed to catch it in a net and trap it in a barn (then it escapes/set free?). Not Silver Pony.

Kellogg, Jean, Hans and the winged horse, 1964, copyright. illus. by Pers Crowell. Found this in the Bulletin of the Center for Childrens Books: A fairy tale about a small boy who rode a winged horse. Hans, who lived with hisgrandparents, made long trips to the spring to get water. One day he saw a wingedhorse  nobody believed him but the town baker, who said he had seen the same thingwhen he was a boy. At last Hans had the joy of riding the horse  then he was saddenedbecause the townspeople caught it. The boy rescued the beautiful animal  next morn-ing he found that a clear spring of water had risen where the horses hoofs had struckthe ground.
Betsy Byars, The Winged Colt of Casa Mia. I think this is the book youre looking for, but all I remember in that the main character, a boy, was visiting his retired movie stuntman uncle for the summer and they found a winged colt in an apple orchard. It was extremely popular around 1976, and they made an Afterschool Special of the book.
Jean Kellogg, Hans and the Winged Horse, 1964, copyright. I had to go and find a used copy of this to be certain, but yes, this is the book Ive been looking for on and off over the last 30+ years or so. Never would have found it without you. Thank you!!! *is off to go and re-read this Right Now*


W299: Old kids book, a witch & school
Hi.  I have very sketchy memories of a book I read as a kid - probably in the early 80s.  I remember a witch, a flying broomstick & a classroom (I think a girl sitting at a desk).  I think the cover was purple.  The cover art on C. Harris' Sookie Stackhouse series reminded me of it.  thanks!

Estes, Eleanor, The Witch Family, 1960, copyright. There is a scene where Hannah, the little witch girl, flies into witch school late and all the other witch girls are already seated at their desks. 
Val Willis, The Surprise in the Wardrobe, 1990, copyright. Im not sure if this is the book youre looking for. I think it was originally published in Britian in the 80s, and John Shelleys illustrations are kind of similar to some of the artwork on the Sookie Stackhouse books.  Anyhow, Bobby Bell finds a witch hanging in his wardrobe and takes her to school. She flies around on her bromstick, makes some mischief, annoys Jenny Wood, etc...
Jill Murphy, The worst witch, 80s, approximate. This could be what you are thinking of? The cover was purple, I read this book in the early 80s, about a witch at school, learning to fly on her broomstick etc. only she is a terrible witch. She doesnt mean to be, but things always go wrong for her.
W300: WWII Lost Prince
Setting is WWII in either Poland or Hungary. Main character in the story is young boy, a prince, his father is a commander in the cavalry. The war breaks out , the prince is hidden by servants and escapes. He is evidentally befriended by an American GI, I think he ends up in America. No one knows he is a member of the royal family. I think this was a series of books. Had good illustrations.

Seredy, Kate, The Chestry Oak. This sounds like the Chestry Oak written and beautifully illustrated by Kate Seredy.  See solved stumpers for more information.
Kate Seredy, The Chestry Oak, 1948, copyright. My childhood favorite.  Michael, Prince of Chestry, and his stallion Midnight escape from his ancestral castle in Hungary before his father (secretly anti-Nazi but reviled as a collaborator) blows it up during a meeting of Nazi leaders.  No one believes Michael is a prince  he is at a center for displaced persons when the G.I. meets him.  After the war the G.I. arranges for Michael to go to his family in the U.S.  The book isnt part of a series, but you might think so because Seredy wrote two other books set in Hungary, and her illustration style is unmistakeable.


W301: World War II Story  The book is a story of a man who joins the US Army as a paratrooper (I think 101st) and after D Day is captured by the Germans and imprisoned.  He goes thru several prisons and eventually excapes to be captured by the Russians.  He joins them in their fight to Berlin.  He is badly wounded and ends up in Moscow.  Thru the US Embassy he eventually gets back to England and home.  I believe the title of the book says something to the effect, that he is the only man in WW II to fight the germans for both the US and Russia.  I think it also gives his name in the title although I am not sure.

Thomas H. Taylor, The Simple Sounds of Freedom: The true story of the only soldier to fight for both america and the soviet union in World War II. This book is also published under the title, Behind Hitlers Lines: The true story,etc.  It is a very exciting story and I think it would make a great movie.  Probably very few people have gone thru an adventure such as described in this book.


W302: Wish to be beatiful and immortal turns witch into weeping willow
A book I read in the early 80's about a boy and a magician.  At the end of the book an antogonistic witch wished to be beautiful and live forever, and she is turned into a weeping willow tree.  One of the characters uses an anacronist phrase to name a kitchen match, and is found to be possessed.

John Bellairs, The Letter, the Witch and the Ring, 1976. This is the book that has the witch who becomes a willow tree at the end, but you are also mixing in a detail from another book by John Bellairs: the possessed boy who call matches by an old-fashioned name is from The Revenge of the Wizards Ghost. Both are excellent, creepy stories!


W303: Woman Abandons Family and Lives In Seclusion
I remember reading a book from my high school library (1980-1984) about a woman who leaves her husband and children (2, I think) to live alone in the mountains or a cabin and does her own gardening, canning, etc. In the end, she decides to not go back to her family, instead continuing to live alone.
W304: World War II orphans travel to Palestine
Story takes place right after World War II when a brother and sister (I think they are Italian) are discovered to be Jewish and they end up on a boat traveling to Palestine. I read this in the 70s but probably published earlier. I think there was some reference to a volcano erupting.

Sally Watson, To Build a Land 1960. If the story continues in Palestine, with the children, Leo and Mia, living on a kibbutz with the other children from the boat, all of whom are orphan refugees and many of whom take Hebrew names (the French girl Rachelle becomes Rachel, Diana becomes Dina, etc.), then its probably this one.  The plot, as far as I remember it, has to do with teenage Leos learning to stop being the independent leader of Italian street scavengers and settle into a new life as a member of more or less settled society.  The struggle to establish Israel also comes into the story.


W305: Wicked doll found by little girl in hollow of tree
Solved
W306: WWI Flying School
A children's book, published in Britain early 1970's. It's World War I. Hero is a boy, likes cross-country running. Loses a race, is scorned by Vicky, the girl he has a crush on. Runs away to flying school, qualifies as a pilot. Is injured, returns home a hero, girl now loves him. Thanks!

Bruce Carter (Richard Hough), WWI Flying School. The book wanted is B Flight by Bruce Carter - this is a pseudonym of Richard Hough. The running takes place in the Lake District and the climax of the story takes place on Preston Station where the hero is reunited with Vicky. The boy's brown belt is of symbolic importance on the very last page.


W307: War tests children
Children's book from the 1950s. During a war (WWII) some Jewish children are taken to a live-in school (?) to hide. They make friends with the children there, ages about 3 to 15. When soldiers come for them, the children hide their new friends in nearby caves. The soldiers bribe the children by offering oranges, hoping to find out if others are hiding nearby. The youngest child seems about to tell all, but saves the day instead. (This book was being read by sixth graders around 1994 in a parocial school).

Claire Huchet Bishop, Twenty and Ten, 1978, approximate.Jewish children are taken to a Christian boarding school in France to hide from the Nazis. The Jews hide in a cave in the woods  the Christian children protect the hiding place when Nazis come.  The soldiers tempt the Christian children with boxes of chocolate, candy, and oranges.
Claire Huchet Bishop, Twenty and Ten. Published by Scholastic as THE SECRET CAVE.
Bishop, Claire Huchett, Twenty and Ten. See Solved Mysteries.  You're going to get a lost of responses to this one.
Claire Huchet Bishop , The Secret Cave (Original Title: Twenty and Ten), 1973, copyright. I think this might be "The Secret Cave".  Amazon.com has a picture of the cover, which might help:  http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Cave-Original-Title-Twenty/dp/B000GRSQTE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255024706&sr=1-1
Claire Huchet Bishop, The Secret Cave (AKA Twenty and Ten),  1952, copyright This sounds like The Secret Cave (which was first published under the name Twenty and Ten) by Claire Huchet Bishop. There are twenty students at the school and ten hidden Jewish children.  The Jewish students have to hide in a cave when the soldiers come looking for them.                  
Bishop, Clare Hutchet, Twenty and Ten.


W308: Book Stumper Keywords: Wordless, clothed animals, half pages
Solved: Creepy Castle

W309: Woman Falls in Pool
A woman falls into a pool, or dives into a pool and she surfaces in the 1800's.  She comes back to the present time after being shot by indians.  No one believes that she time travelled. Someone comes with a really old pic and it shows her back in time.

June Lund Shiplett, Journey to Yesterday, 1989, approximate.
June Lund Shiplett, Journey to Yesterday, 1983, copyright.


W310: Weeping Willow in the Woods
In the mid to late 1970's I checked out a book from the library for my 5 yr old son.  All we can remember is:  (1) The title did not match the story; (2) a bad tree becomes the first weeping willow tree at the entrance of the forest; (3) the forest looses its magic when the last unicorn leaves.

Thanks again for posting this.  We are hoping that someone can help solve our mystery.  My son remembers that the Unicorns could only live in the valley and the tree (that becomes the 1st weeping willow) was at the entrance of the valley.  If the unicorns ever left the valley they would loose their magic.  The tree drove the unicorns away because he was tired of their laughing and horseplay.  I don't know if it would help to add this, but we thought we would pass it along.


W311: Witchcraft in Summer Vacation
Solved: Spiderweb for Two
I recall a book from my childhood.  I was born in 1971, and was probably between 7-12 when I read it.  I'm unsure of the title, publisher or the date published. It was a book about a brother and sister who are left by their parents during summer vacation with two caretakers, a woman who takes care of them and the house, and a man who takes care of their yard.  The parents leave a scavenger hunt behind for the children, and the caretakers are in "cahoots" with the entire plan.  The hunt goes on for a long time throughout the story, but the children keep it a secret from their caretakers as they have no idea who is leaving the clues for them.  I think they found a hidden room somewhere, "treasures", etc.  One strange thing I remember is one of the clues was left in an ice cube tray - frozen into a cube.  (Google only offered me a "search overload headache" on that one!) When the parents arrive home, of course the kids discover that they were behind the whole ordeal, but the mystery and suspense of what would happen next was wonderful - and I recall being completely surprised to find out that their parents masterminded the plan.  It was a great adventure that created a bond between the kids, kept them busy (instead of bored) and they got along (instead of fighting everyday) as they worked together to solve the mysteries. I wish I could share this book with my twin boys who are now 8 years old, but of course I cannot remember the name of it.  I hope you can help and if I remember any more details, I'll send them along. It's possible that there may have been something to do with witchcraft involved in the story too, but I could be confusing another book with this one.  I guess my mind is failing me already! :(

Elizabeth Enright, Spiderweb for Two: A Melendy Maze, 1951.  This is the last book in the Melendy quartet.  While Oliver and Randy's older siblings are away at boarding school, their father, housekeeper Cuffy, and handyman Willy Sloper arrange a scavenger hunt that takes them through the year, from fall to summer.  Their prize at the end is reuniting with their siblings at last. 
Elizabeth Enright, Spiderweb for Two: A Melendy Maze,1951, copyright. Randy and Oliver Melendy are feeling deserted when their older sister Mona, brother Rush, and adopted brother Mark all leave for school (or, in Mona's case, to become an actress).  They're distracted from their depressions though, by a mysterious note. Through the year their siblings are gone, they follow the clues, find out things they never knew about their neighbors, and make  new friends as they follow more clues along the way. In the end, they discover that their brothers and sister created the whole treasure hunt to keep them busy and interested while they were gone.  (No witchcraft though--maybe the spiderweb is what you're remembering?).
Elizabeth Enright, Spiderweb For Two. This is the last volume of the Melendy Family Chronicles.  The older children are away at school, and the younger two become involved in a mysterious treasure hunt.
Elizabeth Enright, Spiderweb For Two. You have a few details wrong, but the ice-cube tray is for sure!  Also a statue of a Chinese goddess, an oriole's nest at a neighbor's house, an old shoe, the top of a surrey...does this sound familiar?  Randy Melendy and her brother Oliver miss their older siblings Mona, Rush and Mark, when they depart for boarding school, so their father and a family friend, Mrs. Oliphant, conspire with the older kids to set up this treasure hunt for the months of the school year.  The housekeeper, Cuffy, and the yard man, Willy Sloper, are not in on it, because they would be too softhearted and help Randy and Oliver -- that's why it's important to get the ice cube before Cuffy does her weekly defrosting of the fridge, since she has no idea what's in it.  This is the last of the books about the Melendys -- the others are great too.  (No witchcraft though, sorry.)


W312: Wooden Sword fro Christmas
This is a long shot, But I thought I'd try. This was a Christmas story that was printed in newspapers back in the early to Mid 70's. All I can remember is again, it was about Christmas, and involved a kid with a wooden sword, and a giant was the bad guy I think.
I remembered a little more. The kid had to get crocodile tears for some reason, so he had to go somewhere and make this crocodile cry by telling it sad stories, and catch them in a little jar. I also vaguely remember something about a princess kissing the tip of his wooden sword to bless it or some such thing.
W313: White Feather

Used to check this book out of the elementary school library in the 1970s, could never remember it's name but every time I went looking for a book this is the one I chose.  It is about a little girl whose family spent their summers at a lake.  One summer they return to find a boy scout camp on the lake.  The little girl is upset and wages war on the camp.  She wears her hair in braids with a white feather.  When the boy scouts get fed up with her, they catch her and cut off one of her braids.  She goes to her mother in tears who says she can fix it and the mother removes the other braid to find the girls hair mossy.  It turns out the girl never removed the braids to wash her hair all summer  she thought she didn't need to wash her hair because she swam in the lake.  That is what I remember about this story.


Jacqueline Jackson, The Paleface Redskins, 1970, approximate. This is definitely the book you're looking for--I read it so many times when I was a kid! I couldn't understand, though, how the girl could get away with never taking out her braids, since mine would get so messy after just a day or two!


W314: A Winter Journey

1971-1972 a little girl traveling in a covered wagon with family, in a snowstorm, she is the oldest of the children, adults start to die and she is left taking care of children, baby dies and she puts the baby up in a tree, i think maybe a Indian helped her, i was thinking winter was in the title.


W315: What's done is done farmer woodsman

SOLVED: Wanda Gag, Gone is Gone, 1935.


W316: "Why is the Sky Blue?" and  Other Science Inquiries
Published before 2000, probably in 1980s. Series of science picture books, hard glossy cover, about the size of a 9 x 11 paper folded in half. Titles are questions like "Why is the sky blue?" "Where does a rainbow come from?" possibly arranged alphabetically or numerically.
Arkady Leokum, Tell Me Why series. This sounds very much like the Tell Me Why series. There were three that I had back in the 70s: Tell Me Why, More Tell Me Why,and Still More Tell Me Why. I don't know if there were more of the them. Really great books for kids who ask "Why?" about everything.
Chris Arvetis, Why is the Sky Blue?  A Just Ask Book, 1986, approximate.This is one in a series of science-related children's books called "Just Ask" books.  The authors include Chris Arvetis and Carole Palmer, with illustrations by James Buckley.  A field mouse asks the questions and is answered by different animals and such.  A great bunch of books we had as kids :)
Jack Long, Why is the sky blue? : questions & answers about nature, 1989, reprint. Could it be Why is the sky blue? : questions & answers about nature by Jack Long? It was part of the Now You Know series. Answers such questions as: Why do cats purr? What causes thunder? What is a jungle?'
Chris Arvetis & Carole Palmer, Just Ask books, 1980s, approximate. The "Just Ask" books were a series of more than 30 hardback books about science and nature, published by Weekly Reader Books in the 1980s. Titles include: Why is the Sky Blue? What is a Rainbow? Why Does it Rain? Why is it Hot? Why is it Cold? What are Seasons? What is Gravity? What is a Star? What is the Moon? What is a Mountain? What is a Volcano? What is a Wave? What Makes Day and Night? Why Do Animals Sleep Through Winter? What is a Dinosaur? What is a Jungle? Why Do Birds Fly South? etc.


W317: Witch, mirror, laughing, mountain

I do not remember if it was separate or in a collection. This is the plot as I remember: King, Queen and daughter live on one side of mountain. Imagined riches rumored on the other. Queen wants these riches. Queen sends daughter's boyfriend to get them. He never returns. Queen sends reluctant husband (he prefers gardening). He never returns. Queen goes herself. She never returns. Good daughter goes. She is given advice about house with witch (location of riches). She brings ordinary objects including a mirror with her. She is able to break the spells imprisoning her loved ones by giving witch the mirror. Witch has never seen her reflection before and begins to laugh. She leaves (dies?) laughing. All return home and now content with previous lives. I have used witch, mirror and mountain in previous searches to no avail. I feel like the witch laughing at her reflection is main memory of the story. Thank you for your help.

Baba Yaga. This is not the title, but the idea of a witch laughing at herself and therefore releasing her captives sounds a bit like something the Russian/Slavic folkloric character Baba Yaga would do. This might help the seeker.


W318: White Merry-Go-Round Horse and Little Girl
A little girl who takes her penny allowance to the mobile merry go round that visits weekly. She loves a special white horse on the merry-go-round and rides only that horse. One day, it dissapears. The girl is sad, but finds her friend in the end.

Margery Williams Bianco and Marjory Collison, Penny and the White Horse,
1942. The story of a little girl and a special white carousel horse.

W319: Waterskiing accident
Solved: The Family Name, 1971.

W320: Woman gives birth to monster fish and living advertisments
I checked this scifi book out at my elementary in the 80s. Young woman lives alone in a living house like a long hollow caterpillar. To make money she becomes pregnant, gives birth in a bucket to black fish/tadpoles that try to bite her and mature into living advertisements. Vaguely asian culture.

Geoff Ryman, The Unconquered Country, 1982. I don't remember Ryman's novella very well, but it is a sort of magic realism thing set in an askew Cambodia, and I do recall the biological houses and the idea of woman making a living by "renting" her womb to produce war supplies of some sort.  I'd certainly not expect to have found it in an elementary school library, though.


W321: WWII, boy, bicycle, ghetto
WWII, boy, bicycle, ghetto, perhaps Warsaw, messenger? Children's book I read in 1985 -  title like "Courier V.F.W" or ""FVC"  I remember three letters.  Hardcover, dark red/burnt orange cover - story of a boy who works as a secret messenger to get messages out of the Ghetto.
Ian Serraillier, The Silver Sword/Escape from Warsaw, 1959. This sounds like parts of The Silver Sword (also called Escape from Warsaw. You might check it out and see if it's the book you're looking for.

W322: Witch, lake, fairy

SOLVED: Wayne Anderson, Ratsmagic, 1976.


W323: Woman, cat, storm, float to China
SOLVED: The lady who saw the good side of everything.

 W324: World War One multi volume set
Looking for a multi volumn set of books published in england, written in english. The subject is World War One. They are non-fiction. The books are gray, hard cover, manchester has something to do with the publisher or where they were published, Published before 1930.

The Manchester Guardian History of the War. Published by John Heywood Ltd., Manchester.  There were apparently 9 volumes, and they seem to have been released with green paper covers but many copies were re-bound in hardcover, presumably in a variety of colors.


2011

W325: where's your trunk, blouse, inky, lake girls, robe on door
SOLVED: Bianca Bradbury, Lots of Love, Lucinda.

W326: Wordless Apple Tree Lifecycle
Pictures only, no words. One picture per page: Sapling becomes apple tree, blooms become apples, one is picked, goes to market stand, girl buys and brings home, eats, tosses core out window, new sapling grows. B&W line drawings with one red apple. Ours had a black hardcover.

Hogrogian, Nonny, Apples, 1972. Apples by Nonny Hogrogian The apple peddler replenishes his cart from the trees that grow from the discarded cores of the apples he sells. Hardcover, 1972 Stories without words.
The suggestion that is posted regarding my book search is not correct. The book is not the Hogrogian "Apples". The plot does not fit with what I'm looking for. There is no pictured "peddler" in my book. And the description here http://www.swap.com/book/apples-nonny-hogrogian/5056338/ describes an orchard being created. The book I'm looking for has one simple drawing per page, just as I described. It's a very simple "circle of life" story. I have searched the web extensively for this, and also came up with the Hogrogian book, and have still not been able to find the one I'm looking for. Thus my coming to you guys! :) Thanks for continuing the search!

W327: widow, ghost, english, romance, country house, four poster bed
SOLVED: Paula Allardyce, Southarn Folly, 1957.



W328: when I go to school
My daughter got a book from the library about 'when I go to school...I will play games, sing songs, eat lunch, make friends...' in the early-mid 1980's. I think it had a white cover. It was a children's picture book about 15-20 pages long. It would be wonderful if you could track this down for us.

W329: Witch
I read it circa 1994.  A man meets a witch, maybe in the woods or in a cave, and she makes demands of him.  She's beautiful and cold, and makes him do her bidding.  I believe he has a wife, who is none to happy about about the witch. The word "witch" may be in title.  The man escapes her clutches.

W330: Woman dressed as boy
Woman is following someone (her brother?) out West in covered wagon. Travels dressed as 12 year old boy with a man who she ends up falling in love with. Stays with this travel partner when she gets there, sifting in a river for gold, and he discovers she's a woman. He then helps her find her family.


CY Lee, Land of the Golden Mountain. Sounds quite a bit like Land of the Golden Mountain.  It's about a Chinese girl who disguises herself as a boy and travels to the California gold rush country. If I remember correctly, she's looking for a fiance (or cousin, or acquaintance) named Moon Cake, but ends up marrying a mine owner who hired her as a houseboy.

W331: When I was small and Christmas trees were tall
My father remembers this book when he was young, so I'm guessing it was published / written sometime before 1950 (he was born in 1943). The "name" of the book he keeps referencing is "When I was small and christmas trees were tall". At this point, I'm not even sure that is the title, but perhaps the first line of the book, or a repeating line. He also remembers the book being 10 or so pages long, small size (maybe 4x6� or 5x7�) and either paper back or cloth bound. It might have been a paperback pamphlet or a poem in paperback book form. The story was illustrated, but very simply as in pencil sketches. Maybe some color, but definitely nothing bright. The sketches might have revolved around a small boy. My Dad lived in central Illinois at the time that he remembered reading this book with his mother. He did say that it might have been a seasonal keepsake story that was published by a large company (Sears, Woolworth's, etc.). I have checked with Coca-Cola. It's not one of theirs. So that's all I have to go on. I tried to search keywords through your Solved Mysteries but have had no success. Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated by all of his children!

First Of May
song. A Google search for "When I was small and Christmas trees were tall" indicates this is the first line in the song "First Of May" sung by the Bee Gees, and more recently by Sarah Brightman.  Could your father be thinking of this song with the lyrics written in book form?

W332: Witch, oatmeal
Children's book published in the '60s or '70s about a witch (ugly in illustrations) who was a bit of a misfit or incompetent, as far as witches go.  I cannot remember much, but there was something about oatmeal in it, and the witch's name was unusual.  Wish I had more to go on...

The Magic Porridge Pot.
Are you maybe thinking of porridge rather than oatmeal?  This is a traditional tale, told by the Brothers Grimm and others.  The version I had was illustrated by Andy Warhol.  If you Google the title with his name you can see some of them.
Tomie de Paola, Strega Nona, 1976. Might the funny name be Strega Nona?  She's appeared in several stories, beginning in the 1970s.  Though she's usually competent, another character, Big Anthony, makes mistakes when he tries to imitate her.

SOLVED: Bedita's Bad Day from Eros Keith.

W333: William Wigglewhistle

1950-1965, childrens. This book was about a boy named William Wigglewhistle who sees several dogs of different sizes and shapes sitting outside doghouses that did not fit them. William figures out which house fits each dog (the biggest house to the biggest dog, the low long house to the Dachshund, the littlest house to the tiny dog, etc.) It was a very simple story with line drawings. My mother remembered only the name "William Wigglewhistle," and that's it.

Anne Heyneman, William Wigglewhistle, 1939. This is it, but it's out of print so it might be hard to find a copy. Good luck!
Heyneman, Anne, William Wigglewhistle, 1939. William receives a dog for his birthday, and when she mysteriously disappears he sets off on a quest to find her. This was one of Time Magazine's books of the year in 1939.


W334: Wonders of science
A friend remembers a book that may be called "Wonders of Science". It was about 15 centimeters tall and the cover was red with an embossed golden globe. It was probably pre-WWII and contained brief articles accompanied by pictures. A few of the articles he remembers included a mechanical television with discs, and ball lightning with a picture of the lightning coming down a chimney. There was an article claiming that the world's population could fit into a box that measured one cubic mile that could be lost if thrown into the Grand Canyon.

Ruth Murray Miller, Wonders of science: a pictorial story of science and invention, 1936. The year is right, anyway.

W335: Witch, girl held hostage by witch, real mother had curse put on her
1975 or earlier, juvenile. Hello, I remember my teacher reading this book to me in 1974 or 1975.  It was about a young girl whose mother was a witch and treated her poorly.  She had to do all the chores, was worked very hard and I think they lived in a run down house.  The girl imagined that the witch was not her mother and that her real mother was beautiful and loved her.  One day when the witch went out the girl saw a beautiful woman in the mirror but when she turned around there was no one there.  This girl imagined that this woman was her mother.  One day she whispered "I love you" to the reflection and when she turned around the woman was indeed there.  The woman told her she was her real mother and the witch had put a curse on her.  When her daughter said she loved her, that broke the curse/spell.  I remember the woman had to disappear before the witch returned.

Anna Elizabeth Bennett, Little Witch, 1953. Definitely.
Bennett, Anne, Little Witch. Check solved mysteries for a description. http://www.loganberrybooks.com/solved-l.html
Elizabeth Bennett, Little Witch. I'm sure you'll get a million responses on this one! See "Solved Mysteries" for complete details. A quick online search should turn up many images for this book. There are two very different cover illustrations, so if you see a copy that looks unfamiliar, try the other one.
Anna Bennett, Little Witch. Minikin Snickasnee aka Little Witch strikes again!  Check out the Solved Mysteries page for more information.
Anna Elizabeth Bennett, Little Witch, 1960s-1970s, approximate. This is Little Witch by Anna Elizabeth Bennett. Minx lives with her alleged witch mother Madame Snickasnee, but wishes to go to school and be a normal girl. She sneaks to school, makes friends, mixes multicolored potions while her mother is away and eventually frees enchanted children who had been turned into plants and discovers that her real mother is a fairy trapped in Madam Snickasnee's mirror who can only be freed if Minx says "I love you."'

W336: Woodpecker
 Date, 1900-1950s.
A female pileated woodpecker cares for her family of baby woodpeckers. Momma wears a white apron and a red hat and is a good mama.

W337: Witch and vending machine
Hello, I had a childrens book in 70's it was a softback  about a witch,  she gave, I believe, a boy and girl (brother and sister) a vending machine/candy or pop in their room. If I see the title I think it would come to me, but I'm blank. I loved that book and liked the drawings in it. thanks for your help.

Bridwell, Norman, The Witch's Vacation. It may THE WITCH'S VACATION or another of the witch book by Norman Bridwell. In the WITCH'S VACATION, the boy and girl go to camp and are disappointed to have a old tent. But when they go in the witch's tent, she has all kinds of wonderful things (maybe a popcorn machine, pinball machines, etc). They were republished with illustrations updates/colored, so some images may be different, but I think you'll know when you see them.
Ruth Chew?, Ms. Chew wrote many books about nonscary witches and magic.  I don't remember the vending machine, but it's the kind of thing she wrote about.

W338: Warriors riding cats
SOLVED: Randall Garrett, Gandalara Cycle.

W339: Wilbur will not chase the sun
Book is from 1950-1954 About a puppy who at first does not want to chase the sun A line from the book may be "at first Wilbur does not want to chase the sun"

Le Grand (Henderson), The Puppy Who Chased The Sun


W340: Woman dates man named Ritchie. His mother buys a table from her for much less than it was worth.
SOLVED: Dorothy Gilman Butters, The Calico Year.

W341: Woman gets a small boy but has to add water
SOLVED: Christine Nostlinger, Konrad.

W342: "Would You Be" Alphabet book
Seeking alphabet book read in 1980s.  I think it was a waxed-cloth, sewn-binding book, probably 6 or 9" square, vivid color illustrations. Each page asked "Would you [like to] be..." something beginning with each letter of the alphabet. I have an audio recording of my then 2 or 3 year old brother "reading" (ie looking at the pictures and saying what he could remember... not always accurate) from an alphabet book we had; that would have been in about 1984-5. I was only 4-5 at the time so my memory is VERY hazy. I THINK  it was one of those sewn-binding books made out of waxed cloth or a Tevlar type fabric, that were kind of popular for kids. It could just be a normal book, but I just had that impression. I also seem to remember very richly colored, 70s style illustrations. Each page said, "Would you be..." and then described something for that letter. The letters were:  A - Acorn (and grow to be a tree) / B - Boat (sailing on the sea) / C - Camel (in the zoo?) / D - Dog (with juicy bone) / E - Elephant (with long ears?) / F - Fish (swimming for years and years) / G - Goat  (eating paper and grass) / H - House (with windows made of glass) / I -  Island / J -  Jumping jack/Jack in the box? (play a sound/make a sound)[unclear; he says it wrong] / K - Kite (with a longstring) / L - Lion (and growl at everything) / M - Monkey (with long tail?) / N - Nail (with a hammer pounding you) / O - Orange (and sit in the bowl) / P - Pig (in a big mud hole) / Q - Queen / R - Rooster (and crow/say cock-a-doodle-doo at sun-up) / S - Snow (... white) / T - Train (whistling in the night) / U - Umbrella (in the rain) / V - Violet (living in the lane) (must have been a ladybug on the page because that's what he says first) / W - Worm (in the dirt) / X - Xylophone (playing a sound?) / Y - You (and live where you do) / Z - Zebra (and live in the zoo)

Thanks a million!!!!!

2012

W343: Wizard with cat kidnaps girl
Unfortunately I don't remember much: It was a picture book from the late 70s/early 80s, the colours were rather dark & intense (no pastel colours). Plot: A wizard/sorcerer kidnaps a girl (princess?) and carries her away in a big bag/sack. He brings her to his dark tower, where his cat lived. Thanks!

Ungerer, Tomi, Zeralda's Ogre, 1967.

W344: Winter and Summer's armies
I am looking for an illustrated children's book (c.1980, could be 70s).  Winter and Summer's armies are at war, and they look a little like moomins or hippos.  They have some WW1/WW2 technology, ie telephone cables and they hide/hibernate in tubetrain stations. Bad guys look a bit German (helmets)...

Peter Dallas-Smith (Peter Cross, illustrator), Trouble for Trumpets. This is absolutely your book. It is a work of art, and really the top billing should go to the illustrator, the amazing Peter Cross. If you do a quick google image search of the title, you will immediately see that it's the one you're looking for. The author and illustrator also teamed up for a sequel, Trumpets in Grumpetland, but the artwork seemed more rushed for that one.


W345: Witch, mushroom, crack, grow
A solitary witch lives under a mushroom in a field. She wakes up and her roof is cracked so she goes around the forest trying to find out who cracked her roof. Ultimately she stays up all night and discovers that no one is cracking her roof - it's just the mushroom growing.

Mary Leister, Wee Green Witch,
1979. A lovely little book, and one of my own childhood favorites!

W346:Winter Windigo Scare
Looking for a book from highschool library. I don't think the book was too old really. It had a main character of a boy that was new in town (moved with his mother, and bought possibly a bed and breakfast or old fishing shed?) Where he moves is up North (Americas) and very cold/snowy. More: Boy moving to a snowy cold region. Suspense/horror novel for teens? He starts to realize something is stalking him as he walks home in the dark winter evenings. Its animalistic if I remember, and white/grey, terrifying and huge. He outruns it and makes it inside, I think it cant face light or come inside? He and a few friends (one was a love interest girl that looses her family member and wants to hunt it to save them I think?) The track it to a cave and try to kill it. I remember them being by a huge lake and the thick ice cracking and causing issues at one point. Almost reminds me of a wendigo (windigo) but I don't know if he ever says that its what the monster is?

Paul Annixter, Windigo, 1963. Windigo might be the book you're looking for. I remember checking it out a few times from my library, and never being able to get through the scary scenes.  And if you were searching for a "wendigo", this one probably wouldn't have come up...

W347: Wealthy man on quest to get a woman
Looking for a children's book about a wealthy man who was on a quest to get to a woman. He met a man with a long beard sitting at the base of a tree who could somehow help him change into part animal (i.e. a fish at the end of the book) or have really long, reaching legs to move faster.

W348: Wynken, Blynken and Nod
SOLVED: Eugene Field, Helen Page (illus), Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.

W349: Wolf gets lost and cold
Grey (?) wolf (wolf-like dog?) is lost (?), and cold. It snows (?) and the wolf finds and wears a trench coat at one point, and is trying to find way back home (?). There is a mountain road (?) and a car at one point . I believe there was a happy ending. Book probably not in landscape mode. I was born in 1981, so my parents must have bought me the books around 1985 give or take a few years. I grew up in Greece and most of the books I read were probably more from the UK, France and Belgium and less from the US.

W350: Warlocks in the snow
Warlocks in the snow - this is how it starts - ? several Another children's book, the teacher started to read to the class in the 1970's/very early 80's in the UK.  Think this will be too difficult to get from the limited information I have given.  Sounded a great book, really wished I'd gotten title.

John Bellairs, The Face in the Frost, 1969. This is a long shot, of course, but the words warlocks and snow made this book pop into my head. Set in a sort-of alternate Britain, two wizards, Prospero (not THAT Prospero) and Roger Bacon set out to prevent an evil wizard from destroying the world with an evil book. you can see a picture of the cover and read a summary on the author's website, here: http://www.bellairsia.com/the_work/facef/index.html
Pamela Service, Winter of Magic's Return, 1985. It's been winter for 500 years after a nuclear war. Britain is coming out of the cold though, and magic is coming back.  The kids in the story are the reincarnations of Arthur and Merlin, and their frosty sorcerer enemy is Morgan LeFay. The first chapter is all winter and sorcery, and the Arthurian bits don't come into play until at least half way through the story.  It might be the book you're looking for!
W351: Woman falls down a well
I'm looking for a children's book.  From what I recall it is about a woman (Asian?) who falls down a well and discovers a fabulous underground world.  Please help!

Arlene Mosel, The Funny Little Woman,
1993. Might be this Caldecott award winning book about a little Japanese woman who falls through a crack in the floor and enters a magical underground world on a road lined with statues of gods (Oni). She giggles at everything, gets captured by the Oni, and must outwit them to escape.
Mosel, Arlene, funny little woman, 1972. Possibly this story of a woman to falls down a crack in the floor while chasing a dumpling. The Funny Little Woman is a traditional Japanese tale. The woman in this story likes to laugh and make rice dumplings, one day when she was making the rice dumplings, one of her dumplings started to roll! She and her dumpling ended up on a strange place lined with Jizo (guardian statues). The Jizo warns her not to go after the dumpling, but she does anyway. She is caught by the Wicked Oni, (a demon) who takes her back to his house to have her cook for him and the rest of the oni. The Funny Little Woman gets a magic paddle to make rice dumplings faster. One day she escaped, across a wide river back to her home. She made rice dumplings for a living, and when she sold them, soon became the richest woman in all Japan. She likes to laugh, so she laughs like this, "Tehehehe"!
Arlene Mosel, author, Blair Lent, Illustrator, The Funny Little Woman, 1972. A traditional Japanese folktale about a funny little woman (who laughs, tee hee!) who follows a rolling rice dumpling down a crack in the floor and slips into an underground world inhabited by the terrible Oni. She is put to work cooking their rice, but manages to make her escape after stealing their magic rice paddle, gets back home and uses it to get rich selling rice dumplings, tee hee! The beautiful illustrations show a split view of her house above ground falling into disrepair as the seasons change while she lives with the Oni below. You can see he cover and several illustrations here: http://booksforbreakfast2.blogspot.com/2011/11/funny-little-woman.html
Mosel, Arlene, The Funny Little Woman. This sounds about right, the Funny Little Woman lives in Japan and makes rice dumplings: one rolls down her well and she chases after it. Along the way she meets kind jizo statues and big oni demons, who then catch her and teach her to cook for them. Of course in the end she does escape and all ends well. It's light-hearted and clever, with lovely pictures, including what's under the little old woman's well, hope this helps.
Funny Little Woman, Mosel, Arlene, 1973, approximate. Could this be the Caldecott winner, Funny Little Woman, illustrated by Blair Lent?  (There's an entry on Wikipedia showing the cover illustration.)
It sounds a bit like the Mother Holle story from Germany. There are different versions of it, but it's usually like a Cinderella story with a girl who is abused by her stepmother and stepsister. One day, the stepmother forces the girl to retrieve something that fell down the well, and she finds herself in a magical land with a strange lady called Mother Holle.  Mother Holle is kind to her and rewards the girl for helping her with her chores. Later, the stepsister tries to go down the well and get the same reward, but she is punished instead because she refuses to help with the chores.
Peter Lum, Fairy Tales of China, 1959.

W352: World War II girl sent to the country
A girl and her sister are sent to the country when their mother goes to be a dancer?/entertainer? for the soldiers serving overseas. She makes friends with a boy and his cousin? who is a fighter pilot with shell shock. The main things I remember is that she goes to a dance.

This sounds like 'A little Love Song' by Michelle Magorian  (1991) (ISBN 0-7497-1061-6) - (published as 'Not a swan' in the USA). Rose and her elder sister, Diana move to live in the country while their mother is overseas, during the War. they end up living alone as the relation who was supposed to look after them is unable to do so. Rose gets to know Alec, a bookseller, who she ultimately learns is on sick leave after Dunkirk.  She is initially friendly with Alec's nephew, who is manipulative and takes advantage of her. There is a scene where they go to a dance  -the dance is hosted by US servicemen stationed nearby who provide food, such as oranges, which have been unavailable for years. Rose collects up the skins with a view to making marmalade and is embarrassed when they fly everywhere when she tries to ?jitterbug?. Rose also learns to confront her own prejudices and preconceptions, and to start to work on her wish to become a writer. There is also a strand in the story about 'Mad Hilda' the former occupant of the cottage which Rose and Diana live in, and about Dot, an unmarried mother who has also been evacuated to the same area.

W353: Witch's handbook
Read in the early 90's (90-92)  a how to be a witch book, the cover was glossy, as were the pages, each page was fully illustrated, there was a picture of a witch in yellow rainboots, NOT malcolm bird's "The Witch's Handbook."

Could possibly be The Witches and Wizards Club Members Handbook by Derek Rangecroft from 1995.
In response to the suggested solution: that book was published later than the book I am searching for.

W354: What do the waves say
I am looking for a children's picture book that is about a girl that loves to read, she is wealthy and her family has multiple homes, they have a big sailboat, her dad is a builder and is building all the same houses so she suggests that he paint them different colors, she tries to listen to the waves or figure out what they are saying to find her path in life, she grows up and gets her fortune told and listens to what the waves are saying and if I remember correctly she decides to become a writer.

Hattie and the Wild Waves, by Barbara Cooney.





 
 
 
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