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Could this be The Boy Who Could Fly?
It
was
about
a
boy
who
had
a
younger
brother
that
was
very
different,
special,
and
could
do
weird
things.
At
the
very
end
the
boy
levitates
in
front
of
many
other
witnesses,
looking
to
the
older
boy
like
Buddha.
Very dream-like ending, and it was in the Sci-Fi area of our
gradeschool library, (for lack of a better classification -
today it would be called new age). Some scenes you might
remember - going on a train with younger brother to spend a
month with their grandparents. The older boy disliked his
little brother for being so special, getting all the attention,
etc, but comes to realize at the end that he IS special, and he
loves him.
I haven't read this, so it's vague, but what
about The Keeper of the Isis Light by Monica
Hughes, published 1980? It's part of a trilogy (Guardian
of Isis, The Isis Pedlar) set on another planet, or an a
beacon in space. Olwen, 16 Earth years or 10 Isis years old,
keeps the beacon by herself. She's the main character but there
is a boy involved. She's also been genetically altered in some
way to fit her for the work and environment, and there's some
question whether the boy and his colleagues can adjust to
dealing with her. No idea about floating, though.
K12 - this is defintely NOT Keeper of
the Isis Light - no flying in that, I've just read
it again for a children's literature conference.
Definitely not Keeper of the Isis
Light where the girl who is the Keeper (whose name
eacpes me for the moment) has been 'genetically modified' (!) by
her robot companion to be able to survive the conditions on Isis
without breathing apparatus, extra UV protection etc. But there
is no flying except in 'floater'-type vehicles. Has the poster
checked Penelope Farmer's The
Summer Birds- though my memory of this is more
'magic' than sci-fi.
Isaac Asimov. Story of a boy
visiting a planet with his mother to decice whether the human
colonists can take over the whole planet. He realises that the
rock like creatures are intelligent by telepathy with one of the
young ones. Coming of age involves flying. In order to convice
everyone of their intelligence he suggests that the young rock
creature make the shape of something to do with Christmas
(angel?) in the sky, thereby proving that they must be
intelligent to have understood his suggestion. It's the only
children's book by Asimov that I know of
Robert Heinlein, Podkayne of Mars, late 60's. This is one of my least
favorite Heinlein book for kids. In it there is a male main
character, a female who is extremely bossy (I think) and a
fairylike creature from another planet that the female character
adopts. It may be far fetched, but when I read this discription
and the other solutions...I thought of this book.
Robert Heinlein, Red Planet. Maybe this book set on Mars. Definite coming of
age story. As a part of it, a teenage boy has a pet "martian"
named Willis who is small, cute, etc. Later in the book, Willis
transforms into something else much different. The colonists
never knew this would happen because they had not been on Mars
long enough to see the creatures go through adolescence. Thought
there were several species of Martians. Turns out it is one
species but different ages take different forms.
King Nunn the Wiser,
1970? Picture book - King travels through all sorts of
adventures in the dark that are not at all what he thinks they
are
Thank you. I would like to find information of the title
that you mentioned. Do you know who the author might be?
I think the author of King Nonn
(?Nunn) the Wiser is Colin McNaughton, but
no longer have a copy in stock to check - thought I had and have
been looking for it - hence the delay in getting back to you
about it!
I haven't been able to find reference to
this...
More on the suggested - King Nonn the
Wiser, written and illustrated by Colin
McNaughton, published Heinemann 1981, 32 pages. "King
Nonn was very happy in his library, reading all day and
getting always more short-sighted. But his subjects wanted him
to fight dragons and right wrongs, so sadly he and his
short-sighted horse went off in search of adventure. It was
all around him - giants, haunted forests, distressed maidens,
dragons - but he saw none of them. After unhorsing, by
accident, his warlike neighbour King Blagard of Rong, he
returns home to find himself a hero. Thankfully he
returns to his library." (Junior Bookshelf Dec/81 p.242)
Fred Gwynne, The King Who Rained. This may not be your book title but Fred
Gwynne wrote and illustrated a few children's books, word play,
etc.
Kim Yaroshevskaya, Little Kim's Doll. Might not be this one as it seems to be
more recent, could be a reprint though?
K32 know nothings: could this be The
Secret World of Og, by Pierre Berton,
published McClelland & Stewart 1961, 146 pages? The first
edition was illustrated by William Winter, with a green cover,
but the 1974 edition with illustrations by Patsy Berton, does
have some purple on the cover. The story is about Penny, Pamela,
Patsy, Peter, and the baby Paul (Pollywog) who find a tunnel
under their playhouse that leads to the world of Og. The Ogs are
short and greenskinned with floppy ears who have learned about
the upper world by stealing and reading comic books. There is no
actual reference to 'Know-Nothings' but the Ogs are pretty
ignorant.
Juliana Horatia Ewing, Amelia and
the Dwarfs, 19th
century. The description sounds as though it *might* be
this story, which was part of a collection of short stories by
Mrs. Ewing, "The Brownies and Other Stories". Amelia, a naughty
spoilt child, is spirited away to a fantasy land, where she has
to complete several tasks, which, as far as I remember, include
not learning to *like* certain foods, but finishing the foods
that she has wasted. She also has to mend the clothes that she
has torn repair the conversations that she has interrupted
(!) and possibly something else as well.
I may be way off base, but if the book you
read was heavily illustrated, it was possibly the Adventures
of the Black Hand Gang.
No, it wasn’t Adventures of the Black Hand Gang. I
checked into that one and it isn’t the same book. Someone told
me about a series called The Secret Seven by Enid
Blyton, but I’m not familiar with it and don’t know whether any
story is similar to my recollection. I looked up some
information about her and the description of the kids and types
of adventures in the series sounds somewhat similar. I’m not
sure how much my memory melds different recollections into one,
but the detail I recall as being in the story most is the
incident with the man wearing the mackintosh in the warm sun as
what the kids notice to solve the mystery.
I am not sure, but am wondering if this
could be one of Roy Brown's books. He wrote quite a few
mystery/ adventure stories about working class London children.
Titles include A Saturday in Pudney, The Day of the
Pigeons, The Viaduct and several others.
Robert Martin, Joey and the Mail
Robbers. The
"Joey" series by Robert Martin was about a group of working
class kids in London who solve mysteries and prevent crimes.
There are many titles in the series and the author wrote similar
books under other names as well as "Robert Martin". "Joey and
the Mail Robbers" is a likely title but there are other
possibilities including non-Joey books by this author.
Astrid Lindgren, Bill Bergson Lives
Dangerously. I
have the vaguest feeling that the raincoat scene is in this book
or one of the other two Bill Bergson books.
Kind of a longshot, but some elements are
the same. Here's teh plot synopsis: "A bunch of French children
with a headless wooden horse get involved with a gang of thieves
who plan to rob the Dijon-Paris Express. The theft completed,
the money is hidden overnight in a nearby novelty factory and
the key to the money inside the wooden horse. Helped by a horde
of dogs the children manage to catch the crooks before they can
get away with the money." Working class children,
adventure, crooks- but in Paris. And its probably not right
because I would tink you'd remember the horse
C. Day Lewis, Otterbury
Incident. This could be it. Try it anyway
it's very well written. Two English working-class kids groups
play war games with each other (this was pretty soon after WWII)
but then work together to catch the bank robbers. Very
well done. I believe Ardizzone was the illustrator.
K58 is
NOT Longman The wonderful tree house
Gertrude
Chandler
Warner, Tree House Mystery (Boxcar Children #14).
All of the Boxcar Children mysteries take place during the
summer, so that part fits. In this one, they get new
neighbors and the 2 sons on the family want to build a
treehouse, so the Aldens help them. The new boys have a
spyglass, and the group discovers a hidden room in the house
when they see a window in the end of the house that is not
visible from inside the house. They discover a child's
room that was boarded over because the child moved away for
some reason. The room contains toys the child played
with. I think they used a flashlight to signal the Alden
children from the treehouse, which would have probably been
the morse code in the description.
I am
the person who wrote the stumper. I had not checked on
this in a while and I now see that my book is in the solved
pile. Sorry! It hasn't been solved! The
book is not a Boxcar Children book. At the time I
loved that series and if a teacher read me one that would
have registered and this would not be a mystery to me. The
book was entirely new to me, not part of a series I had read
before and loved. Most definately not the Box Car
children. A lead from Chinaberry has me wondering if
the book isn't Either Then There Were Five or The
4 Story Mistake by Eizabeth Enright.
Peggy
Parrish, Clues in the Woods.
Maida's little . . .This sounds like a series I read when I
was a child, based on the lives of a group of friends. The
central character was Maida, who, I seem to remember, had a
limp. There were books like Maida's Little
House, etc. And
your mention of "then there were five" reminded me of another
series I read, about the Five Little Peppers. Hope one of these suggestions
hits the mark.
Rosemary Sutcliffe, Knight's Fee.
Knight's Fee may be it, but the reviews I found of it on
the internet say the boy's benefactor was killed in
battle...still a possibility depending on how many benefactors
he had. In the book I read he was definitely captured and
beheaded by a band of renegades or marauders or something.
K63 Isn't it just Sutcliff?
Rosemary Sutcliff's Knight's Fee is definitely not the
solution to my stumper. The book I'm looking for is not
about knights, courts, and squires, it's about common people
alone together in a real scary world.
Richard Paul Evans, The Spyglass, 2000. Could this be it? "K-Gr 5-This original fable offers a lesson about faith through the fall and rise of a kingdom. A once-great realm has declined into poverty, both of wealth and of spirit, until a passing stranger loans a magical spyglass to the king. Through it, the ruler and his subjects can see "what might be." A barren pasture appears as a fertile field and a crumbling cathedral looks magnificent when viewed through the spyglass. These images restore faith to the people, who then work together to restore the land to its past prosperity."
Newberry, Clare Turlay, April's
Kittens. NY
Harper 1940. Perhaps this one. April's family lives in a
one-cat apartment. When her black cat Sheba has three kittens,
April must decide which cat to keep and find homes for the
others. The kittens are Brenda, Butch, and Charcoal. I don't
know their markings, but the kitten on the cover is all black
(Charcoal?).
I don't think April's Kittens
sounds right she doesn't give them away to matching
people. At the end of that book her parents agree to let
her keep one of the kittens along with the mother cat since they
have decided it's time to move to a two-cat-sized apartment.
Kate's Kittens. Not sure if
this is it, but I had a book about a very small girl named Kate
living on a city block (it listed all the neighbors - she was
much smaller than the grocer, etc). She finds an orange
cat with kittens and puts them in her wagon and gives them to
all the neighbors, and at the end she feels big. The
colors were mostly black, white, brown and orange in the
pictures. I can't remember the title or author,
unfortunately!
Phyllis LaFarge, Kate
and the Wild Kittens, 1965, copyright. I
found this book! Randomly, at the library, displayed on a
shelf... All the cats in the neighborhood are disappearing, and
only little Kate can find them. They are with a mother cat
and her kittens, and she must return them all to their owners,
keeping the mother cat and kittens for herself. Very New
York/Eloise style. Hope this is your book!
Beatrix Potter, The Tale of Tom Kitten. Any possibility it could be a Beatrix Potter book? In The Tale of Tom Kitten, Tom and his sisters Moppet and Mittens are sent upstairs as punishment, and they end up making a wreck of the bedroom there's an illustration with them all over the bed and one of them is wearing a bonnet.
Louis Ross and Margot Apple, In
the
Peanut
Butter Colony,1979.This could be a long shot, but
this may be this book which was about a boy who traveled to a
land of peanut butter creatures who battled jelly
creatures. He traveled there by means of a saltine cracker
on a tomato soup river, using a spoon as an oar. Was
mainly about a young boy's lunch time fantasy. It happened
to be a child hood favorite of mine that I also can not find.
Cook, Bernadine. Looking for Susie. illus by Judith Shahn. Young Scott, 1959. farm life - juvenile fiction; cat & kittens in loft This is not a Little Golden but the story definitely matches. It has been put out in several editions.
Condition Grades |
Cook, Bernadine. Looking for Susie. Young Scott, 1959. library binding, slightly soiled, initials on endpaper [SQ14486] $12 |
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A couple of details I forgot to mention (sorry!): the
book was a paperback, regular size, and I read it around 1980 or
so. It was a new (i.e. modern day) book then, so it
couldn't have been written before 1978. Thanks!
This is definitely Starring Peter
& Leigh by Susan Beth Pfeffer.
"When her mother remarries, 16-year-old Leigh abandons her
acting career and tries to lead the life of a normal teenager.
She is coached by her 17-year-old stepbrother, homebound with
hemophilia."
Pfeffer, Susan Beth, Starring Peter
and Leigh: A Novel,
1979. When her mother remarries, 16-year-old Leigh
abandons her acting career and tries to lead the life of a
normal teenager. She is coached by her 17-year-old stepbrother,
homebound with hemophilia.
Wow, that was fast! Yes, that's the book. Thank you
SO much!!
Jan Biggers, Big Little Kitty, 1953. Are you sure the kitten was
white? Because this sure sounds like Big Little
Kitty, a Whitman Tell-a-Tale book. These books are
smaller than the Little Golden Books (approx. 6 1/2" x 5 1/2").
The cover is pink, showing a little girl in a pink and white
dress, with golden blonde curls held back in a little ponytail
with a blue ribbon. In her arms is a yellow and white kitten
with a blue ribbon around its neck and big blue eyes. The girl's
name is Karen Kay.
Jan D. Biggers, Big Little Kitty, 1953. Sounds like Big Little Kitty
except the kitty being held by the little girl on the cover is
orange, not white. I believe one of the other kitties that
appear at the end of the book is white. It begins
something like "Karen Kay is four years old, how about
you?" It goes on to tell about how she got the kitty, how
it disappeared one day, and then how it reappeared on Christmas
day with three other kitties. Here is a picture
of the cover.
Betty Molgard Ryan Florence Sarah
Winship (illus), Socks. (1949) I'm sure
this is it. Socks was published by the Whitman Publishing
Company, and is a small book - about the size of a Jr. Elf book
(5.5" x 6.5"). Cover shows black kitten w/ white paws
& tail tip and big green eyes sitting on grass w/ daisies
& violets, in front of a brownish board fence. Only
instead of 1 white sock, the kitten has 4 white socks and a
white tip on his tail. Some children and the other animals
in the barn where he lives tease him about his white socks &
tail. He wishes he were all black like his 4 siblings, so he
goes to the cow, horse, and pig for advice on getting rid of his
white feet. Finally, he sees the farmer's wife using some
black polish on a pair of shoes. She leaves to answer the
telephone, and he dips his paws & tail into the shoe polish
bottle to make them black. He then writes a note saying
"Thank you" to Mrs. Morgan (the farmer's wife) on the sidewalk
in black footprints, before making his way home to the barn.
Betty Molgard Ryan (author), Florence Sarah
Winship (illustrator), Socks. (1949) Whitman Tell A Tale
book, #886-15. Charming story of a kitten, Socks,
with four white paws and a white tipped tail who was teased by
the children and barnyard animals about his "socks", until he
finally did something about it. You can see what he did here.
It's
shoe
black,
not ink, but this seems to be the right book!
A couple of possibilities that might be
worth looking into: In the King's Shoes by Enid
Blyton, orig. published in the 1940's or 1950's, reprinted
in 1999. Shoes
Fit for a King by Helen Bill, illustrated by
Louis Slobodkin, c. 1956
Just an idea -- could this be some kind of
gender-reversed version of the 12 dancing princesses story?
Check in "Solved Mysteries" for Big
Little Kitty by Jan D. Biggers.
Several googles [incl an old one of yrs]
were of people looking for Karen Kay and her kittens, but
an expired e-Bay item had this: >>(1953-Whitman
Book-Tell-a-Tale series) Big Little Kitty by Jan
D. Biggers. Story of Karen Kay and Christmas Day
when she received the present of a new kitty named Muffin,
who runs away (of course), but comes back home to have her
own kittens. Cute story for kitten and cat
fans.>> Another entry implies that you had a K18
solved as the Biggers book. And here is your solved
mysteries B - referred to by Google so IO think I'll stop:
Big Little Kitty
Zilpha Keatley Snyder, The Famous
Stanley Kidnapping Case,
1985, reprint. This probably isn't the book you are
looking for, but maybe it will help trigger someone else's
memories. In The
Famous Stanley Kidnapping Case, the Stanley family
is living in Italy for a year, and a local gang sets out to
kidnap Amanda, thinking her biological father will pay their
ransom, but unfortunately ends up with her two
stepbrothers, David and Blair, and stepsisters,
Janey and Tesser(Esther), as well. I don't think anyone was ill,
but the younger boy has visions of the Virgin Mary which spooks
the (apparently Roman Catholic) kidnappers. Good luck
finding your book.
Richard Parker, Three
By Mistake, 1974, copyright. This is
definitely Three By Mistake. My family ended up
with it from a library booksale, and I read it many, many
times growing up.
Is there any chance the
poster is conflating parts of a movie with a book? This
sounds a great deal like "Journey to the Beginning of Time,"
which is described in detail here (Brief
excerpt
from that site: "Four young boys visit the American Museum of
Natural History . . .After viewing the dinosaur skeletons, they
rent a rowboat at the lake in Central Park. They enter a cave,
and come out . . . into a strange new world. They see a
Wooly Mammoth, and realize they have traveled back to
prehistoric times!") I can't find any indication it was
ever novelized, though.
Just wanted to respond to the previous comment.... Nope,
not confused with a movie :) This book was
about two (maybe three?) families on vacation together, and
while the parents were busy with something (can't remember what)
one day, they sent all of their kids on a cave tour. I
can't remember how many kids there were, but at least five (and
definitely some brother/sister pairs).
This probably isn't it, because I don't
think the dinosaurs are alive...but the first thing that came to
mind upon reading your stumper was Question of the
Painted Cave, by Winifred Mantle. But there
are five kids from three families, and they do find a cave. It
could also be The Narrow Passage by Oliver
Butterworth, which is a sequel The
Enormous Egg about a boy who hatches a
dinosaur.Whatever it is, I know this book exists, because I read
it too!
This description rings a vague bell with me.
I have a feeling that the book may have been translated from
French, as when I read it I was young enough to be confused by
the fact the male main character was called "Jean." Hope this
may help.
Glyn
Frewer, Adventure in Forgotten Valley, 1964. I am pretty sure this is it..."A group
of children who have accompanied their fathers to South America
find an archaeopteryx, a creature supposedly extinct for
millions of years, wedged in a wall inside a cave. A rockfall
pens them inside the cave and before they escape, they are
involved with two separate eras of long ago-human cave dwellers
and prehistoric animals" I found it on this website after
many years of searching, http://www.trussel.com/prehist/prehist3.htm#F, and for me the cover photo was
enough to confirm it was the book I was looking for. Good
luck@
Miriam Clark Potter,
Bedtime Stories, 1951, copyright. This is a Junior
Elf book. It has a blue cover showing Mama Cat, wearing a
pink-and-white gingham dress, seated in a green chair on a
yellow rug. Mama Cat is reading from a book titled "Cat Tales"
to her three kittens, who are gathered around her, wearing their
nightclothes. The stories are "Three Jumpy Kittens," about
kittens who jump around on the furniture when they should be
napping, until they wear themselves out and fall asleep, "Mrs.
Groundhog's Grapevine," about two greedy young squirrels who
devour all the grapes, then buy fruit and vegetables to tie to
the grapevine as replacements, and "Mrs. Rabbit's Birthday Cake"
about three little bunnies who bake a surprise birthday cake for
their mother. Cute illustrations by Tony Brice.
The book suggested is not the one, unfortunately.
The book I am looking for had three stories about the same
small kitten. In one his mom was baking, in another he
was being babysat, and I cannot remember what he did in the
third story. I’m wondering if the book was always small
and blue. I know the books offered by the school book
clubs are sometimes in a smaller format.
Mary
Chalmers, Harry and the
Babysitter. I'm pretty
sure you are thinking of a series of books by Mary Chalmers. The
books were small and in different colors. Harry and the
Babysitter (my favorite, where Harry piles all his toys on the
babysitter's lap) was purple. Not sure which one was blue. Hope
this helps.
Mary
Chalmers, Take a nap, Harry. Me again. The story where the
kitten bakes with his mother is Take a Nap, Harry. I vaguely
remember reading an anthology of the Harry stories but can't
remember what color it was.
Betty Crocker, Betty Crocker's
Cookbook for Boys and Girls, 1957, 1975. There are a few different
editions of this with different covers. The one I remember from
the mid-'70s had a kid holding a plate of food festooned with
smiling faces. I don't believe there's a version with the
flaming ghost cake on the cover, but that is the recipe/photo
that stands out most clearly in my memory as well! The
description of the '50s version, which is currently available in
reproduced form, doesn't mention the ghost cake, whereas other
editions do, so be sure to check before buying. While I
was searching for this on the web, I came across a YouTube video
of someone lighting the flaming-eyed ghost cake! Apparently they
got it from a recipe in Amy Sedaris' book "I Like
You."
I had this in the 80s! I remember my
mom wouldn't let me make the ghost cake for some reason.
I'm pretty sure it's a Betty Crocker book.
Thank you for posting this on your site.
I just wanted to elaborate about the book a little. I
can't find what I originally submitted with my request, but
the flaming-eyed ghost cake was on the front hardcover.
It was made using boxed vanilla cake, baked in a rectangular
pan and with the top 2 corners cut off, frosted with vanilla
frosting and decorated using egg shell halves which were set
aflame. Other recipes included in the book were Purple
Cow Milkshakes, and a salad appetizer which was a canned peach
half set on a bed of
lettuce. You decorated the peach
half to look like a little mouse by affixing raisins with
toothpicks for the eyes and a maraschino cherry half for the
nose, etc. I loved this cookbook. I received it
from my Grandmother around 1982-1983. I went to summer
camp in 1988 and my mother gave it away or sold it at a garage
sale. I was crushed. Now that I am a mother, I
desperately want it for my own kids. Could you please
post the additional info to my request in hopes of helping jog
somebody's memory? Thanks so much!
Betty Crocker, Betty Crocker's
Cookbook for Boys and Girls, 1975, copyright. I own the 1987 reprint
of the 1975 edition of Betty
Crocker's Cookbook for Boys and Girls. The ghost
cake isn't on the cover, but there is a full-page picture
inside. There is a recipe for Purple Cow Milkshakes. And the
peach with raisins and a maraschino cherry that looks like a
mouse on a bed of lettuce mentioned by the stumper submitter is,
in my book, a pear with a prune, a raisin and a maraschino
cherry that looks like Snoopy on a bed of lettuce (though the
book calls it Friendly Dog Salad to avoid copyright
infringement). In short, I'm sure this is the cookbook you're
looking for! Just be sure to get the right edition in case
earlier versions are different.
Richard Peck, Lost in Cyberspace. This one is probably it, but there's
also a Xanth book by Piers Anthony in
which someone gets sucked into a computer game, but I'm not sure
which one.
Gillian Rubinstein, Space Demons [or the sequel, Skymaze].
'Late 1980s, reprinted in the 90s as well. When I read the
description this came to mind at once... very special computer
game given as present to 12 year old Andrew (i think that
is the name), who gets his friend to play and the game comes to
life and they go into it... it affects them, haunts them,
changes them. Second book: life empty without thrill of
Space Demons, then package comes-- new game--... Skymaze.
And this time it is not they who go through the computer into
the game, but the game which comes out through the computer and
into the real world...
Kidd, Ronald, The Glitch: A Computer
Fantasy, 1985,
copyright. Your mention of there being letters and numbers
made me instantly think of this book. The letter "M" is a
main character, and other letters, numbers and symbols
appear. "Eleven-year-old Benjamin Bean dislikes modern
machinery, particularly computers, and is dismayed to find a new
microcomputer in his favorite second-hand bookstore. There's a
"bug" in the store's computer program, however, and when
Benjamin casually picks up a loose electrical cable, he is
sucked into the machine. Inside is a chaotic world full of
regimented people and living data-animated numbers, letters and
punctuation marks, etc. With the aid of the letter "M" and
Professor Babbage (inventor of the mechanical digital computer),
Benjamin travels through the kingdom, surviving encounters with
a dragon and the police, until he finds the true bug in the
system and returns home."
Vivian Vande Velde, User Unfriendly, 1990, approximate. "Arvin and his
friends risk using a computer-controlled role-playing game to
simulate a magical world in which they actually become fantasy
characters, even though the computer program is a pirated one
containing unpredictable errors." I think the mother ended
up in the game with them, and they had to get out because she
started having headaches and fainting.
Condition Grades |
McMurtry, Stan. The Bunjee Venture. Illustrations by the author. Scholastic, Inc. 1977. "An Apple Paperback". Lightly used; inside is clean, cover shows usual wear and tear. G. $3. |
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James L. Summers, The Shelter Trap. This one was in my school library in the
60s. A group of kids (and their teacher, I think) are
either at school or on a class trip when they are accidentally
locked in a bomb shelter. The awkward but levelheaded
teenage main character eventually emerges as the hero of the
situation.
James L
Summers, The Shelter Trap. I answered this last week but
it wasnt posted in the last update, so Ill try again.
K130:
kids book tv-shaped aliens fix spaceship inside
moutain
A kids book i remember having in 80s, i think was
illustrated somewhat. Inside a mountain we're all these aliens,
all shaped differently. Some shaped like tv sets etc. They were
stranded and fixing their spaceship.
K131: Kids
in Rowboat
1970-1980 (or b4) kids bk. appx: 12"x10" about kids taking row
boat thru cove and then run into pirates. All illustrated &
story is printed on the page as the people saying the story. Each child has own adventure w/ a
certain pirate. mermaid tied to front of the ship talks. then kids
head home.
I think the book was about a lost boat at sea an old
style sailboat maybe 32-38 feet to be specific. The boat
was tossed around in a storm, and aboard the boat are small
kittens. I think the storm ends, and the boat makes landfall on
a small island with a house. The kittens are saved in the end.
Natalie Norton, A Little Old Man, 1959. A Little Old Man by Natalie Norton. This was one of the
first stumpers I sent in, so I'm happy to have a chance to
answer for someone else. A really lovely children's book
about a little old man who live on island. A storms washes
away his home, but brings an abandoned lifeboat to the
island. Inside all is cosy and shipshape with a family of
kittens who were hiding under the stove... seems like it might
be out of print. It was a Weekly Reader Club selection.
Arthur
Ransome, We didn't mean to go
to sea,
1940. The four Walker children make an accidental crossing of
the English channel. En route, they rescue a kitten.
K140: Key In Trunk
Under Frog
SOLVED: Wylly Folk St. John, Mystery of the Gingerbread House.
K142:
Kids in treehouse dress as superheroes & solve mystery
Neighborhood kids have a
treehouse they use as a headquarters (like the hall of justice
in DC Comics). The kids dress as superheroes (maybe
similar to DC heroes like Batman, the Flash, etc.). The
kids had bikes decorated like vehicles and the treehouse has
exits for each bike. Book pre-1990s.
K143: Kittens: Twinkle and Boo
Looking for a very old children's
book (don't know the title) that starts: "There were two little
kittens with eyes of blue, One named Twinkle and the other Boo.
They tried to be good and do what was right but they got into
mischief from morning to night."
Helen Wing, The Kitten
Twins, 1960. I found this book by doing
a google search of the first line of your poem. It looks like
it's a match, but you can probably tell for sure by looking at
some of the illustations (by Elizabeth Webbe). Someone has
posted a few photos of the illustrations here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/trywhistlingthis/3309833171/
Helen
Wing, The Kitten Twins. "In no time at all / those
kittens were up / licking the milk / from Grandfather's
cup. / Then onto a shelf / they climbed very high / And
Boo put her paw / in a blackberry pie."
Helen Wing, The Kitten Twins, 1960. Illustrated by Elizabeth Webbe, Elf Book.
K144:
Kids Stuck in Mud
Looking for a book about a large
family that moves to the countryside. The kids find a mud pond
and jump in, only to end up stuck upside down as their parents
try to get them out.
Fleischman, Sid, McBroom
Tells the Truth, 1966. This is the first in
the McBroom series. The family buys an acre of land, only to
find out that all it consists of is a pond (the acre goes
straight down). When they jump in the water to make the best of
it, it's such a hot day that the pond dries up before they reach
it, and they end up stuck in the mud.
K150: Kids live in shack by the sea
I'm looking for a british childrens book I used to read as a kid.
Was oldish (like 1950-70). About a family of kids (maybe 2 boys 2
girls) who for some reason go to live at a shack near the sea by
themselves. Think it had Pelican in the name. Was not a mystery,
not Enid Blyton. Would prob be OOP
This description does sound very like one of
the Arthur Ransome books (not Swallows and Amazons).
But there were several others and ‘Pelican’ does ring a
bell with these.
I've looked through all of Arthur Ransome's books but
unfortunately none of them are the book I'm looking for.
Possibly: The far-distant Oxus,
Katharine Hull, Pamela Whitlock http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Far-Distant_Oxus
Very much in the style of Ransome.
K151: Kids meet and play in a tree,
Southwest US, "Mama Bear rain"
Kids meet and play in a tree (evergreen?). This was a young
adult book from the mid 80's. It was set in the Southwest
US. One girl has "whipped cream curls", may have been named
Darcy. In one scene, the kids play in the "Mama Bear
rain." A character may have been named Esperanza.
K152: King Cabbage gets eaten by
worms
I'm trying to remember an illustrated children's book. All I can
remember is a sad deposed king of the cabbages. Perhaps he's dead
because his head is riddled with wormholes. Maybe he ruled over a
kingdom of vegetables. Cannot remember the story or the
protagonist.
K153: Kids live in apt building, eat
ladyfingers
2-3 kids living in apartment building, other tenants are old &
rich? Something mysterious is going on (perhaps they think a
tenant is a murderer?), but maybe they turn out to be mistaken.
One tenant, an older woman, gives them ladyfingers, there are dogs
owned by the tenants living in the building.
Has the person ruled out one of Elizabeth
Levy's books about the Bramford brothers? The first one was Frankenstein Moved In on the Fourth Floor.
http://www.fictiondb.com/author/elizabeth-levy~series~bamford-brothers~17194.htm
I'm not sure it totally fits but in Judy
Blume's Starring Sally J. Friedman as Herself, Sally and
her friend do live in an apartment-type building in Miami.
At one point, they do eat ladyfingers (I think dipped in jelly)
for dessert. Sally has a very active imagination and
believes that an old man who lives in the building also, is
Hitler, in hiding. Good luck!
K154:
King, curtains
I read this book as a child between 1967 & 1969. It was
about 3rd to 5th grade. The book was about a king who told the
people they had to take the curtains off their windows, so he
could see everything they did. Picture of king in tower looking
down at people.
Animal Bedtime Stories. I know exactly which book you're talking about,
in fact my grtandmother used to read it to me. Unfortunely the
only book I kow that it is in is Animal Bedtime Stories,
and the only person I know who has it is my grandmother and
she's not selling, sorry.
#L24--Legend of the white buffalo:
Very long shot, but this legend is well-known among a number of
Native American plains tribes. A few years ago, a calf
fitting the legend was born on a bison ranch. The story
was featured on "Unsolved
Mysteries." According to the legend, the calf was to be
female (which this was) and was to be born white, but turn three
other colors (I believe red, yellow, and brown or black, but
don't remember the sequence) to show that it was really a
magical beast and not just an albino or freak of nature.
The calf turned the proper colors in the proper sequence.
It's possible that the people now keeping this bison on their
ranch may have collected literature on it and be familiar with
this particular version, or know who might have it.
Title not quite matching, but there's The
Great
White Buffalo by Harold McCracken,
illustrated by Remington Schuyler, published NY Lippincott 1947,
268 pages "It was in the days when the Indians had this
country to themselves that a young Dakotan saw the almost
unheard-of sight of a pure white buffalo calf with its mother
on the grassy plain. His report of the powerful good luck
symbol was not accepted by the Wise Elder members of the tribe
and Wakan was sent away. He was to find the White One again
and form with him a strong bond of friendship." (Horn
Book Mar/47 p.120)
-------and the white buffalo.
I received this book for my 7th birthday in 1944. It was the
story of an Indian boy who found a white buffalo. The first word
in the title was the Indian boy's name I believe it was
something like Tah-Neek-Ah. I think this may have been a
Platt and Munk book.
White Buffalo and Tah-Tank-Ka
by John D. Nicholson, Platt & Munk, 1941?
Ann Lawrence, The Good Little Devil, 1970? sounds as if it might be this?? Know I've
read this, and also know I've read something like the poster is
asking for - but are they one and the same ...?
More on the suggested title - Good
Little Devil, published Macmillan 1978, illustrated
in b/w by Ionicus. "Humorous juvenile novel about an Abbey
choirboy in the Middle Ages." Which would seem to rule it out.
could be The Devil Did It,
written and illustrated by Susan Jeschke, published Holt
1975, 32 pages. "After Mama tells Nana that the devil made
the tangles in her hair, only Grandma believes Nana when she
says that the devil is hiding under her bed. The devil - small
and furry, with curved horns, pointed ears, and long, sharp
nails - gets Nana into a heap of trouble. He puts Papa's socks
in the refrigerator and Cousin Joey's clothes on the dog. But
gradually Nana learns to tolerate, outwit, and even like her
devil - and then he leaves in a huff. As Grandma says
comfortably, 'These demons, that's how they are. They come and
go, come and go ...'" (HB Apr/76 p.149)
L25 Is the girl African American? Seems so
familiar to me... but I haven't got the book right here. The one
I'm thinking of includes an episode where the girl spills a pail
of milk she is carrying home, possibly devil's fault, or
possibly she just blamed him.
Check out the solutions posted on the solved mysteries pages to
see if your book stumper might be Little Witch or
Little Leftover Witch. Possibilities?
Does sound like Little Witch
by Anna Elizabeth Bennett, illustrated by Helen Stone,
published Lippincott 1953. Minikin (Minx) lives with Madame
Snickasnee the witch. At night she has to make Black Spell Brew
while the witch goes out, and is supposed to sleep during the
day. However, she sneaks out and goes to school for the first
time. Her teacher tells her to wear a clean dress next time, but
she only has one, until her friend gives her some clothes.
However, she seems to cry without any difficulty, and I couldn't
find anything in the book about witches not crying (though this
is a point in several other books).
I'm not sure if it is Little Witch.
I've
asked
my
mother, and she seems to think that it is. I am trying to
find a copy at the library to look at so I can confirm it.
Try The Resident Witch.
about
a
little
girl witch who sneaks out and goes to a carnival, makes a friend
and gets into all kinds of trouble! I have it at home, but
can't remember the author.
The lamb story is probably Barbara
Lamb, written and illustrated by Cam,
published Roy 1950, 32 pages "A gay picture-book about
Barbara the lamb whose ambition was to sing so that tears came
into people's eyes. There are colored pictures on every page
filled with the kind of detail that children love. Ages 4-6."
(HB Nov/50 p.466) No guess on the other one, though. "Cam" is
kind of a pain to search online.
a possible for the other story, assuming
that Cam is the right author/illustrator, is The
Story of Buttercup Fairy, written and illustrated by
Cam, published by John Lane Bodley Head, 1946. The second
in this series of picture books (Barbara Lamb
being the first). Pale blue pictorial boards. Bright colourful
pictures every page.
L30 lamb learns to sing: there's another
story on this subject! The Song of Lambert, by Mazo
de la Roche, illustrated by Eileen Soper, published
Macmillan 1955, Little Brown 1956, 51 pages. "The amazing
adventures of a singing lamb, including a hazardous trip to
the South Pole and a return to the farm of his youth."
"Lambert is a little lamb with a lovely song, which very few
can hear." Now to find whether Eileen Soper illustrated a
book about a fat fairy ... Later - couldn't find a fat fairy
book, but she did illustrate a lot of Enid Blyton.
L30 lamb sings: now that I've looked at The
Song of Lambert, I don't think it's the right book.
Lambert is a boy lamb, not female, and he doesn't have to learn
to sing, it is a natural gift. Also he never loses his voice,
though he doesn't sing for a long time after he leaves the farm.
So Barbara Lamb sounds like the better bet, being about a female
lamb who has to learn to sing. Also, Cam's illustrations are
much more distinctive and memorable than Soper's.
Thornton Burgess, The Adventures of
Poor Mrs. Quack.
Mr. Quack is missing, feared dead, during hunting season and Mrs
Quack flees from the"Big River" to the "Smiling Pool." They are,
of course, reunited in the end and all is well. This is a
possibility for your stumper.
I'd suggest The Story About Ping,
by Marjorie Flack, illustrated by Kurt Wiese, published
Viking 1933, about the duckling who runs away and is found
again. But perhaps that's too obvious?
L34 lost duck: Another suggestion, but a
goose rather than a duck, is Rebel by John
Schoenherr, published Penguin/Putnam 1995, 32 pages. "Soft,
realistic watercolors evoke the bleakness of early spring and
its dangers for newborn geese. The illustrations portray an
individualistic gosling going his own way, while the narrative
tells the parents' story of protecting their young from
predators. Although almost abandoned, Rebel is reunited with
his family as they prepare to join other geese at the brooding
ground." (1996 Horn Book review)
L34 lost duck: another is Little Duck
Lost, by Anna Standon, illustrated by Edward
Standon, published Constable 1965, 48 pages. The story is set in
Paris, and French words and phrases are introduced.
L34 lost duck: here's another, probably too
recent - Have You Seen my Duckling? written and
illustrated by Nancy Tafuri, published New York,
Greenwillow 1984, 25 pages, "Cheerful, bright pictures
depict a mother duck's search for an errant duckling."
The Little Wild Ducklings. This book is illustrated in photographs. It's
about a family of ducks going to swim in a big pond. One in
particular is curious and wanders off to explore. He is
frightened by a larger bird but his mother comes to the rescue.
At the end of the book they take a nap. Ends saying "Sleep tight
little wild ducklings!
Mrs. Richard Crowley, Echoes from Niagara: Historical, Political, Personal, 1890. I wonder if this could be it... Mrs. Richard Crowley is how it appears on the title page, but her name was Julia Corbitt Crowley. The book was published by Moulton in Buffalo, NY. I cannot find any details on content, but there are several on the net.
I wonder if this could be the Teenie-Weenies
series of books (don't know the author). In the 50's I know it
was a book series and a comic strip too. The description of the
homes in the vegetable garden sounds pretty typical, and they
did have encounters with small animals/birds/insects. Don't know
if it dates as far back as the 30's.
I've checked out the Teenie-Weenie
series, and that's not them. My garden-town people were more
nursery-tale fantasy types, not so realistic (if you can call
4-inch people that!).
L44 little people vegetable houses: maybe Twinkie
Town
Tales, by Carlyle Emery, llustrated by
Arthur Henderson, published St. Louis, Hamilton-Brown Shoe
Company, 1926 "This delightful book is Book I of the Twinkie
Town Tales, The illustrations of the Twinkies are wonderful. The
Twinkies resemble pudgie little elves or pixies." About 33
pages, 12 full page illustrations, the other pages are also
illustrated.
Riesner, Charles Francis., Little
Inch-high people.
(1937) LC Control Number: 38004096 From the Library of Congress:
Type of Material: Text (Book, Microform, Electronic, etc.) Brief
Description: Riesner, Charles Francis. Little Inch-high people,
by Charles Francis Riesner, illustrated by George Wolfe. New
York, N.Y., Junior progress, inc. [c1937] 9 p. l., 7-97 p.
illus., col. plates. 26 cm. I have an original copy of
this incredible children'\''s story, which included the rich
illustrations your write describes: Read it myself as a child,
and my children loved it as well!
The Little Lost Duck, Little
Golden Book
I pursued that Little Lost Duck
as a Golden Book, but this is not the right story. I had
talked to Strawberry Hill Books and they said that Golden
Books started a little later, perhaps in the 1940's, so my
book request is too early for this. I'm sorry.
Perhaps somebody else will come up with an idea. Thank
you.
Adda Mai Sharp & Epsie Young, Downy
Duck
Grows Up, 1947. I
don't find where Downy Duck winds up at the ocean, but he does
run away and has many adventures, then goes back home.
This is part of the Woodland Frolics Series.
Dr. Almute Grohmann, Dragon Teeth
and Parrot Beaks.
1998. A little chick brushing his beak also sounds like it
could be Richard Scarry or something by Margaret Wise
Brown. Can the customer give any more information?
L52 little chick brushing: maybe Little
Yellow
Chick, by Ian Munn, illustrated by Helen
Adler, Rand-McNally Junior Elf 1961. or Little Chick's
Story by Mary Deball Kwitz, illustrated by
Cindy Szekeres, Scholastic 1978, 32 p.
Charles Perrault's Puss in Boots is almost too
obvious. The original Little Golden Books format was
published in 1959 in an adaptation by Kathryn Jackson and
with illustrations by J.P. Miller. There was also a 1991
version with illustrations by Lucinda McQueen.
L53 Could this be about a bunny
instead of a cat? There is a Little Golden book called Bunny's
New Shoes.
Edith Thacher Hurd , Johnny Lion's
Rubber Boots,
1980s-currently in print. Not a kitten, but a
feline. And the boots are red.
Kathryn Jackson. Author of a
number of picture books with somewhat similar themes, though I
can't identify the particular book
Johnny Gruelle, Eddie Elephant. (1921) There is a picture of
Eddie Elephant, who lives in Jungleville, looking at the field
of 'flowers' (lollypops) shown him by Grandpa Monkey.
Eddie wears a red/white striped outfit, inlcuding a hat.
Other characters in the book are Christopher Crocodile, Alonzo
Alligator, Cousin Katy Kangaroo, Uncle Hippopotamus, the Cocoa
Boy, Mabel Monkey, and Bertram Buffalo (to whom Eddie gives his
shiny new blue bicycle (tricycle) with the bell that goes
"Tinkle, Tinkle.'' It was a "Volland Sunny Book Series"
book. The illustrations are wonderful. I spent many
years thinking it had been a "Babar" book.
Well, there is a Little Witch
book. See W86 above, and more on the Solved
Mysteries
page.
Although Bennett's Little Witch sounds sweet, I'm
really not sure it's the answer. I don't think the little
girl's name was Minx; is there any character in that book named
Lavinia?
Palmer Brown, Beyond the Paw-Paw
Trees or The
Silver Nutmeg, 1954, 1956. Both of these are
extremely long shots and only because the reader seems insistant
that the girl's name is Lavinia, and these are the only books I
can think of where the protagonist is both a young girl and has
the name of Lavinia (or actually "Anna Lavinia"). Beyond
the Paw-Paw Trees: "On the way to visit her Aunt,
little Anna Lavinia has some remarkable adventures." The
Silver Nutmeg: see the Solved Stumper page.
ooooh! I remember this book being mostly
concerned with the fact that mother has to go off to work- just
so happens she's a witch.
Is it a Junior School age
girl, who all she wants to do is go to an ordinary junior school
(which I think was called Fern Tree), like the neighbour’s twins
do? Only she had to go to a junior
school for young witches, where there were a lot of broomsticks
with L plates on in the schoolyard.
If it is that one, there was a “cauldron cookery class” in which she made tomato soup while the others made potions.
At the end of term she got asked to leave to school, and she was pleased (though her mother wasn’t), because then it meant she could go to school with her neighbours children.I don’t know if that is the same one (and I can’t recall the title either), but I thought it might help shed some light on this if you think it might be the same one.
P.L. Travers, Mary Poppins books. Sounds like a Mary Poppins story,
though, if so, I can't identify which one. I think
that "Mary Poppins and the House Next Door"
does involve a visit to the Man in the Moon - I can't remember
if a ladder was involved.
I checked -- Mary Poppins climbs up cloud
stairs, no ladder involved.
Since no one has offered any other
possibilities than Mary Poppins, I wondered if
this could be The
Peculiar Miss Pickett again. I don't remember
the book well enough to know if there's an incident like this,
but Miss Pickett is a magic babysitter... (see more in
M187)
Maybe? Upham, Elizabeth, Illustrated by Marjorie Hartwell.
Little Brown Bear. Platt and Munk Co, 1942
I checked my copies of Little
Brown Bear and Little Brown Bear and His
Friends.
In the latter, he does go on a picnic but there is no monkey or
fish involved. Should probably rule out this series.
L63 My Upham Little brown bear
is c1942; in many ways it sounds like the stumper but doesn't
fit exactly; others listed in the series have even later dates.
Leslie Brooke, Johnny Crow's Garden, etc.. Could be one of this series (Johnny
Crow's Garden; Johnny Crow's Party; Johnny Crow's New
Garden)
Are you positive about the 'Lancelot'
suit? The story I kept coming up with is Have Space
Suit--Will Travel by Robert Heinlein.
It was published in an anthology as well as a book. "A
high school senior wins a space suit in a soap jingle contest,
takes a last walk wearing 'Oscar' before cashing him in for
college tuition, and suddenly finds himself on a space
odyssey."
Fred Saberhagen, Berserker stories. Maybe one of his short stories?
Here is a description of the suit. 'In a sense it was a suit of
armour that provided a life support system, a means of
propulsion and weaponry. When Michel first donned it, Lancelot
had the appearance of gauzy veils surrounding him. As his skills
at using it developed, Lancelot moulded itself closely to his
body, rather like a suit of armour.'
Olde English Fairy Tales. Your
book
sounds
very like one we read as kids called "Olde English Fairy
Tales." I remember a story with a witch in a haystack and
one about creatures called "Yob Yahs" (not sure of the spelling
but that's how we pronounced it.) Yob yahs were small
bipedal creatures with lizard-like tales - their story involved
kidnapping a girl, putting her in a sack. She is rescued by a
kindly hunter who puts his dog into the sack instead.
There was another story about the New Moon, pictured as a young
lovely girl who is tangled in a swamp and slowly taken down by
clinging vines. Very dark stories, not what I would have
put in the Children's Section of the library, which is where we
found it. Read it in the 60's and it was a very old book
then.
Could this be Michelle Magorian's Good
Night,
Mr.
Tom??
Sorry, this is not Goodnight, Mr. Tom.
Barbara Ker Wilson, Last Years Broken
Toys, c. 1964. As
the poster of this stumper says, little to go on, but I wonder
if this might be Last Year's Broken Toys by Barbara Ker
Wilson. I read it as a Peacock Book, which was the teen
imprint for the British Puffin paperback collection. As I
recall - the book is now in my parents' house - this was the
story of a group of girls at high school together in England
during WWII. I'm sure one was Jewish, and I have a
recollection that another was called Florence. I'm pretty
sure one of the girls, or her family members, were killed in an
air raid. As far as I can see, the book in now out of print, but
some UK second-hand booksellers are listing it.
I finally got hold of an old copy of Last Year's Broken
Toys, and that is not the book.
Doris Gates, Blue Willow. Just a possibility; the heroine's name is Janey
Larkin.
Doris Gates, Blue Willow, 1941. The main character in Blue Willow is
Janey Larkin. She's the daughter of a cattle rancher who
lost everything in the Dust Bowl and now travels the country as
a migrant worker.
Gates, Doris, Blue Willow. In "Blue Willow" the main character is a
young girl named Janey Larkin(or Larken.) The book takes
place in the '30s and Janey is the daughter of migrant workers
whose prized possession is a plate with the blue willow
pattern. She longs for a permanent home.
Is it possible her name was "Lark"?
There is a young-adult book by that title, by Sally Watson,
about a girl in 17th-c. England who must make her way across
country to her family during a period of war and upheaval.
She meets a young man (?named James?) and travels with him. Just
a thought.
Patricia MacLachlan, Baby. Could this possibly be it? It's
about a 12 year old girl named Larkin who finds a baby on their
doorstep. A Yearling book.
I posted this one. I am certain the girl's first name was
Larkin! I also think it was a more contemporary setting, but I
could be wrong. thanks for the suggestions! Might be the
book titled Baby. I'll see if my library has it.
Springer, Nancy, LARQUE ON THE WING, 1994. A long shot, as this is much newer
than has been suggested and a novel rather than a chapter
book. OTOH, it does feature a protagonist first-named
Larque, and is a decidedly free-wheeling yarn gender issues are
a large part of the subject matter.
Dare Wright, The Lonely Doll, 1957. This one is still hanging on at
our public library, and is the only one I've seen matching this
description.
I have to disagree with the suggestion: The Lonely
Doll is very American, and does not involve a doll
house. It is, however, illustrated with black and white
photographs.
Rumer Godden wrote six or seven books
from the doll-house point of view, and this could be any of
them: The
Doll's House, The Fairy Doll, Four Dolls, Miss Happiness and
Miss Flower, The Old Woman Who Lived in a Vinegar Bottle,
The Story of Holly and Ivy, Little Plum, Mouse House, The
Mousewife, The Rocking Horse Secret, Tottie The Story of a
dolls' House.
Could this possibly be Miss Kambeitz'
Doll at the Hot Dog Show, by Albert Szabo?
Eleanor Estes, The Witch Family, ca 1960. This might be it. There's
a picture in it of a little girl sitting drawing by a
window.
L92 I think this might be it. This paperback
cover has the old witch-like lady walking with her cane in front
of an old Victorian house with a veranda. No one is in the
window, but the story refers to glimpses people got of her at
the window.
York, Carol Beach. The witch lady
mystery.
illus by Ethel Gold Scholastic, 1976. When
Oliver rakes the leaves in Mrs Prichard¹s yard, will he find out
if she is really a witch?
L92 This sounds like THE LITTLE
LEFTOVER WITCH by Florence Laughlin, 1960.
It definitely has a yellow cover and is a fun read. ~from a
librarian
Laughlin, The Little Leftover
Witch,The book you mention is the Little
Leftover Witch who is stuck in a tree and leftover
from Halloween. She lives with people, combs her hair,
sleeps in a closet at first, then a bed, is mean to the cat, and
I can'\''t remember much more. I read is over 25 years ago
at least 30 times.
Thank you - have been on your Web site several hours already
today searching ALL pages for even the slightest connection to
my vague recollection of this story/book. Indeed, am out
there at this very moment. Will be most eager to see if I get
any hints. What Happened to George seems to be
built on much the same premise but I very much remember this
being a story about a little boy not a pig.
Yes, I thought of that one too, but George is definately a
pig. There's Fat Cat by Jack Kent
too, but again, that's a cat, not a boy.
Am doing a search on Web in general at the moment – a search on
peppermint – for some reason this very, very cob-webby notion
that the little boy ate peppermint has suddenly come to
light. Could it be I’ve set the rusty wheels of time in
motion and they are slowly grinding away to help me uncover this
childhood story? I think your Web-site is truly a delight
– I ran across several little story books that I had forgotten,
stories read long ago but what warm memories they evoked!
Thank you for providing such a great service!!
Hugh Lofting, The Crazy Story of
Dizzy Lizzie, 1953??,
reprint. This stumper reminded me strongly of Dizzy
Lizzie, whose story I encountered in Volume 4 of a
1953 CHILDREN'S HOUR set (the indicia in that volume says that
Lofting first published it in Child Life Magazine, but gives no
date). In some respects the match is very good -- a major
episode does involve Lizzie flying about as a human balloon, and
the illustrations (done by Lofting) show a person in a red and
white striped shirt. In others the match isn't close at
all -- Lizzie is a girl, not a boy, and the balloon incident
arises because she's previously been flattened by a steamroller,
and is then accidentally mailed to Persia where the King has her
inflated. And I don't think there's any peppermint
anywhere. However, the parts that match are close enough
to be intriguing, particularly Lofting's illustrations, in which
Lizzie might well be mistaken for a boy.
Wonder if this could possibly be Charlie
&
the Chocolate Factory -the scene where the chubby
boy overeats during Willie Wonka's tour of the candy factory?
The boy who overeats in Charlie and
the Chocolate Factory doesn't float away in the air
he falls into the chocolate river and goes up a pipe.
Tall book
of make believe. I know this book has
appeared in the past on this website. I suggest it as a
possible solution to this question because of the way our mind
plays tricks on us. In this book, The Tall Book of
Make Believe, there are two stories that might have
coalesced in the reader's memory. One is about a little
boy who gets given a magic lollipop that gets bigger and bigger
the more he sucks on it, and he, consequently, gets fatter and
fatter, until he finally gives his now giant lolly to the
candystore owner to use as a sign for the store. In the
same book is a story about a town that is called the village of
creampuffs, or something like that, and it is only attached to
the earth by some sort of tether ropes, or it would float away.
L101 Just a side note: in searching this on
Google, I learned that in the year 1305, King Edward I, placed a
duty on licorice sales, which went to help finance the repair of
London Bridge.
There's a nice Peter Spier book
version of the folk song, titled London Bridge is Falling
Down,
but it wasn't published until 1967. No lemon drops or
licorice sticks.
Don't know the name yet. I am still
looking for the title, but it is a short story. I will keep
looking.
Vivien Alcock, The Whisperer. (1987) This short story is in Ms
Alcock's collection "Ghostly Companions."
Key, Theodore, So'm I, illustrated by Frank Owen. NY Dutton
1954. I wonder if it might be this one (also on the Solved
pages) about a knock-kneed and bow-legged horse who becomes a
champion steeplechaser. The authors were cartoonists, and the
book is illustrated in cartoon-style.
Solotareff,
Gregoire, Theo and Balthazar Captured by Pirates, 1986. The 1986 edition is an
English-language translation of a French book, presumably
written earlier. Could you possibly have read it in an
earlier translation (or even in the original French) in the
early 1980's? Here is a synopsis from the Library of
Congress catalog: "While exploring a lighthouse, Theo and
Balthazar fall into the clutches of evil pirates but escape with
the help of friendly dolphins". Another possibility might
be The Lighthouse Kids and the Oyster Pirates by
Lionel A. Hunt (1953),
but I do not know the plot of that one. Of course, there
is always Jules Vernes' book The Lighthouse at
the End of the World, but that one is about a grown
man trying to evade pirates who have taken over the remote
lighthouse he is stationed at on an island near South America,
not about a boy.
Here are some more details: I've been looking for a book
from my childhood about a kid that lives in a
lighthouse who is captured by pirates? It was lavishly
illustrated, in a million details sort of way. I recall lots
of fishing poles out the windows of the lighthouse,
and an illustration of big fish eating medium fish
eating smaller fish under the sea. The kid lived in a
lighthouse, gets captured by pirates, and makes it back home in
the end. it is illustrated in (I think it's called) the
clear line style, that is solid color areas bordered by thin
black outlines. the lighthouse had all kinds of windows out of
which were many fishing rods going into the sea. I see the
pirates in the hold of the ship with big barrels stacked
sideways. We see underwater at some point, the kid may be diving
(not sure) but the classic fish food chain image is illustrated
there - the big fish eating a smaller fish to about six or seven
levels. it's an oversize book. It was in color color with
lots of intriguing details, over the top illustration and I
would have read it pre-1983
I don't feel it is any of the titles
you suggested. I can confirm that it is full of lavish
illustrations, oversized, and pre-1983 (but no earlier than mid
70's), with the plot involving a boy captured by pirates. I can
also add that there were many images of hanging fish, from shops
and rooftops. (This "weirdness" is similar to the many fishing
poles leaning out of the lighthouse windows)
E. E
Libenzi, Robin and the
Pirates,
May 1975. I have been looking for this book as well. I have a
copy that is so worn it no longer has the cover. I am almost 99%
positive this is the book you are looking for.
Farley, Walter, Little Black a Pony, 1961. Beginner Books: When a small boy
graduates from his little pony to a big horse, the pony is sad
until the time comes when he is able to do something the big
horse cannot do. Walter Farley of of Black Stallion
Fame
Walter Farley, Little Black, A Pony. I'm pretty sure this is the one.
Little Black gets his foot caught in a tree, Big Red is too
heavy for the ice and falls through, so Little Black must help.
. .I had the book as a child, and your stumper actually jogged
MY memory. I am now searching for a copy of Little
Black, A Pony. I hope this is the one you're
thinking of!
Condition Grades |
Farley, Walter. Little Black, A Pony. Illustrated by James Schucker. Random House Beginner Books, 1961. Book Club edition. Edges bumped and crayon name on front endpapers, otherwise VG. $8 |
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Levoy, Myron, The Witch of Fourth
Street and Other Stories,
1972. This book contains stories about children from
different ethnic backgrounds in a New York neighborhood during
the early 20th century the story that stands out in my
memory is the one about Vincent the Good, a little Italian boy
who never gets into trouble.
Angelo Valenti, Big Little Island, 1955. Probably not it, but just to rule
it out... Lorenzo is a war orphan who comes to live with
family in New York. The uncle is a baker, and allows the boys to
help make eclairs. There is another episode where Lorenzo and
his cousin buy a cartwheel-sized pizza with 'the works'.
HRL: Same as L12 in the archives, for which a answer was
proposed as Animal Bedtime Stories, but still no
author or publisher information.
M. M. Kaye, The Ordinary Princess,
1980? I don't have The
Ordinary Princess here with me to check, but I know
the princess's room was lavender and I'm pretty sure it had
fabric pinned up too. However, apparently the book wasn't
published until 1980, so it may not be what you're thinking of.
Janette Sebring Lowrey, The Poky
Little Puppy, 1942.
This was a Little Golden Book. The Poky Little Puppy was very
mischievous, but I can't remember if he ever ate an Indian
headdress. It might be the LGB My Puppy by Patricia
Scarry, too - that puppy definitely ate things.
The book you describe is definitely NOT
The Poky Little Puppy! There are no Indian
headdresses in that book. The poky puppy escapes under the
fence (repeatedly) with the other puppies. In the end, the
poky puppy misses dessert and so decides not to escape under the
fence ever again.
Scally, Kevin, The Story of Red
Riding Hood ~ The Magic Road, 1984, approximately. Hi there! I'm glad
I actually found one of the books that your readers have posted.
This is definately one of the "Magic Road" books written by
Kevin Scally...I just finished reading "The Three Bears" version
to my son. It is like a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure and the tabs
are Yellow, Red, Blue, Purple, Green and Black.
Thank you so much for the help. This will make a great
Christmas present as my sister recieved it from our late uncle a
long time ago. Unfortunately a fire claimed this book, but
thanks to your site and the help from the Internet Friends, the
book has been identified properly.
Barbara Brenner, Amy's Doll. Maybe? I've never seen this book but I
know it has black and white photographs of a girl who has to
take her beloved doll Sarah Jane to a doll hospital in New York
after she gets left outside and damaged.
My father claims he remembers this book as
being called "caroline's doll" or something along
those lines. He also remembers a fox being in it. Apparently it
teases the little girl as she tries to get her doll to the
hospital. I haven't been able to find any images to confirm this
as yet, or indeed anyone who's heard of the book.
Pam Conrad, Stonewords: A Ghost
Story, 1990. It's
been a while since I read the book, but based on my memories and
the School Library Journal review, I think L162 is Stonewords.
Another book where a girl befriends a ghost with a similar name
is Mary Downing Hahn's Wait Till Helen Comes,
but it's probably not your book because the girl doesn't try to
save the ghost in fact the ghost tries to kill the girl!
Conrad, Pam, Stonewords, 1990. I'm sure this poster is looking
for Stonewords. Zoe is the contemporary girl, and Zoe
Louise is the ghost from the past. The passage way of time
is the staircase in the house both girls lived in. The two
girls are ghosts in each other's lives, and Zoe helps prevent a
tragedy in Zoe Louise's life, bringing the haunting to an end.
Pam Conrad, Stonewords: A Ghost Story. Think this is the book...my daughter who
is now 20 read and re-read it perhaps 8 to 10 years ago.
Conrad, Pam, Stonewords: a ghost story, 1990. "Zoe discovers
that her house is occupied by the ghost of an eleven-year-old
girl, who carries her back to the day of her death in 1870 to
try to alter that tragic event." I seem to remember the
ghost decaying towards the end and trying to trade places with
Zoe - but maybe I'm combining to books in my memory.
Pam Conrad, Stonewords. This might be the one--a little girl,
Zoe, becomes friends with another Zoe who died in her house, at
her age, and she tries to save her. Ghost-Zoe doesn't exactly
get weaker, but towards the end she slowly starts decaying.
Pam Conrad, Stone Words. This book sounds very like your
description. Zoe comes to live with her grandparents and
meets Zoe Louise, a ghost from the past. Zoe Louise visits
with her over the course of years and Zoe eventually is able to
go back in time to be a "ghost" at Zoe Louise's house. She
returns to the present, finds out how Zoe Louise died and is
able to prevent her death (in a fire at a birthday party).
There is a sequel- "Zoe Rising".
L162 Sounds like it could be STONEWORDS
by Pam Conrad. The girl and the ghost are both named
Zoe.~from a librarian
Mary Downing Hahn, The Doll in the
Garden. (1990,
reprint) This is another possibility. Ashley follows
a white cat back in time and meets Louisa, a girl who is dying
and who longs for her beloved doll--a doll that Ashley and her
friend Kristi have found buried in their landlord's garden. In
the end Ashley, Kristi, and their landlord visit Louisa the
woman is able to make amends with her childhood friend.
The time frame is right, and Louisa was dying from consumption,
which matches the poster's info that the ghost kept looking
sicker/weaker every time they met.
Lammie. There are several Lammie books. In one Lammie does get mistaken as a ghost, he also eats some horseradish from the garden and does a hilarious dance of a pumpkin.
Hughes, Shirley, Alfie's Feet, 1983. I think this is the book. The boots
are yellow.
Alfie's Feet from the
collection All About Alfie by Shirley Hughes?
Unada (or Unada, Gliewe), Ricky's
Boots, 1970. It could be Alfie's Feet,
although I don't think it ever actually rains in that
story--Alfie and Annie Rose just go stomping through puddles and
so on (and he ends up wearing his new boots on the wrong
feet). But if the book could be a bit older, you might try
Ricky's Boots it's set in the U.S., not England, but
it is a big-city wet-day boots story as well. "..one
drippy day Ricky isn't allowed out to play. His old boots are
too small..". I don't remember if there was a sister in
it. Or if the child could possibly have been a girl,
there's Umbrella, by Taro Yashima.
Margery Bianco, A Street of Little
Shops. This
sounds a lot like a book my mother had as a child--A
Street of Little Shops. Each story was about one
shop. In one, the snooty baker's daughter is invited to a
birthday party, and she brings the splendid cake from the bakery
window, not knowing that it's a fake for display only. There was
a story about a woman who made horses for hats, and one about a
man permanently stuck in a hardware store because he couldn't
remember what he wanted, and I think one about a cigar store
indian.
L171 Before I checked on A street of
Little Shops, I got out Bianco's Other
people's houses because "houses" sounded closer to
the scenario, but it was not close at all. Then I got out
Little Shops
and I feel it doesn't match, either, but GUESS WHAT - the
ice cream shop is run by MR MURDLE!
Richardson, Cynthia, Susie Cucumber,
she writes letters. (1944)
Susie
Cucumber
is a fox terrier that learns to write letters. Illustrated by
Roberta Paflin. Attached to the back endpaper is a bag which
once contained writing paper and an addressed, stamped envelope
for the child to start a correspondence with Susie Cucumber.
Cynthia Richardson, Susie Cucumber
she writes letters.
(1944) You don' say how old the book is, but if it's old
this is a possibility. (Roberta Paflin, illus.
/ Juvenile audience [60] p. illus. / New York, S. Gabriel
sons & company / subject:dogs)
Konigsberg, E.L., From the
Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. See solved mysteries
Locked in museum - Could be From the Mixed-Up
Files
of
Mrs.
Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg.
Just a note, the children in From the
Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler evaded
security guards to live in an art museum for a length of time (a
week, I believe) and encounter a mystery relating to a statue
that is possibly a Michelangelo. If the kids your stumper
is about were accidentally locked in, this wouldn't be the book.
Baum, Thomas, It Looks Alive to Me! (1976, approx) Could it be "It
Looks Alive to Me!" In this one, a teenage boy is
accidentally locked in the Museum of Natural History overnight.
There's a weird moon rock that brings the exhibits to life, and
they have to survive until they can get out in the
morning. There's a girl too, but I can't remember if she's
a classmate or if she's one of the exhibits come to life and he
doesn't realize it. Anyway, it might be worth checking
out.
Leaf, Munro, Gordon the Goat. (1944) This is the book. Gordon went everywhere with the herd, even following them into a twister!
Arthur Dorros, Isla.(1995) This seems to fit your description,
but the copywrite is later. Rosalba and Abuela fly through
sunny skies until they smell "aire tropical" and see the island
that Abuela calls "mi esmeralda" sparkling in the ocean below.
Rosalba visits with her relatives, travels to the rain forest
and samples the local plantains, papayas and pineapples before
it'\''s time to head back to New York City.
Rosalie Fry, Bumblebuzz. (1938) Cover is yellow, shows a bumblebee
with a red "hobo-pack" (bandana tied on the end of a stick) over
his shoulder, walking through grass with a ladybug. Looks
like they might be holding hands? Rosalie Fry also wrote a
book called "Ladybug! Ladybug!" in 1940. The cover of this
book shows (at top) two ladybugs running toward one another, and
the main picture is of a white house with a red cone-shaped tile
roof. Unfortunately, these books are long out-of-print,
hard to find, and very expensive.
Zilpha Keatley Snyder, Below the Root, 1975, approximately. Could this be the beginning of the Green Sky Trilogy? Below the Root is about a race of people who live under the giant trees of a forest. There's another race who live in the branches of the trees. The trilogy is about how the two peoples come together. (And, er, you do know that stealing from libraries is wrong? If you took it, it couldn't become someone else's favorite book.)
Mary Whitcomb, Tee-Bo the Incredible Talking Dog in The Great Hort Hunt. Tee-Bo the talking dog and the children who own him find a piece of lapis lazuli that, among other things, allows them to travel behind a waterfall to the homeland of the magical, elflike Horts, and assist them in saving their way of life.
Frances Hodgson Burnett, Sara Crewe
Burnett, Frances Hodgson, A Little
Princess. Could
this possibly be the book you're looking for? I have a
copy from 1967 - the cover is yellow and has a painting of Sara
standing sideways wearing a pink dress with a huge bow in her
hair. It is illustrated by Stewart Sherwood. I see
the edition that is illustrated by Tasha Tudor in bookstores all
the time, and I never see my edition, which is perhaps why the
original requestor didn't remember the book.
This story sounds like The Little
Princess, or A Little Princess. The
little girl gets sent to a boarding school while her dad, a
British army captain, is away in India. She is forced to become
a servant. In the end her dad comes back, or some friend of her
dad's adopts her and takes her away from the bad school.
In case this is indeed A Little
Princess, I want to make a correction to the above
poster's comment: Sara Crewe's father dies in India, no matter
what some movie versions would have you think. The man
who adopts her at the end is her father's best friend.
L194 Having sold this
book, I can't check on the story, but my subject
headings are: Mammoth Cave; caves ; Kentucky - juvenile
fiction - for River
in the dark by Jean Speiser, part of
Your Fair Land series
Mary Cunningham, The Witch's Spoon. There is a scene really similar to this in The
Witch's Spoon, which was published in the 1970s. Lauren
and Tom are staying at their grandmother's house with their
Italian cousin. At one point during the story, they decide
to do something they've always wanted to do but have never been
allowed to. Lauren's activity is catching a baby owl and
Tom's is exploring the caves by the ocean/sea. He nearly
runs out of matches while he's lost in the cave and at one point
has to slither back on his stomach.
I'm looking for the same book, I'm sure. I
read it at about the same age, probably 4th grade, in about
1975. A couple things I remember: darkness, the main character
was alone in the dark for a very long time. There was a huge
cliff in the cave that he came close to falling off at one
point. It seems that the kids--they were probably about 13-16
yrs old--knew something about caving.. they didn't just
accidentally end up in there. They even knew the cave, I think.
It seems that they knew the names of the formations. This book
was *really* scary. Keep thinking the title was something like "To
strike
a match" or "A light in the dark".. I'm sure I
would recognize the title and it's not either of the ones
suggested here so far.
Bryce
Walton, Cave of Danger. This sounds like the book "Cave of Danger" by Bryce Walton, about a boy named Matt (an amateur spelunker) who
searches for and discovers a cave and decides to explore it by
himself, only to get lost. His friend, Spotty, and his
enemy, Kurt, both end up in the cave searching for him-- one
ends up falling into the underground river.
Eugenie, Wickedishrag1968, Cute story about naughty princess Gwendel,
who likes to pretend to be a witch and frighten people, until
one day she is mistaken for a real witch. She must learn to be
good before she can become a princess again. See solved
mysteries for more info.
Eugenie, Wickedishrag. Look on the solved pages for more info
but I'm pretty sure this is the title you're looking for.
Condition Grades |
Eugenie. Wickedishrag. illus by Eugenie. C R Gibson Stardust Books, 1968. dust jacket has large taped tear on rear, and a little edgewear; cloth and pages very good. [SQ29267] <SOLD> |
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That's not a lot of clues... but Mei Li by Thomas
Handforth won the Caldecott in 1939, so it's pretty
famous. Start with the famous, and work your way down..
Mei Li is about a girl, and
it isn't a chapter book...
Elleanor Lattimore, Little Pear, 1955, reprint. Could this be Little
Pear: The Story of a Little Chinese Boy? The 2005 reprint
lists this as the summary: The adventures of Little Pear, a
mischievous five-year-old boy living in China in the early
1900s. Little Pear is a young boy who lives in a small village
in China. Although his story takes place long ago, he is much
like any little boy today--always on the lookout for excitement
and adventure! Little Pear is just looking for fun, but he has a
knack for finding trouble without even trying! Join him as he
stows away to the fair in a wheelbarrow full of vegetables,
nearly flies away on a kite, has a mishap with a firecracker,
and is rescued from the river by a houseboat family.
Meindert DeYoung, House of Sixty
Fathers, 1957,
approximately. A long shot, but might it be Meindert
DeJong's Newbery honor title, House of Sixty Fathers?
The story begins with Tien Pao in his family's sampan with his
ducklings and pig this occurs during the Japanese invasion
of China in WWII. An accident sets the boat afloat and
sends Tien Pao back into Japanese territory, from which he must
start a journey looking for his family and safety.
Not too likely, but one more river
story. Creekmore, Raymond Little
Fu
illus by Raymond Creekmore Macmillan
c1947. Little Fu’s description of his voyage down
the river with his father to sell their tea gives us a picture
that part of Chinese life; large lithographs add to the
picture
syd hoff, I should have stayed in
bed
I checked the book posted, but it's not the one. I am 48
now and I read the book in the late 60's or early 70's when I
was in grade school. There definitely was a passage in the
book about the little boy shopping for a gift on his way to
school. I remember he had to settle for a little box of
chocolates because he only had so much money. If anyone
else has more suggestions, please reply.
O'Dell, Scott, Island of the
Blue Dolphins,1961.I hope this is what you're
looking for. It's a wonderful book. Scott O'Dell won
the Newbery Medal for this in 1961, and in 1976 the Children's
Literature Association named this story one of the 10 best
American children's books of the past 200 years.
Peter Benchley, The Girl of
the Sea of Cortez. Worth a look, if just to rule it
out. There is a giant manta ray...
Rosemary E. Livsey (editor), A,
B,
C: Go!,1962. A long shot, but might this be the one
you're looking for? It is the first volume of "Collier's
Junior Classics - The Young Folks Shelf of Books" and contains
many nursery rhymes, poems, and stories, including "There Was a
Crooked Man," but not "Big Rock Candy Mountain." I'm
pretty sure these books have been re-printed a time or two, and
there may have been a soft-cover edition. (Mine is
hardcover, and each book in the 10-book set is a different
color.) The books contain works by many different authors and
illustrators. A lot of the illustrations are black-and-white,
but there are also some full-color, and quite a few
black-and-white accented with some other color, including a
brownish shade, also yellow, pink, blue, and/or green. The
reason this book springs to mind is the story about the little
cakes or cookies. This might be "The Funny Thing" by Wanda
Gag, about a kindly old man named Bobo who provided good things
to eat to all the little birds and animals. One day a
"Funny Thing" (drawn to look sort of dragon-ish) arrived at his
cave, looking for something to eat. The Funny Thing wasn't
interested in any of the foods Bobo offered, and said that he
preferred to eat children's dolls, which of course would make
the children cry. So Bobo whipped up a batch of little
balls which he called "jum-jills" and convinced the Thing to eat
them, to make his tail grow longer and his blue points more
beautiful. The Thing liked the jum-jills so much that he never
ate any more dolls, and as his tail grew longer, he settled atop
a mountain where Bobo had the jum-jills delivered daily by
birds. Another story about little cakes in the same book
is "The Poppy Seed Cakes" by Margery Clark, about a little boy
who is supposed to keep an eye on some poppy-seed cakes that his
aunt had baked, but instead bounces up and down on the feather
bed. A goose comes to take back the feathers from the bed,
claiming that they are his, and eats all the poppy seed
cakes. In the end, he explodes from eating so many cakes,
and Andrewshek's auntie tells him that he will soon have some
nice feather pillows to go with his bed. Other stories in
this book include The Velveteen Rabbit, Angus and the Cat, Kiki
Dances, Evie and the Wonderful Kangaroo, Rosa-Too-Little,
Susanna's Auction, The Five Chinese Brothers, and The Little Old
Woman who Used her Head.
Could this be hope for the flowers:
by Trina Paulus? In it a unhappy caterpillar becomes a
happy butterfly. I think it was from the late sixties. My hippie
parents liked it more than I did.
Dom DeLuise, Charlie the
Caterpillar, 1993. illus. Christopher Santoro.We
had this book and recognize the picture of the caterpillar.
nope, but thank you. neither of these
books are "the one". thanks
I think this may be Tim and Ginger,
one of Edward Ardizzzone's books as both author and
illustrator. I just located these books for myself within
the last two months since discovering the Book Stumpers
database. It is set in England (although there is a definite
French "feel" to the pictures) with distinctive watercolor and
black and white illustrations. Ginger is a boy, but you
might remember his name as a girl's name. (As I did.) He
is careless and gets trapped in the ocean bay on a sandbar at
high tide. There is a great illustration of him standing
with just his head out of the waves, as Tim approaches in a
small boat to rescue him. Once you see the illustrations
you will know immediately if it is the book you want, they are
very much the author's own style, very memorable. This is
a picture book, and there are several written about Tim and his
adventures in a seaside town. I hope this helps! I'd
been thinking about this same book since kindergarten!
Napoli, Adventure at
Mont-Saint-Michel, 1966. This is about a French
girl who gets trapped in the sand near Mont-Saint-Michel when
the tide comes in-- and I remember that the illustrations look
very water-colory.
Patricia Coombs, Dorrie series,
1974. This description sounds
like the series of books about Dorrie, a young witch, first
published in the early 70's. Coombs wrote Dorrie
and the Blue Witch, Dorrie and the Goblin,
Dorrie and the Amazing Magic Elixir, and so on.
There must be roughly 15 Dorrie books. They were my
daughter's favorites.
Marian Place, The Resident
Witch, 1970. This reminds me a bit of The
Resident Witch (see solved mysteries under "R" for
more details). Witcheena does wear long striped stockings,
polka-dotted underwear, a ragged brown skirt and blouse, a
pointed hat, and long pointed witch shoes with big
buckles. She can be pretty, when she combs her hair and
cleans herself up, as she does when trying to pass as a normal
human to have fun at the carnival. The illustrations are
black-and-white sketches (pen and ink) by Marilyn Miller. This
doesn't quite match up with the isolation you describe.
Witcheena lives with her aunt, but she is a bit lonely until she
makes a human friend (Nancy) at the carnival.
Patricia Coombs, various titles about
Dorrie. Could you mean Dorrie? Patricia
Coombs wrote several titles about her for beginning
readers. Her stockings never matched and were often slipping
down. She does not live alone but with a mother and aunt-type
witch, but she has most of her adventures on her own or with her
black cat, whose name escapes me.
Coombs, Patricia, Dorrie. This
sounds
like
the
series of books about Dorrie the little witch. She lives with
her mother the Big Witch and wears a black hat and dress and
stripped stockings. More about his series (including some of the
illustrations) may be found here:
etc.
Eleanor Estes, The
Witch Family.
Nearly forgot about this, but could it be the Witch
Family? The little girl does dress in witchy fashion,
all in black, but generally acts like a normal little girl,
albeit one with a few special skills. She lives with the mother
figure of Old Witch, and gets a baby sister; she later befriends
two little human girls. For some reason the human girls have
power over the Old Witch, "banquishing" her to keep her out of
trouble, the Little Witch is for her company.
Virginia Lee Burton , The
Little House, 1943. I suspect this stumper may be
The Little House by Virginia Burton, originally published in
1943. I grew up in the 1960s and 1970s and read this as a child.
The little house loses its family and the city grows up around
it. In the end, it is moved into the country and gets a new
family to love it and make it look happy once again.
Virginia Lee Burton, The
Little House (Her Story), 1942. A country house is
unhappy when the city, with all its buildings and traffic, grows
up around her." Caldecott winner in 1943, reprinted 1969,
1978, 1988, and back in print again.
Virginia Lee Burton, The
Little House, 1943. I suspect this stumper may be The
Little House by Virginia Burton, originally
published in 1943. I grew up in the 1960s and 1970s and read
this as a child. The little house loses its family and the city
grows up around it. In the end, it is moved into the country and
gets a new family to love it and make it look happy once again.
Virginia Lee Burton, The
Little House, 1978, reprint. Could this be a
possibility? It was written decades ago but remains in
print. The cover is different, but I believe there's a
picture within the book matching your description. I read
it at the local bookstore sometime within the last year as I
searched for books for my nephew who was due to be born. I
also recall an old cartoon based on a similar story.
This book, as described, is probably NOT
"The Little House" by Virginia Lee Burton. The Burton book is a
regular hard cover Caldecott Award book (not a Golden-type book)
about a little house in the country, who lives through the
seasons, wonders about living in the city, is eventually
overtaken by the city, then abandoned as skyscrapers grow up
around her. Eventually, she is discovered by relatives of
the original owner, finally move her back to the country, where
she is happy and lived in again. The cover has a picture
of the happy little house (curving steps somewhat resemble a
smile), with a tree on each side and a smiling sun above. The
copyright date for The Little House is 1942.
Jacqueline Jackson, The Taste of
Spruce Gum, 1966.
Could this be the book? In 1903, Libby Fletcher, about 10,
moves from Illinois to Vermont a year after her father
dies. Her mother is going to marry Libby's father's
brother, Uncle Charles, who runs the family lumber camp.
Libby struggles with adjusting to her new father and new
surroundings. My first-edition copy has a yellow cover and
not a red one.
Annie Roe Carr, Nan Sherwood
at Pine Camp. Could it possibly be Nan
Sherwood at Pine Camp (also named The Old
Lumberman's Secret)? I had a different Nan
Sherwood book, handed down from my mother and grandmother,
and it did have a red cover. This book is available through
Project Gutenberg, if you want to check the text.
Walter and Marion Havighurst, Song of
the Pines, 1949. Is she
sure that the main character was a girl? Because if it was
a boy named Nils, it could be Song of the Pines.
It was a Newbury Honor Book in 1950, so it's probably gone
through multiple printings.
Ida DeLage, Weeny Witch, 1968, copyright. Sounds like this one,
if she turns out to have been a fairy child who had been
kidnapped by witches and raised as one of them. The birthmark on
her hand establishes her identity as a fairy. See solved
mysteries for more details.
Weeny Witch? See Solved
Mysteries.
Barbara Robinson, The Best Christmas
Pageant Ever, 1972,
copyright. This is the first thing that came to mind. From
the net: "The Herdmans are absolutely and without question the
worst kids in the entire history of the world. They are guilty
of evey unmentionable childhood crime and have thought of more
than a few original ones. When they take over the church
Christmas pageant (although none of them has ever attended
church, much less heard the Christmas story before), the first
Christmas becomes new and real in some pretty surprising ways."
Here's a bit more information about L224:
The Christmas book would have come out in the 60s and it
involved a little girl angel who was very sad because she
accidentally broke a stained glass window in a church with a
piece of ice/snow. Maybe this will help.
Vardon, Beth, Wonderful Window, reprint. I had this book as a child and
it can now be purchased as a reprint. It is illustrated by Charlot
Byi. If you wish to check and see if this is the one you
remember, look here:
http://www.grandmas-attic.com/children_books.html.
Sarah Eberle, Jan Brown illus, What
Is Love? 1975,
copyright. You may have the right book, but just the wrong
version. Eberle's
book has been reprinted several times, with more than one
illustrator. (Jan Brown, Angela Jarecki, and Tammie
Speer are the three I can find.) I would suggest
looking at the Jan Brown version from 1975 - I think
this is a Happy Day Book, published by the Standard Publishing
Company. The front cover of this one shows a little girl in a
red and white heart-printed dress, kneeling on a rug, holding
her baby brother's hands and helping him to walk. There are a
ball and teddy bear on the rug beside her, and behind them is a
window with two pots of red geraniums on the sill, and a puffy
curtain. The style of the artwork reminds me a bit of
Holly Hobby.
Well, I *think* the 1975 version
of the book "What Is Love?"
could very well be the right one. The "Holly Hobbie"
reference to the illustrations sounds correct. However,
I'm having an INCREDIBLY difficult time finding a picture
anywhere. Everytime I try to come up with that version, I
end up with pictures of the 1980 golden book-type version
instead. So I'm not gonna say this is definitely solved
yet until I can find a picture of it *somewhere*. But it's
definitely looking promising. Thanks!
Sesyle Joslin, The Night They Stole
the Alphabet, 1968,
copyright. Illustrated by Enrico Arno.
Harcourt, Brace & World, 1968. While Victoria is
sleeping, someone steals the alphabet from her wallpaper.
She goes off on an almost Alice-in-Wonderland type search to
find the missing letters.
Arlera
Richardson,
In Grandmas Attic, More
Stories from Grandmas Attic,
and Still
More Stories from Grandmas Attic, 1974, copyright.
These collections of short stories give the feel of being
written in the past, I dont remember all of the tales, but the
party one you described sounds familiar to me. Id guess
the story you are looking for is in one of these books.
Thank you for your suggestion. I'm afraid it is not the book I'm looking for, but it looks like a great book series! :)
Coombs, Patricia, Dorrie books. This sounds like one of the
Dorrie books by Patricia Coombs, but I cant pin down the
title.
Coombs,
Dorrie Series. Im
not sure, but your request (especially the striped stockings)
made me think of this long-running series. look here for a
description of all the books as well as some sample
illustrations.
Place,
Marian T, The Witch Who Saved
Halloween, 1940. This book is a possibility, although its about a boy
(warlock), not a girl (witch). The main character is named
Witchard. Witchard'\''s parents have flown away to find a
new planet for witches to live on, because Earth is getting too
polluted. Witchard is left in the care of his aunt and
grandmother, and they live together in a thicket by a
stream. Witchards broom is enchanted so that he cant fly
too far from home unsupervised, and he "fights" with the broom
at one point. He eventually goes out and explores the
human world, makes friends, and gets people to cooperate with
witches on cleaning up pollution so witches can stay on
Earth. If this is the book, you might mistakenly remember
the character as female because Witchard had to wear a brown
dress until he passed a certain level in his warlock training
and graduated to a green warlock suit. I think there may have
been illustrations of him in a dress and striped stockings.
Ive looked at the Dorrie
series and the drawings do not look familiar - were they ever
drawn by a different illustrator? If
not them Im afraid thats not my book.
Jane Yolen, The Witch Who Wasnt, 1974, approximate.This might be the book
youre thinking of dont be fooled by the similarly titled Meredith,
the Witch Who Wasnt.
Otfried
Preussler, The Little Witch. In one of the episodes in this
book, the big witches have taken the little Witch'\''s broom
away so she has to buy another one and break it in. While it is
trying to run away with her she tears her apron on the weather
vane.
L258:
"little man" doll and
bell in title
Hi!
I am 42 and I used to read an old book in my public library as
a girl that had bell in the title and it was about a little
girl who had a doll called "little man". I don't
remember
much more except her doll sat next to her in church and
eventually in the book she grows up. Help!
Charlotte
Zolotow,
Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely
Present, 1962. This sounds a
bit like Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present: The little girl in
the story needs to find a birthday present for her mother and is
in need of assistance. Mr. Rabbit, who has a big heart, offers
to help out the young girl even though his ideas arent that
good. Eventually, between the two of them, they come up with the
perfect gift for her mother - the gift of color. They offer the
gift through objects that are different colors: yellow - banana,
purple - grapes, green - pears, etc. The illustrations use soft
mute colors which are appealing to children. The art, by Maurice
Sendak, is lovely loose watercolors
SOLVED: David Brin, The River of Time, 1986.
Wanted to add a few more
details I remembered: the creature had a unicorn-like horn and (I
think) a lion-like mane. The books main colors were orange and
red. I always thought the title was The Loneliest Creature, but
Ive never found any book by that title. I read it as a child in
the 80s.
Jenny Wagner, The
Bunyip of Berkeleys Creek, 1974,
approximate. This is a very long shot,
because youd have to be misremembering several important details,
including the picture on the back cover. But
its got enough themes in common that I thought it was worth
mentioning, just in case. (Besides,
its a lovely book and deserves a mention!)
Doesnt look like "The Bunyip of Berkeleys Creek" is what Im looking for, sorry! My apologies - I should mention that the book is a picture book/board book - it had words, but the book was overall very simple.
Dean Walley, Lamont, the Lonely Monster. This is flap and lift book. The monster goes around trying to find friends and I think there might be a mirro at the end. I hope this helps.
Surprise for Mrs. Bunny.There were more than three bunnies in this story, but the names are similar--Molly, Polly, Lolly, Nolly and so on.
Beth
Vardon,
The Wonderful Window. This has been solved here before.
Illustrations by Charlot Byj. It has, fortunately, been
reprinted, so it is available.
Vardon, Beth, Wonderful Window.This classic pop-up book has been
reprinted. Illustrated by Charlot Byj.
L267:
Little Bear Getting Ready for Bed
Has a
little bear in the extra large spine loop bedtime book little
bear who is getting ready for bed. "Mama bear dries his furry
paws, tummy and head. She picks up the bedtime book, pulls up a
chair and reads sleepy stories to her little bear.......Its
nighttime and bedtime for one little bear and"
L268:
Little witch turns into fairy
I think it was written between
the 1950's -1970's. A little witch lives with other
witches. They are mean to her. She wants to be nice & feels
like she doesn't belong. In the end she is taken somewhere and
given wings and realizes she is a fairy princess. It is a short
book.
Anne Elizabeth Bennett, Little Witch,
1953, copyright. A perennial favorite. Little Minx lives with
Madame Snickasnee, a mean witch who turns neighborhood children
into flowerpots on her windowsill if they bother her. Minx just
wants to be clean and go to school like other children. She
often thinks she sees, out of the corner of her eye, a beautiful
woman with wings in the mirror. She is, of course, finally
rescued and her true identity revealed.
Anna Elizabeth Bennet, Little Witch. A few details are off
(only 1 witch, but she WAS mean) and the girl's mother was the
fairy, but I would definitely consider this one a possibility.
DeLage, Ida, Weeny
Witch,
1968, copyright. After the witches capture the night fairies,
Weeny Witch helps them escape and discovers that she too is a
night fairy, stolen years before by the witches.
Anna Elizabeth Bennet,
Little Witch.
Your description sounds something like the Little Witch, a book
that turns up here a lot. Minx, the girl, is supposedly a
witch's daughter and has to do all the chores around the
house she does not enjoy her life and tries to escape by
going to school. There are confrontations between Minx's friends
from school and the old witch, but all ends well. Ultimately
Minx's true mother is revealed to be a fairy princess, held
captive in the witch's magic mirror, Minx sets her free. Hope
this helps.
Weeny Witch by
Ida DeLage. See Solved Mysteries.
Could be either Little
Witch by Bennett, or No Flying in the House by Brock!
Ida Delage, Weeny
Witch, 1968, copyright. After the witches
capture the night fairies, Weeny Witch helps them escape and
discovers that she too is a night fairy, stolen years before by
the witches.
Maurice Sendak, Nutshell Library. Any chance this could be from one of the
books in Maurice Sendak'\''s Nutshell Library. For some reason,
his illustrations popped to mind when I read this.
L272:
Little Pig Take a Bath
Childrens' book, published in the 1940s or early 1950s, in black
and white illusrations. About a little pig who was dirty who had
to wash with geranium soap. He had
animal friends who were animals.