by Jessica Ferguson, Three Little Birds Bookshop
Finding an out-of-print or rare children’s book can sometimes be tricky, but trying to find that book when you don’t know the title or author can seem impossible! If you are not sure if that dolphin was named Squeaky or Squealy, or if he took a trip to Hawaii or Australia, here are some tips to help you track down your long lost book:
- STORY–Write down what you do know about the story. Do you remember character names or where the story took place? Were there anthropomorphized animals in the story? Do you think the person reading the story to you may have “improvised” a bit?
- ILLUSTRATIONS–What do you remember about the illustrations? Were they colorful or monotone? Very detailed or line drawings? Did they fill the page or just accompany the text? Do they remind you of any specific illustrator or artist’s style?
- BOOK FEATURES–Physical features are important, too: was the book you read hardback or paperback? Was it a picture book or chapter book? What color were the covers? Was there a dust jacket? How big was the book? Were the pages glossy or matte?
- TRAVEL–Take a trip to the children’s section of your local library. If you get very lucky, you may find the book you are looking for there, but at the very least you should be able to find similar stories and illustration styles to help steer you in the right direction. Ask the children’s librarian if he or she is familiar with the story you are looking for. More than once I have reunited with a book this way!
- MEMORIES–Personal information is also helpful. How old were you when you remember reading the book and what year was it? Were you able to read it yourself or did you need someone to read it to you? Do you think it was a book bought for you at the time or was it a hand-me-down from an older sibling or a parent? Was it borrowed from a public library for you to read? Did you read it in school or at home?
Once you have a better idea of what you know about your book, you can use search engines with the more unusual phrases. For example, if you know it was a picture book about triplets, try searching “book about triplets” or “children’s book triplets.” Adding “old” or “vintage” to searches can often narrow the field considerably. Of course, a bookseller specializing in children’s books will be your best bet, and armed with your information, they will be able to do a more extensive search and reunite you with your friend!
Jessica Ferguson is the
I’m looking for the name and details of a book I had when was a child in the early 1960s that I lost and wonder if I can ever find a copy again. It was a chemistry book, hardcover, with red and white/cream patterns on the cover. It had “recipes” for chemistry experiments including how to make bakelite! I would have been about 12 at the time I was given it. It wasn’t a text book. It was given to me by my father with a chemistry set that he had bought piece by piece and put together himself. I don’t remember that it had illustrations, but it could have. It also had check lists of things that one should have in a home chemistry set. Can anyone help?
Read a book back in the 70’s. Can’t remember the title. It was about a young looking for love. A female can along in a Volkswagen
Trying to find a book I read in elementary school. If it helps, I’m currently 16 now. I remember the cover was red and had a red-haired girl on it along with a green ring. I don’t remember much from the story itself, other than the girl being fostered after her mother passed during her birth and her father no longer wanting her. The girl was also friends with a prince (I think) and there was some prophecy of a soldier on fire saving the kingdom or something. I also remember that in the book, the prince and her foster family would make fairy houses for her.
I think the book in which you are referring to is called Anne of Green Gables. I hope that is the one.
Somebody replied with the name of this book near the top of the conversation – I think you could search the page for the word ‘bakelite’ to find it quickly.
Sorry – I can’t see how to edit these and I think I must have dozed off when I posted this – it was meant to follow a different OP and I think my finger hit the screen and scrolled to this book…
I think it is this book. Good luck.
The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments was a children’s chemistry book written in the 1960s by Robert Brent and illustrated by Harry Lazarus, showing how to set up your own home laboratory and conduct over 200 experiments.
I would love to find a book I had as a young child. It was a mother goose nursery rhyme type book. Would have been from the early 1960’s. I remember having it by 1965. It was an oversized hardcover book. I remember the illustrations were so wonderful. One showed a cut away of animals living in a burrow under ground (rabbits?) Also a picture of a woman in a house leaning out of the window with a doggy bone. I’m thinking the cover was either blue or yellow…
Was it Dean’s Mother Goose? It had a yellow cover.
I’m trying to find a book I read about 3 years ago in highschool. It’s a suspense book and it’s about a girl who gets sent to a prestigious school in i think vermont. She gets sent there because her dad was pissed that she got a b in calculous. While she was at this school she gets kidnapped and her boyfriend goes all the way to vermont and searches for days trying to find her and he eventually finds out where she Is because the guy she was talking to gave her to these people because he didn’t have enough money to pay back his gambling loses and this guys dad was the owner of this school the girl was attending.
I’m looking for a children’s book that was in the So.California library system in the 1970s. It was in the ” young readers ” section , ages 5-12. As I recall, The protagonist of this tale was a waitress named Rhonda or Rhoda, living a rather dead end life, working in a diner in the middle of nowhere. One night while cleaning the stockroom she awakens a genie from a can of beans. A very interesting relationship ensues. The illustrations were cartoonish ink/watercolor in muted hues ( I think the entire story took place at night) It was somewhat reminiscent of the art of Gahan Wilson. The book was about 20 or so pages, a good sized 9×9 at least.
Also, a wonderful, but slightly creepy story about a group of dolls that comes to life when the people leave, engaging in house party hijinks, doll style. With only a rudimentary knowledge of how the world of humans work, they end up getting into spots of trouble, which they must figure out how to clean up before the people get back. In one such instance, they eat lavender soap, thinking it’s some kind of confection, and end up getting sick. I think the drawings were monochrome ink, with spots of color here and there. I have no way of knowing when it was published, except that it was definitely before 1978.
Sounds like it could be “The Doll People” by Ann M. Martin
The Genie in the can by Linda Chapman
Could it have been Rackety Packety House by Frances Hodgsen Burnett (of The Secret Garden fame)?
The Missing Girl by Norma Fox Mazer.
The Missing Girl By Norma Fox Mazer
I got this book from a library about two princes.Their parents were away because of a trick that had been played on them.So while they were away an evil man (Barren Tempby) lies to them saying that their parents want them to take over the kingdom when they are gone or something similar.His daughter in disguise( his wife) tries to hypnotize the other brother. They meet two similar orphan princesses which I think they like.They know how to juggle knives,and that’s all I remember.
I’m looking for a childrens book circa 1979-1980 or there abouts. It was a hard copy with a white dust cover with blue writing. The story line revolved around children looking for hidden treasure hidden in a house, a friendly village witch, a special cape found in a market stall.
Another great resource for finding a book whose title you can’t recall, is PUBYAC. Check them out at http://www.PUBYAC.org.
From their website: PUBYAC is an Internet discussion list concerned with the practical aspects of Children and Young Adult Services in Public Libraries, focusing on programming ideas, outreach and literacy programs for children and caregivers, censorship and policy issues, collection development, administrative considerations, job openings, professional development and other pertinent services and issues.
They are a great resource when one is unable to recall the author or title of a book. I left a description of a story I’d read in the third grade, and within 24 hours had 91 hits, most of which were spot-on with what the book was.
You can send your request to the following: pubyac@lists.lis.illinois.edu
It is not required that you subscribe to the list.
Hi…Im looking for this children book that i vaguely remember. All i remember was it had a yellow cover with a boy either in a tub or in his dirty white robe. He was 12 yrs old and he didnt like taking baths. So one day when his parents were away he went into this dirty world full of dirty kids and they all were playing in the garbage and eating out of dirty plates and his robe was dirty but near the end of the book he realized that being dirty was not his life style so when he went back home he started to take more good care of himself….please help me find this book. im losing sleep trying to find it.
Are you sure it was a boy in a bathrobe? Reminds me a lot of “Harry, the Dirty Dog”.
looking for a childrens book from 1950-1960? I think it was mostly a picture book, black and white pictures. It was about a doll that came to life, she had a teddy bear that was her friend.
Edith and Mr. Bear: a Lonely Doll Story by Dare Wright
The lonely doll. Google that title
Lambs? Lambs? Of course I like lambs!!!
Hi there, trying to find a children’s book that had a ballerina a teddy and maybe a horse in it, they were feeling sad and wanted to leave somewhere, the colours of the book were quite warm and pale, it was hand drawn, iv looked all over the net for this book but can’t seem to find it!
I don’t know why, because this doesn’t seem right at all, but the comment somewhat reminds me of The Velveteen Rabbit
Corduroy by Don Freeman
I am looking for a book that I believe was written maybe in the late fifties. It was about a little boy that smiled at people who are unhappy and the smile kept traveling around the world. It remind me of PD Eastman illustrations or dr. Seuss illustrations. I remember the boy waving to a ship full of naval officers and they all smiled and continued to bring the smile around the world. I’m going crazy helper
I’m searching for a series of children’s books that would have been published, I believe, around 1960, possibly late 1950’s. I received 2 hardcover books as a Christmas gift in 1962 (?) featuring the same 2 characters. I don’t know if there were additional books in the series or if there were only 2.
They feature a girl and her friend who is a giraffe and tells of their adventures. One of them was named Maggie, not sure if it was the girl or the giraffe. The girl may have had a dog as well. One of the books has to do with the Milky Way and the giraffe teaches her about the stars and takes her on a tour of the Milky Way. I can’t remember the storyline of the other book – maybe going to the park or to the circus – but I remember a scene in which the giraffe is hungry and eats the fruit or floral decorations off of a new straw hat. The hat may have belonged to the girl. In my (possibly very inaccurate memory) it seems to me this may have been the first book of the series and so it is more situational about the troubles of having a friend who happens to be a giraffe.
I have been searching for years – please help if you know anything about these books. Don’t know if it matters, but I think they would have been purchased in a college town in central Ohio.
Could the name of the book possibly be Maggie Gumption?
I’m after the name of a book. It was a collection of short stories and was a very thick book with a yellow cover. I only remember one story and it was about a cat who is given a very pretty bonnet with a ribbon on and it’s windy and it blows off into the river. I think the cover may have had apples on maybe.
Also, probably even more difficult, the story of a French mouse (or that could have been a cat tbh) who sneaks into the room of a girl I think and tells her stories or war and such. I only have very vague memories of it but the creature was French and dressed in the traditional stripey jumper and beret.
Some of your stories are ringing a bell too and I’m racking my brains trying to help.
Thank you!
I am trying to find a large but thin book of fairytales. One story was about a princess/girl who had a dress that was blue with stars and moons on it. the other was a sun dress. Not sure about the other stories but this one stands out. I believe it was published in the 50s or 60s.
While I’m not sure which compilation that would be, the fairy tale with the three dresses is likely Donkeyskin or All-Kinds-of-Fur. Happy hunting.
I am looking for this story too! Please let me know if you find it, I loved that story when I was a kid but can’t remember much else except the moon and stars dress and the sun dress
Could the French book be Anatole the mouse by Eve Titus? I loved those books as a child!
I’ve had the worst time trying to find this children’s illustration/comic book from when I was in my preteens (2010-12). I don’t know where it came from, but I think it was about a French masked hero and two children. The art style reminded me of Stan Mack but in color and a much different genre.
The humor made me laugh so hard and I remember little frogs stuck in some of the illustrations. I also specifically remember that the only footnotes used were when there was a fancy word for a fast wind. i.e. Zephyr* *a fast wind. About the fifth time you found a word with a footnote it read *Yep, you guessed it!. There may have been a hotel in the story, but other than that I am at loss for any names at all.
Sadly, I do not have access to a library and many attempts at searching online engines have proved futile.
There are particular children books I’ve been searching for for years via the internet or scouting various libraries with no luck.
1- The first book was a paperback book about a young girl who was so excited to go to school and had a favorite red dress, i think it had white polka-dots on it, and she accidentally ripped it. The book had some colorful illustrations in it and I think she had a pet cat or dog in her home.
2- The second book was a small pink hard cover book with a victorian doll house. One of the character names I recall is Penelope. I don’t’ recall the entire book, but it had a nice ending. I would like to find these books again and read them. They made me smile.
The doll house story might be “The Rackety Packety House”. This doll house is in the nursery of a little girl who receives a newer nicer doll house. The old house is pushed behind a chair. The dolls living there suffer neglect, but have a jolly good time in their poverty and abandonment. Eventually, a Princess visits the girl, and discovers the “rackety packety” house, which she prefers to play with. Does this sound familiar? Good luck.
That’s so funny – I just suggested that exact book to a different question above!!! I have my old, much-worn copy of RPH and recently re-read it!
I have been trying to figure out the title of this book for YEARS! My grandmother had it when I was child, almost thirty years ago, and it was one of my favourites. Thank you so much for your comment, now I’m off to see if I can find a copy.
The Best Loved Doll by Rebecca Caudill? A little girl tries to choose which of her many dolls to take to her friend’s doll tea party.
I’m looking for a series of North Carolina ghost story books that fascinated a 10-11 year old me, back in the early 1970s. I may be totally mis-remembering, but I recall thin hardback books and perhaps white binding with dark blue graphics on the covers? Those stories had such a huge impact on me a child, and I’d love to find at least one of them to have and to read now.
Is there any chance this could have come from some of the Foxfire books? Some versions do match up with your physical description and at least a few of the series did contain Appalachian ghost stories.
Looking for a book that was probably about 30-40 years old. There is a chapter that has twins called Flora and Flossie. They may look alike but they don’t act alike. The book explains the Holy Spirit and the fruits of the spirit.
It’s “Teach Me About the Holy Spirit” by L.J. Sattgast
Perhaps /13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey/?
I am looking for a children’s valentine paperback book (Weekly Reader?) that was small (8 1/2 x 5 1/2?) with silly valentine poems from 1960s? “Roses are red. Coal is black. If I were you, I’d sit on a tack.” Had lots of poems like that Thank you!
I am looking for a children’s book about pollution and the environment. It was probably printed in the 1960s or 70s. I believe it was printed in both English and German. It had a landscape format with a yellow hardcover with a pic of all of the characters on front. the characters were ‘blobby’ in nature. Any suggestions? THANK YOU!
I think we are looking for the same book, I think it starts with a y.
Barbapapa by Annette Tison and Talus Taylor
By The Stream fits all of your descriptions! The characters (a fox, snail, frog, pheasant, turtle, and otter, are featured on the cover as oragami critters. There are in fact oragami pages to cut out and fold yourself at the back, although it’s possible these could have been missing from your copy if it was used. Good luck!
It’s called Barbapapa’s Ark by Annette Tison, 1974, French
The book I’m looking for I believe came with a cassette tape. It was a bright colorful book. The story was about this white puppies but their ears reminded me of me of bright colorful yarn. In the story the blue and pink puppy got into a fight and the blue puppy ran away. She was trapped on a merry go round and the pink puppy found her and saved her. I believed this book is from the 80s or 90s. I have searched everywhere and cannot find it.
Trying to help find an old book. About a self-absorbed fly whose presents are always photos of himself. Cover has a fly holding a photo of himself.
I’m looking for a hardcover children’s book that has a little boy on the cover dragging a stuffed lion behind him. I believe the cover was mustard colored. It was around in the early 60’s.
Looking for book from early 1960s late 1950s about a dragon with 2 different color eyes. Pretty sure he lived in San Francisco. He directs traffic and gets it into a pretty good snarl although he means well. I absolutely loved this fellow.
Hi Kim, I’m 99% sure the book you’re looking for is “The Useful Dragon of Sam Ling Toy” by Glen Dines 🙂
Looking for an odd collection of short stories. The cover of the book is cyan.
It contains many short stories and poems – here are some examples of what I vaguely remember from some of the stories (please note – I swear this is a real book)
My grandad once saw a burnt man fall from the sky without a parachute during WW2
I once cut off my willy when I pulled up my fly and I fainted in a hospital
My neighbour (I think was called ‘Mr Thompson’) was pregnant.
Please can anyone help me find it? I have so many childhood memories of the book. I believe there was a sequel (if this helps); in its blurb the author writes how adults condemned the author to live on an island to stop their children from having to read these stories and yet he presents some new stories.
I am looking for a picture book I do not remember the plot except I believe it somehow involved either dancing or a parade of some kind. Also the illustrations of the book were either paint streaks with limbs or blades of grass or some other plants with limbs
Hi, i am looking for an old childrens book, This is what i can kind of remember, A boy lived with his granny in the woods, i think it was called twiggly woods but not sure, he had a hat and a spider lived inside it, the spider was magic and had a wand, something about shopping for a new hat and then going in the woods for ingredients for the granny to make a soup, the book had different stories but this is the one i remember the pictures were black and white ,the boom was thick and blue with a picture on front, please help, no one else has ever heard of it.
Could this be “Timbertwig gets a new hat”? It was a story in the Story Teller magazines…. The granny was Granny Knot. Abigail was the spider.
My favorite book as a young child was about a circle… a little circle who looooved to roll, sometimes he rolled up! and sometimes he rolled down… my mom would always read it to me. I’ve been trying to find this book for forever & I’m dying to find it! She said it was from target and it must’ve been from the early 2000’s (I was born in ’99) I have no clue who it’s by or who published it… another one of my favorites was “The Silly Swamp of Shapes” by Wes Ware. Maybe thats a clue that may lead to finding this book… I appreciate anyone that helps!
Is it The Missing Piece by Shel Sliverstein?
Circle Rolls- Barbara Kanninen
I am looking for a book I had as a child. It was about one sibling giving another sibling a box of chocolates, and inside the chocolates were things like a dead goldfish, grasshopper…thanks for any suggestions!
Sam’s Surprise!
pls, there’s this book I read for some years back. a small romantic book by the silhouettes, it was about a very beautiful lady who had an accident but was placed under investigation by the supervision of a sheriff who was also good looking. they fell in love along the line and the lady
I am looking for a book from the late 1960.s early 1970’s.
It was a hard back book I believe. I remember it being white or creme colored. It was about a boy who walked past a restaurant every day and saw the same girl eating lunch in the window. She was eating a chicken leg and tomato soup everyday. She looked lonely. It is one of my childhood favorites. It is about the interaction of 2 children and about being kind.
I am also looking for this book. I remember the details you listed (and maybe she had chocolate cake too?). If you have discovered the title or author please let me know.
I was just browsing through the posts randomly…these two queries sparked a memory so deeply buried from so long ago, I’d likely have gone the rest of my life never thinking of this childhood book again. It was “What’s For Lunch, Charley?” by Margaret Hodges, 1961. The chocolate cake was the tip-off! Xx
You have no idea how happy this post made me! I have been trying to remember the name of this book for so long.
“What’s for Lunch, Charley?” — Margaret Hodges
I am looking for a book that would have been published before 1985. It is a small illustrated children’s book, around k-1st grade reading level. It has various stories all taking place in a sea-side town/village. One of the stories in it revolves around a woman and her niece. One’s favorite color is blue and the other’s is red. They only want to wear clothes with their favorite color on it. They end up going to a store and buying each other a gift. One buys a hat and the other a jacket in their own favorite color and now each are wearing the other’s color.
Hi there. Im lookimg for a children’s book that I think was from the 50’s, bit could have been as late as the 70”. Hardback, slim, about 8″ tall. I think the cover was a sort of dark gray. It was about a boy on a farm who wakes up and goes deer huntimg with his dad. They dont have a cow and need one so the boy starts trapping for fur so he can buy the neighbor’s calf so his baby sister will have milk. He traps a lot of fur and the neighbor says it is enough for both the mother cow and calf. Also so.ething about the dad being sick later? Amd they make him a mattress filled with goose down?
Thank you!
Hi, I’m trying to find out the name of a book that was read to me as a child. It was about a little girl who went to the office for her dad, and her dad went to school for her. The cover of the book, the little girl was wearing her dad’s suit and had his breaf case with her. Please help me.
I’m trying to find two books from my childhood. One was a very old one about a little witch who was always made fun of. One night when the witches were trying to catch fairies, she helps all the fairies escape. At first the Queen Fairy is saying she can’t stay with them, but then a fairy notices she has a moon birthmark which means she was really a fairy all along. She is the Princess of the Fairies who was stolen by witches years ago.
The other story was set in a small town with an upcoming fair. A storm made a building collapse and all of the pumpkins were trapped. The next day all of the pumpkins are mysteriously outside where they can get them. During a pumpkin race at the fair a (pig or dog?) start rolling all the pumpkins with his nose, and they finally realize who it was who really got the pumpkins out for them. Does anyone know either of these books? The witch one was really old (50s I think) but the Pumpkin one was more recent (90s ish). Thanks!
I think the name of the book is called the worst witch.
80s or 90s childrens book
Sea monster, green seaweed hair, come out of the water to eat a baby. The sister tries to put a stop to it, by making the creature take a bath, eat his vegetables and so on. He runs back to the swamp unhappy.
Big purple hard cover.
Did you ever find out the name of your book? I’m looking for the same one!
Did you find out the name of the book about the little witch saving the fairies? I’m trying to find the same one.
Weenie Witch by Ida DeLage – unfortunately out of print and ridiculously expensive.
It is Weenie Witch, thank you!
Anyone know the pig/pumpkin one?
It is Weenie Witch, thank you!
Anyone know the pig/pumpkin one?
I’m looking for a story book about a set of twin girls on the day of their birthday. And because I am a twin, I received it a a birthday gift in the 1960’s.
Did they go to a party of twins and they had a parakeet? If so it was Chatty Cathy. I loved that book
Is it The Two Too Twins ? A Little Golden book ?
I am looking for a book from the 90’s I think. It was a pale yellow colour and I’m sure it had a sketch of two books stood up over bikes. I think one boy was white and one boy was black. I’m sure the stories were all about different things they got up to during their summer.
I use to read a book in high school. There were about 3 different books. Each had about 3 different stoires in them. One book had a blue key or necklace onit and was all black. I think the title had the word secret. And one of the stories was about a girl moving in with a mean mean grandmother and how she say a necklace she liked when she first came to the town. (Cant remember the ending but usually allthe endings were the girl would get with the guy she liked in the story) another story was about a girl who came over to her mothers old friend house for the summer like she did when she was young. The mom drowned there when the girl was younger. One of the girls she was hanging out with was in the boat house and was saying “shes awake shes awake” and you find out that the girl confused the word wake used for waves with the word wake meaning awake so when someone said its just a wake the girl heard “awake” and thought the dead mom came back. Somethin about a green house too. Its been so long all the stories jumble together now but if anyone knows it from this info plz tell me.
It was elizabeth chandlers dark secrets
I am looking for a children’s book that I read in the 1980’s. It was a paperback book, kind of small and squarish. It was about a boy who would see a monster in his room when he turned off the lights. The monster was made by the shadow of his coat rack and other things. The monster was blue and green in color and looked like it had feathers for a tail. I kept the book into adulthood and my kids ripped it up about 15 years ago.
I have a vivid recollection of that book also, same time period, monster was just the coat rack. Cannot find it anywhere, The Google is no help 🙁
I remember a book from the 1960s that I once found in a public library. It was an old-fashioned story (horse & buggy days) and a child named Amelia was sick and died. While she was sick in bed they put straw in the streets so the noise of carriages wouldn’t disturb her so much. As I remember, the narrator said something like, if sad things distress you, then you had better skip the next chapter (in which the child died). Made a big impression on me; would love to be able to find it again.
I remember a book from the 1960s that I once found in a public library. It was an old-fashioned story (horse & buggy days) and a child named Amelia was sick and died. While she was sick in bed they put straw in the streets so the noise of carriages wouldn’t disturb her so much. As I remember, the narrator said something like, if sad things distress you, then you had better skip the next chapter (in which the child died). Made a big impression on me; would love to be able to find it again.
The story that I remember is about an anthropomorphic white female rabbit. I don’t know if she had a name, but I think I remember her wearing a pale brown coat to ward off against the cold. It was a very sad story; she trudges through the snow-covered forest on her own, looking for a place to live and someone to love her. A star takes pity on her and leads her to a house full of other rabbits, who take her in and give her a place to live. She goes to bed that night and the star is under her pillow.
This was a hardback picture book, with many scenes of the poor white rabbit walking through the snow-covered woods. She walked on two legs and had long, becoming eyelashes.
I was between the ages of four and six (so, circa 1998 until 2000 or 2001) when I read this book and remembered adoring the illustrations and the realism of the story. My mother thought it was too real and we never borrowed it from the library again. I don’t know the title or the author of the book, but I do remember how much I loved the notion that you could literally find people who loved you or would love you anywhere.
Did you have any luck finding it? I’ve been looking for it to and it lead me here. Your comment seems to be the only trace of it on the internet! Thank you for such an apt description. Now I know it wasn’t just in my head.
I’m desperate to see those wonderful illustrations again.
I’m trying to find a children’s Christmas book. The book is about alimals coming together to decorate a tree in the woods with various objects. Then end page is very sparkles. My daughter is 18 and I would love to find it as it was her favourite as a little girl
I can’t remember the name but remember it. When i think of it i will post again
Hi I’m looking for a book I read a while ago it was about a young woman living away from home in in a by gone era and is made up of letters between her and her mother
This is what I remember:
The daughter writes to tell her mum that a friend is coming for a few days and will be staying over the mother writes back concerned that the freind will be sleeping on the floor and how will she ever explain to her mother, the daughter writes back that she’s not sleeping on the floor she sleeping on a divan mattress but she can have the bed if it will make her mother feel better. The mother replies not to do that as it will be drafty near the floor and she will catch a chill for not wearing woolies that it could develop into pneumonia and she will be too ill to look after herself, the daughter write back to say the friend came over a week ago with no ill effects
Mother tells her if she needs money whilst away to send the code word opium a while later her iron breaks so she send a letter and her mother sends money but her father becomes worried and writes her privately to tell her if she needs any help financially to send a letter with the code word gondola and mother writes separately realising her code word is to suspect and changes it to heroine eventually her parents get so worried by the strange wording of her letters that they come to visit her with her uncles one of whom is a doctor and the other a lawyer
In another chapter her mother scolds her for not writing to her aunt for a while so she does but consequentially all her other Aunty become quiet jealous and she is forced to write to all of them to prevent offence. Her mother then right writes to ask why she’s written to all her aunts and uncles but forgotten her own mother
Her mother is a great believer in woolies even in the summer and often worries about her daughters health should she not wear them. at some point in the book the daughters cousin comes to stay with her mother and her mother writes to her praising the cousins good sense (all strangely in line with her mothers thinking) and suggests her daughter should become friends with her cousin and follow her example the daughter realises that the cousin is just to perfect to be real so she calls her mothers bluff and agrees to do just that requesting her cousins address which the mother never supples
In one chapter a relative with a very accomplished daughter visits the mother who is initially frustrated that she cannot find as many accomplishments in her own daughter to brag about but is at last delighted to find a hand written poem of outstanding quality. Upon writing to her daughter the daughter does not have the heart to tell her that the poem in question was one she copied from a book
I am trying to find a picture book (paperback) probably published by Puffin in the 1970’s about a farmer searching for a lost nanny goat in the snow. The refrain is the farmer calling “nanny goat, nanny goat, where are you?”
my mother used to read this to me when I was little and we would love to find it again
thank you!
This may be a long shot, because I don’t remember many of the details. When I was in either first or third grade, my teacher read a book to my class. This would have either 1988 or 1990, I don’t remember which, and I really don’t know if the book was published earlier than that, or not. All I remember about the characters was there was a cat that met an artist, because I seem to recall the character painted pictures of the cat on the walls of his home or something like that. The cat then wandered off and wound up somehow covered in soot or something, and then met I think a princess (not quite sure) and she adopted the cat. The cat wanders off again and returns to the artist, and the princess somehow finds the cat at the artist’s and is impressed with the cat paintings.
This is all speculation, as I was between the ages of 6 and 8 when this story was read to me. I don’t even remember if it was a cat, or if it was a kitten. My sister even suggested the book “April’s Kittens,” but it definitely wasn’t it.
I am looking for a scholastic mystery book series (for kids probably aimed at 3rd or 4th Grade level) It’s a short novel type with colored pictures and has an answer key at the end of the book (both the text and the pictures work together to solve the questions in the book) It reminds me a lot like the adventures of tin tin but it isn’t a full comic book with just pictures and dialogue (it’s more text and only scene pictures with clues in it) and also the main character is a young man with a dog sidekick (which is why I compared it to tintin). It saw it at a 2003 scholastic book fair and I was around 3rd grade and to me the book was challenging by my standards. I think the first letter of the main character’s name started with an A.
OK. This has been going round for ages. A book I read when I was 10ish in the 1970 so maybe 1960s published. A girl is sent away on a train to live with an aunt. Her mother hands her a letter into the train but half of it is ripped…so she only gets the bit that says ‘ I don’t want XXXXX (her name) you know that’ (the actual letter says ‘ It’s not that I don’t want XXXX you know that). So then she runs away, lives at the end of an allotment I think or in a field and steals a green dress off a scarecrow in order to enter a village fete! I think it is a British author with those ink drawings in. Ideas?
Charley by Joan G Robinson, is the title i think
I’m looking for a children’s book from the mid-60s that I read in my public library as a kid. I was probably 6-8 years old. It was a large hardback book, with color illustrations of the characters. As far as I remember, it was written in the U.S. The story is about a family of musicians — the father is the conductor, the mother sings and plays the piano, the oldest son plays the upright bass and the daughter is the violinist. The youngest son, upon urging from his father and the rest of the family, tries to learn an instrument to fit in with the family orchestra, but he fails — he doesn’t play in time or in tune, he’s all thumbs, etc. Instead, he is more interested in playing baseball. I don’t remember how the story progresses from that, but by the end of the book, the youngest son finally finds his niche in the family orchestra — by drawing the concert posters for the family. Does anyone have any idea what the title and author is? I would love to know after all these years. Thanks!
looking for a book where 3 main characters wake up from therapy on the on of the book, book had white cover as i can remember and i read it 3 years ago i know that publisher had a couple of books only but can remember the name please help! thanks
I’m looking for a chapter book that my 3rd grade teacher use to read to her class, around the 2001-2002. All I remember about the book is it’s about a guy with a long beard and his bread is dirty, and I think he’s missing a sock… and I think they talk about a women that was his wife. That’s all I could remember.
I was given a book by my aunt in Toronto around 1993ish. It was about a girl who had seven cats and I think they were all named after the days of the week. I vaguely remember that she’s very sad or lonely and wishes her cats could talk to her, I think I’m remembering that right. Anyways, she falls asleep and each of her cats grow in size so she can ride them, they talk and take her to different parts of the world. Like each cat had its own origin country (stripey cat was from the jungle). I remember the book had really beautiful drawings and was very colorful. I’ve been searching for a week and can’t find anything online, I haven’t checked out a library or bookstore yet. Does this book ring a bell for anybody?
Wondering if someone can help me – although I think this is a very long shot as my memory is vague:
The story involved a gang of kids/teens battling with ”Ooze” or ”slime” of some kind. Also there was an alternative dimension which the children traveled to occasionally, like a mirror version of the town they lived in.
The only other detail I remember is that the kids traveled to this mirror-town and found a gravestone with another child’s name scratched into it. The name was something ”Poole”. Shane Poole?
that’s literally all I remember haha. If anyone knows what I’m talking about please let me know!
I’ve been looking for this one children’s book for weeks now. It’s about these bright colourful bears, and it would’ve been published from about 2005 to 2012. All I know so far, after hours of searching, is that it’s not the care bears. These bears go on adventures around an island (?), but the plot is foggy. I think the bears might’ve had a word printed on their chest
This sounds like bears go to the beach by Suzanna Gretz
I am looking for a book from when I was a kid (around 1992-1994 ish). I don’t remember TOO many details nor the full story line but enough i’m hoping someone will know book I am looking for.
**It is NOT ‘Three Little Kittens’**
The copy I had was a large hard cover book. It was about a mother cat that made pie which her kittens really wanted. She left it on the windowsill to cool and told the kittens they had to wait. I cannot remember if they couldn’t wait and ate it all and got sick or if someone else ate it and the kittens got blamed for it. I also remember they were clothed. One of the kittens wore a dress or skirt or something and jewelry. It was a color print book and if I remember correctly it wasn’t very long.
I know I didn’t give a great account of the book but I just thought of it again today for the first time in probably 20 years. Please tell me someone remembers this book? It was my favorite and I would love to buy it for my child.
Possibly “The Tale of Tom Kitten” by Beatrix Potter? Tom and his sisters are dressed nicely by their mother who tells them to go outside and play but don’t get dirty. I don’t remember a pie, though. Good luck!
Is it Snuggles ?
Looking for a book I read as a child which describes a tv which is 24 hours ahead. Thus, the boy who owns it can tell future.
Children’s book and read it about 1976
Hi Glenn. Sounds like A Billion For Boris by Mary Rodgers. It is the sequel to Freaky Friday. They also made it into a movie which I watched in high school back in the 80’s and managed to track down a rare copy on dvd. Originally published in 1974. He uses the tv to bet on horse races that he has seen the result of the day before and make money that way. Really good story. Hope this helps. D
Looking for 2 books:
1 An old woman wants to move out of her house but all the houses she looks at are missing something her current house has. She decides to stay in her house after all.
2. A girl babysits for a family during the summer. Her parents and maybe a sibling are dead, so she makes up a pretend family when talking to the family she works for. I want to say her name is Teena. The cover just had her face with dark hair on it. Thanks.
I’m trying to find a book that I had as a child ; it was about a young girl who was going to have her birthday party . She lived in a block of flats and had a boy best friend . Her mum made her a castle cake with a dragon on it and her dad played a magic man . I can’t remember what else happens appart from she said “ that was the best day ( or party ) of my life “ . I belive it was her 12 or 13 birthday . Me and my parents remember the book being called “ the castle in the sky “ but we can’t find it . Can you please help .
Hi I am tryung to find a book from when i was little. I can’t remember the name of it but i had it late 80s early 90s. It was a children’s bedtime story about night time. I remember it talking about a woman cleaning/working late at night, a baby wakes, a train with postal workers sorting out the mail. It was hard back with glossy pages and lovely pictures.
Can anyone help??
I am looking for a book, maybe a Little Golden Book, probably from the 1950’s. My cousin had given it to my little sister and when my daughter was a baby she ripped it up before anyone could stop her.
The book was about baby farm animals and the only distinctive thing I can rembember is the calf not wanting his mother to go to far away because she ‘has his lunch’.
I have been looking for this for nearly 40 years so any help is appreciated.
Could it be Baby Farm Animals by Garth Williams?
I read a book in elementary school, which would’ve been the mid-70s,, and it was a story about a young boy and alligator aliens that loved Elvis and travel through a TV set. For the life of me, I cannot find references to it anywhere.
Looking for a kid’s illustration book about a girl going through her completely (ab)normal day. A t-rex drives her to school, she bathes with her mother in a lake under a waterfall, and she sits on her couch with her pet lion like a cat. I honestly have no other details about the plot or anything, it’s just a girl living a really weird and fun life that’s completely normal fro her.
Hi Everyone,
I am trying to locate a children’s illustrated book that i had in England, that was likely published in the 1980’s , but definitely not after the early 1990’s. It had beautiful detailed illustrations, and was about 2 sheep investigating different areas, such as beaches and tidal pools. The illustrations were amazingly detailed, for instance, the tidal pools would be covered in rocks, bottles, animals, sea weed, plants etc- you could look through the individual pages for hours on end, but the stories always involved the two white sheep. They were drawn realistically, and not “cartoony” at all. I believe it may have been a series of books. Please let me know if you have any information!
Key aspects:
-About 2 sheep exploring new places
-realistic and extremely detailed illustrations
-Likely part of a series of books
-Purchased in England, likely a European publication (but not sure)
-Printed circa 1980’s-early 90’s if not earlier.
I’m trying to find a book i was read to in the 90’s. It’s about 2 bears, who’s house was flattened in an avalanche. The girl bear was pregnant. The community rebuild them a new house as the bear grow more and more pregnant, until the house is done, and the baby bear arrives. Help if you can!
I’m looking for a set of book which feature a boy who when he holds a key he can see ghosts. The main ghost he talks and have adventures with is a pirate I think. He even travelled on a ghost bus. Dies anyone know it
Would it have been one of the Tim and Tobias books?
I’m looking for a children’s book. My mother remembers her dad reading it to her, 1949-1955. The only words she remembers are,Little bits of liver and catnip tea. Can you help me find the title? Please!
Animal Friends by Jane Werner Watson?
I’m trying to find this book that I had as a child and would love to pass on to my kid as it’s right up her street.
It’s medieval mystery themed. It follows a young girl, who’s community centres around the castle and is run by a group of mysterious warriors, she’s then selected along with other children to move to the castle and be trained up as the next castle residents. I think at some point in the story they go and visit another castle and discover that the other castle and two of the castles original warriors were planning on over throwing the castle and community.
Would love any help. Trying to figure out the name is driving me bonkers
I am looking for a first Reader book that my mother claims to have had as her first reader when she was growing up.
It was about a kitten that wanted to live in a zoo. Every time it spoke to the other animals it would always end by saying “lucky you to live in a zoo”.
Finally the zookeeper’s wife saw a Mouse. The cat rushed in to get rid of the mouse. The Zookeeper and his wife took the cat in to their home. So the cat finally got to live in the zoo.
I have no idea what the name of that book was or how to find it.
Any ideas?
“Lucky you, to live in a zoo. What can I do to live there too?” I remember those lines, but that’s all. If you ever remember the book, please post here.
I’ve been looking years and years for three books in particular: the best I can do for a title on the first is ” Rhonda’s genie” or “Rhonda’s wish”. Premise is, one night while closing up her diner, a waitress named Rhonda finds a Genie in a can of beans(?).Whimsy ensues. I don’t know if there was a moral to the story . It was a hardcover , likely published early to mid 1970s, one of those never checked out books at the Burbank public library, between 1975-1979. The illustrations were comic-like, reminiscent of Gahan Wilson, but richly colored .
The second is another hardcover likely dating to late 60s or early 70s. It’s about a group of dolls exiled to an attic, and when the people leave they come out and have adventures, and misadventures. I only recall one specific instance where they decide to eat the soap because it’s pretty, and get sick. The illustrations were soft and almost monotone, maybe pencil and watercolor.I’m at a loss for a title on this one.
Third , and the one I most desperately want to find, is Zee, the bad fairy. Again, 60s or 70s. a fairly small ( less than 8″x 8″) hardcover book with beautiful, rich ink or watercolor illustrations. Zee is a miserable little fairy, bad and mean and …lonely. I believe it had a happy ending though. The last time I saw this book was probably about 1973, when I was seven or eight. The thing that still stands out in my memory is Zee’s dark red hair. If anyone has any info on these books, it would be much appreciated.
For what it’s worth, another poster asked about the doll sorry with the soap in a post near the top of this discussion. I think you could try “search on page” for the word ‘soap’ and you might find it – it might be worth commenting to that post in case they get news before you do! Or vice versa! Good luck!
I am trying to find this one book that always scared the hell out of me! It wasn’t scary, but the illustrations were always so disturbing to me.
It was about this gross family that had no manners, and they’d pick their nose and they’d never say thank you. The cover was white, had a character on it with a big nose, gross long black nose hair and big feet. It wasn’t a novel or anything, it was a large hardcover book and I can’t remember what it was called! I keep thinking and searching about it starting with an S but I can’t find it anywhere!
was it Fungus the Bogeyman by Raymond Briggs? There’s also The Twits, Dahl.
Could it be The Thingamajig Book of Manners?
Yes I think it may be Thingamajig’s Book of Manners, I had it wjen Inwas very little. They had big ugly feet.
i am looking for a childrens book about a dad that snores so hard that the house shakes, the little boy imagines that his dads snores sound like a bear and also imagines that hunters looking like bears are outside tapping on the windows, but it is really the tree branches on the windows. Then the boy cuddles up with his dad under the blankets and they pretend they are in a bear cave. I read this book so many times to my daughter, it was a great favourite. Hopefully someone could help me with the title.
My Daddy Snores by Nancy Rothstein?
I am looking for a vintage children’s hardcover storybook about a large family, very similar to The Walton’s (in fact, it was probably modeled after the TV series) of the middle son, roughly age 11 or 12, developing a growth spurt. Soon outgrowing his bed, his clothes, his shoes, and even growing taller than his dad and grandpa, as he reached his teenage years. The family seems to be laughing throughout the book, either amused or betwixed over his weird growth spurt. Eventually I think the dad and grandpa have to build him a bed, to accommodate his larger, taller size. The title was something around “What do we do about _____” or “The _______ Family”. It was published between 1965 and 1975, as I bought it from a school book fair when I was about 9 or 10, which would have been 1978.
I’m looking for a book that I read in the 6th grade (2009 maybe) it was a scholastic reader book about a kid who moved to alaska or Antarctica. The child finds a village under the ice and befriends a child from this village.
The cover of the book if I remember correctly was mostly white with a ribbon (possibly red) formed in a circle in the middle.
I’m looking for the name of a children’s book–it is very possibly Canadian???–about a pig named Poutamin/Putterman??? who builds some sort of flying machine for a duck and accompanies his feathered friend on his journey down South? I remember when the pig would build or fix something the narration would say “Pound, Poutamin(?), Pound” (as he was using his hammer) and also during their travels they met a tortoise named Adagio.
I am looking for a book/story for my mother – she can only remember the first line – I had a little dragon, Jerrold/Gerald was his name. This really is a long shot but maybe someone else in their 70’s remembers more. It would have been from the 40’s or earlier.
Is there any chance she is thinking of the series about “My Father’s Dragon” (if my memory serves, I think the author was Ruth Styles Gannet, but it should be easy to find). Good luck!!
I’m looking for a kids book about a black lab thats mix. Her name was Gracie. All I remember is that its a kids picture book that came with a cassette tape. It was in the dogs point of view. I believe in the first part she was playing with a fellow dog friend, then went to work with her human to I think an office. And then someone found a snake or something so Gracie went to take care of it. She put the snake outside and said it could go, but to not come back because the people were afraid of the snake.
Looking for the title of a kids book from the 80s. The characters were a bunch of children with color names. The words were like “Blue, Blue, tie your shoe.” “Pink, Pink, run to the sink!” “Green, Green, don’t be mean!” Any ideas what the title might be? I believe it was a library book.
YES! I loved this book it is called Pink Pink by Ida Delage. I know this is a couple years late, I hope you see it.
I love it too. Used to read it to my little sister. I just purchased a used copy on ebay!
Looking for a wordless book which I believe is called The Expedition. It is about a group of guys who sail onto an island, climb to the top of a mountain and steal top of an Aztec pyramid and when they return to their ship, the top is missing and now sits where the top of the pyramid used to sit. Don’t know the author’s name. We read it to our children in the early 1980’s
I am looking for a children’s book that looked like a green marble copy book from the 70s that was called “diary of ——-“ or “——‘s Diary”. I did some searches and found similar books but they weren’t a match. It was about a girl who said her parents were young and silly when they got married and had her and then she also was writing about the upcoming birth of her triplet siblings and one was Randolph, one was Rudy and I forget the other name. She also wrote about being sick and walking in the rain – exactly what school age kids would write about. I thought it was called Dora’s Diary but that lead me nowhere. Hope someone can help! Thanks!
I am looking for two books that I loved when I was in about 10 or 11 years old I’d say (early 90s). I only remember the following details:
1. It was a book about a girl who went to sleep away camp and she would write letters home. The camp was explained in a lot of detail. The book cover showed the camp/cabin. May have been all girls camp but I can’t remember for sure.
2. The book starts off with a girl walking into her new room (don’t remember why she was getting a new room, she may have been adopted) and everything was pink and the room had a windowsill. Room is described in a lot of detail as well.
The second book may have been Mandy by Julie Andrews but she uses a pan name, Julie Edwards i think. She goes in a pink cottage that is very well described. Lovely lovely book
First book might be “Laura’s Luck” by Marilyn Sachs? I loved her books about sisters Laura and Amy.
First book is maybe “Laura’s Luck” by Marilyn Sachs ml
I’m looking for a book that was probably published before 1980 because I was born in ’84 and loved reading it as a child. From what I can remember, it was about a little girl who had a lot of sisters and one day she wanders off and finds a dragon. In the end the dragon has babies and so all the sisters can have their own dragon. The illustrations were pretty simple, not much background.
Looking for a book that I read to my students in the late 70s. About a family that left Amsterdam and came to America. It tells of their life and adventures in the New World. Also, a book about a pioneer boy named Rolin, who went to a shooting competition where they were using eggs for targets.
TT
Looking for a book that was read to me when I was a child in the late 70’s early 80’s. The book was about a little girl looking for new shoes. She tried on all kinds of shoes from around the world and ended up with her old shoes. It has colorful illustration and lots of cool shoes in it.
Did you find this one?
Hi! I’m looking for a book I read in first grade (when I was seven years old) in 1995. It was in my classroom library, paperback and not terribly big, with colorful cartoon-y pictures. It was about a cook who had to make dinner for the royal family, and he asked each member (the prince, the princess, the queen, the king, maybe the dog too for all I remember) what they wanted– but they all said different things. A specific line is when the king said, “I want ham for my dinner! Ham for my dinner or it’s off with your head!” The responses all followed that same format, with the only variation being the food they wanted. The cook has to improvise or lose his head, and in the end he makes the royal family a pizza with all their dinner choices as toppings.
Oh wait, I just found it! “The Royal Dinner” by Brenda Parkes. I used Google Books, which is apparently a whole separate site from regular google and cut through all the nonsense cookbooks I had previously come up with.
I’m looking for a children’s book that had a skinny main character. Mud and a boat were involved, and possibly pole vaulting. Any ideas?
In this book, several friends are seeking the king, I think. Each of them has a special changing power. One can change body parts into fire, one turns in to an elephant and is able to drink a lot of wine. One has a nose and it changes into a hatchet. One makes bees from his beard. Each man uses his special power to pass a series of tests.
Try The King with Six Friends, by Jay Williams. In it the friends are not seeking the king, but traveling with him in search of a kingdom. After King Zar is deposed, he goes off in search of a work. Along the way he meets and rescues six men, each with a special gift.
THANK YOU! I’ve been looking for this book for years. My mother read it to me when I was 4 or 5 years old. Now I can buy a copy to read to my grandkids!
I remember loving a library book that I read as a kid set in Greenwich Village. This was probably between 1979-1982, so probably published in the ’70’s. I don’t remember much more about it, except that the protagonist was a boy. Any ideas?
I have been looking for a book for years from about the 1980s about a bunny that had a chicken for a mother and was trying to find his place on the farm. He pretended to be a rooster gluing feathers to his tail, he tried to hatch “eggs” which were stones than when they didn’t hatch he painted faces on them. I remember the other mother hen squawking ‘Not a Chicken’ quite a lot. All the time the mum reassuring him she loved him and at the end, he was an artist decorating stones and eggs like easter eggs.
The book had the most beautiful watercolor painted images that I remember them vividly.
He was a white bunny with a brown maybe black patch on one eye, and also some on his body.
I’m hoping to find a pair of picture books that I enjoyed as a child. They were large in size with “embossed” textured covers, one in red and the other in yellow. Each depicted images of American life in the 1950s (?) Thank you!
I am also looking for these books. I had them as a child.
If you ever get any information on these books, I would appreciate it.
I remember when I was a kid (mid to late 90s) there was a story I had on a cassette with a book to read along with.
It was about a kingdom that used a sundial to tell the time. When the sundial stopped working do to some clouds, the king sets a challenge for someone to find a better way of telling the time (pretty sure the winner marries his daughter) one guy creates the hour glass which is fine untill the guy falls asleep and doesnt rotate it. Then another guy comes along with the clock and a watch?!
It was read by a woman. It’s been bugging me like mad trying to remember the title.
Someone please tell me the name of this book! It’s bugging me so much!
I’ve been trying to find the same book! I think it came with a child’s watch and that the kingdom was called watchnovia.
The thing about the kingdom was that it was always sunny all day and that it only ever rained at night.
I thought that they used the hour glass method initially and then when they forgot to turn them over the King offered his daughter’s hand in marriage to whoever could think of a better solution. One man comes up with a sundial which should be perfect due to the weird weather in Watchnovia. But the man who is in love with the princess comes up with a clock. The king can’t decide which timekeeping method is better. Then suddenly a cloud comes into the sky and the sundial doesn’t work but the clock still tells the time. So that guy wins the competition and the princesses marries him.
But then one day a cloud covers the sun, so
Did you find this book?
It’s called ‘It’s About Time – The Story of Watchmovia’
1986 Accurist Hardback
I’m looking for a children’s book I read in the 1970s. It was a fantasy book about a group of children. It started with them breaking a church window with a ball. It had unicorns and in one chapter there was static electrify affecting everything due to the presence of a mystery creature. I would love to find it and read it to my class.
Could be “Elidor” by Alan Garner. Four children in Manchester, England enter a twilight world through a ruined church, and each child has to guard a particular treasure. It’s available on Amazon. I love all of Alan Garner’s books!
“Elidor” by Alan Garner
Looking for a book I read to my children around 1990. A bakery shop makes pies for all the kids who ask for them. “Pie? What kind of pie”? the baker asks each child. “A luscious lemon pie? Luscious lemon pies will be ready at 3 o’clock”. Each pie is described like that.
Looking for a children’s book from the late 50s or early 60s, about a little hippo who wins at hide and seek because “hippopotamuses never look up.” Color illustrations. Would love to know if it’s still out there.
I’m looking for an illustrated children’s book I loved in the early 1950s. I thought its title was “The Littlest Christmas Tree,” but the books with that title that I find on the internet do not seem to be the right one. It’s about a small, scraggly tree that is being sold among a lot of big, lush, green ones at a place near a seaport. All the big trees are sold, and the little one is very sad. But then someone comes by and buys the little tree. He brings it to a big ship, and the sailors decorate it and hoist it high up on the mast.
I remember loving that book! The little tree could see flying fishes…that made a big impression on me. And I’ve found it on Goodreads – Thornton W. Burgess “The Littlest Christmas Tree”.
I am going to look for a copy of this!
I’m looking for the name of a story I read as a child (in the 70’s). It’s about a princess who is really stuck up and not particularly attractive. Her father gets fed up with her and has her live in the house of one of the common people, where she has to work and do chores. The work makes her more humble and pleasant (and more attractive) and she ultimately ends up being a changed and happier person. Does that ring any bells? I’m sorry it’s so vague.
Hello, I am looking for a children’s novel about a girl who is sent to the country to live with a distant set of relatives (I believe aunt/uncle) when the city and who cares for her wants to travel with her new husband. It is an open-hearted book where the young girl learns so much about human nature and her own heart.
I think this is Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield. Betsy is sent to Vermont, and eventually another little orphan girl comes to live with the family.
Hi, looking for a really funny book I read between 1982 & 1984 from my school library. It was all about how to recognise aliens. Something like ‘alien spotter’s guide’ or ‘how to spot an alien’. No idea who the author was & have had no luck finding it since. Would love to read it again. Thanks
Hi, I remember a picture book about a dog, white, maybe a poodle but I’m not sure. The title of the book was the dog’s name, Lorenzo or something like that I think. The drawings were very 1950’s or 60’s and the dog was sort of an artist or a decorator or something to do with fashion?
This is very vague, I realize, a long shot!
I am looking for a young adult /teen book about a girl who stayed the summer with her grandparents in a vacation home and every time they opened the doors it would transport them to new places… The picked up her cousin and a injured man probably from Russia that couldnt speak English
Looking for a seek/search and find book similar to Where’s Waldo, but it featured a family (instead of Waldo) going on vacation. I remember one scene was at Mt. Rushmore, other scenes were at other locales, maybe a beach scene, another city scene.
I had it in the 1990’s
This book had an orange cover. It was centered around a boy named Duncan (McGregor?) who ran off to drove pigs. His family runs a waystation of some sort for the men who herd animals which his father did when young (apparently turkeys were the worst).
When one of the drovers, a boy named Shadrach or Shadrach, falls ill. Duncan sees his chance and runs off to take his place and search for the buried treasure rumored to be hidden along the line.
The family takes care of Shad, who feels himself obligated to finish out his run with the pigs and catches up with Duncan in time to join him in his search for the treasure. They meet the old man who buried it, make friends with him, and help him find it.
The old man’s (deceased) wife was named Nancy and he really likes Shad’s banjo music. Back in town, the boys see the first steam engine. Eventually, Shad decides to go home with Duncan to be his brother. Duncan’s sister is named Clara. At the start of the book, the kids make fun of the new teacher for calling pigs “swine.”
Any help locating it would be appreciated!
For years I’ve been searching for a children’s book about Easter. The story is about a young girl who was angry that she received seeds as a gift from her father or possibly grandfather, and she threw them out the back door or window. She is told about the Earth awakening in the spring as a new beginning when these seeds take root and grow into beautiful flowers. Also how this relates to Jesus resurrection and the new life we have in Him. It discusses the rebirth of the world with trees, flowers and grass coming out of winter as beautiful creations just like people want new pretty Easter clothes to be their very best for Jesus that day. Such a wonderful book to help toddlers understand the beauty in Jesus and that He arose on the third day so that’s why Christians celebrate Easter. I think it was published between 1988 and 1995. My children were toddlers at that time. The name of the book is The Story of Easter or The Easter Story I think. I loaned it and it was never returned. Would love to find a copy for grandchildren.
Any help is greatly appreciated!!
The Parable of the Lily! I love that book.
I am looking for a book I read years ago. I’m pretty sure I got it from a resale bookshop. It was about this group of kids that befriended this nerdy kid for a dare I think. He ended up becoming cool, but he was a little off. The main guy that befriended him had a girlfriend. His friends convinced him to break up with him so that the nerdy kid could take her to a school dance. He took her and something happened at the end of the book and I can’t really remember. All the boys were in the locker room, and the nerdy kid pissed them off. I’m pretty sure it ended with the kids beating him with baseball bats and the main character took the blame and went to prison. I would really love to re-read this book, so if anyone could help me I would really appreciate it!!!!!
Hey I’m looking for the name of a story book about Native American or infians in their village. The mother and children go to the hill to pick onions and the fathers go hunting…. I can’t remember anything else
I am looking for a children’s book that my sister used to read to me as a child- loved the book but cannot find it anywhere!
I think it was called Violet and the purple elephant, the story line is quite similar to that of ‘Not now Bernard’. Where the main character (a little called called violet) can see a purple elephant outside her room and her parents and older sister don’t believe her. The elephant takes her on adventures and returns her safely back home.
A book about a cat in the city. Always in a window or on a chair sleeping. Woodblock art style. Hand drawn. Seemed French style scrolly drawing. All pink. Bright pink. Black in on pink block art.
Don’t remember any words. Just turn the page and the perspective and view of the cat changes. No humans that I recall. Probably only 1/2 in thick with hardboard cover. Pink.
Thanks in advance.
I am looking for an old books that I had as a child in the 80’s which I believe was a hand me downs. I remember the characters being royalty or Dukes, Duchess etc. Each book told a story about the family such as an egg race. The books had no colour and cover was basic which leads me
To believe they were old when I was given them.
I’m looking for a story I read in an anthology as a child. The book had a dark grey or green cover and was already quite old. The story may have been an excerpt from a longer story.
The story centers around a girl named Polly who does many odd jobs. She has just sent a pair of kittens away by train when she meets a doctor and gives him her card which lists all the jobs she does. He engages her to look after his nephews who are completely wild.
She makes friends with the boys by ignoring them while doing something interesting, then takes them to catch frogs. In sending the cats off she draws a sad cat face on the crate and writes, ‘We are thirsty, please give us a drink.’ across the top.
Any help would be much appreciated. I suspect that the book was printed between 1900 and 1930 by the condition of the pages.
Found it! The Polly stories were in New Stories of Life and Adventure A Sixth Reader. It had a red cover, not green.
I’m looking for a bedtime story book I had as a child ( about 1950’s) all I can remember is one of the stories was called Fairy Mirrors and the picture showed a fairy standing on a lupin leaf looking into a droplet of water captured in the middle of a leaf. Can anyone help?
The Green Fairy Book by Andrew Lang. There were many different covers but use this search term “THE GREEN FAIRY BOOK Classic Novels: New Illustrated” and it seems to have exactly the picture you described.
I’m looking for a children’s picture book written before 2005. It’s about a silly family, Mom’s pregnant with possibly 2 other children. On the way to the hospital they drive thru a fast food place and eat onion rings. My daughter loved this book when she was little and she’d love a copy. Driving us crazy!
I’m looking for a children’s series of books that revolved around a farmer(possibly?) that owned especially fertile ground. He was married with a lot of children. I remember one of them was about a tornado coming and one of the kids left their marbles in the garden,well,the marbles grew so much that it saved the garden from being blown away. I used to read these books to my little brothers,so it would have been in the early 70’s. Been driving myself mad trying to remember!
Looking for a book circa 1953 about 2 families who travel in separate upmarket cars to the seaside. On the way they each have clues they must work out run route. A Mrs Hanniman (?) features.
I’m looking for a picture book I had in the 1960s. I don’t remember the whole story, but it took place by the sea and at the end, a white pelican finds and returns a child’s lost red rain boot. I remember a picture of the pelican’s open beak containing the bright red boot. Does this ring a bell for anyone?
Hey! When I was a kid in the early/mid 2000s i had this children’s book bout this little girl (I feel like her name was Lucy but probably wrong) and she finds a beautiful angel in her garden, who tells her some beautiful, spiritual message about life or something. She then disappears, leaving only a white feather behind. I feel like the title was Angel Feather, Feather Angel or something like that. It was hardback with a light blue cover with a picture of a white feather. It had gorgeous illustrations and I would love to find this book as it is seemingly impossible!
Thankyou!!!
I’m in search of a book I had as a child. Likely from the 50’s or 60’s. I believe it’s cover was a dusty pink color and it was rather large – not as in lots of pages, but large format? The pages were glossy with lots of pictures. There were 2 stories at least in this book. One – a man had 2 sons – spoiled the oldest, gave him a horse to go rescue princess. Boy tramples anthill, destroys beehive, fails. Youngest son, repairs anthill, helps bees. During testing to release the princess, the boy has help from the ants, bees, etc. In the end there are 3 figures draped and he has to choose. The bees circle the correct figure. The other 2 figures were hidden dragons. The 2nd story was about 3 sisters each consecutively getting lost in woods. Find an old man in a cottage living with his animals. Girls cook for old man. Old man asks them to feed animals first and they don’t. Last sister feeds animals first and the old man turns into a prince and they get married. Would love to find this book. Any thoughts?
The Pink Fairy Book by Andrew Lang? I read the same book a long time ago, I know it’s one of Andrew Lang’s Fairy Books. I’m pretty sure it’s The Pink Fairy Book.
My sister asked if I remembered a book we read when we were kids. It was probably published before 1975. It is a about a family who goes on vacation and pack their bags. They stop at many different places and at each place they pack their bags and add an item from each place. The author names all of the items they pack on each page and adds the item on.
Hope someone can help
Thanks
I’m looking for a book from the 90s. It was about busy bumble bees for kids. The illustrations were very cute, and it was about the bees life, and made them seem like they did human like things. I remember the cover having pink. It may have been a board book.
Looking for a book 1960-1963 maybe. From my childhood. All I remember is there was this sad looking brow rabbit on every page, in corners. I remember turning pages to find him. That’s all I remember.
Looking for a story book from the 1960s or earlier. Small paperback, possibly with a red or orange cover. One story is about an old woman who is getting baking all kinds of goodies and things for a very important visitor. You don’t know who the important visitor is until the end when her young grandson comes walking up the front walk for a visit with grandma.
I am looking for a very old book from my childhood perhaps 1940-1960. My mother read it to me around 1962-65 and it was old then. It was about a lady or grandma who resemble Aunt Jemima on the syrup bottle. I believe the book was purple or blue, hardback. It was my favorite and I have looked for it for years. Any help would be appreciated
Looking for a book read by children in Canada in the 60s. I thought it was called “the calico coat”. I don’t remember a lot about it but there were apples in it and two sisters.
Im looking for a kids book in my early childhood. This book also either had a T.V. show, a short film, or a movie to go with it on dvd. It had a interesting character in the disk and on the book cover. The book itself was made landscape style so the width was longer than the length. It was thin and most likely not hardback. Anyway the character i believe was purple and may have something like an antenna on its head. He might have been a puppet. I remember either on the disk or the book he introduced himself upside-down either hanging off of something or flying Although i dknt remember him having wings. His name either started with a Z or had a Z somewhere throughout the name. Its not a short name so nothing under 5-6 letters. J remember getting this book from either a therapist, doctor, dentist, in irving texas ( I dont and never lived there dont try me with that tracking me down crap ) the background of the character might have been a few trees, branches, vines, or just plain green. There might have been a pink character in the book too but its hard too remember. 2003-2008 was when I had the book. It is most likely in English but it might have had a Spanish translation to go with it in the book.
I remember
Hello! Looking for a book and I can’t remember the name or the title. The book has an older lady that wants children, so she knits the babies and they become alive. She takes care of them and I think I remember there being multiple of the babies. Also pretty sure the book was paper back. Any ideas?
It could be “The Ghost Children” by Eve Bunting. Scared the living tar out of me when my teacher read it to our class in fourth grade. The memory of it still creeps me out.
Im trying to remember a story about a father who is looking for men to marry his daughter and he gave 3 brothers a task of making a quilt to keep his daughter warm, one made the quilt with squares, one made the quilt with triangles, and one made the quilt with circles.
I’m trying to find two books that I borrowed from the library in the 1970s. One was a story about a little boy on holiday who made friends with a boy (?) made of sand. The other book I’m convinced was called Rebecca’s Rainbow though when searching I can find no books of that name. The front cover had a rainbow, a little girl and a couple of strange characters with her. They travelled over the rainbow (I’m wondering if the book was Rebecca’s World by Terry Nation but I’m not sure). Any help would be appreciated.
I’m looking for a children’s paperback book circa early 70s – a collection of short stories including one about a boy called Wallace (Wallis?) who always put any new toys or clothes by his bed overnight, & one about a boy whose parents threatened to sell him if he was naughty. Can anyone help please?
hi, i’m looking for a children’s picture books from the 1960s aimed at adopted children, how they were special as they were chosen by the family. I remember it as having lovely soft illustrations of the family and I’m sure it was British.
I am looking for a children’s book I read in elementary school. It is about an Asian or Asian American boy living with his grandparents. He helps his grandparents work in their restaurant and his grandmother specifically teaches him how to cook and work. One day, a customer decided to not pay for his meal and argued with the boy’s grandmother. She takes down the suspect customer using her martial arts before the suspect customer gets arrested. Everyone at the restaurant was amazed by the boy’s grandmother and asked her where she learned to fight. She humbly replies that it was her husband (the boy’s grandfather) who taught her martial arts. At the end of the story, the boy’s grandmother passes away, but he tells the readers that his experience with his grandmother had helped him and that he will continue to treasure his memories with his grandmother in his heart.
Looking for a book that I had as a child. It was a fairy tale book where the fairy tale characters (Snow white, Sleeping beauty, Princess and the Pea, etc.) were all dragons of different colors. I believe the dragon that was the Princess from the Princess and the Pea was pink? They were all thin dragons with long snouts. It should have been published sometime in the 1980’s- early 1990’s. It was a relatively thin paperback picture book with pictures on every page.
I,m looking for a book about animals saying (My Masters Driven me away from home ,he says I,m too old to work any more)This is when I was 6to9 years old in school. So like 1967 to1970.I can,t remember the Author or the name.but it had a donkey ,rooster,cow,etc.saying they were driven away from home.pretty sure it was hard cover.thanks.
“The Bremen Town Musicians?” It’s available on Amazon and the description fits perfectly.
“The Bremen Town Musicians.”
I’m looking for a book my grandparents had in the 80’s and It was old than. It’s about these cartoon looking kids going to a junk yard and making a play set with a swing, slide, and bath tub all mobile that was driven by a bicycle. They played on the play set while it was going down a path. Anybody know this book?? I have zero luck with google.
When I was a young child (in the mid 90’s) I found a picture book at a thrift store about a man who lived alone with his cat. He did not drive and was home bound. His one friend would bring him groceries (once a month?). He would make a list and send it with his friend for next time.
Well, one time his friend was prevented from delivering his groceries due to illness.
The man ran out of food. In his hunger and desperation he goes for a walk in the forest. He finds wild blueberries, apples, and catches fish. He and his cat feast on their findings.
When his friend is finally able to come he gives him a different sort of list: seeds, tools, etc. to grow food for himself.
I’m trying to find a book I read when I was in kindergarten. It was a book about someone drawing their house and each page they added more onto it and i remember it ended with how “my family comes over for dinner ever sunday” and the house was on top of a hill.
I am looking for an older children’s story I believe it came in a book of short stories. It was about an old man that ran the bathtub too long and flooded his apartment possibly the town? I remember the illustrations being very well done. There was a second story I vaguely remember about a family of monkeys kissing goodnight. I hope someone can help
I’m looking for a children’s book probably from 90s/early 2000s I’ve been looking for years if anyone could help I’d be so grateful. From what I remember the cover is black with green swamp monster things, they had a metal machine this little girl is at her grandparents house near a swamp/Forrest and these swamp monsters take the grandparents and dog into the machine and the girl saves them or something alone those lines lol. Please please help!!!
I am looking for a book where a girls was told by her grandmother that her mother cheated on her son and that her son is not her father. I think the grandmother runs a restaurant business with her and her brothers working there. She started searching for her real dad and found out he is running for senate, married and have adopted children because his wife is unable to conceive. She also met her step brother who is a lawyer, who doesn’t trust her. She started getting to know the family and she and her step brother fell in love. Because the relationship could hinder the dad’s career he withdrew and in the end the couple was engaged.
I am looking for two books that I read from my middle school library, I read both around 1975 or earlier.
One I believe was titled Sirius, the dog star. The cover was black and looked like a dot to dot drawing, dots being stars, of a dog coming down from space.
All I remember is that Sirius was a puppy an only survivor in a litter. I believe the other pups drowned. Sirius had green eyes. There were hell hounds that Sirius had to run from I believe.
The second book was called Shavanna. Not 100% sure of the spelling. It was about a girl who lived on the coast of California. She I believe she was adopted by a relative. She would go down to the shore. I believe it was very rocky and there was a dragon involed. She dreamed of owning a horse. She became very ill while at the beach and had a fever. While sick she had a very vivid dream/hallucination of riding the dragon.
I believe she was missing for a few days when she was discovered.
Those two books have stayed in my memory all of these years. My daughter who is grown now still wants to read them.
Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!!
I remember Sirius the Dog Star! I would love to find it as well
i remember reading a book back when i was in third grade (2015 i think) and we used to read it during english class every friday and i really was in love with that book and i even read it for as much as 5 times(ive never been a book worm and ive only read another book twice because of school).
I dont remember much about the story but i do remember this:
it was about a teddy bear who it im not wrong had buttons for eyes like in the movie coraline only they were different colors and sizes on each eye and tied in a cris cross form(it could be one of the eyes was tied in horizonal but im not sure), well the teddy bear i think was from a haunted house with the protagonist had moved into. The bear i recall first apperating when the kid found it in a trunk inone of the rooms, i think the trunk was full of other toys too but i remember someone has locked the trunk and the doll got out and i was like spooky lmao.I dont remember much more about the story.
I remember the cover being the brown teddy bear with his odd eyes the title of the book on top of him and a dark backdrop, dark purple i think or maybe navy blue. The ilustrations were dull colored drawing and inside the book there were some too maybe every 5-20 pages.
I remember my book being a paper back because i had brought it everywere to the point were it was too used thought that could have been my edition and the book was maybe 200-250 because i remember it being fairly thin.
I think i went to barns and nobles to buy it or maybe amazon. I live in spain and here there arent any barns and nobles, there is other book stores but you have to have in mindthat all the books are in spanish so theres a small selection of books in english and i dare say my posibilities are slim to none to find it in there. If it helps when i read that book it wa in the USA and the school library had it so i think its a popular book and i just have bad luck.ç
Please answer this if you have the slightest clue about what book im talking abount because i just spent half an hour writing this and tommorow i have an exam i should be studying.
looking for a story about a little girl (Heidi) might be spelled wrong. She talked so much no one ever wanted to ask her how she felt, for fear she would not stop talking. One day someone asked her how she felt and the town flooded. Timeframe the 60s not sure if it was a stand alone book or a story in a school book.
Hoping to find a young adult book that I read in elementary school about a Bronze Age slave girl (in England? or Europe?) who saves bits of metal (copper?) so she can purchase her freedom. I remember one male character (the chief?) who wore a torc around his neck – I’d never heard of a torc before and the word fascinated me. Maybe the girl discovers an imminent attack and is able to warn everyone? There may have been a boy her age that belonged to the clan that was the girl’s ally? I probably read the book in the early 70s, but it could be from the 50s or 60s. I seem to remember a cream colored cover with illustrations that looked like cave drawings. Crossing my fingers that someone knows this book! Thanks. (Not Rosemary Sutcliff, Henry Treece, or Geoffrey Trease.)
I’m looking for a children’s book – probably 1970’s about a sister and a brother in the summer on the coast (maybe Maine). She has a watercolor box and is painting watercolors of the ocean and when he looks at what she has painted, they are always disagreeing and arguing on the color and are not seeing it the same way. At the end, she paints it and for the first time, they see it exactly the same. I would love to find the title to this book and see if it is still in print.
I’m looking for a childrens’ picture book that taught to not make assumptions about people based on their looks. I remember a drawing (front cover?) of a clean-looking man and a drawing (back cover?) of an unkempt man. As it turned out the former wasn’t a nice guy and he had bad intentions, but the latter held a flower and was a nice person. I read this book in my school library in Eugene, Oregon in the 1970s. Can anyone help?
I’m looking for a book from the 1960s about a young black girl being sent to a desegregated school. I recall that her gray skirt was important to being in the classroom. I would like to know the title of this book. It was likely in my Arrow Book Club order via my Weekly Reader. I want to find this book and send it to my grandchildren.
Mary Jane by Dorothy Sterling. I read this book around 1966.
I am looking for a vintage children’s book about a clown that comes to life after the child goes to sleep. All the stuffed animals come to life and talk with each other. It’s a chapter book. I was 5 when I had it. That would be 1970. It was a yellow hard cover.
looking for a book about a naughty boy who goes back in time to medieval england and swaps places with a girl called matilda
I’m looking for a picture book from the 1990s with a character, “Roly Poly Mr Barbirolli” ( Barbarolli?)
Looking for a book about a boy (can’t remember if it was an animal character or human) who is going through the woods or down a trail at night and sees lots of scary things (shadows that look like monsters and stuff). I believe he was playing with a rolling hoop, and he either lost his hoop, went too far with it and it got dark or he stayed out too late. I honestly don’t remember exactly why he was out at night. He eventually comes back through the same area during the day and sees all the things that he thought were monsters and realizes that it was nothing scary at all and it was just shadows and stuff (I think I remember a tree creating one of the shadows, and possibly an owl). I read this as a kid so it would have been out before or during the ‘90s. Any help is greatly appreciated.
I finally found the book I was looking for! Just in case anyone sees this and is interested, it’s called “Adventure in the Dark” by Jane Carruth.
Buttermilk! It’s a Serendipity book by cosgrove. I have a few copies of this book and I read it to my preschool students quite often. They love it.
The one I was looking for was definitely Adventure in the Dark, but I just read the description for the Buttermilk book and it sounds like almost an identical story! I will have to check that one out as well. Thank you for the recommendation!
Thanks for your update! Been thinking about Adventure in the Dark off-and-on again for the last two decades and your comment helped me relive a childhood memory. Thank you!
I’m looking for a story about a girl named Ginny Goble who was visiting her grandma for the summer. She hugged her grandma and said she wished the she could stay there forever. Her grandma told her to be careful what she wished for. Later on Ginny was trapped in the attic and a ghostly voice told her to stay forever. I read this story in late 1980 or early 1981 when I was 12. The picture on the cover was of a girl who’s hair had turned partly in to a cat’s face.
Hello, I am looking for a children’s book about a young boy losing his dog. I believe a husband and wife collaborated on the book, one did the beautiful watercolor illustrations, the other wrote the tender story. I read the book to my kids in the middle 1980’s. I remember one illustration of the young boy walking the beach. I also remember a grandfather as a character in the book, he spent time comforting and talking with the boy. Can anyone help me out?
I don’t know the book but I think I might be looking for the same one. Is there a illustration also of the dog tied up on a rainy street?
I read a book back in primary school during the early 80’s about a child who finds a ghost in the library of a large manor house. The ghost is searching through the books page by page trying to find some important hidden papers to save the house, but every time he starts to get somewhere, somebody rearranges the books into different places and he has to start all over again. Cannot for the life of me remember the title, but I think the cover was a cream or yellow cover, and the illustrations of the ghost were that he was short and I think he wore a top hat. If anyone can help I will be most grateful. I have tried Google many times without any luck. It is driving me crazy trying to remember this book. Thanks to anyone if you can help.
It’s not “Ghosts Who Went to School” is it?
I was thinking the same thing! I think one of the characters was named Georgie.
Its a primary school book as well with a lot of illustrations. I read it around 1982. A family can’t go on holiday (Don’t remember why), so they have a seaside/ Beach holiday at home. There was at least one other book in the series. I remember one illustration of them on a bike with 4 seats. Sorry my memory is a bit hazy on it, but it has been 40 years, lol. Thanks to anyone that can help me find this illusive title.
I’m looking for a book I suspect was written between 1920 and 1940; it was a chapter book about a family, with the main character being a young girl named Mary Ann/Mary Anne/Marianne, but known to all and sundry as Pigeon. One of the main plots involves her new schoolteacher, a very strict and unpleasant young woman who bobby-pins her curls down, and whose treatment of her students finally provokes one of the kids to set off a stink bomb. Pigeon knows who did it, but tells the teacher she promised not to tell, and ends up being kept for detention after school. She notices the teacher crying and offers her one of her leftover sandwiches, which makes the teacher cry even more and ask Pigeon why her students don’t like her, and is told “because you don’t like us.” The teacher ends up being taken along with Pigeon’s family (her brother comes to the school looking for her) to a winter picnic, and her mood and disposition do a complete 180. Later on, a young man comes across Pigeon when she’s fallen in the mud while trying to pick flowers for the teacher; to make a long story a little shorter, he’s the teacher’s former fiance hoping that he can win her back. No big surprise that he does, and Pigeon is asked to be an attendant at the subsequent wedding. I remember a lot more about this book than that; what I don’t remember is the title or author’s name. HELP! Many thanks to whoever figures this one out for me!
Trying to find a childrens book written about the time of Pharlap , illegal gambling , set around the Vic market as told by a young boy please.
I’m looking for a book I used to read to my son when he was little. He committed suicide recently and I would like to find this book, which was his favorite, and pass it on to his children. It’s about a naughty monkey who wouldn’t go to sleep. Every animal in the jungle tries to convince him to go to sleep. In the end he finally does go to sleep in his mother’s arms.
I’m so sorry for your loss. Is there any chance the book you’re seeking is “The Little Monkey Who Wouldn’t Sleep” by Mag Takac? Peace!
I’m looking for three books:
One was about a boy on a ship. His name was Cal. (Btw, this was NOT the true story of 12-year-old Calvin who enlisted in the Navy.) I would have read this in the mid-1960’s when I was 8 or 9.
In the 1970’s (I was somewhere between 11 and 14) I read a book about some kids and one was a girl who was some kind of Native American or Aleutian and she had a Native American or Aleutian sounding name that began with a T. I remember it said that every morning she braided her hair in one long braid.
There is one more book that I read either in the late 1960’s or early 1970’s (I was somewhere between 9 and 12) about a girl with a magnet.
I would greatly appreciate any help anyone can give me about finding any of these books. Thank you!
i’m looking for an older book i read with my sister in 2013- 2014 it was about a little girl who sat on her front stoop ( step) when she was eating cherries or peaches I can’t remeber she lost her tooth, she then told her family and friends about it. I rember it was a peach colored book with a black sketch of the girl eating cherries or peaches. if some ones knows please help me. Ive been loosing sleep trying to find it.
I’m looking for a children illustrated book it was a hardcover book. I read it around the year 2009 maybe. The story was about these two friends one was a tortoise and I can’t remember if the other one was like a beaver? The story revolved around them and there friendship. One day the tortoise went missing and the beaver was waiting for the tortoise since they would hangout regularly. By the end of the book I think the beaver ( I really don’t think it was a beaver) accepts that the tortoise isn’t coming back. I don’t know why this book made such a great impression on me but I’d like to read it again if possible.
Was it possibly one of the stories from the Wind in the Willows? It had a character named Badger who might be the beaver character, but I think there was an otter character, too. Except there was a frog in most of the stories (named Toad) but not sure if I remember a turtle?
I’ve been looking for a book I thought was called “The Girl and the Golden Goose” I’ve already Googled extensively and can’t find it under that name. I’ve even reached out to the library I used to read it from and this was just before they digitized their records. The illustrations were so beautiful. The unique part was that there was an illustration where one of the characters had a crespine headdress. The storyline was a cross between Cinderella and the Golden Goose. It would have been published before 1995. It makes me so sad that I haven’t been able to find it!
you might be talking about The Goose Girl the version by Marguerite De Angeli
I’m looking for a school reading book from the UK, mid 60’s. What made it stand out was that you had to make a choice at the end of the chapter. Which meant everyone read a different version. I remember a sailing ship illustration. It was a long time ago, I wish I could remember more.
Hi! I’ve been looking for this book/story since I was in my 20s (I’m 40 now). It was one of those childrens books that came with the little record you’d play along with it as you read. I read/listened to this from about 1985-1990, but it very well could have been much older than that, as I lived with my mom and grandpa so it could have been from her childhood… it’s about this little town all in black and white, then they go on a quest or something and discover colors; maybe see a rainbow so then they start seeing colors everywhere until the whole town/book pages are super colorful. I remember the illustrations made me think of vintage Strawberry Shortcake animation. Please help?
I’m looking for a children’s book from around the 1970s but could have been from the 60s. The illustrations were full pages of maybe animals that were dressed doing household things. But, in each illustration there was either a tiny mouse or just eyes. I don’t remember if it had words or just illustrations.
Searching for a picture story book about a fairy named Violet who’s sad because she thinks no one has remembered her birthday but it turns out everyone was planning a surprise party for her. I think it was a lift the flap/pop-up book, published around late 90s/early 2000s. It had a purple cover. Thank you!!
I’m searching for a picture story book about a fairy named Violet who’s sad because she thinks no one has remembered her birthday but it turns out everyone was planning a surprise party for her. I think it was a lift the flap/pop-up book, published around late 90s/early 2000s. It had a purple cover. Thank you!!
I’m looking for a book that was a story about a girl who finds rubber boots in her uncle’s closet that take her around the world. One boot is magical that travels long distances and the other one is just a normal boot. She may have had an animal companion. There were other magical items, but I’m not sure what they were. I read it in the late 70’s or in the early 80’s. I think the cover had a picture of the girl going into the closet. The boots were in a treasure chest.
I am looking for a book that I learned about in the 6th grade (1969). It’s about some boys that find a cave and there is a person (from hundreds of years ago) in it. The person has a candle that the light does not go out. This travel puts one of the boys under his “spell” so the other boy needs to save him by pretending to be under the spell, but not so far that is is “caught” in it.
Okay so a long shot.
A fact book or encyclopedia or general knowledge book.
It had different facts on each page e.g. one page was dedicated to animals, another to types of terrain, another to natural occurring things such as quicksand and tidal waves. Each page I think was in alphabetical order with their single word facts and I think was a picture with just its word underneath.
However, what made it different was a little white and brown dog who appeared on each page with one of the named items. E.g. hiding in the grass, on a boat. So as well as learning the words you had to find the doggy on each page.
Thanks guys x
Oops just to quickly add to the above. The book was certainly early 1980s if not even late 1970s. In the UK.
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I see that people are still asking questions but few answers – anyway, here’s my search: A book, probably patterned on “The Wind in the Willows” with animal characters. I only remember a couple for sure. One is a beetle who plays the euphonium, and I believe there is a badger (but that may be a crossed memory with TWITW), and one of the stories is about a bird friend, female if I recall correctly (a sparrow or maybe a wren?), who mistakes car headlights for two moons and ends up getting hit by the car (she doesn’t die, but is injured). It was written certainly pre-1970s as I read it as a very young child. Got it from the church library. A small hardcover as I recall, with a slipcover that was mostly blue, I think. There were black & white pen & ink illustrations throughout. With crosshatch-style shading (again, as I recall). Ironically I found a piece of art online featuring a beetle playing a euphonium, contacted the artist and found that it was a total coincidence.
Looking for a children’s book my mum read to me in the early 2000s or very late 90s
I think it was a child looking for their ball. I think the first was an angry red ball, then a sad red ball, a green ball with another face an emotion and in the end I think the child finds their happy yellow ball.
I am searching for a book my mother used to read to me and my sister before bed. She passed away recently and I want to get a copy for my sister to read to her daughter. Neither of us can remember the name or author of the book. I don’t know what year it was published but we had the book in 1995 or so.
It was an oversized book spiral bound with a red metal spiral and a handle. I remember it had 3 stories. One was about a rabbit that I think lost her food storage for the winter and was taken in by someone and became their chef and something about a straw bed. I think there was a story about ducks and one with cats. The illustrations are very similar to Benjamin bunny. The border of every page was floral with fairies peaking through. If anyone knows what this book is please let me know!
Hello. I’m looking for a picture book where a child is imagining what happens in other people’s houses. There is a woman who looks out her window at the same time every day and the child imagines that the inside of the woman’s house floods at the same time every day and so she has to lean out the window to avoid the flood.
Published prior to mid 80’s
I realize this comment is almost a year old, but I am also looking for this book. I vividly remember the old woman leaning out the window to avoid the flood.
If it possibly helps anyone think of the name, I can remember a few more details. There are other windows the child makes up stories about. One of the other windows is dark and has a ragged, torn up curtain and the child imagines that there are monsters in there that are hiding because they are afraid of being seen by people.
I think one of the other windows is a lady that transforms into the night sky each evening. I think she had a star patterned curtain.
I am looking for the name of a book my wife read a 7th grader in 1967 about a young girl having to move to Alaska with her family. Any help is appreciated.
Was it Mrs. Mike (The Story of Katherine Mary Flanagan) by Benedict and Nancy Friedman? I remember one character’s name in that book was Oh-Be-Joyful. It was a very popular book in the 1960s. I think there is a movie too.
I am looking for the name of a book my wife read a 7th grader in 1967 about a young girl having to move to Alaska with her family. Any help is appreciated.
Hi,
I’m looking for a paperback children’s book that our class read at Belair Primary School in South Australia in 1976. It was a book of short stories about animals who were all making their way to an enchanted castle. The castle consisted of various wonderful rooms such as one which had a beautiful garden in it. My memory is very unclear, but I think that the various animals all met at this castle towards the end of the book. There may have been a kind dragon in the cast, but maybe not too. I’ve been wracking my brains for years trying to remember the title of this book as I really loved it, but have never been able to find it. I would be so grateful if you could help me to find it.
I’m trying to remember the name of a paperback I read in the 1970’s or 1980’s probably. It would fall into the YA or Adult Fantasy or Sci-Fi category. A girl is being chased by something mysterious that is misty or foggy and covers a large area around her. She seems to be the only person on earth. Every time she goes to sleep it’s like she goes through a time warp, and when she wakes up the monster is still there, still chases her, and has learned a few new tricks. The last time she goes to sleep she awakens to a world that has completely changed. People are playing on the beach, and the monster that had been chasing her for so long appears to be dead. It has become the ocean.
Hello,
Am looking for the name of a book we had in my third grade classroom in the early 1980s. It was illustrated with weird black-and-white (scratchboard? fine-lined outlines were white, background black?) images about a world where someone was stealing all the sunlight, so it was always dark. There was as much text as pictures, I seem to recall…
I am looking for a children’s book I read in the 1940’s. It was about a plush monkey given to a couple’s small grandson and later, when the Grandparents visited this small boy, they found the small boy’s Plush Monkey had been left on a path outside in the rain.
I guess it was a lesson in taking good care of gifts given to young children and teaching them to respect their possessions and also to respect the person or persons who had given the gift.
I’m 67 years old and have been looking for a childhood story book that I had as a child. No title or author. Was born in 1956, so I’m guessing in 1950’s to early 60’s.
As far as i remember I think it was a hard cover. Army green or light brown cover. The story was of a mother baking cinnamon rolls and her young son playing in a in a sandbox. There were three dogs, I believe they were a St. Benard, Afghan, Dashound. The two big dogs kept eating the Cinnamon roll on the little boy. I’d love to be able to find this book! Thanks.
Hard cover.
I’m looking for a children’s book I used to read to my children in the early 2000’s. I don’t know when it was first published. This was a story about a family of cats, all of them the same color. One cat was a different color. The siblings were not very nice to the cat of a different color. The cat of a different color went out to seek his/her fortune. He/she became a big rock star. I can’t remember what color he/she was. She eventually came back to her family and did not hold any grudges.
I’m looking for a children’s book where a large animal (like an elephant, bear, alligator or crocodile) is upset/angry/grumpy. The large animal is helped by a small animal to fix something that has been causing the large animal pain like a thorn in a foot or a toothache. I’d like to find it for my grand kids, but I can’t remember the details about why type of animals or what the small animal did to help the large animal.
Dr. DeSoto?
The Lion and rhe Mouse
I’m looking for a book that was read to early 2000’s kids in grade school maybe pre school age. It was about this giant with monotone colors. It had this weird saying or rhymes that was associated with the giant. You also never saw the face of the giant, just the feet.
story line is: 2 (or 1) child has a tree in their back yard which doesn’t grow very well, it doesn’t have enough sunlight. so they take it in a trolley to plant it somewhere there’s more sun. lots of people join in the journey and help pull the tree which grows bigger on the journey. they plant it in a field nand it grows enormous. its a womderful story book
I’m trying to locate a book that was read to my girlfriend when she was little circa 1962 and in hospital.
I believe the book is called The Pink Spotted Nightie.
Can anyone help?
I am trying to remember a children’s book about a witch who isn’t allowed to attend a witch’s function (Witches Bonfire Night, or something like that – [Something] Night anyway) because her magic isn’t up to standard. She is so furious about it that she can’t concentrate on a rain spell, and it rains buttermilk – one of the things I remember best from the book. She tries to sneak into the function, but gets caught. In punishment, they destroy her broomstick, so she has to walk home, and is given a year to improve her magic and not be a bad witch. She spends the whole year working on her magic (studying spells for 7 hours a day instead of 6, and no magic on Fridays, but she breaks that rule to show some kids some magic).
But she misunderstands “not be a bad witch” as not to use her magic for evil purposes and uses them for good instead – which in the witches’ view, makes her a bad witch. Good witches are supposed to do evil magic (the witches could have explained what they meant by a bad witch better, but perhaps they just took it for granted that she would know). And she has an enemy (a spiteful cousin, I think) who is spying on her and out to bring her down. When they find out – because her enemy told them – they are all set to punish her at the next [Something] Night, but she outwits them by magicking all their spell books and broomsticks away and making them unable to cast spells, and burns their stuff on her own bonfire to celebrate her own [Something] Night.
The illustrations were in black and white.
Hello. Looking for a book, likely from the 70’s or even 60’s. I had it read to be in mid 70’s. It was a chapter book a little like wind in the willows but all the animals were night animals.. a bat, an owl, maybe a fox?
i’m trying to remember a book i read when i was younger, it had a pink cover with glitter on it ,it contained stories like chicken little and i remember a story where the girl had to decode what time she was to meet the prince(something about dawn) i cannot remember a lot
I am looking for a story book that I read as a little girl, I’m currently pregnant and want to find it to read to my little girl, if anyone could please help. The story is about this man and he prepares wonderful dinners for his friends every night but goes to sleep with a dirty kitchen. He then wakes up and the entire kitchen is clean, he is so happy by this he hosts another dinner night with his friends and again leaves it a mess. Just as the night before that stranger comes and cleans the entire kitchen again. This happens one more night until one night that the stranger doesn’t appear and when he wakes up in the morning to a dirty kitchen he is confused. I forget what happens but in the end the stranger states that the reason they didn’t clean is because for 3 nights in a row they cleaned and they were never invited over for a plate of food during one of his dinner parties. The strangers feelings were hurt that not even once they did think to invite them for dinner as a thank you. I would really appreciate it if someone could let me know what the name of this story is.
While visiting a relative, a boy falls into the sofa which he was sitting on and an adventure ensues. A primary school teacher read this illustrated book to our class around 1976. Would love to obtain more details. From memory our teacher advised that the book had won an award.
Hi. Im looking for a book, with blue cover. The pages are colorful and it shows different places like farm, and states the name of random things in it
Hi. Im looking for a book, with blue cover. The pages are colorful and it shows different places like farm, and states the name of random things in it.
Hi, I’m searching for a young adult book I read when I was 12 in 1960.
It was a small hardcover with a depiction of a small sailboat on the cover.
The story was about a boy that had gone to live with his uncle or grandfather, I don’t recall which on the boat his relative lives on.
He was a young boy about 13-14.
The story was about his longing to have a dog and his relative’s resistance due to living in such small quarters. I’m the end he prevails. Any suggestions?
Hello! I am looking for a series of books I read as part of my school curriculum around 2010-2013. The books featured a school with numerous kids and teachers, and even the principal featured once. Some character I distinctly remember are two twin who were named something like Mike/Spike/Tyke. The style of the books was similar to the Oxford Readers Tree books, but combing through their catalogues has proven fruitless.
One specific book from the series I distinctly remember is about a Math competition. The kids were broken into teams and went around the city counting numerous things. At the end they all gathered at the school to present their total, but every team seemed to have the wrong one. Our protagonist was a young kid who was not very good at Math and stayed silent, and didn’t contribute much during the competition. He mustered up the courage and spoke up at the end, presenting his own total, which was correct, and then he won. When asked to explain how he won, I remember this specific explanation where he explained that when everyone was counting the number of lollipops at the lollipop shop, they forgot to count the lollipop in Miss Lollipop’s name (a teacher). Other things were miscounted similarly because it was not just a Math competition but a logic/riddle one as well. When presented the trophy at the end, he told the teacher/principal (male) that numbers made his head hurt but were okay when he could understand them.
Only a few books from the series were covered in school, but I remember buying more from the series.
To add a bit of context, this was a private school in Pakistan. The grade must have been between 2 and 4. Our school books were typically published by Oxford Univeristy Press or Paramount Publisihing, but there may have been another publisher.
I would be grateful if anyone could help me find this book.
Back in the early 60’s there was a children’s book about a cat in a boat playing a banjo and something about pea soup
That sounds like it may be The Owl and the Pussycat.
Hi, So hoping someone can help me!
I am looking for a board book I read to my kids 1995-2005 range. (We lived in Canada at the time)
It was about a family, and the setting was possibly the UK in what seemed like the 40s or 50s. The pictures were highly detailed interiors and urban street scenes, with lots happening in the background baby baths, ironing, a baby in a pram, and clothing hanging to dry by the oven.
I cannot recall the plot, but my kids loved searching through the pictures, and I would be so happy to find a copy to give them!
The illustrations were watercolor and had a bit of a Helen Oxenbury or Nick Butterworth feel to them.
The short story was about 3 dogs that stumbled upon a group of thieves in a house. My mom use to read it to me. I can’t remember it. I liked scupper the dog too
Looking for a children’s book from the 1980s. It was about a young girl who had a secret. The secret was that her dig was going to have puppies.. I know the name Molly was in the book but I don’t know if it was the girl or the dog.
I am searching for animated movie I watched when I was 5yrs around and don’t remember it’s name and the character name.but the sad part is the whole thing in it I remember is a girl in red colour dress at night time she feeds bears fish and it’s a snowy night
There’s a book series I read in middle school that I can’t remember what it’s called. The covers were black with thin white font and I thought they all started with I’m okay? They’re about teens going through hardships, there was one where a girl gave birth at home without her parents knowing and I think she left the baby on someone’s door step? Another one was about a girl with anorexia who was sent to a mental hospital and monitored at all times. I really wanna find them and I cannot.
Hi, I read a book as a child, maybe 7 or so, that I’d be really happy to find again. As far as I can remember it was a thin red book about a girl who ran away from her home with three dresses and a goat skin cloak. One of the dresses is made out of sunlight or something and I think one of the dresses is made out of moonlight. I don’t remember much of the rest of the book except it ends with the girl dancing with and marrying a prince. It was a picture book with some writing.
Allerleirauh?
Hello! I’ve been looking for a children’s novel that I read in elementary school. I can’t remember exactly what grade, but I know it was between fourth grade (1994) and sixth (’96). I’m Canadian (living in BC, if that matters) and it was required reading for us, so I have to assume it had some notoriety, but it wasn’t a Newbery Award winner as far as I can tell.
It was about a little boy who lived with his older brother. Their parents were dead, so it was just the two of them. I believe they were Indigenous, and I THINK the older brother worked in a garage to support the younger. The younger brother was given a mask, possibly a totem mask? At one point, the younger brother is taken into foster care, or adopted, and is taken away from his older brother. I think the foster/adopted parents are white, and while they’re kind to him, he ultimately decides to leave them. He leaves behind all the things they bought for him, and takes with him only the mask that connects him to his brother, and their people.
I have been looking for this book for fifteen years at least. I was between nine and eleven when I read it, and I’m thirty-seven now. It’s gotten to the point where it’s almost causing me anxiety, because I’m starting to think I made it all up. If anyone has any clue, please PLEASE let me know. Thank you so much!
Hi. I would appreciate your help. I am looking for a children’s book from the early- to mid-60s, a book that would likely be read by a 1st grader. It’s definitely not a baby book.
None of my searching has turned up anything, so I’m hoping someone here can help me find it.
What I remember: I know this is going to sound really inappropriate, but it was the 60s. The family in the book was heavy set. There were the parents, at least one child – a son? – and a pet, I think either a dog or pig. I don’t remember the story or character names. Everyone in the book was happy and rosey-cheeked.. The family was on the cover, including the pet. In the upper left of the cover, there was something, maybe a structure?
Thank you so much for your help with this!
Mike
Hi!
This is a long shot, but I am looking for a book for my grandmother from the late 1920s/early 1930s. But could be older.
We think it was about a young girl called Harriet who had toys made from acorns or pinecones (or something similar, we’re not 100% sure) that used to come to life.
Thank you
I am trying to find a First reader book I had in elementary school that had a story in it about a Wise Little Owl who got wise by listening to all the other animals in the forest.
It’s like a picture book but in black and white and its like this kid who’s mom goes to get groceries and stuff and he runs away and he finds this deer who takes care of him while his mom is at the store and she comes home and her son is missing and the deer and kid go to somewhere above the clouds to find his mom and end up going to his grandparent’s house where they find his mom and everyone is happy. It was my childhood book and I can’t find it anywhere T-T
Hi there. I am looking for a Picture Book from the Early 90’s that involves a Young Boy going into the Woods, and when there, he encounters a Horrifying Looking Alien which has Glowing Three Eyes and Sharp Fangs. Anyone on here know the Title of this Picture Book, so I can see it once again for old times sake??? Also, the Illustrations looked like they were done by Quentin Blake.
Hi! I am looking for a book that I read when I was living in the UK between 2006-2008, and I was 2-4 at the time. It was an illustrated children’s book about the girl’s day and each page showed what she was doing at a certain hour. There was also a small mouse at the corner of each page that was doing the same thing she did. It’s a thin book, might have a red cover (not sure about it). I remember a particular page when the girl was taking an evening bath and her mother was drying her with a pink fuzzy towel.
Thank you for your help!
I am looking for a late 1990s/ early 2000s children’s/ preteen book. It was about a 7th grade class and told from different points of view, mainly a girl and the male bully. They were working on a class project of writing in journals with their teacher throughout the year. The class spoke to each other via journal entries and instant messenger and possibly emails. The class had to deal with the trouble to the bully throughout out the year wrecking havoc on the class, playing pranks and trying to ruin the project. I believe the bully was being abused by his dad. The teacher was able to get involved and help him out. The teacher was a male as well. In the end the bully was able to be removed from the bad home situation. The cover of the book was a royal blue with white at the top and almost looked scrapbooked in a way with pictures and designs. I have been thinking about this book for awhile. The book was most likely from scholastic or a monthly book subscription that came in the mail.
Hi
I wonder if you could help me. I’m looking for a book from my Mums childhood as a surprise for her so I can’t ask her too many questions. I think the title is Mrs Wigan but I can’t find a book with that name. She read it as child of about 7 and was born in 1957. I’d love to buy a copy for her birthday so hope you can help.
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle?
This is going to drive me nuts. I think I know the book – the one I recall was a short “chapter book” with a hard cover that had some cheap cellophane on it that didn’t hold up well. I am about the same age as your mum and the main character’s last name was very close to my maiden name, which is how I ended up with that book. I don’t think it was spelled “Wigan”, though. Maybe Wiggin? Wiggins? I remember the cover had a young woman wearing a kind of long, prairie dress with a pinafore and a ruffled cap and I think she was dancing kind of sideways while holding hands with a couple of kids. I feel like the title ended with “‘s Garden”. So “Mrs. ___’s Garden”. If I think of more, I’ll post again!!! Good luck!
I just remembered the title that I think matches your search: Mrs. Wiggs and The Cabbage Patch! I don’t know why my earlier reply seemed to disappear, but I mentioned that the cover was ‘protected’ by some cheap cellophane that peeled away from use. I think Mrs. Wiggs was shown on the cover dancing sideways (wearing a sort of prairie dress with a pinafore) holding the hands of some children. I recall her being a cross between Mary Poppins and Amelia Bedelia. I hope this helps!
Looking for two childhood books, 1990’s-2000’s range for both.
1- a picture book about how a child’s room began to morph into a jungle with animals and plantlife and even a big tree? i cannot for the life of me remember the title or author, I only remember a nature take-over. it was in full color with soft-lined illustrations. definitely the 90’s timeline for this one, possible late 80’s.
2- a “lift the flap” kind of book, i think? picture book, cover is a mix of black and blue, cityscape. the contents are all pages of different city/town scenes at night with dialogue in speech bubbles from varying city dwellers. i remember my little brother owning this, and reading it with him somewhere between the late 90’s/early 00’s.
if ANYONE remembers these, i’ll have a conniption out of pure joy.
I think the first one you’re thinking of is The Salamander Room?
The Salamander Room is probably correct, but the description you have might also fit “Nurse Lugton’s Curtain”; a kind of obscure but clever and memorable book. Good luck!
Hello, I’m looking for the name of a children’s Christmas book from the 1950’s, ’60’s about a selfish girl who wanted and got the longest stocking in the world for all her Christmas gifts. The book was a long form style and the illustrations looked like painted images. I can’t find any close descriptions or titles that match.
Thanks
I am looking for a book I read as a child at my grandparents house decades ago, suddenly disappeared from the cupboard one day… The book originally belonged to my mum as a child in the early 1960’s… The illustrated picture book/ story is about a bear (koala) that is kidnapped by gypsies (a little gypsy girl) and held captive in their caravan. Each day the bear looks out the window at his owner (a little boy who loves him so much), but the boy cannot find him and the bear, trapped, cannot alert his owner to where he is… It’s a strange book, a little eerie. I don’t know the author or title, could be British could be Australian…Can’t find it online or anywhere, feels like we imagined the whole thing, except that we didn’t. Thank you 🙂
Hello everyone,
I’ve been searching for a few years for a book I remember reading in Kindy (would have been around 1994).
It was about a man who left his house to buy something, and along the way, people asked him to grab them something as well.
So as an example, he started out going for a loaf of bread, then someone asked for milk, the next person asked for eggs then oranges etc. At the end of the trip he either had a full basket or he forgot the list. I don’t remember which.
I’m sure it was a lesson in counting, in that the first person asked for one loaf of bread, the second person wanted 2 eggs, third person asked for 3 oranges etc.
I don’t know if this is enough information to find the book, but I’m hopeful.
Might as well give this a try since the thread is still active – I’m looking for a book I read as a third-grader (approx. 2002/2003, but the book was older, probably nineties) from my school library. It was a largeish, hardcover, color-illustration collection of mildly scary stories for kids. It was *not* scary stories to read in the dark or any of the more popular ones; it must have been very obscure because none of my searches have yielded the right answer. The illustrations bring to mind Geraldine McCaughrean in my memory, but she was not the illustrator to the best of my knowledge; they just have that same quality. One of the stories was about a boy who sees a mysterious black dog outside his school/home and another was about a boy who had decided he was too grown-up for his blanket anymore and kept trying to throw it out, but it kept coming back. For the life of me I cannot find this collection! If anyone can help me track it down I’d be so delighted.
Was it Tales for the Midnight Hour? I had the one with the skeleton hand and pocket watch on the cover, and I remember a story about a black dog, although I can’t swear that that story was in THAT book. I had a bunch.
I’m gathering source materials for a creative project at the moment and am chasing an obscure children’s book that I can’t recall the name of nor the author – in desperation I thought why not post here!
I had thought the book was called ‘The Little Leaf Who Wanted To Be Red’ however google searches for that title return nothing. The book is about a young perennial tree leaf who watches the other leaves on the tree turn red and fall to the ground. The leaf is wracked by jealousy and begs Mother Nature (who walks past with her paint brush and palette) to turn him red too. She explains that it is not his time, he is too young to turn red, and urges him not to wish his life away, because once he turns red he will fall to the ground and die. Nonetheless the leaf continues to beg to be turned red; Mother Nature eventually relents and reluctantly paints him red. He falls to the ground and dies (grim I know).
I can’t remember how the story actually ends and would dearly love to find it so I can reference it properly. If anyone knows what book this is PLEASE HELP
I am looking for the name of an old children’s book that had the quote “She died in a fit of Apoplexy.” I know it’s a long shot because that is all I know.
I googled the phrase and came up with The Slowest Runner in the World. Does that help? It’s from 2010.
I’m not sure that this is a book by itself, maybe a story in a book of kid’s Christmas stories. It had to do with an owl and bows, and magic. And something about a shop, like the kind of cozy old shops you’d find in old England, turn of the century. I cannot remember exactly what the story was about except for those elements, but it’s driving me crazy. Anyone remember this?
Hello!
I’m looking for a book that would probably have been published in the 1950s. I remember that it was an orange-red hard cover, had matte black, white and red illustrations. I cannot remember the story itself, but the pictures included a little boy wearing a saucepan as a hat, a big ball of string, possibly something to do with a costume party? I’m wondering if it might be “Danny’s Luck” by Lavinia R. Davis but I can’t find any of the illustrations to confirm. Any other suggestions?
I am looking for a book can not remember title. But it has apart saying ,
Little Bear sat up and said, I am tired if sleeping on these hard rock. then somewhere he says Strawberries I want some strawberries.
I’m trying to find a children’s book that my grandfather read to me as a child (in the 90s). I remember the book being vertical. It was about going to bed, the moon and the stars. But more specifically, how there were stars in every room of the house. So as you read the story, you said goodnight to every room in the house. I remember a vivid illustration of dark blue wallpaper with gold stars. Beyond that, I can’t recall much else. Any help would be amazing!
Hi, I’m looking for the name of a children’s book that would have been written befor the 1970’s, 50’s or 60’s or possibly even earlier. It’s about a child and a single parent who move into an old Victorian house and the child discovers a rift in time and goes back in time to discover another child with a single parent, a widower. The two children introduce the parents to each other, and the parents fall in love and they all stay in the past together. May or may not have a grandfather clock involved. I thought it was called “A Stitch in Time” but can’t find a book with that plot. Does anyone know? It was my mother’s favorite book as a child, she dod a school project on it in the 1960’s, but she could never find it again. Thanks!
By any chance could you be thinking of The Diamond in the Window?
I’m looking for a book from somewhere around 10-15 years ago, it could be older though I remember reading it 10-15 years ago. It featured a man as the main character and he could have been a giant (I don’t know though) and I’m pretty sure he was wearing a red and white pointy hat and had a curly white beard. It had a predominent light blue, white, and red colour scheme. It was a picture book with a paperback and I’m pretty sure it was a large book as well it terms of its dimensions. I also remember it had a page without any words on it. If anyone recognises this it would be greatly appreciated, thanks.
Since the mid-1980’s I’ve been looking for a children’s book which disappeared from our local library. Black and white hand drawn illustrations with a story about a young dinosaur, time traveling tourists, an old man with a rabbit ear tv to watch the world series. A tyrannosaurus rex terrorizes a young sauropod’s family and friends. One day an odd large object appears, a tour bus filled with excited tourists coming to see dinosaurs. One man, dragged along by his wife, refuses to go and sets up a tv to watch the World Series. The young brontosaurus slowly walks up behind the man to see what is going on. The man knows someone is behind him but is so engrossed with the game, he doesn’t look back but starts talking about the game. The tourists return as the game ends, so the dinosaur quickly hides in the bushes. He picks up a big branch and practices World Series. He tells his friend triceratops about World Series and they play World Series with logs and rocks. One day, the tyrannosaurus rex returns and the young dinosaurs don’t run away but yell World Series!! They hit the tyrannosaurs rex with bats and stone balls. They save the day. If you know the author and title please help me. I’ve tried several libraries and vintage bookstores over the years.
Hello! I am looking a children’s book from circa 1965-1966. It is about a little girl who only has two pairs of shoes- black and brown. She dreams of having more so for her birthday she is given shoes by everyone and ends up with hundreds of pairs in a rainbow of colors. She then gets overwhelmed by her choices and gives them away, deciding to keep only her original black and brown pairs.
Any help as to the title or author would be greatly appreciated!!
I’m looking for the title of a book that I used to read as a child (this was back in the 90’s) but I believe the book was published before that, though I can’t be certain. I can’t recall much about the plot, all I do remember was that there were possibly a little teddy bear who was trying to get home at night and he met an owl. I also remember that it was a very bittersweet story that really stuck with me and tugged at my heart, but sadly it’s been so long since I’ve read it that I’ve forgotten almost all of what actually happens in the story. I would love it if someone knew what book I was talking about so that I can try to find it online somewhere and read it again.
I used to read a book in our local library, would have been mid 80s. I think it was about a magical dragon. The key feature was a color changing plastic page between all the normal pages. You read the page and then flip the plastic over, and it changes the picture to reveal a secret or plot point. I can’t remember anything else.
My daughter and I are trying to find a book that she had that was either in the 1970s or 1980s. It was about a little girl who we think was either sick or couldn’t sleep that saw things out of her big bedroom window. One of the characters she saw was Uncle Runner Bean.
I remember the book was either dark blue or black hardback cover. Sorry but that is all we can remember.
This blog post is an absolute lifesaver! We’ve all experienced that frustrating feeling of remembering a beloved children’s book but not its title. It’s like a long-lost friend you can’t quite place, and this post is a beacon of hope for book lovers like me. The tips and strategies shared here are invaluable for rekindling those cherished literary memories. It’s a testament to the enduring impact of children’s literature and the profound connections we form with stories from our past. Thank you for being our guide in this quest to reconnect with these hidden gems and rediscover the magic of those long-lost tales.
I think this is Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield. Betsy is sent to Vermont, and eventually another little orphan girl comes to live with the family.
Hi. I’m looking for a children’s book from the 1970s, I think. It’s about a cat named Jackson. He is a black or tuxedo cat. He has a friend named Marilyn who is a white cat and quite pampered. Jackson has a home, but visits other homes for treats and company. There were drawings in the books and they were monotone. Slightly detailed drawings. I was about eleven when I read the books. Can anyone help me out as I can’t find the books anywhere.
I read this book when I was a child in primary school (elementary school) in Queensland, Australia. It was the late 90s (so was probably published 1990 – 1999). It was a book of illustrations of halloween-type monster masks. I think it was an A4 size book, because the illustrations were full-page and, I think, intended to be traced/copied and used as masks. I remember some of the monsters were; a skull with a snake, a frankenstein, and a dragon. I don’t know the title or author, or where I could get a copy. It was similar to this book, but I remember the illustrations being a bit different, especially the skull:
https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/1209289163/vintage-the-big-book-of-monster-masks-by?ref=hp_active-mission-recs-rv-1-2
Any information would be appreciated. Thankyou.
Hi, I swear Paul Bunyan had a dog that he fed under a desk so its back half grew big but the front half stayed small, so it always was running downhill and never got tired. I cannot seem to find this story, nor the book that contained it. It’s possible this was in a collection of stories in one book (I always thought they were ALL Paul Bunyan stories), and I remember two other stories in the book:
A cloud got stuck in a cave underground and made it rain up. The story goes into detail about how a man’s clothes and how houses both work to keep rain out, but since it was raining up, havoc ensued.
Mosquitoes so big that they carried off an outhouse. I believe Paul (or another character if it wasn’t a Paul Bunyan story), was attacked by the mosquitoes and they were able to pierce the outhouse, so he hammered their noses over and they had to carry the outhouse off with them.
Any help is greatly appreciated, as I feel completely insane at this point!
Is it this?
https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/32994/pg32994-images.html
I’m searching for a children’s book that I read 85 years ago. It had many different stories, one dealt with how the sea became salty. Another story was little black Sambo and many other stories. Hopefully someone knows of this book and can contact me..
Sounds like Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories.
Hopefully someone will remember the name of this book and contact me
Hello! I’m looking for a book that I checked out from our library as a kid in the mid to late 80s. It had a few different stories in it, the last of which was Polly Greenberg’s “Oh Lord, I Wish I Was a Buzzard” which was published by MacMillan in 1968. The story, like the stand-alone book was illustrated by Aliki.
I cannot remember the other stories in the book, but my favorite part was a comic book styled (it had different box shapes) part with a character (I do not remember what it was at all) that said something about yams at some point…I feel like maybe this was the central storyline of this book/series, and the other stories were put throughout, but I could be mistaken.
I am certain it was a series, because when the book ended up unavailable at our library my mother found another book with the same comic book style character/narrator in it, but I did not enjoy it as much.
The book did not have a dust jacket, just a red canvas cover that was very plain. I cannot remember any other things about this book, but I have been searching for it since I could not find it at the library anymore, mid 80s. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
I am looking for the name of a book I read in the 80’s. It was a paperback – probably YA. It was a mystery book with chapters. I remember the nursery rhyme “Oranges and Lemons” featured prominently in the story, and I vaguely remember something about “Hickory Dickory Dock” as well. Some of the names of the chapters might even have been lines from “Oranges and Lemons.” That’s all I can remember and I can’t for the life of me come up with the name of the book. Any help anyone could offer me would be very much appreciated!
Hi, I’m looking for a title of a book that I loved and lost it when I was a child in 1970’s. I can’t remember a name of title or author, but I do remember my dad brought it from old department called Ben Franklin’s and hardcover children book, probably sold for some cents. I would love to find a copy again. It was about a 19th century style (looked like Queen Anne style) house. At beginning of the book – A couple with young children played outside front of the a house and had a party. When their children grew up and left home, old couple sat on a bench outside knitting and read newspaper. A house became abandoned with broken windows, filled with grown tall weeds, stray cats and old broken 1910’s/1920’s cars. Later, a man came and collected all old cars and old lady took all stray cats with her. A house alive again with new family at end of the book. I hope you will able to help me to find a copy, a name of a title or any help would be very appreciated. Thank you, Leslie
I emailed you earlier about a 19th Century Style house and I realized my email address was old so I am sending you my correct email address. My Apology. 🙂
Looking for the first book that I was gifted here in America. I couldn’t read or understand English, but I loved looking at the pictures and made my own story based on that. I got it in 1979 and I believe it was already vintage then. It was a hard cover, maybe 12-15 pages, big pics. About a boy who finds a gum, blows a big bubble and flies all the way to the city. Sees people in the skyscrapers working and then a bird pops the bubble and he lands back.
I have been looking for an old childrens book about the solar system for years. It is a small hard back with orange colloration. It has sketched drawings of made-up alien creatures that look a bit like emus. Each page is for a planet in the solar system
Searching for a children’s or young adult book that I probably read in the mid 80’s. All I remember about the book was a girl that stayed at a house that I dont think was her own. It was suggested to her that she divide up the back yard into squares with string, and then spend a whole day in a square. If I remember correctly, she hated it at first, but gradually learned to observe and enjoy the plants and creatures in each square. It inspired me to do something similar in my own back yard as a child.
I have been desperately looking for these two picture books both by the same author that my nanna used to read to me. They’ve been lost over the years and I really want to get them again for her as a gift. It was the most beautiful detailed illustrations I have seen. The two books we had were both about the same little girl. The first was a story about how the girl had gone out to play in the snow without rugging up and got sick, I remember a picture of her looking out at her friends playing in the snow and I think one in the bath, her friends come and say they hope she gets better. I think she gets well in the end and then gets go in the snow again. The next book she’s sick (again haha) and goes the visit an apple orchard and it goes through all stages of the trees green, blossoming and then picking the apples. I feel like there was a cute animal in the illustrations too but could be wrong, girl was brunette probably. Nanna thinks the books were a French author but we’re pretty sure they were written in English. She read them to me in the early 2000s but the illustrations had that old fashioned extra care and detailed look
There was a book I love to read around 2010. I can’t remember the title or the author, but on the cover of the book is a little brown girl with long dark hair in a white dress floating down a body of water. I’m not even sure what the plot was I just remember the book showing us how the little girl lived her life in the forest. The book took place long before big cities were built and I think the little girl was apart of tribe or something. The illustration in this book was very simple drawings, the drawing weren’t very detailed. Please I hope someone can help figure out the title of this book.
maybe wait till Helen comes by marry downing hall
There was a book I am trying to remember the name of from childhood that may have been part of a chapter book series about a girl named Betsy and her sister or sisters. I believe it would date back to the late 1950’s (or possibly very early 1960’s). Thank you.
Could it be the Betsy-Tacy books?
Hi, I’m searching for two children’s books…one was from the 1980s about a sandwich that was brought to life and made enormous by a mad scientist. He turned it loose, and the army had to stop it. Another book was a collection of short stories. One of them was about a girl who loved to chew gum. The last stick of gum in her pack was named Harry or Harvey. The story ended with the stick of gum being stuck under the seat in a movie theater.
Thank you for this helpful guide on finding long-lost children’s books. Navigating the world of nostalgia just got a whole lot easier
I am looking for a Golden Book that we had at my parent’s cottage in the 1980s. I thought the title was “Mr Fix It’ but I saw that book and that’s not it. A man can fix many things, if memory serves there is a doll on the cover. On the cover it says he can fix anything, even broken hearts. A word is Xed out and replaced with EVEN, I beleive. It was not a new book in the 1980s, perhaps from the 1960s. thank you for any help.
Hi! I’m looking for the title of a story I read when I was a child. It’s about a little girl who had a plain white dress. She goes to the fields to collect flowers she can use to color her dress. Her name was either Geraldine or Gertrude.
I think the book is a collection of short stories. I remember reading an excerpt from A Little Princess from that book.
I’m looking for a book that was read to my fourth grade class (2008-2008). It was about a young girl who was living with an aunt and a mean cousin, and decided to run away from that home in order to find her father, I believe in Alaska. I want to say Alaska is in the title but I’m not certain
Julie of the Wolves, by Jean Craighead George ❤️
I’m looking for a children’s book about colors. I owned it as a child in the early 1980’s. One page would have all purple, another page all red and there was a toucan throughout the book on many of the pages I believe. I’m not sure that’s a bough to go on but it was my favorite and I haven’t been able to find it.
I had a story book in the 1950s, it had a green cover and the characters in the book were all on a set of stairs on the cover. One story was about a boy dreaming a goose wanting his feathers back from a featherquilt & one story was the little girl who had a magic porridge pot. It had several more stories. Would love to see it again.
Could it be the “My Bookhouse” series?
I’m looking for a childrens book
A Boy rescues a fairy from a fishtank but as he gets older looses all memories of this the fairy is then in trouble for some reason so tries to wake the boy up while he is sleeping instead wakes up the boys sister who is the main charector in the book she helps them. The fairy’s names are cami and snowdrop/snowbell (one of the two) and the book begins outside a petrol station the siblings are arguing about whether varies are real when the girl sees them she leaves chocolate or some type of sweet food on the windowsill to try ro get them to come to her house. I was about six when I read it and it was my favourite book unfortunately somebody ripped it up I want to buy it in future to reread for memories but also to allow other children to read it. If anyone can help that would be marvelous but if not that is also OK.
I am searching for a book I read in 5th grade, 1965. It was about a young girl who was sent away for the summer to what I think must have been the Coast of Maine. She was depressed because of losing her father, I think. She found a magical silver pen that started writing to her. It was almost like a backward diary. I think the girl may have had a brother who either didn’t believe her or couldn’t see the writing from the pen. Anyway, it seems as though, at the end of the summer the girl was through the worst of her depression and the pen stopped writing to her and she went back home, leaving the pen for someone else to find.
The book is not The Silver Pencil, but I always thought it had “silver pen” or “magic pen” in the title. I loved this book so much that I went back to my elementary school library to look for it when I was in college in the 70’s
Still looking…
I KNOW THIS ONE!!!! It’s called The Secret Pencil!!! It is set in Wales, but very closely matches the coast of Maine!!! They went to stay with their uncle for the summer and she had to write an essay, but was uninspired. In a tidal cave, she found the turquoise-inlaid pen which wrote to her (kind of cheekily and always calling her ‘Girl’). Some friends of theirs gets his foot stuck between a couple of rocks and the pen guides them to rescue him before the tide comes all the way in. It’s one of my all time favorite books!!!
When I was about seven years old (in 1963) my dad read me a book about a family camping during a summer vacation at the Grand Canyon. I can’t remember the title or the author’s name, but I do remember the outline of the story. It was actually a detective story. The mom and dad had a boy and a girl. The boy was older and had a friend his own age along with him on the vacation. The dad was a wildlife naturalist (biologist) who was trying to make tape recordings of bobcats at night. They had never been recorded in the wild. While the dad is working on this study, the boys notice a mysterious stranger who seems to have an unexplained interest in the family. Because of his ungainly size and movements, they nickname him the dinosaur. It turns out that “the dinosaur” is actually an undercover detective looking for illegal uranium prospectors. Since one of the boys has a geiger counter with him, the dinosaur suspects the family. The boys are imperiled by the actual prospectors and eventually join forces with the dinosaur to catch them while the dad is able to record the bobcats on audiotape. I have fond memories of this book but cannot find it anywhere with Google or Bing. I suspect the title has “Grand Canyon” in it. I think it was a hard back with a glossy cover illustration that included the Grand Canyon. My memory of the binding reminds me of a Whitman Authorized Version book, but I don’t know whether that company actually published it. I would be most grateful for any help. Mark O.
I’m looking for my favorite childhood book. It’s about animals (I think mostly bears but there might be other animals as well) that live in the woods and a cave. There is a scene where they are painting easter eggs at a table in a field, where they organize a big party in a cave and at the end there is a wintery scene. The book is mostly about the illustrations and the illustrations are very vintage (a bit Barbara firth style). I’ve read the book around the mid 90’s but it could be older.
I remember a book we had back in the 70’s, but I’m not sure exactly when it was published. It was a rectangular-shaped board book, but for older children, not babies or toddlers as the pages were thinner. The book was vertical in shape and (IIRC) spiral bound) The major thing I remember was a boy running through a supermarket aisle–he may or may not have been pushing a cart–he either had light brown hair and was wearing tan/khaki pants and a light blue or blue-green blouse, or chestnut hair, a lavender-purplish blouse, and (I can’t recall the color pants, but he was wearing some, lol). So this kid is running down the aisle (with or without a shopping cart) while the storekeeper or clerk is pointing at him and yelling at him to stop or get back here. I remember he had a long nose and glasses, and either white or light gray hair. The illustrations were cartoonish, but not from any movie or TV show. I can visualize the storekeeper pretty well in my head; I think he was near the bottom left corner in the illustration. The boy I’m having a Mandela Effect regarding what he was wearing and the hair color, I still see him with the lavender blouse and the chestnut hair though.
I’m not sure if it was supposed to be a silly story about a kid in a supermarket, or a concept book about manners (such as “Don’t run through the store”). If anyone has heard of this book, I would greatly appreciate it!
im loooking for for a purple hard cover book like its jsut purple with gold circly things around its about a girl who’s mother dies and she sells milk and goes under the balcony
I’m looking for a children’s book I had as a child – late 80s early 90’s. Was about a girl that ran away from home because she didn’t want to take a bath. She ends up seeing how other animals ‘take baths’. She sits in a mud pit with pigs, she does a dust bath with chickens, etc. At the end she is dirty and itchy and ends up going home and taking a bath. The illustrations were wonderful – full page illustrations in a very illustrative style. Any help would be wonderful!
I’m looking for a book about a brother and sister who lives with their aunt or grandma and she can go to the spirit world or something but its a secret I remember details like the brother willilngly getting buried alive and has to help this spirit woman get to this like ghost city
and I remember one of the villains is like this boy who wears black and I think his name was Tom or Thomas or something like that and I remember 1 line specifically about him for some reason its like “Tom fell to the ground his eyes hanging from their sockets” I think it was made anywhere from like the soonest 2005 and I read it in either 2017 or 2018
please help I’ve been looking for this thing for so long
Hi, wow so many people searching for books with significant memories! There’s surely an online archive in this notion! I am desperately trying to remember a book with this brilliant character called Leon (I think) who was a lion pyjama case with a zip up his middle. I’m sure there were other toys on the story.
My dad used to read it to me in the 1990s so it was in circulation around then or before. I loved it and want to read it to my son!
I’m trying to find a large soft cover mother goose nursery ryhme book I had in the early to mid 1980s. I remember it had sections of the books pages in blue, pink and I want to say the plain. I don’t remember the illustrations being color at all. I feel like it may have been a cheaper more affordable version back in the day. If anyone could point me in the right direction i would be so grateful!!
Currently trying to remember the name of this one scholastic book where this girl finds random poems everywhere, like her backyard. She thinks that the poems are from this guy named Steven but they turn out to be from this old lady witch. Another detail is that this girl saw a crow/raven in the school cafeteria.