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I’m looking for this old book it had a blue cover and two boys on a
bicycle were standing in front of the Grapevine looking thing and from
what I remember it was about this kid who moved into an old abandoned
house and he had a next-door neighbor and he lives with his grandma and
there was a pizza guy who came over to the guy’s house to help his
father fix of it up and he had a girlfriend that worked at Walmart it
was like a mystery novel like Middle School level and it was pretty good
but I can’t remember where what it’s called and I am looking for this
book for so long.
I’m looking for a book about kids or teens who get lost in a forest, I believe there is a forest fire or smoke because planes drop huge amounts of water to try and put out the fire. The water washes the kids away (separating them from each other?) and one of them gets washed into a cave.
I’m looking for a children’s book from the 1950s about a white cockatoo. From what I can remember, there was a series of 2 books. A monkey was another character, and they were beautifully illustrated.
I am looking for a children’s book that my toddler daughter had when she was about 3. All I have a some pictures from a video which I included. It has a Dalmatian on the front but have no other information. Can anyone help me find this?
Hi! I was given a My Bookhouse tiny metal house with 3 miniature books from my aunt’s estate. The house only came with 3 books but there appears to be room for more. I work with children and I adore the tiny house. Do you have any leads on how I can find the other tiny books that go with my house. I have heard that there are also tiny books called :
Wee Robin’s Christmas Soong
The Little Engine That Could
Little Pictures of Japan
I have 2 copies of Johny and The 3 Goats and one copy of The 3 Ducks
You have an extremely rare and early salesman’s copy of the Book House. Take good care of it! It’s unlikely that you will find the other books and I don’t have a list. I saw one for sale about 10 years ago from Joanne Reisler, I think.
Hi looking for a book I used to read to my children in the 80′ or 90’s about a set of drawers that had different things come out of the drawers. E.g. a snowstorm or a desert.
I’m looking for a children’s book about a mouse who leaves a dirty paw print on the page. As the story goes on he tries to wipe the pawprint away but just ends up making more of a mess on the page.
I am looking for an older book that may have come out in the late 80s early 90s. It’s about a bunch of animals (forest animals I believe) and there’s a new animal that comes to the forest and it’s around Christmas time and they bring a Christmas pudding to their new friend. Illustration is similar to the style of Roger Bollen but it
Is not Roger.
I’m looking for a childhood book that I vividly recall having a statue on the front cover carrying a child. I believe in the background was a big victorian house and there were 2 children in the story. Can you help me find it?
Could it be The Children of Greene Knowe?
I’m looking for a childhood book that had a picture of a statue carrying a child on it’s shoulder and a big victorian house in the background. I think it was about 2 children and the statue came to life.
Hi, I’m looking for a book which my kids borrowed from the library in the form of an audiobook in the 1990s. It was most probably published earlier. It involved quite a few hours of listening and was about a talking cat with a funny voice who lived with a boy and a girl (no parents) possibly on the street in Eastern Europe. One key incident involved a theft and a fire in a shop. It most likely was by an English author.
Hi I’m looking for a children’s book that was given to me as a child. It was about a mouse that tried to erase his dirty paw print. The more he tried to clean the page, the dirtier it became until there was a huge mess in the book. I don’t remember much else about it but it came to mind after seeing a tiny mouse footprint in my shed.
I am looking for a book I think the name is something like my giant book of 101 bed time stories. It was a yellow hard cover, I think it had a giant on it and some stars. There was a story of the troll that lived under a bridge, also a story of a giant. We had it for my daughter who was born in 1982 and loved that giant book Any help finding this would be greatly appreciated.
My fifth grade teacher read us a book about a person who was a twig with an acorn for a head, in the late 40s. Hoping you can help me with the name. Thanks!
Probably Miss Hickory by Caroline Sherwin Bailey. It’s been reprinted many times and is in paperback.
I’m looking for a children’s book about two frog (maybe toad?) sisters who share a house. They split their space in exactly half by each using their favorite color for everything, orange on one side and purple on the other. The style of writing is very similar to Arnold Lobel’s Frog and Toad, but this book wasn’t authored by him that I remember.
Not sure if that one went through. Warton and the Castaways, one of the Morton and Warton Toad series.
Hi I’m also looking for a book that I read as an 11yr old in 1967 about a girl who time travelled back to a different part of English history each time. One time she was serf girl another time something else.
Hi I am looking for a book my adult son asked me about today. It was probably in the 1980s I was reading it to him. He said it was about a chest of drawers that was sort of magical as each drawer had something different in it such as in one it had a snowstorm etc.
I keep thinking about Ruth Chew’s What the Witch Left. Not bang-on for the description, but you might remember it that way.
I am looking for a book that was my moms (born in ’81) when she was four. It was about a four yr old girl in a tutu of some sort around Christmastime. She baked cookies with her mom and built blocks with her brother who was around six (I think). The cover has the little girl on it, it’s a red book with a green spine. Our copy was hardcover but it may have paperback. not sure. My moms 40th birthday is January 8th and I want to get her this book as a tearjerker. Thank you 🙂
Sounds a bit like the Oliver and Amanda Pig books, but more than one of them. Was it definitely a human family, or could it have been animals?
Looking for children’s
Book about doll house that blows away and is found at sea. They put glass in the floor to see the fish. Searcher remembers reading this in the 80’s but it could be an older book.
I am looking for a story called “The Upside Down Lady” contained within a hardcovered anthology of children’s storie from the 1950’s. She had breakfast at night,wore her clothes inside out and slept in the morning.
Im looking for a children’s book from the 90s. I always thought it was called ‘Shiloh in Love’ obviously I’m wrong cause I can’t find it. It’s about a dog who travelled a distance (I remember one stage being across water) to visit his ‘love’ and they had puppies. The dog was a golden/brown colour and it was beautifully illustrated but I can’t for the life of me find it.
I’m looking for a children’s book picture that I read c. 1998 when I picked it up from my local library. I can’t remember anything to do with the title/author but can’t remember it being beautiful illustrated and the plot vaguely but quite a lot. It starts with a father sending off his daughters (eldest-youngest) to a man in castle (I think) usually around Harvest time as some sort of payment. When the youngest daughter gets there she is made welcome and give a set of keys each a different colour, every day she visits a new room which is. Filled with amazing sights of that colour in different shades. There is one room/colour that she is FORBIDDEN to go in which I believe might have been the grey room. She enters and finds her sisters trapped and she manages to save them. I think the sisters faces could be seen hidden in the rooms. Anyway hoping someone sees this as familiar and can help me out.
I am looking for a children’s book I bought around 1985 called “Grandmother Dear”. It started out…”Grandmother dear is here today, please try to help her while I’m away. I will help her as much as I can, you will see, I will be a good little man…What would you like to do today, read or paint or go out to play? Out to play I like that best, I can play and you can rest…”
My mom, sister and I are all wracking our brains trying to figure out the title of a children’s/picture book that my sister and I grew up reading. All we can remember is plot points – an old woman lives in a house that slowly turns into a giant cat. By the end of the book, the house becomes a cat and chases the old woman away. Some examples of how the house turns into a cat are: the garden path becomes the tail when the old woman walks on it, the windows are the eyes, and when the woman sweeps out her front door the sweeping is what creates the whiskers. Any insight? Anyone?
Ok friends, let’s see if you can help me with this mystery. When I was little, my mom would read a book to me about a baker and he would sing a song that went something like this “Wish come true, wish come true. If it can happen to me, it can happen to you. There isn’t much you have to do to make your dearest wish come true.” There was some sort of magic involved and whatever you started doing when you woke up that day was what you would do the rest of the day so the baker made all kinds of special treats and he baked all day and was very successful and there was also this greedy couple that wanted the same success as the baker so they started their day sweeping and emptying boxes for all the money they were going to make and then that was what they were stuck doing. I remember the woman emptying boxes of carrots (maybe they owned a grocery store). Anyway, I know this is so random but Google was no help so does anyone have any idea what book this was? I would love to track it down.
My mother, who grew up in the 1930’s, had an illustrated book in which every character and building was crooked. I can’t remember either the name, or the author/illustrator.
I’m trying to find a book I read in elementary school (so at least 25 years ago) about a white girl becoming friends with a black girl (who I think was considered strange). The black girl claimed to be a witch and I distinctly remember she’d walk around town with her face turned up toward the sky but she’d never bump into any poles due to her “witch powers”
Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth, by E.L. Konigsburg
I’m looking for a children’s book from what I believe would be the mid 60s or so. I thought it was called The Now Really Time. It’s a book about children losing items during the winter, like gloves, hats, etc.. and then they find them when the snow melts. Anyone heard of such a book
I am looking for a children’s book from the 1960’s. It was about a group of neighborhood elementary school kids. It was a 365 day book with each day about a different adventure in the kids’ lives. The stories were seasonally related. It was about 6″ x 8″.
365 Bedtime Stories, by Nan Gilbert, about the children on What-A-Jolly Street.
I’m looking for a learning book about colors. I vaguely remember two kids, a girl and a boy, maybe blonde. Anyways, the go around different places and they have different colored sunglasses and it shows the environment and other things that are the specific color on the page. I want to say it’s from the 90s but there is a possibility that it could be from the 80s. It was one of those cardboard children’s books. Much thanks if you find out the name!
There waa a picture book about a princess I once saw in around 1975, its illustrations in the version I saw were incredibly abstract. I don’t remember all of it, but it said that when she got ready to sleep at night she first put her unicorn under her pillow, and I think a whole bunch of other animals she also had, setting them just so. Something happened where one of them gets disturbed, and it sets off a chain reaction where each animal ends up disturbing the animal before it until finally the unicorn gets disturbed, “And the unicorn started to cry!” So the princess wakes up and has to set things right and get everyone all back in place again before she can go back to sleep. Anyone know it?
Little Princess Goodnight, by Bill Martin, Jr.
Asian tale of boy who takes his blind mother to an underworld run by mice and where she is briefly able to see him. Read it in early 80s
Journey to the Bright Kingdom, by Elizabeth Winthrop
When I was in grade school in the 70s there was a hardback book I read in about the 4th or 5th grade. It was illustrated with excellent illustrations, remind me now of Dore illustrations. The book was a collection of short stories about monsters. This book was published much earlier than the 70s, but I have no clue when. One of the short stories was about an ogre type of beast that had captured a girl who escaped and he began to chase her. I don’t remember any other stories or illustrations from the book. Any ideas?
Hello, I’m trying to find a book for young adults from the mid-80s…about a girl named Wallis (I think) and her mother becomes President of the US. She moves into the White House and has a hard time adjusting.
Probably it’s President’s Daughter, by Ellen Emerson White, first published in 1984. It’s been rewritten/updated, so make sure you’re getting the edition you want.
The name Wallis may be from Ellen Conford’s book Anything for a Friend.
Looking for an old children’s book. Think it was called the girl with the puffin handle umbrella?
Try this one: Umbrella Thursday, by Janet McNeil.
I’m looking for a book my mother in law mentioned. She said it’s called “A Story About Me”. It’s about a little boy that goes for a walk in the woods, meets a bear and brings him home and his mom makes them cookies. She said the bear has a hat and a tie on. When I search the title I can’t find a thing. Ring any bells for anyone?
I’m looking for a children’s book. I can’t remember how old it was but I used to rent it back in the 90’s at school and it looked very vintage. The book is very thin and sort of mint green. The cover has a drawn picture of a family on it and the title in french starts with “la famille…” but i forgot the rest of it. It is part of a collection that contains many books of the same format, but with different colours. I can’t remember what the story was about as I could not read yet but I just looked at the pictures.
I’m looking for a children’s book. I can’t remember how old it was but I used to rent it back in the 90’s at school and it looked very vintage. The book is very thin and sort of mint green. The cover has a drawn picture of a family on it and the title in french starts with “la famille…” but i forgot the rest of it. It is part of a collection that contains many books of the same format, but with different colours. I can’t remember what the story was about as I could not read yet but I just looked at the pictures.
I’m looking for a book that I used to get out from the library when I was younger. it was about a little boy who didn’t want to go to bed, and I think he shrunk and went on his toy train around his bedroom. the book was published no later than 2010 and I’m guessing no earlier than the 80s. the illustration was orangey/pink tones and was very soft – similar style to christian Birminghams illustrations.
Might be Chugga Chugga Choo Choo by Kevin Lewis.
I’m looking for a book that I borrowed from the library a few times as a child, would have been in the 90’s. It seemed Chinese in origin. There was a boy and one red dragon/lizard and one blue dragon/lizard. One was good and the other evil and I think he sort of had to choose which he would let influence him? That or he turned into one or the other. I really loved it, but this is all I can seem to remember. The illustrations were pretty simple, I think the only colors were black, white, blue and red. Thanks!
I’m looking for a book I read to my children about 10 years ago about 2 towns in Ireland and they would have a decorating contest. One town would spend lots of money for elaborate decorations and the other was more simple. There was a line in the book where “the cows got stuck in the ‘mud’ or ‘muck’”. My kids would laugh so much at this line!!! Does anyone know this book?
Hello,
I am searching for a book that my husband has been looking for from his childhood. All I know is it is about a toy rabbit who uses the finger of a glove as a mitten. My husband was born in 1979 so likely to be a 1980s or 70s book? He thinks it could be one story of a collection. Not much to go on but I’d love to find it for him for Christmas!
Thank you 🙂
Liz
I’m remembering a book from primary school where this bear moves from room to room in his house and gets confused about the fact the clock on the wall has a different time. It’s to teach kids about how it takes time to get to each room
Hi I’m looking for a story I read when I was younger I’m assuming from the 90s. It’s about a little girl who goes to the fairground and wins a teddy bear he has a earring in his ear. She takes him home gets the Moses basket out the loft for him. When she goes to take him back to the fair it’s gone and just a empty grass area. It was my favourite book and would love to find a copy of it for my children
I’m looking for a children’s picture book from around the 1950’s about a girl with a yellow(?) polkadot dress who looses all the polkadots and has to find them (perhaps when it was hanging on the line to dry). thank you!!!
i’m looking for a trilogy about a brother and a sister who move into a newly built house and they come across a nation (for lack of a better word) of elves the veil between the elven world and the human world is thinning and the two siblings help strengthen it in one book they go to the north pole for something that is all i can remember about the trilogy
I am trying to find a book for an acquaintance.
The book was from the late 1940s to early 1950s. He believes it was a green hardcover book. It was a children’s book with pictures.
Now about the story: There was a young boy playing in a sandbox with his 3 dogs (Dachshund, another medium sized dog and a German shepherd maybe). Mom makes cinnamon rolls and gives some to the boy. The large dog (German Shepherd) takes the rolls and the boy has to get more from his mom.
I know this isn’t a lot of info to go on but this is what is remembered about the book.
Thanks for any and all help
I’m looking for a book about several children who live in the same neighborhood and had a story for each day of the year. While they were separate stories the ongoing theme of the book was these children and the everyday events in their lives. The book is from the 1960’s.
I’m looking for a book where a couple couldn’t have children, so they cried into a baby cradle every night hoping for something, then a witch came, and turned their tears into a baby, and once the baby was like, 5, she came and took him away. If that makes any sense, or rings any bells
me, too! you beat me to it!
I’m looking for a children’s novel (there were a series of them) about a family (I feel like ‘thorpe’ was part of their name) that my teacher read to us in the late 70s, early 80s. The novels were typical paperback size. *Maybe* there were pen-and-ink drawings inside. I believe they had a dog. I loved those books.
They might have been the Bagthorpes. Helen Cresswell. . Reprinted many times with different illustrations. Note that the first two don’t have Bagthorpe in the title: Bagthorpe series: 1. Ordinary Jack, 2.Absolute Zero, 3. Bagthorpe’s Unlimited, 4. Bagthorpes v the World, 5.Bagthorpes Abroad, 6. Bagthorpes Haunted, 7. Bagthorpes Liberated.
That’s it!!! Thank you so much. You’ve made my day!
Glad to help!
I am looking for a book from my childhood possibly written in the 80’s or earlier. Forgot the title. Was a peach cover with crocodiles or alligators dressed up in summer vacation attire and they overtake a human’s hotel/motel.
These aren’t quite a match, but take a look at Peter Lippman’s books.
There’s The Great Escape – Or- The Sewer Story about Silas and a bunch of other alligators that were captured as babies in the swamps of Florida, sold to tourists and taken to New York as pets, then flushed down the toilet when they got too big. The alligators devise an elaborate plan to return to Florida, including catalogue shopping, dressing up as vacationers, and buying airplane tickets.
Lippman also has a series of books about a family of clothes-wearing alligators, the Know-It-Alls. Titles include The Know-It-Alls Go To Sea, The Know-It-Alls Take a Winter Vacation, The Know-It-Alls Mind the Store, and The Know-It-Alls Help Out.
Any chance it was this?
Looking for large paper back book of fairytales or bedtime stories. It was a thick paperback book with multicolored pastel pages. From 1975 to 1983. That’s all I can remember
Did she use the colorful powders to perform magic spells, including trying to make a fairy appear, and rescuing children who had been turned into potted plants by a wicked witch?
If so, then you’re looking for Little Witch by Anna Elizabeth Bennett.
“Minikin (“Minx”) is the daughter of the much-feared witch Madam Snickasnee, who turns innocent children into flower pots, stirs up dangerous brews in her cauldron and refuses to allow her only child to attend school. Minx shares none of her mother’s terrible qualities, however, and she is determined to do things her own way. When she begins going to school against her mother’s wishes, Minx makes some new friends, and together they all try to use Madam Snickasnee’s potions to conjure up a fairy who might be able to help them turn her flower pots back into children and maybe even rescue Minx from her unhappy home life.”
I recognize the girl’s name! You are amazing.
Glad I could help! This was a favorite of mine when I was a kid.
I love that book!
I’m looking for a children’s book from the 80s. It is about a girl who loves to draw. It had a light pink cover and I think the title was the girls name. I think her name started with a W.
Try this one, although Santa is not in it: Away to the Moon, by John Symonds. It can be borrowed on archive.org.
My compliments to you chanda. It even has a Hack Stand sign on the cover. I have been searching for the books of which I have a memory reading when I was around five and six and that was the last one I was looking for. I searched diligently the Little Golden Book and Whitman Tell-a-tale titles when I should have been looking at the Top Top series.
What interests me is that I have that specific memory of the boy being grabbed by the horse to save him, yet have no memory of the title, nor of the artistic style. The same for when I was tracking down the title of my favourite book to reread about a train that saves the day by refusing to cross a bridge which then collapses. After searhing through the text material online for all the Little Golden Books about trains, I finally found the book I was looking for: Sneezer (1945) which is a Whitman Tell-a-Tale book. Again, I had no recollection of the title of artistic style.
Glad I could help! It’s funny the way some things stick with you over the years or decades. I’ve had similar experiences tracking down books from my own childhood. There’s that one scene or picture or event that lodges in your brain – while the title and all the other identifying information disappears completely. But it’s so satisfying when you finally find it again!
I’m looking for a book about a girl who had jars of colorful powders. It was a Scholastic book.
Hi I’m looking for a children’s book about a wooden doll which was very unhappy, but one nice a toy soldier came to the child’s window and they went to toy town and discovered Santa had dropped the doll companion, they searched and went to the north pole. That’s the general story but I have no other information other than the book is 1970’s and older. Thanks for your help.
Hi! I am looking for a children’s book from about 25 years ago that was about a town that was very polluted. All the illustrations were dark but very cool
I am looking for a book that I read at my grandmother’s when I was kid. It had short stories in that were very fun to read. Not many pictures. I think the cover was yellow and had a boy on it walking with a stick over his shoulder. There was a story in it about a magic stick. If the boy said “shake shake” the stick would change?? Hardback, maybe yellow. Would love to find it.
The Puppy Who Chased the Sun, published by Wonder Books, 1950.
This is so amazing! Thank you very much for researching this for me! Now, if I can just find a copy! I appreciate your time and help so much…What a gift you have given me for this season!
howdy! im looking for a book, probably somewhere in the 2000’s, about this girl with blonde hair with a ponytail (i believe) getting shrunk with a dryer or something like that. im pretty sure it started with the letter “p”, but i found nothing. the book itself had a purple theme to it, im pretty sure, it was a picture book. the illustrations were very simplistic. thanks if you find it!
Hello! I am looking for a book my mother read to us in the early to mid 90’s. It was a collection of short stories. It was hard cover, a white book with maroon border kind of thick maybe 200-300 pages. I think i remember a women reading on the front but it was not very cartoon looking. I remember the story of a monkey and a dragon, the little pine tree who wants his needles to change, the 12 dancing princesses, princess and the pea, (maybe the emperors new clothes and Rumpelstiltskin?). It was not illustrated but did have a little picture on the top half of the beginning of each story. The book looked new-ish when i was young but it may have been a republishing. Thank you so much in advance!
I’m looking for a book for my aunt. She was born in 1946 and she told me her favorite book as a child, and one that her father read over and over to her because she loved it so, was about a dog who barked at the sun every morning. She thought it was titled something like The Dog Who Barked up the Sun.
Hi, i’m looking for a christmas book i probably read in around 2010? it was about this girl who was going to spend christmas in connecticut with her grandparents and her dad worked on a show called good morning san francisco (or something similar) and i think the storyline was something like that she was worried santa wouldn’t find her? pretty sure it was a book that was created for charity? it was quite a small chapter book and may have had a blue cover. Also if anyone knows of a series of books (probably english) that were published or sold in around 2008-12 that were about princesses going to princess school, don’t know the title but i think it was a fairly simplistic title, sorry i don’t have much detail but i think they weren’t to balls in the evenings in carriages and one of the characters may have been a ballet dancer? getting nostalgic and now i really would like to know the names of the things i liked 10 years ago
The second one is The Princess Academy.
Hi, I’m looking for a book my nanna read as a child, I believe it may be a Collins girls/children’s/Christmas annual, probably from the 1950’s, maybe early 60’s she remembers a poem about a mouse, something a long the lines of ‘good morning Mr. Mouse how are you today’ and then I think a story about a green grocer is in it, any help would be appreciated, Collins don’t seem to recall it either but perhaps it could be another annual of some sort, many thanks.
Great! Thanks for posting back.
I’m looking for a book that I read as a kid. It has a collection of stories (The Little Red Hen, Frog and Toad are Friends, Dog House for Sale). I remember reading it around 1999 or 2000. The cover is burgundy or navy blue with gold writing on it.
That sounds like it might be the Houghton Mifflin Literary Readers.
There are multiple volumes in the series, and it looks like they’ve been reprinted over the years, so not all editions may have the exact same contents. Fortunately, there are many copies available online and they’re inexpensive. If this does look like the one(s) you’re looking for, just contact the seller to confirm the contents before buying.
I have not been able to find a complete listing of the contents of the books, but by piecing together bits of information online, it looks like the following stories are included in the first two volumes of the set:
Book One (red cover) appears to include both The Little Red Hen and Doghouse for Sale. It also includes The Wishing Well (from Mouse Tales by Arnold Lobel – the author of the Frog and Toad Books) – as well as The Great Big Enormous Turnip, Clyde Monster, My Dog and the Key Mystery, Ira Sleeps Over, and a bunch of other stories.
Book Two (blue cover) appears to include The Garden (from Frog and Toad Together), The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Gregory the Terrible Eater, Poinsettia and her Family, Josefina February, and The Elves and the Shoemaker – and a bunch of other stories.
Hi I am looking for a book that we would take out from the library in the late 90’s that was a tea party planning book with party plans for all occasions and holidays. I am having difficulty remembering the title, but I know that it wasn’t in the format of a cookbook as much as it was in the format of a story with ideas for themed tea parties.
I apologize for the lack of detail!
Hi everyone! This may be a long shot given my memory is super fuzzy on the detail of the book, but I know I read and loved it as a little girl. I’m guessing the book is from the 90s or 2000s, and the version I grew up with was in paperback and super thin, with a light blue cover, short story. All I can recall is the main character being a little girl with blonde hair, and she was at school and either a bird or animal of some kind is involved in the story as well. Again, not a lot to go off, but I thought it would be worth a try here. Thanks in advance!
I am looking for a series of books – I recall three ( but maybe wrong) that I read as a child in the early 1960’s. They were stories of a family with a naughty toddler and a nanny ( I think) . They had illustrations which depicted the toddler in a frock with nappy hanging down so looked a little like Grandma in the Giles cartoon. The illustrations were similar to Thelwells.
Just going off the descriptions of the artwork – and the nanny – maybe take a look at the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books by Betty MacDonald? They’ve been reprinted multiple times over the past 60+ years with different covers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Piggle-Wiggle
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Another series that might be worth looking into are the Nurse Matilda books by Christianna Brand: Nurse Matilda, Nurse Matilda Goes to Town, and Nurse Matilda goes to Hospital.
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Hi everyone! This may be a long shot given my memory is super fuzzy on the details of the book, but I know I read and loved it as a little girl. I’m guessing the book is from the 90s, and the version I grew up with was in paperback and super thin, short story. All I can recall is the main character being a little girl with blonde hair, and she was at school and either a bird or animal of some kind is involved in the story as well. Again, not a lot to go off, but I thought it would be worth a try here. Thanks in advance!
Oh my goodness, thank you so very much!! You just made my day!!
You’re welcome – glad I could help! And thank you for taking the time to respond!
I’m looking for a picture book, like an early Where’s Waldo but the main character was named Jacko I believe. He traveled around and each book was a different adventure. Thanks!
Yes, that is absolutely the right book! Thank you so much! Sam, Bangs, and Moonshine. And I am amazed that you were able to figure it out now that I see that my description was pretty far off. Pretty much the only thing I remembered correctly was the gerbil at the end. But you got it and I thank you.
My fourth grade teacher read us a book about a girl who went to live with her aunt. The aunt had a collection of glass animals and they would come to life for the little girl.
Take a look at No Flying in the House by Betty Brock. See the descriptions below from online reviews:
“Annabel Tippens doesn’t have parents to care for her; instead, she has a very tiny talking dog, Gloria. Annabel is quite happy with her life until one day she meets a talking cat named Belinda. Belinda reveals secrets to Annabel that will change Annabel’s life.Talking dogs and cats…china animals that come to life…fairies…No Flying in the House has these and more. I loved reading this book.”
“Most little girls have parents to take care of them, but not Annabel Tippens.She has Gloria, a tiny white dog who talks and wears a gold collar. Annabel never thought it was strange that she had Gloria instead of real parents. Until one day a wicked, wicked cat named Belinda comes to tell her the truth — she’s not just a little girl, she’s a half-fairy!
And she can do lots of things that other kids can’t do, such as kiss her own elbow and fly around the house. But being a fairy isn’t all fun and games, and soon Annabel must make a choice. If she chooses to be a fairy, she’ll have to say good-bye to Gloria forever. How can she decide between her newly found magic and her dearest friend?”
“It is a charming story that begins with sweet little three-year-old girl, Annabel, and her devoted guardian, Gloria (a three inch tall talking dog), who suddenly show up on Mrs. Vancourt’s Terrace one morning looking for a place to stay. Mrs. Vancourt, who has a passion for little things, only allows them to stay because she is so taken with Gloria (who assures her that she can perform three hundred and sixty-seven tricks). As she grows, Annabell is just like any other little girl until the day she is visited by a small (and very rude) golden cat with emerald eyes whose sporadic visits leave her frustrated and confused about who she really is. Where are Annabel’s parents and why is she the only one in her entire school who can kiss her elbow and why can’t Gloria tell her anything about her past? Before her seventh birthday Annabel must choose between what every little girl dreams they could be and what is missing the most from her own life.”
“You can’t help but love the 3-inch tall and wide dog named Gloria, who is her guardian. I was equally entranced by the room full of small wind-up golden, bejeweled figurines. “
Goodbye Pink Pig
We had book on tape in the 80s. It was about a man named Dave who was stuck in a snow storm and finds Santa’s workshop. There might be a mouse in it too.
Thanks
Maybe try The Tomato Patch by William Wondriska?
“Krullerburg was grey and dismal, crowded by piles of unused spears, swords and slingshots. All food came in cans, because there was no space for a garden or even a small tomato patch. People clanked about in uncomfortable suits of armor with their mouths dragged down at the corners. On the other side of the Strictly Forbidden Forest, Appletainia was in an identical grim state. One day a bored and restless prince from each country wandered into the forest at exactly the same time and consequently met in the middle, where they were startled to see bright green and red structures sticking up from the ground. The sudden transformations which took place in the two kingdoms are startlingly realized in the author’s pictures, where red tomatoes and green leaves come as a shock in the midst of the endless black and grey surroundings.”
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You’re welcome! Glad I could help! And thank you for taking the time to let us know it was the book you were looking for.
Yes! That must be it. I didn’t recall all the details (after 65 years I hope I’m forgiven) but this is definitely what I was remembering. Thank you so very much! I’ve found listings on ABEBooks and will indulge myself with a “new” copy. I appreciate your help so very much.
Looking for a children’s short story in which the main character puts a raisin up his nose. Thank you!
We’re exhibiting at Getman’s Virtual Book Fair today as Old Children’s Books. https://getmansvirtual.com/, ours at https://getmansvirtual.com/old-childrens-books Interesting to take a look at, thousands of books and ephemera, 225 dealers. Our fair books tend to be older, so less interesting to readers here, but my colleague Barbara Mader has newer ones. There are also many books listed in the “Children’s” category. In a way, these fairs are not as much fun as “real” ones because people can’t talk to each other, but they do run continuously with attendance from all over the world, this one open now and all night until Monday at 8pm EST – 800 new books tomorrow.
Hello, I am looking for two books that I read repeatedly as a child. They had both belonged to my parents, so publication was probably in the 1920s. The one from my mother was a collection of short stories about older girls, maybe teenagers, doing brave acts. The settings were colonial era or a bit later. One was about a girl who finds a very ill Native American (“Indian” in the book) lying under a tree and nurses him back to health with ginger. Another is of a girl who rows in a storm from Nantucket to the mainland to get help. There are full-page color plates interspersed through the book. Both of the stories I recall had illustrations.
The book from my father was aimed at a younger age group. It was fanciful stories of anthropomorphized machines. One was an elevator who was tired of going up and down. It was fitted with wheels so that it could roll around on the sidewalk and see the city. Another was a little plane that wanted to fly to the sun, but as it flew higher, the air was too thin and it couldn’t breathe. The third one I remember was a steam shovel who got indigestion from scooping up earth and gravel. Its operator fed it a large tar ball which made it burp and settled its stomach. This was a large-format book, about 9 x 12, with multiple color illustrations for each story.
Thank you very much to anyone who can ID either or both of these books. I looked for both of them when my parents moved into a retirement home, but couldn’t find either of them in the house.
The second one sounds like The Modern Storybook by Wallace Wadsworth. The book has been reprinted several times, with different covers.
The book’s premise was to anthropomorphize then (1931) modern (or in some cases slightly obsolete) machinery, giving us talking fire engines, steam shovels, dirigibles, locomotives, office furniture, elevators, automobiles, airplanes, and farm equipment, rather than the far more common talking animals, and the stories themselves are clever and unusual.
In “The Fire Engine That Grew Too Old” an old fire engine (and an old fireman) prove their worth at a huge fire.
In “The Hungry Steam Shovel” a steam shovel loses her “appetite” for taking huge “bites” of dirt until three small boys concoct a “cure” somewhat equivalent to what their mothers might have dosed them with for the same complaint at that time with spectacular results.
In “The Stubborn Dirigible” a huge dirigible defies its crew in these pre-RADAR days because it alone knows how to find its way home through a bad storm.
In “The Sad Little Switch Engine” a switch engine is depressed at being told it can never “grow up” into a great big passenger engine before getting a surprise chance to prove its worth.
In “The Tale of Fanny Blowhard” a fat businessman buys an electric fan to cool his office in these pre-AC days, which results in a near riot by the rest of his office furniture and equipment.
In “The Runaway Elevator” an elevator gets tired of going up and down all the time.
In “The Plane That Tried to Fly to the Sun” an airplane does exactly that with unexpected results.
In “The Lazy Automobile” an old car pays the ultimate price for repeatedly falling asleep and thus refusing to run.
In “The Tractor That Took a Holiday” a hard working caterpillar tractor finds an unusual way to spend an unexpected holiday.
I think the first ones are the original American Girl series. The one about the girl rowing sounds like “Samantha Saves the Day” and the one about rescuing an Indian could be “Kirsten Learns a Lesson”.
Hello! I’m looking for a book my mother used to read to me when I was a little girl, in the 1960s. It was about a little boy and it took place either in Australia or an island nearby. He had made friends with an animal, either a kangaroo or a wombat I think, but was separated from the animal but I don’t remember why. He ended up getting sick, I think with the mumps, and his mother got him a pet gerbil which looked just like a miniature version of his friend. The part I remember best is the end. The boy, who couldn’t speak will due to his illness, asks his mother what the gerbil’s name is, and she tells him it is the same name as the other animal he befriended.
This is a bit of a long shot, but have you looked at Sam, Bangs, and Moonshine?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam,_Bangs_%26_Moonshine
Actually, I’m pretty sure that Sam, Bangs and Moonshine is the book you’re looking for.
https://www.drttmk.com/books/sam-bangs-and-moonshine
Late 90s to Early 2000s…It’s a picture book about a duck on the moon with an old man and the old man gives him rainbow bits and at the end there is a full rainbow and the duck rides it all the way back to where he’s from.
Little Duck on the Moon by Mark Burgess.
” The book begins with Little Duck getting blown away on a windy day whilst out looking for her breakfast. She finds herself on the Moon and soon meets the Man in the Moon and his dog Zig Zag who invite her for breakfast. After breakfast the Man in the Moon and Zig Zag get to work sewing all the broken promises from Earth, all different colours, together to make rainbows. When Little Duck asks why they make the broken promises into rainbows the Man in the Moon replies ‘so that there will be hope in the world’. Soon afterwards Little Duck is on her way back to Earth, rainbow and full tummy in tow.”
I’m looking for a juvenile novel that I read in 1986. It was about a boy who was vey poor (maybe whose mother died) and it was such a sad story. I believe the title had “Rose” in it. It was a cream-coloured cover with black text and the image of a red rose. Not much to go on, I know … thanks.
Possibly The Lottery Rose by Irene Hunt? While Georgie’s mother does not die, he is sent to a boy’s home to escape an abusive home life.
“Abused by his mother and her boyfriend, Georgie Burgess learns to hide his hurt. He withdraws into a safe and secret world of beautiful gardens filled with roses—just like those in the library book he treasures.
When Georgie wins a small rosebush in a grocery store lottery he gives it all the love and caring he’s never had. Georgie’s life begins to open up for him when the courts send him to a home for boys where he will be safe. Slowly, and not without pain, Georgie learns to give—and to receive—love…”
I am trying to find a children’s story book that I used to have as a child in the late 70s early 80s.
I remember that it was an A4 hardback purple cover with gold or silver writing, and had a picture on the front with a mountain, 2 children and some sort of sweet/candy maker.
The 2 children (possibly brother and sister) had gotten lost and followed the sweet smelling scent where they came across a sweet/candy maker or inventor. I remember that he had lost his glasses and they were on his head.
The book had colourful pictures based in the story on the pages of the book
Long shot, but maybe take a look at Trouble for Trumpets by Peter Cross and Peter Dallas-Smith? There is a very round hill on the front cover, with trees and shrubs – and a number of the interior illustrations show cross-sections of the underground homes of the Trumpets.
I’m looking for a children book about animals choosing to do the right thing. It came out in the early 2000s. An example I remember from the book was when two polar bears are sitting talking and one is cursing but the other bear don’t know what to do. The book will give you 3 choices to pick form for the animal to say or do
Reminds me of It’s a Spoon, Not a Shovel by Carolyn Buehner.
I’m looking for a picture book from my childhood, probably about 20 years ago. I don’t remember much except for drawings of drab grey cities with everyone wearing the same grey clothing and looking sad. The other pages had colourful cities and happy people. In retrospect, it was probably a late cold war era book showing the wonderful west vs. the grey drab Soviet Union, and I’m curious to find it and analyze it through that lens. Thanks!
ABC Book (a Rand McNally Junior Elf Book) by Josephine Pease, illustrated by Dorothy Grider.
Just a quick follow-up. While the text in the book your sister remembers is a perfect match for Babies by Stephanie Calmenson, I have been unable to find any reference to a shape book version – but I did find a different baby book with a cover like the one you describe (but totally different text). Is it possible that you’re combining the memories of two different books? (I know I’ve done that many times!)
Take a look at The Baby Book by Eloise Wilkin (a Golden Shape Book). It’s the only shape book I’ve been able to find with a red cover and picture of the baby:
OK. Here’s the text as pasted on someone’s website:
What Babies Do Look at what These babies do Are these the things That you do, too? One little baby Touches his nose Another baby Wiggles her toes One baby laughs Another one cries This one plays peekaboo And hides his eyes Peekaboo, kitten! This baby crawls This baby stands This little baby Claps her hands! Can you clap, too? Three hungry babies, One messy face Now they go off To have a race.
The book is, most probably, called either What Babies Do or What Can Baby Do. Based on her age, I would try What Can Baby Do by Lauren Ariev, published 1992; second choice would be the Random House book What Babies Do, 1985.
The book is titled “Babies” and it is by Stephanie Calmenson, illustrated by Kathy Wilburn. It was published as a Golden Sturdy Book. I can’t find a copy with the cover you describe – but the text is a match.
“One little baby touches his nose. Another baby wiggles her toes.”
“All these babies like to play. But why is one baby crawling away?”
and another cover design:
maybe check out some stories/books by edward gorey?
I’m looking for a book from my childhood, early 70s. It was simple black and white drawings of little creatures who searched for the “right” hole/indentation in the ground where they would sleep. The theme seemed to be finding the best “fit.” Knowing my Mom, it was probably a booked geared towards helping children with their feelings/worries. Thanks!
I’m looking for a book I read as a child in the late 1940’s, early 50’s. The plot involved an embittered old hunter who lived in a house by a river. Winter was approaching and the old man sat in his living room by his fireplace cleaning and loading his shotgun, complaining aloud about the cold and vowing to shoot some rabbits and some foxes that he would make into a warm winter fur coat. The old man’s rantings were overheard by some crows who were sitting atop the old man’s chimney. Soon the crows flew off to warn their friends the foxes and the rabbits of the old man’s deadly plan. The crows, rabbits and foxes joined with many other animals, including notably some beavers, to hatch and implement a plan to dike and divert the river so that the old man’s house came off its foundation and floated into and down the river. As the rain poured and the diked and diverted river rose and knocked the old man’s house off its foundation and into and down the river, all the sundry animals gathered and cheered on a nearby bridge and watched as the old man’s house floated underneath the bridge, with the old man clinging to the roof and shouting at the victorious animals. A great story of good over evil, the strength of friends and a community banding together to help each other. The book had some great illustrations, all in black and white.xnThe title, publisher and author would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Jack
The Rabbits’ Revenge by Kurt Wiese (1940).
” Old Man Shivers, fed up with being cold, decides he needs a suit of rabbits’ fur and sets out to shoot every rabbit in the world. The rabbits make plans to stop him. Following directions from their friend, Crow, they dig a tunnel from the beaver’s dam to the cabin where Old Man Shivers lives. Rain Man obligingly fills the pond with rain, the beaver opens the dam, and water rushes through the tunnel to wash the cabin down the river. Old Man Shivers, clinging to his roof, is rescued when the townspeople toss him a rope from the bridge above. They suggest he get a suit of rabbits’ fur, but Old Man Shivers says he doesn’t want to have anything to do with rabbits; he’d rather have a woolen suit.”
Hello! I’ve been looking for this book about a nanny or babysitter that joins a family is a neighborhood full of kids. I thought it was Mary Poppins but this nanny is more overtly nice and helps out kids that are friends with her charges.
I only really remember one segment where a little girl(?) is refusing to finish her food because it’s “too much for her” so the nanny gives her mom several sets of increasingly smaller bowls and plates and such. The mom serves her daughter with a new, smaller dining set each meal and the daughter continues to not finish the food, until the bowl in the set is veritably tiny, something like the size of a thimble. Then the nanny visits her and they talk a little before the nanny or the mom serve her again with the tiniest set and she devours it all and asks for more. They give her meal after meal in larger and larger sizes until she reaches the original meal size and feels satisfied, and this ultimately fixes her eating issues.
This book is a little older, I think I remember them mentioning something like the Piggly Wiggly stores.
Those are the Mrs. Piggie-Wiggle books.
I got auto-corrected there: should be Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle.
Those are the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books by Betty McDonald. The story with the progressively smaller dishes is titled “The Slow-Eater-Tiny-Bite-Taker Cure” and is included in the first book in the series, simply titled Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Piggle-Wiggle
oh gosh I didn’t see this!! Thank you so much for the response, I will go look up the books right away ^^