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The book I’m looking for was big and green. It was a collection of stories about woodland creatures. It had really beautiful and elaborate illustrations. One of the first scenes was a party in the forest with many different woodland creature and I remember there was at least one barrel keg and some of the animals were getting drunk! Later on in the book there were a bunch of fairies that came to the woods to hang with the woodland creatures. I think there was one fairy who wore either red or orange outfit that had butterfly markings on it. There was another fairy who was blond and later on she ended up freezing to death and all the woodland creatures were sad cuz I think because she was beautiful and sweet and they loved her. There was a fairy with long dark hair and she was looking for a special glass that you can only get at the bottom of the sea. When she went down there she fell in love with a mermaid king. She turned into a mermaid and began to live in the sea with the king. I believe the illustration was of her diving into the sea and then her and her new husband were sitting on there thrones. She was a mermaid on her throne. I remember there was an illustration of the woodland creatures in a candy land. I think there was a house that was sorta like a gingerbread house and possibly the snow was ice cream. Later on in the book different type of elves were introduced. A bigger race and a smaller race. One race wore all black and I think they had white curly hair. There was a scene with the elves in a steam turning into fish. There was also a scene where the tiny elves tied up a big elf. That’s all I remember. I was born in 1987. This book was my first love.
That’s it!! I couldn’t remember the name after 50+ years. Thank-you!!
I cant remember the name of it or if it was a tv show or a book, but I remeber it started out with the book coming off of a shelf in a library and it would open and you would go into the book. I remember there being a rainbow too. I know it wasnt reading rainbow. its driving me crazy not being able to remember
Hi! Is it possible that what you are thinking of is The Pagemaster by Ernie Contreras and Todd Strasser? I absolutely loved this one as a kid!
I think it might have been the story of two carolines I’m going to order the Uncle Arthur books and take a look at them thank you so much for the suggestion I think I’m getting close!
Yes definitely sure. I remember the photo of the girl had a half of a red face and half of a green face to show the good and bad of how she was acting as a child.
I have a 1953 copy of the Dress Up Parade by Irma Wilde published by Treasure books that appears to have been assembled out of chronological order. The books pages appear to conclude the story 3/4s of the way through the book and then the last several pages end in a very disjointed manner. Is this a rare book and how should I ascertain its value? The last page of the book ends with “And all the policemen’s suits were finished. This book is intact on the spine and has not been repaired in any manner. You may contact me with further questions. Laura Yanney
Hello, I’m trying to find a children’s story book that I always read as a child. I am 46 now and I believe it was probably published in the 50s to 60s. I remember it was a large book with a multitude of stories in there it could be semi-religious. One story in particular had a picture of a girl who half of her face was green and half of it was red the story was about her being good and bad and that was the representation of the colors in the photo. I seem to remember maybe it could have been an apple that was half red and half green in the photo. I know there were many stories in there that were moral of the story type stories for children or kids. that’s all I can remember I do remember it was actual photos though and not just drawings. I hope somebody can help me find this book!
I would have said Uncle Arthur’s Bedtime Stories, particularly the two-faced girl, but I don’t think those volumes had photographs. You’re sure about that part?
This is the illustration I’m thinking of, “The Two Carolines.”
http://www.smothergoose.com/2011/03/uncle-arthurs-bedtime-stories-two.html
OK, I’d forgotten: Uncle Arthur does have photographs too, so that’s almost certainly what you’re looking for.
Hello there, looking for a children’s illustrated book from my childhood.
All that I remember is that it was a Christmas/winter based book with pictures of snow, falling snow, white snow with a deep dark blue sky background, a walrus? and possibly Santa.
I’m looking for a book I had as a child in the early 1990s. It was a Bialosky Bear book and came with a cassette tape and colorforms. It was a read-aloud or read-along book. I believe the book was all about camping or hiking preparations and ended with all of the characters sitting around a campfire in the dark. The characters were all woodland creatures. I think you built the final scene out of the colorform stickers. I believe some of the stickers were of raccoons, a camp fire, crickets (or maybe grasshoppers?), possibly fireflies? There also may have been colorform stickers of marshmallows snd an old fashioned backpack or knapsack.
Bialosky Bears: A Camping Trip, published in 1986.
I’m looking for a picture book about a girl who is picking flowers and goes further and further from her home and ends up confronting a terrifying beast – or maybe it’s a woolf. It has color illustrations.
That’s The Gunniwolf by Wilhelmina Harper – one of my childhood favorites! I made my mom check it out from the library for me over and over! The girl is not supposed to go into the woods, but she goes in just a little way, to pick some white flowers, then sees some pink flowers further in – and of course, goes in further to pick some of those as well – then goes further still into the forest when she sees some orange flowers.
There are multiple versions of The Gunnifwolf. In the version I grew up with – illustrated by William Wiesner – she sings the Gunniwolf to sleep with nonsense syllables: “Kum-kwa, khi-wa, kum-kwa, khi-kwa.” In some of the other editions, she sings the “A-B-C” song instead. Some of the versions also have it spelled “Gunnywolf” instead of “Gunniwolf.”




Youth book about a girl who wants to learn to ride and finds an Irish trainer to help her. Soft cover perhaps 1960s? Pencil Illustrations Throughout
I am looking for a hard cover joke book for children from around roughly the 1970s-80s. It was quite thick. It had things in it like “Life, what’s life a magazine where can I buy all over how much 25 cents but I only have a dime That’s too bad what’s too bad Life…And pictures of a vampire and a child saying mommy mommy I don’t want to eat my soup and she says hurry up before it clots with a few others…Now that I am describing it I’m thinking it might have been pulled from the shelves…
Looking for book from 1969 or before
characters where pig and Mr firefly
ends with line “GoodNight Mister FireFly” ‘Good Night”
I am looking for a large children’s book with beautiful illustrations about a little boy who must run alone through the dark forest to get some embers from his grandmother, since the fire has gone out at his home, and it is getting dark and cold. His mother sends him out with a little can for carrying the hot embers, urging him to hurry, and he buries his fear by becoming a fox who can leap and run through the woods over fallen branches and trees. I do not remember the name of the book, or the name of the author or illustrator, alas, but I purchased it in paperback around 1995. I would love to know the name of this wonderful book. Can anyone help? Many, many thanks.
Could you be thinking of The Tiger Child? Sounds like a version of that story, at any rate.
https://readitdaddy.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-tiger-child-traditional-fable-from.html
I’m looking for a book I loved as a child in the early 1960’s. I can’t remember the title, but it’s about a young girl who lives with a witch she thinks is her mother &she decides she wants to be like the other children walking past her house, so she’s going to attend school. She goes to school and is befriended by another girl from a large family. The young girl also has a mirror with the face of a beautiful woman in it who had “eyes like blueberries”. Turns out it’s her mother the witch captured and holds prisoner in the mirror. Eventually, with the help of the girl who befriended her, they release her fairy mother from the mirror. Does anyone have any idea what the title of this book might be? It was published by scholastic books in the early 1960’s. Thank-you!
Little Witch by Anna Elizabeth Bennett. Another of my childhood favorites!
Minikin Snickasnee – called Minx for short – was nine years old and wished with all her heart that she was not a witch’s child. …
It may sound like fun to be the daughter of Madam Snickasnee and be forbidden to go to school, to wash behind your ears, or go to bed at night. You might even like to see certain people you know turned into potted plants and have your own flying broomstick. …
But Minx didn’t like riding around in the dark or cooking up horrid pots of Black Spell Brew. Even a witch’s child rebels, and one day, Minx sneaked off to school. …
The principal was certainly surprised to see his newest pupil arriving on a broomstick, and life got much more exciting for a lot of people – the school-children, Mr. Beanpot the detective and Mrs. Sputter of the Parent-Teachers’ Association. …
I am BEGGING YOUUU I am do desperately looking for this book About a little boy who had to live with his grandmother because his mother abandoned him for her new husband, and they lived relatively close to eachother so he still sometimes saw her. And the mum had a baby with her new husband and would play outside with the baby and she’d talk to yer son as if he was an old friend, it was so sad. I’m pretty sure they were poor so the boy had to get a job and he started polishing shoes for a living, please help, the book has to be pretty old from the 2000’s or older, if anyone knows please please let me know
I am trying to find a book that my daughter got out of the library in 1989. The book gave instructions on how to talk with a baby and had good illustrations. it was written for a child and it said, for example, to always greet the baby when you entered a room. The book described simple games to play with a baby such as “This little pig went to market”or “pat-a-cake”. I would really like to find a copy of this book.
I am trying to find a picture book about a little boy whose mother sends him out with a metal lantern to get embers from his grandmother’s stove across the forest, because her fire has gone out. He must run quickly through the dark woods because it is getting dark and the house will get cold. He is frightened but he controls his fear by becoming a fox, running nimbly through the woods. Beautifully told and illustrated, can’t remember the name of the book, author or illustrator. Can someone help please? We bought this book around mid-1990s.
Hi there, I’m trying to find a book from before 1999 about bees. It was a hardcover with bees on the front, and has the phrase “I don’t have any money cause I’m busy making honey.” There’s a repeating phrase (I think at the end of every verse) that goes along the lines of “Without me where would bees be?”
That’s about all the information I have, but any help at all would be greatly appreciated!
Hi, I’m trying to find a book about two siblings, a boy and a girl, who were looking for 7 or 11 million dollars. I think it was set in France (so euro I guess, only it must have been before even euro existed) and there was this woman named Catriona that always gave them pâté and the girl was taller than the boy, 5 cm, and she always told him that, and that’s how it ends.
I found it at Abe’s books and have ordered it! Am thrilled! Having a title makes all the difference.
I am looking for a book I read around 1987-ish. I am reading my childhood books to my students & I just can’t seem to remember the title or author of this one.
I do remember that the book cover had the main character standing next to her locker. She had short hair & was possibly named Christy. She was doing a science project involving growing mold around her house. She tries out for a play, gets the lead as Peter Pan & breaks her arm during rehearsal. She also discovers a classmate that lives on his own after his guardian gets hospitalized.
I hope someone else read & remembers this book.
Leave it to Christy, by Pamela Curtis Swallow.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3076536-leave-it-to-christy.
Hello, looking for a book (and specifically a story within it) where animals live in a town where everyone is on the move (NOT Busy, Busy Town by Richard Scarry- the art is completely different). A scene I remember is a train (or vehicle) passing by Native American teepees. There may also have been an animal (fox?) flying a plane.
There were a few stories within the book and I think another story may have featured a duck and a dog.
Thanm you!
I’m looking for a book I used to read when I was young – it would have been published no later than 2000 but most likely in the 80s/early 90s. It was about a little girl who I think had red hair. I think it was Christmas and she was in a group of children receiving gifts from a tree. She saw a green velvet book/journal on the tree which was the gift she wanted to get. In the end, she gets the book and then it flashes forwards to when she is older and she’s become an author/playwright.
Hi there,
I am trying to remember the title of a children’s book from the 90s I believe. It is about a bunny who goes to a bakery to get hot cross buns, but he is too small and the baker doesn’t notice him. The hot cross buns all sell out before the bunny gets noticed, but the baker gives him a carrot cookie. It would be so special to remember the name so that I can try to purchase the book.
Thanks
Thank you so much. Now maybe I shall find it to share with Ellie and Ben! I can see her now enjoying David Daniel Doormouse, Edward Elmer Elephant, Flora Felicity fawn, and all the rest!
Great! Thanks for posting back.
I am looking for a book I read in 1996 involving dresses made of the sun, moon, and stars… all I really remember!
Was it some version of the story “Donkeyskin?” (or relatedly, maybe Robin McKinley’s young adult novel Deerskin?)
I am looking for a book I read around 1996… it involved a princess or something wanted a dress made of the sun, of the moon, and of the stars… has anyone heard of this?
Thanks for the update!
I am trying to find a book that I purchased for my daughter in about 1985. As I remember, it may be two books in one. I know it is out of print and may have first been printed in the 1940’s. The first part of the book is an alphabet book. I have much of it memorized. “Goodnight, LIttle A, Alfred Alvin Alligator; Goodnight Little B, Bertram Bullfinch Basset hound, Goodnigt Little C, Celia Cynthia Crane”, one page for each letter and animal. The second part of the book may have been a number book.love the alphabet part and would love to find it to give it to my little granddaughter. Any help in identifying it and locating it would be much appreciated.
The author is Robert Kraus. The three titles are GOOD NIGHT ABC ( a bedtime ABC ) , GOOD NIGHT LITTLE ONE ( a bedtime counting book ) , and GOOD NIGHT RICHARD RABBIT ( a bedtime storybook ) . I saw a listing that said that Good Night ABC and Good Night Richard Rabbit were bound as one book. I also saw a confusing listing with the title Good Night Little ABC, so it might be worth searching by that as well.
Update: I’ve found the other book! Ludo and the Star Horse by Mary Stewart
I am looking for a children’s book about a chest of happiness seeds(?) on top of a mountain– my daughter and I remember an old lady with big feet and a large nose and others standing next to the chest – seems that they’re hoping that the seeds will make unhappy village happy
Glad you found your book!
Hey I’m looking for a children’s book. And if there’s this poor family that has several children in each of the children has a stone they sit next to the fire and in the evening when the stone is warm they hold on to them to keep warm while they listen to stories or something… as they would sit there and listen they would rub their rocks has they warmed them. Until eventually all of the rocks were smooth and shiny and beautiful. Then a rich man comes to their house and sees the beautiful stones. And asks where they got the stones from. Puzzled they tell him they got them from outside. But when the rich man goes looking for them he does not see any like the family has.
Long shot, but maybe take a look at Rocks In My Pockets by Marc Harshman.
“The rocks around their mountain farm serve all of the Woods family in many ways, both utilitarian and recreational, until the day two ladies from the city come to visit. The Woods family lived on the top of a windswept mountain. Their farm was on old rocky soil, and they made their living the best they could. They raised knee-high corn, walnut-sized potatoes, but you’d hear no complaints from them. Their house was drafty, their animals skinny, their clothes patched. But one thing they had was pockets, and in their pockets they carried rocks. Yes, rocks. They were very important. They carried rocks to keep from being blown away; they played games with them; they’d worry them; and they wrapped them in heavy socks, after heating them by the fire, to keep warm at night. But early one summer day, the rocks proved to be more important than all these things and changed life forever for the Woods family. ”
“Rocks in my Pockets is a very interesting read about a family who lives on top of a hill where the wind always blows. There the family uses rocks to do a variety of things like hold themselves to the ground, or heat up their beds. One day wealthy people discovered their rocks and saw just how beautiful they could be. Suddenly these rocks were being sold to everyone far and wide.”

I think that must be it. Here’s the Kirkus review:
The Woods family lives high in Appalachia where crops are puny but where the local rocks—when put in people’s pockets— make good ballast in a wind, getting polished in the process. Some foolish, fancy city people provide an unexpected bonanza by purchasing the well-rubbed rocks—until honest Father Woods points out just how easy rocks are to find… A subtle but beguiling message about value, packaged in an offbeat, entertaining tale.
Hi! I’m trying to find a book I read to my son about 7 years ago. We got it from the library. It’s a picture book about a little boy, (not an animal or a creature, a human boy) who was told it’s bedtime and he keeps responding that he can’t go to sleep because he’s a (fill in the blank). My husband nor I can remember exact examples but it was things like an astronaut or a pirate or a scuba diver. (Those are NOT specific examples). The part we remember the most is at the very end of the book when his mother is trying to wake him for school he says “I’m a bear”. It has become an endearing saying in our home whenever we don’t want to wake up. My daughter has been asking if we can read it to her.
Looking for young adult book form 1970’s. Paperack with orange cover. Set in a simple village that chased down heretics that began to question the system and way of things. Begins with such a man who is being chased by the town for said crimes and ends up dying in a roof fire. This is witnessed by a smart young man who is beginning to question and think about things on his own keeping it a secret. As he tries to find out more information about the mysterious robbed and hooded elders who seem to have some technology he is found out and chased. He is captured actually rescued by the elders who are not trying to kill him for heresy but trying to rescue him as a budding mind to join them as an elder. They are the keepers of knowledge and history about crashing on the planet and preserving technology. The people who have disappeared have actually gone to live with or become one of them. Thanks!!
Hello. I’m trying to find a book from back in the 1980’s. I cant recall the title or author but its something to do with a girl called Amber and its her birthday, her Mum tells her to have a nap before her birthday party so when she does she dreams about a quilt made from patchwork. She meets a donkey or a horse who is also made from material and he needs sewing up on his leg I think. They become friends and go on a journey to help him get patched up. There is singing involved… lyrics from one of the songs are “everybody needs a friend to share their happiness, everybody needs a friend and my friends are the best”… then Amber’s Mum tries to wake her up ” Amber? Amber? Amber, wake up dear its your birthday party!” Amber wakes up and all her friends are there waiting to celebrate… I have searched keywords like ‘Amber, patchwork, childrens book, quit, dreams’ but I cant find the book on google at all. Can anyone help? TIA
Have you looked at The Fluff Puff Farm?
So I’m trying to find an early 2000’s or 90’s nonfiction paranormal children’s book about facts on zombies. Weird, I know, but this book has been haunting me for ages now and I’ve done nearly everything to try and find it. I checked this book out sometime in elementary school during the early 2000s, but it probably wasn’t a new release. It more than likely was in a series of children’s “informational/nonfiction” books on monsters, so there might be one on vampires, werewolves, or cryptids by the same company. It was a red hard cover book, with a black and white photo of a zombie with pinpoint pupils glaring at the camera placed on the middle of the front cover. It’s similar to the Not Near Normal: Paranormal book series, but the one I’m searching for pre-dates it. The book was also not a Bailey School Kid’s book (although, I did enjoy those as a kid too.)
Possibly this one? Zombies / Janet Perry (1999) Gareth Stevens Pub. Milwaukee part of the Mosters: an imagination library series.
I’m so glad! You’re welcome!
I’ m looking for a strange children’s book I read in the 1960’s. I think it was an old book by then. It was about a little girl who saw a garden outside her upstairs bedroom window. I think she died and then walked out the window in to the garden. He mother or some other relative said,”That’s the way it was with her aunt.”
I would love it if someone else even remebered reading that book.
I am looking for the title of a children’s book where a young girl wants a doll for her birthday, but her mother wants her to grow up stong so instead of a doll she gives her daughter a rifle (!!). The girl plays with the rifle as if it were a doll and in the end her mother relents and buys her a doll. I believe it won an award.
Little Kim’s Doll, by Kim Yarashevskaya.
That sounds like Little Kim’s Doll by Kim Yarashevskaya.
A young girl growing up in Moscow in the 1930’s has a very special wish. She wants a doll and has her heart set on a beautiful one she has seen in a Moscow store window.
“But little Kim’s parents like many parents in Russia those days believed that little girls who played with dolls would never learn to be brave and strong. And since they wanted their little girl to be among the bravest and the strongest, they weren’t going to buy her a doll. Ever.”
Kim is determined and makes her own doll by taking a soup spoon and dressing it in a kerchief. Kim’s parents try to tempt her with a more “suitable” toy – a rifle. But her reaction to this new toy does not please her parents.
“Little Kim pressed the rifle to her heart. She wrapped it in a cuddly blanket and rocked it gently singing a Russian lullaby … her mother was furious!”
In time, Kim’s parents have a change of heart and see Kim’s persistence as proof that she is strong and courageous. For her fifth birthday, Kim is given the beautiful doll she has seen in the store window.
That is actually the same story, just the British version. LOL I realized it when I saw the pics for this sequel book, which my son also has. I don’t know why she needed two different titles for countries that both speak English. Weird.
https://www.amazon.com/Rabbit-Little-Brother-Problem-Picturebacks/dp/0394902610/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&qid=1616093110&refinements=p_27%3ARosemary+Billam&s=books&sr=1-2
https://www.amazon.com/Come-Alpaca-Rosemary-Billam/dp/000195685X/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&qid=1616093110&refinements=p_27%3ARosemary+Billam&s=books&sr=1-3
I’m trying to find a children’s book from the 60’s or 70’s. It’s about an aunt who is taking children on a train ride but her new hat is missing. They search everywhere and are worried they will miss the train. At the end of the book, the aunt looks in the mirror and it was on her head. It was a bluish grey hard cover book and I took it out every week at the library! I’d love to find it!
“One-Handed Catch” by Mary Jane Auch? published 2006
Yes, that’s it!! Thank you!
I’m trying to remember the title of a book I read a s a child. I was born in 89 but this could have been from the 80s or earlier I suppose. The illustrations are quite like patchwork cat and Jane hissey. It’s about a toy, maybe a rabbit that falls under the bed and then there is some sort of repairing with a. Toy doctors set or something like it in one of the pictures. I thought it was called patch or something similar but I can’t seem to find a book matching that description with that title!!
My son is a couple of years older than you. He loved this one when he was little.
“Fuzzy Rabbit” by Rosemary Billam
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1571237.Fuzzy_Rabbit
Thank you so much!!!! It wasn’t fuzzy rabbit but alpaca by the same author. Thank you – I’m going to buy it right now to read to my own children!
I’m looking for a book that I read with my mom when I was a kid. It was in the early 2000s, probably no later than 2007. It was a picture book. There was a castle with a big square room in it, I think with stairs on the outside. There was small white goblin-like people and a big cauldron with soup. I believe there was some kind of battle happening as well, and possibly witches? It may have been a Halloween book.
Perhaps these?
I am searching for a children’s book that had a sing along cassette tape. I think it was published in the 1980s. It was about a little girl celebrating her birthday. I remember almost all of the lyrics. The chorus is, “I’m one year older, one year stronger. Bigger and better for one year longer. And it’s great. Celebrate! Happy birthday and all that jazz.” I have done many searches using different parts of the song lyrics, but I don’t come up with anything.
One of this series by Rose Blue?
“SANDY’S WORLD” SERIES
First Day of School Blues (includes recording), illustrated by Vala Kondo, Caedmon, 1986.
Happy Birthday and All That Jazz (includes recording), illustrated by Vala Kondo, Caedmon, 1986.
Clean up Your Room Rag (includes recording), illustrated by Vala Kondo, Caedmon, 1986.
Rock-a-New Baby Rock (includes recording), illustrated by Vala Kondo, Caedmon, 1986.
Yes! I am sure that’s it. Now finding an actual copy will be the next challenge! Thank you so much!
Yes, it’s All-of-a-Kind Family. Great series.
Here is one set of three: http://www.mum.org/kotbk68a.htm
You might find them on this list: http://www.mum.org/compbook.htm
There’s another chapter book from 1970’s I’d love to find again –I checked it out from our school library a zillion times as a 2nd/3rd grader. It’s about a family where the protagonist’s sibling has Down’s syndrome, and a hurricane floods their beachside home and they have to clean out all the sand that got washed into their living room.
Trying to track down a picturebook from my early childhood (early 1970’s), featuring a polar bear making a chocolate cake in the kid’s kitchen. He of course makes a big mess.
Unfortunately that’s all the detail I can conjure from my brain. Maybe the cover was orange and had a picture of said polar bear (but covers change with different printings, and I can’t be 100% sure about this sensory memory.) Thank you to anyone who knows what this book was.
I am looking for the name of a children’s book probably from the 1940’s or 50’s which had quite a large collection of short stories/tales about animals such as rabbits, frogs, squirrels, etc. There were illustrations (small ones) with the stories. It was so worn that there was no cover by the time I remember reading it in early 60’s. This is about all I can remember, but would love to hear any ideas you may have. Thanks in advance!
Hi everyone, looking for a chapter book I enjoyed in late elementary school, probably published in the 2000s. I’m pretty sure the book is set on the American home front during WWII. The main character is a boy who lost his arm in an accident (not war related). Baseball might also play an important role in the plot? The two scenes I remember most vividly are one centered around a Burma Shave sign gag about losing an arm (which makes the boy laugh) and the boy experiencing phantom limb pain.
Could the second one be The Silver Crown by Robert C O’Brien?
I think you might be right! How wonderful, thank you so much!
You’re welcome! Thanks for your kind thoughts.
Looking for a book 80s or 90s I think.
-hard cover book, purple, I think
-Monster or troll
-Lives in swamp or ocean, has seaweed on his head
-wants to eat a baby
-girl has red hair, tells him first baby has to have a bath
-monster/troll has to eat vegetables first
-monster is a pinkish color, big with smallish arms and legs
– girl is either babysitter or sister
-kids picture book
– end picture is of the monster upset back in the swamp
any luck with this!? i can remember a line ‘it was horrible horrible pam (squigly??’ said, it ate mr squigly from his toes to his head”
That’s it!!!!! Thank you so so so much! What you do helping us find the books we love is so special and I am so grateful. All the best, stay safe ❤️
Lazy Tommy Pumpkinhead.
That sounds like Lazy Tommy Pumpkinhead by William Pène Du Bois.
“Lazy Tommy Pumpkinhead’s electric house does everything for him, from brushing his teeth and feeding him breakfast to rocking him to sleep at night, until a power failure throws the house into turmoil.”
Thank you for the information. I just took a look at someone reading Lazy Tommy Pumpkinhead & it does not sound like the story I am referring to.
Second one: try Then Again, Maybe I Won’t.
Oh my gosh. Thank You!!
I’m trying to remember the titles of two books I read as a child in the late 1980s/ early 1990s (they could’ve been written much earlier). The first was about a girl who had to battle each of the zodiac signs in turn as part of some kind of quest. That’s all I can remember!
The second book was about a girl and a boy, again on some kind of quest. I remember them being in a forest and coming across some kind of fortress or prison where there were lots of children being held captive and they’d all been wiped of their personalities and turned into docile zombie like creatures.
Both of them are driving me absolutely mad!! Thanks in advance for any help!
I am looking for a book I used to love as a child in the 70’s. It was about a little boy who had all kinds of cool things in his house such as a some kind of contraption that brushed his teeth for him, etc.
I’m going crazy trying to remember a few books.
1) A kid starts tending to a nearby neighbors (?) yard. He finds that said neighbor has a large in-home library. He starts poking around the library when he either a) sees a photo of a bird or b) see’s a feather, and then becomes super interested in this bird. It’s a chapter book if that helps…
2) I feel like it may be a Judy Blume book, but I’m not sure. The young boy was in late middle school, and I believe his family had recently moved. I distinctly remember him fighting with his sister over who got to use the landline. At one point, he see’s his teenage neighbor topless and through the window. I also feel like he had a family member who had cancer of the larynx. I feel like the cover of the book was quite simple; green with the title and possible sketch of their house?
Thanks for any help!
Hi I am looking for a book I had as a little girl in the early to mi 1980’s. It was a story of several little girls all playing dress up and getting ready for party they were going to have, collecting everything they needed, food, supplies etc to bring somewhere for the party. There were no adults involved to my knowledge. They may have been going to the forest for the party. They each had their own personalities the older wiser one, the one who was all about the dress up clothes and necklaces, the quieter younger one. My mom ultimately changed all the names in the book to me and my friends names. They eventually sit down for their dinner party (again I think in the woods). I remember muted pastels and fine delicate drawing for the illustrations. I feel like it’s a long shot, but I figured I’d try. Thank you so much!
Try this one: Once Upon a Time in the Meadow.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1489714.Once_Upon_a_Time_in_the_Meadow
Seconding Suzanne on this one. The book All of a Kind Family (the first book in the series) contains a story where Sarah refuses to eat her rice soup at lunch and as a result is denied anything else to eat for the rest of the day until she gives in and eats the soup.
It would help if you could remember anything about the plot, theme, or general age level – and approximately when you read it. Are you looking for recent books from the past decade or so? Or something older? Are they novels or picture books?
If they were fairly recent and were novels for older readers, you might try the Conspiracy 365 series by Gabrielle Lord. It has the same naming convention (first book titled “January”, second titled “February” etc.)
https://www.goodreads.com/series/52669-conspiracy-365


I Am a Giant, by Ivan Sherman.
I found it! The book is “Giant” by Nick Ward, published in England in 1982.
Very likely to have been one of the Sydney Taylor All-of-a-Kind Family books, probably the first one. They have all been republished and should be easy to find in paperback.
Hi, I’m trying to find a book called ”January”. It’s the first in a series of books with the next one being called ”February” then the one after that being called ”March” and so on all the way through to December. I have tried searching for it but it comes up with a series called ”The countdown series” and I know that it’s not that series. If anyone knows what I’m talking about, let me know. Thanks.
looking for a story book with multiple stories one was about a jellyfish at the beach can’t remember what happens but need it asap
I’m looking for a childhood book. I remember the title to be “Giant” although I guess it is too common of a word and doesn’t come up with any relevant results in an internet search. I think it might have been a British book. It was about a little girl playing make-believe with her toys and dolls, pretending that she is a Giant destroying the village. At the end, her father, who is obviously much bigger than her, interrupts her and calls her to the kitchen to have tea. I remember an illustration of hot mugs with steam coming out. I remember reading it in the very early 80s. I really do think the title was simply “Giant”. Does anybody know the publisher or author’s name or any further clarifications? Thanks!
Probably published 1950’s 60’s? Jewish Childrens storybook or series about a Jewish family.(family life)
One of the children will not eat her dinner so she has to sit until she does as wasting food is not allowed. Next day dinner from previous night is served again to the child until it eats its dinner. I read this book in the 60’s but would love to know the name of it if anyone has any recollection of such a story?
This was from one of the books in the series All of a kind Family
Looking for a children’s picture book from 20-30 years ago about 2 children who are scared of a shadow they think is a monster. On the last page it turns out the monster is their mother with her hair in curlers, wearing an apron and holding a whisk.
Thanks for any suggestions to title.
Looking for children’s book written in the early 2000’s. It was about a goat (or woolly lamb) that was doing his own thing, as the parents expressed their concerns to the grandparents. The grandpa would tell the parents basically that everything would fall into place & to not worry about it.
I would read it with a funny accent saying “Hey, dun warry ’bout eet!” I remember that line was on every other page. The goat’s name was Stanley.
I don’t recall if it was paperback or hardback.
It just dawned on me that the library system might have a record of everything my children & I have ever checked out. Sadly though, the libraries have been closed all year.
Hi there, I am trying to find a puzzle book that I loved as a kid. I think I got it around 1982-84. It had an orange cover and was a hardback. If I recall correctly it was a mixture of puzzles and stories. I remember the puzzles most. So it would have things like you have 3 containers: a 5 gallon/liter container, a 3 gallon/liter container and a 1 gallon/liter container you have to get across a river with….
Things like that. Appreciate that that is super sketchy but would be very greatful if anyone can help or provide clues.
I also remember that the cover was mostly orange with a band of color/pictures at the top half.
Thanks again for any help.
LT
Looking for a children’s book from the late 90s/early 2000s where a girl wants to be a dog.Her parents let her pretend to be a dog and then she doesn’t want to be one when she realizes the dog has to sleep in a dog house and can’t eat table food.
I’m trying to track down a children’s book (presumably from the 80s or 90s) about a girl (and her pet?) who encounter various fairy tale characters and end up melting a wicked witch. 😆 No, NOT The Wonderful Wizard of Oz … as she also meets – if I remember correctly – the three little pigs? And the big bad wolf? The most distinguishing feature of the book was that the illustrations were done to look as if a child had done them – in crayon or colored pencil. SOS!
Looking for a picture book, not sure when it would have been published but I had it in the early 2000s. From what I can recall, two animals lived in the countryside together, pretty sure one was a bear. The bear baked some kind of sweet, and I specifically remember a line like “he always used double the ingredients so he could eat half the batter along the way”. They had a cat come to stay, he had a motorcycle and told amazing adventure stories that turned out to be exaggerated/lies. The last detail I can remember was one of the animals having a dream, the illustration was him asleep in bed, maybe a bunk bed, that was physically placed in the landscape of the dream. I hope this makes sense and I really hope that someone can help me because I can’t find it anywhere! Thanks 🙂
In about 1955, as a kindergartner, I read a picture book in which one of the characters frequently said, “always present, always punctual.”
Or maybe it was “always punctual, always present”.
Anybody remember a title with those lines in the text?
I would like to find a story from an old reader, I read it in elementary school in the 1950s. The part I recall involved a husband and wife frantic because their washing machine wouldn’t stop. A clever child realized the machine did everything backwards and solved the problem by yelling “Pots!” instead of “Stop!”
As a young kid in the early 80s I remember a book of random facts. It had a light green hard cover and was landscape or horizontal. I remember it had an illustration of the referee calls for football. It had how to draw some animals too. Just a bunch or random stuff that was so fun. Anyone have a clue of what book I’m talking about?
hi! i’m desperately looking for a kid’s book i read in the 1980s. the story is about a father making funny faces with his daughter before she goes to bed. i think the last page shows the daughter and father in the dark.
Thank you ever so much…yes, this is what I’ve been searching for…I guess I’m trying to reclaim my childhood…LOL Patricia
Glad I could help! Thanks for taking the time to respond.
When I was a small child in the late 80s, my grandma got me a book, it was a book about animals hiding in the dark. It had a perfectly camouflaged snake hiding amongst fall colored leaves. A cat, only visible after it’s eyes become visible. I remember an owl too. That’s where my memory ends.
Another book she had was a book of bedtime poems. One poem, which was my favorite, talked of the beauty a spider’s web glistening with drops of morning dew. That’s all that I remember.
Maybe one of Ruth Heller’s books, like How to Hide a Polar Bear.
Hello out there. I’m looking for a childhood book with lots of fairy tales inside that I got when I was a little girl. I don’t remember the title the author or the year it was published but I had it sometime in the 2000’s. The cover of the book had a green dragon sitting under a tree reading a book to a little boy and girl with hills and a castle in the background. I think it had gold lettering and gold page edges. It had a lot of fairy tales inside and I think the last one in the book was “The Little Mermaid. It also had a version of “Thumbelina” and I think “ Sleeping Beauty “. I don’t think it was Disney it had a very early Edmund Dulac sort of art style but it was so long ago I can’t remember exactly. Any help finding this gem is much appreciated. 😊❤️
The dragon isn’t green, but take a look at Once Upon a Time Treasury of Fairy Tales from Phoenix International Publications. The cover picture is as described, it has gilt-edged pages, it contains Thumbelina and Sleeping Beauty – and The Little Mermaid is the last story in the book.



Just a quick follow-up – the castle is on the back cover of the book:

Glad I could help! This book seems to be one that a lot of people remember fondly – it pops up pretty regularly in book ID forums like this one.
I’m trying to find a book or series of books I had as a child in the early 90s though they could have been published in the 70s or 80s. They were beautifully illustrated and it was like insects at war…I think there was rodents involved too. They had lots of contraptions and each page was a cross section of what was going on. You could see inside their tanks and underground. It was all very epic and almost Lord of the Rings-esque epic in scope, with maps at the begining and end detailing where all the action takes place. Sorry I don’t have more to go on but hopefully someone has a clue. They were large format A4 or larger, hardbacks. I remember things like berries and ladybirds were beautifully rendered and brightly coloured.
Beautifully illustrated, ladybirds/ladybugs fighting on the backs of voles and things.
That sounds like Trouble for Trumpets by Peter Cross and Peter Dallas-Smith.
“Just as the Trumpets, summer creatures who live in a world of warmth and sunshine, prepare to hibernate, the Grumpets, winter creatures who live in the dark, frozen mountains of the north, prepare to take over their land.”
https://petercrossart.com/books/trumpets/trouble-for-trumpets



This is it exactly. Wow!! Great response and so quick. Can’t believe it, been trying to work this out for 20 or so years. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Just a quick follow up – there was also a sequel to Trouble for Trumpets called Trumpets in Grumpetland.


I am looking for a book that I loved as a child, and I believe the title is Baby. I don’t know the author or illustrator. It shows a mother whose baby is growing inside her stomach. The baby is shown relaxing, sleeping, running, and eventually being born. I believe when this part happens, the baby says, “Here I come!” This book may be from the 70s. It was a hardback book with plastic cover, possibly with a pale yellowish tan cover. I think the baby and mom have dark hair. It shows the dad (and not sure, but maybe other siblings?). Please help if you can!
I think you want Baby, by Fran Manushkin. It was later retitled Baby, Come Out!
It did! I looked at AbeBooks and on Amazon. This is definitely the book. Of course, it is out of print and costs $200+ for a copy. Sigh. But at least I know what it is now!!! Thank you so much!
Here is the World Cat listing.
https://www.worldcat.org/title/invisible-island/oclc/993255926&referer=brief_results
It’s available in many libraries, so you might be able to get it through interlibrary loan.
That’s quite a price for a book from a reprint house like Hale. I thought people had stopped doing that! You can get an ex-library for much less on Ebay but still too much. Eventually it will be reprinted.
I think that’s it!!! Heading over to look on Amazon right now!
This is ‘The invisible island’ by Dean Marshall (1948) The children are Dit, Alan, David and Winkie.
When the Gutheries moved from a New York apartment to the country the children found that they not only had a lovely brook that ran into a lake, but more exciting yet, they had a real island. What a wonderful summer they had playing they were shipwrecked.
I’m looking for a children’s book I read in 2002, though I remember it looking old then.
The premise is that a hero or prince of some kind meets a King wanting to reward him for his good deeds. The King brings him into a garden with all sorts of flowers, and in a fountain in the garden were two water lilies that would always magically float back to each other when separated. Then the prince meets the King’s daughter, who is just as beautiful as the flowers. The king says he can pick any three flowers from his magic garden. The prince picks the two water lilies and the princess.
Somewhat later in the story they are separated, so the princess takes out her flower and places it on the sea, where it grows in size so that she can step into it. I’m pretty sure there is an illustration of this. The flower then takes her back to her husband who was in the other flower.
The style of the illustrations looked like pen and ink, and could have had an Indian or Persian look to them.
Any ideas?
Following – sounds lovely but I don’t think I’ve read it.
Searching for a children’s book containing short stories about dragons, from the 80s/90s
In particular there was an illustration of a unicorn and a dragon in an outdoor forest setting, looking into pond or river water with people passing in the background, and the unicorn says something like ‘it makes you wonder, doesn’t it?’ as everything in the scene has a reflection aside the unicorn and the dragon.
There is a story about a dragon statue that is stood on a rock in a town square, the dragon statue is actually a dragon that was turned to stone by this magic rock and has ‘a heart like a marshmallow’ or ‘as soft as marshmallow’ and the dragon comes to life and is replaced by some evil guy.
Alot of the illustrations used like a marble effect on things like eggs.
Looking for a book I read in primary 7 around 1989/1990, it was about a young brother and sister living in the Sutherland area of Scotland, their father worked at dunrobin castle.
I looked that up and it doesn’t seem right. I don’t believe the book was set in England, but in the US somewhere. And I don’t remember there being aunts and uncles. Just parents. But that does look like a good series! 🙂 Thanks!
I thought of Arthur Ransome too–there are many similarities. If it wasn’t the first book in the series, you might try Strange Water, which features Bridget (called Vicki in earlier books), although I did a search on it and couldn’t find any beads.
Searching for a children’s book about a little girl whose valentines are ruined, when a window is left opened; she bakes Valentine cookies for her classmates…this might be a Golden Book????
That sounds like the story The Surprise Valentines by Ethel M. Legg.
The story can be found in the school reader More Friends and Neighbors (Scott, Foresman, and Company).
Betty’s paper valentines are ruined when snow blows in the window the night before Valentine’s day. Her mother helps her make valentine heart cookies for her class and she brings them in after lunch. She wants to put her friends names on them but her mother says it doesn’t matter and there’s one for everyone in the room. Her friends love the cookies and say they are the ‘best valentines of all’.

https://imgur.com/a/35qE90l
Note that More Friends and Neighbors has been reprinted several times, plus there are later editions titled The New More Friends and Neighbors. The contents of the different editions will vary slightly. The attached two-page image is from the 1941 edition of More Friends and Neighbors, and the close-up is from the 1946-47 edition of More Friends and Neighbors – but the story may also be included in some or all of the later editions.
A long shot, but it might be worth taking a look at Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome – or perhaps another book in the series.