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The Visitors From Planet Veta by Reinhold Goll.
“When Suzy and Sandy christen a compost pile “Miracle Mountain”, and stake their claim with a tomato plant, they never suspect that the plant will become a Tall Tomato Tree, and that Greenie, Teenie and Beanie will descend from the planet Veta to spend their vacation there. The visitors are light-green and full of magic tricks, and all five children spend an exciting summer doing all the things young people wish they could do. They fly through the air; they explore the Tall Tomato Tree; they visit the seashore and go for rides in a spaceship. The young, green visitors become heroes when one saves a movie audience from a burning theatre and another wins a ball game by hitting the winning home run…While neither scientific nor imaginative, the book will delight young people because they will identify with the pranks and prowlings of these Green Rangers.”
There also appear to be a couple of sequels: Spaceship to Planet Veta (“In this sequel to “The Visitors from Planet Veta,” Sandy and Suzy travel with the aliens Greenie, Teenie, and Beanie, to the moon and the planet Veta, where they have many encounters, including one with dinosaurs.”) and Through Space to Planet T.
I read a series of historic biographies when in the 4th grade. The pictures were all of silhouettes. My teacher had a whole bookcase full. Have been looking for 60 years.
Looking for two books, both fantasy and read them around 2008-2012! One had a magic world behind the fence of two best friend’s school! One was a boy and one was a girl, and I remember something about an intuitive pet cat! There was an old man with a long white beard who took them behind the fence and introduced them to the magic world.
The other book involved a little boy who used to move a stone in his backyard to get to a magical kingdom! I think the trolls were trying to destroy the castle, and the queen would go out onto her balcony and wave. Getting through the portal I think shrunk him and made him dizzy
A little more info from my friend:
The book I am looking for was published before 1981 (hard deadline; I moved states that year) and had as a main character a male child (preteen or teen) living with either his grandparents or aunt and uncle. At one point in the book he hides in the attic from a visitor, and in the attic is a pith helmet.
I think the first letter of the author’s surname was in the middle to late part of the alphabet — for some reason the letter N sticks in my head.
I don’t remember any magic. It is possible it was there and I don’t remember it, but I really don’t think there was any magic or time travel.
I believe the book jacket was red, maybe with some orangy-yellow bits, but I am more sure of the red.
Could it possibly have been Alfie Gets In First, by Shirley Hughes? Not all the details match, but maybe.
Hi! Someone I know is looking for a book they read and we have only a couple details!
“The book I am looking for was published before 1981 (hard deadline; I moved states that year) and had as a main character a male child (preteen or teen) living with either his grandparents or aunt and uncle. At one point in the book he hides in the attic from a visitor, and in the attic is a pith helmet.”
The pith helmet wasn’t a main plot thing, more like a side event. They don’t think it had magic or time travel, but aren’t 100% sure on it. Book possibly had a red jacket, maybe some yellow/orange, but more sure of the red, and authors surname began in the mid to last part of the alphabet, could be N
I’m trying to find a book I read when I was in kindergarten. It was a book about someone drawing their house and each page they added more onto it and i remember it ended with how “my family comes over for dinner ever sunday” and the house was on top of a hill.
Hello! I’m looking for a picture book I read as a child in the late 80’s early 90’s. The page I remember best has two brown bears on it (I believe a grandfather bear and his grandson), and they are sitting outside fully dressed (I think in the winter) on a bench feeding popcorn to birds. Another page, I believe, shows them at a theater of some kind (either a movie theater or for a play). The illustrations were beautiful, and I don’t remember any of the story, but I know I loved that book as a child. Thank you for your help!
I read this picture book in the early 80’s. It followed the nighttime exploration of a small boy (young bear, perhaps?) from the upstairs room of his house and outside to…wherever, and finishing where he started.
As his journey progressed it went back over each part, retelling it as the story got longer. So the text would come to read something like, “Out the window, down the ladder, across the grass, along the lake, through the forest, under the owl, and up the tree…” Or as he returned it would repeat each step again…
Very light on text and each page (sometimes both facing pages) were filled with a single illustration. For young children.
The basic idea sounds a lot like Fortunately by Remy Charlip. Other books with a similar premise are Fortunately, Unforunately by Michael Foreman and That’s Good, That’s Bad by Margery Cuyler.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNmQIOadC3o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=de7Jr5Es698
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7A0fHVox2Bo
My sister and I are looking for a children’s book she remembers reading in the mid 90s. It very well could be older than that.
Each page was a widow cutout to see a section of the next page, through the cutout it looked like some grand nature scene like a raging river, clouds in the sky, or sand dunes. But, when you turned the page and saw the whole picture it was a miniature that a kid made in their backyard like twigs over a tiny stream, cotton balls in water, or a sandbox. The word backyard MIGHT have been in the title.
Hello! I’m trying to find a book I read in elementary school (around 2008-2010) and I remember it being about a girl and her brother who had to move in with their dad or something in the wilderness for the summer or permanently. I feel like the girl had a boyfriend eventually and I know she met a puppy who may have been a wolf and that was a big thing but it was mostly like a coming of age sort of story. It’s not summer of wolves though because that came out in 2012… anyone know?
I’m looking for a children’s book from the 80s or 90s, all I remember was a line about a “Cross, furry maccaloo” (spelling may not be correct) The book was about a child who had a little fuzzy alien as a pet and it was always very grumpy. I think it was blue?
I’m looking for a children’s story, where to earth kids meet two space kids. The space kids make a tomato plant grow into a giant tree where the four kids hang out. They have a series of adventures, all summer long.
Looking for an older picture book where on each page it goes “and then” something good happens followed by “and then” something bad…the book end with you thinking the end is something good but then on last page its end with “and then…” and you see a monster or creature in the picture. I know its not The Monster at the end of this book and I have a lost of books I know aren’t right.
My sister and I have been looking for like 2 years and I’m starting to think we both imagined it!
I’m looking for a book that I loved when I was very young – late sixties. In my mind, it was a smallish book with a light blue cover, but that may not be correct. It was about a little girl who had an older brother who liked to tease her. The main thing I remember is the illustration where he pretended to crack an egg on her head. Of course, the older brother really loved his sister, he just liked to tease her. It would be wonderful to find the name and/or author of this book. Thank you!
Pepper Plays Nurse (a Little Golden Book)
Hello, I’m looking for a children’s book that when you opened the front cover it had children playing hide and seek in a park. Then on the back inside cover was the same picture but in the evening and all the kids had gone home.
I am looking for a children’s picture book from the late 60’s or 70’s. It has a girl pulling a wagon with a duck in it on the cover. I think the character’s name is Becky, and she goes around helping all different injured animals. Maybe she wants to become a nurse.
I’m looking for a children’s book from the 2000s UK. It’s about a little girl who is describing her friend to a woman the friend has a green tail and cat ears etc the little girl isn’t believed by the woman until the girls friend jumps down and scares her
I am looking for a book my teacher read at kindergarten around 1996-1998. It was about a boy who might have been angry and hid in his washing basket/hamper. The family try to get him to come out and the police, firemen and doctors try to get him out but nothing works. I can’t remember more than that and have had no luck google searching. Thanks in advance for any help!
I’m looking for a book where a green dog owned a pink dot that was alive and everyone wanted it. They ended up making their own pink dots.
I had a paper craft book when I was a lot young. I remember the cover had like
dark color maybe red blue and black I could be wrong but one of the
activities was making a jester from cutout provided in the book and it gave step on how to make it a string puppet. It had other creative useful craft. I really wish I could find that book again ): I had it around 2008-2010 I think I must have found it in goodwill so not sure when the book was published pls someone help me find it
My Back Yard, by Anne and Harlow Rockwell.
I am looking for a collection of kids short stories. It would be 1972 or earlier. One of the stories is about a penguin in a zoo that is lonely so a girl fives him a mirror. There is one about a squirrel that falls into some lemonade. There is a daddy seahorse and babies that he convinces to let go of the seaweed. And a duck that follows a person around. There were mire stories, but these are the ones I can vaguely remember.
Always Copycub by Richard Edwards.
Copycub loves to play games, especially hide-and-seek with his mother. The little bear hides in bushes, in dark corners of bear caves, and even in the sticks of a beaver dam. “Can’t find me here,” calls Copycub. “Oh, yes, I can,” exclaims the mother bear. And she finds him every time.
One afternoon, while the two bears are exploring in the woods, Copycub remembers a secret place for hiding and runs very deep into the forest. When he calls for his mother to find him, there is no reply. Copycub begins to realize that hiding from his mother isn’t always so much fun. It is beginning to grow dark in the forest and there are many strange noises. Copycub is lost! Mother bear has always found her little bear in the past. Will she find him this time, too?
This is the one!!! Thank you so much for your reply, it means so much!! Heading over to the publisher website to share with a friend right now 🙂
Glad I could help – and thanks for posting back!
Possibly The Talking Mirror and Other Tales of Magical Adventure by Andrew Gladwin?
Thank you very much, my father and grandmother have been looking for this for a while now
You’re welcome. Glad I could help! Thank you for posting back.
I’m looking for a children’s book that I thought was called “my backyard”. It was a hard copy and yellow, and had a little girl on a swing on the cover ?
Hi all. I’m looking for a book I read in the early 80’s. It had a white, softback cover with a dark-haired boy, a dog, and a tin can on the cover. I remember it had something to do with time. I also seem to remember there being a mirror reflection that just kept getting smaller and smaller. Any hints would be greatly appreciated.
Hello, looking for a book from the 1970s about a farmer who loses a baby goat on a snowy mountain. Any thoughts?
I am looking for a childhood book about bugs, snails and other insects like millipedes. It had full page close up black and white photos and text about the insect “critter”. All about the small world. It wasn’t very thick but was a larger size book than the usual children’s book. It didn’t have very many bugs or other small critters probably only the most common ones a child might see in their every day world. It was a hard cover and published around the fifties.
My children had a book in which a woodpecker (maybe Woody Woodpecker) fiddled and faddled, and “he fiddled too much.”
Hi Everyone !
I have been trying to find a children’s picture book from my childhood for years.
This is a children’s picture book about two kids (possibly brother and sister) with a dog. They are on a fence. Beyond the fence you can see a town with creatures who have long legs riding cars and crashing into people. We used to have this book as kids in the early 2000s in the uk. It is quite an obscure book and I have had no luck with Google. I think it a large rectangle hardcover book. I think the cover had a drawing of the kids (and dog?) on the fence looking at the town.
There is a scene with the weirdly proportioned man driving go cart possibly knocking into one of the children which sets off a series of events. This is one of the first things that happen when the kids go to the town.
Any help would be greatly appreciated
Amy and Laura, by Marilyn Sachs.
My father is looking for a looking for details of a children’s book that his mother once owned. He believes it was called The Magic Mirror and would be pre 1950 and it was an illustrated book. There where pictures of ugly people drawn in caricature who would look into a talking mirror and see the reflections of beautiful people. The mirror would tell the person that while they might be physically ugly they have great character. The ugly man at some point saves a young boy from the world behind the mirror.
Hi there! I’m looking for a book about a family(?) Of crocodiles or alligators, or an otherwise reptilian creature. I can’t remember much about it, unfortunately, other than the Mom crocodile has long stringy black hair and is wearing a long pajama nightgown, they live in a hour, and the story is about the mom picking up after the messy son. If anyone knows what I’m talking about, I’d be eternally grateful because it’s driving me CRAZY.
When I was a kid my grandmother bought these giant “floor” books with big print. One was about a red fire engine, one was about a doll in a store sitting on a shelf waiting to be picked, one was about an elephant who hurts his trunk at school and gets a cast, and then the last one I remember was about a little bird learning to fly and he gets lost and has to find his mother. I was born in 1987 and I was probably about 5 when I first read these. The books/stories were short and paperback but they were huge with pictures on every page. That’s all I can remember about them and I would love to find them and buy them. I remember the doll one the most. On the cover it has a doll with long brown hair, brown eyes and I think she’s wearing a locket.
I’m looking for a book about a girl learns to ride a bike she has a mother who is sick and a younger sister published in the sixties
Hello all— I’m trying to remember a book I used to read/listen to on tape, possibly published by Scholastic in the 90’s or early 2000’s. I believe the main characters were a bear cub and his mother, but it might have been some other type of animal (I think they lived in a den). The refrain throughout the book is the little cub playing hide-and-seek and saying, “Can’t find me here!” to which his mother replies, “Oh, yes, I can!” Eventually the cub gets lost and whispers “can’t find me here” and the only voice that answers him is the wind. And then comes his mother’s voice: “Oh, yes, I can!” The cub then gets gently reprimanded for going off too far into the forest and getting himself lost. It’s a really sweet story with great illustrations, would be so grateful if someone knew the title!
You’re welcome – and thank you for posting back!
A friend is looking for a book, but all she can remember is that the main character found a pith helmet in the attic. I know that’s a tiny detail, but maybe someone knows?
Hi this is my first post so apologies if I get anything wrong.
Just wanted some help finding a book I read when I was a child. It was a fiction book that was a sort of half cartoon illustrations and half writing filled book. I vaguely remember two people writing letters back and forth (maybe penpals?), one letter involving one of them describing how cats are believed to have 9 lives and they were worshipped in Ancient Egypt. The illustrations corresponded pretty well with the writing. The letters would sometimes end with one person adding P.S, P.P.S, P.P.P.S and so on and so forth. One of the letters would describe how they were having trouble sleeping because of the noise outside. Near the end of the book I think they met up and one of them was involved in the rescue of a cat? (Fireman style with a ladder) Not a hundred percent sure as I could just be projecting a similar book’s plot onto it. The book that I read had a green cover, it was a paperback with thin pages, with some cartoon illustration on it, maybe a cat? (not too sure about this either)
It wasn’t a complete children’s book, it seemed more thicker and more word heavy. It was an a5 sized book. Perhaps a book for 8 year olds?
I’ve been looking for this book for a really long time so if you could help me a bit that would be amazing!
If not, thanks so much for reading anyway!
Hello
I am searching for a story which may have been in a book of other stories. The illustrated story was about a family of crocodiles. At one point they go to the beach. The boy croc becomes ill due to the sea water and has to be rinsed with bottled mineral water. It was a delightful story I read as a child in the 60s. I felt like it might have been a European Book. It reminded me of Babar stories, but they were crocodiles.
Yeah, it’s not surprising that online listings would be incomplete – the table of contents is too long to include everything, what with all the short poems and nursery rhymes! I had to pull out my old copy to confirm the contents.
Hi there. I am looking for a book I read as a child from the 1980s. A boy is invited to a classmates cops and robbers fancy dress themed birthday party. He goes as RoboCop and is a bit boisterous. He’s invited to other fancy dress parties and goes a bit over the top with his costumes and annoys his classmates. When it comes to his own birthday party, he invites all his classmates and when they arrive at his house they blindfold, tie him up and lock him in a bedroom while they make it sound like they are wrecking the place. When he eventually freed himself he found the place tidier than ever and all his classmates had left. It ends with him getting an invite to another party and he decides to go as a tortoise.
Hello, I’m looking for a book i had in the early 1980s.
It was read to me around 1984/85, but could have been older. i had many hand me downs.
It was a short, small illustrated children’s story about either a guinea pig, mouse, gerbil or hamster that was a young blond boys pet.
It was heavily nautical themed. i remember the boy wearing a red and white stripe shirt, and at one point maybe a skippers hat and a typical blue sailers coat.
there was a toy boat at one point and the story ends with the animal on the boat in a storm.
it had a rhythm to the words. my aunt almost sang it to me.
i remember feeling very sad because the boy and animal had to seperate.
it may have been drawn in an old Winnie the Pooh style, before disney.
I want to say there may have been a magic flute, or recorder, or whistle, but its fuzzy.
i also want to say that i remember some of the lines, being ” Sail away, sail away, sail away home” but when i google that it just brings up a song.
I’ve googled everything I could, and none of the results that came up were the right results.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thank You for finding “The Adventures of Silly Billy”. You are Remarkable!!!!
Glad I could help – and thank you for taking the time to post back!
I am looking for a children’s book about a mom, dad and daughter. I think the story goes that the daughter dreamed she either was bigger (size wise) than her parents or her parent shrunk to tiny sizes but essentially she had to take of her parents the way her parents took care of her. I dont remember how the story ends but I do remember the last illustration was of the girl hanging upside from monkey bars with her friends. The girl had boy short hair. The dad, from what I remember, looked like Van Gogh and the mom looked like Kate Winslet from the Titanic. I wish I had more details to offer. I read this book when I was really small, so probably the book was made in the late 80s to 90s.
It’s not quite a match, but two of the three stories are in the first volume of the Collier’s Junior Classics: The Young Folks Shelf of Books, ABC Go!. (I have the 1962 printing, but there are others. Contents may vary slightly in different printings.)
Mr. & Mrs. Vinegar is on page 38, The Poppyseed Cakes is on page 214, and a different Angus story – Angus and the Cat – is on page 182.
The first section of the book is nursery rhymes, followed by folk tales Henny Penny, Mr. and Mrs. Vinegar, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, The Three Bears, The Little Red Hen, and The Three Little Pigs. The next section is poetry. Finally, there are a bunch of other stories, including The Wide Awake Owl, Kiki Dances, The Box With Red Wheels, The Velveteen Rabbit, The Poppyseed Cakes, Sneakers, That Rapscallion Cat, Evie and the Wonderful Kangaroo, Rosa-Too-Little, Billy and Blaze, The Five Chinese Brothers, Susanna’s Auction, The Funny Thing, and The Little Old Woman Who Used Her Head.
Just one book, or part of a set?
The ABC Go volume of Collier’s Junior Classics has Angus and The Poppy Seed Cakes, but not Mr. and Mrs. Vinegar; the same with Told Under the Blue Umbrella.
But you might have had one of those large Children’s Literature anthologies, and it’s possible that all three were in there.
Mr. and Mrs. Vinegar is in ABC Go! as is The Poppy Seed Cakes – but not Angus and the Ducks. It has Angus and the Cat instead.
Well, that makes sense. The listing I saw for ABC Go didn’t seem to have the Vinegars, but it may not have been complete.
Looking for a large-ish hard back book that had condensed childrens stories such as. Angus & the ducks, Mr & Mrs Vinegar, Andrewshek & the Poppyseed cakes.. I owned it around 1962 or so. My grandfather was an avid collected of Readers Digest condensed books.. I wonder if it was theirs?_
“Tabby Kitten” by Constance Savery,
“Tabby Kitten’s real name was Tabitha, she was the eldest in the family, and she simply loved reading. So of course she was overjoyed when Daddy told the family that he was going to have his own bookshop in Derminster, and that they would live in a house full of books. But they arrived to find the bookshelves bare, and, worse still, Tabby’s own books went astray in the move. A great deal was to happen before the mystery was solved–and a cup with a broken handle, an old fire-shovel, and the Galloping Rider all played their part.”
https://www.amazon.com/Tabby-Kitten-Constance-Savery/dp/B001MPVDDU
https://www.abebooks.co.uk/Tabby-Kitten-Savery-Constance-Lutterworth-Press/18587724985/bd
“Hippo horse” – that’s cute!
I am looking for a book between 1960 and 1970 – very colourful illustration larger word form about a size 20 font.Bruno or Bruno and friends. Cover of book, Bruno walking on hind legs, story about hes walk through the forest. Squirrel friends, some laughing at him, as they dropped acorns . It snapped him on the nose and had to wear a plaster ( band-aid) It was a hardcover book A5 size- more square form.
Seeking a horse story written prior to 1970. Young boy must ride for help when his friend has been stricken ill because of a spoiled sandwich (chicken salad as best I recall).
Thanks, but no. It’s not Johnny Tremain. The stable boy works at an inn. I’ve now added that to the descriptor.
I am looking for a book possibly 2000 – 2015, it is about a taxi driver, and a few animals from africa come to his city he shows them around and then he decides to got on a trip to africa with them but he soon misses home so he goes back and is very happy.
This a very important book of my childhood, I think it is called Happy Jappa or Happy Cappa, please, please help me find it.
I tried searching it up but it didn’t work
Looking for a book I read as a child. Red hard back but didn’t have a dust jacket and don’t know if there would have been one. About a girl called Tabby who loved books. They went to a house where there was supposed to have been a library and surprisingly there were no books found and they were missing. I think they turned up in the end. She had an orange tabby cat called Marmaduke and I think the other characters in the story all had cat’s names. I don’t know when it was published or the author but maybe 1950’s to 1980’s.
Possibly Dear Daddy… by Philippe Dupasquier?
“In this picture book, a little girl called Sophie writes to her father who is away at sea. The illustrations show the changing seasons at home, contrasting the child’s life with that of her father on the other side of the world.”
“Sophie writes letters to her father, who is away at sea, working on a freighter. She tells him all about what is happening to the family: “Some men from the music shop brought back the old piano today. They have mended it. Mummy is very pleased.” The seasons pass for Sophie while her father endures the humid weather of the Pacific: her snowman contrasts particularly well with the sampans passing behind him! “
Possibly Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes?
While the main character – Johnny – is an apprentice silversmith, then works at a print shop, another of the apprentices (Dove) works as a stableboy for an English Colonel. Both Johnny and Dove spy on the redcoats.
It is a real story. It’s called The Tailypo and it’s based on an Appalachian folk tale. There are multiple versions of it, both as stand-alone books and included in story collections.
The dogs names – at least in some versions – are Uno, Ino, and Cumptico-Calico.
Here’s the version by Joanna and Paul Galdone:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHhDne2FjYM
Wowww thank you so much!!! I’m blown away! I never thought I would ever find this again! And, it’s soooo much more existentially horrifying than I ever could have imagined! Poor Tailypo… And, the thought of eating a tail… It turns out they had two versions of this at my local library, the one by Jan Wahl with illustrations by Wil Clay is really beautiful to look at. I can’t believe it was under my nose this whole time! Of course the books don’t live up to the campfire story version which I remember being much more suspenseful when he loses the dogs. It was actually told to me in the foothills of South Appalachia! This one and “The Skeleton Lady” always stuck with me from those halloweens in the country…
How about “Dr. Anger’s Island” by William Buchanan?
Originally published 1961
Clues from Shakespeare’s plays help a group of young detectives in their
search for some unpublished poems believed buried with a fabulous necklace.
Thank you, but no. The children were grade school age.
A possibility: A Long Way to Go, by Borden Deal.
I’m not sure if this story exists in print or if it’s just a campfire ghost story that the neighbor who told us as kids made up, but it has been bothering me so much for years so if it’s allowed I would love to run this story by y’all. I don’t remember much about this Halloween kids story but it centered around an old, lonely farmer and his three dogs. His three dogs have distinctive names that get repeated throughout the story when he calls for the dogs to come home. The three dogs’ names when he calls them has a cadence like “Uno, Fido and Mister Jeronimo.” (Two short names and then one really long name.) It’s a scary story so something spooky happens on the dark farm at night, involving the dogs needing to get called apparently, maybe they get lost. I might be getting it mixed up with another story but he may go up a creepy stairway to the attic in the dark?
Hi book lovers – Looking to discover the title of a fairly kooky picture book about anthropomorphized animals, such as French bears on a canoe trip from the 1950s, kittens and lost mittens, possibly Old Mother Hubbard. A large book, at least 10″ by 13″. Full of stories – cats, mice, bears, dogs, with many illustrations.
Seeking a children’s mystery novel written prior to 1967. Children go to stay or visit with a family on an island. One evening they leave for an event. Upon their return they note a light, indicating someone is at the house who shouldn’t be. Seems they discover a valuable necklace.
Looking for a 3rd-5th grade novel written BEFORE 1968. Plot takes place during the Revolutionary War and there is a stable boy who works at an inn, where he eavesdrops on the Redcoats.
Hello, I’m posting about a book that has eluded me for ages. I read it when I was young (1980s) and haven’t found it since. Details are hazy but it was a vintage book at the time (50s or 60s maybe). It was about a young boy walking home on Halloween night – down a country road. He gets scared by normal noises and, at one point, jumps a fence and splits his pants. The book may have repeated “walking home on Halloween night.”
It was a mostly black and white book, with accents of technicolor. Mostly blues and yellows.
I am looking for a children’s book from 70s or 80s. I remember a forest type animal (hedgehog maybe) goes to sleep (hibernates) in the fall and his house has a red door. I seem to recall the other animals are trying to find him to wake him up, but the snow fell(?) and they cant find the door. They keep finding red things but they turn out to be holly berries, etc. and not the red door. Any help would be awesome!
That sounds like The Adventures of Silly Billy by Tamara Kitt (1961).
“The boy’s parents call him Silly Billy because he does things like planting popcorn and giving the hens hot water to produce boiled eggs. He leaves home to find someone sillier, and solves the problems of a man trying to carry water in a sieve, ten men who can’t count themselves, and lastly a rich man who sends his servants out with pans to catch sunlight and bring it into his windowless house. When he returns home with the gifts the grateful men have given him, he tells his parents to call him Wise William from now on.”
Hi I’m looking for a children’s book that I would have read back in the early 1990s (UK) – the theme was of a child waiting for their dad to come home. I remember the different pages of the book reflected the different seasons/weather and I think there were also letters that you could open up and read. The story ends with the Dad coming home.
I found these two books about hidden rooms in that time frame. It might help us if you can remember anything more about the plot.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1907575.The_Secret_of_the_Old_House
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2139099.Mystery_of_the_Hidden_Book
Hi there- I’m looking for a children’s book about a child (an animal as a child but I can’t remember the animal!) who accompanies an older person to a holiday by the seaside. The hotel guests are all old and out of boredom, the child befriends the grounds man. The book was in a grey/green tint, not a lot of colour and in my memory, the hotel looked like the Hotel de Coronado. Thanks for your help!
It’s a rhinoceros, not an elephant. Definitely Diana and her Rhinoceros, by Edward Ardizzone. Hurryupwiththetoast!
That’s the one. Thank you very much!
You’re welcome. A favourite at our house. When my youngest was tiny, she couldn’t remember the animal’s name either, and she asked if we could read about the “hippo horse.” Took me a few minutes to figure that one out.
Hello book wizards,
I’m looking for a book I read around 1986ish, probably a Scholastic book club title.
I don’t remember much other than there was time travel and it was possibly related to a comet? I recall there being astronomy motifs and characters named Galileo, Newton etc, but the overall genre felt more adventure than sci-fi.
There was also a scene where the main character was transported back in time to a bicentenary celebration and attempted to pay for lemonade with a Susan B Anthony dollar.
I know that’s not much to go on but it’s worth a shot!
Hi, in the 90s I read a book about about a kid (or two) that wanted on a haunted tour (Britain?) via train. They were hoping to photograph ghosts. I remember it as a sort mixed story / puzzle book (distant similarity to the eleventh hour). Sadly, it seems the title has escaped my memory.
Hi! I’m looking for an old children’s picture book. I can barely remember any details, but I distinctly remember farm animals either sneaking into the farmers bed or into his house to get out of the rain. Super repetitive book where the farmer tells them to get out & a new set of animals (ranges from cows to pigs etc) comes & he tells them to get out.
If it helps, the pictures were drawn in black and white. I can’t remember anything else I’m sorry :’(
Hello there! My Sweetheart told me a cute story about a book he read in Elementary School somewhere I guess between 1969 to1974. Here goes… It’s about a young Prince who builds a house without windows. Unfortunately this meant the inside of the house could not get any beautiful sunlight. So the Prince would ask everyone who worked for him ( in the kitchen) to take pots, bowls, any type of containers, and take them outside to capture the sun and bring it into the house! That’s pretty much all I have. I’m also guessing it’s a picture book. I am having no luck finding this book. I really want to surprise him. Thank you so much! Any help is appreciated!
or “mystery at shadow pond” by mary c. jane?
Possibly Cathy by Siddie Joe Johnson? After moving to an old house, Cathy finds a way into an unused attic, where she finds a blue-painted chest of drawers.
“The book is set during WWII. Cathy’s father is a pilot and her mother is doing war work at the airplane factory. The Mexican housekeeper, Rosita, tells her stories of Spanish treasure and ghosts. She learns that the house she and her mother live in (near Daddy’s training station) used to be a farmhouse, and that during the last World War, three children lived there, whose father went away to the army. Cathy climbs into the attic and finds a blue-painted chest with three names on the drawers – Sarah, Gilbert, and Linda. On Valentine’s day Cathy opens the desk and finds a bundle of letters and a diary beginning Feb 14, 1918 ,in Sarah’s drawer. In the diary are old Valentine cards, inspiring Cathy to make a Valentine bouquet for her mother. Gilbert’s drawer has a box of marbles and snake rattles, and a school essay on courage, which comfort Cathy when Rosita can’t come and she must manage alone in the house. The shopkeeper, Mr. George, takes her to catch crawfish with his sons. Linda’s drawer has a doll, a tea-set and a copy of a letter to her father. The letter talks about earning money for thrift stamps by killing “the big green fat worms on the potato vines … make an awful plop when I smash them … I think the worms look like green dragons. I am St. George, I guess.” Cathy decides to do the same thing, earning war stamps by killing tomato worms for a young mother on her street. With some coaching from Mr. George she learns how to “catch one by the little horn” and pull it off the stem of the plant. She smashes them between two bricks. She begins her own garden and grows radishes, beans and Swiss chard as well as babysitting Rosita’s grand-daughter and neighborhood babies. Then she reads in Sarah’s diary that the 3 children’s father is missing in France and that Sarah is writing a fairy tale to comfort herself, a fairy tale which mysteriously disappears. With the help of Rosita’s younger daughters, Cathy searches the old barn and finds a little book with a silver clasp, containing the fairy tale The Silver Princess. The story and the diary give her courage when her Daddy is reported missing in action. At the end of the book she meets the grown-up Gilbert, just before her own father comes home.”
The Magic Summer by Noel Streatfeild.
The first impression of Great-aunt Dymphna was that she was more like an enormous bird than a great-aunt. This was partly because she wore a black cape, which seemed to flap behind her when she moved. Then her nose stuck out of her thin wrinkled old face like a very hooked beak. On her head she wore a man’s tweed hat beneath which straggled wispy white hair. Under the cape she wore a shapeless long black dress. And on her feet, in spite of its being a fine warm evening, were rubber boots.
The children gazed at their great-aunt, so startled by her appearance that the polite greetings they would have made vanished from their minds. Naomi was so scared that, though tears went on rolling down her cheeks, she did not make any more noise. Great-aunt Dymphna had turned her attention to the luggage.
“Clutter, clutter! I could never abide clutter. What have you got in all this?”
“Mummy didn’t know what we’d need,” Penny explained, “so she said we’d have to bring everything.”
“Well, as it’s here we must take it home, I suppose,” said Great-aunt Dymphna. “Bring it to the car.” She turned and, like a great black eagle, swept out of the door.
The four Gareth children, from 13-year old Alex down to 9-year-old Naomi, feel a bit like they’ve been dropped into Oz.
Actually, they’re in Ireland. They’ve come to live with Great-aunt Dymphna while their mother hastily travels to Bangkok to be with their father, suddenly taken ill. They’ve never met Dymphna before, but within hours they’ve decided she’s mad as a coot! This is a woman who chats with dogs and roars unpleasantries at bicyclists as she careens wildly down the road in her large, decrepit black Austin. A woman whose house is a creepy, ramshackle collection of odds and ends. A woman who thinks seagulls talk to her, deliver messages from England even.
On top of that, she doesn’t seem to have any notion of taking care of them; seems to believe they ought to be able to manage everything — cooking, catching fish for dinner, clothes-washing — on their own. Dymphna certainly does not have a sympathetic bone in her body for namby-pamby, useless children who can’t figure things out for themselves!
So, this little stay turns into a mighty strugglesome adventure. And, to make matters worse…much, much worse… a mysterious boy pops up and turns to them for shelter. He’s hiding from dangerous people, he says! Who is this boy? Who is after him? How can the Gareths manage their own needs, provide for him, and keep him a secret from Dymphna?
Ah amazing! This is exactly it! Thankyou so much, going to see if I can order it.
It might be worth looking at The Barefoot Book of Ballet Stories by Heidi Stemple and Jane Yolen. There are multiple printings, with different covers.
It contains Coppelia, Swan Lake, Cinderella, The Nutcracker, Shim Chung: the Blind Man’s Daughter, The Sleeping Beauty and Daphnis and Chloe. (Romeo and Juliet does not appear to be in this book.)
I suspect that book you are looking for might be one of those Stories From the Ballet books, rather than a fairy tale book. Coppelia is definitely a ballet, and there are also ballet versions of Cinderella and Romeo and Juliet (which isn’t a fairy tale at all).
The story of the Asian girl and the sea dragon sounds like Shim Chung (a.k.a. Shim Chong and other spellings) – which is a ballet based on a Korean folk tale.
From the Universal Ballet Company’s website: “Learning that an offering to the temple will allow her father to regain his sight, Shim Chung accepts a bag of gold coins from a Sea Captain, willingly agreeing to be thrown overboard to protect the captain’s ship from the furies of the Sea Dragon King. After the ship’s captain takes her to the ship, a storm arises, and Shim Chung, offering a ritual dance and prayer, plunges into the sea to save the ship. Under the sea, Shim Chung is welcomed warmly by the Sea Dragon King, who asks her to marry him and share his kingdom, but Shim Chung is longing to see her father, and pleads with the king to send her back. Arriving back in her homeland, she finds favor with the Korean King, who marries her, but still happiness eludes her until she finds her blind father. Embracing her father, Shim Chung’s tears of joy fall on his face, and he miraculously regains his sight.”
And about the folk tale the ballet is based on: “Sim Cheong-jeon is a story about Sim Cheong who throws herself into the sea of Indangsu as a sacrifice so that her blind father can regain his eyesight. Her filial piety helps her to be resurrected and become an empress, and her father’s blindness is cured.”
The story with the life-sized doll in the window is Coppelia and it was a ballet.
“Dr. Coppélius is a doctor who has made a life-size dancing doll. It is so lifelike that Franz, a village youth, becomes infatuated with it and sets aside his heart’s true desire, Swanhilda. She shows him his folly by dressing as the doll, pretending to make it come to life and ultimately saving him from an untimely end at the hands of the inventor.”
That sounds like The Wonderful Fashion Doll by Laura Bannon.
“In this children’s mystery a little girl moves to her family’s country farmhouse and searches for the “wonderful fashion doll” rumored to have been hidden in the house by her great-grandmother for safe-keeping.”
“From the moment that Debby heard about GAY EVENT, the wonderful fashion doll, she knew that she just had to find her. Over a hundred years ago, GAY EVENT had been hidden away for safekeeping by Debby’s great-great-great-grandmother somewhere on the Moore farm in Peterborough.
“Debby had never seen a fashion doll but from all reports, GAY EVENT must have been the most exquisite of all these dolls which were sent to different countries to display the latest fashions in the days before fashion magazines. Some of them had several wardrobes: evening dresses with tiny lace fans, street costumes with flower-trimmed bonnets, or riding habits, with all the accessories.
“It’s no wonder that Debby searched for GAY EVENT everywhere on the farm. Almost every secret room or concealed passage held some strange and interesting discovery. Debby learned about how people lived a hundred years ago and when she least expected it, she made the most exciting find of all.”
Hi! I’m looking for a book that I read as a child although I think it was quite an old book by then. It was about 3 children who were sent to live with a great aunt while their mother nursed their father back to health.
The aunt lived in a isolated place and was very eccentric. She had a huge house full of strange ‘useless’ things although they were all important to her. The book was about the children trying to find a way to survive in their new surroundings and eventually loving them.
I’d love to find it again!
Hello there! I’m looking for a children’s book of bedtime stories. Unfortunately I can’t remember too much about it apart from it was a collection of stories about some kind of dreamland and the main character was a little girl called Evie or Eva. I believe in the beginning she was talking to or looking at the moon. I believe the dreamland had lots of animals characters including an owl called Queenie who may have had a sister. The book had simplistic illustrations and Evie/Eva had brown hair. The book I’m remembering in particular was a hardback but had no sleeve. My nan would have read this to me in the late nineties but I’m unsure of how old the book actually is. It would bring me so much joy to find this again but I’ve had no luck by myself yet.
Yes that’s it thank you! Wow, it’s different than I remembered! What a cool book 🙂
Glad I could help!
Fun bit of trivia – Helen Palmer’s full name was Helen Palmer Geisel. She was the wife of beloved children’s author Theodore Geisel (a.k.a. Dr. Seuss).
I am searching for a book, written for ages 10 – 12, and probably published between 1950-64. I found it in my elementary school library. It was about a family with two children who moved to a new house; the children discovered a hidden room in the house. It seems with the words Blue Chest or Pink Chest are in the title. I’ve searched for years!
My sweetheart has spoken fondly of a book from her childhood. These may not be enough clues, but it is about a little girl and an elephant, and there is mention of hot buttered toast.
I used to check out a book in my school library – this was 1975ish – and it was about a boy (Torvald? Torkelson?) who went outside to play in the snow after helping his family. He lived in/near the woods. He ate porridge afterwards. I know this is really a reach! Thank you!
So I remember having this book and it was about this baby? Baby monster? And it lived either in a basement or underground. And one day It decided to go in a human house. And it was like eating garbage, looking through the fridge. I remember it ate a banana peel from the garbage. And then it woke up the dog and so the dog started barking and it woke up the people. So the monster baby thing has to hurry up and run back home where it’s parents were worried for it.
Hi everyone, I’m currently looking for a book that I read when I was a kid. It was one of the most beautiful books I’ve read and now I don’t remember I tried google and it’s just not working for me. I know for a fact I read it in another state before I moved but beyond that I have no clue. I definitely read it before 2015, so i could have read it anywhere from 2005 till then, it most likely was printed in the 90s, not 100% sure. It was a fairy tale book, rectangular, beautiful cover and pictures on the inside which were also very pretty, I want to say it was like very swirly and very detailed but not medieval style. It definitely had a Romeo and Juliet and another story about either a Chinese or Japanese girl who fell/sacrificed? to the sea dragon and then stuff happened and she loved him and I think he became human and she became an empress. I also think it had Cinderella in there too, and a story about a girl who sat at her window every day reading a book and anyone who passed by tried to get her attention but couldn’t, this guy fell in love with that girl but another girl liked that guy so she and a couple of her friends went up in the building to figure out why the girl never moved, some how her friends ditched her and I can’t remember why, when she gets to the top she finds the doll is made of wood and laughs because the guy is in love with a doll, then she hears steps so she hides the doll and wears the dolls clothes (she’s similar looking) and sits reading and creepy guy comes I think the father of the doll? And try’s to make the doll come to life like he always does and so she dances around not knowing what what to do and try’s to amuse the guy. And then the guy she loves comes up the stairs and I don’t remember the rest of the story but I think he dies or something and she brings him back to life and then the other guy dies I don’t know. One thing to note, it had the most beautiful Illustrations in there, you can’t miss, also now I think about it, I also think there was a ballerina story in there, it’s been a while. If anyone can help that would be great thanks!!
I’m looking for a book I read in the 1960’s. There are 3 children who are traveling, on foot, on their own, to be re-united with their mother. The oldest child is a girl. I thought that there was the word “journey” in the title, but I’m not sure.
Please help me identify a children’s book (probably from the 70s or 80s but maybe older). It asked a bunch of questions like “why is the sky blue?” And ended with “God wills these things to be. He made the earth and sea and sky, just as He made you and me”. I recall it being a red hard cover but that could be wrong. It’s driving me nuts not being able to identify it. Please help!
Okay y’all. stay with me here, this is going to be confusing. This book was a collection of popular myths and legends. on the cover was a giant baby eating a town (i think, that or that image just really stuck with me from the inside of the book.) I can’t remember all of the stories but some of them were: -a female doctor cheating death by turning her lovers bed around to break deaths rules
-a boy who can’t touch the ground until his 12th birthday
– king o’hara’s 3 daughters who melt into the sea
-a baby who eats everything and eventually everyone
please- i am begging for help finding this book. i had it as a child probably in 2007? 2008? and i want to buy it for my son. thank you!!!
I am looking for a picture book from the 1960’s or 1970’s about a group of neighborhood children who all end up playing in the branches of one large tree. They are all ding their own thing – being a pilot etc rather than playing together. Does anyone happen to know the name or author?
This sounds similar to Enemy Brothers by Constance Savery. The youngest brother was kidnapped before WWII but is found by the oldest brother. The family are not certain it is their brother at the beginning. They play a game called Halma but I don’t think it is played with marbles.
Always on the search for my favorite library book as a child in the early 1970s. It was an old book even then but I loved it so much I didn’t return it for years before I finally felt so guilty I took it back. It was a small red fabric covered chapter book with no pictures on the outside, but several glossy pictures inside. It told the story of a young girl who lived in the forest and one night a big storm causes a large tree to fall across the river by her home. She crosses over the river and discovers a small cottage which she makes into her own little home in the woods. I would love to find this book and read it to my granddaughters.
I am looking for a book I read in the late 1960’s or early 1970’s. I got it out of my library, and the book seemed old at the time. It was about a family that moves into an old house and the kids discover a doll behind a wall or in a cupboard that is uncovered during remodeling. It is a fancy Victorian Era type doll that has a lot of elaborate outfits. The book had beautiful color plate illustrations which is what I remember loving about it. I don’t remember the rest of the story–just the descriptions of the doll and its clothing. I would love to find this book again.