Dear Mili, by Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Maurice Sendak.

Looking for a picture book I read as a small child in the very early 90s. I don’t know when the book was published, and I don’t remember much except that a little girl leaves her mother for some reason and forgets about her. I feel like she goes to live in a special place or maybe a kind of paradise or something. When she finally comes back home, her mother is aged and dying. Does anyone know what this book might be?

Hi, looking for a book. Read as a 4-6 yr old in school, between 1983-85, remember a girl with a black bob cut and pink dress perhaps called Sally, probably on the cover. Thank you.

Looking for a children’s picture book (possibly Scholastic?) circa 1980s of collected stories similar to Roald Dahl’s ‘Revolting Rhymes’. They are all slightly horror-related, single or double-page illustrated stories and all end in non-traditional gruesome/ creepy ways. I can distinctly remember one of the stories in the book of a vampire peering into a child’s bedroom window at night but the child is holding a stake under his/her pillow and the vampire says something like “What are you doing with that stake? Careful you don’t stab me through the heeeeeeaaaaarrrrrrt!” Deadly ending strongly implied. Another of the stories is about a child that has to walk through a garden that has all sorts of deadly and creepy animals I think. Illustrations were black and white pen and ink to memory or a very limited colour palette. I think either US or UK origin. Pretty sure the title is similar to Jamie Rix’s ‘Ghostly Tales for Ghastly Kids’—something about the book being for horrible children.

Looking for a childrens book about a statue of a lion (stone or metal) who was one of a pair guarding a library, he came to life and went inside to figure out what was so interesting in there, which caused a disturbance.

In the illustrations he was colored like stone or metal, a sort of slate grey color (the impression was very “this actual statue is up and walking around”, not “this statue became a real lion”). He had a fancy, old-fashioned sort of name if I recall correctly.

The final page of the book has him sitting back on his pedestal outside the library, reading.

I read it in the mid 90s but my mom was an elementary school teacher in the 80s and we had a lot of older/vintage books.

Some overlap with Phoebe Gilman’s ‘Something from Nothing’.

I read a storybook when I was very young about two boys going out into the garden late at night to find that the vegetables were dressing up in fancy clothes and preparing for a harvest moon ball (May have also just been something to do with the full moon?). To this day I cannot remember the name and have had no luck in finding it. When I saw the show Over the Garden Wall, I thought for sure the creators took some inspiration from that book, or at least from the original fairy tale that inspired it in turn.

To anyone who might know what it is, there was also a part about a tortoise with a barbeque and a dolphin with silver/blue eyes, I think? It got pretty fantastical near the end. I have been searching for this thing for years. If anyone can find it, you will have my eternal gratitude.

Here’s a link to a Reddit thread where I listed some more details: https://www.reddit.com/r/whatsthatbook/comments/lkp6s1/illustrated_childrens_book_about_vegetables/

Private Zoo, by Georgess McHargue.

Looking for a book from the early 90’s? about animals that visited people who were in the zoo. And it went through different animals and using words like preposterous. It was s super cute silly book about how silly it would be if animals came to visit people in the zoo. Loved this book as a child and would love to read it to my children

Hello. I have a memory if a book that was illustrated and written. Possibly age range of 7-9. The cover depicts a cartoonish drawing of a woman sitting on a high wagon with all kinds of household things hanging on it. She is driving the wagon crazily. It is pulled by a horse. I think the title had something to do with a summer traveling with my aunt.
Thanks.
K

Looking for a book circa 1970s most likely from USA about a child who sees animals in all the shadows around him. e.g. the shadows of his siblings building a model rocket look like apes, his cat next to a house plant looks like a stalking tiger in the bushes, the local grocer swatting flies away with his arm looks like an elephant extending its trunk, machinery at a construction site look like dinosaurs, etc. Beautifully illustrated with either paintings or coloured pencil drawings. Pretty sure the book starts with the child watching TV and there is a hunter or guy on safari getting chased (and possibly eaten!) by a tiger. I guess the kid goes on his own safari through his neighbourhood and when he returns home at the end of the day, his parents ask him if he wants to go to the zoo and he says it’s OK because he’s just been or something.

I’m looking for an old book about a boy who wants to adopt a pet but the pet shop he goes to only sells monsters and creatures. The cover I saw was purple and i think the pictures might have been in black and white, but not sure. Art looked traditionally drawn.

Melissa replied to you with a book and picture. If it doesn’t show up, I list her as a trusted user again. Will check tomorrow (Monday)

i’m looking for a book from the early 2000s (america). i can’t remember what the book was about, but on the inside covers there were photos of meerkats. i don’t believe that the book was relating to meerkats in any way. the only reason this book was memorable was because of the stories my mom, brother, and i would come up with about the meerkats. any insight would be appreciated!

Looking for a childrens book about teddy bears. There are a variety of types of teddy bears in a store – fuzzy bear, some sort of goth/punk bear, ballet bear, etc. I think there was a little boy picking out one of the bears.
The book is hardcover, and without dust jacket- is a lime/olive green color.
8x11ish sized.
Written sometime before 1996 or so.

I know this isn’t a lot to go off of, but I’ve been searching for months and can’t find the name of it anywhere!

I have been looking for a childrens picture book about a kid who finds an amazing doll with a lot of clothes and accessories (? pre war styles) it was in my school library so was probably a 1950 or 1960s English book. ( i grew up in New Zealand)

You’re welcome. Hope it’s the correct one.

Let’s Play House?

back in maybe 1980-1982 [1st or 2nd grade] My favorite book in the library featured a cognisant small white porcelain cat with jewel [ emerald?] eyes in a china cabinet [ maybe belonging to a grandmother?] that comes to life [ maybe for the grand daughter?]– Does ANYone have any idea what this book might be?

Hi there! Looking for a book from the 1940s (maybe)? It’s a teal covered book with bold black letters. It’s about 2 little girls playing and they have a tea party at some point. One of the girls is named Polly or Molly. I have been searching 20 years for this book. Any help appreciated.

I’m looking for 2 books that I had in the mid 1980s. They were small, the size of the palm of your hand, had cardboard covers and folded up landscape concertina style, the cover tucked into itself to make a little box type thing. One was about a picnic and the cover looked like a green picnic basket. The other was about a day at the beach and may have been called ‘At the Beach’. They both had flaps to lift, the beach one had a tiny clamshell flap with a lost ring underneath and the last line of the book was ‘I knew my rubber shark would do the trick!’ After a guy scared everyone out of the water to go and get ice creams?! I think!

The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews Edwards. Yes – *that* Julie Andrews, beloved to children everywhere as Mary Poppins and Maria in The Sound of Music.

““He unfurled his umbrella with a flourish and opened it over his head. Large yellow butterflies were painted all over the clear plastic. Lindy fell into step beside him. ‘I love your umbrella,’ she said admiringly.
‘I bought it because it’s cheery and it makes people look up. Have you noticed how nobody ever looks up? Nobody looks at chimneys, or trees against the sky, or the tops of buildings. Everybody just looks down at the pavement or their shoes. The whole world could pass them by and most people wouldn’t even notice.’”

I was read a book in 3rd grade (around 2009-10) where children go into a magical colorful world. Not Narnia lol. I remember a line where a man tells the children he carries a colorful umbrella so that people look up at it.

Was it already an old book when you had it?

There’s How To Put On An Amateur Circus by Fred Hacker and Prescott W. Eames.

“How to Put on an Amateur Circus is exactly what the title promises – a 112 page step-by-step and blow-by-blow description of everything from how to build costumes, construct tents, make tickets, apply clown make-up, keep the books and even what the Ringmaster should say to the audience! They have left nothing up to chance, a veritable bible of starting your very own circus.”
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Hello, I’m searching for a book that my nephew loved as a child about an octopus who was searching for a home. Probabky late 1980s – 1990s. The octopus tried a bottle, an old tire and eventually found a cave to call home. The illustrations were more comic-like than realistic. Any information will help and be greatly appreciated!
Thanks so much!

You’re welcome! Glad I could help. Thanks for taking the time to post back!

Maybe Mr. Boffin by Laurence Schorsch?

A variation on the tried-and-true “the cat came back” theme, this bouncy tale introduces grumpy Mr. Boffin and an unwanted feline that invades his house. Boffin “hated one thing most and that / Was each and every kind of cat,” but his grouchy frown and fierce glare don’t deter one persistent orange tabby. The cat makes itself at home in Boffin’s favorite chair, and although Boffin tosses it in the trash, drops it in the mail, and abandons it in a museum wrapped like an Egyptian mummy, it always returns. Of course, only when the cat vanishes does Boffin realize that he misses it, and when the pair reunite, Boffin’s perma-frown turns upside-down.