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It will take Google a few weeks to connect with this new site since Disqus hasn’t functioned well since December. We welcome your comments now, but feel free to repost later in March. Suzanne
No, it’s not. I looked at that one in my attempts at Googling on my own
Sorry it wasn’t the right one.
Hey everyone! I’m currently looking for a book series from my early middle school years i’d say around around 2012 with a young boy, a dog, a couple of ghosts all living in like a haunted house? Then there’s something that has to do with writing letters and there’s and upstairs and a downstairs and that’s all I can remember. I know it’s a far stretch but if anyone knows what the books are called!?!?
Possibly the 43 Old Cemetery Road series by Kate Klise? (There are seven books in the series. The dog makes his appearance in book 3.) https://www.goodreads.com/series/52638-43-old-cemetery-road
Book 1 (Dying to Meet You): When former best-selling children’s author I.B. Grumply moves into a Victorian mansion in Ghastly, IL, to write the latest installment in his “Ghost Tamer” series, he is hindered by more than just his overwhelming case of writer’s block. He is dismayed to find the mansion already occupied by an 11-year-old boy named Seymour Hope, his cat, and Olive C. Spence, a ghost living in the cupola who is unhappy because she never managed to publish her books in her lifetime. Similar to the Klises’ other offerings, the story is successfully told through letters, newspaper clippings, drawings, and related devices. Although Grumply has written ghost tales, he himself is a nonbeliever, and Olive and Seymour attempt to convince him. They then collaborate on a book about their own experiences, including the possibility of the demolition of the mansion, a ghost who falls in love with the occupant of her house, and Seymour’s parents and their lack of responsibility for his care.
Book 2 (Over My Dead Body): The International Movement for the Safety & Protection Of Our Kids & Youth (IMSPOOKY) dictates that Seymour cannot live in the mansion at 43 Old Cemetery Road “without the benefit of parents.” Ignatius B. Grumply tries to explain to Dick Tater, the head of IMSPOOKY, that he and Seymour are in a lovely living (and publishing!) arrangement with the ghost of Olive C. Spence. Dick Tater is not convinced. But this clever trio can’t be broken up as easily as he imagines . . .
Book 3 (Till Death Do Us Bark): When a shaggy dog arrives at Spence Mansion, Seymour is overjoyed. His adoptive parents, Ignatius B. Grumply and Olive C. Spence, are less enthusiastic–especially when Secret, the dog, begins barking all night long. Is it possible that Secret just misses his old companion, the late Noah Breth, whose children are fighting like cats and dogs over their father’s money? Or does Secret have a secret that, in the end, will make the entire town of Ghastly howl with delight?
Hello. I’m looking for a book from my childhood. It was about a horse with a star on her forehead (I think her name was Estrella). She was the cover art and I read it around the early 2000’s/late 1990’s I believe. I think the story was about her going through some trouble or something looking for another horse like her. It was a soft cover book. That’s all I can recall. Hope someone can help. Thank you.
I found one series with a horse named Estrella, but it wasn’t written til 2014.
Horses of the Dawn Series
https://www.goodreads.com/series/123234-horses-of-the-dawn
That sounds like The Escape (Book #1 of Horses of the Dawn series) by Kathryn Lasky (author of the Guardians of Ga’Hoole series) – but that was not published until 2014.
“Inspired by Hernando Cortes’s 1519 reintroduction of horses to the New World for the first time in several thousand years, this inventive novel launches the Horses of the Dawn series. Lasky tells the story through the perspective of Estrella, a filly determined to find her bloodline’s ancient home in the New World. Born on a ship sailed by Spaniards on a gold-seeking mission to Mexico, Estrella, her dam (mother), and several other horses are thrown overboard to lighten the vessel. As her mother sinks after a shark attack, a flash in her eyes reveals to Estrella her destiny to follow the scent of sweet grass and the image of a tiny, sprinting horse to lead her herd to freedom.”
“The young filly Estrella, named for the star-shaped mark on her forehead, is born on a conquistador’s ship heading for the New World. When the conquistadors decide to jettison the weaker and older horses, Estrella and her dam, Perlina, are dumped into the ocean with several other horses. Perlina dies in a shark attack, but Estrella and the other horses make it to land. Guided by Estrella’s visions of faraway grasslands, the horses head north from Mexico toward the Western plains of what is now the United States. It is a long and hazardous journey through jungles where they encounter jaguars, crocodiles, and other predators. Their most dangerous encounters, however, are with human beings, as the horses become caught up in the clash between Spanish soldiers of fortune and the Native people.”
Also found this one published in 2008, but it’s in Spanish. Maybe you could have read an English version.
Estrella Negra by Gloria Vidal de Albo
https://www.amazon.com/Estrella-Negra-Spanish-Gloria-Vidal/dp/0970202881
Trying to find a book from at least the 1970s a book of children’s stories, one of a babbling brook, one of the llamas pajama, one of a magical teapot, a squirrel with firefly in a lamp, and several others??
Humpty-Dumpty’s Bedtime Stories, by Kelly Oechsli.
The Patchwork Puppy, by L. Moore.–Timothy’s tree, by G. Stephenson.–Rascal Raccoon and the thing changer, by D. Barclay.–Bedtime giggles, by L.V. Francis.–The magic teapot, by M. Calhoun.–Little Bug and Big Bug, by M.C. Potter.–The magic pencil, by P. Johnson.–Martin the Magpie, by L. Watson.–Mother’s little helper, by L. Watson.–The llamas’ pajamas, by C. Wirths.
Clarification: Kelly Oechsli is the illustrator; the stories are by various authors.
Looking for a Christmas book that was destroyed by fire earlier in the summer. No idea of author or title. AllI I can tell you is that it had Santa coming thru the chimney and he was able to be moved to every page. Any ideas?
An approximate year would be helpful, but maybe take a look at Santa’s Great Reindeer Chase by Vincent Bourgeau (2004).
“It’s Christmas Eve and two of Santa’s reindeer are missing! It’s up to young readers to help Santa find them. Lift the flaps and move the included Santa doll from scene to scene through hidden slots. Sure to be a Christmas favorite!”
“Each page has your usual lift up flaps but behind one of the flaps is a slot that you can slide a cardboard Santa through to send him to the next page. E.g., slide thru a roof slot and come out of a chimney on the next page. So in addition to being a lift-the-flap book, it is a little like playing an adventure with a paper doll.”
You can see it being read here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_8d5-_LgTI
My parents gave our set to my oldest sister for her kids—and then she and her husband got rid of it without asking any of us siblings if we wanted it.
I’m so annoyed! So I’m looking for a set of my own to comfort myself. Thank you so much for finding it for me! There are more books in the full set than we had, but I’ve found some partial sets on ebay that seem affordable for the amount of books. Thank you!
I’m so glad you found some partial sets that work for what you want! I hadn’t realized there were so many either.
Enjoy, Thanks for writing back,
Suzanne
From a friend: “All I remember about the plot is it was about a super lanky old guy who slept in his rolls royce behind his house and he was super obsessed with cataloging the exact correct dipping time for every kind of cookie.
I feel like it might have been a Roald Dahl?”
That sounds like Mr. Ape by Dick King-Smith.
“When Archibald Peregrine Edmund Spring-Russell (Ape, for short) finds himself living alone for the first time in his life, he’s finally free to do exactly as he pleases. And nothing pleases this wealthy old English gentleman with an enormous estate and a Rolls-Royce more than buying twelve big, beautiful brown hens to keep in the living room. But Ape doesn’t stop there. Soon there are rabbits and guinea pigs in the dining room, canaries in the music room, a noisy talking parrot in the kitchen, and a puppy who seems to be everywhere! Just when Ape’s house is about to burst with little beasties, Joe and Jake–father and son Gypsies–lend a helping hand.”
“Mr. Ape, Archibald Peregrine Edmund Spring-Russell, has taken to his seventies with gusto. His wife has left him, his children are gone (he didn’t like them much anyway), so he closes up most of the rooms of his huge manse, Penny Royal, moves his bed to the kitchen, and eats schoolboy food (Spam sandwiches and tinned rice pudding with jam). He loves animals, though, and fills the huge living room with hens, followed quickly by rabbits, guinea pigs, and canaries. A Romany father and son, Jake and Joe, camp nearby, and Mr. Ape hires them to help with the animals–Jake is inspired to put the canaries in the music room on perches made of Ape’s old golf clubs. On Guy Fawkes night, this mismatched but cozy group’s bonfire accidentally burns Penny Royal to the ground. Ape takes his newfound freedom on the road with Jake and Joe in a camper drawn by his Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost. No girls, no rules, and a scientific study of the art of cookie dunking make this chapter book a probable winner.”
Hi, I’m looking for a kids book that my little brother use to read about Christmas shapes. I was to say it was around 2005. My dad remembers some of it going like this:
Christmas Shapes
Christmas trees
Cards that please
Balloons so jolly
Wreaths of holly
Stars that shine
Ornaments, fine
Presents all wrapped with ribbon and tape
What’s your favorite Christmas shape?
I’m looking for help identifying a book I loved as a kid. All I can remember is that it was probably written in the 60s/70s based on the art work, which was black and white pen illustration and with green (is illustration was black and white, but trees or some other green objects were the only thing of color). The cover was a red hard back, and it was about a girl and an alligator or crocodile tears
Have you ruled out Crocodile Tears by Andre Francois?
Hi, I am trying to find a series of children’s books that my family had when I was growing up. It was a set of illustrated stories about historical figures, and each one focused on one value or virtue that the historical figure learned. I remember the books having white covers, and some of the historical figures I remember were featured were Helen Keller and some founding fathers maybe. The values would be thinks like “Honesty,” “Courage,” etc. My parents probably bought the set sometime in the 70s or 80s. I’ve tried searching google but haven’t found anything yet that has helped me identify what this set of books was.
I’m sorry, I got interrupted in the middle of answering you and didn’t post this I’m quite sure these are the Value Tales published by Value Communications. You’d probably have to use the publisher to search, or the last name author Johnson, but people list them differently so it’s hard to do a search. It would be expensive if you wanted an entire set. Are you sure they aren’t around your family somewhere?
Here are some pictures: https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?bi=0&bx=off&cm_sp=SearchF-_-Advtab1-_-Results&ds=30&kn=valuetales%20books&recentlyadded=all&sortby=17&sts=t
Long shot I can’t really remember much. But when I was 5/6/7 years old so back in 2005-7 I had this hardback bedtime story book. I had a pastel coloured covered and it was something about read this when you can’t sleep. The pages were all pastel orange, yellow, blue, pink etc. I can picture it but have no idea the time. Maybe 365 bedtime stories something like that…it was an a4 book with quite a few pages. Maybe had poems in aswell?
I am literally looking for the same book!!
I’m looking for a book that a teacher read to my class when we were in 4th grade, we were all in awe, it was a chapter book. Grey I think, and everything rhymed. It wasnt a picture book and it was an actual story.. it had creatures and weird names for things and it wasnt doctor suess. I remember our teacher saying it was old, but this was in 2009 ish so he could have meant old to us, which would be 1980ish.. I’m thinking it was 1970 or maybe 2000s.. I just know it was an entire chapter book written only in rhymes
Zorgamazoo?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zorgamazoo
“(Who’s ever heard of a Zorgle, anyway?) But if you are curious, clever and brave, if intrepid adventure is something you crave, then open this book and I’ll leave it to you to uncover the secret of ZORGAMAZOO!”
The animal patches story might be Pretty Patches, in the Catholic school reader These Are Our Neighbors by Sister M. Marguerite (from the Faith and Freedom reading series). In the story, a poor girl – whose clothes are worn and patched – is invited to a party. Her mother sews animal-shaped patches on the dress to make it pretty for the party.
The book was reprinted multiple times in the 1940’s, 1950’s, and 1960’s, with different covers and changes in content.
Here’s the cover and title page of the 1952 edition:
And two of the contents pages (not sure which edition these were from).
1942 cover:
1962 cover:
“So’m I” by Ted Key (1954)
“The hero, a horse who wants to be a champion racer like his competent, conceited brother, is a bowlegged, knock-kneed beast named So ‘m I. He tries various jobs without success until twin boys (one knocked-kneed and one bow-legged) adopt him.”
Thank you so much!! This was my husband’s favorite book as a child and he gets a little misty whenever he talks about it, It was the book that took him from reluctant reader to the avid reader he is today. I have located a first edition online and will surprise him with it. Thank you again so much!
What a thoughtful gift! I’m sure he will love it!!!
hi! im looking for a book i read in the early 2000s. it was about either two kids (a boy and a girl) or just a girl who found a unicorn stuck in a tapestry, and either the cover or an image inside the book had the famous tapestry “Unicorn in Captivity”. this community is awesome for helping so many people out!!
Possibly Secret of the Unicorn by Robin Gottlieb?
“Nina Martin discovers a secret message in a tapestry woven by her great-grandfather and it seems to tell how to find a unicorn. Nina and her friend Polly search out the place noted in the secret message and discover something every bit as wonderful as a unicorn.”
Hello, I am in search of the book that my older sister taught me to read with, when I was in Kinder in about ’92 – ’93. I’ve tried every google search I can think of and can’t find it. My memory may be changing some of the details, but here is what I think I remember:
-mouse delivering a letter
-wind making the letter fly about
-early reader style, simple and short words
Any help would be appreciated! Thank you!
How about “Windy Day?”
https://www.amazon.com/Windy-Day-First-Start-Easy-Reader/dp/0816709831
That may be it! Thank you!!
I hope so. You’re welcome.
Hi,
I really liked that book and would like to find it again!
I’ve been looking for this book for a while now and can’t seem to find anything about it no matter where I look! I can’t remember the title or author, I just remember reading part of it in elementary school and never finishing it. I was in elementary from 2001-2007 so the book would have had to have been published before 2007…all I remember was it was a very blue-toned cover and the story revolves around a young girl, possibly troubled or in a troubled home, and her very skinny cat having some sort of adventure. It’s possible her name or part of the title was “May” but that is ALL I remember! Please help me
Mr. Pine’s Purple House, by Leonard Kessler
Hi. This is a real long shot. For years a particular visual pattern of a mustard yellow background decorated with flowers sparks a deep memory of a childrens book. The only thing i think i remember is a row of little beds, one of which had a bedspread with this kind of quite intricate design. I can’t remember anything about the story, but it would be from the 70’/early 80’s along the lines of a Ladybird book or Blackberry farm type thing. It’s been bugging me for years and I’ve tried every google search i can think of.
Long shot, but when I think mustard yellow with flowers, the first thing that comes to mind is Tell Me, Cat by Ellen Fisher. The book is illustrated in a mix of photographs of cats – and needlepoint/embroidery.
Thanks for trying, but this isn’t the one. It was definitely a bedspread and was a picture on one of the inside pages.
Answered in your other post.
I’m searching for a certain children’s picture book made in the early 1960s.
I don’t remember the title.
St. Louis County library book.
Hardcover.
Approximately 12 pages.
Photographs.
Non fiction.
Synopsis: A 3rd or 4th grade class receives a pet rabbit to care for. A child in the class, Sammy, changes the rabbit’s newspaper in the cage, another gives fresh water, etc. A theme throughout seems to be the wiggling of the rabbit’s nose when it’s happy:
“And (rabbit’s name) nose went wiggle wiggle wiggle”. This quote is throughout the book as well as the very last page.
I loved this book as a child and would really be interested if anyone knew anything about this book. I’ve searched as much as possible and haven’t come across anything.
Thank you!
Found two covers of this one:
“Furry Boy” by Marion W. Crume
It is Sammy’s and Tommy’s turn to take care of the pet rabbit so they clean his cage and bring him food and water.
https://www.amazon.com/Furry-Boy-Bowmar-early-childhood/dp/B0007G3NYC
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Furry-Boy-Bowmar-Early-Childhood/dp/B0007G3NYC
A Lantern in her Hand, by Bess Streeter Aldrich. (Her name was Abbie.)
YES! Thank you so much!
You’re welcome, and thanks for posting back!
I am looking for a book my mom read (probably In early 70s) to me . I seem to recall the man wanted to have a different house so he painted it different colours but his neighbours Copied him, until they didn’t, I see some similar books but not exact. I’m hoping my memory is right.
Maybe ‘The Big Orange Splot’ by Daniel Manus Pinkwater. I remember having it read to me in the 70s. It’s set on a ‘neat street’ where all the houses look the same until a seagull flying over Mr Plumbean’s house drops a can of orange paint. This prompts Mr Plumbean to repaint his house with bright colours. His distressed neighbours try to convince him repaint his house to make it blend in again but he instead convinces them to paint all their houses differently.
I am looking for a book, late 80’s, early 90’s. It was a children’s book on tape. It was about a boy (or rabbit) who was given a special pair of shoes which made him bounce very high but they couldn’t get wet. The boy forgets the shoes outside and it rains, so the shoes are ruined. The tape has a song, singing about being responsible ‘responsible is what you will become”
I can not remember the title of this book for the life of me. Its such a cute story and I want to share this with my own children now
Please help me
Hello all- Hope you can help. Can’t remember the title or the author of a book I read as a youth. It was a youth or young adult fiction, a paperback. May have been Newberry Award wining but I can’t find it that way. It was about a girl, rather epic…told story of her life. Ended with her as an old woman- viewing the recovered portrait of her mother or grandmother “With Long, Tapered Fingers.” Heroine’s name may have been Isabell? Don’t know when it was published but I read it as a child in the 1980’s.
I’m searching for a certain children’s picture book made in the early 1960s.
I don’t remember the title.
St. Louis County library book.
Hardcover.
Approximately 12 pages.
Photographs.
Non fiction.
Synopsis: A 3rd or 4th grade class receives a pet rabbit to care for. A child in the class, Sammy, changes the rabbit’s newspaper in the cage, another gives fresh water, etc. A theme throughout seems to be the wiggling of the rabbit’s nose when it’s happy:
“And (rabbit’s name) nose went wiggle wiggle wiggle”. This quote is throughout the book as well as the very last page.
I loved this book as a child and would really be interested if anyone knew anything about this book. I’ve searched as much as possible and haven’t come across anything.
Thank you!
I’m looking for a book that was my husband’s favorite book in the 2nd grade. This would have been around 1956. It was a british children’s book about a horse whose legs get tangled up and he says a magic word and they untangle and he can walk. I think the magic word is So My or something that sounds like that. Thank you for any help I can get.
Good Afternoon, I am looking for a book I read as a child, probably between 1963 and 1970. I can’t recall the title but think it may havehad sky or sky pirates in the title.
The story was about a merchant ship that could, with the deployment of propellers and helium gas bags ,fly. As in all good Bigglles type stories the hero who invented this flying merchant ship had his design copied by a criminal genius and spent his time trying to stop and apprehend the evil genius. As I am feeling nostalgic and find myself reminiscing, I woukd,very much like to read this book again. If any can tell what this book is or advise how I might go about finding it, I would be most appreciative.
Thanks,
Peter.
You don’t say what year you read it, but this is the first one that came to mind. Doesn’t exactly match your description, but you might want to check out the author’s other books as he wrote a lot of books about horses.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3069203-star-of-wild-horse-canyon
hi I’m looking for a book I had when I was younger, the cover had different pictures of the 4 seasons, and the art style was very warm and animated. the story described the story of a small family (a mom, a daughter and a son) discovering the change of seasons as they grow up in their neighborhood. they would notice small things like their neighbors putting up shutters to prep for winter. I would seriously appreciate any help in finding out what this book may be. the art style is very unique, almost like the Madeline art style but at the same time very different. it makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside. the family would do things like rake leaves in the fall together. thank you again for anyone who takes the time to read this
Looking for a children’s picture book from the 50’s I think. (Possibly from the New England area). I remember it was a hard cover collection of short stories. One about a little girl that gets lost in the woods while with her family. (They eventually find her). Another about a little girl whose mother sews patches of animals on her old torn skirt. Those are the only stories I remember. I hope someone can help me. Thank you!
Hi – also looking for a favourite from my childhood. I think I read it in the early to mid 2000s but I think the book was already an old book then. It was about all different species of animals who needed a school for their children to go to, so they build one. I believe the teacher is a rabbit and she sets up the school. A plot line I remember is a hedgehog who puts rubbers on all his spines in hope that when he is hit with a slipper for being naughty he might not feel it. The hedgehog is also sad at one point because people don’t want to sit by him because he pricks them when he moves. I also remember an owl and a mouse child being in the class. A fox wants his son to go to the school and the parents all try to disagree but the rabbit teacher lets him join. But when the fox child invites everybody to his birthday party his father has a plot to cook all the animals in a large pot (they get rescued). I think there were pictures, but not in colour. If anybody has any clues or guesses I would be very grateful. I know its not much to go on.
Hello, I am looking for a picture book I checked out of the library when I was a child in the 70`s. I can recall the story and pictures very well, but not the title or author. Basically the pictures were black and white, very much like the style of M Sendak. The book was all about a strange little family of gentle Bigfoot like creatures , and the son kept dreaming about a little girl in a white dress. When he talked to her, she told him that she kept dreaming about him. It was not very long and was written on about a fourth grade level, I`d guess. I`d really like to find it again.
Hi I’m looking for an old books I read when I was a kid. It’s about a boy who goes to live with his father’s friends on their ranch while his father was away for work (maybe in an oil field?). The boy (I think his name was bill) immediately is interested in a horse named Star Bright (I think). I remember the book being a yellow/orange color and it was about 1 1/2” to 2” thick.
This book was my absolute favorite book growing up in the 80s. It was about 4 or 5 mice that live in different parts of a barn and all look at the cow that lives there from different perspectives. They later discuss what the cow could be and what evidence they have to support the idea. None of the ideas are a cow though. It was later revamped to a different story of blind mice scurrying across an elephant, but it’s not as good as the original with the cow. Is anyone familiar with the name or the author please?
This may be your book. Written by Dr Irma E Webber, it looks to have first been published in 1949 as ‘It looks like this: a point of view book” Four mice living in different places in a barn each see animals a different way.
It looks to have been republished by Scholastic as “what does it look like?It looks like this” in 1965. There are multiple translations into other languages including Braille which I found really interesting. It also looks to have been made into a short film at some point
Here’s pictures of the first cover and the 1965 cover.
Looking for a chapter book from late 90’s- early 00s. A girl who knows all about constellations, stars and possibly uses a telescope. I believe she had blonde hair and the cover was a night sky above her.
Cricket Magazine and maybe their books, used to have a small cast of characters in the margins commenting on the stories, one was a snail, I don’t know if they still do Here’s a picture https://www.flickr.com/photos/sjhfoto/14015030130
Looking for a children’s book circa 1950. A little girl with blond hair and a housecoat living in a hospital. The house next door was full of animals, and she helped an Alligator or Crocodile that was scared of the doctor/ hospital reassuring it that it was okay.
Crocodile Medicine, by Marjorie-Ann Watts.
Hello I am looking for a book where the main character is young girl who has many older brothers so she always gets hand me down clothes. She meets another girl at school who is secretly a princess of a kingdom which can only be travelled to in a box, and the girl’s mother is an evil queen. I have been looking for this book for years and I am desperate to find it.
1960/70’s book about tree that grew throughout an entire house. Think it might have been only printed in two colours and might have been from England. Somehow a tree (seed?) started to grow inside a house and soon the roots and branches reached EVERYWHERE inside the house until there was no room left for anyone else
Possibly The Plant Sitter by Gene Zion? Originally published in 1959, reprinted in 1976. The illustrations by Margaret Bloy Graham are mostly in shades of blues and greens with a little yellow.
“Tommy takes on plant sitting as a job for 2 cents a plant for all the neighbors. He takes such good care of the plants they get huge and turn the house into a jungle (much to his pipe-smoking, yelling father’s chagrin). So he goes to the Library and reads all he can about plant care, buys supplies at the plant supply store, goes home and trims all the plants making cuttings. Happy ending of course, and all the children get baby plants!”
Thanks for writing back quickly too. I hope you enjoy this and the others. They age well..
I’m looking for a book probably late 80s/early 90s about a school trip to the zoo. Its a picture book, bright colourful (pastels?) illustrations on white backgrounds. The children all learn how to behave like monkeys, eating fruit and hanging from trees. I think their teacher is a monkey/chimp/gorilla, wearing a suit? He’s taken the place of their normal teacher and they don’t realise. One amazing image in my mind of all the kids standing with their mouths open in pink O’s, probably learning to make monkey sounds. Does it ring any bells?
I’m looking for a children’s novel I read back in early 2010s. it’s about four kids (3 girls and 1 boy, I believe the boy was the second oldest and that the middle girls name was something like Kate) and the book is a bunch of stories about their adventures with somewhat supernatural things. In one, they find a coin on the street and the child who finds it thinking about buying candies with it (she thinks that caramels are 5 cents apiece, so I think this is an older book) but later wishes for something exciting to happen, which prompts a fire to break out on their street. They find out this coin grants wishes etc etc. I think most of the stories start with the kids doing something mundane and leads into them doing fantastical things.
Half Magic by Edward Eager. American influenced by E. Nesbit. There are 7 of these, all wonderful. Still in print in paperback.
wow so fast!! thank you so much!!!
I’m trying to find a book that was mine as a child in the late 80s/early 90s, it was about a daughter who didn’t want to go to bed and in my mind she was a hippo or a cow or some other large animal. And it was a back and forth between her and her mom. The daughter was a dancer and wearing a tutu and was dancing around some wisteria. It had beautiful illustrations. I wish I could remember more. Thanks.
I’m trying to find a book I used to love as a kid. It was a small hardback picture book about a cat who has to visit the vet, but he doesn’t want to go. I know the art was all black and white and I think the pictures and text were on the same pages. I don’t know how long it was exactly, but I’m pretty sure it was fairly short
Hello! I am looking for a book I read between 10 and 15 years ago, aimed at young adults. It was set in Ancient Greece and the very beginning was the scene where Perseus unveils the head of the Medusa to the entire court. The main character of the story is not in the room when this happens, but his sister is and she is turned in to a statue holding a pitcher of wine. I remember that at the very end of the book he finally finds her statue again after years of searching and adventure.
You are welcome, and thanks for posting back!
i’m looking for a kids book about a room with a messy and clean side and on the messy side there’s a hole at the bottom of the dirty laundry pile that takes through an adventure of cleaning with socks and monsters (not sure if this is accurate haven’t read it since 2011)
im looking for a book that has loads of different pictures of scenes from famous stories like Hansel and great, little red riding hood, sleeping beauty etc and in each photo there would be hidden items you would have to find, please please someone tell me if you know
( this is bout 10 years ago )
Oh, I solved it! The Patchwork Kilt, by Mabel Watts. “For the Biddlewees were a stick-together sort of family. And when they were sad, they were sad together.”
As Mama Squirrel said, these come with various title and covers Look at Loganberry Books Anthology Finder page and search Watty Piper. http://w1.loganberrybooks.com/books/authors/anthologies.htm
Check out Watty Piper’s story books (they appeared under different titles). The old woman is likely the Teeny-Tiny story.
I found it last night after a 3 hour search. Its called Stories that Never Grow Old by as you guessed it WATTY PIPER! Thank you!
Trying to find a book that was my mother’s as a child, she was born 1960.
Collection of nursey rhymes fairy tales and fables, color illustations. I think the cover was blue? Definitely hardback.
Hansel and gretel, old mother hubbard, lion and the mouse, 5 peas in a pod etc..(probably atleast 10 other stories included)
The one that stands out to me ths most is a story of a woman who (I believe) steals something and hears a noise all night keeping her up (its obviously her guilt) she’s wearing a polka dot bonnet (I believe blue with white dots) in the illustration laying bed peering from under the cover. I think the item stolen was the bonnet…
I havent seen this book since I was 10 but I’d love to find it for my young daughter.
I am looking for a book that is a collection of short stories, Christian based. I read it in grade school. Maybe from the 1970s-1980s. One of the stories was about these children getting along with American Indians, then another about keeping warm with a hard boiled egg in their hand while they walked to school. Sorry this is so random. They were good stories. Hard bound regular sized book.
There was a children’s book that I once saw sold around 1974. It was called something like “There Are Monsters in My Room” and showed an illustration from the perspective of inside a bedroom door in which a boy has opened it and looking inside at all these monsters in his room (including a slime-like thing on the floor). When I once tried opening the book, I saw a two-page illustration in black and white of various monsters while the book described opening the door and seeing all the creatures, one of them shouting, “LEEEEAVE!” It was not a beginner’s book and may have had chapters. Anyone know what it is?
Maybe this one?
“The Monster’s Room” by Hope Campbell
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2211648.The_Monster_s_Room
This does not have the line “all asleep in the quiet night” – but based on the description of the artwork, it might be worth taking a look at Going To Sleep on the Farm by Wendy Lewison, with art by Juan Wijngaard. The illustrations alternate between a little boy and his father with the boy’s toy farm animals – and pictures of actual farm animals going to sleep. The words are simple – on the pages with the boy and his father, “How does a ___ go to sleep – tell me how? How does a ____ go to sleep?” followed by a double-spread page telling how that animal goes to sleep, then a single page (facing the next picture of the boy and his father) with the text “And that’s how a _____ goes to sleep – (animal noise). That’s how a ____ goes to sleep.”
You can see the entire book here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZOP9MbrD9k
I remember having a book called something like ‘The Big Book of Princesses’ that had a collection of stories including a seamstress who made dresses for Princesses and made herself a dress out of the scraps of fabric that were left and she ended up going to the ball in a rainbow dress. There was also a story about Princesses who got bored and decided to switch places with the servants to try their jobs so they did the work all day whilst the servants relaxed. I owned the book in the early 2000’s and I’m pretty sure it was purple and had a rubbery texture cover, and possibly a heart in the middle? I haven’t been able to find it online anywhere and it was one of my favourite books.
I am sure I have seen that book–I’ll see if I can track down the title.
(from Truman, but I thought it must be Sasek!) This is Cape Kennedy written and illustrated by M. Sasek. I don’t think these were among the recent reprints of the series, but you could look on worldcat.org and see, in which case it’s worth waiting until a reprint shows up.
https://www.amazon.com/This-Cape-Kennedy-M-Sasek/dp/B000OO1E8Y/ref=sr_1_2?Adv-Srch-Books-Submit.x=0&Adv-Srch-Books-Submit.y=0&dchild=1&qid=1598116493&refinements=p_28%3Athis+is+cape+kennedy&s=books&sr=1-2&unfiltered=1
Thanks Suzanne for you response, and information. I don’t think this is the book, but is at least a starting point, which is far more than I have had until now.
Another vote here for The Phantom Tollbooth.
I’m looking for a children’s book called Bearclaw which my mother read to me and scared me with it. She added to it making it personal, that he lived in the woods behind us and he will come into my room through the window and kill me, I want to find out the real content of that book and what is so scary in it.
I’m looking for an out of print children’s book circa about 1950-1970 titled “Tell Me About The Cow Barn Daddy”.
Tell About the Cowbarn, Daddy, by Jean Merrill (1963).
I’m looking for a book about a little boy that grows down not up. He grows down as he ages, so when he will be an adult, his feet will be on the ground. I think his name is Obleo, but I can not find any reference by that name.
Might you be thinking about The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster?
Milo sees a strange, little boy whose feet are at least three feet off the ground, who introduces himself as Alec Bings, and he explains that in his family, ”everyone is born in the air, with his head at exactly the height it’s going to be when he’s an adult, and then we all grow toward the ground.”
Milo says that in his family, people grow from the ground up. Alec thinks this is silly, and replies: ”Then your head keeps changing its height and you always see things in a different way? Why, when you’re fifteen things won’t look at all the way they did when you were ten, and at twenty everything will change again.”
Milo realizes that Alec is right, and that it means that as we grow up, we see things differently as we get older. Our point of view changes.
I’m sorry I don’t have much to go on other than the basic story.
I used to get this book from the library. It was a children’s book probably aimed for 8-12 year olds to read by themselves I cannot remember the title, the name of the main character or the author.
The plot:
Children’s story about a young boy who went to stay with his grandparents over the holidays if I remember rightly either he or his younger sibling had chicken pox and to avoid tge other getting the illness he was sent there by himself. It was on the coast and he spent every day at the beach collecting shells. He ended up making a figure with the shells in the shape of another boy and the boy came to life and he and this shell boy had to save some magical creatures from some sea monster.
It’s not much to go on but any help would be greatly appreciated. I read this around the age of 10 (1990) but this book may have come out much earlier. I think it was based in the UK too.
Hi, I’m looking for a children’s book, illustrated in black and white. I believe it was about a lonely fox who lived alone on top of a hill. I think he was lonely but a new neighbor was moving in, and the fox went on errands in the town. On each page you could see the new neighbor in the background, and when the fox finally got home he found his new neighbor was a lady fox. Thank you!!
I am looking for Children’s I used to read from my elementary school library between 1965 and 1973. It was about Florida, and was primarily illustrated with some text. I can’t recall the name, author, or publisher. I remember it being oversized, maybe about 12″x 9″. The illustrations were what would be considered Retro style, but they were current for the time period. There were mentions of the space program, hotels/motels, lifestyle, beaches. I recall there being a lot of yellow in the illustrations, with black outlines. My guess is the book was published around 1965.
One of the recent posts made me think of some lines from a book about friendship: “When they were sad, they were sad together, ” and also glad or happy together. This would definitely be pre-1975. Ideas?
Another line: “But most of the time, they were glad together.”
I’m looking for a picture book about a boy from, I think, Egypt, who learns to write his name as a gift for his mother. I used this book in the early 90s; I read it to my 1st graders and they loved it. The pictures were wonderful and full of detail. I know that the word “GIft” was in the title. Thanks!!
The Day of Ahmed’s Secret, by Heide, beautiful illustrations by Ted Lewin. (and thanks for the mask reminder, I finally remembered to put an extra one in the car!)
Big huge lifesize book. does anyone remember the massive hardback abc book in the 90s? It was about a meter tall all made of hardback and was about learning the alphbet. I have been Googling and searching with no luck. I would really love to find one to buy but they obviously don’t make them anymore
It might have been a “Big Book” made as part of a reading series, if that helps.
Hi,
I am looking for a book that I used to read when I was a kid.
It was about a child that goes to sleep and the fairies steal objects from her room. From what I remember the fairies go to a fairy ball and then there is also a sea dragon. The reader has to spot the hidden objects on every page. At the end of the book the child wakes up and the objects have been returned.
That sounds like Fairy Dreams by Carol McLean-Carr.
“While Isobel sleeps, butterfly-winged fairies with pointed ears steal 12 treasures from her room, and readers are asked to find them. An opening poem lists the items (“Her ball, her fan, her pot for tea,/ The egg she found beside a tree,” etc.) but the order of the poem’s list does not correspond to the order of the items to be found in subsequent pages. Instead, a four-line rhyming stanza on each spread provides the clue for the lost item.”
“The fairies are having a ball, with mermaids, dragons, elves and unicorns. They take 12 treasures from a child’s bedroom as playthings for their ball, and replace them in the morning with new fairy gifts for the reader to find.”
Thanks so much! I will check it out!
Thanks for writing back. Hope it’s one of the titles (same book)
Searching for children’s picture book. A Night On the Farm????? with the stanzas ending in, “all asleep in the quiet night.” At least that is what I remember. I am not sure of the title or that exact phrase. It was a library book in the 1990’s, but may be older than that. It is a largish hardback picture book with beautifully muted/watercolor-like pictures of the different countryside/farm animals settling down for the night. Such a peaceful, appealing read with ‘grown up’ artwork.
Searching for: A Night On the Farm??? stanzas ending with, “all asleep in the quiet night.” This is a beautifully illustrated, kind of muted/watercolors, large hard back book I used to check out of the library. Different farm/countryside animals were going to sleep. Each “family” of animals were shown in the pasture/barn….. with a poetic verse about their quieting down….. It was available in the library 1990’s but could be older. NONE of my searches come up with it.
I read a book that was assigned in either elementary or junior high-one if those books with several stories in it. Either published in 90s or early 2000s. There was a story about a boy picking a toothbrush from two his mom bought. He was on a timer and he wanted to pick the “best” one because his sister was going to get the other one and she always showed off about the things she had that he didn’t. In the end, he picks one (he was in a timer) and his sister picks up the other one and says that color was her favorite.
Thank you. Skorpens books are out of print and I dont know why. Charles the book about the teddy-bear doesn’t have anything in it really ( except a sentence like ” places where girls are afraid to go”) that would offend most people. I wont ask again about where to find a book just a question in the future about identifying a book. Elizabeth is harder to track down than I thought
I don’t either. I like Doris Burns too. They have a nice 60’s Northwest feel.
I’m trying to find the title of a book I read as a young girl in the late 60’s/early 70’s – the main character was female and had gone into an old abandoned house with portraits on the wall of the former owners – they started to speak with her, not in a scary way. She returned to the house many times to have conversations with the portraits, who were giving her information about something. Thanks for your help!
This could be The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden by Mary Chase, which was reprinted as a Scholastic paperback as The Wicked Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House. You might enjoy reading some reader reviews on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/wicked-ladies-haunted-house/dp/B0007FEIZQ
from our db: Maureen Swanson’s tough act fell apart as she wriggled through the iron gate of the old Messerman Place. And the girls in portraits in the upstairs hall seemed to have tempers as vile as her own. A pigeon feather bracelet in the garden gives a clue.
I don’t remember much about this book. I read it back in grade school and it was an assigned reading book. It was about an older sister and a younger brother named I think Kurt, but who liked to be called Turk. I think the two of them get lost on their way to their grandparent’s house and stumble into this town. I know they were so dirty when they got there that they went through (or at least tried to go through) a car wash to get clean. I think they met a man who helped take care of them a little bit. I also remember that they met a few bullies and one of them developed a crush on the girl, which they figured out when they found him carving his and her initials into a tree in a forest. I don’t quite remember when I read it, but publication is probably some time before 2008 if I had to guess. I think the title had something to do with the name of the town, but I’m not 100% sure about that. There is also a possibility that it isn’t actually a book, but rather a story featured in a literacy textbook.
I remember an illustrated children’s book I had when I was young (around 2004-2012) I think the plot might’ve been it was a young girls birthday (I remember a drawing of her in her bed) and she got to go to (I think) a pet shop where there were all sorts of creatures. I think there might’ve been a picture frame with a sea inside it and there were lots of jars(?)
I have no idea what the title of it but I know it’s not pucks peculiar pet shop, although it is similar.
Perhaps this one? Mr Pepper’s perfect pet shop / Erica Jane Waters (2005). It’s Minnie’s birthday and she is very excited. But something terrible has happened. Mummy and Daddy have forgotten! They try everywhere before reaching the strangest petshop Minnie has ever seen. Mouse Mariners, a musical baby Dinosaur, a baby Zebracorn? Will Minnie find what she truly wants?
Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle is a great childrens book about a hedgehog written by Beatdix Potter who also wrote Pwter Rabbit.
Thank you. $130 bucks for a book sounds like a lot. I was able to get Charles. Just got it today– like seeing an old childhood friend.
$130 is a lot for someone who just wants to connect with an old friend. Probably not a lot for someone who wants a scarce book in nice condition with a jacket for a collection. The value of this copy will never go down, and it reflects the fact that Skorpen’s books, which were not as recognized as they should have been, will be considered classics. The prices I really object to are the $100+ beat up ex-libraries whose prices will fall immediately once the book is reprinted, these just exploit buyer nostalgia, or unreal prices from dealers like Irish Booksellers whose books will fall at the top of the list and thus appeal to buyers (not you!) who assume the most expensive copy is the best. Anyway, that is why I don’t want this forum to include the buying and selling of children’s books, just the identification.
Hello Ellen, This is a forum for IDing books, rather than buying and selling them. There is one on abebooks for $130 although I know nothing about the dealer. Skorpen’s books are wonderful! Good luck.
Maybe take a look at the Freddy the Pig series by Walter Brooks?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddy_the_Pig
There’s Rabbit Hill, but that’s not a picture book.
You might look at the Robert Lawson pictures though. There are a lot of them for a chapter book. I was thinking of that one too.
I’m looking for this short comic book series. The illustration is exactly like Quentin Blake’s. I’ve rummaged all his works but the ones I’m looking for weren’t there. The book was really thin and the illustration was in color. All I can remember is kids taking Santa’s clothes after he gets back from his work and takes a shower. The other book is about a family that the parents fight a lot and the girl is worried that her parents might get divorced, so she talks about it with her little brother. I did find the matching illustration to this plot, but it was only one picture and there was no explanation about the comic book. There’s bunch of more stories, but I can’t remember. I read it when I was 9 around 2005-6.
I happen to have had quite a few because we had a hedgehog collector for a while. Send me an email shprice@oldchildrensbooks.com and I’ll send you a list of about 40, most sold..
Thank you! Found a set on eBay and ordered it!!
Great! I had that set as a child too: loved the first two volumes, pretty much ignored the third (sorry).
I need help. I remember this children’s book I had. It was a picture book. It had a mom and dad and I think 3/4 kids. The pictures were in each room of the house and each person was doing a different activity. For example – the whole family was in the washroom but dad was brushing mom was curling her hair and the baby was on the potty. This book was from the 90s.
Maybe Peek-a-Boo by Janet and Allan Ahlberg? just a guess
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1027175.Peek_a_Boo?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=KvfbAytTgm&rank=1
I’m looking for children’s story books about Hedgehogs written before 1970.
I am looking for an older picture book about a farmer that has a problem with the animals eating his crop. He decides to create a separate garden for the animals so that everyone is happy. Please help. The book may be from the 1950s but not sure.
Hello, my daughter and I are looking for a book she had when she was little. There is a little snail on every page. She thinks it was maybe in the woods and was in grey scale. Can anyone help?
The book wasn’t about the snail, but there was a small illustration of a snail on each page?
Check out this list. One author’s books supposedly has a snail on each page.
https://seattle.bibliocommons.com/list/share/72512552/590012710
I’m looking for a book from no later than the late 80s. It was about a pig who used to dress up with hats and scarves and walk around the farm (?). It was a picture book but it was very text-heavy. I remember the illustration style being a little darker and more rigid. The version we had was hardcover and it had a blue border around it. On the front of the cover was the pig wearing a scarf and a wig.
I’m looking for a kids book that came out between 2008 and 2011, it was about a detective on an island trying to solve a murder with an orphan, he drank peppermint tea and it had to be a certain shade of green. i’m fairly certain a body was found in a fish freezer or someone was trapped in an fish freezer, there was a map at the start of the book. Written in a similar style to a Series of Unfortunate Events. Does anyone have any idea what it could be called? Thanks a million!
I think this might be the Wilma Tenderfoot series by Emma Kennedy. Wilma is an orphan who aspires to be a detective and her hero is Theodore P Goodman who has a weakness for corn crumble biscuits and peppermint tea.
I read a book back in 1996 about the adventures of a family of cat siblings. In one of the stories, another cat (not related to the cat siblings) helped them during a fire, or newborn kitten was stuck in a tree. There’s also another story where the siblings were holding newborn kittens.
Does the this book sound familiar to anyone?
I am looking for a 3 book set of nursery rhymes, fairy tales and classic children’s stories that my family had when I was a kid. I remember seeing it from around the late 50’s to early 60’s. If memory serves, the 1st book had an (embossed?) illustrated orange cover, the 2nd one was green and thew 3rd was brown. 1st book was the rhymes, 2nd was the fairy tales and the 3rd was classic vintage children’s stories. Does anyone else remember such a set of books? This is driving me insane!
Without a doubt: The Family Treasury of Children’s Stories.
I read this book in about 5th grade. It was about a boy who became mute after everyone believed he dropped his half sister(?) who was a baby. The description on the back cover of the book was the phone call to the ambulance for help, but the boy had already gone mute by then. The truth was I think the baby sitter had been smoking and affected the baby’s health. The entire book is about the boy’s best friend, trying to find out what really happened as the boy was placed in some sort of detention centre. The two friends would communicate using cards since the boy could not speak. Some things I remember was they commonly used the phrase “Blue Peter” to indicate if they were ready to do something, and “SIAS” meaning they’d do a summary in a sentence about something. In the end, I think the truth is revealed and the boy is ready to talk about what really happened, finally holding his half sister in the end as he cries.
Silent to the Bone by E.L. Konigsburg
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/225741.Silent_to_the_Bone
“Connor’s precocious friend Branwell suddenly stopped talking the day Bran’s baby sister was injured and the babysitter blamed it on him. While little Nikki is in the hospital in a coma, Bran is sent to a juvenile detention center, and Connor visits him every day to try to develop ways to communicate so that they can get to the bottom of the mystery of what really happened that day.”
Hi when i was in third grade, maybe second, my teacher read aloud a book to us and it really traumatized me (prob why i just suddenly remembered it 20 years later). Anyway, I remember there being a child (i think a little girl) and this strange animal that I remember as a cat. But the cat was maybe fake and turned real and then ran away (maybe the other way around). I feel like turned to stone or something but i remember the end being sad. This book was a chapter book but it was really old, or at least i thought so when reading it as a kid in the early 2000’s.
Hi sorry my spelling is the worst ,…I’m looking for a book I had when I was a kid,all I can remember is that it was small only a few pages,all the pages were hard, the character and scenery looked like they were made of playdoh almost, I think the character would only walk from left to right,,I dont remember what the story was about but I do remember it would turn day to night and the moon would be out ,…I thought anyone would know of this book but doesn’t hert to try ,this book is between 1995 and early 2000s
The book I’m looking for was part of a series, I think. It’s about a bunch of girls (I think there were four of them, around the ages of 13-14) who run a business together where they do odd jobs around the community. The girl who is the focus of the book is kind of a black sheep. She goes to work for a grouchy old man and gets in trouble when a special mug of his goes missing. He accuses her of breaking it and throwing out the pieces. She swears she didn’t do anything to it. The other girls in the club say they will have to throw her out of the business unless the mug is found. It later turns out she didn’t do it and he just misplaced it. Also the girl’s grandfather has recently died and left her his wood carving tools, but her uncle (or possibly aunt) has absconded with them himself, believing that he deserves them more. The girl’s grandmother steps in on her behalf and trades something more valuable with the uncle for the tools. It might have been independently published. I can’t remember the title, the name of the series, or any of the characters’ names. Probably would’ve been published in the late ’80s to early 2000s.
I’m looking for a children’s book I used to check out from the library. It was something to do with witches and black cats. It wasn’t anything like books now always. I believe the colors on it was green, black, and white colors. Thinking the book was from 1990s or 80s. Id check out the book probably between 1999-early 2000s. I wish I remember what it was about but I can’t picture what it looks like.
Hi. I’m looking for a children’s book from the 1960s. It was a story with pictures by Renoir–the famous artist. I think the cover may have been The Girl With the Watering Can. It was more I think rectangular in shape. I remembering reading it in the 1970s at home. I don’t think its the same as The Magic of Childhood published in 2013 maybe it was re- printed then? Any help would be welcome and appreciated.
Thank you
Was the Title: Girl with a watering can? The little girl decides to leave her watering can and go and see some of the other paintings in the museum?