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Need more help than what the stumper magicians offer here?  You might want to consider joining the newsgroup rec.arts.books.childrens.  This newsgroup discusses many children's books, and its readers may be able to help solve your stumpers too.  There's also a bulletin board on MSN called ExLibris, the Lost Boards (which contains the archives from when Alribis used to have a stumper page).  Yesterdayland.com. has a lot of television memories, but some book ones too.  And it seems that abebooks.com has joined the game too, with Book Slueth.





A11: Adoption
Solved: Understanding Kim

A15: Andersen, Hans Christian. Edition?
Solved: A Gift Book of Fairy Tales 

A16: Anthology with gray cover
Solved: Good Housekeeping Best Book of Bedtime Stories 

A17: Alice and Jerry?
Solved:  Friendly Village 
A22: Anthology, moralistic

Solved: The Children's Gift Book 
A24: All about...

Solved: A Calendar of Happy Thoughts

A26: Arnold rabbit
Solved: Thin Arnold

A29: Anthology of fairy tales
Solved: Fairy Tales (Hadaway)

A31: A is for Apples
Solved: Birds in my Drawer

A33: Aliens on the moon
Solved: Space Captives of the Golden Men


A35: Anthology, gender-bending
Solved: Lots of Stories 

A36: Anthology, 365 bedtime stories
Solved: The Golden Book of 365 Bedtime Stories

A37: Anthology, British
Solved: A Gallery of Children 

A38: Australian girl institutionalized
Solved: Annie's Coming Out

A39: Anthology, fairy tales
Solved:  Grimm's Fairy Tales 

A40: Anthology, another
Solved: Better Homes and Gardens Story Book 

A41: Alcott story about Goddaughter
Solved: Eight Cousins

A42: Anthology, yes another
Solved: Anderson's Fairy Tales 

A43: Atlantic City vacation
Solved:  Sophie and Gussie 

A46: Amish Sleepover
Solved: Katy, Be Good 

A47: Apple Annie and the Poisoned Dog
Solved:  Butter and Egg Lady 

A48: Anthology, witch stories
Looking for a big, hardcover book about a compilation of Witch Stories for Children when I was a kid growing up in the 80's. story:  a girl who was a witch trying to get into a school for witches  she made such a good impression on the administrators because she showed a resenblance to one of the most powerful witches.

A48 may be (though '87 seems a bit late for 'in the 80s') Witch Stories, compiled by Jane Launchbury ; New York: Derrydale Books, 1987. First Printing, Hard Cover.  Stories include Edward and Anna by Jane Launchbury; The Magic Island by Elizabeth Waugh; Witch Wurzel by Elizabth Waugh; The Witches Who Came to Stay by Philip Steele; Grumblog by Jane Garrett and Rachel and The Magic Stone by Deborah Tyler.
compiled by Helen Hoke, Witches, Witches, Witches, 1958.  This anthology may be too early to be the book you are seeking.  The cover shows witches around a flaming cauldron with skulls.  Some of the authors are Peggy
Bacon, Rachel Field, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Elizabeth Coatsworth, and Margaret Embry.
A48 anthology witch stories: perhaps Witches Brew: Eleven Eerie Stories about Magic, Witchcraft and the Supernatural, edited by Alfred Hitchcock, published NY Random 1977. If it helps, the Launchbury anthology includes the following: Edward and Anna by Jane Launchbury; The Magic Island by Elizabeth Waugh; Witch Wurzel by Elizabth Waugh; The Witches Who Came to Stay by Philip Steele; Grumblog by Jane Garrett and Rachel and the Magic Stone by Deborah Tyler.
Manning-Sanders, Ruth, A Book of Witches, 1965.  Possibly Ruth Manning-Sanders?  She did many anthologies about other-worldly creatures, dragons, dwarves, wizards, mermaids, etc.  Here's a list of the stories in the anthology:  Contents: The Old Witch -- Rapunzel -- Lazy Hans -- The Twins and the Snarling Witch -- Esben and the Witch -- Prunella -- The Donkey Lettuce -- Hansel and Gretel -- Tatterhood -- The White Dove -- Johnny and the Witch-Maidens -- The Blackstairs Mountain.
Are you thinking of a book with illustrations?  I remember a picture in a book from the early 80's with a pretty young witch holding a mirror up to deflect a spell and nasty older witch was casting.  The witch had a sweet name - Minnie, Milly?  I forget.  I had not thought about this book unitl I read your request.  The book was somewhat thin, but large (14 by 10?) and had a blue cover.  when she first went to the school there was a portrait on a wall and the admin staff got all "Oh, my!  She's the One!" on her guardians.  Is that the book?  I'll look around my parents' house for you if it is...
Various - Illustrated by Max Ranft, The Witch Book, 1976, copyright.  This compliation includes the stories: Beware of the witch of the Vasty Deep, by Betty Lacey; The entrance exam, by Mary Carey; The witch named Naob, by Helen Kronberg Olsen; Minnie's long day, by Herschel Cozine; and others.
Eleanor Estes, The Witch Family. Do Amy and Clarissa sound familiar? The story goes that one of their mothers told them stories that always began ''One day, old witch'' and the girls would draw pictures that would come true. Old witch lived on a glass hill
Jacynth Hope-Simpson, A Cavalcade of Witches, 1967? I read this one in the 70s-80s. I don't remember this particular story but there were many in there and I only read a few. I can't remember any of the exact stories, unfortunately.



A49: Anthology set of books
Solved: Child's World 

A52: Anthology with magic teapot and hedgehog
Solved: My Bedtime Book of Two Minute Stories 

A53: Anthology; collection of myths and legends
Another book from childhood that was read and re-read.  Collection of Myths and Legends (Tales and Fairy Stories) that had belonged to my Mother.  Book was hard covered and dark brown from memory.  Stores were international and old.  Stories I remember were about St George, Thor, Girl Who lost Her hair in a River, A Glass Mountain and there were many others.  My Mother suggested two titles which I have subsequently found, neither are correct, however there could have been more than one book in the collection - Old Time Tales and Tales from Ebony both have wonderful stories, neither are the right one.  I assume the book was printed in England. Could anyone suggest the title or enlighten re titles above and if there are more books in the collection. Thankyou (at least for reading and considering) and Big Big THANKS if you can pinpoint the book.

Concerning unsolved mystery A53, I ran across a children's story called The Snooks Family in a listserv to
which I subscribe. The person submitting the story says:  "I can't take credit for this one-- in fact, I don't have an author for it, so if anyone knows who to credit, please shout! My photocopy says From Tales of Ebony by Harcourt Williams (Putnam, London)" I also read a version of this on the Storytelling list, so it may be one of those often re-told stories with many variations. I've taken the liberty of making some little changes of my own."
Using google's advanced search I found: Harcourt WILLIAMS (M: 1880 - 1957) Ginger And Pickles [1930] Tales From Ebony [1934] Harcourt Williams was an actor. He was born in 1880 and died in 1957. I found 1 film with Actor containing "Harcourt Williams:" Brighton Rock Directed by John Boulting, GB, 1947. 1 hr 26 min. Thriller/Chiller. Four fairy plays E Harcourt Williams and  The reluctant dragon E Harcourt Williams.  There are many films in which Harcourt Williams played minor roles . . .
A53 anthology myths & legends: well, here's one with Thor, anyway - Old-time Stories, Fairy Tales and Myths Retold by Children by E. Louise Smythe, published by American Book Company, New York, 1896, first  edition, illustrated in b/w and color, 136 pages. Preface reads in part 'This book originated in a series of little reading lessons prepared for the first grade pupils in the Santa Rosa (California) public schools... The spirit of the book may be illustrated by referring to the roast turkey in the story of The Little Match Girl. The story was told as dear old Hans Christian Anderson gave it to the little German children fifty years ago...' and so on. Stories include The Ugly Duckling, The Little Pine Tree, The Little Match Girl, Little Red Riding-Hood, The Apples of Idun,  How Thor Got the Hammer, The Hammer Lost and Found, The Story of the Sheep, The Good Ship Argo, Jason and the Harpies, The Brass Bulls, Jason and the Dragon.
William Patten, Junior Classics: Fairy and Wonder Tales, 1918, copyright.  Maybe you are looking for the Junior Classic, they are a set of 10 books, each with a different subject matter, the first one is Fairy and Wonder Tales. The other books are Folk Tales and Myths, Heroes and Heroines, Old Fashioned Tales, Stories of Courage and Heroism, Stories that Never Grow Old, and Tales of Greece and Rome. First Published in 1918, and compiled by William Patten, there are many later editions as well. Hope this helps!



A55: Animal stories
Solved:  Rand McNally book Favorite Animal Stories 

A56: Ant and flood
Solved: Henry's Awful Mistake

A57: Anthology, poetry
I'm sorry I don't have the name or author of this book.  What I remember is it is a story-poetry book. One of the featured poems is WYKNEN, BLYKEN, AND NOD.  I remember that the illustrations were softly done.  They were not hard colors, but whispy pastels.  The book was hardback with a cloth tecture.  I believe it was blue in color.  If you can find this book for me you are miracle makers.  I am 63 years old.  My mother read to me from this book when I was very young.  That is why I am thinking it might have been published the year I was born.

Wynken, Blynken and Nod is by Eugene Field. Maybe Lullaby Land a collection of his poems selected by Kenneth Grahame, illustrated by Charles Robinson, published by Scribner 1894, containing Wynken, Blynken and Nod, The shut-eye train, etc. There's also his Poems of Childhood illustrated by Maxfield Parrish, published Scribner 1930s in the Illustrated Classics series, which contains Wynken, Blynken and Nod and
The sugar-plum tree. Neither Robinson or Parrish really did wispy pastels, though.
In the 50s I had a book called something like the Tall Book of Make Believe.  It was tall and narrow, and full of wonderful  stories and poems, one of which was definitely Wynken, Blynken and Nod.  It was illustrated by Garth Williams, and had many wonderful coloured illustrations.  The stories included one about Georgie, a little ghost, and there were also lots of poems including the battle between the gingham dog and the calico cat. Does this ring any bells with the inquirer?
Olive Beaupre Miller (ed.), My Bookhouse.Wynken, Blynken, and Nod appears in one of the earlier volumes of the BOOKHOUSE series.  (12 vols in all, + supplements.)  There are various printings, but the edition I grew up on is, indeed, bound in blue, and "wispy pastels" is a fine description of the illustrative style. It dates from the 30's or 40's.  This is a WONDERFUL set.  EVERYONE should have one.
Is it possible that this is the Bumper Book, edited by Watty Piper and illustrated by Eulalie?? Wynken... is the first item in the book. It is presented over four pages with very large elaborate pictures! I'd say the gorgeous illustrations would have tremendous appeal to a child and would certainly be vividly recalled long afterward. While the cover color does not match your recollections, I thought it might be worth a look! Good Luck.
Just a possibility -- A wonderful poetry book I just came upon with your poem in lovely soft colors, blue and yellow! You might want to check out FOR A CHILD Great Poems Old and New-collected by Wilma McFarland, illustrated by Ninon.Westminster, 1947.Good Luck!
Watty Piper, The Bumper Book, 1950, approximate.  Someone has already suggested The Bumper Book which is my guess if it's an anthology.  I am 59 and loved the book.  It also contained (among others) Christopher Robin, The Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat, the days of the week and months with clever pictures, etc.
Arthur Mee's Children's Encyclopedia, 1938.I remember reading Winken Blynken and Nod from a blue textured hardback. It was a collection of children's writings that came with the Arthur Mee's encyclopedia that was sold door to door for many years both in the USA and the British Empire.
edited by Jane Werner, The Big Golden Book of Poetry, 1947, 1949. I was checking out where you may find this book and looked on this site (loganberrybooks) and discovered a list of anthologies. Well, here's the link I found with the children's poetry, including yours of "Wynken Blynken and Nod." This might be what you are looking for.

Loganberry Books Anthology Finder: http://www.loganberrybooks.com/most-anthologies.html



A58: Art, early exposure to
Solved: The Boy Who Could Enter Paintings

A59: Anthology, nursery rhymes
Solved: Dean's Mother Goose Book of Rhymes 

A60: Anthology, fairy tales
Solved: Once Long Ago: Folk and Fairy Tales of the World


A62: Anthology, Tomie de Paola illustrations
Solved: 365 Bedtime Stories 

A63: Anthology, fairy tales
Solved: Once Long Ago: Folk and Fairy Tales of the World


A64: Anthology, HC Anderson.  Looking for translator.
Solved: Stories for the Household


A65: Anthology, goblins and leprechauns
Solved: Lots of Stories

A67: Animals and their dried-up pond
Solved: Little Pond in the Woods

A68: Anthology, Wynken, Blynken and Nod
Solved: Children's Stories selected by the Child Study Association
A70: Albino leopard cub saved by monk

Solved: two books!  White Panther and Black Lightning

A71: Appalachian historical re-enactment
Solved:  Simple Gifts

A73: Aris, Earnest--illustrator
Solved:  Tale of Tiggy Pig 

A74: Astral Projection
Science fiction.  Some children have to battle an enemy and the only way they can reach him is to learn to astral project.  They become a triangle form and travel on the astral plan but learn they must take care for if someone cuts their tail on this plane they will never return to their bodies. This was the first book I ever read that dealt with this subject matter.

A74 astral projection: this sounds something like Diane Duane's Young Wizards series, though I can't place the incident, and would say it isn't one of the first three books. The characters are Nita Callahan, her sister Dairine, and Kit Rodriguez.
I just finished re-reading the Young Wizards series and this doesn't appear to match any incident described within them.  It does sound vaguely reminiscent of the part in A Wrinkle in Time where Mrs. Who, Mrs. Whatsit and Mrs. Which take the children to a two-dimensional planet where they cannot breathe.
Wibberley, Leonard, Journey to Untor, NY Farrar 1970.  Just guessing here - the synopsis says "Further adventures of four children who can travel to other worlds - this time to a distant planet where enemies are fought with imagination and will power."
Barthe Declements, Double Trouble, 1987.  About twins who use astral projectiom.
Christopher Fahy, Nightflyers or Night flyers or Nightfliers. (1978 ish)  Hi - I think it might be this book. About teenage kids in high school, bullying and central character learns to astral project. A brilliant book that stayed with me for years.
Joy Cowley, Ticket to the Sky Dance, 1998. "Shog and his twin sister, Jancie, are orphans who live on the streets. They know every free food place in the city and how to make the best of looking helpless and cute. Their favourite possessions are hologram players and zeus boots - they are freedom children of the twenty-first century, using their good looks and cunning to survive. Risk-taking and danger start to unnerve Shog and Jancie and make tem jittery. When Class Act, a famous, international modelling agency, welcomes them to its private world of extravagance and luxury, they can't believe their luck. But as the newness of luxury wears off, it is replaced by terrible fears: why were they chosen and what is really happening on the upper floors if the famous, horseshoe-shaped building?"



A75: Anthology with Mother Goose
Solved:  Young Years

A76: Anthology of fairy tales
Solved: A Treasury of the World's Greatest Fairy Tales


A77: Aunt Cozy-Worth?
Solved:  The Wonderful World of Aunt Tuddy

A78: Adventure Australia Amazon Kidnapping
This is a book of three or four stories, likely they were published in a boys magazine first and were turned into a book. It involved 2 guys, real brawny, ex military, hero types who in the first story set off to rescue a little boy who's been kidnapped in the Matto Grasso area of the Amazon. In the next one I think only one of the guys goes to the Outback of Australia and essentially joins an Aboriginal tribe. The last story may have involved diving but I can't remember. It was shorter than the other two which were about novella length.

A79: Alphabet puppets
 I had a book when I was a boy that was the illustrated alphabet.  It was uncommon, though, in that the illustrations were photographs of elaborate puppets. They looked something like Victorian Christmas tree ornaments.  You know, the kind that look like potpourri pillows with gilded stitching.  I know that's vague, but if you've seen it, I think that will be enough.  Thanks in advance for any help in
finding this lost treasure.

A79 alphabet puppets: might be worth looking at The Ark in the Attic, an Alphabet Adventure, by Eileen Doolittle, photographs by Starr Ockenga, published Godine 1987. "An alphabet adventure for young people with one or two photographs for each letter of the alphabet. Each picture contains a myriad of unusual objects, all beginning with the same letter. Includes pictures of antique dolls and toys and many other childhood artifacts and
treasures with accompanying text." "In the charming text, a young girl, alone on a rainy afternoon, finds an old ark in the attic. Setting about to fill it, she plucks and chooses objects of delight from each letter of the alphabet. Bitten by the collector's bug, she embarks on an exciting adventure."



A80: Angle worms on toast
Solved: Angleworms on Toast

A81: Antique sellers
Solved: Property of a Lady


A82: Anthology, children's story collection
Solved: 365 Bedtime Stories

A83: Apartment fire, young girl's aunt
Solved: The Truth About Mary Rose

A84: Anthology, chapter, with missing pages
Solved: Lots of Stories

A85: All in the stars
Solved: The Wondrous Works of God


A86: Anthology, multinational
Solved: Childcraft

A87: Animal's daily routine
This may have been in children's classic set World Book 1950-60.  I'm looking for a book I read as a kid circa 1950-60.  The book may have been written before that.  I'm pretty sure the author was male.  The characters of the story were all animals of the woods or forest.  My memory is very vague but I think the main character was a wolf or bear, perhaps a wild dog.  I seem to remember talking squirrels and rabbits.  Basically an everyday animal adventure book with a main character traveling thru daily routine talking to all his neighbors in the forest and their everyday life experiences.  Kind of a Rikki Tikki Tavi style.  It's been driving me nuts trying to remember the title or author.

This poster may be thinking of the animal books by Thornton W. Burgess. There are lots of titles, including The Adventures of Chatterer the Red Squirrel, The Adventures of Jimmy Skunk, The Adventures of Peter Cottontail, Old Mother West Wind, and many more. All of them seem to be in print.
The poster might check the Thornton Burgess books.  Peter Rabbit and his many friends are followed in their daily lives and have many adventures while the reader learns about nature. They were published in the early 1900's and were in most school libraties in the 50's.
A87 animal's daily routine: another writer in the dressed animals genre is Arthur Scott Bailey, whose Sleepy-Time Tales were published by Grosset & Dunlap in the 'teens and '20s. Titles like The Tale of Tom Fox, of Ferdinand Frog, of Frisky Squirrel, of Fatty Coon, of Benny Badger.



A88: Anthology of Fairy Tales/Bedtime Stories
Solved: The Book of Goodnight Stories 

A89: Airplanes personified
My latest query relates to a different book.  My memory recalls  a book about the goings on at a busy airport with  the characters being different types of aircraft all of which are 'personified'.  I am sure you can imagine the story line with the big cargo plane always  being jealous/angry with the fast jets which are always showing off,  and light aircraft wishing for the day when they will grow up into big commercial airliners  etc. etc. etc.  Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Could this possibly be a Budgie book by Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of Wales??
Disney, Pedro. This could have been a book about "Pedro," the little airplane that takes over his father's mail route.  Originally a cartoon short in "Saludos Amigos" by Disney, 1943.  I remember seeing the story in one of my Disney storybooks.
This looks like a book about Jay Jay the Jet Plane.  There are several - they are based on a cartoon series of the same name.
It sounds like the plot of an MGM cartoon I saw, where an older propelled cargo plane is always being razzed by the younger, faster jets. What's worse is that his son is also a baby jet! In order to raise money for his family, Dad Prop-plane enters some sort of contest against the jets. He tries, nearly crashes, until Junior saves the day and his dad. Hope this helps.
Fly-away at the Air Show.We had a colorful book in the mid 60-1970 or so that seems to fit the description of this searcher.



A90: Anthology --- Young Adult Short Stories
Solved: Visions 
A91: Autistic child's brother

Solved: Inside Out
A92: Anne of Brittany

Solved: Twice Queen of France 
A93: Annie's Story

Solved: Annie's Coming Out
A94: Apple for jonny?

Solved: Maria, Everybody Has a Name 

A95: Aunt dymphna
Solved: The Growing Summer
A96: Abused mother escapes-creates identity

Solved: Necessity


A97:  Attic Treasures
Solved: Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Magic 

A98:  Anthology for 6th grade
Solved: Aesop's Fables

A99: Anthology Rhyme Collection
Solved: Better Homes and Gardens Story Book 

A100:  Actor's Daughter
Solved: Stars in her Eyes
A101: Amanda with a mirror triangle in forehead

Solved: The Headless Cupid
A102: Anthology burned in fire

Hello...I need your help in searching for two children's books I had when I was a kid.  I was too young to know the title and author.  They were destroyed in a house fire when I was five.  Anyway, they were two books from the same series.  Each book contained five or six stories. These are the stories I remember: --One was about a woman who lived in the forest and made blackberry jam.  She wouldn't share it with any of the forest  animals... eventually she ate so much jam, she became sick of it and shared it with the animals. --another story was about a little girl's teddy bear that would sneak out at night to join other bears in a teddy bear picnic.  Throughout the story, readers were to chant something like, "If you go out in the woods at night, you're in for a big surprise."  Or something like that. --story was about a tree that would bear gifts wrapped in beautiful packages & paper --another story was about a man who was about six inches tall and he found an old woman who made him clothes I know this isn't a lot to go on.  The covers of the book were gold and one was purple.  One book had the picture of the tree on the front.  If you could find out any information, I would really, really appreciate it.

A102 anthology burned: the first story sounds like Mother Raspberry, by Maurice Careme, pictures by Marie Wabbes, published Crowell 1969. "Very cute story about an old lady who lived in the woods, made raspberry jam in the summer & finally resolved her problem with a pesky old wolf who stole her jam."
A102 anthology burned: the other story described sounds like the song Teddy Bear's Picnic, the chorus is almost exactly the same. Not that it helps.
A102 Teddy Bears' Picnic was first published 1947 as a song by Jimmy Kennedy. Many MANY artists have performed it on children's collections since, and many Many MANY book versions have subsequently been published, including anthologies. Mine as a child included a 45rpm record! In it, humans were putting on teddy bear disguises so they could sneak into the teddy bears' picnic unnoticed. Hope you find yours soon!



A103: Airplane fall into magic forest
Solved: Fairly Scary Adventure Book
A104: Astral travelling girl

Solved: Stranger With My Face
A105: Alphabet Hamburgers

Solved:  Me and Fat Glenda 
2002


A106: Antique Doll
Solved: The Wonderful Fashion Doll

A107: Adventures of a jumping man with bells on his ankles
Solved: Mr. Widdle and the Sea Breeze
A108: Animal stories

Solved: Bedtime Stories

A109: Adam
Solved: The Man Who Was Magic 

A110: Australian Boy Scouts
The second book is about Australian Boy Scouts who went into the outback.  My son and I think one of them was named Jerry.  Along the way they found a man who was lost and dying of thirst, his tongue all swollen and black.  It told how they brought him back into the land of the living again.  This was probably written somewhere around 1910-1920; it was my father's book.

Robert Baden-Powell, Scouting For Boys: The Original 1908 Edition
, reprint.


A111:  Animals with human type expressions and activities
Solved: Caroline and Her Friends
A112: Animal Homes

Solved:  Need a House?  Call Ms. Mouse

A113: Arctic animals uncover buried wagon
Solved: What Spot?

A114: apartment house
Solved: The Apartment Book: A Day in Five Stories


A115: apples
Solved: What Will We See? 
A116: anthology

My mother had read a book that was an anthology when she was little about Henny Penny and The Pancake Man.  Pancake Man was the first story in the book.  She also mentioned there was a story about a fox? She cannot remember all of the stories, but these two almost three stick out the most in her mind. She was born in 1939, so I am sure the book had to be published around then if not sooner. It was a fairly good size book with many stories.

Jessie Willcox Smith, A Child's Book of Stories.  This collection contains a story called "Pancake", "Henny-Penny", as well as a couple of "Fox" stories.  It was originally published in 1911 and there have been numerous reprints, including one in 1934.  Unfortunately I don't know if "Pancake" was the first story in the collection, but I bet someone else out there can look it up and let us know for sure. [Here's a lengthy contents list, if it will help: Aladdin and the wonderful lamp -- Ali Baba  or, The forty thieves -- The babes in the wood -- Beauty and the Beast -- Blue Beard -- The boy who cried "Wolf!" -- The brave little tailor -- The brave tin soldier -- The cat and the mouse -- Cinderella  or, The little glass slipper -- The crow and the pitcher -- Diamonds and toads -- Dick Whittington and his cat -- The dog and his image -- The elves and the shoemaker -- The enchanted hind -- The field mouse and the town mouse -- The fir tree -- The fool-hardy frogs and the stork -- The fox and the grapes -- The fox and the little red hen -- The fox as herdsman -- The fox and the rabbit -- The gingerbread man -- The golden goose -- Goldilocks  or, The three bears -- The goose-girl -- Hansel and Gretel -- Hans in luck --Henny-Penny -- Hercules and the wagoner -- The history of the five little pigs -- The history of Little Golden Hood -- How Jack went to seek his fortune -- I don't care -- Jack and the bean-stalk -- Jack the giant killer -- The lambikin -- Lazy Jack -- The lion and the mouse -- The lion in his den -- The little red hen and the grain of wheat -- Little Thumb -- Little Totty -- The magic swan -- The magpie's nest -- Mr. Miacca -- The nose -- The old woman and her pig -- One, two, three -- The pancake -- The princess on the glass hill -- Puss in boots  or, The master cat -- The ragamuffins -- Red Riding Hood -- Rumpelstiltzkin  or, The miller's daughter -- The selfish sparrow and the houseless crows -- The six comrades -- The sleeping beauty in the wood -- Snowdrop -- Snow-White and Rose-Red -- So-so -- The story of pretty Goldilocks -- The story of Mr. Vinegar -- The story of the house that Jack built -- The story of the three little pigs -- The straw, the coal, and the bean -- The sun and the wind -- Teeny-Tiny -- Three billy goats gruff -- The three spinners -- Tired of being a little girl -- Tit for tat -- Tittymouse and Tattymouse -- Tom Thumb -- Tom Tit Tot -- The tortoise and the hare -- The ugly duckling -- The unseen giant -- The water lily  or, The gold-spinners -- The white cat -- Why? -- Why the bear is stumpy-tailed -- Why the sea is salt -- The wolf and the seven young goslings -- The yellow dwarf.]
Childcraft Series - Volume on Tales and Legends. 1970s?  I think this anthology is the one I had from the Childcraft series (I don't know which printing - but I had mine in the earely 70s).  The runaway pancake was the first stroy, and the cover was had a picture of the fox and the stork, which may account for the memory of the fox stroy.
AII6 I think it may be this, which I reproduce from an ad beause it lists a lot of the stories. I can't find my copy to check myself.   Hutchinson, Veronica S.   Chimney corner stories; tales for little children.  Collection of children's stories from: Henny Penny, The old Woman & her Pig, The Pancake, Peter Rabbit, The Three Pigs, Little Black Sambo, Bremen Town Musicians, Cinderella, Lazy Jack, and others. Balch & Company New York, NY 1929



A117: Animal Family
I am pretty sure this book was published by Parents Magazine Press. I belonged to this book club during the 70s for my daughters and this was a book I ordered for them. The story involved a mother, son and daughter beaver, hedgehog, muskrat type animal.  They lived in a little house at the edge of a creek and they had a boat to cross the creek. It was a cute children's story about the brother and sister's life along the creek.  It seems that the title had "Hollow" in it.

Hoban, Russell, Harvey's Hideout. Could you be thinking of Harvey's Hideout?  It's about a brother and sister muskrat who squabble all the time.  The brother has a secret cave and at the end of the book he finds out his sister has a secret cave next door to his.
Hoban, Russell & Lillian, Harvey's Hideout, 1969.  I'm not sure about it, but this one keeps coming up in my WorldCat searches - seems there aren't too many books with muskrats as main characters! "Harvey thinks his big sister is mean and rotten she thinks he is stupid and no-good. As a result, they both spend some lonely hours refusing to play with each other."  A reader's review on amazon.com mentions "all the things Harvey and his sister were doing, like forming my own club, cooking bacon and eggs over an open fire, and swimming in a lake."
I had this book.  I remember the brother and sister eating cheese, which looked funny.  I keep thinking his name is Eddie.  Maybe these clues will help someone come up with the title.
Glad she remembered "Hollow."   Tales from Fern Hollow series by John Patience, published by Peter Haddock.  Titles include:  Mrs. Merryweather's letter;  Parson Dimly's treasure hunt; Sigmund's birthday surprise;  The brassband robbery;  The floating restaurant; The Secret Hide-Out and Enemies of the Secret Hide-Out.
Emmit Otter'sJugband Christmas '70s, approximate. Part of the Parents Magazine Press Series. I had this one--they rode on the river in a little boat and the book ended with a talent contest/Christmas concert. 


A118: Aliens Animals Cousins and Stars
Solved: Ride a Wild Horse


2003


A119: African-American old man learns to read
Solved:  Life is So Good 
A120: Argus for Ruben

Good Morning,  I heard the NPR radio report of your service and thought I would give it a try.  I have an illustration, done in tempra, for a publication.  On the edge of the illustration in pencil is "Argus for Ruben." The painter signed simply as "GM."  (It is not Gil Miret as I contacted him and he said it was not one of his.)  The illustration is a head and shoulders view of a red haired boy, about 12-years-old.  He is peering over a weed covered knoll about to take a photograph.  He is holding an Argus C-Twenty camera. Argus Cameras, Inc. hit their peak following World War II to the mid 1960's and was as familiar as Kodak.  The C-Twenty was an inexpensive 35mm camera introduced by the Argus Camera Company in 1958.  It incorporated a rangefinder and f/stop and shutter speed controls.  It was made of bakelite and metal.  The rendition of the camera is very detailed and accurate but not accurate enough to be used for an ad. To me, it looks like an illustration for a young person's book or perhaps a magazine. So...what do you think?

A121: Anatomy and science for kids
Here's what I know, I was about 10 when I had this book, that was 25 years ago.  My mother worked at scholastic books so there's a good possibility it was published by them but not necessarily so. It was a hard bound, orange colored book, oversize wide.  Illustrated.  The subject of this childrens book was anatomy and other science short stories which explain how certain parts of the body work. For example, I remember one story clearly was about a western shootout where the man who was shot in the belly had a visible hole right through him into his stomach and the doctor attending him would tie a string on bits of food and lower it into his stomach, thus discovering the action of digestive juices. Another story  which I know was in that book involves a journey into the eye where some interaction with the Rods and the Cones happened. Similar to 'incredible journey'.  The book was fairly thick and had a good number of these types of stories.  I have an 8 yr old son and I am VERY anxious to find this book. I hope you can figure it out!

Oversized and orange makes me think of the Childcraft series.  Volume 14: Science and Industry meets that description (10" tall x 14" wide), and certainly has many illustrations and photographs.  But I didn't see the story you cite.  There's a picture of the full series on the Anthologies page, check that out just in case.
Again, sorry I don't have the complete solution, but the story about the stomach is the same as the book "Dr. Beaumont and the Man with a Hole in His Stomach."  Is it possible it could have been included in a collection?
Anthony Ravielli, Wonders of the Human Body.  Just a possibility...this was published in both hardcover and paperback editions.
Thanks for giving it a shot however your suggestions for the book in A121 are not the book.  The book was oversized, probably 18-20" wide by 12" high.  I'm still keen to track it down.  I think the story about the rods and cones in the eye might be the key clue.

Montgomery, Elizabeth Rider, Story behind the Great Medical Discoveries, 1945, copyright. I had a book with this title as a boy, and it certainly included the story of the felloe with a flap in his stomach.  I got the author's name and publication date from AbeBooks, so another book with this title is also possible.
Joanna Cole, The Magic School Bus Inside the Human Body, 1989. This is just a suggestion. The Magic School Bus Series was published by Scholastic and their book about Exploring the Senses was the latest(1999)  The series started around 1986.



A122: aliens treat humans like animals
Solved: Tumithak of the Corridors


A123: Armenian girl
Solved: The Road from Home


A124: African girl growing up in village
Solved: Thirty-one Brothers and Sisters


A125: Army family full of teenagers -a series of books
Solved: Penny Parrish


A126:  Abstract painter dad
Solved: The Teddy Bear Habit


A127:  ANIMAL STORIES/POEMS/ALPHABET COMPILATION
Solved: Animal Stories

A128: Anthology, 1950's
Solved: My Book House


A129: Australia Tansy Sorrel sisters
Solved: A Family Likeness


A130: Air beacon towers
Young boy works with man who services and builds air beacon towers for early croos-county airplane service.

A131: American Indian Tales
Solved: American Indian Tales and Legends


A132: Anne with an e
Solved: Anne of Green Gables


A133: Apple Family books
Solved: Mr. Apple's Family


A134: artist, East Asian, Hokusai?
Solved:  Pictures for the Palace


A135: Amanda the snake
Solved: Amanda


A136: Adirondacks extended camping trip by sick woman with a guide
Solved:  The Healing Woods


A137: Annabelle
Solved: No Flying in the House


A138: adolescent girl in San Francisco
Solved: Fifteen


A139: amazon river exploration
this book was read to me by my 5th grade teacher. i dont know if it was a "childrens" book. i recall it as being about a family (possibly father and two children) that went to explore the amazon river. in my memory it was a very exciting book, at least to a 10 year old.

Willard Price, Amazon adventure, 1951.  "Amazon adventure" plot summary:  "One of a series of adventures featuring Hal and Roger Hunt. The boys are accompanying their zoologist father down the Amazon, to explore an uncharted river. They face the natural hazards of the jungle, hostile natives, an anonymous telegram, and a hunchback with bloodshot eyes."  Sound familiar?  It's probably this book, since it has almost entered "classic" status, but there are lots with this plot.  Others:  Morgan Swift and the lake of diamonds by Susan Saunders, published in 1986, about a teacher and twins Jan and Jill that go on a plant research trip to an Amazon tributary - and it turns into a dangerous encounter with thieves and suspicious Indians.  Another one published in 1986, Ambush in the Amazon, by Walter Dean Myers, is about two brothers (I don't know whether there are parents involved) camping in the Amazon who try to save a tribal village from the attacks of what
appears to be a reincarnated swamp monster.  The brothers' names were Chris and Ken.  Also, I could find no plot summaries, but there was a small series of 3 adventure books in the late 1940s/early 1950s about "Tom Stetson" that seem to be set in the Amazon region.



A140: Apple Family
Solved: Mr. Apple's Family


A141: African American cellists
The book was copyrighted in 1992.  It involves two African American cellists on a college campus in the 1971s.  An excerpt was on the SAT test given this past Saturday.

If all else fails, I bet you could contact Educational Testing Service (the group that creates the SATs) and give them the testing date/place.  They probably have to keep records of the copyrighted material that appears on the test and they would be able to tell you where it came from.  Some of their material is really out there--my SAT reprinted some portion of an article on cloud formation.
Rita Dove,Through the Ivory Gate, 1992.



A142: Apple orchard and space ship
Solved: The Space Ship Under the Apple Tree


A143: ABC of NYC
An ABC (alphabet) book from the 1940's or early 1950's (might be earlier) with scenes from New York City.  I remember that "D" was for the Dragon under the streets, in other words, the subway. This was illustrated by a picture of the subway train.  I think there was one picture of row houses in the snow and another of the moon through a window.

Phyllis McGinley, All Around the Town, 1948.  This is an alphabet book of things in the city. It's the only one I could come up with that the copyright dates fit.
A143 I just checked McGinley. It doesn't fit.
In All Around the Town D is for 'D's the Dairy Driver.  'He makes a daily round, With milk that tastes delicious, Or with Butter by the pound...'  Sorry, not the book you're looking for.
Rachel Isadora, City Seen from A to Z. I think this may be too recent but worth a check



A144: Abandoned Doll
Solved: Little Wooden Doll


A145: apple/ cherry tree orchard
Solved: Apple Tree Cottage
A146: Amaryllis

This is a story about two characters - the "student" and a young girl named Amaryllis.  I read it as a young girl - about 12 - in the Cleveland Heights library - it must have been in the young people's section, though I am not even sure they had such things then.  This was in the early 50's.  It's a love story, and I remember that the characters had to part, in the end.  I think it must have been an old story, maybe as old as the early part of the century, though I don't think the actual book was that old.  The story had a European feeling, maybe German.

Diana Patrick, First Your Penny, 1932.  Possibly this?  "This new romance introduces the reader to Diana Patrick's most attractive heroine, Amaryllis Sheridan, known to her friends as 'Ryll'. 'Ryll' is young, lovely, and carefree. The whole world, she believes, is hers to command. She had yet to learn the important lesson of life.. that 'the sweets of life must all be paid for'. First Your Penny is the story of her discovery of the important things in life -- and the meaning of true love".
Gene Stratton-Porter, The Magic Garden, 1927.  I'm not sure that this is the book being sought, but it is an extremely sentimental romantic novel with a lead character named Amaryllis!
Gene Stratton-Porter, The Magic Garden 1927, I agree, this sounds like "The Magic Garden," one of Gene's more sentimental efforts. A strong-willed five-year-old named Amaryllis is neglected by her parents, separated from her brother and shipped off to live with Uncle Paul. She's never allowed to have adventures or get dirty, ("Amaryllis, DON'T!" Sound familiar?) so she runs away and ends up wading in a creek that leads her to a beautiful garden. The boy, John Guido, is about twelve and plays her the "Amaryllis, fairest flower" tune on his violin. They promise to meet again, and they do, each knowing from that moment that the other is their one and only and determined to keep themselves pure. JG works toward becoming a world-famous violin soloist
 her career, if any, isn't mentioned. At the end, you're supposed to think JG is dead but he isn't because he stopped to rescue a homeless dog. (if this is the correct book, you'll possibly recognize the phrase "yellow cur"). There was a film version made in 1927 with Joyce Coad and Philippe deLacy.



A147: Ann Lane
This was one of my mother's childhood books.  She was born in 1919.  All I can remember is the first sentence: "Ann Lane lives in a lane" and that it is about a young girl who goes shopping in town.  Any help in identifying this book will be most appreciated.

A148: An Act of Love
Solved: Awakening (the False Start)


A149: Asian peacock paint
Solved: How the World Got Its Color


A150: Anne Archer
Solved: That Archer Girl


A151: And ye Shall Know Them
Solved: You Shall Know Them


A152: anthology of children's poems
I am missing pages 1-12 from this book.  But the poem on page 13 is If I Were a One-Legged Pirate by Mildred Plew Meigs.  Other poems in this book are The Spider and the Fly by Mary Howitt, The Sugar-Plum Tree by Eugene Field and The Tale of Custard the Dragon by Ogden Nash.  I was a paperback.  Most of the pages are black and white although there are some great color illustrations.  The book has at least 86 pages, that is all I have.  I am 44 years old and this book is probably older than I am although I don't have any dates.

Werner, J. , ed., Golden Book of Poetry, Simon & Schuster, 1947. This book has all the poems you listed.
Werner, J. (editor), The Golden Book of Poetry, 1947, copyright. Although I can't be sure this is the book you have, this book does have the four poems you cited.  My source is "Index to Children's Poetry, first supplement."
Unfortunately this is not the book.  All of those poems listed in the stumper are in that book but here are some more that are not:  The Table and the Chair, Jack Sprat, The confidant, Happy Birds and many more.
Actually, the four additional poems you listed *are* in the Golden Book of Poetry. It's possible you were looking in a later book with the same title that was abridged (for example, the 1949 edition is only 68 pages long).  The one that has them listed is Werner, Jane, ed.  Golden Book of Poetry  il. by Gertrude Elliott.  Simon & Schuster 1947 (Big Golden Book).  112 poems ungrouped.  This book is 97 pages and is 28 cm. tall.  I hope this helps.
Golden Book of Poetry Is this the illustration for The Sugar Plum Tree?   This is the illustration for The Sugar Plum Tree in my Golden Book of Poetry.  (I just did a Google Images search for Sugar Plum Tree.)



A153: animals escape forrest fire
Larger book, about animals escaping forrest fire on a raft down a river. The fire was at night. They rode down the river until they came to a new land and made a new home in a great big tree. The inside cover showed a map of the entire land.

Colin Dann, Animals of Farthing Wood,c. 1979.  This is probably a long shot, but could it be The Animals of Farthing Wood? In this series they are escaping a housing development, but I'm sure I remember a scene involving rafting down the river. Or else it could be Watership Down by Robert Adams, where something like that also happens.
I posted this a few months ago. The response is not the Book I am looking  for. My book was probably written in the 1940s to 1970s.  Last time I saw  the book was in the mid-late 1970s. Any other suggestions?
Anyway, I was in the archives to see if I could solve anything and ran across A153 which sounds a lot like the book I'm looking for (F153). I don't remember the raft or the map but the rest sounds the same. Curiously, my request is indexed F153. Is that on purpose?
I have been looking for this book for several years.  My sister and I used to check it out from the small library in my hometown in Michigan back in the 1960's.  It must have been published in the 40's or 50's as the copy we used was showing its age. Is it possible that this is a book from Canada or England?  As I recall the illustrations seemed to be influenced by Milne. I hope someone can find this one.  I would like to by a copy for my sister.
Albert Bigelow Paine, Hollow Tree Nights And Days, 1915.  Paine wrote several other books about the Hollow Tree animals, Mr. Crow and Mr. Coon and Mr. Possum, etc.  I don't remember a fire but I do remember a flood.  The line drawings do have a sort of Milne-ish (actually Ernest E. Shepherd)quality.
Brian Jacques,  The Redwall Series I'm not sure whether these books fit your dates or not, but it's worth checking out this series. Every book is a thick one on basically peaceful forest creatures, whom face war or disaster and are forced to fight. There are so many books in this series, but it sounds similar to Jacques's books.
animals escape forest fire
Possibly this one?  Friendship Valley by Wolo.  NY: William Morrow & Co, 1946.  A story packed with illustrations about a variety of animals, large and small, who work together to make a home after the tragedy of a forest fire. Endpapers are a pictorial map of "The Little Lake and Friendship Valley," color pictorial paper over board.  I'm sending the same solution for unsolved stumper F153: Forest Fire drives animals to new home.
Wolo (pseudonym of Wolf Von Trutzschler), author and illustrator, Friendship Valley, 1946. This is definitely the book being sought!  A badger, woodchuck, family of racoons, squirrel, hedgehog, and frog escape from a forest fire on a raft, and rescue a kitten as they float downriver.  The fire does occur late at night, and the front and back inside covers do show a detailed map of the place where they make their new home.



A154: Abused Boy and Horse
Solved: Black Fury


A155: albatross
looking for a book from the 1950s about either an albatross or a seagull who lives on the docks. the only image I remember is one in which the bird is caught or enclosed by a small room or box. It may have been in a collection of stories.

Robert Lawson, The Fabulous Flight. Could this be it?  A boy suffers an injury that causes him to shrink to a very tiny size.  He makes friends with a seagull and they have some wild adventures together.  I think there is a part where the seagull is trapped, but I could be wrong.
Could this be Sid Hoff's Albert the Albatross (1961) I'll have to hunt for my book to see if it contains the picture you describe.
Well, I just scanned through both and didn't find the box reference...
Holling, Holling C., Seabird, 1948.  Please take a look at this one. -from a librarian.



A156: Ant is a Hero
Solved: Knee Deep in Thunder


A157: activity book stumper
This is a very old-fashioned hardcover from the 30's or 40's.  Filled with puzzles, riddles, mazes, rainy day and sickbed activities.  I remember one of the first riddles was "what is the longest word...'smiles', because there is a mile between the first and last letter."  One of the odd things about this book is that you were supposed to take a pencil to it (for the mazes, etc.) and it was a nicely bound hardcover!  My grandmother gave this to me in the 60's when I had chicken pox, but I think the book was much older than I was!  A dear, dear book, to which I returned many times.

Kitty Styles, Nicholas Thomas and Timothy series.  These books, in addition to stories, included mazes, games and other activities. Perhaps a more likely possibility would be one of the various "Rainy Day" books that used to be very popular. E.g. John Purcell: Golden Rainy Day Play Book;  Marion Conger and Natalie Young: The Rainy Day Play Book;   Enid Blyton: Noddy's Rainy Day Book  etc.
Big Red Fun Book.  Was it a thick book (maybe 3") and about 8" tall?  Did it include chapters on charades, and handwriting analysis?  I had a book alled either "the big red fun book" or "my big red fun book", and the riddle you mention was one of the first ones in it.  (Another of my favorites was "what goes up a chimney down, but can't go down a chimney up?  An umbrella.) I still have the book somewhere in my collection, so if this sounds right I'll dig it out for more info.
Michael Estrin, Fun for a Rainy Day1945 If this isn't Michael Estrin's "Fun for a Rainy Day" I'll be very surprised. Do you remember a chapter on soap carving, another on knot tying, and a page showing a street accident and you're supposed to look at it for a minute and then remember details? You were indeed meant to take a pencil to the book for the puzzles and designs, and my first edition was a nicely bound black hardcover with gold lettering on the spine. It also came out in paperback. 



A158: Armenian, massacre at Smyrna, Wandering Jew
In the late 1970s, I read a paperback book about a character who could have been the Wandering Jew.  The book ends with a dramatic escape from the city of Smyrna during a massacre that occurred towards the end of the First World War of non-Muslims by the Turkish army. Sorry, I cannot remember the title or the author.

A158 Possibly The 40 days of Musa Dagh by Franz  Werfel;  or The rage of the vulture by Barry Unsworth.  [I decided I didn't really know anything about a wandering Jew, tho I've had the book of that name by Eugene Sue, so I checked Google and found this neat site.]
Charles (?) Whittemore, Jerusalem Poker,1970.  Part of a series of marvelous interconnected books that featured the Wandering Jew as a character. The books are a magical realist retelling of the history of the Middle East, with Jerusalem as the focal point. The Smyrna section is near the end of the second book, Jerusalem Poker, a book about a never ending poker game between the shadowy true rulers of the Middle East. Books were recently reissued by Old Earth Books in a uniform trade paperback edition.



A159: Airplane pilots, two young brothers, 1920s-1930s-1940s
Airplane pilots, two young brothers,1920s-1930s-1940s.  When I was in grade school, ca. 1950, I was mesmerised by a young-person book (late 1940s?) about two brothers who become airline pilots. They start out by volunteering to help barnstormers: filling holes and smoothing rough spots in pastures, and eventually are taken for a hop in a biplane; then work their way up the aeronautical ropes of the 1920s-30s-40s. I never became an airline pilot, but my son has, and so I'd love to put my hands on that book.

This sounds a little like a book called Last Plane Out by John Ball, except that I don't recall there being two brothers in  that one. I have an idea that he has written some YA books about flying, he might be a possibility.
Miriam Blanton Huber et al., Planes for Bob and Andy, 1943. I am almost positive this is the book - I read it not too long ago and it had the filling-in-holes-in-the-fields bits and everything.  But Bob and Andy are friends, not brothers.  This is part of the Aviation Readers series of textbooks.



A160: Actor father finds own child
Solved: My True Love Waits

A161: Ashpaddle (sp?)
Solved: The Princess Whom Could Not Be Silenced


A162: Animal Story
Solved: Green Woods and Green Meadows series


A163: Apple tree
Solved: Two Boys and a Tree

A164: American Girl Sent to Rome
Solved: Roman Folly


A165: Alien Being from Under Water City
Solved: Stranger From the Depths


A166: Albacore are running
Solved: Sensible Kate


A167: Ants Rule the World
Solved: No Time Like the Future


A168: Aging backwards on strange island
Solved: Otherborn


A169: Asian little girl does "butterfly" dance
Solved: Dance, Dance, Amy-Chan!


A170: Anthology
Solved: Illustrated Treasury of Children's Literature


A171: Annie, the Anteater
This children's book  begins with, "They were lost, there was no doubt about it." Characters are Annie, the Anteater  Trumpie, the pink elephent and _____, the turtle. That's all I know. My father used to read it to us as children. Since reading that book, he starts every book he ever reads with,"They were lost, there was no doubt about it." Now that he has his first grandchild, I would love to find the book so he can read it to my children.

Tyndall and Bolsover, Annie The Anteater, 1963. From this listing: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=236004067. Apparently there were at least three books in the "Trumpy Tales" series: The Great Magician, Wise Old Friend, and Annie the Anteater.



A172: Amazon Women/Underwater Civilization
Solved: Across A Wine-Dark Sea


A173: American child who discovers a magical genie
Solved: Mr. Wicker's Window


A174: Active Children
set of three science books appropriate for around age 10, published early to mid 40s.  May have "for active children" in title.  May have been published in England.  Each book dealt with a different aspect of "science".

A175: ABC Trains
Solved: Railroad ABC


A176: Annabel and the Blue Fairy.
Annabel and the Blue Fairy. Multiple chapters. Children's book. Possible English. One chapter about her grandmother's quilt and one about fall--how the colors change I think.

A177: ant (?) beetle (?) front illustration of a picnic
Solved: Ant Ventures


A178: albatross scrimshaw sailing ship
Solved: Seabird


A179: Accident makes goo to eleminate friction
Solved: Bob Fulton's Amazing Soda-Pop Stretcher


A180: Alien sends boy back in time to help king and dog
Solved: Parsifal Rides the Time Wave

2004


A181: American/European myths & legends anthologies
Solved: Wonder Story Books


A182: Adopted boy in box
Solved: Konrad


A183: Antoinette's Philippe
Solved: Antoinette's Philip


A184: Aliens who are afraid of music
Solved: Help! Help! The Globolinks!
This is a story from the 70s, I think.  Aliens who look like schmoos (white, blobby creatures) invade Earth.  Any object they touch turns into a geometric form, like a pyramid or sphere.  Any person they touch slowly turns into an alien.  There's a subplot where this happens to the teenage protagonists' music teacher.  The only weapon humans have is that music injures the aliens.  I remember the female lead singing until she was hoarse.  When I read this book as a child, I found it incredibly frightening; now I think it may have been intended as a commentary on modern architecture.  For years, I was certain that Daniel Pinkwater wrote it, but I think I was wrong.  Can anyone help me?

Gian-Carlo Menotti, Help, Help, the Globolinks, 1970, approximately.  Is there a school bus that gets trapped by the creatures?
Just wanted you to know that “Help! Help! The Globolinks!” was indeed the book I was looking for.  Strangely enough,  the book I read was actually a novelization of an opera of the same name, written by the same man who wrote Amahl and the Night Visitors.  Thanks for solving this puzzle that’s troubled me for years!



A185: Anthology of Fairy Tales-yellow
Solved: The Golden Treasury of Children's Literature


A186: Alligator Pears, Girl looking for mussels or clams
Solved: Penelope and the Mussels


A187: alligator bites of rabbits tail
alligator bites of rabbits tail (why the short tail story)

"Rabbit's Tail." in Smith, Jimmy Neil, ed. Why the Possum's Tail is Bare and Other Classic Southern Stories. New York: Avon, 1993. pp. 141-45. An African American tale told by Sherry Des Enfants of Lithonia, GA. Rabbit gets Alligator into an argument about who has the most relatives. When a couple thousand alligators show up, Rabbit jumps across their backs, counting them and succeeding in his plan to cross the muddy swamp without dirtying his long fluffy tail, until one impatient alligator bites off his tail.



A188: Adventures of a young boy who longs to work in TV industry
Solved: Tee Vee Humphrey


A189: Abandoned Earth colony, accidentally rediscovered
Solved: Another Heaven, Another Earth


A190: Aura surrounds child battling evil
Late 1980s, early 1990s.  I read a paperback book about the fight between good and evil.  Auras are an important part of this story.  Special babies were being born who would fight evil but Satan discovered them by their aura and killed them.  A little boy was born and a priest recognized that he had a special aura.  The baby's aura was disguised and he was kept hidden to keep Satan from finding him. Death is represented by a black horse and carriage.  The boy's safety is critical because one day he will fight to overcome the evil.

Sounds like typical Susan Cooper or Madeleine L'Engle to me
Card, Orson Scott, Alvin Maker series.  Possibly ..... Lots  about auras, plenty of good vs evil, Alvin is the special child, but I don't remember a Death in a carriage.
Sorry, definitely not Alvin Maker.  That series has reached six books, most recently The Crystal City, and the only one where he was young was the first one (? Seventh Son).  No Death by black carriage, but plenty of threat by water and things related to water.
Roderick MacLeish, Prince Ombra, 1982.  Could it be?



A191: Aliens, outer space and a book that tells the future
Solved: Matthew Looney and the Space Pirates


A192: Alphabet nursery rhyme book
This book was a alphabet nursery rhyme book. From what I can remember it was a thick book. It was hard coverd no shine to it. It did have "Little miss muffet" with a picture of her sitting on the tuffet with a spider coming down. The books illustration were very mature as not like a cartoon book. I was born in 1979 and I can remember reading this over and over in the 80's. So from what year it is from who knows. I am wondering if there is some sort of catalog with cover or story page pictures for alphabet or nursery rhyme books? This is not a mother goose book. Well maybe someday I will find this, and that day will bring back so many wonderful memories!

I remembered also that each page had a letter of the alphabet that was at the top of each page, the letters where wispy and the rhyme was under it. This is such a stumper for me. Is there a site to look at that has 1970s books that were popular?
Aexander Key, The Magic Meadow.My sister just lent this book to me, all the details match.



A193: Anthology
My mom said that she got the book through Reader's Digest and they told her that it was published by Penguin.  It would have been in the 60's when I was reading it, so it is at least that old.  My mom said that the cover had blue and white checks or squares.  The poem the Owl and the Pussy Cat was in it and we can both remember a very colorful page, with the owl and the cat dancing on the bottom of the page.  Wynken, Blynken and Nod was also in it with colorful pictures.  Another significant thing that my mom remembers is the poem Little Boy Blue, or Our Little Boy Blue.  Here is part of the poem.  The little toy dog is covered with dust but, sturdy and staunch he stands.  The little tin soldier is red with rust and his musket molds in his hand.  Time was when the little toy dog was new and the soldier was passing fair, that was the time when our little boy blue kissed them and put them there. This is only part of the poem.  If anyone can help with this I would be most grateful.  Thank you for your help.

I can't help with the anthology, but the poem is "Little Boy Blue" by Eugene Field.  You can see online here.  "Wynken, Blynken and Nod" was also written by Eugene Field, and the "Owl and the Pussycat" is by Edward Lear.
Robert Louis Stevenson, A Child's Garden of Verses.  This sounds a lot like A Child's Garden of Verses that I remember from my grandmother's house. We didn't have a very colorful version but I can remember it had toy soldiers, land of nod, etc...
Mother Goose, c.1960.  This was a book some neighbours had, and I envied it, though it was too young for me. I never could get a copy for my kids,but I saw a copy of it not long ago in a used bookstore in Streetsville, Ontario.



A194: Apple Cherry Blossom tree sick girl? broken leg?
I am looking for a book from my childhood (I was born in 1976) so I am guessing it was a 1970-1980 chilren's book.  What I can remember, it's a book about a little girl who was either very sick or broke her leg.  She couldn't go out to play in the spring or summer and  had to wait a year (?) to go out again. There was something with cherry blossom trees or apple blossom trees?  When she finally got better, or her leg healed, she was able to go out and play again...

Alcott, Louisa May, Jack and Jill.  In jack and Jill, the two main characters have a sledding accident and I remember the girl was in bed or convalescing for a year. I don't have the book here and i don't remember if there was an apple blossom connection.
Coolidge, Susan, What Katy Did. Penguin 1985, reprint.  Could it be this often-reprinted story? "Katy Carr was a tomboy, but she secretly longed to be beautiful and patient, to be as kind and gentle as her beloved Cousin Helen. This is the story of the dreadful accident that gave Katy the chance to achieve her aim." "An accidental fall from a swing seems to threaten Katy's hopes for the future, but she struggles to overcome her difficulties with pluck, vitality and good humor. A best-loved story for more than 100 years." Katy is confined to bed for 2 years rather than one, but the idea of blossoming trees as a marker of time sounds appropriate to the book.
Thank you. I looked on the website, but the books aren't correct.  :(  I should have mentioned that it was a "picture" book  because I remember it had pictures, so it wasn't a novel.  Do I just keep checking to see if anyone else has any ideas?  Thanks for all of your help!
I remember reading something similar about the same time. Try searching for a girl who has polio.  I remember a horse in the story I read, and a big tree in a yard that bloomed.  Sorry I can't be of more help, but maybe a lead.
Daphne Hogstrom, What Will We See?, 1968.  I don't know if this is what you're looking for, but there were some similarities.  The girl in the book is not sick, but she basically waits a year to see what will happen to the tree at her new home (a farm).  The story contains illustrations combined with actual photos.  The girl wanders her farm with her doll, Jane.  The trees eventually bud and blossom then she finds out they are apple trees.
Are the characters in your book black?  I remember a story from my childhood about a little girl in the South, something about a tree in her grandmother's yard.  At some point in the book the girl is injured (either a broken bone or a head injury)and I think the cover of the book was purple.  I think the gurl was either visiting or living with her grandmother.
Frances Clark Sayers, The Chinaberry Tree.  I don't know if this is the correct answer but your question made me think of a story I read many years ago about a little girl named TooLoo who wasn't allowed to climb the chinaberry tree because she was too small. She eventually climbed it and got stuck. When her mother got her down, she was put to bed.
David Small, Imogene's Antlers, 1981?, approximate. I thought this may be the book you were talking about. Especially the end because she ends up growing tree branches (which grow as cherry blossoms?)
I was born in 75 and am searching for a similar book hopefully my memories might help, Picture book A girls wants to play out in the snow but gas a cold/ flu do has to stay indoors, remember her drinking a hot drink wrapped in blankets I think she was called Annabelle or Rebecca. She gets a treat when cold in better and dances under the blossom trees at her grandparents orchard, the blossom is like the falling snow she missed, I have no idea what the book was called but would love to know if you find out!



A195: Appominombus
Solved: Epaminondas and His Auntie

A196: Artificial structure on Moon's Mt. Pico
Solved: Blast off at 0300


A197: Anthology w/ story about a boy named Zero in the Future
This story was in an anthology of children's stories (might even have been a reading textbook, but I am not sure) that I read around 1978.  It was about a little boy who lived in the future, when everyone is known by a number instead of a name.  The boy is called Zero, and because his number is so insignificant, he is always forgotten by everyone until last. Consequently, he always gets stuck with the brown paint in art class.  So he decides to take a really high number as his name, but it is so long that no one can remember the whole thing and everyone keeps forgetting him again.  Finally, he takes an actual name, but the idea catches on so well that everyone else takes the same name.  In the end, people all start taking different names.  I have been looking for this story for years with no luck, so I would be very grateful to anyone who can give me a clue! Thanks.

Not a solution, but book stumper A197 sounds like the same book as B259.



A198: Anthology, children's
I'm searching for a pair of books, or at least enough information about them to do a decent search.  I grew up in the '50s and my two sisters and I shared a set of two books that our parents gave us.  We were 5 years apart, so the things I remember about the books are different from those my sisters remember because my older one was a more advanced reader and my younger was a toddler.  I've combined all of our memories in this description.  I don't know if our two books were part of a larger set; if they were, we didn't own the rest.  Each book was an inch or so thick, but not large otherwise (maybe 6x8, give or take an inch).  The covers were burgundy or brownish red and reminded me of leather although I don't think they were really leather.  They did not have dust jackets.  I don't recall any pictures on the covers although there might have been words on the spine (don't remember any).  The books contained rhymes and stories for children, from the beginning reader to the more skilled (but still young) reader.  The books were richly illustrated.  One of my sisters remembers Little Black Sambo, lots of poems (one about a backyard swing and the sky so blue; another about a cow who gave lots of cream to eat with an apple tart;  and winkin, blinkin, and nod) plus more stories: about the land of counterpane (a bedtime story); Bre'r Rabbit and Uncle Remus; Snow White and Rose Red.  I remember a story about a boy whose parents were in a circus where all the words were written upside down.  When the boy was born, the parents gave him a name that would look the same right side up or upside down:  Pod.  I recall another poem about a giant in which one of the first lines was "Hi ho, said the jolly old giant, Joe Bean.  I think I'll go for a stroll on the green."  I would appreciate any help that anyone can provide.

This sounds like the Book Trails series. There is more information on these books under Solved Mysteries
Jane Werner, Tall Book of Make-Believe, 1950.  Although the description of the books themselves is definitely not the same, the stories of Wynken, Blynken and Nod, The Land of Counterpane and A Swing Song all appear in The Tall Book of Make-Belive. Is it possible that your sister is remembering this book in addition to the ones you describe? You can find it in Solved Mysteries and Most Requested Books.
In response to the comment provided by a reader, I'd like to thank that person for writing.  I've tried to check on the Book Trails book, but I don't think this is the source of our book set.  Our covers were not so elaborate, but beyond that, the Books Trails description mentions black-and-white illustrations; our books had richly colored illustrations.  I can definitely rule out the Better Homes and Gardens Storybook after having seen copies.  I have other memories about our volumes other than those I already mentioned, but they are more vague and therefore more unreliable: I seem to recall a story called The Land of Nod (which might be the same as the story about the boy named Pod, already mentioned...or not).  I think our books had Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates.  I think both of our books had a mix of stories and poems for beginning as well as better readers (as opposed to books that contain only poems, another only stories).  I don't think either book had projects or "try it" activities.  If there were other books beyond the two we had (a larger set) I was unaware of them.  As I've continued to try to find these books, I've come to realize that book sets from a variety of publishers in the 1950s contained many of the same stories, which makes the search even more difficult.  I have tried searching through the Mysteries Solved section of this website to find a solution, but haven't had a "that's IT" moment yet.  I keep feeling that if/when I find the story of the boy named Pod and the story/poem about Giant Joe Bean, I will have found the elusive needle-in-the-haystack.  I appreciate any and all help, so please continue to share your thoughts and suggestions.
The Book of Knowledge Have you considered a set of books sort of like an encyclopedia called The Book of Knowledge?  They were burgundy, leather textured hardbacks and several volumes contained poems and short story classics.  That was the source of lots of our childhood literature.
Marjorie Barrows, ed., The Children's Treasury 1947, approximate Now this one I have owned all my life it's "The Children's Treasury: A Book to Grow On", published by Consolidated in Chicago. Mine is a 1947 edition, two volumes, dark red-brown covers. Inside the cover is a colorful picture of children dancing in a circle in outfits from all over the world. Joe Bean caught a cloud and thought he'd bring it home and it nearly wrecked his house. His wife was a lot smarter than he was. The Land of Counterpane is one of several Robert Louis Stevenson poems in there, with soft grey-washed pictures. The one about the baby born to the upside-down-reading parents is "Clown Town". "Hi ho the derry o, the baby's name is <b>pood</b>." And the baby's mother (Flo) wore doughnut earrings.  The book is notable for not only having the story about the house that Jack built -- but also the house that JILL built. Hope this helps!
Childcraft series, 1930s to 1940s.  The poem about the "Jolly giant Joe Green" was contained in an encyclopedic style set of books called "Child Craft".  There were something like 20 or more books in the set.  There were many stories and poems included, and the targeted age range probably was from 1st grade to 7th grade children.  The books were richly bound in a dark red leather, and as I recall, good quality paper. So there probably are surviving editions squirreled away in many attics waiting to see the light of day.  It is probably something a dealer would not handle, because the content would be too literary and/or too dated for today's kids.  If anybody knows where to find the Childcraft series, and in particular, the specific book with the Joe Bean poem in it, I would appreciate contact information of where to find it.



A199: Ah Sin
please help - what is the title of an oldish book, probably from 1950's which has as its plot some daring British boys sailing around Australian waters in pursuit of a mysterious yacht owned by a status crazed Japanese noveau riche millionaire with only one son who was saved from a shark attack by one of the boys.  There were many characters including a beachcomber, a Chinese cook called Ah Sin, water buffalos and a submarine.

Strangeways, Mark, The Secret Base: a thrilling tale of the Pacific, 1946.  A very similar stumper was recently solved on another site. The story involved a shark attack/Japanese millionaire/Chinese cook/British boys/and a mysterious yacht.  Sounds like the same book this poster is looking for (is that you ElMagnifico??)
Alert - it isn't The Secret Base!! I just got it and there was a mix-up of information!
Nope, tis Elwyn who posted this - it seems we were only half right about this book. Has half the elements but not all - we are still seeking the Chinese cook among other things!
One Ah Sin I know of is a character from the poetry of the 19th century writer Bret Harte - I believe it's from the narrative poem about California prospectors with a title something like Tales of Truthful James.  This was later dramatized by him (with collaboration by Mark Twain) as Ah Sin, or the Heathen Chinee.



A200: Adopted girl learns mother was adopted too
Solved: Grandmother Orphan


A201: Attic doll
Solved: The Wonderful Fashion Doll


A202: Australian school trip
read in about 1949/1950:-  Boys school (in England?), where they also teach the pupils to fly, goes on a school trip to Australia.  Boys are kidnapped and held for ransom at a remote hidden airstrip in the Outback.  Some escape by   commandeering the crooks' planes.  There is also some trecking involved, either in escape on foot from the airstrip where they are held, and/or after a forced landing in a plane they escape in.

A203: astrology, world, careers
There is a world where everything is based on astrology.  Where you live, your career, and even the colors in your area of the city are based on astrology.  I'm not sure is I am mixing this up with another book, but it seems to me this book starts out with an Englishman coming to America by boat to get a girl who plays a part in rescuing the king and queen of the astrological kingdom who may be, unbeknowst to her, her parents.

William Nicholson, The Wind Singer Since your not sure if your plots are mixed I'm going to suggest this one, although it has nothing about astrology, people are segregated into different classes based on testing. They can only live in their assigned part of the city, wear their assigned color, and are limited on career advancement as well. This tale also features, Mud People, really scary Old Children(who steal away youth by touching you), and some kind of prophecy. You may remember remember cities on wheels that sail across the desert, and an evil foe called "the Mora". I hope that's enough information, and I hope you find the right book. 



A204: anthology including dragon who ate cookies
Solved: The Funny Thing


A205: attic with rocking horse
The book I am searching for is a fiction aimed at children probably between 8-12 and is about a little girl, in a big house which may not have been her own.  I'm sure that it opens with a description of her coming in from the garden or going out to play in the rain.  I do remember mention of galoshes (because I had absolutely no idea what they were and still don't) and a friend (a boy) coming around to play.  There was some kind of room/attic in the house which I think may have been kept locked and some sort of key which she found.  I remember wonderful descriptions of her finding jewels in a box or chest of drawers with vivid colours.  It was a hard back book with a light beige/fawn or off-white cover and I would have read it in the early 1970's.  There may have been mention of a rocking horse somewhere. It was almost definitely English and not creepy so no ghosts or anything horrid.  The book was second hand when I read it so probably printed in the 1950's or 1960's.  Please help, it was lost when we moved abroad and I have spent the last 20 years trying to find it.  Unfortunately, I cannot remember the name of the book nor the author.

Rumer Godden, The Rocking Horse Secret.  Just a guess!
I located my copy of the Godden book  after re-reading it, I'm certain that my suggestion was wrong.
Lucy Boston, The Children of Green Knowe.  It's not quite the same as the description, but could it be The Children of Green Knowe? The main character is a boy, Toseland, not a girl, but it has many of the same elements: torrential rain in the beginning, English, a large house not his own, rocking horse in the attic, found jewels. However there are non-creepy ghosts.
Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden.  1994, reprint.  Summary From Publishers Weekly Bratty and spoiled Mary Lennox is orphaned when her parents fall victim to a cholera outbreak in India. As a result, Mary becomes the ward of an uncle in England she has never met. As she hesitantly tries to carve a new life for herself at imposing and secluded Misselthwaite Manor, Mary befriends a high-spirited boy named Dickon and investigates a secret garden on the Manor grounds. She also discovers a sickly young cousin, Colin, who has been shut away in a hidden Manor room. Together Mary and Dickon help Colin blossom, and in the process Mary finds her identity and melts the heart of her emotionally distant uncle.  Ages 6-12.
This reminds me of a book I read about the same time.  I think it was titled The Octagon House.  The girl goes into a strange octagonal shaped house to get out of the rain as she walks home from school.  She finds a key that opens a doll house that is the exact replica of the house she is in.  There is something magic that occurs and she finds treasures.  I think there is an old woman involved and the key was inside a box with a velvet ribbon?  I remember the  rocking horse, too.
Another person brought a stumper within the stumper about an octagon house. I don't know if this is the answer to the origanal stumper, but the person is thinking of OCTAGON MAGIC by Andre Norton, 1967 (published in American and the UK). A girl (named Lorrie?) is having problems with mean kids at her new school. She finds refuge in a strange eight-sided
house that has a replica dollhouse inside and I do seem to recall a rocking horse (perhaps there's a connection between her riding the horse and magic happening). It isn't a sinister book, and I think at the end the old ladies who lived in the house end up as dolls in the dollhouse? Anyway, maybe this description will help.~from a librarian
CS Lewis, The Magician's Nephew.  Most of the things that you described are in this book
I have to disagree; this sounds nothing like The Magician's Nephew.  In that book, two children (a boy and a girl) travel to worlds through a wood full of pools using green and yellow rings invented by the magician of the title.  It is a prequel to the rest of the Narnia books, explaining the origins of things such as the White Witch and Lantern Waste, and there are most definitely parts of it that could be considered creepy.
Rumer Godden, The Rocking Horse Secret. (1988)  I agree, this sounds exactly like The Rocking Horse Secret, though I don't remember any jewels (I have a used copy and re-read it within the last year). Tibby, the main character, is the daughter of the housekeeper at a grand house. Tibby has a friend who comes over, a slightly older boy who works in the stables. She explores all over the house and gets in trouble for sneaking around. She finds the will that leaves the house to the rightful owners (maybe Tibby's mom or the stable owner?) in the tail of the rocking horse in the old nurseries.
I don't know if it will help you find your book, but I can tell you what galoshes are. They are a lot like rubber boots but they are oversized so that your regular shoes can fit inside them. They have no lining inside because if you are wearing shoes inside you don't need one. 



A206: abominable snowman
I'm looking for a horror story book about the abominable snowman it may even be called that. it starts with two climbers in the himalayas running for their lives from a monstrous creature (its big, about 40 ft tall with eyes that blaze so brightly they set fire to combustibles) and are rescued by some buddist monks who live in a cave. The climbers return to the USA but eventually after several years the creature travel up from himalayas through Siberia and Alaska down to the Rockies where it proceeds to start killing skiers and locals. The hero realises the creature has found him and gets together a team to hunt it down and kill it. They use crossbows with laser tipped arrows that cause objects to explode when hit. the creature first loses an arm and then in a later fight gets its head blown off! I also remember that it can imitate noises made by animals and people and in one scene it hits a kodiak bear so hard that the kodiak is knocked clean out of its skin. Also it pulls one girl off a ski lift after her clothing catches fire from its eyes and that it lives under glaciers. Also I think the general idea was used for a (abominable!) movie in the 70s about a creature killing skiers in colarado (this one looked like a giant hamster that walked on its hind legs and was killed with a ski stick).

Slade, Jack, Yeti.  Authorhouse 2003.  Perhaps too recent, but it is a horror novel based on the Yeti or Abominable Snowman legend. No plot description available. Another on the subject is Mountain King, by Rick Hautala, Dorchester 2001. "The mountain stood proud and alone, shrouded in mist and snow, surrounded by legends and fear. Some said a demon resided on the rocky slopes, an unholy thing that periodically emerged from the mist to claim a life. Mark Newman had hiked the trails to the mountain's peak many times. He'd heard the tales, but he didn't believe them - until the day his friend
disappeared in a sudden, blinding snowstorm while they were on the mountain. Mark witnessed something he knew couldn't be real - something that would kill again and again."



A207: almost christmas and still no snow
Solved: The Animals' Merry Christmas


A208: American Girl Swiss Boarding School
Solved: A Year to Remember


A209: Angelo's Eatery
Solved: Mr. Angelo


A210: animals snored and roared
Solved: Noise in the Night


A211: Animals on Weekend Pass from Zoo
Solved: The Animals' Vacation


A212: Alphabet animal race
Solved: The Great Alphabet Race


A213: Alien spaceship
Alien spaceship lands in a field with 2 aliens inside.  Characters might be named Eek and Meek.  Children's book read in the mid 1960's.  Book had thick pages that when you moved the page back and forth, the images changed slightly - perhaps holograms, not sure, don't remember exactly.

A214: Anthology with winkin blinkin and nod
Solved: Treasury of Poetry


A215: Animal Encyclopedia
Solved: Animal World in Color

2005


A216: Angel fallen
Solved: Angel Child


A217: "Animal Sounds" in board book form
Solved: Animal Sounds


A218: Antique doll
I remember a book I read in elemntary school in the early 60's about a girl searching for an antique doll. She had to follow clues,from what I don't remember that the previous owner of the doll had written. One of the clues was to go so many steps from a tree. The girl was sitting outside and was in a quandry as she could see no tree close to the house she thought for a while then it dawned on her that she was sitting on a tree stump. The main thing I remember was that at the end of the book after she found the doll there were color pictures of the doll and her clothes. Gorgeous pictures of clothes, a blue outfit in particular caught my imagination. In reading the stumpers it did sound something like "Wonderful fashion doll" but there was no mention of the color pics and these were unforgettable. Thanks for your imput.

Laura Bannon, The Wonderful Fashion Doll, 1953.  I think this may be the one you're looking for it does have color illustrations.
No it's not wonderful fashion doll. I just found one on e-bay with pics and they are not the same. The doll in my book was more of a baby doll. The end pages were one full page for each outfit in bright colors not pencil and watercolors. The blue I mentioned outfit was a deep velvet blue.
I just talked to my sister who is also looking for this book. We brainstormed and here are more clues. I was wrong it was not a baby doll but a young girl doll. The was a riding habit among the pictures. They had bustles and hats and shoes. The girl looking for the doll was visiting a relative when looking for the doll.
I remember reading a book like this as a child.  The girl, Sally, goes to visit her Great-Aunt Sarah.  She doesn't get along with the aunt and somehow she winds up going back in time about 50 years and becomes another girl also named Sally.  The "olden times" Sally has a doll with golden hair which is lost.  "Modern" Sally comes back to modern times and looks for the doll.  In the end it turns out that the cat had taken it and hidden it in the attic.  In the modern time Sally finds the doll because her great-aunt's cat had golden hair in its claw.  In the end Sally's father comes back for her and calls Aunt Sarah, "Aunt Sal".  It turns out that she was the young Sally from the past.  I don't remember the title or author but this might give you more to go on.
Norma Kassirer, J Jackson, "Magic Elizabeth" (for last poster) and "Missing Melinda" for requester.  The last suggestion is the book "Magic Elizabeth"- great story- but I don't think it really matches the request. Mystery involving clues and a doll could be "Missing Melinda"- but no fashion doll stuff at all that I know of. Maybe this is two books being mixed in memory? From the synopsis: "Missing Melinda, Little, Brown and Co. - 1967.  Twins Cordelia and Ophelia find a valuable antique doll in an attic it's stolen, and they have some scary adventures getting it back. The final clue comes, perhaps not unexpectedly, through Shakespeare."
Laura Bannon, The Wonderful Fashion Doll,1953, copyright. This Sounds like the Book.
Catherine Woolley, Ginnie and the Mystery Doll. I don't remember much about this book's plot, but I loved reading this book so much when I was a little girl that I've always remembered the title.  Ginnie and a friend find an antique doll that belonged to her great-aunt.



A219: Aliens find film
Solved: Expedition To Earth


A220: Alien implant chips
Solved: The White Mountains


A221: Anthology set
Solved: Collier's Junior Classics


A222: African Shield and Photos Mystery
Solved: The House in Norham Gardens


A223: Asleep on raft
I am searching for a book I read in the early 1970s about a boy going out on his raft one sunny afternoon and he fell asleep.  When he woke up he was miles from home.  He had drifted down the river.  He didn't know where he was or how to get home.  He floated to shore and had to live in the woods, eat berries, sleep under leaves in the winter to stay warm.  He had a dog but I don't remember if the dog was on the raft with him or had stayed on shore and they stumbled into each other when they boy went ashore.  After several months of living in the wild and doing whatever they could to survive, the boy and his dog made it home.  By that time, all the others had given up hope of ever finding them alive.

J. Bosworth's White Water, Still Water began with a similar raft incident, and the boy spends the rest of the book trying to walk home through the wilderness.  I don't remember the dog, but it's been about 40 years since I read it!



A224: Anthology, international
Solved: Let's Pretend


A225: Alice
Solved:  Parrish family series


A226: Amaryllis
Solved: Hilary's Island


A227: Alexander Fiddlewhistle
Solved: Alexander Fiddlewhistle


A228: Angel Children
Solved: Twinkle-Tots


A229: ABC
Janet & Anne Grahame Johnstone, 1970's.  I have been looking for a book that I had as a child.  I believe that it was written or at least illustrated by Janet and Anne Grahame Johnstone.  This book started with the alphabet.  Each letter of the alphabet had an illustration representing the letter.  After the alphabet section there were many fairy tales.  This was a large book bigger than 8-1/2 x 11 I believe with a blue cover.

There's a Johnstone book called My Pop-up Book ABC,A Dean's DeLuxe Pop-up Book, but I don't believe this fits the bill, as it doesn't have any fairy tales.  Could be another Dean collection though, like the Dean's Gift Book of Fairy Tales.  I don't know if that has ABC's in it though...  See if any look familiar on the Anthology Finder.
A229 NO ABC SECTION IN THE 1977 EDITION
Blackwood Alan, Mulberry bush book of nursery rhymes, 1974.  illustrated by Anne and Janet Grahame Johnstone. Publisher: London : Nelson Young World, 1974.



A230: Adopted by swans
Solved: The Lord of the Rushie River


A231: Andersen Anthology
Solved: Illustrated Treasury of Children's Literature


A232: Ancient Ancestor was Probably Arboreal
Solved: The Manse


A233: Apache Indians
Solved: Killer of Death


A234: Abandoned house
Solved: Dandelion Cottage


A235: Angel
Solved:  Wonderful Window


A236: Alligators Escape from NY Sewers
Solved: The Great Escape or the Sewer Story


A237: alphabet book sheep sharp shape
An Edward Lear- or James Thurber-like kids' book, with alliterative words on each of the 26 alphabet pages, the most memorable of which (which has be "found" in Barking Spiders... by Heck, but with no usable source) was something like "Show me a shampooed and freshly shorn sheep [THE NEXT WORDS ARE VERBATIM!] and I'll show you a sheep in sharp shape." I used it as a phonics helper for Title I kids in the late '70s, but it was not meant to be an "educational" tome. I THINK it was a papeback, rather squarish in shape, maybe 8" or 9" in size.

Yes, though the key words I gave you were, I think, "alphabet alliteration sheep sharp shape," my adult daughter (whose book it was—which I LOST!—and who is about to get her Ph.D. in English and who would be THRILLED if I could give it "back" to her as a Doctoral present!...so you see why I'm so obsessed with this!) remembers it more as a kind of casual phonics book, thinking that there was a also "CH" page, among others, and that what I had thought to have been the "S" page was—duh!—actually more of an "SH" page. Makes sense, BUT, it was definitely NOT a "phonics book," per se, i.e., not an intentionally educational tome; it was still just a playful romp through letters or sounds of letters/letter combinations, using images (the sheep looked like a Tomi di Paola creation) that delighted both kid and parent. More like Sesame Street or Electric Company than Edward Lear or Lewis Carroll, but those guys would have appreciated it, too. Hmmm, it MIGHT have been British (fat lot of good that is! It might have been Hungarian, for that matter—but no, the humor did have a rather British flavor...and I bought in in a Burlington, VT,  bookstore which was run by a very English-bookstore-type British woman, so whether her "influence" is influencing me or whether it was actually something she'd imported—like the Ant and bee books, which only she carried at the time—I don't know). Still the only thing I know FOR SURE is that the "S"—or "SH"— page said, approximately, "Show me a freshly shorn and shampooed sheep," then, DEFINITELY, "and I'll show you a sheep in sharp shape."  Whew! Goodnight!

C.J. Heck, Barking Spiders (And Other Such Stuff), August 2000, reprint. Visit this website for more info. This is definitely the book.
Alas, the CJ Heck (Barking Spiders) book is definitely NOT the book, as I should have made even more clear when I alluded to in passing in it my initial inquiry. Rats! How long do I get to keep this maddening thing out there?



A238: Armada Ghost book
A collection of children's horror stories (an Armada Ghost Book, I think) containing one about a group of three children who go out riding over a hill called Devil's Pike, and are chased by a skelton rider on a skeleton horse.  Thanks.

Christine Bernard, A Shiver of Spooks.  A collection of ghost stories published by Armada in the 1970s, so possible.
The story sought is "The Skeleton Rider" by Christine Pullein-Thompson, an original in THE FIFTH ARMADA GHOST BOOK, ed. Mary Danby (London: Armada, 1973), pp. 16-28.  It's also depicted as the cover art of that anthology.  I can't find any indication that the story has been reprinted or appeared anywhere else.



A239: anthology of bedtime stories
Solved: Tibor Gergely's Great Big Book of Bedtime Stories


A240: Atlantis
Long before I knew anything about the legend of the lost island of Atlantis, I read a children's book that I just loved and all I remember now about it was that a child (boy?) was on some sort of island called Atlantis or was trying to get to it. Possibly running away; perhaps searching for something or someone.  I remember reference to bracken (fern), and somehow I have the impression that it was a British book but I'm not sure.

A240 It is NOT this, which is juvenile but nonfiction hist of Atlantis Wilkie, Katharine E; Moseley, Elizabeth R. Lords of Atlantis.    1979.
Just a thought: E. Nesbit's Accidental Magic is a short story is about a boy who falls asleep at Stonehenge and ends up in Atlantis. It doesn't have bracken or fern in it, though.
A240 This is a total shot in the dark because I've never read it, but perhaps the title will ring a bell. There's a book about Atlantis that was published in both London and New York in 1971. It is BEYOND THE GATES OF HERCULES: A TALE OF THE LOST ATLANTIS by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino. According to the summaries, there is a prohecy that a boy will destroy Atlantis, and his sister can do nothing to prevent the tragedy. And in case the detail helps, it is the Archer family and they tend saffron.~from a librarian
Timms, Edward Vivian, Cities under the sea, 1948.  Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1948. Two races of Atlanteans on islands of another sea beneath the Sargasso Sea.1948. This could be a possibility.  Looks like it's a fairly rare book.
Thanks to all of you for these suggestions so far.  None of them is the right book yet, but I really appreciate your trying.  Any other suggestions would be very welcome.
Farmer, Penelope, William and Mary. This was already one of the solved mysteries, but I believe it might be british and there is a boy main character.
Jan Siegal, Prospero's Children. This is more for teens and was probably too late, but it does have a main character named Fern who goes back to Atlantis to search for a way to stop the Atlantean queen.  She meets up with a boy who helps her and they fall in love.
Elinor Lyon, Hilary's Island, around 1949.  This sounds like Hilary's Island by Elinor Lyon. Hilary was actually a girl named Amaryllis who pretended to be a boy named Hilary. She named "her" island Atlantis (her favorite of several near-by islands) and she ran away to hide on it. The book was English, and mentioned bracken (Hilary/Amaryllis piled together bracken to sleep on when she ran away).
Beachcroft, Nina, A Visit to Folly Castle.  Long shot, but this features a girl whose family originally came from Atlantis...makes friends with a 'normal' girl who is invited to visit them, they live a very secluded life and the 'normal' girl's younger brother may be involved? I remember a crystal ball that shows things and that the family have strange abilities...it fascinated me as a child, as it was the first I had heard of Atlantis!

E. Nesbit, The Story of the Amulet, 1906, approximate. This is a sequel to "Five Children and It."  It's rather a slim connection to your query, but four children (two boys and two girls) and their friend the Professor do go to Atlantis, and are looking for the other half of their Amulet.  It is a British book, and there very well might be bracken - I can't remember.



A241: Apple Blossom
Solved: The Summer Cat


A242: aesop fable big book
Solved: Aesop's Fables


A243: airstream trailer
book request about family travels u.s. in airstream trailer

A223 Could it  be any of these?  Barbour, Ralph Henry. Three in a trailer. illus Edward C Caswell.  Appleton, 1937.   Greene, Carla.  Holiday in a trailer. photos by H L Van Pett [Van Pelt?]  Melmont, 1955.   Clark, Electa.  Tony for keeps; a story of a house on wheels.  illus by Lisl Weil.  Winston, 1955.  The Feather family car pulls a trailer around the western half of the US as father swaps labor and objects for needed cash. Orphan Tina accidentally joins them, is disguised as a boy so there will be no accusations of kidnapping before they can get her back and adopt her.
Florence Musgrave, Trailer Tribe.  This might be the book. The cover shows a family and their airstream trailer. 



A244: abc shaped letters
I'm looking for an old children's ABC book. Each letter was illustrated by an object in the shape of the letter. H was for horse, and it was a lower-case h in the shape of a horse. The best was Y, which was for yak - a big, hairy thing with horns. I can't for the life of  me find this book. I remember it being pre-1968, but don't have any other information. I hope someone can recognize it ..

Dr. Seuss, pre-1968.  This book sounds a lot like Dr. Seuss's book of ABC's. Although it is common to have a Yak represent Y (such a difficult letter!), I think this might be worth a look to see if it is the one.
H.A. Rey, Curious George Learns the Alphabet In this book the Man with the Yellow Hat drew alphabet animals so George could learn the alphabet.  The little-h horse rings a bell for me.
H.A. Rey, Curious George Learns the Alphabet, 1963.  I have to second the motion for Curious George Learns the Alphabet.  I have the book here on my lap, and the illustrations are exactly as the stumper requester remembers.  Here is the text for each page: "The small h is a horse.  He is happy because he has heaps of hay.  George had his own horse---a hobby horse."  "The big Y is a big YAK and the small y is a small yak  he is still young.  Yaks live in Tibet.  If you haven't seen any yaks yet you may find one at the zoo."
No, it's not the Curious George book. The only word on each page was the spelled-out name of the animal, as I recall.  I remember just the large drawings of animals, one on each page. This may have been a book from the fifties or very early sixties.
Dorothy Schmiderer , Alphabeast Book: An Abecedarium, 1971.  Sounds like Schmiderer's Alphabeast Book -- letters morph (in a sequence of four drawings) into animals.  My copy shows h becomes a horse, and y, a yak.  The only colors used in the book are red, white, and blue, if that helps.



A245: avalanche children trapped neighbor's house
Solved: Landslide!


A246:Adventure ... Something?
Solved: The Valley of Adventure


A247: African Boy
Circa 1974-75 I remember reading a realistic novel about an African boy. Possibly a girl as well. I believe they lived in sub-Saharan Africa and the landscape was somewhat bleak but very beautiful. There may have been some mention of eating ant eggs or termites.

James Vance Marshall, Walkabout, 1978.  Sure, it's not Africa, but the Austrailian outback could be remembered as sub-saharan Africa. Two white teens lost in the outback survive by relying on a young black aborigne who is on a manhood quest, I believe. Very popular at the time.
Kaffir Boy.  This is the exact title of a book I started and never finished; it has quite a lot of description in it but is not a children's book.  Makes reference to eating insects and hatchling birds.   Sorry I don't know the author; I'm going to guess I read it 10 years ago.  Maybe this is the book you are looking for.



A248: Anastasia Ariadne A___? (Witch)
Solved: The Active-Enzyme, Lemon-Freshened Junior High School Witch


A249: Alta in the Shadows
Solved: Alta in the Shadows


A250: Alien spider robots
Solved: The Tripods Trilogy


A251: Angelo artist color-mixing transparencies overlays
Solved: The Adventures of the Three Colors


A252: Amazing Mumford-Sesame Street
Solved: The Amazing Mumford and His Amazing Subtracting Trick


A253: angels in the sky at night
Solved: Sky High


A254: Agamemnon
Solved: Four Little Kittens


A255: Arizona Aviation Services
Solved: Blind Flight


A256: Alexander cat
Solved: Alexander Kitten


A257: Abandoned baby in a cabin
Solved: Baby-Snatcher


A258: astronaut christian novel
I read this book in the late 80's.  It was a Christian novel about an a civilian (reporter? teacher? can't remember exactly) who get the opportunity to go on the space shuttle.  Basically it's the love story between one of the astronauts (who can't stand her in the beginning!) and the civilian.  I would love to read this again, but can't rememeber the name.  I have had 2 mysteries already solved, so I'm hoping for a 3rd!

Stephen R. Lawhead, Dream Thief, 1983.  Could you  be looking for Dream Thief? It's about a sleep scientist who goes to live on a space colony. He also ends up on Mars and in India before the story is over. It definitely fits the bill of a love story and a christian story. This was by far my least favorite books by Lawhead (the author of some of my favorite books of all time, like Patrick, Son of Ireland), but it was ok.

Thanks for the idea, however, I know this is not it.  It was definitely not a Science Fiction.  More of a romance.  Thanks anyway! 



A259: African-American student nurse
Solved: A Cap for Mary Ellis


A260: Angelworms, Scholar, Freckles
Solved: Treat Shop


A261: Anne of Green Gables
Solved: Anne of Green Gables


A262: Animal doctor / detective from possibly late 60s
Looking for a picture book with groovy 60s-style drawings.  Possibly a Dr. Doolittle book for the 60s crowd?  Main character was a detective, I believe animals were involved as well.  I remember a picture where he goes into a record store, and there are posters of the Beatles hanging up.

A263: alien possession
Solved: Human Is


A264: alien war unknown enemy
I read this book in the 70”s.  It was a paperback, and I remember the cover having a picture of a space helmet with a mirror front so you couldn’t see the person’s face.  It was about a trooper in a intergalactic war where it was all about patriotism and fighting for humanity (sort of like starship troopers). Of course there’s poverty at home and discontent, etc. Well the only way you can tell your side from the other side is everyone has the same type of space suits but “we” use special marks on the suits so we can tell our guys.  By the end of the book we find out that there is NO other side, that the government is using the war as a population reduction/citizen control method. The different marks are a way to get the soldiers to fight each other. It was a really good book, and I would love to find it again. I don’t remember anything about the author or title.

Orson Scott Card (author), Ender's Game.  I know that Ender's Game isn't the right book, but man, it sure is eerily similar.
Samuel Delany, The Fall of the Towers, 1977, reprint.  I don't remember the helmet, but the part about the government starting a war for the reason you mention... it's there. This is an edition comprised of three novels, first published separately as Captives of the Flame, The Towers of Toron, and City of a Thousand Suns.



A265: angel cherub polishes Christmas star
I saw this story in a comic book when I was a kid.  It would have either been the late 40's or earl 1950's.   It was one of those big Christmas comic books that were either Disney or Dell, featuring either Disney Characters or Looney tunes.  But they also carried  versions of children's storybooks.   Along with the cartoons, this big comic book featured a beautifully illustrated story of a little cherub-type angel who was polishing stars as part of her job.  She felt very unimportant and alone, and she fell asleep on her cloud. It drifted to earth and settled in the snow.  The animals of the forest found her and curled around her to keep her warm.   Somehow, she was returned to heaven and given the most important job of all -- polishing the Christmas star.

Giant Dell Comic No 1, A Christmas Treasury, 1954.  I have one of these books and the story "Santa and the Angel" in it fits your details except for the part about polishing the star at the end--in this story, the angel (he's a boy) is picked up by Santa at the end  Santa puts the angel into his mitten and takes him back up to heaven for the big Christmas party. Other stories in the magazine include the story of Jesus' birth, The Night Before Christmas, a section of carols, The Little Fir Tree, A Christmas Carol, Hansy and the Spirit of Christmas, and Santa's Christmas Mouse.



A266: Arnold and the noise
I'm looking for a children's book about a boy named Arnold who wonders about a noise in the night. The first lines are: "Arnold was in bed. It was late. It was dark. But Arnold wasn't sleeping..." etc. I think there was a monster called a beazle. The noise turned out to be his dog, I think. Any leads much appreciated! The book was published in the 1970s or before.

A267: Ancient Monks
Solved: Book of Skulls


A268: All I Remember is the Look of the Book
Ok, so it's been a very, very long time since I read the book. I remember some very tangible things about it, though.  The book was a hard back, but it had a sort of velvety matte finish.  The illustrations on the front and within were beautiful; I seem to recall a bright red rose featured prominently, a doe in the fore against a forest scene, I think.  It was framed in an oval... I think.  The only story I truly remember being in the book is Snow White, Rose Red.  I also think the Little Red Hen might've been in it, too.  I was born in September of 1979 in Monroe, Louisiana.  This might explain the wide time range I'm giving of: ca. 1970-1985

A269: Alien Egg
Solved: Voyage of the Space Beagle


A270: Anthology set in blue
We have been looking for a set of children's storys, fairy tales and fables that we had 30+ years ago as children. They were all bound in blue (don't remember if they were leather or cloth) with gold or silver words on the spine and maybe gold or silver pictures on the cover. There were 8 - 10 or more of them. Two stories I remember clearly from them are The Teeny Tiny Woman and a Halloween story about a black cat named Tipity Witchit who dipped his tail in white paint so the witch wouldn't like him. My Mom thinks they may have been associated with an encyclopedia or been an encyclopedia of children's stories. We've been searching for them for years but have not had any luck. Thanks so much if you can help with this.

Through the Gate of My Bookhouse, c. 1948.  Might even be called My Bookhouse Through the Gate but, pretty sure this is the book you want.  Has the following stories I believe - Tippity Witchit's Hallowe'en, Teeny Tiny.
editor: Olive Beaupre Miller, My Bookhouse, 1920 - 1971.  I had this age-appropriate set of books in the 1940s.  My set started with a light green cover for the Nursery Rhymes and advanced through shades of green and then blue for older readers.  I remember Tipity Witchit!  I think he dipped his tail in whitewash.  Later it must have rained because his tail was revealed to be solid black again.  His story was probably in Volume 2 or 3.
For more on My Bookhouse and its various editions, see The Anthology Finder.
I remember the Bookhouse books, my mother had a set of them. I do recall the Teeny-tiny women, I think she stole a scarecrow lady's clothes. With Tippety-Witchet, I remember that Tippety's white tip was to protect him from being stolen away by the witches. One old witch in particular kept trying to pour a shadow on his tail so she could catch him, after she turned his mother into a porceline sculpture! It was a good spooky story full of ghosts and devils and dancing.  don't recall much of the rest of the book.



A271: Animal friends share food
Solved: Turtle's Flying Lesson


A272: Authors are two young girls
Solved: The Far Distant Oxus


A273: Aladdin, magic lamp, cave
I read a book back in the 1970's maybe early 80's when I was young about Aladdin and his cave or magic lamp. The illustrations where wonderful and I remember that the pictures of the Genies, I think there was more that one were great, and they were huge figures compared to Aladdin. There was one picture I remember where the Genie is kneeling next to Aladdin and the geneie takes up the whole page. Very vague I know but I have searched for about 10 years for this and have still not found it..Please help if you can.

A274: Aliens or people with bowl-shaped heads
I am looking for a book that my sister & I remember reading in the 60's about aliens or a species of people that need to keep their saucer-shaped heads filled with water or they will die. I think that the drawings of these creatures were blue pencil on a white background.  Any help finding the this book would be much appreciated!

I was born in 1960, and I have fond memories of an illustrated book about one of these "aliens."  He was a child-sized mythological Japanese imp (kappa) who had a bowl shaped depression on top of his head that had to be kept full of water.  He was usually very strong and quite mischievous, but the water had to be replenished periodically or he would become weak and ill.  In the tale I remember best, the kappa befriended a little human boy and decided to live with him.  He wanted to keep his identity a secret, so he engaged the boy in a playful water-throwing battle and managed to replenish his supply without admitting he wasn't human.  I remember more than one story about this kappa, but I cant remember the name of the book or the author, and I dont know if these were multiple tales in a single book, or a series of picture books by the same author.  I can't even tell you if the author is of Japanese descent (many libraries have culled "inauthentic" folktales from their collections).  I've found three possible children's books from the correct time period for you.  The first is 'Kappa' and other stories by Shigeru Tomiyama (1949, 54 pages).  The second is Kappa’s tug-of-war with big brown horse the story of a Japanese water imp by Dorothy Walter Baruch (author) and Sanryo Sakai (illustrator) (1962, 36 pages).  The third is Clinton and the Kappa by Edgar C. Grove-Merritt (author) and Yasuo Kazama (illustrator) (1965, 38 pages). I haven't seen any of these and don't know whether the illustrations match your description.  When searching for stories, please note that some adult tales feature frightening or monstrous kappa, quite unlike the odd and endearing creature I remember.  Good luck in your search!
I don't know the specific book in question, but the description of the beings sounds like it must be about the Kappa (of Japanese folklore).
Another possibility: Kap the Kappa by Betty Jean Lifton (author) and Eiichi Mitsui (illustrator), 1960.  Here's an online description: "A RARE Vintage Japanese Fairy Tale. Deep in the rivers of Japan, as all Japanese children know, there live mischievous little Water Elves called kappas (pronounced koppas). They have shells on their backs, webbed hands and feet, and shallow bowls of water in the tops of their heads. As long as the bowls are full, the kappas are gay and strong. But should the water spill out, they become very weak and may even die.  This is the story of a young Kappa Prince named Kap. One day he wandered too far downstream from his royal palace and was lifted out of the water on the end of a fishing pole. The next thing he knew he had been adopted by a Japanese family, who hid the fact that he was really a kappa from all the villagers. But no one could hide Kap's mischievous nature, and soon he was playing tricks on everyone. Kap's pranks will delight American children, who will share his adventure when he tries to find his way back to his river kingdom."
It turns out that Betty Jean Lifton wrote a sequel to Kap the Kappa, and it is also illustrated by Eiichi Mitsui.  It is Kap and The Wicked Monkey (1968)--- another possible solution for you!



A275: Anthology of stories and poems
Solved: The Golden Books Treasury of Elves and Fairies


A276: Ants
CHILDREN'S BOOK READ IN THE 60'S - PLOT:  KIDS HAD CLOSET IN BEDROOM THAT WHEN YOU GO THROUGH IT YOU GO INTO ANOTHER DIMENSION THAT MAKES YOU AS SMALL AS ANTS.

Sounds like The City Under the Back Steps by Lampman.   See more on the Solved Mysteries page.
Mary Chase, Loretta Mason Potts.  Also titled Colin's Naughty Sister-  I could be way off base but your description made me think of this book.  The children do go through the back of a closet and end up by a bridge.  When they cross the bridge they become ant-size (although they don't realize this at first).  They go into a castle and meet a lady who turns out in the end to be bad.  She has kept Colin's sister Loretta living away from her family for many years.  Loretta is finally happy to live with her family after they band together to separate her from the lady by destroying the castle (doll-sized if you don't cross the bridge).
Chase, Mary, Loretta Mason Potts.  They didn't become as small as ants, more the size of dolls in a dollhouse, but the closet was the portal to the farm that led to the small size place.
I love The City Under the Backsteps, but the children don't have a magic closet--they shrink because they're bitten by an ant. Does the original requester remember actual ants being part of the story?
The Indian in the Cupboard.  I think this may be the book in question.
Absolutely, positively NOT The Indian in the Cupboard or any of its sequels.



A277: Alligator in crate crashes
I have the vaguest memory of this one.  A boy is taking a train (to visit his grandma?), and a crate falls off, crashes open, and releases an alligator/crocodile.  I think the boy had a toy train set at home, and then got to take a real train ride.  I would have read it in the 70's, but have the feeling it was older than that.  I seem to remember line drawings--realistic, not cartoons; maybe 50's-style (the boy had a crew cut?)  Maybe I'm getting two different books mixed up?  I'm pretty sure the boy was traveling alone.    I'd love to figure this one out--it's been driving me nuts!

A278: apple tree house
This is a picture book about a young couple/family that while driving down a country road finds just the house for them.  The house is red with a green roof and looks just like an apple or apple tree.  It may be that the house is old/abandoned and they have to repaint it first.  Mostly I just remember those two colors being important to the story.  The illustrations, line drawings, I think, may have been in red and green.  Would have been from sometime in the 70's, I'd guess.  It's not the Apple Tree Cottage.  Do you recognize this?

Are the children named after varities of apples too?  If so, try Jean McDevitt's Mr. Apple's Family, illustrated by Ninon,  1950.  See more on Solved Mysteries.
I don't believe it's Mr. Apple's Family.  The story is more about the house, and I'm not sure if there are any children.
Virginia Lee Burton, The Little House.  Could this be The Little House - the line drawings sound familiar, the main colours are red and green, the house gets battered and bruised but is eventually renovated and at the end a new family find it is just the house for them...
Hi, I'm the requestor for the above stumper.  It is not The Little House by Burton.  Somewhat similar, but the house is never in the city.  There is definitely an emphasis on apples with regard to the house.
 Apple Tree House Did the stumper ever check out Mr. Apple's Family by Jean McDevitt?  Best in Children's Books (1958) printed an excerpt from Mr. Apple's Family called, "The Apples' New House."  If the stumper requester only read this story, it might explain why s/he remembers that
"[t]he story is more about the house."


2006


A279: anklebiter dogs and thieves
Solved: The Hey Hey Man


A280: Aunt Meg
The book I am looking for would be in the young adult genre.  I read it in 1967, 68 ,69 or 70.  It was about a young girl who goes to live with her Aunt Meg for the summer.  She finds out her Aunt is a witch, and another witch, Lanie, has a magic stone that she drops and is picked up by the little girl.  Lanie and some other witches go into the little girls’ room looking for the stone; the girl sees them and follows them back to their hiding place in the woods.  This is where she finds out her aunt is a witch.  There is also something I the book about magic potion or food.

Could this be Sneaker Hill, by Jane Little?  There's an Aunt Miranda, who's studying for a certificate in witchcraft.  There are some suspicious other witches, who don't know her niece (and son!) exist.  Aunt Miranda can't cook, so I remember some parts about her inedible meals, and the witches meet in the woods.  Something to check, anyway...
I just read Sneaker Hill (by Jane Little, drawings by Nancy Grossman, published by Atheneum, NY 1967, 183 pages) and I'm sorry to report that it's probably not the book being sought.  Sneaker Hill was written for 9-12 year olds, so it is not a Young Adult book, and the plot elements don't match the stumper requester's memories.  Susan Derry spends her spring holiday with her cousin Mathew and Aunt Miranda.  There is no witch named Lanie, no magic stone, and Susan discovers that Aunt Miranda is studying witchcraft at the end of chapter 2, when Mathew tells her.  Aunt Miranda cooks delicious meals, but because she's an inexperienced witch, they don't turn out exactly as she had planned (she conjures fortune cakes instead of cookies).  The witches meet in a cavern inside Sneaker Hill, not in the woods.  If the stumper requester doesn't remember a battle where an army of rats, Sneakers (the shy humanoid inhabitants of the hill) and magical creatures rout the witches, then this is not the book s/he is searching for.
Bruce/Katherine Coville, Sarah's Unicorn.   Could it be 'Sarah's Unicorn'? Not sure if thats what you were after.



A281: Archaeologists
Solved: Motel of the Mysteries


A282: Atlantis
Solved: Stranger from the Depths


A283: Automated house
Solved: Lazy Tommy Pumpkinhead


A284: Anthology
Looking for an anthology with a story about peas beans and choc pudding.  Also my sister remembered another story from the book. She think's it was called "the man with 40 hats"

Fiona Waters (Editor), DOUBLEDAY BOOK OF BEDTIME STORIES, 1992, reprint.  Not sure if it's the same anthology, but it does contain  Betty Van Witsen's "Cheese, Peas, and Chocolate Pudding."
It was Peas beans and chocolate pudding. It was a storybook from the 50's or 60's. It also had astory about a lady who put her cakes in a hatbox. I've checked all the doubleday books and did not find any of these stories.......thanks
Sheldon, William, Believe and Make-Believe, 1957.  Published by Allyn & Bacon, Inc. Illustrated by Cheslie D'Andrea and Winnifred Westlake. This anthology contains the Van Witsen story about a little boy who will only eat cheese for breakfast, peas for lunch, and chocolate pudding for dinner, nothing else, until while playing like a doggy and rolling around on the floor under the table, someone drops a bit of a new food into his mouth. He chews, he swallows, and he likes it!  Part of the Sheldon Basic Reading Series for fourth grade level. Includes a glossary and word list. Includes 2 poems by Rosemary and Stephen Vincent Benet,  Captain Kidd,  Indian (a poem),  The Old Sailor by A. A. Milne,  The Story of Polly Patchwork by Rachel Field,  Little Rooster by Kate Seredy, and many more.Color illustrations.  320 pages. Sorry, can't attest to the other stories.
sidonie matsner gruenberg, Let's Hear a Story: 30 Stories and Poems for Today's Boys and Girls, 1961.  Found this collection by Doubleday on the "Find in a Library" website.  It has Mrs. Goose's Hatbox Cake, which I've been searching for for years and it also has the cheese, peas, and chocolate pudding story. A search online also turned up several copies for sale!



A285: Animal parents travel send letter
The animals' parents go away (bears or rabbits, maybe).  They send a letter to the childen.  The little animal can't read and finally finds a wise owl to read it to him.  It tells when parents are returning. They return, bringing gifts for the kids and other forest pals.  I've been thinking about this book for at least 50 yrs!!   I'm almost positive it's a Little Golden Book.

A few more details: The book is from the early 50's. I remember a picture of the letter sent to the animal kid from his parents on their trip, propped up on the mantel over the fireplace, unread. The kid(s) wander through the forest asking each animal "Can you read my letter?" When the owl reads when the parents are returning, I think they plan a welcome home party.  The end shows a picture of all the animals, each opening a gift the parents bring  the ones I recall are an alarm clock, a comb, and mirror.  I can't imagine why this book is haunting me...maybe my parents left me at home for a long time when I was kid! 



A286: Anthology with monkey
I am looking for a book that my parents read to me all the time when I was a child.   It has been been misplaced in the past twenty years, and I would like to find out the information on it, so I can get a copy for my children.  I remember it was a yellow hard back that was full of short simple stories for children.  One of the stories was about a bee biting a monkey's knee.  Another story was about birds pulling out all of a monkey's hair until he was bald, and how he used different things for a 'wig' until it came back.  Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.  Thanks!

I wrote originally that the book was yellow.  It was actually light purple.  I am sorry for the confusion.
I'm afraid I don't know the title of the anthology, but perhaps this bit of information might help.  We also had this book for my son when he was little.  It was an anthology of stories  - one about bees bothering a monkey - in a rhymning sing-song fashion - but it also included a story about (and here I think the inquirer is mistaken) a lion who generously gave away his hair to his friends, and then needed his friends' help in replacing it.  The lion story apparantly was also sold separately (and has previously been solved here) as Tony and His Friends (1969 Golden Book.)  I don't believe this anthology was a Golden Book product, and I'm sorry that I don't remember its title, but perhaps the inquirer could do a search on Tony and His Friends, (since that particular title is known - I beleive - ) and find the anthology's title through publishing records that way.
Jacobs, Leland B., The Read-It-Yourself Storybook, 1971, Golden Press.  Contents: The monkey and the bee, by L. B. Jacobs.--Tony and his friends, by K. Wagner.--Emily's moo, by T. Gergely.--Come on! Play ball, by I.-M. Vogel.--Peek-a-boo, by I.-M. Vogel.--Eddie's moving day, by J. Deering.--Too many Bozos, by L. Moore.
Read-It-Yourself Storybook by Leland Jacobs is correct! Your stories are the first two in the book!  " I need some hair for a nest," said the bird. "Take all you want," said Tony. Another bird the same, and another-till he is bald!



A287: Abused Girl
Solved: Alice


A288: Agapantha hair
Solved: Naughty Agapanthus


A289: American Heroes
Solved: ValueTales series


A290:Alphabet book
A schoolmate of mine (1992-3ish) had this alphabet book which was illustrated beautifully and with incredible detail. Each letter had an illustration and almost everything in the paiting started with the corresponding letter. Sort of like a "look and find" alphabet book with no clues. It was hardcover and quite large. I've been asking people about this for years but can't find anyone who's ever seen it. I appologize for the sparse info but alas I know neither the illustrator's name or the publisher. Here's hoping this will be the end to my search. Thnx

Wilks, Mike, The ultimate alphabet, 1992.  I'm positive you're thinking of this book - each letter has incredible detailed pictures - with hundreds and hundreds of objects for each letter - i think the "s" page has over 1000.  I see there is now an "annotated ultimate alphabet".
Wonder if this is Animalia, by Graeme Base?
Grahame Base, Animalia, 1987.  Extremely detailed illustrations (picturing, for example, crimson cats with crayfish, coke cans, candles, cacti, camels, castles and more in the background) in an oversize book, along with captions for each page (such as "Lazy Lions Lounging In the Local Library").
This must be Animalia, a beautiful alphabet book by Graeme Base.
Base, Graeme, Animalia.  Possibly Animalia, as it contains many lavish and detailed pictures  that contain many examples of words starting with that letter.
Graeme Base, Anamalia, 1987.  Richly illustrated, finely detailed, mysterious in tone, but beautiful to the eye, this book is the first to come to my mind when someone asks for an alphabet book illustrated with paintings.
Graeme Base, Animalia, 1987.  This book has incredibly detailed illustrations for each letter of the alphabet, and each picture features as many items beginning with that letter as possible.  For example, Horrible Hairy Hogs Hurrying Homewards on Heavily Harnessed Horses.
Graeme Base, Animalia, 1993.  It sounds like Animalia. My favorite illustration shows "Lazy Lions Lounging In The Local Library". The lions look at books titled "Lassie Come Home", "Let's Learn Latin", and "Life In Luxembourg."
I bought this probably around that time.  I can't find the title.  Mary Engelbreit is the illustrator.
The concept here is a common one for ABC books, dating back at least a century.  But I'm voting for The Ultimate Alphabet as the solution to this stumper, as it is less well known as Animalia, with more objects detailed in the drawings, and no catchy captions that the stumper requester might have remembered.
Graeme Base, Animalia, 1986.  Animalia was published earlier than 1992 but it has beautifully intricate illustration. All of the illustrations are associated with a letter of the alphabet.
Graeme Base, Animalia, 1987.
Mitsumasa Anno, Anno's Alphabet, 1975.  Could it be Anno's Alphabet?  The letters were carved, I think, and the drawings very intricate.  Here's a description:  Each letter of the alphabet accompanies a full-page picture puzzle of an object whose name begins with that letter: anvil, bicycle, etc.
I've looked into both titles suggested and am reasonably sure neither is the one. I do not recall any words whatsoever on the pages and the paintings were very realistic - like still life.  I believe~ there were ants on the "A" page and maybe even visual referances to alchemy? The scale of the book was similar to Anamalia, being taller than wide.Thnx again!
Base, Graeme, Animalia.  If you want to rule out Animalia, check your memory of this: certainly there are ants on the "A" page, that's not unusual. But on the "D" page, for Dr. Who fans everywhere, there is a Dalek in the background. No other alphabet book in my memory has that!
Leonard Baskin, Hosie's Alphabet, 1972.  ANIMALIA sounds right, but it could also be HOSIE'S ALPHABET.  Here's the card catalog description:  "A full-page illustration of a creature for each letter of the alphabet, including a bumptious baboon, furious fly, ghastly garrulous gargoyle, and quintessential quail."



A291: Airplane builder
Solved: Me and My Flying Machine


A292: Amaryllis
Solved: The Magic Garden
A293: Albino

Solved: Ceremonies


A294:Amusement Park Island
A girl is on an island with an amusement park or funhouse on it.  At the end of the book there is a chase scene where she is hiding in the attractions, which are closed and deserted.  I think there is a room with a statute of witch, either wax or animatronic, which possibly stirs a pot containing paper fortunes.  I would guess the book was written in the 70s or 80s.  Thanks for your help.

A294 Sounds like it could be JUST TELL ME WHEN WE'RE DEAD by Eth Clifford. This is one of her Jo-Beth and Mary Rose mysteries (they are sisters). They go looking for their cousin on an island. There is an amusement park involved (the cover has them riding in a roller coaster car heading into a mountain cave). It was published 1983 and 1985. ~from a librarian
It is not Just Tell Me When We're Dead, though I appreciate the guess.  I don't remember the main character being with a sister.  I think either her relatives or family friends ran the amusement park.
Lorire  McLaughlan, Cinnamon Hill Mystery. (1967)  It's been a long time since I read this, but as I remember, there's a girl (who does have a lot of sisters, but they're not really in the story) a boy who considers himself an inventor (who may be her cousin) and a mystery.  The whole mystery wraps up in an amusement park...but I don't remember much more than that.  It's definitely not the JoBeth and Mary Rose books by Eth Clifford, though some of the elements are similar.



A295: Anthology
The cover, some of the first and last pages of this book are missing.  It is a children's book with an alphabet section near the front, a large middle section of poems about animals and people and a later section of a few short stories (though I'm not sure how many).  The illustrations are beautiful and look to have been done mostly by one person.  I remember there being quite a few horse pictures (because I was a horse crazy kid).  Identifying and getting my hands on a complete copy would be a dream.

A296: Animal mothers and babies, rhyming
Solved: Over in the Meadow

A297: Adults over age 15 die
Solved: The Girl Who Owned a City

A298: Aliens arrest a sci-fi writer for disclosing their technology
Solved: Security Check

A299: Augusta and chicken pox
Solved: The Chicken Pox Papers

A300: Anthropomorphic cats go to the movies
What I mainly remember about the book was its front cover.  I was a kid in the single digit age in 1991-93 when I found it.  It was in the bargain bin of a small bookstore on the Ocean City (New Jersey) boardwalk, so from that, I presume the book was published in America.  The cover had simply drawn cartoonish cats with roundish heads, standing on two legs and dressed in clothes, waiting in line in front of a movie theater.  I may be wrong, but I think the colors on the cover were pale.  The movie theater had a sign on it that was surrounded by lights.  I remember that the back had a description of the novel, including the line that made the young me put it back and not buy it - "not a book for children" (though that is a paraphrase).  I don't remember much about the plot descripton, except for the fact that these celebrity movie cats led quite racy lives.  The book seemed thick to me as a child - I'd guess about 200 pages - and I'm not sure if it had any internal illustrations.  It was a large size paperback (I think it's called a "trade" paperback, rather than the small size of most "rack" paperbacks). It would not  have been published any later than the early 90's, and if I had to guess at the most likely era, I'd say the 80's. It is NOT Samurai Cat Goes to the Movies, though that book is from the right time frame.  It is also not Omaha the Cat Dancer, Life and Death of Fritz the Cat, or any other graphic novel.  Any help would be hugely appreciated!

(1950-1960)  Could this be one of the Jenny Lind Cat Club books by Esther Averill?  I think there's a theatre production in one of them...maybe The Hotel Cat?
Kobayashi, What's Michael?  (1990)  Perhaps one of the What's Michael? collections published by Eclipse in trade paperback/softcover circa 1990? Some info on the series can be found on Wikipedia. These are translations of a popular Japanese manga/comic and do fit most of the criteria, since the requestor is not sure if the insides were illustrated or not it's worth trying.
No - I've read the Jenny books, and they're not it.  Also, I'm positive these were dressed, upright cats, and that the book wasn't aimed at children. Another forum suggested The Cinematic Cat: A Cat's Guide to the Great Movies by Bob Bruno might be the book I want, as the front cover is very close to what I described, but I need to see the back cover to be really sure.  Does anyone have copy they can take a picture of for me?


A301: Animals turn round in circle before going to sleep
My 72-year old mother’s favorite childhood bedtime story involved various animals “turning round” before settling down to sleep.  I assume the book was published between 1900 and 1945. The book was read in the 1930s. One of the animals was a lamb.  The last character was a child who (predictably) went to sleep.

Helen Earle Gilbert (author), Marge Opitz (illustrator). A similar stumper was posted within the last couple of years, and it was solved as Go-to-Sleep Book by Helen Earle Gilbert (author) and  a Junior Elf Book published by Rand McNally in 1949.  I've found copies that bear a copyright date of 1936 and 1959, so it's probably an older book that was reprinted numerous times.  I don't know if this is the book you're looking for, but it's worth a look!  Please see the Solved Mysteries "G" page for more information


A302: Angels shining their stars
Solved: The Shiniest Star



A303:Alien and little boy
Okay, this is one for the books...if you guys can help me find this book, I will give you my firstborn son: I read this book when I was about 7 (that would be 1987) and in the book, there was a boy, who became friends with an alien.  When the little boy put on these magic glasses the alien gave him, what was around him would transform into something else (e.g., once, he looked at an ice cream stand with the glasses on, and it was actually the alien's spaceship).  I also remember that the little boy went up in the spaceship with the alien, with another friend to visit the alien's planet.  When the boys got hungry on the way, the alien pushed a button the the dashboard of the spaceship, and the entire cabin began to smell like their favorite foods.  The boys sniffed and sniffed, and then discovered that they were no longer hungry, because the scent had filled them up.  I can't remember anymore details, but I remember LOVING this book and I would love to get a copy.  Can anybody make sense of this description???  I found the book in the school library as a kid. Thanks!!

Alien and little boy  - Could this be The Space Ship Under the Apple Tree by Louis Slobodkin?  I remember that the alien's ship was disguised as an ice cream cart, but don't know the details because I never quite finished the book.  There are sequels I've never read, as well.
Cameron, Eleanor, The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet. (1954)  A mystery man inspires two boys to build a space ship which takes them to the planet of Basidium to help the Mushroom people.



A304:Alligator/crocodile mother cares for eggs
I am looking for a picture book about a mother crocodile or alligator. The book takes place in a swamp and it tells all about how the alligator/crocodile gathers grasses to build a nest, lays eggs, protects eggs, babies hatch, swim with mother. I think the book must be from the 80's or 70's, definently not newer. The illustations are have a lot of green in them, muted, not bright.

Sayre, April Pulley, Crocodile Listens, 2001. Even though this title is from 2001, it fits the description. I think it might be the one.
I don't think it can be Sayre's Crocodile Listens. I had a crocodile book that sounds very similar in the early 80s, and it was not that one. The only further detail  I can suggest are that my book was rectangular in shape, was landscape format, not portrait format, and there was a fair amount of white space left on many of the pages.
Evelyn Shaw, Alligator. (1972)  This looks like a good possibility.  "Alligator" is a "Science I CAN READ Book" published by Harper & Row, for ages 4-8, illustrated throughout in color by Frances Zweifel.  The book discusses the life cycle of the American Alligator, and man's threat to its existence.  The cover of this book is a soft green color, sort of mottled or textured looking, not a flat or solid color.  Pictured is an alligator, with a fern in the foreground, palmetto fronds in back, and some clumps of long grasses. If this isn't the one you're looking for, a couple of others that might be at least worth a glace are "The Life Cycle of the Crocodile" by Paula Hogan (1980), or "The Crocodile and Alligator" (part of the "Animals in the Wild" series from Scholastic) by Vincent Serventy (1986).  Cover of the Hogan book is brown, with picture of crocodile in circle at top, and the word "Crocodile" printed 3 times at bottom.  Cover of the Serventy book shows a photo of an alligator, lying on a rock or bank, reflected in the water. Title is printed on a yellow band at top of page. Good luck!
David Knight, I Can Read About Alligators and Crocodiles, 1979.  This is a possibility, if the book you remember was from a school book fair and was for fairly young readers.  This book was published by Troll.  I found a picture of the old cover here: .  The newer (1999) cover is different but I don't know about the inside illustrations.


A305: Archologist/xenologist girl on alien planet
Book search description: Archologist/xenologist girl on alien planet.  The main character is a young woman born to archeologist parents on an alien planet.  The parents were excavating alien burial mounds and are now deceased, leaving her as the sole human on the planet.  A spaceship from earth lands and the humans offer to take her back to earth, which is now an entirely city-based world with no open land.  The newcomers notice that she is much taller than humankind is now.  She continues the excavations, finding that the most recent graves of the aliens have extremely elongated and brittle bones.  I read this book in about 5th grade, around 1981.

Monica Hughes, The Keeper of the Isis Light, 1980.  One of my favorites! I am quite sure this is the one you are looking for. It is the first of a trilogy by a great Canadian author who has written many juvenile/young adult science fiction books. The other two are The Guardian of Isis and The Isis Pedlar.
Unfortunately, it's not the Isis series, which I read and loved at about the same time I read the stumper book.  This one didn't have a Guardian taking care of the girl, and didn't get into the generations of recent-Earth folks settling into the planet.  But thanks for the Isis reference - I didn't know there was a third one!
H.M. Hoover, 1970s/1980s, approximately.  It sounds a little like one of H.M. Hoover's books, but I don't remember the plots well enough to pull the correct title out of my hat!  You could try Only Child, Winds of Mars or maybe Orvis.  Good luck!
H M Hoover, Another Heaven, Another Earth, 1981, approximate.  It's this book; it takes place on the planet Xilan, and the main characters are Gareth (the Xilan colonist) and Lee (one of the explorers).



A306: alphabet book from 70's
Solved: The Sesame Street Book of Letters


A307: Andersen series
I'm looking for some illustrated storybooks that I had as a child in the seventies. If I recall correctly, the ones I had were Hans Christian Anderson's "Emperor's New Clothes" and "Little Mermaid" (though they were probably more within the series). The books were average size (not too small) and had very thick, hard pages covered by something like a transparent textured vinyl. It is possible that the illustrations were actually photos of dolls, but I can't be sure. These are fuzzy memories, but I think the books are unusual enough that even if I'm wrong in some of the details, they can't be mistaken for any other books.

Try a web search of "puppet storybook" and see if any of those books look familiar. Some of them had a very distinctive 3-d cover made from vinyl and the rest of the book seems to match your description.
You are looking for the Golden Press books with the black covers! The illustrations are actual photos of posed dolls and the cover shows a holographic-like 3D image. I have a few of these books (they were favorites of mine too!). The Emperor's New Clothes was published in 1966.
About that holographic cover...  We hadHansel and Gretel when I was a child, and my mother said that it could be played on a record player.  I don't remember it ever working very well, but it would be interesting to check out the possibility if anyone has a copy and still owns a turntable.
Various, Golden Press books illustrated by Shiba Productions, late 1960's/early 1970's. These were by Golden Press, and had lenticular 3D pictures set into the covers.  The illustrations were photographs of dolls in scenes and were done by Shiba Productions.  They included Emperor's New Clothes, Thumbelina, Little Mermaid, Little Tin Soldier, Snow Queen, Wild Swans, Puss in Boots, Sleeping Beauty, Hansel and Gretel, and Snow White.



A308: American Indian couple, Trail of Tears?
I'm looking for a book that was in my Jr. High Library around 1981. It was about a young Indian man who needed to capture horses to give to the father of the girl he loved, so that he could marry her. While he was off trying to get horses, his girlfriend and several other girls were taken by an enemy tribe.  Their captors wanted to know if the girls were virgins (which they all claimed to be). The girls were treated well, though they did have to work hard. I believe the intention was to incorporate them into the tribe by eventually marrying them, rather than keeping them as slaves. The one girl then discovered that she was pregnant. At first she was able to conceal it by cutting herself once a month to produce a little blood, so that she could go away to the "women's place," which may have been near a waterfall. But after a few months, her condition became apparent.  As punishment, she was buried alive, with only her head above ground, and left to die. Her boyfriend found her, and I'm pretty sure he arrived in time to rescue her. They may have later been forced off their land, onto the Trail of Tears. I had thought that the names of the couple were Laughing Boy and/or Slim Girl, but the book I'm looking for is definitely NOT "Laughing Boy" by Oliver La Farge, despite the similarity of the names. It is possible that I am combining details of multiple books. The incident with the pregnant, captive girl being buried alive is the one that most sticks in my mind, though I think it was a relatively minor plot point, and the focus of the book was more on the boy. Any suggestions are appreciated.  Thanks!

Scott O'Dell, Sing Down the Moon, 1997, approximately.  Could it be Sing Down the Moon? It was about the Navajos being captured by the Spaniards, I think.



A309: American Indian boy cheats on manhood test
I'm looking for a book I read in the early 80's. It was about an Indian boy who was preparing to emark on his manhood trial. He and the other boys his age were all to go out into the forest, alone, unarmed, and I believe naked, where they must kill a deer, and survive on their own for some number of days, to prove that they were men. This boy decides to cheat on the test by burying a secret cache of food, weapons, and mocasins. I think he does so because he is trying to impress someone (a girl? his father? an older brother?) and it seems like he didn't think of it as "cheating" but as being smarter than the others, and better prepared. Anyway, when he doubles back to collect his supplies, he is caught and disgraced. He is either kicked out of the tribe or runs away, and must survive for awhile on his own. I think he later redeems himself and returns, but I'm not sure about that part. There may have also been something later in the book about a vision quest, where he spends several days camped on a cliff ledge, fasting, seeking his animal spirit guide - or that might have been from another book. Thank you for any suggestions!

Claude Aubry, Agouhanna, 1972.  I'm sure this is the book you are looking for!
Young Agouhanna, an Iroquois chief's son, does not enjoy hunting and running with the other boys.  Little Doe, a female childhood playmate, and White Eagle, his best friend, try to encourage him as the time of his manhood trial draws near.  White Eagle remains near him in the forest and Little Doe demands to pass the ordeal test along with Agouhanna.  At thirteen the chief's son undergoes his vision and receives a spirit animal  from that time on he is at peace with his nature and with the formerly frightening forest.
I will definitely check out Agouhanna, but I don't think it's the one I'm looking for. I don't remember anything about a girl trying to pass the manhood challenge.  One other thing I remembered that I'm pretty sure was from this book is that the boy was unusually close to his mother, past the time of normal childhood closeness.  She may have been the one who suggested that he hide the supplies in the woods, or might have helped him to gather them.  I remember a scene where the mother is plucking the hairs from his chin, using a clamshell as tweezers, but I'm not 100% sure that scene is from the same book. Thanks for any suggestions!



A310: Annabell, the stories of ?
Solved: Kate Smith Stories of Annabelle


A311: Angel in a boy's body
Solved: Prince Ombra


A312: American Bandstand
Solved: TV Bandstand


A313: Animal Parade
Solved: The Fairy Kitten


A314: Anthology
Solved: Read-It-Yourself Storybook\


A315: All the pretty horses
Solved: All the Pretty Horses
All the Pretty Horses


A316: Archie
Solved: The Playful Little Dog
I am seeking a children's book-- Elf, I think, though Golden  Book size. I think the cover was red. The story featured a 50s-era  family that was moving to a new house, and there was a boxer dog  named Archie.
I hope you can help me!

Jean Horton Berg, The Playful Little Dog, 1951. This is a Wonder Book, similar in size to Little Golden Books.  Archie the Boston Terrier and his owners move to a new neighborhood.  Across the street lives a big dog.  Afraid that the big dog will eat Archie, Archie's owners put up a fence.  When the big dog comes running over, Archie jumps over the fence.  The big dog chases Archie, and then the two dogs lie down and rest together and become friends. 



A317: Aunt, well-disciplined
Solved: Rebecca Of Sunnybrook Farm


A318: Australia
Solved: Pastures of the Blue Crane


A319: Alison and the Unicorn
Solved: The Beast With the Magical Horn


A320: Andy and Arthur
Solved: One Teddy Bear is Enough


A321: Anthology
Solved: The Illustrated Treasury of Children's Literature


A322: Anthology With Enormous Cat, Bull, Dick Whittington
Solved: A Treasury of Animal Stories


A323: Aesops Fables?
I think this book was written during the 1940's. I remember it as being a larger book, perhaps size 8 x 10 or a little larger. It was fairly thick, at least an inch or more. It had  block print illustrations (looked stamped but in colors). The paper used in the pages was heavier paper.  I specifically remember a story in it called  The Woodpecker, about a woman who made pies and wore a red babushka. She was very selfish and a number of beggars came by and she couldn't give them a pie and so she turned into a red headed woodpecker. That is all I can specifically remember. This was one of my favorite books as a child. I have searched for it a long time with no success. Please help!

Watty Piper, The Road in Storyland, (1932). The story entitled the Old Woman Who Wanted All The Cakes appears in the Platt and Munk Company's The Road in Storyland, which I believe was reprinted a number of times in the 1940's and 50's.  The story about an old woman who is transformed into a woodpecker for refusing to give a beggar a piece of pie made quite an impression on me too when I read it about 50 years ago, and was the subject of a previously solved book stumper.
Platt and Munk seems to have cornered the market on this one!!On this site- in archives, it is cited in three of their books. As someone mentioned Road to Storyland, also Folk Tales Children Love- Watty Piper- 1934 illustrations by George and Doris Hauman( unattributed, I believe), and finally Magic Story Tree-Lucille and H.C. Holling-1964. In this last one it is called The Woodpecker, if memory serves me. I have the book-somewhere! Can't locate it right now. I am sure your solution is one of these last two books. Given the Hauman's woodcut type pictures, I think the second title might be your best bet!! Stumpers R 142 and W 183 seem to be looking for the same volume.
Thankyou for the tips but I know that the name of the book is Aesop's Fables and it a collection of fables, the one about the woodpecker is just one of many.



2007

A324: Animal town
Solved:  The Golden Storybook of River Bend


A325: Adam has the ticket
Looking for a book from mid-80's where boy named ? Adam falls asleep and visits a land with houses, etc. made of food. Petit fours, jail of peppermint sticks, houses of teapots. He wakes up and finds the ticket in his pocket.

Heinrich-Maria Denneborg, A Trip to Lazibonia,1971. Could A325 be A Trip to Lazibonia by Heinrich-Maria Denneborg? The children are awoken by the dream boat that takes them off to the magical land of Lazibonia!  Through the pyramid of rice pudding to the only place where roast chickens fly straight into your mouth, cheeses are scattered like stones and gingerbread cottages really exist so that the residents can simply lie around. Cooked fish swim in the milk river, honey roast hams run around ready to be carved for lunch. Fountains abound to deliver your favourite drink on a whim.  Need to loosen your belt? Clothes grow on trees and the grass is made of every imaginable colour of hair ribbon. Activity of any kind is frowned upon but if you want to learn you can start at the top and work your way down to kindergarten where you can just have fun all day!"



A326: Alien Children in silver cocoons
Solved: Born into Light


A327: aliens eat egg yolks
Friendly aliens come to earth and are wasting away, because they cannot find a food they can eat.  The day is saved when someone finds out they can eat egg yolks.

Cameron, Eleanor, Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet, 1954.  Sounds like the Mushroom Planet books.  Most of the activity takes place on their planet, but one alien did come to Earth--Mr. Bass--and he manages to get two boys to build a spaceship and take a hen along to save his homeworld.  Egg yolks fill in some missing piece in their diet and the population is saved.
Zena Henderson, The Anything Box.  This is an anthology of stories I read a few years ago from the library so I can't check the details but I think it had a story in it similar to what you're seeking.  The story I recall had aliens landing on earth and living in a refugee-type camp while negotiations were ongoing among the officials.  A young boy made friends with a young alien, the mothers got to know one another as well, and the humans accidentally discovered that the aliens required something in their diet to survive that was no longer available on their home planet- it may have been salt they were using on a hard-boiled egg at a picnic.  The other book that comes to mind is Eleanor Cameron's Mushroom Planet series- in those books the boys travel to the Mushroom Planet and leave behind a chicken as the people of the planet are dying from lack of sulfur and need the eggs to survive.
The story in Zenna Henderson's The Anything Box about the aliens who need salt is called "Subcommittee". They need salt water, not only to live but to be able to reproduce. To me, it is one of Henderson's best stories. Henderson's other collection of short stories is called Holding Wonder. Her "People" stories were anthologized as InGathering about ten years ago.



A328: adolescent boy
Adolescent boy is at picnic in park with family on July 4th.  Heads behind a tree and finds a door/falls in a hole and winds up in an underground world/civilization.  He is put on trial for some crime that he has committed.  He's taken in by a family while he awaits his trial.  Eventually, he either escapes or is found not-guilty and he finds his way up to the surface.  The end has fireworks and the boy with his family.  The book was probably written in the 1980s or early '90s.

You're POSITIVE this isn't The Forgotten Door by Alexander Key, written more than 40 years ago? It's awfully similar, though among other differences, the beginning and ending have shooting stars, not fireworks. See Solved Mysteries. A lovely book. One amateur reviewer said it helped expand his idea of masculinity greatly, too.



A329: Alligator with dog biscuits and balloons?
I've been pulling my hair out trying to find my favorite book as a child!  I remember an alligator living in an apartment as a part of a human family.  He may have had his own room or bed, and he was like the family dog and even ate doggie biscuits!  I also remember him floating across the street to another apartment by means of a balloon tied to him, but I'm not sure why he did such a thing.  I'm almost sure that the book is not "Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile", but I've been known to be wrong.  My mother believes the alligator's name was Alfred.  Any help you could give would be MOST appreciated!

Bernard waber, Lyle, Lyle Crocodile, 1965.  I remember those books, they were grand. There are a series of them, just in case you were only exposed to one of them.
I'm suggesting this only because his name is Al.  Enright, W J Pat.   Al Alligator and how he learned to play the banjo.  illus by W J Pat Enright.  Dodd, 1947.
Mircea Vasiliu, Where is Alfred?, 1978, copyright.  This book is about a girl named Susan who lives in a city and has a pet alligator named Alfred that loves to eat dog biscuits. One day he falls out of his high-rise window into a treetop. Susan looks all over for him and eventually discovers him in the tree, but all attempts to rescue Alfred fail until Susan has the idea to tie dog biscuits to balloons which are then tied to the end of a fishing pole and extended out of a window.  Alfred leans out to take a bite and when he does, he floats gently down to the ground. Susan makes Alfred a roof garden and soon neighbors with a pet turtle and another alligator move in and Alfred makes new friends.



A330: Andre and the Ant
Solved: Henry's Awful Mistake


A331: Apple, The
Solved: Who's Got the Apple


A332: animals hidden, letters bordering pages
Solved: Puzzle Island


A333: Allison Farrington
Solved: Special Year


A334: alphabet/record boxset
Solved: The Letter People -- Reading Readiness Program


A335: alligator/ crocodile
Alligator/Crocodile horizontal format book from the 1970's or earlier.  In the 1970's, I used to check this book out of the library.  I always found it on the shelf because it stuck out way further than the other books on the shelf (it was short and very long.) I'm pretty sure the cover was green, and I believe it was about an alligator or crocodile.  I've searched this site and have found several alligator or crocodile books, but when searching those titles, I can't find any that are a horizontal format book. Please help!  Thanks.


A336: anonymous boy
Solved: The Forgotten Door


A337: animal birthday
Solved: Fussbunny


A338: ant, stick of butter, and some bread
Solved: More and More Ant and Bee


A339: army of ants
Solved: Leningen vs. the Ants


A340: american primer
Play- New American Readers For Catholic Schools 1942

A341: Abandoned Girl Gets Palomino Horse
Solved: Pagan the Black


A342: Adventure, Boy, Snake, Morse Code, Train, Ningland
I remember as a young boy reading this book many times but can't remember the title or the author.  The small amount I can remember from the book is that it starts with a boy at a train station and I think a steam train arives.  At this point he meets a snake and they set out on an adventure together, with the snake communicating via morse code hisses.  I think then go to a land called Ning with the song/anthem 'There'll always be a Ning-Land'.  Can't remember much else but would really like to find some details. Thanks.


A343: aliens doodle wig and nog visit earth, think cars are alive
I remember this children's book around 1969-1972, about three aliens named Doodle, Wig and Nog, one of whom visits earth and reports about its inhabitants, which are actually cars he sees from his spaceship.  It may have been called "A Place Called Earth."  They all decide that they would like to visit the earth and see the people who live there.  The aliens all have teardrop-shaped heads with dots and wigs on top.  Very cute drawing style, a colorful children's book.

Sure sounds like the Tweedlebugs from Sesame Street - not sure of the book's title, though.
This sounds like the children's poem "Southbound on the Freeway" by May Swenson. Perhaps her poem was expanded on in another book? (The aliens are not named in this poem) The poem can be found in the 1967 anthology Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle, which is still in print.



A344: alone in cave, 13 matches
Solved: All the Dark Places


A345: animals have a party, secret codes around each page
Solved: The Eleventh Hour:  A curious mystery


A346: American teen goes to Cuba
Solved: Cargo for Jennifer


A347: Animals live in brownstone apartment building
Solved: The Brownstone


A348: Apple tree Christmas
Solved: Apple Tree Christmas


A349: ABC the elephant
1932. Father-in-law remembers it was an Alphabet book, only remembers certain lines: ABC the elephant, LMNO the elephant, etc....not much to go on but all he can recall!

A350: Ann, undersea fantasy, dolphin
Book with a preprinted, blue cover, published circa 1967-1968, about a girl named Ann (?) who has adventures in an undersea fantasy involving a dolphin. Chapter book of 100 pages (?) with line drawings of the period. I remember being attracted to the story partly because she spelled Ann without an E, as I did.  I used to have a possibly false memory that the AUTHOR's surname was Downer, like mine, but exhaustive searchers for author = Downer and title = Dolphin have brouht up nothing.

Herbert Kenny, Dear Dolphin, 1967. The author name doesn't match what the requester remembers, but I''m fairly certain this is the book. It's an Alice in Wonderland sort of story with a young girl, Ann(e), who follows a dolphin into the sea and runs into a pirate who lives in a sunken shipwreck. I loved this book when I was a child, and got to re-read it again when I visited my parents' house last year.



A351: Anthology, Plays and Poems
Among the titles: a play "The Ghost of Benjamin Sweet"; a poem "TheLittle Peach" by Eugene Field (about Johnny Jones and his sister Sue); and a play "The Diamonds" or "The Diamond Necklace" (not to be confused with the French story).  This story is about a woman confined to a wheelchair who owns a renowned necklace of diamonds.  A thief attempts to steal it and it is later revealed that the young woman who cares for the necklace owner is an accomplice.  I can add a few more items contained in this anthology I'm seeking.  "The Chronicle of the Drum," poem.  A story about a girl named "Daisy" who is hired to be a kind of nanny / maid and learns a bitter lesson about her place in the family most memorable scene is her playing blocks with the toddler she's caring for. I believe the story about Daisy is "A Start in Life," by Ruth Suckow.  This anthology is circa 1945-50, possibly earlier.  Thanks to anyone who can help!

The Winfield Diamond.  Not exactly a solution, but the story about the diamond necklace sounds suspiciously similar to an old radio play from "The Unexpected" series, called "The Winfield Diamond."  A female jewel thief, while casing the Winfield mansion with the intent of stealing a famous diamond, is approached by Mr. Liggett, the butler, who offers her the position of secretary to the elderly Mr. Winfield, an invalid. She is later given the location and combination to the safe by Mr. Winfield, with instructions to remove the diamond and ship it to a buyer.  She removes the diamond, intending to steal it, but is caught by the butler and ordered to return the diamond and leave the house immediately. Then, of course, the "unexpected" twist - on her way home, she hears a news broadcast that the diamond has been stolen by an international jewel thief, Light-Fingered Liggett, with the aid of a female accomplice posing as the old man's secretary.  She ends up in prison, while Liggett gets away with the diamond. Of course, the genders are switched from the story you recall, but perhaps it is some variation of this one?



A352: Alien "motes" feeding on starlight
Solved: The Power of Stars


A353: Anderson, Hans Christian,  Biography
Solved: The Shoemaker's Son: The Life of Hans Christian Andersen


A354: Apostles, illustrated book
Solved: Jesus and the Twelve


A355: Animals in die-cut book with button eye
I'm moderating a program at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, MA in December, with Wendell Minor as one of the guests. In an interview, he said that his all-time favorite book as a child - this would have been right after WWII, mid forties - was a "die-cut book where every animal had the same button eye and you’d learn all about the cows and pigs and horses and what kind of sounds they made." I know that's not much to go on, but I'd love to be able to locate a copy for him. I have my fingers crossed that you will help solve this mystery.

I believe this book is called “The Bright-Eye Book”, illustrated by Milo Winter, verses by Marjorie Barrows, 1941. It has a jingly eye on the last page, and each animal is placed to have this jiggle eye as its own eye. There is a bird, a fish, a dog, an owl, a lamb, a duck and a squirrel.



A356: Apartment, huge party, pan for hat
Solved: Ghost in a Four Room Apartment


A357: American Indian children
I had the book in the 1960s, and I probably got it from my older cousins.  It seemed like an old book at the time.  I suspect the publication date to be in the 1940s to 1950s, maybe earlier.  Each chapter was a story about an American Indian child from a different tribe.  One story was about an Anasazi or pueblo boy called Turtle boy, who was slightly crippled from a badly healed broken leg.  Another was about a girl in a Pacific Northwest tribe---I remember that she was described as knowing alls sorts of uses for cedar bark.  Another concerned a girl living in Michigan, who was a slave or captive in another tribe.  She found a large nuggest of pure copper, and used it to bargain with the cheif for her freedom.  Another story was about plains tribes --- they may not have had horses.  Most of the stories seemed to take place before arrival of Columbus and Europeans.  In retrospect, it seemed remarkably modern and accurate--lots of details about the cultures of different tribes.  Physical description: fairly large book about 11" tall by 8" wide Blue cloth cover.  Some color illustrations.

Holling C. Holling, The Book of Indians, 1935, copyright.  This book contains four chapters about the home life of Indians from various regions of the country, and eight chapters relating the adventures of specific Indian children. Chapter titles are: Something About Indians, People of the Forests and Lakes, Otter-Tail Goes Hunting, Flying-Squirrel Gathers Bulrushes, People of the Plains, Buffalo-Calf and the Great Herd, In the Days of Rides-Away-Tinkling, People of the Deserts and Mesas, Little Turtle and the Cliff Dwellers, What Corn Flower Found, People of the Rivers and the Sea, Raven and Whale-Tooth Hunt a Whale, and Cedar-Bough's Bargain.  The book includes six color plates, plus line drawings by H.C. and Lucille Holling.  The cover features a stylized drawing of a thunderbird or eagle below the title. Some editions have a blue cloth cover with either orange or black print, others have red cloth with black print.  The dust jacket shows a full-color picture of an Indian Chief in feather headdress riding a horse. Inside the front and back covers are maps, showing where the various tribes lived.



A358: Ankh mirror is window to a parallel universe
Solved: The Other World


A359: "Alphabet soup," book of poems
A book containing several poems.  It's perhaps a wartime book.  The only thing I remember from it is "Poop-a-doop-doop, poop-a-doop-doop, have you ever had any alphabet soup?"


A360: Animals story collection
It was a collection of small childrens books, each with a different coloured cover. One of them was a story about a little dog (spaniel?) getting lost in the woods, and I think an owl helps him. The other books are stories about animals too. I read them around the late 80s/early 90s.


A361: alphabet book
1950's-1960's.  it's most likely a golden book, though it may be a wonder book. there is a line that i remember that is definitely in this book. for the letter "A"..."A was for ape, who stole some white tape, and tied up his toes in four beautiful bows." also.."I was for ice..." and "X was for king Xerzes...".  all the pictures were in full color.

Edward Lear.  I've never seen a full color version of this, only one with black and white illustrations by the author, but the text is definitely Edward Lear!
This is one of Edward Lear's alphabet poems.
Lear, Edward.  I am sure there are many published versions of this set of limericks.  The alphabet limericks were written by Edward Lear.
Lear Edward, Edward Lear's A nonsense alphabet, 1962, reprint.  There is a version of Lear's alphabet illustrated by Richard Scarry, published by Doubleday in 1962.



A362: AnnaMarie
Solved: Big Big Story Book


A363: alphabet book illustrated by Oxenbury
Children's alphabet book author unknown, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury.  Goes,  Big A little a what begins with a, aunt annie's alligator AAA, Big B little b what begins with b, barber, baby, bubbles and a bumblee. etc. Dr. Seuss, Dr. Seuss's ABC, 1960, copyright.
Dr. Seuss, Dr. Seuss's ABC.  More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Seuss's_ABC.
Helen Oxenbury, Helen Oxenbury's ABC of Things, 1933 (reprint). The text you quoted is the Dr. Seuss ABC book, but Helen Oxenbury has done an ABC book as well. Each letter has an illustration and a few words starting with that letter that relate to the illustration. I think it was originally published in the 1970s, but there have been a couple of reprints done. It doesn't seem to be currently in print, though.

2008


A364: animal book
large dark brown book with I think an orange zebra on the corner of the cover. It was all about animals. I loved this book when I was 4, this was in 1989, but it was a book more for adults. It was sort of like an encyclopedia and had photos and I think illustrations. It may have had a jacket, I'm not sure, and it was a thicker book.


A365: Apple Brown Betty/Children's Stories
This is a collection, I believe and there is a short story about a mother making Apple Brown Betty.


A366: Almanac
Solved: Grandfether Groundhog's Almanac


A367: amulet to see invisible folk
I read a series of children's books in around 1986/87 (England). There were, I think, three of them, possibly with a blue, green and orange patterned cover each. A boy and girl had an amulet of some kind (maybe a coin or a pendant) that meant they could see some kind of invisible people, fairy folk perhaps, when they were touching it. There might have been witches, as I have a vague recollection of people flying on a broomstick. I remember a scene with the boy leaning out the window to talk to the people, and having to relay to the girl what they were saying as he was the one touching the amulet. I'm almost certain that the invisible folk were normal people sized, and for some reason I have a vague image of a cat, although that might have been one of the children's, or a neighbour's, pet.

This sounds rather like it could be The Spiderwick Chronicles, a series of 5 books by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black -- which, incidentally, have just been made into a movie; the trailers I've seen everywhere for it seem to match your description of the books.
Unfortunately, it isn't Spiderwick. The books I am looking for were available around 1986, and Spiderwick came out in 2003. The amulet in this had to be worn, I believe, not held and looked through.
Nesbit, Edith (aka Edith Bland), Enchanted Castle.
E. Nesbit, The Story of the Amulet.  
The text is online at http://www.fullbooks.com/The-Story-of-the-Amulet.html .


A368: Anthology, greyish cover
Solved: McCall's Read Me a Story Book


A369: Animated bugs, book series
Solved: Bugg books


A370:  Aliens
Aliens that were in American West before Indians
(Apologies to the person who submitted this: we lost the additional description you submitted a couple weeks ago. If you resend it, we can post it!)

Aldrin, Edwin "Buzz", Encounter with Tiber, 1996, copyright.  In the 1990s, astronaut Buzz Aldrin wrote a science fiction novel.  Its premise was that a group of aliens visited Earth in pre-historic times and dominated the early humans there, but then the aliens left to return to their home planet.  In the 21st century (I think), we humans discovered traces of their presence and left in a spaceship to look for the planet.  If I remember correctly, the aliens landed in or near Arizona.  Please note:  this isn't a children's book; it's a long novel for adults.
Zenna Henderson, The People stories, 1950s-1970s, approximate.  Could be Zenna Henderson's many short stories and two novels, about The People, aliens with powers of telepathy and telekinesis who land in the American Southwest in the 19th Century.
Andre Norton?, Time Travellers.  http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/19145.  This one has aliens in America before the Native Americans got there.  I think there are a lot of books that match that description, though. Do you remember anything else?


A371: All the Pretty Little Horses
I had a picture book when I was a child in the late fifties/early sixties which was probably All the Pretty Little Horses or All the Pretty Horses.  It was most likely a Little Golden Book, but I am not certain.  The lullabye was stretched out through the pages of the book, with illustrations of various horses throughout.  This book would have preceded the Susan Jeffers book by at least 15 or so years.

Margaret Wise Brown, Garth Williams (illus), The Golden Sleepy Book,  1948 & later reprints, copyright.  All The Pretty Little Horses stretches over several pages, with pictures of the horses in various colors, poses, and activities.  The song & music are printed at the end, so you can sing/play it, as well as reading the poem.  This book also contains other stories/poems, including The Whispering Rabbit (about a bunny trying to wake a sleeping bee that had flown down his throat when he yawned), Rabbit (a poem), The Dreaming Bunny (about Bunny No Good, who sits day-dreaming in a large cabbage while the other bunnies do their chores, but who saves them all from an approaching fox that they were too busy to notice), Sleeping Child (poem about Indian, White, African and Chinese children going to sleep, "safe in (his) mother's arms"), Close Your Eyes (poem instructing a little donkey, silly sheep, little monkey, old black cat, etc to go to sleep), Going To Sleep (how different animals go to sleep), and Whip-Poor-Will (a poem). In my copy of this book, All the Pretty Horses takes up three pages, but I have the "G" edition.  If you could find an earlier edition, it might run longer.  Many of the Little Golden Books were originally printed in longer (40+ page) versions, then later condensed (to 20+ pages) with more of the text packed onto each page, and many of the illustrations shrunk down and combined, or eliminated altogether.  I'm almost certain that is the case with this book, and that the older editions would have had "All the Pretty Little Horses" stretched out over more pages.


A372: Abused English boy travels back in time
Solved: A Chance Child


A373: Anthology purple or blue from easy to advanced
I was born in 1967 so I remember this book from around 1971(?).  (I also saw it in a toy store during my freshman year in college: 1985-1986.  Why didn't I buy it?!?!)  It was a large hardcover book (8.5 x 11?) and I think it was thick.  It was a collection of stories and the first story was very basic and only had a few words per page.  The stories got progressively more advanced (more words per page, etc.)  I wish I could remember what the stories were about.  I remember lots of color on the cover and in the book.  Many dark and vivid colors.  This was not a plain white or drab book.  I remember I loved the book though.  Perhaps one of the early pages had a picture of a large tree?  Not sure.

The Illustrated Treasury of Children's Literature, 1955, copyright.  Edited by Clifton Fadiman.  Blue hardcover 8 1/2x 11 inch book that came in both a white dust jacket and a cardboard storage box.   First few items are nursery rhymes with full color pictures.  Last parts of the book are excerpts from novels and some tales from mythology .  The book was reprinted in the late 60s/early 70s, and like you I received it then.


A374: Adult book on child/adolescent psychopathology
Solved: Those Children: Case Studies from the Inner City School


A375: Anthology/Treasury of Children's Animal Stories
Pre-1980, probably earlier collection of children's animal stories and poems. I remember Kipling's "The Cat Who Walked Alone", Louis Untermeyer's story "The Dog of Pompeii", Goldsmith's poem "Elegy on A Mad Dog" (or something like that), Vachel Lindsay's poem "The Bronco Who would Not Be Broken", and a hilarious Thurber-like story about the author's Great Dane puppy, especially the embarrassment of walking him by the local girl's school.  Would love to find this for my son!


A376: Amnesiac girl, shipwreck, deformed finger
This book was likely published in the early-mid 1970's. It was about an amnesiac young girl/woman (15 or 16) during the 18th century who got fished out of the ocean after a shipwreck. She was blond, and had a partially missing pinky finger. There was some kind of link to either piracy or smuggling, and a ship's captain who also had the same finger deformity.


A377: Animals have birthday party
approx 1990-1998. Animals have birthday party, each gets a key to unlock a gate that has a chocolate tree inside... or as best I can remember.


A378: Animal ‘dolls’ posed, Nursery Rhymes
Solved: A Puppet Treasure Book of Nursery Tales


A379: Asian boy uses a lantern to fly in the air
Solved: Tubby and the Lantern

A380: Albino girl, cave
Solved: Ceremonies


A381: Ant bite shrinks person
Solved: The City Under the Back Steps


A382: Angel Alien
1975-1988, juvenile.  A pair of spaceships travel to Uranus ? where an Alien presence is signaling.  The cover art I think had the spaceships look like orange mushrooms.  The story is about the hazards of deep space travel.  When the meet the Alien he introduces himself as Gabriel and some of the technology he has includes a magnetic suspension bed to sleep in midair.  After the meeting is done they realize that because of some supernatural time effect what seemed like days to them was weeks and they conclude that Gabriel must really be the Angel Gabriel.

Hugh Walters. This is one of the later books by Hugh Walters about a group of young astronauts-English,American and Russian- who visit the various planets together. It may be Passage To Pluto, or Nearly Neptune.


A383: american running mexican hacienda
Author: margaret?  nonfiction.  american woman in her early 30's marries a mexican man and moves to mexico to run the hacienda. thought title had words in it like "blue skies" or "clear blue skies". american woman struggles with running hacienda as she is not easily absorbed into household nor given respect/authority easily by existing members of household. i read this in my later teens so perhaps the book was written in the 1970's.

Elizabeth Borton de Trevino, My Heart Lies South.
  This sounds a little like My Heart Lies South, by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino, who won the Newbery for I, Juan de Pareja.   Description (it's been reissued by Bethlehem/Ignatius):  "What happens when a thoroughly twentieth-century American lady journalist becomes a Mexican señora in nineteen-thirties' provincial Monterrey? She finds herself—sometimes hilariously—coping with servants, daily food allowances, bargaining, and dramatic Latin emotions. It is like stepping back a hundred years. In this vivid autobiography, Newbery Award winning author Elizabeth Borton de Treviño brings to life her experiences with the culture and the faith of a civilization so close to the United States, but rarely appreciated or understood. This special young people's edition presents the humor and the insights of a remarkable woman and her contact with an era which is now past, but not to be forgotten."
Hugh Walters.
One of the 'Chris Godfrey' series, that started with 'Blast-off at Woomera'


A384: anthology of children's stories including Bartholomew Cubbins
I recall owning a book in the late 50s or early 60s, a collection of children's stories by various authors, which included "Bartholomew Cubbins" or a story almost exactly like it, but NOT illustrated by Dr Seuss.  May have also had a story about a boy & girl whose mom carved wooden birds. Any ideas?

Pauline Rush Evans (ed.), The Family Treasury of Children's Stories,
1956, copyright.  This is a three volume set, The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins is in Volume 1.  There's only one illustration for the story, and its by Dr. Seuss.  I didn't see a story about carving wooden birds, but I didn't look that closely, either.
Thank you, but this can't be the one I'm thinking of if Seuss is the illustrator.
I think we had a similar book.  It was an anthology of stories from around the world (I believe it had a section on Norse mythology as well).  It had the same basic story as the 500 hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, but without those names.  It may be The Norton Anthology of Children’s Literature. Ours was green with gold writing.
Elsa Jane Werner (ed), Tibor Gergely (illus), The Golden Book of Nursery Tales, 1948, copyright.  A long shot, but perhaps the story you are thinking of is a Swedish tale called "The Cap That Mother Made." A little boy named Anders has a beautiful new cap that his mother has made for him. Everyone he meets admires the cap and wants it for themselves. When an old woman tells him that he looks grand enough to go to the king's ball, he decides to do so. The soldiers at the gate admit him after he claims that his cap is "as good as a uniform." Inside, the princess immediately walks up to Anders and takes him by the hand, causing all the richly dressed ladies and gentlemen to turn and bow to them. She offers to trade him a kiss for his cap, then fills his pockets with cakes and cookies and puts her jeweled necklace around his neck, but he still will not give it up. The king enters, and offers to trade his big golden crown for Anders' cap. Knowing that he can't argue with the king, Anders doesn't say a word - he just clutches his cap tight with both hands and runs all the way home, trailing cakes, cookies, and jewels. When he tells his family what happened, his brothers and sisters think him foolish for turning down the riches - but he defends his decision, saying that nothing in the world is finer than the cap his mother made for him. Other stories in the book include both traditional favorites (such as The Three Bears, Three Little Pigs, Three Billy Goats Gruff, Chicken Little, Little Red Riding Hood, The Gingerbread Boy, The Tortoise and the Hare, The Ugly Duckling, and The Bremen Town Musicians) and harder-to-find stories (like The Boasting Bamboo, Bobo and the Roast Pig, Silly Will, The Little Boy Who Tried to Obey, The Huckabuck Family, Pelle's New Suit, The Little Scarecrow Boy, and The Hollow Tree Store).
The Cap That Mother Made.  Just a follow-up to my previous suggestion. If the story "The Cap That Mother Made" sounds right, but The Golden Book of Nursery Tales does not, versions of the same story can be found in other anthologies, too. One is "The Children's Treasury: A Book To Grow On" (compiled by Marjorie Barrows) c.1947, 1951. Other stories include The Little Gray Pony, A Child's Garden of Verses, Quacky, Nursery Fun, Posh and Tosh, Pelle's New Suit, Horace, The Little Red Hen, The House that Jack Built, The Cat and the Mouse, and The Billy Goats Gruff. Another book containing the story is "Road in Storyland" (edited by Watty Piper) c.1932. This book also contains The Rooster and the Fox, The Pine Tree and its Needles, Olaf and the Three Goats, Boots and his Brothers, King Midas, The Dog and his Shadow, The Shoemaker and the Elves, The Elephant and the Monkey, The Stone in the Road, The Star Dipper, The Old Woman Who Wanted All The Cakes, Little Half Chick, and The Country Mouse and the City Mouse. Finally, you might try the book "First Fairy Tales" published by Merrill, and illustrated by Mary Sherwood Jones and Ray Evans Jr. c.1948. Other stories include: Golden Cobwebs, Lambikin, The Gertrude Bird, The Star Dipper, The Little Red Hen, Aiken Drum, A Never Ending Tale, The Three Wishes, Two Frogs, Silly Jack, The Runaway Rabbit, The Gingerbread Boy, and The Tiny Pine Tree's Wish.


A385: Around the World Bedtime Story
Solved: Come Over to My House, Come Over to Play 

A386: Australian Brother, Sister and Cousin lost, do some time traveling, come home
Solved: The Way Home

A387: Apartment on Central Park
I read this book sometime in the early 70s.  It had a blue cover and was about a girl, an apartment on central park, she could see the window of her apartment from the park.

Eighteen,
1970's.  I have been looking for a book called "Eighteen" for at least a decade off and on online. The description from stumper A387 of the Apt in Central Park sounded familiar. It was about a young teen girl who goes off to get her own apartment at age 18. I remember there was a love interest and perhaps they got the apt togheter. its been 30 years since i read it but i love that book!


A388: African girl living in African Village
It was in the mid 1960's that I read this book. I remember a fight with wild boars, her rising early and eating cold yams from the iron pot that huing outside her tent, I remember brothers being able to hunt and her being forbidden to. I believe her name started with an 'N". Her father may have been the chief of her village.

Reba Paeff Mirsky, Thirty-One Brothers and Sisters.
  Her name is Nomusa.
Thirty-One Brothers and Sisters
? See Solved Mysteries.
Reba Paeff Mirsky, Thirty-One Brothers And Sisters, 1952, approximate.  This is the story of Nomusa, daughter of a South African Zulu chief, her desire to go on an Elephant hunt with the men, and her adventure with a fierce wild boar. Nomusa is a heroine that girls and boys will admire. Illustrated with numerous sepia ink and pen drawings. Winner of the 1952 Charles Follett Award. Reprinted in 1956, 1958 and 1969. Sequels are "Seven Grandmothers" (Warmhearted, capable Nomusa determines to become a healer of the sick - witch doctor or nurse, she is not sure which) and "Nomusa and the New Magic" (Nomusa finds that not everyone is willing to welcome the new knowledge that is coming to Zululand. One of the objectors is Damasi, who is afraid that if Nomusa learns to read and write and becomes a nurse, her bride-dowry will be more cows than he can possibly get together.)
Reba Paeff Mirsky, Seven Grandmothers.  I think this must be one of the 3 books about Nomusa, a Zulu girl, which I also read in the '60s.  The titles are:
Seven Grandmothers [Nomusa's father is indeed a chief, and has six wives -- hence the second title], Thirty-One Brothers and Sisters, and Nomusa and the New Magic (in which she is nearly grown up and decides she wants to be a nurse like the one who visits her village).  I think the name of the boy she likes is Damasi, and they fall in love in the last book.


A389: After Dark
After Dark? 1985?  This children's book was in the Public Library of our town.  It was a hard cover book about 11" high and 8" wide.  It had large colorful pages of illustrations and the book was about how sights, sounds and activities in the neighborhood are different in the morning than nighttime.  There was one page that my daughter remembers very well, it had a prominent red bird in the picture.  I hope you can find this book as it would mean a lot to my daughter.  Thank you.

Budney, Blossom, After Dark,
1975, copyright.  After dark / by Blossom Budney, illustrated by Tony Chen. Discusses the sights and sounds that night brings to a child’s home.


A390: Arabian girl and American girl, horses
i would like to find the title or author of a book about arabian horses and a girl from arabia. she comes to spend a year with an american girl named gabrielle, and they go the horse show route. they meet a couple of boys, and one turns out to be her fiance from arabia, they meet a girl called peaches, gabbys father bought about 4 horses from the girls father. one town they stop at is murdo south dakota, where the time line runs down main street.


A391: Amish boy, radio, Cheyenne Mountain, Armageddon
I am looking for a book I read probably 20 years ago about an Amish or Mennonite boy who intercepted a radio communication from Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado after a cataclysmic even that killed most of earth's population.  He set out to find survivors.  I don't know the title or author, just know it was a paperback, possibly with Armageddon in the title.  Thanks for your help!

Leigh Brackett, The Long Tomorrow.
  This one's about two boys from a quasi-Mennonite postapocalyptic farming community, who find a radio set and become interested in searching for a hidden community where technology has been preserved.
Just wanted to add that the first time I read it, I too expected the hidden enclave to be in Cheyenne Mountain - it seemed to be foreshadowed.  However, it was actually in a valley or canyon and was called Barterstown.


A392: Angel New Baby Heaven From Above
I had this book mid to late 60's.  A young angel falls from heaven.  Two youngsters dress it in clothes that are for the new baby they are expecting, having to scrunch it's wings in. They return the angel to heaven by pushing him/her on a swing.  When the new baby arrives,it is the children's angel.

Val Teal, Angel Child,
1946, copyright.  On Solved Pages "A".


A393: Abraham Lincoln poem
I'm looking for a poem that begins:  When Lincoln was a boy like me / he studied every night / with nothing but the fire / or a candle for a light.  / He wrote all his arithmetic lessons / on a shovel's humpy back / and all he had for pencils / were some bits of stick burned black.

2009


A394: Ape's body, girl's brain
Solved: Eva


A395: All-star football game vs. aliens in outer space
Late 70's/early 80's. A guy takes a trip to outer space to play an intergalactic football game against aliens who love American football. Vince Lombardi is resurrected to coach the humans. Past and future football greats are cloned to play.They erase the guy's memory when he goes home.

I can't remember if it was a football player or coach who goes into space to partake in this football game. If I recall correctly, it's an alien civilization...possibly in the future. They discovered American football many years before and it has become the intergalactic pastime of this galaxy. They're obsessed with the original heroes of the game - humans from the 20th century. They either go back into time and kidnap them or simply clone them, but either way the premise is that they want to challenge the original human football players to a Superbowl of sorts. Their players are aliens of all shapes and sizes. They've evolved the game to the point where original humans wouldn't even be able to play the game...the field is enormous, the balls weigh a ton, etc. So for this exhibition game, they scale the game back to the original human dimensions. For the protagonist, it's a chance to play football alongside all the greats from his era (Unitas, Namath, Lombardi, etc.). There are some players he's never heard of, and is told by the aliens that these are great players from the future (HIS future anyway, as ALL the humans are from the past as far as the aliens are concerned). He actually writes one of their names on a piece of scrap paper and puts it in his pocket, hoping that someday in the future he'll recognize the name and draft the guy before anyone else does. Unfortunately, after the game he returns to Earth/present with his memory of his intergalactic trip wiped clean. He finds the scrap of paper in his pocket, doesn't recognize the name, and throws it out.

Higdon, Hal, The Team That Played in the Space Bowl,
1981, copyright.  This isn't quite as described, but might be a possibility. "To insure victory in the upcoming Space Bowl, the leaders of the planet Gann kidnap what they believe is a top-flight professional football team, which turns out to be a college squad that has never won a game or scored a point.


A396: All Girls School - I read it in the 70s
Solved: A Sense of Magic


A397: Artist loses wife/kids in car crash, finds he has cancer after meeting someone else (70s)
It was written in the 70s about a painter who lost his family in a car crash, met a new woman, then found he had a terminal disease. I think he was named Paul. Last line is "Black, said the painter, is the purest of all colors." It is in a dream of him looking into his grave.


A398: animated animals travelling thru Europe
Solved: Busy Busy World


A399: abusive family takes in runaway girl
Paperback book.  I read it sometime during the early 80's.  On the cover is a picture of a doll with a broken head or a hole in her head.  It is about a young girl that runs away from home and is taken in by an abusive family.  They tie her to a bed, burn her with cigarettes & hose her off outside.

Ketchum, Jack, The Girl Next Door
.  I've never actually read this book but I've heard a lot about it. I don't think the girl was actually a runaway, and from what I've heard, the book is graphic...but she was definitely abused. It's based loosely on the Sylvia Likens case.

A400: American girl visiting English relatives sees ghosts
Solved: The House on Parchment Street

A401: Anora book 1920s
Hello, My grandma was born in 1924.  Her father was a principal and two students said that they had read a book where the main character was Anora and that he should name his new baby that, and he did.  She recently turned 85 and wants to know what the book was.  I have no idea author or title. Thx.

Tomas J. Trujillo, Anora.
  I found a book called "Anora" by Tomas J. Trujillo.  Not sure if this is the book you were looking for.  Good luck!

A402: Adventures of the Wing Ding Dilly
Solved:
The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles

A403: Across Country Bus Trip
This could have been a social studies or geography textbook, but may have been a fiction story about a classroom of kids that (I think) won a cross-country bus trip and they went to all the notable U.S. cities and sites, including Mount Rushmore, maybe Niagara Falls.  I think they started on the east coast and ended up on Catalina Island.  The protagonist was a girl.  I read it in 5th grade back in 1959/60.
A404: Alternate worlds, travel between
I am looking for a young adult novel about boys travelling between alternate worlds.  I think that one was essentially an apprentice in some kind of guild that regularly travelled between worlds and may have even partolled the paths between worlds.  The second was from a world like ours.  The third was an indentured servant or slave to a man who caught ghosts.  This was a respected profession in their world and involved gold wire in some way.  The ghosts were some kind of energy beings that may have been involved in the the travel between worlds.  I read this when I was in junior high in the early 80s.  To my memory, the book was published in the 70s.  I am fairly sure that it was a young adult novel but it is possible that it was published for an adult audience.

No sooner did I send it than I discovered what it was: Dianan Wynne Jones's "The Homeward Bounders." 

A406: American Girl of Yesterday
I am looking for the short story "Wishing Day", written by a subscriber to American Girl Magazine in 1969 or '70. Or '71? Nothing like the "American Girl" series of today! Each issue contained a "By You" section where readers contributed their own stories and poems."Wishing Day" appeared in a special "All By You" issue. In this story, Wishing Day is an annual event at a school. You write the name of the person you want to be and put it under your pillow. In the morning you are that person, body and personality, but with your own mind running alongside his or hers. You stay that way for 24 hours with the option to remain as that person if you like it (a few have done so). I believe it was supposed to take place just before Halloween, in that kind of atmosphere -- goodnaturedly assuming other identities. An ugly, clumsy but intelligent girl wants to try being the most beautiful girl in the school and is almost certain beforehand that she will want to retain that girl's body and identity. She finds out that they have an exact opposite set of interests and activities. What pleases her (study, reading) is tiresome and boring to the pretty girl, and vice versa (endless parties and social events). The ugly girl is relieved to return to her own body, even laughing when she breaks some eggs in the kitchen. (We don't find out who the pretty girl decides to be.) I have been looking for the issue of American Girl in which that story appeared for many years. It had a black cover with a silhouette of a girl and the words "ALL BY YOU". There were a number of other stories and an excellent poem based on Simon and Garfunkel's "America" in that issue. And because this is turning into a query, Loganberry is getting another $2 from me.

This story sounds familiar to me too!  I also remember it as appearing in American Girl magazine, but perhaps you should expand your search to a little later. I believe I was reading American Girl from about 1970 to about 1975.
A407: Alien Forces
Young adult novel from the 1960s or 1970s; alien force crashes in small town; inhabits people--not really clear if the force is sentient or not but has an aversion to technology; people possessed by the force send-out lightning-like charge that destroys machines and technology.

Peter Dickinson, The Weathermonger, 1969, copyright. Could you be thinking of The Weathermonger?  Its one of a trilogy (the other two being Heartsease and The Devils Children) - in it the UK has returned to a pre-technological way of life - technology and machines are seen as evil (there is a scene in which lightening attacks a car which the protagonists are trying to use) The source of the anti-tech is not an alien, but Merlin, who has awoken but is kept drugged, but several of the other details, and the publicaton date all fit so I thought it was worth suggesting.
Louise Lawrence, The Power of stars.This is a long shot, but the book may be one I posted as a stumper myself, and this was the solution.
The Louise Lawrence book sounds like it might be the book I'm thinking of--I've ordered an old copy and will let you know once I review it. In the meantime, many thanks for your tip! 


A408: Amnesiacc aretaker father, daughter is caught in a storm in a mansion, family reunites
Trying this Stumper again - not THE VELVET ROOM!  From the 70s - teen girl whose family often moves, father gets  job as caretaker for  vacant estate, girl spends time in the empty mansion, (maybe) finds a  library, and gets caught there during a violent storm, turns out dad is missing son of owner

I am the poster of this Stumper A408.  This Stumper was posted once before (not by me), as No. 5503, and I added a comment.  It was erroneously suggested that it was The Velvet Room, but it is not.  I wanted to hook my Stumper up with the first one in hopes it might spark someone's memory, as this is the only Book Stumper I've asked that hasn't been solved very quickly.  Thank you.

Antonia Barber, The Ghosts, 1989, reprint.

'No, sorry, not THE GHOSTS.  I read this in the early to mid 1970s, plus the plot is not what I was looking for  thank you, anyway, for trying.'


A409: Airplane abducted by aliens
  Solved

A410:  Anthology - unusual fairy tales, big purple hardcover, vibrant watercolors
No Cinderella, Puss-in-Boots, etc. Instead: salt grinder turned ocean salty; 3 sleeping sisters & pomegranate, bee sits on mouth & prince chooses; witches almost boil boy seeking girl; toads come from bad sisters' mouths, pearls&roses from good. Long-ish but generic title. All illus by same artist.

Michael Foreman (also illustrator)
, Michael Foremans world of fairy tales.Just a guess, but your description of the illustrations reminded me of this artist. He has illustrated several books of original as well as traditional stories, so check out his other works as well if his watercolor style seems familiar.
Brother's Grimm, Brother's Grimm
, varied, approximate. You should look into books featuring the Brother's Grimm stories, because the bee sitting on the princess's mouth and choosing is from the Queen Bee.  The frogs coming from princesses mouths are also by them.
A411: Animal Friends
Solved: Good Neighbors

A412: Aprann Li
Aprann Li by Yves Dejean. I did find the book via Worldcat and they are in libraries in NY, FL, MA and CA. I have made an interlibrary loan request for one but would really like to purchase the book. At the bottom of the title page it has -©1983 by the Center for Human Services. Thank you


A413: An Abstract 'Me'
Solved: Me


A414: animals have picnic in forest
Solved: Will You Come to My Party


A415: Anthology: Witch chases children & puts spiderwebs on her wounds
 I read this fav book in the late 70s/ early 80s, it was an anthology of short folk tales - possibly european in origin. The story I remember concerned a witch chasing children - the witch got hurt and returned to her home to put cobwebs on her wounds. Can't recall any other details sorry. thx


A416: Mystery, airport port, crossword puzzle
  Solved: What could Go Wrong?


A417: Awaiting a Sibling
  It's a book my mom had checked out for me from the Salem Library in Oregon when she was pregnant with my sibling in 1986.  It was a book about a little girl (named Dana?) and her mother who is pregnant with her soon-to-be little brother.  The book had photographs instead of hand illustrations.


A418: Arabian  Nights
Solved: The Land of Green Ginger


A419:  Animals Get Color
Illustrated 1970s book in which all the animals are black and white. They visit a cave? where they receive beautiful colors.

Don't think this is the one, but your description reminded me of a chapter in a Christian children's book about tales from Africa. The stories had a Biblical slant, but were often upbeat. The one in question was about a wild horse who could not decide whether he wanted to be black or white  in the end he became a zebra because he just could not make up his mind. Hope this helps.
This sounds like a telling of an African folktale - all the animals are white or grey, then there's a cave where they all go to get new coats.  Zebra is eating so doesn't go until it's too late - there's only pieces of black left.  He makes a coat, but when he puts it on it bursts at the seams because he has eaten so much.  Thus he is white striped with black. For one retelling see Greedy Zebra by Hadithi, though that's late enough that it's not the one this requester is looking for.


A420: Alphabet book "emma washes her ears"
 looking for an Alphabet book written probably in the late 70's.  It was a big book -- like 18 inches -- with a hard cover.  it had hand drawn illustrations.  Each letter had two pages.  The "E" had an illustration of a little girl, and a caption of "Emma cleans/washes her ears"

421: Age of Aquarium
 1978? 5th grade, ordered from form at school, gold and blue cover with hand drawn letters. Lots of hand-drawn pictures. Boy gets an aquarium from parents to show they "get it" w/a note about the "dawning of the age of aquarium." pocket sized. Pictures remind me of Warm Fuzzy Book

Doubt this is it, but it does remind me of a Peanuts strip where Sally is setting up a fish tank, telling her brother Charlie Brown her reasons is that "This is the Age of Aquariums"!
It's still a cute bit.


I just remembered that I think on the cover, the letters might have been formed by people or animals or other things, forming the shapes of the letters, like if there was an “H,” it would have two people standing upright, facing each other with arms linked, forming an H. I’m pretty sure I ordered it from a book order at school, which would mean it’s probably Scholastic, unless there was some other company using the same sales model at elementary schools in Iowa in 1978-1980, which is when I bought this book.


A422: A Letter For...
From 1960's, Yellow main or background color of cover, 10 X 16, about a duck who wants to receive mail, a pig is the mailman who feels sorry for her.  The neighbors then throw her a party each sending her mail.


Ian Munn, The Little Mailman of Bayberry Lane.
Ian Munn (author), Elizabeth Webbe (illus), The Little Mailman of Bayberry Lane, 1952, copyright. I think this might be the one - except the mailman is a chipmunk, rather than a pig, and it was Mrs. Pig who never received any letters. The little mailman sent out a bunch of letters to Mr. and Mrs. Goose, The Ducks, Mr. Turtle - basically everyone except Mrs. Pig - inviting them to a surprise party in her honor. The party was a huge success and was the happiest afternoon of Mrs. Pig's life. All the animals played croquet on the lawn and had a wonderful time. This was printed as a Rand McNally Elf Book, a Rand McNally Tip Top Elf Book, and was included in The Rand McNally Book of Favorite Animal Stories.
Ian Munn, The Little Postman of Bayberry Lane. I think this might be the one - except the mailman is a chipmunk, rather than a pig, and it was Mrs. Pig who never received any letters. The little mailman sent out a bunch of letters to Mr. and Mrs. Goose, The Ducks, Mr. Turtle - basically everyone except Mrs. Pig - inviting them to a surprise party in her honor. The party was a huge success and was the happiest afternoon of Mrs. Pig'\''s life. All the animals played croquet on the lawn and had a wonderful time. This was printed as a Rand McNally Elf Book, a Rand McNally Tip Top Elf Book, and was included in The Rand McNally Book of Favorite Animal Stories.

A423: A Boy and His Dog
An Eskimo boy and his dog stranded on ice floe, starving.. Boy has to decide if he will eat  the dog before the dog eats him. Childrens literature text book from late 60s.


Radko Doone, Nuvat the Brave: An Eskimo Robinson Crusoe, 1939, copyright. The tale of a crippled Eskimo boy who becomes trapped on an ice floe while seal hunting. He is carried to an uninhabited island where he must survive alone for two years before being rescued. I don'\''t know for sure if he has the dog with him on the ice floe, but he did have a dog (a big, black dog named Kakk). An excerpt from the book that I found online talks about how the dogs liked him because he was gentle with them, and how they all obeyed his voice. Even Nuvat'\''s father had to admit that he was the best trainer of puppies in the village - but he had no dog team of his own, because, as a cripple, he was not allowed to hunt with the men. Sounds like it might be the book you are looking for.
A Boy and His Dog, Doone, Radko, Nuvat the Brave,1934, approximate. A children's lit textbook from the 1960s has this description for Nuvat:  "an Arctic setting and an Eskimo hero.  Despised and disheartened, Nuvat is carried off on a floe.  He maintains life for two years, completely alone except for his dogs."
Hugh B. Cave, Two Were Left.
Radko Doone, Nuvat the Brave. The tale of a crippled Eskimo boy who becomes trapped on an ice floe while seal hunting. He is carried to an uninhabited island where he must survive alone for two years before being rescued. I don'\''t know for sure if he has the dog with him on the ice floe, but he did have a dog (a big, black dog named Kakk). An excerpt from the book that I found online talks about how the dogs liked him because he was gentle with them, and how they all obeyed his voice. Even Nuvat'\''s father had to admit that he was the best trainer of puppies in the village - but he had no dog team of his own, because, as a cripple, he was not allowed to hunt with the men. Sounds like it might be the book you are looking for.
Hugh B. Cave, Two Were Left, 1942, copyright. This is Cave's "Two Were Left."  It was first published in the June 1942 issue of THE AMERICAN MAGAZINE  it's been reprinted in many anthologies and textbooks and there are at least a couple of copies of the full text (which is only two or three pages) on the web.  Cave published something like a thousand stories in his 94 years of life, and this short piece may be his best-known one.
A Boy and His Dog, Radko Doone, Nuvat the Brave.
Radko Doone, Nuvat the Brave.The tale of a crippled Eskimo boy who becomes trapped on an ice floe while seal hunting. He is carried to an uninhabited island where he must survive alone for two years before being rescued. I don't know for sure if he has the dog with him on the ice floe, but he did have a dog (a big, black dog named Kakk). An excerpt from the book that I found online talks about how the dogs liked him because he was gentle with them, and how they all obeyed his voice. Even Nuvat's father had to admit that he was the best trainer of puppies in the village - but he had no dog team of his own, because, as a cripple, he was not allowed to hunt with the men. Sounds like it might be the book you are looking for. (I've submitted this twice before, but it hasn't shown up in either of the last two updates, so here's hoping third time's a charm!)


A424:Alaska
 The book I'm trying to find is about Alaska.  It was written by my Great Uncle, Lee Gardner, before Alaska became a state.  My mother had a copy that got destroyed when her home was flooded.  I sent a query to the Library of Congress and they suggested you.


A425: ALPHABET book with BEAUTIFUL PLUSH/puppets, not drawn.
All I remember is that it was an alphabet book with beautifully detailed plush or puppet representations of each letter.  Perhaps there were animals or something that each letter started with.  All I really remember is a feeling of elegance.  They were photographs of real objects, not illustrations.

Oscar Weigle, Tadasu Izawa, Fun With The Alphabet (A Puppet Storybook), 1969. Published by Grosset and Dunlap. Front cover is white, featuring a 3D image on a lenticular plate. Picture is of a large letter "A" (in yellow, with red and white scalloped borders) in front of a little house, with a little boy leaning out through the triangular part at the top, as through a window, and a little girl in front of him, pulling a wagon that contains a red-and-white striped beach ball. There is also another printing (as a "Winker Puppet Storybook") that has a pink cover with a 3D lenticular plate of the boy flying in a little airplane.


A426: Amos the Duck Can't Talk
There was a book that my mom used to read to me in the '60's that I can't find.  In the book all the other ducks kept saying, "Amos can't talk, Amos can't talk."  He turned out to be a swan and not a duck.  Sound like an ugly duckling story but not sure.  Any help out there? Thank you!

Bradbury, Bianca, Amos Learns to Talk: The Story of a Little Duck, 1951.
Bianca Bradbury, Clare McKinley (illus) , Amos Learns to Talk: The Story of a Little Duck,1950, 1963 (reprint). A Rand McNally Elf Book about a little duckling (Amos) who goes around visiting the other animals on the farm to find out how they talk, because he thinks the quacking of his brothers and sisters sounds funny. When he gets lost, he discovers just how wonderful his mother's "Quack Quack" sounds.


A427: Anthology of Inventors
Children's Anthology about inventors; I read it as a child in the late 80s. Specifically remember Edison, Farnsworth,  and Henry Ford, but it was a large series. Can't remember the series name, and hoping to buy the whole series if we discover it! Thanks! Just found out I misunderstood the definition of anthology, and it's actually a series of books. Can you amend my posting to say "Series?"

Maybe the Childhood of Famous Americans series? Everyone seems to remember them fondly!


A428: Animal stories in the wild
Wild Animal stories, sim. to Ernest Thompson Seton but (short) book length (not short stories) for younger audience, say 6-10 yr old.   Each follows the adventures of a wild animal.  I read maybe as many as 10 of them in the early '60s, but they were worn library books by that time.
I submitted a question last evening, about an author of wild animal stories similar to Ernest Thompson Seton, but for a younger audience.  I just realized that I should have specified that it's not Jack London.

Thornton Burgess, Old Mother West Wind stories/Adventures of series. You could be looking for the Thornton Burgess books.  The series does follow wild animals, but they wear clothing and have more human-like problems.  However, I think there are a few that are more "life in the wild" types.  Worth checking out, anyway.

A429: Angel falls off of cloud and becomes someone's baby
I read this book in about 1970.  It had a white cover with simple pastel illustrations, and it was the story of a little angel who lived on a cloud. His wings got wet so he fell and hung from a tree branch by his pajama bottoms until a loving family came and took him into their home.

Val Teal, Angel Child, 1946.This is a Rand McNally Tiptop Elf book.  It's the story of a boy and girl who find an angel baby dangling from a tree.  They take care of the angel baby until one day they push him on the swing.  His wings unfold and he flies away.  They are sad to lose their angel child, but they go into the house to discover that their mother has just had a baby, an angel child of their own.  The publication date is older than you suggested, but I was given this book in the 70's, so I suspect my copy is a later reprint that only shows the original date.


A430: 1970s Annual
I am trying to track down an Annual I received in the 1970s.  The title had Sisters in it.  One of the stories was about a mountain lion named "Gatina?".

A431: anthropomorphized musical instruments and composers
SOLVED: Ernest La Prade, Alice in Orchestralia
 A432: Alison Ann and the Girls Next Door, fence
Looking for a childrens book i had back in 1971.  I believe it was called Alison Ann And The Girls Next Door.  It had a green cover with a girl on it.  I believe it was about a girl who was talking to a girl through a fence. 

 A433: Anthology of children's stories and poems, fair, flamingo
Looking for large anthology of children's stories & poems, published in late '50s/early 60's.  Contained poem about attending fair with sketch of girl enjoying cotton candy, fireworks, rides, pig judging.  Also contained story called something like Flim-Flam, which featured a flamingo.  Thanks!

Jane Werner, The Big Golden Book of Poetry, 1947,1949. My 1962 reprint edition has Eleanor Farjeon's poem "Jill Came From the Fair" which sounds like the poem described by the Stumper writer.  It doesn't have a story about a flamingo though.
Big Big Story Book. The poem about the fair is "Let's Go to the Fair," by Mickey Klar Marks, and it appears in the Big Big Story Book, the edition with the circus scene on the cover.
Whitman Publishing Company, Big Big Story Book, 1965, reprint. This is definitely the anthology Big Big Story Book (there is no "the" in the book's title. The "Let's Go to the Fair" poem is just as described in the stumper, and the character of Flim-Flam the flamingo appears in the story Petunia, by Alice Sankey. The fair poem and the Petunia story both appear in the 1965 edition, with the clown, man on stilts and circus scene on the front  not sure if the same poem and story are in any of the earlier editions.

 A434: Alphabet book, detailed illustration for each letter
I am looking for an illustrated alphabet book. This book had a large detailed illustration for each letter, In which you could find hundreds of objects which begin with the relevant letter. For example, in the illustration for B, you can find a Butterfly, a beer bottle, a bear etc.

Mike Wilks, The Ultimate Alphabet.  If your book had very realistic detailed oil paintings that were a bit surreal, this may be your book. Go to the author's website to see reproduction of the cover and some pages to be sure.
Graeme Base, Animalia, 1986. This is a strong possibility. Each letter of the alphabet is represented by a complex painting containing many objects beginning with that letter, plus a short verse describing the animal beginning with the corresponding letter. B is for Butterfly, of course.
Base, Graeme, Animalia, 1993. Animalia would be a distinct possibility. There are gorgeous, elaborate illustrations for every letter in the alphabet
Graeme Base, Animalia. If the pages also had alliterative phrases (like "Crafty Crimson Cats Carefully Catching Crusty Crayfish"), it could be Animalia.
Graham Base, Animalia. There are probably several books that fit this description, but Animalia is my favorite
Mike Wilks, The Ultimate Alphabet, 1986. If there were literally hundreds of items in each picture, it could well be The Ultimate Alphabet.  It was first published as a competition - name everything in the book and win a cash prize - and I don't know if anyone ever won  to find all the things in the pictures, you'd need a huge vocabulary.  The paintings are landscape-format, and each one faces a page with a paragraph or so listing some of the items to be found in it.  In total, the book contains 7,777 namable items in the 26 pictures, ranging from 30 (X) to 1,229 (S).  The pictures are very crisply painted, and of course tremendously detailed.
Graeme Base, Animalia.


 A435: Anthology juvenile short stories
This was an anthology ca. 1950.  Some contemporary stories, few or no fairy tales or fables. I think the size was at least 8 1/2 by 11, some pen and ink illustrations.  Very vague memories of some of the stories:  One was about a sister and brother (Nickel and Penny) on a train trip and I think involving a ventriloquist ( there's a comment about Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy).  Another story about an imp in a Renaissance sculpture or painting.


2011

A436: Alien chimps, intelligent fruit and Rocket Ships
Alien chimps, intelligent fruit and Rocket Ships -- From the YA section of the library in the 70's.  I think the title was either Space Ship or Rocket Ship Cherry.  It was the story of a team of explorers on a dying planet.  They discovered that an alien species was intelligent only when they ate a type of fruit, that was only available part of the year.  One of the alien "chimps" befriended the explorers who gave it a knife to carve figures with -- when they had to evacuate the planet, they had to track down the alien (now wild and unintelligent) wearing a knife on a cord around it's neck.  They escaped the planet with a Noah's ark of alien species and fruit trees, on Rocket Ship Cherry

A.M. Lightner, The Planet Poachers. The episode described is in a sequel to Lightner's "Rock of Three Planets", either The Planet Poachers or The Space Ark, but I'm almost certain it's Planet Poachers.

A437: Anthology of short stories
Paper back book from my childhood, possibly from the 50s or 60s?  Its an anthology of short stories, contain morals and things like cleaning your plate, be kind to others.  No cover or title page, just a table of contents.  Titles of some stories are "Edward's Magic Marble", "Peddler Pat"

 A438: ABC book, rhyme, acorn, ship
Would you be an acorn and grow to be a tree, or would you be a ship sailing on the sea? (An A, B, C book) Update 11/27/10: I'm the one who asked the question.  I realized I didn't give very much information.  I have an audio tape of my 3 year old son "reading" (Obviously just looking at the pictures and remembering what was read to him) this book as I recorded it.  I do not recall it at all.  Some of the next letters would be about:  C = Camel, D = Dog, E = Elephant, G = Goat.  Hope that helps.  If you have a question, I can listen to the recording. Thank you for your help!!'

Alys Nugent, ABC/ alternate title Alphabet Rhymes, 1956. The story begins: Would you like to be an acorn and grow to be a tree? Or would you rather be a boat and go sailing on the sea?...

A439: Audette (Audete?) Tante
"Audette (Audete?) Tante" -- this is the name of a little girl in a book that a friend's mother loved when a child.  Probably read in the 1950's.  I've asked if this was a misremembering of Aunt Audette (French word for aunt is Tante), but she is positive that the character was a little girl.

Natalie Savage Carlson, The Talking Cat. These are the stories about Tante Odette--but she's an old woman in Quebec.

A440: Animals can't find magic tree
Different African animals take turns to find magic tree after being told password (something like 'Umbungabunga'). All told not to look backwards, but each one ends up falling over or stepping on thorn & forgetting password, apart from one (tortoise?) who finds tree laden with fruit.

Domanska, Janina, The Tortoise and the Tree : adapted from a Bantu folktale,
1978. It was a time of famine in Africa. One by one the animals went to the High God for help. Only he could give them the magic word that would allow a certain tree to release its fruit to them and save them from starvation. But as fast as they learned the name, they forgot it. At last the tortoise succeeded, and the fruit was theirs. But in their rush for it, the greedy animals trampled the tortoise beneath their hooves. It was the tiny ants who put him back together again--and to whom he owes his patchwork shell.
Bahl, Ursula, The wishing tree, 1988. This story relates the efforts of a group of animals in famine-stricken East Africa to find and call out the name of the Wishing Tree so that it will fruit and, thereby, save them from starvation. One by one the animals sally forth in quest of the name but each returns without it. Finally it is the slow and reliable tortoise that delivers them from their affliction.
Also see in Solved Mysteries: Magic Tales, retold by Adelaide Holl in 1964. The story is The Bojabi Tree. The collection includes Grimm, Andersen, and stories from Sweden, India and China. Other retellers were Edith Rickert & Gerardo Suzan. There's also The Name of the Tree by Celia Lottridge and The Magic Tree by Forbes Stuart.
Lottridge, Celia Barker, The Name of the Tree, 1990. Also, Danny Kaye told this story on his album "Six Stories from Faraway Places."

A441: Anonymous notes
This book might have been published in the 1930's or 40's. It is about a woman (maybe a shut-in?) who anonymously writes kind and wonderful notes and maybe sends small unexpected gifts to people who are sad or maybe shut-in themselves. Her notes and gifts bring great joy to the recipients.

Britt G. Hallqvist, Bettina's Secret
. Could this be Bettina's Secret? In this book, a mysterious night nurse leaves little gifts, including hand-drawn paper dolls, for a little girl in the hospital, and other sick people. Doesn't quite match your description, but something in your words made me think of it.

A442: 365 Animal Bedtime Stories
365 animal bedtime stories  (not Nan Gilbert, nor the Golden Book) Blue cover (mid 1980's) and was square.  1-2 pg. stories (with small illustration) about  woodland animals (owl, squirrel, etc) and their activities (no people!). Stories correspond with seasonal change and holidays. Please help!

Kathryn Jackson  (Author), Richard Scarry (Illustrator), 365 Animal Bedtime Stories, Richard Scarry's A Story A Day 365 Stories and Rhymes. This book has a blue cover and stories for each of the seasons. Also a similar book with the same illustrator (Richard Scarry) is THE GOLDEN BOOK OF 365 STORIES A Story for Every Day of the Year by J.D. Bevington.
Kathryn Jackson, The Golden Book of 365 Stories. I know you said it wasn't The Golden Book, but there are several editions. I have this one (with pictures by Richard Scarry) and it matches your description perfectly, including the cover description. You can see it at http://www.vintagechildrensbooksmykidloves.com/2009/02/golden-book-of-365-stories.html


A443: Animal with sweet tooth, series
There was a book series (I think it was a series) that I read as a child in the 80's. The characters were animals and I think it was a Berenstein Bears type series. The one I remember in particular was about an animal dealing with a sweet tooth problem and it may have caused him bad dreams.

Jacquelyn Reinach, Elephant Eats the Profits (Sweet Pickles Books), 1977. Possibly the Sweet Pickles Books, specifically Elephant Eats the Profits for the one described. All the cover images can be viewed at http://sweetpickles.com/The_Books.html to see if they ring a bell.
Stan and Jan Berenstain, The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Junk Food, 1985. If it's possible you're combining memories of two different books, there's The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Junk Food, where the love of Sweetsie Cola, Sugar Balls, Coco-Chums, and other unhealthy snacks causes Brother, Sister, and Papa bear to get fat. A visit to Doc Grizzly results in an explanation of how the body works - complete with diagrams of the nervous, circulatory, digestive, muscular, and skeletal systems - and the proper foods to fuel it. Doc Grizzly prescribes an exercise program and Mama replaces the junk food with healthy snacks. There isn't anything about bad dreams, but there is another book in the series - The Berenstain Bears and the Bad Dream - that does. That one doesn't have anything to do with sweets, though - it's more an explanation of how dreams are made up of bits of things you remember from earlier in the day.
Richard Hefter, various titles. Could this maybe be the Sweet Pickles series? They're less of a story than the Berenstain Bears, but like those books, they have a moral at the end.
Sigh. Thanks for the help, but it's not the sweet pickles series and not the berenstein bears. It was not as juvenile as the sweet pickles appears- it seemed more like the berenstein bears type illustration. I read them through my school's scholastic book fair sales I think. The year had to be around 1986-1991. Like I said, similar in size and illustration to the berensteins, just not the berensteins. Maybe a little edgier, if that is possible. I'm thinking like bears or raccoons or some other smallish, furry animal. A brother and a sister?
Brown, Marc, Arthur series, various titles. I don't know about edgier, but could this be Marc Brown's stories of  Arthur and sister DW?
Russell Hoban, Harvey's Hideout. I'm just throwing Harvey's Hideout here because it's a bit "edgier" than similar small-animal stories...and because, although there's no sweet tooth problem in that story, you might, might possibly be thinking of both that book and the Frances-the-badger books (maybe Bread and Jam for Frances), since Russell Hoban wrote all of them.
Nope- not any of those. I am beginning to think I am delusional, ha! Thanks for all your trying, I really appreciate it. I guess I'll be taking this one to the grave with me.
We'll keep trying!
Lillian Hoban, Arthur series.
Arthur and Violet, chimpanzees.  Lots of sweets in these books.  Not sure about the bad dream - he was afraid to go upstairs in the dark in "Arthur's Loose Tooth"
Mayer, Mercer, What a Bad Dream. Could it be What a Bad Dream by Mercer Mayer? It is one of the Little Critter series. Here's a plot summary:Turning himself into a scary, disagreeable monster who won't go to school or take a bath or eat anything but fudge pops and pizza, Little Critter discovers that his family has decided to go away and leave him alone. Trapped in a lonely dream, Little Critter has to make a choice.
Nope, still none of those all though the little critter one seems closer to what I remember, just not exactly.


A444: Australia, future, royal family
book search- read 1970's, set in the future, australia, perhaps aborigine sees into the future about british royal family aceding in UK, prince looking to reside in australia, cannot remember a lot of the plot but think it was a thriller, maybe a bit political? stayed with me for 40 years!

Nevil Shute, In the Wet
. This description sounds a bit like Nevil Shute's In the Wet. 
Shute, Nevil, In the Wet, 1952. This description sounds like a book I read many years ago by Nevil Shute (Norway).  I think it was "In the Wet" but might have been another of his.
Nevil Shute, In The Wet, 1953. Could this be it? It's set in Australia, and the plot involves a dying and delirious man who tells about ''his'' life (in fact, ''memories'' of a future life in the 1980s) as a pilot for the Royal Family. The political aspects involve the tension between am almost soviet, socialist britian, and the way this impacts on the treatment of the Royal family,and the tesnion with the more conservative Australians and other commonwealth countries. It involves the Prince (and his sister) giving an ultimatum that they will not take the throne unless the political situation is altered, and there is certianly an implication that they would move permanently to Australia or another Commonwealth country if things can't be resolved. The plot also involves an attempt to sabotage the plane at one point, and quite a lot about the political set-up in the future Australia, which includes a detailed descroption of a multiple vote system, where one person can hold up to 7 votes, based on thir contributions to society.

A445: Allison Wonderland, animal vet
SOLVED: Bernard Waber, But Names Will Never Hurt Me

A446: Abused girl - ghost of Joan of Arc
A girl is being abused by her foster parents. I remember her being locked in a closet.  Also may have a little brother to protect.  She compensates by talking to the spirit of Joan of Arc, who gives her advice.  I don't remember much more or even the ending but the time period would be the 1970s.

Marilyn Sachs, A December Tale,
1976. A lonely foster child struggling to change her unhappy life is weakened by the bribes of an abusive foster mother, yet strengthened by imaginary conversations with Joan of Arc.

A447: ABC book, large format
I am looking for a large format ABC book published before 1951.  The book is ABC rhymes - from my memory, these are the rhymes I remember:

A is for apple so rosey and red, B is for bunny and also for bed.

C is for...................................., D is for Dog that goes Bow WoW WOW.

Wanda Gag, ABC Bunny. "A for apple, big and red / B for bunny, snug abed" sounds right, but the "d for dog" doesn't match.  Still a possiblity?
Florence Sarah Winship, The ABC Book, 1940 (publisher Whitman)

A448: Adoption books, 2 volume set
SOLVED: Florence Rondell and Ruth Michaels, The Adopted Family, Book 1: You and Your Child and The Family That Grew, 1951.

A449: Acrobats eating asparagus
Whitman book, 1965-1967. A children's ABC book published by Whitman, my mom says. The pictures were showing the activities - very colorful.  Probably published 1965 - 67.
Starts out ... A is for acrobats eating asparagus in an apple tree.  B is for boys bouncing beach balls.  C is for Connie cooking candy cane cookies in her castle.  D is for a dear deer doing dishes.  E is for everyone.  Even Edward.  F is for a flea flying fast in his flying machine.

Joan and Roger Bradfield, The Big, Happy ABC, 1965. "A is for an admiral and an acrobat eating asparagus in an apple tree."

A450: Aztec Cave, Kids Escape
1920-1940, juvenile. Three or four kids on boat in (or camping near) Gulf of Mexico are attacked by bandits, escape into cave. They go through mostly in darkness, but at one point get light and see hundreds of Aztec (?) mummies. Through the cave, they live in a wilderness for several years, finally leaving when unfriendly people (Indians?) come into the area. My memory is an octavo, red cloth binding, thicker than the normal juvenile series (Tom Swift, Hardy Boys), probably published before World War II. The defining moment for me is seeing all the mummies in the cave.

Lazo, Hector, On the Trail of Inca Gold, 1956. This book sounds somewhat like the one you are looking for.  Dick Bentley, several Peruvian friends, and their professor are looking for remains of the ancient Inca empire when Dick falls into a dark tunnel.  He can't climb back up, so he can only crawl out through the tunnel, and in doing so, passes through a room filled with mummies.  He emerges into a lost city of Incas, hidden for centuries.  But this one isn't a ruin, it's full of people who are carrying on their traditions far from the outside world.  Most of the Incas see Dick as a threat and an enemy, but he does find a few who will help him try to escape.  One of my favorite books as a child

A451: Alphabet book
SOLVED: Anne Rockwell, Albert B. Cub and Zebra: An Alphabet Book, 1977.

A452: Adobe
Young child is asking questions of his parents at breakfast while they are having a conversation. He asks what something is called as one of the parents says Adobe in their conversation and he thinks they have answered his question and begins calling the item adobe.

A453: Animals of doomed planet rescued
I'm looking for a science fiction anthology (or perhaps single author collection) published in hardcover on or before 1970. The short stories dealt for the most part with outer space scenarios and were illustrated by black and white drawings. The dustjacket displayed a vista of outer space. (Perhaps it was of an astronaut doing a spacewalk near a wheel-type space station, but I may be mistaken in this). The best clue I have, however, is the first story.If it can be indentified, the book stands a better chance to being traced. An astronaut lands on a planet in a rocketship described as a Buck Rogers type, with more space for payload than for engines. When he discovers that some cataclysm will destroy the planet, he decides to follow the example of Noah and  rescue as much of the exotic animals it harbors as he can accomodate in his rocketship. Pairs of exotic animals are marched up a ramp leading to an opening in the middle of the rocketship (shown in a drawing) and consequently saved. One curious note: The author of this first story might have been inspired by a cartoon by Charle Addams which appeared in the New Yorker magazine in the 1950s in which the animals of earch are boarding a rocketship about to leave earth.

Not a real answer, more a shot in the dark...but have you tried the anthologies by Roger Elwood? He did a bunch of Science Fiction and Horror story collections, and each story was illustrated by at least one black & white drawing. They had basic titles like "Stranger than Fiction" or "Saving Worlds", then I think some stories were in two anthologies, or he changed titles...so it might not be easy to find. Still, definitely worth a shot.
Unfortunately, I'd already checked out all of Roger Elwood's books published on or before 1970, but couldn't find the story there. More clues: the story was lighthearted in tone, perhaps even humorous  so perhaps were the other stories. Also, the reading level was either adult or middle school and up.

A454: Airplane Crash
The book is for teens, a fictional story of a commercial pass airplane crash told from many different characters perspectives. Two of the characters are in high school and also belong to the volunteer ambulance service. The third is a girl whos parents farm is where the plane crashes.

Caroline Cooney, Flight #116 Is Down, 1997.
Caroline B. Cooney, Flight #116 is Down, 1992, approximate. I just read this one.  A commercial flight crashes on a wealthy teen's property.  The story is told from the various perspectives of both passengers and rescuers.
Cooney, Caroline, Flight 116 is Down.
Caroline B. Cooney, Flight 116 Is Down, 1993. I believe this is the book you are looking for. "Patrick, 17, finds it ironic that he needs to request hall passes to go to the library, while as an emergency medical technician he can deliver babies and save lives without such childish restrictions. Wealthy Heidi longs to feel competent at something and close to someone. Daniel, 15, must escort his younger brother to a wedding he desperately hopes won't take place. Spoiled Darienne can only focus on the small, insignificant negatives of life. All of these disparate personalities and more are thrown together by the cataclysmic crash of a 747 on Heidi's rural estate."
Caroline B. Cooney, Flight #116 Is Down, 1997.
Caroline Cooney, Flight #116 is Down. I think it's flight 116, but the number may be wrong.  I'm pretty sure this is the book you're looking for!
Cooney, Caroline B., Flight #116 is Down. I'm sure of this one. One of my daughter's favorites.

2012

A455: Animals take hot-air-balloon excursion
I'd like to track down an old "flat" children's picture book that had colorful illustrations. The story was about several animals who take a hot-air-balloon trip around the world. It was in print by 1954 or 1955. One of the animals was a dog (if that helps!).

Pierre Probst, Caroline in Europe,
1950s-60's, approximate. One of a series by Caroline, a young girl who has adventures with her pet animals which include a dog and cat.  They travel around Europe in a hot air balloon.
Thanks for he suggestion (I''m intrigued), but I recall that the cover image showed the animals in the hot-air balloon. The cover of "Caroline in Europe" shows her in a Venetian gondola with her pets. If it was published in 1960, that'd make it too late—this picture book was around in the early 1950s.
William Pene du Bois.
I've read this question a couple times, and I keep picturing an illustration by William Pene du Bois. I don't think it's The Twenty-One Balloons, but it may be one of his lesser-known books, like Otto in Africa or Bear Circus. 

A456: Anthropomorphic rodents (perhaps squirrels or badgers) who use a base 8 (0-7, or "octal") counting system
A sociey of talking animals, which discusses in detail how only having 4 fingers and 4 toes affects their society (money is different, math is different, etc)

I think that they may have used a base-8 counting system in Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NiMH by Robert C. O'Brien. I'm not certain though, because it's been so long since I read it.  If it's not Mrs. Frisby, I think it was something written around the same time.
Tod, Michael, The Woodstock Saga, 1990s, approximate. The Woodstock Saga, also known as the Dorset Squirrels, is a series of three novels about a society of squirrels (the titles are The Silver Tide,  The Second Wave  and The Golden Flight). In the first book, the heroine squirrel develops a Base 8 system of counting  inspired by the number of toes she has on her front paws. I hope this helps! :)

A457: Antique shop, runaway boy
Little boy (?) runs away by taking bus, calculating money required. But he messes up. Somehow ends up at a bus stop near an antique shop owned by a heavy-set woman who has a waif-ish daughter named "Albina" (?). There's some subplot about a ceramic elephant there, maybe. Thanks.

Gunilla Norris, Lillan,
1968. Your recollection of the ceramic elephant makes me wonder if this might be Lillan by Gunilla Norris. It's about a girl learning to deal with her parents' divorce, her mother's new boyfriend, and having to rent out part of their apartment to make ends meet. It's been years since I read this, but Lillan does steal a small glass elephant from a shop because she wants to give it to her mother. She later returns it. I don't remeber if she runs away from home or not.
Wayne, Jenifer, Sprout The book they are looking for surely must be; Sprout by Jenifer Wayne. Sprout runs away to go to the zoo for an elephant ride, doesn't have the money for the whole bus-ride, and is left at the side of the street halfway there. Fortunately large Mrs Chad and her thin daughter Albina know him/see him walking through town. Mrs Chad takes him to her house and goes to call his mother, leaving him in Albina's care. Albina takes him a couple doors down to a junk shop to show him a large plaster elephant. He loves it and leaves his whole .30 on the table and drags the elephant outside where Mrs Chad is angry about how would they get it home? Sprout convinces a truckdriver to take all three+elephant back to his place. Later his dad puts it on wheels so he offers kids at school elephant rides. The bookcover shows Sprout standing beside the wheeled elephant with a schoolkid atop it.
A458: Animal carnival comes to life at night
SOLVED: Annie Ingle, The Rabbits' Carnival, 1995.


A459: American mystery, Hardy Boys?
This was probably American from '60's. Possibly "Hardy boys". Some boys were captured by crooks(?) and were locked in an underground car-park. They managed to call for help by hooking up a car ignition coil (ford coil) to make a crude spark-gap transmitter.

John Blaine, Rick Brant series.
The electronics behind this makes me think that maybe it's one of the Rick Brant Science Mysteries rather than a Hardy Boys.  I think there was one title where they were trapped in a parking lot...The Electronic Mind-Reader maybe, or Stairway to Danger.  (It's been a very long time since I read these, so I may have the wrong titles.)
Bruce Campbell, Ken Holt - Mystery of the Green Flame.
This sounds as if it might be the book:  "When the three boys barricade themselves underground it is only with Ken's intense drive and Sandy's physical strength that the plot of the good Doctor is thwarted. But it is Sandy who devises a means of reaching Mort Phillips via a home made radio."

A460: 1960s young pilot floatplane float plane lake mead flight
SOLVED: Fred Phleger, Ann Can Fly, 1959.

A461: Animals in tunnels
Book about animals living in tunnels under a tree. One character is named "Comfrey."

Jill Barklem, Brambly Hedge (series), 1980s, approximate. Jill Barklem wrote and illustrated a series of books featuring the mice of Brambly Hedge, many of whom live in, around and under an old oak tree. Most of the books feature at least one amazingly detailed and beautiful cross-section illustration of the mice's tunnels. I don't remember a ''Comfrey'', but the mice tend to have plant names, like Poppy, Primrose, Conker, Basil, etc.

You can see examples of her illustrations and summaries of all the books on the author's website here: http://www.bramblyhedge.co.uk/


A462: All the little children dancing around me
In the 1960s at an English primary school, we used to sing a Christmas song: 'I'm a fairy doll/ Hanging on a tree/ All the little children/ Dancing round me/ Tra la la/ Tra la la/ Tra la la!' Where does this come from?

Netta Syrett, The Fairy Doll, and Other Plays for Children,
1922. A possibility?

A463: Alley Cat coaxed to live in NYC apartment
SOLVED: Thomas P Robinson, Buttons, 1963.

A464: Anglund, Tudor, or Hollie Hobbie?
There was a girl on the cover with a bonnet, resembling Holly Hobbie there were seeds she was growing into a tree, she had a watering can and the seeds grew into a bush/tree with either flowers or fruit. I'm not sure if it is a Holly Hobbie, illustration resembled either Tasha Tudor or Anglund. Updated: It was a hardcover book from the late 60's, early 70's.
A465: 1980s fairytale collection hardback
I can't remember too much about it apart from a few illustrations.  One was King Midas at a table with a feast and everything is gold. Another was a dark haired girl sitting reading under a tree and I'm sure the Snow Queen was another story in the collection. Very vague, but I remember loving it!

A466: Alphabet book
Solved: Good Night, Little A B C

A467:Arabrab an imaginary friend
Mid 1950's. A little girl named Barbara had an imaginary friend named Arabrab (Barbara spelled backwards.)


A468: Another Planet, Wreath Ring
I read this young adult book in the mid/late 90s. It takes place on another planet. 2 main characters 1 male and 1 female that are always fighting verbally. They both have a friend that they pass notes to - each other. The women sends her friend a ring with a wreath on it.

A469: Annabel or Annabelle
Book about a girl named Annabel or Annabelle. In her grandmother's attic there is a magic mirror in front of which she holds up and old ball gown and sees her grandmother in it.

Sheri Cooper Sinykin,  Heather, Belle Of The Ball (Magic Attic Club), 1998. Heather was invited to Tiffney's birthday party but Keisha, Megan, and Allison weren't. They say the only reason Tiffney's inviting Heather is because Heather's Mom is a reporter. When Heather gets upset, she goes to her neighbor Ellie's house because she has a magic attic. Heather tries on a beautiful pink ball gown and is transported to England. There she meets Lisbeth, a servant at the taylor shop, and Heather invites her to go to the ball. When they get there, Lisbeth is accused of stealing a necklace. Will Heather stick up for her friend?

A470: Anthology features women
SOLVED: Mary Cathcart Borer, Women Who Made History, 1963, approximate.

A471: Automatronics, mystery
SOLVED: Robin Gottlieb, Mystery of the Silent Friends.

A472: Actor portraits
It is oversized and photos of famous people (in this case actors) like Sissy Spacek, Tom Cruise and Max Von Sydow. They are not typical photos of portraits but a side view or Sissy summersaulting down a hill; so you have to identify the person by their features. At the bottom of each page the name is scrambled.

A473: Airplane crashes in a valley;children are lost on adventure
Book maybe called the hidden valley or the lost valley. Yellow binding. Maybe 1940's to 1950's. I read it in 1963. A plane crashes into a valley. Boys and girls hike to find there way out.

Enid Blyton, Adventure series.
This is one of the Adventure series by Ms Blyton, probably "Valley" of Adventure
Eileen Marsh, The Hidden Valley.
I checked out both of these books and they are not the book I am searching for. I appreciate the help and am still searching for the book. Thanks!
James Hilton, Lost Horizon, 1933.
No, it's not "Lost Horizon". I remember the book had a yellow binding and and had a small imprint of an airplane on the front cover. I almost remember that they were looking for their parents while lost in this valley?

A474: 365 bedtime stories or 365 daily stories
It was a childhood book from the late 70's- early 80's but I can't remember the author or title.The January 11th story was about a melting snowman and the June 9th story was about a dragonfly- those are the only 2 dates I remember. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks is advance!

Have a look at our anthology finder, here: http://logan.com/harriett/most-anthologies.html

A475: Autumn harvest on a farm
 Children's book (title/author unknown) about autumn harvest on a farm, published before 1960.  Illustrations are sepia-toned.  One segment depicts a herd of gnus/wildebeests helping to harvest a potato crop.  One illustration shows many baskets of potatoes in a barn.

Alvin Tresselt, Autumn Harvest, 1967, approximate. This may be Autumn Harvest.  There are two versions of the illustrations, the first by Roger Duvoisin, the second by (I thought!) Dahlov Ipcar...but I can't find that version online. I know I have it in a box of books though, somewhere in my attic!
Dahlov Ipcar, Hard Scrabble Harvest, 1976. Just responded to this a few minutes ago, and realized that I was combining two titles.  I think the poster is looking for this book!
As the original requester, I very much appreciate these good suggestions, but neither is what I'm seeking. The illustrations in the target book (published before 1960) are darker and more singularly brown/sepia-toned than Amazon shows for these two. 

A476: Apartment block with 2 girls that end up meeting and becoming best friends
Title: apartment numbers of each girl e.g. "B4 & E7"; Illustrations: black & white (lead, sketch)? 2 Girls live in the same apartment block and go to the same places but never meet. Eventually they meet (1 girl leaves her doll at the shops?) at the local shop and become best friends.

Schick, Eleanor, 5A and 7B,
1967. This is 5A and 7B written and illustrated by Eleanor Schick....a real charmer!

A477: Acorn plates wash away in big rain
My mother, born in 1938, remembers a chapter book she read to herself about a family of small people who lived outdoors and crafted needed things from what they found. she remember plates out of acorn caps washing away in a 'big rain.' small line drawings at the beg. of each chapter.

John Petersen, The Littles. I think this is one of The Littles books.  I don't know which one, although there is one called The Littles and the Big Storm, which may be a possiblity, since the poster is remembering a "big rain."
Thanks for the idea. However, as my mom was born in 1938 and read it to herself as a older child, this is not the book she remembers. The Littles was published in 1967. The book my mom remembers is about a family of tiny people who live in the woods fending for themselves crafting their needed items out of whatever they find( sort of McGuyver like my mom says)The chapter about the big rain my mom specifically remembers because of the line drawing at the head of the chapter. It was an acorn cap dinner plate washing away. Thanks again and please keep looking.
William Donahey, Alice and the Teenie Weenies, 1927. Any chance this is it? Little people making their own stuff out of discards and natural materials. They used to be a comic in the Sunday paper, and there were other books, but this seems to be the only one that was a chapter book. Mostly, they'd have a story and a big picture.
Mary Norton, The Borrowers Afield, 1955. This might also be too recent of a novel (the first in the series was published in 1952) but I remember them having distinctive black and white line art. They are about little people and in this book the family is living in the wilderness.

A478: Animal counting book
I THINK this children's animal counting book is from around 1980.  It MIGHT be a Hallmark book and has an orange cover.  I remember a few lines:  three sleepy skunks get into their bunks, four giraffes enjoy some laughs, five crocodiles wear great big smiles.  Would appreciate any help.

Dean Walley, Animal Antics: a first counting book, ~1977? There are other books with Animal Antics as the title, so just be aware. But when I did a Google image search on the keywords "Hallmark book animals counting" [a] book fitting the description came up!

A479: 1960s or 1970s Children's Color Illustrated Encyclopedias with Glossy Covers
A set of children's color illustrated encyclopedias from the 60s or 70s with colorful, glossy covers. Had pictures on the front- think 1 was a planet? Pages were approx 8/12 x 11. Each volume was about 1" thick or so. The page on "UFOs" or "flying saucers" scared me as a child, & stuck in my memory!

Golden Press, The Golden Book Encyclopedia, 1946 to 1988. This sounds like it might be some edition of the Golden Book Encyclopedia.  They fit the format you describe and were published in various editions between 1948 and 1988
Childcraft Encyclopedias. You may be looking for the Childcraft series.  Each volume contains short stories, factual articles and poetry about a topic. Some of the topics are things like About Me and The World Around Us...although I think the titles might change with each new revision. There is a Space book though, which might be what you're looking for.  Childcraft has been around since the 40s or 50s, and are revised every eight years or so. They publish new supplements every year.

A480: Afterlife adventure with caveman
Circa mid-80s to early 90s. Possibly a Scholastic catalog book. Protagonist a boy who had been in a car (?) accident. While in a coma, he awakens in a sort of afterlife/limbo. He teams up with a dead teen girl and a caveman and tries to get back to his life.

Susan Cooper, Seaward, 1980, approximate. I know I've read this book...I think it may be Seaward, by Susan Cooper.  Two teens are traveling through a fantastic world, working together to get back to their real lives.  I know there's some kind of helpful character they meet along the way who helps them, but I'm not sure if he's a caveman.  He might be though!
I don’t have a solution (although I’m not sure Seaward is correct if my hazy memory is to be trusted) but I had to write, because I believe Seaward happens to be the solution to a personal stumper that I have been trying to figure out for years! I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of a copy via interlibrary loan to verify whether or not that is the case. I’m so excited!

A481: Adventure with evil wolfhound antagonist
I read in the early 90's. Young man sucked into an adventure with an evil wolfhound playing a dominant role. Athena's owl comes in as a foil for food and evil occasionally. Young man originally in academic (?) setting.
A482: Australia; Four orphaned siblings
Probably British, pre- 1960. Four orphaned British siblings with the youngest two being Betty and Sigismund (the eldest might be Alice or Rose) travel to Australia to join an unknown great-uncle. Due to a mix-up they are dropped off at a shack at the edge of a vast outback property. There they discover an elderly invalid whom they assume is their uncle so start to take care of him. A wealthy grazier and his teenage grandson, Gene, take an interest in them as do a crew of ????? (anthropologists? geologists?) After many adventures they earn the admiration of the grazier.

Margaret Ross, Greentree Downs, This was one of the early Puffin Story Books. It's a long time since I've read it, but it sounds as though it might be the one.
A483: Astral projection, teenaged siblings
A book about teenaged siblings (brother and sister) who are split up through an adoption agency and use astral projection and other techniques to keep in touch, protect themselves, and eventually reunite. The book also described the steps the siblings follow to project, beginning with grounding.

Barthe DeClements, Double Trouble, 1995. Pretty sure Double Trouble is the book you're looking for. One twin has ESP, the other can astral project. The girl lives with an aunt who in very strict and doesn't like boys, the boy ends up with an extremely religious family who, as it turns out, have some bad plans for him. (I think they're going to sacrifice him or something.)  They can still talk though, and work together to save each other.

A484: Anthology of children's tales
Anthology of children's tales - Rushcape was in it, as well as a story in the form of a play about knights (why do I feel like one of them was a firefighter?  or had to put out a fire?), plus a tale about frogs, illustrated really nicely.

This might possibly be American Folk Tales and Songs by Richard Chase.

A485: 80s/90s Teen Fantasy Book
There was a book I read A LOT when I was a kid (so you would think I would remember it), and I can't for the life of me remember what it's called or who wrote it. It's about a teen/young girl who goes to visit her Grandfather in Germany (the Black Forest area). Some sort of mystical/supernatural forces take him and the girl has to go through a sort of gauntlet to free him. The only thing I remember from this section is that one of the challenges was a riddle (because it blew my young mind) - "What's the beginning of the end and the end of time?" I think there was more to it than that, but the answer was the letter E. The paperback had a purple cover. Thanks! I hope you can help me - it's driving me NUTS trying to remember it!


A486: animals going to bed ask "Daddy, tell me a story"
Children's book- 80s or older. The daddy animal is tucking his baby into bed and the baby says, "Daddy, tell me a story". So he tells about another daddy animal tucking in his baby who asks for a story... and so it continues. I specifically remember a giraffe and it seems like an elephant & a mouse.

This sounds like A Sleepy Story by Elisabeth Burrowes. It's a Little Golden Book from 1982 in which a little girl is being tucked into bed and asks her mother (not daddy) to tell her a story, so the mother tells a story of a giraffe being tucked into bed. The giraffe asks his mother to tell him a story, so she tells a story of another animal, and on and on. There are also elephants and mice, and several other animals.

A487: Auction of radish
The last radish in the world (galaxy? universe?) goes up for auction.  The person who wins the radish is underwhelmed by the experience of eating the legendary vegetable.  It might be a science fiction short story or part of a novel.

This is from Beauty by Sherri S. Tepper - it's a scene from a documentary the people she ends up with made - that scene is described in pretty decent detail in it.
Tepper, Sheri S., Beauty. I remember this scene being from the adult fantasy book Beauty by Sheri S. Tepper. The book is about Sleeping Beauty, but she travels to the future, where she watches a "lucky" man on TV eat the last radish.

A488: Art mystery, siblings, Degas
SOLVED: Anderson, Mary, Matilda's Masterpiece.

A489: Animals overrun a palace
An 80's book?  Pictures in the book were of types of animals that had overridden a palace.  The idea was they started out with cats? then used dogs to get rid of the cats, etc... until they finally had to use mice.  The mice were allowed to stay and pics were of them dining at tiny tables.

The King The Mice and The Cheese by Eric Gurney,  1965/1989.I  believe this is The King, The Mice and The Cheese by Eric and Nancy Gurney. Orig  c.1965 - later reissued. I believe this is a  book in the Dr. Seuss I Can Read Beginner Book series. "A king loves cheese, unfortunately, so do the mice in the castle. The kings advisors decide how they can get rid of the mice-they bring in a bunch of cats, who have to gotten rid of by a bunch of dogs, who have to be chased away by a bunch of lions, who have to be run off by a herd of elephants. When the elephants get out of hand, the king takes matters in his own hands and gets rid of the elephants and his advisors."
This sounds like The King, the Mice and the Cheese by Nancy and Eric Gurney. Here is a summary description: Once upon a time there was a king who loved cheese . . . but so did lots of mice. The king didn't like living with mice, so his "wise" men brought in mice-chasing cats, then some cat-chasing dogs, and so on, until the mice came back! What's a king to do? The last page is definitely a picture of the king hosting a dinner for all of the mice complete with tiny tables. It was sold as part of the Dr. Seuss Beginner Reader book series. Definitely a classic!

A490: Animals make wishes
I'm looking for a large hardcover chidren's picture book  I had in 1965-67. The cover had a lg illustration of a gray whale.  Each page had a big picture of an animal and ea picture had a small square the opened to show a picture of what the animal was wishing it could be. The whale wishes to be a fly.


This sounds a lot like a book I had when I was a kid in the late 1980s called "The Elephant's Wish" by Bruno Munari. It's a large hardcover picture book with a blue fish on the cover about animals wishing to be other animals. Each wish was portrayed by a small paper "window" in the head of the wishing animal that opened to show a picture of its wished-for animal. ... And here's a pic of one of the animals wishing with its window into the next animal: http://superradnow.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/the-elephants-wish1.jpg

A491:  1960's??  About a family that moves to the desert southwest
Read in the mid 70's about a family (dad was an engineer?) who moved to the desert southwest to build a city. Lots of illustrations - red car? When the children, son and daughter were grown, they visited the city that dad built to see the thriving town that it had become and remember their childhood.

I don't have the solution, but I do have some more info that might help someone else identify this book. I remember this one. It is a textbook for about 4th or 5th grade I think. The dad went to the SW to build a dam. The city was built nearby for the workers. The book was about government, as it told how the new city government was organized and what a city government did in a story format to keep kids intereseted. At the end the kids return years later to the city.

I think A491 might be a textbook from the Macmillan series written by Prudence Cutright, Living Together Today and Yesterday. It is very difficult to track down to see exactly what this book contains but the Google Books description of it indicates that it is about the King family, a trailer, a dam, and building a town out west.  Here's a link...

A492: Abandoned children
I have been in the search for this book but it's been difficult since I do not have the author's name or the title. It's a book that I read many many years ago during my middle school years. I remember it was about 3 kids (2 sisters & their brother) that had been abandoned by their mother. The mother had been left by their father and always waited for the father to come back by gazing out the window and holding her heart by crossing her arms over her chest. One day the mother left them a note that said she was going to New York to dance & that she was leaving them $50 in a cookie jar. The middle child, the narrator of the story, has to hide the fact that her mother left them from the small town which isn't too hard since they live out in the woods. She then has to take care of her little sister who's in elementary school & her older brother works at a gas station for all 3 of them to be able to eat. It's the very first book that ever made me cry & I have been unable to forget it. The cover has the quotes "one day she danced away" & the narrator is sitting on the porch steps, the brother sitting at the railing & both of them watching their little sister dance.At the end of the story, no matter how hard the narrator tries their little sister dies from starvation but mostly sadness that their mother left them. A couple who lived on the other side of a mountain(?) decided to take them in but it had been too late for the little sister.
It should have been written before 1999. I would appreciate any help on this. Thanks!


This might be Mama, Let's Dance by Patricia Hermes.  The CIP summary is rather brief: "Remembering their mother who suddenly disappeared, three children--Mary Belle, Ariel, and Callie--cope with tough times on their own."  I think that they survive pretty long until the youngest girl becomes ill. and it has a tear-jerker ending.
I think the book is Mama, Let's Dance by Patricia Hermes (1991): the kids are Ariel (brother) Mary Belle (the heroine) and Callie (little sis.)   Ariel works in the gas station; Callie gets sick from measles; the neighbor starts to realize that the kids are abandoned and tries to help them.   Never read it myself; I just did a search on the terms "abandoned children" and "dance away" and came up with an article http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/spring97/s97-22-Munde.html written about several books around this theme of kids on their own... the plot sounds like the one you're looking for!
It looks like this is Mama, Let’s Dance by Patricia Hermes. I’m impressed by how well the poster remembered the cover!

I think the book you’re looking for must be Mama, Let’s Dance, by Patricia Hermes. Here is a description: “Mary Belle, Ariel, and Callie have been alone for a long time. Nobody knows where their mama is. One day, she was dancing in the kitchen with Callie. The next day, she was gone. Now it's up to Mary Belle and Ariel to take care of Callie. They put everything they have into taking care of their little sister, but there will always be something that they can not give her. The one thing they all desperately need. Their mother. Abandoned by their mother after the death of their father, three youngsters are determined to keep their situation a secret so that the authorities will not split them up and send them to foster homes. Just like Papa did years before, Mama has gone off and left 16-year-old Ariel, 11-year-old Mary Belle and seven-year-old Callie to fend for themselves in rural North Carolina. Ariel's gas station work earns them just enough for food, but keeping their situation a secret from the county welfare people is a job in itself. Mary Belle runs the household sternly, refusing charity from even her good friend Amarius and his niece Dearly. But when Callie falls ill with measles, Mary Belle must finally ask for help. She is rightfully hardened and bitter, though her narrative occasionally sounds wise beyond her years. Callie's spirited naiveté helps add sparkle to this emotion- filled and depressing tale. Disappointingly, Mary Belle's final redemption evokes neither triumph nor joy, but readers will appreciate her discovery that what constitutes a family has not much to do with genetics and everything to do with love.”

A493: Animals, house, woods
Library book about animals that lived in a house in the wood/s, that could talk etc. Something like "The Little House In The Woods". Read it endlessly when young, would be in about the late 1950's or early 1960's. would love to find this book again. Help!

This may be The Very Best Home for Me (also titled Animal Friends), written by Jane Warner Watson, illustrated by Garth Williams, copyright 1953.  My memory is that several animals (cat, dog, chicken, squirrel) live together in a house in the woods.  They take turns doing meals, and this does not work out very well.  Ultimately they decide they need to find homes that are best for each of them, and most of them depart and find other places to live.  One of them stays behind – I think the squirrel, because I have a memory of an animal sleeping in a bed in a room with drawers-full of nuts.  But if the book you recall is more substantial, this isn’t it – this is a Little Golden Book.



B10: Buttercups
We are looking for a children's story (read at least 60 years ago).  A young girl from a poor farm family is told to pick buttercups and boil them. While she is not looking, a fairy or leprechaun drops gold medallions into the pot, and the family is delivered from poverty. It is NOT The First Buttercups or The Field of Buttercups.

Any chance this is Enid Blyton's Buttercup Farm Family? Published by Lutterworth in 1952, 95 pages. It could just be a real-life farm story, because I couldn't find a plot description. It's also not quite old enough, but just in case.
The story (or one with similar motif) is in a Victorian-era book titled One Minute Bedtime Stories. I'm not certain of the title and I can't remember the author, but she wrote all the stories in the collection. Story line goes something like this: Young widowed mother has to work and must leave her three year old daughter home alone each day. (Guess things were different then). Nice rich man comes by and little girl is boiling water in a pot because she believes she can extract the gold from them. She does and they boil them up -- girl doesn't seem him slip gold coins into the pot. She calls the buttercups "Cuppity-buts." Hope this helps. Love your site.
How exciting to have a real clue for this! I couldn't find a title similar to One-minute Bedtime Stories from the right time period, though, so these are the best possibilities I found on first search: Kernahan, Jeanie Gwynne & Coulson:Bedtime Stories, published London, James Nisbet 1911 1st edition, 8vo, 187pp, frontispiece, line illustrations and plates by Dorothy Furniss, cover is illustrated pale blue cloth lettered & decorated in gilt.
Byrum, Isabel C.: Bedtime Stories, published by Gospel Trumpet Company 1911, red cloth hardcover with paste-on b/w photo of two children on front. Cowles, Julia Darrow: Stories to Tell, published Chicago, Flanagan 906,  8vo 124pp hardcover has red and black illustration of woman with two children.
this seems to match some of the criteria for the possible anthology - Sandman's Three-Minute Stories, by Abbie Philips Walker, illustrations by Clara E. Peck,  published New York, Harper, 1925, 171 pages, about 50 stories "None are the usual stories, however, and all include animal and/or plants as their heroes and main characters. For example, "The Bee That Didn't Work," "Mr. Fox Goes Calling," "Whitie Kitten Rebels," "The Moon Lady Calls the Fairies," "What The Apple Tree Said," and "Granny Turtle's Tea Party." "Santa Claus and the Sandman," "The Moon Elves," and "Calico Cat Thinks Queer Things?"
Louise Chandler Moulton, New Bed-Time Stories, 1880.  You might want to check this one out as well -- I can't find a description, but the date works, and the title is promising as well.



B26: Baseball diamond from vacant lot
Solved: Play Ball!


B27: Big and strong...
Solved: How the Chipmunk Got Her Stripes 

B28: Bird on the wing
Solved: Marilda and the Bird of Time
B33: Brothers are detectives

Your page was so successful in helping me find some long-lost books of my childhood that my husband has asked me to write you about some books he only vaguely remembers.  The books were about two brothers who were detectives, narrated by the younger brother.  The story he remembers the most of concerned a lion-tamer who was mauled by his lion during a performance.  The boys investigate and discover that the lion had been shot by someone with a pellet gun just before the performance.  My husband says he also remembers a scene in which the younger boy is eating breakfast and his mother is complaining that the older boy and father have already left the house and they aren't all sitting down together and eating breakfast as a family.  I hope someone will come up with the name for these.

Well, if they were brothers, this would look like a decent bet:  West, Nick Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators in the Mystery of the Nervous Lion NY Random House 1971. "Southern California's Jungle Land has a lion to rent to Alfred Hitchcock for his new movie, yet there is a problem: the lion is so nervous!"
the three investigators were not brothers.  they were good friends.  thier "office" was in a junk yard owned by the aunt and uncle of one of the three.   they had many secret entrances to get in and out un-noticed.  i remember one was named pete, and one was on the heavy side.  they were always ready to take on a case for their friend alfred hichcock.
Sounds very much to me like the Hardy Boys Detective stories.
Robert Arthur , The Three Investigators(series), 1985.  I recently read a book in this series the stories are about three friends, one of whom is named Jupiter Jones.  They have a base they've built in a junkyard and they solve mysteries. (there is actually a website dedicated to this series of books) I hope this helps.
NOT the Three Detectives Mystery of the Nervous Lion...they were not brothers, and the lion was nervous because of people banging on the bars of the cages in order to find the bars in which diamonds had been hidden (I think). They were Jupiter Jones, Pete and Bob I think. No mention of a pellet-gun, or 'performances...think this lion was in an animal park/sanctuary or similar...



B35: Blue eyes?
Solved: Blue Boy

B36: Bears and kids
Solved: Freddie Bear 

B37: Black Eyed Susan
Here goes, As far as I remember the book was entitled Black Eyed Susan (not the recent version of a girl living on the prairie).    It seems from memory that this little girl had a cave she liked to go to and she had an adult friend who was a painter? maybe.  I read the book when I was in first or second grade and I am thirty one years old now.  If you have any ideas of the book, please let me know as I have always wanted to find a copy of it.  Thank You.

B37, here's a possible : Evelyn Trent Bachman: "Black-Eyed Susan" ; 1968, Viking. Hardbound picture cover, no dust jacket, 159 pages. Illustrated by Lilian Obligado. "Tomboy Susan is the despair of her mother and sisters in rural Missouri during the Depression." Though 160 pages sounds heavy going for a 2d grader.
Phillips, Ethel Calvert Black-Eyed Susan Boston, Houghton 1921, 170 pages, "Susan was a very little girl who lived with her grandparents on a farm. She had no one to play with and was lonely until Philip Vane, a little boy about her own age, came to live next door. Then when some gypsies left a little orphan girl as a present for Susan, her joy was complete."  Gray, Joslyn Black-eyed Susan New York, Scribners 1924, 221 pages, "Sue left her serene New England home, where she was thoroughly spoilt and waited upon, to visit an aunt she had never seen before in Dakota. She was a most extraordinary character, this aunt, and so were the orphans Myrtle and Merton."
The title isn't right, but the plot sounds similar: Blyton, Enid The Children of Willow Farm: a Tale of Life on a Farm Country Life, 1942. Cloth, 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall "Four children move to a farm, where they learn about the countryside from Tammylan, a 'wild man' who lives in a cave in winter, a tree house in summer." 27 b/w illustrations, 5 of which are full page. 152 pages.
A couple of similar points - John and Susanne by Edith Ballinger Price, published by Century 1920s? "Two runaways from a New York orphan asylum find refuge in an artist's country home where they become indispensable members of his family." (Books for Boys and Girls 1927, Toronto Public Library)
Yet another - Susan, Beware! by Mabel Leigh Hunt, illustrated by Mildred Boyle, published Stokes 1937, 243 pages "Susan Merrill who lived in Indiana in the (18)70s went through a succession of scrapes. There were many more chances for a tomboy to collide with authority than there are now. Susan at ten didn't see why she shouldn't have as much fun as the boys (she did, as a matter of fact) or why being a lady was necessary yet." (Book Review Digest 1937 p.509)



B38: Bunny's lunchbox
I am looking for a book I read in the mid-seventies. It was about a bunny who wanted a lunchbox with firetrucks on it. I can't remember if he got the lunchbox of his dreams or not: someone else I asked about the book (who also can't remember the title) seems to think that the bunny didn't get the exact lunchbox he wanted, but he learned to like the one he got (since his mom gave it to him). If you can tell me the title, that would be great: ideally I'd like to buy two copies of this book.

Not exactly firetrucks but... The first story, Wish I May, Wish I Might, in the book Bear's Magic and Other Stories is about a rabbit with an old lunch box.  Everyone else in his class has pictures on their lunch boxes.
So rabbit wishes on a star several nights in a row for a new lunch box.  There's no answer at first, but rabbit reminds himself how far away the stars are.  After three nights (and after his mother overhears him), he gets a new lunch box with "trucks on it -- a dump truck, a garbage truck, a tow truck -- more than ten different trucks!"  The other two stories in the book are about a mouse who makes a birthday wish, and a bear who wishes it would stop snowing.  It's by Carla Stevens, with pictures by Robert J. Lee.  Scholastic, 1976.
It's a boy, not a rabbit, but stories about lunchboxes are thin on the ground. The cover shows a green lunchbox with a bee-type hornet, not the TV character.  Green Hornet Lunchbox by Shirley Gordon, Houghton 1970 31 pages. "Story about a little boy whose mother bought him a new lunch box. His friend did not have a lunch box & ate at school cafeteria." "The story, illustrated charmingly by Margaret Bloy Graham, of Joey, whose friend talks him into buying his lunch and not using his wonderful Green Hornet lunchbox - for a while." another possible:  Goldberg, Martha. illus.by Beatrice Tobias The Lunch Box Story: A Beginning To Read Book Holiday House, 1951. "A lunch box mix-up causes tears and brings a  new friend."



B39: Beware, beware!
Who is the author and can I get the text of a poem that starts "Beware, beware of the green-eyed dragon of Delaware"

Greatrex (Rex) Newman, Performed by Stanley Holloway, The Green-Eyed Dragon, 1950's.  This sounds similar, though, not exact.  This poem was written for Stanley Holloway and has the line "Beware, take care of the green-eyed dragon with the 13 tails".  As I have seen several versions of this poem, it's possible that someone
may have thrown in a line about the dragon being from Delaware.  Here's the link for the text.



B40: Best Friends
Solved: Best Friends

B41: Bethany and Wade
Solved: The Edge of Time

B42: Bedtime stories
Solved: Tibor Gergely's Great Book of Bedtime Stories
B44: Bed runs away

Solved: Tucked-In Tales


B45: Blue parakeet
Solved:  A Bird in the Family 

B46: Bill's house with no windows
This story is of a boy named Bill (?) who lives in a house that has no windows and he tries to "catch" light for it.

Definitely a long shot Nathan's Dark House by Florence Bourgeois, illustrated by Ninon McKnight, Garden City, Doubleday Junior Books, 1942 (Horn Book, Nov-Dec/42 ad p.363) "A Colonial Quaker lad's venturesome endeavours to obtain glass windows to lighten his house."
More plot description for Nathan's Dark House (60 pages, grades 4-6) "Story of a young Quaker boy living near Salem, New Jersey in the 18th century. Nathan's most persistent dream was that he could earn money enough from his various selling ventures to supply his parent's dark house with glass windows. Interesting period detail, especially of early glassmaking and many attractive pictures in colour and black&white."
Not sure of the exact title but I think it was Silly Willy or Silly Willy. He tries to catch sunlight in a pan and carry it into his house.
At last, a decent clue! Maybe this, then - The Adventures of Silly Billy, by Tamara Kitt, illustrated by Jill Elgin, published Wonder Books 1961, 61 pages  "Silly Billy decides to set off to find a boy sillier than he, he
ends up helping a king and getting a gold crown which he takes home to his parents."
B46 bill's house with no windows: I've now seen a copy of The Adventures of Silly Billy by Tamara Kitt. This could be the book, but the match is not exact. 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.



B47: Bunny book, maybe Easter themed?
Solved: Three Little Bunnies

B49: Benjamin, Lost dog
Solved: Benjy's Dog House
B52: Ballerina, red

Solved: Ballerina Bess
B54: Blue Jay

Solved:  Reggie's No-Good Bird 
B56: Blue dishes

Solved: Blue Willow 

B59: Butterball
Solved: Butter Ball

B60: Benjy and the beast
Solved: Bengey and the Beast

B63: Bureau collects lost articles
Solved: What the Witch Left

B65: Boarding school spooky tale
Solved: It's Murder at St. Basket's
B67: Bobby Shafto

Solved:  Bobby Shafto's Gone to Sea

B68: Balloons Flying Boy
Balloons Flying Boy:  A young boy who dreams of tying a large number of balloons together and floating to a nearby town.  He does this and is given a heroes parade, as it ends, he begins to imagine a few more balloons could get him to the next town... ( this is possibly set in New England or maybe Europe)  Note: This is NOT The Red Balloon, nor is itThe 21 Balloons

Not really enough information, but maybe Sandy and the Seventeen Balloons by Jane Thayer, illustrated by Meg Wohlberg, published by William Morrow, 1955 "Food for the imagination in this story of a little boy who loved balloons, but got more than he could handle." (ad in Horn Book, Apr/55)
#B68--Balloons Flying Boy:  Around the World With My Red Balloon.  Beers, V. Gilbert, Illustrated by Krisvoy, Juel.  Nashville, TN, U.S.A.:  The Southwestern Company, 1973. This wide, decorative cloth hardcover illustrated story about children travelling around the world with their red balloon telling all the children of the earth about Jesus depicts a fantasy trip in a hot air balloon featuring animals and characters from around the world in charming color.  This book seeks to build early thoughts about missions in the mind of your child.  It helps him to think of others who need to know about Jesus--and what they need to know.  It talks about children around the world, and those in our own back yard.  The illustrations are shiny and colorful and show children of different parts of the earth.  The boy is dark-haired and travels in a basket beneath a single red balloon (not a bunch tied together) and the illustrations have a very "It's a Small World" look and feel.  The narrative is in rhyme.  An educational book that teaches geography, ethnic culture, sociology, Christian missionary work, and God's teaching all around the world.  The pages are unpaginated but appear to be 25.
Do you have the "17 baloons" title? That could be it!  It is NOT the christian based poetry book!   (but thanks to whoever sugested it!)
I am the person that submitted this question originally.  Thank you for the suggestion, but "Sandy..." is NOT the book.  Just got a copy I purchased of Sandy and the Seventeen Ballons and it is close, but NOT it.  Still hoping someone out there can find this book!  HELP!  :)
Paul Gordon McKee, Up and Away. I am pretty sure the title is Up and Away or Up Up and Away.  The copy I had was a small hard cover that was in a set of three.  I am not sure if this is the right book, but this is all I can find when I google it!



B69: Beacon Readers
Solved: Beacon Readers

B71: Burglar Bunglars
Solved: Clothes Make the Man

B72: Bobbsey Twins, but not quite
Solved: Honey Bunch

B73: Bionic boy
I know it's a long shot but I'm hoping someone out there knows this book: I read it during the 80's, it's a kid's science fiction book about a boy who is involved in a car accident and has his insides replaced with robotics (he performs his bodily functions through his finger..) I have no idea of the author or title, but the cover of the book I read was a yellow brick wall background, with red oozing down from the top. I remember that someone in the book went over Niagra falls in a barrel.. does anyone know this book? HELP!

B73 - I'm sure this is by Roald Dahl - don't think it's The Magic Finger - but he certainly did one where the boy's parents run off and leave him and he's in some kind of accident and a friendly lady doctor puts him back together      with some 'improvements' including the ability to 'go to the bathroom' through the end of one of his fingers! It certainly ends up at Niagara where he or his parents, not sure which, go over the Falls in a barrel. I just can't remember the title at the moment - most infuriating!!
Hi everyone - I'm the original poster and I can't tell you how excited I am that someone knows this book! I'm holding my breath til someone remembers the title /author!! Thank you all so much!
Thanks for your email - some ladies from Alibris and I have been desperately tracking down Roald Dahl to no avail. The info in this post is spot on! It rings even more bells for me and I'm dying for them to repost with the title!!!
Possibly Goldenrod by Jim Slater, illustrated by C. Chamberlain, published by Cape in 1978, 118 pages. I haven't been able to get a decent plot description but it seems to be about William Rod, a boy blind since birth, who is bionically enhanced in some way to give him improved hearing and super sight. His companions are an Indian mystic and a guide dog. After he uses his 'super-powers' he is drained for a while. There's something
about the hijacking of a trans-continental airplane as well.
Hi again! I still can't find the title of this and it's beginning to *really* annoy me! I've looked at all the info on Roald Dahl I can find but can't identify a title. Beginning to wonder if it's someone else after all - but can't think who else writes in this vein... Illustrations almost certainly Quentin Blake - who did most of Dahl's books - spiky line drawings, sometimes with colour, but not, I think, in this one. Have tried looking at list of stuff QB has illustrated in case I can find it that way to no avail so far. Hang in there, poster, I'm not going to let it defeat me - and at least you know it *does* exist!!
I am next to certain this is NOT by Roald Dahl, so I too am looking at other books illustrated by Quentin Blake - perhaps one of Margaret Mahy's?
Seth McEvoy, Batteries Not Included, 1985.  This is mostly a guess -- Seth McEvoy had a series of three or four Pocket Book (mass market pb) originals in series "Not Quite Human" about either a bionic boy or a robot built expertly in the apeparance of, and with the mental processes, a boy  the first title was BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED.  I've not read them but the description of possible cover seems vaguely familiar to me from one of those volumes.  Worth a look, maybe.
Jan Needle, Wagstaffe, the Wind-up Boy, 1987, copyright.  A search for the phrase "pee through his finger" brings up a theatrical adaptation of this book: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/n/jan-needle/wagstaffe-wind-up-boy.htm.  According to the summary on the theatre website:  "Wagstaffe is an adventure story, which should never have happened. Wagstaffe is a boy so awful his parents run away from home and join the circus. For a while he lives in a teenage bliss of slobbing about. Then he meets the articulated lorry.... Well what would you expect if you amuse yourself by throwing eggs at the windscreens of passing motorists on the motorway? Almost by chance, and thanks to a good doctor, Wagstaffe survives. He is rebuilt with the most bizarre modifications including a key to wind him up and he has to pee through his finger. He has inadvertently become the most unlikely superhero with the most ridiculous powers. Life is one big accident for Wagstaffe and he unwittingly uncovers a dastardly plot to send his missing parents over Niagara Falls in a barrel. How bad is Wagstaffe? Will he try to save them? Can he possibly conquer the most impossible odds? Will there be a happy ending?" Sounds like the book you're looking for! :)



B74: Bible stories
Solved:  Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories

B75: Brave, his pony and his friend
Solved: Groundhog's Horse

B76: Bee mystery
Solved: Kit Williams' Untitled

B77: Bobwhite quail wins race
Solved: The Bird Foot Race in Follies

B78: Bunny-boo
Solved: Bunny Tales

B81: Bible stories, series, illustrated by Margaret Tarrant?
I am trying to locate books I remember from my childhood, c. 1953. Bible stories for children.  The stories were told by a mother to her three children, Beryl, Derek and Pauline.  Each story had a full-colour facing illustration, I thought by Margaret Tarrant, certainly in her style.  The stories covered the whole Bible, from Genesis to the life of Jesus, and I still remember some of the pictures.  Would have been a UK publication. I beleive I had more than one book, one quite large, and the otheres smaller.
Later...another requester?
When I was a child in Guernsey, some one bought me several books of bible stories.  They were, I thought, illustrated by Margaret Tarrant, but I do not seem able to track anything like that down.  The stories were told by a mother to her three children, Beryl, Derek and Pauline. The stories went right through the bible, from creation right through the life of Christ.  I loved the pictures, and have always wished that I still owned the books.  I do not think they were by Enid Blyton, but that is the author I first thought of when I started my search.  Is there, to your knowledge, a UK site like Loganberry?  I think your website is great - informative and quick to load.  Very efficient  and interesting.

There is a Blyton book like this, but no idea if it has the 3 children or whether it was part of a series: Blyton, Enid, illustrated by Grace Lodge Before I go to Sleep: a Book of Bible Stories and Prayers for Children at Night,  London, Latimer House 1947. 124 pages, quarto, pictorial end papers, coloured plates, line drawings. and another book on the same lines again, maybe not a series: Jones, Mary Alice,  Tell Me About The Bible Rand McNally 1949. "The author has written another beautiful and significant book for children, of vital importance to their religious growth. In the same simple conversational style she introduces small boys and girls to the fascinating story of the Bible that will lead them on to a fuller understanding and enjoyment of the Book of Books. Beautifully illustrated in colour and b/w. Colour frontis. The eps make up a full colour scene of children at play. Illustrated blue and red boards."
I have looked up the Mary Alice Jones books, but I think they are illustrated by Pegalie Doane, and this is definitely not the style of illustration I remember.  So, all you great people out in cyberspace,
please keep your suggestions coming.  Thank you so much for help so far!
Definitely not an Enid Blyton book.  Checked with the official Enid Blyton website and they e-mailed me back.
B81 bible stories: more on one suggested - Before I Go To Sleep, by Enid Blyton, illustrated in 3 colors by Catherine Scholz (US edn different illus), published Little, Brown 1953, 128 pages. "Bible stories, simply and
reverently retold after the King James version - each followed by a short prayer which carries over the meaning of the story into a child's everyday activities." (HB Feb/53 p.3 pub ad) Nothing definite on the Beryl/Derek/Pauline bedtime story structure, though.
Joyce Lankester Brisley, My Bible Book, 1940.  A possibility - not Margaret Tarrant, but similar style and period. Brisley, the author/illustrator, is best known for the Milly-Molly-Mandy books



B82: Ballet dancers dress up as flowers
Solved:  Little Ballerina 

B83: Beaver in a dress
Solved: Harvey's Hideout

B85: Big cheese
Solved: Seldom and the Golden Cheese

B88: Betty June
Solved: Betty June and Her Friends 

B89: Bed of Newspapers
Solved: Not Under the Law

B90: Becca's Book
I am 27 years old. I remember looking at one of my mother's old books when I was a child (about 8 years old or so). I remember the book because I loved the beautiful pictures it had in it. I don't know if the book was hers when she was a child or if it was one she had from teaching 2nd grade. I almost think it was hers from childhood.  Here's what I can remember about the book:  The book was of average size. I think it was divided up into chapters. There were not pictures on every page, but some in each section. The story was about a family. I remember there was a mother, father, and I believe a son & daughter and maybe a baby. Part of the story was about the family moving to a new house. The one part I remember so vividly was a part where the children went to the candy store. There was a picture of the candy store counter. The picture was in color and it was an actual photograph, not a drawing (if I remember correctly). It showed all the different types of candy that they used to sell at the nickel & dime mom & pop stores in the olden days.  I know this isn't much information, but I really can't remember much except those beautiful illustrations.  Any help you can offer will be greatly appreciated.

Not much help, but the book sounds like a school reader in format. I've seen some that were illustrated with photographs. The poster might want to browse through EBay in the Books: Children: Early Readers section and see if any of those ring a bell.
This is a 1st or second grade reader (2nd more likely) from the Alice and Jerry series.  Maybe Streets and Roads.



B91: British army officer's wife
Solved: Mrs. Tim 

B93: Bible story book
Solved:  Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories 

B94: Bedtime Story Omnibus Dog Long Ears
Solved: "Bed Time" Stories Omnibus

Stories for Bedtime, (1979) Brimax Books, . There was a revised edition a few years earlier and the book was printed in England. I have been looking for this book for nearly a week, several hours of searching each day! There are several b/w drawings and some really nice pictures - I am ordering my book ASAP, as it's pretty hard to find these days! Try doing a serach on the Illustrator, Eric Kincaid...some of his artwork will remind you of those wonderful childhood days! Good luck, all! :)



B95: Boy falls into pig pen
Solved: Spot


B96: Bonjo
Solved: Magic Tales


B97: Birthday Party soap
Solved:  Hurray for Captain Jane!

B98: Bunny lost blue ribbon
Solved: Bunny Blue

B99: Betty & Bobby Squirrel
Solved: The Story of Bobby Squirrel 

B100: Baseball switcharoo
Solved: Don and Donna Go To Bat

B101: Blyton-like books
Solved: Lone Pine Series 

B102: Betsy Malone
Hello.  I'm looking for a children's series for my mother.  The information she gave me was the main character was an army brat named Betsy Malone and my mother remembers these books from her childhood.  (She was born in the late '30s so I would imagine it was from the late '30s or '40s but possibly earlier.  I'm sorry I don't have more to go on.

Leonora Mattingly Weber, Beany Malone. sounds like the right series not Betsy Malone
B102 betsy malone: perhaps Beany Malone, but the Malone's father wasn't in the military, but in journalism. Janet Lambert's heroines Tippy and Penny Parrish were army brats, as are the children of the Jordon family in a related series. One of the Jordon children is named Bitsy, but that's as close as the names get.
Lenora Mattingly Weber, Meet the Malones1999, reprint I feel sure that your mom is thinking of the "Beany Malone" series by Lenora Mattingly Weber.  Though Beany is not an army brat, the first two stories in the series take place during WWII.  In "Meet the Malones", Beany's journalist father travels to Hawaii to cover the war, and sends 3 war orphans home to live with daughters Mary Fred and Beany and the rest of the family.  Oldest sister Elizabeth is married to a soldier that is sent overseas, she has her baby on a train while coming home to stay with the family.  Mary Fred helps entertain soldiers staying at a local military base (the series is set in Denver, CO) while trying to resolve her own mixed-up love feelings about a show-off football player and a cowboy named Ander.  In the second book, "Beany Malone", Elizabeth's injured husband comes home after the war, ex-GI Ander's troubles at college endanger Mary Fred's chances of joining a sorority, and Beany befriends a shy girl named Kay.  Do these plots sound familiar?  If not than maybe it is the character Bitsy Jordan from Janet Lambert's books.  Most of us who grew up with these series read both, and it would be easy to get the names mixed up.  But, good news, both series have been recently reprinted by the same company, Image Cascade, and you can get descriptions of all the titles by visiting their website, imagecascade.com! 



B103: Bunny doesn't like to eat anything
Solved: Fussbunny

B104: Bear visits grandmother
Solved:  Little Bear's Visit

B105: Bulldozer
Solved: Bulldozer

B106: Beauty and the beast, retelling
Solved: Beauty

B107:  Ballet Dancer / Boy with a scar on his face
Solved: Paquita the Ballerina from Mallorca 

B108: Boy goes on quest
Solved: King with Six Friends

B109: Button Jugs
Solved: Button Jugs

B110: Bagnold the doll
Solved: The Journey of Bangwell Putt

B111: Bunny as doll
I am 32 years old looking for a childrens book I read in my early years putting it in the early to mid 70's.  The story as I remember is as follows-  a yound girl found a little bunny in the bushes, she dressed it up as her doll, and took care of it, the bunny jumped out of her carriage, some boys has teased her along the way.  When she found the bunny it  turned out the bunny had a family of her own in some bushes.  I am not sure the name of the book - maybe "the dressed up bunny" but that may be way off.  I am not sure where to begin to look.  I donot have a working computer of my own and am using my parents when visiting.  I  would likke any information you can give me on this .  Or a route to take to try to lacate this book.  I apprecaite any imput you can give.

B111 bunny as doll: this is similar to Push Kitty, by Jan Wahl, illustrated by Garth Williams, published Harper 1968. "Much to Kitty White's dismay, his little mistress dresses him up as her child and takes him for a stroll in her doll carriage." Of course that's a cat in a doll carriage, not a rabbit, so it probably isn't a match.
Muller, Gerda, The Dressed-up Rabbit.  Racine, Golden 1972.  The title sounds right, and the date is good. A Big Golden
Book. Cover shows rabbit with green mittens and orange scarf. Plot description rather scanty - "A little girl visits her grandmother in the country and learns about protecting animals and plants."



B112: Boy and Blocks
Solved: Building Blocks
B113: Boy travelling in wilderness

Solved: The Magic Forest 
B114: Bah, Humbunny!

Solved: Humbug Rabbit
B115: Ballet/Labanotation Girls Novel

Solved: A Dance for Susie 
B116: Bedtime for Edie

Solved: Edie Changes Her Mind
B117: Boy in outer space

Solved: Jed's Junior Space Patrol
B118: Blue truck

Solved:  Rackety-Boom
B119: Boarding school stolen doll(s)
Solved: Nancy and Plum 
B120: Bowlegged knockkneed horse

Solved: So'm I 
B121: Bread book by diPaola

Solved: Tony's Bread
B122: Boy from another planet?

Solved: Dar Tellum: Stranger from a Distant Planet
B123: Birthday Plant

Solved: The Happy Birthday Present
B124: Boy, Bear and Dog

I had a book which I just loved as a child about a little boy who has a teddy bear he lugs around everywhere.  Page after page the book recalls all the adventures of the little boy with his bear.  The little boy is given a dog at one point in the book and the puppy of course mangles the bear's ear and mom has to stitch him up.  The book continues on with the adventures of boy, bear and dog.  Then, the boy goes to school. The bear is placed in the window to watch when the boy comes home each day. Eventually the boy leaves for college(?) or his own life and the bear is simply left on the shelf. I believe, but not sure, the grown man comes back and gets the bear to give to his child. I remember the illustrations had a lot red coloring.  I want to say there was something red in each picture.  I also believe the story was told from the view point of the bear.

This must be the same book as B136.
B124 boy bear & dog and B136 boy bear & puppy sound like the same book.
Gladys Schmitt, Boris, the Lopsided Bear, 1966.  There is definately a boy (Jody), a bear (Boris) - a gift from Aunt Doris... The boy explains to Aunt Doris why Boris came to be as he is... lopsided, one ear partially chewed, two different eyes... there is a drawing of a dog tossing the bear in the air (the dog had chewed his foot).  Aunt Doris performs an "operation" on Boris to fix him up like new.  There is no red in the book, though.  The cover I have is pink with a brown bear on a green and white bedspread/bed.  Illustrations are by Karla Kuskin.  I hope this is it!



B125: Boy finds cat
Solved: J.T.

B126: Beau for Emily?
Solved: Emmy Keeps a Promise

B127: Bassett Hound Kidnapped
Solved: Something Queer is Going On

B128: Bunny wrong color
Solved: Spotty
B129a: Burning man jaunting

Solved: The Stars My Destination

B129b:  Brown Mouse
Solved: Brown Mouse

B130a:  boy sky green different colors
Solved: A Horse of Another Color
B130b: "blank" The Hideaway Cat

Solved: Hildy's Hideway
B131: baker family
I must have read these series of books hundreds of times and yet all I can remeber is that one of the children my be named Dot. One of the girl's possibly Dot, goes on a diet. She sees her image in a store window and within weeks she stops looking like a "lollipop" and start looking like a "lollypop stick". I also recall that one of the girls wants to take the big cake in the window to the house of a girl friend who is having a birthday. Her father, the baker, says no, but will bake her another. She takes the one in the window only to find out it is made of wood.

B131   Baker Family    The story about the girl who brings a wooden cake to a friend's house is called The Baker's Daughter by Margery Bianco.  ( I think the cake was actually cardboard).   I read this story in The Junior Classics, but it was reprinted there from a book called A Street of Little Shops  , which might have the story about Dot the lollipop girl in it.
Frieda Friedman, ca. 1945 - 1955. Sounds likely that this is one of Frieda Friedman's books, although I couldn't swear which.  Dot appears in a least a couple.  A Sundae with Judy sounds like a good possibility (I think there's definitely dieting in that one), although I don't remember Dot for Short, so might be that.  Family does run a bakery.
Following up my suggestion - I just saw the description of Sundae with Judy in K19: Kubla Khan kids, which specifies candy store rather than bakery.  Hmm. Still might be Friedman, maybe?
This is definitely not a Frieda Friedman book. I own A Sundae With Judy, Dot For Short, Ellen and the Gang, Carol From the Country, and The Janitor's Girl, all by Frieda Friedman, and this description isn't like any of them.



B132:  Boy and his elephant Rex
Solved:  Elephant for Rent 

B133:  Bunny in Invisible Bag
Solved: Morris's Disappearing Bag

B134:  Bunchy
Solved: Bunchy
B135: Ballet class with French girl

Solved: Ellen Tebbits

B136:  Boy, Bear & Puppy
I was born in 1972.  When I was around 5 or 6 I had a book about a little boy he gets a Teddy Bear as a gift.  The story is told from the bear's point of view. The bear talks of the great adventures they have sleding and such.  Then one year the boy gets a puppy as a gift and the puppy mangles the bear's ear, but the bear says he didn't mind so much because "mom" sewed it back on.  Finally the boy has to go to school and the bear sits in the window and waits for him and the dog waits by the door.  Then, I believe, the day comes when the bear is put on a shelf because the boy is going away to college.  But the boy comes back and gets the bear and gives it to his little boy.  I think I'm right on the ending..I could be wrong.  I do remember the full page color illustrations having a lot of red in each one.  For example, if the bear and boy are out riding in a toy car, the car is bright red. If they are sledding, the boy has on a bright red coat or scarf.  I believe the dog is an orange/red dog like a retriever.  Also, this book could have been a hand-me-down, as I have a sister 5 years my senior.  My age and the age of the book may very well not coincide.

This must be the same book as B124.
B124 boy bear & dog and B136 boy bear & puppy sound like the same book.
Gladys Schmitt, Boris, the Lopsided Bear, 1966.  There is definately a boy (Jody), a bear (Boris) - a gift from Aunt Doris... The boy explains to Aunt Doris why Boris came to be as he is... lopsided, one ear partially chewed, two different eyes... there is a drawing of a dog tossing the bear in the air (the dog had chewed his foot).  Aunt Doris performs an "operation" on Boris to fix him up like new.  There is no red in the book, though.  The cover I have is pink with a brown bear on a green and white bedspread/bed.  Illustrations are by Karla Kuskin.  I hope this is it!



B137:  Blind Boy Rescues Friend
Solved: The Dark of the Cave
B138: Black ballet dancer

Solved: Another Way to Dance
B139:  Bear--search for "ghost" bear

Solved: The Flaming Bear
B140: Byron dragged behind truck, killed

Solved: Between Dark and Daylight

B141:  Boy Who Sprouts Wings
Solved: Black and Blue Magic
2002


B142: Baby who won't come out
Solved: Baby Come Out

B143: boy ran away into forest
Solved: Little House in the Fairy Wood 
B144: Bunny changes color

Solved: The White Bunny and His Magic Nose 

B145: "banquish," egg (stone?), bumblebee
Solved: The Witch Family
B146: Bobby and Betsy

I don't remember much, but I think this boy and girl were twins.  I thought they were the Bobbsey twins because I read those books.  I found out that wasn't right.  Please help.  Maybe I made them up!

Carolyn Haywood?
There is a Carolyn Haywood book called Betsy and Billy, but the two of them were friends.
Katherine Elizabeth Dopp, Bobby and Betty on the Farm, 1920s or 1930s.  There were two or three books for young children featuring "Bobby and Betty"  the above is one of them.
Carolyn Haywood, the "Betsy" books.  Sounds like Carolyn Haywood to me, but it was "Billy" and Betsy, not
Bobby.  Billy was featured in several of the Betsy books.



B147: Bedtime Stories, with rhymes/poems
For years I have yearned to somehow get a hold of my absolute favorite book from childhood.  It was an anthology of stories along with some rhymes and poems.  What makes my quest a stumper is this:  Neither I nor those in my family who remember my having this book recall its exact title, my father bought it in Tehran, Iran when we lived there from 1975-1977 (but he doesn't recall buying the book or where he bought it from!), at that age (grade school) I didn't concern myself with the publisher's name and location nor the name of the editor or various authors and possible various illustrators, and within a year or so I lost the dust jacket, and don't really recall what it looked like. And then, shortly thereafter, the book was lost in one of our family's moves.  Possibly - and this could just be my imagination - the dust jacket was somewhat glossy and colorfully illustrated and medium blue (possibly from a sky) might have been a predominant color for it.  Being that I got it in the Middle East in the mid 70s, it might have been published somewhere other than the U.S. - London or Amsterdam or the like.  However, there are a considerable number of specifics that I do recall. I'm almost 100% sure had the term "Bedtime Stories" or Bedtime Storybook" was in its title because that's how my sister, mother and I referred to it back then.  It was approximately 9" X 12" and 1" to 1 1/4" thick and had a hunter or pine green cloth (canvassy) hard cover. The pages were of a matte, relatively sturdy texture.  It was full of colorful illustrations throughout, mainly or exclusively watercolors.  My general memory of them is that they were colorful (all full-color) and striking but never overtly so, many of them warm and glowing, some with a more developed use of line than others.   Some of the contents were:  some Aesop'\''s fables such as The Lion and the Mouse (brown tones), The Fox and the Stork (brown tones), The Tortoise and the Hare (probably), the Fox and the Grapes (probably) as well as The Teeny Tiny Woman, Henny Penny (brighter colors), possibly Brer Rabbit (?), a story about a taxicab (a vague remembrance of an illustration of a cab chugging along a highway/freeway), a story about a dollhouse or dollhouse family (I seem to recall a sequel or two of this story within the same anthology and illustrations predominated by pink), One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (double-page spread of small illustrations), A is for Apple (all the way to Z is for ..., double-page spread of small illustrations), The Nut (or Nutmeg) Tree (a soft small illustration of a lone tree bearing one or several golden pears or nutmegs with a light blue sky in the distance).  I think the book also contained Little Red Riding Hood and there might have been a story about a train or an engine (the color red stands out in my mind with this one), and a story about patchwork or a quilt because I seem to recall an illustration of such.  And there were a lot of other stories.   I think many of the stories had double-page spread illustrations and the endpapers just might have been dappled with little illustrations. I'm almost sure that it was written in American rather than British English.  Based on the illustrative style of the book and its availability as brand new at the time my father purchased it, I'd assume it was published in the early or mid 70s (earliest, the 60s, but I doubt this).   Children ages 6-10 could read it on their own. To this day I cannot quite believe that my most cherished childhood storybook is lost in time forever.  Isn't there someone out there who knows of this book, who has ever owned  or still owns it?  I've done different Internet/website and library catalog searches and I don't know where and how else to go. And now I've found your website.  I'd be SO grateful for any leads!

That sounds very much like 365 Bedtime Stories by Nan Gilbert, originally published I think in 1945, by Whitman Publishing in Racine, Wisconsin, and reprinted in 1955 and 1970 and even more recently.  It's heavily illustrated, and there is one story for every day of the year. There is also a newer version (not as good as the older one) called More 365 Bedtime Stories.
The Childcraft set I have at home contains all the rhymes and stories the writer mentions in her request.
Based on the page dedicated to Nan Gilbert that's linked to the "Most Requested Books" page, 365 Bedtime Stories is not the book I'm searching for.  None of the descriptions/characteristics of that book are similar to the book I had as a child,  but I sincerely thank whomever it was who responded to my query.  My book's illustrations had a late1960s - 1970s style to them and it had traditional rhymes and poems and stories (e.g.,  some Aesop's fables) as well as those that weren't traditional or well-known (it had multiple authors).  The book I had was published 1977 or slightly before (My father bought it before we left Iran sometime in 1977) and it had a solid, plain, non-decorated canvas or linen dark green hard cover.   I would be out-of-my-mind elated if someone were able to nail this one on the nose!  I'm glad for this wonder of a website. response #2:  My book was definitely not a Childcraft book, and it was not part of a larger set.  I own a 15-volume Childcraft set (1973 edition) that I've made thorough use of since I was a toddler.  This Childcraft set was my second favorite reading material as a young child, especially Poems and Rhymes, Stories and  Fables, and Children Everywhere, but the book I seek was its own and its style, layout and such were completely different from those of Childcraft (e.g., it had no photographs, no black and white illustrations, completely non-gloss pages, no index, and it came with a dustcover which, to my memory's disadvantage - except what I recall in my original description above - I lost about a year after my father bought the book).  Some of the stories/rhymes/poems from that book appear in these volumes, but it contained many more that do not.  Over the past few years I've done various searches on the Library of Congress website and no fitting description comes up.  Is there a comparable government service in other countries such as the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, Germany, just in case this book was published outside the US?
My Book House-In the Nursery. At first I thought this was the book being looked for, but on further reflection it may not be. It does have a hard green cover and cute endpapers and it is full of stories and rhymes and beautiful artwork, but it also is the first in a series and has a picture on the front cover. The book being looked for may also be the second one in this series, which is for older children. A few more stories and longer poems. I don't recall that title, however.
It's been about 18 months since I last had any possible leads on my request.  Since then I have been searching many online international libraries and booksellers, still with no leads.  I just finished reading Rumer Godden's The Doll's House and I feel certain (and shocked and excited to have encountered it after all these years!) that it is the one of the stories in the anthology I am seeking.  This anthology, as I recall it, had the story divided into chapters, or two or three different sections, but probably not back to back/consecutively,  possiblyto allow a visual and mental break for the reader to read other stories in between.   Does anyone know of a singular anthology that contains all of the following plus additional stories (that escape me now): some Aesop's Fables (listed in my original request); The Doll's House  by Rumer Godden; the poemThe Nutmeg Tree ("I had a little nut tree, nothing would it bear, but a sliver nutmeg and a golden pear. The King of Spain's daughter came to visit me,  all for the sake of my little nut tree." ); The Little Red Hen;  Teeny-Tiny (or TheTeeny-Tiny Old Woman);  Little Red Riding Hood;  a story about a yellow taxicab; Number 9: The Little Fire Engine ( possibly included); and the  One, Two, Buckle My Shoe and the A is for  ... - Z is for ... alphabet (alternately called, I believe, The Nonsense Alphabet)?   I also distinctly remember that this book also contained The Boy Who Cried Wolf.  I'm not quite ready to give up yet.
MA Donohue & Co, A Patch-Work Quilt of Favorite Tales,1933. It's a long shot, but my Mom has this book that she's had from childhood.  It has "A Patchwork Quilt," "Peter Rabbit," "Little Black Sambo," "Little Red Hen," "3 Little Pigs," "3 Little Kittens," "Chicken Little," "3 Bears," and a poem entitled "Little Sleepy Head".  The front cover looked like a patchwork quilt with each quilt square containing pictures from each story in the book.  One of the front pages shows a little girl sitting on a bed that has a quilt on it I believe.
AMERICAN CRAYON CO., American Childhood's Best Books Deluxe Edition Ages 4 and up to 8, 1946.
I still have not had the fortune of finding this most cherished book.  I will look into the last two suggestions posted, although I still believe the copyright date is from the '60's or '70's.  I wish there were still something more specific I could remember to make this stumper more likely to be solved.  The only other thing I can recall is that the print was probably aroud 10- or 11-point font size, not what would be considered "large print".
Various, Best In Children's Books, 1950, approximate.  This is a many book set of books that had all kinds of stories compiled inside, from nursery rhymes to Bevery Cleary stories, etc. There are many, many volumes and each book had more than 20 short stories, poems, etc. I have seen these on ioffer and ebay, etc.



B148: Boys' stories anthology, pre-1975
Solved: Giggle Box 

B149: BOY PASSES AWAY/HAND PROPPED UP WITH PILLOW
Solved: Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories
B150: blonde/browneyed girl amid whitehaired/blue eyed people

Solved: Tatsinda
B151: Bush pilot fights forest fire

Solved: Young Bush Pilot 

B152: Boy kills best friend gets away with it
This was a short story in my grade school class distributed hardcover book (early 80's)where a boy goes hunting and accidentally kills his best friend.  Most of the story is then about the boys fear that he will be found out and then towards the end he is eating dinner with his friends parents and everyone blames the shooting on either on someone else or it was accidental and he never comes clean but will live with what he's done for the rest of his life.

I don't have a title for this one yet but it's making me crazy;  I think we had the same book!
This sounds like a short story I read in college.  It was called "The Stone Boy."
If it is The Stone Boy, you can read it online.  The story I remember is somewhat different, though.
NOT The Stone Boy, which was made into a terrrific movie with Robert Duvall and Glenn Close. Different plot.
Richard Brautigan, So The Wind Won't Blow It All Away,1982. If the querent hadn't said that this was given out as a school assignment, I could swear it was Richard Brautigan's final, very short novel. The narrator clearly has something to reveal, but can't quite bring himself to remember. Instead, he obsesses on the price of hamburgers, accumulating a vast amount of data about them. It turns out that when he was twelve, the hamburger and a box of bullets were the same price and he went with the bullets. He and his friend went hunting in the woods and he accidentally shot and killed his friend. Already a social outcast, this incident forced his family to leave the area. He tries to blot it from his memory, but never can. This is loaded with details and incidents from Brautigan's real life, so that many people think the accident may have actually happened to Brautigan. He did accidentally shoot a friend at about that age but the friend was only slightly injured. On or about the same day, the son of a prominent local attorney *was* killed in a hunting accident, and Brautigan merged the two stories.



B153: Bonner, John
Solved: John Bonwell: A Novel of the Ohio River Valley, 1818-1862

B154:  Briony, Dilys and Rees Young Adult Novel
Solved: A Candle in Her Room 
B155: biologist cracks counterfeit ring

Solved:  Trouble at Clear Lake 

B156: Boy from regular world training to be witch/warlock in enchanted woods
Solved: Rebel Witch

B157: boys mixed stories, space, lunar
Solved: Stirring Stories for Boys 

B158: Boy, English, timetravels, becomes grandson
Solved: Steps Out of Time

B159: Boy detective/superhero
Solved: Alvin Fernald, Superweasel

B160: Boy and Beelzebub
Solved:  Big Joke Game 

B161: Boots the Cat
Solved:  Boots the Kitten

B161a: Birds as clock, scissor, icecream cones
Solved: Ice-Cream Coot and Other Rare Birds 
B162: Boys gets lost in magical forest trees talk and give him things

This is a child's picture book.  Would have been out in the early to mid 1970's (I was born in 1967).  It was about a little boy who goes into an magical/enchanted forest.  I believe he gets lost. The trees can talk and move and each one gives him something along the way. One tree gives him ice cream, another
marbles and other trees give him some other things.  I cannot even BEGIN to remember what the name of the book is.  Does this ring a bell to anyone?? I would love to order it for my son for x-mas this year.

I remember that one, at least parts of it, no title or author, sorry! The boy was always scared of the forest and usually took the long way around, until something, sounds, music? encouraged him to go through the trees. Only really recall the blue telephone tree.
Schloat, The Haunted Forest.  Found this on another website doing the same thing as this one. http://www.auntbook.com/identified4.html. Scroll down a bit to see the description.


B163: Blyton mystery book- Anytime Tales
I am a reference librarian in Texas but this has me stumped!  I had a book as a child in England, that was published in the late 1940's, probably, as it was a hand-me-down from my older sisters.  Title was
Anytime Tales by Enid Blyton (an anthology).  It is NOT, repeat NOT, that title that was published in the 1970's - nothing like it!  It was a sizable format (the size of a British child's 'annual') and had on the cover an illustration of a little girl, kerchief on head, sitting amongst rolled up carpets and obviously taking a break from Spring cleaning by sitting reading the same book Anytime Tales with her own picture on the cover (sort of a receding mirror image effect - the book with a picture of the book with a picture of the book). This item does not come up in WorldCat database and an authority re: Blyton tells me that even her publisher is not completely sure of all the editions of her stories that were pumped out.  So, this boils down to Have you ever seen one of these?

Enid Blyton, Anytime Tales, 1945.  I don't know if this is it, but there's an Anytime Tales from 1945 (listed without author's name) on this site  -- might be worth going there to see if that's the one.



B164: Betsy or Betty Buttons
Solved:  Betsy Buttons

B165: bells ring old woman's offering
Solved:  Why the Chimes Rang
2003

B166: Billy Goats Learn Math
Solved: Arithmetic for Billy Goats 

B167: Bedtime Stories, angel, fire truck
Solved:  Little Lost Angel
Solved:  Number 9 - The Little Fire Engine 
B168: Boarding School Secret Places

Solved: The Secret Language


B169: Bach and Mendelsohn
Solved: Beyond Desire : a novel based on the life of Felix and Cécile Mendelssohn


B170:  Boy inventor has light-up goggles for night vision
Solved: The Furious Flycyle


B171:  Boys and apple trees
Solved: Two Boys and a Tree


B172: Bear family lives behind the hall closet door
Solved: Susan's Bears


B173:  Baby osprey fall from nest and learns to fly
Around 1970 we had a book about a baby  osprey who falls from the nest and other birds shout advice about how to fly, such as ""Swoop!' called the eagle", or ""Dive!' cried the pelican".

B174: boy that has a secret that scares monsters
Solved: The Book of Giant Stories


B175: boy named boo
I was looking for a book about a boy named Boo that I read my son in the early '60s and a book that I read my grandfather it was Robin Hood but it was illustrated in just in one color , I believe green it had a red cover and was large , atleast 8x11. It was a beautiful book and I read it in the '30s

With no other description to go on, these are the titles I could find: Boo, the Little Indian by Peter Abbott, Avon Pub. 1952 -- Boo: the Boy Who Didn't Like the Dark by Munro Leaf, Publicity Products, 1954 -- Adventures of Boo and Sam & The Return of Boo and Sam by Ruth Johnson -- Boo by Robert E Barry, Houghton Mifflin, 1959.
#B175--boy named boo:  Well, here is a book about a tomboyish girl named  Boo:  I'm Boo ... That's Who!  Gregory, Diana.  Reading, Mass.:  Addison-Wesley, 1979.  Ill. By Susan Spellman Mohn.  After moving from Los Angeles to a small town in the Virginia horse country, 13-year-old Boo comes to the reluctant conclusion that the only way to make friends is to join the local stable and learn to ride.
I had a book, as a child, titled A Boy Called Boo (if I recall the title correctly).  It was about a boy who was very sensitive about his nickname, given to him by his sister when he was an infant.  She could not pronounce his real name other than calling him “Boo.”  The name stuck as a family nickname, that causes him embarrassment when he meets a new neighbor girl who will be his classmate in school.  He goes through much angst until the girl reveals to him that she understands his embarrassment because she, too, had a family nickname.
Sounds great, but I can't find anything by that title to confirm it, or add an author's and publisher's name...



B176: boy from another planet
Solved: The Forgotten Door


B177: boat
Solved: A Little Old Man by the Sea


B178: Baby Raindrop in clouds falling to earth
Solved: Little Bitty Raindrop


B179: Boy & Dog's day on the Railroad
Solved: Pogo's Train Ride


B180: BOOKWORM OR INCHWORM
not a lot of details here.  a young children's book about a worm, for years i've been thinking it was an inchworm, but i recall it involved books and climbing high, maybe a bookworm?  the details are so sketchy, just a sensation i have.  but, he might have been measuring things, too.  i would have been about 6-7 when i read it, in the mid-70's.  i know for sure it wasn't eric carle's "the very hungry caterpillar."

There are lots of stories with similiar elements.  My favorite is Clifton Fadiman's Wally the Wordworm.  But there's also Leo Lionni's Inch by Inch.  And then, if you want to talk about really climbing, there are the caterpillars in Trina Paulus' Hope for the Flowers.
Could this be Richard Scarry's character Lowly Worm? Lowly appears in several of Richard Scarry's books.
Mattern Joanne, Inchworm Helps Out.  Illustrated by Stephen Lewis
Here's the description of Wally The Wordworm (Clifton Fadiman, Lisa Atherton-illus., Stemmer House, 1983): "A worm with a voracious appetite for words who has grown bored with those he finds in the tabloids, discovers the dictionary where his flagging appetite revives. Includes puns, puzzles, and plays on words."



B181: baseball book hit the wall
Solved: The Last Put-Out


B182: Bear who was not
Solved: The Bear that Wasn't


B183: brownstone, policemen, girl, ears pierced with straws
I read this book in first grade and it detailed the story of a girl, possibly African American, living in a brownstone. A policeman was involved in some way, at one point he was carrying the girl, and she most wanted to get her ears pierced. When she did, it was using straws, like drinking straws. No one has any idea what I'm talking about when I try to describe this.  I think it was in a reader, c. 1978.

B183 If family was from Barbados it  would be Marshall, Paule. Brown girl, brownstones.  Random, 1959.
I don't know... Brown girl, brownstones is a pretty thick book for a first-grader...
Bell Mathis, Sharon, Sidewalk Story, 1971, copyright. If you read the story in first grade, it might be Sidewalk Story by Sharon Bell Mathis (1971). It's 58 pgs in paperback. I''ve read this story to my third grade class. It's about Lilly Etta Allen, a 9-year old African American girl living in a brownstone. She wears straws in her ears instead of real earrings while she waits for gold earrings on her birthday. But the main plot involves her trying to help her best friend Tanya, whose family is being evicted from their apartment. Near the end, a reporter discovers Lilly Etta sleeping atop Tanya's belongings in the street and possibly carries her off the pile since it's raining.



B184: Boy befriends "evil" dragon
Solved: Tears of the Dragon


B185: Basement
Solved: Harry and the Terrible Whatzit


B186: Boston illustrated book
My book is set in Boston, and I believe the heroine/protagonist is a little girl. As far as I remember the plot has something to do with her visiting various local landmarks. The book is illustrated with drawings rather than photos, I think in a mix of black and white with splashes of color, but if not then maybe just color. I think it may have been published in the 1970's but I suppose it could have been earlier, and the book was set in the present rather than being a historical story. My paperback copy had a blue illustrated cover, and I think the title was written in scrolly type writing and ran vertically along the left side of the front cover. Also, the book was short vertically and longer horizontally. Not much to go on I know but I appreciate your help, thanks.

For what it's worth, Mary Ellen Chase wrote a book titled Journey to Boston, dated 1965.
Inger Elliott McCabe, A Week in Amy's World, 1970.
?, As I was crossing Boston Common. This was a picture book that my kids enjoyed in the mid-70's or thereabouts. I
can't remember the details, but the refrain was "as I was crossing Boston Common, not too fast and not too slow." Maybe others will remember the details.
A Week in Amy's World: New England would be a good match expect that it is illustrated with photos, not drawings.  Summary:  "Seven year old Amy of Cambridge goes to school, sightsees in a museum, visits her grandparents, and waits for snow."  Maybe one of these three books will ring a bell, though.  Today in Old Boston by ElvaJean Hall, 1975, 48 pp., sketches by Joanna Adamska-Koperska.  Summary: "Explains the historical significance of Boston's most important historic buildings and sights."  Or, Hear Ye of Boston, by Polly Curren, 1964, 39 pp., color illustrations by Kurt Werth, color map on end papers, 27 x 28 cm. (slightly wider than taller).  I don't know whether the illustrations are photos or art, they are called "pictures" in the description.  Finally, I found A Beacon Was Hoisted, by Barbara Ratner Gantshar, 1975, 40
pp., color illustrations, "Short rhymes introduce the sights of Boston and their historical significance."
A Week in Amy's World: New England would be a good match expect that it is illustrated with photos, not drawings.  Summary:  "Seven year old Amy of Cambridge goes to school, sightsees in a museum, visits her grandparents, and waits for snow."  Maybe one of these three books will ring a bell, though.  Today in Old Boston by ElvaJean Hall, 1975, 48 pp., sketches by Joanna Adamska-Koperska.  Summary: "Explains the historical significance of Boston's most important historic buildings and sights."  Or, Hear Ye of Boston, by Polly Curren, 1964, 39 pp., color illustrations by Kurt Werth, color map on end papers, 27 x 28 cm. (slightly wider than taller).  I don't know whether the illustrations are photos or art, they are called "pictures" in the description.  Finally, I found A Beacon Was Hoisted, by Barbara Ratner Gantshar, 1975, 40 pp., color illustrations, "Short rhymes introduce the sights of Boston and their historical significance."
I think As I Was Crossing Boston Common can be eliminated.  While it is the correct shape (wider than it is tall) it doesn't feature any specific places around Boston.  It's about a parade of animals (and little-known ones at that) that come in alphabetical order.
Kathryn Lasky, I Have an Aunt on Marlborough Street.  Possibly too recent, but another possibility



B187: Bimulus nights
Solved: When the Sky is Like Lace


B188: bendemolina
Solved: Bendemolena


B189:  black children with colorful parasols
One picture in the book shows black children in the back of wagon going to church.  Each one had a colorful parasol.  The children were poor and lived in a rural area of the country.  I don't remember much of the plot.  I more remember my mother's commenting about the colorful parasols.  This was a library book that my mother got for us in the early to mid 50s, which makes me think the book was written in the 30s, 40s, or early 50s.  It was a large hardback book.

B189 Eva Knox Evans, Araminta books.  1930s. Other possibilities could include Inez Hogan's Nicodemus books.
Elizabeth Ritter, Parasols Is For Ladies, 1941. I remembered this book from my 6th grade teacher reading it aloud to the class in the 50's.  I found it on Ebay a couple of years ago but the price was out of my range. I would love to have a copy.



B190: Battle for the universe
Science fiction, ACE Double I believe, I read in early 70;s probably from early 60's late 50's.  A man is walking down the street in a small town and trips on a crack in the sidewalk, falls to the ground, is knocked out.  When he comes to, he realizes that he is not human but an agent of a galactic empire.  He is sad that he has to leave his wife and kids and join the cause of  (the next part is suspect - he is able to launch himself into the air and changes shape, into a delta wing, rises above the galactic plane and sees enemey forces approaching this part of the galaxy, he "radios" in to tell his galactic govt about the invasion).  This is the important part:  There are two sides to the battle for the galaxy and eventually the universe. Each side keeps upping the technological stakes until one side completely destroys the universe and RECREATES  IT WITHOUT THE OTHER SIDE EVER HAVING EXISTED.  This is not Van Vogt's "The Silky" or "The Star Kings", books I thought it was and bought.  Thx

B190  Here is an address for a listing of ACE Doubles.  Perhaps the reader will recognize a title.



B191: Brr said Mrs. Gray squirrel
Solved: Pillowtime Tales


B192: Bunny saves TG Turkey with helicopter ears
My husband fondly remembers this books from the late 1950s/early '60s: T.G. Turkey is saved from being the main course at Thanksgiving by his friend the bunny, who twirls his/her ears like helicopter rotors, and they escape!

B193: Behind the Couch
Solved: A Child's Garden of Verses


B194: Boys fly after putting ointment on shouderblades  (spaceship?)
Solved: Black and Blue Magic


B195: Boys fly after putting ointment on shoulders (spaceship?)
Solved: Black and Blue Magic


B196: bear
Solved: Teddy Bear of Bumpkin Hollow


B197: Ballet student learns notation
Solved: A Dance for Susie

Lee Wyndham, Dance to My Measure and Ballet Teacher, 1958 and 1956, copyright.  I believe that this question refers to not one but two books by Lee Wyndham, the author of the Susie series. Dance to Measure is about a young woman named Shelly Andrews who studying to become a ballerina. She takes a summer job working at a playhouse and learns Labanotaion and choreography. When the choreographer has an accident, Shelly must choreograph a new musical for the playhouse theatee. She realizes that balet choreography, rather than dancing is her true vocation. Ballet Teacher is a book about another young woman, Nora Graham, who longs to be a prima ballerina. When an automobile accident ends that dream, she finds happiness.. and love in her new profession as a ballet teacher.


B198: bunnies arrive every day of a month
Solved:  April Rabbits


B199: boy becomes ant, shirttail
Solved: City Under the Back Steps


B200:  Birthday for Bird
Solved:  A Birthday for Bird


B201: Benny and the Seeds
Solved:  Seeds and More Seeds


B202: Boy who can Teleport
Solved: The Case of the Vanishing Boy


B203: biting ants in tree
Solved: Giants and Witches and a Dragon or Two


B204: BunBun (mrs Bunny?)
Solved: Waggy and His Friends


B205: beaver, bear, dam, will-o-the wisp
1955-1960  The cover was brown. Many illustrations of a beaver and a bear. Descriptions of the beaver dam and how he built it with mud. The bear and beaver face or discuss danger in finding one's way in the woods or swamps owing to the will-o-the wisp.

I don't have a description, but there is a book titled The Bear and the Beaver by Charles Frankel, ill. by Bill Crawford (Sloane, 1951).



B206: brave, I am brave
sesame street book,  1987.  This was a sesame street book which starred Oscar the grouch, he faced several situations which he dealt with by repeating to himself, "I am brave, I am brave, I am brave, brave, brave".  This book was extra large sized and I believe had (a blue) Oscar on the cover?

The books I've found featuring Oscar are: A Day in the Life of Oscar the Grouch, How to be a Grouch, Oscar's Stinky Birthday, and Oscar's Book.  It seems kind of strange for Oscar to be proclaiming his bravery, though--that seems more in keeping with Elmo, Grover or Big Bird.  I would name Grover as the most likely candidate, since he is blue and Oscar is most definitely green.
It's gotta be Grover.
Norman Gorbaty, Sesame Street: Goodnight Little Grover.  How about this one?  I can see how going to bed might spark fears, thus leading to the "I am brave" comment.  Plus it was published in '87.
No, it isn't Good Night Little Grover--I had that one all memorized from nightly readings, and it's just about Grover's going-to-bed routine.
Dan Elliott, Deborah Hautzig, Joe Mathieu, A Visit to the Sesame Street Hospital, 1985.  Could this be it?  Sounds like a good reason to be brave. "Grover, his mother, Ernie and Bert visit the Sesame Street Hospital in preparation for Grover's upcoming tonsillectomy. The familiar characters change an unfamiliar hospital into a place to be trusted, and many typical questions are discussed."
The Monster at the End of the (this ?) Book, earlier than 1983.  Grover spends book trying to keep reader from turning pages only to discover at the end that he is the monster the title mentions. He does frequently say that he is not really scared but I don't remember a regular chant of  "I am brave".



B207: Boa
Solved:  Isadora


B208: Benjamin or Roger
Solved:  The Boy Who Could Make Himself Disappear


B209: Baby Robin Learns to Fly
I can't remember the title of this book, but it was a children's book about a baby robin learning to fly. The mother robin would try to get the baby to fly, and say "Itty bitty Bobin-boo, why can't you fly?" Just one of those books I can't get out of my head, and would love to read to my 2 yr old daughter!

Ruth Boldan, Sammy Robin Learns to Fly.  One possibility.
Edna Mitchell Preston, Ickle Bickle Robin,1973.  "While his father is saying that he is a crybaby and his mother that he is too young, a little robin learns to fly."  I haven't read it to be sure about the "Itty bitty" line, but the title sounds like it might be the same one.



B210: Bessy, I'm a little messy
Solved: Henry's Wagon


B211: Basho haiku with Japanese drawings
Large dark cover, perhaps one of a series. Besides the Japanse section there's another on medieval tapestry. Simplified line drawings with color touches. One of a girl sweeping plum blossoms. Another of a fat little baby with a topnot. A haiku, "One chestnut, only one, his hand can hold, my little son."

Olive Beaupre Miller, Little Pictures of Japan, 1925. Although the medieval tapestries part does not fit, the rest of what you described sounds like Little Pictures of Japan.



B212: Blossoming
this book was about the emergence of a butterfly from a cocoon, but not a science book. it was about someone "blossoming"

Trina Paulus, Hope for the Flowers, 1972.  Could this be it?  "A tale partly about life, partly about revolution and lots about hope for adults and others (including caterpillars who can read). A strange allegorical tale seemingly about a caterpillar who can't find a purpose in life and when does tries to walk all over others to reach the goal, then discovers what living life is all about with love and friendship, only to be caught up in the trials and "dog eat dog" part of life again. Finally, exhausted, depressed and near "death" tries to recapture hope for living. Hope that he can really change to be a beautiful butterfly."
Robert Kraus, Leo the Late Bloomer.  This is a stretch because Leo is a tiger, not a butterfly, but the key phrase near the end is something like "Then one day, Leo bloomed!"  Prior to blooming, Leo is pretty clumsy. Leo's father is very worried about him and watches him constantly for signs of blooming, but Leo is just a late bloomer.  It has very colorful illustrations by Jose Aruego.
This might be Marilyn Sachs' The Fat Girl (1983) "In the end, Jeff's cocoon releases a butterfly (Ellen) who no longer needs him."
Deluise, Dom, Charlie the Caterpillar, 1990.  Perhaps this is the book you are thinking of.
Ernst, Lisa Campbell, Bubba  and Trixie, 1997.  Here is another title with the same theme.



B213: Black woman sets up scholarship program
about a black woman who set up a scholarship for black children to send them to college if they made decent enough grades. It may have been in Philadelphia.

coleman, evelyn, The riches of oseola McCarty, 1998.  This might be the one you want. But she is from Mississippi, not Philadelphia.
Ella K. Carruth , She Wanted to Read: The Story of Mary McLeod Bethune,1977.  It's been a long time since I read this, and I no longer have my copy to check the details, but could this be it?



B214: Brother and Sister Detectives
I remember reading in the Coronado (CA) Elementary School Library (4th? or 5th? grade) a series of mysteries. The principals were a brother and sister team (English?) who would get very deep into exciting, foreign adventures/mysteries, somehow.  They'd always get back home fine in the end - mystery solved, bad guys dealt
with. These were book-size books, and very compelling as I can recall. This was 1950 or 51, so they could have been published any time before - they were not new then, and for all practical purposes, could have been set in the thirties. I remember them eating hard biscuits and such. I couldn't find these books for my four kids - maybe for the grandchildren?? Many Thanks!

Enid Blyton, Adventure series (The Island of Adventure, etc.).  Sound like possibilities. There are actually two brother/sister pairs who end up living essentially as one family. Otherwise, definitely fit the description.
Early 50's-mmmm maybe Dorothy Clewes mysteries that involved the Hadley family. Their father is a police inspector. Peter and Eileen are the main characters, younger brother John to a lesser degree. Some of the Hadley family stories: Mystery of the Blue Admiral, The Mystery of the Lost Tower Treasure, Mystery of the Jade Green Cadillac - there are several others as well, I believe!
B214 If it is this author: Clewes, Dorothy, Roller skates, scooter and bike. illus by Sofia Coward, 1966.  juvenile mystery; gypsies; roller skates.  Rory, Kay and Gerald series
Here's another suggestion! Hilda Boden's Marlow series with Terry, Barbara and Carl. Titles include: Marlows at Castle Cliff, Marlows into Danger, Marlows and the Regatta, Marlows Pigeon Post, Two Lost Emeralds, and others! Boden has other mysteries in which the Marlows do not appear. I'm not sure if there is another series there.
Margaret Sutton, c.1932.  Judy Bolton mysteries? Judy's brother and she were sent on a bunch of mysteries ala Nancy drew/Hardy boys



B215: blueberry pie for an elf
Solved: Blueberry Pie Elf


B216: Bound Girl
Solved: Bound Girl


B217: Baby Ben
Solved: The Wild Baby


B218: bears eating getting ready for hybernation
Solved: The Smartest Bear and His Brother Oliver


B219: "Beep beep" said the Jeep
Solved: Beep! Beep! I'm a Jeep!


B220: Bunnies dressed in clothes (in color)
Solved: Three Little Bunnies

B221: bear fur coat
Solved: Not this Bear!


B222: Bertram and the rhinoceros
Solved: Bertram and the Ticklish Rhinoceros


B223: Boy hunts & traps, saves money for gun
Solved: Swiftwater


B224: Birthday party with dolls
Solved: The Best-Loved Doll

B225: birthday gifts presents
Solved: Benjamin's 365 Birthdays


B226: Boy learns magic from grandfather
Solved: The Magic Grandfather


B227: Bachelor / widower doesn't do dishes
Solved: The Man Who Didn't Wash His Dishes


B228: Beaver siblings
Solved: Harvey's Hideout


B229: Boy who grew wings
Solved: Black and Blue Magic


B230: boat polluting ocean winds up stranded
This is a book about an irresponsible boat captain sho spends years throwing garbage overboard (this may have been what he did for living).  Eventually, his boat ends up stranded on a giant pile of garbage in the middle of what used to be the ocean.

This sounds like the kind of stories that Bill Peet (not sure of spelling) wrote.
Gantz david, CAPTAIN SWIFTY & BROOK WOULDN'T BABBLE, 1983. A picture book, Could this be the book:  I seem to remember someone being surrounded by garbage at the end, I could be wrong
Cosgrove, Stephen, Cap'n Smudge, 1977, copyright.  This sounds like Cap'n Smudge, one of the Serendipity books. From http://www.gibsonbooks.com/si/41910.html.  "Serendipity, the sea serpent, tries to convince Cap'n Smudge to stop dumping garbage in the sea in retaliation for the fishermen who made fun of him."  I remember this one from when I was a kid. Cap'n Smudge also had a wooden leg that was made from a mop handle, if this rings any bells. You can look at the (new) cover and the first page on Amazon.



B231: Birthday farmgirl pregnant by elf lover
Solved: The Queen of Spells


B232: Boy & Girl in the Mountain
Solved: Coming Back Alive


B233: bear party
Solved: Bear Party


B234: Bee named Malichi lives in glass house
Solved: Witch Family

B235: "Bug Eye"
A children's picture book pulished in the 1950's or very early '60's about a cow which had huge eyes with long lashes, named "Bug Eye"


B236: Biblically named trees mystery
Solved:  Mystery of the Black Diamonds


B237:bus, the bus went fast
Part of the text reads: "The boy got on the bus and the bus went fast." On each page, a new passenger gets on the bus, and it ends with "the bus went fast." I think, but I'm not sure, that on the last page, a bee gets on the bus, and everybody gets off the bus fast. I read it in the early 70's.

Nancy Dowd, One Bee Got on the Bus.  I can't get a text or much of a description for this -- I can't even figure out when it was first published.  It seems to be being reprinted in a contemporary reader (Modern Curriculum Press), but even that looks tricky to get hold of.  So I'm not sure if this is the book, but the title looks rather promising, and the book looks like it's at the right age level (and what description there is suggests that it's a book that repeats consonants, which is consistent with the reader's description).  So it might be worth checking out, if you can find it.
Not really a solution, but I did a Google search and found a reference to a story, though it may be a story by a K-2 student.  Here's what the page says:   "The Bus Ride by Justin Wager.  Once upon a time there was a boy and girl who got on a bus and the bus went fast. Next a fox got on the bus, then a hippopotamus got on and the bus went fast.  Even a horse, a fish and a rabbit got on the bus and the bus still went fast.  Finally, a bee got on the bus.  Now! Everyone knows that one tiny bee can cause lots of trouble especially on a bus."  Sure sounds like the story you're looking for, but I couldn't find any trace of a book with that title or author.  Sorry!
No solution yet, but someone posted on ebay's "want it now" board about this book, and here is what they wrote: (Subject heading:  Children's Book: "The Bus Ride") Simple vocabulary book with very predictable text: Example: The girl got on the bus and the bus went fast."  Girl, boy and animals get on a bus one at a time and then the bus goes fast. A bee gets on the bus and then all the other occupants get off the bus one at a time and they all run away fast.
The Bus RideThe Bus Ride was published by Scott Foresman as a preprimer or supplement to a beginning reading series. It had a plain blue cover.



B238: boy in WWII homeless
Solved: The Little Fishes


B239: Billy goat that ate three red shirts - poem
This poem was published in a text book I used in 3rd or 4th grade in the mid-70's.  It was about a billy goat that ate lots of stuff, including "three red shirts, right off the line".  I'm looking for any book that contains the poem.

Are you positive about the red shirts? The Golden Book of Poetry has has the poem "Billy Goats Chew" by Richard W. Emery. "The billy goat would like to chew/Your picture book of shirt or shoe/He eats the laundry off the line/He likes the taste of sticks and twine/-" Two stanzas to the poem.
Mary Ann Hoberman and Nadine Bernard Westcott, Bill Grogan's Goat. There may well be other picture books illustrating the song, but this is a recent one.
Old Grogan's Goat is the poem - or very close to it.  I've found several variations as songs online.  I had to memorize it in grade school and I thought it was quite a bit longer. Of course, it may have just seemed that way at the time.  However, does anyone know of a Children's Poetry Anthology with this poem in it?
Mary Ann Hoberman and Nadine Bernard Westcott, Bill Grogan's Goat, 2002, copyright.  This is an old children's song I sang as a child. It tells the story of the goat that ate 3 red shirts off a clothesline and the angry reaction of his owner, Bill Grogan. Bill gave his unruly goat a whack and tied him to a railroad track as punishment. The quick thinking goat coughed up the red shirts and flagged down the train. I don't know about anthologies, but the song was published as a picture book in 2002. Here's the description: "Mary Ann Hoberman and Nadine Bernard Westcott team up for another rousing rendition of a popular children's chant, Bill Grogan's Goat. 'Bill Grogan's Goat Was feeling fine Ate three red shirts Right off the line.' Westcott's watercolor-and-ink illustrations show the fashion hungry farm animal hopping a freight train and offering the shirts to his barnyard brethren." Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.



B240: Boy in an Underwater Laboratory
Solved: Secret Under the Sea


B241: boy's grandfather (uncle?) sucked into magic portal
Solved: The Magic Grandfather


B242: Bears wake up from hibernation
Solved: The Fourteen Bears Winter and Summer


B243: Boy With A Government Trapper
Solved: The Boy with the U.S. Trappers


B244: Boy gets Mom "half a bucket" as gift
Solved: Half a Gift


B245: Boy Witch
Solved: The Witch Who Saved Halloween


B246: bertram
Solved:  Bertram and His Fabulous Animals


B247: Boy with horseshoe shaped amulet time traveller
I need an author and title.  I believe the main subject was about a loner type boy who finds a horseshoe shaped amulet that has a weird word printed on it.  He finally says the word correctly and the amulet expands to become as large as a door.  He goes thru the door and finds himself hundreds, if not thousands of miles away from home, but the other side of the doorway is still there.  He eventually uses the amulet to travel to ancient Rome.  That is, I =think=, the basic gist of the first SF&F book I ever read.  This book should have been available around the late 1950's or early 1960's.  I don't believe this was one of Edith Nesbit's books - I think I've tried all of them.  I've looked for this book for =years= - any help will be appreciated.

E Nesbit, The Story of the Amulet.If this isn't an E. Nesbit book, then the author directly copied her plot. The children's amulet, which is horseshoe-shaped, magically expands into a doorway, and they travel through time and distance.
Lloyd ALexander, Time Cat.  Doesn't quit fit, but is it possible that this could be Time Cat by Lloyd Alexander? A lot of details are different, but his cat, with whom he travels through time, had a strange shaped mark on his head.  Ancient Rome was one of the places they visited.
I'm the original poster on B247, and I have this to say to the two people (so far) who have tried to help me.   It's definitively =not= "Story of the Amulet". I have =all= of Nesbit's  stories downloaded from the net.  "Story of the Amulet" has a similar plot, but it has four kids and not just the one boy I remember.  The horseshoe isn't as major a plot point as I remember from the book I read, and I think I would have remembered the strange creature they were travelling with. Nice try though, it does have a very similar plot.   It's also not "Time Cat".  I finally managed to find a copy of this in a used book store, and while it was worth adding to my collection, (I like Alexander anyway) it's not the story I remember either.  I still need the author and title.  I still remember the plot was about a lone boy who finds a strange horseshoe shaped amulet that has a weird word printed on it.  He may have found the amulet while exploring a beach, although my memory is not clear here.   He says this word several times, always differently, without any results.  Just as he is about to give up and throw the amulet away, he finally says the word correctly and the amulet expands to become as large as a doorway or archway.  He goes through the arch and finds himself in an unknown location, hundreds, if not thousands of miles away from his home, but the other side of the doorway is still there.  He eventually uses the amulet to travel to ancient Rome I think, although my memory isn't as clear on this part either.  This is, I =think=, the basic gist of the first SF&F book I ever read.  This book should have been available around the late 1950's or early 1960's if not earlier.  I =KNOW= this was =not= one of Edith Nesbit's books - I've tried all of them.  I've looked for this book for =years= - any help will be appreciated.  Thanks.
Argle's oracle, 1950s.  There were a tseries of 3 books about Argle.  Argles' mist, Argle's causeway and argle's oracle.  One was about the Romans coming to England, I think that was the Causeway.  Argle was one of three children but as far as I remember he always went back in time on his own.  I can't remeber who wrote them and I haven't seen them since I read them in primary school in 1957.  Hope this is helpful.
M Pardoe, Argyle's Mist.  With reference to the query on the time travel books where somebody has mentioned the three titles, Argle's Mist, Argle's Oracle and Argle's Causeway but didn't know who wrote them.  These books were written by M Pardoe (Margot) who also wrote the Bunkle books. I believe they are very scarce titles.
The only thing I know is that the Horseshoe-Amulet is always mentioned at the beginning of those ubiquitous Bible Stories for Children you see in doctors's waiting rooms. The first chapter mentions the amulet as a prelude to talking about Genesis.



B248: Boys fishing on lake
A 1970s picture book about a group of boys at summer camp who go fishing for pike on a lake one night. There's a castle on the lake they think may be haunted, but it turns out there's a nice old man who lives there who gives them dinner (?). In the castle are suits of armor and swords hanging on the wall. I think one of the illustrations shows a full moon

This stumper sounds an awful lot like stumper B264. 



B249: Bear gets maple syrup from tree
Solved: Bobby Bear Finds Maple Sugar


B250: Boy with Sea Monster in Australia
I hope you can help me! I'm looking for a book that was from a children's book of the month club from Parent's Magazine Press around 1970's. It was about a boy and a sea monster or serpent, set in Austraila I believe. I don't remember anything else about the book but I think the sea monster was on the cover with the boy. Thank you in advance!

Berthe Amoss, The Great Sea Monster or a Book By You, 1975.
Steven Kellogg, The Mysterious Tadpole, 1977. I think this may be the book you're looking for.



B251: boy keeps dog in car
Solved: Dog!


B252: Big Book of British Comics
Solved: Whizzer and Chips


B253: Boy who broke his leg in "umpteen" places
Solved:  Secret of Terror Castle


B254: Balmy Bestiary
Solved: Balmy Bestiary


B255: bear and duck are friends
Solved: Two Good Friends


B256:  Bear family and ice cream
Solved: 14 Bears Winter and Summer


B257: Boy proves the world is flat
Sovled: Project: Genius


B258:  boy adventures in pillowcase sailboat
A boy goes sailing and catches all 4 winds (N,S,E, and W) and ties them up in either pillowcases or bed sheets. He uses one to propel him towards one place. The next to send him somewhere else, then again with the third. Then he uses the last wind to sail himself home to his mother. There were giant gorillas on one island he visited. I bought this book in elementary school, right around 1980.

Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are. This is just a guess-the details aren't quite right but the description made me think of this book.
I am the one who submitted this stumper, it is definitely not Where the Wild Things Are.
B258 could be My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett.
Not- My Father's Dragon - The book description is definitely not any of the Dragon Series by Ruth Stiles Gannet- I read these to my first graders every year and know the plots well. Sorry.
Ann Tompert, Little Fox Goes to the End of the World, 1976. I adored this book as a child and have been searching for it for years.  Success!  It is the story of a little girl fox who tells her mum of her intention to sail to the end of the world.  Her mother asks her questions, "Won't you get lost?", "What will you see?", "Will you be scared?", with each question prompting the little fox to weave her tale of how she'll escape various obstacles such as one-eyed cats, bears, and crocodiles before releasing her last pillowcase of wind that will send her home to her mother.  The original art was by John Wallner but it has since been re-illustrated by Laura J. Bryant. 



B259: Boy named Zero (NOT "Holes")
I read this picture book (or maybe a short story in a book with other stories) in the 1970's, when I was about 10 years old.  A boy lives in a place or time (in the future?) when everyone has a number instead of a name. At one point, he goes by just "Zero" and at another point by a number that is so long that no one can remember it, but the result is the same - he is always forgotten by everyone until last, and in art class, he always gets stuck with the brown paint.  So he takes a real name, but the idea catches on and everyone else takes the same name, and once again, he is forgotten.  Eventually, everyone learns to take a different name.

Book stumper B259 sounds exactly like book stumper A197.



B260: Bad witch escapes tunnel
Solved: Frightened Forest
My fourth-grade teacher read this to the class in the mid-seventies. If I'm remembering correctly, a boy and girl (I think siblings) take a shortcut home through a tunnel. Before stepping into the tunnel, one of them breaks off a piece of a bush by the entrance. What they don't know is that the bush was put there (and another on the other end of the tunnel) to keep a bad witch "locked" into the tunnel. When they carry the piece of bush through, it forces the witch out the other side. She then begins her witchery. A wizard (I think) gets involved. The witch turns one of the kids into a tree. They finally overcome the witch and all ends well.

Ann Turnbull, The Frightened Forest, 1974.  This is the book you want, The Frightened Forest by Ann Turnbull. I don't know if it's still in print, but i'm sure you can find it in a library. Good luck!



B261: Bera? No your's just a man in a furry suit
Solved: The Bear That Wasn't


B262: Boy Finding Way Home After WWII
Weekly Reader Book Club selection prior to 1965.  A boy is finding his way home to Warsaw, Poland after World War II.  The main character's name may be Jan, but I'm not certain.

B262: Maybe not a match, but it reminds me of this one. Dangerous Journey, 1959, Laszló Hámori, illustrated by W.T. Mars. Translated from Swedish by Annabelle MacMillan. "A 12 year old boy in communist Hungary is orphaned when his grandmother passes away. He is going to be sent to a State run orphanage and decided to run away to a non-communist
country(Austria?)"..."Locked up on a train rushing toward the dreaded State detention home, the two boys wait tensely for a chance to escape. Finally, as their jailer dozes off, they seize his key, unlock the compartment and jump off. So begins the story of Latsi's terrifying flight from a police state - hiding out in fields, always in terror of recapture. And just when Latsi thinks he's safe..."
Ian Serraillier, The Silver Sword, 1955.  This is about some children (one called Jan) finding their way *from* Warsaw to
Switzerland after WWII. From, not to - but what's a preposition between friends? - it may still be the one you want.
Serralier, Ian , Escape from Warsaw or The Silver Sword
Ian Seraillier, The Silver Sword
Serraillier, Ian , The Silver Sword, 1959.  This was well-known, but the children, including Jan, escaped FROM Warsaw to Switzerland.  Nevertheless, I think this is probably the book the poster is thinking of.
I checked The Silver Sword out at the local library but it's not the book I was looking for.  Is there any way to get a list of all the Weekly Reader Book Club Selections from the mid 50's to early 60's??  Thank you for your help.
Anne Holm, I Am David, 1963.  Might B262 be I am David - about a 12 year old boy who has lived all his life in a concentration camp (country unspecified, but appears to be somewhere in eastern Europe). A guard arranges for him to escape to Denmark (OK - I know it is not Warsaw, but I certainly recall a Polish feel to some of this book - rather like The Silver Sword.
I went through all Weekly Reader or Young America Book Club (division of WR) books from 1950-1965 in WorldCat, an integrated library catalog, and there were only 3 that I could tell for sure dealt with WWII.  First was the Silver Sword by Serraillier.  Next was the Winged Watchman by Hilda Van Stockum (1962): "Dutch-Irish-American storyteller Hilda von Stockum has placed this adventure of resistance among the windmills of Holland during the Nazi occupation of World War II."  Finally, North to Freedom by Anne Holm (1965): "Having escaped from an eastern European concentration camp where he has spent most of his life, a twelve-year-old boy struggles to cope with an entirely strange world as he flees northward to freedom in Denmark."  Sorry if this seems affrontive, but are you certain you checked out The Silver Sword by Serraillier?  There are several books with that title by different authors... and this one just seems to match so well.
This sounds a bit like Jerzy Kosinski's classic The Painted Bird, first published in 1965 and still in print. No one would call that a children's book, though--it has famously gruesome descriptions of violence and brutality
This may not be the book the OP wanted, but it IS the book I have been looking for. The main character's name is Jan and the silver sword is a letter opener that he keeps in a box. He also had a pet rooster that was killed (and I think eaten) because of a fight. His wooden box was smashed at the same time. He meets his uncle in Switzerland at the end of the story. He is very ill and has ended up in a hospital. I read this book in 1969/70. I have a request in for 'The Silver Sword' from my library. I am hoping it is the same. Thank You!.



B263: Brick-covered story anthology
When I was a little girl I had a set of hardcover books that consisted of Fairy Tales and other children's stories.  I do not know the title or the publisher.  I am 29 and it must either be from the 1970's or 1980's.  My mother thinks it was ordered through the mail or maybe something that came with the ChildCraft set we have.  I think it was a set of 5 but maybe only 4.  They were very bright colored and had a black brick/block like overlay printed over the color, which was over the entire outer cover of books.  One book  was green, one red, one blue, one yellow, and one purple I think. They had stories like The Three Bears, Three Little Pigs, Jack and The Beanstalk, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, and the Gingerbread Man.  Lots of other stories.   One had mostly fairy tales like Cinderella, Sleeping beauty, and Rupunzel.  I remember at the end of one book it had The Night Before Christmas.  The pages were white, substantially thick pages and very smooth a tiny bit shiny. Every page had a color illustration. I think there was at least 5 or 6 stories in each book, maybe more. They were all the same thickness which was about 3/4 inch thick.  The books were probably 12" tall and 9" wide.  I hope someone can help.  I would like to find this set for my daughter who is going on 2 years old. Thanks!

This definitely IS the Childcraft series of books.  I own all of them and your description fits them exactly.  Those stories are in the books and The Night Before Christmas is the last story in one of the books.
I am looking for the exact titles of these books.  I am wanting to find them to purchase.  Thanks for any more information you might have about this set.
Childcraft.  14 volumes, various illustrators.  Chicago: Field Enterprises, 1949 Volume Titles: Poems of Early Childhood, Storytelling and Other Poems, Folk and Fairy Tales, Animal Friends and Adventures, Life in Many Lands, Great Men and Famous Deeds, Exploring the World Around Us, Creative Play and Hobbies, The Growing Child, Guidance for Development, Ways of Learning, Guide/Index, Art and Music, Science and Industry. For pictures, visit the Most Requested Anthologies page.  Doesn't look like a match to me.
I am 32 years old & also looking for this EXACT set of brick-like books from the 1970's.  I have checked the Childcraft series as well as the others that were mentioned to you....sadly, they are not the ones we are searching for.  I'm sure they all contain many of the same fables & stories, but if you are like me, you are only interested in finding the books from you own childhood (the brick ones).  Good luck & please post the solution if you ever run across them!!
Scarry, Richard.  We had a boxed set of books with brick pattern on it. There were four books in the set. One had a lot of fairy tales and the others had usual Scarry type characters.There was one story about a bear 'Pierre' who was looking for love and found a nice girl bear to live with. I also remember the chicken Little story. Mum still has it and I'm sure she got through mail order in the seventies. I was far too old to read it then but I still did and my children and now my nieces love it too!



B264: Boys at camp canoe to mysterious house on island
Illustrated book for pre-teens. Two boys go out on a canoe, discover a house (castle?) they think is haunted. Inside, they find suits of armour that they put on and jaust in, and a kind man who serves them dinner. At some point, the boys go fishing for pike. I remember bits and pieces of this book from when I was a kid - as you can see, odd, disjointed pieces. I would imagine the book was published in the 50’s or 60’s, maybe 70’s? Thanks.

This stumper sounds an awful lot like stumper B248.
King, Martha C., Smugglers Island,illustrated by Carl Kidwell.  NY Washburn 1970.  "Prospects for a pleasant summer  with relatives seem unlikely until ten year old Todd and his new friend begin exploring the mysterious old Gerrod house." This may be too long at 110 pages, and the boys are not described as being at camp, but since no other titles have
come up yet ...



B265: boy sculpts clay horse
Solved: Big Horse, Little Horse


B266: Belinda's Birthday or Ring
My mother bought me this children's book in the late 80's - early 90's. It was a collection of children's stories(could have been meant for girls), not classic fairytales, but modern stories about different children and animals and fairies(though I can't be sure about the animals and fairies-I had so many different books). (The book seemed very American to me) The book had many colorful illustrations and the only short story in that book that I remember is one called "Belinda's Birthday" or "Belinda's Ring" or "Belinda's Surprise". It concerned a girl named Belinda and it was her birthday. Her mother baked her a gorgeous cake and gave her a ring as a surprise present. There was an illustration of the mother baking in the kitchen and of Belinda and her sparkly ring. This has been bugging me for so many years since my father threw away 3/4s of my old books! Please help!


B267: boy sits by pond and imagines himself a beaver
Here's the story as I remember it: A boy is avoiding his chores (bringing the cows in from the pasture) by sitting by a pond and "becoming" a beaver in his imagination.  There is some danger, maybe a foot gets caught in the dam, and he finally snaps out of his daydream.  He then is more responsible with his chores, due to the lesson he learned while daydreaming he was a beaver.  Can anybody help me figure out what book this is?

Sounds like Tommy and the Wishing-Stone by Thornton W. Burgess. He wrote dozens of books about his Green Meadows and Green Forest animal characters, all before WWII, I believe.



B268: Boy has a magic cowboy hat that grows and covers the moon?
I'm looking for a childrens' book that I read when I was a child (sometime in the 1970s?)...it was about a boy who had a cowboy hat that kept getting bigger and bigger.  There was something about a moon, and maybe a diner...I thought it was based in Texas as well...but...boy, I don't remember!

Boy, Was I Mad! No one else has guessed, so I thought I would say this description reminded me of this book from the 1960s or so.



B269: Blob creatures shaped like gourds
Solved: Barbapapa


B270: boy's highschool adventures
Solved: The Mark of Conte


B271: Best friends use pulley/tin can phone between houses
Solved: Katie-John


B272: Bride coloring book, circa 1962
I'm looking for a coloring book from about 1962. It's a bride or wedding book. I'd need to see the cover and a picture from the dress that the bride selects to know it's the right one.

there was a bride board game called here comes the bride, released about the same time. Could it be related?
Have you checked Dover Publications? They have published many wedding and bridal coloring books over the years.



B273: Boy Kept in the Attic
This is a book I read back in 1985(approx), it was about a  poor family (I think they were poor), one of which had a baby out of wedlock or in bad circumstances. The child was then kept in the attic so that no-one would find out about it. When the boy was let out he was wild like a little animal. It was set in the 1900's I think. I can't remember much else but would love to read it again.

Imogen Howe, The Vicious Circle, 1983.  This *might* be Imogen Howe's The Vicious Circle, a young adult horror novel from the early 80s.  The main plot features a teenage girl who is scared because all the little kids in her town are disappearing, and she has a younger sibling.  But the reason they're disappearing has to do with a poor family who have a kid who they keep locked up in a closet (I think he was physically handicapped & thus couldn't talk, so they were ashamed & kept him locked up), and a lot of the book is from his perspective.



B274: Boys with speedboat outwit smugglers
The story takes place on either lake mead or lake powell. A group of boys with a speedboat discover a ring of smugglers. When the ring members pursue them, the boys are able to outdistance them in their speedboat which had been modified to go faster.  The book was read sometime around 1960-65.

F.W. Dixon, The Mystery of Cabin Island,  1966.  This might be a Hardy Boys story.  If not Cabin Island, then another.  Seems they were always going out in a boat.
Could this be The Mercer Boys series? They have a boat and some of their mysteries deal with smugglers and pirates. Their boat is named Lassie, I believe. Or, another name, The Power Boys series?? Just a few suggestions!
Came across your site looking for a kid's book from the early 1970s or late 1960s whose title I can't remember, and found an unsolved stumper.  B274 is definitely "The Mystery of Lost Canyon," by Gordon D. Shirreffs.  The description is very accurate.



B275: Belinda
Solved: Timothy and the Two Witches


B276: Bobbsey Twins
I read a Bobsey Twim book as a kid  (they were twins anyway) and the girl was learning to can carrots and the boy was learning to bat left handed.  These are the parts that stuck in my head.

B277: Boat Cross Section
I'm looking for a highly illustrated book that I read in the late '70s for kids.  I don't remember it being too think, but it had great illustrations of cross sections or cutaways of this fantastical boat - maybe in the shape of a seahorse or dragon.  For instance, there was a pool where the slide went down the animals neck.  Any ideas?

I just remembered a few things and found a typo as well.  The book wasn't too thick, not think!  It was shelved either under the I-J-K area or toward the end of the alphabet with the Encyclopedia Brown books (I can't remember which spot on the shelves was correct!). So it was also not a picture book per se, but along the same reading level as Encyclopedia Brown, etc.  It just had fascinating diagrams!

B277 I'm afraid this isn't it, but it is a neat one. The covers have sections of a big ocean liner. Platt, Richard Stephen Biesty's incredible cross-sections    illus by Stephen Biesty    Knopf    1992.  cross-sections of machinery, buildings, ships, etc.
William Pene du Bois, The Three Policemen. I read this as a child in the early 80s: there was a boat shaped like a giant sea monster, with all sorts of machinery and living quarters inside.



B278: Buildings for Model Railroad
Solved: How to Run a Railroad


B279: Blyton Christmas rituals
Solved: The Christmas Book


B280: Boy sails away in ship with many cats
A book from my childhood: A boy who lives with a miserly old man (I think his uncle) feels neglected and ends up sailing away on a ship with a crew of cats. When he finally returns home the old man, who has been frantic, is so happy to see him he gives him anything he wants. The setting is England, 18th or 19th century.

B281: Beanie Malone
Solved: Beany Malone


B282: Black boy/picked on by sisters until uncle sends tiger skin?
I am seeking a PICTURE BOOK about a little BLACK BOY (maybe in an urban setting) who is picked on by his sisters. At one point his sisters lock the boy in a closet and eat his birthday cake. And all they save for him is a candle with a little bit of cake stuck to the bottom! His uncle sends a tiger skin (head and all--like a rug), or some other large cat, from somewhere abroad (Africa perhaps), and with it, he's able to scare the beejeebers out of his sisters and exact revenge.  My best guess is that it could have been published between 1965 and 1975, definitely not any later than the 1970's.  While the plot is remarkably similar, it is not "JAMES THE JAGUAR", by Mary Lystad, illustrated by Cyndy Szekeres (1972).   Please help.  Thank you.

This description is nearly identical to U29, which is still unsolved.

Timothy the Terror by Ruth Calvin  - published in 1972.



B283: Becky's Christmas
This is a children's picture book from the mid to late 70s. It was a red, hardcover book about a little blond girl that plays with her many dolls (from around the world?)  At the end of the story, she takes all her dolls for a walk...in a wagon? stroller?  It's not a big book, about the size of a Golden Book or slightly larger...about 15 or so pages long.  More pictures than text.

Probably the popular (and collectible) Tasha Tudor's Becky's Christmas, Viking, 1961.
Are you sure about this one?  We have Becky's Christmas it's a blue hardcover (1961 ed.) and isn't really what you'd call just a picture book (though it is well illustrated), and I don't see anything about her taking dolls for a walk (although she does play with the dolls in her new dollhouse).
Gipson, Morrell, Surprise Doll, Wonder Books, 1949.  I would seriously suggest this book, even though neither Becky nor Christmas figure in it. The little blond girl has dolls from several countries, including France, Holland, China (her father is a sailor and brings them back for her). She takes all the dolls in a wagon to the doll-maker, and asks for another doll. And Wonder Books are rather like Golden Books.
Rebecca Caudill, The Best Loved Doll, 1960's, approximate.  A little girl is invited to a doll party. She may bring one doll. There will be a prize for various categories of dolls: oldest, prettiest, doll who can do the most things etc. After carefully examining each of her dolls, the girl decides to take her favorite doll, now shabby after much loving. A new prize is announced by the mother hosting the party: "The Best Loved Doll". The girl's doll wins the new prize; possibly a paper parasol. There is a ride in a doll carriage at the end.



B284: Boy discovers island of lizards
Solved: Lizard Music


B285: boys' exploration of Yosemite area
Read circa 1950, this was a worn copy in a small public library. The plot centers on a white boy in the frontier West who is lost in a beautiful area I always assumed was what became Yosemite National Park. I remember being struck by the descriptions of the geologic features. And, yes, I think he meets up with a Native American boy with whom he continues his explorations. This is not Lost in the Barrens by Mowat which was published later. :)

B286: Ballerina, young Russian girl?
Solved:  Dancing Star


B287: Bear named Grizzwald?
Solved: Grizzwold


B288: boy finds elephant, parents clueless
Solved: There's an Elephant in the Bathtub


B289: bewitched host swims all night
In this short story, an urbane English country gentleman hosts a pleasant weekend party in his plush home. Though the story seems firmly realistic at first, it turns out he has a terrible secret:  he is under a spell that dooms him to turn into an aquatic creature of some sort (I think) each night. He must spend the night in the lake/pond near his property, or die.  The guest whose point of view we share discovers this (or comes to suspect it) when he glimpses a bit of seaweed clinging to an elegant banister in the house.  I read this short story w hen I was in my early teens, around 1965 maybe. I think it was many years old even then.

B290: black santa
Solved: One Christmas Eve

2004


B291: Battle of Vienna
In the early 1960s, I read a book I believed had been written by Geoffrey Trease about a young boy involved with the Poles in the Battle of Vienna. It was not Trumpeter of Krakow (though the trumpeter is mentioned in the book). I can't find it among Trease's titles, but the author's was somewhere in that section of the alphabet. I would love to track down a copy of that book. The main character was a page or something who helped the leaders of the battle.

Possibly the author is Henry Treece.  Subject sounds like the kind of stories he writes, although I haven't found one dealing with Vienna yet.  He wrote Viking's Dawn, and sequels, among many other books.
Have you seen this bibliography on Geoffrey Trease - thought it might help your search!



B292: Boy Music Magician in Otherworld
Solved: Songs of Earth and Power


B293: Boyish "Sam" solves mysteries with cousins
This is a series of books with 4 kids going around solving mysteries and finding treasures: 3 siblings and their cousin "Sam."  The books I read were in Chinese (I was in grade school!), but I am pretty sure those are American children described in the books.  I remember that Sam does not like to be called "Samantha" at all.

I wonder if this reader could be thinking of one of Enid Blyton's "Five" books. These books have three siblings and their cousin solving mysteries, and the cousin prefers to be called, "George", not her proper name of Georgina. Perhaps her name was changed in the translation?
What you describe sounds rather like Enid Blyton's Famous Five series - except that the tomboy cousin was called George (short for Georgina, which again she hated being called). Also, they were set in England, not America. But possibly the name got changed in translation, for some reason?



B294: brothers
Solved: Five Chinese Brothers


B295: blind mole
Solved: Rabbit Hill


B296: Boy with a man/voice living inside him
Solved: (George)


B297: Bad little bear or bad little teddy bear
Solved: Teddy Bear of Bumpkin Hollow


B298: Bookworm eats through dictionary, helps writer
Solved: The Story of Lengthwise

B299: Boy and Grandfather on Yugoslavian island
I am searching for a book (there may have been two) that I read in elementary school in the late 1960s.  I believe they were about a boy and his grandfather (possibly also aunts and uncles) and I think they took place near the coast of, or on a island off of, Yugoslavia (I think there were references to Serbo-Croatian as a language.)  I seem to recall that there was a semi-magical feel to the books, and I also think that there was a language-related puzzle or trick in each chapter.  Sorry this is so vague–I loved the book(s) when I was little, so hope it rings a bell with someone out there.

Robert David Abrahams, The Bonus of Redonda, 1968-1969. Don't know if this is what you're looking for or not. Subjects: West Indies--Fiction. Summary: A young boy in the West Indies secretly dreams of being king of a neighboring, uninhabited island, but learns, after fleeing from the scene of a "crime" with his grandfather and associating with witches, smugglers, and convicts, that the dream is better than the reality.  Another description reads: Adventure story of a young boy who wants to rule the small island of Redonda & with the help of a witch & a French rum smuggler his dream may come true. OR it might be The Dolmop of Dorkling (that might fit your description of a "language-related puzzle."  The description is ADVENTURES OF BOY NAMED STAFF AFTER HIS GRANDFATHER INHERITS A CURIOUS ISLAND NAMED DORKLING & BECOMES IT'\''S RULER CALLED THE DOLMOP.



B300:  Bear who loved hugging people
Solved: Gertrude's Child


B301: Black and white book
Solved: Round Trip


B302: Banshee in Castle
Solved: Hobgoblin


B303: Boy's summer with his grandfather
Solved: My Great-Grandfather and I


B304: Big dipper or little dipper
Solved: Elson Reader Book Two


B305: Boy's Older Sister has Pimply Boyfriend
I read this chapter book in the mid-1970s, but it may have been written earlier.  All I really remember is that the star of the book is a little boy (probably younger than eight years), and he has an older sister who is dating a young man.  The little boy makes a comment to either his sister or his mother that the sister's boyfriend has "pimples on his bottom" and is scolded for saying so and asked how he would know anyway.  He replies that he saw when they were swimming the summer before.  For some reason, I have the impression that the story took place in some foreign country (not the U.S.), but I could be wrong about that.  I also think I remember something about the boy having some kind of secret hiding place (maybe under a hedge or behind a bush?), but that is not certain either.  Thanks for any help you can give me.

B306: Boys' Projects & Hobbies
This was a book of projects and hobbies for boys ( the title is possibly something along those lines), possibly from the 30s or 40s. I think was intended for home use  in other words, not a school textbook.   It contained plans for a model sailboat I remember the sailboat was called "Minnetonka."

Lee Valley Tools has reprints of many books of this nature, some of which I have bought for my husband.  If you don't have have access to one of their stores, I believe you can order a catalogue from their website.
Here are some titles for you to investigate - go to your local library and ask them to try to interlibrary loan them for you to look at.  Good luck!  *** Fun For Boys:the complete book of games, hobbies, sports and recreation / Willian Allan Brooks / Knickerbocker Pub. Co., 1943 *** American Boy's Treasury of Sports, Hobbies, and Games / Stanley Pashko / Grosset & Dunlap, 1945  *** Big Book of Boys' Hobbies: new things to make and new things to do / Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co, 1929 *** Hobbies for Boys / G. Gibbard Jackson / J.B. Lippincott Co, 1930 *** Pastimes and Sports for Boys / G. Gibbard Jackson / J.B. Lippincott Co, 1931  *** Hobbies / Eric Wood / Funk & Wagnalls Co, 1923 *** Hundreds of Things a boy Can Make:a hobby book for boys of all ages / Musson Book co, 1941 *** The Fun Book: the complete book of games, hobbies, sports & recreation / Willian Allan Brooks / Kinckerbocker Pub Co, 1943
Beard, David, An American Boy's Handybook.  1980's/90's, reprint.  I have The American Girl's Handybook which was reprinted by Godine Press in 1987 (original printing in 1887), which has projects, crafts, games and masses of other creative ideas. I've not actually seen the boys' version, but I imagine it would be much the same, and it sounds similar to the book you described. I hope this is helpful.



B307: Boy turned into Stickleback
Solved: The Stream That Stood Still


B308:Boy's adventures rescuing Uncle/Grandfather/Godfather
Solved: My Father's Dragon


B309: Baby rabbit and the blue woolly.
Baby rabbit and the blue woolly. Purchased in the UK around 1954 - 1958/9. I only remember this when the front cover and first page or two at least had come adrift. The story I recall might have been the only one in the book or in an anthology with others. I think the cover was orange/red, and hardback. The story is of mother rabbit knitting baby rabbit a woolly jersey. He is so excited that he keeps wanting to try it on. Just as the jersey is nearly completed, mother rabbit asks him to take a basket of groceries to granny rabbit, who lives on the other side of the wood. She gives him the basket but, unbeknown to her, he takes the jersey from her knitting bag and puts it on. As he skips off through the woods, the jersey begins to unravel. He has various adventures on his way through the wood, and I remember him eating someone's vegetables and getting shouted at. By the time he reaches grandmother rabbit's house, the jersey that he was so proud of has completely unravelled and a long trail of blue wool links his home and granny's house. It has been suggested to me that this might be an Alison Uttley story (from the 'Tim Rabbit' books) but I'm not sure. I tend to think the illustrations in this were more brightly painted that Alison Uttley's illustrator normally did, but I may be wrong.

B310: boy & dog
Solved: The Great Custard Pie Panic


B311: boy who shrinks circus or zoo animals
Solved: The Knitting Grasshopper


B312: Boy becomes shepherd, receives name
Solved: The Loner


B313: Boy communicates with aliens through their lost gizmo
Solved: The Gismo (from Outer Space)


B314: Baby rides elephant, won’t say please
Solved: The Elephant and the Bad Baby


B315: Blind girl attends mainstream school, learns about friends
A girl, blind from birth, is mainstreamed in high school after attending a dayschool for the blind up to then. The book has two themes: to educate the sighted child about blindness and to give a Lesson about making real friends. The kids she initially bonds with are unpopular and will taint her experience, whereas the popular kids want to have her only as a token. The girl she first befriends is ugly or dresses wrong, which she didn’t know until told, and the boy she befriends sings opera in the street. All three of them might like a teacher who is also disdained by the Popular. The principal asks her to display How She Manages at a school science? fair, as if she were a project herself, with her typewriter (she can touchtype) and Braille implements  she refuses. Her family do not coddle her, though her mother reads any non-Braille assignments to her. Set in the ‘70s--she has a manual typewriter--or maybe the late ‘60s or early ‘80s. Junior high or high school setting.

Deborah Kent, Belonging."Meg insists on going to a regular high school where she is the only blind student. She hopes to be "like everyone else" This is the author's first novel and in many respects it is autobiographical, she was the only blind student in her school."  I'm pretty sure this is the book--I remember the part about the subversive teacher getting into trouble with the principal and eventually getting fired, and being replaced by a more popular teacher who referred to Homer's books as the Idiot and the Oddity.
Lois T. Henderson, Candle in the Dark,1982.  Maybe? "When her mother remarries, Christy leaves the residential school for the blind she's attended since she was five years old and enters the public junior high in a new town."
Deborah Kent, Belonging. Just wanted to let you know that if B315 is Belonging by Deborah Kent, it's been reissued and is currently available.'



B316: Boy is blinded, learns how to function, sheds bitterness
Solved: Follow My Leader


B317: Baby named Honey
Solved: The Children of the Old House


B318: Bunny/bears & homes
Solved: Fourteen Bears: Summer and Winter


B319: Barbara feeds rabbits
Barbara feeds rabbits

B320: badger
Solved: We Went Looking


B321: Bronte children fiction toy soldiers
Solved: The Return of the Twelves

B322: Blanket holes cut out
This is a collection of stories in a children's reader from the late 1930s to 1940s, maybe in the Alice and Jerry type of books.  The cover was red with a boy riding a merry-go-round horse.  There was a story about an old woman who tried to cut the holes out of her red blanket with scissors because she was cold.  After ruining the blanket, she collected the feathers from her geese and made a featherbed, then used the scraps from the red blanket to make little jackets for the geese who no longer had their feathers.  I have searched for years for this book to no avail.  I am really hoping you can help!  Thanks so much.

Hope Newell, The Little Old Woman Who Used Her Head.  I've never read this book, but have an excerpt from it in a volume of Childcraft from 1968.  The excerpt is called "How She Kept Her Geese Warm"  it mentions little red coats and a feather bed.  Hope this helps!
A few possibilities: 1.  Stories to Read to the Very Young Illustrated by Aurelius Battaglia, New York: Random House, 1966. over 12" - 15" tall. Book contains stories The Polite Little Polar Bear, The Spider and the Fly, The Little Old Woman Who Used Her Head and How She Got a Feather Bed, The Teeny Tiny Omelet, How Spot Found a Home and The Kind Dog Catcher.  2.  The Little Old Woman Who Used Her Head and Other Stories.  Hope Newell, Illustrated by Margaret Ruse (1962).  (There's a sequel!)  3. HIGGLEBY'S HOUSE (Ginn Integrated Language Program) Level 5 Bernadette Bouchard, Donata Dean, Carol Roth  Toronto, Ont. Canada: Ginn and Company, 1969. over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. 77 pp. Level 5. Contents include Saturday Wind / The LIttle Old Woman Who Used Her Head / Spiders are Different / Some Plants Eat Animals / Sing a Song of People / The Kite Who Was Afraid to Fly / Sammy Went A-Fishing / Gregory and His Bicycle / Let's Talk / Riding on My Bike / Hamish Hamster / Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs / Humpti-Dumpti / In the Rain / A Snake Grows New Scales / Automobile Mechanics / At Higgleby's House.
B322 Could it possibly be this one? Robinson, Helen M; Monroe, Marion; Artley, A S.  More fun with our friends.  illus by Richard H Wiley et al    Scott, Foresman, 1962.  Pete gets his hair cut; merry-go-round;  Kitten Cat; runaways.  New Basic Readers 2:2; Curriculum Foundation Series.
I greatly appreciate everyone's assistance, but I'm still looking for the original book that was published (probably) in the 1940s.  It appears that the Old Woman story has been printed separately in more recent times, but I would love to find someone who remembers the original reader.  I'll keep my fingers crossed.....
Blanket holes cut out - If you're not absolutely certain that your memory is completely accurate, here's a possible solution:Told Under the Magic Umbrella, various authors, illustrated by Elizabeth Orton Jones.Points of similarity: 1. There are editions of this book published in 1939, 1941, 1943, 1944, 1946 and 1948. 2. I've verified that the 1939, 1941, and 1946 covers are red. 3. According to WorldCat, the 1939 edition contains the story you seek, The Little Old Woman and How She Kept Her Geese Warm by Hope Newell.The only problem is this: the cover picture is a child under an umbrella.  Is it possible that you're mistaken about the picture? Here's the table of contents for the 1939 edition:Ask Mr. Bear by Marjorie Flack, Little Duckling Tries His Voice by Marjorie La Fleur,Two Little Shoes by Carol Ryrie Brink, Gingham Lena by Emma L. Brock, The Merry-go-round and the Griggses by Caroline D. Emerson, Gooseberry Garden by Lois Lenski, The Cobbler's Tale by Elizabeth Orton Jones, The Lamb That Went to Fairyland by Rose Fyleman, Little Dog and Big Dog by Maude Lindsay, Sojo by Erick Berry, George and Angela by Cicely Englefield, The Little Old Woman and How She Kept Her Geese Warm by Hope Newell, The Pony Tree by Charlotte Brate, The Three Elevators by Gelett Burgess, A Happy Christmas Tree by Frances Anne Brown, Gissing and the Telephone by Christopher Morley, The Musical Box by Clare Leighton, The Ogre That Played Jackstraws by David Starr Jordan, The Three Apples by Anne Casserley, The Bojabi tree by Edith Rickert, Living in W'ales by Richard Hughes, The Saddler's Horse by Margery William Bianco, How to Tell Corn Fairies If You See 'Em by Carl Sandburg, The Lost Merbaby by Margaret Baker, The Song of the Little Donkey by Alice Crew Gall and Fleming Crew, The Goldfish by Julian Street, The Bean Boy by Monica Shannon, The Brownie in the House by Margery Bailey, Rocking-Horse Land by Laurence Housman, If You Had a Wish? by Charles J. Finger, Millitinkle by Paul Fenimore Cooper
The Pixies' scarf by Alison Uttley, Elsie Piddock skips in her sleep by Eleanor Farjeon



B323: Breton girl with mushrooms and mosquitoes.
This was a little book (probably a school reader) that I read in a Tasmanian school during the late 1960s. It was about a young girl whom I think was a Breton, and she lived with/stayed with her grandparents. She went out harvesting mushrooms and got bitten by mosquitoes. It was part of a set of readers, I think, and others in the same set included one called "Silvertip", about a bear.

sorry I can't solve the exact request.  But, if it is from the same series as Silvertip, then the book is part of the Dolphin Series of books published by the University of London. Silvertipwas written by Harper Cory, illustrated by Diana Medworth. It was published in 1962.  There are a large number of books in this series.



B324: boy with magic wings
Solved: Black and Blue Magic


B325: boarding school
Solved: The Rosemary Tree


B326:Bible stories book and record set
Solved: The Children's Bible in Sound and Pictures


B327: bike in a junkyard
Solved: The Magic Bicycle: the story of a bicycle that found a boy


B328: birthday cake
Solved: Nicole's Birthday


B329: boy builds trap and cage
Solved: Maybe a Monster


B330: boy & girl at zoo
I am looking for a book that my mom got as a gift as a child. It was around 1950-1951. The size was similar to a Golden book but shinier. The story was about a boy and girl, possibly siblings, around the ages orf 5 & 8. They went to the zoo and got big all day lollipops. The cover may have shown them with the lollopops and part of the zoo.

Mero, Lee, Jack and Jill Visit the Zoo, 1942.  Published by Whitman, a peek-a-boo book with pages visible through framed windows. This is a guess based on the posters description.
I checked with my mom and the book suggested did not sound right to her...
I was able to get a copy of the book that someone suggested. It is not the book my mom was looking for. She said the book is smaller in size and had a stiff cover.
I think I may know what book you are talking about.  I had it as a child.  All I can give is a little more info.  Didn't they go to the zoo with their grandfather?  Also, I remember it being a rainy day and they each wore rubber boots, one pair red and the other yellow.  Now, I'm curious about the book too.  I checked with my parents, they no longer have the books from my childhood. Was it a Golden Book?  I remember it was small with a stiff cover.
Little Golden Book, A Visit to the Children's Zoo, 1963. This book is a story of a boy and girl who go to the zoo with their Mom and Dad I think.  One scene dipicts a huge whale with it's mouth open.  Inside is a fish tank of some sort.



B331: boy being followed by dragons
I am trying to find this book for a friend...I'd love to give it to him for Christmas. He said, "when i was a little boy, my mother read me a book about dragons. i wish i could remember the title. it was something like "dragons are following you." it was all about a little boy's feeling that he was being followed by dragons. You know what? He really wasn't, but by the time he figured that out, it was too late." Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Odgers, Sally, The dragon's coming after you, 1994.  SRA reading group.  In this fast-moving, rhyming story, the reader pretends to turn into a variety of animals to escape the hungry dragon
someone posted a book to my stumper question that was published in 1994. That book would not be the one I'm looking for as my friend is now 42 so the book would have to have been published 30-40 years ago I'm guessing.
---I believe the premise of the book I'm looking for is similar to You've Got Dragons by Kathryn Cave and Illustrated by Nick Maland. In this story dragons are a metaphor a child's worries and fears. I would have thought this was the book except You've Got Dragons was published in 2002 and the book I'm looking for had to have been published around 1960-1970.



B332: Boy, uncle searching suitable house
Solved: The Little Boy & His House


B333: boy rides inflatable seahorse to sea king
Solved: The Sea Horse


B334: Babysitter, magical... children get new
Solved: Mr. Pudgins


B335: Button Rewards
Solved: All-of-a-Kind Family


B336: british novel brother and sister grainy photos
Solved: The Owl Service


B337: Britsh(?) illustrated mystery novel
Solved: Adventures of the Black Hand Gang


B338: Blackie?
Solved: The Island Stallion Races


B339: Blue teeth and blueberry pie
1960's Children's book about colors with "blue teeth" and "blueberry pie" on same page.  This was the very first book I learned to read.  Unfortunately, when I took it to school to show my classmates, it blew away when I was waiting for the bus to bring me home.  It was a 1960s book on colors, one color per page or pair of pages; I distinctly remember the "blue" page having a smiling child with "blue teeth" who ate "blueberry pie".  I would be very grateful if you could name the title and author of the book.

Robert McCloskey, Blueberries for Sal.  possibly?
I looked at the suggestion, but alas this is not the correct book.  This was a book for a small child to learn  basic colors such as red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple.  It is softcover, and I think was irregular-shaped, like an apple or something.  It had maybe 12-20 pages at most.  I owned it around 1970.  Thanks for the effort.  I did try looking through some card catalogs at online libraries for books from the right era to no avail.
An older friend has this book from her childhood (well, part of it).  Hers is a cardboard book, spiralbound, with a color wheel on the last page, and it is irregularly shaped.  The "blue" page definitely has blue teeth and blueberry pie.  I will try to find out the title and author tomorrow.
The details you mention about the spiral binding and the color wheel are on the right track - this jogged part of my memory!  I am hopeful you are able to find it - thanks in advance!
Bonsall, The Case of the Hungry Stranger



B340: Bridge to the fairies
Solved: Loretta Mason Potts


B341: Bad Boy
Solved: Great Brain at the Academy


B342: Brother and sister live on rooftop, fry plantains
Solved: Tomas Takes Charge


B343: Betsy - but which one?
Solved: Heaven to Betsy
see Betsy-Tacy series


B344: Betsy's Christmas
Solved: Snowbound with Betsy
see B is for Betsy series

2005


B345: Boy turns into patchwork snake
I am looking for a book probably published during the 1970s but certainly no later than 1979.  It was a children's picture book for around age 5-6 (I think).  It's set in the jungle near a river and because the boy in the story does something he's not supposed to something happens and he becomes a giant multicoloured snake.  Hope someone can help!

Horowitz, Anthony, Myths & Legends: The Fabulous Spotted Egg, 1985.  This might not be the exact version being sought but the storyline sounds the same: it's a retelling of an American Indian story of two brothers who get lost on the prairie, have nothing to eat, find a huge strangely-colored egg, younger brother eats it and slowly transforms into giant multicolored sea serpent. Then he provides his older brother with plenty of fish. In gratitude, Cheyenne Indians developed habit of throwing tobacco or food into a river, for the serpent. (Reprinted courtesy Kingfisher Books in Sarah Pooley's Jump the world, 1997 Dutton)
Had a look at the version in Jump the World and while the storyline could be right it definitely wasn't this version.  The picture book I remember was just a single story and the snake was definitely multicoloured rather than spotted but it is very possible it was an alternative version of this myth.  I'll keep searching.  Thanks for your help! 



B346: Bunny Seasons
Solved: I am a Bunny


B347: boy whose mind goes like 60
Solved: Great Brain series


B348: beaver with unusually large teeth
Solved: Secret of Beaver Valley


B349: buffalo herding
Solved: Buffalo Gal


B350: Bunny Lost in a Factory
Solved: The Funny Bunny Factory


B351: Boggart/gnome ate honey cakes
This was a little book that I got frequently from the library as a kid in the mid-60's.  I remember the cover had a colorful illustration of a boggart/gnome riding on the back of a cart that was loaded with furniture, etc.  This boggart would follow a family  no matter where they moved trying to get rid of it--it would demand a honey-cake (or a seedy cake?) at night and clean the kitchen if it got one-- but throw a fit if it didn't.  It would sleep in the cupboard, I think.  The Kitchen Boggart...???  Please Help!

Maria Leach, The Thing At The Foot Of The Bed And Other Scary Tales, 1959.  This may be it.  There is a story "Here We Go" by Maria Leach included in The Arrow Book of Spooky Stories, edited by Nora Kramer, published 1962 by Scholastic, which has an illustration of a boggart riding on a wagon filled with furniture.  This story doesn't mention honey cakes, though.  The acknowledgements in the Scholastic book list the Leach book as the source of "Here We Go."
Diana Maria Mulock Craik, The Little Lame Prince and the Adventures of a Brownie, 1948.  Maybe it was a brownie instead of a boggart? Mine includes the line "He belonged to a family and had followed them from house to house, most faithfully for years and years."  He gets very angry in the first chapter because the new cook doesn't leave him his bowl of milk.  In retaliation,  he wrecks the kitchen.  My copy has no pictures of the wagon, but I'm sure there are other editions.
Yes, this story-line sounds very familiar--but I am certain this version was in a single storybook form instead of an anthology and with a different title.  I believe this was a rather small sized book also with great colorful illustrations.  Any ideas? Thanks!!
Cooper, Susan, The boggart.  I don't know the date, but i have read this book and it sounds very familiar. Summary:  After visiting the castle in Scotland which her family has inherited and returning home to Canada, twelve-year-old Emily finds that she has accidentally brought back with her a boggart, an invisible and mischievous spirit with a fondness for practical jokes.



B352: blue lagoon
Solved: Blue Treasure


B353: boy raised by badger
A boy is raised by a badger and then he and the badger and a girl he meets and her cat have to save the world or something like that.

Richard Ford, Quest for the Faradawn, 1982.  Description I found online: Abandoned by his parents in Silver Wood, the boy Nab is discovered by Brock the badger and brought up by the animals there as one of their own. For legend has it that a human saviour will come to them to establish a new order of innocence and peace. And so Nab's quest begins, the Quest for the Faradawn, the three magical grains guarded by the Elflords of the Mountains, Forests and Seas. With him travel some of his animal friends, Brock among them, but also the golden-haired Beth, his only human companion.  Illustrated by Owain Bell.
B353 Could it be this?  Eckert, Allan W.  Incident at Hawk's Hill.  illus by Jon Schoenherr. Little, 1971.  6-year-old Ben survives 6 months in the woods with the help of a badger; juvenile fiction, based on true incident - juvenile fiction; Winnipeg area 



B354: brownie/pixie
Solved: The Little Lame Prince and Adventures of a Brownie


B355: brother and sister christmas truce
Solved: The Singing Tree


B356:blind boy befriended ghost summer
Solved: Into the Dark


B357: Boy wants friend; gets french-speaking dog
Solved: The Good American Witch


B358: bunny hates carrots
Solved: No Carrots For Harry!


B359: bikes and dioramas
I'm looking for a book about a girl who goes to visit relatives, possibly due to a polio outbreak. While there, she wants a bike and gets one that has skinny wheels, which she hates. She also makes a lot of dioramas, and possibly enters them in some kind of competition. All of the dioramas deal with fairy-tales. She makes a friend or two, and in the end starts to like her relatives (I think she's staying with 2 aunts). It's book-length, and I remember reading it at the library when i was 8 or 9 (around 1988). No idea of when it was published. Thanks for your help!

Paula Fox, Village By the Sea, 1988.  Could it be this book?  This is about a girl, Emma, who goes to live with her mean aunt and (nicer) uncle while her dad is having heart surgery.  She and a friend she meets there make a miniature village in the sand out of things they find on the beach, but the aunt destroys it.  Does this sound familiar?  I can't remember a bike, though it could be part of the story.
someone sent a reply to my book stumper, but their solution isnt correct.
Marilyn Sachs, Amy and Laura.  This has a lot of the elements of "Amy and Laura" by Marilyn Sachs.  I haven't read it since I was a kid, but Amy and Laura are excited that their mother is coming home after being in the hospital for a long time.  She's partially lame when she comes home, so it might have been polio.  Laura's anxious to show her mother the diorama she made of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame".  Laura also learns to ride a bike and it's a big part of the book. This book is the third in a series about the two girls.
Amy and Laura's mother was hit by a car (not polio). However, their aunt does come to stay with them and Laura does not get along well with her at first, so maybe this is the book the person is thinking of.
unfortunalty it isn't Amy and Laura. The only other detail I can remember about this book was that the girl had an English bike and complained because she thought the tires were too skinny even though her bike went faster than American bikes.
I remember the book, but not the title or author, unfortunately.  I think the girl's name may have been Darcy, and she was satying with her grandmother.  At one point in the book she was afraid she had polio, but it turned out to be something else, possibly poison ivy.
Betty Miles, I Would if I Could,1982.This book is about girl who spends the summer with her grandmother, and gets an English bike with skinny tires when all her friends have American bikes.  There is a polio outbreak nearby and at one point the protagonist, Patty, thinks she has it, but it turns out to be posion ivy.  There is no mention of libraries or dioramas, though, so the people posting are talking about two different books.
I think you may have 2 books joined together. I believe the diorama part here is found in White Ghost Summer by Shirley Rousseau Murphy.



B360: Blue Cat/Monsters Clock Shop
Solved: Puck's Peculiar Pet Shop


B361: Bunnies in factory
Solved: Rabbit Island


B362: Babies speak to fairies
Looking for a book about how babies can speak with and hear the fairies until they get too old/grown up and then they forget ever having been able to do this. our copy was hardcover, orange and had a fairy embossed on the cover i think. i think the book was definitely published before 1950 as my sister remembers it too. i have been searching high and low - many thanks!

J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens.  This sounds like a description of the original Peter Pan stories ...
"she is doing as she has seen the fairies do she begins by following their ways, and it takes about two years to get her into the human ways. Her fits of passion, which are awful to behold, and are usually called teething, are no such thing they are her natural exasperation, because we don't understand her, though she is talking an intelligible language.  She is talking fairy.  The reason mothers and nurses know what her remarks mean, before other people know, as that "Guch" means "Give it to me at once," while "Wa" is "Why do you wear such a funny hat?" is because, mixing so much with babies, they have picked up a little of the fairy language."
Pretty certain this is a J.M. Barrie concept, but since I just re-read Peter Pan to my grnadhildren, know it's not Peter Pan.
Travers, P. L., Mary Poppins.  A long shot, but one chapter in Mary Poppins centers on the two babies and their ability to understand and speak with birds.  A bird tells them they'll lose this ability when they get older, and they do.  The dust wrapper of some editions of Mary Poppins was orange.
hi- we know it's not peter pan/j.m. barrie, but thanks everyone!! i'm convinced this book is buried in my mom's house. MUST FIND IT
Could be one of the Mary Poppins books. I know the twins and Annabel lose some abilities after they grow up a bit.  Or possibly The Cradle Ship.
Note that "Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens" is not the same book as the more familiar one later, which was originally called "Peter and Wendy", and there is tons in "Kensington Gardens" about babies speaking fairy language. But if it's something else, well, I'm coming back to this page because I want to know about it when you find out! This is used as a theme in Zilpha Keatley Snyder's "The Changeling", where the baby sister is believed by the girls to be definitely magic, but is not what the whole story is based around except in a very general sense.



B363: blue mushroom goes "querp"
Solved: Theodore and the Talking Mushroom


B364: bunnies paint the sky
Solved: Grampa Bunny Bunny


B365: Bertil tries to sell sister
Collection of stories about Bertil and his friend Sven, with occasional line illustrations.  The boys are probably 8 or so, and they live in an apartment block in Stockholm.  They have the ordinary death-defying adventures small boys do and go home for supper.  One of the last stories has Bertil left to watch his baby sister, and he decides it'd be wisest to sell her.  Has no luck all day.  Finally an unlikely man offers half a kroner, or something like that, and just as he's about to hand...Sophie? over, he decides she's quite nice after all and changes his mind.  I think the man's persistent, and Bertil runs back inside with her.  I remember this being a mustard-yellow hardcover (no jacket), maybe 80 pp. Might have been a  book club edition, circa 1970.

HRL: Martha Alexander wrote a similar-themed picture book called Nobody Asked Me If I Wanted a Baby Sister, 1971.  Features Oliver and baby Bonnie, and after several unsuccessful attmempts to give the baby away, Oliver succeeds, but the baby cries and he's the only one who can quiet her.  So he decides to take her back home.  Ok, wrong story.



B366: Birthday ghost
Solved: Meg and the Ghost of Hidden Springs


B366: Babysitter powers
Solved: Peculiar Miss Picket


B367: batty weekly reader mid 70s
Solved: Hattie the Backstage Bat


B368: Boarding School
Solved: Luvvy and the Girls


B369: biography anthology
Solved: Illustrated Minute Biographies


B370: Bumble Bee Book
Solved: Animal Counting Book


B371: Bear searching for red ball
Solved: Little Fur Family


B372: boarding school boy
Solved: The Great Brain at the Academy


B373: boy builds treehouse community outside of town
Solved: Andrew Henry's Meadow


B374: best friends in California
In the early 60's, I had a book, which I think was a girl's series, about best friends, location was California, one of the girls parents were very rich and had an indoor pool.  The girls rode their horses in the Rose Powl Parade in Pasadena.  I can't remember any names or the author.  Not much to go on, but I seem to remember that I had more then one book about the same girls, similar to the Trixie Belden series, although I don't remember if they were mysteries.  I am afraid that the only one that sticks in my mine is the one where they get to ride in the Parade.

Ann Sheldon, Linda Craig series?, 1960s.  It could possibly be the Linda Craig series.  They were mysteries (published by Whitman, just like Trixie Belden) that featured a girl and horse theme. I don't remember if they were in California, but they were somewhere near the Mexican border, from what I recall (20+ years later).
Eileen Hill, Robin Kane: Mystery in the Clouds, 1971.  I believe this book is part of the Robin Kane series...Mystery in the Clouds. It was 5th in a 6 book series published by Whitman between 1966 and 1971...the cover of this one shows Robin and her friend in a parade on their palominos, all in western garb. The series definitely took place in California, and Robin best friend was very well off. The other titles in the series were Mystery of the Blue Pelican, Mystery of the Phantom, Mystery of Glengarry Castle, Candleshop Mystery and Monster of Wolf Point.   Hope this helps!
Hill, Eileen    Robin Kane: mystery in the clouds.  Whitman c1971 Robin Kane and her friends ride palominos in California parade; horses - juvenile fiction  Robin Kane series #5



B375: Boy Alone in Wilderness
Solved: His Indian Brother


B376: Bear stays up late, grumpy next day
Solved:  Bad Mood Bear


B377: Beverly Cleary
I am trying to find a book written by Beverly Cleary.  I was introduced to it by a librarian when I was in High School in 1984.  The story is set in a small town in Illinois and revolves around a girl that worked at the library.  A new boy moved to town who drove a jeep, liked to do long distance trips on his 10-speed.  This girl is middleclass and the new boy is from a higher class than her and she tries to figure out how to fit in with him due to the class differences.  Does this book sound familiar?  I cannot locate on an sites that may list all of Beverly Cleary's writings.

I don't know what the solution to this stumper is, but it is not a Beverly Cleary book.   All of her books took place on the West coast, mostly Oregon,  and she only wrote four YA novels and this isn't any of them.
Sweet Dreams??  Are you sure this is a Cleary book?  The plot you described sounds vaguely familiar to me, but I think the book that I remember was one of those "Sweet Dreams" teen romance novels. The book I remember centered on a poor girl who worked (can't remember where)  she played the violin, had several siblings, her dad was dead and her mom was a writer who didn't make much money. She has a relationship with a very wealthy guy with a nice car, and there are class issues to overcome. I could be wrong, but if it turns out it's not a Cleary book and all else fails, you might try searching the Sweet Dreams angle.
Its not from the Sweet Dreams series.  I don't think it was Judy Blume who wrote it and I could have sworn its from Beverly Cleary.  The story you were advising does not sound like the book I read
I know this is a long shot, but if it's "B.C." that sticks in your head, might it have been a book by Betty Cavanna?
No its not Betty Cavanna.  I know it was a Beverly Cleary book, I just wish I could find more information on all the books she ever wrote.
HRL:  Have you tried the Library of Congress?
B377 The teen books that Beverly cleary wrote were FIFTEEN with the main character of Jane Purdy who is awed and nervous about being asked out by popular and good-looking Stan. She meets him while she is babysitting. JEAN AND JOHNNY, in which underconfident Jean may care more for overconfident Johnny that he does for her. THE LUCKIEST GIRL is about Shelley who gets to spend a school year in CA with relatives. SISTER OF THE BRIDE in which romantic Barbara helps her practical older sister Rosemary plan her wedding. You can go to this website to see a list and summary of all of Beverly cleary's books. If none of these fit, then I suggest looking at her two memoirs MY OWN TWO FEET and A GIRL FROM YAMHILL. She did work in a library, so perhaps the story you remember is from her own life?~from a librarian
I really doubt this is a Bevery Cleary Book, too. I was pretty obsessed with her stuff as a kid and was pretty sure I had read every single one (god knows I searched out as many as I could find, using lists on her book jackets and library research - every one listed on this post I had read) and this doesnt even sound familiar to me...



B378: Booble Big Pig?
Solved: Mud Baths for Everyone


B379: Baby Animal bedtime
Solved: Go-to-Sleep Book


B380: Boy finds princess in castle through mirror...
I read this book in 6th grade, around 1988 in Ontario, Canada.  It was about a boy who finds a mirror/tapestry/painting that transports him through to another time/world where he finds a princess?  I can't remember too much about it.  The book cover was beige with a picture of a castle through an opening in a forest.

B380: The Boy and the Lion on the Wall? New York, Watts, 1969. 37 p. Summary: "Curious about the sad girl in the tapestry on his wall, a little boy suddenly finds himself within the picture on an adventure with a magic lion to rescue the unhappy princess." Story And Pictures By Carol Barker.
Walker, Victoria, Winter of Enchantment.  A magic mirror allows Sebastian to travel from his Victorian world to a magical realm inhabited by a wicked Enchanter who has imprisoned the pretty Melissa and the cat Mantari.
Oh, that might be it!  I'm going to see if I can find a book cover, maybe it'll jog my memory.  Thx
Unfortunately, it's not either The Lion on the Wall or Winter of Enchantment.  I read this book for a book report which was offered as part of my grade 5/6 curriculum.  I remember it being relatively good sized (a novel, not a story book) and the cover may not be as I described, I'm just going on what I think I remember.  Thanks for all your input though, it's great.
Elizabeth Winthrop, The Castle in the Attic (1986) A boy travels back in time by means of his toy castle.
Mrs. Molesworth, The Tapestry Room. (1890, approximate)  Long shot--Hugh and Jeanne have many adventures in a room full of tapestries. Don't remember if there was a rescued princess.
Elizabeth Winthrop, The Castle in the Attic. I'm seconding the suggestion of The Castle in the Attic.



B381: Back in Time in British History
Solved: The Fearless Treasure


B382: Birds in winter
Solved: The Long White Month


B383: Babylon
Solved: Can I Get There by Candlelight?


B384: butter, melting hot sun
Solved: Golden Book of Nursery Tales


B385: boy lives in automatic house
Sovled:  Lazy Tommy Pumpkinhead


B386: Barn disapperance
Solved: Of Missing Persons


B387: Boy learning to be psychic
Solved: Christopher


B388: Billy Butters
 I'm looking for a book that my father used to read to me when I was a young girl. I grew up in the 50's so this book has to have an earlt copyright(40's or 50's) It is about a boy named Billy Butters who wrote letters to Santa but then kept changing his mind so it turned out he wrote 39 letters to Santa. I have been looking for years and years. My parents are both gone now and it would mean so much to me to find the book! Thanks in advance!

Hader, Berta and Elmer , Billy Butter, 1936.Could this be it?



B389: Birthday girl drives steam train
It's a kids book - large (A4 ish) with pics. It's about a girl (young 6-8ish I think) who is train mad. For her birthday she goes to the beach and creates an engine in the sand, then she gets to drive a little steam train in the park. As a bit of a trainspotter, and as someone who enjoyed it when I was little,  I would like to know what it is and if poss, get hold of a copy.


B390: Ballerina with injured horse
I am looking for a book that I loved as a child.  I remember checking it out at the library as a preschooler, so it had to have been printed before 1984.  In the book there was a girl who did ballet and had a horse.  I think the horse was injured somehow when she was riding it.  Later in the story when she rode the horse, it had on blinders.

Godden (last name), Candy Floss, 1955.  I'm not sure if this fits or not, but when I was little I had a book about a TOY ballerina who danced on the back of a TOY horse named Nuts and had a dog named Coco.  I remember Candy Floss was damaged during the course of the story - maybe Nuts was too?  The book was reissued within the last 10 years with a new set of illustrations.
Thanks, but that's not it.  The girl and horse in the story were both real.
wyndham, Susie and the Ballet Horse,1961. I have three books in this series, but not this one.  I'm offering it as a possible solution based on the title and the fact that this is a ballet series.



B391: Brid romance novel
It is an 'Irish' romance novel, and the heroine's name is Brid.  She lives in rural Ireland, and is fascinated by some English gents who are fox-hunting nearby.  She falls in love with one, and becomes pregnant.  She flees Ireland, in order to escape an enforced marriage to a local Irish man.  Of course, her 'Lord' abandons her, and she is left to fend for herself and her baby.  Fortunately, she sings beautifully, and ends up being a huge success touring world-wide with the theatre.  Eventually, the Irish man appears on the scene again...  (I'm sure his name begins with a 'G'!) This novel is probably around 15 years old.  I'm desperate to locate it, and read it again!  Thanks for any help!

Lisa Hendrix, To Marry an Irish Rogue.
I have been offered that solution before, but am afraid to say it is not the correct book.  To Marry an Irish Rogue IS set in Ireland, her MIDDLE name is Brid - but there the similarity ends, and it is a very contemporary (2000) novel.   I really hope you can figure this one out for me!
Charlotte Hardy, Far From Home, 1997.  This obviously isn't as old as you think it should be, but it seems to fit the description otherwise. Brid abandons her fiancee Garrett Doyle in favor of Lord Harry Leighton who in turn abandons her, leaving her pregnant. She must choose between her child and a promising career in the theater.



B392: brimstone, alderley edge, wilmslow
Solved:  Weirdstone of Brisingamen


B393: Boy Finds New Homes for Household Junk
Solved: Junk Day on Juniper Street


B394: Ballet, two very different sisters
Solved: The Sisters Impossible


B395: Buzzing Death
What I remember about this book was that it featured adventure based short stories in a Jack Londonesque style.  The title may have had adventure in it.  It was a blue paperback, I'm not sure of the decade it was printed.   I especially want to find a copy of the story with the tree bees.  I remember the plot of the story:  A man was being assaulted by bees.  I believe they were "tree bees" and the story was entitled "buzzing death" (I'm not too sure on the title and an internet search brings up nothing).  There was a vivid description of the man crunching the bees in his mouth, and I believe he escaped by jumping into a vat of cement or something.  I think it also may have contained the story occurence at Owl Creek Ridge by Ambrose Bierce possibly Leiningen versus the Ants.

comp. - Abraham Harold Lass,  Norman L Tasman, 21 Great Stories, 1969, 1990's.  I don't see a 'buzzing' story in here, but the other two are.  Contents: War, by L. Pirandello.--Eve in darkness, by K. Hurlbut.--There will come soft rains, by R. Bradbury.--Tobermory, by Saki.--The two bottles of relish, by Lord Dunsany.--Footfalls, by W.D. Steele.--Hook, by W.V.T. Clark.--Wine on the desert, by M. Brand.--The lady or the tiger, by F. Stockton.--An occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, by A. Bierce.--The cask of amontillado, by E.A. Poe.--The tell-tale heart, by E.A. Poe.--So much unfairness of things, by C.D.B. Bryan.--The necklace, by G. de Maupassant.--The adventure of the speckled band, by A.C. Doyle.--To build a fire, by J. London.--Leiningen versus the ants, by C. Stephenson.--Eveline, by J. Joyce.--The secret life of Walter Mitty, by J. Thurber.--What stumped the bluejays, by M. Twain.--The pearl, by J. Steinbeck.
Long shot here, but both Leiningen versus the Ants and Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge were performed for the radio show Escape, back in the '40's.  Is there any chance that this book was a collection connected in some way to the show?



B396: Boy Inventor
Solved: Andrew Henry's Meadow


B397: Boy runs away - builds home in woods
Solved: Andrew Henry's Meadow


B398: Bravest One of All
Solved: Bravest of All


B399: black girl, prejudice, wedding?
I remember this story from the early 1970s, but can't recall if it was a stand-alone book or an excerpt in a school reader, and it may have been older.  It involved a young black girl who was asked along with some white classmates to be an attendant in her teacher's wedding, only to encounter bigoted reactions in the community. There were vivid descriptions of the dresses and shoes the girls imagined wearing.

I also read this story when I was a child, and I think it is an excerpt in a school reader.  As I recall the story, the black girl and her white classmates expect to be attendants in their young and friendly teacher's wedding.  The black girl then finds out that she has been excluded from the wedding party.  She is heartbroken and wonders why this has happened.  Someone (an older relative, perhaps?) tells the girl that she was excluded because of the color of her dress.  I remember this part vividly because I couldn't understand why the adult used this euphemism to discuss racial prejudice.  I'm sorry I can't provide any concrete assistance!



B400: Blanca Maria at convent school
Solved: An Angel Grows Up


B401: Blue carnations
Solved: The Ghost Next Door


B402: Bedtime
This fairly large, hard-backed book (circa 1979) had a pale blue cover and the most beautifully detailed illustrations (water-color, maybe). It was about a child's adventure in dream land, where he/she sails on a pirate ship, swims with mermaids and whales, etc.  If I remember correctly, there was not a lot of written story, mostly vivid illustrations.  Some of the words curved around the illustrations and were written in really big or tiny font.  The last page has a candle blown out with the smoke curling up the page and says "hush....."

Margaret Wise Brown, Goodnight, Moon.  This seems like the most obvious answer, but it may not be the right one! Goodnight, Moon mentions more than once the line "goodnight to the old lady whispering 'hush'..."  And it is also made up of more illustrations than pictures, but my copy did not have typeface that changed sizes.  When the poster mentioned "hush," this is the first book that came to mind.
No pirates or mermaids in Goodnight Moon....
This is just to add to the original stumper:  I too am in search of the same book I think, the colors prevailing are blue and yellow, and it's about a child who, while his body is sleeping, his mind is off galavanting on all of these adventures.
Jon Chalon, The Voyage of the Floating Bedstead, 1973. A fanciful tale about a couple of children who dream of going to sea. The cover has alot of light blue on it.  Another description reads "Book is a magical tale, complete with pirates, stowaways, a marine botantist who lives with mermaids, and a shipwreck on an inland inhabited by an elderly couple and many, many animals."



B403: Bibs the cat
Solved: Bibs


B404: Baby, lost and found
book about three boys who find a baby and decide to care for the baby (as best they can) in an abandoned building.  The building becomes scheduled for demolition and they save the baby in time.  The baby is ultimately reunited with its' family

Saint John, Wyllie Folk, The Mystery of the Gingerbread House, late 60s, early 70s.  Without more information, could this possibly be The Gingerbread House Mystery, by Wyllie Folk St. John?  In that book, two brothers find an abandoned baby in a deserted mansion...it turns out that the baby's older sister (who they at first think is a boy) is hiding both of them from the baby's father while trying to locate where her mother came from.  The girl leaves the baby on the boys' doorstep at one point.  Eventually, they all get together and find her grandmother just before the evil stepfather shows up.  The baby's name was Joy.  (This is all from a 20-year old memory...I may also have some of the details wrong.)
The publication time frame would be about right.  I think I was around 10 or 11 when I read this.  I was into mystery books so the title would have grabbed my attention.  I don't recall an evil step-father but the part of them hiding the baby while searching for the family is ringing a bell.  I have located a copy of this book title for sale and will check it out further.  Thank you so much for the information.  It's the most I've had to work with in 35 years!  I love a mystery!!
I'm sorry to say that Mystery of the Gingerbread House is not the book.  In the story I am looking for two of the most vivid details are that only the kids know about the baby and so caring for it is a challenge based on their lack of experience and that where boys hide the baby (a row of abandoned buildings/homes)demolition is coming closer and closer.  I initially thought the title was something along the lines of Three Boys and A Secret but I have found nothing to match that.

Rene Guillot, Three Girls and a Secret, 1963. Found it! You're thinking of "Three Girls and a Secret" by Rene Guillot, first published in 1963. A story of three girls in Paris who find an apartment in a condemned row of dwellings and use it for their own. An abandoned little baby boy complicates the situation.



B405: Boy, Grandfather, Fishing, Scotland, War
It was my father’s favorite book as a children, written maybe in the 1940’s in England. It was a story about a young boy who is sent to live with his grandfather in Scotland while his father is off at war. He is a shy, awkward boy and the grandfather is determined to desissify the boy while in his care. He does so through teaching him about tying flies, reading a river, and fishing. The boy is set up in a shed in an attempt to “toughen him up”. In one chapter, the boy explores a chest of drawers filled with old flies, knotted catgut and other fishing accessories (that the grandfather planted to look like they’d been forgetten/been there for a long time) and the boy embarks on tying flies. In another scene, the boy catches a salmon in a river cutout with a wire. At the same time he is in Scotland, the boy’s father is returning home wounded from war. The mother is caring for him and nursing him back to health. When the boy returns to his family, the father is reintroduced to his son who has now become a strong man.  I appreciate all your help! My father has searched for years for this book to no avail.

Pertwee, The Islanders.  Hello. I enjoy browsing through your stumpers, but don't usually recognize the book. In this case, though, most (but not all) of the information given corresponds to "The Islanders" by Pertwee, published by Oxford Press. The boy is at school because his father has been killed in the war while trying to save his officer, and his mother died subsequently. Suddenly one afternoon the father of the man his own father died trying to save appears in the Headmaster's office, takes him out for a wonderful meal, and makes him an offer -- he and two of his friends can have a holiday on the man's estate, with full fun of a patch of wild land to camp, fish, etc. The catch is that they have to be absolutely independent, finding and cooking their own food, asking for no help. The boy accepts, of course, and he and his friends head off for a wonderful holiday. The incident of the chest of fishing lures is there, and so is the incident of catching a fish with a wire, which I think was considered poaching and disgraceful, and got them into trouble. However, in The Islanders, the man who has missed his own son dreadfully, decides to adopt the boy in the end, and give him the kind of life he really wants -- the parents are both definitely dead in this story. Anyway, I thought I would pass this on as a possible solution. Its a wonderful story.



B406: blind girl alone in house, suspenseful
Looking for a YA book I read in the 1980s (?) that was very suspenseful, even terrifying, about a blind teenaged girl (or she may have been deaf?) that was alone in the house but then she realized someone else was there with her, like a crazy ex-con or something like that, and she had to escape from him.

Could this be "Dark at the Top of the Stairs"?  I know it was a movie, but I'm sure I remember a book treatment - either a novelization of the movie, or an original story the movie was based on.
This sounds very much like the plot of the stage play Wait Until Dark. Perhaps there is a novel that the play was based upon, or possibly someone wrote a book using the plot of the play.
Frederick Knott, Wait Until Dark.  Is it possible that what you read was a play?  Wait Until Dark is a play where a blind woman is terrorized by thugs in her house who think she has somehow obtained a doll filled with heroin.  Was also made into a movie with Katherine Hepburn.
Similar plot line to the play and movie, Wait Until Dark.
I looked up both Wait Until Dark and The Dark at the Top of the Stairs and it's neither of those, but thanks for the suggestions.
Blind Fear or Blind Terror, 1971/1989.  This sounds more like the 1971 Mia Farrow film 'Blind Terror' or the 1989 'Blind Fear' than 'Wait Until Dark'. I'm not sure if either of these were based on books, but there are a few YA thrillers called 'Blind Fear' around - it might be one of these.
I can't help with the book title, but I thought I'd mention that the film Wait Until Dark (1967) stars AUDREY Hepburn, not Katherine.
This sounds extremely familiar to me.  Is it possible that the blind girl is babysitting, and there are strange telephone calls that first alert her to someone being in the house?  Maybe these clues will help jog your memory.



B407: Boy Drowning
Solved: On My Honor


B408: boy who liked to invent
Solved: Andrew Henry's Meadow


B409: brother trouble
Solved: The Great Brain series


B410: brightest star
I am trying to find a book for my father's childhood.  He was born in 1955 (Canada), but I do not know the year the book was published.  It was a Christmas book (a pop-up) and he thinks that it was called "The Brightest Star".  He remembers that the book had a train and a whistle.  Can you help me find it?  I believe he also mentione the word Tattersal (but that word may not be right).

Sounds like the hard-to-find The Shinest Star by Beth Vardon.



B411: boy with car named nostradamus
The boy may have a foreign friend who pronounces the word 'adventure' as'abenture'. The car may have talked also and took the boys on adventures. There may have also been a parrot. (I may be confusing 2 books) It was a chapter book read to me by a teacher in the early to mid-seventies.

I have remembered that the book is about a boy and a TRUCK named Nostradamus. The truck talks too.
Scott Corbett, The Trick series (e.g., The Lemonade Trick, The Disappearing Dog Trick), 1960-1965. Mrs. Greymalkin and her ancient car, Nostradamus, are recurring characters (and the prime movers of the plot, by giving the protagonist an unreliable magic chemistry set) throughout most of the books in Scott Corbett's incomparable Trickseries, well loved and remembered by me from my boyhood. Nostradamus does not talk, so far as I can remember.



B412: Boy's friend dies in farming accident
Solved: The Loner


B413:baseball
by Baker, circa 1960.  I believe that the title of this book is "The Statistics of Baseball."  I am also quite certain of the author. The book, as I recall was a paperback and was red.  The content was an analysis of how statistics of baseball play a role in baseball success.

World of Baseball stat-finder.   Redefinitions  c1989. baseball hitting & pitching statistics of different  players. 5 1/2 x 9 1/2 card sleeve with sliding baseball statistics card inside. 



B414: Beauty and the Beast
An edition of Beauty and the Beast which my sister and I read in the mid-1960s.  Our memories of this book are very vague.  It had relatively large dimensions and magnificent illustrations.  Those of Beauty were characterized by long, flowing, graceful lines.  The author or possibly illustrator may have had the first name of Jan.

There was a version of Beauty and the Beast illustrated by Jan Brett, but I think it was from the early 1980's.  There was a Andrew Lang Blue Fairy Book issued in 1965 with a Beauty & Beast story.  The poster might want to check out this site  which has some of the covers of various version of B&B.
There's also a lovely version illustrated by Hilary Knight, 1963.  It's rather large and thin, with wispy lines and a modern art deco sensability.  Fits your description well.



B415: Bear looks in pond and sees himself grrrrrrrrr!
Solved: The Large and Growly Bear


B416: Beating sound mystery
Scholastic Book Services , Arrow Book Club, approximately 1970.  Adventure/mystery.  A boy and girl solve a mystery wherein a beating sound can be heard at a certain place in the country.  The sound is coming from a large rock.  The mystery is solved when the sound is determined to be horse hoofs on a distant trail.  The sound got transmitted naturally through the ground and into the rock.

The Ghost Rock Mystery, Mary C. Jane, 1956.  My copy printed 1962, Scholastic.  Janice and Tommy visit Aunt Annabelle's guest house in Maine. Why does the sinister guest creep around on the top floor? What is that flickering light that appears out of nowhere? And what can those hoofbeats in the big rock mean? If Janice and Tommy (and Mr. Grant from the Border Patrol) are to help Aunt Annabelle, they must prove that Mountain View House isn't haunted...
Mary C. Jane, The Ghost Rock Mystery, 1956.  This is The Ghost Rock Mystery by Mary C. Jane....my favorite title from one of my favorite childhood authors. Her juvenile (middle grade) mysteries, generally set in the Northeast, though one was in Canada, include: Mystery in Old Quebec (1955), Mystery at Pemaquid Point (1957), Mystery at Shadow Pond (1958), Mystery on Echo Ridge (1959), Mystery Back of the Mountain (1960), Mystery at Dead End Farm (1961), Mystery Behind Dark Windows (1962), Mystery by Moonlight (1963), Mystery in Longfellow Square (1964), Indian Island Mystery (1965), The Dark Tower Mystery (1966), Mystery on Nine-Mile Marsh (1967), Mystery of the Red Carnations (1968) and Mystery in Hidden Hollow (1970). She also did one mystery for younger readers, The Rocking-Chair Ghost (1969), which was illustrated by Tomie de Paola (very early in his career!)



B417: Boy gets lost art deco style
Story about a boy who gets lost in the city.  At one point he comes across a circus; I remember there being a lot of balloons in these pictures.  The book was primarily illustrated in pinks, olive greens, and yellows.  I believe the cover of the book was pink with white lettering.  It had a very art deco style to it.

B418:Bear finds wife takes her home on sled w/ pots & pans
Solved: Pierre Bear


B419: Blue green Fairytale
Looking for an old collection of fairytales book.  Not very sure of the date, had to be before 1970.  It was a collection of fairytales with very large illustrations almost victorian era illiustrations.  The cover had a jacket that was green blue or turquiose with a black stallion on it and other illustrations depicting the tales inside.  In the collection it had Puss and Boots and the Little Mermaid.  The book itself was at least an inch and a half wide.  It had many tales in it but thoes are the only ones I remember.

B420: boy dives to cave sharks
I think the story was part of a collection of stories.  They were illustrated. There was a little boy who dove down to a cave.  I think he might kill a shark that was terrorizing his village.   I can  picture the illustration of the boy free diving with a spear in his hand. It was read to me in the mid 1970's.

Oscar Weigle (compiler), Stories from Jack and Jill to Read Aloud, 1960.  Could it have been this one?  I know there was a shark story in there, about a Hawaiian (?) boy who goes diving because he wants something to eat besides sweet potatoes, and ends up fighting a shark.  The book had sort of an international flavour there was a version of Heidi in it, a story about a runaway kilt, and other stories involving children from different countries.
I submitted the request on B420.  Someone made a suggestion that it was Oscar Weigle (compiler), Stories from Jack and Jill to Read Aloud.  I found the book and bought it.  That is definitely not the correct book.  I think the person who responded was thinking of some other collection of stories.  Not only is my story not there - there is also no Heidi story nor is there an international flavour to it at all.  It has very short 2-3 page stories for early readers.  I think the collection they are remembering is the correct one – now if we can just get the correct name.
Oscar Weigle (compiled by), Read Aloud Stories about Children in Other Lands, 1959.  Okay, I've got it now.  Right author, wrong book (my mistake, I owned both of these years ago and had the titles switched in my mind.  My apologies to the original poster). Here's a description I found online: New York, New York: Wonder Books, 1959. From Wonder Books "To Read Aloud" series. 127 pp. Delightfully illustrated. Book # 2014 with cover price of 49 cents. Bumped corners. Some wear to cover. Delightfully illustrated. Stories include: Heidi, Child of the Mountains,  The Patchwork Kilt,  The WIld Dog,  A Boy in India,  Nine Sharks,  Jim and Jane Learn about Australia,  Miss Barros of Brazil,  Joan Comes from China,  The Cuckoo Who Couldn't Count,  Olaf's Surprise Lunch,  Jeannette,  Rajah's Magic Trunk.. Soft Cover. Good. Illus. by Hoffman, Erwin. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.
Armstrong Sperry, Call It Courage, 1968.  Could Call It Courage be the stumper's book? It's not part of an anthology, but it is a rather slender volume about a boy in the South Pacific area overcoming his fear of the sea. Cover art usually includes him standing there with a spear in his hand. There is also a rather riviting scene in the book where he dives to the coral to rescue a knife, and has to swim around a hammerhead shark. Good luck with your solution!
Island of the Blue Dolphins. This is about a girl, but she does things that a boy would normally do because she is left alone on her island.  She goes into a cave on her island and spears a giant octopus.



B421: Blue Triangle
Solved: The Dark Triangle

B422: Brick hiding place
Brick hiding place for kid's treasures.  I read this children's picture book in the early '70s I think. A young boy(?) removes a loose brick in a wall and places his little personal treasures behind it: a marble, a string, a piece of chewing gum, and more.  That's about all I remember, I think he shows a couple of his friends...  Thank you very much for this service!

Peggy Parish, Key to the Treasure, circa 1966.  This book has been reprinted with a horrible cover (see Amazon).  At the end of the book, the children remove a brick and find things inside. What happens is these three children named Liza, Bill, and Jed try to figure a mystery out. This is how there's a mystery to be solved. Their grandpa told them a story one night and he said when his grandfather was a little boy there was a bonnet hanging on the wall and the boy always wished he could try it on. One day he came downstairs and the housekeeper said he could try it on. He was excited. Then one day something happened that made everyone sad. The boy's dad was going to fight in the army. But the dad left a puzzle. The boy had other brothers and sisters so the dad gave them envelopes with clues to a treasure. Their mom by mistake put the envelopes in her apron pocket. When she washed the apron, the envelopes were still in the pocket. So the envelopes got all soggy.  Each summer Lisa, Bill, and Jed visit their grandparents, and they hear the story of the sketches hung above the mantel. The sketches are clues to a hidden treasure, and no one has been able to figure them out for a century. There is a missing first clue, but when the children stumble upon the second clue, they're on their way. Could it be that on this visit they will solve the secret that has eluded so many for more than a hundred years?
Pauline Meek, The Hiding Place, 1971, copyright. My older sister and I were trying to remember this book and I found this site when googling keywords. I actually had remembered the title verbatim but it's out of print and too common to register on Amazon. "The Hiding Place" tells the story of a little boy who must move and is sad about giving up his secret hidey hole in his old house. He collects his treasures (a bit of string, piece of gum, pretty rocks, a marble, etc.) and takes them to the new house. There he meets a new neighbor boy who shows him a new hidey hole behind a loose brick, or something similar. They share the piece of gum at the end of the book. I loved this story and the illustrations.  


2006

B423: bad little girl turns into tree
I had a book as a young child (I was born in 1958). I remember it as being smallish (though not todays mini size), hardcover with green linenlike fabric over board. Illustrations, which were very striking, were heavily inked black and white. The book was about a little girl, who is bad, and as punishment starts to turn into a tree. Her feet and legs become roots, leaves and branches start to grow out of her head etc. This was all very vividly shown in the illustrations. For some reason I remember her name being Topsy, but I am not certain about this.

Heinrich Hoffmann, Struwelpeter or Slovenly Peter or Shock-Headed Peter, circa 1845.  This sounds rather like one of those horrid Victorian cautionary tales adults used to plague children with - though originator Hoffmann allegedly intended his stories to be funny. (Now, Harry Graham's "Ruthless Rhymes for Heartless Homes" IS funny.)
I realise none of the nine tales of Struwwelpeter (read all online) match your memory, but this might be a jumping-off point.
Heinrich Hoffman submitted a solution to my stumper, suggesting it is his book of old folk tales, Struwwelpeter. It is not. I am hoping someone else will step up with the real solution.
Helen Hill & Violet Maxwell, Charlie and His Kitten Topsy. (1922)  Originally published in 1922, this book went through at least 21 printings through the early 1950s.  Someone on another stumper board remembered that the boy (not girl) named Charlie is punished for not keeping up by taking root.  I found a list of the stories or chapters in the book, including "How Charlie Took Root," and saw pictures of the illustrations, which are done in silhouette.  Topsy is the cat!  Complete list of stories:  How Charlie Made Topsy Love Him ~ Why Topsy Decided to Be a Kitten After All ~ How Charlie Became a Little Fish ~ How Charlie Took Root ~ How the Wind Changed ~
How Topsy Climbed a Tree ~ How Charlie Grew Littler Instead of Bigger)



B424: Bald Underground Dwellers
Solved: The City Underground


B425: Bear stories, orange cover
Old book (1950s or earlier).  Approximately 8-by-11 inches with orange cloth binding, approximately 1 inch thick.  Contains stories about a little brown bear, illustrated in brown and white only(?).  In one story, little brown bear buys a birthday gift for his mother at a general store.  In one, he loses his clothes somehow (the wind?).  He and his family are dressed in old-fashioned (1800s?) clothing.  This is not the Berenstain bears, the Little Bear books by Minarik, or any other series.

Elizabeth Upham, Little Brown Bear, 1952.  This is the original "Little Brown Bear" book, illustrated by Marjorie Hartwell.  The illustrations are mostly red, black and white, with occasional full color pages throughout the book.  The stories to which you refer are "Little Brown Bear Loses His Clothes" and "Little Brown Bear's Surprise Party".  In the first story, LBB leaves his room so messy that Mr. Wind blows in and steals his clothes.  In the second, it's Mother Bear's birthday, so LBB decides to throw a surprise party for her.  There is a full page picture of him in the general store-styled grocery.  There are other books in the series, if these stories don't quite fit.  (See solved stumper The Merry Adventures of Little Brown Bear.)
Elizabeth Upham, Little Brown Bear.  There's a book called Little Brown Bear by Johnny Gruelle, but this one by Elizabeth Upham sounds more like your book because of the orange cover.  She also wrote a book called Little Brown Bear Goes to School. Book Description: PLATT & MONK NY, NY, 1942. ORANGE CLOTH. MARJORIE HARTWELL ILLUS....LOVELY FULL PAGE COLOR ILLUSTRATIONS WITH OTHER TWO TONED DRAWINGS ON PAGES WITH TEXT."
I'm pretty sure I already let you know this--you can move B425 to the solved mysteries, as the Elizabeth Upham book is, I believe, correct (now if only I could find a copy).



B426: Boy on boat trip finds cave
A boy goes on a sailing or boating trip with his dad. There may have been another boy, but all protagonists are male. The boy finds a cave. I remember it being a mystery or adventure-definitely not a fantasy or ghost story. I read it around 1983, but it may have been printed 10-15 years earlier. I thought the word 'cave' was in the title, but searches haven't been successful. The story was British in tone and may have taken place in England. I remember enjoying this book and would like to find it again. Thanks!

Eilis Dillon, The Singing Cave.  If there was a Viking skeleton in the cave, this is the book.
I don't recall a viking from the book I read (it was 20+ years ago), but after reading descriptions of this and other books by Eilis Dillon, I feel strongly that my book could have been by her. I won't know if The Singing Cave is the right one until I get a copy in my hot little hands, but I'm hoping. Either way, this author is right up my alley! Thanks for the suggestion!



B427: Ballet girl- character Allegra Allard
Solved: Susie series


B428: Bedtime
I am looking for a children's book I read in the mid-to-late 1960s. It was a hard cover book about a little/young girl going to sleep and it featured illustrations of a bedroom with a night table by her bed with a glass of water on it. I think there was an illustration of a window with a moon in the window. I remember a lot of blue. It was a thin book...can you help me? thanks so so much.

B428 Goodnight moon by Margaret Wise Brown?
It's not very likely, but could this be Goodnight, Moon?  The illustrations are mostly green and feature a bedroom.
Margret Wise Brown, Goodnight Moon.  I may be completely off, but the mention of the moon in the window, the bunny (not a little girl but close), and the "bowl of mush" (glass of water) on the table next to the bed make me think this could be it.  Lots of green and blue in the illustrations by Clement Hurd.  Too obvious of a solution?
Eloise Wilkins. This sounds like an illustration from an Eloise Wilkins book, but I'm not sure which one. She frequently had pictures of little girls either in bed or on a window seat looking out the window at the moon.



B429: Black Bear Cub
I'm looking for a childhood (1950's)book ...I think Golden...about a little black bear cub falling in paint and getting put in with the Polar bears (very un P.C.) only to be rescued and returned to mum when his black foot is discovered.  Thought it was called "winken, blinken and ? (don't remember).  Also, "The Little Hosue in the Forest" Hope you're knowledge works for me!

B430: british navy spy novels series
About 10 years ago I read a review of a series of books about which focused on the career of a British Naval officer, I understood he was essentially a spy. The series was set, I think, in the time of the Napoleonic Wars. I don't believe the reviewer was referring to either the Horatio Hornblower series or the Master and Commander series. The reviewer suggested the books were hard to find, but worth searching out. I kept the review and then lost it and now I can't figure out what the books were. The only specific fact I can remember from the review was a recounting of the main character being questioned about how someone died, in which the officer says, matter of factly, that "I cut his throat." Apparently, this was used to demonstrate his laconic approach to his job. Wish I could remember more. Thanks.

Adam Hardy (pseud. for Kenneth Bulmer), the Fox series, 1973 through 1977.  There are a lot of British naval serieses out there, but the "hard to find" note makes me suspect it may be this one, which came out as paperback originals from New English Library and got little or not distribution in the US.  The byline was Adam Hardy, but actual author was Kenneth Bulmer, a very prolific author who died a few weeks ago.  Under his own name, he wrote mostly science fiction, but he also wrote a number of adventure, sea, western, etc. titles under various pseudonyms.  Here's an obituary for the author, with some mention of the Fox series, and a Wikipedia entry of the series titles.
Patrick O'Brian, The Surgeon's Mate, 1980.  This sounds to me to be a reference to The Surgeon's Mate, seventh in Patrick O'Brian's series that begins with Master and Commander.  The character speaking is Stephen Maturin, naval surgeon, naturalist and spy for the Royal Navy.  He and his comrade, Captain Jack Aubrey, have just arrived in Halifax after escaping from Boston were they had been prisoners of war.  While in Boston, Stephen Maturin had been the object of a murderous plot by French agents.  Now, he is confering with the local head of naval intelligence:  "I received your warning about the Frenchmen in Boston,' said Stephen, struggling with a knot, 'and I thank you for it.  I was able to meet them with a mind prepared.'  'I trust there was no unleasantness, sir?  Durand is said to be a most unscrupulous, determined officer.'  'Pontet-Canet was worse: a busy, troublesome fellow that gave me real uneasiness for a while.  But, however, I clapped a stopper over his capers.' Dr. Maturin was proud of his nautical expressions: sometimes he got them right, but right or wrong he always brought them out with a slight emphasis of satisfaction, much as others might utter a particularly apt Greek or Latin quotation. 'And brought him up with a round stern,' he added.  'Would you have a knife, at all?  This string is really not worth the saving''  'How did you do that, sir?' asked Beck, passing a pair of scissors. 'I cut his throat,' said Maturin, shearing through the string.  Major Beck was used to bloodshed in open and in clandestine war, but his visitor's everday, unemphatic tone struck a chill to his heart, the more so as Maturin happened to take off his spectacles at this moment, glancing at Beck with his expressionless pale eyes, the only remarkable thing about him."  This passage appears in Chapter 1, on p. 22 of the 1992 Norton paperback.
Bernard Cornwell, The Sharpe series.  These are set during the Napoleonic wars, focusing on the career of Richard Sharpe.  These must be upward of 20 in the series now.



B431: Balm/Bomb in Gilead
Solved: The Gilead Bomb


B432: Best In Show
I finally found the name of a children's book that I have been looking for.  It is called "Best In Show" by Fred Gwynne.  It was first published in 1958 and then later a new edition came out in 1993 titled, "Easy To See Why."  Does anyone have a copy or know where I can get a copy of the original titled book, "Best In Show?"  My mother has been in search of it for over 5 years and I would love to be able to find it for her.  I have searched and searched but had no luck.  Thanks so much!!  Happy Stumping.

Fred Gwynne, Best in Show, (1958). http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B0007E5AGI/ref=dp_olp_2/104-9062615-0887154
I'm assuming you won't post the link (so you can sell it to him? or at least not everyone will see it's available at Amazon) there is only 1 copy there.



B433: Boy buys hamburger chain of restaurants
Solved: The Last Guru


B434: Brother Sister alone in woods
Solved: Two in the Wilderness


B435: Boo kitty
Solved: Boo: The boy Who Didn't Like the Dark


B436: Boy with a scar on his cheek finds magic land in dump
Solved: Tales of the Resistance


B437: Black Blob From the Sea Devours (Short Story)
Solved: Monster Museum


B438: Blue Horse (bluing)
Solved: The Hocus Pocus Dilemma


B439: Boy Finds Magic Ice Cream Box
My husband of 22 years frequently refers to a favorite childhood book about a little boy who finds a magic box.  Whenever he opens the box, another ice cream bar (or possibly a Popsicle) magically appears.  He remembers the box being in a tree on one page and that the illustrations were quite beautiful.  It was probably oversized as he thinks it was 10-12"x8-10".  He would have read this book in the mid to late 1960's in a Chicago suburb.  It didn't survive the move to Texas in 1970.  I would love to find it for him.

B440: Boy who grew wings & could fly
Solved: Black and Blue Magic


B441: Boy grows old overnight, bad fairies dance to turn time
Solved: A Tale of Stolen Time
Evgeny Schwartz, A Tale of Stolen Time, 1966. I almost fainted when I got this book in the mail (thank you Amazon!).  I have been looking for this for twenty years, and as soon as I saw the illustrations, I knew I'd found it.  Thank you so SO much for having this service -- you have solved a mystery that has haunted me for most of my life.


B442: Boy exploits - water tower, bicycle and ladder
I read this book in the late 70's about a boy trying to make an impression on a girl and getting involved in hilarious exploits. I recall one exploit where he painted a message on a water tower. Another where he was riding his bike downhill and almost crashed into two men carrying a ladder across the street. Title of book may have contained the lead character's name. I seem to recall the cover being blue. Please help, this book was SO funny in my youth!

This sounds like something from one of the "Soup" books by Robert Newton Peck (Soup's Drum, Soup and Me, etc). The books are at least partially autobiographical and tell stories of the author's childhood in Vermont.  Soup is Rob's best friend and convinces him to do all sorts of crazy things in order to impress a certain Norma Jean Bissell. I don't remember the exact events you describe, but there are other similar events in the books, and I remember laughing until I cried when I read them. Hope this is helpful!
If it isn't one of the Soup books, you could also try Me and Caleb or Me and Caleb Again by Franklyn Meyer, about two brothers who also are involved a lot of hilarious exploits.  Unfortunately, I've never read either so I don't know if is the one you're looking for.



B443: Brother dies
Solved: The Scarlet Ibis


B444: Bake-Off
Solved: Mrs. Coverlet's Magicians


B445: Boy grows old overnight
OK, everyone insists I've made this up:  A young boy lives in a village and goes to school.  One day he gets lost in the woods and finds a cottage with a grandfather clock in it.  Since it's late, he goes to sleep, but is awakened when he hears chanting(?) Several weird children are dancing in a circle and the clock hands are going backward.  Scared, he runs off and finds his way home.  The next day he's very old. No-one recognizes him. He sees an old woman on a park bench, crying, and after talking to her, realizes she's his classmate and they've been aged overnight.  They figure out there are other children in the same plight, and they go back to the cottage and dance, turning the clock forward. As they're dancing, the weird children burst in, screaming at them to stop, but the boy and his classmates are getting younger as the weird children (fairies?) are getting older.  This is an illustrated book. There's a picture of a red double-decker bus in it, so I think it's British.  I have no idea when it was written, but I would be SO grateful if anyone had a clue!

Several months ago I sent a stumper (re: 079).  Unfortunately, it is still unsolved.  However, while reading some new stumpers, I noticed one that is requesting information for the same story (re: B445).  The new request is still unsolved, but the details are somewhat different and more detailed than my memories.  Perhaps if they could somehow be combined or referenced together, maybe it will ring a bell for someone else.  Thanks.
video title: tale of time lost.  I watched this video called "Tale of Time Lost". It was made in 1964 is available through blockbuster. It's based on a Russian fairy tale all about not wasting time.  The details are the same as your book, I thought maybe the video title could help you find the book.
Schwartz, Evgeny, A Tale of Stolen Time. (1963) OK, I think I've got it! Title: A tale of stolen time, Author(s): Shvarts, Evgenii, 1896-1958.
 Hogrogian, Nonny,  (Illustrator - ill.) Publication: Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall, Year: 1966 Description: 1 v. (unpaged) col. illus. 16 x 21 cm.
Language: English Standard No: LCCN: 66-10817   SUBJECT(S)  Descriptor: Tales -- Soviet Union.  Note(s): Translation of Skazka o poteriannom vremeni. Class Descriptors: LC: PZ8.S3454 Dewey: 398 Responsibility: by Evgeny Schwartz. Translated from the Russian by Lila Pargment and Estelle Titiev. Illustrated and designed by Nonny Hogrogian. Note that the author listed above with the yellow highlighting is the standardized way libraries are supposed to use his name.  The title page of the book apparently spells it as seen under "Responsibility."  What this means is that you may find it attributed to Shvarts or Schwartz depending on who is listing it for sale.One bookseller provided this summary: "Evil sorcerers change children who waste time into old people--but the children are given the opportunity to change back into children. "  Here'\''s another description from the Children'\''s Picture Book Database at Miami University: "Peter is a lazy boy that never does his homework. He soon falls behind all the other students. Peter always thinks he will have time to catch up. Until one day, he becomes an old man."Makes sense that Prentice-Hall published it -- they are one of the big textbook publishers, and O79 remembered it from a textbook.'



B446: boy befriends old man (wizard?)
This may have even been a series of books. I read it while in elementary school in the 80's. Very vague memories, which I am not even sure of. heres what i can remember: a boy who listens to the radio with his family.(pre-tv) something about his relationship with an old man, possibly a wizard like guy. he travels to another dimension. something about an abandoned or just scary house he has to go to, and vague memories about a conflict with some dark force, possibly in the form of an old man. i cant remember if the old man was good or bad, or if there were just two of them. i remember the books seeming dark and mysterious when I read them at 10 years old. I am thinking 40's or 50's because of the emphasis on the radio.

Susan Cooper, Dark is Rising series.  Sounds like The Dark is Rising.  You'd remember the radio part, because when Will is coming into his power as an Old One, every time he goes past the radio there's a blast of static.
Okay, this is a really long shot - but maybe the poster is thinking of the Dark is Rising series, by Susan Cooper?  I feel like there's some radio-listening in there somewhere - certainly no outright modern-ness like TV ... the old man wizard fits, as does the dark feel ...
This is definitely one of John Bellairs' Johnny Dixon books, most likely The Revenge of the Wizard's Ghost.  The Johnny Dixon series is set in the 1950s and Johnny has a penchant for listening to scary radio shows.  He lives with his grandparents and frequently gets pulled into supernatural experiences with Professor Childermass, a grumpy man who lives across the street.



B447: bear in a barrel
This book has a green cover on it with a bear wearing a barrel as clothing. The book is smaller than most picture books.

This sounds familiar to me, though I can't recall title, author or plot.  What I'm "seeing" is a pencil or pen-and-ink drawing of a cute bear -- not cartoony, but anthropomorphized, like Sendak'sLittle Bear or Lillian Hoban's Frances or Gift Bear.  And I seem to recall the bear not only wearing a barrel as clothing, but riding a bicycle or balancing on a ball at the same time.  I don't know if I'm confusing the little green book with one of the other titles just mentioned, but it would have been the same time period (1970s?).  Perhaps the original poster can confirm or deny these details and it may help someone else recognize the book.
I wonder if this might be one of Frank Asch's books about Bear.



B448: best friends
I'm looking for a chapter book that I read in the late seventies about two girls that were best friends.  I think there were 10 chapters and one chapter had to do with a well.  Also, there is a part in the book where they are standing in the kitchen and one girl nibbles on the other girl's ear (sounds weird but that is all I remember).  I'm pretty sure it is NOT the Betsy Tacy series.

B449: becoming alien
Solved: Dark They Were, and Golden Eyed


B450: boy and dragon
Solved: The Incompetent Dragon
B451: Boy & neighbor exchange tasks

Solved: A Special Trade


B452: Bear & Mouse
Solved: How Joe the Bear and Sam the Mouse Got Together


B453: Boarding School
Solved: Best Friends at School


B454: British Boys School
Please help me with the name of the following (the cover was already off when I read it).  I can't remember if the main character boarded in a boys school or was just a day student.  The whole book is about one boy and his friends, and how they grow in CHARACTER -- some low-key incidents chapter after chapter.  The one chapter that sticks in my mind is when the boy's dad, much to the boy's disappointment, takes him on a day off from school to visit the DAD'S old retired schoolmaster.  The boy watches how his dad interacts gently with the old man in the old man's room... the boy learns a lot that day about kindness and gratitude, from his Dad.  Anyone?


B455: Bike trip
Solved: Bicycles North


B456: Bears who eat ice cream together at 3PM
 1960's, This book is about two bears, one large and one small, I believe, who look for things/interests they share. The text is simple and repetitive: bike riding: I like to ride fast, I like to ride slow, then we can't go bikeriding together! They go on and on with things and finally discover they both like ice cream, so they decide that at three p.m. every day, they will eat ice cream together! Hope someone remembers this! thanks

De Regniers, Beatrice Schenk, How Joe the Bear and Sam the Mouse got Together. (1965, 1990) This one has been showing up all over the place lately!
Turkle, Brinton, How Joe the Bear and Sam the Mouse got together. (1965)  Parents magazine press.  Replace one of the bears with a mouse and this is most definitely the book (again!)
Beatrice Schenk De Regniers (author), Brinton Turkle (illustrator), How Joe the Bear and Sam the Mouse Got Together. (1965)  This is the same book sought in book stumper B452!  First published in 1965 by Parents' Magazine Press.  Reprinted in 1983 by Scholastic Paperbacks with the same illustrations, but a different cover.  Reprinted again in 1990 by Lothrop Lee & Shepard with new illustrations by Bernice Myers.
Beatrice Schenk De Regniers, How Joe the Bear and Sam the Mouse Got Together.This sounds like the same book as B452 (solved), except that it's a bear and a mouse, not two bears.



B457: Boy lives off land, visits library
Searching for a book about a boy who for some reason goes off by himself and lives in a forest not letting people know. He sneaks back into a local town to visit a library.  It may help to add this book would have been published pre-1978.

This sounds like My Side of the Mountain, by Jean Craighead George.  The boy also keeps a falcon for hunting and lives in a large, hallowed-out tree.
Jean Craighead George, My Side of the Mountain.  I agree, this has to be the book you are looking for.
My Side of the Mountain. I'm thirding the suggestion of My Side of the Mountain--and I read ALL those child-living-on-his/her-own adventure stories.'



B458: Bears live in a melon
Great website!  I'm glad I found you, my brother and I have been searching for this book for a long time.  Two bears grow a huge melon, hollow it out and live in it.  They drill a hole in the top of the melon to let the stove smoke out and the melon lifts up and starts to fly.  One bear has gold colored rain boots and umbrella, the other bear has silver rain boots and umbrella.  We read it in Finnish, but it must be available in other languages.

Lennart Hellsing, The Wonderful Pumpkin,1976.According to my roommate the English name of the book is The Wonderful Pumpkin, probably by Lennart Hellsing. There are two bears, a father and a son, and they grow some kind of melon in the garden-- I'm pretty sure it was a pumpkin, and they hollow out and make it into a house. It does end up flying eventually. I think I still have it and can find it and scan the cover for identification.


B459: Boarding school uses students to write masterpieces
Solved: Down a Dark Hall

B460: Biscuit bush
 A mother and 2 daughters move to an apartment complex after the father is somehow out of the picture.  Mom is going to be the manager in exchange for free rent, I believe.  It's mostly elderly residents, in Florida I believe.  The little girl has a hide out in the "biscuit bush"  A hurricane comes and they discover the biscuit bush is a hibiscus bush and storm uncovers lots of little trinkets that have been missing from residents.  I don't think the little sister was stealing them, but don't recall how they got there

Marion Holland, No Children, No Pets. This one was a Weekly Reader Book Club selection in the late 50's or early 60's, and appears frequently on book search boards.
Marion Holland, No Children, No Pets.  Also in solved mysteries.  It's wonderful -- I read it last year!
Marian Holland, No Children, No Pets. (1956)  I read this book many times as a child, and remember it well. Family with three kids from the north inherits an apartment house in Florida. Dad has to stay at work, but Mom and the kids go down for the summer to sell the place, and are surprised to see the big "no children, no pets" sign when they arrive, bringing their cat. Turns out a couple of the tenants are hiding pets anyway (a monkey, a parrot).  Betsy, the youngest, has a special hiding place under a hibiscus (biscuit) bush. A mysterious boy with no place to live sleeps in their garden shed and is accused of theft. A pet monkey is responsible for some things going missing, which is disclosed by the hurricane. Happy ending, family decides to stay, sign is torn down.


B461: Boy makes angel from spare parts
I read this book as a kid, probably between 1977 and 1981.  Boy has some underlying trauma or tragedy that he is trying to work though.  His mom might be deathly ill.  He has visions of or actual confrontations with some incarnation of evil that really freak him out.  Then (and this is the part that I remember clearly), he decides that he will make an angel to protect him from the incarnation of evil.  He had grandiose plans to create a majestic angel from spare parts, like a tire, umbrella, etc., but when he's finished it looks ridiculous and he thinks it won't help.  He has some later confrontation with the incarnation of evil, when his homemade angel, still made of spare parts, but now transformed into a heroic, valiant, and otherwise very cool angel that saves him, or helps him save himself from whatever the underlying tragedy was.  Probably written at 4th to 9th grade level.

Hope Campbell, Peter's Angel: A Story about Monsters. (1976)
Hope Campbell (author), Ralph Pinto (illustrator), Peter's Angel: A Story About Monsters. (1976)  Card catalog description: "When his favorite monsters come alive to taunt him, Peter constructs an angel in hopes of counteracting them."


B462: Boy given pistol, taught to survive
I read a book in the early-mid '60's, it was probably written in the 40's or 50's. The basic story is that a father gives his son a (semi-automatic?) .22 pistol. The boy shoots a badger(racoon?) with the pistol and feels very bad that he did. The boy gets lost in the woods and finds a cabin. A Native American boy lives in the cabin and helps the lost boy learn to survive in the wilderness, make snowshoes and eventually return home. 40+ years ago so my facts could be a bit hazy!

Sign of the Beaver.  Some of the details described in the B462 stumper fit the book The Sign of the Beaver, others do not.  The poster might want to check out this book anyway.  It's a great read.
Sign of the Beaver was published about 20 years after I read B462. The setting for the story was around the 1940's or 1950's.



B463: Boy enters cooking contest
 A book I read in the early 80's,but I think it was older I always checked it out from the library, was in the young adult section.  A boy enters a cooking contest and I think there is some opposition from his friends and family because its a girly thing.  Any info would help!  Thanks!

Gilson, Jamie, Can't Catch Me, I'm the Gingerbread Man. (1981  This might be the one. Mitch enters his recipe for gingerbread in a contest to save his family's health food store.
Can't Catch Me I'm The Gingerbread Man.  Ah Ha!  Thanks so much for the solution, that book had been bugging me for years!


B464: Bear and salmon
Bear eats too much tinned salmon and sees little bear with wings.. Big bear works in salmon factory... I think Garth Williams did the illustrations. Thanks!'

Jane Werner, Elves and Fairies. You are right - illustrations by Garth Williams.
(Selected by) Jane Werner, Illustrated by Garth Williams, The Golden Books Treasury of Elves and Fairies. (1951)  To add more information about this particular story:  The title of this tale is "Cannery Bear" by Ray St. Clair.  The bear loves salmon, but can never get enough, so he goes to work at the salmon cannery.  He has such a hard time keeping up that he never gets to eat much salmon.  When he goes to sleep one night, he dreams of the pink bear fairy, who comes to grant his dearest wish (2 cases of salmon).  The fairy also gives him invisible wings and radar on top of his head, which he uses to discover when the fishing fleet is coming in, and so EARNS 3 cases of salmon per day.  There are illustrations of the bear in the cupboard, the fairy visiting the bear, the bear working in the factory, finding the fleet and eating his salmon.  The "Elves and Fairies" anthology was reissued in 1998, so there are clean copies around, but they are quite expensive.



B465: Boy dies in strawberry patch
(1970) Young boy and girl are friends in this book.  They visit a strawberry patch frequently - and at the end of book - boy dies there.

If the stumper requester isn't completely sure that it's a girl and a strawberry patch, the book being sought could be A Taste of Blackberries (1973) by Doris Buchanan Smith (author) and Michael Wimmer (illustrator).  It's the story of two boys and a blackberry patch, and how one boy copes after the other dies unexpectedly of an allergic reaction to an insect sting.  Otherwise, I wonder if the stumper requester is confusing this book with the Newbery Medal winner for 1978, Bridge to Terabithia (1977) by Katherine Paterson (author) and Donna Diamond (illustrator).  That's the story of a young boy who survives the death of his best friend, a girl, who dies in an accident while swinging across a creek on a rope.
Neither solution is correct I'm afraid.  It is definitely a boy and girl and the boy dies in a strawberry patch.  I do remember that it was a thin book.  Please if anyone has knowledge of this book post it!! I'ts driving me crazy!!!
I found these titles in a list of sixty-nine 1970s children's books about death.  I haven't read any of these books, but their descriptions don't automatically rule out the book you're searching for (unlike the other sixty-four books, which describe the death of a grandparent, parent, aunt, uncle, twin, sibling or pet---who knew there were so many?!) Pickles and Prunes by Barbara A. Moe (1976), 122 pages. A fatherless girl must come to terms with the possibility that her mother will remarry and the knowledge that a friend is dying.  The Summer Before by Patricia Windsor (1973), 241 pages. Alexandra struggles to accept reality and understand her parents following the death of Bradley, her best friend.  Diary of Trilby Frost by Diane Glaser (1976), 189 pages.  Growing up in rural Tennessee at the turn of the century, teenaged Trilby Frost records in her diary her growing realization that life continues even though her father, younger brother, and closest childhood friend die.  That Early Spring by Gunnel Beckman (1977), 121 pages.  During one eventful spring, a young Swedish girl learns about love, independence, and death. That's What Friends Are For (1978) 127 pages.  Two inseparable thirteen-year-old friends confront death when one's illness is diagnosed as leukemia.
Not Trilby Frost--in that book the friend dies horribly of lockjaw.  One of those books I'd RATHER forget.
B465 is the question/post site. The person asked about a book with two children and the boy dies in a strawberry patch. This sounds more like the poem "Poor Babes in the Woods." Quoting from memory, the poem goes:
My dear do you know how a long time ago
Two poor little children whose names I don't know
Were stolen away on a bright shiny day
And left in the woods, so I've heard people say.
And when it was night, so sad was their plight,
The sun it went down and the moon gave no light.
They sobbed and they sighed and they bitterly cried
And the poor little things, they lay down and died.
And when they were dead the robins so red
Brought strawberry leaves and over them spread.
And all the day long they sing them this song:
Poor babes in the woods. Poor babes in the woods.
And do you remember the babes in the woods.
This is printed in one of the volumes of The Book of Knowledge, a 20-volume set with a publishing date around 1947. There is a line drawing of them in red and black (I think) standing in the woods.


B466: Black boy rescues stray cat
I am trying to find a book that my sister and I read and loved as children.  The book seemed "older" even back then (in the 80's), but I'm not sure.  The book was for younger readers, and was about an African American/black boy, who was lonely, poor (and if I remember right) lived in a ghetto type apartment.  He ended up finding and rescuing a cat in an alley (?), that some neighbor boys were abusing/hurting.  It was a stray, kind of homely looking.  He nursed it back to health, and befriended it, but the cat ends up dieing/dying at the end.  It was a really good, but sad story.  I'm hoping someone can help!

Emily Cheney Neville, It's Like This, Cat.
Jane Wagner, J.T. (1969)  Sorry to disagree, but the book being sought is NOT It's Like This, Cat.  That book is about a white fourteen year whose cat does not die at the end of the story.  The correct book is J.T. by Jane Wagner, which is illustrated with photographs by Gordon Parks, Jr.  Here is the publisher's description: "To the guys on the block, J.T. is the kid who stole the radio out of the red convertible before they could get to it. His neighbor, Mrs. Morris, declares him a first-class nuisance. His mother is bewildered -- "He's just gone bad, that's all.... Stealin' and lyin' and I don't know what all." But all the sensitivity, responsibility, and care of which ten-year-old J.T. Gamble is capable emerges when he finds an old, one-eyed, badly hurt alley cat. J.T. takes on a new dimension as he lavishes all the love he is unable to express to people around him on the battered cat he has found in the junk-filled empty lot."  J.T. is black, lives in a ghetto, and yes, his cat dies at the end of the book.  Originally written as a teleplay for CBS's Children's Hour, Jane Wagner won a Peabody award for this, her writing debut.  The photographs in the book are taken directly from the filmed version, which starred Kevin Hooks.  Lily Tomlin loved J.T. and formed a creative partnership with Jane Wagner that has lasted over thirty years!  Please see the Solved Mysteries "J" page for more information.


B467: Boy named Leslie short story
I read this anthology of short stories for young adults/teens back in the early 90's.  The book was probably from the 1960's-1970's.  It featured several stories that were sort of sensationalist in that it every choice the characters made ended up with the worst possible consequences.  I only remember details of two of the stories.  One featured a young man named Leslie who worked loading or driving a delivery truck who was often teased about having a girl's name.  The story ended with either him getting killed or him killing someone else.  The other story is about two adventurous girls who decided that they're going to spend the night in Central Park (I think) and before the night is over, both are attacked.  Any help you could offer on this would be greatly appreciated!
B468: Birch tree illustrations
Solved: Great Wolf and the Good Woodsman

B469: Baby with arrow in stomach
This will be a toughie. About 20 - 30 years ago a friend recommended a book and pointed it out to me in the book store. I was too busy at the time and then forgot about it. The only thing I remember was the dust jacket that was kind of creepy. It had a color drawing of a baby with an arrow in its stomach and a perterbed expression. It might have been a novel of political or social satire, or maybe something completely different. Not much to go on, I admit, but I hope someone is up to the challenge.

I sort of remember a similar cover on a paperback reprint of one of Jean Shepherd's books...maybe In God we Trust, All Others Pay Cash?  Good luck!


B470: Book-within-a-book pulls children into pages
I remember this children's novel fondly but vaguely.  Kids find this large magic book (in an attic or castle tower?), and when opened, it physically pulls the reader into the story.  The magic book contained different stories so each was an adventure... the one I remember was a world completely covered by trees, and divided in half by the root system of the trees.  Completely different sets of inhabitants lived above and below the roots.  I don't remember anything about the kids that were pulled into the book.  This would have been in the mid-80's but the book could be older.

I don't know how common a theme this is, but the first book that comes to mind is The Neverending Story by Michael Ende, written in Germany in 1979, published in English (translated by Ralph Manheim) in 1983.
Zilpha Keatley Snyder, Green Sky Trilogy.  Is it possible that this could be two stories?  While being physically pulled into the story does sound like "Neverending Story" the different inhabitants living above and below the roots sounds like "Green Sky Trilogy" with "Below the Root, "And All Between" and "Until the Celebration"


B471: Birds take kids to live in trees
Solved: The Tune is in the Tree


B472: Brothers home alone
Solved: Sunday Morning

B473: Baby that refuses to be born
Solved: Bébé Jules Qui Ne Voulait Pas Naître

B474: Boys find secret message and start a club
Solved: The Secret Hide-Out

B475: British little girl, pet monkey, imperialism
Solved: The Peggy Lee Stories for Girls

B476: Boy and white flying horse
Thanks in advance for any and all help in finding a book that I read from my school library as a child in the 1970's about a blond boy who had a white flying horse.  The book was hardcover and the cover was light blue with a picture of the boy and horse (possibly flying through the clouds).  I don't remember what the story plot was.  Thank you.

Your description of the cover sounds exactly like the artwork for Pegasus the Winged Horse by Corinne J. Naden (author) and Robert Baxter (illustrator)---blonde boy, white horse with wings flying through a blue sky---but the book was published in 1980 by Troll Communications.  It is still in print in a paperback edition.  Are you sure you saw it during the 1970s?
Lynd Ward, The Silver Pony. (1973)  Beautiful wordless story of a boy and his winged silver pony.
Jane Yolen, Brothers of the Wind. (1981)  Possibly this one?  Cover is blue - blonde boy on white winged horse, flying through starry sky. "A slave boy runs away with a winged horse that displeases his Sheik and presents the horse to the ailing Caliph, who puts off dying until the horse is old enough to ride."
Jean and Claudio Marzollo, Pony Bird. (1975)  Possibly this one? Cartoon-y cover illustration of blonde boy in green footie jammies riding a technicolor (pink/orange/yellow) horse with white wings, background is blue sky (top), lavender clouds (middle), and white clouds at the bottom.  Excerpt follows: "Pony Bird, Pony Bird/Fly with me/Down to Fish City./Let's go see./Pony Bird, Pony Bird,/Fly with me/To bus and car City./But who can see?/Pony Bird, Pony Bird,/Fly with me/To little Little City./Look! said he./Pony Bird, Pony Bird,/Fly with me/To funny Dog City/For you and me."
C.J. Naden, Pegasus the Winged Horse. (1980)  Possibly this one?  Or is this too obvious?  "With the goddess Athena's help, Bellerophon tames the winged horse and destroys the dreaded Chimaera."  Blue cover shows blonde boy in white skirt-type thingy, riding white winged horse. Mount Olympus and white clouds in background.
Betsy Byars, The Winged Colt of Casa Mia. (1973)  A boy spends the summer with his uncle in the West. They have nothing in common until a neighbor gives them a white colt that grows wings.
Byars, Betsy, Winged Colt of Casa Mia. (1973)  Library description: "A former movie stunt man and his bookish nephew, spending the summer together, seem to have little in common until a winged colt enters their lives." The only image I can find online shows a white winged colt against blue sky
 I think this is an illo from a later version. The novel was also made into an ABC Weekend Special (like an Afterschool Special, but on Saturday, yay!) featuring Ike Eisenmann and Slim Pickens.
Lynd Ward, The Silver Pony. (1992)  A story told in wonderful tones of grey and black and white, about a boy who discovers a magical flying pony.
Naden, D J,  Pegasus the winged horse
The cover of The Silver Pony doesn't match the description provided---it's a white flying horse with no rider on a gray background.  The cover of Brothers of the Wind looks like the flying horse has two riders, one behind the other.  The flying horse on the cover of The Winged Colt of Casa Mia has no rider (but two people are on the ground, looking up at the horse in the sky), and the background is gray and white, not blue.  Pony Bird is a possibility, but Pegasus the Winged Horse is a perfect match.
Lindgren, Astrid, MIO?????.  Astrid Lindgren wrote a book about a little boy called Mio in the German version who was adopted by nasty people but then found his real father, a king in a faraway country.
Astrid Lindgren, Mio My Son. Maybe Mio, My Son by Astrid Lindgren?  Young boy is transproted from his everyday life to Farawayland, where he learns he is the long lost Prince Mio.  He has a magic horse, and teh copy I read often as a child had a light blue cover with Mio riding on the horse up into the air -- I can't remember if the horse has wings or is just magic.  Terrific book!
LEWIS, C. S., The Magician's Nephew.  Very long shot but I seem to remember my copy of The Magician's Nephew showing a white winged horse...I can't remember if the boy was blond, (or how the horse fits into the plot for that matter!!!) and I think it may have shown both a boy and girl on the horse, but could be a possibility!?


B477: Boy and girl hide horse named Mia
Solved: Hold the Rein Free


B478: Boy mauled by dog
Solved: The Wasp Factory


B479: Big book of Bible stories
My Sister owned this book in the early 80's. I believe it was called the Big Book of Bible stories. It was a very thick book with a hardcover that was a grass green color. Had stories such as, Samson&Delilah, Joseph and the amzing dreamcoat, noah, david&goliath, the prodigal son, another about sharing fish and bread with thousands of people etc. Lots of stories! Thanks!

Wanda Hayes, A Child's First Book of Bible StoriesI think this one had a green cover...per website: "Forty-seven Old and New Testament stories, from the Creation to John's view of the Heavenly City."



B480: Babies use moonbeam to reach Earth
Solved: Twinkie Town Tales


B481: Baby Donkey
Solved: Little Donkey


B482: Boy on train
Solved: Tiny Toosey's Birthday


B483: Boy and Girl travel in another magical world
Solved: Seaward


B484:  BROOKE, Name of one character
One of the character's name was BROOKE.  I don't remember anything else about the novel, circa 1962.  I know this is not much to go on.  I read the book when I was expecting my first child and liked the name BROOKE, which I named her.

Betty Cavanna, A Breath of Fresh Air. (1966?)  As late as 1966?  A Breath of Fresh Air has a main character named Brooke.  It's about a girl doing research on Louisa May Alcott and dealing with her own problems at the same time.
Betty Cavanna, A Breath of Fresh Air. (1966) I'm not sure if this is the right place to make my comment or not, but here goes. I am looking for a book with BROOKE as one of the characters...A Breath of Fresh Air was given as the answer, perhaps, but that can't be as it was published in 1966 and the daughter whom I named BROOKE was born in 1962, so it had to be published by that year!!!



B485: boy who travels inside mechanical elephant
boy traveled around Florida inside a mechanical elephant looking for his parents.  1950s.

Could be The Wonderful Electric Elephant, by Francis Trego Montgomery.  Very scarce, 1903.
Possibly this one?  Danger in the Everglades by Frederick W. Keith (1957).  From Abebooks: "This is an incredible adventure of 3 boys who travel through the treacherous terrain of the Everglades in an electric elephant in search of the parents of one of the boys who have been missing for weeks!"
This is Danger in the Everglades by Frederick W. Keith.
Frederick W. Keith, Danger in the Everglades. (1957)  Definitely this one.  The incredible adventure of 3 boys who travel through the treacherous terrain of the Everglades in an electric elephant, in search of the parents of one of the boys, who have been missing for weeks. Unfortunately very rare and expensive!



B486: Bullfighting
Novel, about bull bred for bullfighting, NOT Ferdinand.  I believe it's a book for older readers, and I read it around 1970.

Maia Wojciechowska, Shadow of the Bull.(1965)  This is the only bullfighting title I know, and it won the 1965 Newberry Award.   "Manolo Olivar has to make a decision: to follow in his famous father's shadow and become a bullfighter, or to follow his heart and become a doctor."


B487: Boy gets second sight, races fairy
The book is a young adults fantasy type of book  It involves a teenage boy and two of his friends, a boy and girl of the same age.  He gets second sight by seeing a funeral procession through his legs upside down.  Then he begins to see a castle on a mountain, fairy's, and a banshee at one point.  His uncle, Dale? is shot by a fairy arrow and he has a foot race with the fairy boy responsible and wins.  He travels to the land of Tir Nan Og and has a second race, swimming against the same fairy boy and winning.  This all involves a ring somehow.  Don't know the author or publisher.  Thank you!  I really liked this story as a teenager and would greatly appreciate it if I could find it again.

Tom Deitz, Windmaster's Bane. (1986)  David Sullivan, a north Georgia teenager, reads about the gods of Irish myth and enjoys fantasies drawn from these stories. When a chance encounter with a funeral procession -- viewed from an eccentric angle -- gifts him with Second Sight, however, the reality of the world of Faerie proves as dangerous as it is fantastic. When David's brother is stolen and his beloved uncle felled by faerie magic, David enlists friends Alec McLean and Liz Hughes as companions on the quest to save their lives. ... The first of the series Tales of David Sullivan, Windmaster's Bane was originally published in 1986 as an Avon paperback, and is now back in print.
Tom Deitz, Windmaster's Bane. (1986)  This is definitely Windmaster's Bane, by Tom Deitz.  David Sullivan, a high school senior, accidently sees a funeral procession upside down while looking between his legs (he's playing with his little brother at the time) and from then on has second sight.  Because of that, he's brought into the world of Faerie.  When his little brother is stolen by the Fae, he enlists the help of his girlfriend Liz and his best friend Alec to get him back.  This is the first book in a series that is at least seven titles, and maybe more.  (I can't remember exactly!)


B488: Boy turns into bird
it's a very vague description. all i can remember is that the book involved a child ( a boy i think) who gradually turned into a bird of some sort.  i can't remember how they changed, or why. i can't remember anything else that happened other than they/he had stairs in his house and something happened upstairs (maybe that's where he went to change?). the book was set in modern times(i'm guessing 80's)? i remember absolutely LOVING this book as a child! i just happened to remember it today and stumbled onto you site by chance. i really hope you can help me.

Snyder, Zilpha Keatley, Black and Blue Magic. I'm not sure this is the one, but you might check it out - a boy gradually grows wings after using a magic ointment.
Michael Ross, Become a Bird and Fly!(1992)  Nicky often watches birds and tries to fly himself, but he is unsuccessful until his neighbor helps him. As she describes each characteristic of a bird, the boy is slowly transformed, growing feathers on his arms, pulling his jaw into a beak, and bouncing his ankles into the "backward knee" of a bird's legs. Nicky becomes a pelican, eating lots of food and flying until he can fly no more and needs to rest. When he awakens, he is a boy again, holding a feather. The brief text, employing free verse and rhyme, is an awkward combination of scientific information and fantasy ("Those are feathers growing on your rear./ Why? As you fly, they'll help you glide and steer . . . ").
Zilpha Keatley Snyder, Black and Blue Magic
Zilpha Keatley Snyder, Black and Blue Magic.  Could it be this one?  This is about a boy who rubs a potion on his shoulders and grows wings.  Then he flys around at night.
Roald Dahl, The Magic Finger.  I wonder if this could The Magic Finger?  I barely remember it myself, but my memory of it (a family that likes to hunt gets turned into birds to see how THEY like it) seems to involve something about the stairs or being upstairs also.
It's a long shot, but there is a Margaret Mahy story, in one of her books of short stories for children, about a boy who gets gradually *replaced* by a bird. Something about the description here makes me think of this story, and it might be easy to remember it years later as a boy turning gradually into a bird.
Bill Brittain, Wings, 1991.  Not sure if this is it, but Ian, the protagonist, starts growing wings one day.  They are less like bird wings than bat wings, but his entire physiology changes to enable him to fly, which fits in with the memory of transformation.
Gormley, Beatrice, Mail Order Wings. (1981)  This is a story of a girl who orders wings through the mail, puts them on like a backpack, but every time she uses them, they get harder to get off, until the day comes when she can't GET them off!
Mail Order Wings, 1980's. 'This book is about a girl who answers an ad in a comic book. She receives a kit with wings, and they actually make her turn into a bird over time.'



B489: beaver little golden book
The book was about a young beaver who left his parents' home and swam down the river, eventually building a dam or a home of his own.  I recall reading this in the early to mid-1960s. I think it was a Little Golden Book, or something similar.

Betty Ren Wright, Beaver Valley, 1954.  Possibly this one? A Whitman Tell-A-Tale book, based on the Walt Disney True-Life Adventure Movie of the same name.  Illustrated by Marjorie Hartwell. Cover is yellow, and shows an erect, partially-chewed birch tree (or some sort of tree with papery white bark) and a little beaver sitting in the grass beside it, with his front paws on the tree, and his head turned to look behind him. Cover art is by Florence Sarah Winship.
Maria Di Valentin, Little Beaver, 1963.  Another possibility: A Rand McNally Junior Elf book, illustrated by John Hawkinson.  Cover shows a young beaver sitting on a fallen log that crosses the cover diagonally. In front of the log is water, with two turtles swimming in it. Background is blue and green, suggestive of leaves reflected in the water. The beaver holds a leafy twig in his paws, as if he is eating it.
Ruth Dixon, Bartholomew the Beaver, 1952.  A Rand McNally Tip-Top Elf Book, illustrated by Alice Pierce. The story is about a silly, lazy little beaver (Bartholomew) whose mother must teach him how to work like a beaver should, instead of playing all the time. Cover shows a side-view of a beaver crouching at the edge of a stream on a grassy bank, with his tail dipping into the water, head turned slightly so that he faces the viewer. A partially-chewed white-barked branch or sapling lies on the ground in front of him, and there are heart-shaped leaves above/behind him. Background is blue and yellow, suggesting sun and sky. Also published as a Rand McNally Elf Book, both with the same cover, and with a different cover.  The other cover shows the beaver standing on the bank of the stream, chewing on a twig he is holding in his front paws. A felled birch tree is on the ground in front of him, with the chewed stump behind him.  A cardinal is perched on top of the stump. The background is a bright yellow. Style of the cover art is a bit more cartoon-y on this one.
Charlie the Tramp. 1967, approximately.  I had a Scholastic Book as a child titled "Charlie the Tramp". The plot is a young beaver who runs away from home because he doesn't want to do the 'hard work' that is expected of him. His adventure takes him downstream where he sets up camp and eventually builds a dam. His grandfather discovers the dam and recognizes the handiwork. Charlie is reunited with his family now realizing that he did a lot of hard work to create his dam.



B490: Baby Bear Wakes From Hibernation
Solved: The Fourteen Bears in Summer  and Winter


B491: bear doesn't like baths
Looking for children's book from the 50's or 60's.. maybe 70's about a bear who didn't like baths... and would pretend to take a bath (closed the door, splashed his hand in the water..) We called it the shy bear book, but I don't think that was the name...I think he got caught when his mother looked behind his ears... thanks so much!

Kathryn Jackson, Sly Little Bear and Other Bears, 1960.  This is a Little golden Book #411. The first of three stories is the story you seek.The little bear did not like to take a bath on Saturday so he just dangle his paw in the tub but one day his mom checked behind his ears and watched him take a bath every day for a week. Once he was clean they went back to SAturday.
I remember this one.  There is a picture of his mom with her spectacles on, inspecting behind his ears.  He has to start taking a bath every day, and she makes sure he does.  There's a picture of him looking very bedraggled and grumpy in the tub, with his ears drooping.  He eventually grows to like baths and there's a picture of him happily blowing a soap bubble out of his nose.  Eventually his mom decides he's clean enough and he goes back to weekly baths.  I associate this with the story of "Hasty Bear" who didn't listen to all of his mom's directions, and when she asked him to pick a bouquet of leaves, he didn't stick around long enough to hear the part about "don't pick the shiny three-leaf kind with berries" and gets a terrible case of poison ivy.  Maybe these books are related, or they were just from the same period in my childhood.  The bear in one of our bear stories was named Timothy Titus, which struck me as funny when I learned the names of the books of the Bible. I'm not sure if this is the same one either.
Kathryn Jackson & Richard Scarry, The Bedtime Book of 365 Stories, 1st Ed 1960. My favourite EVER kids book! I tracked this down (partly down to this forum!) and the memories came FLOODING back.... has Hasty Bear, the Bear Who Wouldn't Wash, The Wet Little Teddy Bear, Lights In The Night, The Music lesson (remember the stick men characters?!) ..... just gorgeous. Published by Paul Hamlyn for Golden Pleasure Books Ltd.



B492: Bean sails on the pirate ship
PLEASE HELP ME FIND THIS BOOK FOR MY KIDS!  I read it myself as a child in the late 70s early 80s.  It was about a group of kids (one was called Bean I think) and they sailed on a Pirate ship in search of treasure.  At some point, a swordfish puts a hole in the boat and it has to be plugged with a cork.  I do not remember if they found treasure, but i remember them digging and digging and digging on the island, tearing it apart.  One pirate was bitten in the nose by a crab and got a bloody nose.  I remember the book to be hardback, blue and oversized.  The artwork was amazing.  I hope you can help.

Mircea Vasiliu , Once Upon a Pirate Ship, 1974.  Check out Once Upon a Pirate Ship on the Solved Mysteries O page for more details.



B493: Boy eats toast with a lot of butter after murdering parents
Solved: Sredni Vashtar


B494: bitter woman boy sled accident
boy befriends a bitter old woman, doesn't want him sledding - he learns that her son was killed in sledding accident

B495: boy brings gifts from grandma
Solved: Noodlehead Epaminondas


B496: bunnies, easter eggs, color
Solved: A Surprise for Mrs. Bunny


B497: Best friends deal with growing up and moving
Solved: The Trouble With Thirteen


B498: boy from outer space
The book is about a "Boy from Outer Space" (which I thought was the title, but now I don't think so). I am pretty sure was a series.  I already bought a book by Bernard Wiseman (this was NOT it) but have not bought the one by Vern Fowlie yet (don't think that is it either).  Subject: This alien boy lands in another boy's backyard and they go traveling through space together (thus the series).  The only tidbits I remember about the book is that they would eat these small pellets on the spaceship that tasted exactly like a certain food and would fill them up.  They also used to get clean in a "shower" like room that did not involve any water at all (again appealing to little boys).  Hints?: I think the approximate decade was the mid-60's, possibly the 70's.  My only other point of reference is I read a series of books by an author, Alexander Key, at the same time.  He wrote a series of books called Bolts,the Robot dog and Rivets and Sprockets but I am sure he is not the author, he is from around the same time period.  Thanks for your help.

B498 is the Spaceship Under the Apple Tree series, by Louis Slobodkin.  There are at least five books; I think Round-Trip Spaceship is the one with the food pills.  (It's been a good 35 years since I last read them.)
Possibly Louis Slobodkin's Spaceship Under the Apple Tree or one of the others in that series?
kckoury, The Boy From Outer Space.  This could very well be from the series that the others are suggesting, but it was definitely excerpted in my 5th grade literature book as The Boy From Outer Space.
Margaret Goff Clark, The Boy from the UFO, 1979, reprint.  The plot is similar, and there is at least one sequel (The Boy from the UFO Returns), but I cant remember many of the details. I think the Earth boy was an orphan who was going to leave with the alien boy because he thinks his new parents only adopted him to get his younger brother.
B498 I just skimmed the first book of Spaceship and it is not that  one, altho the pills are mentioned and it is quite likely that he  took Eddie into space with him in the later books. 



B499: Boarding school with boy trying to fly
This is a chapter book, published no later than the early 90s, set at a boys' boarding school. On the cover was a boy about to jump off the school roof wearing wings, trying to fly. In the story, one of the boys was convinced that their headmistress was a serial killer named (I think) Jezebel, and I think they put on a play about the murders to try to trap her into confessing. There may have been a minor part of the plot that involved chinchillas, or one of the characters had chinchillas.

Conford, Ellen, Dear Mom Get Me Out of Here, 1992.  I haven't read the book but I remember the picture and title.  I have always been an Ellen Conford fan and when I saw the book I picked it up meaning to read it, just never got around to it.  Looking on Amazon, it is indeed about a boy in a terrible boarding school and one of the boys keeps trying to fly off the roof.



B500: Battle of the Toys!
Solved: Oddkins: A fable for all ages


B501: Brothers
Solved: Swallows and Amazons


B502: Birds
I'm trying to find a book that I read while in elementary school in the 1970s.  It was about a boy and a girl that go into a dead tree trunk -- I think that it may have been a Beech tree -- anyway, they are transformed into birds and fly out the top of the tree and have many adventures. For some reason this story pops into my head fairly frequently.  The book had some illustrations and I remember a picture of the tree and also of the boy as a bird sitting on the girl's window ledge trying to get her attention... I would love to find this book and read it again!!

Sounds like Magic in the Park, by Ruth Chew, to me.  Was there an episode of a stolen bicycle, with the thief followed by one of the children in bird shape?  And check the solved mysteries, it's described there.



B503: Boy travels with spaceman friend
Solved: Bleep and Booster


B504: Ballerina Dance Hall Cowboy Boots
I read this children's book in the 70's.  A ballerina mouse(?) is traveling to a town to do a performance at a dance hall.  It's like an old west type town, I think.  Her costumes are caught in a snowstorm and can't get to the town she's in, so she's afraid she can't perform.  Someone offers to let her do her ballet in some square-toed cowboy boots.  That's all I can remember.  Please contact me if you find this - I've been looking and yearning to re-read for ages!

B504 prob one of Holabird's Angelina ballerina series
Angelina was "born" in 1983, so if you're sure your book is from the '70s, that's not the answer.  (Just in case, I looked through all the Angelina books that we have and none fit your synopsis.)



B505: Brooke
my daughter is named Brooke and I'm trying to find a book that I read in 1962 that had Brooke as one of the characters.

Astor, Brooke, Patchwork Child Autobiography, 1962. Reminiscences of her childhood during the years befor World War
Betty Cavanna, A breath of fresh air, (il. Morrow),1966. Brooke is doing research on Louisa May Alcott; juvenile fiction by award-winning author exlibrary; no dust jacket; rebound in library buckram with picture, split starting along front of spine, some soil on light cover; pages good  1.00 23482 Oh dear, I just noticed she read it in 1962. Hope she is wrong.
There was an actress called Brooke Bundy in 1962 -- she had an article written about her in American Girl magazine, could that be a lead?



B506: blind girl realizes she's different
I think this was a short story.  A blind girl is sent upstairs to put on her good dress.  She puts on her old one instead, and when she comes downstairs, her mother asks her why she didn't put on her party dress.  The girl wonders how her mother could tell without feeling the dress.  She realizes that she is different.

B507: Boyfriend helps girl face fears
Solved: Something Foolish, Something Gay


B508: Baseball Mystery
early 1950 sto mid 1960s.  Kids playing baseball in a field hit the baseball into the chimney of an abandoned house. As kids are, they went in the house and it was spooky. They heard noises and were afraid. The baseball was in the fireplace and it seems like there was a squirrel or bird nest inside the chimney involved somehow. Seems like the baby animals in the nest were making the noises that were scaring the kids. When they figured out hte noise they found the baseball. Book was hard cover and seems like Red, black and white ink only. I want to recall 3 kids on the cover, a girl and 2 boys possibly staring at the old house or maybe the fireplace.I would love to read this story to my grandkids. I lost it somehow around 20 years ago. It had belonged to my Aunt before me so it must be at least 50 yrs old or older.

Dorothy Sterling, Secret of the Old Post Box, 1960.  This is The Secret of the Old Post Box by Dorothy Sterling...published by Doubleday, part of the Weekly Reader series too, the hardcover cover art is pretty much as you describe...black and read ink, but on a yellow-ish rather than a true white background. The scene is of 6 children (boys and girls) searching an old fireplace. The book was reprinted in paperback 1971 by Scholastic, with different cover art and a different title....Mystery of the Empty House, though there was no change in the text.   Baseball in the house, birds nest in the fireplace, all are in the book.....heres full dj flap text "From her very first day in Haven, Pat began to do all the things she had missed in New York City. There were trees to climb, a garden to play in and a bike to ride. There were also new neighbors: the three scowling Paine brothers, friendly Jim Gray, and tiny Barbara Thompson, who never stopped giggling. But best of all, there was a historic pre-revolutionary house right next door, and somewhere around it was rumored to be a hidden treasure. Before long, a search party was organized, and the fun and adventure that followed brought Pat more excitement than she had ever dreamed of finding in Haven"  The "treasure" the children eventually find is a "post box" ... really a hidden post drop for American Revolutionary spy...one of the Paine Brothers ancestors, proving once and for all that the ancestor wasn't a Tory, as had been rumored, but an American patriot spy.
This suggested solution doesn't sound like the book I have in mind. Could it be placed back under  "UNSOLVED" in case someone else might have a clue? Thanks 



B509: Baby book
I'm looking for a pre-1970s baby book. The story is told by the mother. She narrates the story in the 2nd person, i.e., "You woke up", "I dressed you in your kimono", etc. It sounds a bit odd, and it's not scary at all, but the baby actually chokes on a "tidbit of toast" at breakfast. The toast is removed by holding the baby upside down. Then, the baby goes for a ride in his carriage while a kitten sleeps curled at his feet in the buggy. I'm not sure what happens next, but it was a childhood favorite. Everybody who sees the carriage looks in and compliments the baby. I think there is an appearance by the milkman, but I could be mistaken. If I remember correctly, the illustrations had a pink cast to them, and the book was fairly small, similar to or smaller than Golden Book size. That's about as detailed as I can get.

1960's, approximate.  I have been looking for this book, too.  I think most of the illustrations were in sepia tone with a soft edge, but the picture of the buggy ride in the park is in full color and covers a two-page spread.  I distinctly remember the kitten in the buggy.  The park painting was very soft and impressionistic, but the colors were bright.  The trees were very high like the old elms, and the light was dappled.   Everyone wore hats like in the 40s and 50s. The last page is a picture of the father home from work playfully lifting the baby up over his head, and I think there are no words on that page.  I had this book in the late '60s or very early '70s.  It was basically a "day in the life" of the baby and its mother.  I hope some of this helps.
Rita Eng, When you were a baby, 1949. My children and I were talking about this book just LAST NIGHT!  This is the original book,not the reprint done in 1982.



B510: Boy With Dirty Friend Named Linda
I read this book in the early 60's. It was about a boy, probably about eight or nine years old, and a great deal of the story took place at the school he attended. I think it might have been a country school.  Here is the part I remember most: he was friends with a girl named Linda, and she was not very clean. I don't think anyone else in the class would have anything to do with her. I'm pretty sure they rode a bus to school.

This rings a bell with me and i think it's the same book i've been trying to remember the title of for months! If it's the one I'm thinking of the boy in question has to wear a caliper and he also befriends a man (called Mr O'Brian?) who only has one leg. Maybe this will jog someone else's memory to think of the title.
Sounds like it could be Up A Road Slowly by Irene Hunt.  It included a country school, a poor girl who was very dirty and is made fun of by the other children.  I also remember one of the characters complaining that the girl always smelled of onions.



B511: Basic Statistical Methods
I was looking for a textbook called "Basic Statistical Methods" by Downie and Heath.  I was able to get the exact title and spelling of the a author's names through the University of Wisconsin in Osh Kosh.  So, my original quest has been found.  BUT ... there is a workbook apparently that went with the text, and that is what I am looking for now.  Any help will be appreciated. Thank you.

I'm not sure exactly what you're asking for - the title of the workbook?  It depends on the year.  It looks like the text dates from 1959, with many editions through 1983.  I found Workbook To Accompany Basic Statistical Methods (Harper & Row, 1965) and also Study Guide To  Accompany Basic Statistical Methods (1970, 1974, 1983 eds.)
Downie, N. M. (Norville Morgan), 1910-, Study guidebook to accompany Basic statistical methods (3rd edition),1970.  Found this in the OhioLink catalog - http://olc1.ohiolink.edu/search/ - but I'm not sure if it's the workbook that the submitter is referring to. There is also another edition in the catalog, the 4th, copyright 1974



B512: Beneath a canopy of gold
Solved: Date with a Career


B513: Boy invents a new sport in a junkyard
I remember it as being a small book, maybe six inches square. It was about a boy who played in a junkyard, and invented an elaborate new game that involved climbing a huge teetering scaffold of junk. It reminds me of the training sequence in the movie "Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins", actually. He eventually defeats some adults at the game, though I don't remember if he had challenged them to the sport, or if they were chasing him for some reason. Also, I believe it was illustrated by Quentin Blake.

Russell Hoban, How Tom Beat Captain Najork and His Hired Sportsmen, 2006, reprint.  This is a wild guess--it does have to do with sports, and it is illustrated by Quentin Blake.
Russell Hoban (illus. Quentin Blake), How Tom Beat Captain Najork And His Hired Sportsmen.  Delightful book, reprinted in the UK in 2002.  Tom defeats the titular adults at womble, muck and sneedball, games played with the help of spectacular junkyard constructions.  And there was a sequel, just as good: A Near Thing for Captain Najork.



2007


B514: Brother touches coffin and dies in tornado
Brother touches coffin and dies in tornado...This young adult book involves two brothers, one of which was to die at birth and the father had made a mahogany coffin for. The brother lives but the coffin stays and one night during a tornado the brother forces the one who was supposed to die to touch his own coffin and it freaks him out and he runs into a tornado and dies in a ditch.

James Hurst, The Scarlet Ibis, 1960.  A short story rather than a novel, and details don't match exactly, but the older brother does force the younger brother, Doodle, to touch the coffin that had been made for him when he was expected to die as an infact, and Doodle later dies outside in a storm.



B515: Boy grows colored tree with golden elevator
A boy grows a tree and a golden elevator with red velvet seats comes down.  When he gets in and goes up, each level is a new color... leaves, branches, fruits, etc. One level all green one level all blue and so on.  Had this book in the 70's.

Ulf Lofgren, The Wonderful Tree.



B516: Birthday dog
Solved: Two Stories about Wendy


B517: boy  vacation communicates with dolphin
read in early '90s.  This book "found me" and now I'm hoping it will come to me again. I was in a used book store and felt it was on the self just for me.  I love dolpins and this was simple story of a young boy on vacation with his family at the ocean.  A dolphin shows him how they can communicate with their thoughts and he learns so many things from the dolphin.  The story did not seem child like to me.  It was either in or near the metaphysical section. At the end of the story the boy's family went on vacation the following summer to the desert and he was so disappointed he wouldn't get to talk to the dolphin.  Instead the dolphins are in spirit in the ether.  I gave this very special book to someone to read and sadly never got it back.  I really hope someone has read it too. I have no idea title or child's name.

B518: Boniface
Read this book in the 70's and it was kinda old..the main character was a chunky boy named Boniface but he was called either Boney or Bones or similar. I can't remember much but I THINK he might have had a cake recipe that won an award or something like that..sorry it's so sketchy! I KNOW his full name was Boniface though and he had some silly adventures!
 This one is driving me batty and has been for a few years! Thanks for any help anyone can offer!

Jean Caryl, Bones and the Smiling Mackeral.  Three books about plump boy Boniface: the Smiling Mackeral, Bones and the Pointed House, and Bones and the Black Panther.  (The Panther is a bicycle.)  All cute.



B519: blind
Solved: Light a Single Candle


B520: Boy built fort and waterwheel
I read this book back in the early 80's from my school library about a boy that invented/built a fort with a waterwheel.  He built this using pots and pans and such from his mom's kitchen.  I also remember the end where he sat on/under his dad's lap while the father read the newspaper in the living room.
Solved: Meadow


B521: Boy made of boards falls in river, gets warped
Solved: The Timbertoes


B522: black knight
Solved: Merlin's Mistake


B523: Boy makes bad decisions
Solved: The Golden Book of Nursery Tales


B524: brothers, drugs, 1960s
Solved: Tuned Out, Maia Wojciechowska

B525: brother, sister, different world
I am looking for a children's book about a brother and sister who traveled to a different world. All I can really remember is that there was a professor of some sort, two shady characters who were rather dim-witted and that the little girl carried some sort of creature from that new world in her pocket. It's a very vague memory but any help would be greatly appreciated!

CS Lewis, The Magician's Nephew (Narnia series.Your description sounds a lot like The Magician's Nephew  from the Narnia series. Two kids are drawn into another world by green/yellow rings created by the boy's uncle (a mad professor). Many adventures ensue when they inadvertently bring a queen-witch back from that world.
Julie Edwards, Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles.This sounds like it could be Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Edwards (Andrews). Three kids, two boys and a girl, meet a professor who teaches them how to travel into a magical world, where they have various adventures
 Lewis, C.S., The Magicians Nephew.Just to add on to what the last person mentioned in regards to this title, there is a little hamster (or possibly a guinea pig) the crazy uncle was experimenting on while he was trying to come up with a way to travel to other worlds. It is sent to the other world before the children, but the little girl finds it once she makes the trip herself and has it with her for a while.
This could be Podkayne of Mars by Robert A. Heinlein



B526: boy alone
Solved:  The Missing Persons League
Missing Persons League


B527: boy, time travel, Ayer's rock
Solved: John Midas in Dreamtime


B528: boy vs. Russian Spy
Solved: Secret Agents Four


B529:boy rides on pigeon or dove
My teacher read this book to us about 1949/50.  A dove or pigeon would land on the child's windowsill and make the child small enough to ride on his back and then take him on adventures.

Lawson, Robert, The Fabulous Flight,1949.The query reminds me of this book in which a young boy (Pete?) begins to shrink as a result of an accident.  He befriends a seagull named Sam, who is able to carry Pete on his back.  They have many adventures, including a spying trip to a nameless European country that has invented a new A-bomb.
The Fabulous Flight (1949) by Robert Lawson?
Robert Lawson, The Fabulous Flight, 1949. Possibly The Fabulous Flight by Robert Lawson, first published in 1949. As a result of an accident, young Peter P. Pepperell III ceases to grow at the age of seven, and actually begins to shrink, while getting brighter all the time. Tutored at home, Peter befriends the local animals, who welcome him now that he's more their size. One day a visiting seagull, Gus, alights on the family pond, and Peter discovers the delights of flight astride his neck. Then Mr. Pepperell comes home with distressing news. A reclusive scientist in a tiny middle-European nation has invented an explosive even more fearsome than The Bomb, and the State Department desperately wants to get it away from him. As it turns out, Peter and Gus are ideally suited to the task. Mr. Pepperell crafts a fiberglass 'car' that can fit on Gus's back, providing a place for Peter to sleep and keep his supplies, and the pair set off on a fabulous flight indeed.
Roald Dahl, The Minpins, I am not sure when The Minpins was first printed, but it sounds similar to what you are describing. A boy rides on the back of a swan to visit the Minpins who live in the forest and are little people. The swan picks him up at his window and they go on adventures.
Selma Lagerloff (Lagerlof?), The Adventures of Nils. This one has a boy riding on geese.



B530: british haunting plague kid-lit
Solved: Blackbriar


B531: Boy on Cape Cod
Book I read in late 40's about boy on Cape Cod. Red cover. I remember an Illustration of a boy and a sailbot.

Possibly Time of Wonder by Robert McCloskey.
If the requestor read this book in the late 1940s, then it cannot be Time of Wonder by Robert McCloskey, which was copyrighted 1957.  Also, that cover doesn't match the description given.



B532: boy runs away with sister
Solved: Star of Light


B533: bear time
Need help with a memory!  I had a book probably between 1965 and 1970. The book was larger, and had a thinner cover than a golden or wonder book.  It was about a bear family going through different events of the day.  There was always a clock in the picture/ scene that changed as the day progressed.  I remember the little girl bears name was Brenda.  I can remember scenes of the mother bear washing dishes watching them play outside.  Another scene I remember is the father bear carrying the kids upstairs for bed....silly, I know, but I can't get it out of my mind. Any help or clue would be greatly appreciated!

Evelyn Scott, Fourteen Bears : Summer and Winter, 2006.a recent reprint combining two books from the 1970s.
Scarry, Patricia M. Good Night, Little Bear, 1971. This certainly sounds like the Little Golden Book. The illustrations by Richard Scarry are still imprinted in my brain!



B534: boy who moved often
I am looking for a series of middle grade books I read in the mid 1970s. The main character (alex?) was a boy whose father had to move often. Each time they moved he had to give up a sport he loved and learn some new sport. When they moved from California to Colorado, for example, he had to sell his surfboard and learn to ski. He befriended an old ski instructor, won the big race, and saved a bunch of people from an avalanche. Then in the next book they moved somewhere else and he had to learn to some new sport. In one he raced snowmobiles. If I remember right the books all had purple covers. Thanks again.

Dixon, Peter L, Fast Snow, 1971."Moving away from the California beach to Aspen, Colorado, is an unpleasant prospect for Robbie until he learns to ski" Wipe Out "Robbie spends the summer at Malibu Beach learning to ride the surf." /  Fast Snow "Moving away from the California beach to Aspen, Colorado, is an unpleasant prospect for Robbie until he learns to ski."  / Fire Guard "A boy spends a summer as a fire control aid in a national forest."  /  Deep Dive "A high school boy finds his summer diving job with a marine research institute full of adventure, danger, and valuable experience."  /  Test Run "Two brothers in a dune buggy track down car thieves in the desert."  /  Silent Flight "Two boys just learning to fly glider planes use their new skill to help rescue a crashed pilot from the mountains."



B535: bird stays over winter
Looking for a children's picture book about a small bird that decides not to migrate but stays in the city (New York?) over the winter.  I remember the bird kept warm by staying in the steam coming out of the manhole covers, and I think it may have made a nest in a Christmas tree.  I loved this book as a child in the early 60's.  No one I've ever asked about it has remembered it (including my mom, who must have read it many times!) but maybe someone here will know it!

Craighead, Jean, The Moon of the winter bird,1969.During a cold spell in December, a song sparrow that has not migrated south must adapt to the changes that winter brings. Part of the 13 moon series.  Possibly too late in publicaton to be the one requested. It has oil painting illustrations.
Thanks, The Moon of the Winter Bird is a beautiful book, but it's not my stumper.  The one I'm looking for is for younger readers and is definitely in an urban setting.  The bird is some variety that usually migrates, and I think when he stays behind he is befriended by the birds like pigeons that do stay through the winter.



B536: Boy runs away to house with a monster in it
Solved: Grandpa's Ghost Stories


B537: Brothers and Sisters time travel- Blizzard/ Elevator
Solved: Voices After Midnight


B538: Big Sneeze
I'm looking for a book from my childhood (early eighties). All I remember about it is a rabbit sitting on a turtle's back (?) and suddenly getting blown off backward, either by his own sneeze or someone else's. The only partial line I remember is, "... with a sniffily, snuffily, sneezily ATICHOO!" I believe that line is repeated throughout the book, though the spelling may be off. I don't remember the premise, but I'm pretty sure the story centered around the animal doing the sneezing. Not a lot to go on, and I don't have much hope for it, but thanks in advance to anyone who might have suggestions.

Patricia Thomas, Stand Back, Said the Elephant, I'm Going to Sneeze!.  Try this one - it was around in the eighties. It is in rhyme, and describes how all the other animals try to stop the elephant from sneezing. "The last time the elephant sneezed, he blew monkeys out of the trees, stripes off the zebra, and spots off the leopard."



B539: Boy, farm, poachers, woods
My sister brought this book home from the library at around 1983 or 1984.  I don't know the author or title, but it was about a boy whose family lives on a farm.  He is afraid of going into the woods that surround their farm because his older brother was killed by poachers (I think the previous year).  It's been driving me crazy for 20+ years!  Please, does it sound familiar???


B540: Butterfly time travel young girl and grandfather
Solved: Heartlight


B541: Baby New Year Short Story
book of short stories. one story is about an old man who comes to the home of a couple, the wife who is due to give birth around December 31. The wife gives birth at midnight and the old man dies. The man realizes his kid is the next baby new year and will only live one year.


B542: Bearded man on tidy houseboat
Solved: A Little Old Man


B543: Boy finds knife and becomes dragon slayer
Solved: Beyond the Open Door


B544: bug book
Solved: Bugg Books


B545: boy searches for medallions that are placed on a belt.
Solved: The Dark is Rising


B546: british subs, Scotland
The spaces to fill in in paypal concerning my question did not come up so am emailing it to you. My grandfather read a paperback book about 15 - 20 years ago. It was about British Submarines that were manufactured after WW1 and used in WW2 that were faster then destroyers. They had the disadvantage of the Conning tower not being able to see over waves when surfacing, and had 2 diesel fired smoke stacks, which accounts for their speed. He remembers they were specifically stationed in Scotland but says they were stationed in other areas as well.

With so little to go on, I haven't found anything I'm sure is a match.  But here are a few possibilities: His Majesty's submarines vs. die deutschen U-Boote (Unknown Binding) by Leslie Goodwin 1964. 128 pages. British submarine design during the war (1939-45) (Quarterly transactions of the Institution of Naval Architects) (Unknown Binding)by A. J Sims 1947. The British submarine (Unknown Binding) by F. W Lipscomb 1954. 269 pages.Submarines of the Royal Navy (Paperback) published by Maritime Books 1983.  64 pages.
airline publishing, K Boats: Steam-Powered Submarines in World War I. The boats you're describing ar Brit. K-Class subs. This is the only book I could find on them



B547: Bird field guide for children
Solved: Birds: Books I, II, II


B548: Brother and sister travel through time
Solved:  Wind in the Door


B549: Boy and dragon
Solved: The Dragon's Handbook


B550: Battling red and blue ants
This was a children's illustrated book from the late 1960's or early 1970's.  It was about red and blue ants that were having a battle or a war with each other.  The pictures were very colorful and rich and similar to Eric Carle's style of illustration.  I remember the ants wearing helmets and having weapons? of some kind.  Also the red ants were much bigger than the blue ants and there was a lot of action.  Thanks for any info you have, I only remember bits and pieces of this book, and would really like to know the name of it.

Gorey, Edward, Amphimigorey Too. I remember a story by Edward Gorey about battling bugs (I don't remember if they were ants).  But I do remember it being very colorful.  I read it in a complimation, so I don't remember the exact title.



B551: Ballet dancer with diabetes
Solved: When Dreams Shatter


B552: Broadway dancers, apartment, suicide
Novel about Broadway dancers living in apartment, one  girl commits suicide

Karen McKinnon, Narcissus Ascending, 2002. Does this sound right? "Four friends--Becky, Hugh, Dahlia, and Max--who have created their own dysfunctional surrogate family are united by their mutual disastrous relationship with Callie, a crisis-prone, manipulative, dynamic creature whose friendship has hurt all of them individually but who still haunts their lives."  "...including an extravagant faked suicide attempt."
No, that isn't it. It starts when she is a teenager and then she goes and joins a ballet company and has to decide whether to keep dancing or go back to her reporter boyfriend. This is about three roommates working on Broadway. I think two girls and a gay male that sings the song Flying down to Rio and one of them does commit suicide, not faked. It is from the early 80 and I just loved it and cannot think of the title or author



B553: Boy goes through maze to another world
Solved: The Maze in the Heart of the Castle


B554: Boy attends costume party
I'm looking ofr a children's picture book, from approx, 1950-1960.  It had an orange-read cover and was horizontal.  It featured a boy who was attending a costume party perhaps?  He was wearing what I recall as a pot or baseball cap on his head, and was dressed up like a ball of string, baseball, or a meatball and some spaghetti.  The word "spaghetti" rings a bell but I know it isn't Spaghetti Eddie.  I know this is all very vague and I apologize.  I wish I had more for you to go on.  Thank you for any light you can shed.

B555: Boat delivers food and mail to community
Pickle boat mystery. A girl goes to an elderly relatives house for summer. finds friends, the story revolves around a boat that delivers groceries, mail to community. Girl eats chile at a local place because relatives cooking is horrible or sparse. I can't remember the mystery of the book. The boat flew a flag that was made from the green paint  spilling on the cloth giving the boat the name of slug boat or pickle boat. I thought the name of the book was the pickle boat mystery or the slug boat mystery. Probably written in the 60s maybe 50s

Margaret Leighton, Secret of Smugglers'Cove,1959. I recognize part of this Stumper.  The pickle boat part of the description does not fit this book at all, but the chili eating incident is there.  Nancy goes to stay with her Aunt Alicia and goes off to find a diner to eat in when her aunt's meals prove to be on the light side.  She orders a bowl of chili with beans, and the first bowl is too spicy for her.  Either this incident happened in two books, or perhaps the asker has mingled parts of several books?


B556: Bookset, four, Delicious, short stories, crafts
Solved: Story Hour

B557: Boy, "wrong" and "right" sides of bed
Solved: What's for Lunch, Charley?


B558: Boys sent to capture wolf
Solved: The Hero from Otherwhere


B559: Brainwashing of children in huge human "maze"
Solved: House of Stairs


B560: boy, otter, flute
youth literature which I almost can't remember about a boy who plays a silver flute and makes friends with an otter. Thank you

Shirley Rousseau Murphy, Nightpool, 1985. Was it a fantasy book?  Because it could be Nightpool.  In the story, a young prince, captured by his father's enemy, is kept as a slave in his own castle. He escapes and is rescued by a family of otters who he can talk to.  He does have a flute (also a lyre). The boy is trying to find a dragon, which will help him find his missing sister. This is the first book in a trilogy in one of the other books, the otters rescue another boy.



B561: boy rides moose
My request is for an old book I remember that there was a little boy riding a moose. That's all I can really recall. Please help. I am a childrens librarian, any information would be great. I've just got to find it, it's driving me nuts!!

Charles Thorson, Keeko  or  Che-Chee and Keeko, 1947, 1952, The poster did't mention if the boy in the book was an Indian but Keeko, the little Indian boy, is carried to safety across a river by the mother moose in one of these two books. I'm not sure which one, but it is probably Che-Che and Keeko, the 2nd book.(These are large, beautifully illustrated picture books for pre-school/early elementary.)
Long shot, but if the boy is a girl, that could make it Great Swedish Fairy Tales. See Solved Mysteries.
Lanier, Sterling, Hiero's Journey, 1973. A long shot, as the main character in this book is a man, not a boy.  Here's a quote from the back cover of my paperback copy:  "Per Hiero Desteen was a priest, a telepath -- and a highly trained killer.  Together with he great riding moose and the young bear who was his friend, he was on a mission that seemed beyond even his extraordinary powers..."
Pete's Moose. I've got the book at home, can get more info on it. About a boy who raises an orphaned moose, he does ride it, turns it loose when it's older, and in the end, it saves his life by allowing him to ride it to safety out of a storm.  I loved the book as a kid, and was delighted to find an author signed copy at a book fair for $1!!!
May Yonge McNeer, My Friend Mac: The Story Of Little Baptiste and the Moose, 1960, copyright.  (I have this book..will have to dig it out to get story summary.. sorry!)



B562: "bad crowd," teenage girl
Solved: Ellen and the Gang


B563: Books for pleasure, Mink, Puffball, Spoon, Title
On 20 Feb. 1961, Michael Gibson wrote on 'Books for Pleasure' stationery [Paul Hamlyn, publisher] to author Constance Savery (1897-1999) accepting five very short stories for publication.  It is probable that four of these, all dealing with the same characters, were published in the same book, which I would purchase if I could find it.  The titles of the four stories are "Mink, Puffball, and Spoon," "Mink and His House," "The Fairy Shoe Shop," and "The Magic Cupboard."  The collection was mailed under the title "Mink and his Cousins."  Mink is a 'little elf man,' very mischievous, who gets into trouble.  On one occasion his cousins, Puffball and Spoon, clean his house so successfully that Mink doesn't recognize it and believes it has been stolen.  In "The Fairy Shoe Shop" he mixes the shoes of a fairy cobbler.  Some of these stories appeared originally around 1943 in Methodist Sunday magazines, but I am looking for the book.


B564: Boy meets girl jumping rope
mid 70s-1983. In elementary school I read a novel in which the narrator, a boy, goes out of his house and sees a girl he doesn't know jumping rope on the sidewalk.  They introduce themselves--I think the girl's name was Jamie or Katie--and you get the idea that these two will become friends.  This scene takes place at least halfway through the book, or even later, and I don't believe it figures heavily in the plot.  I think the book is set in a large city, possibly New York.



B565: Beautiful, graceful girl
Meiko?, 1970. About a young Japanese girl.  My daughter loved the book when she was approximately 4 to 7 years old. I'd love to find a copy.

Politi, Leo, Mieko, 1969. A young Japanese-American girl living near the Little tokyo section of Los Angeles decides to surprise and honor her parents by becoming queen of the annual Ondo Parade, a position she can win only by learning all the arts of a true Nisei girl.



B566: Brother moves out, killed in motorcycle accident
Solved: And You Give Me A Pain, Elaine


B567: blue fire in tower
Solved: Mystery at Echo Ridge


B568: Blond haired girl, blue eyes, black lashes
Solved: Nancy Keeps House


B569: Bear named Wahb
pre-1960. Book about a bear cub growing up and living in the wilderness, I believe in Yellowstone.  I thought the bear's name was "Wahb", but unable to find anything searching for that name or anything close.  Was read to my third-grade class in 1960. At the end, I believe the bear, by then an old, infirm adult, lies down to sleep/die in a cave in which there is a sulfur spring or something like that.  Much in the vein of many children's books with the bear thinking human thoughts, etc.

Ernest Thompson Seton, The Biography of a Grizzly, 1899. A classic tear jerker. It's good to know someone is still reading the old ones! Set in the Shoshone valley.



B570: Boy Understood Animals
Solved: H. Philip Birdson's ESP, Harriet Lawrence


B571: Best friends, Egg Cream, store counter
Solved: Next Door to Xanadu

B572: Boy says "Home James" on flying vacuum
Solved: The Wednesday Witch


B573: Black boy wants guitar or banjo
A young black boy wants a guitar (or banjo?) more than anything.  He makes his own by stringing rubber bands around a shoe box or a cigar box.  It's not as good as the real thing, so he tapes a piece of paper that says "GUITAR MONEY" around a glass jar and begins saving his coins in it to buy a real guitar. I THINK it was published in the 1970's.

Osmond Molarsky, Song of the Empty Bottles, 1968. Possibly the one you're looking for? "Every Thursday after school, Thaddeus goes to the Neighborhood House to hear Mr. Andrews sing songs and play the guitar.  Afterwards, when the other children go home, Mr. Andrews  teaches Thaddeus the chords and let him practice on his big guitar.  The other days Thaddeus goes out collecting empty bottles and old newspapers, so he can buy the one thing he wants more than anything else in the world-a guitar of his own.  This is slow, discouraging work.  Then, just when Thaddeus thinks he'd never be able to earn enough money, his friend Mr. Andrews comes up with a new idea-one that was just right for a boy who loved music."
I received a suggestion, but it is not the book I'm looking for.



B574: Baby bear can't sleep
Solved: Baby Bear and the Long Sleep


B575: Black and red ant war
Solved: The City Under the Black Steps


B576: Bamboo cutter and moon princess
Solved: Japanese Fairy Tales


B577: Bibelots
All I remember is it was a quality hardback, circa 1978, with a whitish justjacket and the word "BIBELOT" as an important plot point, featured in a big way.  If the book discusses bibelots, it's my book.  If it doesn't discuss bibelots, it's not.  There must be a glass-topped bibelot table in the book.  Of course, I pronounced it bibb'-eh-lot, and not beeb'-lo, and got teased by another classmate.

I'm sorry there have been no guesses.  Perhaps the detail that I tried to add by hand to my printed-out form sent through the post would help.  It is this:  that the bibelot in question may have been magical, and wizarding may have been involved.  But the word "bibelot" definitely has to be discussed in the book.



B578: Bubonic Plague
It's a time travel story about a woman in Southern California who goes to the dentist and under anesthesia she is transported back to England during the time of the bubonic plague.  Whatever the title is, I recall it didn't seem to match up with the story.

Connie Willis, Dooms Day Book. A woman travels back through time to complete her doctoral thesis - but due to an accident, she lands in the middle of the Black Plague of 1348. The Oxford she left behind is laid low by a flu released from the grave of the knight from the era she's visiting.
I doubt that this is the solution: the Willis book is set entirely in England, and the time-travel is deliberate. No dentist, no anesthesia, no California. Definitely worth reading, though!



B579: Boy stays up all night
A paperback I read in the early 80s about a low income family with two boys and a sister who narrates.  The youngest boy, Mitchell, wants to stay up all night. So for his birthday, his Dad takes him on all-night adventure in the City (New York I think).  I think Mom works and Dad is unemployed. The sister has a friend named Simone and spends some time at her house.

Mary Stoltz, The Noonday Friends, 1965. One of my favorite books!  Franny and Simone are 11 and live in Manhattan.  They come from low-income families and their friendship goes through ups and downs.  On his fifth birthdat, Franny's youngest brother Marshall receives from his parents a ticket entitling him to an evening walk with them through their Greenwich Village neighborhood and to stay up all night.
Mary Stoltz, The Noonday Friends. I remember the girl named Simone.



B580: Boy goes on adventures under the sea
A boy travels undersea on the back of a lantern/lamplighter. He is accompanied by a sea captain. The book had some illustrations and was probably written for ages 8 and up.

B581: Baked for a monster, little girl named Poppy, big bonnet
I'm looking for a book about a little girl who is named Poppy Seed or something like this. She wore a big over-sized bonnet, which i think was black and white. She baked in the kitchen for a friendly monster. I'm pretty sure it was the loch ness monster or some other monster who lived in a lake by her home. I read this book as a little girl about 17 years ago. It was a paperback children's book with illustrations. It had a  lot of browns and other dark colors in it. Please help! Thanks so much in advance! I'm pretty sure her name was Poppy or Poppy Seed, and she baked for the loch ness monster.

Morrison, Poppy or the Snake. This may be a long shot. I remember reading a similar story to the plot you describe, except it was set around a bayou.  The character Poppy accidentally hurts Snake and must make amends by taking him home.  I think the author's name was Morris or Morrison.  If this isn't it I apologize.
Barbi Sargent, The Story of Poppyseed, 1985.  The library subject headings are "Friendship" and "Monsters."



B582: Boys break Indian village
This book was probably from Westminster Press in the 1940s or 50s. The cover, which I believe has a yellow border, shows two boys pointing at each other. I believe one has brown hair and overalls. In the story, I believe one boy accidentally pushes another into an Indian village in their classroom, and they break it.

Ruth Cavin, Timothy the Terror, 1972.  Written by ruth Cavin and illustrated by Jean-Jaques Loup. ISBN 082520089X. Great story!



B583: Boys, falling rocks
I'm hoping someone will recognize this book!  I read it I believe sometime in the 1970s and my memory is now somewhat hazy, but it was directed towards basically preteens.  It was about 2 boys, one I believe was Caucasian and the other either Spanish or Mexican, and it took place out in "pioneer" type country somewhere, not an urban setting.  The only incident that still sticks in my mind is that a rock wall falls down or there is a rockslide or something of that nature and one of the boys throws himself on top of the other to save him.  I do remember more about the cover - the book I had was I think a library edition, it was mustard-yellow in color and I recall the words and illustration on the cover were in black.  If anyone recognizes any of this, that would be marvelous - I've racked my brains and searched for this for a couple of years now and would love to find and re-read it.  THANKS!

Is this the one where there is also a bad guy they call "assasino"?  I've been trying to figure out this book for years!
Offhand I don't remember a bad guy like that, but as I said, my memory's kind of hazy!  I kind of think the book had something to do with the 2 boys and their families learning to get along, I seem to recall something about the Mexican or Spanish boy's father perhaps joining in a gathering near the end of the book or going to meet the other boy's family  -- it's so frustrating trying to remember and not get myself confused with other books I've read!  Anyway, perhaps both of us will have our mystery solved soon...
Gordon D. Shirreffs, Haunted Treasure of the Espectros (Mystery of the Haunted Mine), 1966. I can't help with the original request, but the book featuring someone named Asesino is The Haunted Treasure of the Espectros, by Gordon D. Shirreffs.  Scholastic republished it as The Mystery of the Haunted Mine.  Gary and Tuck are the names of the two boys and they're joined by Tuck's cousin, Sue.
Claire Huchet Bishop, All Alone, 1953. This just might be All Alone.  It was a Neberry Honor book, was reprinted by Scholastic in the early 1990's and has black and white illustrations by Feodor Rojankovsky.  It is about two boys from feuding families in a village in the French Alps.  They are each sent up on the mountain to tend their families' cows with strict instructions to have nothing to do with each other. A rock slide leaves them trapped and they have to cooperate to survive.  Neither throws himself on the other, however.  In the end all the villagers who have been feuding (including the fathers) work together to make their way through the rocks and debris to rescue the boys and they all make up and have a big celebration. If the poster is confusing a couple of books, maybe this is one of them.
The description of All Alone doesn't sound quite right but I am concerned I'm mixing up a couple of books in my mind - I will check it out and then let you know, but in the meantime, thank you for your input, it's really appreciated!
I've gotten and read a copy of "All Alone".  Unfortunately it is not the book I remember.  I want to thank the person who suggested it, though, because it was a extremely worthwhile book, I'm glad I read it and now have it for myself.  I'm still hoping against hope that someone will have another suggestion for my lost title.  The 2 boys I remember, the Caucasian may have been from a ranch or farm and the Spanish / Mexican boy from a hacienda?  And one of the boys definitely saves the other from falling rocks or something of that sort.  THANK YOU.
A possible solution- Treasure of the Padres by Betty Baker-1964. Take a look at the cover!



B584: Birth pop-up book
Solved: The Facts of Life


B585: Bird wants color; princesses with beards; thin dog
The book I am looking for is a treasury of stories or bedtime stories and on the front cover were pictures of a girl and boy reading a book.  Three stories I remember from the book included a bird that was very plain in colour, but had a beautiful singing voice – it gave a fairy a ride and in return the fairy offered the bird a wish.  The bird wished to look colourful, but in the process lost its beautiful singing voice.  The 2nd story I recall was about princesses that grew beards and the third story was about a large dog that saw many other dogs through a small gap in a fence or wall – he wanted to join the other dogs and had to squeeze through the fence, which resulted in him becoming a long thin sausage dog.

Tenggren, Gustaf, Bedtime Stories, 1942, copyright.  Could this be it?  It's a Little Golden Book, the cover seems to match, but I couldn't find a synopsis.  Perhaps someone who has the book will be kind enough to confirm if the described stories are in this book.
Sorry, but this is not the book - thank you for trying though.
I'm afraid Gustaf Tenggren's Bedtime Stories probably isn't the one you are looking for, though the cover art is similar. Tenggren has done two Little Golden Books titled "Bedtime Stories."  The cover of one shows two children seated in a chair, reading a book, and contains the stories of Chicken Little, The Three Bears, The Three Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood, and The Gingerbread Man. Another version, which shows three children seated on a small sofa, reading a book, contains the stories of Little Red Riding Hood, The Gingerbread Man, and Chicken Little. There is also a Big Golden Book of Bedtime Stories, which includes the same three, plus Jack and the Beanstalk and The Golden Goose. This book features the same picture of the two children in the chair.



B586: Bluing for chickens
Solved: Up and Down the River


B587: Boy turns into plant
I know I got this book in the third grade from a Scholastic Book Order in 1987. It was about a boy who figured out a way to turn himself into a plant. Seems like it was for the science fair. He stood outside in the rain and he could feel roots starting to grow out of his toes, so he got out of the garden quickly. He put the stuff in some lipstick, and gave it to his teacher whom he didn't like. The boy gave her the anecdote, some pills. She threw them in the parking lot and ran away. That's all I remember...not much to go on!!

John Reynolds Gardiner, Top Secret. A boy name Allen wants to do his science project on human photosynthesis, but his teacher scorns the idea and tells him to do a project on lipstick instead. He finds a way to combine the two projects, until the U.S. government finds out and classifies it as top secret.
John Reynolds Gardiner, Top Secret. Check out the solved Stumper for this title to read a great plot synopsis.  I remember reading this book myself!
John Reynolds Gardiner, The Strange Thing That Happened to Allen Brewster, 1984.



B588: Brothers, a Storm, and a Party
A novel, not a children's book. It must have been written between 1993 and 2001. Two brothers, I think - young adolescents - live in a big house on a military base in a foreign country, near the coast, anyway, Phillipines, Singapore, Hawai'i maybe? I recall that the boys are asian themselves. Their father is an officer, I think. The parents go away and the boys throw a party. Some local thugs drop by and that's a problem until one of their older friends drops by and sorts things out, I think his name was Richard or Robert, and he may have been a martial arts expert. This older friend is always speaking about the boys and says, "You guys..." Toward the end of the book, there is a tropical storm, I think the storm gathered steam throughout the book. Also, they enlist the help of the house servants to clean the place up before the parents come home. At the close of the book, I think that they learn that they are moving to SF or Georgia or wherever.There may have been the word "brother" in the title...or not. How obsessed am I about finding this? I'm going to the library where I checked it out and reading the shelves book by book, one hour at a time. I'm up to the C's. 

B589: Broken Toys
Broken Toys.  I loved to read this book in my elementary school library during the early 1970's.  It was about a bunch of broken, discarded toys who banded together to escape from the dump (?).  I think the first toy was a bear with a missing eye.  Then there was a toy horse on wheels, but one of the wheels was missing or broken.  They were found by a man (?) who fixed them up.  Thanks for the help!

Aingelda Ardizzone, The Night Ride, 1975.  A long shot, but possibly this one? Three discarded toys (one of which is a bear) set out on a nighttime adventure to seek a new home.  They are found & adopted by a new little girl. Illustrated by Edward Ardizzone.
Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit, 1922, copyright.  The Velveteen Rabbit is about a toy rabbit who is a little boy's favorite toy. One of the rabbit's friends is the Skin Horse. The little boy becomes ill and all his toys have to be burned, but the rabbit is saved by a fairy.
Baker, Margaret J., Hannibal and the Bears.  This sounds like Hannibal and the Bears, a story of 3 teddy bears who rescue a large number of toy animals from a dump. Hannibal is an elephant on wheels who is missing a wheel.



B590: Boy and dog
I read this book as a young boy (early to mid-seventies).  I assume it is an early reader. I only remember a boy who had a little dog (black and white scruffy dog).  He would imagine himself in different settings. I remember specifically a page where he and the dog are in astronaut outfits in space and a page where he and the dogs are pirates on a ship.  I would love to add this book to my son's collection.

Gene Zion, Harry the Dirty Dog.  Perhaps you are looking for Harry the Dirty Dog.  There are others, too: Harry by the Sea, No Roses for Harry, and Harry and the Lady Next Door.
Beverly Cleary, Henry and Ribsy.  It's by the author of the Ramona books,but these were written earlier. Henry and Ribsy is the first one of a series, i think, about a boy (henry) and a dog (ribsy) who go on adventures.
Cynthia Rylant, Henry and Mudge.  This is a series about a boy and his dog... sounds very similar to what you are describing. Wouldn't hurt to check it out.



B591: Big family, WW II, moves to Quebec
Solved: The Mitchells series


B592: Bombal Das/The Wise Goat
Solved: Bhombal Dass: the uncle of lion, a tale from Pakistan


B593: Birds Go to Beach, Get Umbrella Stolen
I read this picture book as a child in the '70s.  The story was illustrated in black and white, in a very '60s curlicue style.  The story involved two large anthromorphized birds that go to the beach, taking a big umbrella that was decorated with large dingleballs. (I think the dingleballs were red; if so, they might have been the only color in the story.) Anyway, I think they get the umbrella stolen and they go in search of it, trailing the thief by the dingleballs that dropped off the umbrella. At one point I think they end up going through a whole field of tall grass with dingleballs hanging from the tops. I also think there's a surprise as to who actually stole the umbrella. The book itself was hardbound, and I think the cover was olive-green or brown.  I've been thinking of this book for twenty years -- help!!


B594: Bookmobile, young adult, 1940's
Solved: With a High Heart


B595: Boy has tea in hut with zebras
I received in Canada, somewhere between 1967 and 1969, a book with a slightly glossy white cover – not a Golden Book as the spine was white, but around that size and in that price range. It was about a boy who imagines living by himself in another place and the page I remember is his inviting his parents, or just his mother? to tea in his bamboo hut with its large-leaf roof.  He and his guest(s) don't mind sitting on the floor, though he may have mats or leaves for them.  His mother I know is wearing a tailored knee-length skirt and high heels, her legs stuck straight out in front, and they all sip their tea elegantly, wearing white safari hats. (I suspect this was an English publication distributed to "the colonies".) The boy's friends, all zebras and lions and so on, may also be in that picture. The white cover had a central image that did not reach the edges. My grandmother giving me this book and reading it to me is my sole memory of her, and I've hunted for it for years!


B596: boy/girl twins playing baseball
Boy/girl "identical" twins; boy plays baseball and can't play in the big game for some reason, so girl twin puts her hair up in his cap and wears his uniform and plays the game for him.

Ruth G. Plowhead, Josie's Home Run, 1955, reprint.  Sounds a lot like this one, featuring twins Joe and Josie Dawn.  Joe doesn't want his tomboy sister playing baseball with him and his friends, because "she's just a girl" which embarasses him, even though she plays just fine.  Then Joe gets sick and is unable to make the big game.  Josie is supposed to relay the message to the captain of the team, but instead gets her hair cut short and swipes her brother's uniform.  After she hits the game-winning home run, her identity is exposed by her father, and the boys all cheer for her.  This story was also published under the title "A New Star" in "The New Days and Deeds", book five of The New Basic Readers series.
Al Perkins, Don and Donna Go to Bat, 1966, copyright.  A Random House easy-reader book about a baseball-playing redhead boy on a baseball team whose twin sister isn't allowed to play.  For one game, She fills in for him admirably with her ponytail hidden under her cap.



B597: bath time, little girl, bathtub white, water looks green
This is not very helpful, I know, but I remember being fascinated by the green water!  This would have been a picture book from the early 60's or before.  Maybe illustrated by Eloise Burns Wilkins.

Eloise Wilkins, My Goodnight Book.  I can't find our copy but I bet The Good Night Book is what the writer is looking for. This one is still in print--a great bedtime aid with toddlers!
My Teddy Bear, 1960s. I think this is the same book as requested in Stumper #O122.  It's a Little Golden Book but my copy has no title page so I have no info on author, pub date, etc. I remembered it instantly from the description of the picture of the white tub and green water. The girl is in the tub and her teddy bear is perched on the side because he doesn't like to take baths. The tiles around the tub are those classic pink ones and there's what I assume is a cake of purple soap floating in the water this puzzled me as a child because in my experience soap was not round, not purple, and it sank when you dropped it.



B598: boy enters fried chicken contest, touring country in pickle car
Solved: Chicken Trek


B599: Bear named Icing
My mom born around 1949 has mentioned that her favorite childhood book was about a bear named Icing.  I am looking for it so she can read it to her first granddaughter.  I don't know anything else about it other than the bear's name was Icing and it was a children's book. Rachel Learnard, Illus. Ruth E. Newton, Frosting, 1953, copyright.  This Whitman Pub. Co. book MAY be the one you are seeking.  It's about a little yellow tiger with black stripes, but he looks a little like a bear.  The cover is sage green with a drawing in yellow and black of the tiger eating cake.  The story is beautifully illustrated in color (rare for the time) on almost every page.  The little tiger (who has no name at the beginning) wakes up hungry every morning and, although he can catch rabbits, squirrels, bears, mice, and monkeys, he never gets to eat them.  Instead, he gets carrots, nuts, honey, cheese or bananas for breakfast.  One morning he decides he'll catch one of those animals and he does, in turn, but they each talk him out of eating them by offering him the same foods he usually eats.  The animals are rushing to a birthday party for Peter Rabbit and they invite the little tiger to come and sample the cake.  At the party, they give the tiger ice cream and cake, but he especially likes the frosting, so they decide that's a good name for him.

B600: Blue Walls/Room, Horror Story, Possibly Guts
This is a story I read in middle school or early high school (not really children's) in the 90s. I desperately want to believe that it was written by Edgar Allen Poe, but I haven't found a Poe story that fits my memory. If it's not Poe it has the same tone and may have been written around the same time. All I really remember is that there was a room with peculiar blue/violet walls. In the end we learn how the walls became that color. I remember it being quite a grotesque way to stain walls.  The rest of this may be way off the mark; I could be mixing up my horror stories...  I faintly recall the coloring of the walls having something to do with the body (and maybe in particular the stomach). Some person died and somehow turned the walls blue. This could be entirely incorrect, but I want to say that someone ate something blue (I have this psychic feeling that it was a pie - blueberry, plum) which caused them to burst, therefore staining the walls blue. (Maybe Violet Beauregarde from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is crossing over into my memory -- HA HA!!!)

Edgar Allan Poe, The Masque of the Red Death, 1842. Parts of what you said sound like this story, but other bits don't. There are seven rooms in the story, each decorated in a different color, the first of which is blue.  But the story isn't about why the walls are blue, it's about a group of people hiding from a plague (and dying from it grotesquely anyway). The walls do get stained at the end, but red not blue.
Agatha Christie, The Blue Geranium, 1933, copyright.  Not sure, but some details are similar. A semi-invalid wife is warned by a fortune-teller against certain blue flowers, especially the blue geranium, which means death. One by one the flowers in the wallpaper in her room turn blue. The morning after the geranium turns blue, the wife is found dead. She was poisoned and the wallpaper flowers were made of litmus paper and turned from red to blue from exposure to her smelling salts. A smell of gas in the room covered up the smell of the poison. This short story was part of a collection of short stories by Agatha Christie called The Tuesday Club Murders (or in the UK as The Thirteen Problems).



B601: Bedtime one hour earlier each night
Children's book about a little girl not feeling well and doctor says go to bed an hour earlier every night. She takes this literally and goes to bed at 7 pm first night, 6 pm second night, 5 pm third night, etc. until she's sleeping more than she's awake. Would love to find for my sister-in-law for Christmas--her favorite childhood story (she's in her mid-60s now).

Genevieve Goes to Bed Early.  I can't help a lot but I remember reading this story myself in the 1960s. As I remember it, it was in a collection of short stories for children, and the title of this particular story was definitely 'Genevieve Goes to Bed Early'
Golden Press, Tibor Gergely (illus), The Golden Story Treasury, 1951. The story "Genevieve Goes To Bed Early" can be found in The Golden Story Treasury, which is a Big Golden Book. Other stories include: Samson, Conundrums, Very Quiet Forest, Bumps (song), William the Rooster, Tree Toad Weather Man, Big Barnyard, Jolly Jack-o-Lantern, Worm''s House, Kite, From a Tree Top, Key Kittens, Growing Up of Littleberry Johnson, Aerobatic Bee, Mirror, Littlest Fire Engine, Oliver the Old-Fashioned Trolley Car, Farmer Jim, and Ellie Phantastic.



B602: Boy in a room with furniture that comes alive
Solved: The Boy And The Magic


B603: Brother Feigns Sick to Win
I believe this may have been a collection of three short stories, but I can't remember for sure. A king was trying to see which of his sons deserved the kingdom, or something like that. He locked up one of the boys, and the boy drew dots on his face to pretend he was sick. The guards carried him out to take him to the hospital, and he won the kingdom because he fooled them into letting him out.

The King's Wish by Benjamin Elkin. See Solved Mysteries.



B604: bear whale tuba boat
1970s, childrens.  A baby bear (possibly) sets out on a boat (most likely a yacht) and meets other creatures.  He lands on an island, which turns out to be a whale.  He ends up becalmed (I think), and meets up with musician animals, one of whom has a tuba.  The tuba player blows into the tuba, inflating the sails and getting the boat underway.

Jack Bechdolt, Aurelius Battaglia (illus), Little Boy With a Big Horn, 1950, copyright.  This is a total long shot, but it does have some elements similar to those you recall. A little boy, Ollie, wants to practice his big bass horn, but his family and neighbors can't stand the noise, so he sets off in a rowboat to practice out at sea. He then saves an incoming ship from running aground in the fog by playing his horn, and becomes a hero. I don't know whether animals come into the story or not, but the cover shows a fish, a seagull, and a seal, as well as Ollie in his rowboat, playing his horn.  A Little Golden Book with multiple reprints, and now back in print with a new artist.


B605: Boy and dog visit DC
childrens book about a boy and his dog who visit washington dc to learn about the 3 branches of government.  my daughter read this book in the mid 1980's.


B606: Boy digs through giant-made dam with spoon
book about a boy who must dig through a dam made by a giant with a spoon to get the river flowing again for his mother.  also must step on both his land and the giant's at the same time - does both using ingenuity and gets river flowing again.

I think that's Lucky & the Giant by Benjamin Elkin.



B607: Bullion Cubes hide gold
A YA novel I read in the late 80's. It was a mystery/thriller. I believe it was about a child being kidnapped. There was a part where someone was looking for a will that left a lot of money behind. I remember a clue: "A tisket a tasket the will in a wicker basket". There was also a part at the end where someone was searching for gold bullion (bricks). However the gold was actually hidden in Chicken Bullion Cubes. If you unwrapped the cubes, then gold was discovered. Another scene had a man racing his car , and the speedometer flicked past 90 mph. Thats all I can remember.

John Bellairs, The Mummy, the Will, and the Crypt, 1983.  The bullion cubes and the quote are in this book.  I don't remember the part about the speedometer.



B608: Ballet History in Stories
Solved: To Dance, to Dream


B609: Blue book w/ gorilla
This is a 1-2" hardback book from 1975-1982.  I believe it was blue with several pictures on the front, one being a gorilla.  It's not a story book.  It has activities like finding hidden objects in pictures and one I remember is people in a store and you match them with the correct clothes.  I loved this book and literally wore it out and my Mom through it away.  I don't recall the title however.


B610: boy named Christian and his dog Cozy in Germany
Children's book that I read in the 1970's that in the beginning had a boy named Christian and his dog Cozy that I think were killed by soldiers in Germany (during WWII?), and I think the story continued with his sister's struggle after the war (maybe she went to England).

Margot Benary-Isbert, The Ark.  Margret's twin Christian is killed during the war, and their dog was named Cosi.  The book is the story of Margret and the rest of the family as they survive in post-war Germany.



2008


B611: Boys in a Gang Novel Series
Hi, I'm looking for a series of children's novels about a group of young boys in a neighboorhood gang. These were read to me in 1976 when I was in 3rd grade, during story time. These humorous stories followed the adventures of a group of boys who learned life-lessons, and the books sort of remind me of Fat Albert stories.

Crosby Bonsall, 1960s, approximate.  This might Crosby Bonsall's Private Eyes series for beginning readers (The Case of the Hungry Stranger, The Case of the Scaredy Cats, The Case of the Cat's Meow, etc.)  The gang is Wizard, Tubby, Skinny, and Snitch, and the books were originally published in the 1960s.
Paul Hutchens, Sugar Creek Gang Series, 1941, approximate.  This series has many entries and is still in print (last time I looked). The stories tend to have a Christian theme.
I checked the two suggestions made for my post, and it's neither of them.  Sorry.
This looks like a good possibility- The Caper Club by Louise Munro Foley- 1969. The L. W. Singer Company. Three chapters: The Daredevil Dog Caper, The Goofy Girl Caper, The Paper Caper. Hope this helps!
Bertrand Brinley, Mad Scientist Club, 1965, approximate. Could these be The Mad Scientist Club books? There were three titles, with a fourth one published more recently. The date is a little earlier than when they were read to you, but there are boys, and they do have adventures where they learn lessons.  A little longer than the Fat Albert books.



B612: barmaid
This is a romance novel that i read in the early 1990's. It is about a young barmaid that falls in love with a sailor/captain. His main love though is the sea. Just like in the song "Brandy..your a fine girl what a good wife you'll be.." The author even states this in the front of the book that he/she got the idea for this book from the song. i'd love to read this book again!!!

Kat Martin, Night Secrets, 1999, copyright.  From Booklist, via Amazon.com:  "In 1803, Charleston native Brandy Winters is anxious to escape her drudgery-filled life working at her father's tavern, so she stows away on Marcus Delaine's ship. When Marcus finds her, he is furious, and he becomes even angrier when she is almost raped by a member of his crew. But at last his rage turns to desire and passion. Brandy responds in kind, even though she knows that his first love is the sea. When an accident leaves Marcus paralyzed, Brandy helps him learn to walk again even though she knows he will leave her for life on board his ship. And so he does, only to realize, once he is sailing the high seas, how much he has left behind."


B613: Book of sci-fi stories with red cover showing Black Destroyer cat-like creature
Solved: Adventures in Time and Space


B614: Boy and girl trapped in maze
Solved: House of Stairs


B615: Boy comes across mansion full of boys drinking/eating
Solved: The House in the Snow


B616: boy and a girl communicate telepathically
Solved: Into the Dream


B617: boy with bike, lake, blueberry muffins
it was a hardcover book in mid 1980s, possibly 1984 and I thought it had an award on the front like a silver one or something. The cover was either checkered or harlequin pattern and very soft lavender and white. From my best memory it was about a boy and he had a bike and I think he went to a lake or pond and it may have been at the bottom, ????. for some reason i also associate blueberry muffins with this story, possibly his mom fixed them for him. im pretty sure he had a friend or two and maybe an animal. any help would be great. i have tried to find this book for several years to re-read it and i just couldnt remember enough about it. hopefully you can help. thanks!

Degen, Bruce, Jamberry
, 1983, copyright.  There's a boy and a bear, picking berries. They have a canoe, and a train, but no bike. The text rhymes. "One berry, two berry, pick me a blueberry."


B618: ballerina rivals poison pancakes? fat
A hardback picture book read and probably published early to mid-1980s. From what I remember, there were two or three rival ballerinas who each want to be prima ballerina. The first prima ballerina is fed a delicious food item (or several of them) by a jealous rival, possibly poisoned pancakes. Eating them makes her fat and she cannot dance anymore, and the rival takes her place? Then the rival is fed the same poisoned item and also gets too fat to dance and is also replaced? The food item was maybe addictive or magic? I think they all learn a lesson in the end. I remember the pictures as simple and brightly colored...not by James Marshall, but kind of that style. Possibly has "poisoned pancake" or something like that in the title, or the food item might not have been a pancake (but definitely food...maybe just cake). I think one of the characters might have been named Pavlova (like the famous dancer, of course). Thanks and good luck!

Not exactly a solution, but there is a type of desert called a Pavlova, which is basically a really rich meringue and cream cake with fruit. It was named after the famous ballerina, supposedly in honor of her visit to Australia in the 1920s. Perhaps it was the desert that was named Pavlova, rather than one of the dancers, in the book you are looking for?


B619: Bear takes shortcut
Solved: Teddy Bear of Bumpkin Hollow


B620: Birds caught in surprise spring snowstorm
I actually requested this book a few years ago but the responses weren't helpful. So I am trying again.  In 1969 I worked in an elementary school library. I remember a book that showed a picture of birds sitting in a tree, caught in a spring snowstorm that surprised them. It isn't Spring Snow by Duvoisin. I don't remember anything else about the book except it would have been appropriate for kindergartners or first graders I would imagine-limited text and good illustrations. Thank you for your assistance.

Munn, Ian, Johnny and the Birds, 1958, reprint.  A snowstorm covers all the food that the chickadees normally eat, so Johnny and his father open the woodshed for the birds and leave feed for them there.The birds follow Johnny around the farm until the snow melts. The illustrations (by Elizabeth White) are nice, but this is a Rand McNally Elf Book, so I'm not sure if a library would carry it or not.


B621: Bobby and grandpa search for apple
Golden books, 1970, approximate.  Book begins with grandpa telling Bobby to find an apple and he will show him how to roast it.  Bobby went searching .. But it was autumn and apple trees were bare.  He gathered a bucket of nuts.  Visited many farms, finally finding an apple from harvest and book ends  with his grandpa placing the apple over the fire in the fireplace.

Kate Whiting Patch, The Big Red Apple,
1967, copyright.  The text of this short story can be found at http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=bailey&book=hour&story=apple.


B622: Baby Owl Becomes Firefighter
I read this story around 1975-1976.  I don't remember a lot of details, but it involved a baby owl that wanted to be a firefighter, was mocked by his siblings for his dream (I think), but then saves the day when a fire breaks out in their nest.  At the end, he's a firefighter wearing a firefighter's hat.  That's about all I remember, except that this was the 1st book that I ever read alone to myself and the sense of satisfaction after I closed the cover on my lap.

Robert Kraus, Owliver, 1974, copyright.  Although each of his parents expects him to be different things when he grows up, a little owl makes up his own mind in the end. Illustrated by Jose Auego & Ariane Dewey. I found this listed in a library catalogue under the following keywords: individuality, owls, fire fighters, acting, self-determination, and occupations.


B623: boxer dog named Archie; moving day; school
children's book. Elf, maybe? but the larger size not the little ones. Red/orange cover. Late 40s mid 50s?  A family moves to a new home; kids and dog make friends. Illustrations include the boxer in a playful pose.

Jean Horton Berg, The Playful Little Dog,
1951, approximate.  From the 'net: "A soulful, bright-eyed Boston terrier pup named Archie moves to the country and encounters the neighbor's dog - a big Boxer!"


B624: boy with glasses goes on vacation with family to visit Navajos
Found the old heading, but lost the description that was originally sent. :(

Keith Robertson, Henry Reed's Journey, 1963, copyright.  Henry and his friend Midge travel across the USA from San Francisco to New Jersey in this, the second book of Henry Reed's adventures. They do participate in ceremonies with Indians while visiting on the reservation.
Robertson, Keith, Henry Reed's Journey, 1963, copyright.  Obviously with only a heading to go on, this is just a wild guess. Henry, who is always pictured wearing glasses, travels with his friend Midge's family from San Francisco to New Jersey. Along the way they visit with Hopi Indians. Midge portrays an Indian maiden in a parade. This is a mid-elementary chapter book.
If you're not looking for Henry Reed, (which is an excellent story!) but instead for a mystery, I remember one where a boy with glasses went to stay during a summer vacation on a Navajo Reservation.  The mystery came in because there was a canyon nearby, which everyone thought was haunted.  Because of the Navajo traditions though, no one would go find out what was happening. (I think there had been an accident, and someone was killed in the canyon.)  Unfortunately, I can't remember the author or title either; I think that it was something like 'The Mystery in the Navajo Canyon' or 'The Secret of the Canyon'.  It seems like the author was in the C-F section.  I don't know if this might help jar someone else's memory--or the original requester--but I thought I'd throw it out there.


B625:  Bunny Pumpkin Head
Solved: Rabbit and Skunk and Spooks


B626: Brian Boru
Solved: Hobgoblin


B627: Book of activities to do with young children
The book I'm looking for was bought in the late 70s or early 80s (most likely the early 80s) and was called something I remember as being like The Grandmother's Book or The Grandparents book. But I have looked for titles like these at amazon and found nothing.  I was a young mother at that time and found the book full of simple things to do with young children - games, poems, crafts, stories...There were directions for making a doll out of a handkerchief. I really loved and lent it to a friend who never returned it and then moved away. Now I would love to find it to use with my grandchilren.  It might have been a large Golden book. I imagine I bought it in the dimestore in Brecksville. Not an expensive book....But that's where I bought our copy of The Fourteen Bears in Summer and Winter. They had some nice books!  I think the cover was mostly light colored, pale cream and yellows with pictures I can't quite remember.

John Peter, McCalls Make-It Book,
1950-1960, approximate.  There are several reprints and versions of this. It sounds similar.
Eleanor Vance, The Everything Book,
1974. Published by Golden Press.


B628: Boarding school girl's first year
The Magic Year?  It's the story of a girl's first year at a boarding school.  I read it about 1961.  I think it was set in the present, for that time.  I remember the dust jacket as being blue with young girls on it.

Penelope Farmer, The Magic Stone, 1964, copyright.  A long shot, based largely on your recollection of the title + "boarding school" as a key word.  "Caroline was thirteen and would soon be going off to boarding school. Alice was fourteen and had just moved from the London slums to a new housing development in the country, close to Caroline’s home. Neither girl had much in common with the other – until the day they found a chunk of stone in the field. They discovered that, by joining hands, they could pull out of it an unusual piece of metal, like the end of a sword blade, though separately neither could budge it. Could this be a fragment of King Arthur’s sword? Thus begins a strange friendship between the two girls in which, gradually, each learns to understand and accept the other, and both – when the magic is working – share unforgettable experiences and marvelous moments of heightened perception."  Cover art shows a two girls sitting on yellow-brown grass, with a dirt lane and bare trees in a bluish shade at the right side of the cover. One girl has dark hair, and wears a red sweater & dark skirt; the other girl is blonde, with a brownish sweater & red skirt.
Ursula Nordstrom, The Secret Language, 1960, copyright.  Story of best friends Martha and Victoria, and their experiences at boarding school. Front cover (of Scholastic paperback reprint, anyway) shows two girls wearing identical uniforms (black or navy skirt, white blouse, light blue cardigan, light blue knee socks, and black shoes) beside a small pool of water, in the forest.  The blonde girl is sitting beside the water, while the brunette is lying on her stomach, chin resting in her hand, and with her ankles crossed in the air behind her.  There is a ratty looking shed or cottage or something in the background.
Nordstrom, Ursula, The Secret Language.  Possibility?  See Solved Mysteries.
Ursula Nordstrom, The Secret Language, 1960, copyright.  Must be this book with its cover of girls arriving at the grounds of the boarding school, a blue sky and the red school in the background.  Vanessa is unhappy when she starts life at the school until she befriends her exciting roommate Martha.
With just this to go on, it could be The Secret Language, by Ursula Nordstrom. That's the one that seems to pop up often as a first experience at boarding school story...
McNair, Kate, A Sense of Magic.  About a girl's adventures at boarding school - I think she's 14 or 15 years old.  If I remember correctly, the first chapter was about a talent show where the director, for a joke, has each group sing the same song.  Another chapter has the girl and her friends returning a wheelchair (?) and one girl is riding in it and strangers think she's crippled.  They stop at a run-down cafe and end up helping the owners fix the place up.  They can't admit to the owners that the girl is not really crippled because the owners were inspired by her courage.  I loved this book, it's very humorous and sweet - made me want to attend a boarding school!
Enid Blyton, First Term at Malory Towers, 1946, copyright.  Darrell and her friends head off to English boarding school in the 1940s-50s.


B629: Boy and brother at the beach
Solved: Fun at the Beach


B630: Boy uses machines to do everything for him
I need help identifying this children's book for a friend.  It was probably published in the mid 60's-70's.  She recalls it being about a boy (Johnny?) who has machines/gadgets/conveyor belts who do everything for him... get him out of bed, dress him, brush his teeth, make his oatmeal, etc.  One day the machines break down & put things together backwards / upside down & he the lesson he learns is the merit of doing things for himself.  Thanks so much for your help!

William Pene du Bois, Lazy Tommy Pumpkinhead, 1966, copyright.  Lazy Tommy Pumpkinhead was a boy that had all his belongings computerized.  His bed, shower, clothes, and food were all controlled electronically and he never had to do anything for himself. When a storm knocks out the electricity, Tommy sleeps for seven days. When he awakes the machines go crazy and do seven days worth of work in one day.
William Pene du Bois, Lazy Tommy Pumpkinhead.  I'm pretty sure this is in Solved Mysteries.


B631: Boy shrinks to size of his toys
I remember a book about a boy (might have been a girl?) who shrinks to the size of his toys, and becomes lost in the world of his patchwork quilt, filled with talking stuffed animals (I think), and has to find a way out.  I was a kid in the early 1980s, but I've no idea if the book was older than that.  I'm certain it had an accompanying audio track on cassette tape, because I remember fairly clearly the dialogue: Boy: "Please show me the way home!"  Toy: "Well, I would if I could, but I can't, because I don't know how!"  Lots of pictures.  Please help!

William Joyce, George Shrinks,
1985, copyright.  Perhaps the book you are looking for is George Shrinks.


B632: Barefoot children and a field of popcorn
This was a picture book with words, probably for the beginning readers age group (but may go a bit older or younger).  This book was probably written between the 60s or late 70s (I discovered it in the early 80s).  The book features two hillbilly-esque children who go around barefoot on a really hot summer day, and the heat causes the corn in a field to pop like popcorn.  The illustrations were watercolor (or watercolor-like) paintings.

Sid Fleischman, McBroom's Wonderful One Acre Farm or Here Comes McBroom.  I'm pretty sure the corn pops in the field in one of these books.  Check out sidfleischman.com to see if it's one of his books.
We noticed that someone had responded to our stumper suggesting the works of Sid Fleischman, and have checked these out.  Unfortunately, the McBroom books aren't the ones - we're looking for books with full-color interior watercolor illustrations, while the McBroom books interiors are black and white illustrations.


B633: Bakery run by evil magician/wizard who tries to lure boy and his dog
There were also other books with this evil magician with other plots to lure the boy and his dog, but I forgot what those were.

Scott Corbett, The Great Custard Pie Panic
, 1974.  This is the one! A boy and his dog get lost in the fog and are lured into the evil Dr. Merlin's Bakery. It is the sequel to Dr. Merlin's Magic Shop, and the prequel to The Foolish Dinosaur Fiasco.
Corbett, Scott, The great custard pie panic
, 1974, copyright.  Definitely this one: On a walk through the fog Nick and his dog discover a wonderful bakery but the owner turns out to be the magician, Dr. Merlin!  It's a sequel to Dr merlin's Magic Shop.  The third book in the series is The Foolish Dinosaur Fiasco.


B634: Babysit
before 1975? childrens.  An old man babysits several? kids.  He has a pet dodo bird.  Different faucets in the house run soda, ie bathtub faucet runs Root Beer, kitchen faucet runs orange soda, etc.

Ruth Christoffer Carlsen, Mr. Pudgins,
1951, copyright.  A very popular request, again. See Loganberry solved mysteries M page.
This sounds to me like Mr. Pudgins by Ruth Carlsen!
Mr. Pudgins.
Ruth Christoffer Carlsen, Mr. Pudgins,
1950, approximate.  Ah, the wonderful Mr. Pudgins!  I do wonder why someone doesn't bring them back into print!


B635: Blond boy befriends shy bear
The book I'm looking for was probably published in the 1960's.  It was about a young blond boy with a cork pop gun.  He goes hunting only to befriend a large bear.  He takes the shy bear home, for milk and cookies.  I remember the bear was very shy, and spilled his milk, and was very embarrassed.  The bear was scared that the little boys mother would be mad.  She wasn't and that made the bear less scared.  The boys mom helped to clean up and all was fine.  Any help would be appreciated.

I've been looking for this book forever as well...the cover is rich green with daises, the little blonde boy in the center...the illustrations look very "Art Seiden-like", but found nothing in connection with him.


B636: Bee (or butterfly) gets stuck inside flower
1970's young child's book about two bees (or butterflies) named MITHA and MITHY. One of them gets stuck inside a flower.  Lovely watercolor illustrations. Hardcover, white cover with watercolor image.


B637: Boy space ship magic button
1979?, childrens.  A curious, perhaps naughty boy enters a space ship and pushes a button and starts the space ship / rocket ship.  I think he goes into space.

Jay Williams, Danny Dunn and the anti-gravity paint
, 1956, copyright.  We have this book on our bookshelf.  Loved that series.  His mom works for a professor, has friends named Irene and Joe.  Hope this is the one!


B638: bayou, Algernon
Children's book set in (on?) the bayou.  Main character was a boy named Algernon.  He lived in a house on stilts over the water and had to use a boat or raft to go anywhere.  I think there was more than 1 book about him.  I was in 2nd grade and found them in the school library - 1967?  They were tall, very thin hardbacks.  I recall the art on the cloth cover depicting a swamp - kind of dark-greenish.  (I wasn't sure I believed anyone lived like that.)   :)

Eleanor Frances Lattimore, Bayou Boy,
1946, approximate.  Could this be the book?  Green cloth cover of a black boy standing on what looks like a wood deck.
Most likely Augustus Goes South, by Le Grand, aka Le Grand Henderson. It happens in Louisiana and his friend is Albert. They encounter robbers on the lam. That book has an excerpt in the 1950s The Illustrated Treasury of Children's Literature.  The series is here: Augustus And The River, 1939; Augustus Goes South, 1940; Augustus and the Mountains, 1941; Augustus Helps The Navy, 1942; Augustus Helps The Army, 1943; Augustus Helps The Marines, 1943; Augustus Drives A Jeep, 1944; Augustus Flies, 1944; Augustus Saves A Ship, 1945; Augustus Hits the Road, 1946; Augustus Rides the Border, 1947; Augustus and the Desert, 1948.  Augustus is a Tom Sawyer type. They're all at the third-grade level or so. He has several multicultural companions - one per book. In Augustus and the Mountains, the book is explicitly anti-racist, but another book is clearly hostile to Asians, unfortunately, because of WWII. Le Grand wrote other stories too, many of them funny. You can read more about him here - it includes all(?) of his titles. http://nwda-db.wsulibs.wsu.edu/findaid/ark:/80444/xv69787.
I don't think it's the book Bayou Boy, as the boy was not depicted as black...  I'm not sure about the Augustus books either...I was really hung up over the name, and when Flowers for Algernon came to my attention, I thought about this book being the only other place I'd heard of that name.  Also, I think any adventures were really low-key.  I might need to see one to be sure.  More recollections: I think another child lived in a nearby stilted house, and they had to use a boat or raft to even get together to go play.  And I think I remember the family fishing off the porch of the house.  Wish I recalled more!  It's not that the book was so great;  it's just one of the few non-horse books I read, and it came to mind during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.  The size of the book was about like one of the Billy and Blaze books by C. W. Anderson.  In fact, it was near those books on the shelves, so the author's last name probably came early in the alphabet...  Thanks for your help!   :)
Zapf, Marjorie, The Mystery of the Great Swamp,
1966, approximate.  It has been a long time since I have read this so I can't remember the boy's name. The date is right, and the cover sounds similar.
Lois Lenski.  I think this sounds like it could be a Lois Lenski book, one of her books about children who lived "different" lifestyles in the USA. There were quite a few of these, but only a few now in print, most famous is perhaps STRAWBERRY GIRL.  I read many of these and the description sounds a little familiar.  I am a few years younger than you but our school library also had these very thin hardcover books. Hope this helps.


B639: Baby sister named Star
Chapter book probably published in the 1950's about a little girl who wants a baby sister. Her mother has a baby around Christmas, and the little girl names her Star.

Carolyn Haywood, Betsy's Little Star
, 1950, copyright.  Great book, but I think it might be out of print.
Haywood, Carolyn, Merry Christmas from Betsy.   This is from one of the Betsy Books, not sure which one.  But it is probably in this compilation of Betsy Christmas stories.
Carolyn Haywood, Betsy and Billy.   Definitely the one.
Carolyn Haywood, Betsy's Little Star, 1940's.  Haywood's popular character Betsy gets a little sister on Christmas whom she names Star.
Carolyn Haywood.  Could this be one of Haywood's "Betsy" series?
Carolyn Haywood, Betsy and Billy.  Just to note:  Betsy's Little Star is NOT the book where Star is born; that's a book that turns the attention to Star herself.  Betsy and Billy is the book about Star being born at Christmas.


B640: Biography of American inventor
I am looking for a book that I read as a kid, that I think was a biography of an early American inventor.  I remember most distinctly how he had to make his own ink and pencils, using gum arabic, lead, wood and other ingredients.  I had thought that the book was about Robert Fulton, but I did not find the parts I remembered when I got the book. I think it was sort of a book meant more for boys- I got it from my brother's bookshelf and read it in the late '60s or early '70s.  Thanks for any help.

Making his own pencils sounds like Henry David Thoreau...
For what it's worth, the inventor Thomas Edison was a heavy user of pencils and at one point had a supply specially made to his own specifications (so they would fit in a vest pocket).  Might be a possibility!


B641: BOY CAMPING DOG ABANDONED HOUSE CIRCA pre 1980
Solved: Sleep Out


B642: Boy hides pebble in foil ball
Solved: "Cheating Mr. Diskin" from Soup

 
B643: Book of bedtime stories and poems
Book of bedtime stories and poems I had in the early 1980s.  ONLY thing I remember is the inside back cover:   a drawing of a starry night sky  (lots of deep blue) with kids looking out their windows (a city scene).  May have been the characters from the stories.  The Golden Book Of 365 Stories?

Enid Blyton, Bedtime Story Book,
1980, copyright.  Hi there, this book you are looking for is Enid Blyton's Bedtime Story Book published in 1980, I do remember one particular story about a moth (that scared me!) attracted by a light and the front cover was of 2 children overlooking a city scene out of a window at night.
Gyo Fujikawa, Oh What a Busy Day, 1970s-1980s, approximate.  I suspect you're thinking of "Oh What a Busy Day" with illustrations by Gyo Fujikawa. It's an anthology of poems about children doing things. The front and back inside covers show kids sticking their heads out windows, and I *think* the back cover is nighttime. I remember them all saying "good night" with little speech bubbles. I was only able to find a picture of the "morning" scene from the front cover, but the illustration style is very distinctive. http://www.designmom.com/uploaded_images/gyo3-744569.jpg.


B644: British officer falls in love with boss's fiancée
Proper British officer is assigned to pick up his "boss"'s  young Spanish fiancée in Spain and take her to India. They fall in love on the way to India but do not declare it and he takes her to her fiancé. He resumes work in the British army leading up to the Indian Mutiny. She rescues him and has his child.

M. M. Kaye, Shadow of the Moon
This is Shadow of the Moon. The author, M. M. Kaye, also wrote The Far Pavilions. The girl is named Winter, and she falls in love with her fiance when she is very young and he is visiting England. The officer who escorts her to him tries to warn her about what a horrid person her fiance has become since she saw him last.
MM Kaye, Shadow of the Moon.  If the heroine's name was Winter, this is your book.  Most of the plot details match.


B645: Bunnies search for magic egg
Hi, I am looking for a children's book that is about a pair or group of bunnies that go in search of a magic/treasured/porcelain/valuable egg.  My second grade teacher read it to us around 1995.  Thank you for your help!

Margaret Wise Brown, The Golden Bunny, and other poems and Stories.
  This might be a long shot, but I seem to remember a story like that in this book.  This is NOT The Golden Egg Book which is quite different.
Here's one to consider:  Heyward, DuBoseThe Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes.  Illustrated by Marjorie Flack.  1939.  The country bunny is a mother of 21, but still attains the rank of Easter Bunny.  She delivers the most beautiful egg of all to an ill child on a far away mountain top.  One reviewer called it an early feminist tale.


B646: baby lost in snowy woods
Forest animals attempt to help a baby left by a tree in the woods in a snow storm.  The book ends when a child comes to get the baby (which turns out to be a doll).   Small book, Eloise Wilkins type of illustrations, probably 1960s or 70s.

Clair Jones, Stina Nagel (illus), Whose Baby is That?,
1969, copyright.  This is a Whitman Tell-A-Tale Book. The animals all wonder whose "baby" they have found in the woods, until at the end a little girl comes to retrieve her lost doll. Front cover shows the baby (a smiling, rosy-cheeked baby doll, wearing a blue romper or snowsuit with a red lining, red mittens, and little white boots) sitting under a tree. Several animals (a raccoon, a skunk, a squirrel, and a rabbit) are sitting in front of him. There are autumn leaves on the ground, and snow is falling.


B647: Blodger the Rabbit, gardener, topiary
The book I am looking for is a young children's book (about 11"X14")  Hardback.  The main character is "Blodger" a rabbit who is a gardener.  Blodger does topiary.  He falls from a ladder and breaks his leg.  His Dr. says: "There will be no more topiary for you for a while, Blodger."


B648: Boy with ability to "jump" into animal minds
Solved: Song of the Wild


B649: Boy finds dog, keeps in abandoned car
Boy finds a shaggy dog, but dad won't allow him to bring the dog home.  He leaves the dog in an abandoned car and visits every day.  Kid's name might be Mike, and dog's name might be Scruffy.  Winter is approaching.  I think the dad doesn't allow a Christmas tree to be put up at home – makes him sad.

Prudence Andrew, Dog,
1974, approximate.  Maybe this one?
Prudence Andrew, Dog, 1974, copyright.  Yes, the book cover on Amazon looks so familiar.  I couldn't find a description there but came across it on E-bay with this (correct) description: "Why can't I have a dog?" Andrew pleads.  For the twentieth time his father explains that dogs aren't allowed in the project where they live. Then, one wonderful day, Andrew finds Scruffy -- a hungry, shaggy, little dog that belongs to nobody.  Andrew is determined to keep Scruffy -- and, somehow, he's going to do it!"


B650: boy gets silent treatment from family
Boy growing up in 19th century America.  I think it's an autobiography and no it isn't Mark Twain.  He tells stories about his life growing up and there's one point where a boy who won't speak and is violent shows up and is "taken care of" by the family.

John D Fitzgerald, The Great Brain Series.
  I'm sure you are remembering this excellent semi-autobiographical series of novels about a family with 3 brothers growing up in a frontier town in Utah. In one incident, the parents give the misbehaving brothers the silent treatment to punish them, which they feel is much harsher than the physical punishments most kids in the town get.
John D. Fitzgerald, Me and My Little Brain.  I remember this book. The mute/violent boy is Frankie, who comes to stay with J.D. and his family after witnessing his own family being killed in a rockslide. After finally getting fed up with Frankie's behavior, J.D. spanks him, causing Frankie to remember his parents' accident and regain his power of speech.


B651: Bear and Rabbit Quest in Winter
Solved: Abiner Smoothie's Journey To The Heart of a Bear


B652: British woman doctor out west
Early 70s?, womens.  This book was about a female doctor who antagonized her colleagues in England.  So, she went to a fort town in the post-civil war west.  She befriended an elderly, African-American, male ex-slave who helped her establish her clinic, the ladies of the saloon, and local miners.  When a snake oil salesman came into town and tried to take over her business, two miners (whom she managed to save after a mining accident, but were left crippled) ran him out town.  The love interest was the calvary major, a southerner disowned by his family for fighting for the north.  When the major was shot in the butt by an arrow, he repaid her digging out the arrow by having his men dig her a well.  The calvary rode into save her from the Indians upon her capture, but found her instructing the Native Americans on hygiene and food safety and teaching the chief a Scottish prayer, thus bringing peace between the Natives and the settlement.  The town was run by crooked mayor who had control of the press.  The newspaper always ended reviews of society parties at the mayor's house with "a good time was had by all."

Frances Murray, The Burning Lamp.
  This is undoubtedly the book you want, but the heroine is a nurse, not a doctor (she was trained by Florence Nightingale).  Other than that, it's a complete match to your description.


B653: Briar Rose or Sleeping Beauty (not Disney)
Either Briar Rose or The Sleeping Beauty, 1940-1974?  Childrens.  Beautifully illustrated, not an anthology.  One of the first pictures is of the queen at a pond talking with a frog as she prepares to take a bath.  I will only know it when I see the pictures, I'm afraid.  I've seen Margery Gill's version and that's not it.  I asked at the Library of Congress with no luck but they told me to try Stump the Bookseller!  Good luck.

Trina Schart Hyman, The Sleeping Beauty
The first page of this story has a picture of the queen standing in a forest pool talking to a frog. Beautiful illustrations.
I love Trina Schart Hyman and I own a couple copies of that book so that isn't what I'm looking for.  But thank you for the contribution.
One of the fairy books by Andrew Lang.  I can't remember which of them (pink, red, etc) had that one, but the illustrations are right.
Arthur Rackham (illus), told by C.S. Evans, The Sleeping Beauty, 1920, copyright.  Have you tried this one? The artwork is truly fantastic - from simple silhouettes to opulent full-color plates. One of the illustrations (an intricate black and white silhouette) shows the queen talking to the frog.  She is standing, nude, at the edge of the water, a dripping sponge in her hand, framed by a border of delicate vines, bushes, and trees. In the background, a child-shaped fountain stands on a pedestal, pouring water from a large ewer. There have been multiple reprints over the years, with slightly different covers. Try to find a reprint of the 1920 original, as some reprints are abridgements that omit some of the fabulous artwork.
I''ve seen the Arthur Rackham version, and CS Evans is similar too.  But neither are what I remember.


B654: Betsy's First Christmas
Solved: Merry Christmas from Betsy


B655: Bug Bites
1970's, juvenile.  Mystery book where a boy and girl, I think they are friends and not brother and sister, solve a mystery together.  It is during the summer and they end up getting chased by some bad men. They get lost in a swamp or the woods.  When they are found they are covered in cuts, bruises and bug bites.

With not a lot to go on, could this be one of Jean Craighead George's environmental mysteries?  There are a couple where kids end up in the woods.  The one that comes to mind is "The Missing Gator of Gumbo Limbo", but there are others.


B656: Boy/man paints town different colours until he finds the right combination
Solved: The Great Blueness


B657: bird, sparrow, snow, seed, boxcar
Solved: The Richest Sparrow in the World


B658: Brother and sister, time travel, dad, witch
Solved: A Wrinkle in Time


B659: Billy and friends fight village War of the Roses
Main character named Billy Budd, but NOT Melville's Billy Budd. In a village with a castle on the hill. Two friends, a boy and a girl. Ongoing fight with other village kids was called the War of the Roses. Series of books. 1st book involved a key and the castle. Last book involved spies on an island.

Lindgren, Astrid, Bill Bergson and the White Rose Rescue,
1965.  You're looking for this book!  Bill Bergson is a kid detective.  Three titles were translated into English--I don't know if there were more in Swedish.  In this one, Eva-Lotta is kidnapped, and writes a message in a chocolate bar. Piers is (I think) the other friend.
Astrid Lindgren, Bill Bergson.  There are three books in the series:  Bill Bergson, Master Detective; Bill Bergson Lives Dangerously; Bill Bergson and the White Rose Rescue.


B660: boy turned into a crow by wizard
Solved: The Satanic Mill


B661: British schoolgirls get shipwrecked
Solved: School on an Island


B662: Black wolf w/white star in Yukon/Canada
Solved: The Black Wolf of Savage River


B663: boy and his rocky relationship with his father
the book i am looking for is about a boy and his rocky relationship with his father.  he works as an apprentice in a butcher shop.   i think the title is 'a lost king' so it might be the one by raymond decapite.

Raymond DeCapite, A Lost King,
1961, copyright.  The plot description for DeCapite's "A Lost King" appears to match the book you are looking for. Carl Christopher (the father), a former crane operator for a Cleveland steel mill, is no longer able to work, due to his age and failing health. His son, Paul, moves from one job to another, including meat slicer in a supermarket and machine tender in a factory. After each failure, Paul buys food for his father and returns to his place atop the watermelon wagon, harvesting and selling melons with an old neighborhood friend. Carl is highly critical of both his daughter (for what he sees as her domestic insufficiencies) and Paul (for his dreamy, ne'er-do-well ways). The novel was adapted into a movie titled "Harry and Son" in 1984. This novel is out of print and a little hard to find, but I did see a few copies available online. The dustjacket picture shows a blue background and grey rooftops with tall grey factory smokestacks belching flames and black smoke (which covers the top half of the page).


B664: boy in limbo land of disappeared, forgotten things, sci fi with king lear
I read this young-adult semi-sci-fi novel in the 70's or early 80's.  A young man disappears from the sight of others, in a parallel universe (called Limbo?) where things and people that are forgotten go. The boy's relationship with his father is strained, and King Lear the play comes up.

Lee Harding, Displaced Person,
1979, copyright.  Possibly DISPLACED PERSON by Australian sf author Lee Harding (I've not read it, but reviews I've read make it seem a possibility).  There have been US editions of this as well.

2009


B665: boys in post-WWII Europe
YA fiction.  Two boys in post-WWII Europe (Romania or Hungary) are running away from home or from the Communists.  They are joined by a blonde Hungarian girl named Ilona, her uncle is Guyula Zichy (sp?).  She slips and falls and suffers from a dislocated ankle, this hinders their travels.

Styles, Showell, Mystery of the Fleeing Girl
, 1970, copyright.  John and Ann Davies help Ilonka Kazincy, a runaway from a murdered uncle, try to reach another uncle with a notebook containing names of a Hungarian freedom group, while being pursued by spies and police alike.  Original title "Journey with a Secret."


B666: boy from other world/time adopted by family
Solved: The Forgotten Door


B667: Boy in a spacesuit flies out through his bedroom window. Possibly with a teddy bear
I think the bear is lost -maybe- and the boy goes to find him. They may or may not end up on the moon. I'm pretty sure either the boy, or the bear or both are wearing a spacesuit/spacesuits, and they definitly return through the window together.  I remember thinking that the boy was very brave.

Martha Alexander, You're a Genius, Blackboard Bear.
  This makes me think of the Blackboard Bear story.  Not a teddy bear (Blackboard Bear comes off a chalkboard) but there are definitely spacesuits and bears involved.
I'm afraid it's not You're a Genius, Blackboard Bear. The book I'm searching for would have been around since at least the early to mid 80's.
Jill Murphy, Whatever Next?
, 1983, copyright.  A long shot... but what if it was the chimney, rather than the window? And possibly a baby bear, rather than a little boy? At bathtime, Baby Bear decides that he wants to visit the moon, so he makes himself a rocket (cardboard box) and spacesuit (colander for a helmet, and rubber boots) and takes off through the chimney. He brings his teddy bear along for the ride and is joined by a passing owl. After visiting the moon they return (again via the chimney) just in time for his bath, where he tells Mama Bear all about his adventure.


It's not whatever next. I definitely have a clear memory of the boy coming through the window and wearing a space suit. Thanks for trying though.

Ginnie Hofmann, Who Wants an Old Teddy Bear. There is no spacesuit, I don't think, but a boy and his teddy bear definitely fly out the window in this book.  A boy receives a package from his grandmother but is disappointed when it is a teddy bear and he kicks it aside.  It gets foggy here but the boy and the bear fly out the window in pajamas and they go to a land where bears inhabit the earth and have small people as dolls.  The boy is treated the way he treated the teddy bear.  The boy, who is now like a doll, is given to a child bear but the bear is disappointed and kicks the boy away.  I am not sure what happens here but when the boy wakes up he appreciates his teddy bear. 

I'm afraid it's not Who Wants an Old Teddy Bear either.



B668: Brother, Sister, Chased, Black Stone Fortress
Solved: The Silver Crown


B669: Boy works for laundress, loves chicken
This is a thin kids book. Pictures may be similar to Ardizzone. Boy, may be orphan, works for laundress and bikes around with all the laundry. He loves chicken but never gets any. Steals a chicken? Or somehow gets lots of chicken to eat and gets sick? A dog chokes on one of the bones... Thank you.


B670: Boy begins to question way of life
I am looking for a book, most likely young adult science fiction, that was published between 1975 and 1983 (probably closer to 1980). It was on the shelf of newly purchased books at the library in the town where I lived between 1978 and 1983.   It had at least one of the words "time," "place" and/or "season" in the title.  The main character was a boy around 12 - 15 years old who began to question why people were complacent about the way they lived.  All were required to go daily to get either pills or an injection that kept them calm.  The boy's grandfather remembered the world the way it used to be, but would not tell the boy anything and tried to tell him to leave it alone.  The boy and a girl his age, chose to not take the injection/pills and began to think for themselves.  In the end, they found out they were being controlled by an elitist group who lived underground, I believe in Europe.  If I remember correctly, the original book had a pinkish cover, or jacket, but I get colors wrong sometimes!  I've been looking for this book for many years!

Ira Levin, This Perfect Day.
  This doesn't match your description exactly, but pretty darn close.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Perfect_Day.
Levin, Ira, This Perfect Day, 1971, copyright.  Some of your details match this adult novel. There are only 4 names each for boys and girls, but Chip is nicknamed by his grandfather.  He encourages Chip to question the social structure.  Everyone looks the same, but Chip has one green eye.  They get a monthly treatment that keeps them docile.  Most of the novel takes place after Chip is an adult, where he meets other different people, including a woman named Julia.  They do fight back and ultimately discover the controlling people living in luxury underground.


B671: Bottoms (butts) on every page
i'm looking for a children's book that is at least 19 to 15 years old.  all i know is that there are bottoms (you know butts) on every page (or almost every page), and on one of the pages there is either a distinct yellow cab or yellow bus.  it is possible that it refers to the bottoms as tushies, but i'm not sure.  i know these details are few, but if you could get me any ideas or any leads, that would be great.

Marilyn Singer, Bottoms Up!
1998, copyright.  "A humorous look at how animals use their rear ends, from sitting to stinging, from attracting a mate to taking a breath. What has one of the most feared rear ends in the animal kingdom? Why are baboon bottoms red? How does a chicken lay an egg? These are just a few of the intriguing questions that are answered in this informative picture book about the incredible things animals--from honeybees to horses--can do with their great posteriors." The date is a little later than remembered, and I'm not sure how a yellow bus or cab would fit in, but as there aren't all that many books about bottoms, I thought it was at least worth a look.
Taro Gomi, Everybody Poos, 1977, copyright.  Could it be this book? It was released in the US as Everybody Poops in 1977.  I don't remember a bus in it though...
Gyo Fujikawa, Oh What a Busy Day.  I don't have my copy to check for a bus or taxi, but Gyo Fujikawa's books often include babies or kids with no pants - it might be worth looking to see if the illustration style is familiar.


B672: Boy and dad, global warming, rocket ship leaving Earth
Solved: The Missing Persons League

B673: Boy who eats too many cookies
I have no idea of the year. I grew up in the 80's. I'm sure that it was a collection of stories, and I only remember one. In it a little boy who went to visit an old lady who baked him a ton of cookies until he was so fat he couldn't fit out of the apartment. The book was brown and had a few illus.


B674: baseball mitt and locket found in grandma's attic
The book is a children's book where two children, a boy and a girl, go to visit their grandparents on a farm.  The girl helps the grandma in the attic and finds a baseball mitt and locket.  The boy gets the baseball mitt, and the girl gets the locket.


B675: Button Tree
Seeking a picture book from, I think, the 1970s, with a theme that is something like, "If you plant a button, a button tree will grow; if you plant a [something else], a [something else] tree will grow," and so forth. TItle unknown. Probably no more than 32 pages, and for a young reader audience.

what shall I put in the hole that I dig?
  remember this as a kid.  picture of tree with many colored buttons on it?


B676: boy rocket neighbor trip to moon
Solved: The Mushroom Planet series (see Most Requested - Eleanor Cameron)

B677: Bad boy eventually fades away or disappears and at the end is just a faint shadow on the wall
Hello - looking for a book of children's stories including: 1) a bad boy with brothers and sisters who were good. Eventually he fades away and in the end is just a shadow on the wall. The other involves a cat or dog who could walk. Some Illustrations, Not a large book, but sorta thick. 1950s or 40s?


B678: Boys sail in a matchbox
A group of boys make a tiny sailboat out of a matchbox. They then (magically!) begin an adventure sailing in their matchbox-boat, and after floating along the gutter they sail through the drain and I believe emerge at the beach.


B679: bracelet magic wish teardrops
Solved: A Necklace of Raindrops: and Other Stories
All I remember about this story is there's a little girl that somehow gets a magic bracelet that has maybe 7 teardrops on it, and each teardrop represents a wish. I think it also involves her sailing on a boat to a faraway island at some point. This was a story within a collection of original fairy tales or some kind of bedtime stories anthology - I read it in the '90s but it was a library book so I'm not sure when it was published.

Joan Aiken, Necklace of Raindrops
.  Maybe A Necklace of Raindrops and Other Stories? The North Wind delivers a raindrop every year for the girl's necklace.
Joan Aiken, A Necklace of Raindrops and other stories, 1967, approximate.  I think you're looking for the title story in this anthology.  The girl gets raindrops from a cloud, and the last one is a tear drop.  The illustrations are quite striking--black sillhouettes.
Joan Aiken, A Necklace of Raindrops, 1968.  This is the title story in one of Joan Aiken's marvelous collections of short stories.
A Necklace of Raindrops by Joan Aiken, maybe?
Joan Aiken, A Necklace of Raindrops: and Other Stories.  This is exactly the story/book I was looking for! I'm amazed that it was solved, and so quickly! Thanks so much!


B680: Brother and sister with magic in a trilogy
A fantasy world. The brother has an affinity with fire, and the girl has an affinity for dream seeing or something like that. They get put on a ship and there's a white haired lady who becomes the villian. The boy ends up evil too, it ends with the boy setting fire to the forest to save the kingdom.

Michael Scott, The Alchemist : The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel
or the sequel The Magician, 2007 and 2008, copyright.  Pehaps you're thinking of the first book in this series about 21st-century teen-aged twins Sophie and Josh Newman who are caught up with Nicholas Flamel, the greatest alchemist of his day but who supposedly died in 1418.  The twins unknowingly have the power to save humankind and the world as we know it.
This is actually much older of a book, it was read by my friend when she was in middle school, so at least 8 years old. But she thinks it was published much earlier. She remembers reading it in an omnibus, all three books together, it had a purple cover with a picture of the storm that comes while they are on the boat.


B681: boy mechanized house breakfast teeth
boy lives in mechanized house- bed tips him out in the morning into clothes, machines feed him breakfast, brush teeth and hair, but things go awry and he ends up upside down with orange juice and egg everywhere and with his toes tickled with a toothbrush.  Book enjoyed around 1970.

A perennial favorite!  This is certainly Lazy Tommy Pumpkinhead by William Pene du Bois, 1966.  See Solved Mysteries for more.

 B682: Boy's magic sketches come to lifeSolved: The Magical Drawings of Moony B. Finchearly 80's?, childrens.  I'm trying surprise a friend with a book. He described it to me briefly, so apologies for the secondhand recap: A boy discovers that anything he draws? etch-a-sketches? comes to life. When the local people discover this talent, they greedily ask him to draw them things. When he gets fed up with their requests he draws a dragon? monster? that he throws into the air and everyone instinctively runs after it thinking it is another prize, until they realize the truth and run away. Thanks!


David McPhail, The Magical Drawings of Moony B. Finch.
  A young boy who can make drawings come to life is assailed by people in a park asking for drawings of gold, jewels, etc. When it gets too much, he draws a dragon that makes them all run away. Finally , he takes out his "just in case" eraser and erases away all the scary parts of the dragon (the big teeth, etc) until it is the perfect pet.
Not sure about this one, it sounds like a Chinese tale I'd heard, where the boy, young man? is summoned to paint for the Emperor. Two different sources, so I can't be sure which, if either, is right. In one, the boy paints a flood which fills the Imperial palace, drowning the cruel Emperor, in the other, he not only floods the palace but paints a boat he escapes in. Hope this helps.
Sounds a bit like Ma Lien and the Magic Paintbrush, but the ending is a bit different.
Demi, Liang And The Magic Paintbrush.  It sounds like you are looking for a version of the Chinese folk tale, "The Magic Paintbrush" (also published as "Liang And The Magic Paintbrush" or "Ma Lien And The Magic Paintbrush.") There are many versions of this story, but given your estimated publication date of early 80's, I'd suggest "Liang and the Magic Paintbrush," A Reading Rainbow Book by Demi (1980, reissued 1988). You could also try "The Magic Paintbrush," a Ladybird Book by Fran Hunia (1979). Ladybird is a UK publisher, so if your friend grew up in the US, the Demi book is probably a better bet.
Luckily, I remembered reading this in the July 1978 issue of Cricket, so I checked again. It's The Magical Drawings of Moony B. Finch, by David McPhail.

David McPhail, The Magical Drawings of Moony B. Finch.  Thank you! It's confirmed that this is the one!

B683: Boy swims super fast in pool
SOLVED: Slobodkin, The Spaceship under the Apple Tree.

B684: Boy goes back 100 years & sails with buccaneers
A boy goes into a Nantucket (?) bookstore, - no one is there.  He goes through the store and out the open back door, and steps back 100 years.  He is impessed into service on a buccaneer ship and goes on a journey.  He gets reprimanded by the captian with a whip with a stingray barb on the end, leaving a cut on his cheek.  He gets back to Nantucket, the bookstore, and present times - with a scar still on his cheek.  I would like to find this book for my boy.  Any clue?

BTW - I read this book in about 1963.
Carley Dawson, Mr. Wicker's Window,
1952, copyright.  Possibly this one. I read it quite a while ago but remember it involved time travel and the hero being on a ship.
I read this book and loved it, but all I can remember was that the illustrations were by Lynd Ward, and the title had "Mr." in it.  According to Something about the Author, it's probably "Mr. Wicker's Window" by Carly Dawson. (Actually, they have "*Mrs.* Wicker's Window", but that title sounds right.) I hope this is right!  good luck!

Dawson, Carley, Mr. Wickers Window 1963, copyright. This is absolutely Mr. Wickers Window. Its not a bookshop but a junkshop, but the detail about the scar pins it down.

Carley Dawson, Mr. Wickers Window 1952, copyright. Oh, my! This is it!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! Seeing a possible solution for a 50-yr puzzle almost brought a tear to my eye.  Seeing that it is the solution left me humbled and thankful. I will re-read it, and then pass it on to my boys for them to enjoy. Thank you for all your help!

B685: Ballet lessons in Paris
Book about girl who takes ballet lessons in Paris while visiting a relative, possibly aunt.  1960's, possibly Betty Cavanna but can't find on any list.

Betty Cavanna, Stars in Her Eyes
, 1960, approximate.  As I recall, the main character, Magda, goes to Paris for a semester, takes ballet and really gets whipped into tip top shape.
Eunice Smith, Jennifer Dances, 1954, copyright.  This is a possibility.  While Jennifer doesn't go to Paris, she does leaves the family farm to live with her Aunt Lobelia in Chicago.  While she is there she goes to ballet school, at the Madame Lubescheski School of the Dance.  She learns to dance and even choreographs her own ballet about the wind.
Jean Estoril, Drina Dances in Paris, 1990, copyright.  Your description is brief so it is hard to say but perhaps the book you are looking for is this one.  "Some members of the Dominick School act, dance and sing in the play 'The Land Before Christmas'. Drina's ballet she made in New York is danced at the Dominick Matinee. Christine Gifford is expelled from the Dominick School after being caught bullying some of the Juniors and Drina. Drina and Rose are asked to go to Paris to dance in The Nutcracker once again after the dancer playing 'Little Clara' is injured. Grant shows up in Paris."

Rumer Godden, Listen to the Nightengale, '194.Ten-year-old Lottie is a poor but talented orphan raised by a maiden aunt. Through an innocent misunderstanding, she is presumed to be the owner of a valuable dog. Her refusal to return the lovable puppy to its rightful owners leads inevitably to dissembling. Her acceptance at a prestigious ballet school precipitates a crisis, since the boarding school does not allow pets. A blackmail attempt by another student ultimately brings the truth to light, but not before Lottie nearly starves while giving up most of her food to the blackmailer.

B686: Boy builds houses for sequence of ever larger pets
70's or earlier book about a boy w/ a pet guinea pig.  He builds a house for the GP, then gets a sequence of ever larger pets (turtle, rabbit, dog, goat, ... horse), and puts an addition on the house for each.  It was illustrated with b/w photos at each stage.

Helen Palmer, Why I Built the Boogle House,
1964, copyright.  Helen Palmer did several Beginner Books illustrated with photographs, and this was one of them.
Palmer, Helen, Why I Built the Boogle House, 1964.  This is the one!
Helen Palmer, Why I Built the Boogle House, 1964, copyright.  I remember this because it was my brother's favorite book.
I remember this, it sounds a lot like How I Built a Boggle (Boogle?) House. The boy in question builds and modifies a house for his various pets, a turtle, a duck, a kitten, a dog, etc, only to have various problems with each, they run away, or get fleas, or aren't allowed, and so on. Finally the boy builds an elaborate house for a Boogle or Boggle, a pet that won't cause any trouble at all. Hope this helps.

Why I Built the Boogle House.  I also loved this book as a child and found it for my son recently. It is definitely the one the searcher is looking for because it is illustrated with black and white photos, which is very uncommon. 
B687: Boy who dreams of dog
1960's. Illustrated children's book with black and white drawings. A little boy is befriended by a talking dog. Together, they go on a strange journey that feels, in hindsight, like they are on a journey to Heaven. Strange and wonderful friendship with this talking dog. I even remember a moment in the book when the dog tells the boy that he's got to face the final leg of the journey (whatever that is) on his own, without the dog. It's revealed to be a dream and he wakes up to find he's been given a brand new puppy. A very emotional book.

Corwin, Norman, Dog In The Sky 1952, copyright.  I wonder if this is Dog In The Sky, which Norman Corwin adapted from his radio play "The Odyssey of Runyon Jones."  Heres a description of the radio play:  "Here is the fascinating and wonderful story of a young boys search for his dog, Pootzy. He encounters all the bureaucrats of the Cosmos, starting in the Department of Lost Dogs and the Department of Deceased Dogs, meeting Father Time and Mother Nature, searching for "Dog Heaven" and finally meeting the Directors of ''Curgatory'\''... "
A few more details: (my brother wrote the original post--we both want to find this book!) I remember the dog in the dream was huge--a sheepdog many times the boys size. At one point they walk up some stairs into the sky. The books feeling is a bit eerie and dark--but also comforting. It was a large green hardcover book w/black and white illustrations.
 Ciardi, John. illus. by Louis S. Glanzman. Crowell. The Wish-Tree. 1963. K-2 93p. (Modern Masters Books for Children). A read-aloud story illustrated by black and white drawings of variable quality. A small boy goes to bed the night before his sixth birday, and has a long, fanciful dream that relates to his wish for a puppy and to the fact that his father has told him he would have to find a Wish-Tree. When the boy wakes, he finds on his bed a brown puppy. The story begins with great simplicity, and the dream sequence is introduced smoothly, but it seems drawn-out.

B688: (In or AT) the boarding house where I live, everything is old. Long grey hairs are in the butter, and the cheese is green with mold.
I search for a childrens book that came out in the later 60's or early 70's. It was a joke, rhyme and riddles book that had to do with ghosts, ghouls, monsters, etc. I don't remember the title or publisher, but it was a really cool book. The author of the Boarding House rhyme might be Ogden Nash.


B689: Boys whisked to another world to become heroes
A new kid and bully are transported to another world & told that they are the hero needed to subdue the giant wolf (Fenris?). They must find parts of a weapon that are hidden; the rope they need turns out to be the tie for a wizard's bathrobe. They are given a bowl that will fill itself with any food or drink they request. Along the way they discover that science doesn't work here but poetry does; when one can't start a fire with sticks, the fire suddenly starts when the other kid starts chanting "burn and blazy, crazy daisy." They become friends, which turns out to be their surprise reward, or they could choose gold and go home and be enemies again. I have no clue on the title or year, but I read it back in the 1970s, I think.

I can picture the cover of this book, but not the title!  I think its by E.W. Hildick though.  Or Jay Williams. Not much help, but I hope you find it!
Jay Williams, The Hero from Otherwhere, 1972.Sounds like "The Hero From Otherwhere" by Jay Williams.


B690: Bad Fairies turned into snails

When I was in Jr. High, 7th & 8th grades (1967-69) I read a book about fairies. The main thing I remember is that when a fairy was bad it was turned into a snail. That is why snails leave a sparkly fairy dust-like trail. It seems to me that the book was old then, but I don't know for sure.

B691: Bedtime stories for each night of the year
I am looking for a book I had in the early 80s, no idea when it was published. It was a large, hard back, off white book that had a bedtime story for everynight of the year. It was not the one by Nan Gilbert. It had multi stories on each page with a little picture next to the story.

Kathryn Jackson, The Golden Bedtime Book, 365 Original Stories and Poems, 1955, copyright. You could be looking for a much later edition of this book which was illustrated by Richard Scarry and published by Simon & Schuster as a Big Golden Book.  The early editions have a blue cover with a boy and girl in 2 twin beds pushed together reading the book while theyre surrounded by animals also reading.  Later editions were renamed "The Golden Book of 365 Stories". I think its possible that a later edition published in the 80s might have had a light-colored cover with a bear reading the book in a chair while surrounded by reading animals. 
Kathryn Jackson, Bedtime Book of 365 Stories. Illustrated by Richard Scarry, and republished numerous times in various covers.  Could this be the one?


B692: At the boarding house

Later 60s or early 70s childrens monster, ghosts and ghouls  riddle and ryhme book containing "At the boarding house where I live, everything is old, long grey hairs in the butter, and the cheese is green with mold". Also," What does a ghost where when it rains?" BOOOTS AND GHOULASHES I think?

Mrs. Crandalls Boardinghouse (?) I dont have a solution to the book title, but Ive run into that verse before  it's an approximate match for the song "Mrs. Crandalls Boardinghouse", as recorded by the Irish Rovers.  [Their original version was released on the album Tales to Warm Your Mind, but has been reissued on a number of the groups best-of and compilation albums since then.]


B693: Bear chained to gypsy wagon
Small bear (I think) chained to wheel of gypsy wagon. Friend (possibly another bear) rescues him, and the gypsy wagon rolls down a hill, with the contents bouncing out. book published in 60's or 70's I would guess.

Campbell Grant, Bongo, 1947, approximate. This was a Little Golden Book adapted from a Disney movie.  The pictures are by Walt Disney Studio  Bongo the Bear escapes the circus where he performs and learns to live in the wild. 


B694: Bennigan Flies Home
Children's book possibly published in 1988. My sister and I loved this book about a bird who gets separated from his flock. I remember reading it when I was about 7 which would make the year 1990.  I believe the bird might fly over Paris at one point in the book. I think he may have been a blackbird?


Demarest, Christ L., Benedict finds a ome, 1982, copyright. Benedict leaves his crowded nest to search for the perfect home.
B695: Boy, Clouds
Has to be a 1970 or earlier childrenss book. I remember a boy walking, possibly with a dog, looking up and seeing shapes in the clouds, a different one on each page maybe? Thats all I remember.

Brinton Turkle, The Sky Dog, 1969, copyright.This only has a couple of elements of the stumper, but it came to mind as I was reading the query.  A young boy plays on the beach, and sees a white dog in the clouds.  He sees it again and again for about 4 pages, and then the dog comes down to earth to be with him.
Peter Spier, Dreams, 1986, copyright. A young boy and girl with their dogs look up and see the pictures the clouds make. I hope this is the answer!


B696: Blue childrens stories and poems
Children's book from 1950's, blue in color.  It contained numerous stories and poems, among them "I'm Hiding, I'm Hiding and No One Knows Where", "Winkin', Blinkin and Nod", "Bad Mousie" (or something similar).

Jame Werner (editor), The Tall Book of Make-Believe, 1950, copyright.
Jane Werner (ed), Garth Williams (illus), The Tall Book of Make Believe, 1950, copyright. Sounds like this is the one youre looking for. A rare book, which can be both hard to find and expensive. (I sure wish they'\''d reprint it!) Anyway, in addition to "Bad Mousie", "Wynken, Blynken, and Nod" and "Hiding", this book also contains such stories as: "Susans Bears", "The Very Mischief", "Georgie", "The Everlasting Lollipop", and "How They Bring Back The Village of Cream Puffs When The Wind Blows It Away." Also included are many poems, including "When I Was a Bird", "The Duel", "Calico Pie", "The Sugar-Plum Tree", "The Land of Counterpane", "Swing Song", "Mr. Nobody", and many others. The book is notable for being oddly-shaped (as were the other books in the "Tall Book" series). It is approx. 12-13 inches high, but only about 5" wide.


B697: Balloon
Solved

B698: Burp Delicious, Spitting Out Feathers
Im looking for an old childrens book, but all I remember is one line in it. It is "Burp delicious, spitting out feathers".  I seem to recall that it is an old Sylvester and Tweety book, where Sylvester eats Tweety bird, but I could be wrong. I Think it is also a Golden Book. Thank for the help!

B699: Boy at Desk
I think this children's book starts out (and maybe ends with?) a boy sitting at a desk in a plain room. He may start to draw or perhaps colorful images - maybe monster-like- come out of his fountain pen? I particluarly recall this book for it's vibrant and colorful illustrations. The book was probably published sometime in the 1980’s,  at the very latest in the early 1990’s. I feel like the illustrations seemed more modern than many of my other stores…
David McPhail, The Magical Drawings of Moony B Finch, 1983, copyright. You might want to check this one out.  Sounds familiar.
Drescher, Henrik, Simon's book., 1983, copyright. The pictures are very scratchy in my opinion but because Simon draws monsters I thought this might be what you are looking for.


B700: Bear Asleep in  Bed
The little bear is asleep under a pile of covers and his foot sticks out the end.  My grandfather read this to me in the 1950's and we would tickle his foot each time. It burned in a fire in the 1960's.  It is not the Little Brown Bear (Elizabeth Upham) with the green cover.  Thanks!!

B701: Beyond Bear Falls
This book was loaned to me around 1981. Is a story about talking animals rabbits etc. who are chased by wolves - is a tolkin-esque story with the animals escaping to a far away place to the safety of a Bear.  I also remember a sword which glowed near evil. Also seems it was a Newberry or Caldecott Honorable mention book (might be wrong there). Was a paperback (at least the one I had).

Beyond Bear Falls.
 Adams, Richard, Watership Down
. No glowing sword, but the classic Tolkien-esque animal story of talking rabbits (complete with their own mythology and tales of El-ahrairah) who flee danger to form a new community would probably be Watership Down.
HRR Tolkien, The Hobbit. In "The Hobbit", Bilbo and his dwarf companions are pursued by wolves (Wargs) and rescued by eagles.  They find refuge with the skinchanger, Beorn, who assumes the shape of a giant bear.  Neither the hobbit nor the dwarves are animals, but they are small non-human creatures.  You mention Tolkien, but if you have only read "The Lord of the Rings," try "The Hobbit."'
Have not read them, but from memory of blurbs, reviews etc. possibly some of Niel Hancocks books.

Unfortunately not Watership Down, and was not the hobbit as it was definitely animals as the main characters.


B702: Boy finds hidden valley
Solved: Jon the Unlucky
B703: Bedtime Stories, Anthology, Large Blue Cover
I'm looking for a large book of bedtime stories that I'm pretty sure my parents bought new in the late 70's or early 80's. It had a bright blue hardback cover, and I'm pretty sure "Bedtime Stories" was in the title. I can't remember the cover illustration, but I know it was bright colors. There were probably 250+ stories. Each one had illustrations and took up two pages (left and right). All of the illustrations were colorful, some more cartoony than others. I remember it contained "The Princess and the Pea" illustrating the princess drenched from the rain, then laying on a huge pile of colorful mattresses. "The Emperor's New Clothes" had the Emperor unclothed marching down the street. I know it also contained "The Old Woman and the Pig" and "Rapunzel". It may have also included "William Tell". I checked your entire site in the solved mysteries and the archives but can't locate anything matching the description of what I'm looking for. I also couldn't locate it googling what I found on the Library of Congress site. Please help. I already located one missing childhood book on your Anthologies page, but this one I'm inquiring about was my favorite of the two.
B704: British teen novel boy with retarded sister vacations over the summer
 
Solved: Unleaving

B704a: Boy and a Bear
Solved: A Story About Me


B705: Beagle's Birthday
Children's book from 50's or early 60's.  Maybe a Big Golden Book but definitely a large picture book.  I don't know the name, but it featured REAL dogs (beagles?)with birthday hats on, etc.  Positive before 1965. One line said, "My birthday's coming soon said Duke to Little Rover."

This is toooo weird!! I just read your request a few hours ago, and now sorting some old books for the library I find your poem. However, this is not a large book it is A Rand McNally Book -small like a golden book. Also no birthday hats! KITTENS AND PUPPIES  by Peggy Burrows-1955'.

B706: Boy who Rides the Rails
1945-55 children's book.Looking for a book that I read while I was still in school.  In the end the boy who was always hitching a ride on a train, had a new conductor hold the lantern too low.  He didn't know that the boy had a dog with him.  The dog was blinded by the light and went under the train and was killed.  That is probably so vague but at the time, I also read "Northern Trail Adventure" by West Lanthrop and it was similiar but about a boy riding the rails.


B707: Birthday Doll Same Exact Dress
1958 childrens' story about a little girl that gets a doll in a blue box for her birthday. There is a scotty dog in the book ,also. The dog might have ripped up the doll .At the end of the book the Mom buys the girl a dress to match the dolls, they both   wear white gloves and a dress. The book is powder blue, hard cover. The doll in the book looks like it could be a "Madame Alexander" doll.

Laura Bannon, The Little Sister Doll,
1955. This sounds like the right book, except that the little girl gets the doll and a matching outfit for herself at the beginning of the book.  Scotty dog is in there.  Doll definitely looks like a Madame Alexander.

B708: Birthday book, pink, little girl, beth?
Book about a little girl who wakes up on her birthday.  I think one of the first few pages had a bird on it.  I think it was a smallish book with a pink cover.  Maybe 1970s?  I also could have sworn her name was Beth, but Google comes up empty.  Help would be great!!!

 

 Phyllis Ochoki, Beth's Happy Day.This is a Start-Right Elf book.  It is small and has a pink cover.  The first page has Beth waking up and looking out her window to start the day- I think there is a bird on the page.  She talks about her special day, spends the day doing small, kind things, celebrates her birthday at the end.
Jan Biggers, Big Little Kitty,1952, approximate.Ok, total long shot here. Mainly mentioning it because it is smallish with a pink cover. Little Karen Kay (not Beth) receives a kitten, Muffin, Christmas morning. Muffin later runs away to explore the world, but finally returns to her loving owner - and brings along a few friends. Cover is pink, with a blonde girl wearing a pink and white dress and a blue bow in her hair, holding a yellow-and-white kitten who is wearing a matching blue bow around its neck.


 B709: Bear helps lost boy and invites him home
I remember a story from around 1960-1970 ~ 20 pages where a boy is walking in a snowy woods.  he meets a bear who brings him to his cave/house for tea. They sit in large wing chairs that were blue-greenish with pine trees on them. I think the only colors in the illustrations are blue-green and black.


This is Elizabeth Coatsworth's One Cold Day. I found this years ago for another stumper. It is located in Parade of Stories, part of the Child Horizon series. You can find it under Solved listings. I did find this in another anthology years later but,now, I cannot recall where!!??


B710: Boy and a Big Balloon

1970s to 1980s book about a boy who wont stop blowing up his balloon and flies over the world, mountains, men with darts, his name is Ben i think, but its not the 2008 Ben and the big balloon book


Maybe it's The Brave Balloon of Benjamin Buckley by the very versatile Barbara Wersba, with first-time illustrator Margot Tomes (1963)? "In this humorous short novel for children, set in 19th-Century English, the people of a town called Peaceful discover a lighter-than-air balloon has floated into their midst. They are mystified by it and by the teakettles, old shoes, cobblestone and dictionaries they found in its basket." "Many years ago in an English township called Peaceful, the citizens decided to build a balloon. Boy Benjamin Buckley who had always wanted to fly, became the first one, along with William his cat, to take a ride in it. A glossary of ballooning terms is in back."


B711: A Basketfull of Laughs

Children's reader with a story called A Basketful of Laughs (or Laughter) about an old man and wife. He ends up carrying a heavy basket of laundry, and his wife was in it (sleeping?) all along. She wakes up, they laugh, hence the name.  I read it in early 60s in Canada, may have been old then.


B712: Ballet Animals
Ballet performance by children dressed in animal costumes. One =a bird Mb they were on a farm. There was a corral w/ a wood fence. Witch comes along & frightens them. On 2 facing pgs the story was written; next 2 pgs were illustrated, b/w pencil drawings @ Chicago, 1950-1965, cover =red, 8 by 10
B713: Beagle Puppy's Adventures
I'm looking for a children's book probably from the 1960's about a 
beagle puppy who didn't want to be left home alone so he went out to play and chased blackbirds, a squirrel, a butterfly, a rabbit, chickens.  He then got pinched on the nose by a crawfish and chased home by a goose and decided that home was the best place to be.

B714: Bug Eyed Bloat & Other Monsters
Looking for a book I read as a child ( 1980's)...  It was a book of different monsters..  One was memorably called, the BUG EYED BLOAT..  Pictures were very detailed..  This is all I remember!!!

Dean Walley, Puck's Peculiar Pet Shop, 1970.In this book of tongue twisters, Peck visits Puck's Pet Shop to pick out a pet. All of the monster-like pets have strange, alliterative names. I don't know if the "Bug Eyed Bloat" is one of them, but it's a possibility.


B715: Brothers Named Meriwether
From grade school circa 1965, a book about two young brothers, one named Meriwether?, who take off into the woods against parental advice and are pursued by a monster.  A drawing of them throwing rocks at each other (they're separated by a cloud of rocks) reminded me later of Shel Silverstein's art.


B716: Boy with Stonecutter Guardian

Solved: Bread and Roses, Too, Katherine Paterson.Yes, that's it! Thank you everyone - I somehow forgot this book had a part where the children were sent to Vermont and only remembered that it was about a mill strike.


B717: Boy Paints Self, Glowing Paint
(Note: Earlier I may have confused this with another collection of horror stories in my last request, which I now know is Tales of Terror. This is from the same time frame, but I believe it's a different book.)
A collection of short scary stories for kids (circa 1975), including one about some boys who were trying to scare a friend. One boys paints himself with glowing paint, pretending to be a ghost at night. The paint turns out to be burning (radioactive?), and he can't get it off. So he is doomed to roam and burn.

Not what you're looking for, but your description reminds me of a humorous version. Brigid? Ingrid?, who kept bugging her mother for fancy marker pens and ended up drawing all over herself in technicolor. Somehow she then manages to turn herself invisible, then "redraws" herself back with the fancy pens. Hope you find your book.


B718: Boy who Eats Inedible Cereal

Solved: The Serial Garden.


B719: Boy who Lives in a Bridge
Read  young adult library book around 1967-68, don't think it was newly published at that time, probably an older title.  A young boy lived in a bridge that I think was being constructed at the time.  He'd explore its elaborate insides and tried to not be seen by anyone. Hardcover was red I think.

Holland, Rupert Sargent, The Boy Who Lived on London Bridge, 1938.


B720: Black girl with best friend named Floe

Solved: Jesse Jackson, Tessie. This is it!  This has been driving me crazy for years, truly.  Thanks, book lovers!


B721: Brother and sister appointed as tooth fairies
A children's book.  It was on the larger side, and was about two children, a brother and sister, who were either stepchildren or just treated badly by their mother.  They lost teeth and then somehow were appointed as the tooth fairies themselves.  The lost teeth may have become pearls or diamonds when they lost them themselves. It was very beautifully illustrated, and I recall the images more than the plot. 

B722: Bible stories and modern-day morality stories
Large, relatively ornate book which interleaved Bible stories and modern-day morality stories and was illustrated in color. I’m guessing it was published in the twenties and I remember nothing else about it!

 B723: Boy feels what animals feel, killed by horseBoy who could enter animals and feel what they felt but not control them, works for a veterinarian for a while but is killed by horse in the end while inside another animal, not sure which animal, think it was young adult.

Eckert, Allan W., Song of the Wild
Allan W.  Eckert, Song of the Wild, 1980. From Mr. Eckert's website: "This is a young adult novel about a boy with a very special talent that leads him into very special difficulties. Caleb Anderson, 12 years old, lives in Zion, Illinois, and he has the remarkable ability to project himself into the any living organism, animal or plant, and see, feel, taste and otherwise experience what that host is feeling, but without the host having any knowledge of his presence and without Caleb having any form or motor control over the host. He is only an observer. The problem is, when Caleb decides to enter an insect or bird or mammal or even a plant, in order to experiencing what it is experience, the body he leaves behind appears to be in some kind of a trance or coma and cannot be aroused until he himself elects to leave the host and come back. Obviously, this causes him a great deal of trouble, especially at home and in school. The troubles become so bad that his parents finally send him away to live for a while on a horse farm until he "gets over" his problem, which neither they nor his teachers nor anyone else understand. At the farm he meets a kindly veterinarian and begins to help him, with very unexpected results and a wholly unexpected ending. Originally published in 1980 by Little, Brown & Co., Boston, MA."
Allan W. Eckert, Song of the Wild


B724: Boxwood Fairy story book
I was born in '59 - in the 60s I read and reread a large format beautifully illustrated story book - The Boxwood Fairy? -about a little girl who finds a fairy living in a boxwood hedge in her garden. maybe there was an activity kit or paper doll included? drawings maybe "mod" 50s/60s style?

Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden. I read this book too, and have been looking for it, and the description...let me remember what it was called! I found it ...
I sent in a request a while back and keep hoping it will be solved. When I checked just now, I see that someone added incorrect info to it. The book I am looking for has nothing to do with FHB's Secret Garden, which I'm very familiar with.

Thanks for letting us know! We post all guesses as they arrive from the community. We'll keep trying.

B725: Boy inventor and friends construct clubhouse village
It was published maybe in the early- mid 70's (at least the edition I read) by the Weekly Reader Book Club for Kids. I can't recall title or author. It was a children's book, hardcover, ages around 5-9 would be appropriate.  Large illustrations. Plot: It was a story about a boy who was sort of an inventor, but his parents ignored him. He built himself a clubhouse that had all sorts of gadgets in it and to power it so to speak. He built some for his friends who wanted a place to go- a home away from home. Each child had a unique club house. Some were underground, some were in trees, and each had cool gadgets to provide basic functions. Each also sort of reflected the hobbies or passions of each child. Soon the parents were worried about where their children had gone. They went out and search and eventually stumbled upon this sort of mini-village in the woods, where each of their children had a unique clubhouse which reflected their skills and passions. The illustration of this mini-village was great. The parents were relieved and learned a lot about their children. The protagonist boy's parents were amazed and proud at their inventor son as well. I teem to recall that at the end, the parents were somehow engaged in the village workings by their kids. I think the boy built a sort of car wash conveyor belt that all the parents went on.

Doris Burn, Andrew Henry's Meadow, 1965, approximate. No mistaking this one!
Burn, Doris, Andrew Henry's Meadow. Should get lots of responses for this one. Andrew Henry is a young ''inventor'' whose inventions drive his family to distraction. Feeling unloved, he sets out for a place where he can do as he pleases. After he finds the meadow of the title, he builds a house for himself, and is soon joined by several other children. Everyone gets their own house, and there's a happy ending.

 B726: Boy finds a rip in time
This is a book I read in the 90's. A boy finds a rip in time and finds a land where all lost things (keys, odd socks, watches, etc) go. There is a sequel to the book, and in one of them, he participates in a tv game show and there might be mention of clocks (in title or subject).

Rodda, Emily, Finders Keepers, 1991. Finders Keepers: "Patrick's skill at a computer game earns him a place on Finders Keepers , a positively dizzy and dizzying game show transmitted from a parallel dimension, in which Finders from our dimension win valuable prizes by hunting for objects that have accidentally fallen through a barrier from the parallel universe into ours." (Publishers Weekly) The sequel is called The Timekeeper.
Madeleine L'Engle, A Wrinkle in Time, 1962.
Emily Rodda, Finders Keepers. This was a fantastic book. It was written by Emily Rodda, an Australian author. I clearly remember the game show sequence you mentioned. I think the sequel is The Timekeeper.
Norton Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth, 1961, approximate. I have been looking for this book ever since you started this post! I hope this is it, because if it isn't, your post IMMEDIATELY made me think of this. I swear, I spotted your post several years ago and have been trying to think of this. I really hope this is it!


 B727: Bulldog saves girl from bull
Bulldog owned by a little girl felt ashamed of his "ugly" squashed face and unworthy of the girl's love. He failed to learn beauty from poodle, speed from greyhound, & tracking from bloodhnd. Then, he saved his owner from a bull, where his nose & underbite allowed him to hang onto the bull's nose.
James Holding, Jr., The Ugliest Dog in the World, 1979. Definitely the right book. Algernon the bulldog feels inferior to his friends the poodle, the greyhound and the beagle. But one day Algy's little girl is attacked by a bull and only he can save the day!

 B728: Boy and father grow real food illegally in basement
Read in the 70s. Boy has girlfriend (6th graders maybe) over for breakfast and she cries when she eats a real egg/omelette with real butter for 1st time in her life. Dystopian? Dad has small garden, grow lights in basement. Against the law somehow. That's all I recall from the plot.

Frank Bonham, The Missing Persons League, 1983.The hero lives with his father and grows hydroponic vegetables in a hidden crawlspace. His mother and sister mysteriously disappeared about a year before, and they illegally continue to collect food rations based on a 4-person household. At the end he and the girl are chosen to be secretly cryogenically frozen to help repopulate the world in the future after it has recovered from all the ecological damage. His mother and sister were previously chosen which is why they disappeared.
Bonham, Frank, Missing Persons League.
Frank Bonham, The Missing Persons League, 1976. In a future world of algae diets, sour seas, and oxygen deficiency, a high school boy's search for his missing family leads him into dangerous trouble with the authorities.


 B729: Bridge leads to tiny people
A kid moves to a new house and crosses a nearby bridge only to find a fancy house with beautiful people in fancy dress having lots of parties. One day he has to go around the bridge, and he discovers that the house and people are actually tiny, and the bridge has been making him tiny when visited.

Mary Chase, Loretta Mason Potts. This was also published as Colin's Naughty Sister
Mary Chase, Loretta Mason Potts aka Colin's Naughty Sister. This is definitely the book you are thinking of- Colin's sister runs away and he follows her through a secret door at the back of the bedroom closet, over a bridge, and to a fancy house where they are treated like royalty.  He later finds out that the house and people are tiny and going through the closet causes people to shrink.  The welcoming people turn out to be wicked and he has to rescue his sister.
by Mary Chase, Loretta Mason Potts. This can be found on the Solved Mysteries page.
Mary Chase, Loretta Mason Potts (non-US title was Colin's Naughty Sister)
Mary Ellen Chase, Loretta Mason Potts. It's also in the Solved Mysteries -- shows up regularly here.


 B730: Boy runs away and is taken in by farmers
This book was given to my 10th grade English class in 1963 as a reading assignment.  The farm people are gracious to the boy, let him sleep in the barn with the dogs to keep him warm.  Mouthwatering descriptions of the meals served, and how he worked on the farm.

Elizabeth Enright, Thimble Summer. B730: Boy runs away and is taken in by farmers.....This reminds me of Thimble Summer, but I don't have the book right in front of me to check right now.  I am pretty sure that the farm family take in a homeless boy who has been hobo-ing it, and let him sleep in the barn and do chores, and eventually become almost a member of the family.  I think there are plenty of descriptions of good farm food in this book.  FARMER BOY by Laura Ingalls Wilder has the best descriptions of yummy farm food that I've ever read, but the runaway boy plot doesn't fit.
Sounds something like a Christian children's book I read back in the '70s. The boy runs away from him own family and is taken in by a kind older couple  he learns to help on their farm and tends a pet baby lamb. There's a mystery concerning a locked bedroom and the couple's own dead son, the boy and a friend try to solve it. In the end the boy is reunited with his parents and learns about forgiveness. Don't know if it's your book but hope it helps.
Ester Wier, The Loner, 1963. A boy shows up out of nowhere, and is taken in by a family with a sheep ranch. (Is it a ranch or a farm if you raise sheep?) It was a Newbery Honor book, so it could have been assigned reading that year.  I don't remember food descriptions, but I read it a long time ago. It was reissued in 1991 as part of a Newbery collection, but it's still pretty hard to find.
Esther Weir, The Loner, 1963, Could it be The Loner? I read it a very long time ago, but it's about a homeless boy who is taken in by a farm family who raise sheep. I don't remember food descriptions, but they could have been in there! I do remember that the boy was very resistant to being helped. I think it was a Newbery Honor book in 1963, so it's likely it could have been given as assigned reading.


 B731: boy, mountain, storm
Scholastic pre-teen or teen book from 70s-80s. Pre-teen/teen boy caught in storm on camping trip, runs down wrong side of mountain, gets lost. Survives on his own for a while by fishing. Hits head on rock retrieving fish hook. Gets found. Thought it was called Wrong Side of Mt., but can't find.
Jean Craighead George, My Side of the Mountain, 1959. You wouldn''t be thinking of this one, would you? Young Sam Gribley runs away from his large family in New York City, and hitches a ride to the Catskill Mountains, where he intends to live on his grandfather's abandoned farm. At first, he can't even start a fire by himself, but with the help of an old hermit named Bill, he learns valuable survival skills, including whittling fishing hooks, starting a fire, and catching and cooking his food. He expands a hollow tree and makes a home for himself inside it, where he lives with a pet falcon (Frightful) that he hand-rears from a chick. He also befriends a weasel (Baron) and a raccoon (Jesse Coon James) and a lost schoolteacher, whom he nicknames "Bando". During the winter, his father comes to visit him. The following spring, his parents and siblings move out to the grandfather's farm to be close to him, though he decides to continue living in his tree. It doesn't have the "accidentally runs down the wrong side of the mountain" incident - but another book that I read at about the same time had something similar. In "Follow My Leader" by James Garfield (about a blind boy and his guide dog, Leader) a group of (sighted) children on a camping trip get lost while going down a mountain to see the sunrise a second time, and the blind boy is able to lead them back again.
George,  Jean Craighead, My side of the mountain, 1959. This is probably your book.  There are also two or three sequels.
Philip Viereck, The Summer I was Lost. The book has also been retitled as "Terror on the Mountain" - sounds like that may have been the title you read it under.  It was a good read once it got going, but it took quite a few forgettable chapters to get the kid out to that mountain, I recall!
J. Allan Bosworth, White Water Still Water, 1969. Except for the camping trip, it sounds a lot like this book.  In it, the boy falls asleep on the raft he built and kept hidden from his parents.  It breaks loose and is carried far downstream, followed along the shore by his dog.  The boy and dog must make their way home, over 100 miles and over at least 2 mountains.
Jean Craighead George, My Side of the Mountain, 1959.
Jean Craighead George, My Side of the Mountain, 1959. Could it be My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George? This is a survival story about a runaway, set in the Catskill Mountains. It was a Newbery Honor book, and later adapted into a movie.
George, Jean Craighead, My Side of the Mountain, 1959. You will probably gets lots of replies to this. Although your readings dates are from the 1970's,I think this must be the book.  Originally published in 1959, it'\''s a classic.  Most libraries should still have this as part of their core children's collection.
Likely it's Terror on the Mountain (aka: The Summer I Was Lost) by Phillip Viereck, 1965.
Philip Viereck, Terror on the Mountain (orig Title: The Summer I Was Lost), 1972. This is definitely the book that you're looking for.
Terror on the Mountain. I read this book over and over when I was in fifth and sixth grade.  I think I bought it from Scholastic Book Club.   The original title was The Summer I was Lost. 
Jean Craighead George, My Side of the Mountain, 1959. There is a book similar to what you are describing, but he doesn't get lost on a trip, he runs away from his home in New York City. He learns to fish, and he has a falcon that he trains. Lives in a hollow tree trunk, and almost suffocates when there is a snowstorm.


 B732: Boy builds contraptions, town in the forest
A book I had in 80s (I think it was older).  About a boy who was always building contraptions (vaguely remember him building some pulley system at home), his parents send him outside, so he gathers some boys & they build a small "town" of huts in the forest...at some point mom calls him for dinner..

Doris Burn, Andrew Henry's Meadow. Sounds like you're looking for Andrew Henry's Meadow. (See B725 above for descriptions)


 B733: Boy jumps through hole
I read a book when I was about 10 or 12 back in the 1960's about a boy who finds a hole while walking in the woods (or in a field near a rock) and climb through into another world.  I think he comes back every night because he is woried he will be missed so each day is another adventure.  He goes by himself each time through this hole in the ground or the rock.  I could be way off on some of these specifics. The librarians and one at your store who I gave this information to, have mentioned everything from Alice in Wonderland to some other books that are in a series, but I believe that this was a book by itself and only with one boy. 

Some keywords might be Hole in the ground/rock/woods/forest; another Dimension (might have been in the title???); another World.  I'm sorry I don't remember any of his adventures on the other side.  Maybe I was too scared so I blanked out the memory, but I know this was one book at my age that I could not put down.  I hope you can find it for me, as my son is at that age and this is exactly like the kind of books he has been reading lately. Also, I tried searching your site, but the number of hits was astounding, and after looking through many and finding even more books for him to read, I could not find one just like the one I am looking for.

Ursula LeGuin, The Beginning Place. Not sure, but your description recalls The Beginning Place  the boy is a young man named Hugh Rogers, who is able to enter a medieval, twilight shrouded world world thru a forest glade. There, time runs more slowly, he spends many days there and has befriended local townspeople. He also meets up with Irene, a girl from this world who is also able to enter the town. It's a gloomy book, but intriguing. Ultimately the two young people, with much arguing, join forces to defeat a strange dragon-creature menacing the town. Hope this helps.
 B734: Bad Witch & Black Cats Turn to Good
SOLVED: The Witch of Hissing Hill.

2011

B735: "Big blue sky", "white clouds" Father, son, life, aging, happier
Cover:  Man standing in front of a fence under a blue sky with white clouds. Father talking to son about life, then father dies and son travels the world and tells his son about life "under the big sky".  The man gets older but gets happier not sad as he ages. Possibly published in early1980s?

Trevor Romaine, Under the Big Sky.
The story isn't exactly the same, but the title is so similar, this might be it. a grandfather promises his grandson great riches if he brings back the secret of life. he's gone for years and when he comes back, his grandfather tells him that the journey itself is the secret of life and his riches are everything thats under the big sky.

 B736: Boy turned into spherical alien
Solved: Frank Asch, Journey to Terezor, 1989.

B737: Berry hats
SOLVED:  The Good and Bad Berries. 
B738: Boy and kidnapped robot who dives in corrosive water
It had something to do with a boy who had an robot or clone or something and there were these water tanks that the robots could dive into to do work, but if people dived in the water would kill them or dissolve them or something and the boy was going to pretend to be his robot anyway to save him 
Alfred Slote, C.O.L.A.R. : a tale of outer space, 1981. I'm pretty sure this is C.O.L.A.R.  It's one of a series of books that Alfred Slote wrote about Jack Jameson and his robot, Danny One (who was built to look just like Jack.) Other books in the series are: My Robot Buddy (1975); My trip to Alpha I (1978); Omega Station (1983); The Trouble on Janus (1985).
Del Rey, Lester, The Runaway Robot, 1965. It's been decades since I read this book so I remember little of the plot, but perhaps this is what you are thinking of

B739: Boy with glasses and pith helmet, jungle, snake
Hardback, vibrant pictures. Kids in jungle- was a frilled lizard, I assume Australia. Overweight boy big round glasses & pith helmet; at one point snake wrapped around him. Glasses were askew, face greenish. Name was Simon? Also girl & at least 1 other boy. Had book in mid-late 70s, maybe early 80s.

Edward McLachlan, Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings. I can't say for sure whether this right. In fact, the person may be remembering the cartoon based on the book Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings. But if you Google it, an illustration will come up, and you can at least see if matches the memory.
The book was not Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings. The illustrations were fully realized pictures, very detailed. There were at least two other children with the overweight boy - at least one girl and another boy. They were on some sort of jungle adventure  I remember the chubby kid being wrapped in a snake with his glasses askew. Another where his face was green because he was sick to his stomach.


B740: Bear children giving gift for Mama bear, Bunnies playing blind man’s bluff with wolf, Scarecrow with no legs
I am seeking a collection of bedtime stories that were my favorite as a child.  I have a 9 month old baby boy and I would love to share these stories with him.  I assume the copyright is in the early 1980’s which is when I read them.   It had a red cover (don’t they all!)… and a picture of a bear family on the front.  Seems like the papa bear is in a chair.  The book contains all original stories (no well known fairy tales.) The first few stories center around a family of bears.  In one they go on a picnic, and in another they have a party and each child chooses a special gift for their Mama bear at the bear market.  There are also other animals featured.  I remember a story about a wolf trying to get capture a little girl bunny when she is playing blind man's bluff with her friends. The second half of the book features magical creatures like pixies and gnomes in the forest.  There is a big party at the end with all the creatures in the woods, and one of the little boys makes wooden legs and a crutch for the scarecrow so he can leave the field and join everyone.  Seems like I can remember everything but the title and author, huh! LOL


 B741: Banking incident
SOLVED: Literary Lapses. (The story is "My Financial Career.")


B742: brother and sister with eyes that reflect silver

SOLVED: A Walk Out of the World.

B743: Boy borrows cup of sugar from monster
Lift the flap kids book about boy goes to neighbor's to borrow cup of sugar for mom. In 1 rm. is chest, lift it and bat flies out. In kitchen are 3 tins w/ingred. in them. You turn the dials and add gross ingred. to a big pot. At end of bk. you open a door and there's a monster there w/a cup of sugar. This book had a sound chip in it, that played spooky sounds.  My daughter had this book around 2005, but I'm pretty sure it was printed before then.  There is also dungeon with flaps to lift and a library I believe. Thanks for any help you can give!

Jan Pienkowski,
Haunted House. Could this be Jan Pienkowski's Haunted House? I don't remember specifically about a cup of sugar, but it'\''s a wildy inventive lift the flap guided tour of a haunted house, with gross elements like those described here.

B744: Bear wears coat in the hot sun shrinks drinks water get back to bear size gets caught in wind storm friends names Robbie & Bobbin the bunny had cassette w/full story narration & songs "I like you"
SOLVED:
Bearly there at all-The Land of Pleasant Dreams, 1986.

B745: Bear learns to swim
SOLVED: Shiego Watanabe, Let's Go Swimming, 1990.

B746: Boy vacuum cleaner world
SOLVED: Jolly Roger Bradfield, The Flying Hockey Stick, 1966.


B747: Black & White Drawings (?) of animals
Large children's book with black & white drawings (?) of animals, published around 1960 - One animal per page, many from Africa

William Bridges (author), Mary Baker (illus.), Wilde Animals of the World. I am sure of the title, a bit less so of the author.  Most of the illustrations were pencil drawings as you say - very detailed and nicely shaded in an almost photorealistic way.  There was one every page or two.  Pages were almost as wide as they were tall.  The cover was tan, possibly with a brown spine.
I have memories of a story like this  the boy was either too young or too old for most things. On the day in question, his older brother was off hiking, and his younger one taking a nap, leaving him with nothing to do, until he saw the kitten crawl into the pipe, told the men, they were fixing a sewer? the boy was the only one who could reach into the pipe to save it. Don't recall a fire truck, but hope this is your book.

B748: Bird lives on man's shoulder
I'm trying to find a childrens book that was around from the late 70's i think, the only thing i know about it is that there was a bird that lived on a mans shoulder and the man died so the bird flew away and he found another bird to love instead..possilbly called evito or eveta?

David Macaulay, Angelo, 2002, approximate. It's much more recent than the 1970s, but Macaulay's picture book, Angelo, is about an old man who restores building.  He befriends a pigeon who becomes his companion (until he dies at the end).  The artwork has an old fashioned look.

B749: Bedtime story collection
Collection of Children's bedtime stories sold (not sure about published) in approximately 1978.  Book was large (8 1/2 x 11 at least) white book with MANY 1 - 2 page stories.  One story was "The White Peacock" -- NOT THE BOOK BY THE SAME NAME.  Another story was about a Tuba, another about a fireplace. Additional information:  The book included illustrations for each story. 

B750: Boy and family wake up as tiny playthings for a giant girl
SOLVED: Ann Stone, The House that Disappeared.

B751: Baby hooded rat adopted by girl
A little girl adopts a baby hooded rat after it accidentally falls out of the cage at a friend's house. The boy was going to feed it to his snake but the little girl takes it home.  She feeds it with a medicine dropper and eventually it grows up to be a great pet.

Margaret Embry, Kid Sister, 1970. From the back cover: "Mother, you've just got to make Zibby get rid of that dreadful animal," says Ruth. Poor Zibby! It's terrible to be a kid sister. Ruth and Karen don't even try to understand her. And now they want her to get rid of her wonderful pet rat, Rosemary. But before long Zibby finds an unexpected friend - and one who likes Rosemary as much as she does."
Kid Sister. See Solved Mysteries. This was likely very radical when it was published.

B752: Boy helps Robert Bruce of Scotland - antique book
Thin childrens book, probably from 1880-1900. Boy lives in Scotland in the days of Robert Bruce before he became king of Scotland. Bruce was being chased by English soldiers. Boy and mother help him hide. Seems like the boy's name was Davy or Danny and the title had the boy's name in it.

B753: Boy on dark planet with ashes finds new world
There is a book I remember reading when I was a child probably from the late 70's or early 80's about a young man who lives on a dark planet full of ash in the sky and no trees or plants.  He is going to a ceremony in a white robe and at the end of the story he and a girl find a new world with trees

Hope Campbell writing as G. MacDonald Wallis, Legend of Lost Earth, 1963. 'This is a forgotten classic. It mixes science fiction with Celtic and Norse Mythology traditions. The boy is Giles Chulainn, the girl is Lir Regan (he also has a fiancee named Sigrid), his white gown is for his Examination for Society, and the dark planet full of ashes is Niflhel where it never rains. Some old ladies believe in rain and in a strange faraway world with trees, a place called Earth -- but that's just a folk tale. Or is it?

B754: Boy doesn't like to get up, machine
Picture book about a boy who doesn't like to get out of bed in the morning, so a machine helps him get up, brush his teeth and get dressed. Circa 1970s perhaps?

Du Bois, William Pene, Lazy Tommy Pumkinhead, 1966 "Tommy is so lazy he needs several machines to help him through his day. When the morning sun warms his window sill, his bed lifts up and dumps him into the bathtub. The bathtub tilts and dumps him into the drying room where is teeth are brushed and his hair is combed for him. Then he slides down a chute into a harness, which guides him into his shorts, pants, socks, and shoes. A sailor suit drops down over his head. Then the harness takes him to the feeding machine. Finally, his mouth is wiped for him."
William Pene Du Bois, Lazy Tommy Pumpkinhead, 1966. A much loved book by a wonderful author, this is definitely Lazy Tommy Pumpkinhead by William Pene Du Bois.
William Pene du Bois, Lazy Tommy Pumpkinhead. Definitely this one! You'll probably get a lot of responses. Look it up in Solved Mysteries for details.
Clifford Hicks, The Marvelous Inventions of Alvin Fernald, 1968, approximate.The book isn't really about Alvin's dislike of mornings, but he does have a whole process that mechanized for getting him awake--including something that pulls up the shades, pulls down the covers, turns on his alarm clock and delivers breakfast.
B755: Boy who loves to build things, treehouse
Children's book from the late 80's to early 90's. It is about a boy who loves to build things. He builds a treehouse for himself in a clearing. Soon, his friends start coming out there and wanting him to build houses for them. He does; one is a house underground, one is a boathouse, etc.

Burn, Doris, Andrew Henry's Meadow, 1965.
Burns, Doris, Andrew Henry's Meadow.
Doris Burn, Andrew Henry's Meadow. A popular book - this one seems to come up a lot. I'm sure you'll receive many responses. See Solved Mysteries for complete details.

B756: Biographies of Famous Americans
There was a large collection of children's biographies on famous americans in my elementary school library. They were published in the 1970s most likely and had red hard covers. They ranged from well-known individuals like Sacagawea and Pocahontas to lesser known individuals like Elizabeth Blackwell.

Various,
Childhood of Famous Americans. This is probably the same series as Y79. This series had been around since the 40's, fictionalized biographies of famous americans from childhood to adulthood.  They were various colors.  I read them in the late 1960-early 1970's.  My favorite was the story of Virginia Dare, told from her viewpoint. Like I said very fictionalized.  They have been updated and they now have red, white and blue covers and are available in paperback.  If you put in Childhood of Famous Americans in Google Images you can see some of the different covers.
overs.

B757: Boy Held Hostage in Middle East
1970s/80s. A wealthy expat boy in a Middle Eastern country is kidnapped by a revolutionary group.  He eventually comes to sympathize with them. Somehow he is rescued, but the book ends with the boy back home in London catching sight of a newspaper headline about the revolutionary's execution.

I read this book!  Unfortunately, I can't remember either. I thought it was Hostage! by Jan Mark...but I can't find a record of Jan Mark writing a book called Hostage. But, just in case this helps jog someone else's memory...
James Hamilton, Hostage, 1980, approximate. It may be this one! Hostage, by James Hamilton. The CIP summary sounds like a real possibility: Mistakenly kidnapped by a guerrilla group, the son of an American oil executive discovers that as the weeks of his captivity pass he is less and less sure which side he wants to be on.

B758: Bedtime/Fairy Stories
SOLVED: Bridget Hadaway, Fairy Tales. Yes, it's the Hadaway book! Thank you so much.


B759: Buffy Sainte-Marie
Buffy Sainte-Marie, the Native American singer: I read this book in my school library in the 1970s, and I'm guessing it was published in the early 70s. It was a YA novel about a girl who was obsessed with Buffy Sainte-Marie, and how her music helped her deal with a difficult home life.

B760: Boy grows and sells strawberries to buy a bicycle
SOLVED: Dorthea J. Snow, Lassie and the Mystery at Blackberry Bog. 
B761: Boy named Ba
Years and years ago, I read a children's book about a little boy named Ba, who is found by the side of the road by an old woman.  He is found wearing a red jacket, trousers, and green shoes with little bats embroidered on them. He has dim memories of someone hitting him with a very hard hand, and someone else defending him. Years later, he is found by a man named Wang, who is really his uncle and who is responsible for kidnapping him years earlier from his sister. Ba's real name is Chu, but I forget if he actually found his mother. Can you help?


B762: Bus Trip to Beach
SOLVED: Felice Holman, Professor Diggins' Dragons.

B763: Bedtime stories
I'm looking for a collection of bedtime stories from childhood (I was born in 1986). There was a story about a family of bunnies that lived in a tree trunk (each in their own bed) and one about a boat sailing through a chocolate bay with candy. Amazing artwork. I think the book was sewn with string.

B764: Boy grows too many plants
Probably 1970-80 book. A boy grows plants in his house, starting with little tiny ones in cups. Eventually the plants take over. The walls of the house fall down, leaving a solid mass of plants shaped like a house.

Zion, Gene, Plant Sitter,
1976. A boy offers to watch plants for his neighbors, they grow and grow, until finally he dreams that they have taken over his house.  See description at http://www.kids-bookreview.com/2010/09/vintage-book-review-plant-sitter.html

B765: Bear journey
I remember having a chapter book read to the class in 5th grade in 1972.  It involved a bear (tame, friendly, maybe escaped from a circus, not sure about that), a boy and a journey.  Maybe both the boy and bear were misfits.  For some reason I remember a camper or trailer.  Thanks!

Morey, Walt, Gloomy Gus,
1970. Because of an agreement his alcoholic father makes with a circus, 15-year-old Eric begins a long journey south from Alaska with the huge Kodiak bear he raised from a cub.

B766: Boy befriends a fairy or leprachaun
I don't remember the title or author. It's about a boy who befriends a fairy or leprachaun .  It was written in the 1960's or before. They have a lot of adventures and at the end when the leprachaun has to leave the boy is sad but a boy moves in next door that looks just like the fairy/ leprachaun.

B767: Boy home sick from school, neighbors apartments
I remember reading this book in first grade  (1987) about a little boy who stays home sick from school. He's looking in the windows of apartments and he sees one fill with water and the old lady tenant swims around in it. The last apartment window is where Night (personified as a woman) lives.

Betty Boegehold, What the Wind Told,
1974. This is definitely the book you remember.  Tossy is home sick and every day the wind comes and tells her about the people who live in the windows she can see across the way.  She asks why the old woman leans out her window, and the wind explains that her apartment fills with water.  There is the "Five Plant Window," the "Dirter's Window," the "Old Dog's Window," etc...  And the last window is the "Empty Window," where Darkness/Night lives.  A description can also be found in Solved Stumpers (http://www.loganberrybooks.com/solved-w.html)

B768: Bear, candystore
Approximate date: 1970-1980. Bear owns a candystore and wears like an apron. Great illustrations of candy and suckers. The book is hardcover, rectangle in shape, white background. It was a mail order set of books.

B769: Boy finds nest of lizard/dragon eggs
A boy finds a nest of eggs,he hatches them and they turn out to be lizards/dragons.Set in an abandoned city - his father was a journalist. A lizard (blue?) bites him and disfigures his face. An old woman friend travelling with him on his journey runs out of cigarettes and feeds herself to the lizards.

B770: Banjo-playing turtle
SOLVED: Linda Danly,
Lullaby River.

B771: Boy befriends Robot on planet
A children's/young adult book in paperback with a few black ink drawings in the book.  About a young boy on a planet (not Earth) who befriends a Robot and helps the Robot escape. That's all I remember of the book and plot.

The Runaway Robot by Lester del Rey?
del Ray, Lester, The Runaway Robot.
Could it be the Runaway Robot, published in the late 60s? Rex the robot in question had been the kind servant of a family on one of Jupiter's moons until they have to return to Earth. The robot has to stay behind, working in the mines, until it decides to run away and try to rejoin its human family. The boy may also be trying to help his robot friend, not sure. Hope this helps.
H.M. Hoover, Orvis, 1985. Could it be Orvis? More recent than The Runaway Robot, but definitely the story of a boy and a robot, stranded on a planet. The robot may rescue the boy as well as the boy rescuing the robot.


B772: Brussel Sprouts eat city
SOLVED: Kendall Haven, The Killer Brussels Sprouts.

B773: Bear
TitleGues: Brenny Bear, 1940's or 1950's
. Trying to help my dad find a book from his childhood. He thinks it is called ''Brenny Bear'' or ''Brenna Bear" some name that begins with a B and was an unusual name.  It was probably published before the 1950's but could have been published as late as 1958.  The story is about a boy that hears a noise outside and thinks it is a bear.  Turns out it is a bear but just a baby bear which he then gets to keep as a playmate. He remembers the book as having illustrations as well and a few sentences or more on each page, not just a few words. Any help would be much appreciated!
Barbee Lee Oliver, Benny and the Bear, 1960, approximate. Might be Benny and the Bear. Benny, the youngest of several brothers, is told to stay home when they go out to hunt for a dangerous bear. Benny goes to the field and a nice big brown "dog" comes out.  Benny befriends it and teaches it tricks. The brothers see him with the bear one day and nearly shoot it, but Benny bravely steps in front of the bear and saves him.  The brothers admire Benny's courage.  Very nice illustrations (color) and a charming story.  Several sentences on each page.
B774: Boy thinks family dead, lives in woods
Children's novel from 1960s/70s. Young boy in the city takes his dog for a walk. Comes back & his apartment building has burned down, family presumed dead. Danger; thinks he's next. Camps in woods- gets provisions by putting a bump in highway, supplies fall off trucks. In the end, family not dead.
Robert C. O'Brien, The Silver Crown, 1968. Definitely this one, but the main character whose home burns on her birthday is a girl, not a boy.  She later joins up with a boy who salvages supplies from wrecked trucks.
Robert C. O'Brien, The Silver Crown. This doesn't exactly fit your query but there are enough similarities to mention it.  In The Silver Crown a girl, Ellen, awakens early on her birthday to find a crown under her pillow.  She goes out to a nearby park to sit on a bench and enjoy wearing the crown.  While she's gone her house burns to the ground.  She overhears the firemen say that everyone died in the fire and she feels that she may be in danger so she develops a plan to try to reach her aunt's house in the mountains.  She accepts a ride from a stranger but finds out that he was responsible for the fire so she escapes from his car after an accident and runs into the woods.  In the woods she finds a boy, Otto, who purposely interferes with the road in order to make trucks wreck there so he can steal some of their cargo.  He lives in the forest with his elderly mother.  Together Otto and Ellen go off on a trek to find out why people are interested in her and why the silver crown is so special.  At the end of the book her family are all found safe and sound.
Robert C. O'Brien, The Silver Crown. In The Silver Crown a girl's house burns down  while on the run she meets a boy who lives in the woods and sets up trucks to crash.  There's also a large supernatural element that the stumper didn't mention.  Enough details match that I thought it worth mentioning.
Robert C. O'Brien, The Silver Crown. This sounds like parts of The Silver Crown. It's a girl who thinks her family is gone though, and a boy she finds along the way who was getting food from a bump in the road. They end up traveling together though, on a quest to discover what it trying to find them.
Robert C O, The Silver Crown
Robert C O'Neil, The Silver Crown, 1969. This sounds like the submitter got the plot to The Silver Crown garbled. Ellen goes for the walk and her apartment burns down and she finds herself running from a man in a green mask. She meets Otto along the way, and he has created hazards in the road to get food and supplies for himelf and his adoptive mother.

B775: Boy rides through enormous machine
Hi this is a description of the book I am looking for, which I remember from roughly 1975: A little boy rides through an enormous funhouse/machine type environment in a funhouse car on rails - the illustrations were very dense and colorful. thanks.

Patty Wolcott, The Marvelous Mud Washing Machine. I learned to read on a book titled THE MARVELOUS MUD WASHING MACHINE by Patty Wolcott. A boy who has been playing in a mud puddle is told to wash for dinner. He goes to a huge machine in the woods and goes through a typre of human car wash contraption. 


B776: Babysitter takes children to magical places
The book Im looking for is about an old woman that babysits a young brother and sister. When she opens her bag and puts on oversized glasses they go to magical places such as Sherwood Forest to meed Robin Hood. It was probably written in the late 1950's to mid 1965.

Julian, Nancy, Peculiar Miss Pickett,
1951. When Miss Pickett, the babysitter, takes off her glasses all sorts of wonderful things happen. There is a sequel Miss Pickett's Secret as well.
I remember that one! The old woman's name was NOT Miss Pickerell, star of another series, but it was similar. She used her magic glasses to turn the doormat into a flying carpet when the kids went star-gazing, to stop a fire from burning the school, to trap a burglar in the kitchen. In the end she disappears, with a promise to come back. I'd like to see it again too  hope this helps.
Julian, Nancy, The Peculiar Miss Pickett, 1951. Found it! with a bit of poking around on the Web. Mainly Miss P has several magic adventures with the children, using her glasses to help solve problems, before going on to her next charges. Hope you find a copy, it was fun.

B777: Book about child who talks a lot - word birds
Hi I'm looking for an old children's book about a child who talks a lot and when they do, "word birds" come out of their mouth.

Barbara Klomowicz, The word-birds of Davy McFifer,
1970. David always talked too much until a neighbor told him about word-birds.

2011

B778: Boy staying with a neighbor finds out he belongs to secret witch society
This story is about a boy whose family has to go out of town so he has to stay with the people next door. Events unfold and he discovers he is next in line in some secret witch society. I remember the witches all knitted or crocheted messages that looked like spider webs- and as the man next door helps him navigate the mystery of his life there are some who are against him taking his rightful place. (I wonder if JK Rowling ever read this book...).


I've been looking for this book for ages too!  I thought it was called The American Witch, and it was by McKee, or McMann, or something with an "Mc" at the beginning, and a short, double letter end. But so far, no luck. Maybe this will give your memory a jumping off place though.  The cover of the one I remember had a woman in an attic window of a Victorian mansion, with two boys on the ground looking up at her. It was very 70s stylized, and mostly purple or blue.
MacNess, Jay Jackson, The American Witch, 1966. Published by McGraw-Hill and illustrated by Don Bolgnese. I'm not sure if this is the solution to the original stumper as I can find little information about it but this must be the book the second person is looking for.  The cover art does appear to be purple with an old woman in a window.
Jay Jackson MacNess, The American Witch. This is the book the person who commented discussed, but it doesn't really match the description the person who sent in the stumper gave.  (Unless the book involves the main character's aunt, Maj, which is short for Mad Aunt Janet.)  The boy in American Witch isn't the heir to anything and nobody's trying to keep him from it.

B779: Boy running, supermarket storekeeper shouting
I remember the pages being thin-cardboard and the book being tallish, rectangular. The illustrations were ''cartoony'' but not based on any TV show IIRC. The description above is the only illustration I can really recall in my mind: This boy with reddish-brown (it could've been light-brown) hair and wearing a light purple or blue/blue-green (teal maybe) shirt (he is wearing pants, too, BTW) is running down a supermarket aisle--can't remember if he has a cart. On the bottom left-hand corner of the page, or the left hand page (if it was a two-page drawing, the storekeeper is pointing at him and yelling at him to stop or come back here (or words to that effect). I do distinctly remember the storekeeper wearing a white uniform, having a long nose and glasses, bushy eyebrows, and was bald except for bushy white/(light gray, but I'm pretty sure it was white) hair on the sides of his head. I have no recollection what the plot or the concept of the book was (was it a book of etiquette: Don't run in the supermarket, etc.) that's the only illustration that really stands out in my memory. However, I also seem to vaguely remember a little blonde girl in a pink dress and pink bows in her hair who was drawn the same way as the ''unruly supermarket boy'' mentioned above, but I can't recall what she was doing or if she's even in that same book.

Don Freeman, Mop Top. A shot in the dark, but could the person be thinking of MOP TOP by Don Freeman? A boy doesn't want to get a haircut so he runs off. He hides in a store, and it shows a balding shopkeeper (although his hair is not white). Take a look at the cover to see if it rings any bells.

B780: Bridget and Amelia and the mongoose
SOLVED: LeRoy, Gen Bridget.


B781: Boys play ice hockey
This was a teen chapter book my husband read in the 70s about two boys playing ice hockey on a frozen lake near a waterfall. One of the boys falls in and gets injured. The parents separate one of the boys from the one they feels is a bad influence. They meet later in life as adults and think about the incident. My husband is from Canada, so ice hockey is dear to him and this book is one he tried to find when our kids were teens, but alas couldn't.

Emily Cheney Neville, Berries Goodman. A possibility. I don't think the characters actually play ice hockey  but Sidney is injured falling on ice when carrying out another child's dare  and the rest does sound like the book. The book included a house move, and problems caused by anti-semitism.
B782: Boy moves to the country (a farm?)
SOLVED: Paulsen, Gary, Popcorn Days and Buttermilk Nights.


B783: Boys build plane
SOLVED: Peter Spier, Bored, Nothing to Do.

B784: Boy genius loses school election by one vote
Written in the 70's? Main character is an eccentric boy genius; unkempt, messy. He enters a school election and loses by one vote. He is asked who he voted for and says "The best man, the best man." He dresses like Homer from the Iliad at the end. The school was "p.s.129" possibly? Updated: I don't have a solution, but I have an addition:  there was a reason that he wanted or needed to lose the election (I think something like if he won, he was going to be beaten up).

Sidney Offit, Adventures of Homer Fink. Printed in paperback by Scholastic in the 1970's, and now available again from another company.  I'm pretty sure this is the right book. 
Homer Fink
Sidney Offit, The Adventures of Homer Fink, 1969.
Sidney Offit, The Adventures of Homer Fink, 1966.You can consider this one solved. Homer Fink is a genius and a great fan of the ancient Greek and Roman orators. He runs for school president of P.S. 79 in Baltimore and loses by one vote.  Quoting from the book,
"Whom did you vote for, anyway?"
"The best man," said Homer Fink. "The beginning of knowledge is to know your own limitations." Copyright 1966 St. Martin's Press.  I have a Scholastic edition, 3rd printing, 1972.


 B785:  Boy Finds Girl Shipwrecked on Beach
This was a kids'/YA novel about a boy who finds a girl w/amnesia washed ashore after a storm. Historic fiction, maybe Colonial or 1800's, definitely the US, maybe Carolinas. There is a big storm and an older man says, "a few years from now you'd be happier to find a pretty girl washed ashore." More: I am looking for the title of a young adult/children's novel about a boy who discovers a young woman washed ashore on the beach during or after a big storm. She has amnesia or may have been temporarily mute. It's historical fiction, I believe set in the US. It is NOT "Peggy of the Cove" as I read it in the 1980's and the young woman was definitely a young woman, not a little girl. One older man tells the boy something about how if it happened a few years later when he was a little older he'd be thrilled to find a young woman washed ashore. The setting was definitely 1800's or earlier as I remember they used old-timey speech.

Taylor, Theodore, Teetoncey.
This was the first in a trilogy about 12-year-old Ben and the mute girl they name Teetoncey. 
Theodore Taylor, Teetoncy series, 1970. Could this be the Teetoncy trilogy? Ben rescues a girl who washes up on the beach. She can't speak (at least in the first book) and there's something mysterious about her. Somehow, there's some kind of treasure linked to her. The other books are Teetoncy and Ben O'Neal and The Odyssey of Ben O'Neal. (I think the Teetoncy has another title in hardcover, Washed up from the Sea, maybe.) If it's not the one you're looking for, it might be a good substitute.
Theodore Taylor, Teetoncey. Could this be Teetoncey, the first book in the Cape Hatteras Trilogy?  The others are Teetoncey and Ben O'Neal and The Odyssey of Ben O'Neal.  The details fit - girl rescued from shipwreck, can't talk.  I don't remember the exact line about being happier to find a girl when he's older, but that's probably just my mind not working.

B786: Boy meets caretaker of local cemetary
SOLVED: Scott Corbett, Here lies the Body, 1974.


B787: Boy, a ghost and a pocket watch in the hollow of a tree

Ideas?
Alphin, Ellen(?), Ghost Cadet. I'm unsure of the author's first name, but sure of her surname and the title.  This is a really good YA of a modern day boy who meets a young ghost who died in the Civil War battle at - I think - New Market.  The ghost cannot move away from the battle site until he recovers an heirloom pocket watch lost during the battle.  This was a Nebraska Golden Sower Award nominee, and I helped with the teaching ideas for the Manual.
Alphin, Elaine Marie, The Ghost Cadet, 1991.  Twelve-year-old Benjy, in Virginia visiting the grandmother he has never met, meets the ghost of a Virginia Military Institute cadet who was killed in the Battle of New Market in 1864 and helps him recover his family's treasured gold watch.

B788: Beetles and insects as nurses and nannies
SOLVED: Sibylle von Olfer, Story of the Root Children, 1906.


B789: Boy runs away pulling wagon and collects goodie in town
From the 80's. It's about a boy who I think is in the way at home, so he runs away into town. He visits the butcher and he gives the boy some sausage. He visits the shoe store and is given shoes. He travels around town, then goes home with his wagon full.

Joe Lasker, The Do-something Day,
1982, Viking Press.

B790: Boys, gadgets, foil crime
A boy's adventure book I read in about 1960. Probably English. It was about a group of boys and one was always making gadgets from old stuff he found at the rubbish tip. This time he hooked up a radio and a tape-recorder to a time-switch and managed to record some crooks planning a robbery, which the boy's managed to foil.

B790, B791, Stephen Mogridge, New Forest series.
These two books sound like they come from Stephen Mogridge's New Forest Series, eleven books, published between 1952 and 1964. B790 sounds like the first book in the series, New Forest Adventure, B791 like the second book, called New Forest Mystery. There are actually boys and girls in the books (siblings), but the boy boffin is Freddy.
Bertrand Brinley, The Mad Scientists Club, 1960, approximate. Not British, but it sounds like it could be The Mad Scientist's Club.  Another series to check is The Three Investigators--the boys have a trailer buried behind heaps of stuff in the Salvage Yard owned by one of the boy's aunt and uncle.
B791: Boys, note in bottle, foil criminals
A boy's adventure book I read in about 1960, and probably English, but set in Europe I think. Some boys were playing with nets in a river (overnight?) and managed to catch a bottle with a secret note inside. Some crooks were planning a robbery(?) and were communicating by floating messages down stream. Needless to say the the boys foiled the crooks plans.

Stephen Mogridge, New Forest Mystery see B790 above

B792: Boy meets blind man in forest / jungle
Boy meets a blind man in a forest / jungle. The blind man can still "see"; he is perfectly aware of everything around him. Boy is impressed and tries to get the same abilities by blindfolding himself. Wins a card game "blind". At beginning/end the boy gives away money from up high (balcony/balloon).

Roald Dahl, Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. You are probably thinking Henry Sugar. As an adult he purposefully learns how to perceive extraordinary things (such as seeing while blindfolded, or knowing what cards are in another man's hand) in order to cheat at cards. In the end, having won tons of money through cheating he realizes that in the years spent perfecting his art he no longer cares about money, so he throws it all out the balcony window to the people below.
Roald Dahl, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, 1977, approximate. A wealthy gambler learns of a man who can "see without his eyes" and, inspired, commits himself to honing his psychic powers. After three years of intensive meditation, he masters the ability to see through playing cards... but his training has changed his priorities.

B793: Basket Giant
Looking for a picture book about a boy/basket weaver who builds a giant knight out of baskets to protect his town. I used to read it when I was a kid in the early 80s, so it was probably written in the 60s or 70s.

Carrick, Donald, Harald and the Giant Knight, 1
982. Just found this in our school library  farmer and his son are also basket-weavers.  Their farm is being ruined by knights doing their spring training so they make a large figure out of reeds in order to scare off the knights.

B794: Boy visited by an alien
SOLVED:
Carl L. Biemiller, The Magic Ball From Mars, 1952, 1953.

B795: Brother, little sister follow him around
Brother with a little sister who follows him around.1 picture I can remember was he had a big jar of red beans or beads which she spills and they have to pick them up 1 by 1.Think they were mice and looked slightly like the arthur the aardvak but its not those illustrations.from around mid 80's-90's.

Rosemary Wells, Stanley and Rhoda,
1985. The brother and sister are mice. There is a story where they are supposed to be cleaning Rhoda's room and she keeps knocking over the jar of beads and picking them up while Stanley does all the rest of the work.

B796: Beatnick squirrels
Looking for a children's book about a lady squirrel who is chased from her modest tree house by beatnick squirrels in striped shirts, and ends up living in a victorian doll house.  Thank you so much for this service and your time.

Young, Miriam, Miss Suzy.
This would be Miss Suzy of course.  Reprinted a few years ago.
Miriam Young, Miss Suzy, 1964, approximate.
Miriam Young, Miss Suzy, 1964.
Young, Miriam, Miss Suzy, 1964. Found on the Loganberry page about Miriam Young.  http://logan.com/harriett/most-young.html
Miriam Young, Miss Suzy. Illustrated by Arnold Lobel.  I'm pretty sure this is the right book - toy soldiers Miss Suzy meets help her chase away the bad squirrels who took her house.


B797: Baseball bat boy, four leaf clovers
This book is about a kid who is a baseball bat boy or something and he finds/makes four leaf clovers for team to bring them luck and confidence.  From the 1960s.

B798: Baker brothers
Great illustrations, might have been a rhyming book ..very black & white, bunch of brothers, they were bakers, did all sorts of crazy things in the bakery, illustrations were fantastic.  I was born in 1960 in Montreal ..but my mom used to take me to antique shows so not sure how old it was... help! Updated: I don't believe the pages were actually white... ( i referred to the book as black & white..) I think it was really very beigy... and there were 3 or 4 Bakers... dough flying etc.... just remember I loved illustrations. thank you.

Sendak, Maurice, In the Night Kitchen, 1970. The classic story of Mickey, three bakers, and a plane made of bread dough.
Maurice Sendak, In the Night Kitchen, 1970. Could the person be thinking of In the Night Kitchen?
It was suggested I check  In the Night Kitchen - Maurice Sendak from 1970... the book I was asking about..was from the 60's ..or earlier.. I had it in the 60's...

B799: Boy marooned with martians in glass spaceship
An illustrated hardcover children's book from the 1980s that has martians travelling in a glass fishbowl spaceship. The aliens might be made of glass too, with red eyes. A boy getting marooned in outer space with them. The book might have been published by Scholastic, and has a royal blue cover.

Marilyn Sadler, Alaistair in Outer Space,
1985, approximate. Could this have been Alistair in Outer Space?  Alistair is very British, with big round glasses and wearing a suit.  There are two titles where he encounters aliens--the second one is Alistair and the Alien Invasion.

B800: British boys
An 'adventure' book(s) that takes place somewhere in Great Britain about a group of boys. Some criminals  were stealing the slates or copper flashing off of a church roof and were thwarted by the group of boys.  Another scene where the boys are driving in snow and one has to lead the car on foot.

Philip Turner, Darnley Mills books.
I think these are two different books in same series. The stealing lead from the church roof is in Colonel Sheperton's clock (aka Mystery of the Colonel's clock) and the snowy scene is in The Grange at High Force (aka Adventure at High Force) These are the first two books in the Barnley Mills series about Arthur, David and Peter.

I agree that the OP is probably looking for the Darnley Mills books by Philip Turner.  However, thieves stealing roofing materials from a church are also found in The Battle for St George Without, by Janet McNeill; I don't remember a winter scene in that book, but then it's been 40+ years since I read it.



B801: Bird watches backhoe dig up the environment
This was an illustrated children's book from the late '70s or early '80s. I believe it was shown from the perspective of  a bird in the wilderness watching heavy equipment tear up the Earth to build some kind of development??

Turner, Ann, Heron Street,
1989. From a SLJ review: a "story about the development of and changes in a marsh from the time of its settlement before the American Revolution through the present."'

B802: Big red book of stories
I'm looking for a Big Red book of stories from the early 90s. there were four stories, the fire engine Number 8, the big tree that fell, and I can't remember the other two.


B803: Baby in interminable state of sleep, surrealistic
SOLVED: Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, Madeline Is Sleeping

B804: Book about a squirrell
This is a book about a squirrell named 'chickory' and a blue jay that tries to steal his food.

Jean Craighead George, The Moon of the Chickarees,
1968. Any chance this might be it? The original book was illustrated by John Schoenherr. A revised edition was printed in 1992 with different illustrations (by Don Rodell) and slightly different text. The book tells about a mother red squirrel (chickaree) living and raising her babies in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana.
Chickaree the Fuzzy Wuzzy Squirrel, 1948. A Whitman Fuzzy Wuzzy book, with flocked pictures that felt fuzzy when touched.

B805: Boy and dog in rural america. Hunt for deer to feed family in winter. Dog killed saving boys life.
Adolescent boy's adventure book.  Read in 1950's, not sure when published. 19th century (?) rural america.  Boy must track down deer to feed family in winter. Boy and dog survive perils of weather and wolves.  Dog is killed when saving boy's life.  Boy waits at farm in spring, but dog never returns.

B806: Boys crash in Maine lake
Looking for a juvenile book published in the late 50's(?) about two boys who survive a crash in a northern Maine lake and have to survive on their own. They enventually build a birch canoe and float down river to civilization.

Burton L. Spiller, Northland Castaways,
1957.
B807: Boy finds cave
This book is from the late 50's or early 60's. It was a picture book about a young boy who finds a cave on the side of a mountain. There is a small stream that runs right at the entrance to the cave and along the edge of a cliff. I can't remember if the boy was a runaway or simply exploring.

Richard Church,
Five Boys in a Cave, June 1951.

B808: Bloodhound Tracks Coyote
Hunter gives up waiting for bloodhound to return to the pickup truck, but hound continues to stalk coyote, who must somehow teach survival  skills to the pursuing dog and eventually whelps a mixed litter...Short story or novel read in Canada, 1970's.

B809: Bear and family, clock
1965 to 72?  Soft cover book, may have had some velour. Lg book, 10-12 inches. About a bear and his family, there is a clock on the wall on every page showing time of day.  Showed the bear fam daily activities.  Little bear had sister, Belinda I think.  Haunting me!  Help!

B810: Boy Bakes Cake Out of Everything
Pre 1975 book about a little boy (Charlie?) who bakes a cake out of everything in his house (or kitchen?). I believe the cake explodes in the end. I also think the cover of this book may have been yellow. Thanks so much.

Tamara Kitt, Billy Brown Makes Something Grand.

Maurice Sendak, In the Night Kitchen, 1970. The kid's name is Mickey and there are three bakers who bake a cake.

B811: Boy, Ball, Magic Spoon and Witch
Read in early 1960s  Boy living w/ grandparents? He is given a ball that rolls and leads him where he wants to go. Dad is a king in faraway land.  Witch entraps him and several friends in a tower.  He has a small spoon which appears empty but which fills w/ food to feed them until they can escape.

Astrid Lindgren, Mio, My Son. Karl Nilsson is an orphan living with neglectful relatives until he finds a genie trapped in a beer bottle in the park. The genie is a messenger from the King of Faraway, sent to find Karl and bring him back to his dad. Karl's real name is Mio. The spoon belongs to one of the children kidnapped by an evil knight and Mio undertakes to defeat him and free his prisoners. This is a haunting tale along the lines of The Brothers Lionheart. Alternate titles are Mio in the Land of Faraway and Mio My Mio.
Astrid Lindgren, Mio, My Son, 1956. I'm not sure about all the details, but from what I remember of it, you may be thinking of this book.  Mio was a lonely Swedish orphan named Karl Anders Nilsson (in the translation) living with harsh foster parents. A genie takes him to his father, the king of Farawayland, where Mio acquires a friend named Pompoo, a horse called Miramis, and many magical adventures.  But he has to face the evil Sir Kato, who has done terrible things in the kingdom, like stealing children and turning them into a flock of birds.    The magic spoon that tastes like bread is in the story too.

B812: British children's book, group of siblings visit separate historical worlds
Helen Clare, Merlin's Magic

B813: Blue protective light, kids visit another world
A (Christian?) series I read in early 90s:  kids would go to another world, there was a book with a blue protective light, they were told not to fall asleep riding in a forest, there was a dangerous man who came to our world & a lake filled with eels, a tree that was bigger inside than out, a canyon... Updated To give a little more information: It is a series of books about children who travel to another world.  In the first book, when they arrive they are taken inside a tree that is much larger inside than out.  They are protected by a blue light that comes out of a book (maybe when it is read outloud).  At some point, the girl has to walk accross a canyon and must look someone in the eyes to make it accross or she will fall.  I believe it is that same book where the children are sent on a mission and go through a forest that makes them very tired.  They are told not to get off their horses but I think they do anyway, and are awakened at the last minute.  In a later book, I believe a different child is in our world and sees a man with a scar (and possibly a hook) come over a wall on his street.  He follows him back to the mysterious world where he ends up in some kind of castle and is either invisible or frozen.  At a later point, the boys crosses a lake full of eels in a boat.  That is about all I can remember but I am dying to find this series!

John White (?), The Sword Bearer

B814: British children and spaceship
A British children's science fiction book from the 60s or 70s. British school children see a spaceship land nearby (empty lot?).  They're able to enter it, and learn that it was built by the British, and taken by one of the British engineers who worked on it (and who now has radiation sickness).

Nicholas Fisk, Space Hostages, 1967. I think this may be it . It's a long time since I read it, but your description immediately made me think of this book, and the date fits. I seem to remember that the pilot's illness made him paranoid, and that was why he landed where he did rather then at an airfield.
B815: Boy joins military, travels back in time and gives himself advice
SOLVED: Peter F. Hamilton, Fallen Dragon, 2002. 
B816: Book of essays about the US
50 essays, one for each state. Published within the past 15 years, I think. Each essay written by an author who has ties to that state.

John Leonard, These United States,
2003.
Matt Weiland and Sean Wilsey, Editors, State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America, 2009. I think it might be this one. 

B817: Bird takes fire to restart sun
SOLVED: Nancy Van Laan, Rainbow Crow, 1991, reprint.

B818: Bears live in hollowed out trees
A  large illustrated children’s book about a community of bears that all live (alone) in hollowed out trees in a forest.  The tree houses were all decorated differently…one had a “Asian theme”,  one a “country style”, one  a “modern style” etc. The bears would be dressed to match the style of their houses.  The bears would all go to a swimming hole.  It was read to me in the late 60’s early 70’s.

Evelyn Scott, The Story of Fourteen Bears,
1969. This is definitely the Big Golden Book "The Story of Fourteen Bears." (That's what my copy from childhood is called, but I've seen it on the "Solved Stumpers" page here called "Fourteen Bears in Summer and Winter.") Each bear's tree home is decorated differently. Near the beginning are pages showing the kitchen or living room of each house, and at the end you can see each bear in its bedroom. Loved this as a kid, my copy is tattered and taped together!
Evelyn Scott, Fourteen Bears in Summer and Winter
Evelyn Scott, Fourteen Bears Summer and Winter. A family of bears: Mother, Father, Veronica, Virginia, Johanna, Ramona, Emma, Anna, Gloria, Hannah, Henrietta, Flora, Dora and Little Theodore.  Each has their own tree house, decorated in their own style.  See the "Most Requested" page here at Loganberry for pictures and more details.
As you will  see from the link above, we do have a copy of this collectible book for sale at Loganberry Books!

B819: Blue Book, Pencil Illustrations, ~2" thick and 7.5" x 10"
This was a large book of fairy tales and stories, 7.5" x 10" maybe 2 inches thick, soft cover -Navy blue on the cover (maybe some cream), lots of detail on front -Many pages had lovely detailed **PENCIL ILLUSTRATIONS** -Pg 63 King Midas -Pg 43 Androcles -I owned this in the 90s.

B820: Boy learns skills while trying to escape type of prison
Boy sent to some type of prison where told escape is impossible.  He records warden's voice, tricks computer weight sensors gets out to electric fence before warden explains why he said it was impossible so the boy would learn to work with others and develop skills.  Possible title "Escape".  1970s.

Ben Bova, Escape

Ben Bova, Escape, 1970, reprint. I think this is ESCAPE by Ben Bova, though it's been so long since I read it that I can't be sure.  A few years ago it was reissued in pb with some added short stories as ESCAPE PLUS. [...]

B821: Boy finds a sunken sailboat
SOLVED: Stephen W. Meader, Commodore's Cup.
B822: Bedtime story for each day of the year, late 80's/early 90's
Hardcover book that had a story for each day of the year. Throughout the book there were illustrations.  I only recall that there was a recurring character in the illustrations of a small 'elf/fairy' type boy with a cape (?) Could be a dutch or English book, not one of the common anthologies.

Various, 366 bedtime stories a story for every day of the year, 1985. 238 pages containing a compilation of 366 different bedtime stories. printed in Czechoslovakia. Publisher: marylebone books or Watson brown.[...] can't remember the boys name though and it's really got me stumped!

B823: Baker, ran out of ingredients, ingredients mysteriously replenish
SOLVED: Jane Flory, Mr. Snitzel's Cookies.


B824: Black cat, magical diamond collar, old lady owner
Book I read ad a child in mid to late 70s.  Involved a black (pretty sure) cat owned by an old (90% sure) woman.  Cat had a diamond collar and either the collar was magical or the cat was itself. Don't think the old lady knew the cat/collar was magic.  Think there was a pic of cat w/collar on cover. I checked this book out over and over again from the library children’s section back in the mid to late 70s.  I’d say the book was not a new release back when I read it but it wasn't more than 10 years old I don't think.  I think the cover had a picture of the black cat in front of a house with a window with yellow light shining out.  The book was about an old lady, I think, who owned the cat and the cat had a diamond/jeweled collar.  I think the collar was magical but it could have been the cat.  It was some sort of adventure type story.  It wasn’t a very long book, hardcover of maybe 100 pages.

The Gordons, Undercover Cat,
1960, approximate. This is a real long shot, but could it be Undercover Cat by the Gordons?  The story doesn't really have much in common with the movie that Disney made (That Darn Cat--twice!) of the book, except for the names of some of the characters.  There definitely is a black cat and a diamond bracelet worn as a collar.  There is at least one other book about DC the cat, and maybe two or three.  If it's not Undercover Cat, it could be one of the others.
For my stumper B824 the suggested possible solution is definitely not the book.  It was not part of a series, I'm 99% sure of that.  I didn't know if it would help to let you know that, if you post feedback from the seeker.  I keep checking every month of so with my fingers crossed lol.  I SO want to find that book for my kids.  Thanks for offering such a wonderful service.  For fun I look at other stumpers and see if I can help, no luck so far.

B825: Boy's summer by lake novel
Date: c. 1970. In 1976 I read a children's full length novel about a boy who moves to the country.  A girl lives nearby and she claims she can do anything as well as he can. They visit a man who lives on a houseboat on a nearby lake.  The girl sprains her ankle and the boy helps her home.


B826: Boy builds homes for his pets
Date: late 70's. The one thing I distinctly remember was that it had pictures (not illustrations) of the boy and his various pets. The boy gets a pet, something small pet and builds a home for it out of wood, then he gets a larger pet and builds it a home, with the smaller pets home on top of it. At the end of the book he has built a barn for a horse with all the smaller homes on top of it. Some of the animals involved are a duck, dog, turtle, and the horse. For some reason, I have always equated this book with a Dr. Seuss book. It was of the same shape and thickness.

Palmer, Helen, Why I Built the Boogle House, 1964. You are describing "Why I built the Boogle House"
Helen Palmer, Why I Built the Boogle House. This is a Cat in the Hat book, which is probably why you thought of Dr. Seuss.  Illustrated with black-and-white photographs.
Helen Palmer, Why I Built the Boogle House. This is a Cat in the Hat Beginner Book. Helen Palmer was married to Dr Seuss (Theodore Geisel).
If you are interested, Loganberry Books currently has for sale a copy of Why I Built the Boogle House. Let us know!

 B827: Boy survives in the wilderness
A boy ventures into a snowy forest to find an older neighbor/father figure and finds him dead in a cabin. The old man's forehead was slashed and the boy has to bury him. Also the boy gets blisters from wearing boots too large and puts moss in them.  He also writes his name while peeing in the snow.

B828: Brown bear, sack with donuts
Hoping to find a children's book from the early 80's.  It is about a brown bear carrying a "sack"  (an old red hanky or bandana on a stick).  He is walking along asking other animals something like "clickety, clack, who wants to know what's in my sack"  In the end we find that it's donuts.


B829: Boy on a journey finds a circular river inside a mountain
I read this book in 5th grade ('87-88).  A boy (teenager-ish) on a journey alone finds a river inside a mountain. There are people living on rafts on the river, unaware the river is circular or inside a mountain. This is only one part of his journey.  Not journey to the center of the earth.

Steele, Mary Q., Journey Outside,
1969, approximate. Sounds like Journey Outside: "The Raft People live in darkness and travel a circular journey on a underground river. One boy finds his way outside and tries to learn as much as possible so he can ultimately lead his people there to the Better Place."
Mary Q. Steele, Journey Outside. See Solved Mysteries.

B830: Boy, monster, little people, tree
Circa 1997. Name of children's book about a boy who goes into forest in his backyard and gets chased into a tree by monster and little people live in tree and ride around on birds. Beautiful illustrations. My son who is 22 yrs now wants to get a hold of it.

Dahl, The Minpins, 1991. Sounds right to me?

B831: Bundage
c. 1985? Juvenile fiction about a girl who shares the same shaped mouth as most of her family members, and it's called the Bundage Mouth.

Sheila Greenwald, All the Way to Wits End, 1981. Back in Coves Landing, there were so many people with the characteristic protruding front teeth that it was known simply as the Bundage mouth.
Sheila Greenwald, All the Way to Wit's End.
Greenwald, Sheila, All the Way to Wits' End. See this review of the book ALL THE WAY TO WITS' END which specifically mentions the Bundage mouth. https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/sheila-greenwald-6/all-the-way-to-wits-end/#review I think they end up selling a piece of their antique furniture so she can get braces.

B832: Brown dog costume, girl, onion sandwiches

SOLVED: E. L. Konigsburg, Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and me, Elizabeth

B833: Bird in a Cage - Dead
I read this picture book in the late 1970s. Beautiful pen & watercolor illustrations, I think. Oversize book. At one point, a girl gets a present of a pen. At another point, her bird in a fancy cage is dead. I can't remember the story or anything else. Thanks for any help.

B834: Boy or boys chased through forest
SOLVED: Margaret Goff Clark, Death at their heels.

B835: Black cat saves the day
The book is about a black cat who is seen as bad luck in a town. A witch comes into town and the cat saves the day.  On the cover was cat with the town and tower in background.  It's from, or rather we read it, in around 1998 or 1999.

Barbara Sleigh, Carbonel, The King of the Cats, 1955. I'm not sure from the description of the book, but the description of the cover fits Carbonel, The King of the Cats.  A witch decides to go out of business and sells her cat and her broom to a girl named Rosemary.  The cat can be heard talking if you are holding the broom.  The cat wants to be freed from the witch and that is the plot of the book - the search for the spell and items needed to finally free the cat from the witch.
Barbara Sleigh, The Kingdom of Carbonel, 1961. The description of the book does fit the sequel written to Carbonel, The King of the Cats.  That is titled The Kingdom of Carbonel and has a similar plot - the girl, Rosemary, and her friend trying to stop the evil, supposedly former witch, from her plot to kidnap the royal heir and cause chaos and mayhem in the Kingdom of Carbonel.

B836: Boyfriend drowns in lake
I read a book about 10 years ago that started with a teenage couple who went swimming in a lake. The boyfriend drowned in the lake that night and the girlfriend learns to move on after his death. She goes to college and then the boyfriend comes back as a ghost and interacts with her in humorous ways.
B837: Boston, Revolutionary War, girl seamstress
SOLVED: Gwen Bristow, Celia Garth.
B838: Book about raccoon who has a party
Title is 'the 324th guest,' or some similar number. a raccoon (?) is lonesome eating cold mashed potatoes with ketchup, decides to have a party, invites 323 other animals, all have a great time. then when he's cleaning up he realizes he is the 324th guest and he likes his own company just fine.

Marjorie Weinman Sharmat, The 329th Friend, 1979. When will authors learn that putting a number in the title is a terrible idea? The book is THE 329th FRIEND by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat. You can see the review of the book when it was first published https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/marjorie-weinman-sharmat-10/the-329th-friend/#review
B839: Boy and his mammoth
Read in 1970's in UK.  Set in cave man times.  Boy may have been called Pete. Hope you can help!!! Best wishes

John Grant, Littlenose the Hero. And several sequels. These are books, published in the UK, about a cave-boy and his mammoth, Two-Eyes  but no one is called Pete so far as I remember. Otherwise, they fit your description.
B840: Billy's Red Car
Hard cover picture book.  Loaned from local library 1986 - 1987. Story about a little boy who was a little naughty - pedal car crashing into a clothes line.  Book may have pictured the car on the cover.  May have a trike somewhere in the story.
B841: Boy and teddy bear get ready for bed
Childrens book purchased in 1996-1998, 10-16 illustrated (very well done) about a boy and his friend teddy bear getting ready for bed, reflecting on thier day or looking forward. a circus, fighting pirates. there is an envelope in the back with a note teling the reader to draw what they want to dream.

Buchholz, Quint, Sleep Well, Little Bear, 1994, copyright. This is definitely the book they're looking for.  A little bear can't sleep so he reflects on what he did that day, including pretending to be pirates and putting on a circus. There's a letter in the back cover of the book for you to draw on.

B842: Boy, princess, tower, fireworks
Boy and Princess sneak into the Kings tower, accidentally ignite his powders/fireworks.  As the flames reach them on top of the tower, with the King looking on helplessly from below, the boy grabs a huge length of cloth, catches the wind, and they are both carried out to sea". possible adult book.

Colfer, Eoin.  Airman, 2008. Conor Broekhart saves childhood love Isabella in this escape scene, before becoming entangled with the evil Hugo Bonvilain later in life over the Little Saltee island principality.
B843: Bedtime stories from the late 1980s or early 1990s
SOLVED: McConnell, Nancy P. More Five-Minute Bedtime Stories, 1986. My dad found it in the basement!  This is definitely it.

B844: Barefoot little girl lost in woods

Wordless beautifully illustrated picture book about a little girl lost in the woods. She was barefoot and it seems like the colors were all neutrals and pastels. Several angels hidden in the art throughout. Hardback, printed before 1995. Offwhite/beige cover w/ black filigree, if my memory serves me.

Sendak, Maurice. Dear Mili, 1988. It isn't wordless, but the detail about the angels makes me think of Maurice Sendak's illustrations for Dear Mili.
I think B 844 (barefoot girl in the woods, angels hiding)  is probably Dear Mili, illustrated by Maurice Sendak.
Grimm, illustrated by Maurice Sendak, Dear Mili, 1988. This is not a wordless book, so it might not be your stumper, but it has pastel illustrations of a barefoot girl in the woods and angels in the trees which certainly match your description.

B845: Bird friends take a boat ride
Two friends are birds, one tall the other stout. they meet each day on the shore to take a boat ride. one has an umbrella they use for shade. one day it is missing they track it by finding bits of the red fringe in the bushes. someone else was using it for shade, they all get on the boat together.

B846: Birthday girl upset because friends can't play
1970-80s about a girl who goes to all her friends & asks them to play.  Their parents all say they can't play.  She gets very upset and feels bad cause they won't play with her and it is her birthday.  At one point she says "alone!"  She gets home and there is a surprise party with all her friends!


Steven Kellog, Won't Somebody Play With Me?, 1972. This is definitely your book your description is "spot on," as they say! It was one I enjoyed reading to my daughter (now in college), because it was fun to ham it up! My mother-in-law was quite lavish with gifts of books and once a year I would make my daughter cull her bookshelf to pass some books on and make more room.  This is one book that was still right there on the shelf to look at when I read your description.
B847: Boy cursed with arm of gold
I read this book around 1995 - A boy's arm is turned into gold, and the only cure is dragon's blood. He sets out on an adventure, eventually slaying(?) a dragon, but the blood does not work. He returns home to find the dragon's blood he needs is actually a plant that grows near his doorstep.

Nicobobinus, by Terry Jones, Puffin 1987. I bet I’m not the only one to catch this!

B848: Boy neglects belongings
Hi! A children's book I had in the late 80s to mid 90s. It was about a boy who didn't take care of his belongings. they eventually got so sick of being neglected that they all started to walk out one by one. His soap, toothbrush, fridge, etc walked out until eventually his whole house walked off.


King, P.E., The House That Had Enough. I am so excited that I know the answer to this stumper! I can't get the form page to work though, could it be because I am using linux? Anyway, I am pretty positive the book they are looking for is "The House That Had Enough," by P. E. King. My children had this book too, in fact, I still have it. The only thing is that it is about a girl named Anne. Perhaps someone published a girl's and a boy's version?
B849: Bedtime book with bunny
I am looking for a children's bedtime book with multiple stories, one of which was a bunny, (Bunny No Good?), who doesn't want to work and instead takes a nap in a cabbage patch. Also included was an animal who swallows a bee and therefore must whisper and a nursery ryhme "all the dappled horses."

Brown, Margaret Wise, The Whispering Rabbit. I'm not sure which anthology you read it in, but the story about the bunny who swallows the bee is "The Whispering Rabbit" by Margaret Wise Brown. I remember the one about the bunny falling asleep in the cabbage, too, with illustrations by someone whose style reminded me of Garth Williams.  Possibly anthologized in "A Treasury of Little Golden Books" (1960).
I think the solution is Margaret Wise Brown's The Golden Sleepy Book which was originally published in the 1940's as a Little Golden Book but has  been reissued.  There is also a large Golden Book reissue also. 

B850: Boy named Hubert has magical pencil
Children's book or series about a boy, possibly named Hubert, who has an uncle who travels the world bringing home ordinary looking gifts for his nephew that are magical -- for example, a pencil that can only write the correct answers.


I remember those, it was a series of books about a boy named Herbert (I think) and all the situations he got into, usually his uncle (who became a Senator) helped settle them. The first few books were various short stories, Herbert collected food cans, got shoes that could start fires, turned invisible, found his dog could talk, etc. A later book had him fly an experimental rocket to a planet of dog-people and save them from wolves. It was generally just a fun series, with the suggestion of “be careful with strange stuff, and try to think about what mom and dad say.” Hope this helps.
It sounds like these are the Herbert books by Hazel Wilson. The first one is just called Herbert, and then there’s Herbert’s Homework, Herbert’s Stilts, Herbert’s Space Trip, etc. 
B851: Bells hidden in/near a church tower
SOLVED: The Secret of the Singing Tower. 

B852: Book about a black cat
Book about a black cat.  One of the illustration pages is a completely black page and on the opposite page it says something like, "this is what the cat looks like at midnight".  Should have been published in the late 40's or early 50's.

The Cat at Night
by Dahlov Ipcar, 1969. The copyright date is a little later than the 40's or 50's, but the pictures are similar to what you describe. 
B853: British Village of Animal Friends
SOLVED: Adventures in Fern Hollow, John Patience,  1984.


B854: Big boat, child, black jelly beans, cakes of soap
It is a children's book from the 80's possibly that was about a child and a big boat and there was black jelly beans and cakes of soap somewhere in the book. Those are the things I remember most about the book. Thanks!

Sam Reavin,  illus by Emily Arnold McCully, Hurray for Captain Jane. Black jellybeans, soap, etc.:  Hurray for Captain Jane! [...] Hope the street festival went well!
B855: bear families, urban, rural, winter storm
I'm looking for a children's fiction book about two bear families. One bear family is rural and builds a rustic cabin ; the other family is urban and builds a fancy house with electricity.  A storm comes and the urban bears lose power so they go to the rural bears and find comfort and shelter.

I cannot take any credit for this answer. I read the stumper and it rang so many bells that I had to ask my librarian network for help with the answer. JT of a librarian e-mail list remembered that it was "Square Bear and Cousin Bear" by Charlotte Steiner.
That's awesome. Thanks for pursuing this! 
B856: Boy finds magic (conch?) shell and serves the king
Kids Book, I think called The Conch Shell. Read it over 10 years ago, it had a red binding hard-back, older style. A boy and his sister find a magic conch shell; It lets you hear whoever is talking about you. The boy and sister are separated and the boy gives it to the king who uses it to avert war.

You can rule out The Conch Shell by Mabel Esther Allan - totally different story, about a girl running a guesthouse in Cornwall called The Conch Shell.
This sound very much like The Twilight of Magic, by Hugh Lofting (author of the Dr. Doolittle books).
This may not be old enough, but could it be The Conch Bearer, by Divakiruni?  The boy and girl aren't related, but other than that, the elements are similar.

B857: Boy Hides Under Willow Tree, Soon Everyone Is Looking for Him
Picture book from the 1950s-1960s. A lonely little boy (or girl) who thinks that no one cares about him, sits alone under willow tree hidden by branches. Soon everyone in the neighborhood is looking for him. Illustrated. 
B858: Blond girl secretly stays awake
Published probably in early 1980s, no later than 1986. Blond girl secretly stays awake all night and wanders quiet house.  One or two dogs kept her company, German Shepherds maybe.  Smaller than a Golden Book.  Vibrant, cool night colors like pink-purple-blue. She doesn't fall asleep till sunrise. 
B859: Boy with cancer always making lists
Boy with cancer. Father is distant; mother cries all the time. He likes to make lists. Each chapter begins with a list he has made; the last chapter begins with a list made by the boy's parents. A tutor comes to his house each day and one day brings a boy in a wheelchair wearing Green Day t-shirt.

Should be a book called "Ways to Live Forever" by Sally Nicholls

B860: Boy and his blue and yellow banded dragon.
SOLVED: My Father's Dragon


B861: Blue Face Character Interacting With A Child
Guy talking with child had a large darker blue face with kind of chiseled features, possibly a boogeyman type trying to scare child or teaching/playing with the kid. Darkly colorful book, and character might have yellow eyes/features. Fairly new at the time, 1990's/80's. He resembles The Joker.


I believe the solution to B861, the blue faced character interacting with the child could be Chris Riddell's "Mr. Underbed" -- the 1986 Henry Holt illustrated version had a blue devilish character on cover.  The newest reprint has a  much friendlier character in the illustrations.

B862: Boy learns to levitate
Children's book of stories read between 1977-1981. Only remember one story: someone teaches a boy how to levitate, warning him only to levitate at night even though there was a risk of a large bat-like creature who might catch and harm him. Other stories quirky, scary, morbid. Thanks!

B863: Boy Searches Island for Ship's Log/Diary
"This was a book that I read in the 6th grade in the mid-60's. I can only remember that the plot involved a boy going to an island to find a ship's log (or diary) that would clear his father/male relative of a charge of mutiny/dereliction of duty. He falls in with some of bad guys who are searching the island for treasure left by the mutineers. I remember that at the end he finds the log book in a cave with the treasure and gets out just before the cave gets sealed off by an explosive thrown by one of the bad guys. I seem to remember he also ends up with a knife that was part of the treasure."

B864: Ballet class, green paperback
I had a green paperback as a child ( early 1980's) that was about a girl going to ballet class. The illustrations were all photographs of a ballet class, not drawings. There was a child named Claudia, I think. It was very simple, for a young child.

Could this be "A Very Young Dancer" by Jill Krementz?  The girl is apparently Stephanie, not Claudia (though who knows, there might also be a Claudia), but it's worth a shot.
Could it be:  "A Very Young Dancer" by Jill Krementz? She was a photographer that did a series of books for children.

B865: Boy in early 1900s has adventures
Boy (possibly has a brother) lives in early 1900s. His father buys a toilet form the Sears and Roebuck catalog.  He gets four silver dollars for something.  This is a series of three or more. Read in grade school in 80s...
The above are definite... these memories below might actually be from a completely different book.... I think he works for or is involved in a newspaper. There is a a creek and possibly a mine in a later book.

I think this is The Great Brain series. The father does buy a toilet and has it installed. The family lives in Utah around the turn of the century. They do go fishing in a creek. Hope this helps!
The Great Brain (series), John D Fitzgerald, 1967. This is definitely your book. The series is a somewhat fictionalized account of the author's adventures growing up in a small town in Utah in the early 1900s. It centers on the many schemes and plans of the author's older brother Tom, who is the great brain of the title. You can find a detailed description and a list of all the books in the series here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Brain
You are probably thinking about The Great Brain series by John D. Fitzgerald. There are three brothers – Sweyn (the oldest), Tom (aka “The Great Brain”) and little brother J.D. (John Dennis) who serves as the narrator of the books. The boys’ father works for the local newspaper, and in More Adventures of the Great Brain, Tom tries to set up his own rival newspaper.  In the first chapter of the first book, The Great Brain, the boys’ father buys the first indoor flush toilet in their town. Enterprising Tom charges the neighbor kids a penny each to come and see it, but is then forced by his mother to give it back. In another chapter, while most of the town’s boys are swimming in the creek, two boys and their dog get lost exploring Skeleton Cave. Tom saves the day when he remembers that the missing boys’ dog, Lady, was in heat and uses his brother’s dog, Brownie, to track her (and the boys) down. Throughout the series of books, Tom comes up with one moneymaking scheme after another.
Sounds like The Great Brain series to me. Three brothers (Swen, Tom, and John) are growing up in a small town in southern Utah around the turn of the century. The middle brother, Tom, can talk anyone into doing anything and can talk any kid out of their money. There are eight books in this series. In the first one, the boys' father buys the first toilet in town. People come by just to see it. Tom ends up charging the other kids in town to look at it.
This sounds like The Great Brain by J.D. Fitzgerald, featuring the (fictionalized) John Dennis Fitzgerald and his mischievous brother Tom, aka the Great Brain. There are 8 books:
The Great Brain (1967)

More Adventures of the Great Brain (1969)
Me and My Little Brain (1971)
The Great Brain At The Academy (1972)
The Great Brain Reforms (1973)
The Return of the Great Brain (1974)
The Great Brain Does It Again (1976)
The Great Brain Is Back (posthumous 1995)

The toilet gives it away!  This is The Great Brain series, by John Fitzgerald.  Tom, the younger brother of The Great Brain tells stories of his con-artist older brother. It's set at the turn of the century in Utah.

B866: Boy, net to catch stars
I'm looking for a book about a boy who casts a net to catch stars, a favorite of our children, now adults. Many thanks!

This is a long shot, but since no one else has answered, could this be some iteration of Wynken, Blynken, and Nod? As a child, I had a book that illustrated the poem, and though I don’t remember the poem word-for-word, I remember that they cast “nets of silver and gold” to catch herring fish that live in the sea, but the sea is the sky and the fish are the stars.

B867: Boys run away to live in forest
The elder brother leaves first, because the younger one was sick, then comes back to get him. They visit a charcoal burner, and climb an incredibly tall tree. May have been made into a tv series. Probably British.

Solution for B867:  Brendon Chase by Denys Watkins-Pitchford, writing as "B.B."
"The Brothers Lionheart" by Astrid Lindgren
Better Than Laughter
by Chester Aaron (1971)


B868: Bear and Picture Day
This was a book that I read to my children in the 80’s.  It was checked out at the public library.  A teddy bear is warned by his mother to quit getting dirty on his way to school.  Again, he gets dirty but hurries home and cleans his clothes.  He thinks because he cleaned the clothes his mother won’t know that he again got dirty.  He forgot this was picture day at school and at the end of the book is a picture of him and his class and he has a dirty shirt on.  His mother finds out after all.

B869: Boy, rainbow colored fruits, travel
The children’s book I’m looking for is an old one. I read it around 1958, as a young child. The book could have been published in the 19th century, as my parents had old books around the house in Boston.  But I don’t know. I keep forgetting how old I am!   But looking at the overall characteristics of children’s books published in mid-20th century, I don’t recall any “modern” style to the mystery  book. The story line is about a  young boy.  I think he was in trouble with his parents.  He finds an orchard and discovers the fruits are in the colors of the rainbow.  When he eats a certain colored fruit he travels to that land,   e.g. “Violet Land”. I don’t remember how it ends but I have a warm fuzzy feeling about it so it must have ended well. I seem to remember an image of the boy (with him on the left side of the drawing), in a tree, reaching out with his right hand to pick a fruit.      

Again, sorry, not much to go on. But perhaps it will ring a bell. Thank you so much for providing this service! I’ve been looking for years.

Could this be Snipp, Snapp & Snurr and the Magic Horse? Most of the facts don’t match up, but there’s definitely an image of a boy reaching for a colored fruit in a tree, and they do travel to a magical land. First published 1935. http://www.flickr.com/photos/gatochy/235283559/in/photostream/

B870: Blue fairies allergic to butter - "Dark Shadows"???
A girl finds an empty house in the woods, and reads (or is told) fairy tales- one is about blue fairies. They are allergic to butter, which someone keeps in a secret compartment in a ring, and uses it to get rid of them at a ball. At least 15 years old; thought it was called "Dark Shadows".

Shadow Castle by Marion Cockrell.  The frame of this book features a little girl who stumbles across a nearly empty castle in the woods.  A young man in the castle tells her stories about the fairies that used to live there. One of the stories is about evil goblins that masquerade as blue fairies. The scheme is revealed when the (real) fairy prince exposes the (goblin) princess to "goblin dust" via a ring with a secret compartment.  All goblins are horribly allergic to goblin dust, and the pain can only be stopped by applying butter. In the end the goblins are defeated and trapped in the castle doors, so all the doorknobs are goblin heads.

B871: Blue is the ocean... Red is ... (book about the colors)
Children's picture book about the colors. Blue is the ocean...Yellow is (buttercups - maybe?)...Red is.... Large, beautiful full watercolor illustrated pages in landscape format. I remember first reading it about 1988+, so, I am guessing it was published in the 70's.




 
 
 
 
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3/14/13