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What is this?

Have you forgotten the title of your favorite children's book? This is a service to help solve your book mysteries.

Submit your memory here, and see if anyone else remembers your book memory, or better yet, knows the title and author! After all, it's easier to find the book when you know what it's called.

I'll post copies for sale when I have them, and am always glad to search for copies not currently in stock. Loganberry Books is a used bookshop after all, and this page is only a small sideline offered as a service to my customers.

How does this work?

Book Stumpers cost $2 to submit, and will be posted alphabetically by Keycode until solved. New Stumpers will be on this page for at least four weeks, and are then moved to the archive pages. Once solved, the posting moves to the Solved Mysteries pages, alphabetical by title. New comments and stumpers are posted on Tuesdays, and whenever else time permits.

The 2003 Tally
1192 Stumpers posted; 738 (62%) Solved
The 2004 Tally
527 Stumpers posted; 389 (74%) Solved
The 2005 Tally
902 Stumpers posted; 487 (54%) Solved
The 2006 (unfinished) Tally
858 Stumpers posted; 379 moved to solved
The 2007 (unfinished) Tally
974 Stumpers posted; 385 moved to solved

Original requests are in bold,
comments and solutions
from internet friends are in color.
My comments (HRL/staff) are in black.

Updates

New solutions today, and a couple more stumpers.

posted 3/31/08 posted 3/31/08
posted 4/7/08 posted 4/7/08
posted 4/14/08 posted 4/14/08
posted 4/21/08 posted 4/21/08
posted 4/28/08 posted 4/28/08
posted 5/5/08

The 2008 Tally
288 Stumpers posted
23 Moved to solved

last updated
5/6/08

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	Book Request	Book Stumper	Solution	e-mail

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
This was the first book I remember from childhood, and I had it in the early ‘70’s. It was a large-format board book with a yellow padded cover. There was a hologram picture pasted on the front cover. Each board page inside had small animal ‘dolls’ posed with other miniature props to illustrate each nursery rhyme. My cousin had the same book and remembers that hers had “Puss in Boots” (with the same posable ‘dolls’) in the hologram on the front cover.

Izawa & Hijikata, A Puppet Treasure Book of Nursery Tales, 1971, approximate. I found this on a solved stumper, and I think this is the one that I remember. There are some on e-bay and the pictures of the pages look exactly like I remember -- and I was WRONG! There were animals, but the pictures were dolls (people).

A379: Asian boy uses a lantern to fly in the air
This book is about an Asian boy that uses a lantern to fly. The book has really nice art work of pictures of the boy flying in the air looking down below at such scenes as boats on the river, etc. The book is at least 35-40 years old.

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!

B629: Boy and brother at the beach
Solved: Fun at the Beach
The book contained a short story (or word picture) in verse about a boy and his brother (and parents?) spending a day at the beach. I remember a crab and big toe (?) being mentioned. Tommy plays in the sand and is struck by a wave. I think I remember the big brother shouting, "Watch out, big wave!" And little Tommy starts to cry to see his sand castle washed away. I saw this book in the library in the 1960's.

Please look at S343. The reader's comments in green match my memories of this book (B629). The comments about changing into swimsuits in the bath house do not. I wrote to a book dealer and asked him to look through Dorothy Koch's book, I Spend the Day at the Beach, and he did not find anyone named Tommy in this book. I hope the readers can solve this one for me as it's been driving me crazy for quite a while. I remember the big brother shouting, "Watch out, big wave!" And then little Tommy cries to see his sand castle washed away. Thanks for all your help!
Gloria Trachtenberg, Fun at the Beach, 1960, copyright. I'm certain this is the book. "Daddy shouts, 'Watch out! Big wave!' And Johnny stops his play. He cries a little when he sees his castle washed away." The version I have is a Whitman Tiny Tale. My mom found a bunch of these little 3"x4" paperback books cleaning out her aunt's house. It starts: "Summertime is here at last. The sun shines every day, and Mother says 'We'll pack a lunch, then off to the beach to play!'" There is a crab, "with wavy waggly feet and one big pincher claw." But the brother's name is Johnny Joe, not Tommy.
Gloria Trachtenberg, Fun at the Beach, c. 1960. I'm very grateful to the reader who took the time to solve my stumper! It is indeed a Whitman Tiny-Tot Tale book. I ordered the book and was thrilled that the words were familiar. (However, I'm a little chagrined that my memory is so bad!) Thanks, Harriett, for your wonderful service!

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.

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.

C560: children's book about Cowboys & Indians, published in Britian
Looking for this for a friend's birthday. He cannot remember the title or the author. It was a child's book, probably published in Great Britain sometime in the late 60s or early 70s, tho possibly earlier. Here is his description: It was a picture book with short, descriptive passages in child-friendly large print. A young boy and his mother (the father is never seen or alluded to) move to a new town and the boy hears of a party that the popular neighbourhood boy is about to throw. The theme is the Wild Wild West. The boy's mother is obviously poor; she makes him a splendid Indian scout's outfit by her own hand and materials and the pictures show him resplendent in it. The auburn brilliance of the buffalo-hide jacket and pants; the detail of the cords swishing jauntily down the arms; the detail of the buttons and the intricacy of the seam-stitching. He is an awesome Indian and he will be, cannot but be totally accepted by the local boys and welcomed as a kindred spirit. He ventures over to the house where the party is in full swing. Inside, the boys are seen, jovial and comradely. The Indian boy rings the doorbell and the housewife comes to greet him. Oh horror! The theme is "Cowboys", didn't he know that? Of course he cannot come in dressed as he is. The image that got me was of the boy, stooped over on the lawn, crestfallen face buried in cupped hands as he peers in the window at the party that excludes him, the acceptance denied to him and the rank of the many against the one. Any ideas? I would love to find a copy for his upcoming birthday.

C561: child raised without anyone knowing its sex
Parents decide not to tell anyone the gender of their child, to allow the child the freedom to enjoy whatever pleases without being confined to dolls or trucks. 1970, childrens.

Lois Gould, X: A Fabulous Child's Story, 1972. You can read the full text posted here: http://tinyurl.com/2tlutg .

C562: Coffee/tea cups shaped like their owners
The book I am looking for is one that I remember as a young child in the early 70's. It could be an older book. The only thing I really remember is that all the people in the book seemed to live in the same house and they all had different coffee/tea cups that were shaped like them. I remember most vividly, a tall, skinny man who lived in the broom closet and he had a tall skinny cup, A large woman who had a fat cup that had polka dots on it, I think. Thanks for any help!!!

C563: Civil War short story
Solved: Chickamauga
I am looking for a short story that was part of a Civil War collection. My mom read it to me in approximately 1984; I was so impressed by it that I still remember it 20 odd years later. In this story, a soldier is hit in battle and stranded alone in the backwoods South. He’s halucinating and dying of thirst. A mentally disabled child finds him out in the forest and doesn’t understand the situation, taking him for a playmate or animal. He rides on the soldier and plays games with him. I cannot remember if the soldier died, but I do remember the prose being very vivid and disturbing.

Ambrose Bierce, Chickamauga. This must be one of Ambrose Bierce's most famous short stories. It is told from the viewpoint of the child, rather than the soldier as you remember it, but the child riding on the backs of wounded soldiers is a key part of this story. Here's a link to it: http://www.classicreader.com/read.php/bookid.1167/sec./
Ambrose Bierce, Chickamauga, 1890, approximate. Available in several Bierce collections, including this one: http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/3/3/13334/13334.txt
If Ambrose Bierce's Chickamauga is indeed the story you are looking for, it can be found in the story collection In the Midst of Life: Tales of Soldiers and Civilians, by Ambrose Bierce. That collection has been reprinted as Tales of Soldiers and Civilians, and edited by Donald Blume. Loganberry has a copy of each currently for sale; see box below.
Thank you so much! That is exactly the story as I remember it. I am thrilled to know which one it was after all this time.

Interpreting
Condition
Grades

Bierce, Ambrose. In the Midst of Life: Tales of Soldiers and Civilians. Intro by George Sterling. Modern Library, 1909, 1927. Hardcover, no dust jacket. VG. $7.50
Bierce, Ambrose. Tales of Soldiers and Civilians. Edited by Donald T. Blume. Kent State University Press, 2004. Remaindered trade paperback. $12.98

C564: Cocker spaniel, obedience school, trophies
Solved: Champion Dog, Prince Tom
Kids' book, Scholastic paperback, read in early 60's: 61-63? Nonfiction. Don't remember title or author. It was about a cocker spaniel owned by a man. He took it to obedience class when it was young. Used authoritative voice to command. Dog didn't respond, flunked miserably. Later discovered on his own that if he used a softer, more "friendly" voice the dog did respond. Took dog back to obedience class, dog passed with flying colors. Eventually went on to compete in obedience trials and won (it seemed) every possible title. Later dog also competed in hunting dog trials (like go into water and retrieve downed duck) against breeds like Springer Spaniels and bested many. At the end of the book was a photograph of this blond or red cocker spaniel surrounded by trophies of every description, many of which were taller than the dog. This has been driving me crazy for a long time. I have tried other avenues to attempt to get information but haven't had any luck. I don't THINK I hallucinated this book...

Col. Meeks, Rusty, A Cocker Spaniel. No, you aren't hallucinating. This sounds like a dog book I read as a kid around the same time. I think it was called Rusty, which I know I did read, but I read a ton of dog books back then, so I may be confusing it with your book. It's worth a try, though.
Jean Fritz and Ernest Clute, Champion Dog: Prince Tom, 1958, copyright. The Scholastic paperback has an aqua cover with a photo of a yellowish/brownish/reddish Cocker spaniel. The owner finds the dog to buy through a classified ad.
Jean Fritz and Tom Clute, Champion Dog, Prince Tom, 1958, copyright. Without a doubt this is Champion Dog, Prince Tom....the back cover of the hardcover has the photo you describe, and you're correct in every plot point. Tom is the smallest dog of his litter, but with a big heart...you'll probably remember that at the field trials against the bigger dogs, he was the only one eager to leap into the freezing cold water to retrieve! Luckily, it's an easy one to find, even in hardcover, as it came out as a book of the month club selection.
Jean Fritz and Tom Clute, Champion Dog Prince Tom, 1958, copyright. I have looked for this book for a long time; submitted book stumper but it was delayed because I did it incorrectly. Tonight I found the book listed on e-Bay. I recognized the illustration and the description is exact. It was published by Weekly Reader in 1958. I don't know if I will be the winning bidder, so I have submitted a search request to Loganberry. If I had not found Loganberry and submitted the book stumper I would not have had the hope to keep looking. THANK-YOU!

C565: Chloe the ghost daughter of a reclusive artist appears; Chloe died by drowning
Solved: The Otherwise Girl
The story takes place in a small town. The protagonist is heading to a summer art program. She (he? I can't remember - I think it was written in the first person and I remember the protagonist as a she but maybe it was a he) will be studying with a famous local reclusive artist. As she gets off the bus, she meets a lovely young girl. The girl's name is Chloe. Chloe leads her to the artist's home and then disappears. She sees Chloe frequently but not everyone does. She finds out Chloe is the artist's daughter and she died by drowning. The death ripped apart the artist's marriage (his ex-wife lives nearby) and destroyed his life. I think he hasn't painted since the death. Chloe is basically haunting the town because her spirit can not settle. I cannot remember all of the details but I remember the climactic scene. The protagonist accompanies Chloe on a hike. They have a wonderful afternoon. But the protagonist finds out they are heading to the place that Chloe drowned. Everytime Chloe appears she must "go back" by re-creating her death. She climbs up to the river above the train bridge and "drowns". Chloe tells the protagonist to stand on the bridge and let her drown. The protagonist can't do it. She jumps into the river and pulls Chloe out as she is about to be swept downstream (over a waterfall?). This action is what Chloe needed. Now she can rest in peace and she leaves (disappears) for the final time. That is all I remember. I know the book was paperback with a blue cover. I read it in the late 1970's or possibly the very early 1980's. Any clues will be much appreciated! As usual I lent the book to a friend and never got it back.

Keith Claire, The Otherwise Girl, 1976, copyright. It sounded like "The Sea" by John Banville for a minute but I found references to it in the solved section page O as "Otherwise Girl" by Keith Claire. It has a good review on Amazon. Hope this helps.
Keith Claire, The Otherwise Girl, 1976, copyright. The book you're remembering is definitely The Otherwise Girl by Keith Claire. Published first in the UK by Blond and Briggs, it had US printings in hardcover from Holt, Rinehart and Winston, and in paperback from Berkely. The protagonist is male, the girl who drowns has had unresolved anger about the fact that her parents didn't save her...anger she didn't realize she was harboring. When the boy pulls her from the river, she understands her feelings at last, and in doing so, also knows that those feelings are unwarrented, as her parents were away at the time, and couldn't possibly have saved her. Letting go of her anger finally frees her, and she is able to move on.
Keith Claire, The Otherwise Girl. I really never thought this one would be solved. Thank you for all of your help.

C566: Cat and several generations of children
It's told as a series of connected stories following several generations of children from one family. A cat is used as the link (maybe by following through its 9 lives?) I think the cat was the narrator, telling the current generation of kids about things that happened to their parents, grandparents, etc. when they were young. I remember that one set of the kids were very strict parents when they grew up, the next generation in reaction were very permissive parents. I read it about 35 years ago. Suitable for 8-10 year olds if I'm remembering right.

Bacon, Peggy, The Ghost of Opalina, 1960s, approximate. This sounds like The Ghost of Opalina. This book is a favorite of everyone who ever read it. Since most of the limited printing went to libraries, it's hard to find and very expensive. See the Solved Mystery page.
Peggy Bacon, The Ghost of Opalina. Almost certainly The Ghost of Opalina. The book recounts her life (well, afterlife ;-)) with a family over many generations.
Peggy Bacon, The Ghost of Opalina. Sounds like this book in "Solved Mysteries."
Peggy Bacon, The Ghost of Opalina, 1967, copyright. Oh, I loved this book! I'm sure that The Ghost of Opalina is the book you're looking for. She has nine lives, and she relates all of them to the three kids currently living in the house she inhabits. I think, in the end, she vanishes because her previous life was the last one, and she either is or turns into a ghost. Good luck finding a copy though! They're pretty rare.

C567: Cuthbert Train eating disorder
1980s?, nonfiction. A book about a man named Cuthbert (Cuff) Train who is a real estate agent on Mount Desert Island, Maine. The book was written by his ex-wife. It may have "fire" and "ice" in the title. Cuthbert has an eating disorder and possibly a sweat gland disorder, maybe also psychiatric or emotional issues. Mount Desert Island is a small town and it seems strange that an ex-wife would write a book about a husband like that so it may be out of print now.

C568: Children Make Best Bread
before 1980s?, childrens. Story about a family with a lot of children and hard working parents. The mother always makes the bread but one day she is busy so the children try. They use the different ages children's hands to try and equal their mother's hands for measuring out the ingredients. When they bake the bread in the oven it ends up overflowing and filling up the whole kitchen with bread. The father comes home from a hard day's work and is hungry for supper but the whole kitchen is filled with bread so no one can make supper. The father decides to have a piece of the bread and it turns out to be the most amazing bread he has ever tasted and has many flavors.

D289: Dentist molests girl, she vomits on him
I would have read this book in the mid/late 1980s or very early 90s. The only part I can remember is that the teenage girl protagonist is having work done by a dentist (or orthodontist?) and he molests her (repeatedly, I think). At one point when he is starting to touch her, she makes herself picture really gross things in her mind, like eating bugs, to make herself vomit on him. She does vomit on him, and then runs away. It's a YA book, much longer than just this scene of course, but that's all I remember.

Nathanson, Laura, The Trouble With Wednesdays, 1986. "When her dentist starts sexually molesting her, sixth-grader Becky has trouble talking to her parents about the problem."

E131: Elf must reunite scattered crystals
I have been looking for this book for years to read to my children. My teacher read it to me when I was in school so it was probably early 80's. Seven ( I think ) crystals are scattered around the world and it is an elf's job to travel all over the world to reunite these crystals into one before the villain can get them. I remember that it was almost like seven stories because every time he finds a crystal it is an adventure. Thank you. By the way I think this website is a wonderful idea!

A.C.H. Smith, The Dark Crystal, 1982, copyright. Perhaps this is too obvious a suggestion, but have you looked at this one? Based on the Jim Henson movie, it tells of a race of grotesque birdlike lizards called the Skeksis, who rule their fantastic planet with an iron claw. A prophecy tells of a Gelfling (a small elfin being) who will topple their empire, so they have exterminated the race, or so they think. There remains one male Gelfling, the orphan Jen, raised in solitude by a race of peace-loving wizards called the Mystics. The Mystics were once one race with the Skeksis, until the splitting of the Great Crystal split the tribe into good and evil halves. To save his world, Jen must embark on a quest to find the missing shard of the Dark Crystal (which gives the Skeksis their power) and restore the balance of the universe, before the three suns converge. Along the way, he is aided by new friends Kira (the last female Gelfling, raised in secret by the Pod People), Augrah (a wise old woman), and Fizzgig. (The A.C.H. Smith version is an approx. 180 page novelization of the movie; if you are looking for more of a picture book, you could also try "The Tale of The Dark Crystal" by Donna Bass (c. 1982) which is a 48-page version.)

E132: Eric and Tricia, Hawaii, surfing lessons
This is a book about a guy in Hawaii named Eric who meets a girl named Tricia who gets surfing lessons and they fall in love. Her grandmother has him arrested and he ends up on the run.

F302: Futuristic novel, people wear sunglasses but no clothes
This is a book I read in the 70's, but it seemed like it was a little older than that. It was set in the future. The main character was a teenage girl. Society had decided the part of our bodies that needed to be private was our eyes, because that's where our emotions lie. So no one wears clothes, but everyone wears sunglasses. No one (of a certain class) leaves their house and all communication takes place via videophones. You can go anywhere via simulations. This girl accidentally (maybe dials a wrong #?) meets this older guy who doesn't wear sunglasses and gets a crush on him and decides to go meet him. Where he lives is a big apartment house where no one has the technology that she's used to. I don't remember how it ends.

F303: Famous boy action figure kidnapped?
I'm looking for a 1980s young reader's book that I read as a child. It was a chapter book, and I read it on my own. In the book, as far as I can remember, a boy was famous in some way (I don't remember what for) and I think his name was Mitch or Mitchell. Some company wanted to make an action figure based on him and eventually he met up with a lady dressed all in blue, from her shoes to her stockings, to her dress. This visual made quite an impact on me; unfortunately the title of the book didn't. Mitch eventually winds up trapped in a compound living in a doll house. There are some other details having to do with a kewpie doll (maybe). Have any idea what book this was? I want to say he had red hair, freckles, and glasses on the cover of the book, but that might be completely wrong.

Marjorie Sharmat, Get Rich Mitch! Rich Mitch might be who you're looking for...in the first book, he wins a lottery and becomes famous, in the second one, he's kidnapped.
Marjorie Sharmat, Rich Mitch. Yes, it sounds like the Rich Mitch book I remember. Was there a part that had to do with garden decorations, possibly... gnomes, perhaps? Or not; I don't know. The description of Mitch's depiction on the cover sounds right, also.

F304: flying beast steals animals defeated by boy placing spices at stump
1970s (?) Picture book. Boy goes off on journey to find flying beast stealing farm animals. He goes through the forest and there are all these strange creatures. I remember one scene with bamboo-like creatures(trees?) who bend down for him so he can cross a river to the other side. Finally the boy arrives at the lair of the beast. The lower half of its body was a tree-like stump in the ground and the boy placed hot spices there while the beast was away. When the beast returned, he melted (?) because of the hot spices.

F305: Fairy tales collection
I have a copy of a book but the cover and first and last pages are missing. The book starts at the table of contents and the last few pages of the end of the book are also missing. This book is a compilation of fairy tales and since the last few pages are missing the last story is also cut off. The left page header is titled “Wonder Tales from around the World” and the right page header is titled with the story name. Some of the stories in the book include Baba Yaga, Long, Broad, and Sharpsight, Dapplegrim, Snow White and Rose Red, The Four Wishes, Princess Rosetta, and many more. This is a very old book. I am interested in knowing the title, author, and publisher as well as finding a copy of it if possible.

F306: Fireman loses family in fire, finds ladybugs
The book is about a fireman who is called to put out a fire. The fire happens to be at his home. Upon arriving, it is too late and his wife and children died in the fire. The significant part is that later after returning to the home, in the places where his family had died, are beautiful red ladybugs. Name that book??

G465: girl and human race live in cars
I think this book is from the 1970's and the only things i remember are as follows: its a story about a girl who questions the fact that the entire human race cannot walk, but they all "drive" in their own individual "cars". as the story progresses, the girl realizes that all she has to do is get out of the car and move her legs and can walk on her own. i thought it was called the endless sidewalk, but i cannot find anything with that name and think i am confusing it with the sidewalk never ends which is not the same book it is driving me crazy!

Jaqueline Jackson, The Endless Pavement. Josette wants to find out what it's like beyond the endless pavement and decides to get out of her personal car.
Jackson, Jacqueline, The Endless Pavement, 1973, copyright. "Living in a time when people are the servants of automobiles and ruled by the master auto of the planet, Josette longs to leave her rollabout and try her legs."

G466: girl who sees mother in magic mirror
an old book about a lonely girl who lives with a woman (maybe a foster or step mother or something, but she's mean) and looks into a mirror and sees her mother and talks to her.

Bennett, Anna Elizabeth, Little Witch. Sounds like Little Witch. See Solved Mysteries for description.
Little Witch. Sounds like Little Witch to me!
Anna Elizabeth Bennett, Little Witch, 1953, copyright. If the girl is living with a wicked witch, and the mother in the mirror turns out to be a fairy, trapped by the witch, then this is proably the one you are looking for. See Solved Mysteries for additional details - this is a popular book, and has been asked about many times.
Traditional, Mother in the Mirror / The Mirror of Matsuyama. This is a long shot, but your description reminded me of a traditional Japanese story you can probably find online, about a girl who thought her dead mother contacted her through a mirror. This story is related to Shinto tradition in which a mirror holds the image of the goddess that created everything.

G467: girl in hospital names paper doll Mia
I’m looking for a book that I read about 33 years ago. It is a story about a little girl that is in the hospital and a woman (maybe a nurse?) visits her during the night and brings or makes paper dolls. I think either the nurse. The little girl wants desperately to be friends with a girl named Mia and names her paper doll Mia.

Britt G. Hallqvist, Bettina's secret.
Britt G. Hallqvist, Bettina's Secret, Scholastic 1971, copyright. Who is the strange nurse who appears in the night at Bettina's bedside? For Bettina, life in the hospital is very sad and lonely. Then late at night, when the others are asleep, mysterious Nurse Julia comes to talk to her. But why is she so secretive? And who is she....?

G468: Girls use dolls to send messages
I'm looking for a book for a patron possibly set during World War 2. It was read to her as a child. It is about two girls who are friends and they use dolls to send messages.

H234: Hollow tree leads to other world
The book I'm looking for, was written before 1980. I would have read it around 1975. It was about a boy who moved to the country or an aunts farm, of course he wasn't happy about it, but he finds a tree that is hollow, and when he gets inside of it he climbs up to another "world" or "realm", with mean animals and dangerous creatures. He seems to keep climbing up and down this tree over short periods of time. He befriends one of the animals, who helps him when he is in the new "world".

Ruth Chew, Magic in the Park, 1971, copyright. While visiting Brooklyn's Prospect Park, Jennifer meets Michael, and together they discover a magic hollow tree and a secret underground world.

I127: Indelible blue india ink
Solved: "The Blue Nose", Treat Shop
This was a story in an anthology of juvenile stories (like Angleworms on Toast) with an amusing twist. A young girl has a face full of freckles and gets very tired of people asking her how many there are, she tries counting them covering the counted ones with her fingers but eventually she runs out of room so she decides to mark them with "indelible blue india ink". Of course she cannot get the ink off even though they scrub her nose with lye soap etc. I have been looking for this anthology for ages and I did think it included "Angleworms on Toast" but I am beginning to wonder if I merely had that story at the same time. I have recited the story to my daughters many times and would like them to be able to read it to my grandchildren.

Last night I mailed you a check for a stumper regarding a girl with freckles. Today I found it on your solved site. The story was "The Blue Nose" in an anthology called Treat Shop which also included "Angleworms on Toast". I found a copy online (you didn't have one listed). How exciting - I am all agog. I have been looking for this book for at least 40 years and have never known how to conduct a proper search. THANK YOU! I spent most of today looking over your sight, this is the most fun I have ever had online - I look forward to going back every week.

I128: Indian boy, toy canoe
Indian boy carves toy canoe. leaves it on top of mountain. snow melts, carries canoe down mountain stream/river and grown boy finds years later.

Holling C. Holling, Paddle to the Sea, 1980, reprint. A young Indian boy in Canada carves a little canoe with a figure inside and sets him on the snow just north of Lake Superior. When the snow melts, the canoe, named Paddle-to-the-Sea, is off on a long trip through each of the Great Lakes, down the St. Lawrence River and into the Atlantic Ocean. This book chronicles its remarkable journey in words and lush pictures, and the reader learns a great deal about the life, industry, and people of the region. This book has made geography vivid for young readers since 1941. A Caldecott Honor Book.
Holling Clancy Holling, Paddle-to-the-Sea. This reminded me of Paddle-to-the-Sea, though I could be wrong. A boy in the Nipigon region of Canada carves a little Indian in a canoe, names him Paddle-to-the-Sea, and sends him on a journey through streams and rivers and the Great Lakes to the sea, and farther, helped by the currents and by people who find him along the way. In the course of the story the geography and industry of the region are described.
Holling C. Holling, Paddle-to-the-Sea. I'm sure this is the right one. One of Holling's oversized books with lots of marginal illustrations. A great way to learn about the Mississippi from end to end!

J82: Japanese tea garden, little girl, name starts w/ a K?
I remember something about a beautiful garden which was very peaceful. The graphics on the book were very, very engaging as a child. I read the book as a little girl in approx 1977, in 1st, 2nd and 3rd grades (I LOVED IT), and would be so very, very excited if you know what it is!

Eleanor Lattimore, Happiness for Kimi, 1958, copyright. When Kimi's parents and brother move to the city temporarily, she has to stay behind in her Japanese village with her traditional aunt who insists on teaching her to be a "real Japanese girl." She learns the "old arts" of properly making and serving tea and also arranging flowers. Although there's no mention of a tea garden, among Lattimore's great illustrations is a two-page spread of Kimi and her friend, in kimonos, walking in what could be such a garden.

K115: Katie Kitten book
My Mum can remember the following words to a book she has as a child (she learned it by heart), in the early 1950's. I reckon it's from the Katie (the) Kitten series, by Kathryn Jackson. The words are below. She remembers that the theme of the story was that Katie missed a trip because she slept in because her bedroom was facing West. I want to buy the book, but it appears to be in a series of about 60 books, so I'd love to have a clue as to which one to buy. Any ideas? The book began with: "Katie kitten was always late. Wherever she was going or whatever she was going to do, she was sure to be late for it. She always began the day by being late for breakfast and of course all the nicest things had gone. She had to eat the bread that had been left on the plate and drink the milk that had all the cream taken from it."

K116: Kids can't use manual, matches, flashlight; learn magic
I remember only the following of a book I read about 55 years ago, and want to find it for my grandkids. Kids wind up in a place with a boy scout manual, matches and a flashlight. But the manual is apparently now in a different language, the matches won't light, and, I think the flashlight doesn't work. They eventually learn magic from a wizard or sorcerer to fight off the bad guys. Thanks in advance for any help in finding this.

This sounds vaguely like Pamela Dean's "Secret Country" trilogy (but couldn't be it, because that came out in 1986). It has roughly the same ideas though. Five children who have an imaginary game about a secret kingdom, find places where they can cross over from earth to that world. (the tone is not Narnia but closer to E. Nesbit). They have to pose as the royal children whom they have played in their game. Most modern technology doesn't work there -- a flashlight becomes a lantern, and so on, the books are in a different language, one of the girls has to learn magic. While the story never loses a slightly whimsical tone, it also treats its main theme very seriously -- what is the responsibility of imaginers toward the worlds they imagine? You might like these books, either for yourself or the grandkids or both. More at http://www.strangehorizons.com/2001/20010101/pamela_dean.shtml.

L231: Lady Morgana in England
The book was a historical romance maybe 1700-1800's in England. I believe it was a forced or arranged marriage. What I remember is the name "Morgana"; I dont think this is the title it might be the characters name. The story unfolds thru many many years. She leaves him after some time and even has other lovers one of them a French man. Their relationship is an on and off again thing. The hubby and her do have children of their own. I know she had red hair and I believe the cover had her and him on a cliff maybe she had a green dress. I remember that on one of the scenes someone died I’m unsure if it was a child or someone closer to her and her hubby shows up again this is around the time that she is with the Frenchman. I believe one of her lovers not sure which one turns out to be cruel he hits her one time and she compares him to her husband. I hope this is helpful. I had the book about ten years ago at that time the book was already old I think it might have been published in the 1970’s.

L232: Little people in colored capes
This one is very vague because I remember more about the decription of the characters than I do about the story. They were little people a lot like hobbits except they lived in hollowed out trees with round doors. Each character's door color was the same as the cape he or she wore. I was reading this book in the mid sixties but I have no idea if it was new or old - it was in the library of my public middle school.

Possibly The Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall?
Carol Kendall, The Gammage Cup. I wonder if you might be recalling The Gammage Cup. It's about a group called the Minipins. They live in houses, not trees, but do have prescribed colors for doors and cloaks. The heroine is exiled from the village, along with a group of other nonconformists, because she paints her door red, if I recall correctly. The group of misfits then overcomes an invading army of mushroom people and return as heroes.
Kendall, Carol, The Gammage Cup. And everybody had family trees planted in their front yards. The people were called Minnipins.
I ordered The Gammage Cup and it arrived today but it wasn't what I am looking for. Upon further reflection I am wondering if the little people lived in mushroom houses. But I am absolutely sure that their capes matched their door colors and I am fairly sure the doors were round. Any more ideas?

L233: Little Lottie
1910-1925'ish, childrens. I am told by a number of intellegent folks that there once was a comic strip featuring as a main character, a female adolescent, "Little Lottie" or possibly "Cousin Lottie". Presumably, the title of the strip presumably bore her name. I'm really more interested in an older man, presumably her grandpa, the main comedic figure in the series who regularly appeared in the strip as a buffoon. He was elderly, moved, talked and processed slowly and carried a very large, out-of-scale hearing trumpet which he used, usually unsucessfully, to attempt hearing folks who were tying to communicate with him. His answer was always, "talk louder", "come closer" or something similar and he never seemed to be able to understand anyone. I'm Peer Mentor for the hearing impaired and am looking for something I can use in my lectures to document some of the roots of the stigma against hearing aids and why many who need them seem to stay in denial so long, often as long as 15 years. If you have any other suggestions from the popular literature which might help prove my point, I'd love having those remarks as well. Hope you can help. Either way, thanks much.

Little Lotta. Possibly this one? http://home.att.net/~thft/lotta.htm.
I found another clue: one of Lottie's trademark expressions when she was amused was to utter, "tsk, tsk." Thanks so much for your help. I don't know why our darlin' "Cousin Lottie" is playing it so coy!
Little Dot. Possibly a different Harvey Comics character, Little Dot?
This does sound irresistably like Little Lotta, a Harvey Comics character who was around beginning in 1955. Today such a character -- an overweight girl who liked huge meals -- would be considered appalling, but it was all presented in a whimsical, slapstick fashion. (And she did say "tsk tsk" sometimes.) It's certainly possible she was based on a 1920s character although I have not found much about this. But the grandfather! -- Him, I remember. He did have a huge ear trumpet. Other than being a bit deaf and slightly forgetful, he was healthy, active, and one of the only comic book characters I remember who took vitamins (he called them "vitymines"). In that, he was ahead of his time.

M510: "Masterpiece", painter father, long lost grandfather
I am looking for a book I had when I was little and growing up in the 1960's. It was a hardcover children's book. It is about a boy named Tim, (I think) who lives by the sea with his father and mother and a baby - who is always called "the baby." The father is a wonderful painter, but they are very poor, he never seems able to sell his paintings. There is always worry and the mother cries - not enough to eat, etc. The dad has been working on a great "masterpiece." Tim's paternal grandfather disowned the father when the father decided to become a painter. Tim, who is too poor to buy books, spends a lot of time at a bookstore reading and sometimes helping out. The bookstore owner hangs some of the painings in the store. Over time, an old man starts visiting the bookstore and makes an aquaintance of some sort with Tim ( I can't remember if they talk or if Tim is just noticed) -- it turns out that he is the long lost grandfather, full of regret and lonely - sorry to have pushed his talented son away. He buys all the paintings and then reveals who he is. A very happy ending. The book has beautiful pictures in wispy watercolors. I thought the book was named with the word "Masterpiece" in it. If you can help me, I'd really appreciate it.

Edward Ardizzone. Hi, this is probably a longshot, but your description reminds me of the "Tim" books by Edward Ardizzone. Tim is a young boy who lives a the seaside with his mom and dad, and maybe a baby. There are a series of books extolling his adventures, most of which are related to the ocean or boating. The illustrations are by the author, and they are definitely delicate watercolors. I tried to find a "Tim" book with your plot description, but was unlucky looking at Amazon. Many of the Tim books are out of print, but there are many used copies available on the Internet, I bought a set myself last spring when I first discovered this site! Anyway, your plot description sounds vaguely familiar to me, and I think I am about your age, so good luck, hope this gives you a place to start.

M511: Mother Goose book
Mother Goose's Silly Nursery Rhymes? I was reading this in the early 80s / late 70s. The cover had a blue background. I remember some of the following rhymes in it: * "Little Robin Redbreast came to visit me. This is what he whistled, 'Thank you for my tea!'" * "Hickory Dickory Dare, the pig flew up in the air. The Man in Brown soon brought him down..." There was a cartoon picture of a man (in brown) aiming an elephant gun at a pig in a hot air balloon. * There was a rhyme that I don't remember, but a cartoon drawing of a man and wife and dinner; he was thin, she was heavy, but before him was a huge plate of food, and before her, a plate with a few peas on it. (The rhyme was about irony or something.) Also, Jack Be Nimble, Miss Muffett, other common ones. Hope you can de-mystify this for me... this was my favorite book as a little girl, and I hope to be able to read it to my children someday. The drawings were so fun, too!

Addams, Charles, Charles Addams Mother Goose. "New Yorker cartoonist (and creator of the altogether ooky Addams Family characters) Charles Addams tampers with tradition to great effect in The Charles Addams Mother Goose, first published in 1967, and now reissued as a deluxe edition. While Ms. Goose's original nursery rhymes remain unchanged, Addams casts his spell on a selected few poems with new visual twists. A less wholesome, more anemic Mistress Mary has never been seen, and her bare-lightbulb-lit basement garden of mushrooms and heads of "pretty maids all in a row" is quite unsettling. Jack Sprat and his wife are, of course, cannibals. Nine-day-old porridge is disgusting... so naturally a witch is the porridge preparer, and goblins are the only ones who would like it "nine days old." Humpty Dumpty's story, on the other hand, feels a little cheerier than the original: rather than leaving the egg irreparably broken, the illustrator shows a dinosaur hatching! Tee Addams, Charles Addams's wife, writes an insightful introduction for this lovely, oversized edition, and the book closes with a scrapbook of family photos and pictures of Addams's earlier work. Kids familiar with Mother Goose's rhymes will be delighted (and perhaps only slightly terrified) by Addams's playful interpretations."

M512: Mystery at Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge Massachusetts
Solved: Mystery at Old Sturbridge Village
I just payed to do another book stumper and failed to find where to put the info in again! I'll tell you what I'm searching for. I'm looking for a book I read in the early 70s from my elementary school library which was about a mystery that takes place at Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge Massachusetts. I think the title was something like-The Secret of the Old Covered Bridge or The Mystery of the Old Covered Bridge. The girl solves the mystery by finding something stashed behind one of the crossed boards inside the bridge.

Julia C. Mahon, Mystery at Old Sturbridge Village, 1966, copyright. Albert Whitman & Company, 1966, ISBN: 0807553603; Illustrated by Sidney Rafilson.
Lillian Carroll, Secret of the Covered Bridge, 1967, copyright. Secret of the Covered Bridge by Lillian Carroll, published by Meredith Press in 1967.
Peter John Stephens, The Perrely Plight - A Mystery at Sturbridge, 1965, copyright. "Set in 1836 Sturbridge, Massachusetts. Twelve-year-old Gib Martindale sets off to take lunch to the Haymakers down by the Hollow, a mysterious and forbidden place. But why is it forbidden, who burned the barn, and where is the missing money? This leads to a fun mystery just begging to be solved that involves the whole town and a strange secret." A long shot, but it is a mystery set in Sturbridge, MA, so might be worth looking into. Illustrated by R.D. Rice.
Julia C. Mahon, Mystery at Old Sturbridge Village, 1970, copyright. Definitely Mystery at Old Sturbridge Village by Julia Mahon....I've got a copy, and I've read it recently...the poster's plot points match perfectly.
Thank you for verifying that my recollection matches that book, Mystery at Old Sturbridge Village!

M513: Modern Magic?
Here's the book- it was read to me in 1990 (and I don't think it was too old then). It's about this orphan boy in a medieval fantasy world who gets blackmailed into going on this adventure with a "wizard" (the wizard does this by makes a wax voodoo doll of him). As you read the book you realize that the wizard is actually good and is interested in magic. This magic turns out to be everyday technology from our age (long forgotten of course). For example his "spell of magnification" is actually a magnifying glass. At the end of the first book they find a prophet/oracle which is turns out to be a computer. Not giving you much, but any help is appreciated. Thanx.

Robert Newman. This sounds like it could be one of Newman's books--either "Merlin's Mistake" or "The Testing of Tertius". In the first book, Merlin gives teenage Tertius the gift of future knowledge...he end up going on a quest with a couple others and uses his knowledge, but everyone else thinks it's magic because they don't understand science. The second book is a sequel, and I'm a little vague on the details, but a computer definitely fit into the resolution.

M514: Man and teddy bear parachute out of WWII airplane
I also remember that the man took the bear with him where ever he went and had various matching clothes for him and the bear. He served in WWII in the british air force I think and had the bear in a matching flight suit. On day he gets shot down and he and the bear parachute out. He loses the bear for awhile after that, but finds it in a bar years later.

William P. du Bois, Gentleman Bear, 1986, copyright. "[William P. du Bois'] "Gentleman Bear" (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1986) described the adventures of Lord Billy Browne-Browne and his constant companion, Bayard the teddy bear, at the Olympics, meeting Hitler and getting shot down in an airplane." [see NY Times 7 February 1993: "William P. du Bois Is Dead at 76; Author and Illustrator for Children"]

M515: Magic coin purse
Solved: Queen Zixi of Ix
I read this book in the late 80s or early 90s, but I got it from the library and I feel like it may have been written much earlier--possibly 60s or 70s, though I'm not sure. I remember the following details: Someone had a magic coin purse that always had money in it. There was a boy and girl traveling with a witch and a donkey. They may have come across the purse at some point. There was a walled city that they traveled through that got attacked by some strange bulbous creatures bouncing down from the hills. The cover may have had pictures of the creatures on it. There was a woman (witch?) who used magic to make herself look young. I think that the title had a made up word in it--I keep thinking of "Quixley" and "Id", but haven't been able to come with anything using those. Thanks!

Baum, L. Frank, Queen Zixi of Ix, 1905, copyright. You're right about this book being older than the 80's!! It was written near the turn of the century by the author of the Wizard of Oz books. Dover published a paperback edition in the 70's. Bud and his sister Fluff travel with the aid of a magic cloak. Queen Zixi is 685 years old but looks 16. The Roly Rogues roll down from the hills to invade the city.
Baum, L. Frank, Queen Zixi of Ix.
L. Frank Baum, Queen Zixi of Ix, 1905, approximate. Thank you so much! That's exactly it. I'm thrilled to finally know!

M516: Mystery / crime thriller
I have been searching for a mystery / crime thriller I read in my early teens and have no idea what the name of it is or who wrote it. I remember the plot pretty well but don't know any of the character names. I do know that it was not a children's book; it was definitely written for the young adult crowd as it was ultimately about a rape. It was about a girl who lived with her mother and grandmother at the edge of a forest through which she was forbidden travel. She had an older sister who died in the woods mysteriously - the mother wouldn't tell the girl how her sister died, only that something horrible happened to her. There are other odd things about the girl's living situation too, like there are no clocks, calendars, or newspapers around. She starts to unravel the family secrets with the help (I think) from a boy who lived in a cottage in the woods (there was an older woman that the boy lived with, possibly his grandmother? - but she was kind of creepy-scary). When horrible truth comes out, the girl realizes that there is no "sister"; that she, herself, was raped by a bunch of boys from school in the forbidden forest and ended up losing her memory about it. Her mother and grandmother decided to take advantage her trauma amnesia for her protection by pretending it happened to an "older sister" so the girl could start her life over. The story was so well written that I am now trying to find it again - I would be grateful for any clues about the book's name.

I believe M516 refers to My Sweet Audrina by V. C. Andrews. Copyright 1982.
V.C. Andrews, My Sweet Audrina, 1982. Sweet Audrina is defintely the book you are looking for.
V. C. Andrews, My Sweet Audrina. Sounds exactly like My Sweet Audrina by V. C. Andrews, of Flowers in the Attic fame.
Andrews, V.C., My Sweet Audrina, 1982. This must be the book you are describing. Wikipedia calls the genre "Gothic Horror", and it is an adult book (although I read it as an adolescent as well, when it made the rounds at sleep-away camp). Your description fits perfectly except for the most minor details.
V. C. Andrews, My Sweet Audrina. Definitely this book. See http://www.completevca.com/lib_adare_audrina.shtml for more details.
V.C. Andrews, My Sweet Audrina.

M517: Mother Eve / spaceship crash / Utopian society
I don't know if this was a children's book or an adult's. The main character's name is either Eve or Evelyn or something otherwise similar to Eve. She is on a spaceship going to set up a new colony that crashes or in some other way fails, although I believe it crashes, leaving her the only survivor. The space ship was set up with the ability to produce children in artificial wombs with DNA from all of the colonists who were on the ship, and procedes to do so. The children are produced in batches of I think seven at a time, although I could be wrong about the number. Eve tries to teach all the children to be good and set up a Utopian society and seems to have succeeded, but as the children grow into adulthood, conflicts begin to arise. I believe that the person who turns out to be the evilest in the society is one of the children produced by the space ship using Eve's DNA, her own son. I believe the children in the book call her Mother Eve.

Bryn Chandler, Eve's Rib, 1989, copyright. This is definitely the book. Eve is part of the Genesis Project to develop utopian societies on new, uninhabited planets using exo-children born in laboratories. A good nature vs nurture story.

N108: 1950s primary school text book natural history
The book I'm seeking is an old school text book remembered from primary school here in the UK in the 1950s. It was about the natural world. The thing I loved were the diagrams, which showed the relationships between things in what I suppose are called tree diagrams: food chains, relationships between types of plants etc. I don't think there were any colour illustrations - just these beautifully set-out diagrams, with the names (I think) in linked boxes. It was for quite young children, so the terms used were not botanical Latin or technical. It was a hard backed book, about octavo sized, with (I think) brown or tan or yellow boards. I'm sorry this is rather vague - I'm having a problem both with dredging up the memory and with finding the right words to describe what I do remember! Anyway, there's an outside chance you or someone might know the book I mean, so thanks very much for your fascinating site.

N109: 1930s picture book modern life Cook and Jane
I think I've posted this before but can't find it. This was a large format picture book. My mother recalls having it in her childhood so it has to have been published by the mid-to-late 1930s. She thinks it was called "Modern Times" and featured all sorts of modern things like trains, automobiles, etc. We both remember that the family moved to a new house (out in the country?), and when they arrived, Cook and Jane had arrived first and everything was unpacked and lovely. It seems to me that there may have been two different books, one with modern modes of transport and another about the family. Watercolor illustrations, I think.

O131: Old-fashioned girl lives with modern cousins, sees ghost Alice
Solved: Mirror of Danger
I read this book in the 1970's. It was about a young girl who lived with her elderly Aunt. They lived as if it were in the 19th century (old fashioned life). The Aunt dies and the girl is sent to live with her cousins. They live a modern life. The girl is homesick and she begins to see a ghost named Alice. Alice takes her back in time to the 19th century. The relationship continues until Alice tries to harm the girl. I remember a broken window and a cut arm. I think the girl only sees Alice in a reflection when she is in the current time. Alice may not really exist, I can't remember. She may only be a figment of the girl's imagination but to the girl she is real. I can remember one other seen about the girl eating fish and chips out of newspapers with her cousins so it must take place in England. I also remember Christmas - the girl hates the modern fake tree and goes with Alice to see her real tree. Like so many others I loaned this book to friend 25 years ago and no longer remember the title.

This sounds exactly the same as stumper G459, which has been solved as Mirror of Danger by Pamela Sykes.
Sykes, Mirror of Danger. Thank you everyone! The book was definitely Mirror of Danger. It seems a lot of people have been looking for it and remember it fondly.
Pamela Sykes, Come back Lucy. This has been correctly solved as Mirror of danger, but you might want to add that this is the US title. The original UK title is Come back Lucy. There is also a sequel, Lucy beware.

P393: "prettier than the picture on Freddy Frog's barn"
I'm looking for a book for my aunt. She'd like to find a 1st grade reader from 1930 that has the phrase, "prettier than the picture on Freddy Frog's barn". She went to grade school at that time in Landis, North Carolina.

P394: Popularity in 50’s
Solved: The Charmed Circle
Circle of Friends?? I read this in the late 70's early 80's, but I think it is older than that. It is set in the 50’s, about a girl who has many friends, but sometimes stresses about popularity. She is more plain than her sister, who is petite, blond, and very popular. I think her dad calls the sister “Kitten”. The main character jokes that she’d like to be called Kitten too, but she is as kittenish as a moose. Cute sis has to watch what she eats, main character can eat whatever she wants—says she’s “built like a bean pole”. These are just little details I remember. The main character ends up with a crush on a very popular boy—I think he has dark hair. One unusual plot element—main character develops friendship with a new student from another country—Poland, maybe, or a Slavish country. I remember clearly the friend’s mom/grandma making some kind of pastry that the main character really likes. The problem in the story arises when the main character’s popularity starts to rise—she has trouble remaining friends with the outcast foreign student. There might be an election involved in the story too, can’t remember that.

Dorothea J Snow, The charmed circle, 1962, copyright. I'm sure this is the one. It is a "Whitman novel for girls". Lauralee Larkin comes out of her shell as she enters high school, without her best friend. Maxine is her sweet, kittenish sister. Elena Sloshek is a Moravian immigrant who is rejected by the popular crowd, including Lauralee, but out of desperation and "chance", Lauralee gets to know her, appreciate her, and draw her out as they both enter the "charmed circle". The pastry that you're remembering is the "kipferdln" Elena's mother makes. Yes, Lauralee runs as president of her class for freshman year, there is a love interest in the form of Bud.
Anne Emery, Dinny Gordon Series. This sounds like the Dinny Gordon series.
Dorothea J Snow, The Charmed Circle, 1962, copyright. The Charmed Circle is absolutely right! Thank you, thank you! Now to find it again.

P395: Poor Little Girl Who Drew Pictures of Dresses
This is a book I read back in the 70's, but it takes place in a much earlier era. There is a very poor little girl, who wears the same clothes to school every day. Every night she washes her clothes out and then sits down and draws the most beautiful clothes. At school all the little girls make fun of her until they see her drawings and then they end up liking her and wanting to be her friend. I remember that all the little girls are rated as being the richest to the poorest by the amount of different outfits they own.

This sounds very much the The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes, illustrated by Louis Slobodkin. From the back cover of the 2004 reprint: "Wanda wears the same faded blue dress to school every day -- yet she says she has one hundred beautiful dresses at home, 'all lined up.' The other girls don't believe it, and when Peggy starts a daily game of teasing Wanda about the hundred dresses, everyone joins in. Maddie, Peggy's best friend, goes along with the game, but she secretly wonders whether she can find the courage to speak up in Wanda's defense. It's not until Wanda fails to come to school one day that her classmates learn the truth about the hundred dresses -- and Maddie and Peggy learn the meaning of kindness and generosity of spirit."

Interpreting
Condition
Grades

Estes, Eleanor. The Hundred Dresses. Illustrated by Louis Slobodkin. Harcourt Inc., 1944, 2004. New paperback. $7.00
Estes, Eleanor. The Hundred Dresses. Illustrated by Louis Slobodkin. Schoolastic Inc., 1944, 1973. Paperback. VG. $2

P396: Post-apocalyptic dream in coma
Solved: A Time of Darkness
Unfortunately, I do not have any memory of what the title may be like or who the author may be. Can't really remember the characters' names either. Year must be before 1995, as I read it in elementary school. Plot Synopsis: A young man somehow finds himself on an unfamiliar Earth living with primitive people not unlike ancient hunter-gatherer tribes. At first it seems as if he has somehow traveled back in time, but as he adjusts to his new hunter-gatherer life without TVs, cars, and fast-food, he begins finding anachronisms. For example: a broken watch. Gradually he realizes that he has not traveled back to ancient times, but instead has traveled forward into a post-apocalyptic future, presumably caused by a major world war. He meets the tribe's old wise woman (whose name begins with 'A' I believe) and, over the years, integrates himself into their society. He even finds love with one of the women. Near the end of the novel, the man suddenly wakes up one day and finds himself back in present-day society (I believe unaged from his years in the post-apocalyptic Earth). He learns that he has been in a coma, and everything he experienced was a dream. But was it really? He finds in his possession an object that he acquired in the "dream", and commits to writing letters to the governments of the major countries in an attempt to prevent the war that would create the post-apocalyptic future. His efforts meet with little success, until he learns that he has a new niece who has the same name as the old wise woman from his "dream." He writes a letter to his niece, and afterwards finds that the object from his post-apocalyptic future disappears, indicating that he has successfully prevented it from occurring. This was a very engaging, can't-put-it-down science-fiction/fantasy children's novel (no illustrations). Of course, I gave away the most important plot twists in the synopsis, but I really would like to read it again and would greatly appreciate any help trying to remember what the book is called. Thanks!