Children’s picture book definitely pre-2000 and probably earlier. Young girl lives on a honey farm, possibly w/ her grandmother. Girl has to get honey from cellar but is scared by “monster” who is maybe a man w/ hat and trenchcoat. He may be chased by bees at the end. Soft, pastel-like illustrations.
Hey, this is my submission, and I thought I’d put some more detailed info here since the paypal comment box had such a small character limit:
This is a story book I had as a child that scared me a lot, and now I can’t remember how it ends. This is really bothering me — I’m sure since it’s a kid’s book there was probably a happy ending, so I want to find it again and find out what that was.
Basically, this little girl is living in this old house, possibly with her grandmother? And there’s a monster in the basement that the girl is afraid of. I think at some point she goes down there and is maybe chased by the monster?
Anyway, the house is on a bee farm, and I think the resolution has something to do with that — maybe the girl lures the monster so he’s chased by bees or something? But I don’t remember. It seems to me like maybe the “monster” was actually a man with a scary face, who wore a black hat with a flat top and a long jacket, maybe a trenchcoat. I think the book had illustrations with very soft outlines, dim colours. I said watercolours here but it might have been oil pastels.
I asked my brother about this book, and he dimly remembers it, too. He thinks the illustrations were watercolours, and that it may have been an award winner — possibly the Caldecott Medal, but I’ve looked up Caldecott winners and can’t seem to find it. He thinks the plot had something to do with the honey from the bee farm being stored in the basement.
After some more reflection, I’m almost certain the plot had to do with the grandmother asking the child to go down to the basement and bring back a jar of the honey they had stored there. She may have had sisters who were sent before her in turns or something like that?
Just a few more details: This book was definitely published before the year 2000, and I was living in Colorado, USA when I read it. I’m almost certain now that the “monster” was a man with a long coat (a trench coat maybe?) and a hat with a flat top that shadowed out part of his face.
This might be a stretch, but take a look at “The Root Cellar” by Janet Lunn. An orphaned girl shuffled between relatives is sent down to the root cellar to retrieve some canned goods, but instead she’s transported to the year 1862. The reason I thought this might possibly be it is the cover of the paperback version shows shelves filled with honey jars.
Sounds similar to 112J, also unsolved.
I’ve been trying to find this exact book as well! Did you find the title yet??