I am looking for a book that may have been published in the 1960’s. I think it had a red cover. The book was illustrated with very bright colors. It had several stories, but there are three I remember most clearly.
One was a story of a little pine tree that wanted different leaves. The illustrations included gold coins being plucked off the tree, a goat eating the oak leaves, and glass prisms hanging from the tree.
Another story was of a stingy old woman who was baking at on oven. She would not give visitors any of her pies. The picture of the pie she baked was huge. She was eventually turned into a woodpecker to peck out a living. There is a picture of her as a woodpecker: her red hat became the birds head and her black dress with a white apron became the body.
The last story that I can remember is one where a little girl went through the woods with a tin pan to fetch water for her sick mother. As she walked back giving sips of water to various thirsty people, the pan became metals such as silver then gold and then a diamond and then a group of stars (the big dipper).
I think you want The Road in Storyland, by Watty Piper.
This is the book. Thank you so very much. Now, I might be able to find it and purchase it for my grandchildren. How fun!
All three stories can be found in ‘Folk Tales Children Love’ by Watty Piper. In this book they are published as The Pine Tree and its Needles, The Old Woman Who Wanted All the Cakes, and The Star Dipper. The same collection of stories was later reprinted as ‘The Road in Storyland’, also by Watty Piper. This is probably the one you’re looking for, since it does have a red cover.
Wow! You are incredibly fast! And I appreciate all the details. The Star Dipper. I did not remember the name of that story. Thank you.
Wow! You people are fast. I looked up the author as mentioned, and it is the book. I am so happy. Thank you so much!
This has been solved! The book is “The Road in Storyland,” by Watty Piper. The older book was “Folk Tales Children Love” by the same person. Thank you so much C & MS!
Wow! I’m actually looking for a different book, but reading this discussion about “Folk Tales Children Love” brings back anuncomfortable memory. I was just a toddler when that story was read to me and I saw the picture of the mean old woman turned into a woodpecker. It gave me nightmares and made me terrified of woodpeckers for years, not that I ever saw one. I think the mean old woman part of it made me equate woodpeckers with witches, a fear that I already had.
The picture book I’d like to identify was added to my third grade classroom library and was an instant hit. Every kid wanted to borrow it. This was in 1949 or ’50. It was about a group of people who lived in a big submarine. The cross-section drawings showed them in various rooms, going about their daily lives. I have no idea what the title may have been, but I’ve been casually searching for it low these many, many years.
I’ll try to post a query about it.
Thank you for identifying this book! The stories and illustrations were deeply imprinted in my young mind, that over 60 years later I still remember the stingy old woman story when I see woodpeckers! I was guided by the stories of kindness and generosity in this book and now that I have the title, I was able to order a used copy through AbeBooks. Thanks!
I still have a copy of this book which I cant locate but it was my grade two reader !