Please try to locate a book my children had, perhaps sometime in the ‘50s; unfortunately, I don’t have it’s title, but it was a book that featured numbers. Each page contained a poem that emphasized a certain number: the one I remember was the number four. The poem was as follows: “Selma Snitch, the halloween witch, had four brooms, she was very rich! She had four bats, and four pointed hats, and four of the biggest and blackest cats!” Thus, each page featured a different number; the first page had a poem with the number one, the second, two, etc.
Stump the Bookseller
New format, same book stumper solving.
Fun With ABC and 123, published by Parents’ Magazine Press, 1965. Pictures here
http://onceuponabookshelf.com/?p=599 . I am delighted to have found this for you as it’s one I had completely forgotten about myself.
Fun with ABC and 1-2-3;
an alphabet and counting book in rhyme;
Hal Dareff; Marylin Hafner
1965
English Book Book : Juvenile audience [46] pages color, illustrations 26 cm
New York, Parents Magazine Press,
I thought I could just type in “Selma Snitch” and find the answer… frustratingly, it provided an almost-answer that’s just out of reach! It brought up a newspaper archive, but the text isn’t to be found on the page cited or any of the surrounding pages.
The result cites the Cedar Rapids Gazette, Sunday, January 30, 1966, Page 92, and the snippet in the Google search reads: “Selma Snitch, the Halloween witch, and llamas in pink-striped pajamas are some of the hilarious characters in this new alphabet and counting book in rhyme.”
Unfortunately, a search for Selma Snitch and llamas brings up nothing else.
I did try “Selma Snitch” and 1966 — nothing; “Selma Snitch” and 1965 brought up google text of a previous Stumper request — unfortunately, I think all pre-2013 stumpers have been wiped out? The link just takes me to the main stumper page. The google text only says: The poem was as follows: “Selma Snitch, the halloween witch, had four brooms, …. shelves of an army post library in the Panama Canal Zone in 1964 or 1965.”
Then I tried “selma snitch” plus book (by this time I really wanted to solve this!), and I got the newspaper archive again, but backed up a bit, and now the google preview text read: “After we have read the book to her, she in turn reads it herself. … Selma Snitch, the Halloween witch, and llamas in pink-striped pajamas, are some of the …” SO, I googled the phrase “”After we have read the book to her, she in turn reads it herself.” That brought up some 1960s ads for a “4 Books Free Parents Magazine Read Aloud and Easy Reading Program.” Unfortunately, the four books I saw don’t include an “alphabet and counting” book.
Hopefully someone with incredible Googling powers can take it from here! And maybe Loganberry can check the pre-blog archives for the previous query?
GO ME!!! I found it!!! “Fun With ABC and 123: An Alphabet and Counting Book in Rhyme” by Hal Dareff. I searched ebay for “parents press 1965” and voila! I then google-imaged that title and even found Selma Snitch herself! Now I can finally get back to sleep… 😉