Category Archives: 1970s

373W: The Magic Old Couple

Book about a Magic Old Couple. It was printed before 1974. An old magical man and wife help some children. The kids enter a gate to visit the old man and woman in their back garden. The lady pours them lemonade from a pitcher that is never empty and the ice cubes never melt. That’s all I have. It was read to us by our 1st or 3rd grade teacher in either 1971 or 1973 ish

373V: Trade mom in for a new one (Solved!)

I’m looking for a children’s book that I read in the 70s when I was in grade school. It was most likely a library book. A child is unhappy with his (I believe a boy) mom because she is too strict or just isn’t getting his way, and so he takes her to a mommy store to trade her in for a new one. I believe he cycles through several new mom. This does not turn out as expected and he eventually brings his original mom back home because she’s perfect. I remember one artwork that struck me, because the mom was very patient as she waited in the store to be “reclaimed” and I think she was wearing a long coat and hat, holding a purse, maybe even dress gloves. Strikes me as something a lady in the 1950s-1960s might wear.

373U: Vintage Picture Book, Kitten cleans room to find rain gear so he can play in the rain with his friends

Kitten wants to play in the rain with two friends, but he has to clean his room to find his rain gear, which includes, boots, hat, jacket. His friends check in on him and help him clean, they even find a sail boat that they can play with in the puddles. The book is NOT the obvious Three Kittens, Rainy-Day Kitten, etc. . . been searching for years now. I think it was published sometime between 1940s-1990s, And I want to say it had a beige/yellow/tan cover with a spot illustration.

372M: Alliterated Named- Animals

Hi, I’m searching for the name of a series of children’s books I read in the 1960s and 1970s. I don’t remember much about them except that all the characters were animals
and they had alliterated names.  There was a firefly in the books. The coverwas very cute. These books gave me a lifelong love of reading. I was in grade 5 at the time, going to school in Hull, Quebec, Canada. The books were in English. Unfortunately that’s all I remember.

372L: Boy Beaver

The book I’m looking for I read in 1970 – 71.  A fourth grade teacher selected it from the school library for me.  It was a children’s chapter book about a boy who either dreamed or had a vision that he was was a beaver.  It had Native American motifs and all the other characters were also animals. I really don’t remember much more than that.

372H: A boy named Junior tries to fly (Solved!)

The book was found on the shelf of my grade school library near the Boxcar Children and my best guess of pub date is 1960s to 1990s-early reader chapter book/ middle school reading level. In the first book of the series a young boy jumps from the roof of the family barn with homemade (airplane?) wings and breaks both legs; I think the boy’s name is Junior- the story follows a sibling set who i remember being cared for by an older (non parent) male relative – there is a pet companion involved, a dog? At one point, Junior knocks on the front door to the home from the inside to ask permission to come sit outside with the older male relative in one of the series’ culminating scenes
This book has haunted my dreams for almost fifteen years and I badly want to find an old copy to read. please let me know if it sounds familiar and thank you for providing this essential service to society- that sounds facetious, but I promise I am serious as a heart attack, thank you. 

372B: Looking for a 1970s fiction novel

I really can’t remember much more than that there were two guys who were probably grad students; possibly one might have been a professor. They were working on ESP and gave this sad, shy girl a boost to her ego when they saw her in a cafe or cafeteria. They continued to work on her without her knowing it and then I think she was working with them. It was a very hippy-feel-good/save-the-world kind of stories.

I’ve looked for it for years with no luck. Good hunting!

371Z: Keywords: summer, swimming, towels, pink lemonade

I’m trying to remember an illustrated hardcover book probably under 30 pages. If I had to guess I would have read this around 1989 and I’m thinking it was already a few years old at this point but not sure. If I remember correctly it was the story about two boys during summer I would guess set in the 1960’s but don’t quote me on that, reminiscing about the things they did. I remember them drinking pink lemonade with one of the boys grandfathers and walking to either a pool or a beach with rolled up towels under their arms to go swimming. I’m not too sure but I feel like one of them had trouble swimming but can’t remember anymore that that. It was pretty colorful and had a nice art style.

371Y: The colorful mud people, and metallic foil birds

I’m looking for two books for my sister for Christmas. She was born in the mid 70s and they were books that she loved as a child but she doesn’t remember much about either.

1) mud golems or mud people who may be feel drab, and then find paint or color puddles and absorb the colors and become colorful? I’m so sorry I don’t have title or author, and it sounds vague.

2) the second one was a black glossy book for children about starlings? The unique thing about this particular book is it had metallic foil illustrations. She absolutely loved it. If she sends any more details about either book, I’ll pass them along but thank you for such a cool and quirky service.