Category Archives: 1980s

326S: Book about a disabled girl who laughed but didn’t talk (Solved!)

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I read this book in the late 70’s or early 80s. It popped into my head today; I don’t know why, and now I feel driven to reread it, but again, I don’t know why. The cover was an outdoor scene — a grassy field with some blurred figures, hard to make out. The novel was about a girl who lived in a hospital or an institution. She was physically disabled (wheelchair) and also did not talk. However, she did laugh at least once, and it seemed that she may have had a sense of irony that others didn’t recognize. The point of view was, I think, from her brother, who was visiting her. There was something disturbing about the story, but I can’t remember what it was. The only other thing I remember is that she had a unique name. This may also have been the name of the book. It had a T and an I in it – Tig? Twig? Twich? THANK YOU!

 

326P: Mechanical Illustrations From The Future

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I was born in 1977, and remember a picture book with lots of detailed illustrations including cross sections of spaceships and people on conveyor belts being fed via mechanical arms from ceiling (I remember a woman tilting her head back to receive a giant claw full of salad). Also, a kind of altered lawn tractor that did everything, including cutting all the flowers off with a reciprocating hedge trimmer attachment. I thought I may be confusing this with “Little Monster Goes to Work”, which i also loved, but having recently looked through the latter, realized it is a different book. Please help!

326M: Boy Has Adventures On River

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I’m looking for a children’s picture book from the 70s or 80s for my friend. Her mom used to read it to her, but she can’t remember the name. It’s about a boy who floats down a river and has many adventures on the way involving animals and food. She thought it was “In the Peanut Butter Colony” by Louis Ross but that doesn’t look right after all.  Thank you for any help!

326E: Planetary Creature Encyclopedia

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I had an amazing book when I was a kid that I haven’t seen for decades. I was born in 1973, so it would have been published sometime in the 70s or early 80s. It was a large, slim encyclopedia- or reference-style book, but it was about all of the planets and what each of their creatures would look like based on the physics, chemistry, and gravity of the planets. It was very colorful and there were wonderful renderings of all of the would-be creatures. I believe it also listed what these creatures’ habits, diet, lifestyle, etc. would be like as well.

I hope you can help me find out what it is!

326D: Air Force Pilot Takes On Dragon In Storm Cloud

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Short fantasy/sci-fi story in an anthology aimed at young readers in the late 70s/early 80s - I seem to remember reading it in late elementary school, though it could have been middle school. Story was about an Air Force pilot who lost a friend to a dragon in a storm cloud, but no one believed him, so he stole a plane and went back up to kill the dragon. He was catatonic and white-haired when the plane landed, and everyone thought he was just crazy, until they watched his gun-camera footage of his attack runs on the dragon.

325J: Flipping Over Tails

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I am looking for a children’s book, I believe it was a 1/2 page type flip book (not where you open up a small flap).  I read it to our son when he was about 2 years old.  He was born in 1994.  We use to get most of our books second hand so I would guess the book would be from 1980’s or 1990’s.  It was about animal tails and I believe the last pages showed a little boy with 1/2 the flip page showing a peacock tail then you flip it over and it just shows the boy and he says, “hey, I don’t have a tail!”.
I know it’s not Tails or A Tale of Tails (A Little Golden Book).
Thank you for your help!

325A: Pubescent Children Develop Telepathic Powers

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There’s a novel that I read years ago (late 70’s or early 80’s) from a library in England for which I can no longer remember the author or the title; so if you recognize the content, I’d be a happy camper. 🙂

The only things I can remember are…

1/ It was about mental powers, telepathy, etc

2/ Children developed these abilities at or around puberty (I think). If I remember correctly, the general populace/government reacted badly to these children.

3/ There was a woman scientist who studied these children and came up with a way to synthesize the catalyst, which she then tried on herself and, after a really rough transition, found that she had the same abilities.

3.1/ I’ve also got a vague recollection (so take it with a grain of salt) that other adults who tried to gain these powers died.

4/ The initial symptom of these powers was an increase in sensory perception and intense pleasure – enough to lock the affected person into repeating whatever felt good regardless of what it was doing to them.

4.1/ The woman scientist/doctor who managed to synthesize the activating chemical and used it on herself ended up “making love” to a tree (I’ve got a dim memory of the description of the feel of the bark against her naked skin).

4.2/ Another scene (probably just a paragraph or sentence) had a description of a boy who kept “pleasuring himself” for hours; even though he was now raw and bleeding, he couldn’t stop. (I think this was one of the notes the scientist/doctor compiled about the affected children, rather than being a central theme or character development).

4.3/ The powers allowed the children to feel the emotions of others (though I do not remember if it was limited to others with powers or everyone in general) and they banded together to feel safe/loved/etc. when the rest of the world turned against them due to fear. I don’t remember if it was true telepathy or just extreme empathy.

5/ Once she had the same abilities as the children, the woman scientist joined up with a group of them – presumably to help defend them against the haters.

Beyond that, I have no idea. The only other non-story items I know are…

  • I read it late-70’s or early 80’s.
  • Given the more grown-up content, it is not likely to be a children’s book; though it could be Teens and older.

I know it’s not much to go on, but it’s been driving me batty trying to remember the title.

 

324Y: Fairies and Giants and Creatures In One Massive Compilation

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I am looking for a children’s book I read in the late 70s or early 80s that was about fairies and giants and other mystical creatures. It was huge (to a 6 year old!), 13 to 15 inches in height & hundreds of pages printed on very thin tissue-like paper that was pastel multi-coloured, in sections. A pink section, then a yellow section, then a pale green section, etc. I believe the coloured sections coordinated with the sections of the book which i think were divided into “stories about giants”, “stories about fairies”. It may have had “A Great Big Book….” or “The Big Book of….” in the title. It was large print with pictures here and there.

Thank you!!