When I was a teenager in the 80’s I read a book called “Elizabeth”. The book was about a teenage girl who either had magical powers or magic was somehow insinuated. The cover was black and I believe it had a broken mirror on the cover. In the story she had a red mark on her upper thigh that she received from a spider bite maybe but it was identical to another character in the book, like an aunt or something. She would remark in the book how older men were attracted to her and she enjoyed it. I have looked everywhere online for the book and even called my local library. I guarantee the book is not about Queen Elizabeth or Elizabeth Taylor because that is all that I find out there. Please help!!
Category Archives: Fantasy
323D: Valley Prince Loves Mountain Princess
Elementary School book read between 1962-1967. A Prince from a kingdom where everyone has the same color of hair, climbs a mountain to the enemy kingdom where everyone has the same, but different color hair from the Valley Kingdom people. He meets the Mountain Princess, and falls in love with her. Together they must overcome the prejudice against different looking people that is held by their two kingdoms. Fairytale style color illustrations with simple narrative. I think the Prince’s hair was brown and the Princess’ hair was silver.
322W: Delightful Arabian Folktales
Looking for a children’s book with a yellow cloth cover and a drawing of a red tree on the front. It had stories about djinns in it and a story about a tree with three different colored branches, and a story about a dress woven from spider webs and so fine it fit into a walnut shell, and a story about a prince who disguised himself with tripe on his head to pretend to be a beggar.
My friend thought the book was Arabian folktales. She saw this book when she was a child, about 20 years ago.
Thanks!!
322D: Magical Wooden Box (Solved)
A description of the book, with helpful details:
- Children’s books, maybe for ages 10 – 13 years old.
- Red cover (?) with possibly a tree on it
- Small book, probably less than 200 pages
- Main character was female (maybe 12ish years old) with a father who gave her a magical wooden box, when she opened it her and her friend were transported to another place (/world.)
- My foggy memory remembers the two kids standing next to a tree at some point in the other place.
- The girl finds out her dad has also been to the other place. He may have been a king on the other side or the kids thought he was the bad guy when he jumped through the portal (?)
I’m sorry I can’t recall anything more than this, I’m going off an 11-year-old’s mind over a decade later.
322A: Magical Oven Confounds Rude Neighbor Boy (Solved)
321X: Fairies in the Forest
Softcover book of color photographs with fairy-lore text. That is, images are actual unmanipulated photographs but the text relates these to fairies. I am confident it is a book of photographs as well as relating at least some of the photographs to fairies. Other recollections are softer.
321R: Girl Learns Graceful Behavior From Fairy Queen
There’s a book of fiction about a girl who lives in or near a castle- I seem to remember it won an award- I think I found it at a Scholastic book fair. This girl is somehow considered badly behaved- and she’s allowed to run wild. She is kidnapped by fairies who live in a huge underground warren (I think under a mountain) to be a servant. They’re drugged every night with the food that she discovers if she skips, she’s more alert but struggles with claustrophobia. Because of her refusal to eat the drugged food, she catches the interest of the Queen of fairies who teaches her, mostly through humiliation, how to walk and move gracefully. She’s eventually rescued and the fairies are forced into the other world, sealing their mountain.
I can’t find this book at all- My sister claims she never read it and I looked through the books at my parents house without finding it.
320U: Wizard Teaches Children Life Lessons (Solved)
319Q: The Inept Wizard
Seeking a fantasy series from the 80s/90s. In the series was an inept wizard who carried a satchel full of rune sticks leftover by a long lost race called the Rebus/Rhebus/Rhybus (I'm not 100% sure of the spelling). The wizard often failed because he had trouble decoding the rune sticks. Eventually his satchel caught fire and he lost them all. The enemies in the books were somehow made of ice and wary of sunlight - I think they were dark elves. When killed, they would degrade into a puddle of dirty water. In one of the books was a character who flew around inside a cavern while wearing an old-fashioned helmet with a hinged visor. He could blast fire from his eyes and regularly chuckled while firing at the trolls below. Any help finding this series would be much appreciated.
317P: Girls Search for Witch Parents with Mouse Father
The book I am looking for is one I read in the mid to late 70’s about a girl (and I think her sister) perhaps named Lydia. Their parents are part of a witch/warlock community that are in some kind of other dimension. Somehow they get abandoned by their parents and go off searching in the other dimension. The whole time they are carrying a mouse in a cage that ends up being their father (complicated family dynamic!). The book is printed with occasional drawings of their adventures including one where they are forced to clean up the kitchen of some captor. I think they end up freeing a dragon whose collar is unlocked by a key that the mouse had – or something like that. I have spent years googling and haven’t been able to turn up anything. Thanks!