Looking for a children’s book where we’re led through multiple illustrated time periods where there are drawings of people – cave people with labeled tools and clothing, all the way to Greek and Roman, then Versailles where they talk about beauty marks. Lots of how-to pieces like how to make a drawstring pouch or a beauty mark, primarily focused on clothing but also pets or habits.
In the mid-1950s I had a book about two children learning about nature from their grandfather(?). Probably an elementary textbook from the 1930s (I had a second book at the same time: “Following the Frontier” by W. L. Nida, 1934, so the book in question probably came from the same school discards). The book in question had ink line drawings — I remember a drawing of a potter wasp or mud dauber wasps’ nest shaped like a vase.
Not exactly a children’s book, nevertheless it is one of the earliest books I remember reading, and it was certainly the first mail-order book I ever bought.
I heard this book being offered on the radio on a Gillette commercial, probably on a sports broadcast of some sort, sometime after the 1955 World Series had been played and probably before the 1956 baseball season was well underway. So sometime between late fall 1955 and early summer 1956. I would have been 7 years old at the time. I convinced my dad to write a check for $1 and send off to Gillette for the book. Received it shortly thereafter and spent a lot of time reading it in my misspent youth.
I can’t remember the exact title. Years ago I would have guessed it to be something like “The Gillette 1955 World Series Record Book”, but that is incorrect. There was a series of miniature books (3″ x 4″) published under the names “The Gillette 195x World Series Record Book” for 1953 and 1954. It was not in that series.
This book was almost certainly published by A. S. Barnes and Company. It was bright green hardcover (I don’t think it ever had a dust jacket) that was physically about the same format as their hardcover books “The 1955 Baseball Almanac” (Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 55 7189, dark green hardcover with dust jacket) and “The 1956 Baseball Almanac” (Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 43-5554, dark blue-green hardcover with dust jacket). In fact, 70-80% of the content was extracted from those two volumes, whence my inference that it must have been published by A. S. Barnes. The sections of the Baseball Almanacs that were repeated or similar in that book included ball club data (including all the ball park diagrams), how to keep score, and the rules of baseball.
In thickness, the 1955 World Series book I am looking for was about the same as or a little thinner that the 1956 Baseball Almanac and not as thick as the 1955 Baseball Almanac.
One major difference between the 1955 and 1956 Baseball Almanacs is that the 1955 version includes a section of photos in the middle of the book (including Willie Mays’ spectacular catch in the 1954 World Series). The 1955 World Series book I am looking for also had a photo section of highlights from the 1955 World Series. Specific photos that I recall were Jackie Robinson’s stealing of home in Game 1, Irv Noren’s shoestring catch in Game 5, and portraits of Casey Stengel and Walt Alston.
I’m also imagining that the 1955 World Series book I am looking for contains more descriptive material on the pennant race and the World Series and less material on club rosters for the upcoming season than the Almanacs.
A reflection on poverty. A single white mother with a son, under age 10, in gritty Oakland, CA. I feel like the title was similar to “How We Live Now” (yes Trollope’s title).
I wish to identify a book from 1940’s or 1950’s (I think) that is a memoir by a man (family?) who moved to Santa Fe from elsewhere in US, and describes his learning about Southwest culture. Specifically, describes his learning about using acequia water for his lawn.
Title, as best as I remember, used some combination of the words Sunshine, Window, Kitchen, and/or Shoulder.
My fourth grade teacher (in about 1971) read to our class a book about a zoologist couple and their two children (a boy and a girl) who went on an expedition together as a family to the Amazon jungle to discover animals. I think for a zoo, but maybe not. Each chapter was about a search for a different kind of animal (like an armadillo) describing its nature and its habits. The children had some thrilling adventures – for example, with a jaguar – from which they were rescued by their parents. It was a series because I remember that there was another book where they went to Africa.
As a small child in the early 2000s I compulsively read a picture book in the school library but for years have been unable to track it down.
It followed the history of a single hilltop in I believe England. Every page would open to a new period of history with a new drawing, as new groups of people would use the hilltop for its advantageous position.
The first were Celts, who built a stockade around the hill along with dirt walls.
Then a Roman fort with intricate buildings and brickwork.
Eventually there was a Manor House with a rudimentary wall.
And finally a huge castle with lots of towers and a moat.
There were other examples I don’t remember but these are what have stuck with me. Each page includes people in the various forts living, working, and doing activities. Parts of roofs and walls were cut out in the drawing so you could see inside.
And there was even a “Where’s Waldo” type game. In each variation of the hill were a pair of “lovers” (for lack of a better word) who were hidden among the people and activities and you had to seek them out.
Around the drawing was information about the time period, the purpose of why they built something (e.g. a drawbridge), and interesting facts like stuff about defending a medieval castle from attack.
I know this sounds like a lot of depth, but I promise this was a children’s picture book. Somewhere between the ages of 5 and 10 I was obsessed with it. Please help!
I read this book some time between 1991 and 1994, it was a true story about a woman who had repeat alien abductions throughout her lifetime, at some point she mentions she had found an implant on her body from the aliens, she believed it was a tracker, and thought they used this with many people. One time that she was abducted they introduced her to several “children” of hers, they had removed ova / ovum from her on previous abductions and were creating a mixed breed, and they took her to meet her “children” with this alien being, and the alien “mother” who was taking care of the children was allowed to watch her interactions with her “children” so she could learn about emotions, because apparently they are not emotional creatures.
I’m trying to remember the title of a children’s book I read in the mid-1960s (which I believe came out around that time, but I can’t be sure). It was about a little boy who rode a magic carpet around the world. He touched down in different countries and would learn a little bit about each place. It was a magical book for me as a child and wish I could remember more details!