Tag Archives: farm

370F: Kids exploring cave during the depression era (Solved!)

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I’ve been searching for this book for years.  I cannot remember all the details but the basics:
Farm kids during the great depression, I think a boy and a girl.  They go exploring a cave nearby and pretend its their mansion.  So they don’t get lost they use breadcrumbs but birds eat it.  They decide to use string instead.  A mystery of some sort is solved.  I seem to recall mention of the Hobos that would come around looking for work, and their family took one in and fed him a meal.  At the end of the book he left markings on their fence that was code for “friendly family” or something like that.  Other details: I THINK they took a canary into the cave, there was something to do with the underground railroad, and ration books were mentioned.  

I read this book when I was in 6th grade, possibly 1977/78.  It was an old book at the time, hardbound with the old fabric book covering. I think it had illustrations but can’t quite remember–I read a LOT in those days.  This book belonged to my mom who was born in 38–sadly its been long lost.

367K: Pebble removed from horse hoof grows and explodes

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The main character is a young girl, moody, sent to live with a family member (possibly aunt and cousin). She’s a bit of a troublemaker and/or lies a lot. – She sits on a fence outside and sees an old lame mare in the field. A man (named Joe, says “Aye” a lot) who owns the horse chats to the girl and gets a pebble out of the horse’s hoof to stop her lameness. – The girl likes this unusual pebble and keeps it on the windowsill in her room because the light hits it nicely. – The pebble grows and eventually falls off the windowsill. – It gets so big she and the other girl (her cousin?) have to lump it into a wheelbarrow and get it away from the house, where it tips the barrow and eventually explodes into many pebbles. Read between 1990 – 2005 in the UK.

365J: Girl At Grandparents’ Farm For Summer Wants Horse – Both Have Yellow Hair On Cover (Solved!)

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I’m trying to track down the title of a children’s/young adult book from the late 1970s/early1980s.  I want to say it was a book sold via one of those “book club” orders that kids used to order books from in elementary school, where the teacher passes out the order forms with a list of book selections.  I remember it was a thin book with a dark gray cover with a pen-and-ink drawing of a young girl standing at a fence with a horse on the other side of it in a field, and both the girl’s hair and the horse’s mane were colored yellow.
The most I can remember of the story is, at the beginning, the girl – I think her name MIGHT be Jane? – is going to spend the summer with her grandparents on their farm, but first she has to get through – I THINK – the last day of school and her class’s “field day.”  I know that whatever the occasion, she sprains her ankle during a race and goes to her parents’ truck to nap until it’s over and they take her to her grandparents.  I also remember that while she’s at her grandparents, there’s a flood for her birthday and her grandmother gives her homemade gifts including a hand-sewn dress using fabric from the kitchen curtains.  And I know that there’s a horse involved – maybe a colt?  Maybe called Lightning?  I’m not sure.  I believe she wants the horse to be hers, and I think her grandfather isn’t all too keen on the idea.
I’m sorry I can’t provide any more info – I hope this is helpful!

364J: Russian (?) siblings go live on a farm when orphaned (Solved!)

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This is actually two books that I remember reading many times in the 70’s. These were two novels. The plot was that two siblings were orphaned and went to live on a farm. Maybe they were Russian or Ukrainian? I remember the description of the girl being given a special costume to wear that had many many skirts. I also remember a description of the Wax, Dyed Eggs at Easter. I think they went to the special fair and got a very decorated cookie. The Farm was stocked with lots of food, including sausages hung in the pantry. The second novel was a little darker, because I believe there was a war.
Thank you for any help you can give with these two books.

362O: Child Finds Way Home by North Star

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I’m trying to think of a book I used to read probably around the year 2000.

The kid (can’t remember if it’s a boy or girl) lives on a farm with their dad, their mother has died. Every Christmas Eve they give the barn animals Christmas treats. At some point the kid gets lost in the woods with their dog. They follow the North Star to head back home and are found by the dad and their neighbor.

362D: Appalachian Storm (Solved!)

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I’m looking for a beautifully illustrated children’s book, I *think* was called ‘Come a Flood’. It was set in I believe, the Appalachian mountains, and was written in that vernacular, about a coming rainstorm, that the grandma was forecasting, from the perspective of the damage it would cause to their farm, and the “holler”. Oddly, it was funny, and very cute, and neither of those qualities would come through, minus the illustrations. I came across the book in the early 2000’s, and feel in love, but couldn’t buy it, then – and haven’t seen it, since. I don’t know if it was a first edition, or a reprint.

I sincerely hope you can help me find it, so I’ll be able to read it to my grandchildren, someday…
Thank you!

360Q: Picture Book about a farm with huge vegetables (Solved!)

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This is a larger-format picture book, in full color, with illustrations that cover most/all of each page.  I read it in the early- to mid-80’s.  There’s a farmer who grows vegetables and something happens to his farm where he starts growing GIGANTIC vegetables.  There’s a bad guy (I think he’s dressed in a black suit and might have a black top hat?) who wants to get his hands on the farm or the stuff that makes the farm miraculous.  I can’t remember if the thing that makes the vegetables big starts to affect the farmer’s kids or not?
Thank you for reading!