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.
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.
Seeking a short children’s chapter book, some black and white line drawings. Published by the early 1990’s, probably much earlier. Inn signs from around town come alive at night and hang out together. Definitely a rabbit, a mermaid, and either a lion or a tiger. Possibly a unicorn as well. They get stuck in the position they are at when the sun rises, so they must rush back to get to their signs in time. A child notices that they’ve been shifting positions.
I read it in the late 90s, so it was written before then. The person that lent the book to me called it a ‘cult classic’. If I had to guess, I would estimate that it written in late 1960s.
I seem to recall that it involved a Japanese samurai, but he could have been a giant. It also could have been from China. They were a stowaway and travelled to USA. I believe it was San Francisco. It may have hidden in steamer trunk.
This was not YA. More of a fantastical book for adults with nice meaning.
I’ve been wondering about this book for about twenty years.
There’s a book I read around 2004, definitely before 2005. Man travels Europe with his rich girlfriend, they have no real jobs. Her preteen daughter is home from boarding school for the summer so is traveling with them. At the beginning of the book she uses yogurt to soothe a sunburn. Also, he wakes up to the child standing next to the bed asking him to take her on pogo sticks but he refuses. For some reason they have to go visit the child’s grandfather. The child helps the main character plan to steal some art while at the house. He is a little bit bumbling but succeeds at stealing the painting. While they are at the grandfather’s house he has to pretend to be a tutor for the child. There were other people also there, and one was a French (?) woman who flirted with him a lot. At the end of the book the man takes the child on pogo sticks.
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.
Several years ago I was trawling through Wikipedia lists, and I believe while on some list of ‘greatest books’ (but I cannot recall which one) I came across a book that at the time I didn’t really give a second thought but later I became fascinated by. The details are as follows. It was written I think sometime in the 1880s or 1890s, and I believe by an Italian (though this is tentative). However, it’s setting may have been ‘Central Asia’ in the general and indistinct sense. The framing was that there was some very large fortress that was on the edge of a desert and the main character is serving there, with some sort of army. What I think was what struck me later is that it wasn’t exactly supposed to be the Russian army (which is what one would expect, as the Russian conquest of Central Asia was just wrapping up at this point, and there were indeed several fortresses, as inane as it sounds to say), but it was just ‘an army’. Furthermore, the Wikipedia page described it as a novel about futility and hopelessness, and vaguely anti-war. These things all further intrigued me, later on, as I came to reflect that it at once reminded me of Kafka’s The Castle, Mervyn Peake’s Gormeghast, and Bowles’ The Sheltering Sky.
There was an image associated with the Wikipedia article as well, but I cannot recall if it was a cover or an illustration. At any rate I shall try to describe it. It seemed to be set at night, and there was a eerie olive-dark-greenish hue to it all. It seemed to be done in a hazy sort of pastel way. The image itself was very reminiscent of this (link embedded) illustration of the British retreat from the first Anglo-Afghan war, so much that I am worried in fact I am filling this in artificially. On the left side of the image there was a large fortress, set probably half way up the page, on a rocky outcropping. Down below, on the right side, on what looks like a small road, there was a small silhouetted figure on a horse that was rearing up on its hind legs. This figure and their horse only occupied the smallest part of the page. Beyond them, on the right side, the desert stretched off “ringed by the flat horizon only”. The ‘right’ and ‘left’ sides may be flipped, but I am fairly certain of the features and relations of this composition.
That is as much as I can recall of this book. I would be very grateful if you could find it for me, but please do not put any pressure on yourself to find it.
I’m trying to remember the name of a sweetly simple novel, not very long and probably published in the 1960s, about a young motherless girl whose father brings her to a convent so the nuns can raise her while he–works? Travels? I can’t recall. I believe it was written in first person, and the girl lives a fairly idyllic existence with the nuns, who treat her with every kindness until her father returns. She doesn’t always understand their little jokes, such as one involving “elbow grease” that I never forgot. The title and author, however, are another story.
I’m looking for a book I read in High-school (2011) I believe the book was written and or published 1985 to 1999.
Keywords: YA romance, senior year American high school, new girl, friends boyfriend returns from a semester abroad, new girl falls in love with friends boyfriend.
Summary/synopsis:The book starts out with a main female protagonist who was new that school year. The setting is high school, in the autumn/winter. She goes to school and talks with her new friends and finds out that one girls boyfriend who is returning home from a semester abroad.When the boyfriend returns, he’s very welcoming and excited to talk to everyone again but it seems like everyone is treating him very similar to the way he was before he left. He wants to talk about his new experiences and the only one who can relate to is the protagonist as she had family in the part of England that he visited. They talk about the old stained glass windows. Later it’s apparent they like one other a bit to much. They are hanging out together but during one day, it is too much and they talk about his feelings for the main character in his car. They decide that they should put distance their relationship so as not to be unfair to his current girlfriend until he breaks up with his girlfriend to be with the main character.Somehow the friends catch wind of this and assume that the main character and boyfriend were cheating more than they did. The Ex girlfriend and main girl get into an argument and later at school the friend group is mad at both of them but the two main characters support one other through this until the friends realize the main characters were sincere and tried to make the most out of a hard situation. I believe it ends with talks on them going to college potentially together.
Other details I remember: they held hands in the car and the main character noticed the boyfriend’s thick healthy nails.The main character was a brunette.The ex girlfriend was blonde.The boyfriend played a sport before going to England.
I can work out more information if I can, but I don’t want to Mandela effect myself more than I may have already done.
Children’s picture book from 1960s\1970s Ink drawings (with possibly a pop of one color?) fully covering both pages. Very few words. The detailed drawings followed characters throughout their day in the city (similar to “In the Town All Year Round” by Rotraut Susanne Brener). I remember a girl’s birthday party, a barber shop, and an alligator coming out of a sewer. The book size is tall and thin, (approx 12x 10?). I think it had an orange fabric cover. The book was read in the US in the late 70s, and early 80s, but was likely a hand-me-down from older siblings. Thank you for any leads.