Author Archives: admin

371W: Doily cut out Valentine’s Day book

I don’t remember it being explicitly about Valentine’s Day, but it was always put out with the children’s books around Valentine’s Day. The art style was very distinct and was doily/paper cut outs. What I remember about the story is that it was about a set of sisters who were princesses. There may have been 12 sisters. I encountered it in the 1980’s in rural Ohio.esssister

371V: Dark illustrated ghost book

I remember this illustrated book from when I was a kid. It had dark drawings somewhat similar to Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark but not quite. Some of the elements I remember are that there’s a ship or boat?
There’s at least two men. One man is possibly stabbed. I remember a ghost maybe. Blood as well.The men’s bodies are shown from various strange perspectives to look stretched out and ghostly or long.

Fiction.

Plot: Not sure.

I read this between 1997-2005 roughly.

Book’s intended audience: Seems too scary to be a kids book but there wasn’t much text. It was definitely heavily based in illustration. 

I read it in Ohio, USA.

That’s about it !

I know it exists.
Thanks for your time.

371T: Power Armor Fantasy

Hello! For the past few years I have been looking for a novella whose title and author has escaped my mind. In the spring of 2017 I was perusing Old Firehouse Books in Fort Collins, Colorado. They had a display of new novellas available. Among the display were books like Neon Yang’s “The Black Tides of Heaven” and others. One of the paperbacks present described a “power armor fantasy” by one or more of the marketing blurbs on the back. The summary talked about a female warrior who was concerned with ensuring her sons were able to become men and warriors themselves. The cover art included a head-and-neck portrait of this mother character wearing the power armor. This was centered above some kind of landscape or battle scene. The whole thing had a Warhammer 40 vibe to it. I have scrolled through the available books offered at this bookstore, searched the archived articles and posts, and even called the store outright to no avail. If you have any luck finding this book, you would put this nagging thought of min.

371S: Two Ants Having a Talk (Solved!)

Phoebe Christ, ptchrist@outlook.com

I’m trying to find a book my mom read to me as a child. She would love to have it to read to her grandchildren. I was born in ’85 and have just the one vague memory about the book so I’m guessing the late 80’s or early 90’s would have been when she got the book and read it to us. My sisters and I cannot remember the title or the author but can remember a line from the beginning of the book. It read “Look on the ground when you go for a walk, and you’ll see two ants having a talk.”

371R: Pedestals

I am trying to remember a book from the 70s or 80s (or before) that was stories based on artwork. Probably science fiction. One of the stories was about a planet? Galaxy? With pedestals. And a whole city would lower down onto the pedestal and then at some point lift off and move to a different pedestal.

371Q: Book about psychic Welsh boy and a mad bomber (Solved!)

The book was about a teenager in Wales who how can see visuals of other peoples thoughts.  He can’t hear anything so doesn’t know for sure what they are thinking, he can only see what they are visualizing.  His older brother is involved with a militant Welsh Nationalist group, but he can’t read his brother’s mind since the brother doesn’t “think in pictures”.
He keeps seeing thoughts of grey squiggles on a mustard yellow background but doesn’t know who they are coming from (it’s the bomber).
He eventually realizes his grandmother had an affair with his grandfather’s friend Hugh.  The grandfather and Hugh were killed in a mining accident.  The grandfather was also psychic so probably knew about the affair.
I read this book in the mid 1970’s but it might have been from the 1960’s.

371O: Children’s book about boy who writes poems outside on a typewriter

Looking for a children’s picture book we read at our local library about 2-3 years ago about boy (maybe called max) who sells/gives poems out on the sidewalk (maybe at a stand?). Kids pass him on the street and ask for poems. One is about buttons and repeats the word multiple times, like, buttons on your buttons buttons, one is about seashells after a friend is headed to the beach, one is about kittens because someone is giving them away and the last one is a gift for his sister whose birthday it is the next day.

371N: Vintage teen romance – California in the 1950s or early 1960s, boy next door, high school (Solved!)

Hoping for some more of that Bookstumper magic to strike again!
I loved this book in the mid-1970’s! It was old-fashioned even then, so I think it was written in the late 1950s or early 1960s, probably pre-Beatles.  I guess it’s what they used to call a “junior romance” and what we would describe as Young Adult today. I read it many times as a pre-teen, mooning over the sweet “boy next door” romance, and waiting for my own love life to begin. By the time I was actually dating in the late 1970’s I was too old for this book, so I’m sure I was reading it around 1975 or 1976, before I had moved on to Barbara Cartland’s historical romances.

It’s the story of a pretty and popular high school girl in a typical white, middle-class California family and her male buddy, as they begin to date. He woos her with many fun outings, fancy restaurants (I remember she saves her cocktail umbrellas and swizzle sticks) and a boat trip to Catalina Island.  Her name might be Lori?? I definitely remember she has an older sister named Andrea, because I fell in love with that name for a while. 
Our romantic heroine finally declares she’s won over by her suitor, just in time, as he empties out his pockets and reveals that he’s down to his last pennies. He spent all his savings in his pursuit of her heart.
In the meantime, she has given a starring performance in her high school play, with all her family attending to see her.  This is quite a success for her, because although she is bright and talented, she’s lackadaisical and  usually doesn’t stick with anything. There was some sort of trickery involved with her date and the whole family being in on some conspiracy to encourage her to stay with the play all the way to its performance time.  I believe they try to make her jealous by raving about another girl who is a wonderful actress, and arouse her spirit of competition.
I particularly remember the trip to Catalina and the trickery about the school play, and all the dating souvenirs. 
This is not a Beverly Cleary book, although it’s in the same family. I’m sure hoping someone else remembers this!  Thank you.