Author Archives: admin

325O: Picture book about boy growing up and his changing backyard

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This book captivated my imagination with colorful illustrations (I believe they were mixed media/collage/claymation – something unusual).  We see the boy growing up and the changes in his backyard/neighborhood.  I believe it focuses on the growth of the plants and changing that reflects him growing up, but also urban development, possibly construction or a dump.  There were themes of environmentalism perhaps regarding pollution.  I read this book in the late 90’s or early 2000’s.  I believe the boy was white with brown or blonde hair.  I think most of it focused on him in the window and the view outside.

Thanks so much!

325N: Children’s book of holiday stories from 60’s/70’s?

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I was born in the late 70’s and my mom would read to me a used children’s book of holiday stories with anthropomorphic characters. I remember an owl (or maybe a family of owls); a mouse that ate paste in the Valentine’s story; a Halloween story and a Christmas story. I seem to remember the cover was orange and the illustrations were in black & white with a dash of orange. The illustrations were definitely done in the unique style of the late ’60s/early ’70s. Any ideas? Thanks!

325M: Illustrated Stories Collection, Perhaps Golden Book?

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I am hoping you can help me track down the following book:

  1.  I am not sure of the title.
  2. I believe it was a collection of Golden Book stories, but I am not too sure. My grandmother read it to me frequently in the 1980’s. I believe it was a yellow, hard cover children’s book with a collection of illustrated short stories. Here are the stories I remember:

2a. A lion at a zoo has a cold. The kids would pick on him because he had lost his roar while sick.

2b. A young boy wants to play with the older kids, so he puts on many many layers of clothing and fools them. The story talks about how hot he is in the summer heat with all the clothes. As he runs around, the layers start to fall off, revealing his true self.

2c. Three sisters live in an apartment. One is fat, one is skinny. I think I remember the story takes place in summer and the fat sister was too hot and wanted the window open while the skinny sister was too cold and wanted it shut.

2d. I think there was a story about firetrucks or possibly a tug boat.

I wish I could remember more. I have been searching for this book for about 20 years …

325L: Ringmaster is a balloon who inflates himself! (Solved!)

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This children’s picture book was always hanging around our vacation home, and in the mid-fifties it looked old, so I guess it was from the late thirties or forties. Definitely not after mid-fifties.  It was a book about a balloon ringmaster who blew on his toe and inflated himself and then I believe he inflated the rest of the circus.  It had some color in the pictures, I think, not many pages, hardbound.  The ringmaster was round body, round head as you can imagine.  Any ideas?

325K: Giant Baby Studied By Scientist In Warehouse

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All I had was a memory of reading about a giant infant brought to a warehouse, where a man studied him.  L158 “Large Child Playing With Real Cars” indicated the story was from a 1950’s or 1960’s elementary school reader, which seems right–the book was from the library back when I was 8 or 9 in the early 60’s.  It mentions the warehouse, which I remember, the man, which I do recall must have been a scientist, but other than this I’m completely drawing a blank.

Thanks for any help you can give,

325J: Flipping Over Tails

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I am looking for a children’s book, I believe it was a 1/2 page type flip book (not where you open up a small flap).  I read it to our son when he was about 2 years old.  He was born in 1994.  We use to get most of our books second hand so I would guess the book would be from 1980’s or 1990’s.  It was about animal tails and I believe the last pages showed a little boy with 1/2 the flip page showing a peacock tail then you flip it over and it just shows the boy and he says, “hey, I don’t have a tail!”.
I know it’s not Tails or A Tale of Tails (A Little Golden Book).
Thank you for your help!

325H: Boy And Duck Are Best Friends

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There’s a little boy and his best friend, a duck. They play together every day, and then one day, the little boy is nowhere to be found. The duck looks in the house, at the pond, and everywhere he can think of. He’s very sad when he can’t find the little boy, but then the little boy comes home and tells the duck he had been at school. I believe the illustrations were in a watercolor-like style. This book was read to me frequently as a child; I have few clear memories of it, and my parents don’t remember any details, including title, author, or publication year.

325F: Disappearing Girlfriend’s Sister Turns Out To Be The Missing Woman

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I recently read a book, it was a “psychological thriller”.  Basically there was a guy from Ireland (calling him Shane) who had moved to England and stayed with a male friend. Shane got a girlfriend who was lost in London and he took her under his wing. They eventually went away together and on the way back, they stopped at a rest stop and he told the police she went missing while he was in the rest stop bathroom.

Shane was initially questioned as she was never found but never charged with her murder.  The London flatmate eventually suggests that they put a bench out in honor of the missing girl. The girls sister shows at this event.  Eventually Shane and the missing girl’s sister connect and become engaged.  Once it becomes announced in the paper, odd things start to happen, including the leaving of the small inside of a Russian nesting doll all over the place for Shane and fiancee to find.

Eventually, we find that the fiancee is actually the missing girl and that her sister had actually died years ago by her abusive dad in some small, hard to get to island town.

Any idea what this book is?