Author Archives: admin

326R: Photos of a Girl Named Nancy

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I’m looking for a book that was given to my mother and that I also loved as a child. Mom was born in 1928, so I think the book was from the early 30’s. I think the title was just Nancy. It may have had a subtitle–I can’t remember. It was hard-covered with blue patterned paper; I remember it as being square, or nearly so, roughly 10 x 10. Each page had a black and white photo of a girl of about five engaging in various everyday activities. The one I remember best showed her with a sudsy rag washing the big glass window in the front door of her house. I have fuzzier memories of photos showing her riding a trike and eating from a dish. She reminded me of Shirley Temple–similar clothes and hairstyle. There was a small amount of text with each photo. My sister and I would love to have this book again!

326Q: Boarding School Girls Discuss Castle Drachenfels (Solved!)

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I read it in the 1970s.  It was written for girls, maybe came in two volumes, the copies at the library had stripes on the covers.  Came from the Beverly Hills Public Library, if that is helpful.

I think it took place in a girls’ boarding school.  Maybe there was one girl called Cordelia, shortened to Cordy.  Maybe in it they told a story about a Castle Drachenfels.  It’s possible I’m mixing this up with another book, but maybe not.

Please help!  Thanks!

326P: Mechanical Illustrations From The Future

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I was born in 1977, and remember a picture book with lots of detailed illustrations including cross sections of spaceships and people on conveyor belts being fed via mechanical arms from ceiling (I remember a woman tilting her head back to receive a giant claw full of salad). Also, a kind of altered lawn tractor that did everything, including cutting all the flowers off with a reciprocating hedge trimmer attachment. I thought I may be confusing this with “Little Monster Goes to Work”, which i also loved, but having recently looked through the latter, realized it is a different book. Please help!

326O: Young Teen Named Queenie Eats Poke Sandwiches

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I read a book in the 5th grade so around 1972 (I think) about a girl named Queenie. I think she was a young teenager and she was poor and lived somewhere with a lot of dirt roads. I think it was during the Great Depression. She ate "poke sandwiches" or "poke biscuits" where she would poke her thumb into a biscuit and put jelly or honey and eat it after school. That's all I remember except that the book has stayed with me so I would like to read it again.

326N: The Way of the Cross for Young Christians

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I’m looking for information on how to obtain a religious booklet from my childhood. Title: The Way of the Cross for Young Christians. Probably published in 1970. It has retro artwork, and I was able to find a picture of the cover. The images from this book are seared into my brain and were a huge part of my Catholic school childhood.
Also, I think the illustrator, Jeanne Hunt Miller, might have done handkerchiefs in a similar mid-century modern style, many of which are available on Etsy. Don’t know if that helps?
One last thing, the author may be Rev. William J. McLoughlin. There’s an updated version on Amazon, but it has different illustrations; I also called the publishing house, but they only had the new publication with the blue and yellow cover.
Any help would be appreciated!!

326M: Boy Has Adventures On River

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I’m looking for a children’s picture book from the 70s or 80s for my friend. Her mom used to read it to her, but she can’t remember the name. It’s about a boy who floats down a river and has many adventures on the way involving animals and food. She thought it was “In the Peanut Butter Colony” by Louis Ross but that doesn’t look right after all.  Thank you for any help!

326L: Beautiful Dresses From Night Sky

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I live in the UK and I am looking for a Children’s anthology of stories (I think), which I had as a child in the 1950s (it may have been older).   It included a story about three poor princesses called Cordelia, Sylvia and Arabella who were invited to a ball but had to make their dresses from old curtains.  The animals and birds helped to make them beautiful dresses from the night sky, sashes of rainbows, ice crowns and stars for their hair and fluffy cloud cloaks.  It was a lovely story, illustrated with black and white drawings.  I have been searching for it for years with no luck.  Maybe someone might recognize it and be able to tell me more.

326K: Young Kid And Travelers On Mission In Dark Cave

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1) Looking for an illustrated CHILDREN’s book from the 1970’s or possibly from the 1960’s.  (I was born in 1971 and had the book when I was 4-6 years old)
2) Themes:
    1) Dark Underground cavern / cave system or Dark Mountains
    2) Group of travelers on some sort of mission
    3) A young person was a central character
    4) 8 1/2  by 11 inches approximately  (i.e. larger size)
    5) Thin sort of book…..perhaps 20-25 pages?
  It almost seemed like it could be a Hobbit theme but I don’t think that was it….
Thanks!

326I: Two-Eyed Freak

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It was a thin children’s book, mostly of illustrations, about a girl who was born with two eyes and is considered a freak by everyone in her community who only has one eye. But she sees the world in color while everyone else sees in the world in black and white. I want to say the protagonist has long, dark hair. I don’t know how it ends. I think I read it in the mid-90s. No later than ’98.