Author Archives: admin

368Q: Girl & Boy Explore Castle Tower

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During my childhood, my family lived in Gloucester, Virginia from 1968 to 1971. My sister and I both remember a book we had out from the Gloucester Library at the time, but we have no memory of the title. It was a children’s story with two children, I think a boy and girl, probably brother and sister, exploring a mysterious castle or tower. The book was hardbound in green (may have had gold illustration in the binding) and was a somewhat tall rectangular shape but not too thick. There were illustrations inside in black and white, I believe. Unfortunately, that’s all we can remember. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

368P: Tina and the Tall Man

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My friend remembers that the first book she read was called Tina And The Tall Man. She can’t remember anything else about it, and I’ve been unable to find that title on the internet. It might help to know that my friend is about 80 years old (born early 1940’s, I think, possibly late 1930’s) and was born and grew up in Newport News, Virginia (I think Newport News and her current location of Gloucester, Virginia are the only places she’s ever lived). For all I know, it might have been a regional publication. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

368O: Fixing Broken Things

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I’m looking for a favorite book from my father’s childhood. He says he was around 1st grade when he read it, which would put that between 1971-1974. He read it in school, possibly in a group reading situation. It was a hardback or board-book around the size of a magazine or slightly smaller. The cover may have been white with an illustration of a man and some of the things he fixed. The book itself was illustrated in full (or near full) color with defined lines. He remembers that the shoes were brown; the car was black; and the house was white, pink, yellow, or orange.
The plot was that a younger man, maybe blonde, would find things at a garbage dump and fix them. He fixed a pair of shoes, a piano, a car, and a house. There may have been other things too. An older man, wearing a suit and maybe glasses, had thrown the things out and would come by after the younger man fixed them and try to claim them even though he had thrown them away.
Thank you in advance!

368M: Mysterious Archipelago

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I’ve been looking for a book, but have been unable to find it – I believe it’s because I can’t remember any sufficiently specific keywords, but it’s also possible that I made the whole thing up. 
Context : it’s an early chapter book (see: Secrets of Droon, Fairy Realm) I would have read this somewhere between 2003-2010, but probably 2005-2006. This is part of a series of books, and I believe it’s the last one – probably the third or fourth book in the series. 
Physical description: I think it’s about 200-300 pages long, and I had it probably in a paperback, which I almost certainly got from the library. I think the cover was light (maybe a white background?) with some bright colors, and I distinctly remember both the cover art and the illustrations having a sparse, low-fi, doodle-y style. One of the things I remember best is that all the books had maps in the front, which I think were in black and white – this particular map shows the mythical islands where most of the story takes place, and I learned the word “archipelago” while reading it. It’s possible that the author was from the U.K., based on the vibes of the place names. 
Plot description: It’s a fantasy series (all the characters come from a fairly generic, medieval-y world, definitely none come from our world through a portal or anything). It features a young, plucky heroine, who is now a seasoned adventurer (despite her humble origins in the beginning of the series). She might have some kind of professional title (possibly “Royal Adventurer” or something of that ilk) – I’m pretty sure the first book in the series involves her being sent (or sending herself) to slay a dragon, but instead befriending it. I think at some point, she’s illustrated with curly, light-colored hair, wearing a horned helmet and an oversized chainmail shirt (possibly found in the dragon’s hoard?). In this book, she is caught in a storm (while flying on the dragon? Or perhaps in a boat? Did she sail into it on purpose?) and becomes stranded on an island that seemed to be part of myth (diegetically- she had found a partially destroyed map with some clues on it, while searching for some MacGuffin, which involved some kind of powerful object or noble person who had disappeared under unusual circumstances). On this island, there are people who might be mages of some sort, who heal her injuries, fix up her mode of transportation, and give her soft robes to wear – kind of a Calypso/ spa kind of thing. I think these people are also tall and unusually beautiful in some way. They have some kind of communal ritual involving music/singing, which maybe also controls the weather (possibly maintaining the storm that the heroine was caught in initially). It’s clear that the island is way better than the place that the heroine comes from (delicious food, clear crystalline water, warm weather, birds singing, what-have-you) and the people want to protect it or something. The heroine is then able to explore the archipelago and finds a resolution to her initial quest/MacGuffin. The people on the island offer the heroine a permanent place in their luxurious hidden society (are they trying to hide something suspicious, or rewarding her valor? Maybe they’re just like that) but she feels an obligation to the people who sent her on her initial quest, and so returns home. After this, she feels that her adventuring days have come to an end, and retires in a hilly place with sheep and apples. If she has a dragon, it might live in her barn or otherwise nearby. The place might have a whimsical, Irish-sounding name, like “Winsey”. 

368L: Childrens illustrated book 80s or 90s small perspectives

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Children’s book published I believe in the late 80s early to mid 90s. It was a large paperback picture book. The illustrations were incredibly complex and rich and painterly. It was based in the woods and the surrounding areas. And was I think, through the perspective of a little creature like a mouse. Everything was small but five perspective looked big if that makes sense. So like a little beetle would be the size of a dog kind of thing. There was a scene in a clearing in the woods. There was a little house on a tiny pond with a boat that went to it. And there was a scene in a meadow at night. Each scene would cover the entire two pages that you saw. And for every scene there would be a key off to the side with a list of all of the items that you were supposed to help the main character find. They would have magical properties but they were all things that existed in real nature like deadly nightshade, cobwebs ( not all like scary stuff but those are the two things I can’t remember).
illustrations were super intricate and all of the little items were hidden but not like hidden blueberry was a dogs eye or something, hidden in this really great way that seemed very real and also very hard to find the item so it was actually challenging to search which made it so fun. It was absolutely beautiful and so immersive for a little person’s imagination.

368K: Underwater Treasure Chest With A Single Doubloon

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This is an illustrated book from the 80’s or more likely the 70’s. It entails a boy who rows his dinghy into the ocean. He spots something on the sea floor and dives down to find a treasure chest. He discovers that there’s a hole in the bottom of the chest so that there’s nothing in it save for a single doubloon. That either happens in the boat or back at the harbor — I think I recall an older sailor explaining the doubloon to him. It had beautiful art — especially the water refraction effects. I would love to show this book to my son.