Author Archives: admin

289L: She discovers an antique China doll in the rags

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The book I’m looking for is a chapter book. It was in my elementary school library in the late 1970s but it was an old book. The cover was purple. The story was a girl who had to stay with an uncle and aunt. She goes to an auction and buys a bundle of rags for a penny. When she gets home she discovers an antique China doll in the rags. She loves the doll but in the end returns it to the lady who owns it and gets another doll in exchange.

289K: Pandora the cat

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Children’s book I read kindergarten, class 1971. I don’t not know title but I think the main characters name is pandora a cat. It is possible name is in title. My memory pictures a grey and yellow cover w cat and it’s magic collar. It tells the story of a cats nine lives which is actually 9 times to teleport. That way cats are suddenly in the room. I believe the collar was the way “pandora” traveled. When I was an older grade schooler I went back to class room to find it, that’s where my visual memories come from and cats name, but the storyline memory seems solid since that’s how I found it the first time.

289J: Spaceship disaster thriller (Solved)

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[/private role="author"]Brandy Hartnett, bhartnett808@gmail.com[/private]

I read this in elementary school in the 90s. It’s more of a young adult book not a children’s book. There was a spaceship that people lived on and something happened, I think the ship got torn in half by an asteroid or a meteor or something like that. I think an asteroid/meteor field was coming their way, so everyone on the ship was supposed to evacuate to one side of the ship so they could seal off the middle in case of damage from the asteroid and a couple of kids or people got stuck on the side that everyone had evacuated from. They thought they were going to die but the side with all the people on it ended up being breached and everyone was exposed to space and died. So now the group of people or kids on the other side were alone. And all the controls for the ship had been on the side that got destroyed. So they try to figure out how to get rescued or land somewhere. I remember the end being very depressing. Their last hope of survival was to get their floating ruined spaceship close enough to the last planet that there were any people on, which I believe was Pluto, so that someone could essentially snag their spaceship. But they were too far away and the book ended with them floating off into space with the impression that they would starve to death. I always remember the book title having something to do with butterflies but I could be wrong. I remember the cover having a purple/ red magenta space swirl incorporated on it.

289I: Scientists with Mustaches

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I owned this book in the late 1980’s. It is a science book for children. Throughout the book, there are illustrations that include little cartoon scientists with mustaches (and glasses?). The only illustration I can actually remember is a microscope with the parts labeled and little mustachioed scientists climbing on it and looking at it. It was hardcover (no book jacket, just a glossy illustrated cover) and maybe about 1. 5 cm thick. The illustrations struck me as somewhat “European”.

289H: Not the traditional stories

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Hello! I’m trying to find a children’s book collection of chapter books from the early 1980’s. Probably 3rd/4th grade level. I recall at least 5 books in a boxed set, which I received in 1982.

Definitely fairy tales, but not the traditional stories that everyone knows.

There were a number of stories with different characters. Pixies, fairies, wood sprites, a Dodo bird, etc. There were some illustrations, but I think it was mostly at the beginning of each chapter.

289G: Strawberry Princess

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I’m looking to find my favorite story I read as a child in the early 80s.  It was about a young princess who loved strawberry jelly.  Every page was about her love for this jelly.  I’m almost certain it was strawberry.  There was one page in which she was in an old fashioned tub washing away the sticky jelly.  The princess had light brown hair. That’s all I can recall.

289D: A family of dogs (Solved)

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I am looking for a children’s book that I used to read in the late 80s/early 90s at my public library in Merrick, NY.  It was about a family of dogs. I believe the main character is a male dog named Sammie or Sammy.  His mother dog is feeling ill, so his brother dog takes care of feeding him breakfast and getting him off to school. However, he is so used to the way his mother does everything that, when his brother tries to do things for him, he often replies that “Mommy doesn’t do it like that.”

289C: Curious old doll gets new clothes and a new owner for Christmas

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From what I recall about the ending of the book: There is an older doll who used to be played with all the time but now had long since been forgotten and was put in an attic. One Christmas she comes down the stairs to experience the warmth and beauty of the Christmas tree lights once everyone had gone to bed on Christmas Eve. While she is downstairs, Santa Claus realises he forgot a present for one of the children (was this an orphanage?) and he spots the doll. (And for some reason I keep thinking the doll’s name was Clara.) The doll is mortified that Santa picks her up and puts her under the tree as a gift. She is too old (too stiff) to make it back up stairs and she realises how outdated he clothes and hair look when the newer dolls are laughing at her. The angel atop the tree looks down and feels sorry for her so she somehow manages to adorn the tree with lots of new clothes. When the children come down the stairs on Christmas morning they want to play with the old doll who now looks new and stylish. (I do not recall if the doll was intended for one special child or not).