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290A: A young lady travels to Carmel-by-the-sea (Solved)

I’ve been looking for the following for years with no luck. YA novel from possibly 1980-1990’s about a young lady (18ish). I cannot remember the title or main heroine name but distinctly recall her traveling to Carmel-by-the-sea and the white wicker furniture that she decorated with. Possibly summer time or just after graduation. Seems she ended up going to work for a lady in interior design. And of course there was a boy…

Possibly part of the just for girls series or similar to that. 

289N: A kitchen full of copper pots boiling strawberry jam

Bethany, bethanyboster@yahoo.com

Seven years ago my (then) four year old daughter fell in love with a book from the library about colors.  She is now 11 and a budding artist. I would love to find this book for her. The details I remember are sparse but do make this book a standout:

gorgeous illustrations – no cartoon characters or paint blobs. One particular illustration stands out; on the pages that discuss red, they compare that color to a bright warm kitchen full of copper pots boiling strawberry jam.

text – the words were beautiful and evocative, not your run of the mill, “The tree is green.” With each color they created a detailed scene (both verbally and pictorially) to help the reader feel the color.

As I recall, they did all the colors of the rainbow, so words like “rainbow,” “prism” or “color” are likely candidates for the title.

289M: A collection of fairy tales and legends

The book I am searching for is an anthology of stories that include fairy tales and legends such as Tales of Robin Hood which covers his death, The Waterbabies, East of the Sun and West of the Moon, and Longshanks, Girth and Keen, I think even Aladdin, to name a few. It was at least 8×12 red and probably from the late 50’s or before, it had fallen apart by the 60’s. The collection was eclectic to be sure but it obsesses me. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

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

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

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)

[/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

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

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

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.