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283C: Elves going to a costume party

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I’ve been searching for this picture book for a few years with no luck. It was a favorite of my childhood, and so well loved that the book literally fell apart. My dad had it memorized for a few years, but has since forgotten it.

The book was about elves (possibly gnomes) going to a costume party. It was a counting book, and it rhymed.

I know on the second page it described elves coming in twos, “they came dressed as a pair of shoes.” The following pages had rhymed costumes for fours, sixes, etc.

283B: Babette and the Magpies

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There was a children’s picture book that we had in the 1970s which seemed to be generally a Scandinavian based story about a brother and sister (who I believe was Babette) who lived on a farm or large piece of property. There were two sets of birds living on the property, one set were robins or finches or some small birds who lived in a thorn bush or some kind of dense shrub whose eggs were stolen/eaten by the two “thieving” magpies who lived high up in a very big tree on the farm. The boy and the girl were each given gifts and I believe that the girl’s was some sort of shiny red purse or red mittens which were again stolen by the magpies after she had set them down on the bench underneath the mapgpies’ tree. Because the tree was so tall, they couldn’t get the gift back and both the little girl and the small birds were very sad and angry with the magpies. One winter night there was a terrible storm and the large tree fell down and the next day the girl found the missing gift and the magpies were forced to fly away.

283A: Boxed set of illustrated fairy tales (Solved)

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I am looking for a boxed set of wonderfully illustrated fairy tales from the 1970s.

This was given to me in 1974 or 1975 by my grandparents.

The books were huge, maybe 11×14, and contained 3-4 stories in each. The set must have had at least 10-12 books. They were covered in a hard cloth-cardboard, thin, no more than a half-inch thick, and in pastel colors of blue, pink, yellow, orange.

There was a distinctive, oblong sun logo or emblem on each book but not sure if that was the publisher’s. They may have been from Reader’s Digest or Random House. I think they were mail order.

The stories I remember were Sleeping Beauty, Thumbelina (this was my favorite because of a sweet picture of Thumbelina nursing the Bird), The Brave Tin Soldier though there were many, many more. I think it was a mix of authors, not just one.

The last time I had the set was in 1992 in Ithaca, NY.

282J: Quiet cozy things to do

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Small late 60’s/early 70s children’s book- I ‘think’ it was about quiet cozy things to do, but I especially remember a picture of a snail outside in a light rain by pebbles and I think an upside down pail in one picture. I’m pretty sure it was watercolor illustrations. Sorry so vague I was quite little and my grandmother used to look at the book with me.

282I: Mice/Rats in a hospital after hours

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This book is at least 25-30 years old. It was about mice/ rats in a hospital after hours. There was one character with a broken tail from a trap and they had their own hospital ward with little beds for the mice/rats. The imagery was quite dark, not typical for a kids book.

282H: Goose vs. Spider

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I have been trying FOREVER to remember/find the book I read as a kid at our medical clinic.  I have a lot of allergies, asthma, hay fever…in short, I was sick a lot plus I have 2 younger siblings so I was at the doctor’s office A LOT!  I remember reading this one book when I was there all the time, but can’t find it…SO PRAYING you can help me finally remember the book!  It’s about either a goose (or gander) living in a house…a spider gets into the house and the goose/gander try getting the spider to leave or try killing it a lot of different ways, but the spider doesn’t leave.  The goose/gander do major damage to their house (it might break a pipe or something because I vaguely remember the house having water in it)…in the end the goose/gander is so upset & tired of spider that the goose/gander leave the house (I think the spider follows it or something??)  It’s a short children’s book.  I just remember thinking the book was so funny…all the ways the goose/gander tried getting rid of the spider & the spider always survived but the goose/gander ruined it’s house in the process…just a cute, funny story…and a big childhood memory…again…since I was there SO OFTEN.  If you can help me figure out what book this is I would SO GREATLY APPRECIATE IT!

282G: A silver scarf and mixture of emotions

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I only have a vague memory of the ending of the book I’m looking, which goes something like this:

Many years later, she [a young girl during most of the story] received a neatly wrapped package with no return address.  Inside was a soft, silver scarf.  When she held it, she knew it was the silver scarf and felt a mixture of emotion, sadness, a tear, a bit of happy memory.  As she held it, she thought about wearing it, but then, “Not today,” carefully folded the scarf and put it gently in a favorite drawer in her dresser.

Will appreciate any thoughts on the name of the book.

282F: Boy and bearskin rug fight Mouse King (Solved)

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There is a children’s picture book about a little boy sent to visit his aunt, whom he is told has many wonderful old things. It looks like it will be tedious, but a bearskin rug comes to life as a kind of floppy bear, and then they are attacked by the Mouse King and an army of animate bric-a-brac. Then the aunt comes and says “I suppose the bear is in tatters again,” and they spend the afternoon drinking tea and stitching the bear back together, but the Mouse King has eaten all the cookies. Does anyone know the author or title of this book?

282E: ABC Children’s Book

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I am trying to find a children’s alphabet book that was produced in the 19070’s.  The book was an A to Z and contained black and white pictures.  I believe the photographer was a relatively famous Philadelphia photographer at the time.  A – was Airplane and Q – was Quilt.  The pictures were all of children – not illustrated.  I believe the authors name or photographers name was Ann or Anne.  Thank you for your help.