Author Archives: admin

277A: French-Canadian Fur Trapper Family (Solved)

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I don’t know the real title. I suspect the character names, except possibly the central female character, are French. I probably read it between 1968-1972. An orphaned girl lives with a family of French-Canadian fur trappers, possibly on the St. Lawrence River. The girl is a young adolescent at the time of the story. She was seriously ill with a fever as a child and they cut her long dark hair to her shoulders. She keeps it that way, because it suits her, and wears a blue ribbon in it. There at least two sons in the family. One of the sons, an artist, is attacked by a bear. His hand is mauled and the father amputates it with a fire place poker. He survives but is depressed and the girl spends a lot of time trying to cheer him up. The eldest son is secretly jealous. He and the father leave to hunt and return with bundles of animal pelts. The father reveals that the older son is in love with her and carried her ribbon with him.

276F: Scuba diving adventures

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Juvenile fiction from late 1960s or early 1970s with color illustrations of a teen boy and his father/uncle and their adventures scuba diving. I worked in the school library when I was 13-14 and was fascinated by this book, which piqued my interest in oceanography. I’ve searched on and off for many years. It’s not Sea Hunt and it’s not a Hardy Boys book. Any help locating a copy of this book would be much appreciated.

276E: A Pekingese puppy and a mystery (Solved)

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The book that I’m looking for was written sometime between the 1940’s and 1960’s (or so).  It was about a young woman who moved to live with her glamorous aunt in London.  Her aunt gave her a Pekingese puppy that she named “Peke Ah Boo”.  There was some kind of mystery having to do with the house next door and possibly a young man who turned out to be a spy?  It may have been a YA book – the copy that I had was hardcover in robin’s blue but there may have been a dust jacket at some point since I don’t remember any identifying marks on the cover.

Any help would be appreciated greatly, it’s driving me crazy!

276D: Picture book told from the POV of dogs (Solved)

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I am looking for a humorous picture book that was published at least 35 years ago. I do not know the title or the author.

It is told from the point of view of the pets. The owners, whose legs are all you see in the illustrations, are looking for a guard dog to protect them from robberies. They get new dogs but the old pets in the house persuade each new dog that everyone who comes to the house is a friend.e.g. the milkman, the postman. Eventually a robber comes to call. The pets play with him. He doesn’t rob the house so everyone is satisfied.  Would love to find this book for my son who remembers it with great fondness from his childhood.

276C: A family tries to sell their house

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I’m looking for a book that a friend of mine read between 1978 and 1982 but the book may be older than that. It is about a family that wants to sell their house and each prospective buyer wants them to change something about the house (paint the inside, fix something outside etc). Over time they make so many changes to the house that the family decides not to sell. They end up liking the changes they’ve made and stay put.

275E: Unfortunate Monsters in a Flood? (Solved)

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I was born in 1978 and remember a picture book full of bizarre creatures whose anatomy blended real-world objects, e.g. a monster with a “bird feeder mouth” into which rain was falling and on which birds were perched, and a forlorn-looking monster with a faucet for a nose or mouth, sitting on a rock. I think water was a theme in all the illustrations, and my brother seems to remember that the book was about “fantasy creatures that missed Noah’s Ark”. (I’ve ruled out “The Lost Zoo” by Cullen.) I recall the art style being painterly and/or airbrushed, with colorful graded shading that gave the creatures great depth. The facial features were detailed, not unlike what you see in a Google Images search for “antique sea monsters”.

275C: Crocodile grabs boy in river (Solved)

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This was a very short story that was read to me when I was a child in the early 80s.

The story was one of many in a collection in one book. My mother seems to think it came from Reader’s Digest.

I believe there are 2 or 3 black boys who are trying to cross a river in Africa when a crocodile came up through the water at one on them. The water was muddy so he couldn’t see it coming. The crocodile grabbed his leg then his arm. The croc had him in a death roll. I forget how he got out of it, but the boy survived to tell the tale.

This story had me on the edge of my bed when my mother read it to me.

275B: Story involved small men riding sparrows (Solved)

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I am looking for a UK children’s book from the 70s/80s. The book was a hard cover and had very detailed illustrations. Almost similar in style to “look and search book.”

The story involved small men (elves) riding sparrows and other woodland animals fighting equally small monsters who were wearing grey uniforms (similar to storm troopers/nazis uniforms) who rode on bats and rats.

 

Thank you,