Author Archives: admin

367G: Soap soap soap don’t forget the soap (Solved!)

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I am looking for a book, it may have been in a compilation book, called Soap Soap Soap, Don’t Forget the Soap. My boyfriend read it as a child in the 1970s. There is a book with the same title that was published in 2003. It is not the same book, but it sounds like the same story. A young boys mother sends him to the store to get soap, and as he tries not to forget the soap, a bunch of things happen to him. The 2003 version says it is an Appalachian Folktale.

367F: Collection of short children stories

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I am looking for a collection of children’s stories I read to my kids in the 1990s. I can only recall the title of two of the short stories inside this wonderful book. One was A Pair of Red Clogs by Masako Matsuno and the other was The Pudding like a Night on the Sea by Ann Cameron. I am sorry but that is all of the information I have. Any ideas?

367E: Children’s book, dispute over bag, magical claims but ultimately not magic

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From what I remember of this children’s book, there are people disputing over a small bag and someone asked them to describe what is in the bag to prove ownership. Fantastical claims are made of what’s in the bag, I believe they say animals are even in the bag, things that couldn’t possibly fit in a bag unless it was magic. In the end, the bag is not filled with any of these items. If I remember correctly, it is filled with fruit peels and seeds? Or something similar. I believe it’s set in the Middle East but I can’t fully remember. This is a book I thought about many times over the years since reading in the late 90s as a child but I’m not even sure I remember it correctly. I’m hoping someone can point me in the right direction.

367D: 1970s Children’s Environmental/Dystopian

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I’m looking for a book I read in the seventies (or maybe 1980), it was a children’s book about kids that lived in a high rise and never went on the streets because of too much pollution/a ruined world. They may have gone outdoors only once a year. They may have worn gas masks or breathing masks. I remember dark illustrations and it being a cautionary tale. I believe that all the remaining world’s population lived in one high rise building. I think there may have been one remaining plant or flower and that going to look at it was extraordinary/special. Definitely a picture book.

367C: When the Sweets Come Alive

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I remember this book from childhood, where on one page there is this bakery where it is either run by a witch or vampire and the treats are alive. Like the devil dog cakes are actual devil dogs with a tail and wings. The lady fingers are actual fingers. It was cute and cartoony and these treats were all in a glass case like a real bakery. It was definitely an elementary book like a beginner book. I must have been reading it in the 1990’s. I can’t recall the overall theme of the book but vividly remember this particular page. I think the overall theme must be fantastical or magical, maybe Halloween but I can’t remember a title or author. Please help me.

367B: Animal Shelter Book

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Looking for 70’s Scholastic (?)? paperback. A dad is forced to take a job at a kill shelter, needs the money. The kids find homes for animals, and they shut down the cremation building where smoke billows out In a country type place. They are happy. Maybe 2-3 grade level book. Approx year read ‘76 but could be classroom book and older.

367A: “Meddlers”

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I seek a book about a young boy who wakes up in a cave, has night vision and can see “Strings” of fate. Race is called Meddlers, and he’s being hunted due to their laws: “It is law that no meddler may create another meddler.” There’s magic, and the man who’s found him lives in a manor, with a butler named Balfour. He came from Earth, and has an “archive” of knowledge (which is really just a computer) since the Earth was dying. The boy goes and tries to save Earth, starting in the past and eventually succeeding.

366Z: Unknown name of a Science Fiction title of a family that uses mirrors

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I read part of this book 25? years ago. It was a stand alone book or maybe the first in a series. The book was “normal” sized, not hugely big.

I only read a half to 2/3rd of this Sci-Fi book, do not remember even how it ends.

The female protagonist ( late 20’s, early 30’s ) is coming back home after years away. Maybe hilly, maybe country like area. But the family lives in a large large home that has mirrors on many surfaces. Somehow they help Earth by using the mirrors. Going thru the mirrors?

Her family helps Earth along with some other families that have mirrors.
There’s an attractive Sheriff new to town who sparks her interest. He has friends from his military days who send him beers. He was special forces and likes the different beers his old buddies send him.

He tells her that he knows there is something going on with the family / maybe the small town? / but he trusts the folks and hopes they would tell him what was going on.

366Y: Ricky the Rooster (we think)

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In the 1960’s, my mom used to read the book about Ricky the Rooster who was very proud of his brightly colored feathers and pushed the other animals out of the way to eat their food. He grew so fat that all his beautiful plumage fell out and he was disgraced. He learned to let the other animals eat first before he did. His tail feathers grew back without the extra colorful splendor.

My mom is 91 and remembers the story well. She is about to get her first great grandchild and would like to find a copy of the book. I haven’t found one but any leads would be great.

366X: Knocking over petrified Soviet soldiers

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I’m looking for a British book written probably between 1946 and 1953. About a group of teenagers and a professor who escape world apocalypse by petrification in a balloon. They travel all over the petrified world and visit the USSR where they topple Stalin’s petrified soldiers like dominoes. I remember thinking the book to be very gory for a children’s book. My Mom read this book when she was a teenager and said the author was fairly well known in Britain at the time.