Children’s picture book in which a house follows a boy down the street. Read it with my boys in the late 70’s/early 80’s.
248J: A house follows a boy home (Solved)
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248I: children are turned into buttons (Solved)
Probably read this in the early 1970s Two children, boy and girl, are turned into buttons by a woman (witch?). As buttons, they looked like carved bone and I think they were dressed as Pilgrims. They had to escape before they were sewn onto anything, because once they were sewn on, the change was permanent.
248H: A deaf girl is abducted
Hi,
In the early 80’s, I ordered a book through either Scholastic or Arrow. The book was about a a young (possibly teenage) girl who is deaf. She gets kidnapped. Her abductors cut her hair and dress her in boy clothes to make her look like a boy. At one point in the book, either she or one of her kidnappers draws a bird on the wall of the room in which she is being held. The cover had a picture of a dark-haired girl on it and I want to say the deaf girl’s name was Katie, but I could be wrong. If you could figure out the title/author of this book, I would really appreciate it! Thanks.
-Amy Jones
248G: Farida story in reading textbook
Hello Book Stumpers,
I am looking for an old reading textbook from grade 4, 5, or 6. Publication would have been late 1970s to early 1990s. I recall the cover had an underwater photo of a scuba diver or snorkeler, but this memory is a bit fuzzy. The cover was dark in color; lots of deep blues and blacks. A particular story I remember from the book was a Middle Eastern, Arabic, or African folk tale about a girl named Farida (or something similar). The story illustrations included a camel. This story may have involved weaving or a loom, but I am not positive about that point.
Some other information that may be useful. This book came from my grandmother, who taught grade 5 and 6 reading. Her school tended to use the Scott, Foresman readers and Ginn readers. For example, she also gave me “The Sun that Warms” Ginn reading level 11 (c) 1973, “Dream Chasers” Ginn reading level 11 (c) 1989, and “Three Cheers” Scott, Foresman reading level 10 (c) 1987. The book I am searching for may be from one of those series.
Thank you for any help or advice you can give.
248F: A magic mansion and a tongue thief (Solved)
This is a book I read in 2006 or 2007, there are two little boys that at some point walk through a bunch of fog and end up at some kind of magic mansion where there’s a bunch of other kids. The mansion is maintained by a number of caretakers who can give the kids whatever they want and let them do whatever they want. There is also an old woman who tells the boys she’s lived there for ages and when she was a young girl the caretakers gave her as many cats as she wanted. At one point in the story it mentions one of her cats that has a tail curved like a question mark and it some how gets boiling water splashed on it and it runs in circles then drops dead. She also tells the boys about one of the caretakers who sits on the roof of the mansion and watches all of the kids to make sure they don’t try to leave. He kills any that do. He has big bat wings, his neck is made out of the tongues of the kids he killed, and his mouth is filled with their teeth. I vaguely recall him being referred to as some kind of brother and possibly being nicknamed the tongue thief. Eventually the boys want to go home, so the women tells them how to get past the beast on the roof and how to get through the fog. The boys make it out into the real world after being at the mansion maybe a week but realize that decades have past in the real world and their families are all old. The boys go back to the mansion to try and find a way back into their own timeline. That’s all I remember. I’m sorry about how scatter brained this sounds, but I wanted to get out as many details as possible because I really want to find this book.
248E: A mage with white eyebrows
There’s a girl staying in a castle (I think), and she falls in love with this man who is actually a Mage. All I can remember is that he has white eyebrows and his feet don’t touch the ground. She doesn’t find that out until later in the book.
248F: Door in a tree with stairs leading down underground
This is just a fragment! But if you could help me I would so appreciate it.
I grew up in Australia in the 1960s-1970s, and was obsessed with a picture book that featured the main character finding a tree with a small door at its base. The tree had gnarled/ exaggerated roots. The character went through the door and down a flight of stone stairs into what I remember to be a kitchen/witch’s den, lit up with yellows and oranges from an open fire. I cannot remember what happened next – but obviously it is terribly important if I keep searching for this book! 🙂
It is not the Berenstain’s Scary Tree story although slightly familiar in concept.
Thanks so much
Julia
248D: A God Named One
I read a book many years ago, I’m assuming it’s a piece of fine grocery store literature. My memory follows:
A book set in the future, where there are many religions and people proselytizing in the streets. The main “bad guy” is the leader of a church that was created by a corporation. The part that sticks with me is they used a computer to write the bible, filled with contradictions and vagaries because that way people can interpret as they wish. The bible pages were coated in a mild hallucinogenic and another chemical (I don’t remember). As the book progresses the main character ends up being turned into the Satan to the god named one, while the leader of the corporation becomes the “Jesus” character.
One line I remember is “The computer found a 3 character name to be the most powerful, and the computer recommended either One or Bob” The main character then says “So your god could have been named Bob?”.
248C: In the end the good witch prevails
A small girl visits (?) her grandmother or aunt who is a good witch albeit not a very powerful one. Somehow an evil witch who keeps as a pet an octopus named Otto gets both in danger. In the end the good witch prevails.
248B: He dreamed of pheasant hunting
I am looking for book I read back around 1970 at our local library-already checked with them.
It is a short hardcover bound youth book written probably for ages 8-12. I suspect it was probably written no earlier than 1950 and no later than 1970, by I suspect a minor author.
The short story, as I recall, is about a young boy who obsessively thinks and dreams about going pheasant hunting, he eventually does go pheasant hunting, gets all scratched up in the thickets chasing the elusive ring necked pheasant and after a long unsuccessful day of hunting I believe his father ends up buying some pheasants to take home so his son does not feel unsuccessful.
As I recall the book had a blue cloth cover with black impressed line drawing of a pheasant or two and perhaps a shotgun.
I would like to buy this book, not really concerned about the price-want to give it to my son.
It is for sure not “Danny the Champion of the World.”
Thanks