Children’s book, I read this in the 60’s probably. The main characters were two young orphaned sisters called Prudence and Plum. It was a thick book. Don’t remember much about it except it was recommended to me as a child by a kind librarian who let me borrow it from a back room stack of books about to be discarded.
Children’s book, read this, maybe, in the late 60’s. It’s a mystery that starts with, I think, children finding a clue in a large (almost life size?) automaton, or moving mechanical toy, of a child playing an instrument. There are three of these automatons, one who plays a small piano, created by a gifted artist. The stories are about the children’s hunt to find the entire set. Toward the end of the book they meet a woman who is related to the artist.
Children’s book, I read this book(s) in the late 60’s. It was a library book and I don’t remember it looking new, just a canvas textured hard-covered book with no paper jacket, so it may have been written sometime earlier. It was quite thick, and there may have been more than one book with the same characters. There are 3 (?) children, two boys and a girl, in a large old house with lots of interesting historical references. One thing I recall is a picture of the same house embroidered with human hair, a type of Victorian handiwork. I looked it up – I don’t think the book was clear on that point. The book did mention the difficulty of embroidering with a black child’s short curly hair – so it may have predated political correctness. My apologies. There was a feeling of almost time travel, or of dreams of events in the lives of the house’s past occupants, and of something mystical about the house. I also remember a dead bat nailed, wings spread, in the bottom of a wooden box. The bat had writing on its wings. There was a dumbwaiter in the house, large enough for the children to ride in. There was younger boy named Ben, not sure if he was one of the children mentioned above or someone from the past. There was something about Ben and a pet monkey, and how Ben related his short suit (suit with shorts rather than long pants, like you sometimes see young boys wearing in old pictures) to the clothes the monkey wore.
The female main character, Nan, lives in an apartment in a big city in what I recall as the late 1970s or 1980s, although it could certainly have been as late as 1990. In my memory, she finds a doorway to a mountain world at the end of an alley. I remember the vast majority of the book is spent with her alone, exploring the mountain.
I seem to recall that near the last 1/3 of the book, she encounters a village. I believe she also travels back and forth and at some point, decides to leave her boyfriend in the city life. However, I am fairly sure that the bulk of the book takes place on the mountain. I recall grassland vividly, so description of the environment must have been a big component of the book.
Near the end of the book, there is, of course, conflict. I can’t remember if something gets in to the mountain world and upsets the balance or if there is some sort of struggle on the mountain. I vaguely recall a fire.
I checked out this book from the library in 1993 or 1994, and because of the female protagonist, I believe it was written after 1970.
Thank you so much for your help!
The main character, Jennifer? Jennie? Jenny? Possibly on the farm could’ve been the first.
These were a series of chapter books featuring an American girl who (moves?) to the country, detailing her charming life on a farm. There were several from when she was about 6-8 to almost 20 I believe. There were animal characters, a boy she might have married, various family members. She takes up ballet in later books. She wears her hair in looped braids. I read these as a child in the 80’s but they were clearly written much earlier. I would say 40’s or 50’s. Possibly 30’s or 60’s but doubtful.
I would so very much love to find them for my own daughter! I adored these- not only because she had the same name as me. I remember being even fonder of them than the Betsy Tacy books. In a way they were in between those and the Little House stories. Set the stage for Anne of Green Gables. So curious to know why they’ve disappeared!
My search is for an old children’s picture book with a short rhyming story. Not sure of title, but I think it is “Susan Mariah.” The text goes “Susan Mariah fell in the fire. The fire was so hot She fell in a pot. The pot was so little She fell in a kittle…etc.”
Thanks so much.
I need the title and author for children’s book from 1960’s. American Indian boy skips school to go hunting, encounters animals small to large who send him to the next bigger animal (gopher,rabbit, bobcat, wolf, antelope, bear). Finally bear with cubs admonishes him for hunting for fun while she only hunts when hungry which is NOW so he runs back to the little schoolhouse. Illustrations are brown tones. Cover is white with little Indian boy in a long chief’s headdress. Possible title Littlest Braveheart or Little Braveheart? Maybe Scholastic or Weekly reader paperback.
Thank you for any help you can provide which will help me get another copy of this book.
Hello,
Around 1976 in the U.S., a librarian read our class a book about a boy that wanted to become king. He asked the king how. The king explained he became king by being able to jump to the top of the castle. The boy practiced with hay bails, but had no luck jumping so high. The boy’s dog could jump to the top of the hay bails by going one bail at a time. The boy then knew how to get to the top of the castle.
The book had pictures and could be easily read in one class period.
Thanks for any help in locating this book.
Charles Dorman
Jersey City, NJ
Boyhood book series from the mid 1970s or earlier, group of chums at school (New England? boarding?), one of whom may have been named Moose. They excel academically, and participate in various sports, seemingly always coming up with an unlikely victory.
I’m looking for an old book of children’s poems. It was rather thick. My mom would read it to me when I was around seven years old back in the late fifties.
It was hard covered and if memory serves had a light colored cover. I don’t remember any illustration on the cover. Looking back, the book design reminds me of a series of Grimm’s Fairy Tales books we had in the house they had plain beige covers on them.
Anyway, I checked your list of books on your site and while one book of poems comes close in content, the cover is not the same and it is missing at least one of the poems, Jabberwocky.
Here are the poems I remember that it contained: Winken and Blinken and Nod (sketch showed 3 boys in a balloon, pic was on the right side of the page), The Owl and the Pussycat (one sketch showed the piggy with the ring in his nose in the wood – pic on the left side of the page), The Duel (The Gingham Cat and the Calico Dog – the stuffed animals were depicted and the clock), Wadsworth’s’ The Girl with the Curl (when she was bad she was horrid – this short poem was at the bottom of a page on the right), The Walrus and the Carpenter (depicted the little oysters following them with little legs to carry them. Also a pig with wings), e.e. cummings, a poem that started,” I’ve never seen a purple cow” and ended with. ” I’d rather see than be one” (which I’d thought was by e.e. cummings but it’s not), I think it had an e.e. cummings poem or two, and Jabberwocky.
I’m trying to remember other poems in the book. If I do, I’ll send you more identifying information. I loved this book. I loved reading it over and over. I’ve loved to read and read voraciously. My mom had a great sense of humor and always loved the Walrus and Carpenter especially when the little oysters turned blue (starting to realize they were to be eaten).
I wanted this for so long and tried searching the internet several times. I’m usually pretty good at finding information and have found several books of which all I could remember was the story, but I cannot find this way. Searching recently, I came upon your site! I hope you can figure it out and I don’t stump you!
Keeping my fingers crossed….