Author Archives: admin

162A: Lissa was found alone as a baby or toddler after the Great San Francisco earthquake (solved)

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I used to read a book when I was a teenager in the 1970s called either Lissa (or perhaps Lisa). I am not sure if that was the actual title, but she was the main character in the book.  Lissa was found alone as a baby or toddler after the Great San Francisco earthquake, her parents were never found.  She is now in her late teens and living alone in San Francisco and working at a large department store. The owner’s son or a relative ends up falling in love with her.  They end up I believe by accident finding her real Grandmother and it turns out that Lissa is from a wealthy and influential family.  I am trying to find the title of this book and the author.  It was probably written in the 1950s or 1960s

 

161E: youth book 60’s or 70’s (solved)

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Thin paperback book about a boy and his friend (a girl) who meet a woman in their community who is very mysterious.  When her hair floats, magic is happening.  Her name may have started with an M.  She helps the boy who we find at the end had some family tragedy that he was blocking out.  The woman helps him fly.  She shows up when he needs her but sometimes he can’t find her.

Cover may have had a picture of the woman with her floating hair.  It was probably published in the 60’s or 70’s and it might have been British.

 

161A: Snowman delivers flavored snow-cones around the world (solved)

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I am trying to locate a book for a friend of mine. He is not sure when it was actually published, but remembers reading it the early 60’s as a child. The snowman could fly, and he delivered flavored snow-cones to kids all over the world. The illustrations were typical for a lot of children’s books from that era – soft watercolor or gouache – and the snowman closely resembled contemporary “Frosty” snowman characters we see today – top hat, cherry/carrot nose, coal eyes, etc. He thinks it could be a Little Golden Book, but he has not found any evidence of that yet.

My friend is a cancer patient and this would make him really happy!

 

160I: Old YA sci fi book

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I’m looking for a YA sci fi book, maybe from the 70s or 80s, about a girl who lives in an orphanage/juvy work camp type place. She has the ability to move thru (time/space/another dimension?). There is a scary, mysterious maintenance man that works at the orphanage who turns out to be a boy shares her same ability, but tried it with his pet dog and somehow they merged beings. She befriends him and tries to help him and ultimately is able to un-merge them, and they have an romantic attraction. There is also an old lady that lives in a mansion near the orphanage who all the orphans go to meet. In the end it turns out the old lady is actually the girl’s grandmother who has been looking for her for years.

 

160H: boy who discovers he has a gift to read minds

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I am looking for a 7th grade level book, published before 1987.  The story is about a boy who discovers he has a gift to read minds.  He confides in his sister about this gift as they were laying in a field, and uses his gift to help his family escape a dangerous man stalking them at their house.

If you would like more detail about the scenes of this book, happy to go into more detail.