Author Archives: admin

156A: Girl makes up imaginary world in Central Park (solved)

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A girl (Girl A) lives with her parents in a brownstone(?) or apartment building across the street or adjacent from Central Park. She has a good life but would like a friend of similar age. Very early on in the book, a girl about her age moves into the building! Girl A makes friends with this girl, has many high spirited adventures in and around Central Park & NYC.

This book is titled something like “The World of Xanadu” or “Xenon” or “Xenia”, but “Xanadu” sounds most right to me. the X-word is the title of the imaginary world that the girls have made up. Early on, Girl A daydreams that she will find a friend her age and when she does, she says “We will make a fantasy realm called ‘Xanadu'”. This aspect feels like it has a “Bridge To Terabithia” element to it.

The setting is very close to “The One Hundredth Thing About Caroline” by Lois Lowry, but it isn’t that, because that book has more of a mystery/suspense nature to it.

Any help would be wonderful! Thank you!

 

155D: book about a wizard and companions

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Book about a wizard/sorcerer, a ring carved in the ground around a castle to create a forcefield.  evil sorcerer makes spiders or insects appear and a guard runs and touches the forcefield which then collapses.  maybe an apprentice with wizard, used to read a lot of choose your own adventure books?

 

155B: Fairy Tale Collection

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I’m pretty sure that I would have used this book in the 1960s and 1970s.  I thought the background on the cover (hardback book) was predominantly red / orange with buildings that looked Russian.  My memory that it was “Once Upon a Time Fairy Tales,” or “Around the World…”  could have been fairy tales or folk tales.

I do know the stories were from many countries.  The pictures were in color and I thought maybe the editor / collector was a Russian name.  I can see the cover in my mind’s eye.

Included in the book:   Twelve Dancing Princesses,  The Three Sillies, The Bunyip (Austrlia), tale about an elephant and a tortoise, Egyptian story in which an arm is cut off, The Three Fates, a Nordic (?) tale about a woman and a witch with a stone boat, a tropic story called “The Bones…,”  Why the Sea Has Lost it’s Salt, a story about a leprechaun that plants gold in a field and marks the spot many times to trick someone,  The Frog Prince,  a story about a young Eskimo(?) princess in which someone becomes a wolf.

Hope this leads to something. Thank you for your help.

 

155A: Hammock Girl

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In late 50′s my grandmother read to me many times a book checked out from our local public library. It was about a little girl who broke her leg. Someone would carry her outside every day and she spent the summer in a hammock beside a brook. She made friends with the small animals. She mesmerized them with her soothing voice. Maybe that’s where the brook comes in – her voice was like a flowing brook. I don’t remember the little girl’s name or any other details. I have had several librarians through the years be on the lookout for the book, but no one has identified it yet.

154G: Last Dragon who loves a witch (solved)

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I am looking for a book that was probably published in the early 1980’s or so.

It is a science fantasy book, set in a different land.  The main character is a woman, who is a “witch” (wise woman) and she is married/consort to the local lord, which isn’t as glamorous as all that – the lord loves to discuss pig breeding with the farmers and he does wear glasses (I believe)
There is a dragon (and old one – could be the last dragon in the realm) who is awakened and she & her husband are tasked to kill this dragon.  She has the power to understand the dragon and the dragon falls in love with her – she is able to transform herself into a dragon and she loves it.  But then she realizes the life she had as a woman and transforms herself back to a woman and goes back to her family and life

 

154F: Kids visit fantasy world with owl mayor (Solved!)

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The book I’m trying to find was probably published in the 1970s. It was mostly text, with some black and white line drawings. The storyline involved some kids visiting a fantasy world with an owl for a mayor. For the owl’s birthday, they bake him a cake in the shape of an owl. The owl is horrified and refuses to eat the cake because it looks like him. That’s all I remember, except that it also contained the word “turd” which greatly horrified my mother. It’s possible the book was written in verse, or that this was just one story in a collection, but I don’t remember. I think I had this book when I was about 10, so it was probably written for the tween market. The tone of the book was playful and irreverent.

 

154E: Beautiful book of tiny people (solved)

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There was a full-color illustrated book at least 20 years ago. Each page was edge-to-edge covered with a cross-sectional view of cities, usually underground or inside plants, of dozens of tiny people (possibly mice?), going about their daily business. They often had sort of improvised technology, or had built devices into natural facades, like a periscope that looked like a flower. The illustration style was very realistic and extremely detailed.

 

154D: searching for this romance/comedy for 8 years

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Been searching for this romance/comedy for 8 years.  Hapless down on her luck gal loses job, & also has bad guys after her.  Meets a guy she describes as a lazy, good for nothing slackass (or slob or slacker) who wants nothing to do w/ her or her problems, but eventually helps her out.  Paperback.

I just wanted to add that the title of the book will be something very funny/catchy/clever. I am not a romance novel reader, but I remember when I saw this book while standing in line at the grocery store that I didn’t want to reach for it because it was clearly a romance novel, but the title finally won me over & forced me to reach for it. Also, the cover did NOT sport your typical “bodice ripping” sort of a pic, it might possibly have been a more cartoon-ish image, & possibly w/ a fun type of font. I didn’t have enough $$ to purchase it, & when I finally went back it was but a distant memory. I hope this helps, my fingers are double crossed, & good luck! THANK YOU!!