To begin, there are these gods in the universe that fight/argue with each other because nothing was named yet, either because the universe or the world was just created. So they create a boy/prince (or assign a boy) for the task of naming everything in the universe/world. So the boy goes on an adventures – traveling to many places with a method of travel I cannot seem to recall – assigning names to everything. It is similar to Le Petit Prince (Little Prince) in the fact that the boy does a lot of traveling to distant places (from what I remember). However, I know for sure it was NOT the Little Prince!

I’m pretty sure the boy had a name, the writer could have had influence from foreign stories/myths/legends (Indian/Arabic/possibly Greek?), so the names might have been unusual/unique. Or, there could have been no foreign influence and the names were just general fantasy/mythological-influenced. That part I’m not entirely sure, but it’s just one other factor to throw out there just in case.

Once again, the boy in the story I am referring to was assigned by creator gods the task of naming things. I believe the book had a limited edition printing from the 80s/90s that’s why its very hard to track down.

The copy I had was a hardback *may* have been a dust-jacket, but it was off-white and thick, (roughly 5/5.5 x 8″ dimensions, about .5″ thick). On the cover featured an image of the boy looking down on a cloud, with stars and the moon I think. Unfortunately, that’s all I can remember. If any title comes to mind please post it I will be incredibly thankful.

Published in the late 60’s/early 70s and set on the coast somewhere in England, I think in Elizabethan times. The flying machine (a Leonardo da Vinci type invention) only works properly at the end of the book, when it is used to escape from some people of horseback – it flies over the cliffs and the children escape (maybe to France)

I am looking for a book I read back in the early 70s – the book could be from the 60s. It was about a young woman who takes a job as a “nanny” on a cattle farm East of San Francisco, for two young girls who lost their parents. An old woman with a broken leg lives in the house, there are two Aunts to the young girls living there, one is named “Beryl.” There are two hired men who work the cattle farm. There is something suspicious about the old woman and the hired men, as if they are plotting to take over the farm. There is a “maid” who is not very good at her job and this “nanny” title role character ends up taking over the cooking duties as well. She ends up falling in love with one of the hired men and the old woman and the other hired man are arrested for crimes, and the “nanny” and the “good” hired man take over the farm and raise the two young girls at the end. The plot takes place in the Summer as the book always talked about how hot it was. I remember the old woman, along with the two young girls,  originally picked the “nanny” up in San Francisco and they ate a meal on Fisherman’s Wharf before departing for the ling car trip to the farm.