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125E: Sorcerers, dragons & dogs (Solved)

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I read these books during the late 90s/early 00s. I believe the title may have had something to do with the antagonist, the Sorcerer, but I’m not entirely sure. My school had the first book and one sequel, I don’t know if there were more.

The book was about a boy who I think had something that the evil Sorcerer wanted. The boy befriends a small dragon who I think was called Rose, she was pink in colour but was always sent into a rage and spit fire whenever someone referred to her as pink. The dragon also had a companion, a stone dog who I think was called Flint.

The Sorcerer has a minion, I can’t remember the name, it was described (and was illustrated in the books) as a large beast with matted black fur, and curved horns like a ram. He is able to kidnap the boy at some point and take him back to the cave that the Sorcerer lives in. The Sorcerer himself owned a magic book that refreshed itself every few days, he was waiting for a specific spell to come up that he needed the boy for. At some point in the story the boy manages to escape and take the book with him. He stays in the forest for a few nights, using spells in the book to shield himself, he writes some of the spells down on normal paper because they last longer than the magical book, but they still fade; he is unable to memorize them either.

 

125B: Carthaginian noblewoman falls in love with barbarian slave. (solved)

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This book is fiction, published in 1970s. Its about a young British male who captured and sold into slavery in Carthage. A Carthaginian noblewoman falls in love with him and keeps him alive (although she always has her sexual partners killed after one night!) but he falls in love with a Roman girl. Ends with Roman attack on Carthage and his escape with the Roman girl. The Carthaginian woman sacrifices herself for him.

124J: Children’s mystery about a diamond tied to a fishing net (solved)

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I’ve been trying to find a book that I read in elementary school for a long time now and haven’t had any luck.  I don’t know the author or title of the book, which I know presents a huge problem. What I do know is this:

I read the book around 1982 — I think I was a 3rd grader

The book that I read was a paperback.

The illustrations were black and white drawings, not photos.

The basic story was about two kids, a boy and a girl, that I think were siblings that went to a beach house for the summer.  I think the beach house was owned by their grandparents or an older uncle, etc.  The kids find out that there is a large diamond hidden somewhere around the property.  They find various clues to the location of the diamond throughout the book and eventually discover that the diamond is a rough cut diamond that is tied on to a fishing net.  The fishing net is hanging in plain sight above the fireplace in the house and the diamond appears to just be a weight attached to the net.

One illustration I remember near the end of the book was of the fishing net hanging above the fireplace.

Another illustration I remember is of sand dunes near the ocean with a fence and grass

I’m sorry that that isn’t much to go on, but if you could help me out I’d really appreciate it.

 

 

124I: book on tree houses (solved)

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Illustrated Book on Tree Houses

This is a black and white illustrated book on tree houses of almost impossible designs, of a Rube Goldberg or Dr. Seuss complexity, full of multiple levels, ropes, block and tackles, ladders, wooden shingles, stove pipes, etc. I remember the illustrations looked like Erik Blegvad’s style of crosshatching, but it may not be him. Very fun book I got from the church library when I was ten, so it would date from the 1960’s.

 

124H: Little Dancer with Big Shoes

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I can’t remember the title or the author of the book and only vaguely remember the story. However, I desperately want to read my little girl this book that my mother used to read to me as a child. It is about a little girl who wants to be a dancer, but than she either gets hurt, or has some problem with her fee and she has to wear special shoes, which are big and clunky. She thinks she won’t be able to dance in her recital anymore. But, instead of giving up she gets on stage and dances her heart out in her big clunky shoes and she has a great time and impresses everyone. My mother read it to me about 30 years ago. Please help me to find this. 

 

 

124G: 1950’s Eighth grade American history textbook

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This was my American history text for the school year 1958-1959. I remember only two things about it:
1. Among the illustrations was the usual Thomas Nast cartoon of the Tweed Ring, but what I really liked was the “Through History With J. Wesley Smith” cartoons by Burr Shafer.

2. It was the only textbook I’d come across that seemed to have been written by an actual person, with actual ideas, and maybe even a sense of humor!

Aside from that, I think it had a blue cover, and there were questions after the chapters. Not much to go one, but the Shafer cartoons were memorable.