Author Archives: admin

354E: Child leads lost family out of the woods and back home

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I can vaguely recall a particular picture book from my childhood – I was born in 63 and remember ‘reading’ this as a young child. It was the story of a family on a woodland hike. The youngest in the family was a curious little boy (might’ve been a girl!) who loved to notice every plant and rock, each lichen and creature that marked the family’s path. As you might expect, the rest of the family was often frustrated at having to wait for their youngest member; they were ready to get to their destination and he was holding up their progress! Soon the family realized that they were lost in the woods and with little recollection of how to get home. The boy, however, showed them the way out. He remembered things like the shape of the last tree and the color of the boulder a little way back. He could point out where he’d seen a certain flower or noticed tracks in the mud. Soon the whole family found their way home.

354D: YA mystery on a farmhouse/orchard? with a secret passage part of the underground railroad

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It may have been published in 1980s/early 1990s, maybe on a Scholastic list, set in the 1800s, a boy visits his ?aunt/uncle one summer, on a farm or apple orchard in New England (maybe Pennsylvania). There is a secret passage used for the underground railroad that is discovered by the boy in the house he is staying at, near the end of the book, when someone is hidden there. Someone may have gotten shot near the end of the book. Boy felt aunt/uncle he was staying with were strict and had a strained relationship with them until their aid to this person near the end of the book changes this. Can't recall the title, but it was long-ish. Cover may have had farmhouse/farm landscape.

354B: Crocus Walk

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This children’s book is about a mother and daughter who take a walk outside and look at different things on their walk. In particular, I remember that they looked at crocuses. The book was a large hardback book with a matte white cover. The illustrations were pastel colored, maybe using colored pencils. I remember that in at least one illustration the mother and daughter were holding hands. It was probably written around 1985 or a bit earlier, because I remember reading it with my mother when I was five or so. That’s all I can remember. Hopefully there are enough clues!

354A: Dog who can drive and lives in a mansion

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When I was young (likely about 5-9 in 1987-1991) my mom would often read me a hardcover kids book about a dog who wanted to live like a human. He could drive a car and he lived in a mansion.

The cover was a turquoise-shade and on the cover was the dog and the mansion he lived in. It was the size and shape of a Doctor Seuss book and about a similar number of pages.

Likely relevant: we lived in Nova Scotia, Canada and the book was in English.

353Z: Children’s Book with a red cover about a flying bunny

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It’s a children’s book for about 3rd or 4th graders.  It’s thin, but it is a chapter book.  The paperback version cover has a little girl on it with short hair and it’s red and yellow.  The girl’s name might be in the title and is possibly Sally.  She finds a bunny (pretty sure it’s a bunny) with wings and there may or may not be a circus. The book was older.  She knows it from the early 1990’s, but it had like a 40’s or 50’s art style with simple line drawings with water colors.  I saw some Golden Books that seemed promising, but she said those were all too young.
I’ve tried the below books and none of them were int.
The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes
Lettice
Pookie
Operation Bunny
Felix and the Flying Suitcase
The Little Rabbit who Wanted Red Wings
My Little Rabbit Tale
Reader Rabbit
Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present

353Y: Dad bakes tire cake that is secretly pretty (Solved!)

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I’m looking for a children’s book that I read in the early 2000’s. The plot is that there’s a baking competition at this boy’s elementary school. All of his friend’s moms sign up to bake, but when he goes to ask his mom she can’t for whatever reason (I think she may have had work? I vaguely remember him lying in bed trying to fall asleep and hearing her type, but that might be wrong). His dad volunteers, and the kid is kind of embarrassed but he agrees. He wakes up the next morning and his dad has the cake under a cake server lid so he can’t see it. At some point he shows him the cake, and it basically looks like a large black tire. The kid is stressed that it’s not as pretty as the other cakes. The parents (all moms except the one dad) line up in a row and the teacher goes around tasting the cakes. When the teacher gets to the dad, he asks her for the knife to cut it. The kid becomes even more embarrassed because he thinks the dad is trying to be chivalrous. The dad takes the knife and instead of cutting the cake, he starts carving it. All of these beautiful rainbow flowers and designs start to appear and everyone is stunned and suitably impressed. I think they end up winning first place and there’s a happy ending.

353X: Child gives last ration of chocolate away

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This was a book I read in the 70s, but it might have been written anytime after WWII and it had a certain 50s or 60s vibe to it.
I am pretty sure it took place during WWII and was set somewhere in Europe.
I recall the character — a boy (I think) of around 12 — had a couple squares of his chocolate ration left. He was very hungry and they didn’t have much food, but he gave his ration away to another child — I think a girl, around the same age.
For the longest time I thought it was from Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan but I tracked down that book and read it to my son and there is no such scene.

353W: Hoaxes and Frauds Collection for Kids

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I am looking for a book I got in a school book order around 1978-1983, either Scholastic or the other one (Troll, was it?) It was a collection of short accounts of historical hoaxes, like the Piltdown Man, the Cardiff Giant, the War of the Worlds radio broadcast, the New York Sun reports of life on the moon — I think it even had Howard Hughes’s autobiography. I have searched library catalogs and Ebay for “Hoaxes and Frauds,” but I see a book that is far too recent for me to have bought it in elementary school.

353V: Orphan Cathy Runs Away to Scotland and Learns True Name (Solved!)

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I’m looking for a British children’s book, likely from the late 1940s, about an orphan girl who lost her parents in the Blitz. She’s found wandering London with a torn tag that says only “Cat” so the orphanage calls her Cathy. Several years later she has a sudden recollection that makes her feel that her family is in Scotland and runs away to find them. Meets some siblings who help her and have a kind uncle named Alastair. Lo and behold, the kids end up being her cousins, her name isn’t Cathy, it’s Catriona(?) and she is reunited with the family who have been searching for her all these years. Might be the first in a series, a la the Boxcar Children. Thank you!