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346F: A Rich Small Man and Poor Large Man Switch Houses

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Seeking a picture book, illustrations probably pen and ink, blueish tones. A large, poor man lived in a small house. A rick small man lives in a mansion. They are each becoming tired of their own houses, so agree to swap, expecting to love each other’s house. They initially do, but ultimately discover that the preferred their own house. Date: I was born in 1976, so earliest read would have been 1979-80. Location: I live in the UK (England).

346E: Book about a little girl with lace gloves

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Hi, I have tracked down all the books from my childhood (a few through your site!) but there is one I simply cannot find. All I can remember of it is there was a little girl with pretty lace gloves. I believe the gloves may have been a plot point – that she lost them or something. It was a picture book. I am American, born in 1974, and I remember this from when I was quite young, so I’m thinking late 60’s, early 70’s. The girl was all dressed up and put on these little wrist-length gloves and went out somewhere. Any thoughts you had would be greatly appreciated!

346D: The Grass has Eyes

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This is a children’s book I checked out from the library in the mid to late 70’s. I think it was about an explorer and the book followed him on expeditions. However, I don’t remember if the gist was that the person telling the story was sort of exaggerating his exploits. The illustrations were pen and ink and colored in watercolor. The one thing I remember most about it was one of the illustrations had the man standing in a tall field of grass, and that the grass itself had eyes. It creeped me out as a child. It’s haunted me ever since. I’d love to be able to read that book again.

346C: Infant Living in Busted Out TV

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Ive been searching for this book for some time now, this book is paperback, white, red, and black. It is written in first person in the "slang" dialect of the uneducated teenage female main character. Very very dark and depicting the hardships of loners in the streets.

In the beginning the main female is joined by a similarly aged male soaked in blood "so much you could smell the iron in it" holding an infant he claims is his brother, they converse about her pistol deemed a "gat". Later, they link with another male and another female and eventually become trapped in the snow on a wooded road in a van and car. They run the van out of fuel staying warm and stay together trapped and freezing in the van with the infant in a busted out T.V. Their only food is a single fish (religious allusion) - they give it to the other female character as she is the closest to death but, perhaps because of her unwillingness to be selfish, she is incapable of swallowing it and holds it in her mouth as "god would not let her swallow it." She freezes to death naked, the main character admires her body as she dies.

The latter male character eventually attempts to commit suicide with the gat, but it dosen't fire and instead he just walks into the forest to freeze. At this point the 2 original characters and the infant move to the car and idle it out of fuel staying warm. They walk back to the van and the main character has a hallucination or vision about the infant flying off with the T.V. Later, the original male character sets out for help, leaving the main character and infant in the van. They are rescued shortly after by a farmer. She hears knocking at the door of the van but hesitates, as she denies it can be real and eventually opens the door to find just a chicken, then the farmer. The farmer takes the main character and infant to his pad and the main character begins to take a shower but hesitates. Feeling the farmer watching her, she draws crowsfeet in the fog on the mirror to cheer herself up.

346B: Search for Children’s Anthology with Precious Few Details

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I am (and have long been) searching for a children’s anthology I read and re-read as a child in the early 1960’s.  With the passage of time, my memories of the book have faded, but here’s what I still remember:  The book had both stories and poems, with some illustrations.  It had a chapter which, if I recall correctly, was called “From Baffin Bay to Patagonia.”  There was a story about Snowshow Thompson delivering the mail.  I recall a poem by Carl Sandberg and maybe a story about Abe Lincoln.  The binding was grey or brown, and I do not recall the binding having illustrations.  I wish I could remember more, but alas, I cannot.  Hope you can help.  I would love to re-discover the book.

346A: Young man going to French territory to build or buy a home

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The story starts out with a father being hassled by British soldiers and he is French. He decides he has to move his family to the French territories which in the future will become the Louisiana purchase. He has two sons. His youngest son is quick and seems to move like lightning but doesn’t really get anything done. His older son move slowly but ensures he gets a lot done, but the father does not see this. He prefers his younger son who seems to be better in his eyes.

His other son is too young to send on this trip so he has no choice but to send his older son. His son starts out with the gold that his family has gotten from the sale of their possessions and heads west. He had many adventures and things that come up that he wants to deal with and stand on his own two feet. He travels by canoe most of the time, deals with rapids, and Indians plus meets new people. So traveling that way, he is becoming a man in his own right.

Almost to the destination he comes across some Indians that are friendly to them because they are French, but have in their captivity a Spanish boy who I believe is named Philip or something like that. The French boy cannot see the person remain where he is because he is going to be tortured and killed. He manages to somehow  convince the Indian chief to take the gold he has and other supplies and trade for the boy. They come to the French settlement and come across a perfect farm and home for his family, but he doesn’t have the money. The boy he says vows to remain by his side.  He goes back to where he had the Indians release the Spanish boy for some reason  and something makes him search to see if he can find anything. He happens to come across the bag that the Indian chief put the money in, that has broken off. He was able to successfully buy the new home for his family all while proving to himself and others that he is a man. .

345Z: Teen paperback series about pioneer girl

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I read this probably 30+ years ago. It was a short series—3 or 4 books–normal sized paperbacks, not very thick, in the teen section of the library. I believe they were shelved in the last part of the alphabet, so the author’s last name will begin with something further along than M. I have a feeling that the name Sherwood was part of the author’s name, but I think it was the first name, not the last one, and I could be totally imagining that detail.

The one I remember best follows a early teen or tween girl who has been growing up as a tomboy in the West. Her mother is distressed at the rough behavior the girl has picked up from playing with her brothers and not being exposed to the more refined aspects of life. The girl is sent back east to spend an extended amount of time with relatives who are going to teach her to be “a lady”. I’m pretty sure she gets put into corsets, and there is a scene in which what sounds like some sort of torture device is used to “cure” her pigeon-toed gait. Her schooling appears to be focused on things like posture, and dancing and etiquette, and have almost no academic content. The girl is miserable and although I don’t remember how/why, she returns to her family in the west after a few months, instead of a few years as had been originally planned and there is a scene where as part of a dare from her brothers she walks the ridgepole of one of their buildings, and afterwards declares that all that fuss about posture and grace, and the “ladylike” way to walk was good for something since she won the dare.

I don’t remember if the other books in the series are about the same characters, or if they are about different people but set in the same time period/location.

345Y: American Girl “Self Improvement”

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I am looking for the title of a book given to me by my father around mid-late 1960’s.
It was about a pre-teen girl growing up, trying to improve, organize and schedule her day to day life. More like a Nancy Drew “good girl” type, unruly hair, awkward.
I think it must have been written earlier, 1940’s or 50’s.
The book was written in the first person, humorous and light.
I remember a strict but kind father, older sister and school friends/enemies.
Possibly a first dance. Lots of list and schedule making to improve herself, waking, school work, etc., minute by minute.
That’s all I’ve got. Maybe this will ring a bell with someone.
Thank you.

345X: Mean Girl At Boarding School Hurts Heroine’s Horse

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I’m looking for a book from the 60s about a girl who attends a horse boarding school because her father works for the school. One of the other students is a “mean girl” who injures the heroine’s favorite horse because of carelessness/overconfidence. I think the title is “——— Farm” but I can’t remember all of it.