Author Archives: admin

345K: In Search Of a Children’s book called “The Bus Riding Book”

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I’m looking for a children’s primer, a first reader series, and one of the books is called “The Bus Riding Book.” In the book, all of the animals get on the bus, one by one, and then a bee flies in and everyone runs out of the bus. I learned to read using it in 1976 in catholic school in Queens, NY. I believe the publisher was McGraw Hill, colorful drawings inside the book with animals getting on the bus, and the cover may have been soft.

345J: Young Girl Decries Dangers of Reading When Chased by a Bull

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Read this book when I was around 8, which puts it at 1960.  I am sure it was not new at that time.

Written by someone like Thurber or Ogden Nash, it was a collection of children’s short stories.  The only one that I can remember clearly was about a little girl who couldn’t read. At the end, when she is being chased by a bull, she comes to the conclusion that reading (words?) are dangerous.  The sign she couldn’t read said something  like, ‘beware of  bull.’

Hoping you can help me.

345H: The Perfect Shot (Solved!)

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My grandson remembers a book he wants to read again. He’s 26 and thinks he was around ten when I read it to him. Setting is Africa in the bush and the whole “journey/goal” is leading toward this main character “hunting" down a tiger and getting the “perfect shot”. At the end the hunter turns out to be a photographer and what an ending that was - the tension in the library was so high when I read that story. So I’m glad my grandson remembers that book.

I was a librarian in a pre-school through 3rd grade school and I bought it for our library so that would be between 1995 and 2005 but that doesn’t mean it was a new book at that time. I often bought used books from some big online store in Portland as we were just learning how to “Google” items like that way back then 🙂

345G: “A place…” book for a Brit (Solved!)

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I am in desperate search of a book for my dear British friend. She grew up in Suffolk, England, born in 1958, and remembers a book she used to pour over as a girl:
Possible title: A Place of Your Own
Contents: pictures and descriptions of homes, rooms, treehouses and places where children (and maybe young adults) escape to be kids
Publication Dates: at least published by 1972
Location: read in Suffolk, England

345E: Walking Into the Sunset

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I would love some help finding an old children’s book from my childhood. I seriously doubt that anyone will be able to locate it, but it’s worth a shot.

Really, the back page is all that I remember, because I used to stare at the picture all the time. I used to read the book at my babysitter’s house, when I was roughly 3-6 years old. This would have been from 1986 to 1989. The book could have very well been from the late 60’s thru early 80’s.
Anyway, about the image at the very back page of the book. It was a sunrise or sunset image, with the main characters walking out a door into a beautiful scene full of trees, animals, etc. The main character(s) had their backs turned to the reader as they walked down a road into this scene. The image really was beautiful, serene, filled with hope. The sunset was mostly orange and yellow, and took up a big portion of the page. This image looked like the ideal place to be, and I’ve never forgotten it. Sesame Street comes to mind, though I don’t specifically remember it being a Sesame Street book. Truth is, I don’t know but am hoping that this will jog someone’s memory. I’ve never forgotten this book and would love to see that picture again, now that I have kids of my own.
Again, I doubt anyone would be able to help me with this, based on the limited details that I remember. But, thank you for trying!

345D: Search for children’s book vaguely remembered – White Girl Joins African Tribe

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I am looking for a juvenile book I vaguely remember. I can remember the library I borrowed it from and the exact look of that library, but not the book title, author, or clear details!  My only memories of the book are: 
 
I believe it was a story about a white (American? British?) girl who somehow passes through (a mirror? a book?) into the life of an African tribal people. After becoming friends with (another child? the tribe?) she regrettably has to return to her modern life through the same (magic?) process she used getting there. I believe the friend/tribe give her a string of beads to remember them by (?).  The book would have been been appropriate reading for probably pre-puberty ages – 10-14? 
 
That’s all the info I have, and I hope you are NOT stumped! This book has always stayed in my mind, no matter how vague my memory is, and I want to read it again to find out why. 

345C: Children’s Princess book with a dress making competition to find new Queen

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I’m looking for a book that I remember absolutely loving when I was about 6 or 7. The plot that I remember is about a young princess whose mother died when she was young. She loves dresses and her father the King thinks that as she grows up, it’s very important that she has a mother figure. So he (or maybe someone else) decides to start a kingdom-wide competition where all the women design their own gowns and there will be a big ball and the princess will choose which dress she likes best, and that will be her new mother. I think the book shows all the rich women in the kingdom spending all of their money on these fancy dresses and then there is a poor woman who makes her own beautiful and simple dress and goes to the ball and of course she gets picked to be the new Queen! I think there may be other details about the poor woman and the princess, but I can’t remember any! I thought that the title was something like The Princess Dress or something like that, but that may be completely wrong too.
This would be a fantasy children’s picture book. Probably aimed at grades kindergarten to second grade. I read it around the years of 2000-2002, but I don’t know when it was published.
I hope you can help! This has been driving me crazy for years!!

345B: Musical Love Story from Harlequin Era

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I'm looking for a book which may be Harlequin from late 1970s or early 1980s, about a young widow of a rock and roll band member who may have committed suicide. She falls for his band mate, who has long been in love with her, and it turns out, she has a hidden singing talent. I believe the setting is at a beach house, in Florida perhaps.