Category Archives: 1940s

237A: Book of Fairy Tales Containing This Unusual Story

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Physically, it was dark blue or dark green (dust jacket was long lost). I read the book in the 70s, but it was much older. I would guess it was published in the 30s or 40s. It had simple black and white illustrations.
There was one story (whose name I can’t remember) about two children — a brother and sister who are in the woods. They come to a tree stump with a strange knot on it. When they sit on the stump and touch the knot, they fall into an underground world. There, they are tormented by scary monsters. They … do … something (sing a song about being brave, maybe) and the monsters turn into fairies. It turns out that they were fairies all along, and had been cursed to be monsters until someone did that thing. One of the monsters looked like a giant carrot.

233C: A series follows a young girl to adulthood (Solved)

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The main character, Jennifer? Jennie? Jenny? Possibly on the farm could’ve been the first.
These were a series of chapter books featuring an American girl who (moves?) to the country, detailing her charming life on a farm. There were several from when she was about 6-8 to almost 20 I believe. There were animal characters, a boy she might have married, various family members. She takes up ballet in later books. She wears her hair in looped braids. I read these as a child in the 80’s but they were clearly written much earlier. I would say 40’s or 50’s. Possibly 30’s or 60’s but doubtful.

I would so very much love to find them for my own daughter! I adored these- not only because she had the same name as me. I remember being even fonder of them than the Betsy Tacy books. In a way they were in between those and the Little House stories. Set the stage for Anne of Green Gables. So curious to know why they’ve disappeared!

230C: Grade school book of mammals

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I remember frequently checking this book out from my grade school library; it was hardcover, no dust jacket; limited to mammals (worldwide species). It was a ‘tall’ sized book and may have had a pinstripe or harlequin design, on the front cover was an oval/circle template with jungle animals. (I do remember a giraffe). The inner illustrations were not photos, but looked painted/drawn. It looked like an old book, maybe from the ‘40s-‘50s?

227L: Old lady and her mysterious envelopes

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Greetings!

I am looking for a children’s book from the ’40 or ’50s about an older woman who prepared for the week by putting items into envelopes that she would need for each day.  On Monday she got a paper cut; in Monday’s envelope was a handkerchief to press against the cut.  On another day, several tiger cubs showed up at her door; in that day’s envelope were the right number of pieces of shewing gum for each of the cubs, to occupy them.

 

227K: Lavishly illustrated fairies

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I am looking for a childhood book my mother read to me around 1954 when we lived in Virginia.  It was about fairies and lavishly illustrated.  My favorite was the center fold illustration of fairies in the forest dancing under a moon that had a gauzy ring around it.  It was not Golder Books Treasury of Elves and Fairies by Garth Williams.  Any ideas?

Thanks.

227J: A girl and a woman live in a harem

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Description: This book would have been published before 1954, probably in the 40s. (I checked it out of a public library, children’s section, several times between 1949 and 1954.)

A girl and a woman (the girl’s mother?) who live (as slaves?) in a harem know the mood of the master by the color of the horse he rides that day.

I can’t remember the title, but The White Horse comes to mind. (Not The Little White Horse.) The girl was probably European or American, and I can’t remember how she came to be living in a harem. The Arab master’s mood was demonstrated to his slaves by the color of the horse he rode on a given day.

This was not an easy book. It was longer and harder than Estes, e.g., or Streatfeild, etc. It was a novel, really, with an (obviously) advanced theme. I can’t remember anything else about it. I don’t know if the girl and her mother were rescued at the end.

227I: Told from a doll’s point of view

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I am looking for a children’s book that I read when I was in grade 3 in 1955 in Toronto. C. 1953? American?  It was a small short picture book/easy reader chapters 5.5″x5.5″, black and white illustrations and hardcover.

In the attic, in a trunk there is a doll (old) who wishes that a little girl will find her and play with her. Emily? is playing one day and wanders up to the attic of her house and discovers a small trunk.  I can still feel the hope and excitement of the doll (Henrietta?).  Emily opens the trunk to reveal a beautiful doll with a complete wardrobe of clothes and a parasol.

Thank you so much for searching for this book for me.

p.s. I named my daughter Emily after the little girl in this book!

227C: Duck Decoy with a Heart

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The story of a carver who made a duck decoy with a heart anchor held by a string. When he’s in the water a fish, or crab or something snips the string and his heart falls to the bottom of the lake. I read it in about the late 1950s. I remember the hunter using the decoy part was disturbing.

Thank you. I hope someone else remembers this book.