I am in search of a book about two children, Jason and Miranda, who sail aboard their father’s whaling ship, possibly out of New Bedford or Nantucket in the 1800s. Black and white line drawings, probably published in the 1950’s or before.
This children’s picture book was always hanging around our vacation home, and in the mid-fifties it looked old, so I guess it was from the late thirties or forties. Definitely not after mid-fifties. It was a book about a balloon ringmaster who blew on his toe and inflated himself and then I believe he inflated the rest of the circus. It had some color in the pictures, I think, not many pages, hardbound. The ringmaster was round body, round head as you can imagine. Any ideas?
For some time I have been trying to remember the name and author of a book I read when I was around 13 years old, in the 1960’s. I believe the book would have been written in the 1950’s or early 1960’s, although maybe it was earlier from the 1940’s. I borrowed it from the public library in town.
It was by a male author who also wrote adult mysteries. My father recognized the author’s name and so also read this book and we talked and joked about it a little bit that year.
The plot is generally, that there is a boy, (young teen?) whose father is either a doctor or professor or archeologist ,who must speak Greek, because he is called in to talk to a patient who speaks ancient Greek. The patient says that he is from Greece (somewhere in ancient Greece, only to him it is the current and only one). Apparently he died and was sent out across the River Styx and ended up in a hospital or a mental institution in England, I believe.
So he wasn’t really dead when he was sent on his journey to the afterlife. As the father and the patient talk, the father and the son decide to go with the patient to retrace his journey and find the ancient Greek outpost that has somehow survived into the the 20th century. They find it and although I still can visualize this place, surrounded by mountains and cut off from the modern world, I cannot remember the ending of the book either.
I remember odd lines and scenes from the book. For example, the son has decided to read the Bible front to back and reflects upon some of the odd customs and the many battles in the Old Testament. Also, one of the things the patient says is that he prefers to clean himself by stepping into a basin of water and not the contraption where you pull on a chain and you are rained upon.
I have looked at many of the mystery authors of the time and have tried to see if they wrote such a book to no avail. I also looked in the Public Library where I grew up but it was too overwhelming and there is a good chance that book is not only out of print but was put into one of their many book sales years ago.
I cannot remember the title. Did it have “Zeus” in it somewhere? Did it refer to the river Styx? Did it have some cute title like the Greek Urn Cracked? The title must have captured my attention.
I appreciate your help with this as periodically I become obsessed with finding it.
I enjoyed this book beginning in about 1955 but had two older sisters (the oldest born in 1946) so it could have been purchased as early as that. It was a hard-covered book and had stories for children of different ages. Each story had, under its title, a number of asterisks (I think one through six) equal to the age of the child it was appropriate for. For example, ****** was a story for a six year old. The only title I remember from the book is “Peter, Please, It’s Pancakes”. I would love it if you could identify this book!
As a child, my wife had a book from her father (1950s+/- publication date), about a doll she loses after taking it for a bath, going on a carriage ride, having a tea party, etc. The girl’s father arrives home and goes back out into the night to look for the doll and eventually finds her and brings her home, somewhat tattered. Can you please help?
1930s or 1940s adventure books (of short stories) for boys featuring airplanes. I remember a story that featured a crew of men attempting a record breaking non-stop (transcontinental? Transatlantic?) flight, in a 3 engine plane that could be refueled midair. I remember a scene where one engine was shut down for in flight maintenance.
One story featured two pilots flying an old biplane in a barnstorming content that was won because the co-pilot dumped itching powder down his partner's back. Another featured WWII aircrew captured by Germans and they manage to escape and steal a German plane equipped with skis for the snow. These books had belonged to my father, and were probably given to him by his uncle, who was a pilot.
I am looking for a children’s book I memorized at age 3 in 1945. I believe the title is: The Land of the Dutch, Dutch, Dutch. I do not know the author or illustrator. It is a child’s introduction to Holland. As a child, I recited the book to any guests in our home. As a teenager, I was an exchange student in Holland.
I am looking for a children’s book from the 1940’s to early 50’s about a Navajo Indian girl who goes into the desert with her donkey to find something—a puppy? Gorgeous illustrations.