Category Archives: 1950s

329F: Creatures on Venus

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The book I am interested in is a juvenile / YA science fiction book most likely written in the late 40s or 50s or very early 60s before we landed space probes there. The main character is a boy. They land on Venus and find deserts and no life, but along the way the main character gets lost and finds a valley with dinosaur-like creatures and small primate creatures. Eventually, the primary expedition finds him and all turns out well. I have searched the net but have not found any trace, I checked it our from our public library many times in the 1980s. Thanks!

328T: Kids Travel to Prehistoric Age

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I am looking for a book I read in junior high back in the early 80’s. I am guessing it was from the 1950s or 60s because the book was older looking with that canvas style cover and it was green. It was about 4ish siblings (some could have been friends) that went back in time or into another dimension to the prehistoric age. I think they went through some sort of shrubbery door, but not sure. I remember them, of course, trying to get back home, because there were dinosaurs and they didn’t have much food. They came across some sort of plant at some point that sustained them. I thought the title was something about being “Lost in Time”, “Forgotten World/Past”, etc. but just a guess. Thank you kindly for any help. I have Google searched and came across a couple of books about adults getting lost in prehistoric times but this was for sure about kids and I think they were siblings and maybe even a friend with them. Maybe the oldest being early teens down to a 7 year old. Again, thanks and I hope you can help!

327J: Late 50’s/Early 60’s Long Island NY Grade School Reader

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I’m looking for a book I remember so I can reconnect with the late sister I never knew.
I was born in 1965. I have one living sister (June, born: 1957) and one who passed away before I was born (Susan: born 1948).
I think the book belonged to my sister Susan, who was killed by a drunk driver in 1963. My parents couldn’t bear the pain so most of her things were not kept–too many memories. A few schoolbooks were left in the basement. I remember one especially…it could have been Susan’s or my other sister, June’s. I hope this information provides you with an idea of the time period/range of dates involved. Fairly positive it was before the mid-1960s.
The last time I saw it was a very long time ago, probably around 1973. I’ve been looking for it ever since. It was a grade school reader, blue boards…would have been used on Long Island, NY, in either Suffolk or Nassau County. I believe the first story was about boys vs. girls building a tree house. I think the girls put curtains, etc. on the windows. There are pictures throughout the book, but I don’t think the reading level was too young (not Dick and Jane, for example). There was also a story about a circus with an illustration I clearly remember of a lady in a tutu standing on the back of a running show pony.
I don’t remember much else. I think it was fairly thick, and the standard size for a hardback book.
Our address in New York was in St. James, NY, but my sister Susan only lived there for about two years. Prior to that I believe my family lived on Duffy Avenue, Hicksville, NY. This might help with the school districts.
If you could find the title for me, it would mean the world, because I could try to track down the book. When I was child I liked reading it, but I think when my mom saw it, it was either given or thrown away because it was too painful for my parents. Today the book would also be a connection to my late sister — even though it wouldn’t be her copy, it would still be something she read.
Many, many thanks. I’m sorry I can’t provide more information.

327F: Bard and his warrior best friend

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Children's book, probably from the mid-20th-century (I encountered it as a child at my grade school's old library in the 1980s in a post-war style hardback), about a young boy who's training to be a harpist/bard.  He has a good friend who is either an invading Saxon prince or a Celt defending against the Saxons, or something like that. Thanks for any help!

326L: Beautiful Dresses From Night Sky

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I live in the UK and I am looking for a Children’s anthology of stories (I think), which I had as a child in the 1950s (it may have been older).   It included a story about three poor princesses called Cordelia, Sylvia and Arabella who were invited to a ball but had to make their dresses from old curtains.  The animals and birds helped to make them beautiful dresses from the night sky, sashes of rainbows, ice crowns and stars for their hair and fluffy cloud cloaks.  It was a lovely story, illustrated with black and white drawings.  I have been searching for it for years with no luck.  Maybe someone might recognize it and be able to tell me more.

325R: Goose Blown Off Course, Nursed Back To Health

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Unfortunately, I do not have a book title, which has been my challenge finding the book.  I can describe the book and the story, though.  I read it when I was about 10 years old in the early ’80s. I tended to read books significantly above my grade level, so that makes it harder to guess whether it was intended for adults or children.  I don’t think “young adult” was a real publishing genre back then?  It was an old, cloth-bound, hardcover book that I found on my great-grandmother’s bookcase.  It was very dusty.  I’d guess it was probably from the ’50s based on the aging of the paper and binding.
It was a story about a goose that got blown off course during a big storm.  A young woman found the goose.  I believe it was injured and she nursed it back to health (seems like it may have been caught in an oil slick).  There was a biologist in the story who was fascinated that the goose could have been so far from its normal nesting grounds.  Geese mate for life, and I think it paired with a goose (presumably the wrong species?) where it had ended up after the storm.  Part of the suspense of the story was, when it flew away for migration, whether it would return to where it had spent its first season or if it would follow its peers to its normal breeding grounds.  I think at least parts of the story were written from the perspective of the goose.  The goose starts migrating towards the breeding grounds with its peers but they are all going the wrong way.  It ultimately breaks off from them and returns to its “mate” in the wrong place.  Maybe there was a parallel human romance, but that I’m not sure.
It was not “The Snow Goose’ by Paul Gallico.  I bought that recently to check, and it wasn’t the right story.  This book was longer than that.  It was probably a little longer than a Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys book.

325K: Giant Baby Studied By Scientist In Warehouse

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All I had was a memory of reading about a giant infant brought to a warehouse, where a man studied him.  L158 “Large Child Playing With Real Cars” indicated the story was from a 1950’s or 1960’s elementary school reader, which seems right–the book was from the library back when I was 8 or 9 in the early 60’s.  It mentions the warehouse, which I remember, the man, which I do recall must have been a scientist, but other than this I’m completely drawing a blank.

Thanks for any help you can give,

324Z: Sports Car Race With Dirty Oil

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When I was a kid in the 1950’s, I read a series of ‘car books’ about a young man who became interested in sports car racing.  I remember that the name of the car manufacturer was ‘black’ something and as an advertising promotion, they once drove one of the cars many, many miles (20,000+?) without an oil change, and then entered the car in a sports car race.

Any of this sound familiar to anyone?