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?
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.
Best Friend(s) - title, I think, children's book. I read it about 1960. 3-6th grade reading. Girl's mom is her schoolteacher and she gets called teacher's pet. Grandfather lives with them and she has a great tree house. Half-French girl moves in next door and they become best friends. Archenemy is Millicent. End of story the girls get "matching" puppies. Remembering where it was in library, the author's name began with A-H. Hardcover, minimal illustrations. I think the phrase, "no more sense of time than a cricket" was used.
[author role=”private”]Toby Holtz, tholtz@barnard.edu[/private]
This was a large format hardcover book from 1950’s (maybe 1960’s). Cover had picture of yellow pyramid(s) against blue sky, with drawings of Egyptian, Greek, Renaissance mathematicians. Inside had chapters about math and science (astronomy, physics, etc.) through the ages, i.e. early man looking at stars, Egyptians building pyramids, Greeks measuring land, medieval development of arithmetic, Renaissance architecture and Galileo’s physics and Newton’s calculus applied to science, etc. Pages had text and colored drawings as illustrations, and some portraits of mathematicians. Maybe title was “Lore and Legend of Mathematics.” The name “Langston” may be one of the names of one of the authors. It may have been a type of Golden book. (There was another, similar book about the history of music, with a gray cover showing a drawing of a brown violin and a gold colored brass instrument.)
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!
Looking for a children’s/teen book from when my mom was growing up (1955-1970ish) called Queer Company. I don’t know a lot about the story except it’s about restoring someone or something. Really looking to at least find out the author. Thanks!
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?
I am looking for a book that was probably written in the 1950s or early 1960s. It was a part of my grade school library, a school that converted from a K-12 school to a K-8 in 1965 or so. The book might have been written as a young adult novel. It was about a teenage girl and her dealing with high school life (boyfriends, homework, mean girls). I do remember that one chapter was titled “The Kangaroo Court”. I do not remember the very much more about the book, but “Pink” comes to mind – either part of the title or another chapter. I hope this jogs someone’s memory!