Category Archives: 1950s

322O: Girl Makes Best Friend, Gets Matching Puppies

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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.

322K: Math History For Children

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[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.)

322H: “Peter, Please, It’s Pancakes”

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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!

321N: Boy Dreams Of Playing Triangle In Orchestra

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I was born in 1950 and remember the decade of the 50’s as a time when my mom read to us every day.  There was one particular book that I recall enjoying but have not seen since I was a child.  Whenever I made the weekly trips to the library with my three (now adult) sons, I would look for that book but never saw it.
This is what I do and do not remember.  I do not remember the title, author or even what the book looked like.  In fact, I can’t remember how it ended!  What I do remember is that it was the story of a young child (boy I think) whose great aspiration was to play the triangle in the orchestra.  This required him traveling a distance to get to the orchestra in some distant town.  His mother packed his suitcase for him and filled it with sandwiches!  Of course I’m relying on  a memory from 60 years ago so who knows!  Funny but I can’t remember if he ever achieved his dream!

320Y: Lost Doll Brought Home By Father

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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?

319H: Teenage Girl Deals With Kangaroo Court

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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!

319F: Island Girl Disappointed With Porcelain Doll (Solved)

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A Little Golden Book (or similar style) about a young island (Polynesian?) girl.  A ship's captain visiting her village gifts her with a porcelain doll.  She tries to play with it as she had her own doll, but found that she couldn't get it wet, or feed it sand cakes, etc.  It was a book my grandmother had, but I'm pretty sure it's not a vintage book - probably no older than the 1960's (but that's 10 year old me remembering. )  Still, I don't remember the graphics being older looking.  It was the size, shape and length of a Golden Book.

318S: Poor Lizbeth Jane

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Hi!  I’m searching for details about a book from the early 50’s that had a story “Poor Lizbeth Jane” in it.  I’ve been told it’s in The How and Why Program: History.  I’ve been unable to find more information than that.  Thanks!