Category Archives: 1950s

305W: A Family Moves to the Country

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When I was in grade school in the late 1950's, I read a book, possibly from the library Bookmobile, that was about a family who moved to the country. The main theme was the transition to an old, broken-down house and the arduous process of fixing it up to make it livable. The story is told, I believe, by a young son, probably about the age I was when I read (10 or 11) it. What started out as an unpleasant experience for the kids, at least, over time turned into an adventure as the DIY project progressed and the boy explored the surrounding area. Finally, the family was able to embrace the house as their new home and I think the son learned the value or hard work and the pride that comes from it. I know this is sketchy at best, but it's not easy to clean out the cobwebs of my memory that far back! Any help would be greatly appreciated.

305T: The Dragon Under the Lilac Bush

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I am looking for a book that I believe was called The Dragon Under the Lilac Bush. It was filled with pull-tabs and pop-ups. This book was a favorite of a dear friend when she was a young child, and she’s in her mid-50’s now. So the book probably came out in the late 50’s or early 60’s. It may have been a San Francisco Bay area regional publication, as I have not been able to find any reference to the book anywhere.

 

305S: Enchanted dog and cat

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Anyway the book I am looking for was a collection of children’s stories, possibly different authors and I think English and 1940s 1950s.

One story is about two children who help a dog and cat who have been enchanted and are the figureheads on a boat they find when the meadow at the end of their garden turns into a magical lake.

 

Hope you can help :0

304I: The Little Brown Bunny

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The title is something like “ The Little Brown Bunny”. The hardcover was greenish with a brown bunny on it toward the bottom center of front cover. It was from the 1960’s or possibly from the later 1950’s. My mother said it was NOT a Golden Book. The bunny on the front cover was possibly sleeping. The cover was mostly a soft light green. (We think.)

303Z: Little Girl Searching For Golden Rule

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In elementary school, we read a book about a little girl with a Z name. I think it was Zelda. She was trying to figure out the Golden Rule. She searched the world. Of course any references online that I find always refer to The Legend of Zelda. Not what I’m looking for, obviously. This book may have been written in the 50s, 60s ,or 70s. No cover. The book itself was orange.

302G: Upside Down Man

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I'm looking for a children's book from late 1950- mid 1970s. I thought it was called the upside down man. However, it is not either of the books by Ellentuck or Baker. It's about kids at home and their parents leave and tell them whatever you do if the door bell rings, don't open the door for the upside down man. But they let him in and he turns everything in the house upside down. It is done in line drawings, black and white. I think it was from a small publisher around Boston.

302E: The protagonist, a scarecrow, was stuck in a garden

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I’ve looked everywhere online for a book I read as a child.  It would have been published in the 50s or early 60s; I read it when I was in the first to third grades which would have been 1964-1967 or 1968.  I’ve forgotten the title and author but remember the story line vividly.  The protagonist, a scarecrow, was stuck in a garden or field and wanted more than anything to be free.  When autumn came and the garden had been harvested, the farmer began to burn all of the refuse, including the scarecrow who, at last, was turned into smoke and was finally free to drift through the air.  It’s a beautiful book and I’ve searched for so long but am limited when I can’t come up with a title or anything else to aid me in my search.  If you could find the book, I’d be very grateful and would even be happy if you could come up with a title and author.

299T: Fairies Tattoo Naughty Girl’s Face

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I am looking for a children’s book that was a favorite of mine at my grandma’s house growing up. I’ve been searching for years trying to find what the name of this book was, with no luck. Despite it being fairies, and involving colours, it’s not Andrew Lang.  This is what I remember of it:

It was a hardbound book, blue or green cover, with embossed printing. So probably published prior to 1950s

The story revolved around a little girl who wasn’t very nice, so she is visited by a fairy who’s name is similar to “tintinnabulum” (I remember that very distinctly). This fairy caused a word to appear on the girl’s forehead (possibly the word KIND) that only the girl and the fairies could see; if the girl acted kindly, the word would fade with each kind act, for each unkind act it would grow darker.

The girl was then put in a hall with seven doors, one for each color of the rainbow- she needed to travel through each fairy realm, do deeds that would remove the word on her forehead, and find the door back to the hall. Each of the realms had something to do with the color of the door (Like, the light blue door’s realm was in the sky, and the dark blue was under water).

Eventually she goes through all the doors, the word is gone, and she gets to go back home.