The book I am looking for is something like Rocking Horse Christmas. It is a children’s book, many pictures in color, there is a snow storm, a dad driving home, and some writing. It was published in the early 1950s I imagine.
Category Archives: 1950s
294C: Wowee Kee Flowee
This is a child’s book circa 1950s about a bird who is trying to bring twigs into his/her birdhouse to build a nest. The twigs don’t fit in the small birdhouse door because the length of the twigs is too long to fit in the oval entrance. The bird finally realizes that the twigs can be brought in by turning them to go straight in. The bird then screams Wowee Kee Flowee! Of course, I might not have the entire story correct since it has been over 60 years since I read it, but I will always remember Wowee Kee Flowee!
294A: Boy’s adventure in the Northwest
This was a hardcover chapter book I read in the ’60s. Don’t know when it was published, but it felt like contemporary writing, though the story was set in the early 20th century. No illustrations. A very young man lives with his mother in a small town- the nearest city is Spokane, I think. Possibly his older brother is missing. He goes to the ice cream parlor and has a pineapple ice cream soda. There is some sort of quest, some railroad tracks. He fights a cougar or puma, and is wounded, and emerges scarred but triumphant. He gets the girl.
293V: A little zebra gets lost
I am writing a memoir and am trying desperately to identify a children’s picture book that would have been published around 1948 – 1953. It is a story about a little zebra that gets lost. The only vivid image of it I remember is the little zebra encountering a senior Zebra who was wearing reading glasses on his nose. The elderly zebra helps the little one find his mother (I think).
I do not remember the title except that I’m sure Zebra was in the title. It is a picture book.
293M: Fishermen and bright colorful fish
Back in 1952 or 1953, when I was 4 or 5 years old, I adored a book we took out from the Brooklyn library. I cannot remember much except that there were illustrations of a fisherman with nets full of bright colorful fish. It’s not Scupper the Sailor Dog. I was a bookseller for over 20 years and I was never able to track down this book.
293G: Dell
A boy opens his eyes and begins to see Not a book, but a short story I read in 1959 in sophomore English, a slight “a-boy-goes-on-a -journey” kind of story and the first piece of literature in which I recognized myself and one that I still recall with goosebumps. I think it was named “Dell,” the name of an adolescent boy living on a Midwestern farm. He is awakened one summer night by distant honky-tonk music coming through his bedroom window, a foreign intrusion into his otherwise quiet life. Arising, he goes outside looking for its source. Following the sound, he crosses several dark fields, climbs a small hill and looks out in the distance to see, far away but close enough to clearly discern a highway truck stop, ablaze with tall lights and neon signs, like a light-bomb on the black prairie floor. Some rigs are parked, their radios blaring; others are pulling out into the night with the shafts of their headlights illuminating their journey into the darkness, going—where? That’s what Dell wants to know, with an immediacy, an insistence previously unknown to him. From that story to a degree in English several years later. It was my “first step” in the journey and I would love to recover it if possible. Any help would be sincerely appreciated.
292Y: And The Sun Came Up
My grandfather read this book to me over and over, probably around the early 1950s, so it may have been published as early as the 1930s. It was a children’s picture book, and all I can remember is the last page read, “And The Sun Came Up.” That phrase was most probably used throughout the book. I loved it and have looked for it all these years, at antiques stores, rummage sales, etc. I would love to know the title and see if it is still around somewhere, so I can read it to my own grandchildren.
292S: Numbers who get angry
This is a book from my childhood that I have thought and talked about often.
The year was 1949-52. Not sure!
The book had several short “stories” for young children. The one I keep remembering was a story about how letters/numbers became upset when they were written backwards! For example, the #3 was hurt or angry when a child wrote it backward. He wanted to be written correctly. The numbers we’re living and capable of feelings. Any thoughts/ideas?!?!
Thank you!
292K: She crosses a bridge and becomes a princess
A little girl goes across bridge and becomes a princess. It was read to us in 4th grade, so 55 years ago for me.
292A: Illustrated History of the world
I am looking for an illustrated book of the world for children 5-12. published @ 1955. The illustrations were small and cartoon like.