Category Archives: 1950s

242G: Hats!

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I’m looking for a book, could be from any time before 1975 or so.
It was a big picture book for young children which I think was primarily about different hats. The main thing I remember is that there was one spread with a woman wearing a fancy hat with netting on it, and there was a fish design in the netting such that the fish went right over her eyes.
My mom thinks it was called something like “My Aunt’s Hat” but isn’t sure. I haven’t had any luck googling that.
She remembers it as being about an older woman, sort of crazy, with “old lady tight curly hair”.
She remembers the image as being “big, falling off the page” and there may have been a tiny little fishing line on the page.

Pretty sure it is not:
Jennie’s Hat
Aunt Lucy Went to Buy a Hat
Aunt Flossie’s Hats
Caps for Sale
Cat in the Hat or any Dr. Seuss including Bartholomew Cubbins Old Hat, New Hat or any Berenstain books

Although if there is a spread with the fish hat in one of these, that’s probably it.

241F: Cliff Dwellers children’s book ca. 1950

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I owned this book around 1950 when I would have been 7 or 8. This was a thin book of a somewhat large format (8 x 10?), with dark blue cloth covers. The book was primarily text, with occasional full-page lithographed full color paintings. I am pretty sure the title contained the words “Cliff Dwellers”. It was about the “Anasazi” Indians of the Southwest (probably based on Mesa Verde), and was a fictional story involving two children (twins?) and their daily lives, finding water, helping harvest corn, and, what I most remember, negotiating the ladders to and from their cliff dwelling. I’ve searched the LOC on-line catalog, WorldCat, and Abebooks.com, with no success. Hope someone remembers this book.

241E: Scottish Boy and a Castle

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I don’t have a title for the book I’m looking for. I read it when I was in 8th grade around 1962. It was a historical novel about a Scottish boy and involved a castle with secret passages and an uncle (maybe grandfather) who was locked up in the dungeon without light for 10 years. Believe the boy gets him out. Hope you can help me find this book!!

240C: A family of animals underground (Solved)

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I was born in the late 1960’s. There was a children’s book that had to have been published before 1973 that I remember that had these illustrations it in about either a mole, a rabbit or a mouse whose family lived underground. The book had illustrated cut-aways that showed the ground above, the tunnels going down and their little house down in the earth (like a little kitchen, bed, etc.). For years it has been driving me nuts trying to find this book. So if you have any information please let me know.

Thank you!

240B: Carrying The Mail In Old Florida

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I read this book in the late 1950’s or early 1960’s. It was in our school library. It was about a boy who was hired to carry the mail along the Florida coast before any development of the Florida coast took place. Along the way he saw many interesting sights and had various adventures. Finally he met a young girl and the two of them hid under an abandoned rowboat for protection in a hurricane. I don’t remember the title or the author. But I would sure like to be able to read that story again. It must have been written for older children or teens.

Thanks

crrunion

238A: Benjamin B., who is he?

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Taught myself to read in first grade with a book of forgotten title. The main character is Benjamin B. (or Benjamin B––) (not Bee or any other variation). The book was published before 1966, which is when I read it. The book was not new when I read it, so possibly published before 1960. It is my faint impression (which could be incorrect) that he was a British boy, so perhaps written by a British author. I’m sorry, but that’s all I have. I have been looking for this book for about a decade, so any help appreciated.

237A: Book of Fairy Tales Containing This Unusual Story

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Physically, it was dark blue or dark green (dust jacket was long lost). I read the book in the 70s, but it was much older. I would guess it was published in the 30s or 40s. It had simple black and white illustrations.
There was one story (whose name I can’t remember) about two children — a brother and sister who are in the woods. They come to a tree stump with a strange knot on it. When they sit on the stump and touch the knot, they fall into an underground world. There, they are tormented by scary monsters. They … do … something (sing a song about being brave, maybe) and the monsters turn into fairies. It turns out that they were fairies all along, and had been cursed to be monsters until someone did that thing. One of the monsters looked like a giant carrot.