Category Archives: 1950s

344I: Teen Romance From the 50’s or 60’s

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Looking for a book I read as a young teen.  Early 1970’s, I expect it was written in the later 1950’s or 60’s.

The book was a young adult high school romance. I remember nothing except the girl was not one of the popular girls (she may have been new in school) and her name in the book is Beth (could have been Elizabeth but she was called Beth).  The boy in the story line was the popular boy in school.

Outside of Little Women, the name Beth was not one found often in books and since it is my name the basic story stuck with me.

344H: Cool Kids Book About Southern US During British Rule

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I’m looking for a childhood book that was my favorite:

1. Children’s book
2. Takes place when the British were in charge of America
3. Takes place in southern USA
4. General plot is a boy travels south through the swamps of Georgia and Florida. He ends up in New Orleans (?) in the office of a British officer who holds a scented/perfumed handkerchief over his nose because of the stench from the boy (and others?).
4. It was a grey hardback, typical of good quality children’s books in the 50’s & 60’s. It may have had red highlights or bands.

344C: YA novel from 1960s; English girl fall in woods and breaks leg

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I am looking for a chapter book or YA novel I read in third grade in 1971-72. I believe it would have been published in the 1960s or between 1970-71 but it could also have been in 1950s.

It was about a girl in England who lived with her mother and no father. They lived in a flat, which was the first time I had encountered that word. The only thing I can distinctly remember was that the girl was hiking in the woods, alone, I believe, and fell and broke her leg and then had to figure out how to get help.

343Z: Minda the Little Indian Girl

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I’m searching for an old child’s book about a little Indian girl named Minda. My father bought it used in the 1950s. It was a child’s reader and I remember very colorful. We lived in Ohio and my father had a store where he sold things, like thrift stores today. He was so excited to find it for me. My fathers mother passed away when he was 9 in 1928 her name was Minda. I was named after her. I was always told she was Indian. I think Cherokee. My mother passed away when I was 17 in 1969. I never knew what happened to my book. I’ve searched many years now. Of course both parents are gone. I don’t know the name of the book. I never knew anyone else named Minda but I know there are. I’m hoping you can help me. Thank you.

343B: Shrunk Boy Rides Seagull and Saves World

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The Rough Plot:

A boy inexplicably starts shrinking.  When he is about 6 inches tall he befriends a Seagull, who takes him for a flight.  The boy’s father is an inventor and makes a cockpit that fits on the Seagull’s back.  A mysterious person from the Government comes to visit and asks the boy to ride his Seagull around the world and deposit a bomb-pill down the chimney of an evil person’s factory to destroy the bomb he is making and save the world.  He does it and then is blown far away by the resulting explosion, but the Seagull eventually returns him home to re-unite with his Father.

This book was well illustrated with realistic pen and ink drawings.

It was a Hardcover book.  I probably read it between 1948 and 1954.

342Q: Vintage Picture Book Featuring the Ocean

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Vintage Picture Book (from 50s, 60’s, or 70s), not very thick, stapled, maybe 10 – 12 pages, not a lot of printed text. Watercolor, realistic illustrations

What I remember about the story: A boy spends a lot of time snorkeling, he sees all kinds of fish and turtles, and he finds a shipwreck and a shark shows up (scary) but he escapes and finds a treasure.

I remember the following illustrations:

  1. Sea stars on a sandy ocean floor, the sunlight is shining through the water onto the ocean floor
  2. A sea turtle swims and again the sunlight coming through the water
  3. A two page illustration showing the boy on the left top looking down on the shipwreck, again the light plays through the water

The illustrations were realistic and what stood out was the light portrayed underwater.

 

341X: Boy Attends Cinderella’s Ball In A Dream

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The book I am searching for was a children’s chapter book that I read in the 1950s. 
 
The story was a retelling of the Cinderella story from the point of view of a young boy (Teddy?) who makes his way into the palace where they are getting ready for the ball.  He and the rather silly king get in the way of the queen. They go on to have an adventure that at one point involves a mound of butter and buttons (pictured in what I remember as a pen & ink illustration). At some point the boy unlocks the palace gate with a small key. I believe it is indicated at either the beginning or end that the story is the boy’s dream – perhaps he dozed off while reading the fairy tale?
 
It had, of course, the ubiquitous blue cover. I think it was a hardback about 6”x8” but memory may be failing me. 
 
My childhood copy was destroyed years ago and I would love to read the book again.

341L: Little girl’s doll makeover at her father’s Doll Hospital (Solved!)

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Looking for a child's fiction/picture book circa 1950's-1960's, maybe even 1940's -Hardcover - Colored pictures drawn like doll wigs of different colors, new clothes in tissue paper, clothes accessories, etc. Pictures are not 'cartoony'; more true to life.

Story: Little girl has been asking her father to fix her doll but he has been too busy at his shop. Finally, on the little girl's birthday, he closes his doll hospital early and dedicates the rest of the day to fixing up her beloved doll with new eyes, face and clothes that she gets to pick out all by herself.

341J: A Family’s Year of American Adventures

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I am looking for a book my uncle read while in 4th or 5th grade in the 1950’s. His teacher had assigned it to the entire class to read as a project. Some key points he remembers are a family pulled their children out of school for the year to travel the United States to experience new places and adventures. They went to a desert, they starred in a Hollywood movie, he also remembers something about birds – sparrow specifically – being in the book. He thinks there was a car on the cover, possibly pulling a trailer behind it.

Please help if you can, I would love to give him this book as a Father’s Day gift and he recently celebrated his 75th birthday too.