I am looking for an early elementary school primer with stories about a boy and an apple tree; how he used to climb it and built a tree house and would listen to the wind in its branches. Probably from the late 50s or early 60s. Hope someone can help! Thanks for trying.
Category Archives: 1960s
329B: Troublesome Cat Sent To His Room (Solved!)
I'm looking for a book I had as a child in the 1970s, though the book may be from the 1960s. It was a small paperback with a light blue cover. It was about a cat, I think named Henry, and his mother. The drawings were very simple pen & ink drawings. There may have been a little blue in the drawings too, but mostly I think they were back and white and were simple. The cat was always getting in trouble, and had to be sent to his room. His mom was cooking in the kitchen. They both walked upright - and the mom wore an apron. I think it may have been a series and there were other stories about him.
328U: 60s-70s time-travel medieval fantasy, siblings, beautiful illustrations
This is a beautifully illustrated, middle-reader American (I think) fantasy book about a brother/sister or possibly male/female friends who somehow stumbled from their somewhat urban home/apartment building into a medieval setting when coming home from school one day in the woods near their home.
I was born in 1970 and was a very early and voracious reader, so this book cannot have been published much later than 1976; my guess (contextually) is that it’s most-likely a little earlier than that.
Many thanks!!
328T: Kids Travel to Prehistoric Age
I am looking for a book I read in junior high back in the early 80’s. I am guessing it was from the 1950s or 60s because the book was older looking with that canvas style cover and it was green. It was about 4ish siblings (some could have been friends) that went back in time or into another dimension to the prehistoric age. I think they went through some sort of shrubbery door, but not sure. I remember them, of course, trying to get back home, because there were dinosaurs and they didn’t have much food. They came across some sort of plant at some point that sustained them. I thought the title was something about being “Lost in Time”, “Forgotten World/Past”, etc. but just a guess. Thank you kindly for any help. I have Google searched and came across a couple of books about adults getting lost in prehistoric times but this was for sure about kids and I think they were siblings and maybe even a friend with them. Maybe the oldest being early teens down to a 7 year old. Again, thanks and I hope you can help!
327N: Girl Swims Across Beach Cove At Night
I am searching for a book that I read in the early to mid-eighties – I believe the book was a 1960’s era book. A young girl moves to a beach house on a cape (maybe for the summer). Possibly the house across the cove was haunted or abandoned/isolated . What I remember most was that she had to climb down some cliffs at night and trek or swim across the cove in the ocean to get to the house. May have also included a brother or a local boy who had become a friend. Was she trying to save someone? Wish I had more memories but the climb down and swim across the cove at night are my most clear memories. Thanks.
327L: Sort of like the Boxcar Children but in ancient Rome (or was it Greece?) (Solved!)
I read it in the 1970s, probably published then or perhaps in the late '60s. A young boy (maybe 10 or 11) and his older sister (young teenager?) from a noble family become embroiled in a mystery and they run around town (possibly Athens, but I think it was ancient Rome) hunting for clues. They wear togas. 🙂
327K: Flashback Looking Down A Lane Of Poplar Trees
I read this book in the 60s. It started out with an old woman sitting on a porch looking down a lane of poplar trees. She falls asleep and her life story is told in a flashback. This was the first time I’d ever read a book in this style.
327J: Late 50’s/Early 60’s Long Island NY Grade School Reader
327D: Bejeweled Bird Comes To A Tragic End
This is the story I am looking for. I was in elementary school when my father read it to me. I’m afraid that it might have morphed some in my memory. It has stuck with me a long time. I’m 65. So he would’ve read it to me in the mid 60’s. This story sounds vaguely similar to the Nightingale but I do not remember a mechanical bird in my story. It is tragic like the Brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Andersen stories. I do not have a title or an author.
This story involves a bird that a man, maybe a king, is enamored of, either because of its beauty or its song. I don’t remember which. The bird pleases the king so much that the king decorates it with jewels. It seemed like he thought he was was rewarding the bird. Giving it value. The bird can’t fly, can’t do bird things, is ostracized by its friends, becomes tragically lonely and dies of a broken heart. That’s what I remember.
327C: Max Moonpenny
My mom is searching for a book she read as a pre-teen about a girl named Max Moonpenny. I have searched and searched (and I even work in a library) but I can’t find anything about this book! She’s not sure if the title is Max Moonpenny or if it is something else. My mom grew up in the 1960s & ‘70s in Wisconsin, and a friend of hers also remembers the book and her niece was even named Max Moonpenny after the character from the novel. Unfortunately, the niece is prolific on the internet and clogging up my search results.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!