Category Archives: 1960s

242C: Magic Carousel

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I read this book when I was around four or five, so it would have been 1969 or 1970. Two sisters were with their dad at Central Park in NYC and he took them to the carousel and to watch the ice skaters. They rode the carousel and the horses. The carousel and the horses became real and they rode them off the carousel and through central park, maybe this is when they rode past the ice skating rink. From my memory it was evening time. I remember the book as being in pinks, yellows and oranges and I think the illustrations may be similar to those of Alice and Martin Provensen. Here’s to hoping someone knows something about this book! I have never forgotten it.

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!!

241D: 1970s Children’s Book

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My sister had a favorite book when she was about 3–1970. The book was thin and tall with a green cover and we think it was titled “The Two Little Princes”. The story is about 2 little princes who have everything in the world, but won’t share and still want more. Their nurse/ nanny decides to take away all of their toys and leave them in an empty room by themselves. Finally she brings in a basket with a single train track, one blue train and one red train. The have to work together to make the track and then play together with the trains.
The drawings were simple without much color and the nurse wore a white hat with an apron.

241C: A Boy and a Witch Named Gherkin

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The book in question is an older British book, I remember finding it around the mid-to-late 90s, about a young boy being raised by his “aunt” (I clearly remember that she loved taking baths with the Purple People Eater fragrance, which was used later in the book by a sewer-comber who knew where her house was because of the smell) who is approached by a young witch who thinks she’s an outcast because she isn’t ugly, whose name is Gherkin, along with a few other strange characters – including an animal from the island each of them is from that looks like a soft white seal, loves music more than anything, and emits a thick fog when happy. The boy is the lost son of the king and queen of the island, and is the only one who can help save them from some calamity.

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

239I: Photos of frolicking kittens (Solved)

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This book would have been published before 1978 but probably after 1960 or 1965. It was a children’s book with photos (probably black and white) of a pair of frolicking kittens. The kittens had black and grey stripes. There may have been short captions of the pictures. The pictures were of the kittens leaping and jumping in funny ways.

239F: Fuzzy Shoulder Friends (Solved)

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I need help finding a children’s book, I can’t remember what it’s called!

It’s about a little village where all the people have little fuzzy creatures that sit on their shoulders. They look like fuzzy balls with eyes, and come in all different colors. These creatures make the people happy and build their self esteem. Then the people get greedy and start taking each other’s creatures to the point where the whole village is unhappy. They realize this and begin to share the creatures, the village is happy again. Moral of the story: when you take someone else’s confidence, you feel worse too. Published in 1960’s – 1980’s, perhaps.

Any help would be appreciated! Thank you!

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.