Category Archives: 1960s

226E: Adventures in science (description updated)

My husband is always talking about a series of books he read as a boy (born 1957), probably from school or city library. He remembers them being called “Adventures in…” followed by some sort of science title. The protagonists were two boys, one or both pre-teens. They would travel with their father and have what I guess were all science adventures (there could have been others, like mathematics, but my husband remembers only the two that were science oriented). The two he always talks about are the chemistry book (perhaps Adventures in Chemistry?) where the boys went to a laboratory and made toothpaste (he remembers the younger boy tasting the toothpaste and liking it) and a book about model rockets (Adventures in Rocketry, perhaps?). The boys and their dad are driving to a deserted place where they can shoot off their rockets and are stopped by the police who see all the rockets and the rocket motors in the car and are upset; maybe the dad shows them a permit to shoot off rockets or something to let the police know they are no threat. It’s our 25th anniversary coming up and I’d love to dig up one of these books, but I’ve never found them searching online.

224I: Cross country adventure

A book that my 6th grade teacher read to my class back in 1978-79. It was about a family – I think they were on vacation – and the kids were separated/lost their parents. The kids began a journey traveling across the country – the thing I remember the most is that they slept in stores/maybe shopping malls…

Thank you for your help – I have been looking for years!

224G: MAX a chubby cat

My wife’s father read this book with her when she was little, so it must have been published before 1964. Here is what she could recall when I asked her for more details:

“The book title was MAX. But anyways there are no photos of the book covers here so hard to say. This book is an over sized hard cover book (like the I Spy kids books). I remember the cover being yellow and turquoise – the illustrations are hand drawn (the cat is black line drawn) – he is a chubby cat. In one sequence he grabs the hair dryer and is looking at it inquisitively – it turns on accidentally and it blows his hair every which way as he tries to figure out how to turn it off.”

220A: The Mystery of the Missing Diamonds

Publication: I believe this book was published in about 1969 or 1970.

Genre: Early teen to Pre-teen mystery, possibly bought from Scholastic Books

Plot: A young girl with the last name Duncan solves a mystery of some missing diamond jewelry. She ends up finding the thief, a lady new to town who goes everywhere with her poodle. The diamonds were hidden in the puff on the poodle’s head. Story takes place in the summer. One chapter in the book describes a garden party where the main character’s friend dresses in matching mother-daughter outfit with her mom. Main character appreciates her own mom as dressing in an “unfussy” way.

218C: novelette about a tribe of proto-human nomads

I’m looking for a 60’s era American elementary school level (age range estimate: 7 – 12) hard back novelette about a tribe of proto-human nomads that were still using trees for both transport and dwelling.

I don’t recall much else, except that we follow a young male tribe member as he grows, learns, and takes on responsibilities.

Fuzzy memory suggests the young male’s name is the title of the book.
Something like Aab, Aag,Oog, Oob…maybe.

Ancient memory suggests that it was a good read, so I imagine you’ll have little difficulty finding it.

215D: Messy Goat Brothers (children’s book)

This is a surprise for my girlfriend, so I’m dealing w/scant details. Several goat brothers (or siblings, there may have been girl goats as well) are pictured in a kitchen with a sink full of unwashed dishes. An enormous pile of unwashed dishes. It seems to have been a book about teaching kids responsibility. This would have been available in the late 60s or early 70s.

I’d appreciate any help you could provide. Thanks in advance.