Category Archives: 1970s

379Q: Obscure 1970s-80s YA: Boy’s strange adventures, betrothed/young married kids (maybe cousins/gypsies), family secrets, reunion at Kentucky Derby with girl in polka dot dress & ‘My Old Kentucky Home’ playing

3 Replies

This has bugged me for years—posted about it on Library Thing back in 2018 (link: https://www.librarything.com/topic/292966#6515048) with no solves, but adding more details now in case it clicks for someone.

I read this book in England in the late 1970s/early 1980s (probably on a shared bookshelf at my dad’s work—likely a US import or British edition). It was a quirky/strange YA (young adult) book, from a boy’s perspective, more mystery/adventure with family secrets than straight romance (though maybe light romantic elements or betrothal tension).

Key bits I remember:

  • Two children (boy protagonist + girl) who were either betrothed young, arranged to marry early, or possibly cousins (that part’s fuzzy/weak).
  • Strange adventures happen to them.
  • Possible gypsy/Romani/traveler family background (one or both sides—maybe adding outsider secrets, wandering, or cultural quirks).
  • The story builds to a climax/reunion near the end: They find each other again at the Kentucky Derby (or a Derby-related event). He spots her in the crowd (possibly amid race horns or excitement), she’s wearing a polka dot dress, and “My Old Kentucky Home” is playing (or tied to the scene somehow).
  • Not primarily a romance; more YA adventure/mystery with a poignant, symbolic ending.

No idea on title/author/cover—it’s obscure, maybe small-press or regional. Anything ring a bell? Even partial matches or similar books would help!

Thanks in advance—it’s one of those that pops into my head every few years.

379M: Looking for a storybook from 1970s

1 Reply

I am looking for a large, oversized children’s picture book that I read between 1973 and 1976. It was an anthology containing many stories. One story I remember clearly featured two zebras — a father and a son — who would race each other. The young son could never beat his father, until one day he finally did. The book may have been published in the 1950s or 1960s. Any help identifying either the specific zebra story or the anthology it appeared in would be greatly appreciated.

379K: Lost in the Word Factory

2 Replies

What I recall: 

-Children’s picture book, read in the 90s, but could be from 60s/70s/80s

– Illustratons were very simple, like James Stevenson or Jules Pfieffer

– Plot about a boy who visits some sort of factory or construction site where words are made- very similar to Charlie and the chocolate factory, but with concepts around stuff like words (and maybe some numbers/math too?)

– I recall a section where a kid gets stuck to a balloon (maybe a speech bubble) and floats away, and has to be rescued by an older gentleman who throws some sort of dart to deflate it. The man runs? The factory and gives the boy a tour.

379B: British 1960s or 1970s YA book about a teenage adopted girl

Leave a reply

My sister and I each read this as a hardback (Oxford??) library book. I read it in the 1970s when I was in early secondary school, and it felt pretty recent and ‘realistic’ at the time. It was definitely set in the UK.

SPOILERS. The girl overhears her mother speaking. The girl has recently misbehaved in some way and she hears her mother criticise her and say that she’s just like her ‘real mother’. She’s discovering that she’s adopted, and her adoptive mother knows her biological mother.

Eventually the girl discovers that her mother’s younger sister is her biological mother.

The girl is upset by the discovery but is helped by her grandmother, as their relationship hasn’t changed.

The aunt/birth mother had babysat the adopted girl and her sister when they were babies. The adoptive mother reminisces about how, when the aunt/birth mother babysat, the adopted girl missed the adoptive mother much more than the other child had.

378Y: Just… Thank You (Solved)

Leave a reply

I have been hunting for the name of a book that I read in my childhood for literally years. Every so often I would come back to my search and try again. Finally, I don’t know what changed this time, but I happened upon your anthology finder page under collectible children’s books. It was Young Years. It was a book given to my mom in 1977 when she was only 8, and then she gave to me. I read it all through my childhood, but ultimately lost it in so many moves. I’m so sad I won’t be able to get back the one that had a note written to my mother inside it, but now I will at least be able to find another copy on ebay or something. Thank you so much for helping, even if you didn’t realize you were.

Signed, a very happy 30 year old in NY trying to find her inner child again.

378T: Trying to find this book and/or author

2 Replies

A guy in his 20-30’s suddenly feels a “ripple” and is transformed into another identity, another situation, and totally different place within the United States. It was paperback, I read it in the late 1960’s – 1970’s in English. Sci- fi main character this one guy, one scene: he leaves his clothes on the bank of a pond to go skinny dipping with a friend (a woman), they go under water and feel the “ripple” and then when they come up out of the water they are somewhere else, with no clothes. They catch a ride with a man in a pickup truck. Another scene he is in Hawaii with a group of people getting ready to walk on a bed of hot coals.

378S: Old Doll Left Behind for New Doll, Then Reclaimed by Girl (1960s–70s)

1 Reply

I’m searching for a short children’s story I remember from the late 1960s or 1970s, possibly from Reader’s Digest, a school reader, or a children’s magazine. It’s told from the point of view of an old doll.

In the story, a little girl is packing a suitcase for a trip. The old doll is thrilled to be included and looks forward to the adventure. At the last moment, the girl gets distracted by a new doll, grabs it instead, and leaves — the old doll is left behind, heartbroken. Later, the car returns, the girl rushes in, drops the new doll, and takes the old doll with her.

378R: Surreal Nautical Quest for Strange Creature (Solved!)

5 Replies

I’m looking for the title of a picture book that I read as a child in the mid-1990s. I believe the book was written in the 1980s or 90s, though it could also be from the 70s. I don’t remember any part of the title. It was a large-format hardcover edition.

It features illustrations with a watercolor style and a brightly colored, somewhat flat, surreal aesthetic with greatly exaggerated proportions. Its protagonist is an explorer who is dressed in a blue 19th-century naval outfit and sailing a large (and very tall) ship by himself.

He is searching for a rare creature that has some giraffe-like features and eats bananas, and on every page you can see that this creature is following him just out of sight. During his exploration, the protagonist meets several huge, frightening monsters, one of which I seem to recall was named the “purple lumpy thumpet”.

When the explorer finally finds his creature, it is revealed that it has many babies, and also that the monsters he encountered earlier were all friendly. All characters then have a picnic together on an island.

As a young child I read this book over and over again, captivated by its unique blend of unsettling, dreamlike  visuals and mischievous, lighthearted storytelling. I have now been searching for its title for nearly a decade with no luck, and just found out about this service.

378K: Need help finding a book from my childhood

1 Reply

I’m trying to find a book that I read as a child.  This was in the 50 ish years ago.  I can not remember the title.
The book has a farmer and his wife and their chickens.  The farmer goes to get eggs from the chickens and yells at them “LAY ME SOME EGGS”  I think he does this several times and gets louder and madder.  He does not get any eggs.  The farmers wife goes out to the hen house and talks softly to the hens and gets eggs.  I know that’s not a lot to go on but it’s all I can remember.  Especially the Lay Me Come Eggs part.  I’ve tried google and other searches but they are not helping.