Category Archives: 1970s

355R: Sloth Smuggled Into Apartment Given Bath (Solved!)

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The book I’m looking for was one I read when I was about 10-12, in the late 1970s. It was about a girl who somehow ended up smuggling a sloth into her home (apartment in a city, I think?). The only scene I specifically remember is her giving it a bath and how filthy the tub was at the end of the process. It wasn’t a children’s picture book, that much I do know. And it’s possible it was a short story but I swear I remember it being a chapter book.
I hope you can help, as this has been driving me nuts for years!

355H: YA book with puffins and an island (Solved!)

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I read a book in the late 70s or early 80s.  I think it was a 60s/early 70s book, but that’s little more than a guess.
A few years later a children’s section librarian helped me find the book again and she knew exactly what I was talking about.  Whether that speaks to the popularity of the book, or the quality of the librarian I don’t know.  🙂
The story is a number of children having adventures on an island while their parents are busy.  Researchers I think?
Puffins are involved somehow, and I THINK that is part of the name, although whether it’s the name of the book or the island I’m not sure.
They get to the island via seaplane and I think there was a seaplane on the cover.
There were at least 2 books, maybe more.
Not much, I know.  🙂
It’s funny how strong the memory of loving the book is, yet so few details remain.

355F: Looking for old children’s chapter book about a squirrel (Solved!)

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When I was a child, this would have been sometime between 1990-1995, I borrowed a fiction chapter book twice from my local library that I cannot remember the title of. At the time, the book was old, but I was a kid so it may not have been THAT old. I think it may have been written sometime around the 1950s-70s. It was a story about a boy who takes care of a squirrel. I think that there was a red squirrel on the cover, and the title of the book may have been the name of the squirrel but I’m not certain. I think the book had a bittersweet ending with the squirrel going back to live in the wild. I’ve not been able to find it on a google search so perhaps you can help!

355D: Girl Spends Day With Mom, Boy Spends Day With Dad

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I’m looking for a children’s book that I had in the mid 1970’s.  It was a hardcover book and I believe it was oversized.  The ‘first’ story was about a child (believe it was a girl) spending the day with her mommy.  You then flipped the book upside down & over and there was a ‘second’ story about the child spending the day with his/her daddy and they went to the zoo.  I remember a picture of them looking in the animal exhibit and the child is holding a balloon and I think they get ice cream.  I’m pretty sure it’s people and not animals (i.e. not the Mercer Meyer little critter book).

354J: Children’s book about woman who thinks her daily routine doesn’t matter

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I used to read a book to the children I took care of and I believe it was their father’s book growing up, so I believe it’s at least 40 years old? Maybe older. It was about a woman who lived in an apartment alone and had the same routine every day. The only specific thing I can remember is that she let her tea kettle boil for 1 or 2 minutes before she took it off the stove. She also maybe listened to the radio and opened the window? She doesn’t think her life has any impact on anyone so one day she doesn’t do her routine and many people show up at her door to tell her how their day was thrown off because she didn’t do the things she normally did (ie a neighbour would wake up to the sound of her boiling kettle etc). I think the title of the book had the main character’s name in it?

353X: Child gives last ration of chocolate away

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This was a book I read in the 70s, but it might have been written anytime after WWII and it had a certain 50s or 60s vibe to it.
I am pretty sure it took place during WWII and was set somewhere in Europe.
I recall the character — a boy (I think) of around 12 — had a couple squares of his chocolate ration left. He was very hungry and they didn’t have much food, but he gave his ration away to another child — I think a girl, around the same age.
For the longest time I thought it was from Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan but I tracked down that book and read it to my son and there is no such scene.