Category Archives: 1970s

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.

353W: Hoaxes and Frauds Collection for Kids

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I am looking for a book I got in a school book order around 1978-1983, either Scholastic or the other one (Troll, was it?) It was a collection of short accounts of historical hoaxes, like the Piltdown Man, the Cardiff Giant, the War of the Worlds radio broadcast, the New York Sun reports of life on the moon — I think it even had Howard Hughes’s autobiography. I have searched library catalogs and Ebay for “Hoaxes and Frauds,” but I see a book that is far too recent for me to have bought it in elementary school.

353T: Teen girl road trips with grandma & kidnappers

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The book I’m seeking was written in the 1960s or 70s.  A young lady (probably a teenager) was going on a cross-country road trip with her grandmother.  They were to meet up with her boyfriend coming from the other direction.  The girl drove, not the grandmother.  They each put colorful pieces of material on their antennae so they could spot each other on the road.  At some point, the ladies decided to give a ride to hitchhikers who ended up ‘hijacking’ them and holding them hostage as they drove for days.  Eventually, all turned out well and they met up with the boyfriend.

353R: Paintings With Riddles (Solved!)

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Seeking an illustrated children's book (probably paintings) with a slew of riddles on one page and an accompanying painting containing the answers to those riddles. Likely published late 70s or 80s, no later. Somewhere in the book is a picture of a Raven and some thread. The last illustration features a horse. Not Animalia, but possibly inspired by it. Book is on the larger side, dimensionally. Thank you.

353L: Victorian house with dog and dumbwaiter

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Dog lives in a mysterious old Victorian style house that has a dumbwaiter, possibly has puppies to care for, and the book is for young adults, may be a chapter book with several illustrations. Art style and spirals on the ends of letters suggests mid 60s to mid 70s. I checked this book out from a library in San Diego around 1988.