This book would have been read to me in the late 70’s as a child. A man is locked in a stone tower or room (maybe in a castle) with only a small window at the very top. He must find a way out without opening the door. He ends up covering himself in red dots so the guards think he’s ill and take him out, he has found a way out without having opened the door. It was like a puzzle or riddle of sorts. I believe the man had red hair or a red beard.
Category Archives: 1970s
350S: Out of Print Witchcraft Book
350P: The Magic Sports Bag
Looking for a 70s/80s picture book about boy/girl twins who receive a magic sports bag from their uncle. Every day the bag contains equipment for a new sport — I remember fishing and perhaps roller skating.
350G: For the Love of…
When I was young in the 70s I read a book about a young woman who married a man in maybe Alaska. Their children die of diphtheria. I thought it was called For the Love of Ann or maybe For the Love of Mike?
350E: Supposedly Heroic Girl Dies in Apartment House Fire (Solved!)
Looking for a 1970s ya fiction book about a girl who died in an apartment house fire. Everyone thought that she was a hero because she alerted the other tenants to the fire so they could get out. Actually, it was her brother who had done the alerting while she went back to her apartment to get her shoe box of paper doll families. This was a much darker sequel to a book about a brother, a sister and another girl. Think the title may have been something like “The truth about (girl’s name)”, but not positive. Don’t remember author but know I read it right after it came out somewhere between 1969 and 1980.
350A: Boy with mustache (Solved!)
349Z: Shadow people in the backyard of a big house
Around 1975 my teacher read the class a story about a family that moved into a huge house. Their children discovered a family of shadow people living in the backyard. The living children can see the shadow people because of their size – the shadow people can only be seen by living people whose size is smaller than their own. I couldn’t get the concept of the book and my teacher, whom I adored, was a large woman so she used herself as an example of why the living adults in the big house could not see the shadow people. I have fond memories of the feeling the book imposed but that is all I can remember of the book.
349V: Spun around and upside down
I am trying desperately to find a beloved book from my childhood. I do not remember the name, but I do remember a few details.
349N: Bad Cat Throws Alarm Clock Out Window (Solved!)
This is a children's book from the 1970s about a very bad little cat who lives with his mother, who throws his alarm clock out the apartment window and damages someone's car. His mother says "Another nail in my coffin" as he is constantly getting into trouble. I think he becomes a good cat by the end.
349H: 60s or 70s Black and White Silhouette Book
I’m trying to find a book for a friend and wanted to see if you might be able to offer any advice. My friend’s late father was a photographer and had a black and white nude silhouettes book published back in the 60s or 70s. Unfortunately, my friend’s copy was lost many years ago and never found. I don’t have the title, but it would have been published under Bill Coco or Francis V. Coco. Any advice on how I might be able to try and find it? All suggestions are welcome! I’d love to try and make my friend’s holiday by finding this! I hope you can help.