Category Archives: 1970s

345V: Elementary school reader – Pigs trying to sell their house

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Hi! I'm trying to find a school book from the late '60's or very early 70's. Probably a second grade reader but I'm not certain. It has multiple stories and the one I remember is about a married couple of pigs trying to sell their house. Each animal that comes to look at it suggests something they would like changed about the house. The pigs change each thing and by the end of the story they don't want to sell their house anymore. Does anyone remember this book? It was read with the classic Dick and Jane books for sure.

345K: In Search Of a Children’s book called “The Bus Riding Book”

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I’m looking for a children’s primer, a first reader series, and one of the books is called “The Bus Riding Book.” In the book, all of the animals get on the bus, one by one, and then a bee flies in and everyone runs out of the bus. I learned to read using it in 1976 in catholic school in Queens, NY. I believe the publisher was McGraw Hill, colorful drawings inside the book with animals getting on the bus, and the cover may have been soft.

345G: “A place…” book for a Brit (Solved!)

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I am in desperate search of a book for my dear British friend. She grew up in Suffolk, England, born in 1958, and remembers a book she used to pour over as a girl:
Possible title: A Place of Your Own
Contents: pictures and descriptions of homes, rooms, treehouses and places where children (and maybe young adults) escape to be kids
Publication Dates: at least published by 1972
Location: read in Suffolk, England

345E: Walking Into the Sunset

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I would love some help finding an old children’s book from my childhood. I seriously doubt that anyone will be able to locate it, but it’s worth a shot.

Really, the back page is all that I remember, because I used to stare at the picture all the time. I used to read the book at my babysitter’s house, when I was roughly 3-6 years old. This would have been from 1986 to 1989. The book could have very well been from the late 60’s thru early 80’s.
Anyway, about the image at the very back page of the book. It was a sunrise or sunset image, with the main characters walking out a door into a beautiful scene full of trees, animals, etc. The main character(s) had their backs turned to the reader as they walked down a road into this scene. The image really was beautiful, serene, filled with hope. The sunset was mostly orange and yellow, and took up a big portion of the page. This image looked like the ideal place to be, and I’ve never forgotten it. Sesame Street comes to mind, though I don’t specifically remember it being a Sesame Street book. Truth is, I don’t know but am hoping that this will jog someone’s memory. I’ve never forgotten this book and would love to see that picture again, now that I have kids of my own.
Again, I doubt anyone would be able to help me with this, based on the limited details that I remember. But, thank you for trying!

345B: Musical Love Story from Harlequin Era

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I'm looking for a book which may be Harlequin from late 1970s or early 1980s, about a young widow of a rock and roll band member who may have committed suicide. She falls for his band mate, who has long been in love with her, and it turns out, she has a hidden singing talent. I believe the setting is at a beach house, in Florida perhaps.

344Y: Parable Book From the 70’s or 80’s

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I remember this book being popular (I think) in the 70s/80s. I think I read it or looked thru it when I was around 7/8 (1980/81). I think the main character was a boy who went on a journey to different towns.


I feel like it was a parable of some kind.
And I want to say Heidi was involved...or maybe that was just another parable book in my house.


Do you have any clue of what I am talking about?
It’s driving me crazy.

 

344T: Children’s book from early 70s

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I remember a book with very simple line drawings. I only remember the first line: “When Nora(h) was six years old, her parents decided to let her go” and a drawing of the parent holding on to Nora’s foot as she floated away to her adventures.
I read it at my friend’s house when I was about six or seven so mid-1970’s.


Anything you can do to help me hunt it down is much appreciated!

344S: Boy with a Magic Pencil?

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I recall a young adult chapter book from my youth (late 1970s-early 1980s) about a boy with a magic pencil. It is used like a regular pencil, but it might have been blue lead. Like a regular pencil, it needs to be sharpened, and gets slightly smaller each time. I can’t recall the things he made or did with it. Some dramatic emergency with the last bit of pencil.  Apologies but that’s all I remember.

344C: YA novel from 1960s; English girl fall in woods and breaks leg

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I am looking for a chapter book or YA novel I read in third grade in 1971-72. I believe it would have been published in the 1960s or between 1970-71 but it could also have been in 1950s.

It was about a girl in England who lived with her mother and no father. They lived in a flat, which was the first time I had encountered that word. The only thing I can distinctly remember was that the girl was hiking in the woods, alone, I believe, and fell and broke her leg and then had to figure out how to get help.

343V: Ellen, Haggis, Scottish Traditions in America

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A teen girl whose family has died is sent to live with relatives (maiden aunts?) in a part of the United States that still follows more Scottish customs than American customs, including holidays, and she experiences major culture shock.  I believe the title character is named Ellen.  The cover shows her at the door wearing a shift mini-dress, so the novel probably was written in the late 1960s or early 1970s.  This novel is the first time I encountered the word “haggis.”