Category Archives: 1970s

335K: A Time Traveling Soldier

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I’m on a mission to find a book that I read years ago. Sci-Fi. It takes place in the future with a genetically modified soldier that gets injected with a drug that lets him occupy the bodies of his ancestors. Then, the 2 doctors who injected him also inject themselves to chase the dangerous solder thru time. One of the doctors is an alcoholic man and the other is a woman in a wheelchair.

The man doctor drinks a lot every night and then leaves the host with the hangovers! LOL One of the hosts was a Roman soldier. They argue every morning, inside “their” head, about the hangover.
The woman doctor doesn’t want to go back to modern times, because in the past her hosts are not in wheelchairs!
The soldier seems to be related to every bad guy ever known – Hitler, Napoleon, etc. Or related to someone near them.
I think I read this book in the late 70s or early 80s.

335G: The little boy who wouldn’t take a bath so he went to live with the dirties

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Back in the 1970’s we read a book about a little boy who wouldn’t take a bath. He got so dirty he went to live in what I remember to be a cave with dirty “people.” They may have been more like ogres or something. I remember that he at first loved being filthy, but I think he then missed his family.
I don’t remember much else. Something about rotten eggs comes to mind, but I’m not sure why. This book was read over 40 years ago, so my recollection isn’t so great.
Thank you! I can’t wait to see if anyone can figure this one out!

334Z: Two Boys Fight Over Go-Kart

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This is a query about a book published in probably the 60's or early 70's, about two boys who want to build a go-kart from a soapbox derby car. They get in a fight and take their things and go home. I know one builds a scooter instead. One boy is African American and one is white. I believe the illustrations are either sketched with pencil or maybe watercolor. Thank you.

334W: Boy Learns the Importance of Sharing

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I used to have a children’s book in the 1970’s about a boy who gets a wooden box with a trick to open it and candy inside. He walks home with it and refuses to share the candy with another child, a dog and a person (Rule of three). He gets home and has forgotten how to open the box. He has to walk back to where he got the box, and this time he shares the candy on his way home and knows how to open the box to get the last piece himself when he gets home.

334V: Mystery series probably published 1940-1970 (Solved!)

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I do not know the name of any of the books in the series, but I can describe at least one of the covers. Our library had 4 books but there may have been more. All of the books had a deep purple cover. One had a mansion or haunted house on top of a hill or cliff. For some reason murder mansion, Whispering Hill, sticks in my head. I believe there were 2 or 3 kids and one had an odd name. Definitely not the more prolific series, Three Investigators, Hardy Boys, etc. The books were hardcover and not very thick, 70-80 pages and meant for grades 3-6. I hope you can find the series I am looking for.

334U: Children’s Story About the First Apple Pie

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I recall a children’s story (I don’t think it was a book but rather a story in a children’s storybook) that I read in the early to mid 1970's.  It was set in the times of kings and villages. The king (maybe it was a prince or even the town mayor) had a contest for the best pie.  Apparently only savory pies existed at the time, no fruit pies. The story’s heroine, having no meat at hand, made a pie with apples and tried to serve it to the king/prince/mayor.  I think she was prevented by the king’s flunkies who were aghast at the thought of a pie with fruit but eventually she got to the king, served her pie with a piece of cheddar and won the day.  Voila, fruit pies. No clue about the author or the title.  


Thanks!

334Q: A lizard uses a mushroom for shelter and becomes a turtle

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The book I’m looking for is a picture book from my childhood. It’s about a small green creature, probably a lizard, who is looking for a home. He might also be trying to get out of the rain. He winds up finding a mushroom to hide under. The mushroom top falls off the stem and lands on his back, making him a turtle. The style of the book is very 1970s, though I’m not sure when it was published. The mushrooms in the book are tall and red with white spots. I also remember a yellow mushroom in the book with the same style.
I have included a bad drawing of how I remember the turtle looking by the end of the story. The mushroom might have been larger than in this drawing.

334B: Teen romance, wheelchair, wheelchair basketball (Solved!)

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Read this the summer of '72 in Santa Maria, California. It was a library book. A girl in a wheelchair and her older sister are shopping and the chair gets 2 flat tires. A young guy (ex-Army, I think) with a prosthetic leg helps them get home. He and the older sister date, but he steps on her foot as they dance. He plays wheelchair basketball, his chair tips and he's standing upright for a second, then face-plants and everyone laughs. I know this isn't much to go on, but it's all I've got.

334A: High school romance, heirloom chickens (Solved!)

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I read it sometime in the early 70's. All I remember is that a girl is in science class and the teacher is talking about how certain breeds of chickens are gone because they've been cross-bred out of existence. The next day, a male student brings in cages filled with the birds that the teacher said were extinct. The girl is impressed by the boy and asks to see more.