Category Archives: 1970s

330M: Hibernating Animal behind a Red Door

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This book was one my sister and I read in the 1970’s to early 1980’s. I recall that there was a forest creature (cannot remember what kind) who possibly (moved?) to a new house in the forest with a red door. I think his friends were supposed to wake him up for some reason but then they couldn’t find his house with the door, because it was covered with a fallen tree (?) or maybe snow(?). I think they kept finding red things that didn’t turn out to be the door. It would have been a shorter children’s story with a lot of pictures. We read it in English.

330A: Scarecrow Soldier

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I am looking for a children’s picture book possibly printed between 1930’s/1940’s – 1980’s.  Not sure when it was printed.  My husband remembers reading it when he was a kid at his grandparents in the 1980’s.  My guess is it’s from the 50’s, 60’s, or 70’s.

The book takes place on a farm or in a large garden.  One day the animals notice a stranger (the scarecrow) on the farm or garden and get scared.  The weather elements try to get rid of the scarecrow.  The wind blows as hard as it can at the scarecrow.  The rain pours on it, the sun beats its heat on it, until one day there’s nothing left of the scarecrow except maybe the pole he was on.  My husband remembers the scarecrow looking like a soldier, or at least having an old uniform and a sword.

I believe he said the cover was blue with the scarecrow on it?  Not really too sure on that.

I appreciate any help in finding this book.

329W: Caribbean Island Adventures With Photos

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I am looking for a book that I think my parents must have brought back from a Caribbean vacation in the 70s. It was the story of a bunch of island kids, boys and girls of different ages, maybe set in the Bahamas, or maybe not that specific, but definitely in the English-speaking Caribbean. Any adults were marginal background characters. There was a hand-drawn map of their island that showed beaches, caves, meeting places, shortcuts, etc. It was essentially a picture book, but scenes from the story were illustrated with black-and-white photographs of black children (actors? the author’s kids and neighbors?) and island scenes. The combination of an exciting adventure story with actual photography was wonderful.

329R: A Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Space Exploration Picture Book

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I’m trying to track down a book I read a lot as a kid.

It was a large picture book, maybe 8×10 inches. Probably hardcover. Full-page color illustrations. Not very long, if I remember correctly.

It was choose-your-own-adventure style. You were an astronaut/space explorer who landed (or crash-landed?) on an alien planet.

There were mild role-playing game elements to it. For example, you selected a couple pieces of equipment at the beginning of your adventure, and there was a part where you turned to the back and studied a xenobiology index for exactly 2 minutes and then weren’t allowed to reference it again.

You navigated the dangerous alien planet and tried to avoid toxic atmosphere, poisonous plants, and dangerous creatures.

I would have read it (from my school’s library) sometime between ’91 and ’96. I’m guessing it was published in the 80s, but it technically could have been the early 90s or maybe even the 70s? Just feels like an 80s thing.

Would love to track this down. It had a big impact on my imagination and creative inspiration over the years, I’m sure.

Thanks!

329O: Time Traveling Girl Becomes Subject In Colonial Sampler

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My search is for a children’s book, probably in the 1970-1997 time frame.  The book was a time traveling mystery involving a shy, loner-type girl who escapes to sit in a nearby very old tree.  On rare occasions, while in the tree, the girl time travels back to colonial times where she meets two girl friends in the tree.  At this point, the tree is much younger.  The colonial friends remark about the traveler’s shoes and how different they are.  The shoes are modern sneakers.  On a subsequent meet up, the time traveler brings an alphabet book which shows a picture of a giraffe listed for the letter “G.”  The colonials have never seen a giraffe.  At some point, the time traveling stops and the loner girl wonders what became of her colonial friends.  On a library day, the loner looks up colonial samplers.  She finds the sampler her colonial friends made when they couldn’t find her in the tree anymore.  The antique sampler is of the alphabet with a giraffe for the “G” letter and a stitched picture of the modern girl with her sneakers!  The title of this book is not known to me and i remember it had nothing to do with the possible subject matter of the book; therefore, not colonial samplers, mystery, time travel, etc.  The author was a woman, but I don’t know the name.  Please help locate the title and author of this book.  I am sure my two grand daughters would love this book, which  my daughter read years ago in Virginia.  Thank you!

329I: Picture Book about a Cherub Genie in a Gumball Machine (Solved!)

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I believe this book is from the 60’s or 70’s. I read it around 1993 so it certainly is earlier than that. The illustrations have simple cheerful pen/line work. My recollection of the plot is a kid puts money in a gumball machine and is granted wishes genie style and/or it releases a cherub who just decides to make fun things happen. There may or may not be three gumballs. At one point kids are skipping with a very long piece of licorice or some other candy.

I recall the flying cherub is just a white body (as white as the page) with a black outline. He may or may not have curly hair. I also think that the page backgrounds are all white. The illustrations do have colors though, but there is not much visual texture – it is very flat with black line outlines on everything.

That is all have. I read this book only once and have been collecting picture books for years now and have never seen anything even close. Thank you so much! I’d be thrilled to find it.

329G: Silver Headed Ghost Children (Solved!)

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The second story I am trying to track down from my childhood is an anthology of weird and horror stories (not really gory given the era, and written for children). It was in our school library in the early 80s and worn, so it could easily date to the 1950s through the 1970s. The story is about two children (a brother and sister) who come across and old house in the woods and find that a family of children live there who are very strange. They have silver hair and no parents. Eventually the unusual children hold a party with a big cake that has a sleigh with two small dolls that look like the brother and sister. The brother and sister find out that when the sleigh rolls down the hill of the cake they will be trapped forever to stay with the silver headed children. They flee the house and when they return the next morning they find nothing but ancient ruins. Apparently the silver headed children are ghosts that only occasionally turn up and wanted the brother and sister to join them. I'm afraid I don't recall any of the other stories in the anthology. Thanks!

329C: Ghost of California chicken racer

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Published before 1989, likely current setting is late 70's or early 80's. Teenage girl with mom and brother, no dad, move to a 3 story house off the California coast line. The house has a curved driveway with a tree stump in the grass. The family does not have a car, but the girl keeps hearing a car idling in the driveway. Then starts to see an oil leak when everyone else sees dirt. Later she sees a 50's style car (blue if I remember correctly) and a man in his late teens or early 20's in a bomber jacket. Man died in a chicken race when his car went over the cliff. He is asking the girl to help him find his girlfriend from that time, who used to live in the house. Detail about the house is that the circular window on the 3rd floor always breaks out even after the tree was cut. Which used to be tall enough to reach the 3rd floor window. Below the house is a small cottage surrounded by lots of flowers and the person who lives there befriends the girl. She is the new girl in school and everyone thinks she is crazy, especially when the ghost of the man in the bomber jacket starts to dance with her on the school's cruise along the coast. Of course, no one can see him and everyone thinks she is dancing by herself. The cover has the picture of the girl, brunette I think, standing in the driveway, with a see-through image of the man in the bomber jacket and his car behind her.

329B: Troublesome Cat Sent To His Room (Solved!)

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I'm looking for a book I had as a child in the 1970s, though the book may be from the 1960s.  It was a small paperback with a light blue cover.  It was about a cat, I think named Henry, and his mother. The drawings were very simple pen & ink drawings.  There may have been a little blue in the drawings too, but mostly I think they were back and white and were simple.  The cat was always getting in trouble, and had to be sent to his room. His mom was cooking in the kitchen.  They both walked upright - and the mom wore an apron.  I think it may have been a series and there were other stories about him.

328U: 60s-70s time-travel medieval fantasy, siblings, beautiful illustrations

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I checked this book out multiple times from our public library. Author’s name must begin with Bu-Ea based on shelf location (preceded Eager; after Burnett), is not Ruth Chew after reviewing her catalog. Previous helpful respondents from other attempted search sites have suggested A Walk in Wolf Wood (Mary Stewart) or A Walk out of the World (Ruth Nichols), which are lovely and similar, but incorrect (my lovely childhood public librarians were not illiterate enough to repeatedly mis-shelve this book, and my memory is solid about where it was located on the shelves).

This is a beautifully illustrated, middle-reader American (I think) fantasy book about a brother/sister or possibly male/female friends who somehow stumbled from their somewhat urban home/apartment building into a medieval setting when coming home from school one day in the woods near their home.

Sister ends up spending time with women from the group (I remember some looming?) and brother with the men (possibly becoming a page/squire?) There is maybe a joust, some magic or Merlin-y magician, the illustrations were very lovely with lots of woods/trees. Cover art and some interior pen+ink drawings reminded me of the cover to the film adaptation of Camelot.

I was born in 1970 and was a very early and voracious reader, so this book cannot have been published much later than 1976; my guess (contextually) is that it’s most-likely a little earlier than that.

Many thanks!!