Category Archives: 1970s

324Q: Aesop’s Fables and Fairy Tale Collection

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Looking for an illustrated hardcover children’s book, a collection of fairy tales from the late 1970s to the mid 1980s. It contained stories from Hans Christian Anderson (including The Princess and the Pea), the Grimm Brothers, and other authors. It included The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde. It also had a section of Aesop’s Fables. The table of contents separated out the Aesop’s Fables from the other types of stories. Please help me find this book, thank you so much!

324P: A History of Sturdivant Hall

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In the mid-1970s, I enjoyed a family vacation through the Southern States. We stopped in Selma, Alabama, and toured Sturdivant Hall.  During the tour, I remembered a book displayed on a table in the entrance that I wanted, but my parents thought otherwise.

The tour guide said that it was about the history of Sturdivant Hall (or family). I believe it had a photo of one or two girls whose portrait was hanging on the wall of the front parlor. It was a creepy painting because their eyes seem to follow you as you moved about the room.

I failed to note the name of the book. I remembered it being fairly thick.  I cannot find anything close on the internet (archive.org, amazon.com, google.com) to what I remember seeing.

324M: Girl’s Best Friend Moves To New York City (Solved!)

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This was a thin paperback, and I think the cover was yellow/gold with a b & w photo of two teenage girls taken in a photo booth. I read it in the late 70s/early 80s. It was about a girl whose best friend moves to NYC. After being separated for awhile she is excited to visit her friend there, but when she arrives her friend is now a stuck up “city girl.” I remember her friend mocking her for calling 6th Avenue by its other name, Avenue of the Americas, stating only tourists call it that. There is also a subplot abut the girl’s dog, a sweet old yellow lab (?) named Nora/Lorna. Near the end of the story, Nora/Lorna dies under a lilac bush and the devastated girl wraps her in a special towel that was used for the dog’s baths.

324L: A Hidden Room Mystery Story (Solved!)

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1960’s-1970’s YA mystery short story–people search a castle for a missing keep or room wherein may be hidden a fortune.  Many people search.  They decide to put a cloth in each window as they search; then they can see from the outside which window has no cloth and is therefore the hidden room.  The story is possibly from one of the Alfred Hitchcock Presents Anthologies. It certainly had that feel.   Although many others are searching this castle for a missing keep or a room in a keep, only one person finds it.  There is some sort of secret entrance, I recall.  When the finder discovers the entrance and room, another character (the bad guy) goes with him and murders him there and “hides” the secret entrance to the room again.

 I recall (or believe I recall) a line at the end—part of the thoughts of the skeptical castle groundskeeper, I think– “there was no Norman keep.”

 

324A: Painting in Colors

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Hi, I’m trying to find a book from the 70’s.  It was given to me by my father who was a professional photographer.

I’m not 100% sure of the title but I think it was called “Paint in Color.”

It had different color “gels” in the book of primary colors that when cleverly combined made a new color. Ex. Blue and yellow made green and so on and so on.

Any one remember this book?

323Y: Cream Puff Craziness

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My parents read this book to me in the early- to mid-1970s. It was probably published around then, though earlier is also possible. It was a children’s picture book, fiction, and I remember that it had something to do with cream puffs. Not sure if cream puffs were in the title or not. To be honest, although to me cream puffs were very important to the book, I also wonder if that was just what my child-brain clung to. Thank you!

323X: Suspected Witch Is Really The Hexed One

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I am looking for a children’s chapter book from the late 70s or early 80’s.  It was about a girl who gets sent to stay with a strange lady.  The girl thinks she is a witch, but it turns out some other lady is jealous of her and was placing spells on her.  I remember a scary scene when the girl is forced to drive the car to save her but the evil woman is in the back seat…

323R: Teen Girl Loves Horse But Cannot Ride After Accident

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Ya fiction series with a horse, rich girl has an accident and can't ride. Her rich grandmother buys her a brand new Datsun (car), so she's at least 16 or 17, set in the 70s or 80s, published during that period. I think she was nasty to a few girls and tries to make up for it after the accident. I think she may have been in a coma. Her boyfriend might have cheated as well. I think it had a yellow cover with the old style oval centre that contained the image. I think she had a rich sounding name, Courtney or something but I'm not 100% on that. The horse accident was bad and she desperately loved her horse but was too afraid to ride it. I read this series in the late 80s, early 90s, but my sister threw them out before I could finish them. I never forgave my sister, who dares throw out a book? The books were paperback, they had maybe 100 to 150 pages, so not very thick. From the content, I think they were targeted towards ages 16 and up. I think the girl went to college as well. Her grandmother was some type of business woman.

323M: Sisters split shared room down middle, realize mistake

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I had a very favorite book which was either from the 60’s or early 70’s.  I was born in 1962, so I’m leaning towards the 60’s but I could be wrong.

I could have sworn the title was “It’s My Room”.  I have no idea who the author was, illustrator etc.  I might even be off on the title, but for some reason it sure rings a bell with me.

The book was about two sisters who shared a bedroom.  They were best friends until they weren’t.  Then they decided the only way to fix the problem was to split the room in two.

They did this right down the middle with tape or something like that.  One sister got to have the window to look out to see what was going on outside.  She thought she had the best deal, until the other sister left the room through the door…which the other sister would have to cross the line in order to leave the room.  She stayed in the room but realized her mistake.  Pretty soon, they become friends again and she could leave the room with her sister and all is well with the world.

I particularly loved this book because I grew up with many siblings and always shared a room and only dreamed of having my own room.  (Probably why my Mom bought this for me.)

I hope you can locate this book/title for me.  I would so appreciate it!  I have tried on my own and have not come up with anything, however I remember it vividly.

323L: Mermaid short story/book of ironic stories

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I believe there was a YA book of ironic stories that I read between 1979-1983. Story I’m looking for: A teenage boy discovers a mermaid living in a pond at the bottom of a quarry. She never breaks the surface of the water, but looks beautiful underneath it. The quarry will soon be dynamited and caved in, so he decides to save her and move her to another pond. When he does capture her, with much difficulty, she is a hideous monster (the water had distorted her features) that nearly kills him. He lets her stay in the pond. The next day the quarry is dynamited and she is buried under the rubble. Have asked for years on every search site I could find. Please help! Thank you!