Category Archives: 1970s

303A: Animal friends eat sweets

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I’m looking for a children’s book I recall from the late 60’s to early 70’s. The character, possibly a bear, and his friends were surrounding a cake that was sitting on a log, if I remember correctly, on one of the pages.  Every time I see a Boston Cream Pie I think of the book because of the icing, I believe.  I think the cake got knocked to the ground and got sand or dirt on it. The character may have also tried to get too many cookies from the cookie jar and gotten his hand stuck, but that could be another book that just blends with the other memory. I received this book along with Hansel and Gretel as a child of maybe 4 or 5 years old. I’ve often wondered what it was. Any help would be appreciated.

302X: A crazy quilt in various shades of red

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Looking for a YA novel written in the 60’s or early (I read it in the mid-70’s) but it was set in the early 20th century in a rural area. A group of girls need to make a crazy quilt in various shades of red—I can’t remember why—so they had to beg, borrow and steal fabric to make it. One of the girls goes to the general store with her father who is color blind and convinces him to buy a bolt of a particularly lurid shade of scarlet for a dress for her mother who was far from pleased when she received it.

302R: Monsters in Rain (Solved)

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This children’s storybook is no later than late 70’s or early to mid 80’s, it had pictures. There were some evil monsters or something that hated rain and were vulnerable to water, so some people went out to confront them during a rainstorm by putting their coats in jars to keep them dry. The people then put on their dry coats when they approached the monsters, and when the monsters asked why the people weren’t wet, the people said they were able to move between the raindrops without getting wet. The people told the the monsters how they could do the same, but when the monsters tried it the water got them.

302G: Upside Down Man

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I'm looking for a children's book from late 1950- mid 1970s. I thought it was called the upside down man. However, it is not either of the books by Ellentuck or Baker. It's about kids at home and their parents leave and tell them whatever you do if the door bell rings, don't open the door for the upside down man. But they let him in and he turns everything in the house upside down. It is done in line drawings, black and white. I think it was from a small publisher around Boston.

302B: A hedgehog named Harriet

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I am looking for a children’s picture book about a hedgehog named Harriet. The thing that I remember best was that she wore red high heels. This was my baby brother’s favorite book in the 70’s, so I am guessing it was released in the 60’s or 70’s. I don’t think that it would be older than that based on what I remember about the pictures. He recently passed away and my mother would really like to find a copy. I have done a lot of searching and have not been able to find even a clue. Please help!

301G: Your typical high school romance

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I read this book in the early 1970s, I’m assuming it came from the 1960s. I don’t know the name of the book nor the publisher. But it was your typical high school romance of the time, where the popular boy in school falls for the less popular girl and her name was Beth.

Obviously the book resonated with me  at the time because my name is Beth I would have read it around the age of 10 to 13.  I always wondered if I could find the book and reread it is an adult what would I think of it.

300H: Best Friends

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The book is a juvenile chapter book from the ’70s or ’80s. Called something like _Best Friends_. It’s about a girl who loses her best friend to another girl. I remember that she eats Chinese food with a new friend at the friend’s restaurant. She also participates in a puppet show from Alice in Wonderland and she is the Red Queen. The former best friend comes crawling back after a fight with the new girl but she realizes that she likes having lots of friends vs. exclusive to one best friend.

299Q: Chased by geese trying to get gooseberries

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Kids book from 1970s/1980s. Kids solve a mystery based on hidden clues they find – at their grandparents house maybe? I forget where the first clue was or how it started. The second clue (maybe?) is found in a loose stone of a stone fence. Then there’s something about kids being chased by geese trying to get gooseberries. The last clue is found tucked in an Indian Headdress socket where feather would fit in. Thank you! Been searching for years.