I was born in 1965 and remember this book from when I was around 5-7.
It was about a painter that lived on a houseboat and painted abstract paintings. For some reason he broke the painting up into a bunch of small paintings and a buyer flew to his houseboat by seaplane to buy them I think the houseboat was near San Francisco. It was a large book, hardback, and illustrated.
I read this book in the 1980s. I remember for sure that the girl’s name was Drucilla, spelled with a “c” not an “s.” I think she had long black hair and was tall and thin, and she was possibly magical, like a young witch. I think she was an outcast; maybe the story was about her finding a friend? Definitely NOT from The Worst Witch series. I remember it being kind of moody, with Edward Gorey-style ink illustrations.
This is a little (about 4-5″) square green book. I read it in the mid 1970s in the UK. It is about someone who goes around visiting. They visit a giraffe who is beating her rugs on a line with an old fashioned carpet beater. They have homemade lemonade.
I’ve been trying to find this book for years! I read it as a kid in the 80s and it was about a little girl and, I think, her father moving to a new house that seems at first to be haunted and scary but turns out to be homey and cosy. What made this book stick in my mind was the illustrations: really hauntingly beautiful large, rich watercolours. The new house was drawn on a hill and somewhat isolated and the little girl had long dark straight hair, looking perhaps Spanish. At first the new home is drawn very dark and spooky, but by the last page it is lit up and warm and the little girl is hugging her father, having come to love their new home.
When I was in second grade around 1980-1981, my teacher read a book to the class, and I’m 99 percent sure it was called Run for Your Life. It was scary and suspenseful and it was a chapter book. It took at least a week if not longer for her to read.
I’ve never been able to find this book. Can you help?
I’m looking for a small bright blue hardcover book, at the end there is an illustration of a boy in a churchyard with a yew tree. Printed before 1980. Not sure if it’s an ABC book for children but the yew tree illustration is definitely at the end of the book. It’s a book for young children; there are only a few lines of text on each page. The boy is standing in the yard with the yew and there is also an old man in the illustration. The boy may have been lost or looking for something. Maybe the book is British because of the mention of the yew tree?
I am looking for a book I read somewhere around 5th grade. The year was 1977-78ish. Everyone was reading Judy Blume. The book I’m looking for was about a girl who went to summer camp. I think the girl was overweight. My recollection is that the girl was shy for some reason, or maybe that’s how I saw myself. Maybe the girl just wasn’t happy with the way she looked. Perhaps Judy Blume or another author popular at the same time?
The book I’m looking for is a chapter book. It was in my elementary school library in the late 1970s but it was an old book. The cover was purple. The story was a girl who had to stay with an uncle and aunt. She goes to an auction and buys a bundle of rags for a penny. When she gets home she discovers an antique China doll in the rags. She loves the doll but in the end returns it to the lady who owns it and gets another doll in exchange.
Children’s book I read kindergarten, class 1971. I don’t not know title but I think the main characters name is pandora a cat. It is possible name is in title. My memory pictures a grey and yellow cover w cat and it’s magic collar. It tells the story of a cats nine lives which is actually 9 times to teleport. That way cats are suddenly in the room. I believe the collar was the way “pandora” traveled. When I was an older grade schooler I went back to class room to find it, that’s where my visual memories come from and cats name, but the storyline memory seems solid since that’s how I found it the first time.
I am hoping you can help me with the name/author of a book that I loved as a kid in the 1970s – I think it was called “Girls and Boys and Boys and Girls” or something like that. It was a color, picture book probably aimed at 5-7 year olds.
The format was basically “Lee A. (who was a boy) likes to color and Lee B. (who was a girl) likes basketball” and so on – I think all of the kids in the book had names that were gender neutral – Lee, Chris, Jo, etc.