Category Archives: 1970s

282A: A dollhouse with a little witch living inside

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This is a book that was in the library when I was in grade school so early 90’s. It was already vintage then, probably 70’s-80’s, but I actually have no idea as to the publishing date. It is about a young girl who acquires/has a dollhouse with a little witch living inside who is alive and rides around on her broom. If I remember correctly the house is in the room where she is staying with an old relative. I think someone’s name started with an S, possibly Samantha, but I could be mistaken.

281G: Little girl hides her small treasures in a brick of her brownstone

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I am trying to remember/find a book about a little girl who doesn’t have much, except her little treasures.  I think it was a stick of chewing gum, a jack ball, and a few other small items.  She lives in a brownstone and it seems like she hides her treasures behind a brick.  She takes them out and looks at them often.  The front of the cover had her and another person sitting on concrete steps with a railing.  I don’t know if it was a little golden book or not.  It seems like it was about 5X5 square, about 10 pages?  I would have had it read to me around 1970ish.  I can’t remember much else.  I have looked everywhere for it, only being able to search by the memory of the cover.

 

281A: Amazingly illustrated pirate story starts with abducted boy

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I have been looking for some time for this illustrated children’s book I read as a child around 1974-77 in Australia. It is the story of a boy playing on an old dinghy on the beach when they are kidnapped by pirates and go on amazing adventures. The boy (or boy and girls) is playing in an upturned dinghy on a beach when he is abducted and taken to the pirate ship, he witnesses pirate battles and then gets included in their adventures. The boy becomes part of the pirates. They may visit the odd strange land or Island (I’m recalling tree houses, maybe African colours themes), they use bell helmets to go under water, they find treasure, they take the boy home.  The most notable thing about the book is the incredible double page illustrations with rich rich detail and colour. The pirate characters are diverse and hilarious creations – themselves a very strong feature of the book. First page might be looking down on the beach from the top of the escarpment at the north end of the beach (if the coast faces East). Next we see him on the beach with the upturned dinghy with a big hole in it. There are loads of crabs and other creatures to see. A few pages later in the battle scene I recall the boy peeks out from below decks – he’s not a pirate yet. In the underwater scene I recall they wear old fashioned bell helmets with air lines leading back up to the ship, and there are many amazing creatures like giant squid/octopus. The treasure scene I recall amazing jewels and one of the pirates has a ring on the end of his beard.

My guess is it’s hardcover.

The illustrations cover double page spreads.

There is minimal text or possibly no text at all.

It’s written in English.

Hopefully you can help.

280D: YA Coming of Age (Solved)

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Girl 11-14 who has ESP (as does her clan), has to do something or loses it and dies, meets boy (older) from moon or sky city who has no powers, but lots of technology that does same thing.  They hook up (which I thought was odd for that age), and their two civilizations meet or something like that.  60-70’s I think.  Telepathy was part of it.

279I: Boy builds robots that become autonomous

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Early- to mid-1970’s: A boy builds robots in a non-urban area. A lightning strike makes them autonomous. At the end of the book, he tells them to “stop rowing for a minute. ” They take the instruction literally and, 60 seconds later, row away, never to be seen again. IIRC the book had some insignia on its paperback cover saying that it had won some sort of literary award.

279A: Children’s rhyming story about a king & his taxes (Solved)

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I remember a story (read in the 1960s – 1970s), and I’m not sure if it was a stand-alone or a featured story in a collection. It was a funny rhyming story about a king who started taxing everything in his kingdom, until finally the people revolted. I only remember bits and pieces, but the lines I remember are:

“A plague (?) on Max’s taxes! They are anything but fair. He taxes both our income and our patience, we declare!” and…

“So up they rose upon their toes…” and then something about going into the palace. The final line is something like “they stuck their tacks in Max!”.

Any ideas/suggestions?

 

278D: Halloween story featuring a new teacher

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I have been searching for this book for so long with no luck.  Unfortunately, I don’t remember the title.

I got it when I was in elementary school in the 1970’s.  It was probably published early to mid 70’s.  I got it through one of the school’s reading program catalogs, so it may be a Scholastic book or another company like that.  My best friend and several other students also purchased it.  It was a Halloween book.  It was about school students who have a young, pretty new teacher come to their school.  Her name was Miss – something.  Maybe Miss Grey.  (I don’t trust my memory that far though.)  The students think there is something odd about her.  She wears a big, wide-brimmed hat.  Of course, she’s suspected of being a witch.

The book was a thin paperback.  The illustrations were pencil drawings in black and white.  That’s about all I’ve got on it.  It was such an unusual story and I’ve never seen the book again.  Wish I knew where my copy got off to.  Probably gave it away when I felt I was too old for children’s stories…  geez…

 

When I search online, the later 80’s series about “Miss Nelson” pops up, but that is not it.

 

Thank you for your time!

277C: The moon landing and family drama (Solved)

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I used to get books in the mail — “Me and the Terrible Two,” “Alvin’s Secret Code” — and one of them was a book about a boy who watched the moon landing all summer while some family drama was also going on. The book had a low-key melancholy tone. I read it in 1974 or 75, when I was in 2nd or 3rd grade. I wish I could remember more about it, but I’m stumped!