Category Archives: 1970s

235D: Creepy anthology from the 70s (Solved!)

2 Replies

Anthology of monsters or horror. One of the first stories was about a boy and his sister (or baby-sitter?), and the boy has an ugly doll with a red yarn string as a mouth. I think the yarn doll has a wire in the arm, and it scratches the girl, and she thinks it did it on purpose.
At the end of the story, the boy is wearing pajamas that look like those of the doll, and the boy starts to smile, and his smile stretches out into a red yard mouth.
I get the creeps just describing it again! Probably from the 1970’s. My memory is that it was illustrated, and hardcover.

234H: A sketch book of imaginative designs

2 Replies

No idea about the title. I first found this book in the early 2000’s, but it is probably older–90’s or 80’s or even earlier? No narrative. Contains (mostly?) black and white sketches of many silly and imaginative designs for ordinary items and new inventions. Just one example: a contraption that completely encloses a desk to allow a nap in the office. I also remember a page full of funny-looking footwear; a memorably risque one was modeled after the nude female figure.

234G: A Mechanized Life

5 Replies

Hello~

For about 20 years, I’ve been looking for a children’s book that I loved in the 70s. It was a picture book (or at least an illustrated book) about a boy whose house was fully automated, with an ejector bed that popped him out in the mornings to be dressed robotically, and I think a slide took him to the kitchen, where his breakfast was served mechanically… I wish I had more info. I’ve hit up quite a few children’s librarians, and haven’t had much luck. The book charmed me so much as a kid, I really wanted it for my kids.

Thanks for any help you can give me!

234E: A Book of the World (Solved)

2 Replies

This book is at least 20 years old. It was a book for children showing all the different ways people live around the world (what they wear/eat/keep as pets/do for fun). There was little text, and what has stayed with me are the beautiful pen and ink illustrations. I also remember that the last pages showed how boring life would be if everyone was the same: a two-page spread of a street scene with everything all the same in drab colors, and then the next two pages a spread of a vibrant, colorful street scene instead. The book seemed quite large to me as a child, big enough to have lots to look at on each page… perhaps 12″x14″? Most vague of all is my memory of the cover… possibly, it had a drawing of the globe on a white background, and was just called “The World,” though that may be some other book! I’m from the US, but it’s possible this book was brought as a gift from another anglophone country.

Thank you for your help!

234B: A witch flies on a vacuum

11 Replies

A children’s book about a witch (probably with red hair) that befriends a young girl next door.  The book has illustrations that are very bright. The witch dresses like a gypsy and flies on a vacuum. Only the girl knows she’s a witch. It’s not The Wednesday Witch, The Witch Next Door or The Witch Down the Hall. The witch is friendly. The book is 15-20 years old. It was a large book probably 10cm wide and 30cm tall.

233H: Adult fiction with descendants of Jesus of Nazareth

3 Replies

Twins, Roslyn Chapel, descendants of Jesus of Nazareth
Adult mystery about the secret descendants of Jesus of Nazareth. A girl and her grandfather are the main characters. At the end of the book they come to Roslyn Chapel where they go into a hidden underground chamber and where they meet the girl’s grandmother and twin brother, whom she didn’t know existed. It’s not The Da Vinci Code, I must have read it 10-15 years earlier.

233F: Child Musician Automatons Mystery

3 Replies


Children’s book, read this, maybe, in the late 60’s. It’s a mystery that starts with, I think, children finding a clue in a large (almost life size?) automaton, or moving mechanical toy, of a child playing an instrument. There are three of these automatons, one who plays a small piano, created by a gifted artist. The stories are about the children’s hunt to find the entire set. Toward the end of the book they meet a woman who is related to the artist.

233D: Adult Science Fiction/Fantasy – Nan Explores Mountain World

2 Replies

The female main character, Nan, lives in an apartment in a big city in what I recall as the late 1970s or 1980s, although it could certainly have been as late as 1990. In my memory, she finds a doorway to a mountain world at the end of an alley. I remember the vast majority of the book is spent with her alone, exploring the mountain.

I seem to recall that near the last 1/3 of the book, she encounters a village. I believe she also travels back and forth and at some point, decides to leave her boyfriend in the city life. However, I am fairly sure that the bulk of the book takes place on the mountain. I recall grassland vividly, so description of the environment must have been a big component of the book.

Near the end of the book, there is, of course, conflict. I can’t remember if something gets in to the mountain world and upsets the balance or if there is some sort of struggle on the mountain. I vaguely recall a fire.

I checked out this book from the library in 1993 or 1994, and because of the female protagonist, I believe it was written after 1970.

Thank you so much for your help!

232G: Steps to becoming a king

3 Replies

Hello,

Around 1976 in the U.S., a librarian read our class a book about a boy that wanted to become king. He asked the king how. The king explained he became king by being able to jump to the top of the castle. The boy practiced with hay bails, but had no luck jumping so high. The boy’s dog could jump to the top of the hay bails by going one bail at a time. The boy then knew how to get to the top of the castle.

The book had pictures and could be easily read in one class period.

Thanks for any help in locating this book.

Charles Dorman
Jersey City, NJ