Category Archives: 1970s

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

232F: Boyhood school series

1 Reply

Boyhood book series from the mid 1970s or earlier, group of chums at school (New England? boarding?), one of whom may have been named Moose. They excel academically, and participate in various sports, seemingly always coming up with an unlikely victory.

 

231F: Young girl jealous of friend

8 Replies

This book is from the 1960’s or 1970’s. I remember it from the mid 1970’s. Written for preK-2nd grade. Was even read on Captain Kangaroo. It was illustrated in black and white drawings. The main character had a long ponytail. She was jealous of her best friend. Her best friend had short hair. The 2 girls went to school together, I would guess preschool or kindergarten. The main character’s mother babysat the best friend also. The main character always tried to do what her friend does but it never works out and she makes mistakes. The best friend seems to do everything “perfect.” One page I remember has the girls painting at easels. The best friend has a pretty picture and the main character has a sloppy mess. Can’t remember title or author. Have searched for this book for over 10 years.

231E: Growing Girl with Floral Clothing

7 Replies

Hi,

I am so excited by the possibility of finding this book remembered so fondly from my childhood!
What I remember is a children’s book (maybe ages 3-7) about a little girl, maybe born as a baby, who grew and grew grew, so fast or so big, that no clothing would do. So (her mother?) dressed her in clothing made of vines and flowers which then grew with her as she grew. Covering her as she got taller and bigger, growing as she grew.

I remember the book being very colorfully illustrated. Flowers, vines, perhaps she had long hair. I think the illustrations may have filled the pages – not been small.

I THINK the book was horizontal, rectangular in shape.

I was a young child in the mid-late 70s.

228F: Town’s largest yarn ball

4 Replies

This book is an older children’s/YA book, set in small-town America. It was published in the 80s or earlier. The major competition in the town is which of two women had the larger ball of yarn/string. Everyone adds their spare bits to one or the other – I believe the POV character (a girl) brought the string from around a package to add to one woman’s ball.

Eventually, the town decided they needed to know once and for all. One woman’s was measurably a little bit larger, but there was the question of how tightly it was wound, plus there was the rumor that there was a peach pit in the center.

In the end, they decided to answer the question by unwinding each ball around a racetrack or something. I think they may have had to knock out walls to get the balls out of their owners’ houses. Partway through the unwinding one of the balls did indeed start looking notably peach-pit-shaped, and that’s the last I remember.

Thanks for any help!