Category Archives: 1980s

338E: “I like Men and I like Dogs”

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I bought a collection of short stories over 20 years ago and lost the book.
Didn’t realize that book meant so much to me.  Was changed by every story.
I only remember the book was by a woman whose last name was Kennedy and it was an award winning collection—and what award I don’t remember.  The author was not a British author, the first name was not Cate and not Louise
SoftCover was electric blue with yellow text.  On the back of the book there was a quote from the opening line of one of the stories: “I like men and I like dogs.”
Have searched all over.
And lastly, this book was written by a direct, frank woman – nothing flowery,

338B: “If Pigs Could Fly”

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I am searching for a book from my childhood.  I believe it is titled “If Pigs Could Fly”, but may be titled “When Pigs Fly”.  It may have been a collection of stories or poems.  The most memorable thing about the book were the illustrations.  Intricate, stunning, and enchanting illustrations … almost magical.  On the cover, there is some sort of kingdom – maybe a castle in the background.  A young girl is riding a pig through the air, but she is only a small part of the cover illustration.
My Inside Self, which I believe is a poem by Rachel Field, is one of the poems I recall.  The illustration is of a little girl, short and portly, standing in front of her mirror dressed as a ballerina.  In her reflection in the mirror she sees a gorgeous, thin, delicate adult ballerina.
My mom thinks a British friend of hers gave us the book, so it’s possible it was a published in the UK (but not certain).
I would guess this book was published between 1987-1995.
I have searched many, many databases and haven’t had luck.  There are many other books with this title.  One even has “funny poems for kids”… the one I’m looking for was more about dreaming big and reaching for the stars — I think!

 

337V: Society that enjoys watercress sandwiches (Solved!)

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I read this book in six grade in the mid-80s.  I think it was a fantasy type story.  This society had once been in contact with humans (or maybe just one human).  He may have come over the mountains on a hot air balloon.


They got a few things confused about humans.  For example, they had a painting of a tree and a diagram of a family tree (genealogy chart).  They called the genealogy chart a picture and the painting of the tree a family tree.  So everyone in this society had a very carefully tended “family tree” in their yard.  Unfortunately, I remember nothing about the actual plot.

337R: Children’s European Story Collection

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Hello! I am looking for a storybook collection that I had in the 1980’s.

This book had a number of stories in it that seemed European based. I believe the first story was of a little boy whose mother made him green dungarees with a plane on them that he loved. He accidentally tore them on a fence and was very sad until his mother patched it with a star instead of a plane.
Another story was from Denmark about a boy whose father was a fisherman. The pictures in this one were monochromatic (rust colored.) The picture was of the boy standing close to the sea and possible the famous mermaid statue.
Another story was of a mother hedgehog. I believe it had a picture of a hedgehog in an egg cup.
I believe the back cover of the book was blue.
This book was read to me every night and it was my favorite. I would be so happy to finally find it again!

337E: Alaska/Arctic Circle, research, eating peanut butter is not enough protein

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Book published 1980's - between 1980 & 1988 only, paperback fiction.  It's about research in the Arctic, scientist needed more food, running out, has a lot of peanut butter, but running out. Not the one about finding out what was eating caribou population, which was made into a movie, where protagonist eats mice to survive; similar but no.  Please help! Thank you!!!

337B: Dream Drawings

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I’m looking for an illustrated book my grandma read to me in the late 80’s/ early 90’s. It is stories of a family where every night the parents ask the kids what they want to dream about, and while the kids are going to sleep the parents use their fingers to ‘draw’ the subject of the dream on the kids faces. Then they have the dream they asked for.   If I remember correctly it’s always a different animal the kids want to be in their dreams.

 

336Z: Deflated Teddy Bear

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The book is about a child and I think his baby cousin comes to visit. The cousin gets peanut butter all over the snout of the child’s favorite stuffed bear.

The child’s grandparent comes to the rescue and cleans the bear. To do so, the stuffing has to be pulled out and there are adorable pictures of the deflated bear before it gets washed and while it is drying.
The story ends with the grandparent saying they would take the child and the bear out the next time the baby comes to visit. The book is probably from the 1980’s.