Category Archives: 1980s

328I: Boy Destroys “Talking” Gorilla Costume

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I read a book when I was between 9-12, I’m 38 now, I’m not sure if that helps with the timeline, I borrowed it from my grandma but it wasn’t really old, and it was paperback.
There was a little boy, maybe 11, he found a gorilla/orangutan costume (but enough for a grown man) and he started to believe it was talking to him. I remember him holding his hands over candle flames and if I’m remembering correctly, he ended up destroying the costume in the end by throwing it in the fire.
It would be amazing if you can find it, it’s been bothering me for years! Thank you again for your time and I look forward to hearing back!!

328G: Rich Cat And Poor Cat in New Orleans

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Trying to remember title of a children’s fiction book set in New Orleans. Read in the 80s. One rich white fluffy groomed cat and one thin scruffy chimney sweep cat. Illustrations in black-and-white. Title may have been in blue foil. White cat may have lived on St. Charles Avenue.

Illustrations may have been somewhat similar to Black and White illustrations in Roald Dahl’s  books. Shaded gray, a little messy.

328E: Piano player from 1910’s meets girl from present

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I read this book sometime in 80’s or early 90s. A young girl recently graduated from high school or boarding school is invited to spend the summer before college with a distant cousin who lives in an old house somewhere in the Midwest. I believe the girl is recently orphaned and has been left financially set. She starts to hear a piano playing at night and when she dons an Edwardian dress one night, She meets and falls in love with a young man from the 1910’s who loves ragtime music. I can’t remember if they meet through time slip or if he is a ghost. When she finds out he left for Europe on the eve of World War I, she decides to delay college and travel to Europe to find out what happened to him or perhaps find him. I remember her wearing bell bottoms. Been looking for this book for a long time and would appreciate any leads.

328D: Woman Offended By Man’s Offer To Take Care Of Her Needs

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I’m looking for a contemporary romance novel that I read sometime between Sept. 1983 and Sept. 1984. A woman overhears a man (just married husband maybe) tell someone he can take care of her or her needs. She becomes offended and flies to Paris or London to learn culinary skills. She returns to the US and becomes an inn keeper. Meanwhile, he’s looking for her. When he finally finds her, there is a snowstorm at the inn. One of the guests is a young girl who locks her in a little room, I believe in between two fireplaces. He helps out around the inn. When he once again says he can take care of her and or her needs, she gets offended again.
There is nothing exceptional about this book. The misunderstanding is really contrived, but for some reason it’s driving me crazy.

328C: Where Did My Disappearing Woman Go?

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I have been searching several years for a book whose title and author I cannot remember. My recollection of the plot is sketchy, but I do remember the basic concept.

  • Probably read it in the 80s. Maybe early 90s
  • Female author.
  • Likely bought the book because I recognized author’s name, so probably not a rookie.
  • She was a story teller who used humor sometimes.
  • The basic theme was about a woman (age uncertain) who felt as though she was disappearing, bit by bit. Disappearing as in not being noticed/relevant/whatever.
  • My fuzzy recollection is that others couldn’t see that this was happening to her.
  • Vague recollection of book cover art: a woman was portrayed mostly as a real person. But some of her picture was composed of dotted lines indicating graphically that part of her had disappeared/was disappearing.
  • I’ve Googled my brains out. Lists of female authors writing in the 1970-1990 era. Also lists of best sellers. Maybe my book was a flop.
  • I’ve consulted librarians.
  • I’ve posted this weird quest on Facebook, since I have many friends there who are voracious readers.

How vague is that?!
Can you help me find this?

328B: Learning How Different Animals Sleep

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I’m hoping for some help finding a book I remember from my childhood that I can’t seem to find anywhere online.
It’s a book about a little boy who teaches the reader how different animals sleep.
I believe that the cover has a blue frame and a picture of the boy sleeping, possibly with one of the animals, like a giraffe or a bear.
In one part of the story, he sleeps with the giraffes or the horses standing up.
I was born in the late 80s, so I imagine it was a book from around the late 80s or early 90s.
That’s really all I remember.
Thank you for your help!

328A: The Little Girl Who Wouldn’t Go To Bed

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I’m looking for a book that I loved when I was little. I was born in 1981 and had the book when I was around 3 or 4 years old. It was called “The Little Girl Who Wouldn’t Go To Bed” or “The Little Girl That Didn’t Want To Go To Bed” maybe? Not sure on the title. But I remember a lot about the book …

Every page was illustrated. In the beginning of the book the little girl doesn’t want to go to bed and her mother says something like, “Very well then, but father and I are going to sleep so you’ll be all alone.”
The whole rest of the book has the little girl going to all these different spots in the house to play – on one page her doll is asleep, on another all her stuffed animals are asleep, she goes from room to room of the house but all of her toys are asleep. She goes to her dollhouse and the dolls in there are asleep too. After going from room to room to find all of her toys sleeping she gives up and goes to bed too. Hope you can help me to find this book.

327S: Snow sweep invited in from the cold for tea (?from Samova)

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This was a children’s picture book that I read in the late 1980s. I cannot recall the book title or story line but I can vividly recall one scene where a man (I think the protagonist) invites different people in for tea – from a Russian teapot I think (samova). Think he uses the line “Come in from the cold”. One of the people he invited in was either a snow sweep or street sweep. Any help would be much appreciated!

327R: Multiple Endings To Fairy Tale

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I’m looking for a multiple ending children’s book that I read in the late 80’s/early 90’s. The book looked new back then. You could make choices to impact the ending of the story, but it was definitely not a “Choose Your Own Adventure” branded book. The book was thin and about the size of a magazine. The illustrations were fairly simplistic. It may have been part of a series. The story was fairy tale-like I and recall a story line about saving a sick prince. I think there was a witch/sorceress who prepared a potion using a jar of blue flowers/petals as a story line choice. This may be a totally mistaken memory, but the book was owned by a cousin and I vaguely remember thinking he got it from another aunt/uncle who bought it/them from an educational toy catalog company like “Discovery Toys.” I have a vague (also possibly incorrect) memory of the catalog company being Canadian. We grew up in Ohio. Would love to locate this book!

327P: Bear Encounter and Romance in the Sierras

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In the 1980s, I read a book about a teen-ish girl whose best friend convinces her to go on a field trip hiking in what I believe were the Sierras. Her best friend backs out at the last minute, and she has to go alone. She is one of the slowest hikers followed by a set of twins, but one day, she is last and encounters a bear. A boy comes back to rescue her, and they end up lost in the mountains together. A little bit of romance ensues! Can anyone remember the title?

Thanks!