Category Archives: 1980s

317F: Sentient Pith Helmets Bust Chocolate Smugglers

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A short illustrated book where a child discovers some sort of bootlegging operation, except they’re smuggling bars of chocolate, not booze.  And the smuggling is being done by giant alien hats.  The clearest image I have is the cops who end up busting the criminals. They took the form of white pith helmets, with twin gun barrels on their undercarriages.
I’m not convinced that this book isn’t a product of my childhood imagination, but the memory is pretty vivid.  I would have read it in the 1980s, probably in the UK or Australia.  The illustrations were painted, not line drawings, and in colour.

317D: Little Girl Makes Lost Bear Oatmeal

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I’m trying to find a children’s book that I listened to on tape when I was little. I think this would have been early 90s so the book would have been published between the 80s and 90s.
It’s about a bear who gets lost and a little girl takes care of him. I specifically remember her feeding him warm oatmeal filled with things like nuts, fruit and honey. I think Santa makes an appearance at the end? I’ve found lots of books with various iterations of Little Snow Bear in their titles but none are what I’m looking for. A woman narrates the book on tape. Don’t know her name.

316W: School Girl Witch

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Stumped by witch book. I’m Looking for a children’s book I read in the UK in the mid to late 80’s. The front cover had an illustration of a school age witch with a green face and a plated braid which bends up over her head like a scorpion tail. I think there’s a black cat on the cover too. Typical school girl antics (if you’re a witch) plot wise. Think it was about a boarding school but not 100%. Definitely not the worst witch books. Slim book for about 8-9 year olds. That’s all I can remember. Hope you can help. Fingers crossed. Thanks in advance.

316V: Poppy’s Garden

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I’m pretty sure the title of the book is Poppy’s Garden. It’s about a little black girl named Poppy who is sad that she doesn’t have a real garden, so she plants poppy seeds in all the pavement cracks around her neighbourhood so eventually the whole place is her garden! It’s one of those large square shaped, fairly flat, children’s books. It would have been around in the early 90s but may have already been several years old by this point...

316L: Two children visit island they are warned not to. Children’s picture book 80s.

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I am looking for a children’s picture book from the 80’s.

Synopsis: Two island children were told by their elders not to ever visit a certain island near them as there was danger there, so naturally, the two adventurers decided to go anyway. They were frightened off by somebody wearing a scary mask and they scampered back to their canoe and back to the safety of their own island.

Pictures: It was pretty much a picture book with vivid illustrations on every page, with a little writing in big bold print. Lots of palm trees and jungly illustrations.

315T: Psychedelic lollipop trees

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I was born in 1975. There was a short children’s book that I have forgotten the name of. I seem to remember that it was more landscape format than portrait. The over-riding memory of the book was psychedelic landscapes and one in particular was made up of trees made of lollipops. Possibly other landscapes and scenes made up of different objects.  That’s all I remember.

315Q: Siblings with a Magic Scepter

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I read this fantasy book in late 80’s/early 90’s as a child. It featured a brother and sister. At least one had magic (maybe both). I believe brother had a magic scepter. Possibly had a large bird they rode to get to places. The cover may have shown the brother with the scepter riding the bird, but I may just be making that up. Good luck and thank you!

312T: Adventures at Grandma’s

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This book was published between 1980 and 1985 and has beautiful illustrations.The girl visits her grandma or aunt and looks in her attic at a phonograph and old stuff. She chases a frog through the rain and puddles with a neighbor boy she befriends. Also, I think she goes sledding or ice skating, and then takes a warm bath. So I guess she’s staying with her grandma for a long time – maybe a year. You see her experiences through the seasons.

 

312I: Missing Man

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I’m looking for a fantasy book I read in the 80’s or 90’s. I believe the author was a woman. The story was about a man that is pulled into a fantasy world by a broken down cripple, to impersonate a guy that disappeared. There’s a stone that’s embedded into his skin, with memories. He has to convince an old wizard, and a beautiful woman. He also has to confront a bad guy. In the end, it’s revealed that the broken down guy is the missing guy, and that he was corrupted and broken by the evil guy.