Category Archives: 1980s

311V:Prominent Tubular

Pre 1970, fairly large format, color illustrated (vintage style) children’s book of fairy tales/nursery rhymes contains a story with an old woman baking a cake for a young male. Cake has prominent tubular peaks covering the surface. I think the illustration was on a left-hand page.

311H: Murder Mystery By The Apple Tree

 A young adult novel with an early-teen female protagonist. Some sort of a murder, perhaps an elderly neighbor. I vaguely recall a police sketch of the killer (a man with glasses). The killer turns out to be a member of the family (or close acquaintance), and I vaguely recall lots of people milling around during the final scene while the young girl frantically tries to identify the killer from amongst the guests (like lots of people visiting for a festivity, possibly even the wake). She finally identifies him and ends up scaling a crab in the apple  tree to get away before he is finally stopped. It’s possible she witnessed the murder from this same tree.

310Y: The Alphabet book

BC alphabet book from the 1980's. Soft cover, probably a burgundy colour. Place names from British Columbia, e. g. : Annie from Abbotsford, and then a little story about that. Bought for my son who was born 1982 so could've been published in the 70's? I believe he received it when he was 4 or 5 years old.

 

310O: The Murder Of A woman’s Teenage Daughter

I’m looking for a paperback book I read in the late 70s possibly the very earlier 80s. The book was non fiction, written about the murder of a woman’s teenage (she may have been in her early 20s) daughter. The mother solved the murder by receiving what she believed were messages from her dead daughter. The murderer was her daughter’s boyfriend (husband).

308X: A blue lion in the tree (Solved)

I’m trying to find a book from my childhood (1980s). It is basically a picture book about a kid in bed looking out a window and seeing different animals in a tree. I remember a snake and white owl on two of the pages. I don’t remember the rest, maybe a bear and a lion. Some of them were different colors too like blue. I believe it went something like “I look out the window to see a blue lion in the tree”.

Thank you for your help.

307P: She falls in love with horses

 

It’s a YA Book. I read it in the 1980’s. It’s about a dad and daughter. The dad is a house flipper (although that concept wasn’t around in the 80’s) – they live in the house while he fixes it up because money is tight. She starts working at a barn and doing chores and falls in love with horses. Other girls there have more money and nicer horses. The “prettiest” girl hurts herself in a competition and then the main character gets to ride her horse

Can you help?

307M: There may or may not have been a brother

I’m trying to help my daughter find a book (part of a series actually) that had a family, possibly from the Victorian era ( the sisters had poofy dresses) . There may or may not have been a brother. There was one scene where two of the sisters, or a sister and a friend, are talking and the conversation paraphrases 1 Corinthians 13:12 about ” through a glass darkly”. There is also a  different scene where one girl is on a balcony looking down on people. She read this book in middle school in the early 90s, but thinks the book was printed in the 70s or 80s. She read above her grade level, so it was not necessarily a middle school book. Also she remembers that where it was placed on the shelf in the library meant the authors last name was not at the beginning or end of the alphabet.

Thanks!

 

307K: Berries in front of the fire

I had a book as a child that was about 10-12 inches long and about the size of normal tablet paper. It was hard back and rather thin with no more than 50-75 pages but probably much less. The outside cover was a light bluish color leaning toward the teal side of the blue spectrum. It had whimsical pictures with each short story and was about animals such as a Rabbit, Hedgehog/Porcupine and possibly a raccoon. There are a few stories I remember a little of. Most of what I remember are the illustrations and I have been searching near and far for many years. I was born in 77, so it had to have been published before then, right around then and or no later than very early 80's. One story, one of the animals takes his fathers boot and makes a flower pot out of it for his mom. Another story there is a rustic fireplace and a porcupine/hedgehog and another animal are eating berries in front of the fire. Another, there is a sort of party outside and the table was made from a tree with stumps as seats. This is not any of the classics like Peter rabbit, wind in the willows etc. Its very obscure in my opinion. I cannot remember the author or title but I will know instantly if its "the" book if I could just find one of the illustrations but I have been unsuccessful for so many years. I hope very much that you are able to help me.