Category Archives: 1980s

298R: Late 1970/ early 1980s fairy tale book with 12 Dancing Princesses

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I checked in the fairy tales page but didn’t find my book amongst the ones listed. I am looking for a child’s fairy tale book that was probably published in the late 1970s or early 80s and possibly in Canada as my parents lived in the Niagara Falls area and it may have been purchased in Niagara-on-the-Lake. The book was oversized and probably around 100 pages with a pale bluish cover and contained many tales including The Nightingale and I think the very last story was the 12 Dancing Princesses. It was heavily illustrated with beautiful colour illustrations that had a very “silky” look to clothing and hair of the characters. I’m pretty sure it was a generic title such as Fairy Tales or maybe World’s Best Fairy Tales  and it is NOT the Reader’s Digest book from that era. I think there may have been a prince and princess on the front cover and there was a round vignette illustration on the back of scenery I believe.  Any help would be appreciated!

298F: Three friends from boarding school grow up

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I am trying to remember the title of a novel that was most likely written in the 1980s. I read it in in 7th grade (1992-93). It was about three girls who all became friends at a boarding school and follows them into adulthood. The main character was from a poor family and she received a scholarship to go to the boarding school. Her younger sister married a rock musician while still a teenager and went on to have a hard life. After boarding school the main character moved to New York and became a personal assistant and got married then divorced. One of the girls was named Allie and she was from a very rich family and never had to work. She slept with one of the other girl’s father and the husband of the main character. I don’t really remember much about the third girl. I can’t remember of the other characters names or any hint of the title. This has been driving me crazy!!

298E: An Easy Reader

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I am hoping to find more information about an Easy Reader type book my teacher used when I was in the first grade, circa 1990.

The book was a series of red books, and the words were phonetic. I believe each book had multiple short stories. I remember one was about an African American boy who finds a Genie. The book definitely had a black boy and a genie, I may be conflating the two.

This cover looked familiar to me. The reader I am thinking of, may or may not be this one or have an image on the cover. I distinctly remember it was red.

I also remember the clothing of the illustrations within the book looked dated to me as a child, which I think means the book may have been published in the 70s or 80s originally.

 

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297W: The Fastest Little Craft Afloat

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I’m looking for a poem from the 1980s.  Here’s what I remember:

One day mommy brought me a treat

and I asked her if it was something to eat

or is it round and can I bounce it on the ground

No my dear she said to me

its neither and she let me see

and there inside the the wrappings lay

a sailboat for which to play

? – something about bringing it down to the pond

the fastest little craft afloat

 

Thank you!!

297T: Illustrated Children’s book with the theme ” You can choose”

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Illustrated Children’s book with the theme ” You can choose”. We had this book in the late 1980s/ early 1990s. It was square with a yellow hardcover with a cartoonish girl/boy on it. Book was about 20 pages ( 10 layouts with different scenes where the boy and girl make different choices between colours and objects etc. ). Each scene ends with a phrase similar to ” You can chose”. Very repetitious. One scene has them in a classroom. Size of book 20cm x 20cm. I know it is not the following books “If I could choose” or “Which one would you choose”.

297R: Big book of stories, almost like a telephone book

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I am looking for a big book of stories I enjoyed as a child in the early to mid 1980s. It’s possible the book was published in either the 70s or 80s. It is NOT the typical hardcover collection of stories but rather a paperback, rather oversized book – almost like a telephone book with same type of “newspaper like” pages and black and white print. A distinctive feature is that it had pastel multicolored sections of pages inside. Each color represented a specific type of story like yellow for fairy tales, pink for animal stories, blue for classics adapted for kids, etc. The most specific story I remember is the 12 Dancing Princess who wore out their shoes. It had beautiful illustrations with ladies sporting the French pompadour style with ringlets hairdos and full ballroom dresses. I also have a vague memory of a cute little story featuring a ladybug and other various insects conversing with each other. We also had a similar type big book of jokes (featuring different types of jokes including Tom Swifties!) that I seem to remember having a mostly white cover; I always thought they were part of a series of big books but I could be wrong.

Thanks for any help.

295Y: Young Reader Adventure with Plane Crashes, Loch Ness, and Balloon Races (Solved)

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This book was read in middle school. It featured four stories with the same gang of young boys. One story was of them faking a Loch Ness Monster using radio-controlled boat in their lake. Another was their search for a crashed airplane using radio direction finding. A third was their competing in a hot-air balloon race. The fourth I do not remember. This was probably published in the 80’s or late 70’s.

295R: Sandy

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This book is titled “Sandy” or “Sandie” I believe.   It’s a story (real-life) written by a doctor about the death from his wife, Sandy (born as Alexandra) from cancer.  I think she must have died in about 1967 or 1968.  She had a 3 year old son called Alexander.     I read the book sometime between 1978-1982 when I was younger.   I’ve always wondered if I could find a copy of it and all my research has come up with nothing.   It’s possible I have some of the details wrong.  I got the book out of the Rochester, NY Public Library at the time.  It was in hard-cover.  I am sure that it was published by a “reputable” publisher.   I have searched for “cancer narratives” to no avail.

295N: The Lonely Doll meets The Curious Clubhouse (Solved)

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I read a juvenile novel in the 1980s (from my school library). It may have been from the 1960s or 1970s about a very lonely girl who moved to a new house in the country, and while exploring, she found a secret playhouse that had dolls and teddy bears in it, and I think they came to life. Kind of like The Lonely Doll meets The Curious Clubhouse, but definitely not either of those! It had illustrations, maybe an orange cover, and I feel like Secret may have been in the title, and the author’s last name began with G or H?