Category Archives: 1980s

285D: Boy and cat are best friends

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I am looking for a children’s book from around 1980.

I do not recall the title or author, and the book may have been published before 1980.  Let’s say anywhere between 1970 and 1982 or so.  This was a favorite book of mine when I was a kid, and I used to take it out of my local branch of the St. Louis Public Library pretty regularly.

The one thing I DO remember were the fantastic illustrations.  It was done in black and white, and the drawings looked as though they may have been pen and ink, or etchings, and they were very realistic.

Thematically, I remember a couple things about the story:  A boy and his cat used to sit on a hill under their (or maybe the cat’s) favorite tree.  At night, the cat would go have adventures on his own with his cat friends.  Toward the end of the story, the cat died, and the boy and his mom decided to bury him atop the hill under the beloved tree.  Then the boy would go there to remember the cat.

Specifically, I recall one page in the book that illustrated night time, when the cat would go with his cat friends.  There is a house (presumably the cat’s) in the background, as though he has just been let out for the evening.  In the foreground, you see the cat joining up with many, many neighborhood cats as they set off to roam around–a virtual cat army.

Thank you, and I look forward to seeing what you all come up with.

284D: Alternate outcomes become alternate worlds

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In the world of this book, every time something happens, like a war, both outcomes come true. A new world is created with the alternate outcome. So there are many earths. The one that this one takes place on is not ours. In this Earth, America is called Atlantis.

The children survive the shipwreck because the boy is a witch and the sister hangs onto him. But you don’t find that out till the end. You think – because she says so – that she is the witch and she saved him.

He is left-handed, which where they came from is punished but where they have arrived at, is celebrated as it is a sign of being a witch. That’s all I remember….

I probably read it in the late seventies, possibly early 80’s. I was probably around 12 – it was a middle-year chapter book. It was really good.

I hope it sounds familiar to someone! Thanks for your help!

283F: Faint memories of a bad day

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I’m looking for the title of a children’s picture book suitable for maybe grades 1-2 from late 1970’s or early-mid1980’s.  I can’t remember barely anything except an illustration of a checkerboard floor and spilled peas, another page with a character with black hair and red shoes.  I think the theme was how to cope with a very bad day or getting along with your sibling.  I remember it as big, like 12″x 8″, maybe 15 pages.  It’s absurd to ask given so little information but i can’t stop thinking about it!

283E: Martian or Moon dweller, visits earth

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I’m looking for a vaguely remembered children’s book. It’s a picture book. I can’t reconstruct the whole plot but it had the following elements:

– EITHER a martian, extra-terrestrial or man-in-the-moon visiting earth, OR a boy that wants to fly to space. The former is more likely.

– This protagonist is reminded of his planet or the moon or the sun by seeing a balloon, and maybe also other round objects throughout the book.

– There is definitely a scene, towards the end of the book, where the protagonist walks back to his space vessel in the evening sun or moon.

– I remember the book had a melancholic feel. Maybe the protagonist is homesick or something. It was NOT a spectacular book on space travel. The martian is not scary, but cute and a little sad.

– It must predate 1983, possibly a book from much earlier (60s?) that my mother purchased at a library that got rid of old books.

282A: A dollhouse with a little witch living inside

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This is a book that was in the library when I was in grade school so early 90’s. It was already vintage then, probably 70’s-80’s, but I actually have no idea as to the publishing date. It is about a young girl who acquires/has a dollhouse with a little witch living inside who is alive and rides around on her broom. If I remember correctly the house is in the room where she is staying with an old relative. I think someone’s name started with an S, possibly Samantha, but I could be mistaken.

280G: Learn to tell the time

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The book I am interested in is one I had as a child, I think around 1988-1993 ish. It was a small white hardback cover and came with a watch which you could see in the cover (I’ll attach a picture of what I think it was or was like).

watch

I remember that it was an illustrated book based in castle or palace or similar, the characters were either king, queen, prince, princess, and I remember one page was about them using a sundial to tell the time.

That’s all the information I have on it I’m afraid. I’m from the UK, so I’m not sure if this was also a U.S. issue book or not.

280F: Lost Cat in Rome found in Mouth of Truth Statue

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Hi there, hoping you can help find a book. I remember reading it in the late 80s/early 90s. It was about a child in Rome who lost his or her cat. They go all over the city looking for it and eventually find the cat in the “mouth of truth” (La Bocca della Verità) statue. I remember it was a blue cover and fairly larger than a regular sized book. It was in English. Hoping you can help track it down!

278E: Young Chinese monk loses way while transporting books (Solved)

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This is a picture book probably published between 1988 and 1995 set in the distant past about a young Chinese monk who lives at a library in rural China. He’s always sleeping in, and one day the monastery needs to relocate because of a disaster (flood? war?). He sleeps in that day, too, and he and his donkey of books set out late in the day to try to catch up.
That night, he takes shelter in a cave where there are two old men playing chess with white and red pieces. They feed him and the monk stays up to watch their game. He falls asleep, and when he wakes up he’s been transported many years in the future.

He leaves the cave and soon comes across a huge battlefield with soldiers in white and red. Somehow, his arrival and the books he carries stops the battle. At the conclusion, he’s grown up to head a monastery-library of his own… and he always wakes up early.