Category Archives: 1990s-

241C: A Boy and a Witch Named Gherkin

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The book in question is an older British book, I remember finding it around the mid-to-late 90s, about a young boy being raised by his “aunt” (I clearly remember that she loved taking baths with the Purple People Eater fragrance, which was used later in the book by a sewer-comber who knew where her house was because of the smell) who is approached by a young witch who thinks she’s an outcast because she isn’t ugly, whose name is Gherkin, along with a few other strange characters – including an animal from the island each of them is from that looks like a soft white seal, loves music more than anything, and emits a thick fog when happy. The boy is the lost son of the king and queen of the island, and is the only one who can help save them from some calamity.

239H: Animal steals a cherry pie from window sill (Solved!)

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I was read this book by my mom when I was about 7 years old. It was probably published before 1995. It’s part of a collection of stories, possibly with the word “treasury” or “collection” in the title. The book was hardcover, a royal blue color, maybe a little bigger than a standard piece of computer paper, and about an inch thick. It may have been designed to be a bedtime book, but I don’t remember anything about sleeping.

I don’t remember anything other than a bit about one of the stories. I think they may have all been about animals, though. The one story I do remember involved a raccoon or black and white animal (but not a skunk) that steals a pie that was set to cool on a different animal’s window sill. I think the pie was cherry and had a lattice top crust.

Please help me find this book. I’d love to read it to my son.

237B: Companion Novels from the 80s: The Victim’s Perspective, The Bully’s Perspective (Solved)

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In the early 90s or late 80s, I remember reading two novels for kids. They were both about a boy being bullied. One was from the perspective of the victim and one from the perspective of the bully. I can’t find them anywhere. The only other detail I can remember is that some of the bullying took place in the neighborhood. It’s a fuzzy memory and maybe I dreamed it. Maybe it was only a chapter or two in the same book even. I was sure it was Blume or Cleary but I searched their books and couldn’t find anything like this. I do know that Wonder has a new companion novel from the perspective of the bully but this is clearly different. Thanks!

236I: A steampunkish picture book

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Early 90s, I was 8-10 years old, I had this favorite book. It was wider than it was tall (maybe 12” x8”?) paper back and maybe 20 pages or something thin like that. I don’t remember there being a main character, but all the pictures where lots of shades of brown and copper. I would even say steampunkish. The plot had something to do with the machine having an assembly line of all these different gadgets. I vaguely remember gears or oil…I’m pretty sure it was very fantasy and even some anthropomorphism with the machines. Any ideas?

236B: Stuffed animal disguises himself (Solved)

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I borrowed a copy of a chapter-book from a preschool acquaintance of mine in Canada in 1991 or 1992. As I recall, though, it was a hardcover with slightly off-white pages, meaning that it might have been much older. As I recall, it was a medium-sized book of short stories about a group of bedroom toys, with black-and-white ink illustrations. The only story I remember in any detail was about a stuffed animal who goes into his owner’s closet and re-emerges wearing a pile of clothing and declaring himself to be ‘_______ _______ III’. At the age I was, I had no idea that this meant ‘the third’, so I always mentally read it as ‘I-I-I’ or ‘one-one-one’. The other toys are astonished at first, but I’m pretty sure there was the predictable unmasking by the end of the story. Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

235C: Hippo’s Birthday

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I am looking for a book from my childhood which I remember very well. I am from the UK. The book must be more than 20 years old. It is about a hippopotamus, referred to as “Hippo” in the text. The Hippo asks his dad (also a Hippo) if it is his birthday every day. “Is it my birthday today?” and the dad hippo would reply, “No, not today, Hippo.” This goes on for some time as his birthday approaches. It is eventually his birthday and when he asks a final time, I think the dad hippo says, “Yes, Hippo. Today is your birthday. I even remember the dad hippo hiding the birthday cake on top of a wardrobe.

234H: A sketch book of imaginative designs

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No idea about the title. I first found this book in the early 2000’s, but it is probably older–90’s or 80’s or even earlier? No narrative. Contains (mostly?) black and white sketches of many silly and imaginative designs for ordinary items and new inventions. Just one example: a contraption that completely encloses a desk to allow a nap in the office. I also remember a page full of funny-looking footwear; a memorably risque one was modeled after the nude female figure.

234E: A Book of the World (Solved)

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This book is at least 20 years old. It was a book for children showing all the different ways people live around the world (what they wear/eat/keep as pets/do for fun). There was little text, and what has stayed with me are the beautiful pen and ink illustrations. I also remember that the last pages showed how boring life would be if everyone was the same: a two-page spread of a street scene with everything all the same in drab colors, and then the next two pages a spread of a vibrant, colorful street scene instead. The book seemed quite large to me as a child, big enough to have lots to look at on each page… perhaps 12″x14″? Most vague of all is my memory of the cover… possibly, it had a drawing of the globe on a white background, and was just called “The World,” though that may be some other book! I’m from the US, but it’s possible this book was brought as a gift from another anglophone country.

Thank you for your help!

234D: Large Children’s Anthology of Short Stories from the 90s

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I’m looking for a treasury/anthology of short stories for children that was most likely published in the early to mid 90s. I can’t remember too much about it, but the pages were yellow (or maybe had a thick yellow border?). It was about 2 inches thick, and was about 8 1/2″ x 11″. There were all different types of stories and were unrelated to each other. The only one I can actively remember was about the father of the family was trying to cure sunspots. The book contained pictures with most, if not all, of the stories. The stories were probably geared towards ages 6 to 11, as opposed to younger children. I have no idea about author/title/publisher because for as long as I can remember, the front and back covers had torn off!