Looking for a pre-teen girl book I read in the late 80s/early 90s that was already really dated. The girl in the book is going through puberty and gets her period. But the maxi pads still have the belt and the hooks. My friend and I just saw Are you there God? and for the life of us we can’t remember this book. They may have also been a part about keeping notes in a notebook about puberty.
Category Archives: 1990s-
370Q: Traveling Aunt Seek and Find Book
I have a query for you: I was delighted in a seek-and-find book as a child in the mid-1990s which, if my memory serves me correctly, followed a globe-trotting aunt. The reader was always one stop behind her, and to try to catch her was required to find objects and people in each image spread.
The book was large, slim, hard-backed, and had relatively little text. As usual for this genre, the images were visually busy illustrations in a reasonably realistic style. I have no memory of the title nor the author, but I do remember that some of the locations included an Australian beach (with people wearing white sunblock on their noses), a wet market in Asia (lots of produce and people wearing straw hats) and an airport scene with a man tearing up his tickets. I am fairly certain there was also a scene of people at a ski lodge with lots of snow and chair lifts, but that image is less clear than the others. Each of these scenes took up a full two-page spread.
I read it between 1994 and 2000, although I do not know if it was published before that.
370P: Sheep Discovering New Places (Solved!)
Here is the description:
I am trying to locate a children’s illustrated book that i had in England, that was likely published in the 1980’s , but definitely not after the early 1990’s. It had beautiful detailed illustrations, and was about 2 sheep investigating different areas, such as beaches and tidal pools. The illustrations were amazingly detailed, for instance, the tidal pools would be covered in rocks, bottles, animals, sea weed, plants etc- you could look through the individual pages for hours on end, but the stories always involved the two white sheep. They were drawn realistically, and not “cartoony” at all. I believe it may have been a series of books. Please let me know if you have any information!
Key aspects:
>>>> -About 2 sheep exploring new places
>>>> -realistic and extremely detailed illustrations
>>>> -Likely part of a series of books
>>>> -Purchased in England, likely a European publication (but not sure)
>>>> -Printed circa 1980’s-early 90’s if not earlier
Please please can you see if you can identify this for me? I would love to be able to show my own children this!
Please let me know if you need any further information! I also commented on the Disqus back in august 2018 but it is so far back I could not locate my comment. It’s possible someone may have replied
370L: House where the objects look like faces
A picture book that goes through the rooms of a house at night showing objects that are places in a way to make it look like faces/people etc. I have a particular memory of a garden/shed page and a bathroom page for sure! If there is a story component to the book I don’t remember it unfortunately. Read sometime between 2000-2008 I think.
370I: Adult sisters with a troubled relationship/family wedding
I read this book in the 90s, but I think I may have been published in the 80s.
It was a modern era story. There are two sisters, one is responsible with an adult daughter getting married. I remember at least one woman wore a tartan sash across her chest, but I am not convinced it took place in Scotland, though it is possible.
The other adult sister is kind of a mess. Alcohol or drugs, perhaps? I remember her as the beautiful one who got all the guys, but deeply unhappy. It is mentioned that she wore Poison perfume, and it spills in her room.
I associate the color red/burgundy with this book, so it may have featured on the cover of the book.
370G: No Safety For Man Who Hears Other’s Thoughts
I’m looking for a book about a man who hears other people’s thoughts. He can’t control it and he fears for his sanity. He tries to move away from crowded areas, ends up at ranch where the female owner turns out to be a serial killer. Probably read it in the late 1980s or 1990s.
370E: The Fun Easter Bunny
I’m looking for an Easter book from when my friend was a child (born in 1987 in Canada) from early 90s or before. She remembers a silly/mischievous bunny that says “quack quack” and something like “I flap my ears for fun.” The bunny also supposedly sings about calling out the days of the week. In the end she seems to remember that he turned into chocolate or candy.
369Z: Kid’s Picture Book About Too Many Cats Living in a Grocery Store Until They are Given Away to Customers (Solved!)
I am hoping you can help me. My mom read a book to me as a kid but I cannot remember the name or find it on Google for the life of me. It’s driving me crazy!
It is a picture book about a man who owns a grocery store and a cat lives there (or comes to live there at the very beginning maybe). More and more cats come to live at the store until they are causing all kinds of trouble for customers, like knocking stuff over. I remember one page was a drawing of a cat popping out of the fish kept in the ice section and scaring a customer. The store owner decides to give away a cat with every bag of groceries purchased. One page is a customer (an older woman I believe) taking home 2 cats with 2 bags. The bags are brown paper bags. It ends with the store owner only keeping the original cat. I think the original cat was an orange tabby but I am not sure about it, sorry.
I remember the pictures take up the page or at least most of it.
It was a softcover book (or at least my copy was).
My brother and I were born in 1993/95 and both remember it so I’m guessing it was read to me in the late 90’s or maybe early 2000s. I think it wasn’t an older book when I read it because of the drawing style- at least it didn’t look old fashioned. It’s a colorful, but not unrealistically colorful picture style. Not overly artistic/beautiful. Just fun, clear, and kid-like pictures.
The book is in English, but I don’t know where it was published.
I’m guessing it was not a super popular book because I have googled it like crazy and can’t find it.
369W: Illustrated Children’s Book with Child-snatching Witch
It was a large hardback colour illustrated book. The story features a boy, a girl and a dog or cat, I think they have to stay inside because it’s raining. I think the girl is trying to scare the boy by telling a story about this witch that snatches children. The witch rides around on a vacuum cleaner like thing I think. I vividly remember the illustrations being the main focus, some taking up the entire page and I think some pages had special printing like glow in the dark patches. I think the girl was emphasising how she wasn’t scared of all these fantastical things going on and I definitely remember at the end of the book she is scared by a spider or mouse.
I read this book as a child, but I can say for certain when, I think the time frame for when the book was released is 1985-2005 though could be earlier. It was in the UK if that makes any difference.
It’s been bothering me a lot because every time I try to search it I end up getting the same results of Badjelly the Witch, Terry Pratchett’s The Witch’s Vacuum, Winnie the Witch, The Wednesday Witch, The Littlest Witch, etc – it isn’t any of these.
369V: After the Nuclear War
Looking for a paperback book series that I read on base, in Honduras in 2001-2003. It is based after a nuclear war and the protagonist has a group of folks he scavenges with. . . I think he is like a Clint Eastwood type gun slinger. When he gets mad (?) his vision turns red and he enters like a berserker state. In 1 book, they visit Philadelphia(?) a nuke site that was turned to glass. Another book has them visiting a research bunker in Alaska(?), where the scientists are either holed up or coming out of a hibernetic chamber or something. . . any help is much appreciated!!