The children’s short story The Dissatisfied Little Lamb by Catherine Jones, perhaps under her maiden name Catherine Hallman, published in a magazine sometime between 1940-80, about a lamb who leaves the farm to go exploring and finds a dog or wolf who is actually friendly and brings him home and he then protects the flock from a predatory wolf or other animal. Probably a magazine published in Georgia or SC.
Book stories include The Bear Makes a Visit, The Fox and Crab, The Miller’s Daughter, Little Olga and Spiteful ?, The Crane The Fish and The Lobster, Mary’s Baby Brother, Wang and his?. I think a total of 22 stories.
Book stores include The Bear Makes a Visit, The Foxand Crab, The Miller’s Daughter, Little Olga and Spiteful ?, The Crane The Fish and The Lobster, Mary’s Baby Brother, Wang and his?. I think a total of 22 stories.
The book had maybe a dozen short stories, all with some magic involved. One of the stories, I think the first, had a father bringing home an ornamental Chinese horn (rhino?) that was rumored to have magical properties. The father’s son took the horn to bed with him, holding it tight, and just before going to sleep wished for a series of things to happen to people he know around him. The next day everything that he wished came true, including people hearing silver bells tinkling when a lady he liked started talking. Another story in the book involved a professor/researcher, maybe named Dexter, researching Roman history, and late one night he falls asleep and dreams he becomes a goose, and has a fight with another goose over a lady goose, and it turns out that all the squawklng ends up being the very thing that warns the Romans of an impending barbarian attack on one of their cities. So the researcher actually became part of Roman history in the dream. The book was probably published in the 50s or 60s, certainly no later than the early 1980’s. I remember reading it after my mom checked it out of the Mayfield Regional Library, near Mayfield High School.
I am looking for what I think is an anthology of poetry, illustrated, that contains an extremely cleverly illustrated version of Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If”. Black and white line drawings I believe. I remember seeing it in a bookstore in Ithaca circa 2012 it might have been newly published then. There were other poems in the book, possibly also short stories? And authors besides Kipling?
When I was around 5 or 6 years old (1972 to 1973) I loved a book of short children’s stories. I think it contained around a dozen or so stories. I recall a bunch of characters on the front cover. I think one of the characters was a knight, and he may or may not have been sitting on a horse.
One of the stories (I think the first one) was about a lost cat or kitten. The cat is lonely, cold, and hungry. The cat wandered around and found a pond with a fish in it. The cat tries to grab the fish, but is pulled into the water. (I think there may have been a fishing pole there, and the cat got tangled in it.) When the owner of the house heard the ruckus outside, he went out to retrieve the fish and cat. The cat then lives happily thereafter with the new owner, and the owner cooks the fish for the cat. There is a drawing of the cat sitting in front of the fire.
Another story was about some people who went for a short boat ride in a rowboat. To make sure everyone person was accounted for, the organizer of the voyage had everyone wear hat. Her plan was to count the number of hats before the journey, and then count them afterwards. If the numbers matched, then everyone was accounted for. The voyage had some problems. The boat started to sink because someone forgot to install the drain plug. But it wasn’t dangerous because the lake was very shallow. At any rate, at the end of the voyage the organizer was worried & upset because the number of hats she counted afterwards was one less than the onset of the voyage. But someone pointed out that she forgot to count the hat on her head, and everyone laughed.
I am looking for a copy of the first book I ever read (I have been looking for it since 1995 without success). What I remember is:
– I was born in 1960 and started reading in 1963. We were poor and the only books we had were from my father (born in 1940) so the book would have been 1920-1940s for when he went to school in 1945.
– I remember the color of the book had a dark sandy brown cover and had the words “first primer” or “young reader” on the cover. Primer figured prominently on the cover and/or title page but I cannot remember the exact wording. I think there was a square illustration on the cover but am not sure.
– There were stories, poems, and I think a musical score at the center of the book. The main story involved a little brownie (fairy/sprite) with a red cap, with squirrels for friends/neighbors. The illustrations were only two to three colors, red and brown primarily.
– I have been looking for this book for approximately 30 years. off and on, without success. Other books in the similar time frames come close but they are not the one. The closest ones in style, illustration, and structure are The Work-Play Books Make and Make Believe by Gates and Huber and The Children’s Own Readers Book Two by Ginn and Co. circa 1920s.
I grew up in Norwalk, CT in the 60’s if that helps in any way.
This is a book of short stories about education and teaching. One of the stories concerns a teacher reflecting on the number of murderers and serious criminals who came through her English class and bemoaning that all she did was teach them rhyming iambic pentameter. Another concerned an author who was awoken every Saturday and Sunday by children playing soccer with tin cans. He tired of this so went down and made a contract of sort with them to play every Saturday and Sunday outside his window. He paid what was then a good amount of pocket money. Within three weeks they stopped playing. The obligation had robbed them of the pleasure and he got to sleep in.
I’m after a 1950/60 American children’s book of short stories. Hard cover with a bit of a religious bent. Featured Afro American people in some stories. All heavy on doing the right thing and hugely moralistic. One story was about a gardener potting up plants and another was about Johnny Appleseed spreading apple seeds across the USA.
Hope you can help. Thank you.
I’m trying to find a much-loved book given to a relative around 1948 (in England, so presumably a UK publisher).
It’s an anthology of stories and poems for children, clearly by someone who loved literature and didn’t want to look down on children or preach to them. It included things like Christina Rossetti’s poem “Goblin Market” and the Chinese folktale “Blue Rose”, and had illustrations by Aubrey Beardsley (obviously not done for the book as he was long dead).
The book is hardback with a leaf-green cover, and fairly large.