Category Archives: Anthology

325V: Funny Poems with Black and White Illustrations

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This book I believe would have been published within 1960-80. It was a collection of limericks and poems, black and white pictures only on rough pulpy paper, hardcover woven material,off white. No slip cover (sleeve) photo as I believe it likely had a slip cover at one time, but not once I had it as a child.

The illustrations, there was one for each, I think and they were very character based and they were all black and white. The very closest stories and illustrations that I can find that bear a resemblance is “Backward Bill” by Silverstein.

There is only one poem in the collection that I remember clearly. The illustration was of a skinny man walking on his hands in the sand. He has a pail hanging from his foot by the handle. The poem talks about this certain man collecting periwinkles on the beach and using his foot to carry the pail. I can’t remember the reason he has for doing this. I do remember it being a very comical book.

It would mean great deal if you were able to find this book. If there are any other details that come I can let you know.

325N: Children’s book of holiday stories from 60’s/70’s?

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I was born in the late 70’s and my mom would read to me a used children’s book of holiday stories with anthropomorphic characters. I remember an owl (or maybe a family of owls); a mouse that ate paste in the Valentine’s story; a Halloween story and a Christmas story. I seem to remember the cover was orange and the illustrations were in black & white with a dash of orange. The illustrations were definitely done in the unique style of the late ’60s/early ’70s. Any ideas? Thanks!

325M: Illustrated Stories Collection, Perhaps Golden Book?

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I am hoping you can help me track down the following book:

  1.  I am not sure of the title.
  2. I believe it was a collection of Golden Book stories, but I am not too sure. My grandmother read it to me frequently in the 1980’s. I believe it was a yellow, hard cover children’s book with a collection of illustrated short stories. Here are the stories I remember:

2a. A lion at a zoo has a cold. The kids would pick on him because he had lost his roar while sick.

2b. A young boy wants to play with the older kids, so he puts on many many layers of clothing and fools them. The story talks about how hot he is in the summer heat with all the clothes. As he runs around, the layers start to fall off, revealing his true self.

2c. Three sisters live in an apartment. One is fat, one is skinny. I think I remember the story takes place in summer and the fat sister was too hot and wanted the window open while the skinny sister was too cold and wanted it shut.

2d. I think there was a story about firetrucks or possibly a tug boat.

I wish I could remember more. I have been searching for this book for about 20 years …

325D: Huge Book of Bedtime Fairy Tales

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My book of bedtime stories? Huge light blue book with pictures of the characters on front and inside the cover. Beautiful thick pages with each first letter having vines/ flowers. One fairy tale was about a poor boy who had to do heaps of tasks in order to marry the king’s daughter. Like row a boat on land and catch heaps of rabbits? Ect. I think another story may have been called Princess Gloria. She was locked in a dungeon and had to sort through millions of coloured threads. Another story was called The Fountain of Youth. And I think The Little Match Girl was also in this book. Please, please help me find this book. I have been searching for it for 20 years. So looking forward to hearing from you.

324Y: Fairies and Giants and Creatures In One Massive Compilation

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I am looking for a children’s book I read in the late 70s or early 80s that was about fairies and giants and other mystical creatures. It was huge (to a 6 year old!), 13 to 15 inches in height & hundreds of pages printed on very thin tissue-like paper that was pastel multi-coloured, in sections. A pink section, then a yellow section, then a pale green section, etc. I believe the coloured sections coordinated with the sections of the book which i think were divided into “stories about giants”, “stories about fairies”. It may have had “A Great Big Book….” or “The Big Book of….” in the title. It was large print with pictures here and there.

Thank you!!

324Q: Aesop’s Fables and Fairy Tale Collection

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Looking for an illustrated hardcover children’s book, a collection of fairy tales from the late 1970s to the mid 1980s. It contained stories from Hans Christian Anderson (including The Princess and the Pea), the Grimm Brothers, and other authors. It included The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde. It also had a section of Aesop’s Fables. The table of contents separated out the Aesop’s Fables from the other types of stories. Please help me find this book, thank you so much!

324L: A Hidden Room Mystery Story (Solved!)

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1960’s-1970’s YA mystery short story–people search a castle for a missing keep or room wherein may be hidden a fortune.  Many people search.  They decide to put a cloth in each window as they search; then they can see from the outside which window has no cloth and is therefore the hidden room.  The story is possibly from one of the Alfred Hitchcock Presents Anthologies. It certainly had that feel.   Although many others are searching this castle for a missing keep or a room in a keep, only one person finds it.  There is some sort of secret entrance, I recall.  When the finder discovers the entrance and room, another character (the bad guy) goes with him and murders him there and “hides” the secret entrance to the room again.

 I recall (or believe I recall) a line at the end—part of the thoughts of the skeptical castle groundskeeper, I think– “there was no Norman keep.”

 

324I: Weird Creature Turns Against Boy Who Spared His Life

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Looking for a children’s science fiction collection. Only remember one story. It was about a boy who finds an alien or some weird creature in his room, behind a chair I think. He goes to swat it or stomp on it, but it startles him by talking to him, begging for its life. It convinces him it’s friendly. But by the end of the story, it’s clear the creature had malicious intentions; but it’s too late. And the end of the story is the creature telling the boy he should’ve killed it when he had the chance. That’s how I remember it, but I read it 30 years ago.

323Q: Town Gets Rid Of Laws And Other Stories (Solved)

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Growing up, I was born in 1982, we had a book that was a compilation of short stories and some poems and other things. It was a light blue/teal colored hard back book with a paper cover. It was a bigger book, like maybe more of an 8.5×11 size. There was a story in it about a town that got rid of all the rules and laws for the day and people didn’t wear their seat belts and sped around town. And there were pictures in the book. There was also another story about 2 teenage sisters who got in an argument and one sister ripped the nose on the other sister’s David Lee Roth poster and tried to cover it up. The book was definitely super random with stories ranging from life lessons to fun little kid’s stories. At some point my mom has lost or gotten rid of it and I’ve been trying to remember what this book was for about 3 years now. It’s been driving me nuts and both her and my brother have no recollection of it. Please help!!!!

323L: Mermaid short story/book of ironic stories

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I believe there was a YA book of ironic stories that I read between 1979-1983. Story I’m looking for: A teenage boy discovers a mermaid living in a pond at the bottom of a quarry. She never breaks the surface of the water, but looks beautiful underneath it. The quarry will soon be dynamited and caved in, so he decides to save her and move her to another pond. When he does capture her, with much difficulty, she is a hideous monster (the water had distorted her features) that nearly kills him. He lets her stay in the pond. The next day the quarry is dynamited and she is buried under the rubble. Have asked for years on every search site I could find. Please help! Thank you!