Category Archives: Anthology

202E: Brightly illustrated story book (Solved)

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I am looking for a book that may have been published in the 1960’s. I think it had a red cover. The book was illustrated with very bright colors. It had several stories, but there are three I remember most clearly.

One was a story of a little pine tree that wanted different leaves. The illustrations included gold coins being plucked off the tree, a goat eating the oak leaves, and glass prisms hanging from the tree.

Another story was of a stingy old woman who was baking at on oven. She would not give visitors any of her pies. The picture of the pie she baked was huge. She was eventually turned into a woodpecker to peck out a living. There is a picture of her as a woodpecker: her red hat became the birds head and her black dress with a white apron became the body.

The last story that I can remember is one where a little girl went through the woods with a tin pan to fetch water for her sick mother. As she walked back giving sips of water to various thirsty people, the pan became metals such as silver then gold and then a diamond and then a group of stars (the big dipper).

200A: Children’s collection driving me crazy.

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Children’s collection driving me crazy.

My brother and I have been looking for our favorite childhood fairy tale/folk/fables/story collection from when we were kids in the mid-1980s. What we remember: It was a mostly white cover, with big letters, hardbound. Simple color illustrations that went along with the short versions of the tales. Stories we remember:

– The Honest Woodcutter
– Rumpelstiltskin
– King Midas and his Golden Touch
– Rip Van Winkle
– The Princess and the Pea
– Gingerbread Man
– Twelve Dancing Princesses
– The Fox and the Grapes
– The Salt Merchant and the Donkey

That’s all we can remember.

195C: The Magic Pencil (Solved)

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I’m looking for a book for my aunt. She remembers reading a story called “The Magic Pencil” to her boys (this would have been back in the 1980s and 90s), but the story is part of a larger book/anthology of stories that she can’t remember the name of. Based on the look and feel of the book, she thinks it was probably from the 1950s (though that’s just a guess). In the story, the pencil would only write if you used the magic word “please” (or something like that). Would love to find this for her for Christmas!

192F: Story collection with coloring book feel

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Story collection. Can’t recall if it’s bedtime stories or fairy tales. Had “coloring book” texture pages will uncolored illustrations. Divided into colored paper sections (ie: 1st fourth was on yellow paper, second on green, etc).
Some stories I recall: one about mermaids, one about an elevator that was alive, one about a lobster, and another about a mismatched sock I think. Also think there may have been a jungle themed one. I hope this helps, I can’t find it anywhere 🙂

189D: British Children’s Short Story Treasury from ‘80s or ‘90s (Solved!)

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This was a large, white-bound treasury of short stories and craft ideas, likely published in the 1980s or very early 1990s. The stories were all in British English, but took place around the world. One story was about a brother and sister exploring Montreal’s Underground City during the winter (I believe the brother’s name may have been Sean, with an accent on the e). Another story was about a girl named Tracey who had a pair of silver sandals that never got used. The sandals were sad when they saw her wear all her other shoes day after day, but they finally got worn for a fancy party. I would love to find this collection again! Thanks for your help!

188C: searching for remembered anthology

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I am looking for a favorite children’s book. Here is all I remember about it:

1) I think it was a Reader’s Digest anthology, but since I have not been able to find it, perhaps it was another common name from the time that sponsored the collection.

2) I believe the cover was blue–but I could be completely wrong about that.

3) I am quite sure that it was at least 9×12, possibly 10×14. It was large enough that I recall the depth of the book (spine width) being only an inch and looking thin in comparison with the rest of the book.

4) I read it between the ages of 6-12 (1960-1966).
5) The stories had enough words that they were either directed toward young adult readers (high school) or junior high.

6) My most compelling memories are of two stories in the anthology:

The first was about a family crossing the desert in the American southwest. Their car broke down and they had to survive by collecting condensation on parts of their car, which they dismantled. They also created signage so that a plane could see them.

The other story was about a pony or colt with a broken leg. The family suspended the colt in a hammock while its leg healed. The vet had told them it would never work, but it did.

188B: Sleeping Beauty, bad faerie, marble-like wings

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The only things I can remember from the fairytale book, were that the illustrations were amazing! But I can’t seem to find it through my searching. The specific illustrations I can remember were Cinderella, where the men were made from lizards, the horse were mice, or it might have been the other way round. I think there were other animals or maybe insects used too but I can’t remember. I remember that the men kind of looked like the animals they were transformed from, and the horses too. The dress was huge and ruffled and I remember her hair was huge too, like Marie Antoinette style. And I just remember the intricate details and lots of use of colour. Also, if I remember right I think it was a silk slipper not a glass slipper.

And my favourite and most memorable was the sleeping beauty illustrations. I remember being totally fascinated with the wings of the faeries, they are the most beautiful illustrations of wings I have ever seen. The bad faerie’s wings were kind of marbled, with lots of different colours, kind of like how petrol or oil on water looks if that makes sense? Or like the marbled colours of a bubble. I also think the good faeries wings might have been marbled like that too, but with lighter or softer colours maybe?

I had this book in the early 90’s but it could possibly have been older than that. I don’t remember the book cover or what other stories were in this book. But I do believe one of the stories was called something like ‘The tramp and his nail soup’ Which was a story about a tramp who convinces some woman to let him stay at her house for the night with the promise to make the most delicious soup she’s ever tasted from this nail he has in his pocket. He ends up tricking her by saying stuff like “this would be even better if you had some carrots?” Etc until he has lots of ingredients in the soup to make it delicious. However I am slightly nervous that, that story may have been from another fairytale book, so don’t necessarily rely on that info.

The illustrations are similar in style to Edmund Dulac or Arthur Rackham, but actually I think they’re a lot better.

It could also be possible that different stories are illustrated by different artists.

I’ve been trying to find it for years to no avail. I have just had a daughter and I desperately want to get this book for her. Please, please, PLEASE help!

188A: Children’s creepy poetry collection

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The book is very large in size (dimensions). It is a children’s poetry collection that a friend of mine received as a gift and read when we were kids in the late 70’s and early 80’s, although at least a few of the poems were actually written long before. All of the poems were pretty creepy, and there were ink drawn(?) illustrations.

One poem in the collection was ‘Die Geschichte vom Daumenlutscher’ (The Story of the Thumb-Sucker) by Heinrich Hoffmann, although I don’t know if one of those exact titles were used in this collection. The title ‘Snip Snip’ may have been used. Apparently that poem has gone by a few similar sounding titles through the years? It was about a man in a top hat who showed up with scissors coming for a boy who sucked his thumb. Another poem in the collection was Antigonish (I Met a Man Who Wasn’t There) by Hughes Mearns, and again, I don’t know which title was actually used in this collection. A line from that poem was something like “As I was walking up the stair I met a man who wasn’t there. He wasn’t there again today. I wish I wish he’d go away.” The last poem I remember from the collection was about a father who gave his daughter a bath in gasoline because she was mean. (Yikes!)

I would love to find this book and buy it for my friend. Good luck!