Category Archives: Anthology

339W: Woman Discovers Husband’s Ship’s Mast In The Eye Of A Hurricane

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I’m hoping that you can help me find a short story…I’ve been googling keywords but to no avail.
Clues:
This was a short story that I read during middle school. It was in the same textbook or collection of short stories as The Deadliest Game by Richard Connell.
As I recall it, the plot involved an old woman who lived near the beach in New England. There was a hurricane and she went for a walk on the beach during the eye of the storm. During her walk she observed a ship mast (or maybe it was a ship Figurehead) washed up by the storm.
I think her long lost husband or lover, was last seen on that ship and she found some sort of closure by finding this piece of it.
Keywords: Hurricane, eye of the storm, ship, mast, figurehead, New England, beach, old woman
Thanks in advance

339S: The Story of How the Easter Bunny Delivers Eggs

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I don’t know the title, but it is a collection of children’s stories and fairy tales which my twin and I read in the mid 50s.

Key Words:  Easter Bunny, how eggs were painted and delivered.

My twin and I remember a children’s book with beautiful illustrations. This included the
story of how the Easter bunny would deliver eggs.  The illustration had a standing rabbit
with a large basket attached like a big backpack.

Thanks for any help!

339Q: My House is Cozy – Bedtime Poem (Solved)

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I was born in the late 70’s and my mom used to recite a bedtime poem to us each night. I can remember three different verses:
Opening verse:
My house is cozy warm and wide.
It has the nicest things inside…
A knife, a fork, a yellow cup,
For drinking all my cocoa up…
Closing verse:
Outside my window I can see,
The moon and stars shine down on me.
Basically the poem was a tour of a child’s home. I believe there was a stop in the kitchen, bathroom then finally the bedroom. I don’t believe it was an original work, and seem to recall my mom saying that she got it from a book, although I don’t ever remember her reading it to us. She was born in the 50’s, so it could be from her childhood. My uncle (her youngest brother) was 10 years older than me, and it may have been a book from him that arrived in disrepair and so she memorized it to recite. My thought is that it is from a compilation/treasury of bedtime poems/rhymes/stories between 1950 and 1980. Googling hasn’t yielded anything. On a whim, I recently purchased Rene Cloke’s Bedtime Book to see if it was from there, but it wasn’t.
Thank you for any help you can provide! We lost our mom 4 years ago and I would love to find the source of this to share with my brothers and sister.

339O: Children’s Book of Short Stories Published in the 1960s or early 1970s

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Hello. When I was around 5 or 6 years old (1972 to 1973) I loved a book of short stories. I think it contained around a dozen or so stories.

One of the stories 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, 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 owner, and the owner cooks the fish for the cat.

Another story was about some people who went for a short boat ride on a lake in a rowboat. To make sure everyone person was accounted for, the organizer of the voyage had everyone wear a similar hat. Her plan was to count the number of hats before the journey, and then afterwards. If the number matched, then everyone was accounted for. I recall the voyage had some problems. I think 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.

Thank you

338T: Non-Traditional Stories of Kings (Solved!)

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I was born in 1984, and I’m guessing I had this book when I was 6-8 years old. It’s a book of collected tales, but most of them were non-traditional stories. The only traditional stories I remember inside is The Emperor and the Nightingale, and Sing a Song of Sixpence. One story was about a king who got tired of living in his castle and decided to search for another place to live, but eventually ends up back at his castle. Another story was about a king whose soldiers were an untidy and lazy lot, always waking up late and showing up dirty and messy. The princess makes bacon and eggs and tells them they can only have breakfast if they clean up.

338E: “I like Men and I like Dogs”

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I bought a collection of short stories over 20 years ago and lost the book.
Didn’t realize that book meant so much to me.  Was changed by every story.
I only remember the book was by a woman whose last name was Kennedy and it was an award winning collection—and what award I don’t remember.  The author was not a British author, the first name was not Cate and not Louise
SoftCover was electric blue with yellow text.  On the back of the book there was a quote from the opening line of one of the stories: “I like men and I like dogs.”
Have searched all over.
And lastly, this book was written by a direct, frank woman – nothing flowery,

338B: “If Pigs Could Fly”

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I am searching for a book from my childhood.  I believe it is titled “If Pigs Could Fly”, but may be titled “When Pigs Fly”.  It may have been a collection of stories or poems.  The most memorable thing about the book were the illustrations.  Intricate, stunning, and enchanting illustrations … almost magical.  On the cover, there is some sort of kingdom – maybe a castle in the background.  A young girl is riding a pig through the air, but she is only a small part of the cover illustration.
My Inside Self, which I believe is a poem by Rachel Field, is one of the poems I recall.  The illustration is of a little girl, short and portly, standing in front of her mirror dressed as a ballerina.  In her reflection in the mirror she sees a gorgeous, thin, delicate adult ballerina.
My mom thinks a British friend of hers gave us the book, so it’s possible it was a published in the UK (but not certain).
I would guess this book was published between 1987-1995.
I have searched many, many databases and haven’t had luck.  There are many other books with this title.  One even has “funny poems for kids”… the one I’m looking for was more about dreaming big and reaching for the stars — I think!

 

337R: Children’s European Story Collection

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Hello! I am looking for a storybook collection that I had in the 1980’s.

This book had a number of stories in it that seemed European based. I believe the first story was of a little boy whose mother made him green dungarees with a plane on them that he loved. He accidentally tore them on a fence and was very sad until his mother patched it with a star instead of a plane.
Another story was from Denmark about a boy whose father was a fisherman. The pictures in this one were monochromatic (rust colored.) The picture was of the boy standing close to the sea and possible the famous mermaid statue.
Another story was of a mother hedgehog. I believe it had a picture of a hedgehog in an egg cup.
I believe the back cover of the book was blue.
This book was read to me every night and it was my favorite. I would be so happy to finally find it again!

337O: Children Stories About Science

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I remember two stories, and I believe they may be from the same book.  One story is of some kids that get “hired” by a local scrap metal company to figure out how to crack open metal cannonballs.  They first try burying it in the snow, but find that the snow acts as an insulator, preventing the cannonball from getting cold enough to crack.  The kids then re-try by leaving the cannonball in the open (at least that’s what I remember), at which point the metal is cold enough to crack.
The other story also involves children, this time on a beach.  They collect up seawater, rig up a distilling system, and then boil the water to make steam.  The steam is collected up as drinkable water.
Thanks in advance!