Category Archives: Early Reader

313Q: Calico Cat and Her Kittens Live in a Candy Store

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I’m looking for a children’s book that I had received in the early to mid 70s. It was a thin illustrated book about a calico cat that had kittens and lived in a candy store. Those are the details I’m completely sure about.

I’m relatively sure that one of the kittens was white or cream colored. It may have been discolored by dust or soot at one point. The kittens were adopted. I’m pretty sure an old man owned the store and he gave the dirty kitten to a sad little girl who loved him and cleaned off the dirt to discover its beautiful fur.

I’ve been looking for this book for decades.

309U: Illustrated colour hardcover short stories from around world

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I am looking for a children’s book I had as a child. It had short stories (1-2 pages) per story and they were different stories from around the world. There were a lot of different stories – at least 25 plus.

I recall three – one was the leprachaun, another about a boy who had egg nest soup and I think there was one about ananzi

I got the book as a gift – it would have been late 1980’s or early 1990’s. I think it would have been published in South Africa.

309T: Poems, myths, legends, fables, bios and much more

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I am looking for an anthology of children’s literature that I received as a new book in the late 60’s or very early 70’s. It was a single volume and quite thick. It was divided by genre similar to, but not exactly like, THE CHILDREN’S HOUR 16 volume collection. It was also on a similar reading level. There were poems, myths, legends, fables, bios and much more. I remember those categories because they were my favorites. I specifically remember Pandora’s Box, Arachne, The Oak and the Linden. Any tips or information would be greatly appreciated.

309S: Miguel, The Dirty One

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The book I am looking for is/was a children’s book that I loved as a child. I was born in 1955 so I am guessing the book was published in the 1940s or 1950s. I checked it out, with the help of my mother, from the Pittsburg, California Public Library. I think I remember that the cover of the book was red and the illustrations were in black and white.

It was about a little Hispanic boy, Mexican, I think,  who hated to take a bath. His family and village all must convince him to take a bath for some special celebration. I think the name of the book was the boy’s name, maybe Miguel, The Dirty One.

 

309Q: The lonely star

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I remember this book from when I was little. I can’t remember, author, title, country of origin, date published, etc. But I know it exists because recently I saw a sign for a paint store in Mexico that had the main character of the book as the logo. So of course now I’m on a mission to find it.
The book had a color scheme of only black, white and red, similar to ‘Harold and the Purple Crayon’, but red instead of purple. The main character was in the shape of a star. Could’ve been a ghost? It lived in a big lonely mansion. It discovers a paintbrush and a can of red paint. It begins painting red spirals. First on the walls, the curtains, the furniture and then on animals and trees. So it gives a deer longer spiral red horns and a bird longer spiral red feathers. It gives trees longer spiral red branches and flowers more petals. I was born in 1982 and I must’ve come across it when I was about 8-10 years old, at the time I lived in Mexico, but I believe it was in English.
I appreciate your help and hopefully this helps shed more light on the mystery.

309L: How human beings “diversified”

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I am hoping to find a book that my father read to me when I was about 5 years old. After that, I remember reading it myself for years. This was a very long time ago…probably 1948 or so. No, I don’t remember the name of the book or the author but I can still visualize the black and white line drawings. The book told the story of how human beings “diversified” and the different races and ethnic groups evolved as they traveled across the Earth over centuries. The groups of people were called by various nonsense names….as I recall, there were names like Goopledops but that’s about as close as I can get. I know it was a hardcover book. I wonder if anyone remembers it. Thank you.

308T: A boy and a whale (Solved)

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Here is the book I am looking for from my childhood. I was born in 1981 for reference.

Book is about a whale and boy. They travel down a river and as they go the whale changes colors from the surrounding areas. I know one page is a jungle with monkeys.  The last page of the book is the whale with the boy on top of him swimming out to sea. All the colors have been washed off of him and the water behind him is colored like a rainbow but the whale is white/gray.

308L: Mole in the hole (Solved)

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A mole is asleep in a hole but a bear (I think) thinks that he fell in and is hurt. He tries to get help but has to bargain with other animals e.g. horse has a rope but he wants a brush to swap, so bear goes to squirrel to get a brush but he wants nuts (I think) … eventually bear gets back to mole to find out he was only asleep