Category Archives: Early Reader

297P: Wizard/Mage/Sorcerer’s Trap (Solved)

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This is a book I read hundreds of times in my childhood I can assure you it exists and yet I cannot find it.

It is a thin paperback book with watercolour highly detailed paintings. It is set in a far off land with two kingdoms across the sea from each other. One inhabited by a good king and the other by (I think his brother) an evil, very powerful, wizard.

The wizard decides he wants to take control of the kingdom of light and decides to do so by killing the king’s only son on (i think) his coronation day.

Cut to a parade in the street of the good kingdom, we meet a blind young woman who weaves baskets to make money. She hears of the coronation day and people buy her baskets more than ever. She speaks to a gentle man who gives her too much for her basket but insists she keeps the excess. Suddenly the prince goes missing and the evil wizard mocks the king by telling him he has turned the prince into a fish. The king banns all fishing and the people starve as well as cannot make money. The girl cannot sell her baskets. The wizard says he will set the prince free if someone can get a magic pearl guarded by an octopus at the bottom of the sea.

The king offers anything to whomever can bring his the pearl and by extension his son back home.

First a knight steps forward. He is put on a boat with a special orb to let him breath underwater and never returns. Then a lion tamer steps forward. He is put on a boat with a special orb to let him breath underwater and never returns. It is a long while before anyone else comes forward. But eventually a thief steps forward. He is given a boat with a special orb to let him breath underwater but also doesn’t return.

Eventually when the girl is about to starve and is on her last piece of bread a talking turtle asks for a piece. She shares it with him and finds the courage to go and search for the prince. (The turtle offers to be her eyes i think) the king doesn’t believe in her but is desperate and reluctantly lets her go. She and the turtle run into, a swordfish, a sea lion, and another sea creature before finally making it to the giant octopus.

She gets the pearl and makes it back to shore.

i forget what happens next but it is revealed that:

swordfish=knight

sealion=lion tamer

other creature= thief

octopus= sorcerer

turtle=prince

The prince decides to marry the blind girl and they all live happily ever after.

I forget what happens to the sorcerer, he either dies or vows to leave the kingdom of light alone.

Please help me find this book it’s a favorite of mine (as you can tell) and it’s driving me crazy not having it!

297M: In a fever dream she dances with snowmen

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I’m looking for a children’s book I read as a child.

There’s a dark-haired little girl (maybe a Sarah, but I’m not sure) who goes outside to play in the snow (I think they build a snowman), but doesn’t put on her coat/mittens/hat/etc.  When she comes back in, she gets sick.  I think they give her a bath but it doesn’t work and she’s basically bedridden for most of winter.  At some point she has a fever dream where she’s dancing with snowmen in some sort of winter world.  When she wakes up, it’s springtime and I think she goes to a grandparent’s house, where the trees are in bloom, and the white blooms look like the winter world and she runs happily through them since she’s been cooped up for so long.

Beautiful illustrations.  Would love to look for a copy for my daughter.  Thanks in advance!

 

296Y: Haunted house with shrunken ghost (Solved)

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I am looking for the title of a book from my childhood. I was born in 1982. The book might be a Bugs Bunny book where he moves to a new house and doesn’t realize the house already has someone living there; a ghost. The ghost tries everything to scare Bugs Bunny away. He rattles chains, he moans, nothing works. Finally late one night the ghost and Bugs have an encounter and somehow Bugs spills juice on the ghost. Now the ghost is really depressed, can’t get rid of Bugs and has a stain. So Bugs washes the ghosts sheet and accidentally shrinks him to a tiny ghost. Distraught and embarrassed the ghost and Bugs work through their problems and end up sharing the house as friends.

Side note: it might not be Bugs Bunny, it might be the Pink Panther. I can’t remember!

296K: Scary, grotesque and colourful

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I am looking for a picture book/book for early reading I read in the early to mid 90s in Australia. It had this man looking for treasure or gold in a cave or mine. He brought his horse or donkey along I believe. When he found the treasure I believe a ghost/whole lot of spooks appeared? What I remember most were the pictures which were very scary and grotesque and if I remember correctly colourful.

295W: Good Morning Mr. Sun

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Here is a direct passage from the book that I cannot find: “Good morning Mr. Sun. Time to rise and shine. I must get dressed. The day looks fine. Muffins for breakfast with strawberries and cream. I eat it all up and brush my teeth clean. Some of my friends come over to play. We run and climb and tumble all day. Off to the garden to rake and plant seeds. Water the ground and pull out the weeds. Time to eat dinner then off to my room. All tucked into bed. Goodnight Mr. Moon. ” The book is yellow/orange in color with a bear on the front.

295O: Camille, nicknamed Millie

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Juvenile historical fiction from the 1980s (probably) about a girl named Camille, nick-named Millie, who moves with her father into a house with her aunt, uncle, and two girl cousins. The book takes place in New York State or New England in 19th century. There are scenes of a fire with a bucket brigade and ice skating on a frozen pond. I feel like the author’s name started with a D. The book was probably less than 100 pages, and almost square in form. I checked it out from the school library.

295N: The Lonely Doll meets The Curious Clubhouse (Solved)

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I read a juvenile novel in the 1980s (from my school library). It may have been from the 1960s or 1970s about a very lonely girl who moved to a new house in the country, and while exploring, she found a secret playhouse that had dolls and teddy bears in it, and I think they came to life. Kind of like The Lonely Doll meets The Curious Clubhouse, but definitely not either of those! It had illustrations, maybe an orange cover, and I feel like Secret may have been in the title, and the author’s last name began with G or H?

294M: Teeth Vs. No Teeth (Solved)

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A children’s story about a girl who goes off to sea with a bunch of toys, including a toy soldier (but he was probably a toy sailor or sea captain)? Eventually, a duck leads a mutiny of all of the toys with no teeth against the toys with teeth. I must have read this in the 70’s as a hardcover in my school library and it seemed turn-of-the-century but who knows. I believe it had a sad ending.

292J: Wise Old Owl (Solved)

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I don’t know the title or author; it was a children’s book for preschoolers that was read to me more than 80 years ago. One of the characters was a wise old owl who sat in a tree, saying, “I am thinking important thoughts I didn’t have time to think yesterday.” this line has been quoted in my family ever since to anyone who was staring into space, daydreaming.  I have long wondered what the book was.  Thanks for any help you can provide.