Category Archives: Fantasy

184D: Man wins hand of King’s daughter with help from friends

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Hello! I am reaching out to you in hopes you can help me locate a book I have been searching for for years. It’s about a quest nonetheless! 🙂 I do not know the title, I do not know the author. I remember it was a large hardbound book, the kind they used to make in the 70’s, that kind of story book. It was about a man who wanted to win the hand of the kings daughter, so he set up wild tasks for him to accomplish, and he did, with the help of his friends. One could run so fast he set things aflame, one could turn himself into a pig and eat and eat. One task was to get a golden egg maybe? I remember him climbing a mountain and trying to get into a nest that was far out of reach.
The pictures were amazing! When I think back, they remind me of Hildebrant type, like the old hobbit,very fantasy, very detailed. The man had a whole group of friends with him who could do amazing things that helped him pass his tasks. They did it without the king knowing how he did it.

 

184B: Dark Fantasy Story Record (solved)

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I don’t know if you do storybook records, but…

Maybe it was a written book too? I have this very distinct memory of a children’s story record I used to listen to as a kid (probably in the early ’90s). It was a kind of dark fantasy adventure story where this outcast boy runs away from home with promises of wonderland and winds up in this awful, prison-like school. He winds up helping lead the rest of the kids to overthrow the grownups and escape. The reluctant hero (or possibly one of the other kids in the story?) has some kind of an OCD thing where he has to repeat things multiple times and I want to say his nickname was something to that effect, like Freddie Five-Times or Tommy Two-Times.

183D: Old Collection of Children’s Stories and Fairy Tales

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I am looking for a book my mother used to read to us in the late 70’s that was passed down from her German great, great grandmother. It was a collection of children’s stories and fairy tales with illustrations in English. One of the tales was Japanese (I think) about two sisters (or friends) that we remember being named O’Lotusan (sp?) and Miura (sp)? O’ Lotusan had a beautiful singing voice and a prince was in love with her. Miura became jealous and somehow turned O’ Lotusan into a very tiny fairy and tried to trick the prince into believing she was O’Lotusan. As a fairy O’Lotusan lived in a seashell or snail shell and collected dew drops that turned into diamonds. She would go and watch the prince who was very sad and sat at a fountain. One day, she had the courage to climb on his shoulder and sing in his ear and he knew it was her.

Two other stories in the same book that I remember are about a boy who was very sick and had to stay in bed (winter time) and fairies would paint pictures on his window pane with frost so he would see them when he woke up. The other involved a baby who lost its parents or had no parents and was found by the woodland fairies who built a bed out of a hollowed out tree limb and lined it with moss.

My sister and I have been searching for this beloved book for years. I am hoping it will ring a bell.

181C: Unknown Beastmaster (solved)

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Unknown Beastmaster – not the series, but a single book, and this one has a young woman (perhaps a teen) as the main character. She somehow ends up in a gorgeous forest (definitely a fantasy book) where she can communicate with the ‘beasts’ and becomes the ‘master’ although the relationships are more friendly. I read this in the 70’s but have no idea when it was published. The cover had a picture of the young girl surrounded by vines and lush vegetation and of course animals. I always remembered the title as Beastmaster but it comes up in no searches, anywhere. Can anyone help? Thanks!

181B: Rebellious teen goes to world believed fictional

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I’m looking for this book I used to read in the 2000s. Small blue hardcover, first in a series. Kind of a graphic novel- illustrated throughout. It was about this girl who went to a world that she thought was fictional to rescue her younger brother, who really liked the series of books based on that world, and then she had to save it. She met the protagonist of the series of books, who turned out to be an African-American woman, and her name was something like Dot.
There was a palace and a witch and a whale and someone made out of soap, and if was all surreal and beautiful. I think if might have been called something like Abeceria or Azera. The protagonist was a rebellious teenager, possibly with a dead mom. If I can’t figure out what it is I’m literally going to have to bunk off and go back to my old elementary school and search their disorganized library, so I’d love some help!

178G: magic old stamps (solved)

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When I was a kid in the 1970s, I had book of wonderful/magical tales – the one short story that I loved (and have been looking for) is about a boy who finds these old, strange postage stamps in some box in his house – they have pictures on them that depict beautiful, exotic places that he’s never heard of.
He puts one on an envelope and it gets whisked away through the air, only to return a little while later, roughed up and postmarked. He puts a stamp on a package and it too gets whisked off – only to return, appearing well-travelled and postmarked. Then he puts his old pet cat in a box and puts stamps on it – the box is whisked away to this magical land, only to return with the cat seemingly younger and rejuvenated. I think it may have ended when he sent himself off on the same journey.
I don’t recall the name of the book or this particular story – but I suspect it had “stamps” in it.