Category Archives: Picture Book

357B: A Rural Cat’s Life

It was published sometime before 1991.

It was the story of a cat's life, I think it was living on a farm, or generally somewhere rural. It starts when the cat was a kitten and ends when the cat is old. The book had large pages, probably 12"+ tall. The pages were mostly taken up by large drawings done in just black and white lines, like a comic book.  I think there were brief sentences at the bottom of the page, captions for the drawings.

356Z: Elephant Picture Book

Trying to find an old picture book about elephants. Pre-1980 probably. At least definitely pre-1985. The main thing I remember is it’s extremely sad. I think it has watercolor illustrations. And it’s about how elephants bury their dead and (I think) always remember where they are buried and even go back to visit.
I remember it as a story, but it’s so sad, I suppose it could have also been a non fiction picture book.
If you have any thoughts on what it might be, would love to hear.

356S: Unicorn in Tapestry Comes to Life

I’m looking to find a book from my childhood, and have now been through hundreds of internet pages. Hoping you might have a lead! All I remember really is:

- illustrated color paperback picture book, probably c. Late ‘60s- late ‘90s

- story about a group of siblings moving into or visiting a castle? Maybe just an old house with a tower

- a unicorn from a tapestry comes to life, and he is white with a beard. The children bring him down out of the tapestry.

Things I’m not sure of but seem familiar:

-something about a yellow bedroom

- maybe an illustration with one of the children looking behind the tapestry

Thank you! The Magic Tree house has a story with some similar elements, but that’s not quite it.

356R: Picture book with a castle maze inside the front and back covers

This book was a discarded library book my grandmother got from a teacher friend. I read it in the early 90s and I think the art looked like something from the 50s or 60s. Not many colors, lots of red, black, white, and grey.

Someone, a knight or a king, got trapped in a castle maze and was there a long time. So long that he grew lots of hair. There was something else in the castle maze too, I think it was the bad guy who trapped him.

I don’t remember many details of the story, just that I felt bad for the person being trapped in there for so long.

The one thing I do remember is the castle maze. It was printed from a birds eye view looking down. The maze took up two pages and showed various stages of a chase taking place through out it. This maze was printed on the inside cover and first page (before the title page) of the book, and in the center of the book, and on the last page and back cover.

356Q: The House Made of Plants Blends Inside with Outside

Looking for picture book about a house that was made of plants. The outside world merges surrealy with the inside room (resembles art of Jacek Yerka but it's not him). Book was mostly visual and the color of the art was very green. The story takes place at night. There is an old man with white hair in the house. Likely an older book from the 60s or 70s, or at least has the 60s/70s hippie/spiritual vibe. If you find this with just this info you are unto a god, thank you.

356O: 80s Children’s picture book with animal protagonists and moral lessons including the danger of electricity and getting lost

I read a children’s picture book in the mid to late 80s in the US that was about moral lessons/behaving. Sorry, can’t remember what the cover looked like. There’s probably like 10 stories including: 1. A young hippo waits too long on a train to use the bathroom and poops his pants. An older animal tells him if he pays attention to his tummy and uses the toilet, the other animals will want to spend time with him. 2. A mother tells her young child (sorry, forget what type of animal it is) that electricity is dangerous and warns against putting things in the electrical outlets. A monkey encourages the child to stick a knife or fork in the socket and the child says no, so the monkey does it himself — book shows monkey getting electrocuted. 3. A panda or bear goes walking and ends up getting lost even though his mom warned him against it. The police end up getting involved. 4. There’s also a story about behaving for the babysitter when your parents go out and/or a story about how to behave when you get a new sibling. There’s no humans in the book and the illustrations are cartoony, not super realistic.

356M: A Baby May Climb Mount Everest Someday

Looking for a children's Picture book. Guessing it was published between 1990-2015. It's about a baby and the very last page mentions Mt Everest. MAYBE the big brother is narrating - like my baby brother will do XXX when he grows up. Hopefully this is enough! I saw it ONCE in a library - my good friend who climbed Mt. Everest is pregnant I want to get her this book! 🙂 HELP.