Category Archives: Picture Book

353R: Paintings With Riddles (Solved!)

Seeking an illustrated children's book (probably paintings) with a slew of riddles on one page and an accompanying painting containing the answers to those riddles. Likely published late 70s or 80s, no later. Somewhere in the book is a picture of a Raven and some thread. The last illustration features a horse. Not Animalia, but possibly inspired by it. Book is on the larger side, dimensionally. Thank you.

353D: The Adventures of Thistle the Raccoon (Solved!)

So my book is a children’s book.  It was mostly pictures but also some text and a little story to go along with the photos.  It is from the 70s/80s as the 80s were when I was taking the book out of the library.  It was about a raccoon named Thistle.  I am pretty sure of the name but it followed the story and pictures of a racoon with that name.  I hope that is enough to go on as I haven’t found it anywhere.  They were actual photographs and not drawings.  And I’m pretty sure there was a picture of Thistle on the cover.

352J: Pizza grows on trees?

I have a memory of a children’s book from the 80s — it was interactive with flaps and things you could pull. I have two clear memories of it. One page had a tree with lots of foods you could pull out — like a slice of pizza and an orange. Another page had little doors you could open for each letter of the alphabet–each one had a name starting with the letter from the alphabet (I remember Quentin and Xavier) and when you opened the door it would either say “Quentin is in” or “Quentin is out”). I believe each character was a mouse and if they were in, you would see them in their little window. If they were out, it would be empty. I think, actually, that the whole book might have been themed around these mice and that it might have been called something like “Mr. ____ Mice.” But even though I’ve tried to search for it many times, that clearly hasn’t been enough info to turn up the book I want! It seems to me like it might have been a Dr. Seuss knock-off, one of those books that sort of looks and sounds like Dr. Seuss but isn’t. Don’t know if that’s enough to locate a book! But grateful for any help you can give me.

352E: Pig has fun at amusement park (Solved!)

This is a 80s/90s picture book with no words or few words. A female pig runs wild at an amusement park, it could be a department store rather than an amusement park, trying on hats and eating lots of ice creams and rides the rides and possibly gets chased by a policeman (for having no money to pay for ice-cream?) before finding true love with a wild boar and having several piglets at the end of the book.

351N: Children’s book about a girl who won’t go to sleep, with inbuilt music

This is a hard cover children’s picture book and story about a little girl who won’t/can’t sleep when everyone else goes to bed, and stays up trying to play… but every attempt to do so – with her dolls, teddies, pets (?) has them also asleep and quiet and in the dark. She is all raring to go at any of the usual places around home she usually plays but it/they aren’t.
I recall a picture of her doll house with them all asleep and quiet like the rest of her house/family … but what makes this book different is an inbuilt music element that at the end you play a lullaby type song (that I guess is what helps her get to sleep in the end) and that was built into the back of the book. I think the book tied up with a ribbon too.
This book was a very special memory for me and my sister/cousins at our Gran’s house and I have tried many times to identify it to hopefully find an old copy. I hope you may be able to help me.

351I: Dollhouse view of building with bakery in it throughout the day

This book was probably from the 70s or 80s. I read it from the library in the 90s. Every page was the same dollhouse view of one building at different times throughout the day with different things going on in each room. There was a french bakery on the ground floor with baguettes, the baker came in early to bake. There maybe was a clock saying what time it was on each page? It could have been a learning to tell time book. Either wordless, or minimal words. Illustrations were small in scale, I think done in pen and ink and watercolor or gouache. Similar to Roser Capdevila or Ljiljana Rylands. My mom thinks it was French-Canadian or French or from somewhere else in Europe. It was large in scale— maybe 11×13”.

350Y: Salami Racing cars!

Large watercolor book about a girl whose family owns a salami or sausage factory? They have a parade or race where they build things from the salami. They may be inventing machines? Can’t remember exactly. Would have been in English. Amazing illustrations of contraptions made from salami and shoes and all sorts of items.
Protagonist was a small girl. I read it late 80s but the illustrations were quite psychedelic so could be 60s or 70s.

350W: A Monster/Bird/Caterpillar Grows

I’m looking for a children’s picture book. Probably published between 1994 and 2004, a square white book, where … There’s a monster/bird/caterpillar? kind of thing that seems to grow … I remember the illustration being swirly, watercolor like with say leaves and feathers that get caught up in it as it grows???
Not Monster Mama but those colors and blurriness are on a similar track … Not a very hungry caterpillar, those colors are right but the illustrations aren’t cut paper…
What brings this book to mind is this fabric:
Do you think we have any chance of figuring it out?

350Q: Book with Tape Picture Book of Planetary Explorers

From early-mid 1980’s(?), book + tape children’s read along picture book. Brother and sister(?) visit all the planets in the solar system along with a ‘captain’ astronaut guy. There’s a part about each planet. There is music and sound effects in the production. In one part the captain almost dies on a space walk and the kids save him. I’ve been looking for this for decades now.