Category Archives: Picture Book

346D: The Grass has Eyes

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This is a children’s book I checked out from the library in the mid to late 70’s. I think it was about an explorer and the book followed him on expeditions. However, I don’t remember if the gist was that the person telling the story was sort of exaggerating his exploits. The illustrations were pen and ink and colored in watercolor. The one thing I remember most about it was one of the illustrations had the man standing in a tall field of grass, and that the grass itself had eyes. It creeped me out as a child. It’s haunted me ever since. I’d love to be able to read that book again.

345Q: An old picture book starring two cats in love

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I was born in ‘93, and I remember my parents had this book well in advance of me reading actively on my own. The book was beautifully illustrated, and I remember that the lady cat in the book was beautiful, fluffy, and… gentle? I also remember a thin, scruffy and beat-up looking Siamese pirate cat, though I can’t remember if he was the romantic lead, or if he kidnaps our leading lady. I do remember the tall, ribbed, triangular sails of the Chinese-style pirate ships, and lots of rich warm colors.

345E: Walking Into the Sunset

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I would love some help finding an old children’s book from my childhood. I seriously doubt that anyone will be able to locate it, but it’s worth a shot.

Really, the back page is all that I remember, because I used to stare at the picture all the time. I used to read the book at my babysitter’s house, when I was roughly 3-6 years old. This would have been from 1986 to 1989. The book could have very well been from the late 60’s thru early 80’s.
Anyway, about the image at the very back page of the book. It was a sunrise or sunset image, with the main characters walking out a door into a beautiful scene full of trees, animals, etc. The main character(s) had their backs turned to the reader as they walked down a road into this scene. The image really was beautiful, serene, filled with hope. The sunset was mostly orange and yellow, and took up a big portion of the page. This image looked like the ideal place to be, and I’ve never forgotten it. Sesame Street comes to mind, though I don’t specifically remember it being a Sesame Street book. Truth is, I don’t know but am hoping that this will jog someone’s memory. I’ve never forgotten this book and would love to see that picture again, now that I have kids of my own.
Again, I doubt anyone would be able to help me with this, based on the limited details that I remember. But, thank you for trying!

345C: Children’s Princess book with a dress making competition to find new Queen

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I’m looking for a book that I remember absolutely loving when I was about 6 or 7. The plot that I remember is about a young princess whose mother died when she was young. She loves dresses and her father the King thinks that as she grows up, it’s very important that she has a mother figure. So he (or maybe someone else) decides to start a kingdom-wide competition where all the women design their own gowns and there will be a big ball and the princess will choose which dress she likes best, and that will be her new mother. I think the book shows all the rich women in the kingdom spending all of their money on these fancy dresses and then there is a poor woman who makes her own beautiful and simple dress and goes to the ball and of course she gets picked to be the new Queen! I think there may be other details about the poor woman and the princess, but I can’t remember any! I thought that the title was something like The Princess Dress or something like that, but that may be completely wrong too.
This would be a fantasy children’s picture book. Probably aimed at grades kindergarten to second grade. I read it around the years of 2000-2002, but I don’t know when it was published.
I hope you can help! This has been driving me crazy for years!!

344V: The Cloud Book

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The book I’m looking for was a hardback children’s book with a dark blue, textured cover. It was either square or landscape. I would have read it around 1998-2001, but I don’t know if it was new or second hand at the time. It had illustrations of clouds and a little boy, and I think he may have walked on or slept on the clouds at some point during the story.

Unfortunately I don’t remember many details other than that, and I just called it “the cloud book” so I don’t know the actual title. There are books by that title, but none of the ones I have found match up.

344T: Children’s book from early 70s

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I remember a book with very simple line drawings. I only remember the first line: “When Nora(h) was six years old, her parents decided to let her go” and a drawing of the parent holding on to Nora’s foot as she floated away to her adventures.
I read it at my friend’s house when I was about six or seven so mid-1970’s.


Anything you can do to help me hunt it down is much appreciated!

344O: Children’s picture book about girl who dances with shadows

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Looking for a children’s picture book about a girl who lives in a village (likely indigenous, maybe based on cliff dwellers?). The villagers see scary shadows on the walls of the cliff they live at the bottom of and thinks they are monsters. Eventually the girl climbs to the top of the cliff (maybe with a grass? ladder) and discovers that the shadows weren’t monsters, but friendly (people or animals, can’t remember.) I read this book as a kid around 2000, my grandparents had bought it, so likely published between like 1990 and early 2000s. They’d traveled to Australia and American Southwest, and I think book was purchased one of those places. It was a hardcover with full color illustrations. Tried googling key words but can’t find it so far, help!

344L: Brother and Sister Run Amuck Through Restaurant

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My book Stumper is a children’s book that I predict comes from the 90s (even 80s maybe). I had it read to me everyday when I was a kid (I’m 22 now).

I have no idea what it’s called, but the cover depicts night time (Navy blue) with a restaurant illustration! I remember the book being rather large and rectangle (long). To give you a visualization, it sort of resembles Van Gogh's “Cafe Terrace at Night” painting!

The book follows a brother and a sister who run amuck through the restaurant - they run through the chefs kitchen and hide under the tables. They also do a lot of magic tricks. I vividly remember a white rabbit in a hat and the extending handkerchiefs!

The girl has black hair in a short haircut, and I can’t remember what the brother looks like.

I suspect that it’s not a popular childrens book as I’ve looked at countless lists and it’s never been there!

If you can find this book, I will be beyond happy. I have literally been searching for it for YEARS!

344E: Childhood Picture Book about Boy in Forest

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There is a book that absolutely transported me as a child. It was in the late 90’s that I read it (’97-’99). It was a picture book about a boy that enters a deep dark forest and encounters strange creatures in the trees. It was a rather eerie book and left me with a sense of mystery and awe. My friend from a conservative family read it too and he said it was demonic, if that tells you anything hahah! So it definitely had a dark, ominous tone. I don’t recall anything else, except that it had a lot of dark green.

Thanks so much for your help! I have been searching for this book my entire adult life. It would mean the world to me if you found it.