Category Archives: Picture Book

333I: Boy’s Overgrown Chalk Art Washed Away By Rain

Boy chalks beanstalk or garden all over the pavement/sidewalk of his town, possibly as part of an art competition. Then rain washes it away, leaving only what was done in an alley way.

Children’s fiction - read in 1980/1990s. He was given an allotted space to do his chalk art but he went up the walls and through alley ways etc. At the end it was all rained away.

Beautiful illustrations as I recall - not a chapter book but a child’s story book.

333H: Big sister anticipating little brother, wonders if she can trade it for a dog (Solved!)

I received a children’s book in 1995/1996 in anticipation of my little brother. We lived in Gardner, Massachusetts at the time (central MA). The book had beautiful illustrations (something about Monique Felix’s illustrations for The Velveteen Rabbit reminds me of it), and was about a little girl finding out she was going to have a little brother and not being excited about it. She wondered if she could trade it for a dog. She also ate an egg out of an egg cup at some point in the story. I believe there was something about her getting a new coat as well, either peacoat or cape-style. The style of the book in my memory makes me think it was not necessarily American, nor necessarily published in that time period (egg cups?!).

333E: Young Muskrat Contends With a Forest Fire

The story is a muskrat growing up, his adventures, from his point of view. Most memorable part is when there is a forest fire going on; he describes the fear, the fire, smoke, etc.

I read this book around 1961-63, so book was definitely published before 1963. Book was dark brown. Illustrations are like a moonlit night as the muskrat travels by a stream and sees smoke, etc.

 

332Z: Exceptional Animals, “Goodness Gracious!” (Solved!)

Seeking a children’s rhyming picture book, published sometime in the last 10 – 30 years; describes major characteristics of several animals (i.e., big ears of a fenec, sharp teeth of something, big spots of leopard) using the phrase “Goodness gracious!”;  final page is “Goodness gracious, what a noise . . . from girls and boys!” and it shows children playing outside at recess.

332X: Momma and Poppa Make a Midsummer’s Lantern on their Woodland Farm (Solved!)

I’m searching for a children’s picture book: The illustrations are in somewhat muted colors. I read it growing up in the ‘90s, but am not sure when it was actually published. The characters are momma and poppa, and they live on a farm in the woods. They have made a lantern (which has a face in it in the illustration) for midsummer. Momma walks through the woods, gathering strawberries and birch tree saplings into her basket. Poppa gathers eggs from the hens. Back home, momma makes a custard or shortcake with the eggs and strawberries, uses the birch saplings to make a maypole, hangs the face lantern on the pole, and they dance around it into the evening. Please help!! This has been driving me crazy.

332W: Wise King Shows We See That Which Is Sought

I am looking for a Children’s book, from the 70’s or 80’s. It does have pictures. It may be a Golden book, but that is just a stretch of my memory.

The book is about a Kingdom in strife. Lords and Ladies are backstabbers and no one is happy. The King is fed up with it

The King comes up with a plan: He summons a page. He tells the page he is concerned about the state of the kingdom. He instructs the page to go out (on his horse) into the kingdom and find all that wrong. Find that which has sharp thorns, plants that are poisonous and so forth.  Collect as much as he can (for show & tell) and bring it back in a week.

When the 1st page has left the castle grounds he summons a 2nd page. He tells the page he is concerned about the state of the kingdom.  He instructs the page to ride forth into the kingdom and find all that is beautiful. Collect as much as he can (for show & tell) and bring it back in a week.

The first page comes back. He is cut by thorns and has rashes from the poisonous plants. The King asks: “What is the state of the Kingdom?” The page replies that the kingdom is in terrible shape. It is covered with ugliness and poison plants everywhere he searched.

Shortly thereafter the second page returns. The King asks: “What is the state of the Kingdom?” The second page replies that “the Kingdom is covered with nothing but beauty”. He has the flowers with him to show it.

The King somehow make the point to those in the court that we see that which we seek; not only in nature but in each other. Of course that changed everything and from then on (as I recall) the Lords and Ladies interacted respectfully with each other, seeking to see the best in those around them. Great story. Applicable to today. Hope you can help.

332S: Stories About A Little Girl’s Wild Imagination

The book I’m looking for was a hardcover picture book. I can’t remember the name of the book. It was a series of short stories about a little girl and her imagination.
One story was the little girl asking her Mom what she would do if she left the door open and a bear came in and wanted to eat her. Another was what they would do if the watermelon in the backyard kept growing and got as big as the house. Another was what would her parents do if they caught a whale while fishing. Another was what would they do if it never stopped raining. And the last one I remember was one at bed time when she asked them if she was very very naughty, would they keep her and they tell her something along the lines of they would sell her to pirates to guard their castle and she asks if they would really really sell her and they said they wouldn’t sell her for all the money in the world, or the moon and the stars.
Each story was sweet and had wonderful art work. I’ve been looking for this book for years. My parents don’t even remember it! It’s got to be at least 20-25 years old.

332R: I Spy A Raggedy Family In Questionable Locations

I'm trying to find what I recall to be an unsettling/odd 'find it' book (similar to I Spy, I guess), in which a ragged looking family comprising of a Mum, Dad, daughter, and son (who I think looked around 10) were trying to get somewhere or find something. Every page put the family in a different location, and the reader had to find certain items for the family to progress. There might have been text that strung it together like a story too (i.e., not like a straightforward I Spy book), but I can't really remember. Each page had a different illustration of different places, and the family were always in the picture looking around. I vaguely remember some of the places they went to: 1. They were on a balcony looking down at a circus (you could see the crowds below them, it was outside, and there were hot air balloons in the sky, I think). 2. They were in a decayed looking room (I think the room was dark or dimly lit; there may have been a blue, cold colour scheme) with an old man/skeleton(the figure may possibly have been a giant?) sitting in a chair at a desk, with dusty old spider webs around him and attaching to the desk he was sitting at - he was either dead or frozen, as the children were inquisitively looking at him/touching him. There were spider webs all around the room too. 3. They might have also been in a sewer or somewhere with water at some point, but I could be making this one up. I remember the illustrations being somewhat striking in that they were pretty realistic (i.e., not cartoony), detailed, and unsettling/strange because the family always looked ragged and worn out on every page. The environments they were in seemed mostly uncomfortable, like you wouldn't want to be there. That's all I can really remember about the book. I think I read the book around 2003-2006 in my school library (I live in Australia, if that helps). I've searched the online database for the state library, but as I don't know the title I didn't have any keywords so I was flooded with various picture books that proved too difficult to trawl through. I hope you can help me find this book; it's been stuck in my head ever since I was little and it would mean so much to me if I could FINALLY read it again. Thank you in advance. 🙂

332Q: Hole In My Heart Interactive Book

I am looking for books that my husband used to read his children.  Here is as much as I know – but I really want to find them for his birthday.

Our kids are 15 and 13 years old, so it would be at least that old.

The author had at least two books:

  1. He thinks the titles are something like – Apple of My Eye and Hole in My Heart
  2. They are some kind of interactive book – the Hole in My Heart he said has a hole throughout the book on each page.
  3. Some lines he remembers – “you are the apple of my eye, you are the peach in my pie…”
  4. The hole in the heart is something along the lines of that the kids are a part of your heart and if they were gone you would have a hole in your heart.

I am his second wife so I was not there when he had these or read them to the kids.  I have tried for a year to find them and I can’t find them.

332P: Months of the Year with a Blond Curly-Haired Girl (Solved!)

I am hoping the little info I can give you will be enough to identify a book that I would love to secure for my daughter- one of her favorites. I think the book must have dealt with months of the year instead of days of the week. The illustrations were in pastels and the little girl throughout the book had blond curly hair. My daughter would have been 5-7 years old when she was reading the book. She was born in 1968 if that helps. I have Googled every way I can think of – so far no luck. This is a long shot – I really have no expectations – if nothing else, I am so happy to have found the Loganberry Books website.