Category Archives: Picture Book

332R: I Spy A Raggedy Family In Questionable Locations

Leave a reply

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

Leave a reply

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!)

1 Reply

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.

332E: Young Raccoon Gets Stuck Trying To Retrieve An Olive From Jar (Solved!)

1 Reply

Purchased between 1994-1998 in Ohio (maybe school book fair?). It is a small, paperback, children’s picture book. A young raccoon is at a park (maybe with his mom) and there are leftovers from a picnic. He tries to get an olive out of a jar, but it results in a “monkey trap” situation. I think people start coming his way and he realizes he must let go of the olive to get free. He lets go of the olive and scurries away to safety.

331S: Black And White Line Drawing Picture Book

Leave a reply

Back in the mid to late 70s I recall a wonderful picture book that I read at primary school. I cannot remember any title or author details, but I do remember that the book was perhaps set in a forest? The illustrations were black and white until the last page I think, where they became full colour. I think they were line drawings. I imagine the book was published in the early 70s, maybe late 60s. I remember something about a rainbow as part of the story, i think this is why it was full colour on the last page. I also think a child was moving through the book. Thanks for your help

331N: Colored Triangles on Page Corners

Leave a reply

Looking for a children’s picture book, probably mid- to late-1950s or early 1960s. Size of a Golden book, but not that publisher. There were large-ish colored triangles on top corners of each page (maybe bottoms, too). May have had an illustration of a little child dressed up as a cowboy; I seem to remember something about a lasso. Maybe a lasso acted as the frame of a page or pages as well. Bright, cheerful colors.

331A: Russell Raccoon Discovers Wonderful World Of Daytime (Solved!)

3 Replies

This was a favorite book of my children in the 70’s and 80’s and I made the motherly mistake of giving it away, so would dearly love to find a copy.  I don’t think Russell’s name was in the title.

Russell Raccoon was not like the other raccoons.  He couldn’t sleep in the daytime and fell asleep at night when his gang was out scavenging  One day when he couldn’t sleep he wandered out of his home to discover a whole wonderful world of daylight.   He met a little boy with whom he became friends.  There was a delightful picture of Russell riding on the back of the boy’s tricycle.  When the boss of his raccoon gang, Emma Jean Smudge, found out what he was doing she hit him on the head with her purse and told him to stay away from humans.  Picture of that was very funny.  One day when Russell went to visit his friend, the boy brought him inside his house and showed him the bedroom that had been made for Russell, complete with a little bed with his name on it.  Russell decided to move in with the boy.  The last page of the book shows all of Russell’s group including Emma Jean standing in line outside the house door at night as Russell hands out fig newtons.

330U: Alligators (And Other Disappointing Pets)

3 Replies

I think it’s called something like “Alligators Don’t Make Great Pets,” and it has silly descriptions and illustrations of many animals that would not make good pets. I think the child might choose a dog at the end? I checked this book out from the library in the mid-1980s. I’ve been searching for this book for years and would LOVE to find it. Hope you can help.