Category Archives: Picture Book

330M: Hibernating Animal behind a Red Door

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This book was one my sister and I read in the 1970’s to early 1980’s. I recall that there was a forest creature (cannot remember what kind) who possibly (moved?) to a new house in the forest with a red door. I think his friends were supposed to wake him up for some reason but then they couldn’t find his house with the door, because it was covered with a fallen tree (?) or maybe snow(?). I think they kept finding red things that didn’t turn out to be the door. It would have been a shorter children’s story with a lot of pictures. We read it in English.

330H: Creatures In Their Junkyard World

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I remember a book from my childhood with very detailed illustrations. The one that sticks out to me involves a junkyard with sort of a cutaway and you can see all of the creatures in their little junkyard world. In the same book, the protagonist (a young girl I think) visits the junkyard, which has a little house in it and I think she has tea there. That is about all I can remember. I’m now 25, for reference, and I remember reading it in the late 1990s/early 2000s. It’s not Junkyard Wonders or Paper Bag Princess.
Thanks, and can’t wait to re-read this book!

330G: Runaway Fairy Finds Love Along With Her Sister

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Ok, so this is an illustrated children’s book (the one I remember having was large and hard cover) and the details are fuzzy but this is what I remember. The style of the illustrations was similar to Kinuko y Craft’s although I don’t think it was done by that illustrator.
Basically, it’s about a fairy who runs away from home (she is blonde) and has to live by a stream and eats blackberries and is all alone.  Then a fairy prince finds her and likes her,  but his sisters are jealous of her – but he doesn’t care. The final scene is a gorgeous illustration of their JOINT wedding with the fairy, her sister and the fairy prince and his brother.  The protagonist fairy is beautiful and has blonde hair and her sister is pale and has black hair. It might be a version of the story of Thumbelina!
Please help, this was my favorite children’s book and I know this isn’t a lot of information but if you found it, I would be so happy!!!!

330B: Mittens On A Scrawny Tree

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I’m looking for a children’s book we read in the late 80s/early 90s, but I’m not sure when it was actually published. It was about a girl who had or came across a scrawny tree and to protect it from the elements in winter, she wrapped it in a scarf, mittens, etc. It may have begun finally sprouting a leaf in spring, but I may be wrong about that detail. It’s not The Mitten Tree by Candace Christiansen, unless it’s been re-released with new illustrations I don’t recognize. Thank you! I’m hoping to give this to my sister for her baby shower, because it was our favorite book as kids and we’ve never been able to track it down.

330A: Scarecrow Soldier

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I am looking for a children’s picture book possibly printed between 1930’s/1940’s – 1980’s.  Not sure when it was printed.  My husband remembers reading it when he was a kid at his grandparents in the 1980’s.  My guess is it’s from the 50’s, 60’s, or 70’s.

The book takes place on a farm or in a large garden.  One day the animals notice a stranger (the scarecrow) on the farm or garden and get scared.  The weather elements try to get rid of the scarecrow.  The wind blows as hard as it can at the scarecrow.  The rain pours on it, the sun beats its heat on it, until one day there’s nothing left of the scarecrow except maybe the pole he was on.  My husband remembers the scarecrow looking like a soldier, or at least having an old uniform and a sword.

I believe he said the cover was blue with the scarecrow on it?  Not really too sure on that.

I appreciate any help in finding this book.

329W: Caribbean Island Adventures With Photos

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I am looking for a book that I think my parents must have brought back from a Caribbean vacation in the 70s. It was the story of a bunch of island kids, boys and girls of different ages, maybe set in the Bahamas, or maybe not that specific, but definitely in the English-speaking Caribbean. Any adults were marginal background characters. There was a hand-drawn map of their island that showed beaches, caves, meeting places, shortcuts, etc. It was essentially a picture book, but scenes from the story were illustrated with black-and-white photographs of black children (actors? the author’s kids and neighbors?) and island scenes. The combination of an exciting adventure story with actual photography was wonderful.

329R: A Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Space Exploration Picture Book

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I’m trying to track down a book I read a lot as a kid.

It was a large picture book, maybe 8×10 inches. Probably hardcover. Full-page color illustrations. Not very long, if I remember correctly.

It was choose-your-own-adventure style. You were an astronaut/space explorer who landed (or crash-landed?) on an alien planet.

There were mild role-playing game elements to it. For example, you selected a couple pieces of equipment at the beginning of your adventure, and there was a part where you turned to the back and studied a xenobiology index for exactly 2 minutes and then weren’t allowed to reference it again.

You navigated the dangerous alien planet and tried to avoid toxic atmosphere, poisonous plants, and dangerous creatures.

I would have read it (from my school’s library) sometime between ’91 and ’96. I’m guessing it was published in the 80s, but it technically could have been the early 90s or maybe even the 70s? Just feels like an 80s thing.

Would love to track this down. It had a big impact on my imagination and creative inspiration over the years, I’m sure.

Thanks!

329N: Magical World Past A Hole In The A Hedge

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Seeking children’s picture book, pre-1999 but probably after 1980. Round brothers and sister with straw hats (maybe sailor outfits too) find a hole in a hedge. They get all dirty in a mud puddle and find a magical world with a very geometric castle on the other side of the hedge. One of them might get lost/want to stay. Found in a library in 90s. Driving me insane.

329J: Science Fiction picture book for kids from the late 80s early 90s

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When I was somewhere between 9 and 11, I checked out a book from a library in northern California that was a picture book that came with a cassette tape. It was a science fiction story about a kid that went in a robot spaceship that traveled the universe and back. Along their journey they visited multiple space phenomenons, including visiting Alpha Centauri, almost getting sucked into a black hole, and searching for life in deep space by looking for radio waves/signals that may be nearby. They actually found a radio signal, but when they tuned in, it turned out that the radio broadcast of “Howdy Doody” from 50 years or so prior had made it out that far and that was what they were picking up. The whole story was geared toward education of different types of stars, galaxies, space phenomenon, etc., for a child, and most of this “tour” through space was narrated by the robot/spaceship that the child was a passenger in. It was VERY entertaining, with great pictures and I’m surprised that I couldn’t find it with a quick google search!