Category Archives: Picture Book

317C: Three children fall under the spell of fairies in early 20th century illustrated book

I grew up in Pennsylvania but we moved back to Europe in my early teens and the boxes containing all our children's books got lost in the move.  There is one that I have been pining for ever since!  It was given to me by an old lady who was the grandmother of some people my parents befriended in the States.  She lived in a big house and had an amazing library and I used to love looking at all her old books.  She really sweetly gave this one to me as she could see how much I loved it.  It was a big thick children's book with black and white illustrations and wonderful colour plates and it must have been written somewhere around the early 20th century - I think.  It was about three siblings who are sent to the country to live with I think their grandmother, in a big house.  There are lots of stories about fairies around, and it is clear that the grandmother and the staff have seen them.  The fairies are not always benign.  Their grandmother starts calling the children fairy names like Puck and Robin.  Eventually the children see the fairies too.  There is some disquiet that the youngest child, a little boy, is falling too far under the fairies' spell; for example he falls asleep in the middle of a circle trampled in the grass by the fairies, which apparently means they 'own' him.  It is a very beautiful and sweet book, and I am hoping it might ring bells.  I can't tell you how much I miss it - it has been 40 years since I last saw it.

316V: Poppy’s Garden

I’m pretty sure the title of the book is Poppy’s Garden. It’s about a little black girl named Poppy who is sad that she doesn’t have a real garden, so she plants poppy seeds in all the pavement cracks around her neighbourhood so eventually the whole place is her garden! It’s one of those large square shaped, fairly flat, children’s books. It would have been around in the early 90s but may have already been several years old by this point...

316P: Classic children’s poetry – Little Golden Book?

I have a tattered copy of a much-loved book of poetry by Eugene Field that I think was a Little Golden Book. This was from my childhood in the 1950s. Some of the poems in the book include “Little Boy Blue,” “The Sugar Plum Tree,” “The Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat,” “Good Children Street,” “Intry-Mintry,” Wynken, Blynken, and Nod,” “Seein’ Things,” “The Drum,” “To a Little Brook,” and “The Boy.” I think there may be one or two other poems. The illustrations are whole-page in color with black and white pen and ink drawings between the poems. I would love to find an intact copy of this book.

316M: Colouring a grey kingdom leads to misfortune

A man (possibly the king of a realm) lives in a kingdom, its quite likely grey, and he discovers various colours in his castle / dungeon. You see a brilliant patch of colour in an otherwise totally grey scene as he discovers each colour. He rushes outside and paints the entire land colours, but this makes the inhabitants sick / depressed / angry etc. based on the characteristics expected of that color. Colors include (from memory) pink, cyan and yellow.

I first had this read to me in the late 70’s and as it was from my public library so may have been published considerably earlier, perhaps 1950’s or 1960’s.

316L: Two children visit island they are warned not to. Children’s picture book 80s.

I am looking for a children’s picture book from the 80’s.

Synopsis: Two island children were told by their elders not to ever visit a certain island near them as there was danger there, so naturally, the two adventurers decided to go anyway. They were frightened off by somebody wearing a scary mask and they scampered back to their canoe and back to the safety of their own island.

Pictures: It was pretty much a picture book with vivid illustrations on every page, with a little writing in big bold print. Lots of palm trees and jungly illustrations.

316K: Bizarre Candy Shop

I’m searching for a children’s book from the 1940’s or 50’s.  I thought it was a Little Golden Book but I don’t think it is now.  It was my mother’s favorite.  It had a story about a woman taking care of children and I believe she took him into a candy store and there were stars on the ceiling.  She broke off 1 of her fingers and turned it into a piece of candy for them to suck on.  It’s very bizarre; I remember her reading it to me and she just loved it and I would like to know what this the title of it was so I can find it for her.  She used to read me “Little orphan Annie came to our house to stay…” put a candle underneath her face and do this voice.  It was wonderful and slightly creepy all at once.  She owned a bookstore when I was little so I’ve been reading since I was 3; no TV or video games allowed, but as many books as we pleased, most of them children’s books over 100 years old.  Lamb on Wheels; The Adventures of Frog and Toad; everything Mark Twain – I loved his short stories, especially the one with the devil.  I was a slightly creepy child.  I’m 48 and mom is 71.  If you need any more details I’ll try and think of anything I can.  Thank you!

316I: Animal babysitter who pays doctor in greens

I am pretty sure it was a sloth or similar looking animal.  The children (also animals) wouldn’t eat the dinner (greens) but then ate a bunch of something else, so got sick and she had to call the doctor- who treated them but then needed to be paid – so she gave him the dinner they didn’t eat – and he commented on the dirty paws that had been in it- but took it.

316E: The 3 little ones ate all the fruit

I am looking for a children’s picture book. I probably had this book in the mid to late 1960s.  In the story there are 3ish siblings (I think animals, but possibly children) that play outside while their mother is visiting a friend. The mother’s friend has a picket fence that encloses her yard. On the fence is a grape vine or berry bush. The 3 little ones eat all of the fruit. They feel badly about their behavior and replace the fruit the next day by tying fruit that they bought to the fence.

315W: A lion of a tale

It's a children's book, kind of big, maybe 8"x10", old, probably from the 60's or earlier. Hardcover. There is a lion on the front, I think the cover was pinkish. Multiple stories, one involving a lion that gave his hair to birds and lost it all, so they brought him leaves. I think another was about monkeys. I've been searching for years. Halp! 😀