Category Archives: Picture Book

313T: Vehicles of the Future

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Early 1980s book I checked out of my local grade school library.  I left that school in 1986/1987 so it would have been published prior to that and it didn’t appear to be brand new when I checked it out.  What I recall:

1980s children’s picture book about future vehicles (in a similar style of Syd Mead). My primary focus of the book was the submarine image as I was obsessed with the ocean at the time.  The submarine appeared to have solar panels on the top of the hull and a raised platform (similar to the control portion of an aircraft carrier) that had the shape of a fin (like sports cars have on the rear) with two risers and a flattened, wing like top.  I believe (but could be mistaken) that there was a helicopter landing pad on the raised platform.

The submarine itself was massive and the front swept back like a manta ray or a shark’s pectoral fins.  The front “fins” had two, large engines (appeared to be similar to jet-intake engines like on a large plane) but obviously for aquatic propulsion.

I have attached a couple images: one is of a sports car tail-fin for reference and the other is a crude drawing of the submarine as I remember it.  Emphasis on the “crude”.

I have been trying in vain to find the book, or at least the image in the book of the submarine.  Hopefully, this will bring an end to my search!  Thank you!

313Q: Calico Cat and Her Kittens Live in a Candy Store

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I’m looking for a children’s book that I had received in the early to mid 70s. It was a thin illustrated book about a calico cat that had kittens and lived in a candy store. Those are the details I’m completely sure about.

I’m relatively sure that one of the kittens was white or cream colored. It may have been discolored by dust or soot at one point. The kittens were adopted. I’m pretty sure an old man owned the store and he gave the dirty kitten to a sad little girl who loved him and cleaned off the dirt to discover its beautiful fur.

I’ve been looking for this book for decades.

313E: Pet Alligator’s Balcony Garden

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In this children’s book, a pet alligator lives in a penthouse apartment. He wants a garden to be on his balcony. One day, he falls off of the balcony to either get at a plant or a balloon animal. (Somehow, balloon animals are involved. ) He gets stuck in a tree, and his owners frantically search for him. At the end, they buy plants to put on his balcony. Each page was full of intricate details when you examined them closely.

312O: Animals hard at work

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Hi! I’m secretly trying to find this book for my husband. He had it as a child and always talks about it. It is a children’s picture book about jobs that people do at night. However, the characters in the book are animals. I think he said there’s a squirrel that’s a garbage man? I could be off, though. I can’t really remember anything more than that. It goes through a handful of night jobs and describes what each of them does. He can’t remember a title or author. Thanks so much for your help!

310B: The Sitting Down Disease

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I have searched for an odd book I remember from childhood, with no luck.

I think it was called The Sitting Down Disease, but I am not sure. It was probably for 4 – 8 year olds, kind of silly. I recall a renter living in the attic of the family home and the kid or kids in the family got the sitting down disease, where one can only move about as if sitting in an invisible chair.
Has anyone heard of this? I don’t think I dreamt it…I would love to see it again.

309S: Miguel, The Dirty One

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The book I am looking for is/was a children’s book that I loved as a child. I was born in 1955 so I am guessing the book was published in the 1940s or 1950s. I checked it out, with the help of my mother, from the Pittsburg, California Public Library. I think I remember that the cover of the book was red and the illustrations were in black and white.

It was about a little Hispanic boy, Mexican, I think,  who hated to take a bath. His family and village all must convince him to take a bath for some special celebration. I think the name of the book was the boy’s name, maybe Miguel, The Dirty One.

 

309Q: The lonely star

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I remember this book from when I was little. I can’t remember, author, title, country of origin, date published, etc. But I know it exists because recently I saw a sign for a paint store in Mexico that had the main character of the book as the logo. So of course now I’m on a mission to find it.
The book had a color scheme of only black, white and red, similar to ‘Harold and the Purple Crayon’, but red instead of purple. The main character was in the shape of a star. Could’ve been a ghost? It lived in a big lonely mansion. It discovers a paintbrush and a can of red paint. It begins painting red spirals. First on the walls, the curtains, the furniture and then on animals and trees. So it gives a deer longer spiral red horns and a bird longer spiral red feathers. It gives trees longer spiral red branches and flowers more petals. I was born in 1982 and I must’ve come across it when I was about 8-10 years old, at the time I lived in Mexico, but I believe it was in English.
I appreciate your help and hopefully this helps shed more light on the mystery.

309P: Mother mallard and her ducklings

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Mother Mallard builds nest and hatches a number of ducklings (all with human names). They then face the perils of nature. I remember one disappearing from the nest. (fox).  The smallest one and last in swimming line suddenly disappears underwater (snapping turtle).  The book is probably from the 50’s.  It is a realistic story and I had a love/hate relationship with it.  I threw it out when I was in college (too bad).  I would like to find it again.

309J: A picture of mother (Solved)

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There is a book from my childhood that I think about often. I would be forever grateful if you could help unite me with it. I don’t have a title for you, but here is what I know:
1) It is a picture book for children.
2) I read the book as a child in the early 80s.
3) Plot: It is a book about a child (might be an animal child, not sure) that wants to make a picture of his mother. He starts out making the picture on his own and feels he needs advice, so he  takes it to different animal characters to see what they think. Each animal looks at the picture and makes a suggestion to change it somehow to reflect a feature of that animal (for example: the elephant suggests that the nose be lengthened). By the end of the book the picture has a variety of different features that look nothing like the mom.
Sadly, I cannot remember much else. I have tried to imagine the title and the best I could guess at is “A Picture of Mother” or something of the sort. But I could be way off.
This books stands out to me now as a message about trusting your own judgement in creating art (or writing) and not allowing yourself to be so easily influenced by the opinions of others. Let your work be your own. I’m not sure if that was the message it had intended to give, but it comes to mind now as I pursue my own writing career. I’d love to have this message bearer as a tangible reminder of this lesson.
Please help me, for you may be my only hope. Thank you for your time and effort.