Category Archives: Picture Book

262B: Girl can’t afford item she wants in store window and a richer girl gets it instead

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Children’s book, fiction. Hardback full illustration with words. I saw this book at library 3+ years ago. My daughter was attracted by the cover and took it out to read. There was a little girl who saw something in a store window (hat, but maybe purse, dress, doll, jewelry item?). Girl thought it was beautiful and really wanted it. One day snooty girl she didn’t like was looking through the shop window at the item, as well, and the poor girl was trying to figure out how get the item but the snooty girl bought it first. The little girl who wanted it was very upset, and ended up getting wise advice from a parent or grandparent (can’t remember) who comforted her. My daughter was so sad she didn’t get the item, that we put the book away. Now I’m sorry! What a lesson in coping with these moments when we realize we can’t have it all!

260E: Ball

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No author that I recall.  It was a small [~3-4″ by ~6-7″] hardback book with glossy color cover. A leaf-green border and white center background with a red ball [it might have had a yellow stripe around it].

The first line on the first page is: “The ball lay on the ground wanting to be thrown.” It is the tale of the adventure of this ball being tossed from place to place by random individuals. Not more than 20 pages total, probably less. It ended on the last page with: ” … wanting to be thrown again … ”

I thought it was from Germany; my husband thought it was from France. But neither of us recalls ever actually reading the publication/copyright page.

We bought it in a little boutique toy store [long gone] in Pasadena in the mid to late 80s.

I wish I had more details. It disappeared from my goddaughter’s room, and was never found. I have a new grandson, and would love to find it for him.

259F: Girl Plants Magic Trees (Solved)

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A picture book that I checked out repeatedly from my elementary school library. No idea of title. I was checking it out 1986-1988ish, and I remember it being newer, so I’d guess printing would be late ’70s-early ’80s. The girl plants different things on one page, and then when you flip the page, the tree has grown from those “seeds.” I specifically remember her planting diamonds/gems and getting a tree covered in necklaces (I remember that tree as a shimmery blue-white). I feel like there was also a hat tree that grew. There were definitely several different ones. I also feel like there was an old man/grandfather character. I think the ending was some moral about planting love and getting a family, but I’m least certain about that.

 

Would love to get this book for my daughters. Many thanks for your help!

 

259D: Flowers with Faces

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I remember this book from when I was a kid (I’m 29, but have no idea how old it was). I’m not sure that it’s a book for children, but I do remember that it was illustrated with these beautiful pictures. The characters are flowers (with faces?) and I believe the main character, which may be a dandelion or daisy dies. I remember it as being very dark and sad, and it really stuck with me, but my parents have no memory of it. I’ve been trying to figure out what it was for years. I hope someone can help!

257E: Magical Gifts

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This is a fairly recent book, having had my hands on it sometime between 1996-1998.  It was definitely a picture book.  I can’t remember if the classroom copy was paperback or hardcover, but I don’t think the book was published any time before 1985 and it was more likely to have been put out after 1992.

 

My clearest memory is of a page showing a slim girl with cropped black hair who, as a thief, had a magical belt or girdle that made her invisible.  The belt may have been silver.  The story took place in an imaginary land or in the past; I think she was dressed in a very sort of medieval page way.

 

I am certain there were other girls with other specific talents and magical objects in the book, but I am unsure as to how many.  Judging from trends in children’s literature it was probably 3 or 7.

 

Thank you so much!

256D: A surprise at the end of a treasure hunt

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The book I’m looking for is a beautifully illustrated oversized (aprox. 11 X 14) softcover picture book about a boy who wanders alone through what I think is his eccentric aunt’s house. Starting at the front gate he finds a note with a poem on it which leads him to the next place. This is repeated through the garden and by the pool and then into the house until he ends up in the kitchen where everyone jumps out and there is a big banner that says “Surprise!”

I hope someone knows the book I am asking about. I read the book to my daughter when she was young and she is now 15 years old. She is learning to read to children herself now and very much wants to find that book again which we lost in a move several years ago.