Category Archives: Picture Book

244C: Richard Scarry-ish Book from mid-80s

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I’ve been trying to figure out how to go about locating a book from childhood. It was in the vein of Richard Scarry as far as similar illustrative style though it wasn’t focused on learning individual words. (The age range was basic reading level, thinking somewhere between 5-9?) There were descriptive informative blurbs/individual paragraphs and corresponding artwork. The one illustration I remember in detail pertained to what happens when you cut your finger (or maybe just get a cut anywhere). The red vs white blood cells fighting it out, etc. I vaguely recall it being oversized with a sky blue base color and variously illustrated on the covers. The overall theme seemed to be life/the world/perhaps how things work? I was reading this somewhere between 1986-1990. I fear this is likely not enough information though I appreciate the effort to help solve this book hunt.

243F: A man, a boy, and a bag of blueberries (Solved)

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Probably from the 70’s, as I was born in ’79 and this is an early childhood memory. I have been trying to find for years:

Illustrated story about a boy and his father (or father figure). I think the father gives the boy a bag of something edible (blueberries?) to hold as they journey on foot. The boy walks behind the father, and as they go (through at town at one point?) the boy eats all of the contents of the bag. When the father finds out, the boy gets a mild scolding. The boy ends up with the empty bag over his head at one point, and I think fills the bag with air and pops it at the end. The story might start out with the father/son picking the (possibly) blueberries, or buying them…

Could be part of a collection, or rather short standalone book. In my mind, the illustrations remind me of Maurice Sendak.

243C: Busy Busy Port (Solved)

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I am looking for my son’s favorite book when he was a small child. He was born in 1982, and the book dates from early to mid eighties in publication. Its title is “Busy Busy Port”, but I have no idea of the author. It’s a picture book.

The book is essentially nonfiction; there is no plot, nor are there characters. It’s just a picture book close-up of all the activities and the boats, ships and navigational devices and trains that center on a big city port.

The book is a small book, maybe 10 x 8, and nothing like Richard Scarry-type books with lots of flashy colors

243B: A Picture Book of Color Photographs

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When I was a boy growing up in Farmingdale, NY (Long Island), I attended a primary school (Parkway Oaks) from 1973-1976 and there was a picture book that I used to take out of the school library all the time.

It was full of color photographs of objects. I believe it was an object book or visual dictionary of some sort. However, I also vaguely remember that it was organized by color so that green objects were together, etc. I could be misremembering this, though.

It was not a very thin book; I think it was reasonably thick, chock-full of photos. It was smaller in dimensions (WxH – not an oversized book).

I remember the color being red, but I could be wrong, and that could simply be an artifact of edition. This book appeared to have the style of a book from the 50s or 60s. I cannot imagine a book from the 40s having this much color photography.

I remember being fascinated by all the color photographs (rather than illustrations, which were more common in the other children’s books), and I would love to find this book again.

Thanks!

242G: Hats!

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I’m looking for a book, could be from any time before 1975 or so.
It was a big picture book for young children which I think was primarily about different hats. The main thing I remember is that there was one spread with a woman wearing a fancy hat with netting on it, and there was a fish design in the netting such that the fish went right over her eyes.
My mom thinks it was called something like “My Aunt’s Hat” but isn’t sure. I haven’t had any luck googling that.
She remembers it as being about an older woman, sort of crazy, with “old lady tight curly hair”.
She remembers the image as being “big, falling off the page” and there may have been a tiny little fishing line on the page.

Pretty sure it is not:
Jennie’s Hat
Aunt Lucy Went to Buy a Hat
Aunt Flossie’s Hats
Caps for Sale
Cat in the Hat or any Dr. Seuss including Bartholomew Cubbins Old Hat, New Hat or any Berenstain books

Although if there is a spread with the fish hat in one of these, that’s probably it.

242C: Magic Carousel

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I read this book when I was around four or five, so it would have been 1969 or 1970. Two sisters were with their dad at Central Park in NYC and he took them to the carousel and to watch the ice skaters. They rode the carousel and the horses. The carousel and the horses became real and they rode them off the carousel and through central park, maybe this is when they rode past the ice skating rink. From my memory it was evening time. I remember the book as being in pinks, yellows and oranges and I think the illustrations may be similar to those of Alice and Martin Provensen. Here’s to hoping someone knows something about this book! I have never forgotten it.