Category Archives: Picture Book

223A: Poem about girl eating her first peach (Solved)

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This was a book I had when I was very young. The illustrations had children dressed in early 1900 clothing and it may have been published in that time frame. It was a compilation of stories and poems. One poem was about a little girl eating her first peach. I do remember a line from that poem “I’ve eaten it cloth and all Mama but what shall I do with the bone?” She was referring to the peach pit. Another story in the book was about a little girl who was picking blackberries and could not reach the best ones high in the branches. A gentlemen offers to bend over leaning, on his walking stick and let her stand on his back to reach the berries and she refuses saying she would be to heavy etc. The young man remarks that it would be rude to refuse a kindness and the little girl accepts his offer. There was a picture of this scene in the book of the little girl standing on his back and picking the berries.

221C: Hyppo the Hippo

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The book I am seeking was called Hyppo the Hippo. I’m not even sure how it was spelled. We pronounced it with a long I – Hypo?. It was a book very like the Barbar books in shape and had colored illustrations of hippos in human clothes. The baby hippo was left on a doorstep in a wicker wash basket. I imagine it was published in the 40’s

221A: “Solve this picture-mystery” collection of books

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I’m not sure whether these were actually children’s/middle-readers books, but I loved them as a kid. Each two-page puzzle had a full black-and-white line-drawing illustration of a mystery on the left page, and a little exposition with leading questions on the right, to help the reader solve the mystery. The mysteries were things like “Who tampered with the paddles before the rowing competition?” and “How did the baby get downstairs in the elevator?” and “Who stole all the chickens from the coop?” I forget whether there were murders to solve too, but most of them were all-ages-friendly puzzles. Each book probably had 20 or 30 mysteries to solve, with answers in the back of the book. It was a series of largish paperback books–I’m pretty sure I had at least two or three of them–and I was reading them in the early-to-mid ’90s. Thank you!

220E: Lady Dragon Transforms into Princess (Solved)

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This was a children’s illistrated book about a lady dragon who was in love with a knight but all he tried to do was vanquish her. She went to the wizard who made a potion (a raspberry fizz maybe?) that turned her into a human princess. I think there was a bit about how her scales turned into a carriage but I could very well be wrong. She met her prince but it turned out he was kinda lame and boastful and not what she imagined. However, it turned out that HE was actually a dragon too who was turned into a human and he was much better as a dragon so the wizard made the potion again and they all lived happily ever after as dragons. I think the last illustration was them drinking fizzy soda together through straws out of the same glass.

219D: Sisters feeding wildlife apples and nuts in snow

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A picture book that I read in my childhood (early to mid 1990s) from a book that could have been written in 1960s to early 1990s. The main characters (2 to 3 sisters as I remember) fed wildlife (birds and also a few deer, there might have been squirrels as well) apples and nuts and seed in the snow outside of their house. I believe the sky was darkened as if it were night. The setting was fairly Germanic or Nordic. The house where the characters lived was either a log cabin or a Tudor style home. I believe a few of the animals looked in through a window in the house prior to getting their food. Outside the home there were a few evergreen trees. Set before Industrial Revolution.
I cannot remember for sure if this was a Christmas story or if it was only winter, but I lean towards believing the inside of the house was decked with garlands. I am pretty sure it is in English, but it could be in German as well.

218A: Where the Elephants go

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The book I am eager to find is about elephants and titled, I thought, Where the Elephants Go. I was around 8 to 10 when I read it, so 1942-1944 would be the date.

The book lovingly described an older elephant going out alone into the forest to die, with the herd respecting that but coming to mourn when death occurred.

I’d be so pleased to find it again. At our age my husband and I are being encouraged to move into this and that retirement community – all with Meadow Something in their names. They remind me of Where the Elephants Go.