Category Archives: Series

299Y: Jewish family jewelry business

2 Replies

I’m searching for the title/author/copies of a multi-volume series about a Jewish family in the jewelry business in Eastern Europe – though I vaguely recall that the series might have started with a middle eastern trader – maybe.  The series ended with WWII – I think. Maybe in Vienna? I feel like I read these in the 1980s – in paperback. So they were probably published earlier than that. I liked the series so much – but now I can’t remember anything more about them.

297Q: Like a Canadian Little House on the Prairie

1 Reply

1950s (or earlier) Canadian series about a family.

My mother is looking for a series she read in the 50s but she doesn’t know whether it was published for her generation (born in the 40s) or the books were from her mother’s childhood. They seemed pretty contemporary however. She grew up in Canada and the books were all set in Canada.

The main characters were a boy and a girl, possibly twins. There may have been additional siblings. They moved a lot and each book took place in a new town, much like Little House. Their father may have worked for the government. Or possibly he just was sent many places and they regularly visited him.

One book took place in a logging camp with lumberjacks. In another, they moved to Montreal and dealt with the language barrier, being English-speaking. She particularly remembers them having trouble figuring out the French labels for hot and cold on bathroom sink faucets.

283A: Boxed set of illustrated fairy tales (Solved)

2 Replies

I am looking for a boxed set of wonderfully illustrated fairy tales from the 1970s.

This was given to me in 1974 or 1975 by my grandparents.

The books were huge, maybe 11×14, and contained 3-4 stories in each. The set must have had at least 10-12 books. They were covered in a hard cloth-cardboard, thin, no more than a half-inch thick, and in pastel colors of blue, pink, yellow, orange.

There was a distinctive, oblong sun logo or emblem on each book but not sure if that was the publisher’s. They may have been from Reader’s Digest or Random House. I think they were mail order.

The stories I remember were Sleeping Beauty, Thumbelina (this was my favorite because of a sweet picture of Thumbelina nursing the Bird), The Brave Tin Soldier though there were many, many more. I think it was a mix of authors, not just one.

The last time I had the set was in 1992 in Ithaca, NY.

257C: The adventures of Dot (Solved)

6 Replies

This was a children’s story about Dot, a little girl, around 7 years old, and her day-to-day life and small adventures with her friends. I believe the book was the first in a series, for example, the next book might have been titled, “Dot Goes to the Beach”. The books themselves were hardcover – I don’t believe they were ever released in paperback – and the stories were written for 7 year old girls. I can only guess that they were written in the 1950s or 1960s.

 

One story had Dot and her friends going on a field trip. Dot’s mother had given her a box that advertised salt water taffy. When the children arrived at their destination, the box of taffy everyone now eagerly anticipated, turned out to be a box that had *once* held taffy, but now had Dot’s lunch (or something else mundane).

252D: : Children’s Book series from 1980’s

3 Replies

I remember a series of children’s mystery books from when I was in 1st grade, which would’ve been 1987-1988. Each book in the series had the same color hard cover. The hard cover was thin and maybe glossy. I remember a series having an orange cover, but there was a different series from the same author or publisher that had a different color hard cover.

From my memory, I seem to remember there being a British-ness to the books. Some took place in a city, others in the country.

I remember liking the books and now that I have children, I’d like to read these books to them.

Thanks!
Augustus

250D: Two Brothers and a Flying Machine (Solved)

5 Replies

I read a junior fiction trilogy in middle school in the early 70s.

It was about two brothers who build a flying machine (NOT the Wright brothers – as virtually all my searches return).
I think it was set in either England or New England, possibly on a farm; likely at the turn of the 20th century. I think their mother is one of the characters. I remember specifically a description of cool linen sheets – of all things!

I think both brothers may have liked the same woman. (They might have been cousins but I don’t think so…)

One of the brothers was injured at some point – either in a crash, or maybe in war? Walked with a limp and a cane after that.

I remember rich detail in the writing.

Any thoughts or ideas would be welcomed. I’ve been hunting for years!