Category Archives: Status

339B: Children’s picture book about girl who turns into a tree at the end

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I was obsessed with this book from approx 1998-2004. I lost the outer cover of it so all I remember was a large bright green hardcover with a tree embossed on it.

It starts off with a little girl who plants a tree. The tree grows quickly and the girl shrinks and meets all the animals of the tree, like squirrels. She experiences all 4 seasons in the tree and at one point I think she hibernates with a bear inside the tree during winter. The best part is at the end she turns into the tree! There is an image of her body and face drawn into the trunk of the tree as part of the bark. Then her mom calls her name (might have been Emily?? Might not) and she wakes up next to the small tree she was planting. It was all a dream!

I’ve been looking for this book for many years with no luck, thank you in advance for any help!

338Z: Witches and a Magic Stone

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A young girl spends the summer with her Aunt Margaret (sometimes called Meg). The young girl finds an unusual stone that unknowingly to her, belongs to a forgetful witch named Lanie, who needs the stone in order to be able to fly. The witches come back looking for the stone, but the young girl has hidden it. Most of the book is about their efforts to get the stone back. At the end of the story, the young girl discovers her Aunt is actually the queen of or head of those same witches and in fact, is herself a witch and she has a pet black cat as her familiar. This is a young adult chapter book with pictures that I read in the 70’s.

338Y: Infant alone on an island

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An infant survives a shipwreck and ends up on an island where he lives alone for a few years. Not certain what age he is when some people (grandfather maybe) come searching for him, but not being accustomed to people, he hides from them. The book makes a point of mentioning that the boy’s hair is very blond to almost white. I remember this was a very tiny book size-wise; smaller than the average book at the time.  It was a library book from the young adult/children’s section and I read it in the late 60’s early 70’s.

338X: Secret Playhouse In The Woods

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Looking for an illustrated children’s book (perhaps 12″x”12 and ~48 pages) about a group of kids who discover and clean out an old abandoned cabin in the woods and fix it up, paint it in vibrant colors and decorate it. I read it at my public library in Vancouver, Canada in c1974 and remember it being full color on all pages so am guessing it was published in the early ’70s. I can’t recall the title or the author. That book was so magical because the kids had a secret playhouse in the woods that no one knew about. There was no adversity/bad in the book that I recall (other than overcoming the shed’s dilapidated condition) and I believe it ended with the kids hosting a party there?????


Thank you in advance for your efforts to figure out what the book was.

338V: Bedtime for African-American Babies

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I am looking for a baby book for African-American kids, starts with Sweet brown eyed baby sleepy one you're tired from a day of fun, come here baby rest your head it's time for you to go to bed. Read to babies in 1995. Not sure of author or book title, Maybe Bedtime for Baby. Thank you

338U: Civil War Fiction From My Childhood

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I found this book in the used bookstore when I was in middle school (1984).

It was already older (published in the 50s or 60s, I suspect). It had a orange/rust colored cover with a very impressionistic sketch of a military scene.
The story follows an orphan who runs away to join the army.  He is befriended by a soldier (the name Mr. Putnam stands out) who protects him in camp and on the battlefield. Either the boy or the soldier is wounded (fairly certain it is the man).
Of all the details I remember,  there are young girls who makes silk beads that supposed to help quench the soldier’s thirst if they run out of water.

338T: Non-Traditional Stories of Kings (Solved!)

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I was born in 1984, and I’m guessing I had this book when I was 6-8 years old. It’s a book of collected tales, but most of them were non-traditional stories. The only traditional stories I remember inside is The Emperor and the Nightingale, and Sing a Song of Sixpence. One story was about a king who got tired of living in his castle and decided to search for another place to live, but eventually ends up back at his castle. Another story was about a king whose soldiers were an untidy and lazy lot, always waking up late and showing up dirty and messy. The princess makes bacon and eggs and tells them they can only have breakfast if they clean up.

338S: Chad’s Quest to Find Home

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A book was read aloud to my second grade class in 1955.   The book was as I recall about a boy named CHAD ???   who was lost and was on a quest with the help of others along the way to find his home (I think he was from a wealthy or royal family). After a series of adventures he did indeed make it home.  The only adventure I think that I remember (60 years ago) he and his pals came upon a remote steep canyon the floor of which  was littered with precious stones. They threw raw meat into the canyon and buzzards picked up the meat – they ate the meat on the ground level and left the stones for Chad and his pals .  I know this is vague and may not be very reliable but perhaps you can find the book title. It is funny the things that dwell in the memories of childhood. The story was a great adventure for the class of 2nd graders.