Category Archives: Status

376P: Potion makes you beautiful outside, ugly inside

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I would like to find a children’s picture book checked out from library in the early 90’s (most likely published then but possibly in 80’s), about a woman who was ugly/plain and wanted to be beautiful so the prince would marry her.  A little old man with a raisin looking face peddled her a potion but told her only to take it sparingly and it would make her pretty.  She did and then got vain and took it all, and became beautiful but ugly on the inside.  She was mean to the raisin face man and I think he turned out to be the prince under a curse and she didn’t end up with him after all.   Was a colorful picture book. 
Not the book titled Sleeping Ugly.  

376O: The Friendly Wolf (Short Story)

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The children’s short story The Dissatisfied Little Lamb by Catherine Jones, perhaps under her maiden name Catherine Hallman, published in a magazine sometime between 1940-80, about a lamb who leaves the farm to go exploring and finds a dog or wolf who is actually friendly and brings him home and he then protects the flock from a predatory wolf or other animal. Probably a magazine published in Georgia or SC.

376N: Magical Silversmith (Solved!)

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Looking for 1950’s or 60’s fantasy young adult books about a magical silver smith in Massachusetts who can time travel and shape shift and enables a young boy to share his adventures.  Author might be Lawson or Dawson.  I have tried the Library of Congress listings of books without success.  The books were available in the San Marino, CA public library into the 1970s or 1980s.

Additional story elements:

The silversmith was an adult during the American revolution. Story elements involve turning into various animals and birds, pirates and participation in the revolution

376M: New Girl Teen Love Triangle (Solved!)

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The book revolved around three high school kids in a small town, two boys and a girl. I think the girl had recently moved to town, possibly from down south somewhere, and had befriended the two boys. One of the boys I remember being more awkward and emotional than the other. They have a spot in the woods that they meet up. Both boys fall for the girl, and eventually the girl falls for the not-awkward boy. Awkward boy catches other boy and girl either dancing or kissing in the school gym, and reacts badly. Girl goes to the special spot in the woods and finds that awkward-boy has hung himself. Possibly an 80’s Avon Camelot book.

376L: Spooky 90s picture book w/ Ichabod Crane vibes

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My younger brother and I used to regularly borrow this spooky picture book in early-mid 90s (could also be from the 80s). I remember rich illustrations and a main character with an Ichabod Crane nervousness about him. Can’t remember any of the plot except that at the climax of the book he is in a dark church and he believes there are ghosts all around. My brother’s memory is that the main character was an organist/pianist and that another character dresses up as a ghost and chases him off. I don’t *think* this is a version of Sleepy Hollow. But given how vague my memory is, anything is possible. Even if it is, I would love to figure out which version it is specifically. My brother and I have been trying to figure this out for years.

376K: Teens with Powers

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If I had to classify it, Young Adult fiction would be the genre, but it may just be broader fiction with a mostly teenage main cast.
I don’t remember much about the main character but he has some sort of power that I believe awakens, and he ends up on the run. He eventually comes across a mysterious girl and her relative (grandfather, I think) who rescues him and comes along with him. This girl seems to be able to see the future, and knows about him and that they will eventually be married.  I also believe that she can talk to animals, though this may not be the case. Her grandfather has trained her to fight and specifically talks about fortifying the house they were staying at with steel embedded in the door, before the government( or some evil corporation potentially) comes to get them.
I believe neat the end they find yet another youth who has powers, and end up infiltrating some sort of cult compound.
I’m pretty sure that it’s a relatively recent book, maybe 5 years old at most, because the sequel hadn’t been released yet, or it may have been a one off, I’m not sure.

376G: Old Book

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Probably published in the 1950s or even the late ’40s.  Maybe in Britain or Canada.
Children’s fantasy/detective story

Plot: A single (gasp!) mother (probably a war widow) with 2 kids, a boy and a girl.  She is being courted by the neighbourhood beat cop.  The kids want to buy her something special for her birthday and they have saved their allowance so they have enough to buy her a small second-hand radio.  The kids know she loves music and dancing.  Kids find out later that radio is magic and broadcasts crimes in progress, which they , of course, try to stop/solve, and get their bacon saved by the cop character. I know this is a faint, faint hope. But it was such a change from Dick and Jane, which I refused to read aloud, thus grade one ended with me being labelled as mentally deficient. It was astoundingly different from anything else I ever saw until I was in my teens.Best of Luck to you – and for me!