Seeking a 1960s children’s book (possibly Scholastic Book Services) about a girl (an orphan?) who goes to live with relatives whose house is a station on the Underground Railroad. One of the former slaves they help is named Phoebe. The Emancipation Proclamation is signed at the end of the story, and Phoebe and her mother are able to appear in public with the girl.
It was a book my sister and I owned when we were children and we were born in 1990 and 1992. The copy we owned had the cover ripped off so we can’t remember anything based on that. From our memory it was a children’s picture book – the images we specifically remember are a tire swing and a blue minivan. We can’t remember if the character had a cousin or a friend that came to visit or if she went to visit them. But what we remember is that during this visit (most likely with a cousin but possibly a friend) she had all these plans for what they would do together and then nothing turns out as expected and she’s disappointed. I think there is something about her being annoyed about her little sister and wanting to exclude her and then in the end she realizes her little sister is actually great. My sister thought that maybe something was culturally different between the two girls, but it could be getting mixed up with another book. When we googled, it seemed similar to the book “When the Cousins Came” but it’s not that book and that one was published too recently as well. It definitely takes place in the summer or in warmer weather. My Mom remembered that the girl might have had red hair, but my Mom’s memory isn’t always the greatest so I wouldn’t say that is definitely a part of the book, but figured I’d add it just in case. I know this is pretty obscure but hopefully you can help!
A friend of mine recently told me a story he’d read long ago (That I had also read, but couldn’t remember for the life of me where or when.) We’re both in our mid thirties and swore we’d read it as children, though he grew up in Ireland and I in Canada. However this is the gist of it:
A messenger is carrying a crystal or jewel on behalf of his ruler across a desert, as a gift.
The crystal naturally formed around water, and is full of water, so is incredibly rare.
He runs into difficulty and has to choose between destroying the jewel for its water (and being executed) or dying of thirst.
The last line is a variation of ‘The water was salt.’ He thought it might have been Lord Dunsany, while I was thinking it might have been a Sufi Parable, but he’s read all of Lord Dunsany and found nothing, and all my searching in the Sufi Parables came up blank too. It’s in that same vein as “The Tigers and the Strawberry.” from the old zen story, or the “That Hell-Bound Train” but yeah, neither of us could really find anything like it. Hopefully someone remembers or knows! Thank you!
The book I’m looking for was published 1970s-1980s. It takes place in the country, and horses figure prominently.
The plot is that a 17-18 year old girl is in love with a slightly older man. They live on farms near each other. His family is wealthy and raises prize horses. Her name is Ellen, his is john Waters or Watson. She keeps coming by to watch him train horses, and eventually they have relations. After she tells him she’s pregnant, he goes away on business. Meanwhile his family’s prize horse is stolen, and vanishes. While Ellen waits for John to return, her pregnancy advances. At the end of the story, she goes for a walk, and by chance discovers the stable where the prize horse is hidden. She goes into labor, and barely makes it into the stable before she passes out. When she comes to, her baby boy is wrapped in a flannel shirt. John is there, and finally admits the baby is his.
I know this is a weird plot line, but can you help me remember the title? I’d love to have it if I could find it because it was a coming of age story for me.
Possibly a short story. I may have read it in the 1980s, and I had the impression that it was already old then. It may have taken place anywhere from the mid 1800s to the 1960s. A man had a stopwatch or pocket watch that could freeze time for everyone but himself. He went to a fancy party, stopped time, and stole everyone’s jewels. At the end, he dropped the watch and it shattered irreparably. About the ending, I should probably add: the watch shatters while time is frozen. So the implication is that he will never be able to un-freeze time again.
Mother is busy,
She’s making a pie.
But we do the farm work,
My dad and I.
Together, together,
We scatter the seeds,
We shear the sheep,
We pull the weeds.
We milk the cows,
We pet the goats,
We fix the fence,
We cut the oats . . .
Hand in hand along with Dad,
Around the farm with my dog Lad.
Winter, springtime, summer, fall,
Ours is the nicest farm of all.
But sometimes I wonder what I will be
When I am as old as – twenty-three!
I think of this, I think of that,
Till there I am in a trim gray hat . . .
I’m a mailman!
Tramp tramp tramp
I walk for blocks,
And I put Something Special in everyone’s box!
Woof, woof, say the dogs
As I walk through their yards,
But on I go, carrying
Letters and cards.
Then after I’ve brought
Everybody some mail,
I pick up a hammer
And drive in a nail –
Wham!
And there I am . . .
I’m a carpenter!
Bang goes my hammer,
I’m nailing down floors
And putting in windows
And hanging up doors.
Zing goes my saw
And I never stop
Till I’ve built a fine house
With a red roof on top.
Then I pack up my hammer,
I say, “Toodle-oo!”
And quick as a wink, There I am . . .
at the zoo!
I’m a zoo-keeper, see,
With a broom, and a key.
I’m walking the camels
And feeding the bears,
I’m stoking the lions
And sweeping their lairs.
I’m teaching the monkeys
And training the seals.
I’m giving the hippos
E-NOR-MOUS big meals!
Now evening is coming, the zoo has to close . . .
Presto and Change-o!
I wear a red nose . . .
Now I’m a clown
With a painted-up face.
I’m tumbling and jumping
All over the place.
My clown suit is baggy
(It’s puffed up with air!).
I wave to the children
I see everywhere.
See my duck in his bib?
See my dog in his bow?
See my string of balloons,
And my nose all aglow?
But all of a sudden
I catch on a hook,
And everyone shouts to me,
“Look, mister, look!”
Bang goes my clown suit-
A Shoosh! Then a pop! . . .
Then I hold up my hand
And the traffic must stop!
For I’m a policeman
At Walnut and Main.
Are you looking for Somewhere?
I’ll stop to explain.
Now, go, Jim and Johnny.
Go, Kathy and Joan.
Stop, Little Puppy,
Out walking alone!
Then all of a sudden
My day’s work is done,
So I find me a horse
(With a saddle, of course!)
And I strap on my gun. . . .
Now I’m a cowboy, a-riding along,
A-jingling my spurs and a-singing my song.
Across the Great Prairie I ride far and near
To round up the cattle and rope a wild steer.
Then I tie up my horse (and I feed him, of course!).
Yippi-yi! Now I’m going. . . .
I jump in a boat,
And away I go rowing.
Now I’m a fisherman
Out on the sea,
Where there’s nothing but water
And fishes – and me!
Riding a wave
I see something afloat.
It’s a whale come to visit-
He’s rocking my boat!
Then whoosh! comes a wave,
And it gives me a smack . . .
And I call to my daddy,
“Hello there, Im back!”
“Just in time for a snack,”
Says my daddy.
And then . . .
Off we go again!
Together, together,
(scan cuts off here)
I have a PDF with some scans of an illustrated children’s poem from my mother’s childhood [see below]. Sadly, the cover and title pages were lost long ago. The scan does not contain all of the pages. I am attaching the scans as well as a transcript of the text. It is an illustrated poem about a boy on a farm who likes to daydream about different jobs, such as a zookeeper, clown, policeman, etc. My mom read this book as a child around the mid-late 1960s / early 1970s.
I suspect (but cannot prove) this story may have some link to Western Publishing. (Western publishing was based out of Racine, Wisconsin and my family is from southeast Wisconsin.) We would love to figure out the title, author, and/or illustrator of this book!
I have reached out to various forums and the Library of Congress but no luck so far. I really appreciate the opportunity to ask the Stump the Bookseller community! If there is anything I need to do to correct of enhance my submission, please do not hesitate to let me know!
The book had maybe a dozen short stories, all with some magic involved. One of the stories, I think the first, had a father bringing home an ornamental Chinese horn (rhino?) that was rumored to have magical properties. The father’s son took the horn to bed with him, holding it tight, and just before going to sleep wished for a series of things to happen to people he know around him. The next day everything that he wished came true, including people hearing silver bells tinkling when a lady he liked started talking. Another story in the book involved a professor/researcher, maybe named Dexter, researching Roman history, and late one night he falls asleep and dreams he becomes a goose, and has a fight with another goose over a lady goose, and it turns out that all the squawklng ends up being the very thing that warns the Romans of an impending barbarian attack on one of their cities. So the researcher actually became part of Roman history in the dream. The book was probably published in the 50s or 60s, certainly no later than the early 1980’s. I remember reading it after my mom checked it out of the Mayfield Regional Library, near Mayfield High School.
The story revolves around a young girl who is either estranged or has a strained relationship with her family, which some may describe as “trailer trash” or poor. The family collectively gifts her a pair of large and lifelike wings, which is a significant moment for her. The gift of wings came after her birthday didn’t turn out as expected.
Describe notable characters:
The main character is a young girl, possibly with a difficult home life.
The family members may possibly depicted as problematic or dysfunctional.
Genre:
It’s a coming-of-age novel, not strictly a fantasy book but may have some symbolic or fantastical elements.
The book:
I think the cover was primarily blueish purple. There may be an image of a girl sleeping in a tent in her yard. It was a medium-length novel. About 500 pages.
Setting:
The setting seemed contemporary to when it was published, which was before 2003.
Where did you get the book?
I believe I borrowed it from a school library or got it from a book fair. It might have been relatively new, but I’m not certain.
I have a vintage children’s book that I have been looking for that my grandmother used to have for us to read. The main character of the book was a female cow named Susie and I believe the title of the book was Susie. If I am remembering correctly the cover of the book was pale blue and had black decorative scrollwork on the corners and her name on the front. Susie walked upright on her two back legs and wore pretty sundresses, high heels and a pearl necklace. There was a male cow in the book as well and was somewhat of a nerd and became cute and popular at the end of the book. He liked Susie and I believe they ended up together at the end.
Many have suggested that this book must be Elsie the cow, but Susie was younger and more stylish. I imagine they were both from the same time era and the book was from around the 1940’s.
I’m looking for the name of a book. It’s a children’s book where a little boy decides to run away from home but along his way he stops at I think it’s a deli tells the person he’s running away and they give him a sandwich. He goes to another shop says he’s running away and they give him a blanket. It’s not the book boy was I mad. It was from the ’70s or the ’80s.