Category Archives: Solved

352E: Pig has fun at amusement park (Solved!)

This is a 80s/90s picture book with no words or few words. A female pig runs wild at an amusement park, it could be a department store rather than an amusement park, trying on hats and eating lots of ice creams and rides the rides and possibly gets chased by a policeman (for having no money to pay for ice-cream?) before finding true love with a wild boar and having several piglets at the end of the book.

351W: 11 Year Old Girl Rehabilitates Horse Named Black Baldwin (Solved!)

I am looking for a children’s/YA horse story from the late fifties or early sixties.  It features a somewhat broken down horse named Black Baldwin, who was bought/adopted by an eleven year old girl desperate to have a horse.  She rehabilitates him and eventually wins second prize in some kind of horse show event.  The book had small pen and ink drawings throughout.  I don’t remember the book jacket though, I believe it had one.

I searched for a long time thinking the horse’s name was the title of the book.  Either it is and every copy is long gone, or there is some other title.

351U: Please help me find the actual title of a book I thought was named “Honey” (Solved!)

I am an author/illustrator of books for children, and am so pleased to have been directed to your bookstore in my search for a favorite old book. Loganberry looks like such a cool shop! I’d love to come do an event some day, post-Covid. I am currently locked down in Malaysia where my husband is working at an international school.

When I was a tween I read and re-read a book that I’d really like to find. Probably published in the late 1970’s, it was a Scholastic Book Club paperback. When I first started looking for the book I was convinced that the title was Honey, but after searching for months I’m wondering if my memory is playing tricks on me. Wouldn’t be the first time. 😊

The cover featured a close-up portrait of a blonde girl (whose name was Honey?), wavy hair pulled back. She was smiling, looking up and off to the left.

The story is told from the girl’s point of view. I remember her explaining the pitfalls of her unruly hair, which may be why I felt so connected to her. Ha. Maybe she played tennis? I don’t remember that as well, but… maybe.
Mostly I remember that she met an African-American woman called Van, short for Vanilla, who helped her with her hair and with her problems. Apparently the girl was missing her mother, because Van explained to her that every child has a “mama pie” comprised of many mother figures.

351S: Book about a girl with a delightful long string of names (Solved!)

I am searching for a children’s fiction chapter book that I think I read around 1969 or 1970 when I was in fifth or sixth grade. The primary detail that I recall about the book was that the main character was a girl with a really long name of multiple first/middle names.  I believe she was a pioneer girl, and I definitely am sure that her names were old fashioned type names, such as Samantha, Jane, Emily, Sarah, etc.  though my examples here may not have been the ones. I almost think I remember that the first sentence of the book opened with “My name is  . . . . .” The character’s last name may have started with Mc or Mac.  I have zero recollection as to what the title or author of this book was. I have some vague memory that the illustration in the book showed her as having braids.
I would absolutely love to re-discover this book and share it with my daughters (who are now in their twenties, but would still get a kick out of it!), and I appreciate any help you may be able to offer.

351R: Doll Runs Doll Hospital (Solved!)

– published in 70s-80s, not that old

– cover was a cool tone color?

– girl doll runs hospital where she takes care of all the toys, she is in charge but they are all friends
– there is a china doll that comes in which is sick and running a fever
– all dolls/stuffed animals belong to girl who is terminally ill, she is involved sometimes but the point of view is from the toys’ perspective, maybe 3rd person
– there is a bunny or bear of some sort
– some animals have to have surgery, be patched up/sewn back together
– they are in a closet or something, there are beds where all the patients are
Any help would be great.

351H: Goose and Gorilla kid’s book? (Solved!)

We’ve got a memory of a kids book about a goose and a gorilla.
It was published before 1990 for sure, but it could be quite a bit older.


It had a similar feel to the recent hit “Boy Mole Fox Horse” book in which a child is taught various lessons by different animals.


Anyway, that’s what I’ve got to go on, basic google searches got mired down in ‘mother goose’ and ‘good night gorilla’ type books.


Thanks for the help,

351D: Two Black Girls Grow Apart at Summer Camp (Solved!)

Two black girls from NYC (I believe) have an opportunity to go to summer camp, maybe upstate? Catskills? Adirondacks?  One loves it, the other misses the city. They are best friends. Book describes city life well: hydrants on to cool the girls off, the cool of the apartment, waiting for mom to get home, making lunch, very detailed as I recall, which makes sense given how much I love richly described characters. Then off to camp where I believe the girls drift apart a bit.  I loved it and would love to know the title.

350X: Sensory-Enhanced Man’s Girlfriend Not What She Seems (Solved!)

The novel is about a man who works at an agency for people with advanced senses who use them to foil art thieves and bank robberies, and throughout the course of the story the protagonist becomes more and more paranoid as he is continuously foiled by a cat burglar who knows which poisons he is weak against. He believes his girlfriend is cheating on him, and gave away his secret, but it turns out she Is the cat burglar. The infidelity is a lie planted by his best friend, who is secretly a mobster trying to get revenge for a robbery he foiled.
I distinctly remember one specific scene, where he hits a man in the face with a large dildo.

350U: Buddhist Quest Starring a Monkey (Solved!)

This is a book from (I'm guessing) the early 90s. It's a comic book re-telling of the famous "Journey to the West." It's a Buddhist story about a monkey that is born in an amethyst geode. The monkey makes friends in a pig, a tiger, and maybe a dragon and they all have adventures. A big part of their quest involves a Buddhist monk Tripitaka and sacred scriptures. They meet several demons and bodhisattvas along the way. It was a relatively thin hardcover. I do remember something about a "Purple Monkey" but cannot be sure. My sister and I loved reading it 🙂