This children’s picture book was always hanging around our vacation home, and in the mid-fifties it looked old, so I guess it was from the late thirties or forties. Definitely not after mid-fifties. It was a book about a balloon ringmaster who blew on his toe and inflated himself and then I believe he inflated the rest of the circus. It had some color in the pictures, I think, not many pages, hardbound. The ringmaster was round body, round head as you can imagine. Any ideas?
Category Archives: Solved
324M: Girl’s Best Friend Moves To New York City (Solved!)
This was a thin paperback, and I think the cover was yellow/gold with a b & w photo of two teenage girls taken in a photo booth. I read it in the late 70s/early 80s. It was about a girl whose best friend moves to NYC. After being separated for awhile she is excited to visit her friend there, but when she arrives her friend is now a stuck up “city girl.” I remember her friend mocking her for calling 6th Avenue by its other name, Avenue of the Americas, stating only tourists call it that. There is also a subplot abut the girl’s dog, a sweet old yellow lab (?) named Nora/Lorna. Near the end of the story, Nora/Lorna dies under a lilac bush and the devastated girl wraps her in a special towel that was used for the dog’s baths.
324L: A Hidden Room Mystery Story (Solved!)
1960’s-1970’s YA mystery short story–people search a castle for a missing keep or room wherein may be hidden a fortune. Many people search. They decide to put a cloth in each window as they search; then they can see from the outside which window has no cloth and is therefore the hidden room. The story is possibly from one of the Alfred Hitchcock Presents Anthologies. It certainly had that feel. Although many others are searching this castle for a missing keep or a room in a keep, only one person finds it. There is some sort of secret entrance, I recall. When the finder discovers the entrance and room, another character (the bad guy) goes with him and murders him there and “hides” the secret entrance to the room again.
I recall (or believe I recall) a line at the end—part of the thoughts of the skeptical castle groundskeeper, I think– “there was no Norman keep.”
324D: A Young Boy At A Sheep Ranch (Solved!)
Seeking a copy of a book that my father gave me circa 1963 when I was almost 7—the only and last present he gave me before disappearing from my life forever. Narrative follows a young boy sent to a sheep ranch, perhaps as an orphan(?) I believe, but little else comes to mind except a blue cloth binding and white or silver spine lettering. It was a YA book, over 100 pages, with some illustrations, which of course I could only read a few years later.
Inside he wrote: “Keep your right up” as he had tried to teach me to box, but I don’t think boxing is part of the story line.
(I had this copy until my sister sold it at a yard sale when I went away to school at 14!)
324B: Boy Changes Into Animals To Discover Their Worlds (Solved!)
I was born in 1951 and read a children’s book at roughly age 6 – 8. We probably got it from the library.
I have no title, but the book told the story of a boy who changed into a different animal in each chapter to explore what that animal’s world was like. I specifically remember the chapter in which he became an otter.
There were black and white drawings/illustrations at the head of each chapter but otherwise is just text.
Many thanks for your help!
323Q: Town Gets Rid Of Laws And Other Stories (Solved)
323G: Late Bloomer Finally Dates (Solved)
Young Adult book on library shelves in late ’60’s early ’70’s. Has an old-fashioned feel. Girl (first name starts with an M?) is slightly awkward, gets to date a boy she likes. She overhears girls mocking her for wearing too much face powder. Her yearbook quote was, “her voice was ever soft, gentle and low, an excellent thing in a woman”. Good ending.
323F: Cassandra’s Star? Julie’s Star? (Solved)
Looking for a Young Adult book on library shelves in the late ’60’s or early ’70’s. Julie wants to go steady, but her mother (Cassandra) does not think that she is ready. Set in a part of the country where there is snow. Julie is a cheerleader. Somebody tightens the fit of the uniform sweater and gets in trouble. Julie wants to wear her mother’s star-shaped brooch. At the end, Julie gets to go steady and wears the brooch.
323B: Maypole Murder Riddle And Other Mysteries (Solved!)
The book is a compilation of multiple crime riddles. It was most likely published in mid 90s to early 2000s. I’m pretty sure it was a dark purple color and I vaguely remember a magnifying glass on the cover. Oh, and it also contained one mystery involving a murder around a maypole.
322R: Poor Girl Helps Former Affluent Girl Find Lost Ring (Solved!)
I’m hoping you can help me find a book. I remember a wonderful book being in my library at Elementary School, I checked it out so often I wasn’t allowed to check it out anymore – and now I can’t remember its name. I think it was a children’s or young adult book? This would have been mid to late 80s.
It was about a poor girl who lived with her father. They were very, very poor and the book mentioned they couldn’t afford heat so she had to take cold showers but often went dirty. She didn’t have many friends but then befriended an affluent girl. This affluent girl’s family then fell on hard times and the affluent friend lost a ring – I think a garnet ring? The poor girl thought if she could find the ring she could solve her new friend’s family’s money issues. I think she found the stone of the ring in her friend’s dress belt/sash. Her friend may have contracted a disease like polio in the book.
I’d love any help you may know about this!