Category Archives: Solved

299R: Witches and a Glass Mountain (Solved)

I remember almost nothing about this book except the cover and the fact that I loved it. The cover was blue, with a picture of a glass mountain on it, and a couple of little witches on broomsticks flying around it. I read it in the early 1970’s when I took it out of the library and it was probably aimed at 10 – 12 year olds. I realize this is not a lot to go on! But thank you for any help anyone can offer.

299K: Naughty Boy Who Runs Away in a Tote Bag (Solved)

I read this book in the mid-80s; It’s either a picture book or a young reader book.

I think it may have been from a Scholastic/other company book order from submitted through school. I think (I don’t know why I think this) it may have been translated into English, possibly from a Scandinavian language.

I  believe it was about a kind of naughty little boy; his mother was always exasperated with him, but she made it clear to him she loved him no matter what.

He got into all sorts of trouble, including, I think cutting a wolf’s fur with scissors. As drawn, the little boy had bright yellow hair.

The most vivid thing about the book from my memory is a single  scene and an illustration of that scene: the little boy was running away from home, and he did so by taking a bag– a sort of tote bag– of his mother’s, cutting some holes in the bottom, and climbing in. His legs and feet stuck out of the holes, but none of the rest of his body is visible. In the picture, you see the bag with legs running down a little path or road.

I’ve been searching for this book for a while. I remember my mother and i finding it very entertaining and sweet, and would love to know what it is.

299B: Abandoned Gothic Mansion Mystery (Solved)

I read this book late 90’s / early 2000’s (1998-2002), but the book could have been written any time in the 90’s.  I know it was a mystery book aimed at 10-15 year olds, the main character was a boy who was about 13.  (there may have been a female character too)  The boy explores / investigates this abandoned gothic mansion, coming across clues as he does so.  One of the clues is the word “Boss Stone” which eventually he realizes is the architecture term (“knob or protrusion of stone or wood”).  He realizes that there is a “boss stone” located on the ceiling in the main room of the mansion, and once he gets access to it there is something hidden behind it.  The only other part i remember is that the building is haunted / guarded by this cloaked figure that has a tentacle.

299A: Medina Textbook (Solved)

A reading textbook used in Medina City Schools around 52-54 or so. (I already checked with them, they have no record) This described pioneer life-how soap was made, how wool was carded into yarn, how cloth was dyed. The book followed a little boy around in pioneer times and daily life for him.

298U: Look at me, Mama! (Solved)

The book I am looking for was published in the early 1970s or possibly late 60s. It was a large format children’s book (probably around 15″ tall by 10-12″ wide). If I remember right, it had a black and white checked border on the cover, similar to The Real Mother Goose. It was an anthology of children’s stories. There was a story about a little girl who picks her neighbors flowers, and her mother explains to her that she shouldn’t do that and they plant a garden for the little girl so she has her own flowers. There is another story about a little boy picking huckleberries and pretending to be a bear or maybe running into a bear in the woods. There is another one about a little girl who reads The Little Red Hen and then she pretends to be the red hen. There is also a poem called “Look at Me, Mama” wherein a bunch of different bugs do things and tell their mothers to look at them – there is a line that goes something like “And when a little water bug sticks his face – his WHOLE FACE – into the water and says ‘look at me, mama!’, she does!”

The graphics in the book are all very much straight out of 1968 – 1975.

For the life of me, I cannot remember what this book was called and I’ve not seen a copy of it for years. I’ve been googling everything I can think to google. It was one of my favorite books when I was a kid and I want to share it with my son, who is now about the age I was when my mom used to read it to me.

I hope you can find it – thank you!

298G: The Perfect Dress (Solved)

I am searching for a book I read as a young elementary school student in the late 60s but the target audience was a little older, perhaps middle school girls.  I think the book would have been published somewhere between the mid 50s and early 60s. Even in 1969/1970 it felt slightly dated.

Here are some facts I remember:

1) The protagonist was a young (13-15) teen girl and the book may have been part of a series (of either books or movies-not Giget.) Or maybe not.

2) The setting was very much all-American, white picket fences.

3) Our heroine was very excited to be invited to the out of town wedding of her older male cousin.

4) Although I can’t remember the name of the protagonist or her family, the bride’s name was Joan. At one point she shows her mother a picture of a bride in a magazine and asks “Do you think Joan will wear a dress like that?” To which Mom replies non-committally “Perhaps.”

5) Much of the book is about the struggle to find an appropriate dress for our heroine to wear to the wedding.

6) The perfect dress is actually found at a thrift store or among clothes that the mother is collecting for a charity drive, a seamstress makes some adjustments, and she loves it.

7) At the pre-wedding festivities the protagonist becomes friends with a similarly aged girl who I think is the bride’s sister/cousin and who is a junior bridesmaid in the wedding.

8) Unfortunately, they forget to pack the perfect dress. Much sadness ensues.

9) The junior bridesmaid becomes sick and our heroine is called upon to fill in.

10) The bridesmaid’s dress is green velvet with a little velvet toque.

And that’s it, that’s all I’ve got.  I borrowed the book over and over from the library, but the dust cover was missing so I don’t even know what it looked like.  Even though it doesn’t sound like much, I loved it and would like to read it again.  Thanks for any help you can provide!

298C: Hurry! Hurry! (Solved)

Children’s book with a mustard-olive color cover (as I recall):

Artwork throughout shows a busy woman in a long coat hurrying everywhere.  Everywhere she goes people say “don’t be in such a hurry or something worse may happen” and it does – all kinds of unfortunate accidents due to her hurrying.  Finally one day she steps in glue and is forced to slow down…and she realizes that there is more to life than getting there.  At the end of the day she decides not to remove all the glue from her shoes, because she likes going slower.

I would SO love to find this book!

297S: Star-Shaped Key (Solved)

I am looking for a book targeted at, I think, 10-to-12-year-olds, which I suspect was published between 1965 and 1980.  I think the protagonists were a brother and sister who for some reason were spending some months (summer vacation?) in a remote location, which I believe was mountainous.  The permanent inhabitants were faced with a problem that I do not remember but which I believe involved water.  A recurring plot point was that the young boy was taught to play draughts and was challenged to improve–this name for the game may mean that, though I read the book in a U.S. library, it was a British book.  The problem was solved through the use of a key with a star-shaped end which was inserted into a rock face and turned.

As a final detail, I believe the cover of the book was mostly a picture, drawn in blue and white.