1980s illustrated kids book about a rough-and-tumble girl, possibly even a raven, crow, or black swan turned into a girl, who grows up to be a conventionally-beautiful, but still willful princess. I read this around the same time as “The Balloon Tree”, in the early 80s.
I have to tell this story first – I found Stump the Bookseller around a decade ago when I was in grad school in Illinois, and you all helped me find some dear books. Then, my husband got his medical residency in Cleveland and someone told me about Loganberry Books, and I went, AND FELL IN LOVE. Then I made the connection, and it rocked my world. Another reason why I adore Cleveland: it has Loganberry. (When I was in grad school, it was just a theoretical cool bookstore, not a concrete reality!) Visit here if you can.
My stumper: my grandma had this series of square, paperback books, probably from the 50’s, that were like Dick and Jane but not – the same kind of easy-reading format, but the little kids had different names. There was a boy, and a brunette girl, and a blonde girl, I think. They did various things (the books had little stories per volume, I think); one of them involved the little blonde girl going shopping with her mom in town, and picking a bow for her hat. I don’t remember their names, but I do remember that they had a cute little brown dog named Gyp. My grandma is still around, but someone in the fam (understandably) took the books, and I so want to find them again.
Thanks!!! 🙂
Looking for an old children’s book that has the words “you’re my (little) boy, my pride and joy” after each page or section.
My sister in law remembers her mom reading it every night to her little brother. Her mom passed away over 20 years ago, and the book is MIA. She always looks for it whenever she’s in thrift stores, or used book stores… we’ve searched for the keywords of the book on google and can’t find the title of it.
My SIL grew up in Northern British Columbia if that helps – might have been a small/remote publishing company?
A 1960’s-early 70’s color (I think) children’s picture book about a girl who is forced to share her bedroom with a sibling. She copes by drawing a line down the middle of the room to stake out her territory.
I’m looking for a book that I would have read no later than 1992. It was almost certainly published in the mid/late 80s or very early 90’s. A light, funny YA (possibly upper-middle grade or tween) book in the vein of Ellen Conford or Paula Danziger, although I don’t believe it was actually by either of them. The version I read was a hardcover, with an illustrated cover that was more cartoonish than realistic. I believe the cover features a girl in a dumpster or garbage can, although it’s possible that was just an episode in the book that I’m conflating with the cover in my memory.
It’s about a girl who wants to be an investigative reporter. She’s working for the school newspaper and begins to uncover some kind of light mystery. (Not a murder or anything like that.) The most specific thing that sticks out in my mind is that the girl and her friend use a lot of lingo and abbreviations in casual conversation, including the shorthand “L.L.A.” to mean “lifelong ambition.”
I believe the title has the girl’s name in it. I feel like the title might have a similar construction to Otherwise Known As Sheila the Great, although it’s obviously not that book. The book is also not Buffalo Brenda by Jill Pinkwater. Anyway, it’s driving me crazy. (I still think about my L.L.A.’s all the time.) Please help me put this to rest!
This one has been bugging me for years! I read this book in the late ’80s or early ’90s, and I don’t remember much about it other than these two things: (1) there was some sort of mystery with a lottery ticket, and I’m pretty sure what had happened was that the guy selling tickets at the store somehow knew the ticket was a winner and kept it for himself – I want to say the person who was trying to buy it was mentally challenged in some way perhaps, or there was some other reason why he thought the person wouldn’t appreciate the winning ticket; and (2) there’s a scene where the main character (a young girl) is in a body of water and trying to hide from a boat – I’m pretty sure it’s night and that she is floating in an inner tube, and to hide, she ducks her head inside the tube. Oh, and I think the cover was edged in a bright blue. Thanks!
From the early 1960’s, a young boy invents various devices in his home to solve mysteries. He can’t wake up, so he invents an alarm clock with string attached to his toe – alarm goes off, string winds up and tugs his toe. Does he invent a periscope to spy on a suspicious neighbor?
Name might have been Henry (perhaps with alliterative last name). Several books were published with his adventures, thin young (young?) adult fiction.
Before 1973, poems and pics of imaginary creatures. Two I remember: “What the heck is a bottleneck, I can’t give you a hint to it, but grownups run right into it” and “A frightening beast is the raging inferno, for lunch he eats matches, at suppertime Sterno.”
Probably considered a “first reader” though might qualify as a picture book. Read to me in the late 70’s but could be as early as late 60’s. The book is about puppies in a pet store window waiting for their owners to choose them. The cover (or an illustration inside if not the cover) is a view of the pet store storefront with two windows on either side of the door. Puppies on both sides. In the book people keep coming in and choosing dogs and they all resemble the person choosing them. A take on the dogs look like their owner concept. Tall skinny people with tall skinny dogs…etc. The beagle puppy is waiting and waiting until a boy in a baseball hat (red?) comes in for him. I think the boy had previously seen the dog and had been told he had to save his money.
The illustrations might be mainly line draws and are in yellow/brown/red tones as far as I remember. My mother belonged to a book club that automatically sent books so this may have been a book club selection. It’s so frustrating to be able to remember it so clearly but not be able to find it. Hopefully someone can help!
Thanks!
I read this in the mid-late 1980s, it was a paperback children’s book with soft purple cover, illustrations of cat and duck on front. I remember there were flap pages inside. The story was along the lines of a lonely duck and cat living in the same neighbourhood, I think a ball goes over the fence of one of their houses and they end up becoming friends. I think the kitten wore a hat? And the duck wore a dress? But I could be misremembering the clothing details. The cat was black/white and duck was yellow