Category Archives: Solved

235A: A young girl shares her weathervanes with her neighbors (Solved)

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I was born in 1953 and think maybe the book was for 8-10 year olds so, if it was newly-published, maybe it was from the early 1960s? I have only vague memories of it, of course.  The story of a girl who has moved somewhere new–a place that, to a kid like me from Los Angeles, stuck with me as exotic, like maybe Florida? I think the plot is that the girl has this collection of weathervanes and, when family relocates to a housing development where all the homes are identical, she gets this great idea of giving each neighbor one of the different weathervanes to make life easier for everyone! (The movie “Inside Out” made me think of this book–what happens when a plucky little girl moves?)

234E: A Book of the World (Solved)

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This book is at least 20 years old. It was a book for children showing all the different ways people live around the world (what they wear/eat/keep as pets/do for fun). There was little text, and what has stayed with me are the beautiful pen and ink illustrations. I also remember that the last pages showed how boring life would be if everyone was the same: a two-page spread of a street scene with everything all the same in drab colors, and then the next two pages a spread of a vibrant, colorful street scene instead. The book seemed quite large to me as a child, big enough to have lots to look at on each page… perhaps 12″x14″? Most vague of all is my memory of the cover… possibly, it had a drawing of the globe on a white background, and was just called “The World,” though that may be some other book! I’m from the US, but it’s possible this book was brought as a gift from another anglophone country.

Thank you for your help!

233C: A series follows a young girl to adulthood (Solved)

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The main character, Jennifer? Jennie? Jenny? Possibly on the farm could’ve been the first.
These were a series of chapter books featuring an American girl who (moves?) to the country, detailing her charming life on a farm. There were several from when she was about 6-8 to almost 20 I believe. There were animal characters, a boy she might have married, various family members. She takes up ballet in later books. She wears her hair in looped braids. I read these as a child in the 80’s but they were clearly written much earlier. I would say 40’s or 50’s. Possibly 30’s or 60’s but doubtful.

I would so very much love to find them for my own daughter! I adored these- not only because she had the same name as me. I remember being even fonder of them than the Betsy Tacy books. In a way they were in between those and the Little House stories. Set the stage for Anne of Green Gables. So curious to know why they’ve disappeared!

228D: A girl who loved to enter contests (Solved)

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Hello…I am remembering a book I likely read in 5th or 6th grade about a girl who loved to enter contests. It was sort of an obsession for her…but the contests required skill, like writing a jingle or advertising copy. The one snippet I sort of recall had the words “sweets” “treats” and “table” in it…and possibly a brand name like SWISHERS. Help?!??!

227N: The story of Thambi (Solved)

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I’m trying to recall the title of a children’s book which told the story of Thambi in a rural village in India trying to earn enough money for something he wanted by bringing a “Merican” (American) lady local flowers to paint. She asked him to find what were orchids, but possibly not called orchids, and one of the older village men told him to look in the trees in the forrests that lined the slopes of a local mountain called “the bearded one.” He found the orchids, brought them to the lady for painting, earned his money but bought a blanket for his family rather than what he wanted. The shop keeper saw what he had done and promised that the book or whatever it was he wanted would be there when he had earned some more money.

Can anyone remember this book?

Note: It has been identified as  ‘Pinneyo Rama?’ (What then, Raman?) by Shirley L Arora, published in 1961.

227M: A forgotten anthology (Solved!)

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I think this book is an old vintage reader from the 1950s or 60s.  It has some very good stories in it I’d like to read again.  In one story there is a flood and a grandmother and a boy or girl move up to the attic.  There is a cook stove up there and Grandmother makes cookies while the water rises.  The illustrations show her rolling out the dough for the cookies. In another story a young boy tries to teach an old Indian how to drive.  I’d love to read these stories again as I cannot remember how they ended.

Thank you!

227D: Girl embarrassed by weird family (Solved)

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A book from the 1970s, I think. I read it in the late 80s or early 90s. It centers on a teenage girl whose name *might* have been Margaret or Marguerite – not quite sure though. Her parents were super weird, and I think her family was kind of weird too. Her dad I think was kind of bald on top but grew out his hair on the back and sides. I think there may have been very brief black and white sketches too. Weird things I can remember that they did: sing opera in the back yard, have mattresses for furniture instead of real furniture, they also did a backwards progressive dinner one night (where they ate desert first and worked backwards to the appetizers) and brought home some kind of shrimp appetizers for the kids to eat, which was great for the kids because they had accidentally burned the pizza they ordered in the oven because the left it in the cardboard box and almost started a fire. I think she eventually learned to accept the quirkiness. Also, I think her siblings were kind of weird too and that she considered herself the only “normal” one. I don’t think it’s “Mom, You’re Fired,” nor do I think it’s “Me and Fat Glenda.” Neither of those descriptions seem to match. Thanks!