Category Archives: Solved

210F: written phonetically (Solved)

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I am searching for a book that I read between 1969 and 1975. By the time my mom bought it for me, I was already reading fairly well (I was born in 1968). It was a challenging book for me as it forced me to think about pronunciation, and below my level plotwise. The really remarkable thing about the text, though, was it was written phonetically. For instance, there was a plot line about seeing a bee, but the text was, “C D B?”
There were pictures on the same pages as the text. The pictures could have been a watercolor-style with soft edges, a bit like the PBS TV show Caillou. However, I don’t recall perfectly the illustrations/pictures.
The cover was yellow, it was a fairly thin volume, it might be considered a trade paperback measuring maybe 7″ x 7″ or 8″ x 8″. I don’t remember the title or the author.
I’m interested in finding this book because it helps demonstrate that abbreviation, like that used when texting, is not new.

210C: Couple Move To Alaska (Solved)

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This couple move up to Alaska. As they prepare for the trip the wife insists on buying all her clothes from a ski shop rather than an ordinary heavy clothing store. Once they arrive a nice older man teaches her how to make sourdough bread and cook beaver tail. The couple hopes to earn a living by writing articles on their adventures of living in Alaska. At times it is so cold in their house the ink in their pens freezes up! At the end of the book they weigh themselves and the wife has gained a lot of weight from all her pioneer activities. This book is not Winds Of Skilak which is much newer. This book was published sometime in the 1970s I believe. I read it in the early 80s.

209B: Telepathic Spelling Bee contestant (Solved)

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Brother and little sister with male friend try to save a neighborhood park slated for demolition by entering little sister into a series of spelling bee contests for the prize money. Sister can read the minds of the boys while the boys look up the spelling of each word in the dictionary during the spelling bee while it is her turn to spell. Don’t know what ending is because the school year ended and library closed while librarian was reading the book to our class. Please help!

208C: little girl that goes to a fairy or elf wedding (Solved)

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This will be fairly vague (sorry!) When I was little (late 70s/early 80s) I had a book that was about a little girl that goes to a fairy or elf wedding. The things that stick in my mind are that it had these really amazing illustrations and a Lupine Fairy who had blue hair that swirled all around her head, there were also fairies who were parachuting in on milkweed fluff. The husband fairy (elf?) had long pointy ears and a crooked nose… Unfortunately that’s all I can remember, none of the actual story except that it is all about them getting prepared for the wedding but it’s one of those things that pops into my mind occasionally and I’ve never been able to figure out what book it is. Any help would be amazing!!

208B: Post-apocalyptic fairy story (Solved)

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My memory is kind of fuzzy, but it was either a children’s or young adult novel I read in the early-to-mid 2000s (I’m leaning closer to somewhere around 2004-2006, give or take a year). The main plot line was that there’s some sort of horrible acidic superstorm approaching the house of these kids. Their power goes out, so the older sibling tries to calm the younger ones by telling them a story about fairies. Their parents aren’t there (I think I remember them being out of the house scavenging for resources. The kids are worried about this, and I think it’s implied they might be dead, but I’m not sure). I remember this part of the story being pretty dark.

After this, the story then shifts to the kid’s story, following the exploits of the fairy and its mischief in a much lighter and happier world, while periodically interjecting dialogue between the siblings. I also remember something about an old lady meeting the fairy. I can’t remember the story very well from here, and I don’t think I finished the book.

If it helps, I remember the cover of the book depicting some storm cloud and a lightning bolt, with the title involving something like “Sprite” or “Fairy.”

207F: A Medieval king who may or may not live in a castle or something (I think) (Solved)

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I’d like to identify and locate a favorite from my childhood but, as I enjoyed it before I was literate, can’t recall the title. Here are the details:

• I’m guessing it was published between 1970-87.
• It is set in the middle ages.
• The hero is a king who lives in a castle.
• There are multiple very short stories, the total being the average for a picture-based pre-literate children’s book.
• The title has a phrase like “…and other stories,” “…other tales,” or “The adventures of King…”
• Arrows and fire feature prominently in some of the multiple stories.
• It was from a popular, prominent kid’s book publisher; I don’t think it was a Little Golden Book, but could be wrong.
• To the best of my knowledge, it was not based on a prior story/book/legend/film/TV show.

That’s all I can remember, but I would recognize the cover if I saw it and hope this evidence is sufficient.

204E: whatever these kids think about is displayed on the walls and then comes to life (Solved)

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Another short story where there is a special room with full-screen walls, and whatever these kids think about is displayed on the walls and then comes to life. They end up spending a lot of time in the room. The parents threaten to lock the room off. The story ends with the kids resolving the conflict by tricking the parents and locking the parents in the room. Then the kids think about tigers, and the parents are eaten.

203F: 80’s Haunted House book..Scholastic or Dell/Yearling? (Solved)

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I’m looking for a kid’s/teen book from the early 80’s. I believe it may have been a Scholastic or Dell/Yearling book, and if I remember correctly it had a yellow cover. It was about a family that puts on a haunted house at their home, and they have the customers put their hands into a hole to feel things (grapes are peeled eyeballs, spaghetti is brains, etc.). I also think they may have hung sheets up to divide the house into walking areas. There is a similar, newer book I found called Tuck’s Haunted House, but the character in that is a pig, and this was definitely a human family. For some reason I remember the name as being like ‘The Millers Haunted House’ or ‘The Wilsons Haunted House’, something with a surname in the title, but I could be wrong. I read it around the same time that I was into Choose Your Own Adventures and Encyclopedia Brown. Thanks for the help 😉

202E: Brightly illustrated story book (Solved)

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I am looking for a book that may have been published in the 1960’s. I think it had a red cover. The book was illustrated with very bright colors. It had several stories, but there are three I remember most clearly.

One was a story of a little pine tree that wanted different leaves. The illustrations included gold coins being plucked off the tree, a goat eating the oak leaves, and glass prisms hanging from the tree.

Another story was of a stingy old woman who was baking at on oven. She would not give visitors any of her pies. The picture of the pie she baked was huge. She was eventually turned into a woodpecker to peck out a living. There is a picture of her as a woodpecker: her red hat became the birds head and her black dress with a white apron became the body.

The last story that I can remember is one where a little girl went through the woods with a tin pan to fetch water for her sick mother. As she walked back giving sips of water to various thirsty people, the pan became metals such as silver then gold and then a diamond and then a group of stars (the big dipper).