Category Archives: Solved

366Q: Birthday book where reader is the final guest (Solved!)

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Hi – I’m trying to find a book I loved as a child (UK, 1970s).  I believe it was by Enid Blyton – so obviously written before then – but I can’t identify it from a list of her works.  It was about a birthday party, where every child guest has their own story in a chapter. There were also great descriptions of the party food. The final chapter was a story for the reader, because you were also invited to the party.  Does anyone recognise the book from this description?

366N: Riding the Ponies Across the Moors (Solved!)

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I was born 1968. Sometime around 1978 I read a story about some kids who set out on adventures on their “ponies” and they would stop and camp in the woods and eat “tinned“ food. I believe it had a very UK British feel. They would talk about riding on the “moors” and through forests.
It is possible they were trying to solve a mystery, or just narrating their experiences along the way as they traveled to an ultimate destination- like maybe a beach or shore as on a summer adventure.

I will stop here because I do not want to confuse this with another story in my head.

I think this book might have been a hard cover, about an inch thick, with black paper on the cover inside the dust jacket, and MIGHT have had gold lettering embossed “ONYX” on the cover. MIGHT CONTAIN “nebula” That description might also pertain to a different book but, that is why I am here. They seemed to make a big deal about calling the horses ponies and they all seemed very independent to be traveling without adults. Approx character age 10-15?
I read the story when I was about 10 years old, around 1978, so there’s no telling how much older the story actually is?

I’d really like to get another copy of the story of those children traveling with and riding their ponies, camping or resting while eating food from tins and parcels, and traveling across the moors and forests to get to…?

365X: YA Book About a Young Man Owning 100 Things (Solved!)

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Book was available for sale between at least  2000-2005- Most likely originally purchased it from the Scholastic Book Fair- Most likely (YA?) fiction- Front cover art either had a desktop computer in it or was technologically related- Protagonist was a male (high school?) student- Protagonist limited his number of possessions to 100 things or so- Some pages broke up the text with a picture of one of his possessions captioned with its number and description- I think one of them was a Buddha statue- He was most likely living with one parent, the other was deceased or unavailable- He was pursuing a woman (named Beth?)- I think he went with her to an outdoor music festival- Their relationship most likely ended poorly.

365V: Teen girl diabetes horse (Solved!)

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This is a book I read in the 70s or maybe early 80s. I believe it was set in England or somewhere not in the US. It was about a young girl who had been diagnosed with diabetes. Her parents bought her a horse. She has a mean sister and I remember at Easter she got all this sugar free stuff and her sister got a big chocolate egg and she lunged for it and her sister ended up busting her head open. That’s all I remember. I hope you can help!

365S: How to Tell Bad News (Solved!)

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I am trying to find a story from 45 to 50 years ago. My mother was an English teacher and had a stash of older literature including a story that follows this story line. I believe it was English literature.
A man returns to the train station nearest his home after a long trip. His footman picks him up in a buggy and during the trip home they talk.
So Jeaves, how are things at home? Well sir, I hate to tell you but your fathers dog died. What? He wasn’t an old dog. Pray tell how did he die? Well sir, he overate himself to death. How could that be. What did he get a hold of that he was able to overeat? Well sir, he overate horse meat. And where would he get so much so much horse meat. All of your fathers horses died. Oh my, what killed my father’s horses? They died carrying water to put out the fire.
And on and on it goes. The house burned down from all the candles that were lit for the funeral of his mother. 
I want to say the title is How To Tell Bad News.
I really appreciate your help on this.

365J: Girl At Grandparents’ Farm For Summer Wants Horse – Both Have Yellow Hair On Cover (Solved!)

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I’m trying to track down the title of a children’s/young adult book from the late 1970s/early1980s.  I want to say it was a book sold via one of those “book club” orders that kids used to order books from in elementary school, where the teacher passes out the order forms with a list of book selections.  I remember it was a thin book with a dark gray cover with a pen-and-ink drawing of a young girl standing at a fence with a horse on the other side of it in a field, and both the girl’s hair and the horse’s mane were colored yellow.
The most I can remember of the story is, at the beginning, the girl – I think her name MIGHT be Jane? – is going to spend the summer with her grandparents on their farm, but first she has to get through – I THINK – the last day of school and her class’s “field day.”  I know that whatever the occasion, she sprains her ankle during a race and goes to her parents’ truck to nap until it’s over and they take her to her grandparents.  I also remember that while she’s at her grandparents, there’s a flood for her birthday and her grandmother gives her homemade gifts including a hand-sewn dress using fabric from the kitchen curtains.  And I know that there’s a horse involved – maybe a colt?  Maybe called Lightning?  I’m not sure.  I believe she wants the horse to be hers, and I think her grandfather isn’t all too keen on the idea.
I’m sorry I can’t provide any more info – I hope this is helpful!

365F: Inventions for Children (Solved!)

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Can you please help me find a book I read at primary school??
I read it in 1985 or 86 (87 at the very latest) when I was in primary school in the UK.
I would have been 7 or 8 years old.
Book title: Possibly ‘Inventions for Children’ / ‘Top Secret Inventions for Children’ (but that’s just a guess, as I really don’t remember!)
Book description: It was a hardback picture book. Each page, which were mostly double page spreads I think, had roughly 2 to 3 fictional inventions on (all aimed at children).
Some of the inventions I can remember: an armoured vehicle for a child, driving down a street (narrowly missing a cat and a lamp post I think??). Some kind of periscope / binoculars that let you hide behind your desk in school without the teacher noticing (possibly in the shape of a boy sitting upright??). Some little booster rockets (disguised as decorative circular medals?) that went on your swimming trunks to make you swim faster.
I remember all / nearly all of the inventions having a cross-section / cutaway section to them, so you could see the internal mechanics.

That’s about all I can remember, it’s been driving me slightly crazy for years (having tracked down nearly all the other books I loved as a child already).
I will give you any more information if I can, just let me know! 

364Q: Young Woman Who Stops River of Time (Solved!)

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I am hoping to find a Novel read about 5-6 years ago – thought authors name included “Beatrice” but maybe just “Bea”. thought title included “River” but possibly just an image not actual word River.

Definite ” River of Time” imagery in my head – do recall looking for other titles by the author then,  and finding none or very few.

Story is about a young woman/girl who eventually has a memory of herself in the past stopping time with grandfather whose estate she was (is?) to inherit and she was somehow foiled (by bad relatives ?)

Also a romance line involves a noble neighbor? Friend? Lover? Who is/was older who could not break some type of vow – who also travels into the future with her –  was her best friend maybe as a young woman on her family’s estate (England pre-regency)….does he show up as a cheesemonger in America (Vermont) and that is how they meet in the modern day?

O how I do hope I am not mixing up several storylines

I remember really loving this book – but it is lost to my brain – I would  give a LOT to locate again.

One further detail: The detail about the protagonist’s “time stopping” skill – not revealed until end of novel – an inherited skill from her grandfather as a child in England she finally remembers she can actually freeze time and thereby stop motion…. “Freeze frame” style…  so prevents a tragic death by going back to the second before a murder?  Something to that effect.

364L: Aliens interbreed with human woman (Solved!)

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I read this book some time between 1991 and 1994, it was a true story about a woman who had repeat alien abductions throughout her lifetime, at some point she mentions she had found an implant on her body from the aliens, she believed it was a tracker, and thought they used this with many people. One time that she was abducted they introduced her to several “children” of hers, they had removed ova / ovum from her on previous abductions and were creating a mixed breed, and they took her to meet her “children” with this alien being, and the alien “mother” who was taking care of the children was allowed to watch her interactions with her “children” so she could learn about emotions, because apparently they are not emotional creatures.