Category Archives: Solved

112A, solved: Girl’s father falls in love with witch, girl tries to prove/stop it

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I read a paperback book from my junior high school library in 1989. It’s about a girl and her father meets a pretty woman who has a son or daughter too (can’t remember who moved into the area or how they meet). The youngsters become friends. The father falls in love with the woman, but the girl gets suspicious of her – she notices that the woman is a bit strange. She discovers photos of her looking exactly the same in past decades. She finds out the woman is a witch and does not age, the witch’s son or daughter doesn’t either.  The witch had been dating, marrying, and killing the husbands after a few years because they see that the woman and kid stay young. The girl tries to prove to her father that he is in danger and tries to stop him from marrying her. I think the book is set in either the south or in New England, I remember fog and time playing a role in the story.

110F, solved: Book About Reincarnation

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My mom read a book about reincarnation in 1964, and she thinks it’s called “Through a Glass Darkly.” All she can remember of the plot was: Two girls were in a swimming pool, and one of the girls saved the other from drowning, but then drowned herself. She was then reincarnated as a Nurse in a hospital. Somehow she eventually recalls that she had rescued the girl(or kid) in a previous life. (and that’s all my mom remembers) Any thoughts? We’ve seen two of the other books called “Through a Glass Darkly,” and neither one is the one she’s looking for. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

110D, solved: Unusual Pencil-drawings

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Our teacher showed us this book in 1993; it had full-page pencil drawings with unusual captions.  I remember one of the drawings was of a young boy sleeping and the caption said something like “Archie (don’t remember last name).  A small voice said ‘he’s the one.'” I think another picture was of a room or staircase, and there was a tiny, maybe six-inch high door built into the wall.  I want to say our teacher mentioned that the illustrator had dropped off the illustrations and captions at a publishers, said he would return the next day, but never showed.  So the pictures were published into this book but no one knows who actually drew them.

 

110C, solved: Young Adult book about Jason and the Golden Fleece

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I read this library book in the 1960s but it could have been published earlier. A young girl is chosen to represent her village by becoming a handmaiden to the temple where the Princess Medea serves. This girl is chosen because she has some special mystical power even though she is very shy. She loves Medea and makes friends with others there. And she tells the story of Jason and the Golden Fleece from her point of view. The book ends with Jason leaving Medea and Medea, in her grief, killing their children. There are many references to the Maiden the Mother and the Crone in the book.

110B, solved: Otis and the Donut Shop

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Hi, I’m looking for a series of children’s books or it might’ve been a series of stories one the one book that I read in the 1970′s and the protagonist was a little boy named Otis who always got into trouble. There was also a donut shop or some kind of elaborate donut maker in most of the books.(or stories) He has all kinds of adventures but usually finds his way out of them in some unusual way. There’s one story where a woman’s diamond ring gets fried into a donut and adventure ensues as they try to find it. I can’t remember the author. Also, they were paperbacks. Thanks very much.

109F: Cross Section of a Hotel (solved)

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This is a tricky one, I had it as a kid. It was a cross-section of a hotel, across each double page. Each page was like 30 seconds after the one before. The detail was brilliant, I would spend hours picking a storyline in the pictures and following it through to it’s conclusion. I recall a flood, a rat infestation, an underground car park, a lady having a bath, loads and loads of things happened in that book. It was a hardback, with maybe 20 or so pages. It was quite large, maybe A4 or slightly bigger as I recall. Sorry I do not know more details about the book, I was young (somewhere around 10 year old, making it 1987) and my parents don”t even remember it. Hope you can help, my kids want to see this book too 🙂

107E, solved: Birthday Dress, Hot Dogs, and Rice

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A book about a young black (African-American) girl whose birthday was coming up. Her mother didn’t have much money, and all the girl was hoping for was a favorite dinner of hot dogs and rice. I don’t remember much more, except I think her mom made her a dress (and she got the meal!). Thank you!

107D, solved: Childhood Story Book

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I am long looking for my childhood Story Book.  My birth year is 1947.  I do not know if mom had this book previous to my birth.  The cover is gone.  So are the first 16 pages.  No index, no contents.  But, on the upside, I have [a few pictures] of the story beginning and some illustrations. I would love to purchase one or more of these books if it could be identified.

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(Click on pictures for larger view.)

107C, solved: Two Bears Who Disobey Their Mother

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Info that may help

  • I was born in 1992 so is must be at least 20+ years old.
  • It has an animated version in a collection of stories on VHS (tape) along with others such as Puss in boots, The boy who cried wolf and more.
  • I believe the moral of this story was to teach following rules and consequences.

Name

  • I cannot for the life of me remember the name of the collection of stories or the individual one.. sorry! I could only guess and yours would is as good as mine.

Description

  • There were 2 bears that were very curious about an area that was far away that was forbidden by the mother bear to enter. It appeared to be a magical place and everything inside was perfect. The bears went there one day and contemplated entering – in the end they did. Once they disobeyed the mother and entered, though, they were stuck there forever and could never return home.