Category Archives: Unsolved

317K: Modern Poems for Kids

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The book I’m looking for was purchased in the mid-70’s.  I don’t remember the dust jacket but it had a purply red cloth cover and was about 7” by 9” opening on the short side with a few line drawing illustrations.  It is a collection of modern poems for kids (not nursery rhymes).  One poem in particular was my son’s favorite. It starts –

 “Once a little boy lived with a bear.

Went to sleep against deep brown hair

Soft and warm in a hidden lair.”

 We don’t remember the middle part but it ends

 “Though he at last returned to men

And never walked with the bears again,

All his life long he dreamed of the den.”

 Would love to find this book again for my grandchildren.  Terrific poems no matter your age.

317J: The Singing Heart

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The Singing Heart – may not be the title, but that is how I remember it.   It was a hardcover I encountered as a child in the 70s.   It was heavily illustrated with black line drawings and was probably aimed at ages 9-12 perhaps.    In it a woman (maybe a good witch) dies, but her heart goes on singing.   Two kings wind up trying to get the singing heart; eventually they meet as beggars and become friends, having lost everything.   Pretty sure there is a wicked witch with a wicked dog.   In my mind the illustrations are similar to some in the Glass Harmonica, but I’m not sure about that.   I think one of the kings was named “Bagdamugus” or the like.
Thanks for any help!

317H: Invisible Dinosaur

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I’m trying to find a book that I read in grade school, back in the late 1980s.  (Probably between 1985 and 1987, but it might have been as late as 1989.)
I believe it was a chapter book, not illustrated or with minimal illustrations.  I checked it out from my elementary school library, which had a tendency to rebind paperbacks, so I don’t know whether it was paperback or hardcover, or other details about the format.
The main character was a grown man who was turned into a child by magic, and had adventures on the back of an invisible brontosaurus.  At the end of the book, he returns to his normal age.
I feel like part of the story also took place in a museum, but I can’t be certain.  I also have an impression of a suburban street at night — also not something I’m certain about.
Thanks!  Hoping you can find this one, because I’d love to read it to my daughter.  (Assuming it’s as good as I remember!)

317G: Duck Looking for Water

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The book I am trying to find is about a little duck that is looking for water but there is no rain, so he finds a truck that is spilling water out of the back to follow. My father-in-law had this book as a child in the 1950’s and passed it to my husband but it is now lost. They don’t remember a title or even possible words, they do recall it having wonderful pictures and illustrations. Any help is appreciated!

317F: Sentient Pith Helmets Bust Chocolate Smugglers

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A short illustrated book where a child discovers some sort of bootlegging operation, except they’re smuggling bars of chocolate, not booze.  And the smuggling is being done by giant alien hats.  The clearest image I have is the cops who end up busting the criminals. They took the form of white pith helmets, with twin gun barrels on their undercarriages.
I’m not convinced that this book isn’t a product of my childhood imagination, but the memory is pretty vivid.  I would have read it in the 1980s, probably in the UK or Australia.  The illustrations were painted, not line drawings, and in colour.

317E: Sentient Rocks Befriended By Boy

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A boy moves with his mother to a space colony, possibly on the moon, where it is believed there is no alien life. The boy discovers that the rocks on the planet are actually sentient creatures! The creatures speak by changing colors. The boy befriends one whose name is yellow-green and he calls his friend yelgr or yellger or something like this.

317D: Little Girl Makes Lost Bear Oatmeal

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I’m trying to find a children’s book that I listened to on tape when I was little. I think this would have been early 90s so the book would have been published between the 80s and 90s.
It’s about a bear who gets lost and a little girl takes care of him. I specifically remember her feeding him warm oatmeal filled with things like nuts, fruit and honey. I think Santa makes an appearance at the end? I’ve found lots of books with various iterations of Little Snow Bear in their titles but none are what I’m looking for. A woman narrates the book on tape. Don’t know her name.

317C: Three children fall under the spell of fairies in early 20th century illustrated book

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I grew up in Pennsylvania but we moved back to Europe in my early teens and the boxes containing all our children's books got lost in the move.  There is one that I have been pining for ever since!  It was given to me by an old lady who was the grandmother of some people my parents befriended in the States.  She lived in a big house and had an amazing library and I used to love looking at all her old books.  She really sweetly gave this one to me as she could see how much I loved it.  It was a big thick children's book with black and white illustrations and wonderful colour plates and it must have been written somewhere around the early 20th century - I think.  It was about three siblings who are sent to the country to live with I think their grandmother, in a big house.  There are lots of stories about fairies around, and it is clear that the grandmother and the staff have seen them.  The fairies are not always benign.  Their grandmother starts calling the children fairy names like Puck and Robin.  Eventually the children see the fairies too.  There is some disquiet that the youngest child, a little boy, is falling too far under the fairies' spell; for example he falls asleep in the middle of a circle trampled in the grass by the fairies, which apparently means they 'own' him.  It is a very beautiful and sweet book, and I am hoping it might ring bells.  I can't tell you how much I miss it - it has been 40 years since I last saw it.

317B: The Magic Stone and a Witchy Aunt

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This is a book I read in the mid to late 60’s about a young girl who goes to live with her Aunt Meg, who she finds out is a witch.  The little girl finds a stone which belongs to another witch named Lanie.  They try to get the stone back.  I think there is some magic food involved and I believe the stone helps the little girl fly.

317A: Child Takes Tree House Too Literally

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A hard cover children’s story book (thought it was by Helen Oxenbury but can’t find it) about a naughty child who manages to grow a tree inside the house that grows out and through the whole house. Think it was one of those “two colour” story books before they had full colour printing ability. Probably intended for 6 -8 year olds.