Category Archives: Unsolved

315U: Tales of World War II Aviation

Hi, looking for a book published in the 1950's. It is a collection of short stories relating to WWII aviation. It included stories set in North Africa, Italy, etc. Each short story included a pastel-ish illustration of a theme of the story. The planes included the P-38, British Mosquito, P-51, etc. The book was maybe an inch thick. Blue hard cover. Thanks so much!

315T: Psychedelic lollipop trees

I was born in 1975. There was a short children’s book that I have forgotten the name of. I seem to remember that it was more landscape format than portrait. The over-riding memory of the book was psychedelic landscapes and one in particular was made up of trees made of lollipops. Possibly other landscapes and scenes made up of different objects.  That’s all I remember.

315Q: Siblings with a Magic Scepter

I read this fantasy book in late 80’s/early 90’s as a child. It featured a brother and sister. At least one had magic (maybe both). I believe brother had a magic scepter. Possibly had a large bird they rode to get to places. The cover may have shown the brother with the scepter riding the bird, but I may just be making that up. Good luck and thank you!

315P: Ranch Tales

Kids on ranch learn about The West.  Large hardcover with text down the middle and line drawings down outside edges.  Stories: a flash flood can catch you unaware; cooking buffalo tongue with vinegar/brown sugar sauce; climber thinks cactus puncture is rattlesnake bite and dies of fright.

315N: Teen fiction book, bullying, blackmail and revenge!

Hi, I am trying to find an older children/teen fiction book probably published in the 90’s. It is about a group of classmates being blackmailed by the caretaker’s son, who knows each of their secrets. They group together to seek revenge and get their secrets back. There is an Asian or Indian girl, who cheated on a test, a girl with a white streak in her hair from a scar, the bully refers to her as ‘bird crap’ and I think her name was Rosa? A boy called Liam, nicknamed ‘mouse’ and the son of a famous footballer player, who is new to the school. The caretaker’s son loves battenburg cake, which he calls ‘window cake’. They all get their secrets back from him in the end, and confront him, meet his mother, etc. I have hunted the internet, but can’t find any sign of it!

315M: Swathed in Scarves and Coats

Hi, I have the memory, but not the title, of a thin paperback? book that was in publication around 1960 or so. It was the story of three (I think old) women who lived together. Their furnace goes out and they have to go the basement to try and fix it. They are all swathed in scarves and coats and they have pointy red noses and they always go together when they have to go to the basement because it is scary. I don’t remember how it turns out. I have looked for it in every children’s bookshop that I know.

315L: One Step at a Time

I hope you all can help.  I am looking for the title to a children’s picture book that I read in the late 1950’s to mid 1960’s about a woman who lived in a decrepit house (maybe with a cat) surrounded by peeling paint, cracked plaster, torn, sagging curtains and general disrepair.  The cover (as I remember it) was this woman sitting at her wobbly legged table with a cracked wall and possibly a filthy window behind her (the cat may have been on the cover, too).  Her expression is one of sadness, possibly even resignation.  One day she decides to either repair the table leg or maybe paint the table and it looks great, but makes all else appear even worse, so motivated by her success with the table she tackles the other issues one by one filling cracks, painting, cleaning until she has transformed not only her once humble abode, but her entire outlook on life.  Being excessively tidy and organized myself I adored that book but have no ideas regarding the title or the author and probably only read it once or twice though it has stuck with me all these years, a constant reminder to just keep putting one foot in front of the other no matter the circumstances and all will turn out in the end.