Category Archives: Unsolved

302V: Travels through alternate universes and baseball

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Possibly a book, possibly a series – listened to as an audio book on a car trip in the early 2000’s. The book was from Cracker Barrel (which is apparently Ingram Entertainment titles, if that helps). The book followed three protagonists, a girl and two boys. They traveled to other worlds or alternate universes through tunnels. The other worlds usually had some sort of baseball theme. At least one had a society of gnomes who used it as their court procedures. The girl protagonist was a pitcher. The had a map that helped them find the way – depending on how it was folded, it could show a neighborhood, a city or even be a star map. The antagonists had eyes you could see through, all the way to what was on the other side of their heads – photographs of Manhattan Project scientists showed that many of them were bad guys due to this effect.

302U: Little Mermaid Maybe?

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The version I am looking for has an illustration of a cloud at the end of the book with a face in it.  Not full page, smaller illustration.  Also- illustration with the sisters coming out of the water to hand a knife to the little mermaid.

This is a rarer version- I stumbled across one other person who tried to find it on a Livejournal search.  She googled like I did and none of the google illustrations quite fit.

It was illustrated, only the little mermaid story.  It was a small hardcover book, purple/violet I think?

Thank you!

302T: Hansel and Gretel accordion book

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Looking for a book we had when we were small, so no later than 1990.  Probably much older, though.  It was a Hansel and Gretel story, told in pictures, I believe.  I don’t think there were words.  It was an accordion book, so card stock or heavier.  It was pastel tones, I believe, probably watercolor.  I remember Hansel having crazy curly blonde hair that stuck out every which way, and them having plump cheeks. The book was probably about 3 inches square, very small. Hope you can help!

302S: People come together in apartment building during snowstorm

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Hi! I am looking for a book with this basic storyline…I think I’ve got the details right.  This was a book I read in the 1990s.

A little girl walks home (an apartment building) from school in a snow storm. I think the power goes out in the apartment building (or maybe everyone is snowed-in?), and all of the neighbors within the building start meeting in the little girl’s family apartment.  Each of the neighbors brings something with them (I only remember candles and meatballs…and maybe the neighbor who brought the meatballs was named Mrs. Sanchez?) At the end of the story, the little girl, and I think her father, makes a snow cone with the snow outside her window.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for helping!!! I would LOVE to read this story to my daughter’s kindergarten class at her holiday party this year 🙂

302Q: They were poor but it was entertaining.

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[/private role="author"]Joanie Koehn, jkoehn@hgwllc.com[/private]

The book is about a single mom and her mob of semi-hoodlum kids.  It was a Books on Tape and I listened to it on a long ride with my mother circa 2008.  She has since passed away.

I want to say it’s the ‘Grubbers’ or the Maude’s Motley crew .  They were poor but it was entertaining.

302P: Fiction, Pre U.S. Revolutionary War Saga

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This book probably was published before 1955 when I was in the fifth grade. It was the read-aloud after lunch by our teacher Miss Gambee. I met her again when I was an adult, but she didn’t remember its title. As I remember it, it begins with a boy sitting in his favorite oak tree trying to save it because the British navy has marked it for use as a mast. This scene sets up one of the many reasons for the eventual revolution of the colonies.

Another part of the saga deals with the moving of the French Canadians or Acadians, but I’m not sure how that fit in.

In another scene, a young lady is weaving wool for rebel uniforms when a wounded British soldier is brought to her house to recover. This part of the saga seemed to be trying to tell its readers that enemies are not always the villains we make them out to be.

I don’t remember the end of the book, but I’m fairly certain it took us through the revolution to its end, maybe to the formation of the new constitution, but I’m not sure. In Oregon, fifth graders study U.S. history up to the constitution, so this novel was a very good way of showing the reasons for the revolution and the turmoil of war. It was a lot more memorable than the text book. I hope you can find it. My daughter now teaches fifth grade and I would love to give it to her if it can be purchased.

302N: The Wisdom of the Weasel

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This is a story which I remember hearing on the radio when I was about four years old in 1948.  I’m pretty sure the radio program was the “No School Today” show with Big Jon and Sparkie.  I have the impression that this story was on a record Big John played, rather than a story he told or read himself.

The story as I remember it is that two young rabbits, one brown and one white, were friends and played together in the woods.  Someone (the fox?) started a rumor among the white rabbits that the brown rabbits were dangerous to them because the hunters could see the brown rabbits so easily when the snow was on the ground in the winter.  “And when the hunters find the brown rabbits, they’ll find you too.”  Another rumor (also from the fox?) started among the brown rabbits that the white rabbits were dangerous to be around because the hunters could see the white rabbits so easily when the leaves were on the ground in the fall.  “And when the hunters find the white rabbits, they’ll find you too.”  The rabbit community was split.

The two friends consulted the oldest and wisest animal in the woods, the great ermine weasel.  He told them that he knew both sides of this split because his coat was white in the winter (except for the tip of his tail that was then black) and brown the rest of the year (except for the tip of his tail that was then white.)  He told them that rather than being dangerous to each other, the white and brown rabbits should help each other.  In the fall, the brown rabbits should go out first in the morning, and tell the white rabbits to come out only when the brown rabbits had made sure that there were no hunters around.  And in the winter, the white rabbits should go out first and make sure it was safe.

The two friends carried this wisdom back to their rabbit village, the rumors were defeated, and the split in the community was healed.  (And the fox went away hungry?)

What is the name of this story, who wrote it, and where was it published?

302M: Gray binding and Wild Swans

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I am trying to identify and purchase a copy of a children’s lit anthology I had as a child. The copy I had was hardcover, gray binding with a bright green repeating motif on the cover. Among the stories included was HC Andersen’s “The Wild Swans.” There was another story about a princess sent to live with a family that had five girls whose last names ended in “-belle,” and a youngest sister Echo.

302K: Woodland animals prepare for war

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Illustrated book about woodland animals or maybe rodents preparing for some kind of war. I can't remember the author or title but it was illustrated similar to the 11th hour with beautiful detailed pictures. I remember one page was a spy station in a flower bulb, another detailed the animal navy. I think the animals could have been squirrels or badgers? Hope you can help I would check this book out every time I went to the library.

302J: Alien had Answers, but Earthlings treated him like an animal…until he became one

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The short story was in an 8th grade English reader (adopted by Uintah school district in the 1980s).  It was light blue and white.

The short story came from the section in the reader that was something like strangers in a strange land.

It was an excerpt from a science fiction writer (famous, I believe) so the short story might have come from a novel.  I have spent hours sifting through science fiction novels trying to come up with this story.  I found The Thing…but, I believe I’m going to have to find the reader itself.  Hence, I’m asking you.

The story line is:  An alien crash lands on earth.  Earthlings find him.  He is walking on two feet, but he looks different than them.  They struggle accepting him because of his looks.  *there is a painting picture in the book itself of an alien trying to talk with people and the people look mob-like angry*

The alien explains to them that his people have advanced technology and that he would share it with them.  At one point, he even tried to tell them that he had the answers to the universe and God.  The Earthlings laugh at him, shun him, and tell him he is an animal.

Eventually, the Earthlings put him in a cage.  They continually call him an animal.  He tries talking to them until he finally gives up and becomes quiet.  He sees the other animals in cages and watches the interaction between animals and humans.  Somewhere I remember them using the word creature.

In the end, the cage door is left open and the alien (like an animal) runs away into the forest …”running on all fours.”  I’m pretty sure I’m quoting this correctly as I remember it being a powerful key statement.

I remember this science fiction story being in a section with pioneer and moving west stories.  It seemed oddly placed until you read and realized it was placed there to take a next step in cognitive thinking and applying it to the future.

Thank you for helping me with this.  I want to use it to teach through the story the idea of intolerance vs. tolerance and what can happen if we don’t treat someone with respect.  It definitely a story that made one think.