Category Archives: Unsolved

302I: The title has stone in it

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I’ve been trying to find this book forever now and haven’t been able to find anything close.  I’m pretty sure the title has stone in it. The story follows a young boy on an adventure with a girl named Meg, I think there was a hobby horse that could talk. It starts in the boys house where he lives with his sister or step sister who uses him as a housekeeper.  He meets some brownies when sees them at the milk bowl left out for the cat.  There may be an older male character that goes on the adventure as well.  Fairy tales or myths are discovered to be real as the adventure unfolds. I think they have to hide in a well from hunting dogs at one point. The dogs are part of some legendary/mythical hunting party.

302H: The Happy Baker

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There is a book from my childhood, which had a title like, “The Happy Hobo” or “The Happy Baker”.  In it, a down-at-the-heels tramp arrives in a small village.  He first visits the keepers of the General Store and asks for help, food or money.  They rebuke him and send him running.  Then he visits a small bakery.  The baker offers him a few crusty rolls and some warm beverage.  The tramp is magical and offers the blessing that whatever the baker would do, would be successful and happy all day.  The baker gets to work baking and soon the whole town was lined up for his baked goods.

Across the street, the General Store keepers look on enviously.  They lure the tramp over and offer him money or food.  Then they set about clearing room in there store for all of the money they would rake in from the magical tramp.  They spend the whole day cleaning their store (no additional money appears to come in).  Do you know this book’s title and author?

302G: Upside Down Man

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I'm looking for a children's book from late 1950- mid 1970s. I thought it was called the upside down man. However, it is not either of the books by Ellentuck or Baker. It's about kids at home and their parents leave and tell them whatever you do if the door bell rings, don't open the door for the upside down man. But they let him in and he turns everything in the house upside down. It is done in line drawings, black and white. I think it was from a small publisher around Boston.

302F: Winter Bear Wakes Up

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I’m looking for a children’s book my mother always took out of the library in the 70s. Unfortunately, I don’t have very much information on it. What I do know is that its about a bear that woke up from its hibernation too early so that it was still winter. She was reading it in the 70s so it would have needed to be published prior to this.

302E: The protagonist, a scarecrow, was stuck in a garden

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I’ve looked everywhere online for a book I read as a child.  It would have been published in the 50s or early 60s; I read it when I was in the first to third grades which would have been 1964-1967 or 1968.  I’ve forgotten the title and author but remember the story line vividly.  The protagonist, a scarecrow, was stuck in a garden or field and wanted more than anything to be free.  When autumn came and the garden had been harvested, the farmer began to burn all of the refuse, including the scarecrow who, at last, was turned into smoke and was finally free to drift through the air.  It’s a beautiful book and I’ve searched for so long but am limited when I can’t come up with a title or anything else to aid me in my search.  If you could find the book, I’d be very grateful and would even be happy if you could come up with a title and author.

302D: A pound with all different kinds of dogs

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This book I am looking for is about a pound that has all different kinds of dogs in it waiting all day for their new master to come get them.  As the day goes on one by one a person shows up that looks identical to one of the dogs in the pound and that dog gets to go.  The book is from the perspective of one dog in particular and as every person shows up the dog says “ are you my master?” or something like that “Are you my guy?” or “is this my guy?” and each time it’s not his guy it’s another dogs guy.

And as the people show up one by one, as a kid, you KNOW what dog they are coming for because the person looks identical to the dog.

The day goes on and on and it’s finally dark, they are closing, and this one dog who is narrating is the only dog left.  No one has come for him and he is all alone and very sad.  Finally just as they are closed, HIS GUY, or HIS BOY, shows up and they are identical looking and the dog and the boy are overjoyed that they have found each other and he gets to go home with the boy.

It is driving me crazy that I can’t remember the name of this book or how to find it.  I am 53 so it was probably written in the 1960s.

I’m not sure how to pay for this but Ill go back on the website and make sure to pay but please post this I promised my Mom that I would try to find it!!!

302B: A hedgehog named Harriet

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I am looking for a children’s picture book about a hedgehog named Harriet. The thing that I remember best was that she wore red high heels. This was my baby brother’s favorite book in the 70’s, so I am guessing it was released in the 60’s or 70’s. I don’t think that it would be older than that based on what I remember about the pictures. He recently passed away and my mother would really like to find a copy. I have done a lot of searching and have not been able to find even a clue. Please help!

301Z: A boy searches for his father

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I remember reading a picture book when I was a kid, it was a story about a boy who lived in a snowy area and he was searching for his father. Along the journey, he defeats an animal and uses its horns/claws/teeth? And uses them to skate across a frozen lake bed and finds his father. The boy was relieved to find his father, but the father told him that it was too late, that he had run out of time or something. The book was fairly short, unfortunately that’s all I remember from the story. I remember reading it sometime around 1992-1999, when I was in elementary school, but no idea when the book itself was published. I have always remembered the book every Christmas, but could never find it.

Other details that I can think of is that the story initially starts off with the boy and his mother in a wooden cabin as she is preparing dinner(?). The boy asks the mom where the father is and eventually goes out to look for him.

Please let me know if you require any more details, I will be sure to let you know if I can remember anything else.