Category Archives: Unsolved

298B: Avoids capture with a purple and green robe

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It’s a novel I read in the mid 80’s, although I suspect it was written before that. The protagonist is older than average. Curmudgeonly, ego-centric and eccentric. The only scene I remember with clarity is one in which the protagonist is being chased through the precincts of a city or maybe an enemy’s citadel. He comes across a courtyard or walled garden in which there is a bush or shrub decorated with white flowers. Our hero is wearing a purple and green robe, cloak or other outfit and gambles that his clothes – being made up of two complementary colours – will register as white to pursuers in a hurry. Taking a chance on this he hides himself in front of the bush or shrubbery and, sure enough, his pursuers hurtle on past him and through the garden, allowing our hero to escape at his leisure. Identifying this book has been bugging me for over a decade now, so any hints, clues, leads or even an answer will be hugely appreciated. Thanks in advance. . .

 

298A: A Clockmaker in Bern

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I must have read this some time in the 70s. Not a picture book, I would say this book was middle grade fiction (aimed at 8-12 year-olds). I’m guessing I read it between the ages of 9 and 11. It took place in Bern, Switzerland, and although I think the protagonist may have been a young girl, there was definitely a clockmaker in it, and his shop. I don’t think it had any elements of fantasy in it, but I remember finding it a magical story. I wish I remembered more about it, but that’s about all I’ve got!

 

297Z: The clown who had to become a ditch-digger

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In the early 1950s, I had a children’s picture book about eight by ten inches concerning a clown who was forced to leave the circus.  I can’t recall why he had to leave, but he had done something wrong.  What lingers in my memory is a closing illustration of the clown, dressed in a blue clown suit, oversized shoes, red wig and nose, walking down a road with a pick and shovel over his right shoulder, perhaps into the setting sun, though I’m not sure of that detail.  He had to leave the circus and become a ditch-digger.  I thought it was the saddest image I had ever seen and the saddest fate I could imagine.  I still think so.

297Y: Incompetent burglars and a streetcar/diner

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In the early to mid-60s, I read a hardcover library book that I guess was published either late 50s or early 60s.  It was about a boy, I think his name was Charlie. He lived in a town where an old streetcar had been turned into a restaurant, so you could eat your meal while riding around the town.  And somehow he got mixed up with some incompetent burglars, who couldn’t get the slang term for “gun” right; instead of saying “gat,” they would mangle it somehow. I’m pretty sure Charlie had a large dog.

297X: Secret Code, Tunnel To Underground Station

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I read this in the late 1950s or early 60s. Two or three children are sent to stay at a relative’s or ancestor’s house. The plot involves solving a code in which vowels are rearranged or relocated so that “Underground Station” encodes as something like NDRGRND STTN. The message and the plot involve a tunnel, the ends of which are called underground stations.

297W: The Fastest Little Craft Afloat

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I’m looking for a poem from the 1980s.  Here’s what I remember:

One day mommy brought me a treat

and I asked her if it was something to eat

or is it round and can I bounce it on the ground

No my dear she said to me

its neither and she let me see

and there inside the the wrappings lay

a sailboat for which to play

? – something about bringing it down to the pond

the fastest little craft afloat

 

Thank you!!

297U: Buster Hard Rocks and Tilly Fields

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My inquiry is about an old story that a dear friend told me.  She was born in the 30s and, I believe must have heard the story when she was young.

She thinks it was in a book of children’s stories.  It is about Buster Hard Rocks and Tilly Fields.  The moral of the story is how difficult it is to grow and prosper crops or other things you are growing when all you have in your field are hard rocks.  But if your field is easily tilled, then you can grow crops.  Then similarly in your life, the condition of your heart and mind can be difficult to cultivate if you are hard and unwilling to listen and be persuaded.

I would love to find a copy of a book with this story in it.

297T: Illustrated Children’s book with the theme ” You can choose”

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Illustrated Children’s book with the theme ” You can choose”. We had this book in the late 1980s/ early 1990s. It was square with a yellow hardcover with a cartoonish girl/boy on it. Book was about 20 pages ( 10 layouts with different scenes where the boy and girl make different choices between colours and objects etc. ). Each scene ends with a phrase similar to ” You can chose”. Very repetitious. One scene has them in a classroom. Size of book 20cm x 20cm. I know it is not the following books “If I could choose” or “Which one would you choose”.

297R: Big book of stories, almost like a telephone book

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I am looking for a big book of stories I enjoyed as a child in the early to mid 1980s. It’s possible the book was published in either the 70s or 80s. It is NOT the typical hardcover collection of stories but rather a paperback, rather oversized book – almost like a telephone book with same type of “newspaper like” pages and black and white print. A distinctive feature is that it had pastel multicolored sections of pages inside. Each color represented a specific type of story like yellow for fairy tales, pink for animal stories, blue for classics adapted for kids, etc. The most specific story I remember is the 12 Dancing Princess who wore out their shoes. It had beautiful illustrations with ladies sporting the French pompadour style with ringlets hairdos and full ballroom dresses. I also have a vague memory of a cute little story featuring a ladybug and other various insects conversing with each other. We also had a similar type big book of jokes (featuring different types of jokes including Tom Swifties!) that I seem to remember having a mostly white cover; I always thought they were part of a series of big books but I could be wrong.

Thanks for any help.