Category Archives: Unsolved

283E: Martian or Moon dweller, visits earth

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I’m looking for a vaguely remembered children’s book. It’s a picture book. I can’t reconstruct the whole plot but it had the following elements:

– EITHER a martian, extra-terrestrial or man-in-the-moon visiting earth, OR a boy that wants to fly to space. The former is more likely.

– This protagonist is reminded of his planet or the moon or the sun by seeing a balloon, and maybe also other round objects throughout the book.

– There is definitely a scene, towards the end of the book, where the protagonist walks back to his space vessel in the evening sun or moon.

– I remember the book had a melancholic feel. Maybe the protagonist is homesick or something. It was NOT a spectacular book on space travel. The martian is not scary, but cute and a little sad.

– It must predate 1983, possibly a book from much earlier (60s?) that my mother purchased at a library that got rid of old books.

283D: Empaths, Plagues and Luddites

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This is a book where the main character, in the start, is in the sewers, I think, and there are feral children called ‘sewer rats’ chasing him? I think, it was because he was trying to save a cat? There is a cave-in and the cat appears to be someones familiar or something because it goes and brings back help. The main character wakes up and I think I remember they were giving him a honey bath or something to combat severe dehydration. I think the people who rescued him brought him to a group that were luddites. The main character turns out to be an empath and at some point lets his shields down outside and because there is a plague in the area he is overwhelmed by the suffering around him. His romantic interest is named Mary? She is one of the luddites and helps him when he becomes overwhelmed. At some point they try to help capture and rescue the feral children, these feral children turn on anyone that reaches a certain age. The main character was traveling through the sewers in the beginning because of his empathy, it was quieter down there.

283C: Elves going to a costume party

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I’ve been searching for this picture book for a few years with no luck. It was a favorite of my childhood, and so well loved that the book literally fell apart. My dad had it memorized for a few years, but has since forgotten it.

The book was about elves (possibly gnomes) going to a costume party. It was a counting book, and it rhymed.

I know on the second page it described elves coming in twos, “they came dressed as a pair of shoes.” The following pages had rhymed costumes for fours, sixes, etc.

283B: Babette and the Magpies

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There was a children’s picture book that we had in the 1970s which seemed to be generally a Scandinavian based story about a brother and sister (who I believe was Babette) who lived on a farm or large piece of property. There were two sets of birds living on the property, one set were robins or finches or some small birds who lived in a thorn bush or some kind of dense shrub whose eggs were stolen/eaten by the two “thieving” magpies who lived high up in a very big tree on the farm. The boy and the girl were each given gifts and I believe that the girl’s was some sort of shiny red purse or red mittens which were again stolen by the magpies after she had set them down on the bench underneath the mapgpies’ tree. Because the tree was so tall, they couldn’t get the gift back and both the little girl and the small birds were very sad and angry with the magpies. One winter night there was a terrible storm and the large tree fell down and the next day the girl found the missing gift and the magpies were forced to fly away.

282J: Quiet cozy things to do

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Small late 60’s/early 70s children’s book- I ‘think’ it was about quiet cozy things to do, but I especially remember a picture of a snail outside in a light rain by pebbles and I think an upside down pail in one picture. I’m pretty sure it was watercolor illustrations. Sorry so vague I was quite little and my grandmother used to look at the book with me.

282I: Mice/Rats in a hospital after hours

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This book is at least 25-30 years old. It was about mice/ rats in a hospital after hours. There was one character with a broken tail from a trap and they had their own hospital ward with little beds for the mice/rats. The imagery was quite dark, not typical for a kids book.

282H: Goose vs. Spider

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I have been trying FOREVER to remember/find the book I read as a kid at our medical clinic.  I have a lot of allergies, asthma, hay fever…in short, I was sick a lot plus I have 2 younger siblings so I was at the doctor’s office A LOT!  I remember reading this one book when I was there all the time, but can’t find it…SO PRAYING you can help me finally remember the book!  It’s about either a goose (or gander) living in a house…a spider gets into the house and the goose/gander try getting the spider to leave or try killing it a lot of different ways, but the spider doesn’t leave.  The goose/gander do major damage to their house (it might break a pipe or something because I vaguely remember the house having water in it)…in the end the goose/gander is so upset & tired of spider that the goose/gander leave the house (I think the spider follows it or something??)  It’s a short children’s book.  I just remember thinking the book was so funny…all the ways the goose/gander tried getting rid of the spider & the spider always survived but the goose/gander ruined it’s house in the process…just a cute, funny story…and a big childhood memory…again…since I was there SO OFTEN.  If you can help me figure out what book this is I would SO GREATLY APPRECIATE IT!

282G: A silver scarf and mixture of emotions

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I only have a vague memory of the ending of the book I’m looking, which goes something like this:

Many years later, she [a young girl during most of the story] received a neatly wrapped package with no return address.  Inside was a soft, silver scarf.  When she held it, she knew it was the silver scarf and felt a mixture of emotion, sadness, a tear, a bit of happy memory.  As she held it, she thought about wearing it, but then, “Not today,” carefully folded the scarf and put it gently in a favorite drawer in her dresser.

Will appreciate any thoughts on the name of the book.

282E: ABC Children’s Book

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I am trying to find a children’s alphabet book that was produced in the 19070’s.  The book was an A to Z and contained black and white pictures.  I believe the photographer was a relatively famous Philadelphia photographer at the time.  A – was Airplane and Q – was Quilt.  The pictures were all of children – not illustrated.  I believe the authors name or photographers name was Ann or Anne.  Thank you for your help.