Category Archives: Unsolved

286E: Picture-only book with words next to items in several scenes

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This book was a children’s early reader book from 70s/80s with scenes from a park (which had a pond in it, I think, and possibly a duck in the pond), classroom, hospital room, etc. In the picture of the classroom, for instance, it said “paint” next to where the paints were, and “chair” next to the chair in the picture.  No plot, just labels for items in the pictures. It is *not* a Richard Scarry book (which sometime label individual items as well).

285D: Boy and cat are best friends

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I am looking for a children’s book from around 1980.

I do not recall the title or author, and the book may have been published before 1980.  Let’s say anywhere between 1970 and 1982 or so.  This was a favorite book of mine when I was a kid, and I used to take it out of my local branch of the St. Louis Public Library pretty regularly.

The one thing I DO remember were the fantastic illustrations.  It was done in black and white, and the drawings looked as though they may have been pen and ink, or etchings, and they were very realistic.

Thematically, I remember a couple things about the story:  A boy and his cat used to sit on a hill under their (or maybe the cat’s) favorite tree.  At night, the cat would go have adventures on his own with his cat friends.  Toward the end of the story, the cat died, and the boy and his mom decided to bury him atop the hill under the beloved tree.  Then the boy would go there to remember the cat.

Specifically, I recall one page in the book that illustrated night time, when the cat would go with his cat friends.  There is a house (presumably the cat’s) in the background, as though he has just been let out for the evening.  In the foreground, you see the cat joining up with many, many neighborhood cats as they set off to roam around–a virtual cat army.

Thank you, and I look forward to seeing what you all come up with.

285C: Kafka-esque book for kids, 90s

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A young boy becomes a roach- literally all I remember. However, the side story I do remember. His sister is some kind of super genius who didn’t speak until she was five and when she did finally speak she created a board game. She spends her day in front of the tv counting the number of times the commercial for the board game plays and how much money she is making.

285A: Squeaker at the Zoo

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In 1962, my kindergarten class performed a play for children called Squeaker at the Zoo. The plot concerned a dog (Squeaker) who became lost at a zoo.  The little girl who owns Squeaker goes around to the various animals at the zoo and asks them if they have seen her dog.  Each group of animals answers, in turn, “No, no, no–we have not seen your dog.”  Finally Squeaker turns up.

According to a newspaper article, “Squeaker at the Zoo” is described as an “operetta” or “song story” that is taken from a Reading Readiness Program workbook entitled “Here We Come.”  The play seems to have been performed by many kindergarten classes across the country in 1963 and in the years after.

Can you find the play for children entitled, Squeaker at the Zoo?

284F: Children with dimpled knees and very round faces

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I am looking for picture books (with words).  I read as a child and checked it out from our local library in Seymour, IN. I believe there was more than one book by the author. I think they were square shaped hard back books. The children in them were cute with dimpled knees and very round faces (not Campbell Soup kid related or Dick and Jane). I recall a girl being sort of the main character in these books about their small adventures. This would have been the early to mid 1980s when I was reading these. The pictures were very simple. I think I recall a story about a mud puddle in one of the books and the girl’s name may have been Mary but I’m not sure.

284D: Alternate outcomes become alternate worlds

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In the world of this book, every time something happens, like a war, both outcomes come true. A new world is created with the alternate outcome. So there are many earths. The one that this one takes place on is not ours. In this Earth, America is called Atlantis.

The children survive the shipwreck because the boy is a witch and the sister hangs onto him. But you don’t find that out till the end. You think – because she says so – that she is the witch and she saved him.

He is left-handed, which where they came from is punished but where they have arrived at, is celebrated as it is a sign of being a witch. That’s all I remember….

I probably read it in the late seventies, possibly early 80’s. I was probably around 12 – it was a middle-year chapter book. It was really good.

I hope it sounds familiar to someone! Thanks for your help!