Category Archives: Unsolved

252D: : Children’s Book series from 1980’s

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I remember a series of children’s mystery books from when I was in 1st grade, which would’ve been 1987-1988. Each book in the series had the same color hard cover. The hard cover was thin and maybe glossy. I remember a series having an orange cover, but there was a different series from the same author or publisher that had a different color hard cover.

From my memory, I seem to remember there being a British-ness to the books. Some took place in a city, others in the country.

I remember liking the books and now that I have children, I’d like to read these books to them.

Thanks!
Augustus

252B: Don’t Throw This Book Away

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Deion: 1970s children’s book, I think called “Don’t Throw This Book Away” about all the ways you could reuse the book. Options in the book include using it as a bookmark in a larger book, or to prop up a short table leg, or shred it to put in the bottom of a hamster cage. Small, square book, with brightly colored pages (hot pink, for example) and illustrations. This is NOT the book called “Don’t Throw That Away” about recycling… just a similar name and theme!

252A: Squares

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From what I can remember I was in elementary school and we were asked to pick out a non-fiction book to read. It was about a young child who ventures into their neighbor’s backyard to find that they have sectioned it off into squares. The neighbor shows the child how to explore each square. All the details are very fuzzy but this is what I remember, hopefully it’s somewhat accurate.

251E: He’s Gottagetouta here

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I am looking for the title of a children’s book I read a few years ago. It was, as far as my memory supports about a little boy who travels from place to place (all local, on foot) and after a few verbal exchanges he repeats a line similar to, “I gottagetouta here.”

I lived in MA at the time and wonder if it was local to New England.

251D: A boy must find his strengths and his mother

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I am looking for a young adult book that I read between 1983-1990. (It may be marginally sci-fi or dystopian, I don’t recall.)

The story is: A boy/teenager’s mother disappears. As he tries to find her, he comes into his own skill-set (maybe as a mathematician, scientist or problem solver — something.) In the end, he finds his mother, and she explains that she is part of a group who intend to start a new society or colonize off planet — something along those lines. She left her life behind and vanished in order to begin preparations with the group because the time to start this new colony or society was drawing near. (I believe her skill is agricultural or scientific, etc)

The big revelation is that she couldn’t tell him about what she was doing or bring him along because every member of the group must have a special skill or contribution to make to this new society that they intend to form. She could only hope that her son discovered his skill and could follow the clues to find her. (Essentially, now that he has become worthy, they are reunited and he can be part of this new colony.)

Thanks in advance,
Jana P.

251C: A story combined with crafts

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I am searching for a children’s book, the name I do not know. We took it from the library in the late 1980s. The reader was instructed to have a newspaper with them while reading the story. It was not an instructional book only, it had a story and directions to fold the paper this way and that way. At the end the reader would cut the rolled or folded newspaper . At the very last you would pull at a particular spot and VOILA, a beautiful firework or similar creation was yours

251A: A man takes in an orphan and gains a family

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Hi, I am looking for a young adult novel, published sometime in the late 60s to mid-70s.

Plot details:
An older man, somewhat down on his luck, lives alone in an apartment in a big/bigger city. He sees young boy (orphaned? abandoned?) wandering the streets. He takes him in, even though the man doesn’t have much money himself. He buys the young boy new clothes (which he almost can’t afford). At Christmas they decorate a small tree with the silver foil from inside boxes of cigarettes. They become a family. Possible names: Teague and Me? Me and XXXXX?