There was a cat named “Strawberry” and the characters/kids in the book traveled to the Land of Now Here. I think at least part of the journey was completed in a hot air balloon, and there was a train.
247E: The Land Now Here
5 Replies
Category Archives: Unsolved
247B: Girl in the Mirror/Night Carnival
In this short story/book a girl finds herself in a night carnival. The climax in this story is very similar to the, Come Back Lucy by Pamela Sykes.
This short story, however, I found it at a library a library and was never ever to re-find the story on the shelves or in its database. I believe the story was in an anthology of short stories.
The story is centered in an almost 1950s style where a little girl interacts with another girl in a mirror. The girl (main character) mysteriously falls into her mirror and finds herself in a dark somewhat spooky place.
As I recall, she sees a carnival in the distance. I believe the carnival is a type of ethereal place and is ghoul like. My favorite excerpt, “she found herself on a path dimly lit by the dancing of fireflies.”
I recall she sits down and cries. She tries to get back into the mirror that she fell out of and it appears she cannot escape the dark, Gothic world in which she landed. Her sobbing countenance becomes the reflection that a new girl sees in her mirror. This temporal/spatial rift that the girl finds herself in is somehow a trap that is now the main character’s punishment for her self-obsession.
What was most intriguing about this story was that it was dark, twisted and yet eerily beautiful. Strong visuals paint the story and it was from the late 1960s to early 1980s. That is, within the time frame of the Reader’s Digest short story anthologies.
246J: Stories for Girls to Live By
I read a book of short stories in 1963. My memory is that the title or description following the title was “stories for girls to live by”. I believe one of the shorts was by Betty Cavanna. I do remember one of the stories had an excerpt about a girl on a sandy beach applying nail polish (crazy fragment to remember, I know). I have been searching for this book in vain forever. I lent it to a girl friend in 1964 and never got it back. If you can help me I’d so appreciate it as I would love to find a copy.
Thank you
Mary
246I: A “cave boy” survives on his own
This is the first book I remember reading on my own, which would have been about 1954-55. The book was much older than that. From my hazy recollection of its appearance, I’d guess late 1920s through early 1940s. I have no memory of the title or the author. It was written at what was then probably considered a third- or fourth-grade level. There were some facing-page illustrations, but I don’t remember them clearly. It’s a story about a “cave boy” who becomes separated from his family, survives on his own, grows to young manhood, and is reunited with his family at the end. Besides that, I can remember only one specific incident: lightning strikes a tree, causing a fire, which is the occasion for the boy to discover the use of fire.
Would be delighted to find it again.
246F: Children’s Book about How to Drive a Car
My dad said he used to read a book that “taught him how to drive a car.” He was born in 1959, so I imagine this book was published in the 60s or maybe early 70s. It was a children’s book. That’s all I have to go on for now, as I hope to get him this as a surprise Christmas gift. I may ask him to provide more details if this doesn’t ring a bell with anyone.
Thanks!
246E: An Alphabet book with a Dear Deer
I am looking for an alphabet book from the 1960’s. The page I remember is “D is for a dear deer doing dishes” Love to find this book. Thank you.
246D: Two jaunty fellows
I read this children’s book in 1977. It was about two men (I think they have beards and old fashioned clothing) that drive around the countryside in a locomotive that has a miniature Victorian Queen Anne style house on the top of it. The book is illustrated with black ink line drawings. At one point the two men “save” a woman tied to railroad tracks who looks about to be run over by a train, only to find out that they ruined a flat set-piece train because the woman is an actress and was filming a Western.
I hope you can help! I would like to find the book and get a copy to read to my two year old twin boys.
Thanks, Austin
246B: An award winner with a Polynesian theme
Searching for a children’s book printed no later than the 1990s. The cover featured an illustration of a Hawaiian girl in the foreground, with a volcano in the background. I think the book title may have included a Hawaiian girl’s name, but I’m not sure about that. I believe it had received an award; I think there was a gold seal featured on the cover as well. Hope you can help identify the book title and author!!!
246A: A teen suffers from low self-esteem
It was a paperback from 1970s about a teen, perhaps named April, who lacks self-esteem and then loses weight. I thought is was called April in the Mirror but cannot find a book with this title. It was probably a scholastic book.
245F: Frustrated figure skater
I read this book in the early 1970s when I was ~8-11 years old. It was about a girl who was learning to be a figure skater and was frustrated by all of the time she had to spend learning to cut figures in the ice rather than doing more exciting skating routines.