Category Archives: Unsolved

244C: Richard Scarry-ish Book from mid-80s

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I’ve been trying to figure out how to go about locating a book from childhood. It was in the vein of Richard Scarry as far as similar illustrative style though it wasn’t focused on learning individual words. (The age range was basic reading level, thinking somewhere between 5-9?) There were descriptive informative blurbs/individual paragraphs and corresponding artwork. The one illustration I remember in detail pertained to what happens when you cut your finger (or maybe just get a cut anywhere). The red vs white blood cells fighting it out, etc. I vaguely recall it being oversized with a sky blue base color and variously illustrated on the covers. The overall theme seemed to be life/the world/perhaps how things work? I was reading this somewhere between 1986-1990. I fear this is likely not enough information though I appreciate the effort to help solve this book hunt.

243H: Young Adult Book Based on Ancient Mythology

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In late 1950’s, early 60’s, I read a book from the Young Adult section of the library.  It had a dust jacket that I recall as darkish, perhaps blue or purple with people, maybe the children of the story.  The story was about a boy and girl (siblings?) who spied a wooden door in a culvert as they were passing by in a (carriage?).  They return on foot and upon entering, find Vulcan at his forge.  Reluctantly, he directs them to Pegasus.  They climb upon Pegasus’  back, and he flies to the Elysian Fields.  There is an illustration of Pegasus stretching out his dainty hoof to land gently with the children on his back.  I believe they meet other gods and goddesses also, but I do not recollect the specific incidents.

Thank you for any assistance you and your readers can share.

243G: Children Speak to Trees

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I’m hoping you can help me find a book that I’ve been trying to remember for years.

I can’t remember the name at all, but it’s a fiction book in which children still have a natural ability to speak to trees, but adults have all forgotten how to (around puberty) by losing their belief in childish things. There are rowan trees, elder trees, ash trees and many others but they are the main trees I recall being part of the story.

I’m an eighties kid but it could be an older publication, I used the public library a lot and had a teacher who lent me her favourite childhood books too.

I think the cover had a colour pencil style drawing on it, mostly green in colour, but this is hazy so could be mixing up a memory.

I also can’t remember the children’s names or the story arc so I realise it a long shot!

 

243B: A Picture Book of Color Photographs

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When I was a boy growing up in Farmingdale, NY (Long Island), I attended a primary school (Parkway Oaks) from 1973-1976 and there was a picture book that I used to take out of the school library all the time.

It was full of color photographs of objects. I believe it was an object book or visual dictionary of some sort. However, I also vaguely remember that it was organized by color so that green objects were together, etc. I could be misremembering this, though.

It was not a very thin book; I think it was reasonably thick, chock-full of photos. It was smaller in dimensions (WxH – not an oversized book).

I remember the color being red, but I could be wrong, and that could simply be an artifact of edition. This book appeared to have the style of a book from the 50s or 60s. I cannot imagine a book from the 40s having this much color photography.

I remember being fascinated by all the color photographs (rather than illustrations, which were more common in the other children’s books), and I would love to find this book again.

Thanks!

242G: Hats!

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I’m looking for a book, could be from any time before 1975 or so.
It was a big picture book for young children which I think was primarily about different hats. The main thing I remember is that there was one spread with a woman wearing a fancy hat with netting on it, and there was a fish design in the netting such that the fish went right over her eyes.
My mom thinks it was called something like “My Aunt’s Hat” but isn’t sure. I haven’t had any luck googling that.
She remembers it as being about an older woman, sort of crazy, with “old lady tight curly hair”.
She remembers the image as being “big, falling off the page” and there may have been a tiny little fishing line on the page.

Pretty sure it is not:
Jennie’s Hat
Aunt Lucy Went to Buy a Hat
Aunt Flossie’s Hats
Caps for Sale
Cat in the Hat or any Dr. Seuss including Bartholomew Cubbins Old Hat, New Hat or any Berenstain books

Although if there is a spread with the fish hat in one of these, that’s probably it.