Category Archives: Unsolved

217E: Agatha and Hanni

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Here’s what I remember of the book I’m looking for.

It was a collection of short chapters.
Took place in Austria (?)
Main characters were a father with two daughters. Agatha (Agathe?) and Hanni (Hanna?).
Seemed like non-fiction.

The older daughter, Agatha, was ill but in the last chapter was able to walk in her confirmation procession.
But there was a sad epilogue saying that Agatha died some time after the story ended, before adulthood.
I think I read it as an adult but that could still have been 50 years ago.

217D: childrens book lost musings: a tree, a river, animal friends

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I am looking for a book which was the first full length read I had, which was
in about 1955. I believe the book was written in the 1940’s or 1950’s, not sure.

It concerned a group of creatures, a squirrel, elf, bird, maybe others, who were
comrades, and hung out either by an old abandoned mill, or big oak tree, by a
river or stream.

At the end of the book, something caused this group to break up, and some of the
comrades to have to leave, travel, wander. ( I was shattered)

I have tried ABE books, not much success, just saw you bookstore & service in
Book Review / NY Times, “Authors Note / sarah manguso” Sunday March 8.
The longing she describes about a “lost” chidren’s book is all too familiar to me.
Like most people, I have suffered partings, endings of life eras, but nothing so
deep as the loss of these characters & the world they inhabited.

I think ABE suggested, maybe, Dorothy Clewes as author, but when I reviewed
various contents of books, did not seem right. If any, might be: The Wild Wood 1945,
but I really have little idea.

HELP ! & thanks

217A: African-American girl wants to be teacher’s bridesmaid

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I read this story in the early 1970s. I believe it was part of an anthology or a school reader, but don’t know if it was a short story or essay or an excerpt from a longer novel or memoir. An African-American girl in a mostly white class loves her teacher and believes she and her friends are going to be in the teacher’s wedding party; she is devastated to find she’s been excluded due to community prejudice. I recall a vivid description of the girls’ fantasies about the dresses and shoes they might wear. I think one of the girls was named Patricia, which is my name, but I don’t think she was the protagonist. Thank you!

216D: Toy soldier battles

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I am looking for a children’s (young adult) book whose name I do not know.

I read the book in the early 1950’s, but would guess that based on the illustrations in the book it was probably written before or at the beginning of second world war.

The book is the story of a child (possibly English) who collects toy soldiers which he uses to fight mock battles with other children. He is lured into fighting an unfair battle with his nemesis, and as a result loses all his soldiers. Due to circumstances that I do not remember he gets a chance to create a new army of toy soldiers which he uses to defeat his old enemy.

The book is well illustrated, Showing WWI (or at least British) toy soldiers and equipment.

Unfortunately I do not remember anything else about the book. the cover was missing when i got it. It could have been published in England.

216C: Wealthy man spends all money and then must live as begger

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I am trying to find a SHORT STORY I read in the 1950s:
“(Possibly) in the late Victorian era, two gentlemen espy a beggar sitting in the street. One tells the other the story of the beggar. He was once a wealthy man, but was disturbed that when he eventually died he would leave behind at least part of his fortune, which he would not have enjoyed himself. He either did not believe in inherited wealth, or had no worthy heirs, I am unsure. He therefore calculated how much he needed every year to continue enjoying the life to which he had become accustomed. He then assessed his total assets, divided them by the annual need, and determined the date upon which he would be down to his last penny. He then vowed that he would live life to the full, and then kill himself on that date. Inevitably, when the fateful day came, he could not bring himself to go through with it, and was doomed to spend the rest of his life as a beggar”.
Many thanks in anticipation of any help identifying this.

216A:Big Blue Book of Children’s Stories

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In the 1950s I was in the hospital and my grandmother gave me a book that she read to me every day. I was around seven-years-old at that time. It had a blue hardcover with black lettering. It had stories like “Billy Goats Gruff”, “Why the Bear had a Stumpy Tail”, “Town Musicians of Bremen”, and “Shingabis and the North Wind”. I do not remember the title of the book, but wish to find it to give it to my daughter for her children. I can still repeat the Shingabis story almost word for word as I had to have that story read to me every day.

215E: 2 cousins looking for lost gold mine

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Young Adult book about 2 estranged cousins who team up on a ranch to hunt for a lost family gold mine. One of the cousins breaks his leg at some point. They find secret messages inside canes that when wrapped around the handles form letters. They eventually find one of their ancestors dead in a cave. There was something about Archimedes as well and using water displacement as a measure I think. Read it in the early 80s but no idea how old it was.

215D: Messy Goat Brothers (children’s book)

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This is a surprise for my girlfriend, so I’m dealing w/scant details. Several goat brothers (or siblings, there may have been girl goats as well) are pictured in a kitchen with a sink full of unwashed dishes. An enormous pile of unwashed dishes. It seems to have been a book about teaching kids responsibility. This would have been available in the late 60s or early 70s.

I’d appreciate any help you could provide. Thanks in advance.