Category Archives: Unsolved

193A: Boy and Bear take Journey, Chased by the embodiment of their fears

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I read this book in the mid ’80’s. The book was entitled something like, “The Long Road Home,” or “On the Road Home.” It opened with a boy becoming self aware and he was given the task of going on a journey. He befriends a bear and he and the bear undertake the journey together. The antagonist in the story is an evil that feeds off the fear of the boy. This evil, at one time in the book, took the form of a frog or toad. At the climax of the battle between the boy and this evil, the boy finally fought back his fears, the evil shrunk and was picked up by a large stork and dropped in a lake. The dust jacket was plain white, the title of the book was in the lower right hand corner, next to a pencil drawing of the boy and the bear.

Any help would be great. Thank you!

192F: Story collection with coloring book feel

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Story collection. Can’t recall if it’s bedtime stories or fairy tales. Had “coloring book” texture pages will uncolored illustrations. Divided into colored paper sections (ie: 1st fourth was on yellow paper, second on green, etc).
Some stories I recall: one about mermaids, one about an elevator that was alive, one about a lobster, and another about a mismatched sock I think. Also think there may have been a jungle themed one. I hope this helps, I can’t find it anywhere šŸ™‚

192D: Book about a Tree house

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I’m looking for a book that I read when I was in first grade (1962). It was about a treehouse. As I recall, the cover and artwork were in shades of green. It was not a large book – I’d say about 8-10 inches tall, maximum. It was a picture book, but the pictures were two-tone – green and black (not elaborate).

The characters lived in a treehouse and as I recall it was a very happy story. The book was old when I read it, so I’m guessing it was published in the 1950’s, or even in the 40’s. I made the mistake of mentioning to my first-grade teacher that I loved the book, and she made me read it out loud to the whole class! Yikes! It didn’t take me very long to read it to the class, so the book must have been only about 20 (or fewer) pages in length.

As I recall, the word treehouse was in the title, but that’s all I remember

192B: “Cook spaghetti! Make popcorn!”

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I’m looking for a children’s fiction book that my father used to read to me in the 1980’s. It’s about an alligator or crocodile lady who is dressed in women’s clothes. She has three parrots/birds and they are always telling her what to do. They say, “Cook spaghetti! Make popcorn!” At the end of the book, her house overflows with popcorn. It would mean the world to my father and I to be able to find this book and read it together again! Thank you!

192A: Where’s Charlie (We think)

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It is a hardback children’s book that we read to our now 36 year old son in the late 70’s to mid 80’s.

It is about a little girl who has a pet mouse. One day she could not find him. Page after page, room after room she lloked for him; in the stove, refrigerator, closets, microwave, etc. . . . . NO CHARLIE! she finally found him asleep in the be in her doll house.

Please confirm the title and author for us so we can purchase them.

191H: alligator or crocodile lady who is dressed in women’s clothes

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I’m looking for a children’s fiction book that my father used to read to me in the 1980’s. It’s about an alligator or crocodile lady who is dressed in women’s clothes. She has three parrots/birds and they are always telling her what to do. They say, “Cook spaghetti! Make popcorn!” At the end of the book, her house overflows with popcorn. It would mean the world to my father and I to be able to find this book and read it together again! Thank you!

191C: Dirty Little Pig ?

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This book was probably published between 1942-1965. It was about a family that lived near train tracks so that the soot covered everything in the house, including the family. The doctor was sent for and I remember he looked everything over and said, “Hmmmmm” which I thought was funny as a small child. The illustration I remember was of a pig sleeping in an open dresser drawer. I seem to recall the illustrations were not in color but more like sketches. I have searched for this book for 10+ years. Nobody has ever heard of it.
Also, if this helps, my mother belonged to something called the Junior Literary Guild and many of my books as a child were JLG books. Maybe this one was as well. My older siblings thought the book was called The Dirty Family or the Dirty Little Pig or that “dirty” was a part of the title.

191A: Orphans living with elderly relative, doorknobs made of diamonds

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A childrens book written before 1968 involving orphans living with elderly relative. all are poor. female child falls asleep in a turret room and is transported to a magical world where she and other children help the creatures in some kind of war. Upon return the doorknobs in the house are discovered to be real diamonds. There is a bad child that ends up in a gazing ball in the garden. I have been trying to remember the title and or author of this book for years. I loved it as a child and want very much to get a copy for my grandchildren.