Category Archives: Unsolved

184G: Judy Has a Tea Party with Her Dolls and/or Stuffed Animals

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I am looking for a storybook collection and I can only remember bits and pieces of a few of the stories. My mom read it to me in the late 70s and early 80s (but I think it was from an earlier era, 50s or 60s perhaps) and I loved it more than anything. My favorite story was about a little girl named Judy who had tea parties (or some kind of party) with her dolls and/or stuffed animals. I think she spread out a blanket outside. I also remember a story about baking a pie and putting something in it. Maybe rocks. “Pip” is actually the word in my memory associated with the pie, although I have no idea what it means or if it’s right. There was also a story about a boy and girl who lost something (a gold necklace maybe?), and a fairy or angel or some kind of mythical creature told them to look somewhere to find it. I am almost positive the book was illustrated. Our copy was well worn, and the cover was missing.

184F: Blue bear injured while racing bike

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I am looking for a children’s book, I am unsure of title but the (I believe) main character was a blue bear. He was injured while racing a dirt bike or motorcycle. I think he had his head bandaged after the injury. The book was a large, hardcover book (larger than a typical Dr Suess book, but about as long) and the cover was primarily yellow I believe.
My little brother checked this book out repeatedly around 1990-1994, I’m not sure how old the book is.
Thank you for your time.

 

184E: Child and dog growing up together

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It would make a friend’s year if I could find this…
Kid’s book. White cover. Most likely from the 60’s or 70’s. Maybe 50’s.
Child and dog growing up together. At end of book dog is huge and doesn’t fit on rug that is throughout the book. Almost written as a dog care guide. Kid gets the puppy, feeds and takes care of puppy as they grow together. Sketch style artwork. Subdued colors. Irish settler like dog. Probably 8″ x 11″ book. Maybe 20 pages.

184D: Man wins hand of King’s daughter with help from friends

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Hello! I am reaching out to you in hopes you can help me locate a book I have been searching for for years. It’s about a quest nonetheless! 🙂 I do not know the title, I do not know the author. I remember it was a large hardbound book, the kind they used to make in the 70’s, that kind of story book. It was about a man who wanted to win the hand of the kings daughter, so he set up wild tasks for him to accomplish, and he did, with the help of his friends. One could run so fast he set things aflame, one could turn himself into a pig and eat and eat. One task was to get a golden egg maybe? I remember him climbing a mountain and trying to get into a nest that was far out of reach.
The pictures were amazing! When I think back, they remind me of Hildebrant type, like the old hobbit,very fantasy, very detailed. The man had a whole group of friends with him who could do amazing things that helped him pass his tasks. They did it without the king knowing how he did it.

 

184A: Boy Believes that Resistance Fighter Dad is Still Alive

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I want to buy this book and need help!!!! I do not know the name or the author, but the book The Long Way Home by Margot Benary-Isbert is NOT it.

The story was written for teenagers. It was in my junior high or high school library and I read the book (many times, I enjoyed it very much) around the late 1960’s or early 1970’s.

It took place after WWII.

A young (10?,12?, 14?) boy’s father fought in the war as a member of the French (?) resistance or underground. The father was supposedly killed during the war and his son then placed in an orphanage, residential school, or something similar. The son wants to believe that his father somehow survived. On the basis of a partial name similar to his father’s, which is mentioned in a torn newspaper article about a former French (?) resistance fighter teaching or something for some California (?) university (?). The boy hoped/believed that somehow his father actually survived the war and was living in the United States.

An international adoption program placed French (?) war orphans with adoptive parents in the United States. The boy did all he could at the orphanage/school – good grades, great behavior, etc – to get himself into the adoption program. The boy wanted to search for his father and saw the adoption program as the means to get to the United States.

The young boy is placed with an American couple. The adoptive father (Cal???) was a WWII veteran whose capture by the enemy was prevented by some French (?) civilians. Cal (?) wanted to “give back” by adopting a French (?) child/war orphan. I think the adoptive mother’s name was Sally. The couple is wonderful to the boy and the boy quickly comes to love them both very much. However, the boy cannot drop the hope/belief that his biological father is alive and the boy is compelled to make it to the town/college mentioned in the torn newspaper article.

About a month or so after arriving in the United States and moving in with Cal and Sally (?), the boy runs away to the town/college mentioned in the article. The boy has adventures along the way. He somehow meets up and travels a while with a young want-to-be reporter who sees a prospective human-interest story and perhaps the opportunity for an entry level position as a reporter in the orphan’s quest.

The boy eventually arrives at the place mentioned in the article and learns that the man mentioned in the article is not his father. Sadly, the man confirms that the father was indeed killed during the war. Because of his involvement in the underground, the man had known the boy’s father and is able to tell the boy the circumstances of his father’s death.

The boy is desolate, alone, and afraid – believing he has no options and no one. His biological father is dead and he felt he could not return to Cal and Sally as he had rejected them by running away. The want-to-be reporter who was following the boy contacts his adoptive parents. He explains what happened, and tells them where they can find the boy. Cal travels to the boy and reassures him that they love him and want him. Cal brings the boy home.

I think the title had the words “Long Journey” or “Long Road” in it.

183E: Not Timothy and two witches

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I read a children’s book in the mid 70s to early 80s about a young boy who meets a good witch who brings him into her house and while she is in the other room he finds a magical book of fairy tales. When he starts to read it the pictures start moving. He watches a story about a princess who wears out her shoes every night and is always tired. I think the king says that whoever figures out how she does it will get to marry her. So a young man spies on her at night and sees her get up and go through a secret passage to a place I think was a gypsy camp where she dances all night.
Then the good witch comes back in the room and at some point in the story she tells him not to go through the gate in the hedge in her yard because on the other side is another world where there is an evil witch. Later in the story he goes through the gate and gets captured by baba yaga. But I don’t think baba yaga is the evil witch she warned him about. She just happens to be there. I remember he saw the hut walking around on its chicken legs and when he goes inside she catches him and keeps him there while she flies away on her mortar and pestle. At some point he sees the hut dancing and jumping and flipping all around. I don’t remember what happened with the evil witch that the good witch warned him about. That’s all I remember. For a long time I thought this book was Timothy and two witches, but I found a copy of that and when I read it I knew it was the wrong one.

183D: Old Collection of Children’s Stories and Fairy Tales

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I am looking for a book my mother used to read to us in the late 70’s that was passed down from her German great, great grandmother. It was a collection of children’s stories and fairy tales with illustrations in English. One of the tales was Japanese (I think) about two sisters (or friends) that we remember being named O’Lotusan (sp?) and Miura (sp)? O’ Lotusan had a beautiful singing voice and a prince was in love with her. Miura became jealous and somehow turned O’ Lotusan into a very tiny fairy and tried to trick the prince into believing she was O’Lotusan. As a fairy O’Lotusan lived in a seashell or snail shell and collected dew drops that turned into diamonds. She would go and watch the prince who was very sad and sat at a fountain. One day, she had the courage to climb on his shoulder and sing in his ear and he knew it was her.

Two other stories in the same book that I remember are about a boy who was very sick and had to stay in bed (winter time) and fairies would paint pictures on his window pane with frost so he would see them when he woke up. The other involved a baby who lost its parents or had no parents and was found by the woodland fairies who built a bed out of a hollowed out tree limb and lined it with moss.

My sister and I have been searching for this beloved book for years. I am hoping it will ring a bell.

181E: Child’s Book Featuring the Miami Dolphins Football

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I am looking for a book that a friend read when he was younger. Below is the only details I have:

1) Children’s Book purchased through a “scholastic” type of club
2) It’s about football, more specific has information about the Miami Dolphin’s Football Team
3) He was probably reading it between 1970-1975
4) I thought he mentioned something about the title having numbers in it – like One, Two, Three Kick or something like that.
5) He spent his childhood in Canada but the book definitely includes information about the Miami Dolphins’ Football team because he became a fan of the team because of the book.
Hopefully I haven’t stumped you because I would really like to find this book. I realize you don’t have a lot to go on.