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.
Category Archives: Unsolved
183D: Old Collection of Children’s Stories and Fairy Tales
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.
183B: shy cat that lived on a school bus
I am looking for a vintage (late 70’s?) small sized child book. I think the cover was pink. About a shy cat that lived on a school bus. The kids named it “Secret”. After the cat got over its shyness, the children renamed it “Happy” and it was no longer lonely. Any ideas? Many, many thanks!
183A: Three-Armed Gypsy Boy
Three-Armed Gypsy Boy – novel from 1970’s reviewed in the New York Times.
I am afraid I don’t remember more. I think he may have juggled. I think it might have been a trade size paperback. I borrowed it from the White Plains Library I think.
181E: Child’s Book Featuring the Miami Dolphins Football
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.
181D: A little boy must walk around everywhere saying goodnight to everything before bed.
Hardback children’s book written at least before 1983. A little boy must walk around everywhere saying goodnight to everything before bed. The illustrations are in black and white and I think he may have been in a castle. I remember one scene where he is walking on the edge of a fountain.
181B: Rebellious teen goes to world believed fictional
I’m looking for this book I used to read in the 2000s. Small blue hardcover, first in a series. Kind of a graphic novel- illustrated throughout. It was about this girl who went to a world that she thought was fictional to rescue her younger brother, who really liked the series of books based on that world, and then she had to save it. She met the protagonist of the series of books, who turned out to be an African-American woman, and her name was something like Dot.
There was a palace and a witch and a whale and someone made out of soap, and if was all surreal and beautiful. I think if might have been called something like Abeceria or Azera. The protagonist was a rebellious teenager, possibly with a dead mom. If I can’t figure out what it is I’m literally going to have to bunk off and go back to my old elementary school and search their disorganized library, so I’d love some help!
181A: Scary Story that Flips over to be not scary
I am looking for a children’s book most likely published in the late 70’s or early 80’s. I believe the one I had was hard cover. The cover showed a group of kids walking up to a scary house. It was a large book and was significant in that you would read it through and then flip it over and read it from the other side.
It was the story of some children who went into a scary house. But, when you flip the book over and ready it back to front, you see that all the things were actually not what the seamed. A big spider became an ice plant hanging in the window for instance. and a witch becomes a grandma.
180E: Children (Fairies?) positive thoughts pocket-size book: late 1980s/early 1990s
Smallish, pocket-sized hardcover book with, I believe, fairies (or just children? – can’t remember if they had wings or not), showing fanciful ways things came to be(showed them pinning clouds in the sky, and painting wings on butterflies). There was a sweet positive saying on each page spread. Not a lot of pages in the book, maybe 14-20 pages max. This was a specialty book like the kind you’d get on a rack in the middle of a bookstore – with other books with sayings/aphorisms. I remember at least one fairy (girl?) with black hair.
I believe there were also greeting cards that had these same characters and artistic style for a period of time, with, again, a sweet saying or aphorism.
180C: Book containing stand-up comedy scripts. (solved)
This was a paperback book published (probably) in the late 1970’s or early 1980’s. It included stand-up comedy transcripts from many different famous comedians. I think a Bill Cosby routine may have been in there, and I’m pretty sure I recall the Smothers Brothers’ “Mom Liked You Best” as well. Other people in the book may have included George Carlin and Robert Klein, but I can’t remember precisely.
Any help locating this title would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!
