Category Archives: Unsolved

144I: Cabbage air freshener and a magical world?

2 Replies

YA or kids’ book, fantasy or magical realism.  Protagonist is a young girl.  She gets sent to the store to buy something with a wick — either an air freshener or a candle?  The one she buys is the last on the shelf, it’s in a dented can, and it smells like something you wouldn’t want air freshener to smell like.  I think it’s either cabbages or broccoli.  It’s also magical, and either gives her access to a magical world or brings her a friend/companion from a magical world.  That’s all in the book’s set-up, like in the first chapter.  No idea what happens from there.

 

144C: Children’s book regarding rainy day and umbrellas

4 Replies

I am looking for a children’s books that was probably published in the 1980s. I am 35 years old now so if this was a new book when I was a child, this would have been maybe around 1988, give or take a few years.
PLOT: What I remember about the book was that it involved a child going to school on a rainy day. When the child arrived at school, they saw all of the umbrellas of the other children lined up outside the classroom. I remember a page (actually I think the illustration covered two pages) depicting all of the different colors and patterns of the umbrellas, all dripping outside the classroom. The style of the illustrations seemed to be like watercolor paintings. I don’t remember anything else about the book, only that the rainy day and the umbrellas were at the center of the story.

 

144B: 1950’s YA boy & dad visit Abe Lincoln sites

Leave a reply

I Have been looking for over 50 years for a book I read during the late 50’s, most likely an offering from from the Weekly Reader’s Book Club or some other monthly book club of the era.

My hazy memory is that a boy and his dad (perhaps whole family), visit Lincoln’s birth site, etc., on some kind of vacation or road trip. Another book in this club was No Children, No Pets. Help! This is a chapter book.

 

143O: A Salmon’s Life Story

4 Replies

This is one of two books I read in elementary school – more than 50 years ago, circa 1960 that connected me with thoughts and feelings way beyond my tender years. I’ve never forgotten them & would love to read them again.

The first one followed a salmon from his birth and throughout his life to his serenely accepted death. The part I remember most vividly is when he swims to the ocean where he meets a whale with an aura about him, a whale who, although the book never expresses it outright, is more than just a whale. The salmon comments on the aura, and the whale is impressed – very few animals are able to see it.

The book ends at the pond where the salmon was born. He comments (via the 3rd person narrator) how it looks so much smaller to him now than when he was young; and then peacefully lets same fisherman he eluded back then catch him, ending the story.

I did an Amazon search and came across several books tracing the life of a salmon (both fiction and non-fiction), but none of them was the one I’m looking for. A few years ago I read a review of a book with a similar theme and wrote the author asking if the book I’m trying to locate was an inspiration for him, but he had no knowledge of it.

 

143N: Magical Midnight Garden Ball

2 Replies

I’m looking for a hardcover illustrated children’s book that I remember as having some of the most gorgeous illustrations I’ve ever seen. It’s not a novel, it’s more of a picture book. It has very little plot to it, and is more about describing sights and sounds than about a plot. It’s about a princess that goes to a ball (it could be a masquerade, I’m not absolutely sure), at or before midnight and dances with a fairy prince (I think she does, anyway). The ball is held outside on the palace grounds and in a garden maze (as far as I remember). I think the book ends at dawn when all the magical creatures dancing there disappear. It might have been written in poetry form. I think the cover had an illustration of the princess walking down a flight of stairs in a midnight blue dress. I remember the cover itself as being midnight blue, as well as that colour being the main colour of all of the pages. I can’t remember the title. I feel like it had either the word “Midnight” or the word “Mystery” in the title. I remember the clothing pictured as being 18th century-type and there were lots of peacocks and peacock type colours on several of the pages. The book was most probably published somewhere between the late 80s and mid 90s. I’m hoping someone will be able to help me with this. I only wish I could remember more. The illustrations themselves were reminiscent of the work of Graeme Base.

 

 

143M: Historical Tales With a Twist

2 Replies

I am looking for a series of books I loved as a small child around 1982-83.  Each book dealt with the story of a historic figure such as George Washington who was depicted in a happy child-like cartoon format.  Each book also had a central theme such as honesty, courage, etc.  The main character would be faced with a problem taken from their actual life and during the problem an inanimate object (in the case of Nelly Bly it was her pen) would come to life and help them get through the problem using the theme word of courage, honesty, etc.  At the end of the story was a small biography of the person.  The books were in a large picture-book format with hard white covers with pictures of the character on the front.  I have no idea if all the books had the same author though I believe they al had the same illustrator.

 

143L: pre-1955 Aminal

3 Replies

My uncle described to me a book he has searched for, but cannot locate. He does not recall the title, author, publisher, etc… The book would have to be pre-1955.
The story was about an ‘Aminal’ who was the only one of his kind. He saw the world around him, there were Animals who were like each other, but the ‘Aminal’ was unique. The ‘Aminal’ ate only the left-half of split peas. He was greenish maybe and looked somewhat reptilian.

Thanks for your help!