Category Archives: Unsolved

363O: A picture book about a house with too many books

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I am searching for a picture book I really loved as a child, but neither my mother nor I remember the title. It was published, we think, around 1996 (it was given to me as a gift around then). It was about a house with so many books, they piled up to the ceiling, they used books as furniture, and so on. It is a little like the 1980s book TOO MANY BOOKS, but with a very different aesthetic. More pastel or oil painting style art, full color full page paintings, no white space. There were cats and, we think, two ladies (maybe librarians?) who live in the house. I remember being enchanted and a little creeped out, in terms of vibe. We think it was either 8×8″ or 8×10″. We hope you can find it, because we want to give it to a friend who is expecting a baby! 

363L: Christmas-time story, possibly 1960’s

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The story is about a boy whose father (parents?) left for a trip, leaving him with the cook/housekeeper. Before the present time, she had won a baking contest when the boy knocked some chocolate chips into her mix and she decided to leave them. After they were alone, he ordered a (real) magic kit from the back of a comic book and when he got it and used the wax to form a figure of the housekeeper and maybe cast some spell to make her very sleepy and she stayed in bed for the rest of the story until the end. He then set about on some adventures including one where he made a willow wand to help him find the perfect Christmas tree, which I believe he cut down and brought into the house. I don’t remember the other adventures but at the end of the book he warmed up the wax to break the spell and some of it melted into the fire and filled the house with smoke, just at the time the father/parents came back from their trip.

363K: Tree Competition

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I am looking for a children’s book, possibly from the 80’s, with beautiful illustrations of trees.  The trees are in competition to be king of the trees (?), with each tree arguing why it would be best.  May have an orange tree and an olive tree.  My adult son remembers liking this book and wants to find it now that he has a son. 

363I: Making Red Candles for Winter

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I’m a librarian, and here’s how the patron described the book she remembers:
This would have been in the early to mid 90s. I recall a children’s book that described preparation for winter and the most vivid thing I remember was candle making with red berries. I think it was set in New England and possibly discussed pilgrims??
The candle making method was hand dipping these red candles for winter.
Very vivid pictures, deep saturated colors, simple illustrations, not too much detail, more landscape focused.

(Someone has suggested Tomie DePaola’s An Early American Christmas, but that’s not it.)

363H: Magic Mirror Leads to Another World

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I’m hoping that you can help me, I’ve been up for hours googling all the details I can remember about a book that I read and loved in 7th grade. I read this book in 2013 and I believe it was a fairly new book that the time. It may have had a second book in the series but I don’t know for sure.
I recall that the main character was a middle school or perhaps elementary school boy. I think I remember him going into a suspicious shop and noticing something odd about a mirror. Somehow he becomes in possession of this mirror. 
He discovers that the mirror is a portal that he can crawl through to get to another world. In this world I recall a forest, and maybe a fairy-like companion. In this world there is some sort of crisis taking place. I recall several instances of the boy narrowly escaping the mirror after being chased by some kind of monster. I think the boy kept the mirror in his closet. 
I can almost picture the cover of the book too. I can see lots of purple and black, and maybe some swirling style designs around the perimeter. And an illustration of the boy crouching looking into the mirror. 

363G: College Romance Where Girl Has Gift to Know Soulmate

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This is a college or sports romance. Main character named Brooklyn? Transfers to New college with bff. Meets love interest after football game. Instantly falls in love because family has a gift to know their soulmate when they find them. Not caveman series. I read it in 2014 on Kindle. She’s poor and he spoils her. I remember he got hers uggs in the book.

363F: Virtual Soldier Training Game

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So I read this book more than likely between the years 2008-2014. The book is about a world where kids are forced to train or play a virtual “game” that determines their aptitude to be a soldier. I think the main character is a girl that lives in an apartment that’s in bad condition. If I remember correctly, they go to a mall of some sort to access this combat game. I wish I could remember more but that’s all I know.

363E: Girl Cooks Jam With Grandma/Mother

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I don’t remember many details, but when I was a child, I had a book about a girl and her mother or her grandma (can’t quite remember). I had the book around 1994 and it didn’t seem very old. It had some text but mostly pictures. The illustrations were very realistic (not cartoon type, etc). The art style reminds me of an old vintage “Pears” ad. The girl wore an old style dress and in parts, a pinny/apron. I think the story was about things the two of them did together, like cooking. On one page, I remember they made strawberry or raspberry jam and put it in jars and cover the top of the jars with cloth. It might have even included the recipe. And on another page, there is a heap of bubbles and within each bubble is a picture of the girl doing things she has done through the book; making the jam, etc.

Very vague. Not sure anyone out there will know what book I’m talking about with so little to go off but worth a try.

363D: Medieval Kitchen

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I am hoping you can help me find a book I read probably between ’78-82. I am not sure how reliable my memory is, but what I remember is this: it was a paperback with stories about a kingdom, or maybe a medieval fiefdom. At least one of the stories, or maybe all of them centered on the kitchen having to make a certain dish. There was a big penalty (death? that seems like a lot for what I think I read as an 8 year old) if they didn’t get the recipe right. I think the story was told through a boy getting introduced to the kitchen   There was definitely a recipe for a pound cake, possibly a bundt cake. I know that because I made it many many times as a kid.  I hope you can help me find it!