Category Archives: Unsolved

362Q: Old Fairytale Collection

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I am looking for a fairytale collection that I remember from my youth. My mom bought them for us in the 1950s and my stepmother has thrown them out. Sorry, I do not have the title. Here is what I remember: There was a set of three books. The cover was hard-bound and cream-colored. Each book had a small colored panel on the spine. One green, one red and one brown. I recall that they contained “The Princess and the Pea”, “Rapunzel” and “Rutabaga Tale” I would love to buy these treasured tomes if anyone has them.

362O: Child Finds Way Home by North Star

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I’m trying to think of a book I used to read probably around the year 2000.

The kid (can’t remember if it’s a boy or girl) lives on a farm with their dad, their mother has died. Every Christmas Eve they give the barn animals Christmas treats. At some point the kid gets lost in the woods with their dog. They follow the North Star to head back home and are found by the dad and their neighbor.

362N: Special-Needs Neighbor Girl

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My mother has tasked me into finding a book for her that she read when she was young in the 1960s. She thinks it was published around this time. Here are the best details I could extract from her:
 
  1. Neighbor writes about mentally retarded neighbor girl
  2. Nonfiction, told from the perspective of the a neighbor reflecting about a neighbor girl growing up mentally retarded, with that neighbor girl eventually dying. Mom thinks the word “Wagon” is in the title. She also believes that the story had something to do with a wagon in the yard. Also, the neighbor telling the story had a boyfriend or a crush on a boy.
My mother stated that she wasn’t sure if the girl had Down syndrome or not, as this was before she even knew what that was, so she described it as “mentally retarded”. Those were all the details I could extrapolate, hoping you can help. That book brings a lot of nostalgia for my mother and will be a birthday present if I can get a name of the book.

362L: Sister Turns Out to be Another Personality

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I’m looking for a YA book from the late 80’s or early 90’s. It’s about a group of school students that go to an old house. The main character is a girl that has a sister. It’s revealed later that the sister is actually another personality.  I think there was a picture of a girl looking in the mirror on the cover. I think some bad things happen to the other students, but I don’t remember specifics.

362K: Mysterious Buckle Leads to School Bus Crash

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I am looking for a YA book about a girl that has a horse with a mysterious silver buckle or medal that she puts on her horse. When she touches the buckle, she can make a wish. One of the wishes she makes causes a school bus crash. The buckle is linked somehow to a dark force that ends up appearing at the end of the book. It’s a pretty dark book. I’m thinking late 1980’s or very early 1990’s.

362J: Goblin Wedding Flip Book

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I’m looking for a children’s book that I remember being a type of flipbook, where the pages are divided into multiple horizontal strips where you flip them and are still creating images. The premise for this one was a goblin (maybe a troll) wedding, and a bunch of guests, including a sandman, were coming with gifts. In the end, the two being married form a heart between them, where the top of the heart was their long noses and the bottom was their feet meeting. If anyone can help me with this, that would be amazing.

362I: Kids Solve Location of Missing Treasure

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I am trying to locate a book that I read many times in the late 1970s. (I was in late elementary school.) I probably ordered the book through school and the Scholastic Reader book order program.
The book was a mystery that took place in the west (maybe Arizona?) and the kids solved it when at a certain time of day or year shadows appeared and marked an “x” where the treasure or the entrance to the treasure was located. I seem to recall the words “canyon” “shadow” or “gold” were in the title. It was a paperback with a blue cover and gold writing. It wasn’t a series or Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys.

362H: Friends in College in England Mystery Book

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In about 2006 I read and very much enjoyed a book about a group of friends at university in England (Oxford? Cambridge? Not sure). I remember a lot about the book but cannot remember the author or title. I’ve been scouring the internet which is where I found you. Please help!

There are four main characters: Brother, Sister (possibly named Maggie), Sister’s boyfriend (these three are British), and one American girl.

The book starts with the American character planning for a party to which Brother is invited. The American character is pregnant. The other characters are not invited. The rest of the book is the backstory about what happened between these four people at university.

The Sister and American girl meet at university. The American girl thinks the sister is really cool. The Brother really likes the American girl, but it’s unrequited. She has a strained relationship with her family including a family member who calls and reports her so that she gets strip searched by the airport security agents on her way back to the states for Christmas (or something like that). The security agent that searches her makes a comment about her breasts looking like fried eggs.

Somehow the Sister dies. Car accident?

The Brother despises the Sister’s boyfriend. And years later when sister’s boyfriend appears on some type of reality show where the citizens of England can call in and vote for their favorite contestant, he spends his entire lunch break every day calling in to vote for the opponent so he doesn’t win the reality show.

Brother and American girl see each other at the party. He has a terrible new haircut and it’s awkward seeing each other because of all the history between them including sister’s death.

Ok – please help me get this out of my brain! Thank you in advance!

362G: Christmas Board Book with Little Lights and Music

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I have been searching for this book for years with no luck. It is a LONG LONG SHOT probably impossible 😫 but hopefully someone may know or may have had it too as a child.

I had a children’s Christmas book around 1993- 1996 that came from the The Book People (or a very similar company) that came to my mums work place. It was a large book between A3 maybe even A2 size, it had little coloured lights that came through tiny holes onto each page that flashed and it played music when you pressed a button. The button was within the page.

It wasn’t an old fashioned looking book. I unfortunately don’t remember the front cover picture (if I saw it I think I would!!) but I do remember one page had a large snowy scene with Father Christmas flying on his sleigh. It was a thick board book. I know this is not a lot to go on but I loved this book so much and would love to find it again for my children 🤞🏼

Summary:

– Large Christmas board book A3/A2 size
– From The Book People or similar book club company (UK)
– Around 1993 – 1996 time
– It had little multicoloured lights that flashed. They were on the back page but came through tiny holes onto each page.
– There was a button which you pressed and it played a tune.