Category Archives: Unsolved

377U: Boy on the Bayou and Hard Lessons

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This is a book (novel) I read as a boy, so would have been published before 1970. Set in South (probably Louisiana), the boy and his dog paddle through the bayou on a boat (pirogue?) and fish for Gar. The boy has a sister; she is assaulted at one point by a young man from a bad family, but is rescued by a young man from a quiet and good family. The assaulting man is killed and the killing hushed up. Afterwards I think the girl and her rescuer marry. Later the boy goes into town and there is some mention of black superstitious practice involving (if I remember) putting something into a tree, then plugging it up.I tried AI but it was absolutely no help.Perhaps a Harper & Row publication. perhaps 1965.

377S: Animal beggars who were at the bottom of a well

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There’s a book that I had as a child that my mother hated reading to me – I was born in 1987, we had this book before I turned 10. It was a children’s book, illustrated, it was about animal beggars with different kinds of injuries (one missing legs, one blind – war wounds I think), I think one of the animals was a frog. They lived (or hid?) in the bottom of the well and meat was thrown down to them. I’m sorry that I don’t remember much more of about this book.

377O: White Cat Changes Colors

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Probably from the 1940’s or 1950’s

It is about a white cat, probably a Persian, who is entered in a show.  The cat gets out of the house and becomes painted with red and blue paint.  The daughter of the owners says let’s take her to the show anyway and the cat wins first prize.

377N: Pink Cover with Shibari Rope

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I am looking for a book I saw in a bookstore earlier. I took a photo of the cover but it came out blurry. It was a pink cover with a spool of rope/shibari rope on it. The synapses is a bit blurry to my memory, but it was something about someone whose partner dumped them after they moved (to the Netherlands? Denmark? Something else?) and there was something about them meting a new sub. I didn’t finish reading the cover, I was in a time crunch.

377M: “Be Thankful for Pain”

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I read a book in elementary school (1978? 1979?) that has stuck with me. Can’t remember the storyline or any characters except for, after a battle, a dying dwarf saying something like, “Be thankful for pain. It’s how you know you are still alive”. Bleak, but comforting. Any ideas at all what fantasy book this was? TIA!

377L: The White Blob From The Moon

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Hi there! I’m seeking Stump the Bookseller’s help in finding a lost book from my childhood. It was about a white, blobby creature that came down to the earth from the moon and had adventures. This book was available in the Huntingdon Valley Public library in the Philadelphia area in the 90s (I’ve looked there and asked the librarians without success) but I’m sure it was not self-published. It was a picture book or perhaps an early-reader chapter book (I believe it was portrait orientation) and I think it was part of a series. It was illustrated–if not fully illustrated–on the interior. It was not new in the 90s–it had a slightly vintage feel–perhaps 60s, 70s, or 80s. The art style was graphic and cartoony–more akin to the Space Case books by Edward Marshall than something illustrative like Moornhorse by Mary Pope Osborne (and no, it’s not either of these–It’s also not Moon Man by Tomi Ungerer, the Matthew Looney series, or Dmitri the Astronaut by Jon Agee.) There were themes of loneliness–perhaps the moon creature came down to earth to make friends? It’s possible he was not from the moon but rather a different planet. I believe the background color of the cover was black. It’s possible that this unsolved query is describing the same book: http://w1.loganberrybooks.com/stumpthebookseller/145x-moon-creatures/. [EDIT: I now believe this is a book in the Moonbird series called The Unicorn and Witch. I don’t think it’s the book I’m looking for, though.] My mom remembers the moon creature as having had a pear-shaped body, maybe a bit of neck, and then an oval or round head, whereas I more clearly remember a white horse or perhaps unicorn. There could have been a little boy protagonist too, but I don’t remember clearly.

377K: Picture Book: A Man’s Heart is Hidden in a Fish

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Story Description – It was a classic fairy tale situation. There is a young woman, the heroine, and the man she loved (one or both of them might have been a prince or princess, but I don’t remember). An evil wizard/sorcerer hides the heart of the man in a fish. To save her lover, the heroine must pick out the fish that has his heart from a river full of fish. She does so successfully and the fish is cut open to reveal the heart.
Physical Book Description – It was a children’s picture book with loose whimsical illustrations featuring elongated characters. Blues and reds were heavily incorporated colors. I remember it being in a vertical format, taller than it was wide. There was a full-spread illustration of dozens of fish along the bottom of the spread and the heroine above. One of the fish has the man’s heart in it.
Background – I remember checking this book out of my elementary school library in first or second grade in the early 2000s so it was probably published in the 90s, maybe even 80s. I’ve tried searching for the book on and off for the last 5 years or so with no luck.