Category Archives: Unsolved

356T: Book of Children’s Stories from 50’s or 60’s

I am looking for an old children’s book of stories. I guess it would be from between the 1950s or 60s. It contained the story of the woman who became a woodpecker who baked pies as well as a story of a man who had to cut a hole in his roof to fit the top of his tall Christmas tree through.

Thank you for any help you might be able to give!!!!

356S: Unicorn in Tapestry Comes to Life

I’m looking to find a book from my childhood, and have now been through hundreds of internet pages. Hoping you might have a lead! All I remember really is:

- illustrated color paperback picture book, probably c. Late ‘60s- late ‘90s

- story about a group of siblings moving into or visiting a castle? Maybe just an old house with a tower

- a unicorn from a tapestry comes to life, and he is white with a beard. The children bring him down out of the tapestry.

Things I’m not sure of but seem familiar:

-something about a yellow bedroom

- maybe an illustration with one of the children looking behind the tapestry

Thank you! The Magic Tree house has a story with some similar elements, but that’s not quite it.

356R: Picture book with a castle maze inside the front and back covers

This book was a discarded library book my grandmother got from a teacher friend. I read it in the early 90s and I think the art looked like something from the 50s or 60s. Not many colors, lots of red, black, white, and grey.

Someone, a knight or a king, got trapped in a castle maze and was there a long time. So long that he grew lots of hair. There was something else in the castle maze too, I think it was the bad guy who trapped him.

I don’t remember many details of the story, just that I felt bad for the person being trapped in there for so long.

The one thing I do remember is the castle maze. It was printed from a birds eye view looking down. The maze took up two pages and showed various stages of a chase taking place through out it. This maze was printed on the inside cover and first page (before the title page) of the book, and in the center of the book, and on the last page and back cover.

356Q: The House Made of Plants Blends Inside with Outside

Looking for picture book about a house that was made of plants. The outside world merges surrealy with the inside room (resembles art of Jacek Yerka but it's not him). Book was mostly visual and the color of the art was very green. The story takes place at night. There is an old man with white hair in the house. Likely an older book from the 60s or 70s, or at least has the 60s/70s hippie/spiritual vibe. If you find this with just this info you are unto a god, thank you.

356O: 80s Children’s picture book with animal protagonists and moral lessons including the danger of electricity and getting lost

I read a children’s picture book in the mid to late 80s in the US that was about moral lessons/behaving. Sorry, can’t remember what the cover looked like. There’s probably like 10 stories including: 1. A young hippo waits too long on a train to use the bathroom and poops his pants. An older animal tells him if he pays attention to his tummy and uses the toilet, the other animals will want to spend time with him. 2. A mother tells her young child (sorry, forget what type of animal it is) that electricity is dangerous and warns against putting things in the electrical outlets. A monkey encourages the child to stick a knife or fork in the socket and the child says no, so the monkey does it himself — book shows monkey getting electrocuted. 3. A panda or bear goes walking and ends up getting lost even though his mom warned him against it. The police end up getting involved. 4. There’s also a story about behaving for the babysitter when your parents go out and/or a story about how to behave when you get a new sibling. There’s no humans in the book and the illustrations are cartoony, not super realistic.

356M: A Baby May Climb Mount Everest Someday

Looking for a children's Picture book. Guessing it was published between 1990-2015. It's about a baby and the very last page mentions Mt Everest. MAYBE the big brother is narrating - like my baby brother will do XXX when he grows up. Hopefully this is enough! I saw it ONCE in a library - my good friend who climbed Mt. Everest is pregnant I want to get her this book! 🙂 HELP.

356L: Middle grade novel — girls fix up old purple house for brother

This is a short middle-grade novel which I read as a library book in the late ’80s or early ’90s, but may be older. A group of female friends (I think three) fix up and decorate an old house for the older brother of the narrator. He is just getting out of the hospital, either for mental illness or a suicide attempt, and they want to give him a nice place to feel at peace. They paint the walls purple. The brother may be named Joe. When he sees the house (or maybe it’s just a room?), he seems underwhelmed and doesn’t say anything. The main character is very disappointed. Later she goes back to the house and discovers the plants have been watered and the brother has been using it after all. But there’s a sad tinge; maybe the brother has gone back to the hospital or disappeared? One of the girls is Japanese-American and gets romantically involved with one of the older boys who is helping, and the main character is jealous. The illustrations are kind of trippy, showing the girls with very long hair. The cover or illustrations are purple, or possibly the word purple is in the title.

356K: Dead Bird Virus causes Zombie Like Creatures

I am looking for a book, possibly teen horror fiction that I read back between 1980-1983. The premise was a girl living with aunt/mom in a coastal town when a virus hits. She notices dead birds around the town and people start disappearing. The virus causes the infected to seek out the dark and they pass the virus by holding the person down and breathing into their mouth. Her family and friends become infected and she is left with a bunch of teen survivors who slowly get picked off. She ends up in an old house with a boy. I can’t remember the ending.