Category Archives: Unsolved

375Q: Thief can freeze time

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Possibly a short story. I may have read it in the 1980s, and I had the impression that it was already old then. It may have taken place anywhere from the mid 1800s to the 1960s. A man had a stopwatch or pocket watch that could freeze time for everyone but himself. He went to a fancy party, stopped time, and stole everyone’s jewels. At the end, he dropped the watch and it shattered irreparably. About the ending, I should probably add: the watch shatters while time is frozen. So the implication is that he will never be able to un-freeze time again.

375O: Children’s anthology of magical stories

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The book had maybe a dozen short stories, all with some magic involved. One of the stories, I think the first, had a father bringing home an ornamental Chinese horn (rhino?) that was rumored to have magical properties. The father’s son took the horn to bed with him, holding it tight, and just before going to sleep wished for a series of things to happen to people he know around him. The next day everything that he wished came true, including people hearing silver bells tinkling when a lady he liked started talking. Another story in the book involved a professor/researcher, maybe named Dexter, researching Roman history, and late one night he falls asleep and dreams he becomes a goose, and has a fight with another goose over a lady goose, and it turns out that all the squawklng ends up being the very thing that warns the Romans of an impending barbarian attack on one of their cities. So the researcher actually became part of Roman history in the dream. The book was probably published in the 50s or 60s, certainly no later than the early 1980’s. I remember reading it after my mom checked it out of the Mayfield Regional Library, near Mayfield High School.

375N: The Gift of Wings

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The story revolves around a young girl who is either estranged or has a strained relationship with her family, which some may describe as “trailer trash” or poor. The family collectively gifts her a pair of large and lifelike wings, which is a significant moment for her. The gift of wings came after her birthday didn’t turn out as expected.

Describe notable characters:
The main character is a young girl, possibly with a difficult home life.

The family members may possibly depicted as problematic or dysfunctional.

Genre:
It’s a coming-of-age novel, not strictly a fantasy book but may have some symbolic or fantastical elements.

The book:
I think the cover was primarily blueish purple. There may be an image of a girl sleeping in a tent in her yard. It was a medium-length novel. About 500 pages.

Setting:
The setting seemed contemporary to when it was published, which was before 2003.

Where did you get the book?
I believe I borrowed it from a school library or got it from a book fair. It might have been relatively new, but I’m not certain.

375M: Susie the Cow

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I have a vintage children’s book that I have been looking for that my grandmother used to have for us to read.  The main character of the book was a female cow named Susie and I believe the title of the book was Susie.  If I am remembering correctly the cover of the book was pale blue and had black decorative scrollwork on the corners and her name on the front.  Susie walked upright on her two back legs and wore pretty sundresses, high heels and a pearl necklace. There was a male cow in the book as well and was somewhat of a nerd and became cute and popular at the end of the book.  He liked Susie and I believe they ended up together at the end.  

Many have suggested that this book must be Elsie the cow, but Susie was younger and more stylish.  I imagine they were both from the same time era and the book was from around the 1940’s.

375L: Boy Gets Supplies to Run Away

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I’m looking for the name of a book. It’s a children’s book where a little boy decides to run away from home but along his way he stops at I think it’s a deli tells the person he’s running away and they give him a sandwich. He goes to another shop says he’s running away and they give him a blanket. It’s not the book boy was I mad. It was from the ’70s or the ’80s. 

375K: Unicorn horn makes figures of speech literal

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I read this children’s book in the 1970s, but the book could have been older than that. A girl gets a unicorn horn from somewhere (possibly an antique store or a relative), and whenever she holds it, figures of speech become literal. I remember being freaked out by a woman whose tongue literally began flapping at both ends. This may have been only one of several magical things that happened to the girl over the course of the book, but it’s the only one I remember.

375I: My South Poem

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A piece of a poem that I read in a book at the Dartmouth College Library in the late sixties contained these lines (or something close):

“I think there is a much more terrible thing. To be raised without one’s own consent In the cave of the mind. Like a faded fish. And to go as assuredly blind in the soul. As a Saint”
I think the poem was titled “My South”, I don’t remember the author.

375G: Darker Harry Potter-Like Novel Series I read in the early 2010s

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I have been racking my brain trying to figure out the name of a young adult fantasy series that I read in the early 2010s. From what I remember, there was a male protagonist (probably teenaged?) who was extraordinarily skilled in some magical system that revolved around basic elements (fire, earth, water, etc). I feel like the series may have begun with some sort of entrance exam, that was repeated at the start of every book/school year. There was always some dark force acting as an antagonist, but the protagonist wasn’t very well liked with classmates (I think they had all had a lot more training than him, some kind of elitist thing). All that’s to say that other students may have been minor antagonists as well. This one is a total shot in the dark but I believe the main bad guy wore a mask of some sort. It wasn’t actually super reminiscent of Harry Potter, besides the basic plot of a super talented kid appears out of nowhere and isn’t well liked. But, I can’t think of a better title so I’m sticking with that. The cover was a dark brown, maybe maroon-leaning, with a simple icon on the front I believe. This is the detail I’m least sure about since, during my search, I found a copy of Swann’s Way that looks a lot like what I’m describing and I may be conflating mental images here. I understand that none of this is super specific, or concrete for that matter, but any help whatsoever would be greatly appreciated!