The book was published sometime in the 1960s to 1970s. It had full-color illustrations and multiple stories presented like chapters about two raccoon brothers. The book was probably written for children between 4-7 years of age, or early readers. The only two chapters I remember were about not chewing with your mouth open and having a hard time falling asleep. In the first story, the older brother is annoyed by his younger brother chewing with his mouth open, making a noisy mess. The younger raccoon tries to chew with his mouth closed but has a hard time, even going so far as to tearfully pull his cheeks out so he doesn’t bite them. Eventually, the older brother relents and the younger brother happily resumes his messy, noisy eating. In the second story, the younger raccoon is struggling to fall asleep in his top bunk. The older brother, in the bed below, advises his brother to say goodnight to his body, part by part, starting with his toes. But by the time the young raccoon gets to his (knees, hips, stomach? can’t remember), his toes have “woken up” and he is sad. I don’t remember much more about this book other than I loved it very much as a young child in the 80s, and it was a gift from my beloved grandmother.
When I was around 5 or 6 years old (1972 to 1973) I loved a book of short children’s stories. I think it contained around a dozen or so stories. I recall a bunch of characters on the front cover. I think one of the characters was a knight, and he may or may not have been sitting on a horse.
One of the stories (I think the first one) was about a lost cat or kitten. The cat is lonely, cold, and hungry. The cat wandered around and found a pond with a fish in it. The cat tries to grab the fish, but is pulled into the water. (I think there may have been a fishing pole there, and the cat got tangled in it.) When the owner of the house heard the ruckus outside, he went out to retrieve the fish and cat. The cat then lives happily thereafter with the new owner, and the owner cooks the fish for the cat. There is a drawing of the cat sitting in front of the fire.
Another story was about some people who went for a short boat ride in a rowboat. To make sure everyone person was accounted for, the organizer of the voyage had everyone wear hat. Her plan was to count the number of hats before the journey, and then count them afterwards. If the numbers matched, then everyone was accounted for. The voyage had some problems. The boat started to sink because someone forgot to install the drain plug. But it wasn’t dangerous because the lake was very shallow. At any rate, at the end of the voyage the organizer was worried & upset because the number of hats she counted afterwards was one less than the onset of the voyage. But someone pointed out that she forgot to count the hat on her head, and everyone laughed.
The most prominent feature was this was a series of very short kids books where you had to flip the book upside down and backwards to read the answer to the mystery. Only like 5 pages per mystery I think. I think it was also two mysteries per book. One of the stories involved an investigator that had to investigate a death and the butler let him in to the study. The guy was dead at his desk with a bottle of cyanide firmly clasped in his hand. It was determined to be a murder because cyanide causes muscles to relax and the bottle could not be clutched tightly in his hand. It was staged to look like a suicide.
I read in grade school (early 70s), but I can’t remember the name of it.
Little girl had just moved to house on outskirts of small town New England coast of US. She likes to play in fog. One day meets another little girl. She speaks oddly, old-fashioned. Is dressed old too. But they have good time berry picking. Go to strange girl’s house. Also very old fashioned, more like a cabin. But girl thinks kinda cool.
The odd girl’s mom fixes a couple of berry pies. Wraps one up for her to take to her mom. When she gets home, fog is lifting and pie is gone. The two girls meet often, always in fog. They become fast friends.
Finally mom wants to meet this family. Daughter takes her to spot she KNOWS the village is standing. Nothing there. Just bright sunshine on the empty field. Few blocks away is a replica of a Puritan village but isn’t the same. She keeps saying things were in the wrong place. Never saw little girl again, foggy or not.
Wish I could remember the name but was in like 4th maybe 5th grade at the most.”
The book was about people from the entertainment industry in Hollywood (actors, writers, producers etc) who start disappearing. Turns out they are somehow being transported to some alternate universe or past time period that’s medieval like. There is some reason they don’t want people from there to know (I can’t remember why) so they start going around in a traveling wagon putting on a Shakespeare play – Hamlet I think, and advertising a miracle cure all – I think it was aspirin. The idea is people from our world/time period would recognize both but the people from there wouldn’t!
I am looking for a book written before 1978. The storyline is that a man from the Northeast travels to the Southwest because he has a lung ailment. He is of modest means when he arrives at his new home but over time becomes wealthy and successful. He becomes the owner of a Hacienda, not just of a large house but basically the owner of a large cattle ranching operation. He marries a beautiful Hispanic woman who is much younger than he is. She later betrays him with a young American cowboy. The workers on the Hacienda learn what has happened and they let the hero know that they will kill the Cowboy if that is what he wants. The hero of the story decides that he loves both his friend and his young wife (whom he feels guilty for marrying) and decides to spare the lovers. However, the shame of the situation means that he must abandon his home and much of the great wealth he has accumulated.
When the man first arrived in town he had almost nothing. When he leaves, even though he is abandoning great wealth, he is riding a very expensive horse on a saddle with silver buckles, silver spurs, etc. He is armed and has money in his saddlebags. The idea is that despite all he is losing he is much better off than when he arrived. The only relatively precise quote that I can remember from the book is: “Ten years is only an long time at the beginning or very end of a man’s life.”
This book may have been a Readers Digest Condensed book. It may also have been written by a Mexican author and translated or an American author with ties to the Southwest and the Hispanic community. The cultural norms play a large role in the book.
I read this book between 1972 and 1978.
Here is what I remember: In the early 1970’s I read a book about a girl (possibly named Ginny?) and it was a young teen/adult chapter book. The girl does a number of fun things, like making her own Halloween costume. I think she called it a black ghost. She dyed fabric black and made strips of fabric that flew out as she spun around. In another part she goes to the “city” with her dad. Seems like it was around the Holidays and she eats clams with spicy sauce and talks about how they slip down her throat. I wish I could remember more! I loved that book so much and have lately been craving books from my youth. It would have appealed to girls from 5th grade on.
This was a children’s book where the grandpa lives with his grandkids (for some reason I think he lives above their garage?) and is starting to get dementia. He keeps insisting nothing is wrong with him- he just has a sinus infection? I thought the book was called One Fine Grandpa. I remember reading this book in the 1990’s and early 2000’s.
Book about a Magic Old Couple. It was printed before 1974. An old magical man and wife help some children. The kids enter a gate to visit the old man and woman in their back garden. The lady pours them lemonade from a pitcher that is never empty and the ice cubes never melt. That’s all I have. It was read to us by our 1st or 3rd grade teacher in either 1971 or 1973 ish