Category Archives: Unsolved

372V: A staying-up-late book

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I would’ve read this picture book in the 80s or maybe early 90s but it could have been from earlier too. It was about a little girl (not sure if she was a human girl or an animal like Frances, etc) who thinks her parents (and sister?) have a party after she goes to bed each night. She finally convinces them to let her stay up and it’s fun and I think they maybe eat toast?
It is not a Frances book, it’s not “I Hate to go to Bed”, and it’s not “Amy’s Long Night”.
Thank you!

372U: Novel about a little boy that doesn’t speak but can hear almost everything

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Jessica Vlies,

There is a book I read in my youth — a novel from the library that I am trying to find! I can barely recall any details because I was so young, however, I believe it was about a young white girl from a wealthy family who sleeps with a young black man. Her mother is furious and she gets pregnant. The main plot of the book is the fact that she gives birth to this boy who does not speak but can hear everything (like literally grass growing). It was a good book with multiple timelines and character plots. No details on the cover but I believe that the boy’s name started with an A and was in the title (maybe: the curious tale of. . . — or something like that). Please help!!! Thank you!

372T: Short stories about teaching

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This is a book of short stories about education and teaching.   One of the stories concerns a teacher reflecting on the number of murderers and serious criminals who came through her English class and bemoaning that all she did was teach them rhyming iambic pentameter.    Another concerned an author who was awoken every Saturday and Sunday by children playing soccer with tin cans.   He tired of this so went down and made a contract of sort with them to play every Saturday and Sunday outside his window.  He paid what was then a good amount of pocket money.   Within three weeks they stopped playing.  The obligation had robbed them of the pleasure and he got to sleep in.

372S: Short stories including Afro Americans and Johnny Appleseed

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I’m after a 1950/60 American children’s book of short stories.   Hard cover with a bit of a religious bent.  Featured Afro American people in some stories.  All heavy on doing the right thing and hugely moralistic. One story was about a gardener potting up plants and another was about Johnny Appleseed spreading apple seeds across the USA.
Hope you can help.  Thank you.

372Q: 1940s classy children’s anthology

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I’m trying to find a much-loved book given to a relative around 1948 (in England, so presumably a UK publisher).

It’s an anthology of stories and poems for children, clearly by someone who loved literature and didn’t want to look down on children or preach to them. It included things like Christina Rossetti’s poem “Goblin Market” and the Chinese folktale “Blue Rose”, and had illustrations by Aubrey Beardsley (obviously not done for the book as he was long dead).

The book is hardback with a leaf-green cover, and fairly large.

372P: Petey and Friends

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As a child I would periodically visit my grandparents, in the mid 1960’s. They had a children’s book at their house that I still remember (as does my cousin). If I could find the name, I’d love to get us each a copy for the holidays. 

Children’s chapter book, green cover, we think, but aren’t 100% on that.

Published definitely prior to 1970, more likely in the 1950’s.   The story line was pretty didactic, and that would fit the era. Also, while folks had cars, the vegetable man had a cart.

Generally simple plot: family with several kids move to a new location. The youngest child is named Petey, and he is the main character.  Each chapter basically follows one event in Petey’s life. Chapters I can remember:

** Petey makes friends with the vegetable man who comes into town to sell his veggies. Petey and family are invited to go out into the country to visit the veggie man’s family.  There was some cross-cultural awareness, but I can’t remember what. 

**Christmas is approaching and all the townspeople ask Petey what he wants for Christmas. “Oh, just one of those little cars” (referring to Matchbox cars). Everyone is astounded he wants so little. In the end, everyone in town gets him a little car.

** Bad snowstorm keeps Petey and his siblings indoors. After complaint about nothing to do they all sit and start to create a quilt from leftover fabric. They work all day and succeed in creating quilt.

It wasn’t great literature, but it has sentimental value for us. ☺️

Thank you for any help you can provide! I have been searching for this book for over a decade! 

372O: Vintage children’s photo book – 1960s or earlier

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Hello Book Heroes!  The very back of my brain has been tickling me about a book I had as a child, and I’m hoping you can find it for me. 

I don’t recall whether there was any text at all, but I think they were nursery rhymes – what I DO remember is that the illustrations were all photos of miniature items arranged in scenes, perhaps with live baby animals (chicks, kittens, puppies)?  If they weren’t live animals, they would have been perhaps plastic figures, maybe with flocking to make them look fuzzy.

372N: Mystery children’s book

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I have been searching quite a long time for a book I remember from my early childhood. I was born in 1964, and I think the book was considered old back then. I believe the illustrations were black and white. The main character was a skinny boy who wore only a loincloth and turban, and there were many sea creature friends in the grotto. I remember the fishes’ eyes seemed rather human-like.

372M: Alliterated Named- Animals

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Hi, I’m searching for the name of a series of children’s books I read in the 1960s and 1970s. I don’t remember much about them except that all the characters were animals
and they had alliterated names.  There was a firefly in the books. The coverwas very cute. These books gave me a lifelong love of reading. I was in grade 5 at the time, going to school in Hull, Quebec, Canada. The books were in English. Unfortunately that’s all I remember.