378L: Nausea painting, maybe a treasure map

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I have been trying to remember the name of this book for years to no avail.

In 1991 or 1992, my sixth grade reading teacher recommended this book in an attempt to get me to not read Stephen King books. Sadly, I don’t remember a lot of the plot, and I’m reluctant to mention details that could have been in other books.

I remember a few things for sure (hopefully). It was a story involving two boys, and one had or saw a painting called “Nausea,” which we later discovered meant “Gold in the North Sea” (N Au Sea). I thiiiiiink there was a treasure map in the painting. And right around now my memory is very inadequate….. I think the map may have led to Wood Islands in Canada, but I may have looked that up in The World Book at the time, and it may be unrelated to the book…

Any help you can provide is greatly appreciated.

378K: Need help finding a book from my childhood

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I’m trying to find a book that I read as a child.  This was in the 50 ish years ago.  I can not remember the title.
The book has a farmer and his wife and their chickens.  The farmer goes to get eggs from the chickens and yells at them “LAY ME SOME EGGS”  I think he does this several times and gets louder and madder.  He does not get any eggs.  The farmers wife goes out to the hen house and talks softly to the hens and gets eggs.  I know that’s not a lot to go on but it’s all I can remember.  Especially the Lay Me Come Eggs part.  I’ve tried google and other searches but they are not helping.

378J: Scary Story – Mr. Pepper, the stuttering phantom with a sewing machine

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It was a story in a short stories book I read in the mid-1990s. A person describes being woken in the middle of the night by a dark figure named Mr. Pepper who stutters and sews black clods of dirt or shadow using the sewing machine. He also says something to the person who is describing the scene when he/she wakes up like, ” I l-l-like you.”

378I: A sixth grade class of “losers” called the “dregs.” (Solved!)

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It was a story that reminded me of “The Boy Who Lost His Face” and other books by Louis Sachar and/or Andrew Clements, but I can’t find it by either of those authors. I think it’s about a group of students who get sent to detention or some kind of remedial class and they form their own community and refer to themselves as “the Dregs.”

378H: The treasure map in a painting

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I have been trying to remember the name of this book for years to no avail.

In 1991 or 1992, my sixth grade reading teacher recommended this book in an attempt to get me to not read Stephen King books. Sadly, I don’t remember a lot of the plot, and I’m reluctant to mention details that could have been in other books.

I remember a few things for sure (hopefully). It was a story involving two boys, and one had or saw a painting called “Nausea,” which we later discovered meant “Gold in the North Sea” (N Au Sea). I thiiiiiink there was a treasure map in the painting. And right around now my memory is very inadequate….. I think the map may have led to Wood Islands in Canada, but I may have looked that up in The World Book at the time, and it may be unrelated to the book…

Any help you can provide is greatly appreciated.

378G: Alien & human boy bond over baseball then alien discards the ball en route out of earth’s orbit, late 60s very early 70s

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I read this book in approx 1974 (latest cut off date), it was more probably between 1968 and 1973. 
The book is about a kid about age 10 who loved baseball, as I did, and he liked to play catch. And meanwhile he meets a new kid about his same age and they become friends, build a bond, which eventually leads to the two playing catch. The baseball becomes a symbol of their friendship. The plot twist is that this friend is actually an alien, whose parents are aliens. I don’t recall much more of the plot. I think the alien kid is waiting until his parents repair their spaceship so they can continue their galactic journey. So when that is accomplished, the alien dad, mom, and son (the alien kid who had befriended the earthling kid) are in their spaceship ready to continue their journey, and they reach a point when they cross it the alien boy will forget everything about his time on Earth. When they do this, one of the alien parents asks the kid, what is that? And they are referring to a baseball which the earth kid had gifted him as a memory/souvenir of their friendship. Only, being past the “point of no return,” the alien boy doesn’t recognize or know what it is, and, being rather meaningless, he or the family eject it from the spaceship (I think throw it through the window, but I could be wrong). Their journey continues. That is the basic plot. I was not happy with the ending!

378F: Mystery Back of the Mountain/Ginseng (Solved!)

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I’m recalling a book I read in elementary school approximately 1973-74.  It was a hardcover mystery with a red cover and the spine had a white section with the title and also an image of a ginseng root.  The story involved a group of children/youths exploring a remote wooded area, possibly on a mountain, who found ginseng roots and were collecting them for money.  Along the way they stumble across a mystery, although I don’t recall the details of that.  I thought the title might be something like “Mystery Back of the Mountain” or something similar, but I haven’t been able to spot it.
In 1974 my 4th grade teacher asked for suggestions to read for class story time, and I suggested the book and it was very popular with my classmates.  I’d love to be able to find it again and purchase a copy.

378D: Mid-century Modern Insect Homes (Solved!)

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Alan Strickland, a_strickland@carolina.rr.com[/private role]

I’m trying to identify a book that my two children (one born in 1981, the other in 1983) remember from their childhoods. I’d like to make it part of my grandson’s library.

Below is my daughter’s description of the book. Thanks for the help!!…

70’s/80’s vibe.  That memory might be because the main image I remember was a neat mid century modern home “split” so you could see the inside. That was the whole concept of the book.  A look into the homes.   The owner of this particular home was maybe a grasshopper?  Or a caterpillar?  The home was outfitted with modern furnishings, as if it were human.  I think each image was the same in the fact that all of the interiors with their creatures featured modern living quarters versus realistic “homes.”  This home was located on a cliff, lots of clean lines and overhangs.  A cool place.

All of the images of the book were drawn with great attention to detail.  A book someone of any age would enjoy to look at verses just a young kid.

We’re they all insects?  Maybe.  It wasn’t a story.  It was more like each page was its own display.  I’m sure there were some words or descriptions, but I don’t remember.

378C: The Friendly Monsters (Found!)

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I’m looking for the title of a picture book that I read as a child in the mid-1990s. I believe the book was written in the 1980s or 90s, though it could also be from the 70s. I don’t remember any part of the title. It was a large-format hardcover edition.

It features illustrations with a watercolor style and a brightly colored, somewhat flat, surreal aesthetic with greatly exaggerated proportions. Its protagonist is an explorer who is dressed in a blue 19th-century naval outfit and sailing a large (and very tall) ship by himself.

He is searching for a rare creature that has some giraffe-like features and eats bananas, and on every page you can see that this creature is following him just out of sight. During his exploration, the protagonist meets several huge, frightening monsters, one of which I seem to recall was named the “purple lumpy thumpet”.

When the explorer finally finds his creature, it is revealed that it has many babies, and also that the monsters he encountered earlier were all friendly. All characters then have a picnic together on an island.

As a young child I read this book over and over again, captivated by its unique blend of unsettling, dreamlike visuals and mischievous, lighthearted storytelling. I have now been searching for its title for nearly a decade with no luck, and just found out about this service.