360V: Child Eschews Expensive Toys for Red Balloon

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I teach Intro to Children’s Literature at a small community college in Ontario.
As part of the course, I ask students to tell me about some of their favorite or most memorable books.
I have a student who can’t remember the name of the book,  but he provided me with the following information.
“I can still remember the content of my favorite childhood book….the one with the single mother and son going to the mall. There were six red apples, there was four orange carrots”. I remember the mother and son would essentially go window shopping after collecting the groceries, they would explore the other thriving sections of the mall for more educational opportunities before eventually ending the story at a  children’s toy store. At the end, and this is the most important element, the child was given the choice of buying a wooden airplane or a wooden train or a plethora of other enticing things., Instead of being lured into buying something expensive, the child however settled on an inexpensive temporary red balloon.”
Thank you

360U: Prehistoric fiction book from 5th grade

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My book was read to our 5th grade class on 1989-1990 It is set in prehistoric times in either North America or Europe. The protagonist is a girl. She is somehow separated from her hunter-gatherer tribe and survives on her own, basically developing the historical advances that made it possible for humans to settle in one place, such as planting crops. I think she befriends a boy partway into the story but she’s mostly on her own. At the end her tribe is passing through and they meet. The tribe is starving and she invites them to join her, with the last line in the book somewhere along the lines of “Come in. We have fire, and food in plenty.”
There is no romance, no science fiction, no fantasy element. It seemed to be geared towards children and possibly published for use in a classroom setting to teach prehistory, but it was fictional. A novel or novelette. I have asked my elementary school library, my elementary school principal, my city library, Google, reddit, Facebook, a list of over 300 prehistoric fiction books on Goodreads, Name That Book, and Amazon. I also tried the Scholastic archive, but the one I found doesn’t go back far enough.
I’m really desperate by this point and want to find this book to read to my own kids.

360S: Truly Scary Stories

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I’m looking for a book from my childhood that I can’t remember the name of. It would have been 2000’s most likely 2001-2004. It was a compilation of scary stories that were actually scary. It’s a book for older kids. It is NOT scary stories to tell in the dark, or any of the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series.

The cover had a skeleton on it and he was sitting in a rocking chair and it looked like he was maybe in an old attic. I think there were books and candles around him. Maybe a cat or a spider, or both. The cover was a blue - grey color.

Each story had an illustration that went with it in black and white.  I remember there being a story about a dog being under a girls bed licking her hand.

I can’t be certain, but the book may have come from a scholastic book fair.

360R: I hate the dope that thought up soap

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When I was a child in the late 90’s there was a book of I think children’s rhymes in my grandmother’s house in North Carolina that she used to read to me. I think it was already an old book at that time, possibly from her years as a teacher or from my father’s childhood.   It had the phrase “I hate the dope who thought up soap.” And something like “I wish he’d eat it!”   Something along those lines. I’ve googled this phrase and found only the books by Megan McDonald, but those were published starting in 2000 so are too recent to be what I’m thinking of.  Help please?

360Q: Picture Book about a farm with huge vegetables (Solved!)

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This is a larger-format picture book, in full color, with illustrations that cover most/all of each page.  I read it in the early- to mid-80’s.  There’s a farmer who grows vegetables and something happens to his farm where he starts growing GIGANTIC vegetables.  There’s a bad guy (I think he’s dressed in a black suit and might have a black top hat?) who wants to get his hands on the farm or the stuff that makes the farm miraculous.  I can’t remember if the thing that makes the vegetables big starts to affect the farmer’s kids or not?
Thank you for reading!

360P: Black & White picture book, people climbing ladder to eat clouds

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I read this book in the early 80’s, but it might have been published much earlier.  It’s a larger picture book with black & white illustrations, done in a rough pen & ink style that reminds me of the 60’s (think The Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine”).  The characters do many surreal things, but all I can remember is one two-page spread where people are climbing up a ladder to eat clouds with a spoon (they might be leaning into/out of a tower window?)
Thank you for reading this!

360N: Older man with suitcase

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From what I remember, it is a male author within the last 20 years.  There are two books I remember.

First it starts out with a homeless man under a pier and an older gentlemen talks to him, and tells him to start reading biographies on famous historical people.

Second book (same author) talks about an older gentleman who always carries an old suitcase.  He helps others throughout the book.

I think the author’s name is Andy (but not sure).  He is a best selling author.  The first book is actually about himself and he goes on to be a multi-millionaire businessman.

I’m just looking for the author’s name.  I know he’s done more recent books, but I can’t remember his name.

Thanks for your help in this area.

360M: Sociopath Child Makes “Music” Out of Animal Screams

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I'm writing with a book stumper request. I checked out this book from the Evanston Public Library in Evanston, IL sometime between 1994 and 1999. It is an adult fiction book with a thief as the narrator. I remember it was a thinner book (probably 300 pages or less) with a white cover. One of the memorable moments in the book is where the thief breaks into a home of a wealthy family. This family had built a music room / recording studio for their child, which I believe is hidden behind some type of concealed wall with padding to muffle the noise. The music studio is stocked with high end equipment, including a piano keyboard and a portable tape recorder. The thief enters this hidden music studio and listens to some of the recordings that the child has made. Apparently the child is some type of sociopath and has made recordings with sounds of animals screaming. I wish I could remember more detail but this is the only real scene that stands out. Please let me know if I can provide any additional information. Thanks!