358R: Bedtime Stories Collection Book

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This was a large, hardcover book of bedtime stories for children.  It was red with gold page edging.  One of the stories in it was about a baker who forgot his glasses.  He mixed up his ingredients and made raisin cookies and chocolate chip bread instead of raisin bread and chocolate chip cookies.  Then, while making a birthday cake for his niece, he is unable to read the recipe properly because he lost his glasses.  So instead of using 2 cups of flour, he uses two crates.  And instead of 2 eggs, he uses two dozen eggs.  Then he presents this ginormous cake to his niece, who loves it, and lets him know she found his glasses.  I believe it was called The Birthday Cake Mix-up or something like that.  The characters in most of the stories in this collection are bugs of some sort.  Another story is about a little girl trying to get her hair done but she doesn’t like any of the styles the hairdresser makes.  Eventually the hairdresser asks her what hairstyle she wants and she says she wants pony tails but her mom says they aren’t fancy enough.  So the hairdresser makes her fancy pony tails with ribbons and curls, and she is happy.

358Q: Strawberry Soda is a Success at Girl’s Party (Solved!)

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The book I’m looking for was probably written in the 50’s or 60’s. It’s about a girl who is just encountering feelings for boys. The biggest thing I can remember is she decides to have a party and her parents get strawberry pop and she is afraid it’s going to be the wrong thing and instead, everyone loves it! No clue why I remember this, but there you go. She seems sort of sheltered, but in the end her party is a success and she gets a boyfriend, I think. I wish I could remember more! Hopefully someone else will remember strawberry soda/pop!

358P: Originally Reluctant Woman Frees Prince

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I have used several other places, and have had no luck with this one.

It is a high fantasy type of book that takes place entirely in the fantasy world. It definitely seems like the beginning of a series. I vaguely remember it being written by a female Australian author and I believe it was published in the mid-later 1990s or early 2000’s. It was a trade paperback that I checked out from the library. The cover was a simple cover, not a complicated/traditional fantasy one.

It starts with a young woman working in her family’s inn/tavern and then she gets swept up with a prince who later gets imprisoned and who she frees at the end. At the beginning, she has a bad opinion of him, but then she travels to some place where he is getting ready for battle I think and gets to know him better. I believe there is magic based on elemental powers. I remember that she has to work with elemental beings, and they start learning to work together. At the end she ends up going to the castle where the prince is imprisoned and she frees him.

358O: Shrinking Farmer’s Wife Falls in Macaroni Bin at Store

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Farmer’s wife shrinks suddenly, unexpectedly, and often. At a store, she shrinks and falls into an open bin of dry macaroni. The farmer hears only “macaroni, macaroni!” as her tiny voice cries out. Another instance has her riding on the back of a crow. This could possibly be a stand-alone book, or it could be a story in a storybook collection.

358N: Introspective Loner Girl and Her Rebellious Loner Boyfriend

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I’m having trouble finding a book I read years ago. I read it when I was a teenager so I assume it is a YA book but the characters came across as mature. It is at the minimum a duology but it could be a trilogy or more but I just never read past the first two books of the series. The second book I read when I was around 16 and it did not feel childish in any way.
Both books were written from the perspective of a girl who volunteers/works at a rest home or with elderly people. I remember the girl being a very introspective, bit of a loner type character who felt alienated from her peers to a certain extent. The male protagonist who is her love interest I believe may have been called Angus, but not 100% sure on this. He was a rebellious, mysterious type of character who may also have been a bit of a loner. In the second book, someone in the rest home dies which she has some trouble with and also their relationship ends as I think she may go away to college/university for the second book whereas she was in high school for the first book. The second-book is her former life falling apart to some extent and her having to grapple with feelings of depression, alienation.
The first book I read circa 2001-2005 and the second book I read circa 2006. The books did not feel at all dated when I read them. I read both books in New Zealand but I don’t believe the books were set in New Zealand. I have a feeling they were set in the United States as I remember vaguely that there was mention of college which is not a term we use in New Zealand. The books are completely realistic, with absolutely no elements of fantasy. I’m pretty sure the author is a female.

358M: Children’s book on a boy and too many cats

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I’m hoping you can help us find this book we read to my daughters when they were young in the late 1990s, early 2000s:
The book is either a picture book or a beginning readers book about a boy who loses his cat, and decides to put “wanted” posters up around his neighborhood. But he forgets to put a picture of his cat on the poster, and neighbors bring all sorts of cats of every variety to his house and his home fills up with cats. There are lovely illustrations of the different kinds of cats. We can’t remember the author, illustrator, or the title, so this might be a challenge for you.

358L: “Baby” Doll Can Be Adopted After All

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I’m looking for a young adult book about:

Young mother with 2 girls, they lost their house to a fire, and therefore lost everything including their dolls and toys. I remember these phrases “Maybe a mouse in a box of matches”, and “I’ve got both my girls.”  They stay with relatives/friends and the girls have to sleep on an old sofa that due to the springs it is uncomfortable and creaks.

The mom finds a job as a cleaner in a motel/hotel.  They find a new home.  Outside their new home is a crab apple tree where the girls play catch with an apple. Somebody tells them about a place where they can borrow dolls and if they take good care of the dolls, they can adopt them.  They walk with their mom to find this place. Just when they are about to give up, they find it.  

The younger girl finds a doll and names it “Baby.”  Both girls are happy and one of them says “There is so much to do now”.  The mother sews the dolls new clothes and the girls are happy. However, a neighbors dog licks off the face of “Baby” and the younger girl runs back to the place where she borrowed it from to return the doll, knowing she won’t be able to adopt it.

So, now she won’t be able to join her sister in the adoption party. At the end of the story, the doll “Baby” is returned to the younger girl, all fixed up with a new face.  The man said because the younger girl showed responsibility with the doll by immediately bringing it back to the place where she picked it out, she is allowed to adopt it. This happened at the very end of the adoption party.

358K: Modern Conservationist Noah’s Ark

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Looking for a book I read in elementary school in the mid 1970s.

Here’s what I can recall about it:

It was a modern updating about a “Noah’s Ark.” Not religious undertones, more of a (early) conservationist perspective about animals. About a man who as a way of saving animals collects animals. (I can picture him faintly, brownish hair with glasses.)

It was a picture book (although not simplistic pictures). For example, the schematic on the boat itself was detailed.

The main character build a modern boat (think a big cruise ship) to house the animals. And thereby “saves” a collection of species.

I know it’s not much. I’ve often recalled the book (I used to check it out continuously).

Let me know if you need any clarifications or if I can answer more questions.

358I: Memories Passed on to Next Generation Through Experimental Drugs

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There’s a book I read years ago and I can only remember the plot but not the title. It took place during World War II. In the novel, doctors were testing experimental drugs on concentration camp prisoners. After the war some of the prisoners married and had children and the side effects of the drugs were passed along to the next generation. The side effects were that they had memories of everything that their parents had experienced during the war as if they were actually there.