I’m hoping you can help me with the name and author of a book I started reading in 1996/97 as a teenager. I was about 1/4 of the way through it (it was a very large book if I recall) and was quite enjoying it…until my mother confiscated it because it wasn’t “church approved” 🙄 It was the story of a young boy in the 50’s. On the cover was a picture of an Edsel. The story sort of centralized on that car, and I *think* the father worked at the Edsel factory. There were a lot of coming of age themes, and I’ve never forgotten that book and wish to finish it now that I have my own teenagers. The author was a male, and he had multiple other books that I cannot remember either.
358S: Boy Switches Places with His Parallel Universe Version
The parallel universe version of him was then transferred to his world, so they basically switched places. They ended up meeting each other/themselves at the very end. The other universe he was transported to had knights I think? It was a fantasy world and different from his.
358R: Bedtime Stories Collection Book
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!)
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
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
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
358M: Children’s book on a boy and too many cats
358L: “Baby” Doll Can Be Adopted After All
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
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.