340T: Philosophical Conversation All The Rage On Worldwide Network

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Looking for a science fiction novel which starts with an older man on a park bench having a conversation with two or three youths (I think young men, teens). It is a philosophical conversation, mostly about economics and society. The interaction is recorded via a smart device, and uploaded to the worldwide network; it becomes enormously popular, the old man becomes quite wealthy and the teens are viewed as somewhat famous (infamous?) for their part in the conversation as foils, even decades later. This may have been a novella or short story, as well, and may have been by Vernor Vinge or David Brin; it would have come out after 1990 or thereabouts.

340S: Boy meets crows on a chessboard

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Seeking a children's/teen book I read in the 90's, the central character is a boy who went to a pond/lake when he was told not to and developed warts on his hands as a result. These are cured by a magician? in an early scene, a friend of his father maybe? I only remember two more scenes, one in which he remembers trying to pull a wart from his skin, and another in which he dreams? of a giant chessboard. The white pieces are standard king, queen, knights etc, but all of the black pieces are crows. Crows and chess pieces were a recurring image in the book, but I don't remember what purpose they served. Thanks to anyone who helps with this, it's stumped me for years!

340R: Daycare Abuse

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I believe this book was from the 80s after the real case of day care abuse and Satanic worship came out. This was a girl (early teens) who has a little sister or brother enrolled in the same day care that she attended. Things her younger sibling says to her begins to trigger memories of her own time there and the abuse (I believe sexual) that she suffered.  No one will believe her because the teachers are so well loved. She has to find proof of the abuse by speaking to the children who attend the school.

340Q: Man Fights Wolverine

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I’m looking for a book I read as a child which I checked out of a public library in Seattle in the early - mid 1950’s. The book could be older than that. It was the very first book I checked out, and led to a lifelong love of libraries.

The plot line was about a mountain man who lived alone in a log cabin and a wolverine chewed his way into the cabin, and the man had to figure out what to do.

Thanks!

340P: Trying To Befriend A Rude Companion

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Looking for a children’s book from the late 70s/early 80s. I believe the main characters were Timothy, Clyde, and Violet. They were anthropomorphic - one was maybe a fox(?). One of the characters (Timothy or Clyde) was trying to make friends with the other - he’d say things like “hey, you’re wearing the same shirt as me!” and the other one would rudely respond, “no, YOU’RE wearing the same shirt as ME.” My late father used to read it to me and I’d love to find it.

340O: Incredible Sunday? (Solved!)

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This is a YA book from, I believe, the 80s. It’s about a preteen (named Sunday or Sundae) whose mother gets her an agent, so she can audition for TV commercials. I remember that her signature look is a French braid or two braids? She has some difficult auditions including one for peanut butter where she has to do a cartwheel,  and the directors loudly discuss how awkward she is in front of all the other girls. She eventually makes a friend who is a young actress who is obsessed with Virginia Woolf’s suicide,  and eventually she finds the friend by the ocean wearing a raincoat stuffed with rocks contemplating suicide. I think the book was called Incredible Sunday, but I haven’t been able to find it under that name.
Thanks so much!

340N: Fairy Tale Anthology, Blue Cloth Cover, 12 Dancing Princesses

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I had a collection of fairytales in 1990-1995, though it may have been published prior to that (c. 1980-90).  It had a royal/dark blue cloth cover with a small, embossed-gold pegasus in the center of the cover (possibly with children riding the pegasus).

The collection was rather thick (perhaps a half inch) and contained at least 20 stories.  Each story was illustrated with at least one color illustration on each page (some small alongside the text and some full page). There were different illustrators throughout.  The text was regular-sized font.

I specifically remember these stories, though there were more (I’ve listed the more rare first):

  • The Twelve Dancing Princesses (I specifically remember the exquisite illustrations of the prince breaking off a branch of the silver tree)
  • The Snow Queen (illustrations of Kay and Gerta with the penny on the window, the snow queen in her carriage driving away, the garden of flowers Gerta visits, and her red shoes)
  • The Water Babies
  • The Little Match Girl
  • Cinderella
  • Rapunzel (an incredible full-page illustration of the witch’s garden)
  • The Sleeping Beauty (illustrations of thickets of thorns, sleeping kitchen maids)
  • Rumpelstiltskin
  • The Frog Prince
  • Hansel and Gretel
  • Jack and the Beanstalk
  • There may have been some Aesop’s fables as well, but there my memory gets hazy.
Thank you for your assistance in finding this book!

340L: The Woman Who Can See Killers In Photographs (Solved!)

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This is the plot of the book.  In the story a woman has to go to her brother’s town because he is murdered.  She finds out that she has a special gift in that when she looks at photographs she can see a killer.  She can also see how the killer will kill someone.  Her brother had this gift and was killed because of it.  She meets a woman (can’t remember if this woman was a police officer or some kind of specialist) who believes in her gift.  Later this woman who helps her is killed along with the rest of her family.  Later a man who I think is some kind of specialist who knows about this gift meets her and helps her.  He is trying to find other people who have this gift.  He asks her to look at a photograph and she sees a killer and is able to tell him that this killer will I think plant a bomb somewhere.  At the end it seems like this man is killed but he survives and is rushed back to his home which I think is in another country.  The woman is not told that this man has survived.

I cannot remember the title or author of this book.  I want to read any sequels that are written.

I hope you are able to help me.

340K: Separates

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Looking for a book from about 1960 about a young teen girl. Her mom makes all her dresses, but she wants to babysit for extra money so she can buy “separates.” She babysits children who come down with diphtheria and she must work hard to save them while in quarantine. Good luck!