Welcome to Stump the Bookseller blog!
Stump the Bookseller is a service offered by Loganberry Books to reconnect people to the books they love but can’t quite remember.
In brief (for more detailed information see our About page), people can post their memories here, and the hivemind goes to work. After all, the collective mind of bibliophiles, readers, parents and librarians around the world is much better than just a few of us thinking. Together with these wonderful Stumper Magicians, we have a nearly 50% success rate in finding these long lost but treasured books. The more concrete the book description, the better the success rate, of course. It is a labor of love to keep it going, and there is a modest fee. Please see the How To page to find price information and details on how to submit your Book Stumper and payment.
Thanks to everyone involved to keep this forum going: our blogging team, the well-read Stumper Magicians, the many referrals, and of course to everyone who fondly remembers the wonder of books from their childhood and wants to share or revisit that wonder. Isn’t it amazing, the magic of a book?
My ancient archived query was solved! G346 – yes, it must be Knee-Deep in Thunder. I have ordered the trilogy. Your magicians ROCK! thank you so much.
T26 I think its a book Im desperately looking for called ‘Across the mountains to far away’ or Over The Hills To Faraway’ or ‘Over the Far Away Mountains’….about a king and his two sons (one is really stern and has his heart softened by a stone gargoyle who comes to life’, on is a blonde larrikin who is always flirting with the maidens and is sent to get ice in the mountains and meets a large monkey thing that ‘falls’up or down the mountain and saves him, and the daughter occasionally has her comb stolen by mermaids)…I LOVE this book, and wish I could accurately remember the name of the title so I can buy it…it was a beloved childhood book that I learnt to read with. Hope this helps jog your memory!
Over the Hills to Fabylon, Nicholas Stuart Gray. Wonderful book! Wonderful writer, try Grimbold’s Other World is you can find it.
T26: ‘Three Mountains’ – I think this is the book I’m desperately looking for called ‘Across The Mountains To Far Away’ or ‘Over The Hills To Faraway’ or ‘Over the Far Away Mountains’….about a king and his two sons (one is really stern and has his heart softened by a stone gargoyle who comes to life’, one is a blonde larrikin who is always flirting with the maidens and is sent to get ice in the mountains and meets a large monkey thing that ‘falls’up or down the mountain and saves him, and the daughter occasionally has her comb stolen by mermaids)…I LOVE this book, and wish I could accurately remember the name of the title so I can buy it (google is absolutely NO help)…it was a beloved childhood book that I learnt to read with. Hope this helps jog your memory!
Tracie Watson – that book you’re describing is on my shelves. It’s Over the Hills to Fabylon and was written by Nicholas Stuart Gray/Grey (I can never remember which vowel goes in his name). I always liked the chapter with the stone gargoyle.
He wrote a bunch of other enjoyable books, too, like Grimbold’s Other World, and Mainly in the Moonlight. Most of them read like fix-ups of short stories into a sort of novel, like Fabylon does.
This is the the “Something Queer” series. The first title, “Something Queer is Going On”, was published in 1973, and subsequent books were published through the early-2000’s.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Something_Queer_Is_Going_On
This book is called Something Queer is Going On by Elizabeth Levy. It’s part of a series: Something Queer at the Library, Something Queer at the Lemonade Stand, etc. The girls are Gwen and Jill, and the dog is Fletcher.
Thank you ( via the NYT blog) for this mysterious, mesmerizing, magical site. Reading entries is a pure joy.
In grade school back in the late 70s, I read a book about a wolf family. I believe the alpha pair were named Shadow and Silver. The book traced the wolf pack through the seasons and exposed young readers to the threats facing wolves (poison, traps, hunters, farmers, etc.). The uncle was Old Three Toes, thus named after losing two of his toes in a trap. I think he ultimately dies to help the others survive an exceptionally brutal winter. Does anyone know what book this might be?
Trying to find a book I remember from childhood-late eighties/early nineties. All I remember is that it is about a child (I think girl) and what she does every Saturday. One of the things she does is go to the deli for liverwurst. Thank you!
I’ve been trying to find this book for ages:
This girl collects every day items, like a string on the ground or a button on the street, and collects them. She has a rolled up canvas (color: midnight blue?) and she sews an image and incorporates the stuff she finds and collects. I think there’s an art competition at her school so she debates on whether she should turn in her canvas. I think she does in the end, but this is all I can remember!
Looking for a children’s book about reincarnation. I believe the title has something to do with “Butterfly”
Probably written in the mid-late 80’s
Another one (so happy to have found this forum) I only remember that the main female character has lost weight at the beginning of the book (most likely a series) from eating dry wheat toast and grapefruit in place of her usual breakfast. She’s a teenager. Most likely a YA fiction. That’s all I remember and it’s driving me crazy!
Could be HEY, REMEMBER FAT GLENDA? by Lila Perl. If not, double check the three other book by Perl about Glenda.
Last one. This book was read to me by my 4th grade teacher (1979?). This is what I remember…the setting was in a swamp, possibly the Everglades. The main character was a young boy. His father was an alcoholic and abusive. They lived in a shack with an outhouse and were very poor. A hurricane hits. I’ve tried several stoneman Douglas novels, but have had no luck. Thank you for helping!!
I loved a book as a child in the 90s but could be older.. The book was textured like velvet. About an older couple who adopt a puppy and its reddish brown and white. They put it in a red sock to sleep and it grows up to be bigger and the lady makes it a doll out of rice and it ends up saving the couples store from a thief. Maybe was a series?
Looking for a short story. Science fiction.
I’m 99% sure it was in a collection of short sci fi stories by the same author, gotten by my father when he was part of the Science Fiction Book Club, when he was in the Navy.
My dad is 65. He was in the Navy 18-21.
The book was NOT by Heinline, and I’m 75% sure it wasn’t by Damon Knight.
Key Word: Reality File
The story’s POV character is a private detective. It has a slightly noir feeling. I _think_ it’s 1st person, but I’m honestly not sure.
The detective is hired by, or for a guy who hit a girl on a bike while driving in a car. The girl is 13 or younger. When the guy goes to check on the girl, she has vanished. I think the bike is still there. Everyone thinks he’s crazy, but the guy, over time, begins to believe only SOME people are real. Other people are NOT real.
There’s a lot of story in the middle, but it ends with the private detective calling someone. And either the detective, or the someone on the phone, move the guy who hired him OUT of the “reality file.”
Basically, “real” people are in the “reality file” and everyone else isn’t real. And you can be moved back and forth.
The book I remember was hardbound. I KNOW it was SciFi book club. I know all the stories were by the same person.
I read so many of these as a kid, I’ve begun to doubt _I_ am in the reality file.
Please help!
Hi I submitted a Stumper on 27th May, paying via PayPal, which has still not been published. I emailed previously, but have not had any response. Could you pleas tell me when the Stumper is likely to be published.
Many thanks
Amanda Palmer
I vaguely remember a book I read in the 80’s with robbers (museum theives?) that speak French and there were lots of cats. One of the robbers might have been allergic to cats. I think the pictures were a lot of black and white and red. What is this book?!
Can someone please reply to my many emails? I’ve paid the fee and gotten no response or confirmation.
I read a series in the late 60s early 70s, that I believe was published in the fifties, and no later than the early 60s. In a format reminiscent of that Hardy Boys, two high school age boys solve mysteries (as I recall.) They were active in football. The series had a very christian slant, and the boys often prayed or went to church. We didn’t own this series – it was owned by our neighbor lady, who allowed me to borrow every one. I remember the series fondly, and am looking for one to see if they still hold up.
Thank you!
I think you are remembering The Thorne Twins. https://www.goodreads.com/series/221274-thorne-twins-adventure
I solved my own book stumper that I submitted years ago: C148 – Legend of Caresse LeClair. The book is The Girl From Yesterday by Sarah Hughart. If you can update that listing it would be much appreciated, thanks. Love your site.
Hi, I wanted to recommend the following site as something to be added, maybe, to one of the pages here (if it isn’t here already)? It might help to jog the memories of the owners, after all, not just the customers’ memories! Then, the owners and staff might be able to help the customers more!
http://www.kathleendeady.com/MyCollectionPage.htm
There are HUNDREDS of picture-book covers. Click on a decade and they will be listed according to year. The site includes books from before 1900. Even better – when you click on a cover, you can see the first few pages of that book!
One book I re-discovered, there, was: The Cruise of Mr. Christopher Columbus: A Really Truly Story by Sadyebeth & Anson Lowitz, with illustrations by the latter, 1932. The illustrations remind me of Wanda Gag’s work. I would never have remembered the title on my own, since there are so many juvenile books about Columbus!