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A Pig, A Fish, and a Bird Who Are Friends
"This book was for youngsters; it was heavy on the illustrations. There were a pig, fish and bird, and they were young as well. They all three played together and one day they decided that they would trade lives. The bird swam, the pig flew, and the fish rolled in the mud. At the end they talked to their parents about how they liked their own lives best. This was one of my faves from childhood and my children are growing up without it:( I remember it had a darkish, rosy pink cover."
Solution: Three Is Company, by Friedrich Karl Waechter. Illustrated by Harry Allard. Doubleday, 1980.
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Black Cat in a Kibbity Boat
"I am trying to find out the name of a children's picture book that my kids and I enjoyed for many years. It is a rhyming book about a black cat that sails out to sea and a fork-tongued underwater monster who attacks the cat's boat. The monster chokes on the (kibbity?) boat. The cat wears weird clothes, like an octopus hat and fish pulp pants. However, at the end, after he swims home, he appears to be a regular cat.
"I can hear the book in my head, but just cannot make out the nonsense words. It has repetition: 'in a kibbity boat, a kibbity boat, a kibbity boat.' It may even be a song."
Solution: Whiffle Squeak, by Caron Lee Cohen. Iillustrated by Ted Rand. Dodd Mead, 1987.
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Pig Figurine Transports Girl to Fantasy World
"I read this book back in around 1987-90 in Alabama when I was in elementary school. It is about a little girl who has a glass or crystal pig figurine that is able to transport her to a fantasy world where it becomes alive. Most of the time the girl goes to this world to escape something scary or new. In this world the pig is alive as are some other figures she has including a wizard that is turning the whole world to black and white. The idea of the story is that as the girl grows up and becomes less dependent on the pig to help her the wizard takes over more and more. In the real world the girl has an older brother that she cares for deeply and a mother (no father). I can't remember why it is revealed in the end but during the course of the book the mother spends lots of money implying that they are wealthy while all along she has either been stealing money from work or some kind of fraudulent act. I believe the mother ends up in jail at the end. Please help me, I really loved this book and want to share it with my children."
Solution: Good-Bye, Pink Pig, by C. S. Adler. Putnam, 1985. There is a sequel: Help, Pink Pig!, published in 1990. Amanda is the name of the girl, and Pink Pig is carved from rose quartz.
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Butcher is Suspected of Stealing Money
"Somewhere in Europe (Poland, I think, because they used the zloty for currency) in a town so small that you could hear your neighbors talking and the houses leaned against one another for support, a butcher and his wife rented their house out to a man who wore a long black coat and hat. (I think he was a lawyer.) Because their house was small, and crowded, the renter could overhear the butcher counting out his money at night, down to the correct zloty.
"One day, the renter raised a hue and cry, claiming that the butcher had stolen some of his money. All the neighbors overheard, and come to investigate. (One of them fixed boots, if I remember correctly.) Because the renter knew the exact amount kept in the butcher's money box on the shelf, he claimed this amount missing, and asked them to check the box for it. When the box was found, the neighbors were incredulous and claim it couldn't be so, but there was nothing to be done.
"Then, either a female neighbor or the butcher's wife told them to throw the money into a pot of boiling water. After a few minutes of scoffing, a layer of fat started to bubble to the top of the coins, proving that they had come as payment to a butcher, not to a lawyer. And so, the nice butcher was exonerated and they lived happily ever after."
Solution: The Sign in Mendel's Window, by Mildred Phillips. Illustrated by Margot Zemach. Macmillan, 1985.
Book With Flower Characters
"I'm trying to find the name of a book I had when I was a little girl. The book had a bright pink color and had the names and pictures of the characters on the last page. The characters were flowers, the main onebeing a rose. Someone lived in a teapot, I think. The rose was kidnapped and poisoned. The book was bought for me in the late ‘80’s or early ‘90’s. The book was kind of big in size but not too thick. The flowers all lived in a garden and whoever kidnapped the rose had cans around his house. It might have been a spider. In the picture I think there is a dew drop on her and possibly on the rest of the flowers. The flowers I think were lavender, daffodil, and buttercup. It had glossy pages. "
Solution: The Rose Petal Place books. Information about Rose Petal Place, the dolls, toys, movie, etc., can be found here: http://everything2.com/e2node/Rose%2520Petal%2520Place