Books that Aunt Book Has Identified
Page 3

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Running Commentary from a Teacher
     “This is more of a short story.  I read it in a collection of children's short stories from my local library in Ireland when I was a child.  It  must have been at least 15 years ago. I don't remember the book or even  the name of this story.  The story basically consisted of one long piece  of dialogue from the teacher of an infants class, and from this  dialogue, you gained an idea of the room, situation, the children attending  the class, their personalities and behaviour and the general goings on  of the day.  Essentially, you were only hearing the teacher's side of the conversation and her speech was constant as she chatted, reprimanded  and encouraged the children. I can't remember exact lines but an example  of how it was structured was like the following:
     ‘Yes Lucy, I know you have coloured the whole page blue and it's very -  LUKE!! You cannot put the gerbil in with the goldfish! Put him back!   Yes Lucy, well done. Sarah, don't cry, you're Mummy will be back at  2o'clock - I know, it's very sad that your teddy is alone in his room but it won't be for long. All right class, start tidying up, it's nearly time for your milk. LUKE!! The gerbil does not WANT to go in with the goldfi- no he did not tell you he wanted to, Luke, now put him back in the cage.’
     "And so on, right through to the end of the story.  I doubt anyone else will have read this so there is almost no chance of  my ever finding it but it's worth a try.” 

Solution:  One of Joyce Grenfell's monologues.  Some examples can be found here:   http://monologues.co.uk/First_Ladies/Flowers.htm
It includes links to a couple of books, including one from 1998.   Information about Joyce Grenfell can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyce_Grenfell   


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Live, Life-Size Doll Family
     "I read this book when I was in the fifth grade at County Line Elementary School in Winder, GA when I lived in the United States.   It was a wonderfully written book about a family of life-size dolls. They were made out of fabric and had stuffing inside them; there was nothing real (like organs, blood, etc.) in them. They did have minds and could think. But they were life-size.  I want to say that they lived in the attic of the house of the person who created/made/sewed them.  There was some kind of plot going on about a grandfather's will and someone else not wanting the dolls to get it, maybe? I am not sure.  I want to say that the title of it had to do with apples, like the Applewhites or something like that, but I am just shooting in the dark, so I could be wrong.”

Solution:  The Mennyms, by Sylvia Waugh.  Greenwillow, 1993.  (One of the characters in named Appleby).   Sequels:  Mennyms in the Wilderness (1994); Mennyms Under Siege (1995); Mennyms Alive (1996); Mennyms Alone (1996).  More information can be found here:  http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/w/sylvia-waugh/ 


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Backwards Town
     “There’s a book that is based in the town of Drawkcab, which is the word “backward” spelled backward.  Everything about the town is backwards.  Back yards are front yards and vice-versa.  Any idea what this book is called?

Solution:  Ice Cream For Breakfast, by Betty Jo Schuler.  Willowisp Press, 1991.   The author discusses the book here:   http://www.bettyjoschuler.net/kidsclub.html   


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Young Adult Book About a Futuristic World
     "This is a book about a futuristic world where no one can learn things except those of a higher society.  A young man finds an opening (a sewer-type place) that is hidden and sneaks in there often to invent things.  He winds up inventing something that gives off light (similar to an early light bulb) and takes it to the heads of the invention board, but they destroy it.  He then runs away into the forest and manages to keep going for weeks, and his girlfriend catches up with him.  They travel together and wind up finding an old abandoned cabin with windowpanes and books, and stay there to raise kids.
     "I read this fairly recently, but it is an older (maybe 1970's) book.  It is much more a young adult book than a children's book, kind of in the fashion of Orwell's 1984."

Solution:  Anthem, by Ayn Rand.  Originally published in 1938; reprinted many times since then.  Project Gutenberg has the full text online:  http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1250   

 
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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.  Illustrated 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.   


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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 

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Talking Mouse Doesn't Like Balloon Rides
            "I remember a book I read when I was about ten or eleven.  It was about a mouse that taught itself to speak in order to tell the little boy who kept sending him up in a balloon, 'IIIEEE DDOOOOOO NOOOTTT LIIIIIIKKKKE EEEEIITTTT!!'   The reason I wrote it like that is cause that is the clearest memory I have of the book.  That is very close to how it appeared in the text.  The mouse also flew a plane over the Grand Canyon and I believe he crashed and met the Indians who lived at the bottom of the Canyon.  I remember the word BEDLAM being used, which leads me to believe it may have come from an English author."  

         "I read a book as a kid, probably in about 1977, about a mouse that learns to talk so he can tell a boy that he doesn't like riding in a basket attached to the boy's balloon.  His first words are something like 'IIII doooo Nooot Like eeettt...'  His speech improves until he can talk normally.  After that, he learns to fly an airplane.  I think he flies it over the Grand Canyon, or across the USA or something.  Seems like he crash lands near the end near a campground.  At the very end, he is quite tired, and reverts back to his early 'mousy' way of speaking, as he tells the boy that he wants to fly around the whole world.  There was a picture of the mouse in a red airplane on the cover.  It is not Stuart Little, or the Beverly Cleary Ralph S. Mouse books. But I don't remember the author or the title."

Solution:  Herman the Great, by Zora Louise Olsen.  Illustrated by Barbara Cooney.  Scholastic, 1973.


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Kid Detectives with Office in a Junkyard
"I can't remember the name of this series of books.  It was a series of detective stories for about fourth grade reading level.  what I remember is one the  kid detectives was named Jupiter and either they had their office in a junk yard  and one of the detectives relatives owned the junkyard.  It might have been the grandfather of one of the kids. Hope you can help me. However this series may be out of print. "

Solution:  The Three Investigators series, originated by Robert Arthur and continued by other authors.   This series started as Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators, and after Mr. Hitchcock's death became just The Three Investigators.  There are several websites about the series, one of which is at http://www.threeinvestigatorsbooks.com/


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Boy Doing Science Project Announces Earth is Flat
"I read this book back in the late 1970s. It was about a boy doing a science project for the school science fair. I remember he hauls his telescope up to the top of a hill to observe and measure the curve of the earth. He makes a mistake in his measurements, and ends up announcing to the entire school that the earth is flat.  The rest of the story is about how he deals with that mistake.   I remember that at the science fair, another boy was building a nuclear reactor. The cover was blue, and had on it a picture of the main character and some kind of machinery on it. "

Solution:  Project:  GENIUS, by William Hayes.  Atheneum, 1962.  Reprinted by Scholastic in paperback (with the cover as described above).


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Irish Setter Left in Kennel When Family Dies
"I read this book about 30 years ago. It was about an Irish setter whose people left him in a kennel for what was supposed to be a two-week vacation. The family was killed in a car crash and he had to live out his days in the kennel. He was always sad and wondered why they didn't return for him. There were some pictures; I think one was of the dad and two boys and the dog walking in the woods cutting down a Christmas tree. And I think the dog is on the cover of the book. It's a very thin paperback book. It's very sad and I have never been able to find it as an adult."

Solution:  The Visitor, by Gene Smith.  Illustrated by Ted Lewin.  Cowles Books, 1971.


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Mean Sister Rolls Her Eyes, Crosses Her Arms, and Doesn't Like It

"The book I need to find is maybe from the late '80's to the early '90's. It's about a sister who is mean and it is stated many times in the book sshe rolled her eyes, crossed her arms and she said she didn't like it.' At the end the other sister says something like this:  'my sister ____ is always so mean (something to that effect) so I mixed up a potion all slimy and green and ya know what, she liked it' (or 'she rolled her eyes crossed her arms and liked it'). That's all I can remember and it's driving me crazy!! Please help."  

Solution:  My Icky Picky Sister, by Beth Hazel and Dr. Jerome C. Harste.  Illustrated by Don Robinson.  Lerner Publishing Group, 1984. (Other publishers are also given).


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Underground City in the Future
     "I'm looking for the title of a Sci-Fi book I read in the late '70's to early '80's. I had picked it up from the children's cection of the local library and the only thing I know is some of the plot.

     "It concerns two children or young adults in the future living underground in a mechanized society. They have studies, exercise in a spiral track, and their meals consist of taking a pill. There are rumors or teachings that the 'Outside' is a very hostile place. They either hear of how to get out or find it on their own. When they do get outside it is Eden-like, but I think the other human race is more Neanderthal-ish, but I can't remember. I don't remember how it ends, but their livelihood underground, their searching for a way out, and their fears of the outside take up the majority of the story.  I recall this story once every couple of years and would love to be able to find it again."

Solution:  The City Under Ground, by Suzanne Martel.   Originally written in French and called Surreal 3000.  Viking, 1964.   


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Mrs. Santa Delivers Cookies
     "Can you help me find a book from my childhood?  It is a Christmas book, written to the 'Twas the night before Christmas' poem lines, but changed.  It's about Mrs. Claus and I think a sugar plum sleigh and delivering cookies to orphans.  The front illustration is very vivid to me.  It was purple, and showed Mrs. Claus in the sleigh up in the air with a cookie jar tipping and spilling cookies over the side.  I thought it was called something like "Mrs. Claus and the Sugar Plum Sleigh," but that might be wrong.  The book was made of thin paper, cover and pages all the same, more like a paper booklet. It had illustrations on every page. "

Solution:  Mrs. Santa's Adventure in the Sugar Plum Sleigh.  Published in 1962 by Phillips and Van Orden Co. as a Christmas present from Montgomery Ward.  More information about the book can be found at Loganberry Books' Stump the Bookseller site:  http://loganberrybooks.com/solved-m.html   


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Space Battle After Camping on Salisbury Plain
     "I read this at about age 8, so it was about 1979.  I think it was a paperback.  It was about 3 children who go camping on Salisbury Plain.  For some reason they go to Stonehenge.  Then aliens come down, and the children are taken up to space and join in a battle ."

Solution:  Star Quest:  Spacejack, by Terrance Dicks.  Target, 1978.   A picture of the book can be found here:   http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/d/terrance-dicks/spacejack.htm   


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Dog's Homeless Owner Falls Ill, Dog Finds a Family
     "When I was 13 (I am now 24) I read a book that I borrowed at the school library, and I loved it very much. Unfortunately, a few weeks after I returned the book, our school actually burned down so I lost any way of finding the book again. I remember I was so sad that I hadn't simply kept it past the return date and then it would have been in my possession permanently, hehe.   I will try to remember as much as I can about the book's plot.
     "There is a homeless man and his dog, I believe the dog was a Dachs but I cannot say for sure. These two have a special bond, but one day the man falls ill and has to go to the emergency room, leaving his little dog in the care of a very mean man, also homeless. I can't remember why, if it was to sell him or to make food of him, but the man tries to harm the little dog but he manages to escape. He travels for a while and experiences a lot of things and eventually he ends up with a family in a small town who take him in. He is very happy there, but his thoughts always return to his old master and he misses him.  I can't remember how it comes about but the homeless man somehow finds his way to the town and they reunite. I believe the dog stays with the family, but I can't remember if the homeless man also stays or if he moves on."

Solution: Four Paws Into Adventure, by Claude Cenac. Illustrated by Brinton Turkle.  Translated from the French by Sarah Chokla Gross.  Franklin Watts, 1961.   


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Pandora's Box for Children
    "I am looking for a small children's book called Pandora's Box.  It has a picture of Pandora opening this beautifully carved wooden box (which she wasn't supposed to do) and a black cloud of bugs flies out of the box. 
    "I don't think this is a Little Golden Book.  It was one of my favorites as a child and I would LOVE to see it again.  I was born in 1948.  My husband and I have searched for years for this."

Solution:  Pandora, by Mary Patric.  A Pied Piper Book; 1945. It was reissued by another company later.


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Girl, Cat, and Snake Fight Evil
    "I could be getting the details a bit muddled but here goes.  The plot was about a girl who had a talking black cat from another world. He was there because he was escaping from an evil that was taking over his world.  The cat was also a prince or king in his world.  The young girl in the story eventually also had a snake she could communicate with who was a priestess and she was escaping the same evil just in a different form in her own world.  I remember one of the two characters' world was taken over because true names had power and that character refused to give up his true name.  Eventually the girl goes on a series of adventures through different worlds picking up companions and defeats the villain with the help of her friends.
    "I read this book back when I was in middle school so the latest publication year would be 1999.  Also the book cover was black with a young girl with brown to light brown hair, yellow sweater with jeans, and with a black cat sitting on her lap."

Solution:  Charmed, by Marilyn Singer.  Atheneum, 1990.  The girl's name is Miranda, the invisible catlike creature is Bastable, and the snake priestess is Naja; the villain they are fighting is the Charmer.


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Brothers in Utah Go to Catholic Boarding School
    "I remember a book I read in 4th grade (circa 1980) about brothers who lived in Utah (I think) who go to a Catholic boarding school.  One of the brothers always seems to get into mischef (or seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time).  I remember one particular chapter in the book where the main character was punished by having to peel potatoes for the evening meal and he was trying to think of clever ways to get out of the chore."

Solution:  The Great Brain at the Academy, by John D. Fitzgerald.   This is part of a series about The Great Brain; the stories are based on the author's childhood.  More information about the series can be found here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Brain


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