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Book Request
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Q1: Quadruplets nicknamed "Frogs"'
Solved: We Four Together


Q2: Quacks
Solved: Billions of Quacks
Q3: Quaker girl loses mother/questions faith

Solved: I Take Thee, Serenity

2002

Q4: Quack Said Joshua
Solved: 'Quack!' Said Jerusha
Q5:  Quilt scraps left by ghost,/witch/stranger

Solved: The Ghost of Windy Hill 
2003

Q6: quilts
Solved: Eight Hands Round


Q7: quincy
Solved: All By Ourselves


Q8: Quaker vegetable hate
In this story, the child (I think it was a girl) says she hates eating vegetables.  The mother replies with something like "Thee cannot hate a vegetable."  The idea is that hatred is a very strong emotion not appropriate for general use.

Q8 Jessamyn West wrote a lot of books about Quakers.
I am  not sure but could this be one of Marguerite de Angeli's books: Thee Hannah? Skippack School? or maybe Yonie Wondernose?
Brinton Turkle, Thy Friend, Obadiah. (1982)  This may not be the right book, but Turkle wrote several picture books about Obadiah this is the only one still in print.  The stumper is not looking for a Marguerite d'Angeli book, though, unless it's Thee, Hannah, because her other books are about Amish children, not Quakers (Yonie Wondernose, etc.).



Q9: Quick, Quick Dr. Squash
Solved: Doctor Squash the Doll Doctor

Q10: Queen Anne's Lace/Mystery
Solved: Queen Anne's Lace

2004


Q11: A quest for a namesake
Solved: The Namesake

2005


Q12:  Queen Esther
Children's book about Queen Esther. Each character illustrated as a different animal: Queen Esther is a goat, King Ahasuerus is a dog, etc. I remember a bright blue cover with a picture of Esther (as a goat) on the front. probably published around 1980's

Kurt Mitchell, Esther: Selected Verses from the Book of Esther, 1983, copyright.  Description from Worldcat: "Contains selected verses from the Book of Esther illustrated with animal figures."



Q13: Quiet Place
I am 95% certain that's the book title...I would like to know the author and/or illustrator. The story is a small book (might be a Whitman Tiny Tot Tale printed 1969). It's about a child named Grace who is looking for a quiet place. Thanks so much...this is the most beloved book from my childhood.

Lynn Wheeling, A Quiet Place, 1969. This story was published in 1969 by Whitman, a Tiny-Tot Tale. 


2006


Q14: Quest
Looking for "The Quest" ?  book about a modern search for the grail.  Rather like an Indiana Jones movie, the grail has been hidden for ages.  The "good guy" is following the trail. It has been covered over with gold and jewels by Jewish metalworkers...?  There is a discription of how 666 relates to 6 days without God, 6 something without something and 6 is man with out God and that is hell.  There are deserts and digging and tents and James Bond like stuff going on.  Set in modern times, but has historical accounts, but is definately a work of fiction.  I read it about 10 years ago in paperback.

This also may be called "the Chalice" or "The Grail Quest" of something of that sort.  I now believe it was a best seller of the week in the 1980s or around then.  Still would like to find it.


Q15: Queen Ann's Lace
I am going to give you what I know about the story. It was read to me in the 50's or early 60's. It was a story about how the flower Queen Ann's Lace came to be. I do not remember very much except a witch was trying to get a girl (princess, maybe). Somehow white flowers grew up and trapped her. If  you look at the flower Queen Ann's Lace you will see a little black speck in the middle. This represents the witch amid a sea of white flowers. That is why Queen's Ann's Lace blooms with the back speck in the middle.  Every year about this time when it blooms I am reminded of this story. Please help me locate this fairy tale or folk lore story. No one seems to remember it but me.

I was told that Queen Anne gathered those black dots ..which, when you rub them in your palm, become deep red, wanted millions of those collected to dye her dress that deep color and, hence, that is how it got the name..MY parents used to work in the Catskill Mountains and my dad would take the guests of the Fallsview Hotel  (where I was married 33years ago) for a "nature walk"  around the golf course and mountains.  SInce we grew up in NYC/the Bronx, he did research to give info on these walks. THat is how I got that info.  Coincidentally, my dad is 89 now, and last weekend, I went up to the Catskills to  take care of him a bit and he doesn't remember telling that story.  I tell it to everyone and I cannot believe it was in your online newsletter. Nothing is a coincidence!!! Whew.. Thanks so much for another story ......I thought I was the only one in the world who was thinking so much about Queen Annes Lace these last few weeks.


Q16: Q about virtual reality, game, colonizing other world
Solved: Invitation to the Game



Q17: Queen of dolls
I am looking for a book about a queen of dolls who comes each night in a coach that might be drawn by mice and takes forgotten and mistreated dolls to a hospital.  It may have been written in the 30's.  It was my grandmother's book.  My mom really liked it when she was a kid and is looking for a copy of it.

Josephine Scribner Gates' 1901 book, The Book of Live Dolls, illustrated by Virginia Keep, which comes in three parts. See Solved Mysteries.
I believe the illustrations for The Book of Live Dolls were also done by Mabel Rogers - in the Better Homes and Gardens Storybook, anyway.



Q18: Quirky alphabet book
Solved: Birds in my Drawer


2007

Q19: Quack, said Jerusha
Solved: Children's Stories


Q20: Queen of Prussia
This fiction book takes place in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania or environs.  I think "Queen of Prussia" is in the title.  It is the story of a family who spends summers at the Matriarch's home, written from the view point of a young teen granddaughter.  The family is kind of odd ball, consisting of the Grandmother, her adult daughters and the grand children.  I read it over 25 years ago, maybe as long ago as the late '70's.  It was a book my mother got from some book club she subscribed to, which leads me to believe it had some importance at one time...maybe even a best seller. The author must have some connection to King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.

Chase, Joan, During the Reign of the King of Persia, 1983, copyright.  This is a long shot, but the grandmother matriarch fits.



Q21: Queen for a day
My mother-in-law is trying to find a book she read as a teenager in the late 50's early 60's  she thinks the title was Queen for a day and the book was about a boy named Sandy who had down syndrome.  That's all she can remember from it. Can you help?

2011

Q22: Quarantined girl when circus in town
Approximate date: 1950s. Hardcover, green cover, several stories of course with pictures, the one I remember most is about the little girl quarantined with measles or mumps when circus came to town and they paraded by her house so she could see them. also think there is a story about a horse. probably 4th 5th grade level.

MacDonald, Betty, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, 1947. This is a bit of a stretch, but two of the stories in the first Mrs. Piggle Wiggle book could fit the bill. The first is about a boy who never puts away his toys until eventually he can't get out of his room, at which point Mrs. Piggle Wiggle and all of the other kids in the neighborhood come by in a parade, heading to the circus, to encourage him to clean his room so he can go. Another is about a boy who is a "slow eater tiny bite taker", who finally starts eating normally again when he finds he doesn't have the strength to take his turn riding Mrs. Piggle Wiggle's horse.
Carol Ryrie Brink, Caddie Woodlawn or Magical Melons, 1936. I would have sworn it was Caddie Woodlawn (and I have the idea that the sickness was mumps and it was confirmed with the pickle test), but I can't find a mention of it in any summaries online.  I wonder, though, if it could have come from Magical Melons, now republished as Caddie Woodlawn's Family.



R2: Riding lessons
I found your website and since I am trying to find some lost books for a friend, I knew that I found the right place. I am trying to find the title for this book - all that can be remembered is as follows: This book is about a little girl whose mother dies and the girl is sent to live with her aunt who owns a riding stable. Since the aunt is sickly, the girl takes over giving riding lessons. The story takes place in either Arizona or New Mexico and also talks about a canyon. This book also had a copyright sometime around 1945. If you or anyone else can remember this book, I would appreciate hearing from you with the titles or any more specific information, since my friend would like to get these books for her daughter.

this is the best I've found so far, and it's vague. Hamlin, John H. Beloved Acres published by Century, 1925 "A capable young girl manages a California ranch, and through hard work and good judgment is able to keep it out of the hands of a designing ranch owner who tries to force her to give it up."
Another possible, a little closer - Shooting Star Farm, by Anne Molloy, illustrated by Barbara Cooney, published Houghton 1946, 231 pages. "It's having people and someone to do things with that counts," says Sabra when new neighbors appeared and Grandma rejoiced over lights in the old house. The newcomers were ready to open a riding school, a venture which affected Sabra's future in several ways. She loved horses as much as she did companionship and girls with similar tastes may follow her doings with enjoyment." (Horn Book Sep/46 p.353)
Dorothy Lyons.  The plot and characters sound like a Dorothy Lyons book, although I don't remember these exact details.  Her books are delightful and well-worth reading.


R4: Rusty
Solved: Rusty 
R16: Rich lady adopts girl who looks like her dead daughter

Solved: The Bewitching of Alison Albright

R17: Roman city rediscovered
Solved: The End of the Tunnel
R21: Rope--What's at the End?

I am looking for a book from the early 60's that is probably a Wonder Book.  It had a glossy cover and featured a dark haired little boy on the front holding a rope.  The whole book was about the little boy trying to find out "do you know what's at the end of my rope?"  He goes through several guesses, but the last page reveals that a HOUSE is at the end of his rope.  Any ideas?

R21- Teddy's Surprise (Tell-A-Tale)?
I checked into this, and "Teddy's Surprise" isn't the book I had as a child.
I just checked my copy of a book by Hegarty called The rope's end. It is NOT your book.  [It's abt a boy on a whaling ship]
Marjory Schwalje, Guess What I Have. It's a Whitman Tell-a-Tale book.  Cover is exactly as you describe with a dark haired boy pulling at a rope.


R24: Run away home
Solved: Run Away Home

R25: Rag bottom boat
My sister and I (both 45) remeber a book from our childhood. A big potion of the book was devoted to how an old sailor taught/helped some children re-build a sail-boat, including putting a canvas bottom on the hull (I think the name of the boat ended up being 'Rag Bottom".) Some where in the story there was also a boy who wasn't part of the group of children who seemed to be a loner. Can you find naything out about this book?

This couldn't be Robb White's Sailor in the Sun again, could it? If not, it could be another of his younger titles.
R25 rag bottom: a book about the rebuilding of a boat is The Rainbow, by Edna S. Weiss, illustrated by Don Lambo, published Nelson 1960, 143 pages. "A Massachusetts seacoast town is the background for this realistic story of a boat-builder's family and, especially, of the younger son whose love for sailing matches his father's. The rebuilding of the wrecked sloop Rainbow was undertaken as a labor of love by 10-year-old Joel's parent, but its completion was not assured until the Boy Seafarers were organized ..." (HB Aug/60 p.297) "The Rainbow, a storm-wrecked keel sloop, provides the Hubbard family with trouble, problems, and new hopes. Boys and girls 8 to 12."



R26: Robber knight
Hi, I really hope you can help me.  I'm looking for a book I always used to take out of the local library when I was young.  I think it may have been called "The Robber Knight" or "The Robber Prince".  It was about a black knight who stole strawberries at night from a strawberry field.  I think there may have been a good knight which was, of course, a white knight.  My mother and I are always remembering this book but neither of us can find it anywhere.  Can you help?

Bang, Molly, The Grey Lady and the Strawberry Snatcher, Four Winds 1983.  Not a complete match, but worth mentioning "The Grey Lady loves strawberries. But so does the Strawberry Snatcher, and unfortunately for the Grey Lady he is not far away and getting closer all the time. Past flower shops and bakeries he stalks her, silently, steadily, biding his time. He pursues her by foot along haunting red-brick paths, and then by skateboard into the mysterious depths of a swamp both beautiful and terrifying. Closer and closer he gets, and yet the Grey Lady escapes him, in fantastic and marvelously improbable ways, until, in the heart of the forest the Strawberry Snatcher discovers instead -- blackberries!"  Probably too recent is Oliver's Strawberry Patch, by Anton Kroon, Hyperion 1992. "Oliver tries to catch thief stealing strawberries from garden."
Wondriska, William, The Tomato Patch.  NY Holt 1964.  Another possible is this one, though it's tomatos and not strawberries. The story has two kingdoms, Krullerberg and Appletania. There are no gardens, and all food comes out of cans. A wise little girl cultivates a tomato patch in the forest, and a prince comes into it somewhere.
Helen Chetin, The Lady of the Strawberries, 1978.
Geoffrey Palmer and Noel Lloyd, Moonshine and Magic, 1967.  This book includes a story called "The Strawberry Thief".
Walter Kreye, illus. David McKee, The Poor Farmer and the Robber Knights.(Late 70s, approximate)  YES!! I have been trying to find a book I remembered about Robber Knights for ages.Your query reminded me about the strawberries, and that detail helped me find the title (still haven't got the book though). So even if this isn't your book, you helped me find mine!It was a Picture Puffin. I think it'\''s translated from german, and the pictures by David McKee (who did Mr Benn and Elmer) are very interesting and go round the page so they're partly upside down.The poor farmer grows strawberries but the robber knights come and eat them, trampling around and being gross. Then they fall asleep (why? can't remember! ) and the farmer does something to their armour (water? rust?) so they can't move. They wake up and lie there pulling faces. I think he frees them in the end ( with a screwdriver? oil can?) and they become good knights. Hope this is your book !



R27: Ratty and Mousie
Solved: Good Neighbors

R29: Rhyming book
Solved: the strawberry book of shapes 

R31: Reflecting surface
This book was probably written between 1962 and 1970.  The illustrations took up a significant amount of room on the page.  It was about an old man who looks into something (a box? a pool? a well?) and sees the image of a boy.  It turns out to be an image of himself as a child.  I am probably remembering only a fraction of the plot.  The illustrations of the old man were frightening and kind of expressionistic.  The whole book had a kind of eerie feel to it.  I am very curious about this book.

R31 a long shot, but how about Leon Garfield'sThe Ghost Downstairs, illustrated by Anthony Maitland, published 1972, where the solicitor's clerk Mr. Fast gives up 7 years of his life to the mysterious Mr. Fishbane,
only to find that he's lost the 7 years of his childhood, causing him to be haunted by the ghost of his young self. The illustrations are detailed b/w line and wash, mostly full-page, with one of p.57 showing Fast and his
child-ghost reflected in a shop window. Inside the window is a scale-model of St. Paul's Cathedral. Fast is a youngish man, but he looks older in this illo. On p.45 there's a picture of the old Mr. Fishbane taking the
child-ghost by the hand, both of them looking at the viewer. The ghost wears a sailor suit and wide-brimmed hat.

SOLVED: Robert Pack, The Forgotten Secret (1959). Years ago I posted this question, and I am found the answer all by myself - using Ebay!  I used this search: childrens book 1955, next: childrens book 1956, and so on, changing the year.  I did this for a couple of months and one day I saw the familar cover of the book. I bought the book, of course. There is a mysterious old man with a magic sack who allows children to peek in, but not adults.  The town'\''s council of elders trieds to put a stop to the delight experienced by the children.  The mayor follows the old man, steals the sack, looks inside, and sees his own face as he was as a boy. I know why I was intrigued when I was a kid.  I think this picture book is as much for adults as it is for children and the pen, ink and crayon illustrations are awesome.



R36: Rings and musical instruments
Solved: The Great and Terrible Quest

R37: Reincarnation
I've been looking forever for a book that I absolutely loved when I was about 12 or 13.  It was part of a boxed set that was a gift to my mother in the 1940's.  One of the two books in the set was the poem "White Cliffs of Dover" - I've found that one.  The other book in the set (very small, slim book) was a novel about reincarnation.  Two people meet in Heaven, fall in love, and vow to find one another after they're born.  They eventually do find one another and have a romantic reunion in pre-war Europe.  I do not recall how it ends, so probably they end up back in Heaven.  But it was my favorite book as a young girl.  Any help in figuring out the author or title would be *MUCH* appreciated.

?? Dana Burnet, ?? The Pool, 1945.  I'm not at all sure this is the right story, but the description reminds me a bit of one I've read, and maybe it could be by the same author.  The publication data seem to fit.  In a compilation called A Treasury of Beauty and Romance (Marjorie Barrows, Spencer Press, 1955) is a short story called "The Pool" by Dana Burnet, which the acknowledgments say was "published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., copyright 1945 by Dana Burnet, copyright 1945 by Curtis  Publishing Company" (who did magazines). Then next to the title of the story, the book editor has put, "This delicate and tender love story is found in many scrapbooks.  People... have reread it at least once a year since it first appeared in magazine form."  So evidently, due to its great popularity as a magazine story, it was published by Knopf in book form?  It would definitely make a reasonable partner for "The White Cliffs of Dover", also a war story.  This one is about Richard and Nancy, who meet during WWII in England and fall in love, discussing their personal "special places" that one must return to, to find oneself (his is a trout pool). It's not reincarnation, but they talk a lot about "coming back" and "forever".  The story shifts several times from present to past and back again, but at the end it's clear that both lovers have died and found one another again.  Good luck!
Made in Heaven? this sounds a lot like the 1987 movie Made in Heaven.  Maybe you could look at that and find out what it was based on?



R38: Reader with rabbits
Around 1966 I was given three hardcover elementary school readers from some neighboring kids a few years older then I was, so they would have been current in the late 1950s. Of those three I still have two and would like to find a copy of the third, though all I can say about it is that is had a buff gray cover with a drawing of three or four rabbits on the front. There were several illustrated stories inside, but the only one I recall had something to do with the rabbits in the snow. Since the three books were all in similar format, it may help to note that one was "The Story Road" (red cover with a kid walking down a road) and the second one was "On Cherry Street" (orange cover). Any help with finding the title of the third book would be greatly appreciated, as would information on how to get a copy - I've been puzzling over this one for years!

#R38--Reader with Rabbits:  You're definitely looking for one of the Ginn Basic Readers by Odille Ousley and David H. Russell, which were published under the same titles over the years but in various editions.  The only hint I can give you is don't bother looking at ANYTHING dated 1961 or later.  Some of the inside contents may be the same, but by then they'd switched to the bright, colorful covers so you'd never recognize it.  Stick to the drab 1940s-50s blue and gray covers and eventually you'll come across it.  Looking at Ginn Basic Readers listed on eBay may help, but there are way too many even to begin a good process of elimination unless someone wants to share tables of contents.  There are nice web pages devoted to Dick and Jane and Alice and Jerry, so when someone puts up one for these other series I hope it's posted here so we can all check it for some of our lost textbooks!
I believe you have an odd assortment of readers, not a set from one publisher! The Story Road is by John C. Winston and On Cherry Street is a Ginn Reader. (I have never heard of a Ginn Reader called Story Road.) Around Green Hills- A Betts Basic Reader- has 2 children with 2 rabbits on their laps! Also, Story Road (1940) has an orange cover with 2 rabbits on  it!! After much searching those are the only bunnies found so far!



R41: Russian brothers and sisters
I can only remember that it was a hardback book, navy blue I believe.  It was about some Russian brother and sisters and that's all I can remember. My grandmother bought it for me for Christmas and in all the moving we've done, it got lost or given away.

E. M. Almedingen, Little Katia. Seems like a possible answer to this one, as well as R42. Other books by Almedingen, e.g. "Anna", might also be possibilities. If there were animals as well as children in the book, then it could be Olga Petrovskaia's "Kids and Cubs". If it was set at the time of the Russian Revolution, it could be Stephanie Plowman's "My Kingdom for a Grave" or "Three Lives for the Czar".



R42: Russian girl Katia
Solved: In Place of Katia 

R43: Recorder (instrument) ensemble
I read this book in the mid- to late 60's, and remembered it a few years ago when my daughter started learning to play the recorder. A group of kids (siblings I think) take recorder lessons from 2 (or maybe 3) somewhat eccentric older women (the women are sisters, I think?). As a group, they play all 4 types of recorders (soprano, alto, tenor, bass(?)). Can't remember the title, nor anything more about the plot (except maybe some mishaps during a concert?)

Maybe - Fripsey Fun, written and illustrated by Madye Lee Chastain, published by Harcourt 1955, 198 pages. "The big Fripsey family and friend Marcy learn to play recorders for fun and find themselves on television!
Their success may seem extraordinary, but it is not incredible, and may arouse interest in making music among the little girls who like these easily read family stories." (Horn Book Oct/55 p.365) "Learning to play recorders leads the numerous Fripseys and their friends into unexpected adventures. Ages 9-12." (same Aug/55 p.301 pub.ad.)



R44: Robbers in a barn
Solved: Georgie and the Robbers

R45: Rottenest brother
Solved: The Rotten Book


R46: Rosy Nose the Polar Bear
Solved: Rosy Nose

R47: Russian fairy tales
I am trying to find a book I had as a child. It was quite large and had many beautiful illustrations. I remember the stories of the snow queen and the nutcracker were featured. The book had Russian and European tales. Can you help?

Grimm, Anderson, Dumas etc., trans. Marie Ponsot, The Snow Queen and other Tales, 1961.  Could this be The Snow Queen and Other Tales, the companion volume to the famous Golden Book of Fairy Tales,  illustrated by Adrienne Segur? Like the Golden Book, Snow Queen is quite large, about 12 by 15 inches, and has stunning coloured illustrations. It contains a variety of Russian and European tales including The Story of a Nutcracker, The Snow Queen, Baba Yaga, The Cat Who Became Lord of the Forest, Jorinda and Joringel, Winter's Promised Bride, etc. My copy was published by Golden Press in 1961.  according to the amazon.com site it's scheduled to come back into print in October 2001.



R48: Runaways
Solved: Secrets of the Shopping Mall
R49: Robot oranges

Solved: The Big Orange Thing


R50: Robots Come Alive
Solved: Andy Buckram's Tin Men

R51:  Room at the Top
Solved: Time at the Top
R52: Rescuing a princess

Solved: Book of Brownies

R53: Rat called Not-Polite
This is a fairly large and very colourful illustrated, children's book (somewhat larger than A4 paper). There are two prominent characters one was a creature who I remember had a big nose with a few hairs protruding from it, had a brownish body but a sandy-coloured tummy and was a rather short, dumpy little thing. This is no animal, so I cannot adequately describe it. I remember the book had a description about the "thing" along the lines of "___ are very soft and silky and live in blue watering cans." The second character is a rather spindly rat called Not-Polite. He wears a red berret and a red scarf. The two characters end up going to the moon via a kite. Here, the discover how the moon "waxes and wanes " firstly the moon has a huge feast, which the "thing" and Mr. Not-Polite join him. The moon and the two main characters subsquently become rather tubby, and the moon is now a full moon. Then along come these almost alien creatures (again with the prominent noses) and they tickle the moon and the two characters so that they laugh so hard they grow thing again (the moon starts to wane). I honestly cannot remember the ending to this wonderful book, and since I have forgotten the name of the title character (I had my suspicions that it might be called a Woozle, or a Wuzzle or similar), various searches on  the internet have been fruitless. PLEASE PROVE ME WRONG!!!!!!

R53 rat called not-polite: not too likely, but there's Twirlup on the Moon, by Laura Bannon, illustrated by Will Gordon, published Whitman 1964, 63 pages, which features a kangaroo rat and an odd creature called a Twirlup
who go to the moon, but via a rocketship. So not really close enough.
R53 rat not-polite: a real long shot, but there's Beyond The Rainbow, written and illustrated by R.F. Lowis, published Hutchinson c. 1960? "A Charming book about the adventures of a rat." And that's it, that's all the
information I have, couldn't even track down a record with a publication date!
R. F. Lowis, The Runaway Balloon. (1959)  This is not a solution - just something that may help. The R.F.Lowis mentioned was my teacher when I was 7 in Grimsby, England. He wrote "The Runaway Balloon" - a story with animal characters including a rat, in 1959. You may try finding his family in that location and seeing if they can take the solution further.



R54: Runaway
Solved: Charley 
2002

R55: Red-Headed boy gets haircut
Solved: Mop Top 

R56: Runaway
Solved: Runaway's Diary 
R57: Reincarnation mystery/romance Ancient Egypt

Solved: The Curse 

R58: Rose garden treasure hunt
I first read the book in the late 50's early 60's at about the age of 10.  I suspect that the book had probably been published quite a number of years earlier.  My description of the book's plot was as follows ...  The plot commenced with a child or children examining a old rose garden which was arranged in a horseshoe shape.  It was noticed that the first letter of the names of each of the roses (as shown on a plaque beneath each bush) spelt out the first clue for a treasure hunt.  This treasure hunt then traversed a series of steps lasting many days/weeks which consumed both the book and its reader.
R59: Reading Program

Solved:  SRA Cards 

R60: Rowan - girl, runaway, lives in hedge
Solved: Charley 

R61:  Race To The Valley
I am looking for a short story that I remember from my childhood in the 1940's entitled "Race To The Valley".  It was about two boys operating a bobsled or a toboggan, a sick or injured person and a race down a snowy mountain to get medical help in the valley below.

The only book that sounds somewhat familiar to me is Treasure In The Snow.  I forget the author, but it's a Christian book that I borrowed from my
church's library when I was preteen.  It's set in Switzerland, I believe, and a young boy races down a mountain on a sled through a storm to find a
doctor in the village below to help a boy that has been injured.  The boy on the sled is responsible for the boy's injury.



R62:  Rabbit who runs away
Solved: The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes 
2003


R63: Ram Tram
This was an adventure book, perhaps intended for a young adult audience.  I received it as a gift in the early 80s or late 70s, then loaned it to a friend.  Two teenagers built a vehicle for traveling on railroad tracks, called the RamTram(?).  They travel into a madman's encampment, which I recall as a tented compound.  They see the madman playing a large organ in one end of a tent.  Dynamite or other explosives may have been involved in their escape.  That's all I can remember.  Thanks.
R64:  Round Round World

Solved: Round Round World


R65: Red Balloon
Solved: Piccoli


R66: rufus2
Solved: Rufous Redtail


R67: Rhinoceros with pillow on horn
Solved: Bertram and the Ticklish Rhinoceros


R68: Ralph of the Roundhouse series of books
Solved: Ralph of the Round House


R69: Rich Family & Poor Family
Solved:  The Fence: a Mexican Tale


R70: Receipe, children's, non-edible, fun
One page in a children's book. Drawing of a six-year-old girl in front of a mud puddle, throwing sticks and leaves into the water. Below the drawing is a receipe written like a poem. The details of the receipe are to throw flowers, leaves and sticks into the water.

R70 Do you suppose  this is it?  Winslow, Marjorie. Mud pies and other recipes. illus by Erik Blegvad.Colllier, 1961. recipes from mud and plants to serve to dolls
Silverstein *or*  Prelutsky.  R70  You give no date, but wondering if this couldn't have apperared in a poetry collection? Shel Silverstein illustrated his own, black line drawings, kind of shaky, on white. Jack Prelutsky also specializes in silly, yucky rhymes.



R71: Rosemary Rose, a friend to man
Solved: London Men and English Men


R72: rocking horse
Solved:  Dapple Gray


R73: Ruth and Rebecca or Sara
Book about two girls, I read in the 1950's.  Ruth and Rebecca or Sara or ..  Story about celebrating a jewish holiday.
Maybe in a series.

Are we sure this isn't All-of-a-Kind Family again?  That series pops up a lot and most of the chapters are titled and could "stand alone" as a single story.
The sisters in All-of-a-Kind Family are named Gertie, Sarah, Henny (Henrietta), Charlotte, and Ella.
Thanks but no it's definately not "All of a kind" as there were only two girls in the story.
Could it be What the Moon Brought, short stories about Jewish holidays with twin girls named Ruth and Debbie?



R74: Rose, dragontail
Solved:  Firerose


R75: Rich Girl
Solved: Maida's Little Shop


R76: Runaway Baby Buggy
Solved: Billy Brown: The Baby Sitter


R77: Rainy Day Kids inside
Solved: Open Your Eyes


R78:  Rainbow--child travels through rainbow lands
Solved: Once Upon a Rainbow


R79: RACOON
Solved: Five Little Raccoons


R80: Reversible Book
A book about a group of people (or toys) that go on a journey or adventure.  The most interesting thing about the book is that you could read it starting at either end.  The back half of the book would be upside down as you read from the front.  On the center page, both stories/adventures met up.

This reminds me of Ann Jonas' books, particularly Round Trip.  It's done in black and white -- a car takes a trip to the city, and when you reach the end of the book, you flip it over and you take the trip back to the country.  The illustrations take on a different perspective when you flip the book upside-down.  But since the two 'stories' don't meet in the middle of the book, I don't think this is what you're looking for.
Tops & Bottoms, '90's?  Can't remember the author but I think this was a Caldecott honor book or winner. However, the book flips up instead of turning pages left-to-right. Involves a lazy bear, I believe.



R81: Rags
Solved: Make Room For Rags

R82:Run Away Home
Solved: Run Away Home


R83: Robin Hood, glossy green cover
Solved: The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood


R84: Rabbits overcoming prejudice
A white rabbit who is prejudiced against brown rabbits is hit by a car. The doctor who saves his life is a brown rabbit.


R85: rowboat short story
looking for a short story from a grade school reader. A poor father takes his daughter out in a rowboat in a harbour intending to drown her to save her from the fate of growing up in poverty in the evil port city. He looks at the sky and decides not to.


R86: red hair, twins
Solved: Kissed by Magic
I remember very little about the book i need help finding.  I do remember that the guy is the assisstant for the girl.  The girl has been burned by a bad marriage to a tennis pro I think.  The man is wealthy. He tricks her into going away for the weekend on a "business" trip to acquire  some business that he owns. I do remember that all the women in his family have red hair. In the end they are married and she is pregnant he tells her she is carrying twins and they will have red hair and what they want to be named. Help!!!!!

Kay Hooper, Kissed by Magic, 1983. "Rebel Sinclair's new assistant Donovan Knight knows her so well it's ALMOST like he's reading her mind."  Published as Loveswept I think, this was reprinted in 2004 in an anthology called Enchanted.   Donovan has a large, quirky family of mostly redheaded psychics.


R87: Railroad locomotive dream
Solved: The Wonderful Locomotive


R88: Rutabaga
A friend of mine remembers a book (she thinks it was a "Golden Book" ) that had a character named Rutabaga. I don't think it's the "Rootabaga Stories," because she said there was an actual character named Rutabaga and I'm not sure there is one in the Rootabaga Stories (I've never read them).  Can you help?

I wrote this stumper and have more information to provide. My friend said that she thinks this was a golden book or a similar format. It was about rutabagas more so than an actual character she thinks. She can't really remember much more than that. Any help is appreciated!
Is it possible that this might be a Margaret Wise Brown book? There are two books, The Little Farmer, and Two Little Gardeners, which I cannot find summaries for -- does anyone know if either of these books might be about growing rutabagas?
Book was printed in the 1940's early 1950's (in Golden Book format if not an actual Golden Book) telling the story of a family or farmer or children planting rutabagas, growing them, eating them.
Two Little Gardeners doesn't have anything to do with rutabagas.  It simply tells the story of two gardeners as they plant a garden and watch it grow throughout the year.



R89: Rabbit and a cable car
1978-1980.  It is a children's chapter book.  About a small town a full size rabbit (human size) and it rides the cable car.
R90: Richard Scarry

Solved: What do people do all day?


R91: Racehorse story from horse's viewpoint
Solved: Old Bones: The Wonder Horse


R92: Red Adair Canadian hunter
I grew up in England in the 1950’s and remember reading a hardcover book that in think originally belonged to my father and so was from the 1920’s or 30’s and published in England. It was a book about the adventures of hunters and trappers in the wilds of Canada. I think there was a main character whose name was Adair or perhaps Red Adair. Can anybody recognize the book from this brief description?

I am writing only to comment on the name of Red Adair.  Red Adair was a famous fighter of oil well fires in the U.S.
Charles G D Roberts, or Ernest Thompson Seton.  Might be worth checking these authors
Grey Owl.  Another possible author-this is a follow up to my suggestion yesterday re Charles G D Roberts and Ernest Thompson Seton.  The thing is, an awful lot of Canadian fiction at that time dealt with trappers, hunters, frontier life, and animals! 



R93: Rainy day walk in new zoris
Solved: A Pair of Red Clogs


R94: Redwood naturalist
Solved: Redwood Pioneer


R95: Rocking horse becomes real at night
Solved: Merrylegs the Rocking Pony


R96: Rufflehead/Russian folk tale
Solved: The Richest Sparrow in the World


R97: Rocking horse becomes real at night
Solved: Dapple Gray


R98: Red headed twins
Solved: Under the Mountain

2004


R99: Russian girl, boarding school, Decembrist Revolution
Solved: Masha


R100: Reasonable Rabbit
Solved: The Boss of the Barnyard and Other Barnyard Stories


R101: red, white and green torches
as a child I read a book but don't know the title or author. it was in the 70's about children using torches with coloured lenses as codes which they used to warn each other about someone i think it was men,coming to get them as they hid in houses or old buildings, not sure but i think it was in set in england and about post war but could be wrong.

Michael de Larrabeiti, The Borribiles



R102: Russian emigre autobiography Siberia exile
The book is written in the first person and is the actual account  of an individual's experience in Eastern Siberia along the  Chinese and Mongolian border.  The time of his adventures coincide with the Bolshevik Revolution which exiled him.  The author was one of the privileged classes under the Csars but I don't recall if he was titled or just a member of the gentry.  In the foreword or first chapter, the author attests to the absolute truthfulness of his account, since some of it, especially the Mongolian mysticism, is astounding.  The events probably took place 1910- 1925, and the book written in the 1930's when the author lived in Europe, perhaps France or Switzerland.

This isn't poster's book, but while searching, may want to read Peter Dickinson's Skeleton-in Waiting, a mystery which has a plot about someone who has written just such a book. Second in his books about a fictional British Royal family. (Based on premise that the real Prince Albert Victor does not die, so his fiance Mary marries him as scheduled rather than his brother the future George V.) As all of Dickinson's books, a wonderful read. Forst one is King and Joker.



R103:  Red and Pink Ribbons
Solved: The Funny Guy


R104: Revolutionary War Girl
Story of a young woman in the Revolutionary war, who manages somehow to be part of many major parts of the war, from Philadelphia/Trenton (and maybe Valley Forge) to Battle of Yorktown. George Washington is in the book, and a handsome young soldier (of course). I think this is a classic story about the war; title is probably the heroine's name.

Elswyth Thane, Dawn's Early Light, 1938.  It's been decades since I read Thane's seven-book Williamsburg series, but maybe this is what you're looking for.
By name only- Jenny Lee, Patriot by Anne Emery-1964.?? Maybe?
Gwen Bristow, Celia Garth, 1959, approximate.  I thought of this old favorite, but it was set in Charleston.



R105: room house windows walls
Solved: House Without Windows and Eepersip's Life There


R106: Red haired sisters
Solved: Eric's Girls


R107: Runaway girl
Solved: Charley


R108:  Red-haired princess on cover
My mother remembers this pre-World War I book (she was born in 1911), that was a book of fairy tales. She guesses it may have been Grimms. This edition had a princess with flowing red hair, like a Botticelli painting she says.  It sounds like an art-nouveau, Beardsley-esque illustration, when the hair was all like that.

Could this be an Oz book, perhaps Ozma of Oz?  The John R. Neill illustrations were very like the description.



R109:  Rusty, space traveller
Solved: Rusty's Space Ship

2005


R110:  Romance novel
Solved: The Wolf and the Dove


R111: Runaway dog that eats too many biscuits at bakery
Solved: Benjy's Dog House


R112: Rosemunde
I am looking for a romance novel that I read in hight school, between 1979-1981 titled either Rosemunde or Rosamunde. Just leave Pilcher out of the search, she has nothing to do with this. It's a historical romance novel, the cheesy kind that high school girls love to dream about. I read it in 1980 and it's titled either Rosamund, Rosamunde or such. It's about a beautiful young woman who is kidnapped by the bad guy who secretly is an heir to an estate and they fall in love even though they are enemies.  I wish I had more, but if I did I could find this myself. Good luck, Jim.

Well, it's NOT Rosamund by Julia Murray (Hale, 1978).  That Regency plot involves twin brother and sister robbing coaches, and Sir Hugh, the man who their father hopes will marry Rosamund - even efter he's one of their robbery victims.  Possibly - Rosamunda by Marjory Hall (Dell, 1974) - couldn't find and description of that one.
Rosemary Rogers, Sweet Savage Love. Perhaps it is by Rosemary Rogers.  She wrote a series of love books about Steve and Ginnie, who are enemies, but fall in love. Other books are Dark Fires, Lost Love, Last Love, and a newer book called Savage Desire.



R113: Rosa
Solved: Rosa-Too-Little


R114: Russian Women Flee to FortRoss
Solved: Another Place Another Spring


R115: Rhinoceros
this book was probably written in the late 60's or early 70's. All that I remember is that it was a pretty dark (content and somewhat art) and at one point involved a rhinoceros. Like someone was walking in the dark and the next thing they knew they were in a pen (maybe with a concrete wall at a zoo) with the rhino. I also recall a castle or big house and maybe cobblestones. I sometimes think of frankenstein's monster when I recall this book. There may have been a doctor or scientist involved and maybe electrodes or vacuum tubes.

R116: Riddle game, rose trellis
Solved: The Big Joke Game


R117: Rabbit runs away from home
No longer solved as Morris's Disappearing Bag
This is a long shot.. ! I'm looking for a children's book about a rabbit who has lots of brothers and sisters who irritate her, so she runs away from home. The only detail in the book I can remember is that one little brother (whose name may have been Tommy) does something to her lipstick. And it doesn't have anything to do with Easter bunnies.  :)  I read it when I was 4 or 5, so I'm guessing it wasn't a chapter book or anything!

Felecia Bond, Poinsettia
.  Poinsettia is a pig, not a rabbit.  But she has a lot of brothers and sisters and wishes there was more room in her house
Gay, Zhenya    Small one. Viking,  Junior Literary Guild, 1968.  rabbits; runaways; separation from parents - juvenile fiction
This is NOT Small One by Z. Gay.  In that story, Small One was frightened by a noise out of the safety of the bushes where his mother left him and his brothers and sisters.  He then gets lost and spends the rest of the book looking for his mother.  No lipstick in this story.
R117 Google has 144,000 entries under rabbit lipstick!
How about Morris's Disappearing Bag by Rosemary Wells.  On Christmas morning, Morris's brother Victor gets a hockey outfit. Morris's sister Rose gets a beauty kit. Morris's other sister Betty gets a chemistry set. And Morris gets a teddy bear. His siblings all tell him he's too little to play with their gifts. Then Morris finds one last present under the tree (a disappearing bag) and discovers just the diversion he needs to keep the others busy--while he enjoys their toys!  One picture shows him trying out the lipstick.
R117 Wells, Rosemary.  Morris's disappearing bag; a Christmas story.  Dell, 1975.  rabbits; Christmas; youngest child; sharing.
Susan Pearson, Molly Moves Out.  The second query under Morris' Disappearing Bag on the Solved M page probably isn't seeking Morris.  The answer is more likely to be Molly Moves Out by Susan Pearson.  Although there is makeup in Morris, Molly has a little brother who gets in her lipstick (and paints his face), and she is the one who runs away to live elsewhere in Molly Moves Out.


R118: rapunzel, rumplestiltskin, and frog prince
I am trying to find a children's book from the 70s that contained 3 stories, rapunzel, rumplestiltskin, and the frog prince.  It had gorgeous illustrations.  I think the book size was approx 8 x 10.  Thank you.

R119: Robin caretakers and the bird ball
Solved: The Tune is in The Tree


R120: Rosie choosing a religion
Solved: A Year in the Life of Rosie Bernard


R121: Runaway boy adopted by homeless man
I read this children's book in 1961 when I was 10.  The story starts with a young boy who gets caught swearing by his babysitter.  When the babysitter threatens to wash his mouth out with soap the boy runs away and is adopted by a homeless man whose real son died in a tragic accident and is in denial.  The homeless man thinks the runaway boy is his dead son and takes him to live in the woods with his friends.  They go berry picking and live off the land for a while until the homeless man realizes that the kid is not his son and returns him home.  The boys father is so gratefuol that he immediately hires the homeless man to be his handyman/ auto mechanic.

R122: Rocket Ship, Barber Chair, Children's book
 I am looking for a children's book that I am guessing was published in sometime in the mid 1950's - mid 1960's about a boy and his friends (or possibly his brother) who build a rocketship to the moon.  I do not remember the title or author at all, however the one notable thing I do remember is the boys in this story were whiz-kid inventors and at one point build two adjustable-height barber chairs that are able to pump up out of the roof of their house and up hundreds of feet in the air.   There were black-and-white illustrations of this feat, as well as of the spacecraft which they later build, the supplies they bring, etc.  There may have been more than one book written about these characters, but I am not sure about that.   Thank you very much, until I came across your website I had no idea how I was going to start to research this.

Jay Williams, Danny Dunn and the Anti-Gravity Paint, 1964.  This sounds like it could be the Danny Dunn series, about a boy inventor and his friends. Maybe Danny Dunn and the Anti-Gravity Paint, there is a spaceship built in that one.
R122 Total shot in the dark, but could this be THE MARVELOUS INVENTIONS OF ALVIN FERNALD by Clifford Hicks? The book was published in 1960 and republished frequently. There are other books about Alvin, his friend Shoey and Alvin's pesky little sister. However, I can't say if the inventions match. Another possibility is the Mad Scientists Club books (www.madscientistsclub.com)~from a librarian.
William Pene duBois (author and illustrator), The Twenty-One Balloons, 1947.  If you're sure about the rocket ship to the moon, then this can't be the book, but page 109 has an illustration of a brother and sister who design and build adjustable height twin beds that can be raised through skylights on the roof or lowered through their bedroom floor into the bathroom below.
Thanks everyone for your replies, I'll begin to research these suggestions.  Someone locally also suggested that this may be one of Eleanor Cameron's Mushroom Planet books, which are suprisingly hard to find, but I will research that also.   I am not 100% sure about the rocket's destination, but there definitely was space travel involved...thanks again
HRL:  several of the Eleanor Cameron books have been reprinted and are easy to get.  See Most Requested.
Thanks again to all - I would say this is 50% solved - especially for mentioning The Twenty-One Balloons, I do recall reading that as a youngster many years ago.  Perhaps my memory did combine 2 books - I did grow up in the 60's after all...but I still recall a book about children constructing a rocketship - the book had wonderful detailed descriptions of their food supplies, etc.  Thanks again to all.
Robert Heinlein, Rocket Ship Galileo. How about checking the Heinlein juveniles? Rocket Ship Galileo is certainly about 3 whiz kids building their own moon rocket. The barber chair scene is not there, but if you mixed up two books, this could be the other one. Here is a weblink to information about many of his juvenile books here



R123: red childrens story books
1960-65, childrens.  They were hard cover red books and we had 2 volumes  I don't know if more volumes were available.  I think they were adventure-type stories that Middle Elementary students would like, but not related to the little golden book stories as far as I know. There may have been golden lettering on the front cover and I think the volumes were about 2 - 3 inches thick.  One story I fell in love with was about wild horses in a canyon in the "Old West".  I think a white stallion was the "main character".  There were a few color pictures in each book, color paintings on glossy paper, I think.  One of the pictures was of a herd of wild horses in the canyon.  We possibly had them around 1960-65?  the books were 81/2 by 11 or a little smaller than that. thank you

Marjorie Barrows, ed., The Children's Hour, 1953.  The 1953 edition, at least, was red with gold lettering, although the volumes were smaller than the submitter remembers, and my edition has no glossy multi-colored illustrations.  Volume 14 includes "Wild-Horse Roundup" by Gladys Frances Lewis.  My information is from the Vol. 16 Index.  I haven't seen Volume 14.
I think Children's Hour definitely fits the bill! Volume 14 Favorite Animal Stories has a number of horst stories worth checking out!!



R124: rose between worlds
My stumper involves a book that I read for our school librarian in the early 1980's.  (She had me read a bunch of old books that hadn't been checked out in years to determine if we should keep them.)  The book that I am looking for is about a girl who is somehow transported into another world.  She receives cruel treatment from a woman in power.  She befriends a boy/man who is somehow connected to the woman in power. I think the girl travels between the two worlds multiple times. She is drawn back to the other world by the man/boy despite the unpleasant treatment she receives.  Time doesn't operate at the same "speed" from world to world. The last time she goes back to her own world, she finds that her family has changed (father dead perhaps).  The family moves away.  The girl goes back to the old house and she finds a rose on the mantel that is a sign from the man/boy that she loved in the other world.    The key scene in my mind is the one towards the end of the book when she finds the rose.  I don't know if it means that she will be reunited with the man/boy or if it signals the end of their relationship.

I believe I read this book in the early to mid 1970s. I think the boy/man was named Kit and the girl went back in time by going into a closet or mirror or something. I have always wondered the name and author of the book!



R125: raccoon rescue
There was a book that I had either in the late 1970's or early '80's about a woman who took in injured and abandoned wild animals (raccoons, squirrels, etc) and nursed them back to health.  The book was non fiction and was geared toward preteenaged readers.

Harriet Weaver, Frosty: A Racoon to Remember, 1973.  This sound like it could be "Frosty: A Racoon to Remember."  I don't remember the book to well - just that a forest ranger rescued a racoon, and there were stories about her and the racoon. I think it was non-fiction, and the reading level sounds about right, as does the time frame.  Could this be it?
era zistel, orphan, a raccoon.  even if this is not the book/author you are looking for, it is worth checking out all era zistel's books - including The Good Year  and The Gentle People. She wrote non-fiction and fiction, for adults and children. Setting is in the Catskills, New York.
R125 Looking at a good paperback of Tucker's book, I believe it isn't quite right. It is about healthy raccoon [no other critters] who captivates a female park ranger and all the visitors to the California park.



R126: refugee boat
This is a children's novel, about a group of people fleeing their homeland (because of war?) on a small refugee type boat. We saw a young boy's perspective, he has a friend who is a girl, and there is a particular scene where he shares his last piece of gum with her even though it makes them both really thirsty and they have water rationing. There is also a chapter where another larger boat appears in the water and all the women on board have to hide under the deck. One man hides coins in his shoes which are taken off him, another man is thrown overboard to drown and the large ship takes his wife. i think the title is like 500 or 500 miles or kilometres or something like that. The book what read to me at school in Australia 1993. i think it had a blue cover with a picture of a boat on it and red lettering for the title. the only thing i could find was 'boy overboard' by Morris Gleitzman and it's not that book.

Wartski, Maureen Crane, A boat to nowhere, 1980.  Philadelphia: Westminster Press.  Tells the story of a grandfather and his two granchildren Mai and Lok.  Along with runaway Kien, they leave their remote country village and sail on an open boat on the South China Sea.  They are aiming for Thailand but are refused permission to enter when they arrive.  After taking refuge on Outcast Island, they endure more hardship and the grandfather passes away.  They set out to sea again and are eventually rescued by an American freighter.  There is a sequel called A long way from home. 



R127: Robots battle the forces of Satan short story
Solved: The Battle


R128: Russian girl learns ballet
Solved: Katrinka, the Story of a Russian Child

R129: Rabbit stuck on desert island, finally escapes
Solved: The Adventures of Benjamin Pink


R130: Ringdinkydoo
I'm looking for a (young) kid's book I read in the late 70s or early 80s. I don't recall much about the book, except that there were several animals off on an adventure in a boat called the Ringdinkydoo. The lines that stick in my head still are: "I am the captain, you are the crew! Sailing the waves on the Ringdinkydoo!" Unfortunately, searching for Ringdinkydoo hasn't turned up anything for me. Thanks for your help

?Edward Lear.  I'm not sure about this, but from your description it sounds like it could be one of Edward Lear's poems. Hope this helps.
I looked up Lear's work and I don't think it's the right solution. The book I recall was a children's picture book with lots of colors - not the line drawings like Lear produced.



R131: Reflections
girl who is obsessed with reflection, very pretty, watches herself in storefront windows, mirrors, had dark hair.  I remember reading this in the 1970s possibly as part of monthly books I received from book club. Illustrations were pastel colors-- I remember pinks and the girl had short dark hair

Elizabeth Enright, The Saturdays.  Don't know about the illustrations/pinks, but there is one part of The Saturdays where one of the girls is out by herself, and she watches her reflection in store windows and hopes people are thinking things like "who is that beautiful girl with the mysterious smile"?
I remember this book. The girl had short hair and looked a little like Twiggy. She spent so much time looking at her reflection, she fell down (a manhole?)
and was all bandaged up.
Mary Poppins had such a fetish, but it wasn't the focus of the story.



R132: Russian-American marriage
About 30 years ago I read a book about America in the late 1800's, involving Russian immigrants and American pioneers.  One of the Russian immigrants was named Karl, and he fell in love with an American girl.  The girl also was attracted to an American boy, that her family really wanted her to marry.  However, almost against her will, she fell in love with Karl.  Her father was prejudiced and would not accept the marriage.

R133: Red Feather
Message: Red Feather early 1940's about a changling, a girl named rosemary, and faeries.

Fisher, Marjorie, Red Feather, 1950.  illus by Davine.  subject headings: fairies and kings and rulers
the red feather someone "solved" is incorrect.  it was 1940's or 30's and not about kings and rulers. my mom, who is searching for the book, is a librarian and she said there are a few books with the same title but she has been unable to find the correct one. note, she is retired and never used modern searching software.
Fischer, Marjorie, Red Feather, 1937.  This is in the solved file with the following description:   In Fischer's story, mortals are indeed prized for their housekeeping abilities, and so the Queen of Fairyland wants a mortal maid.  The changeling is made, alas, a little too perfect in every detail, and when interrupted in the swap the fairies can not tell for sure which baby is human and which fairy.  Was the human or the fairy whisked away to work in Fairyland? In which world does Rosemary and in which does Lisa belong?   The Queen does, indeed, inspect for cleanliness by running a white-gloved hand over surfaces she is outraged to find gold dust.  I believe this really is the book you are looking for - everything seems to match.
Marjorie Fischer, Red Feather This is definitely it. I just read the book last year.



R134: Red brick anthology
Solved: Book Trails


R135: Red-haired boys gang
There is a children's book where children go to this world/land where there are no adults.  There is also a gang of red-haired boys.  I want to say that it was from the 1970's or 1980's, but I'm not sure.  Does anyone know the title of this book? Thank you!

Philip Pullman, The Subtle Knife.  I think when Lyra goes to Cittagazze there are only children left and they have red hair.  I don't have a copy on me to check.  This book was probably published a little later than the poster has indicated.
The mystery of the “Red-haired” gang of boys has not been solved yet, but I appreciate the speedy guess.  The Subtle Knife is too recent of a book and it was not a YA book. Thank you and I look forward to solving the mystery.
Nelson, O.T., Girl Who Owned a City, 1975.  A real long-shot of a guess -- might this be O.T. Nelson's The Girl Who Owned a City? The lack of adults and the presence of gangs definitely fit (the young protagonist, Lisa, is striving to survive & rebuild society in a post-apocalyptic world in which plague has killed all adults, with marauding gangs but one of her challenges) but I don't remember the book well enough to say whether red-hair plays any part whatsover.
Stanley Kiesel, Skinny Malinky Leads the War for Kidness.  (1980, approximate)  Skinny Malinky leads a group of kids to fight Mr. Foreclosure who is trying to put all the kids into a machine that will make them well-behaved and nice (remove all the "kidness").  His only adult helper is Ida, the cafeteria lady.  I think Mr. Foreclosure turns out to be an ant.
Pierre Berton, Secret World of Og, 1996, llustrated by Patsy Berton.   This might be a long shot, but the group of children in this book are all red-headed, though not all boys.  They travel to the land of Og, filled with small people (not "adult" sized), in search of their baby brother Pollywog.  All the children's names start with P.  It was a TV special in the 80s.



R136: Roly-Poly Policeman
Basically, it's an illustrated story about this little dog in the neighborhood who is always going into the butcher's shop & stealing strings of hot dogs or sausages & a fat policeman with a billy stick & on foot who is always trying to capture the dog. That's all I can remember.

There's a fat policeman in the Raggedy Ann and Andy series....
Margaret Wise Brown, The Little Fat Policeman, 1950.  I'm not sure this is right.  It is a Little Golden Book that was illustrated by the Provensens (the same team that did The Color Kittens).  I think the book contains more than one "story."  I never had the original book but had a Golden Book antology that had a couple of them.  I remember one about an elderly woman who drove too fast because she was always singing "Shine little glow worm, glimmer, glimmer" to herself, and another where the fat little policeman saved someone who was swimming.  I don't remember this story, but the description of the policeman is consistent with the Provensen illustrations.
R136: Probably The Great Big Happy Book by Caroline and Judith Horowitz, illustrated by Margery Deckinger, published in 1947. Here's a description from BookSleuth: "Some characters in it included the Roly-poly policeman, and a poem about a little old lady and a little old man. One of the lines was "he combed his hair with the back of a chair and played ping-pong with a polar bear." There was also one about a little lady who kept shrinking. Illustrations show a little woman in a purple dress, sitting in a chair. In each drawing, the woman is smaller and the chair begins to look huge. It may have come from England. It's probably from the 1920's or 30's." 



R137: Robinson Crusoe's grandson
Looking for a teen book written (published) in 1896 about a cabin boy who is shipwrecked with a man who says he is the grandson of Robinson Crusoe. They have to do everything exactly like the grandfather did -- it is a great book and I am looking for the name and the author. Name was something like Robinson Crusoe Revisted. I think the author's first name was James.

W. L. Alden (William Livingston Alden), A New Robinson Crusoe, 1888.I think this is your book.  An excerpt from the beginning of the book: "That was the beginning of my acquaintance with the queer passenger.  After that he often used to talk to me when we happened to be on deck together, and was as kind to me as he could be.  He told me his name was James Robinson Crusoe, and that his grandfather was a very celebrated man, who lived for twenty-eight years on an island all by himself, having been cast away. The passenger was forever talking about his grandfather, whose name was Robinson Crusoe, without the James  but I never could see that the old man amounted to very much, though I never read the book of travels that he wrote, and perhaps the passenger did not always tell the truth about him."  You can read the book online here: http://www.archive.org/details/anewrobinsoncru00aldegoog.



R138: Rules and Things Number 29
Solved: Bud, Not Buddy


R139: Rockets, fly, boy, space, sky
Solved: Rick Brant:  Rocket Jumper


R140: Rags Tags Wags & Obadiah
 Rags, Tags, Wags, and Obadiah are 4 puppies in a Golden Book I read and read as a child in the mid to late 60s. They are drawn in the manner of The Poky Little Puppy, but with clothing.  (This NOT Lillian Obligato's work in 4 Little Puppies, NOR the black-and-white photo book published by Schachman in the 1950s)  I'm going slowly mad trying to locate it - please help! Thanks.

Frees, Harry Whittier, Four Little Puppies, 1935.  another of Frees photo books originally published by Rand Mcnally in 1935, republished by Shackman in 1983.
Anon  Four little puppies.  Wags, Tags, Rags, and Obadiah, puppies photographed in clothes raking the lawn, reading books and newspapers, etc. - presumably by Harry Frees.   Merrimack Publishing Corp [reprint of antique edition] c1983
Thank you for the info, however the book I am seeking is ILLUSTRATED, and not a photo book.
Ruth Dixon, Four Little Puppies, 1957.  Have you looked at the Rand McNalley Elf Book, Four Little Puppies by Ruth Dixon?  Yes, this book does used photographs of the puppies, but they are COLOR photographs, and in my opinion, really look more like illustrations than photos. I've seen two different covers on this book - the first is yellow, with pictures of just the four dog's heads against a yellow background, wearing hats. (A blue cap, like an engineer, a straw farmer's hat, a green top hat w/ red hatband, and a red hat w/ a green band.) These are four separate pictures, one of each dog, not one picture of all four dogs together. Honestly, if I just saw the cover, I'd swear that the pictures were drawn/painted, and not photographed.  I've seen this one listed online as a Famous Elf Book, Elf Book #8335, and Tip-Top Elf Book #8597.  There is also at least one other cover. This one is pink, and shows a single picture of the four puppies standing side by side on a grey floor. (One puppy is in a blue pointed cap, purple shirt, and green pants. Another is in a green/red top hat, red jacket, red & yellow striped shirt, and blue pants. One is in a yellow pointed cap, yellow striped shirt, green pants, and red suspenders, and the last is in a red cap, blue shirt, and red pants.) Again, the puppies on the cover look more like illustrations than photos. Harry Frees is credited as being the photographer in these books, but these are NOT black and white pictures, so maybe his b&w photos were hand colored and/or retouched for these editions? That might explain why you remember the book as being illustrated, instead of photographic?  It's at least worth a look - maybe one of those covers will look familar to you.



R141: rose growing out of man's ear
Solved: A Rose for Mr. Bloom

2006


R142: Reading book with short stories
This was a school reader that I inherited from the school where my dad worked. The school must have been purging all their 1940s-era books when I was a child in the 1970s! The book was maybe a thrid-grade level reader. It was hardback with a blue cloth cover, definitely a late 1940s book, with beautiful illustrations, maybe an inch or inch-an-a-half thick. The book had fifteen or twenty short stories. One of the stories I remember from the reader involved a girl going to her grandparents' farm and riding the huge workhorses. Another story was about a girl who made Valentine sugar cookies for each of her classmates, with their names piped on top...she was distraught because she didn't have money to buy fancy paper Valentines, but the kids loved their special cookies. I've been dying to find this book for years and years!

More Friends and Neighbors.  This doesn't fit the description exactly but may be worth looking into- More Friends and Neighbors is a school reader published by Scott, Foresman, and Company.  My copy is from 1946-47.  Among many other stories it includes 'The Surprise Valentines' by Ethel M. Legg.  In this story Betty's paper valentines are ruined when snow blows in the window the night before Valentine's day.  Her mother helps her make valentine heart cookies for her class and she brings them in after lunch.  She wants to put her friends names on them but her mother says it doesn't matter and there's one for everyone in the room.  Her friends love the cookies and say they are the 'best valentines of all'.  The book does also include some stories about children riding an old farm horse called 'Sleepy Sam'.  Some other memorable stories include 'The First Woodpecker' about a woman turning into a woodpecker, 'Mrs. Goose Forgets' by Miriam Potter, 'The Rabbit who wanted Wings' by Carolyn Bailey.  I hope this is your book.
Mildred Lawrence, Valentines for America, Anya is a immigrant to the united states and does not find out about Valentines Day until it is too late to buy fancy paper. Wanting very badly to fit in she makes Valentines out of cookies and writes each childs name in white icing. Her classmates, of course, enjoy the yummy "valentines". And the teacher asks Anya to tell her parents "...how glad we are to have such fine new Americans in our country" To which the girl replies, "Oh thank you, please.", after which Anya is afraid the class will laugh, but everyone is just too busy eating their valentines to notice the misuse of Enlgish that she had been teased for prior.
 I haven't heard of the other tale. Good luck finding your reader.



R143: Raccoon eating manners
Illustrated book about a raccoon who has to learn to chew with his mouth closed.  I think he eats pancakes in the story.  I had this book as a child in the late 70's or early 80's.

R144: Running away from home
Looking for a child’s picture book I read in the mid 70s. Possibly about a boy running away from home to live in the wild. (not Where the Wild Things Are)  Picture I remember was of a giant tree with various levels of a tree house supported throughout it, and a cave and campfire nearby.  Sorry about the lack of info (but if I had more details it wouldn’t be a “stumper” would it?)

Jean Craighead George, My Side of the Mountain, 2001, reprint.  Could My Side of the Mountain be the book? Here is a review: "Every kid thinks about running away at one point or another  few get farther than the end of the block. Young Sam Gribley gets to the end of the block and keeps going--all the way to the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York. There he sets up house in a huge hollowed-out tree, with a falcon and a weasel for companions and his wits as his tool for survival. In a spellbinding, touching, funny account, Sam learns to live off the land, and grows up a little in the process. Blizzards, hunters, loneliness, and fear all battle to drive Sam back to city life. But his desire for freedom, independence, and adventure is stronger. No reader will be immune to the compulsion to go right out and start whittling fishhooks and befriending raccoons."
R144: Andrew Henry's Meadow? See Solved Mysteries.



R145: Rhino with glasses
Solved: Rupert the Rhinoceros


R146: Rosemary is for Rememberance; Ghost story
Solved: The Phantom Carousel and Other Ghostly Tales

R147: Reform school boys find River Styx
This one's been driving me nuts for years.  I read this book as a kid, probably in the early to mid 1980's.  It was the story of a group of boys who are brought to a reform school.  They find a tunnel or cavern of some sort, and end up going on an adventure.  In the tunnel, they find a river they refer to as Styx.  I remember small details, like the fact that one of the boys tried to hide some money in some drums he was bringing to the school, but both the money and drums were confiscated.  The boys hid contraband on the roof of their cabin (before the underground adventure) and accessed it via one of the windows.  The hardcover edition of the book was primarily warm (red, orange) colors, and I seem to remember it featuring the boys in some sort of all-terrain vehicle.  Any ideas?

Dan Simmons, The River Styx Runs Upstream, 1982.  I googled the keywords and came up with this, don't know whether it's right or not, but the synopsis was something like, "A young boy's mother dies and the father decided to ressurect her" Look it up and see what you think!
Definitely not Dan Simmons. The River Styx Runs Upstream : a boy tells of his mother's resurrection, and the aftermath.
I don't know the book sought, but I do know the Dan Simmons story suggested and can verify that the Simmons story is not that book.



R148: Raking leaves protest
a public school library book in the 1970's. It was about a man who hated racking his leaves in the fall so he cut all of his trees down.  Then he realized what a mistake he had made.  In the spring his land was wet, muddy, and yucky. In the summer his house was too hot.  I believe he replanted tree at the end.

Ernst, Kathryn, Mr. Tamarin's Trees, 1976.  Mr. Tamarin comes to regret his vengeance on the trees for shedding their leaves all over his beautiful lawn.



R149: Rhoda gets stung by bee
Solved: Stanley & Rhoda


R150: Red Balloon -ish
I am looking for a children's book that was read to me in the early 80's. It was real pictures, NOT illustrations, and had a feel like "The Red Balloon". I have some semi-vague memories, but I know there were kids (I feel like a white boy and a black girl, who had an afro, and they wore very late 70's early 80's clothes....bellbottoms, etc.). They ate a HUGE bowl of ice cream, and there was a HUGE circle lollipop, as big as their heads. I think it melted, and it might have been on the roof of an apt. building, in a big city like New York. I can't find this anywhere, and these are all of the details I know. Please help! I think what makes it stand out was that it was photographs, not illustrations. Thanks!!!

I think the book you're talking about may just be called Colors.  I don't think it had any words.  I used to "read" it to my kids in the 80s, but it was old then...


R151: Royal boy stops assasination
I'm looking for a book I read in grammar school, between 5th and 8th grade (I graduated 8th grade in '72). I don't remember the title nor the author so I'm hoping someone can recall from the following description. I'm thinking the story may have been a couple decades old by the time I read it so somewhere between '30's & '60's maybe? It had a black cloth cover and I think there may have been some kind pattern all worn away. I believe the title had the word "Black" in it. The story starts out where a young boy is living on a farm with a family in medieval England. He believes the man is his uncle and his parents died when he was young. One day a man (a Lord or a Lord's man) comes to the farm and it comes to light that the boy is in some way related to royalty and possibly an heir. The man he believed was his uncle had taken him in to protect him. The boy is taken to a castle to be trained for his station in life. He's actually being used as some type of pawn but he's initially unaware of it. During his wanderings in the castle, the boy finds a secret passage and explores the castle and hides out because he is unhappy and lonely. I think he eventually makes friends with a kitchen boy/girl...not sure. During his explorations, he overhears a plot to assassinate the king (?) and he tries to find a way to save the day. I also remember something about a tower or a secret tower. Because it's been close to 40 years since I read the story, a lot of the particulars are lost in my mind but I remember loving the story, the boy was a hero. There was no magic or wizards in this story. If anyone has an inkling to the name of this book, I would be eternally grateful. The name, "The Secret Passage" keeps rolling around in my head but I've not been able to turn anything up on the Internet. I now have a grandchild with one on the way and have collected other books from my youth that made a lasting impression. This is the last of them.

Howard Pyle, Otto of the Silver Hand.  Could this be your book?  It is a very old story (originally 1888, I think) and it has many of the elements you describe.  There is a searchable full-text copy of it online if you Google it.
Thank you for your input but it's not the same story. This was definitely an English boy in medieval England. Also, the writing style was not as old fashioned....it seems to me to be somewhere from the '20s through 50's. But I do thank you for your time in trying to solve this.
Geoffrey Trease.  Just a possibility -- maybe one of Trease's historical novels?  They were written in the right time period.
Barbara Willard, A Sprig of Broom. (1971)  This is a longshot, but I read the beginning of this novel a few years ago and recall the protaganist being a boy (named Richard?) who is being transported from the place he grew up to a castle, and it's clear from the narrative voice that something unpleasant is going on -- I think he turns out to be an illegitimate relative of the royal family and he is being used in a plot against them.  Since I didn't read very far into the book I can't be sure if any other details match, but thought I'd suggest it.
Joan Aiken, Black Hearts in Battersea. (1964)  This kind of sounds like a blend of the plots in the books from Joan Aiken's "Wolves Chronicles." "Black Hearts in Battersea" is where the foundling Simon goes to London to attend art school and ends up discovering and foiling a plot to overthrow King James and get rid of the Duke and Duchess of Battersea.
I'm sorry. I can't help you with the title or author - but assuming that you know the school, have you thought of e-mailing the Administration?  They DO keep records - and sometimes for incredible periods of time.  May be worth a try.  Lots of luck.
Norton, Andre, The Prince Commands. This is a close match to your plot, although the boy starts out in an isolated house, not a farm.  A threatening insurgent leader is named Black Stefan, which may account for your recollection of "Black."'



R152: Regeneration of the planet
Solved: The Missing Persons League

R153: Rhyming bear cheerful stories collection
Compilation of cheerful stories about a bear and his daily interactions, everything was in rhyme I believe -- events and conversations -- with colorful illustrations throughout, dark red binding, about 10" by 12" format, not a huge number of pages in all.  Possibly one of a series.

Possibly the Jessie Bear series by Nancy Carlstrom?  Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? (Jesse Bear, what will you wear, what will you wear in the morning?  I'll wear my pants, my pants that dance, pants that dance in the morning)  Also:  Better not get wet, Jesse Bear / How do you say it today, Jesse Bear?  /  What a scare, Jesse Bear! / It's about time, Jesse Bear, and other rhymes / Let's count it out, Jesse Bear / Guess who's coming, Jesse Bear / Where is Christmas, Jesse Bear? / Happy birthday, Jesse Bear! / Climb the family tree, Jesse Bear!
Could these be the Jesse Bear books by Nancy White Carlstrom? As far as I remember they are all written in rhyme. Titles include - Guess Who's Coming, Jesse Bear and Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear?
Upham, Elizabeth, Little Brown Bear series. (1950's, approximate)  I have a copy of "Little Brown Bear Goes to School," which is dark red and about the size the requester is searching for.  There are cheerful short stories about Little Brown Bear, who often (but not always) speaks in rhyme, although the stories themselves are not in rhyme.  "A riddle and a rhyme, I'm just in time," is an example of his rhyming speech.  I'm not sure how many books are in the series.


R154: Roman Empire, dancing girl, British Grandmother
I am looking for a young adult novel which was published before 1973. It is about a young woman/girl living during the Roman Empire and is employed in a dancing troop.  I remember that she had blond hair (which she had inherited from her British grandmother) which the woman who ran the troop made her cover with a black wig.  I remember that they are on ships in the Mediterranean and that there is drama and romance but little more.  Any leads?  thanks so much!

Bryher (?).  Many of her books are set during the time of the Roman Empire.


R155: Roman conquest of Britain
I am looking for a young adult novel written before 1973.  It takes place right after the defeat of British king Caradoc (used in book) or Cymbelian (alt name) and depects his family's journy  to Rome to be paraded in a triumph. They settle there and convert to Christianity. The daughter marries a Roman, I think.  Any leads?  Thank you.

R155 the subject headings I have on a book that I have sold make me  think it could possibly be Hill, Marjorie Yourd. The secret of Avalon
Maxine Shore, Captive princess.  Told from the perspective of Caractacus's daughter Gladys who takes the name Claudia.
Bryher (?).  Many of her books are set during the time of the Roman Empire.


R156: Red fairy tale anthology
Solved: Around the World Fairy Tales



R157: Running Deer
Solved: Running Deer

R158: Rubies found in a mountain by a pool by children
Children find rubies buried in a mountain by a pool in the woods. I remember a poem in the book written by a man who originally found the rubies but didn't dig them up, about a woman he loved: "One dark rose more lovely than all the ruby fire buried in the mountain by the pool of lost desire." I believe one of the children was very interested in rocks and had a thing about garnets and tourmalines.

It's Mystery Back of the Mountain by Mary Childs Jane, 1960. In one chapter, a sandwich is made out of mustard and marshmallow.


R159: Runaway bear
I'm looking for a book the I owned as a child, but have since lost in the moving. It was about a bear who was always running away, but was always found. The book came with a small stuffed bear, (about 5-6" tall)  that fit in the front of the books cover. The illustrations matched the stuffed toy. It was from the mid 70's. I remember it being a small book. Any help in finding this would be greatly appreciated.
R160: Rocking horse

Published before 1978.  Story about a father or grandfather making a rocking horse for a small boy  the mane and tail of the rocking horse are made of real horse hair  drawings were in bright, dark colors of blue, green, red, brown.  Hard cover. Large book. Reading age 6-8.



R161: Replica dollhouse
This was a children's book I read repeatedly in the late 1960's but could have dated from earlier. A boy and girl (i believe they were brother and sister) move in to an old mansion. I recall that they weren't too happy about it and were bored. There was an black housekeeper. The house had a few mysteries. One was that the housekeeper's son had come home from war (WWII? Possibly Vietnam) and disappeared. The children were playing/exploring the house one day and found a dollhouse that was an exact replica of the house that they were living in. Later on in the story, they discovered a secret trap door in the bottom of the closet inside the dollhouse. They checked the closet in the real house and sure enough, it also had a trap door--and when it was opened, they found the remains of the missing Joe at the bottom of the stairs, he'd apparently fallen.  I know it's not a lot to go on, but I loved that mystery and would love to find another copy. Thank you!

Florence Hightower, Ghost of Follonsbee's Folly. (1958)  You are getting two books confused.  Another Scholastic mystery(I can't remember the title.) has the children find the dead pirate in the basement.  The one you're remembering has the son still be alive and living in the woods, although he does sneak up to the basement at times.
Florence Hightower, The Ghost of Follonsbee's Folly We just finished this book in one of my reading groups, so I'm pretty sure of the identification.
Betty Ren Wright, The Dollhouse Murders. (1983) Is it possible you might have read the book a little bit later, like maybe the early 1980's?  Because if not for the date, this one sounds like it could be the one you're looking for. Twelve-year-old Amy finds an unusual dollhouse in the attic of her grandparents' house. Not only is the dollhouse an exact reproduction of her grandparents' home, but it is also filled with dolls who seem to represent her extended family--dolls that seem to have the ability to move about at will. Amy is soon convinced that the dolls are trying to tell her something and before too long she has uncovered a long-held family secret--that her grandparents were murdered and that her Aunt Claire's then-fiancee was considered a prime suspect in the crime. With the help of her younger sister, who although brain-damaged is very capable, Amy sets out to solve the mystery.
Ghost of Follonsbee's Folly by Florence Hightower, published in 1958.
THanks, but neither of these two proposals is correct. The son was NOT a pirate, nor were there any woods involved. The son's name was Joe. I read this book dozens of times, I'm very sure of the story facts. It was def. NOT in the 1980's. I was in elementary school from 1965-1971.



R162: rainbow missing girl searches
In this book a rainbow is missing or color is missing and a little girl finds the colors one at a time so that each page reveals an individual color as she opens doors in her house and at the end  the whole rainbow is revealed.  I used to take this book to school with me approx. 1974 to 1983?

Harry Coe Verr, Rainbow Brite and the Color Thieves, 1984, approximately.  Your description reminds me of the Rainbow Brite cartoon, where the world is gray and living things are turned to stone. Rainbow Brite rescues the Color Kids and restores color to the world. This book is similar to that cartoon.
Rainbow Brite was suggested but it definately wasn't a rainbow brite book : (  thanks for the suggestion though



R163: Rabbitville
I remember a book about rabbits from my early childhood.  It was likely published in the 1920s-30s-40s.  I believe the first lines are, "Father Rabbit Lived in Rabbitville.  Mother Rabbit lived in Rabbitville," and so on -- there are one or two rabbit children.  They are riding on a streetcar.  There's something in it about a pie and the moon.  Sorry I can't remember more, but I was probably about 4 years old.  (I was born in 1951.)

Serle, Emma, In Rabbitville, 1930.  Also - What They Say In Rabbitville (1935).  These are longer books, over 100 pgs., so if your book was a picture book, these aren't the ones you're looking for.


R164: Runaways w/ green/red codes
SOLVED: Dennis J Reader, Coming Back Alive, 1981. 

R165: Rocking Chair
Solved: Second Sight


R166: Rosemary, Sarah and Flossie
My mom read this book in the mid to late 1960's about three sisters in the 1920's.  Their names were Rosemary, Sarah and Flossie.  They had an older brother perhaps named Hugh and were orphans.  She couldn't remember if they were being cared for by the brother or the Aunt.  She  remembered Rosemary got her hair bobbed in one of the parts. The kids weren't orphaned but their mother was away at a sanitarium because of tuberculosis.  The older brother Hugh was a doctor and the great Aunt lived with them but the girl's felt she was too restrictive.  She thinks it may have been a trilogy.

Josephine Lawrence, Josephine Lawrence Stories for Girls, 1939. I just noticed the original stumper mentioned a trilogy.  The other two Rosemary titles are Rainbow Hill from 1924 and Rosemary and the Princess from 1927.  They were published together in one volume, Josephine Lawrence Stories for Girls, in 1939.
Lawrence, Josephine, Rosemary, 1922.  This book was also published separately (earlier, apparantly), in 1922. (I have a copy of it in front of me as I type.)



2007

R167: Runaway makes own family
Solved: To Take A Dare


R168: Ring around the Moon
Solved: Wind on the Moon


R169a: Reptilian intelligent underground Earth civilization
Solved: Stranger from the Depths


R169b: rabbit
my title guess- hoppity goes shopping, before 1989.  It was a hardback book, a series.  i believe it was about a rabbit. He was afraid of thunder, hid under his bed, left hes teddy bear outside in the swing. one was he was going to the beach, one was first day of school, or going shopping. I remember the cartoon drawings, and the pages so vividly. i can't remember the name or the author. 

R170: rocking horse money
Solved: The Rocking Horse Winner


R171: retired Shakespearean actress
Solved: The Ghost of Garina Street


R172: race to stop "bone men"
Solved: Bone People


R173: rumrunners, quilt, mystery
Solved: Secret of the Crazy Quilt


R174: ranch
Solved: This is a Recording


R175: rabbits hiding in house
1920s-1950s. A large group of rabbits of several natural colors, including spotted ones, hid in a house.  Some were under the bed and others were under or behind other pieces of furniture.  The illustrations were probably outlined in black ink, with the colors filled in.  I'm not confusing it with PIGS IN HIDING.  They were definitely rabbits. At the back of the book was another story, which I think was CHICKEN LITTLE. This book belonged originally to someone else in my family and the cover was torn off.


R176: Revolutionary War, dressmaker to Peggy Shippen
Solved: A Touch of Magic

R177: Rabbit cuts off fur; mom makes him new fur coat
Solved: A Treasury of Bedtime Stories


R178: Red haired girl taken by indians, treated as a princess
late 1950s-early 1960s. Red haired girl taken by indians, treated as a princess

A long shot, but is it Caddie Woodlawn? See Solved Mysteries. The author is Caddie's granddaughter. She's friends with the Indians, but the "princess" element isn't there - unless you mean near he end, when the family has to choose whether to accept an aristocratic title and go to England, which only the father has ever seen. Also, Caddie's allowed by her father to have outdoor adventures because she and her baby sister were sickly and her sister had died in infancy, but as a critic pointed out, "(in the 19th century, ultimately) she had to grow up to be a 'proper lady'; there was no other way."
Dorothy Marie Johnson, "The Lost Sister,"1968. Could it be one of D M Johnson's short stories, such as the "Lost Sister"?  I vaguely remember one about two sisters who were kidnapped by native Americans.  The younger one was treated very well and nicknamed something like Blue Jay.  The older one found it harder to fit in, but eventually married one of the young men.
Lois Lenski,Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jemison, 1941.This could be the one you're looking for--set in 1758, a girl is captured by Indians and slowly grows to love them for their kindness towards her, treating her as one of their own.
Alice Marriott, Indian Annie: Kiowa Captive, 1965. 'It might be this book. Annie has red hair and is kidnapped by a Kiowa man whose daughter died of smallpox. He and his wife treat her like their daughter and she grows up and is reunited with her birth family, but decides to stay with the Kiowa and marry a Kiowa.



R179: Rocks fall on Asian couples' house
Solved: Ming Lo Moves the Mountain


R180: Red yarn ball with "surprises" inside
This book is a story about a little girl who receives a ball of red yarn or wool from her grandmother as a gift. The red wool ball is tightly wound, and as the girl begins knitting with it she finds all kind of little surprises, like a lollipop and others that I can't remember. At the very center, once she's finished knitting, she finds a little doll, and realizes she now also has a lovely hand-knitted blanket for her new dolly. I'm almost sure this was published in the 60s, and I seem to recall the cover was mainly a light blue. I'd love to know the title of this book!

Take a look at the Solved Mysteries under L for Little Colonel- there's a part of this book where the heroine reads a story called Marguerite's Wonderball which is just as you describe.
Hmm no that's not it. The one I'm thinking of is a complete book in its self, and it was published much later than 1903. I would think late 50s or early 60s, and at the end of the ball of wool is a doll not pearls. Good try though, it had my hopes up for a few minutes!
I remembered this story/book instantly when I read your post!  I am sure I read it as a child in England in the late '50's, early '60's. However, as much as I've been racking my brain, alas, I cannot come up with a definite title/author. Is it possible it's a book originating from the BBC radio "Listen with mother" series?  I also keep thinking the story may be found in one of Dorothy Edwards' "My naughty little sister" books or Joan G. Robinson's "Mary-Mary" series, but I can't verify that either. Another longshot may be one of Joyce Lankester Brisley's "Bunchy" books (although these were published much earlier).  Bunchy lived with her grandmother.  Wish I could be of more help!
Hmm no it's not any of those either. Thanks for the suggestions though  :)  Ohhh I wish I could solve this!



R181: Rowan Tree Berry Cinderella-like Dress
  Solved: Twinkle Annual


R182: Rejected doll
This memory has been driving me nuts for years!  I have a very vague memory of this book from first grade (early 1960's). Something about a doll brought to a park by a little girl who then rejects it for a newer doll.  Or perhaps the doll was already rejected and made its own way to the park.  I seem to remember that the other lost/rejected dolls at the park "woke up" after all the kids went home and told their stories.  Now that I think about it, the little girl (I think it was a girl) suddenly realizes she left her doll behind and goes back to find it. Years ago I spoke with my first-grade teacher about it and she thought it was Impunity Jane - but it's not. Any clues?

Not likely, but see the early 1970s Galldora books by Modwena Sedgwick.
I checked out the Galldora books but that's not it.  Thanks, anyway.
Ardizzone, Edward, The Little Girl and the Tiny Doll.  This is a long shot, because there's no park scene in it  but is it possible you might be thinking of this book?  It's come up lately in a couple of other stumpers.  One girl doesn't want the doll and drops her in the grocery store freezer the other girl sees her in the freezer and then comes back several times with little gifts, eventually getting permission to take her home to keep.  The last page of the book shows the doll telling her story to the girl's other dolls, in front of a doll house, is it possible that's what you're remembering?
Baker, Margaret and Baker, Mary, The roaming doll, 1936, copyright.  This book is possibly a little old.  Victoria Josephine is a rather spoiled doll who is rejected and yet finds her way back to a loving home in a rather surprising way.



R183: Rabbit Boy and Porcupine
This is a book series from the 70s or earlier, a little boy rabbit who lives in the woods with his mom and dad.  He has a friend porcupine who comes over to his house and they play together. The porcupine wears pajamas with a flap back, with his quillls sticking through. In one book the dad rabbit made a hobby horse out of a sack and a stick. Also in a book they have a potato sack race.

Mercer Mayer, Little Critter Sleeps Over, 1999. I know Mercer Mayer wrote many books about a porcupine named Little Critter.  In at least one, he wore footy pajamas with a drop drawer.  I think this may be Little Critter Sleeps Over, where he stays with a friend for the first time (I'm almost sure the friend is a bunny).
This is not the answer, the book had to have been in print before 1979.
Patricia Scarry, Little Richard, 1970, approximate.  I was searching for this myself.  I found it at Alibris.



R184: Robot, little girl, scavenger hunt
This book was about a little girl with a robot companion, and they're on the moon or Mars, maybe.  The robot was a sort of caretaker and butler.  They were on a scavenger hunt or competition against others, and they had to use the natural surroundings for stuff like camping.  The pictures were cartoon-like.  Near the end, the little girl falls or gets sick or something, and the robot saves her (or maybe it's vice versa), and they win the hunt.  There were lunar vehicles in it, too, I think.  I read this about twenty years ago, and it wasn't a new book at that time. It seemed to have an air of the 60s or 70s around it...maybe there were moon boots?

Monica Hughes, The Keeper of the Isis Light, 1980. Probably not, but the mention of the robot caretaker/butler makes me think R184 could be a very garbled memory of this book.  It doesn't have illustrations, but several solved stumpers in the archives remembered it as a short story, so possibly portions of it were published in that format at some point.
I wanted to add to my stumper that I had looked over the website for these keywords, and Keeper of the Isis Light kept coming up, but that's not it (nor were any of the other books that came up in my search on the website).  Also, I read this book in a paperback form, it was for young readers around the ages of 7-9, and it was not really meant to be a heavy read.



R185: Rocket ship, girl, dog
I've been trying for years to think of a book I read probably in the early to mid 1960s. It was a science fiction book about a boy, girl, dog and an older man. They end up in space in a home made rocket ship in the old man's garage. I remember very funny looking space helmets-even on the dog! And the girl had a lot to do with them getting home safely at the end, even though she was a girl.


R186: Red balloon, little boy and mother, mid-50's
For what I can remember of the book, (I haven't read it in 36 years) is a little boy goes out on a walk through the city with his mother.  They see all kinds of sights.  The last one they see is an organ grinder and his monkey.  And I'm 99% sure the little boy gets a red balloon.  At the end his mother and he arrive home so she can cook dinner for his father who will be home soon.  They walk up their brownstone or apartment steps together.   I believe the little boys name is Peter.  It's set in the 50's.  I remember his mother wearing a dress from the mid-fifties.  This book isn't about the little boy who runs after a red balloon.  I've seen that movie and I can say with confidence it's not that one.  Thank you so much for your help.

Rosemary and Richard Dawson, A Walk in the City.  This cute book documents a young boy's outing as he walks through the city's streets, with his Mother and wagon dressed in their Sunday finest---no jeans, sneakers or sweatshirts.  Along the way they meet an Organ Grinder and his monkey, Grocery Man, friendly dogs, the Ice Man, Coal Man, a band, bus, taxi, park, etc.  The text is in rhyme and quite delightful!  There is a map on the inside front and back covers where the child can follow his path!!
Gladys M. Horn, illustrator Dorcas, Hippety Hop Around the Block, 1953, copyright.  I wonder if this could be it -- my copy is the later version (1973) retitled Baby Goes Around the Block, and with a different illustrator, and the only balloon is in a picture of some children leaving a birthday party.  The story is in rhyme:  "I took Mommy walking, and we saw... A soft gray kitty with one white paw, A boy I know, with a truck that can GO! <...> A fat, round doggy, and one that was thinner, and Daddy, coming home for dinner!"  A picture of the older edition's cover is at
http://www.seriesbooks.com/hippetyhop.htm.



R187: Rose wore a red dress
Solved: Mary Wore a Red Dress



R188: Reader with donkey and apples
I'm trying to find an old Reader that was my grandpa's favorite childhood school book. It was a Reader, and that there was one part where a donkey is carrying some apples and something happens to where all the apples spill over... He said he started first grade in 1938 and that it had to be between then and no later than '41. He went to school in Grand Saline - Van Zandt County [Texas].  My grandpa also said - but is not for sure - that it had a tan or ivory cover and maybe burnt orange letters on the front... but he really wasn't for sure on that.  Thanks for any help you can provide!

I think I may have found my answer. Not sure.  I came across a book called Down the River Road on the Internet but I only see the cover. It has two children and a donkey on the cover so I thought I'd see if you think this could be the book I'm looking for.
O'Donnell, Mabel, Down the River Road, 1938, copyright.  This is a reader from the Alice and Jerry Books. It features a donkey named Mr. Bones. In the last chapter,Jack and Lucky are trying to earn some money to buy baseball suits, so they decide to sell their apples. Mr. Bones is pulling the cart load of apples when the cart's wheel falls off. Jack and Lucky end up carrying all the apples to town themselves.



R189: Red apples I cried out to Jane
Solved: What Will We See?


R190: Readers series with animals
There's a series of readers from 1973-74-75 or so that were thin, yellow and had various simple characters.  Mit and Mat were a couple I remember.  They were very simple and black and white cartoony monkeys and other animals.  There was an entire season.  Oh yeah, and there was a lion.  The monkey walked on stilts in one picture.  That's all I can remember.  I was in Seattle at the time.  Wonder if it's a local publication.  Thank you so much for doing what you do!  You are so very very valuable!

Reading for All Learners Programs.Could this be the Reading for All Learners Programs. There's a picture here: http://www.iseesam.com/photos/phonemicbig.jpg.
The Bob Books. I think these were the Bob Books. There were 3 diferent sets-yellow, blue and red. They were small (4 or 5 inches), thin primary readers. We got these from those school book orders (Scholastic?) in 80 or 81. They came in boxed sets and had a lot of rhyming and alliteration.



2008


R191: Rabbit visits ocean, travels on a train
This book is from the mid-1980s, about 12-14" tall, and has detailed illustration.  I remember that the main character is a rabbit who goes to the ocean (to visit a friend?) where they go diving for shellfish, cook dinner, etc.  I remember the diving scene vividly--coral, mollusks and scallops or clams that they were looking for.  I think at the end the rabbit goes home via train with a boxed lunch.

Doris Susan Smith, The Travels of J.B. Rabbit, 1982, copyright.  A wonderful story of Jeremy B. Rabbit, who is invited to the seashore to visit his Cousin Waldo. It is quite an adventure getting there via train --- and fun when he arrives. Illustrated by the author. Front cover shows Jeremy, Waldo, and another animal in a red-and-yellow hot air balloon, over the ocean, with seagulls and several ships below them.


R192: Romance/mystery, girl marries to help hide injured brother, pearl necklace
This is a book I would have read about 1976 or so. It was a romance/mystery. If I remember correctly, it starts out with a man asking a woman to marry him. She refuses. So this young girl (19? 20?) asks him if he will marry HER. She is wearing a strand of pearls but they are kept under a sweater. His best friend (or his name) is Gregory. The best friend played football in college and is solidly built.  The girl has a brother that had been in a very bad car accident and needed a place to recover without anyone bothering him. So the girl, her new husband and her brother go back to his house in the country. The best friend is suspicious of all of this. He breaks into the little house that the brother is staying in trying to find out more. The girl and the husband eventually fall in love. The brother is discovered to have been a famous actor. In the car accident, his face was messed up bad from glass. I *think* his wife was killed. So that is why they wanted to be where no one would discover him - he needed to heal before going back out in the world. The husband discovers the brother's identity when the brother puts on makeup to cover the injuries and he recognizes him.  Somehow the husband discovers the pearls that the girl is wearing are real and that makes him curious about her. I believe an old girlfriend comes back into the picture but that could just be my memory for the original girl he asked to marry him.  This is one line I remember, "In that case, would you consider marrying ME?" - I am 99% sure that is the way the sentence went.  On the cover, it had a stained glass window - don't remember what else.  Hopefully this is enough to go on! I know it's a long shot but I used to love that book and never have been able to come up with a title or author so it would be great if one or more of that info could be found!  This was NOT a Harlequin romance - it was a regular novel - I don't know if it was classified mystery or romance or drama.

Loring, Emilie.  I can't help you with a title, but I remember this one, too.  I think it may have been by Emilie Loring.  She wrote many, so that's not much help, but maybe it's a place to start.
Loring, Emilie, A KEY TO MANY DOORS, 1967, copyright.
Emilie Loring, A Key to Many Doors, 1967.  "Bantam Book published by arrangement with Little, Brown and Co." One of my favorites!  All of Emilie Lorings books are worth reading!



R193: Roger and Emily torment each other
A children's book from the 70's about a brother and sister -- Roger and Emily -- and how they torment each other and enjoy being rotten to each other.  I vaguely remember something to the effect of "...Emily put tacks under Roger's bicycle tires..." "...Roger tied knots in Emily's hair..."  The book goes back and forth about this brother and sister who continue to do thing to each other and then finally, when they have both had enough, they start doing nice things for each other.  The premise is that it's much better to nicer to each other and get along.  The book would've had to be out during the 70's -- probably early 70's.  It's driving me crazy.  Thanks for anything you can find!

Beverly Cleary, Mitch and Amy,
1967, approximate.  Easy one to check out, Twins who don't always get along but work things out in the end.
Nope, it's definitely not Mitch and Amy.  I'm completely sure about the names of the kids.  I believe that the book was called something like "The bad children's book" or something to that effect.
The title you suggest, "The Bad Children's Book," sounds a lot like Hilaire Belloc's "The Bad Child's Book of Beasts," but that book is a collection of humerous poems about animals, as is the follow up, "More Beasts for Worser Children."  I wonder if perhaps you're combining details from multiple books?
Hello, I saw another person's request for this book.  You suggested she was confusing a couple of books, but I actually own this book.  It's called The Bad Children's Book.  It's about a brother and sister, Roger & Emily, who do horrible things to one another and learn their lesson in the end.  The edition I have has a bright yellow hardback cover, I think with large black letters for the title.  Mine is in storage far away, and I'd love to have another one for my daughter.


R194: "Room on the Broom" jacket illustration
When I was a child in the 1970's - 1980's I loved a book that had an illustration just like the one seen on the book Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. Does anyone recall such a book? Theres a witch and a cat sitting on a broomstick. I bought this book thinking it was the one but it was first published in 2001 so can't be the one I loved as a child.

Ida Delage, Ellen Sloan (illus), The Old Witch Gets a Surprise
, 1981, copyright.  There are a lot of witch books from the 1970's-1980's. Do you remember anything about the story that might help narrow it down? You might try looking at this one: "The old witch and the wizard fly off to adventure on a great dragon balloon until the balloon falls during a storm." Front cover shows the old witch on her broom, wearing the requisite black shoes, dress, cape, and pointed hat. Behind her sits a black cat. There is a bat flying in front of her, and she holds a piece of paper in her hand (it looks like a letter). Below her is a castle.
Have you looked at Ruth Chew's books? She wrote many "witch" themed stories, such as "The Witch at the Window", "The Witch's Broom", and "The Wednesday Witch", and many more. I believe many of the books contained black-and-white illustrations in the text as well as color illustrations on the cover.
http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~aahobor/Lucy-Day/Authors/Chew.shtml has pictures of most of the covers.



R195: Requiem, queen, short fingers
I think this was a book titled "Requiem for a Queen." I can't find this title anywhere, however.  I don't know why such a long word "requiem" (to a 4th grade mind) would stand out unless it was the title.  I read it when I was in 4th grade, 1994/95.  The book was older; I'm not sure when it was published. The cover was white with line drawings in blues and blacks.  From descriptions, I don't think it was the book "Requiem for a Princess" by Ruth M. Arthur, but I could be wrong.  I just don't remember any modern-times aspects to the story.  The book was about a young woman in 1700's or 1800's.  Part of the story was that she discovered who her father was because they had the same short fingers, or similar looking hands.  I think she stayed with Quakers, or other religious people.  I think it was set in New England.  Sorry it's so vague!

Margaret Leighton, Journey for a Princess.  This is totally a long shot, but could it be Journey for a Princess?  The Princess is earlier than the dates you're remembering (I think she's Charlemagne's daughter or granddaughter) and it's in France, but she does end up staying with a religious community, and I vaguely remember something about identifying someone because their hands looked alike.  I even think that Requiem might have been part of a subtitle, because I thought of this book right away.  On the cover, there was a girl with long blonde braids, holding a plate or platter of something.  I hope this is helpful, and not just a shot in the dark!
Thank you for the suggestion of "Journey for a Princess."  This doesn't sound familiar, but it's been so long!  Reading the reviews, it sounds like a great story!  Has anyone read "Requiem for a Princess" by Ruth M Arthur?  I can't find a copy anywhere to verify if it might be the book I remember.
Ruth M. Arthur, Requiem for a Princess,
1967, copyright.  The heroine is Willow Forrester, a gifted pianist who learns she is adopted at 15, becomes distraught, and goes to Cornwall to recover from her depression.   While there she begins dreaming about a 16th century Spanish girl who died mysteriously, so the book goes back and forth between the present and past.  I thought there was a bit about her hands on the piano but I didn't find it.  Journey for a Princess by Margaret Leighton is an exceptional book but very different.  It is a historical novel about Alfred the Great's Daughter, who is betrothed to the son of her father's best friend and former stepmother (Judith of France from an earlier book), and eventually falls in love with him.  No musicians in this book, just warriors.


R196: Raccoon named Pepper
Solved: Pepper


R197: "right back where they started from"
I am looking for a book about a little girl (maybe another child as well) goes for a walk, I THINK there's a garden, and a fence, and they end up "right back where they started from"... it would have been in the 80s... any information would be greatly appreciated, I don't know anything else about it but I would know it if i saw it!  Thanks!

Charlotte Zolotow, One Step, Two.  Maybe this one? A little girl and her mother go for a walk and notice all sorts of things along the way.
The solution posted was not the book I am looking for but thank you!  The book I'm looking for is a smaller book, it was probably a board book, and there was a path throughout the book my mom and i would "walk" our fingers on!  My daughter got my other childhood favorite for her birthday and I would really like to find this one as well, please help!!  They went THROUGH the fence, AROUND the something, and came right back where they started from!
Rosie's Walk.
  No way it might have been a chicken taking a walk instead of a little girl?
No, no chicken! it was definitely a little girl! Thanks anyway!


R198: Red story collection
I'm trying to find a book that my mom had when she was a little girl.  It had several fables/nursery rhymes/stories in it.  It was huge, red, probably published in the late 30's through the 40's as she was born in 1950.  I thought perhaps its name was A Child's Treasure Book Old & New, or compiled/edited by someone named Marguerite something or the other, maybe.  It had items in it like "The Five Chinese Brothers", "The Lad Who Went to the North Wind", "Betsy Goes to School & Finds A Big Surprise"… etc.  Any clues?

Pauline Rush Evans (editor), Donald Sibley (illus), The Family Treasury of Children's Stories, 1956, approximate.  These might be worth a look. There are two different versions of these books: a two-volume set, with red covers, and a three-volume set with grey covers.  I believe the grey set is just a later reprint of the red set, split into three volumes instead of two, but with almost the same number of total pages for the set. The books in the red (2-volume) set have black bindings, and feature the titles & cover art in gold. Volume one has a line-drawing of two deer on the front; volume two shows the lion and the mouse. The story of the Five Chinese Brothers is in volume 1 of the grey set, so most likely in volume 1 of the red set as well. I can't confirm the other stories, as I don't own copies and the listings I can find online don't include a full table of contents, but you should be able to check out the covers online and see if they look familiar.
The answer posted is not the correct book; I've contacted the sellers about it and it is not it. :(  Thanks though; let's keep on looking :)
the red fairy book.   I think this COULD be the book you're looking for...there were a few collections, I think the blue fairy book and green fairy book as well.
Not the right one either :(
Editor-Marjorie Barrows, The Children's Hour,
1952, copyright.  This doesn't match exactly but as there are many similar elements, I thought I would suggest it. This is actually a 16 volume set, but I'm pretty sure my mom purchased it one volume at a time through the mail so this poster's mother may have only had one volume. The Lad Who Went to the North Wind is in the 2nd volume. I didn't see the other stories, but there may have been more than one edition. They are red, 6 1/2 by 9, 1 1/2 inches thick with black and gold illustrations on the front.
"Betsy Goes to School and Finds a Big Surprise" is the first chapter of B is for Betsy, by Carolyn Haywood.  Not that that helps much, I know!
Thanx...I know they only included the one chapter in the big red book  :)   Still looking for clues!!
Still Searching...any more clues??


R199: Red pretends to be my boyfriend
I'm looking for a red book with a boy with freckles etched on the front who is smiling. It's not the "freckles" book by gene stratham. It's about a girl who wants her friend to pretend to like her so she can get another guy's attention. The friend really likes her and near the end they go to a dance and the girl asks him to kiss her and he doesn't realize she's only pretending. He gets mad and later she knows she really likes her friend. He comes by the house and one of his last lines is somthing like "Just remember your my girl". Her friend has red hair and he is alot of fun. The book is set around the 50's or 60's. I read this book so many times when I was a teenager and I can see the book in my head but I can't get a title or author to pop in there. I hope you can help me.

Could this be from one of the Beany Malone books by Lenora Mattingly Weber?  My memories are vague too but I'm wondering about Norbett Rhodes and Andy Kern...


R200: Red-haired triplet brothers travel with grandmother
This is a children's novel from probably the 1950s about triplet brothers whose names begin with A,B,C, - Alexander, Bartholomew and Christopher, maybe.  There may be a series of books.  They travel around with their grandmother in a camper and don't have a lot of money - they eat a lot of tuna fish, I recall.  They learn about ocean life, nature, etc.  I think they had red hair and freckles.  I would love to read this to my son.

Nan Hayden Agle, Three Boys and a....,
1951-1962.  This sounds like the series by Nan Hayden Agle and Ellen Wilson.  There are many titles that all start with "Three Boys".  These include "Three Boys and a Lighthouse", "Three Boys and a Tugboat", Three Boys and a Helicopter", "Three Boys and Space", "Three Boys and a Train", "Three Boys and a Mine", "Three Boys and a Remarkable Cow" and perhaps others.  The boys names are Abercrombie, Benjamin, and Christopher and they are triplets.


R201: rafting children end of summer
Solved: The Summerfolk


R202: rural area, girl, twin bullies, fire
A girl and her family move to a rural area (possibly depression era).  She is befriended by two boys and is sweet on one of them.  There are also a set of twin boys who are bullies and are constantly picking on the three friends.  At one point someone's house catches on fire and the hound dogs are so scared they won't come out from underneath the house and are killed.  The twins catch one of the boys alone and drag him to death behind a pick up truck.  I read this in the early 80's.

Crystal Thrasher, Between Dark and Daylight.
  This was also one of my stumpers way back (B140). The incident with the boy being dragged behind the car was the main thing that stuck in my mind, too.  There is a whole series about the girl.  You can find a list and description of the series on this webpage: http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Rec/rec.arts.books.childrens/2007-12/msg00000.html.


R203: Rabbit Family and Hobo Bunny
Solved: Nine Rabbits and Another


R204: Red seed grows into flower
My sister and I are racking our brains trying to figure out a childrens picture book that was read to us in the mid to late eighties. All that we can recall is that there was a colorful art style. And the story itself is about a seed with facial features (eyes, mouth, nose?). And the seed went on somekind of journey/got lost I think from possibly being blown around. Anyway it ends up in a sewer and floats through it and ends up on land somehow and grows into a flower.

Eric Carle, The Tiny Seed,
1970, copyright.  In autumn, a strong wind blows flower seeds high in the air and carries them far across the land. One by one, many of the seeds are lost -- burned by the sun, fallen into the ocean, eaten by a bird. But some survive the long winter and, come spring, sprout into plants, facing new dangers -- trampled by playing children, picked as a gift for a friend. Soon only the tiniest seed remains, growing into a giant flower and, when autumn returns, sending its own seeds into the wind to start the process over again.  Beautifully illustrated with Eric Carle's distinctive colorful tissue collages. Reprinted many times and still in print.


R205: Round Barn
childrens, 1950?  A girl and a boy, I think, can time travel with the help of 9 lived cat.  There is some connection to a round barn. The children end up at a shivelry (I am not sure if the spelling is correct) it was some sort of party or wedding.  My brother received this as a birthday present but I was the avid reader so I enjoyed it I think more than he did!

Lloyd Alexander, Time Cat
, 1963.  Maybe this one? (though I'm not sure about the round barn, and actually the main character is one boy, not a boy and a girl). Gareth, Jason's talking cat, takes Jason to 9 different historical period around the world.


R206: Ruins of tiny civilization in cave
Boy discovers entrance to a cave, revealed by a recent earthquake I think.  Inside he finds the ruins of a civilization of tiny people.  At some point in the story he accidentally gets poked by a poisonous snake fang in the ruins (but he ends up being ok).  I read this book sometime in the mid 80's.

Rosemary Wells, Through the Hidden Door.
  Barney and his friend Snowy are outcasts at their boarding school.  Snowy finds a cave with the remains of an ancient, tiny civilization inside.  Together they carefully uncover this world.  The ancient people evidently worshipped snakes and there are a number of monuments decorated with snake fangs and the poison is still active after all these years.  Barney accidentally touches one and almost dies from the poison- I think he may lose a finger.  They never actually see any tiny people, just the remains of a complex miniature civilization.  At the end the cave is destroyed by a group of the school troublemakers.


R207: rabbit short stories & poems book
Late 1980s- early 1990s? A dark green, leafy cover with a white rabbit on the front cover (I think)...2 stories I recall: a rabbit that panics & thinks the forest is on fire & alerts the forest animals & a family of rabbits that are awaiting the arrival of a new baby & what they're willing to share.  PLEASE HELP!!!

Walter Retan, Bunnies, Bunnies, Bunnies: A Treasury of Stories, Songs, and Poems,
1991.  A stellar cast of authors and illustrators here focus--in one way or another--on the popular cotton-tailed creature that has animated children's literature ever since Aesop first told his fable "The Tortoise and the Hare." That classic tale appears here, accompanied by lively, new illustrations by Darcy May. Retan contributes informal yet informative introductions to excerpts from such books as Richard Adams's Watership Down; The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams; and Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland --with Tenniel's original art. Nicely balancing these lengthier entries are briefer folktales, legends, poems, songs and fingerplay rhymes. Among the other noteworthy contributors are Beatrix Potter, Margaret Wise Brown, Lucy Bate, Diane de Groat, Garth Williams, Lillian Hoban and Eve Merriam.


R208: Rocket, boy and girl strange food
Hi, I'm trying to track down a book I read as a child during the late sixties /early seventies. It was about a boy and girl (brother and sister I think) who went into space in a rocket and went to a planet with strange food and weird animals and plants. The illustrations were very Dr.Seuss!

Leonard Wibberly, Encounter Near Venus,
1967, copyright.  The stumper sounds roughly like the plot of Encounter Near Venus. There are aliens which are small lights which can go out if nearby emotions are too negative; an irascible uncle; the brothers and sisters (more than 2) travel to a planet where they can breathe underwater, among other adventures. It's one of my favorite books from that era.


R209: "Rolling over, rolling under, the captain roars like thunder"
published  maybe pre 1986.  "Rolling over, rolling under, the captain roars like thunder.  Stand at attention...counting one, counting two..." This is kind of a little song that is printed in the back of the book and is a little like a chorus refrain in the book as the story is told.

I immediately recognized this song as one I learned in elementary school in the 1970's.  I recall the lyrics as "When I was young, I had some fun, going over the sea.  I jumped aboard a sailing ship - the sailors said to me, 'Going under, going over, stand at attention like a soldier with a one, two, three.'"  Other verses began, "when I was two, I tied my shoe...", "When I was three...", etc. Maybe some phrase from this is the book's title.  Sorry I don't know more.
Alan Mills, Over the Rolling Sea, 1977, copyright.


R210: Rabbit loves to eat hamburgers and tricks mother
Solved: Mother Rabbit's Son Tom: Hamburgers, Hamburgers


R211: Roanoke
In the R-S-T section of alphabet, early 70s, childrens.  A humorous mystery about a very large family, told from the point of view of one of the daughters, who may have been named Josie.  Their mother has a new baby at least once a year, but their father has been missing for several years. It turns out that there's a plant growing in their garden, called Roanoke (or maybe Rowan Oak, or Rowanoke) that grows babies. The townspeople are getting a little suspicious of the family because of all the new babies, and the older kids know the secret. The girl telling the story may have been the exact middle child, and she doesn't know which of her siblings are real kids, and which where grown in the Roanoke patch.  DSS might be trying to take the kids away.  In the end, I think the father reappears, and says he's been visiting all along, and all the kids are his. The cover may have had a family standing in a garden, with those 70s swirls and lots of pink and orange.

Ruth Loomis, Mrs. Purdy's Children
, 1970, copyright.  This is definitely Mrs. Purdy's Children by Ruth Loomis.  I have a copy in hand, and the roanoke plant is there.
It does sound like the right title...I've ordered it through inter-library loan, so I'll let you know when it comes if it is correct.  (And I apparently flunk at the 'remembering where it was' portion of the memory test.)


R212: Red-haired woman discovers she's a triplet
My wife read this book in the early to mid 70's. I would like very much to find this for her as a present.. this is all the information she knows:  "The main character was a woman with red hair, who thought she was a twin, but by the end of the book she finds out that she's actually a triplet.  I THINK her siblings were a sister and a brother.  I THINK she knew about the sister and it was the brother who was the surprise triplet at the end.  The theme of the book is "acting as if" -- If you "act as if" something is so, it can be so.  I THINK she was taught this lesson by her boss, and I THINK she dated this boss, or maybe just wanted to.   Even these scant details are fuzzy to me and I'm not sure of anything except the phrase "acting as if."  I can guarantee that this was not any kind of real literature that would have any reason to still be in print anywhere.  I read it as a teenager, and it was one of those cheap paperbacks that don't hang around."

Joan Herbert, The three halves.
  This is a very long shot - the only details that match are separated triplets, 2 girls and a boy, but just in case the poster has remembered parts of 2 different books. This is much older - probably 1930-ish, and not a paperback, nor do they have red hair. Joan, Jean amd John Moreton are rescued from a shipwreck as babies and separated. First the two girls meet at a Girl Guide rally. They discover their relationship and go to school together. Then they find their triplet, John.
Thanks for the suggesttion but "The Three Halves" isn't the book I'm looking for. The theme, "Act as If" which one of the girls learns from her boss or mentor is key. Thanks again for your efforts.
Charlotte St. John, Red Hair Three,
July 20, 1992, copyright.  I know this doesn't match with the time frame you gave, but it was all I could find that remotely resembled the description. So, just in case your wife's memory is off, here is the description: "Vacationing with sister Emily in Daytona Beach, Elaine heals from her breakup with boyfriend Dean and falls for college guy, Harry, but finds her troubles returning when one of Harry's friends turns out to be none other than Dean."  This same author wrote two earlier books entitled "Red Hair," and "Red Hair, too."

2009


R213: Rancher in British Columbia in love with Indian; Mountie complicates things
Solved: The Revenge of Annie Charlie

 R214: Ruby in the title??, mansion, time travel, pull cord, Beethoveen's nose

A YA book, pub. 1968 to 1978.  A girl is sent to a mansion.  She and two chirdren explore, pulling on a servant's pull cord, sending them back in time.  They have adventures, but run out of pull cords to return to the real world, returning only when one thinks to "honk" the nose of a Beethoveen bust.

Yvonne MacGrory, The Secret of the Ruby Ring,
1994.  I haven't read this book in a long time but this title came to mind when I read your post.

R215: romance twins take identity
This was a paperback romance from the library in the late 70s. It was about a woman who took a job saying she was her twin sister. She fell in love (as the twin sister). Her twin might have died and she was taking her place. She didn't tell anyone she was actually the other twin.

Judith Michael, Deceptions, 1982, copyright. This is probably a long shot, since it doesnt match the description exactly. (For one, its published in the early 80s instead of the late 70s.) Sabrina and Stephanie are twins. Sabrina has a jet set lifestyle, while Stephanie is a housewife. Stephanie envies her sister and gets Sabrina to switch places with her for short time. However, Stephanie ends up being killed, while Sabrina has fallen in love with her suburban lifestyle and her sisters husband.
Stanley Cohen, The Diane Game, 1973.This is a possibility. From a book site: Ann and Diane are twins, both beautiful. As children they had often played at switching identities to confuse the grownups. When Diane is killed in a car crash on the way back from the airport, Ann cannot resist the temptation of her sisters exciting life. She decides to play Diane-this time for good. But she is not prepared for the ultimate, chilling consequences of her Diane Game, that by pretending to be her sister, she actually becomes Diane. From my recollection: Ann becomes involved with a man who was either dating Diane or a new friend of hers.


R216: Red haired girl haircut tree
Small girl with bright red hair, who refuses to get her hair cut...it hangs over her eyes. She is sitting in a tree pouting about her hair cut, then she realizes she can see beautiful things (ie birds, nature, etc...) for the first time. school library book from the early 70's I believe.

Don Freeman, Mop Top. Im SURE this is the book youre looking for! Its actually a little boy...his family calls him "Mop Top" because of his floppy, red hair. He ends up getting a hair cut (after much coaxing and a series of near-disasters) and finds out that hes not the only thing in the world that looks better with a little trimming (passes by someone mowing a lawn and another pruning the branches of a tree). A classic (and should be easy for you to find a copy!).
Don Freeman, Mop Top. It has got to be Mop Top by Don Freeman.


R217: Rainbow?
A second one Ive been searching for these many years.  I think the authors name was in the E to G range, based on where it was on the shelves at the library.  The title may contain the word Rainbow? A coming of age story about a 14 year old girl in Edwardian England.  Her family is very wealthy and they live in a mansion in Yorkshire.  Her father owns either mines or mills.  Hes very autocratic and old fashioned. The girl wants to go to boarding school, join the girl guides, and ride a bike, but her father wont let her.  Then, her slightly older cousin is orphaned and comes to live with them.  She is a suffragette and encourages the girls independence.  There is an obnoxious older brother, who has a nice friend. The father dies of a heart attack, and the mother comes out of her shell, exerts her independence, and the daughter is allowed to become a more modern, independent girl as a result.

Mabel Esther Allen, The Mills Down Below. Solved before it even got posted!  Looking through unsolved, I found this, although the other person looking for it remembered very different details than I did.

Wow!  This is an incredible site.  I sent in two stumpers earlier this week, and before they can even be posted, I figured them out by looking through the site at others while trying to see if I could solve anyone else’s stumpers. Mine were both young adult books, the first about a girl who has to take care of her family while the parents are away during the Civil War  - Y6 led me to Norma Johnston and my book is Of Time and Seasons.The second one is about a girl in Edwardian England whose wealthy, autocratic father dies, and I recognized it in M107 – The Mills Down Below. I’m so happy to finally be able to find these again. Thanks for having this awesome site.

Paula Tanner Girard, The Brave Little Plant, 1968, copyright. The story of a boy named Carlos who finds and protects a brave little plant growing in a crack in the sidewalk. His teacher supports him by giving him books about flowers, and a neighbor watches over the flower so no one pulls it out. In an area where there isnt much color, he finally gets red flowers. Part of the Macmillan reading program.


R218: Rose Grows in Crack of Street
I am going off very little here, but Ill give it a shot.  Looking for a book my mom remembers reading when she was younger.  It somehow involved a rose or a flower growing in the crack of the street.  She was born in 1958 so its likely from before the late 60s. Any suggestions would help. Thanks!

Rumer Godden, An Episode of Sparrows, 1956, approximate.To the poster of the R218 stumper:  An Episode of Sparrows by Rumer Godden might be your book.  Plot focuses on the lives of London street children and the adults that interact with them.  Some of the children join together to create a garden in the ruins of a church.  Some adults oppose them, others support them. Wonderful book.
Paula Tanner Girard, The Brave Little Plant, 1968, copyright. The story of a boy named Carlos who finds and protects a brave little plant growing in a crack in the sidewalk. His teacher supports him by giving him books about flowers, and a neighbor watches over the flower so no one pulls it out. In an area where there isn'\''t much color, he finally gets red flowers. Part of the Macmillan reading program


R219: Raincloud Boy
 Boy is always followed by raincloud. He's unhappy until he finds an area having a drought. He helicopters over and his raincloud helps the town. Read this story in 1st grade in the NYC public schools in 1976 or 1977.  Would love to know name of story and/or name of reader/anthology used in school.

Michael Cole and Joanne Cole, Wet Albert,
1967. I have not read this book but I believe it is the right one.

R220: Rooster says: "Catch the thief, oh do!"
Solved: "Bremen Town Musicians"

R221: Rhino and bird
(Approx. 1984); a Rhinocerus (maybe hippo?) and the bird that pretty much lives on its back have an adventure that shows them what it means to be truly friends.

Tomie de Paola, Bill and Pete.Could this be Tomie de Paola's "Bill and Pete?"  Bill is a crocodile, and Pete the bird acts as his toothbrush.  There are two sequels, "Bill and Pete Go Down the Nile" and "Bill and Pete to the Rescue."


R222: Roman Slave from Herculaneum
Looking for book about a boy from Herculaneum taken to Britain as a Roman slave, witnessed druids. Book read in 1960 in England - probably not a new book then. Had a yellow cover in hardback


Nancy Faulkner, the Sacred Jewel
, 1961, copyright.
Rosemary Sutcliff. Could this be one of Rosemary Sutcliff's many wonderful historical novels for children?
Rosemary Sutcliffe, Outcast,1955, copyright.


R223: RAF Pilot in France 
I read this somewhere between '64 and '67.  One author is Black, think there were 2 authors.  The author is an RAF pilot shot down over France, escapes underground through a hole and finds an unknown underground civilization.  The story was presented as fact, not fiction.  Anyone?

The Perilous Descent Into a Strange Lost World, by Bruce Carter.  There weren't two authors, but the book has at least two titles and the author may have published under two names.


R224: Red Fairy Tale Book
I am looking for a fairy tale book published in the 1970s. My sister remembers the title as My Big Red Story Book but I have had no luck finding it.She remembers the cover being cushiony and very large. She remembers an illustration in the book of a wold falling down a well/chimney. She thinks it may have contained the tale of little red riding hood. I think it may have contained the tale diamonds and toads.


Could it be
The Red Book of Fairy Tales, in a special edition? I do remember the "toads and diamonds" story.
Izawa / Hijikata (illustrators), The Grosset Treasury of Fairy Tales, 1971. Your description of "cushiony" reminds me of this book, illustrated with Izawa and Hijikata's photos of dolls/puppets.  If that rings a bell, here are the stories:  Little Riding Hood, The Three Little Pigs, Hansel and Gretel, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Pinocchio, Cinderella, The Ugly Duckling, Sleeping Beauty, The Elves and The Shoemaker, Tom Thumb, Rumpelstiltskin, The Real Princess


R225: Readers from the 1920s
I'm trying to locate reading books that were probably published in the 1920s (maybe earlirer).  My Grandmother was recalling some of the stories from these books and remarked how she would love to have them.  She would have been in 3rd grade in about 1931.  She remembers the story of Mr. McGreeder who had rabbits in his garden from her third grade book and the story of Mrs. Vinegar who was always worried something bad was going to happen from her 4th grade book.

R226: Redtail Hawk
Rufus the Redtail Hawk, 1953. Possible Primer Primer. The book may have been a primer or a children's book.  Not many illustrations.  The hawk's name was Rufous or Rufus (not sure of spelling).  A story of the adventures of a hawk.


Garrett, Helen, Rufous Redtail


R227: Robin Finds a Home
Male Robin arrives in a neighborhood after migrating north and checks out various types of trees, eventually selecting a nest site outside the window of a house. His mate arrives and they raise a family. The title might be Mr. Robin Finds a Home.


R228: Rock on Mammals
Book about animals playing instruments to form band. It starts out as one character (a lion I believe) walking along playing an instrument, and he meets different animals along the way who each have their own instruments. Eventually, together, they have form a band. Read as a kid in mid-1980s

R229: Rabbit with Fever
A little rabbit is sick with a fever and it gives him bad dreams about a bigger rabbit who was going to cook him in a pot then the mom gives him medicine and he gets better

R230: Roll-over, Roll-over Bears in bed
A book about a little boy who is getting ready for bed and all the little bears in his room start asking to get in bed with him.   One by one the say to the  little boy, roll-over, roll over I coming in until in the end the little boy fall out of bed.  the bears have different jobs (pilot, doc, fire

Merle Peek, Roll Over!: A Counting Song. Maybe? They aren't all bears in this one though
Several, Ten Bears in Bed. I remember this as a countdown song.  I had also seen a book version and remember that it had "Ten Bears" in the title.  I searched Amazon and there are actually several different books, including pop-up books. ...  Hope you find the right one.
Mack, Stanley, 10 bears in my bed  a goodnight countdown, 1974. One by one the bears leave the bed until there are none.

 R231: Ring, portal, cave on another planet
Set in modern times, a ring opens a portal to a cave on another planet.  Some supernatural element.  Must save the world by accomplishing a mission.  May have red, pink, or rose in title.

 R232: Romantic adventure set in 1700
SOLVED: Into The Wilderness


2011

R233: Ronaldo, magician's rabbit assistant
I am looking for a book I read in grade school (childrens book) about a magician and his rabbit assistant named Ronaldo.  I would be thrilled if you could help me find it.  I would guess it was written in the '70s.  Thank you.

Rinaldo. Sorry I don't have solution for you but I read this story in my first-grade "reader" around 1973-74. I went to school in Canada but I don't know if it was a Canadian textbook or not. I LOVED this story and I hope you find it.

R234: Ring opens a portal to a cave on another planet
Set in modern times, a ring opens a portal to a cave on another planet.  Some supernatural element.  Must save the world by accomplishing a mission.  May have red, pink, or rose in title. 


R235: Rooms added on top of each other, yellow raincoat
People keep needing a place to live and so they keep adding rooms on top of each other and there is a man who always has a yellow raincoat and hat on.

R236: Runaway girl teaches reading to thieves and pickpockets
Read book 1975. Setting = England. Young girl bored in the country & decides to run away. Accepts a ride from a carriage. Ends up in London. (Maybe locked up?) in a school for thieves and pickpockets. She teaches them how to read. The school is connected to a respectable house and man somehow. Help! Sally Watson, Linnet, 1965, approximate. This has to be Linnet. Linnet is from a very proper family in the contryside, but she's bored. She decides to run away to London (to see her cousin, I think), and is offered a ride in a carriage. The man who offers her a ride though, is Sir Colin Collyngewood, who may look like a gentleman, but is anything but. He runs a house in London that trains thieves, pickpockets, doxies and others. Linnet stays at first to help discover a plot against Queen Elizabeth, but spends her time other than that teaching the young thieves how to read.  A wonderful book, with lots of humor, danger and even a touch of romance!

R237: Romance Novels with Central Characters based on Astrological Signs
I read this series during the 1970's and each book dealt a the central female character, her astrological sign, how her sign dictated her physical appearance;  her likes and dislikes - each book a classic romance as she fell in love with her opposite sign, courted misery, triumph, love.

Various, mid-1970s. Could this be the "Birthstone Gothic" series published in pb by Ballantine circa 1975?  As the series name suggests, protagonists were defined by their birthstones rather than their Zodiac signs, but that's pretty close.  Some titles: THE CARNELIAN CAT by "Jean DeWeese" (Gene DeWeese), STONE OF BLOOD by Juanita Coulson, THE GHOST AND THE GARNET by "Marilyn Ross" (W.E.D. Ross), etc.
Various, Zodiac Gothic series, 1975, approximate. There is also a Zodiac Gothic series.  Here'\s a link to a site with some excerpts, cover art, and a list of the titles in the series. http://hauntedhearts.wordpress.com/tag/zodiac-gothic/

R238: 'Rede' Rose
I am looking for a mystery story that I read when I was a kid, around 1980. I don't remember much about the story except that it involved an old house with either a gatehouse or gatepost. The house may have been for sale. Its ownership was complicated because at some point in the past the owners had required annual payment of one "rede rose" from ... tenants? (I'm not sure.) In any case, one year a young boy was delivering the annual rose and was robbed and murdered by a vagrant, so from that time onweard the lease (?) was in arrears. I believe the story may have ended with payment of dozens of red roses.

Peters, Ellis, The Rose Rent
. I'm sure this is "The Rose Rent", a Brother Cadfael mystery set in the 12th century.  Love this series! 
Ellis Peters, The Rose Rent. ''Young widow Judith Perle bestows her house in the Monk's Foregate on the Abbey of Shrewsbury. The only rent: a single white rose, to be delivered annually. But a beautiful woman with a substantial dowry is a target for would-be suitors - and when a man is found murdered next to the rose, Brother Cadfael sets out to find the killer.'' This seems to have been published in 1986, so it may not be the one you're looking for.
I am responding to two notes left on my recent Stump query:  R238: 'Rede' Rose. Thanks, but it's not the book by Ellis Peters. The book I'm looking for was a children's story or YA novel that was printed earlier than 1986. I also distinctly remember that the rose was "rede," not white. I would appreciate any other suggestions.Thanks!
This sounds like The Mystery Gatepost, by Jean Bothwell: “Quin was not very enthusiastic when his family moved to Westchester County. When he and “Pickles” became friends, they discovered many exciting secrets about the old house his family had moved into. They solved the mystery of the turning gatepost and uncovered a clue – solving a mystery dating back to the American Revolution.” — Google Books

R239: Ruby Red, cut-out doll that comes to life
My grandmother bought this children's book in the early 80's at a yard sale and read it to myself and my cousins before we could read.  She eventually hide it so she wouldn't have to read it again and lost it.  It is still one of my favorite memories and would now like to have it for my own child.  The book was a hard back with a picture of a "child's hand drawn" picture of a paperdoll in all red.  The book tells the story of the paperdoll, named Ruby Red, as she is cut out and interacts with the child cutting her out. One of the quotes I remember is "careful now, the cutout said, mind my feet I am Ruby Red."  Please help me find this books author and title so I can share it with my child and her cousins.

Geraldine Kaye, Good-Bye Ruby Red, 1976. A girl named Susie cuts out a paper doll named Ruby Red who has quite an attitude.  Cover is red with drawing of Susie and her doll with dollhouse in background.  Robin Lawrie is the illustrator.

R240: Rainforest real lots of green
Read probably about 15 yrs ago. All that is remembered is a beautifully illustrated hardcover book with rainforest / trees. The trees looked so REAL. The bark looked like it cld be touched. There may have been a girl or hands? Maybe children. Holding hands around a big oak? tree. Huge hollow tree.

Cherry, Lynne, The Great Kapok Tree, 1990. Could this be Lynne Cherry's The Great Kapok Tree?


R241: Racoon orphan gets adopted; hibernating bear mistaken for volcano
I'm quite sure it was something that could be found in the children's room at the local library. It was an illustrated story book, likely a compilation of different stories. One of them had a story about an orphaned raccoon who ended up taking care of himself but was a terrible mess. Most clearly from that story I recall an image of this raccoon eating a bunch of berries and becoming all sticky and covered in blueberry juice. Eventually he gets adopted by a new family (also raccoons, I presume), cleans up, and lives happily every after. Also in this book: During the winter, while the area was covered in snow, one animal spotted a vent of steam coming out from a hole in the snow and presumed it to be a volcano, alerting all the other animals around and sending everyone into a panic. In the end, the vent of steam turned out to be just the warm breath of a hibernating bear.


R242: Return of Merlin, The Necromancer?
Children's book set in modern day England.  One day people wake up and stop using electricity etc. and it has to do with the return of Merlin.   Probably dates from the 1970's.   I thought it was called The Necromancer, but the only book found with that title now is the Nicolas Flamel book...

Peter Dickinson, The Changes Trilogy. This is probably The Changes trilogy by Peter Dickinson.  The individual titles are The Devil's Children, Heartsease, and The Weathermonger.  In the time of the Changes, England has somehow regressed to a society that fears and loathes machines/technology, and yes, Merlin is involved.  A great series!
Peter Dickinson, The Weathermonger,1969. Merlin, modern-day England, abandonment of technology, and a title like The Necromancer: this has got to be The Weathermonger by Peter Dickinson, part of his trilogy, The Changes.  The other two volumes are The Devil's Children and Heartsease.
Peter Dickinson, The Weathermonger, 1968. Possibly this one or another in Dickinson's Changes trilogy.  The people of England no longer use machines, and the few who do are labeled witches.  Not sure if Merlin is involved, though.
Dickinson, Peter, Changes Trilogy, 1968-70. Sounds like it might be these.  Definitely contain Merlin waking up and his waking causing all the electricity and other modern stuff to stop working.  Individual titles were  The Changes, The Weathermonger, and Devil's Children.
Peter Dickinson, The Weathermonger, 1968. Not quite Modern Day these days.  The Weathermonger is an iconic book by an iconic author.  Peter Two further books in the series - Heartsease and The Devil's Children, that together form "The Changes Trilogy".  Dickenson is still going strong, and you have plenty of catching up to look forward to.
This was serialised on children's television some years ago. It was a great series and my two children, now adults, really enjoyed it. I'm sorry but I cant remember whether it was on ITV or BBC but it was one or the other.


R243: Ragdoll, Semolina, Kensington, Shoe Shop
Hi. I'm looking for a children's book that I read in the UK in the 1970s. 2 little girls met in a shoeshop in Kensington. One of them had a ragdoll called Semolina, or maybe one of the girls was called Semolina. They met  trying on shoes and go their separate ways. Thanks.

There is a slight chance that this may be The Lucky One by Anne Parrish.

R244: Robin Aunt Cora Guy stables gymkhana
Read this young adult book back in the 1960-70's it's about Robin who goes to help her Aunt Cora who broke her leg (or arm) who needs help running her horse stables, mets a boy there called Guy, helps with trail rides and a gymkhana-a romance story

Janet Randall, Saddles For Breakfast. 1961.

R245:Rose carved into fireplace is portal
I read this book about 1973. Something makes me think there was a series of books, but I'm not sure. In the book a boy find a rose carved into a fireplace surround. When he presses it he is transported to another world/time. I remember it being a dark book with lots of danger I couldn't put down.

Susan Cooper, The Dark is Rising,
1974, approximate. I belive this is the book you are looking for.  It is from a sequence of books also entitled The Dark is Rising. "In this book, Will Stanton begins to have strange experiences on his eleventh birthday, just before Christmas. He soon learns he is one of the Old Ones, a guardian and warrior for The Light. He learns that he must help find the four Things of Power for The Light in order to battle the forces of The Dark. The first of these Things of Power is the Circle of Six Signs. This book is the key book for the main character, Will Stanton. It is in this book that he collects the six signs which become the Circle of Signs, one of the Things of Power, by finding the additional five mandala (he has been given one earlier) and uses the completed Circle to ward off the forces of The Dark. The book features elements of English folklore that are especially associated with the Thames Valley with Herne the Hunter making an appearance."
Susan Cooper, The Dark is Rising. There is part in the book where Will goes back in time to a party in the manor house, witnesses the making of the sign and sees that it is hidden in a secret compartment in the fireplace mantel.  He has to press on a carved rose in the present time to retrieve the sign.
Susan Cooper, The Dark Is Rising, 1973. Sounds like The Dark Is Rising (from the series of the same name), when Will (the Seeker) presses the carved rose on the fireplace at the Greythorne Manor to find the Sign of Wood.
For more on The Dark Is Rising, see Solved Mysteries: http://www.loganberrybooks.com/solved-d.html

R246: Reform School Boys on Underground Adventure
Read about 20-30 years ago. Thick with a redish cover.The story was about boys who were sent to a reform school/juvie hall/prison. Somehow they found this underground world under the place with a river & went on a journey. One of the boys was weird & belonged to the underground race of people.

Rosemary Wells, Through the Hidden Door, 1987, approximate. This may be the one you're looking for. It has almost all the elements you remember, although I'm not sure one of the boys was from the same race of people.
Michael de Larrabeiti, The Borribles trilogy. Are you thinking of the Borribles?  They do bear a strong resemblance to delinquent children, and the other details you gave loosely correspond to events in the books.
Thanks for trying, but it's neither of these. It's a group of boys, not just two, and they've been sent away to either a reform school, or something similar. One of the boys was a thief. They're trying to escape the people in the school (or whatever it is) and find a passage underground where they find another world below the surface of our world. I believe there is a river, but I can't be certain. One of the group of boys was always an outsider, and it turns out that he felt so odd because he was a member of this world (if I remember right, he was light skinned, maybe an albino?) The rest of the boys are definitely human.

R247: Racehorse runs from fire, gets adopted by mutiple owners? 1960s America
A racehorse is in a stable fire, is terrified and runs far away. It is adopted by strangers and nursed back to health, but is moved around to different people. One of the owners is a poor minister with a teenage daughter who rides the horse across a flooded river to bring a doctor to her father.

Some of this sounds a bit like the 1939 film Pride of the Blue Grass. So I wonder if your book was based on or inspired by that. The story of Elmer Gantry the blind steeplechaser is real and he was trained by Eleanor Getzendaner, if that's any help tracking it down.

R248: Railroad Magnate's granddaughter searches for family
Railroad Magnate's granddaughter comes west looking for her father and brother.  at the end of the book her fathe is the character named Panamint and her brother is the character named Curly.

2012

R249: Rose Bush in front of picket white fence
a book with illustrations of a house with a rose bush in front of a picket fence and a little girl who skips by the front. the illustrations are rosy colored and lovely. the girl may have curly hair. it's a quiet book with the focus on the rose bush. I was very young, maybe written in 1960s. . .

R250: Rhymes, riddles and limericks
 B&W pen/ink illustrated 1970's book: rhymes, riddles and limericks.

R251: Rabbit runs away, jello
Rabbit thinks he is going to be eaten runs away with dog live in big abandoned house marries another rabbit dog goes home finds out it was a jello rabbit to be eaten.

R252: Robi/Robbie and his rocket ship
 I'm looking for a story about a little boy name Robi (or Robbie?) who lost his mother. His father told him that now his mom is in heaven. He took off with the rocket ship, visited several planets before reached Heaven and found his mom. I am from Thailand and when I was young, my family read me many children illustrated books that for sure, were translated from "Foreign" countries. These books were published by Thai Education department (the government publishing house that responsible for making textbooks for the whole school system there). These books were first published in Thailand in the mid 1960s. I believed it must be first published in the country they came from long before that...The most recent published in Thailand in 1990s. There is no reference where these books originally from or who the illustrators is. Mainly these are famous fairly tales children books like Sleeping beauty, Snow White, Little Mermaid,....I personally believe, these books are originally from Italy, because found the very light color "FINE" at the end of the story. My family in Thailand is trying to look for them for me for a long time, we got some books recently...but no one can remember about this book I am looking for which is one of my favorite. I thought the boy name is "Robin"...but yesterday, I was found someone post the front and back cover of this book in Thai vintage children's book blog. And the "Thai" name is "Robie looking for his mother"...Again, I don't really know this is the true name of the book or not...but for sure it's the one I have been looking for. I went to several libraries (I live in Chicago) but the librarians are pretty young and they said they have never seen these books before (they have no clue)...one of them recommend your website and that's why I am here.

R253: Rainy
I am sure it was woman who wrote it. Date: 2000 or older. It was a romance novel, at least 10 to 15 years old, maybe older. It was set in the past I believe and centered around a girl named Rainy who lived with her father in some house in the forest. Her father named her Rainy because it was raining on the night she was born and her mother died in childbirth I think. Her love interest is a guy I am guessing here when I say his name is something like Thorn. He takes her into the city for a business trip and they fall in love, she ends up pregnant and then loses the child after being thrown down the stairs by some bad guy. "Thorn" finds out she was pregnant after he is told by the doctor that she lost the baby, he insists she didn't even know but the lady says she did cause she had bought a tiny pink baby dress from a shop earlier (at the shop she talks with the owner saying she isn't sure if should buy the dress cause she's not even sure if she's really pregnant and the shop owner says a woman always knows). Rainy is depressed because she thinks Thorn will not give her another baby so they return back to town and she begins a friendship with the local handsome school teacher, "Thorn" is jealous and thinks she likes him but really she is helping him woe another lady in town he is head over heels for. After quite a confrontation that involves "Thorn" punching the school teacher he realizes that it was all misunderstanding and begs for Rainy to forgive him, she does and they end up together.

R254: Rabbits in city apartment hold trippy birthday party for animal friends
Late 70s, early 80s; a white rabbit's birthday party, illustrated like a comicstrip. Children's story book.  Animals were clothed. Some pages alternated between color and grey tones.  Each animal brought an interesting and strange gift.  Very stylized animals wore bell bottoms, live in the city. TY!

R255: Raccoon, redwood forest, California, teachers, summer camp, hot peppers
My mother is looking for a book about 2 teachers that found a raccoon and raised it over a summer. The raccoon got up on the counter and got into a jar and opened hot peppers. It learned its lesson and never got on the counter again. They tried to release the raccoon at the end summer it coming back

R256: Rainbow Rooster
Story about a boy, a rooster with rainbow colored tail feathers. Father reads book to boy, when boy gets sleepy asks his father to turn his pillow over to the cool side.


R257: Reference book with fold-out sky chart
I have a question about a book I remember from my childhood. It was not a kids book but rather a large reference book.  It was like a one volume encyclopedia or almanac with a fold-out sky chart in the back.  It was hardcover with a tan colored binding and was very thick (3-4 inches).  The book was probably printed in the late 60's or early '70's.

H.A. Rey, The Stars,
1952. H.A. Rey, the author of the Curious George books, was also an avid astronomer.  There is a new second edition available which looks at new stars and planets through 2016.

R258: Royal Ballet School Girl
SOLVED: Naomi Capon , Dancers of Tomorrow, 1957.

R259: Red Lantern, about a fish, children's book
A fish named Red Lantern took children into the ocean on adventures.


R260: Rainbow Dress
Small child's book (4x6?) about a poor girl who gets invited to a birthday party but doesn't have anything nice enough to wear, she ends up creating a "rainbow dress" out of little pieces from other dresses and goes to the party. Soft pastel (watercolor?) illustrations. A library book I read at 6-8y

Vogel, Ilse Margaret, The rainbow dress and other Tollush tales, 1975. Poor Tollush, sweet, blond and aproned, has nothing to wear to her friend's birthday party in the castle, until her widowed mother makes her a beautiful ""rainbow"" outfit from her old patched and outgrown dresses.

R261: Renaissance mouse with rapier or sword fights in castle to rescue mouse princess
SOLVED: John Goodall, Creepy Castle, 1975.

R262: Rainy day, bored girl, circus
Searching for a children's book from 1960-70's.about a little girl who is bored because it is rainy out and she has nobody to play with, but then at end the weather clears and the circus comes to town.  It ends with something about the "clear pale sky". It had beautiful watercolor paintings.

R263: The Ruby Of Antioch
I read this book when I attended High School in Shamrock Texas in 1972-1973. I think the title was "The Ruby of Antioch". I remember the plot revolved the search for a legendary lost ruby. I remember the ruby was hidden under a flagstone tile in the nane of the church was Antioch.

R264: Rabbit takes woman's comb, dress with pockets
Possibly a book of stories.One involves a woman wearing a beautiful dress and hair comb.She falls asleep-a rabbit comes and takes the hair comb into a rabbit hole full of constellations. Another story is about a woman with a dress made of pockets where she keeps treats that she hands out to children.

Kit Williams. Masquerade.
1979 I think this may be a slightly jumbled memory of the famous treasure-hunt-puzzle book by the amazing artist Kit Williams. Readers were invited to find extremely subtle clues hidden in lush paintings to find an actual valuable jewel/sculpture buried in England. The story followed Rabbit carrying a jewel to the sun and losing it along the way. You can see a reproduction of the page featuring the penny-pocket lady here: http://bunnyears.net/kitwilliams/masquerade/painting-4-the-penny-pockets-lady/ Kit Williams also released a second puzzle book (the Bee on the Comb) featuring a woman with an elaborate haircomb, who was the embodiment of spring. You can see some reproductions here: http://www.vintagechildrensbooksmykidloves.com/2010/09/bee-on-comb.html

R265: Rat helps pretty rat princess find lost ring
I read this book in 1976 or so. A poor American rat visits Paris, sees Notre Dame and befriends a big scruffy bird. He gets beaten up by thug rats. He meets a pretty rat in the park who is sad about something, but helps him clean up after his violent encounter. Later he finds out she is a princess who has lost a ring, and whoever has the ring gets to marry her or assume the throne. Her father, the king, is very old. He finds the ring and has to sneak into the ball (ceremony where the ring is needed?) disguised as a waiter in order to see the princess and give back the ring. As a reward, he is given a new set of clothes. The book had a number of great line drawings that, at age 7, I would have thought were similar to Jules Feiffer's drawings in the Phantom Tollbooth, but the illustrator is NOT Feiffer, just that sort of wonderful, messy style. I hope you can help me!

Dear Rat by Julia Cunningham c. 1961, Houghton Mifflin Co.I'm sure the book you are looking for is Dear Rat by Julia Cunningham, with illustrations by Walter Lorraine. "Fresh off the boat from Humpton, Wyoming, Andrew Rat has landed in Chartres France, right in the middle of a mystery! Fabulous jewels have been stolen from the rat princess, Angie, and Andrew is determined to return them!" The cover is gray and features a black line drawing of Andrew Rat (wearing a jacket and polka-dot tie) with the bird perched on top of his head. The dust jacket is purplish with white columns and shows Andrew Rat dressed in a green jacket and polka-dot tie, carrying a lantern and pistol.

R266: Romance novel, writer, journalist
The book was written in the last 10 years, I think the authors name has Elizabeth in it.

The book is a romance novel. It starts with the heroin and hero meeting at a party. She writes erotic under a surname and is recently divorced. I think her husband comes from money or has an important family. She gets harassed by the press and hero kind of rescues her from the car. He is a respected journalist in Boston I think. There is attraction but she then goes on retreat to her home in the keys, a private island. They start emailing each other and she ask for help on a book she is writing. It is an erotic novel with some kind of mystical mermaid or gods thing. They start writing back and forth. At some point he goes down and they act out some scenes, very hot sex in the surf ect. I remember her room looks like on e of the scenes in the book. I think the ex follows her down at some point and there is a fight. She also has a large dog. The hero has his email compromised at work and is accused of using work time to write. She wants to publish the book but he is to embarrassed. In the end the book is published and they end up together. Any help????

R267: Rabbit made out of dough put in boy's pocket and squashed
I'm looking for a book about a little boy who goes to preschool or kindergarten, and makes a rabbit out of dough (perhaps with a raisin for an eye?). Somehow the rabbit gets squashed or ruined so that it no longer resembles a rabbit. An adult helps him to make a new rabbit (plus another one, to be its friend) out of clay, with a red bead for an eye, and they bake them in the oven until they're hard (and thus, can't be squashed). I was born in 1984, so this book would have been in print in the late 1980s/early 1990s...was probably written no earlier than the 1970s, based on what I can remember of the illustrations. Would so love to find it and read it to my preschooler!

Nursery School Rabbit, by Adèle Geras - 1987 "The rabbit sat sideways on the cutting board with one ear pointing straight up and one ear bent over a little. Ritchie gave the rabbit a red bead for an eye. "You're a nice rabbit," he said. "I'll take you home to show my mom and dad."

R268: Rabbit gardens, no helpers
Childrens book about rabbit. rabbit gardens and other animals don't like him or help him. Drought happens and rabbit feeds all of animals. Written by Alaskan author front cover is of rabbit wearing big boots. I had book for kids in 1989 or 1990.

R269: Road takes family to the beach
1970's (?) kid's book about a family packing for vacation in the mountains but the road had a different plan. It twists and turns and ends up at the beach. I got the book from the Scholastic Book Club during the late 70's.

R270: Rabbit, friend, pig, island
The book is about a rabbit (mister rabbit) and his friend ( i believe it's a hare or rabbit), left their crowded island to search for a new place to live. They found an island where they settled in (one settled in the northern part, the other at the opposite end). One day, a pig came to the island to live. He eventually became mayor of the island, the the 2 friends decided to leave the now crowded island. at the end of the story, they realized that they have a home in their boat, and they lived in it one at the aft and the other at the fore.

R271: Red cloth-bound story collection with Bluebeard, Snow White, The Hobbit, Aesop
Had this volume c. 1972 but date at least early 60s. Heavy red cloth-bound story collection, colour illustrations , inc "Snow White & Rose Red", "Thumbelina", chap 1 "The Hobbit", "Bluebeard", some Aesop, & many more. All illustrators different. Gold lettered cover. Dustcover missing in my time.


R272: Role playing game opens portal to another world; teens save dad
Solved: The Twilight Realm





 
 
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3/14/13