Category Archives: Uncategorized

191C: Dirty Little Pig ?

This book was probably published between 1942-1965. It was about a family that lived near train tracks so that the soot covered everything in the house, including the family. The doctor was sent for and I remember he looked everything over and said, “Hmmmmm” which I thought was funny as a small child. The illustration I remember was of a pig sleeping in an open dresser drawer. I seem to recall the illustrations were not in color but more like sketches. I have searched for this book for 10+ years. Nobody has ever heard of it.
Also, if this helps, my mother belonged to something called the Junior Literary Guild and many of my books as a child were JLG books. Maybe this one was as well. My older siblings thought the book was called The Dirty Family or the Dirty Little Pig or that “dirty” was a part of the title.

189D: British Children’s Short Story Treasury from ‘80s or ‘90s (Solved!)

This was a large, white-bound treasury of short stories and craft ideas, likely published in the 1980s or very early 1990s. The stories were all in British English, but took place around the world. One story was about a brother and sister exploring Montreal’s Underground City during the winter (I believe the brother’s name may have been Sean, with an accent on the e). Another story was about a girl named Tracey who had a pair of silver sandals that never got used. The sandals were sad when they saw her wear all her other shoes day after day, but they finally got worn for a fancy party. I would love to find this collection again! Thanks for your help!

188E: Bike Possessed By Horse

I read the book in elementary school, it was in the beginning of the fiction section, so i assume the name of the author came mid to early in the alphabet. It was about a kid whose bike is possessed by a horse or that they think it is? the cover has a large black horse rearing up on what i think was a leafy bg or a canopy of trees… i believe the bicycle was also on the cover?

157H: Girl awakes with stuffy nose, cant smell breakfast.

Book of short stories (not fairy tales-more like stories with a lesson) with illustrations. presumably hard cover and 8.5×10 (although I suspect I was missing part of the book along with the cover) From the clothing worn in the illustrations, which were few but what I remember most-The book was probably from the 50’s-60’s-The earliest I would have read it would have been around 1979. The stories would be to my extremely fuzzy memory, no longer than 2 pages or so. The ones I remember are as follows: There is an illustration of a mother (very June Cleaver-esque) downstairs in the kitchen cooking breakfast while the smell of presumably bacon can be seen wafting upstairs to a bedroom where 2 girls (early teens) are awaking. I think the girl in the 2nd bed is a friend sleeping over. the 1st girl awakes to smell breakfast cooking but the friend doesn’t. The friend has awaken ill. The story touches on her senses and the mom explains that because she has a cold-her sense of smell is gone. Next story shows an illustration of a younger boy who has fallen and skinned his knee or arm, maybe off of a bicycle..he is crying and and an older brother comes to help him I don’t remember the point of the story but I remember the illustrator drew bags under his eyes to signify the distress from his crying and it looked extremely odd to me, even as a child I thought it odd. also I think he may have been missing some front teeth (due to his age, not the fall). Another story is a father and son at a camping ground or walking in the woods, one of them has a plaid jacket on. I think it is fall. They happen upon a camp fire that was not properly put out or they are about to leave their own campfire (dont recall) but the story is basically the dad telling the boy the dangers of not putting out campfires properly. The last one I remember is an illustration of 2 little girls with short bob cuts,almost identical but one is blonde one is brunette walking in unison in the rain. each one has on a raincoat, rain boots, and umbrella one is all red, the other is all yellow. I think they meet a 3rd girl along the way. She may have not had any friends but she looks like them also. She may have on all blue or green but dressed as the other girls are..this story is about friendship..the illustration reminds me of the morton salt girl X3. I’m pretty sure this story was near the end of the book or possibly the last story. for some reason, these are the only ones I remember reading over and over again..but surely there were more in the book. I’ve longed for this book for so many years!!! Please help!

 

147D: “Going Swimming”

. I will be amazed if you can find this book as I think it was just published locally in the UK. It was written by a mother who does swimming lessons I think. It is a small book, paperback, pretty sure the title is “Going Swimming”. It is about a boy william and his mother and baby sister Vicky going swimming. William has a swimming lesson. At the end they all have a cup of tea and biscuit. On the back of the book is a black and white photograph of the author with her daughter swimming in a pool. The pictures in the book are very distinct, they are quite lifelike, the children are quite ugly! It is strange because white children in the book have not been “coloured” in and black children in the book have a sort of grey hue to their skin. I think it was very cheaply published, maybe even as an educational book for a local council???

I can decribe the book in much more detail if you want but don’t know the author or illustartor. It is so annoying. It is a childhood book of mine which I have now been reading to my daughter so I remmeber it clearly as we have only just lost it recently (2 weeks ago). Because it is so old and obscure I have not been able to find it on google searches. If you can find it I will be so happy!!