I am looking for a collection of children’s stories I read to my kids in the 1990s. I can only recall the title of two of the short stories inside this wonderful book. One was A Pair of Red Clogs by Masako Matsuno and the other was The Pudding like a Night on the Sea by Ann Cameron. I am sorry but that is all of the information I have. Any ideas?
Category Archives: Anthology
366S: “No time, only duration” (Solved!)
Forgotten author name, likely American or British – collection of short stories with sci-fi/horror-type themes. I read the book `eons ago’ – so probably 60s or 70s.
The story of interest describes where 3 characters wind up inside a room where there is “no time, only duration,” so they’ll supposedly live forever if they never leave the room. An epilogue then tells us “a building was torn down and 3 skeletons were found in it…..”
The cover had some odd-looking creature on it, reminiscent of the YELLOW SUBMARINE animation style.
366M: Anthology with a club that dresses like monsters, a girl who gets wishes that go wrong, possibly a crocodile and more?
I remember this hardback white book from my childhood. It had a lot of stories in it. The one I remember most vividly was about a club of boys and girls who did all sorts of stuff. They host an event where they come disguised as monsters. They figure out who everyone is, except one monster who they assume must be the last club member (I think it was a girl, Katie?). So this yellow monster doesn’t look like a costume like the others. The monster ends up winning lots of events. But then at the end, the missing club member shows up late and it turns out it was a real, friendly monster the whole time. Another story in it was about a girl who received wishes for her birthday? I think from her aunt? It’s possible she made these wishes using candles? Or a magic bag. The wishes all go wrong. I think one makes these awful ugly babies or monsters? And one involves cr
366H: Horse story with Native American main character
I had (in the 60s or 70s) a collection of horse stories. One was about a Native American young man named (I believe) Johnny, who was a handsome man who was “lame” (walked with a limp and was self conscious about it). He had a horse he named Bay-ee because the horse was sort of copper-colored like a penny. He won some sort of race with the horse. Would love to find this story again.
365S: How to Tell Bad News (Solved!)
I am trying to find a story from 45 to 50 years ago. My mother was an English teacher and had a stash of older literature including a story that follows this story line. I believe it was English literature.
A man returns to the train station nearest his home after a long trip. His footman picks him up in a buggy and during the trip home they talk.
So Jeaves, how are things at home? Well sir, I hate to tell you but your fathers dog died. What? He wasn’t an old dog. Pray tell how did he die? Well sir, he overate himself to death. How could that be. What did he get a hold of that he was able to overeat? Well sir, he overate horse meat. And where would he get so much so much horse meat. All of your fathers horses died. Oh my, what killed my father’s horses? They died carrying water to put out the fire.
And on and on it goes. The house burned down from all the candles that were lit for the funeral of his mother.
I want to say the title is How To Tell Bad News.
I really appreciate your help on this.
365R: Kids Must Be Protected From Creepy Villagers with Silver Eyes Once a Year
I am looking for a children’s short story read in mid-‘70’s about children in old-time village where once a year parents put protection on doors and windows. Naughty kids look out window at night and see villagers crouched naked on rooftops with shining silver eyes.
365Q: Medieval era based, “YA” 80s(?) Short romance
I have a book I read in 6th grade, which was around 1992. The book itself could have been older, like 1980s. It was a definite Young Adult book even if that didn’t have the description at that time. It was about a Lady who was recently widowed, very young, who lived in a crumbling Tower (Castle). She may have had one servant. She had a Rose garden which I think was a big part of the book. A criminal possibly a thief or murderer arrives at the castle one day and stays essentially taking her hostage. I remember it was a romance. It was a really short story in a very thin book, it reminded me very strongly of “A Door in the Wall” just in terms of time. And may have been plague mentions I can’t remember. It also reminded me of Secret Garden, just because the Rose garden seemed to play a huge part in the story.
365E: Romantic short story about two strangers: a carny and a young woman together on a carnival ride
I think it’s a paperback book from about 25-30 years ago. I’m sorry I don’t recall title nor author, nor cover.
I’ve tried googling what little I remember in nouns, but no luck. It could be a short story
anthology or a book of short stories by one writer. As I recall, the carny, a kind of rough guy meets a young woman and takes her on a ride on what we used to call ‘the wheel of death’ but I don’t think it was called that in the story. That carnival contraption is usually a huge metal mesh cylinder that people enter through a door, and then line up, standing up, around the edges of the cylinder/metal cage.
When the machine starts up, the cylinder starts to whirl in a circle, faster and faster until all the people are plastered by centrifugal force to the walls… then the floor drops out so that people are whirling through space in this cage with no floor beneath them, held up only by centrifugal force.
How the wheel was actually constructed in story, not sure. But that’s the idea.
The carny might kiss the young woman while on the ride, not sure, but it was romantic leaning a tidge into eros I think. I’m sorry, cannot remember any of the other stories in the book. At age 77 now, a lot of memories are softer, but good memories have gotten stronger. One of the blessings of aging sometimes.
362X: Children’s David Lee Roth Short Story (Solved!)
I’m looking for a children’s book of short stories I received as a gift in the 80s. I think the front cover had a photo of an eagle with people standing on it. It may have been a blue cover.
I do remember one of the short stories was about two sisters in a fight. The younger sister accidentally drew a pen mark on her older sister’s David Lee Roth poster and when she tried to erase it she rubbed a hole through.
362Q: Old Fairytale Collection
I am looking for a fairytale collection that I remember from my youth. My mom bought them for us in the 1950s and my stepmother has thrown them out. Sorry, I do not have the title. Here is what I remember: There was a set of three books. The cover was hard-bound and cream-colored. Each book had a small colored panel on the spine. One green, one red and one brown. I recall that they contained “The Princess and the Pea”, “Rapunzel” and “Rutabaga Tale” I would love to buy these treasured tomes if anyone has them.