Tag Archives: England

346F: A Rich Small Man and Poor Large Man Switch Houses

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Seeking a picture book, illustrations probably pen and ink, blueish tones. A large, poor man lived in a small house. A rick small man lives in a mansion. They are each becoming tired of their own houses, so agree to swap, expecting to love each other’s house. They initially do, but ultimately discover that the preferred their own house. Date: I was born in 1976, so earliest read would have been 1979-80. Location: I live in the UK (England).

345G: “A place…” book for a Brit (Solved!)

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I am in desperate search of a book for my dear British friend. She grew up in Suffolk, England, born in 1958, and remembers a book she used to pour over as a girl:
Possible title: A Place of Your Own
Contents: pictures and descriptions of homes, rooms, treehouses and places where children (and maybe young adults) escape to be kids
Publication Dates: at least published by 1972
Location: read in Suffolk, England

344D: Time Traveling Children Kidnap Girl Leaving London On Train (Solved!)

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Hi! I hope you can help me because this is driving me batty LOL. I believe it was a book or series of children’s books. There was some sort of isolated world outside time, but it was starting to show cracks and it was feared their world was ending. Two children believed a girl on a train being sent away from London during the war was responsible, so they traveled in time and kidnapped her . Ultimately, they were convinced she was innocent. Then, they had to hide her as a visiting cousin; there was a lot of advanced technology, like a money chip and a pen that had special abilities when she went to school with them. The place traded with other time eras; there was a river around it that played into the plot. Ultimately, I believe an uncle and his daughter were the bad guys. There was a battle; the children were locked up in some sort of phasing clock tower. There was a powerful, godlike couple who ultimately woke up/remembered their real selves and put everything to rights. I believe the girl’s family was saved and allowed to come live with her there. That’s all I can remember. Thanks very much!

344C: YA novel from 1960s; English girl fall in woods and breaks leg

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I am looking for a chapter book or YA novel I read in third grade in 1971-72. I believe it would have been published in the 1960s or between 1970-71 but it could also have been in 1950s.

It was about a girl in England who lived with her mother and no father. They lived in a flat, which was the first time I had encountered that word. The only thing I can distinctly remember was that the girl was hiking in the woods, alone, I believe, and fell and broke her leg and then had to figure out how to get help.

340H: Quakers, Spelling, and Psalm 46:4

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I have never actually read this book.  I’m looking for a book that my mom read as a child and could never find again.
 
She said it was in her school library, so to be generous, she probably read it sometime between 1964 and 1978.  She didn’t remember if it was new when she read it. 
 
She said it was children’s historical fiction which took place in Cromwell’s England, so 17th century. She was pretty sure it involved either Quakers or Puritans, but she leaned toward Quakers. A running theme through the book was Psalm 46:4, “There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God.”
 

The main characters were a boy and a girl. At one point they were on the street, although I’m not sure if they were homeless or on the run. My mom said she learned a lot about street children from that time period. The girl apparently was educated enough to know how words should be spelled, but the boy thought words should be spelled however made sense to that particular person.

Sorry, I know this is pretty vague. I hope it’s enough. If anyone has any idea of what the title and author of this book could be, I would appreciate it.

338H: English girl falls in love with the boy next door, eventually (Solved!)

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I have been searching for a book I remembered for years and then I heard about you guys. I have no idea if you can help me because it isn’t a children’s book, but it’s worth a chance. It’s from before 2006 because I read it when I was in high school (wow!) from the library.
I believe it is set in England. The main character is a girl and she is friends with the boy next door since they were little kids. She goes to prom with a guy, has sex and ends up getting pregnant. I think she continues to live with her parents after she has the baby, which is a girl. Her friend ends up needing to move to America. They stay in contact over email. Some of the book has the reader read their conversation like an email.
Her dream is to manage a hotel one day and after working her way up the ladder, she does. I remember her describing how the chandelier looked in the hotel and how elegant and beautiful it was. Eventually, she realizes she loves the boy (now a man) next door. He has a child with someone and it was a boy. I think at the end of the book he moves back to England and their children become friends or something and I am pretty sure they end up professing their love for one another.
I look forward to seeing if you can find the book. It’s the last one from my childhood I couldn’t remember that I can’t get out of my head.

337J: Cowboys and Indians in England

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The book I’m looking for was a children’s book probably published in the 1950s, although possibly going to back to the ’20s or so (no later than the early 1960s and I’m pretty sure it belonged to one of my parents when they were children, both born in 1949). I believe it took place somewhere in England or in Europe. Our copy did not have the dust jacket so I don’t know what was on the cover other than it was a green hardback. The most distinctive feature was a neighborhood map on the inside cover, probably in orange.

The plot concerned the kids in this neighborhood. I believe there was a new family moving in from America, and the kids played cowboys and Indians and built a teepee in a front yard (I remember learning that the British word was “garden” for yard from this book). And if I remember correctly, there was something beyond the neighborhood on the map, like a meadow, forest, or some kind of land over a fence or boundary line that the kids would go over to play.
I’m a librarian and I have searched WorldCat a lot for this book, and have also contacted the Library of Congress, the NYPL and the British Library with no luck. I have a feeling that a word related to the neighborhood was in the title, something like “Street,” “Lane,” “Road,” etc. so I have searched those kinds of words a lot but nothing pops up that looks familiar. Several times I have thought that it was something like the Mulberry Street or Primrose Lane books but those don’t have the right plots. Or maybe the title had something to do with whatever the kids called their little group– maybe something American Indian related.
Thanks for your help! I don’t know why I am so fixated on this…

335W: Luton Cabbie Mystery (Solved!)

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Mid-1990s to mid-2000’s publication date, more likely 1998-2003. Mystery novel set in Luton, England. Protagonist is black cabdriver of West Indian/Caribbean origin. Unfortunately, I can’t recall the mystery he gets involved in. I liked the author’s portrayal of an overlooked airport town, the character and the look into his culture. Although I read a lot of British mysteries, this one’s setting was unusual and the mood of it has stayed with me. I have wondered if it was part of a series or a one-off.