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Category Archives: 1940s
373U: Vintage Picture Book, Kitten cleans room to find rain gear so he can play in the rain with his friends
Kitten wants to play in the rain with two friends, but he has to clean his room to find his rain gear, which includes, boots, hat, jacket. His friends check in on him and help him clean, they even find a sail boat that they can play with in the puddles. The book is NOT the obvious Three Kittens, Rainy-Day Kitten, etc. . . been searching for years now. I think it was published sometime between 1940s-1990s, And I want to say it had a beige/yellow/tan cover with a spot illustration.
373O: Primer featuring a little fairy/brownie
I am looking for a copy of the first book I ever read (I have been looking for it since 1995 without success). What I remember is:
– I was born in 1960 and started reading in 1963. We were poor and the only books we had were from my father (born in 1940) so the book would have been 1920-1940s for when he went to school in 1945.
– I remember the color of the book had a dark sandy brown cover and had the words “first primer” or “young reader” on the cover. Primer figured prominently on the cover and/or title page but I cannot remember the exact wording. I think there was a square illustration on the cover but am not sure.
– There were stories, poems, and I think a musical score at the center of the book. The main story involved a little brownie (fairy/sprite) with a red cap, with squirrels for friends/neighbors. The illustrations were only two to three colors, red and brown primarily.
– I have been looking for this book for approximately 30 years. off and on, without success. Other books in the similar time frames come close but they are not the one. The closest ones in style, illustration, and structure are The Work-Play Books Make and Make Believe by Gates and Huber and The Children’s Own Readers Book Two by Ginn and Co. circa 1920s.
I grew up in Norwalk, CT in the 60’s if that helps in any way.
373F: Horse and Sugar Bowl
I am so thrilled to hear of your service!! For the last day of school of my second grade, the teacher let us read books from the small classroom library. This was in 1962. (Yes, I’ve been hunting for this book for over sixty years.). After lunch she made us pass up the books. She would not let me finish it. I watched as she packed all the books in cardboard boxes. The box with my book was likely shipped to the school district warehouse since it was so old. And it wasn’t on the shelves when I snuck into the second grade classroom the beginning of my third grade.
What I remember, which is hardly anything, is that it was a larger format cloth cover. The corners were worn and soft. (Maybe ten x fifteen? It was a thin book, perhaps green.) It looked “old fashioned” and I would guess it was published in the 1940’s. The images were a type of collage with cut outs of real objects (like the sugar bowl) and a drawing of a horse cut and posed. Then the scene was photographed in color. That’s it : a horse romping on a kitchen table and a sugar bowl.
It vaguely had the feel of a “Gumby” cartoon. Hmmm….I never thought to hunt down the creater of Gumby.
I realize this is a long shot, but it would enable me to strike off one of the few items on my bucket list.
372Q: 1940s classy children’s anthology
I’m trying to find a much-loved book given to a relative around 1948 (in England, so presumably a UK publisher).
It’s an anthology of stories and poems for children, clearly by someone who loved literature and didn’t want to look down on children or preach to them. It included things like Christina Rossetti’s poem “Goblin Market” and the Chinese folktale “Blue Rose”, and had illustrations by Aubrey Beardsley (obviously not done for the book as he was long dead).
The book is hardback with a leaf-green cover, and fairly large.
370F: Kids exploring cave during the depression era (Solved!)
I’ve been searching for this book for years. I cannot remember all the details but the basics:
Farm kids during the great depression, I think a boy and a girl. They go exploring a cave nearby and pretend its their mansion. So they don’t get lost they use breadcrumbs but birds eat it. They decide to use string instead. A mystery of some sort is solved. I seem to recall mention of the Hobos that would come around looking for work, and their family took one in and fed him a meal. At the end of the book he left markings on their fence that was code for “friendly family” or something like that. Other details: I THINK they took a canary into the cave, there was something to do with the underground railroad, and ration books were mentioned.
I read this book when I was in 6th grade, possibly 1977/78. It was an old book at the time, hardbound with the old fabric book covering. I think it had illustrations but can’t quite remember–I read a LOT in those days. This book belonged to my mom who was born in 38–sadly its been long lost.
368P: Tina and the Tall Man
My friend remembers that the first book she read was called Tina And The Tall Man. She can’t remember anything else about it, and I’ve been unable to find that title on the internet. It might help to know that my friend is about 80 years old (born early 1940’s, I think, possibly late 1930’s) and was born and grew up in Newport News, Virginia (I think Newport News and her current location of Gloucester, Virginia are the only places she’s ever lived). For all I know, it might have been a regional publication. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
366X: Knocking over petrified Soviet soldiers
I’m looking for a British book written probably between 1946 and 1953. About a group of teenagers and a professor who escape world apocalypse by petrification in a balloon. They travel all over the petrified world and visit the USSR where they topple Stalin’s petrified soldiers like dominoes. I remember thinking the book to be very gory for a children’s book. My Mom read this book when she was a teenager and said the author was fairly well known in Britain at the time.
366L: The Mouse’s House by the Waterhole
I’m trying to find a children’s book my mother read me over 50 years ago.
I remember vividly.
The mouse tells all the animals at the waterhole:
There’s a creature in my house yelling and screaming and throwing the furniture out of the windows.
He says this to lions, tigers, giraffes. In the end, it turns out the creature is an owl that the jungle animals trumpet and roar at, and it flies out of the mouse’s house in the tree.
Then, the lions realize they are hungry, and the giraffes and zebras etc. run away before the lions and tigers can get them. The mouse returns to his house in the tree.
366C: Bear Gets Tail Caught, Loses Coat
A picture book, mid century American, 40s-60s possibly.
A man lives out in the woods, it’s winter. I believe there is something about pancakes. He has to go outside to do something, he takes out his winter coat which has been eaten by moths. At one point he runs into a bear, but his gun powder has gotten wet so it doesn’t work. He ends up tying the bears tail in a knot, which gets caught between trees and the bear is running so fast he jumps out of his skin. The man wears it as a coat and goes home to eat said pancakes.