This one has been driving me nuts for years, and I'm going to turn to the hive mind. When I was a kid, around 10 or 11 (making it around 1992-1993), I got a book that was something akin to the Babysitters' Club books: targeted at young girls, about a group of young girls all doing something together. The first of a potential series, although I don't know if I read any more. I remember very few details of this book other than the fact that it was mentioned that the main character/narrator's mother had had A LOBOTOMY. She had been depressed or had some other mental problem before, so she had a voluntary lobotomy and was now fun and freewheeling and wore cowboy hats in the kitchen. This wasn't an important plot point, just a throwaway character detail. If anyone has any memory or clue to what this book or book series could have been, I'd be thrilled. I'd just like to know that I'm not just making it up, for one thing.
posted by whitneyarner on May 11, 2013 - 8 answers

I'm looking for a book meant for small children, probably around age 6, about adoption. The cover pictures a white couple with two adopted (non-caucasian, I think, probably of different races) children. It would have been available at least in 1987-1990 (kind of fuzzy on the year) in New Jersey or thereabouts, USA. It was an English language book. [more inside]
posted by two lights above the sea on Mar 14, 2013 - 7 answers

Asking for a friend: "I read a book when I was very young, a fantasy story for kids, that featured a character called Airy Bear, who would inflate himself and thus leap and bounce about. I cannot remember the name of this book and I really, *REALLY* want to know what it is. Help? The internet (or at least my search-term-crafting-fu) is failing me."
posted by kilo hertz on Oct 29, 2012 - 4 answers

A lost book about a lost girl and a horse and a blizzard...remembered from childhood. [more inside]
posted by Grandysaur on Jul 20, 2012 - 2 answers

Children's novel: Protagonist is the son of deceased missionaries, retaining only a comforter and a photograph. He lives with an aunt and uncle, and the plot concerns his reintegration into non-missionary society. Setting is an island in New England, and there are scenes of driving on the ice in the winter to get to the mainland. [more inside]
posted by longtime_lurker on Mar 20, 2012 - 0 answers

Help us identify an illustrated children's book involving people on a ship, the invention of pretzels, and piranhas - probably from the late 70s or early 80s. [more inside]
posted by lunasol on Feb 10, 2012 - 2 answers

What was this children's book--not The Phantom Tollbooth--about a game based on puns, spoonerisms, and other word games? [more inside]
posted by johnofjack on Dec 22, 2011 - 6 answers

Another children's book question. I have been trying to find this for years. Read it in the 80s. It took place in NYC. For the kid's birthday party, he decided to invite everyone in the phone book who has the same name as him. One of the guests was elderly, and they made sure to make him kasha varnishkes. Thank you!
posted by frescaanddietcoke on Oct 25, 2011 - 3 answers

Name-that-children's-book-filter: I read it probably in the early '90s, and all I remember is the protagonist used a computer keyboard to do things, e.g., pressing the "escape" key to escape a dangerous situation. [more inside]
posted by bah213 on Jul 18, 2011 - 5 answers

Where can I purchase the children's book "Bear on a Bike" today in Cambridge/Arlington/Watertown, Massachusetts? [more inside]
posted by Mayor Curley on Mar 6, 2011 - 7 answers

My (now deceased) grandmother wrote me a book, and I think it would appeal to parents and other children. What do I need to do to see if I can get it published? [more inside]
posted by juniperesque on Sep 14, 2010 - 6 answers

So, I have to illustrate a book. I've never done this before. I've illustrated before, but not in this professional a capacity, and I'm a little nervous about it. I have nightmares (literally) about using the wrong sort of paper or of the final product looking like nothing I sent in. Those of you who have illustrated professionally before - what can you tell me? What medium do you prefer to use? How do you make the most efficient use of your time? Are there any books on the subject you can recommend? Etc. [more inside]
posted by katillathehun on Aug 18, 2010 - 5 answers

What is this book? For kids, about a scientist's assistant who breaks into the lab safe one night and finds potions that he feeds to the lab rat. Hilarity and mayhem ensues. [more inside]
posted by phunniemee on Dec 7, 2009 - 1 answer

What was this children's book I had in the 1980s that contained large pictures of woodland animals engaged in battle scenes, using military equipment such as cannons that fired acorns? [more inside]
posted by EndsOfInvention on Nov 2, 2009 - 4 answers

Name this Children's book! I had this book as a child, and I would like to find it again both for myself and my own child's library. I only remember the vaguest details: 1) it focused on a band of characters traveling somewhere, 2) each character had a particular power or unique ability, 3) I think one of the guys had the ability to conjour bees or wasps (he may have even dressed as one), 4) the leader resembled Errol Flynn's Robin Hood, 5) at one point they went into a huge cave with lots of steps and paths, 6) one of the characters may have been able to shoot fire. That's all I remember. Any guesses?
posted by bjork24 on Oct 13, 2009 - 4 answers

What is the name of this children's novel that includes time travel, Ben Franklin, some kids and a professor, and two versions of the same character, one of which is from several days in the future? [more inside]
posted by Tin Man on Mar 28, 2009 - 12 answers

I'm looking for a couple of picture books I loved as a kid, in the late eighties. Unfortunately, the only thing I have to go on is really vivid memories of the pictures. [more inside]
posted by anderjen on Mar 9, 2009 - 3 answers

Trying to remember the name of a Young Adult or children's series about guardian angels. [more inside]
posted by acidic on Jan 31, 2009 - 1 answer

Please help me help a friend find a children's book. It involves a little person who lives in the freezer compartment in the supermarket. [more inside]
posted by snarfois on Dec 15, 2008 - 6 answers

Help me identify this UK children's book about a sea monster kept in a house! It's not The Water Horse! [more inside]
posted by subbes on Dec 28, 2007 - 10 answers

I'm hunting down an Easter themed children's book for a friend... [more inside]
posted by tomble on Oct 21, 2007 - 5 answers

Help Me Remember This Book! version 100457: I have a visual memory of a picture book that I came across in elementary school (mid 90s) which featured a distinct sketchy, inked, scribbly style of illustration to accompany some really gruesome, horrifying stories. [more inside]
posted by dorothy humbird on Sep 24, 2007 - 9 answers

I'm trying to remember the name of a children's book I read when I was younger. I think it was about a guy who had his own names for everything (including fire), then one day his house caught fire and his daughter (or servant?) couldn't tell him, because she couldn't remember the word. [more inside]
posted by mrnutty on Sep 6, 2007 - 7 answers

Help me figure out the name of this book! [more inside]
posted by lilybeane on Jan 12, 2007 - 12 answers

I'm trying to find the titles of a couple of books I read as a child, and both happen to be set around Christmas. [more inside]
posted by srah on Oct 24, 2006 - 6 answers

Looking for a children's book. [more inside]
posted by sellout on Jun 7, 2006 - 3 answers