Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with books and childrensbooks

Oldschool kids' history.

cmyk — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 07:34:14 -0800

Long-lost childhood books: a history book printed after one of the World Wars. I don't know the title or author, but I'll tell you everything I remember. Hivemind, please help me find it! The book was six or eight inches tall, about two inches thick. It was a red canvas hardcover. It probably had a dustjacket originally, but mine had long since lost that. I think the page edges were also dyed red, but I'm not sure. No bookmark-ribbon, that I recall.

It was a Eurocentric and kid-friendly view of world history, starting with cavemen and going all the way up to one, if not both, of the World Wars. It spent time in the Fertile Crescent, went through Greece and Rome, Dark Ages, Renaissance, discovery of the Americas, the Hundred Years' War, all of that. It wasn't a textbook, it was just a sort of historical... reader, or primer. It was made to be read for fun.

Each chapter covered a specific event, or period in time. They started and/or ended with little rhyming couplets and bits of doggerel that were about the events in the chapter. There were also little black-and-white line drawings (not plates, just printed into the body text) of a man in each chapter. He had a name, I think, and as you read through history, you'd see the little cartoon guy in different clothes, or in important places, things like that.

The last chapter focused on what sorts of things might be found in the future. It was well before the 1950s space obsession, so it wasn't going on about hovercars and jet backpacks.

One distinct thing I do remember: towards the end of the book, when it got into "recent" history, it made mention of some kind of vaccination scar - polio, I think, or maybe smallpox - that, "if you look on your arm, you'll see it." I remember this because I didn't have one, but my grandmother did, just like the book described it.

I realize this is a longshot, but any clues would help. I've been wondering about this for years.

Inspiring works of non-fiction for children

kmennie — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:38:42 -0800

I am looking for outstanding non-fiction books for younger children. Maybe you remember a volume that really sparked your interest in a topic? Is there an Art (etc) '101' book you enjoy paging through with your kid? I am trying to avoid the jumbled stock photography and pandering, sometimes inaccurate text that seems to pervade the genre. There must be some inspirational stuff out there, but sorting through the chaff is difficult...

I am particularly eager to find good books on art and music with enough illustrations to be engaging for a preschooler, but I am also looking to build a solid library for my daughter and want to track down the best intro-to-X or Children's X or Illustrated X books out there. I want something you'd want to read over and over and which would send you to the library for more on the topic, not something you'd bin after the book report.

Tips on books not necessarily for children but which would work well for same welcomed, too.

(I read the Childcraft encyclopedia thread with interest, and am interested in encyclopedia commentary as well)

I'm hunting for monsters...

Kabanos — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:31:25 -0800

Help me find the title of this children's book about a boy building a cage/trap for a monster. I'm trying to find an illustrated children's book that I enjoyed in the early '80s. I don't know if it was published in the US, or only in Canada.

It's about a young boy who sets out into the woods to catch a monster (or dragon?). His friend, or brother, tags along. They start by building a small wooden cage (trap?) for the monster, but keep adding larger and larger extensions onto it as they discuss the probable size of the monster's legs, neck, wings, horns, etc. The resulting wooden cage is enormous – the size of a house. In the end, however, they only catch a rabbit.

Help me out!

What is this book?

kumonoi — Fri, 08 May 2009 15:28:54 -0800

Please help me identify this comical children's adventure story book from the 80s... From what I remember, the plot featured 2 boys who leave their house through the bedroom window and travel in baskets on some kind of pulley system to a sort of fantasy world (or at least to somewhere that they've never heard of before). When they leave they are wearing dressing gowns and wellington boots into which they have stuffed sausage rolls, which they use as bait to distract some birds which attack them as they're travelling in the baskets. IIRC the birds are called Scissor Birds or Razor Birds or something.

The only other details I can recall are even more vague. Possibly the boys are searching for a golden cactus (or maybe just a cactus or maybe no cactus at all, but i'm pretty certain one features in the plot somewhere).
I think they meet a character from either legend (e.g. Robin Hood) or from another children's book (Captain Hook rings some bells), but it might just be they meet a characrter like that, rather than the character themselves. Either they get captured and escape using a key that they made by making a mold for it out of chewing gum, or they steal something (maybe the cactus) using that key.

Finally, I think the title may contain the word(s) "Adventure"/"Adventures" and/or "Captain". It was published in the 1980s I reckon. I think it may have been published by Corgi, the cover was white with a coloured, cartoonish picture on the front which I think featured some people trying to jump over a crocodile. I have it stuck in my head that the author's surname was Bushell, pretty certain it was a male author and I would have said that he was from the UK or maybe Australia. It seemed like the book might be part of a series but I never actually read any others if they were published.

I know this is a long shot but this has been bugging me for years!

Picture Books For A Super-Smart Kid

yankeefog — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 07:34:58 -0800

What are the cleverest, wittiest picture books you know? I'm looking for something you might recommend to a very smart kid who is still young enough to prefer picture books to chapter books. Another way of putting is, I'm looking for the picture book equivalent of McSweeney's. (I should mention that I know that McSweeney's actually does publishe some kids' books -- those are already on my list!)

Reincarnation for Kiddos

grapefruitmoon — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 13:36:04 -0800

Books from Childhood Filter: What was the name of the book about reincarnation that I had as a kid? (Yes, I had hippie parents and was raised as a Buddhist. No, I am not hallucinating the existence of this book.)

Details I remember: The main character in the story (picture book) was a child who chose his parents and then grew up, died, and chose a new life as a girl at the end of the book. The child/ren liked kites. The art was really beautiful. That's about it, pretty vague, I know - but I figure there can't be *too many* books focusing on reincarnation marketed for Western children.

BookFilter: Children's book about Imperial Roman agent in Iron Age Scotland?

seasparrow — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:16:08 -0800

Trying to find the name of a book I read as a kid. A Roman Legion soldier was sent north past Hadrian's Wall into the wilds of Scotland on an espionage mission to pacify the local Celtic/Pictish(?) tribes. He was mistaken for a figure from legend, and ended up having great influence over the tribes. Spoiler for the ending after the jump. I think this was a "Young Adult" type book, but the story stays with me. It keeps resurfacing in my mind, and I need some help tracking this title down so I can read it again. The soldier ended up sacrificing his own life in a way that satisfied both the Celtic shamans and the Roman Legions and prevented a devastating war. Any help is always appreciated from the great AskMefi community!

Is there a name for this style of art?

johnofjack — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:16:29 -0800

Is there a name for Satoshi Kitamura's art style in Creepy Crawly Song Book? Recently I found the Creepy Crawly Song Book at the library and really like the artwork (cover, page inside) : simple, deliberately crude with distorted angles, thick lines, and bold colors.

It reminds me a bit of Eric Carle's work (especially The Very Hungry Caterpillar), except Carle is less interested in strong black lines and much more interested in blending colors.

Is there a formal name for this style of artwork? I find people online calling it folksy, naive, bold, etc. but I'd like to know if there's actually a recognized movement it would be put into (with, naturally, similar artists to look into).

Sci-Fi easy readers?

Janta — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 13:46:32 -0800

Book-rec-filter time! Looking for sci-fi themed books for a young child. Can you suggest any? My son, who is not quite 5, is hugely interested in space, rockets, the planets, robots, etc. He's also just becoming comfortable with reading to himself. I'm looking for picture books and/or easy readers that have a scientific or sci-fi feel to them; do any of you have recommendations to share? Fiction or non-fiction -- he loves both.

Know of a book that deals with continuity and change through 1-2 family generations?

HotPatatta — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 16:56:25 -0800

Lotsa book recommendations please. Know of any good children's books (2nd grade level) that deal with family history? I'm also looking for books that compare and/or contrast daily life today with how a child's parent or grandparent lived. I'm teaching a social studies unit to second graders and I'd like to read them some books and bring some for them to read.

Are there books such about a grandparent or parent telling their kid about what life was like in the good old days? Or how the family came to live here (immigration, internal migration, etc.)? Or where the family name came from? What about a parent or grandparent sitting down with the child and going through old family keepsakes and photos to tell the family story?

If you can give the title and a short description that would be great.

Children's book about a flying ship?

drycleanonly — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 19:56:59 -0800

Does anyone know of a kid's book about Admiral Benbow and a flying ship? My boyfriend is trying sleuth-out the title of a children's book vaguely remembered from the early- to mid- eighties (though it could have been written before then). What he remembers:

- It was centered around the character of an Admiral Benbow, who got very red or purple when he was angry
- There was a flying ship
- It was probably 200-300 pages long
- There may have been something about chewing gum, or possibly a pipe that someone chewed on
- "Flying" may have been somewhere in the title

Any ideas? I'm googled-out.

Help me find a book from my childhood

dejah420 — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 20:56:12 -0800

Trying to find a children's series, but I can't remember the titles or the protagonist's name. I can remember salient details however... The story (it was a series...although I only remember reading two of them) was from the perspective of a young girl. I remember her talking about how her spoon stood up in her oatmeal like a palm tree. She had a pet hedgehog. Her mother was always in the kitchen putting up jams and jellies. Prickly Pears played a part...but I don't remember why.

In the first book she went chasing rainbows with her father. In the second, she had to find her dad, who was living in a mirage, and to get there she had to ride the train to the end of the tracks, then use a magic tea cozy to jump off a cliff....

I'm almost positive they were written by a British author.

You'd think that would be enough to find it via google...but no. I'd really like to find the books again. Does anyone have any idea what they might be?

Looking for a specific children's book

comfortinsound — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 19:10:27 -0800

i am looking for a children's book that my friend read when she was in elementary school (5-10 years ago.) the book is about a boy and a girl who go on an adventure through a magical world and save the people from a monster. then, the girl dies, and the boy has to boil her in a pot to bring her back to life. my friend and i are despretely searching for this book. she can remember a lot of its details: the main character lives a normal life until creatures come out from behind his stove and tell him that he needs to go on a mission in his (dead, i think) father's place. he and his friend encounter all of these magical beings, but then she dies. he somehow knows that he needs to climb up this mountain using her bones, sort of like icepicks, and then he defeats a horrible monster and saves the people. then he boils her dead body in a pot to bring her back to life.
i know the plot sounds strange, but i have been helping my friend look for this book for a long time, and any information you have about it would be much appriciated.

anti-copyright children's books?

deep_sea_diving_suit — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 09:37:58 -0800

Do you know of any children's books that are not copyright protected? They don't necessarily need to have political connotations, but I presume some would (copyrights are a touchy subject, as it goes). They can be of any content and/or styling, the only stipulation is that they need to be targeted at younger children (ten or under) and not copyright protected.

Orange marmalade and an adult who doesn't care.

Tuwa — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 11:43:37 -0800

What is this children's book I read twenty years ago? Basic plot and scant specifics inside. The story had to do with two children--brother and sister, if I remember right--living with a somewhat cantankerous older man (a grandfather? an uncle?). They'd tell him stories and he'd always respond with the same dismissive/indifferent statement. Then one night he had a crazy dream and in the morning he wanted to tell them about it. They listened to it and then zinged him with the same statement he was always giving them.

For his breakfast he liked orange marmalade on toast, and he (or the children?) at some point rode a giant paper airplane. If it was the children on it, then they were always telling him about their dreams, or their lives were more eventful than I remembered.

And that's all I can remember about it.

Various searches aren't turning up much, probably because that's not much to go on. Does anyone remember this book?

Kids' book about weird creatures

londonmark — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 09:10:32 -0800

Does anyone remember a kids' book about two warring breeds of creatures? They had weird names, like worryworts and gimbles or something like that. The book was eponymous. One of the breeds was incredibly cute, peaceful and kind. The other was evil, ugly and malicious. It schemed continually to capture the cuties, but I can't for the life of me think why (not for food; it wasn't that kind of book). I think water made the ugly creatures shrink. Please help because it's driving me mad!

What was the children's sci-fi book about long-legged TV creatures?

kingfisher, his musclebound cat — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 06:58:54 -0800

I read a children's / adults book several times as a kid, but remember almost nothing. Here are the only clues. It was science-fiction. A young boy had some involvement with television-like creatures on spindly legs, perhaps they were three-legged. I think the boy found them within a tree where they were either constructing a base or hiding. The book was illustrated in black and white line drawings. Any ideas?

Children's Books Illustrated by Photos of Dolls Acting Out Story

fabesfaves — Wed, 16 Feb 2005 11:26:26 -0800

Need to know the author of some pretty well known children's books...(+) The books are illustrated with photographs of dolls acting out the stories--sometimes dolls with teddybears. The pictures are pretty creepy, but I loved these books as a child. I know the books are worth a lot of money nowdays, but I need to know the author and/or titles!

Children's Books

omphale27 — Fri, 31 Dec 2004 11:20:15 -0800

AnotherLostChildren'sBookFilter

I am looking for two children's books by the same author. One is about a carved wooden indian in a canoe that makes an amazing journey. The other is about a hermit crab as it makes its way through various new shells. My 3rd grade teacher read them to us, and I loved them, but I can't remember anything useful like author or title. Thanks!

Kid's Book Highlighting Moms

smcniven — Thu, 16 Dec 2004 17:02:03 -0800

Children's Books: Earlier this year, my wife bought our toddler this book. Our son (22 months) loves this book right now and is alway getting one of us to read it to him.

Now my wife is feeling a twinge of jealousy over him being a such a daddy's boy. As her birthday is coming up, I'd like to find a similar book geared towards mothers. Any suggestions?

Educating my nieces and nephews on India?

arco — Fri, 10 Dec 2004 09:44:47 -0800

My wife went to India for work a few months ago and brought back some neat little trinkets--marble elephants, jewelry, etc--to give to my nieces and nephews (aged 7 to 12) for Christmas. I'd like to include a book, movie, or other gift to give them an idea of India's history and culture. (My nieces and nephews live in small towns, and I hope this can expand their horizons a bit.) Aside from Kipling, can you suggest any specific authors or age-appropriate titles I should consider?