Emily’s Comments (group member since Mar 31, 2010)

Emily’s comments from the What's the Name of That Book??? group.

We are trying to come up with the name of a children's book that my mom read as a young girl. It is about a boy who was a very picky eater. He refused to finish his dinner and eventually turned into a shadow. I don't know what year it was written, but my mom would have been reading it (or having it read to her) in the late 1940s/early 1950s.

No, not Fraggle Rock, but thank you!

Ayshe wrote: "If she does come back: The Gift of the Frost Fairy?"

Jumping back on my long-abandoned thread. Unfortunately, it is not The Gift of the Frost Fairy, although that looks like a sweet book! Still no luck with my book. I have a feeling it was kind of a dumb book. I think it may have had fairies, or pixies, maybe a little community of them, and they may have lived in the cave, or worked there. The memory is pretty vague!

It could probably go either way. I've seen it referred to as Rushdie's "children's story," and Amazon says it is for readers ages 9-12. I'm not so sure about that. Readers of that age would probably understand the plot lines and enjoy the overall narrative, but I think that there is a lot of subtext that is better appreciated by an older reader, closer to high school age. High school is still basically YA, though, so I think it makes sense to shelve it that way. Of course, it is enjoyable for anyone!

Happy to help!

I'm 99.9% sure the book you are thinking of is Haroun and the Sea of Stories, by Salman Rushdie. I read it years ago in high school and loved it. I love that it talks about the importance of storytelling and imagination.

There are a number of Raggedy Ann & Andy books, but the two main collections of stories are the originals, Raggedy Ann Stories and The Raggedy Andy Stories: The Very First Raggedy Andy Stories. I only have the first one, so I'm not sure if the story you are thinking of appears in the second. Raggedy Andy isn't a character in the "Raggedy Ann Stories" book.

I doubt this is what you are thinking of, but there is a story in the Raggedy Ann collection called "Raggedy Ann's New Sisters." There isn't any cloud jumping, but there is an illustration of another rag doll named Freddy being tossed around in the sea and air by fairies. I could see how in someone's memory it might resemble bouncing around on clouds.

Jessica, you are so right! Now I just have to see if it's still buried somewhere at my parents' house...

Thanks to both of you for the help!

Ugh! I went through most of the questions I have answered, and I haven't found anything. Now I am second guessing myself and thinking that the question I answered may have actually been about the The Know-It-All. My apologies if I have sent anyone on a fool's errand looking through my questions!

Still, I feel sure that I have heard of the other book before. I'll keep working on it...

Panky in the Saddle! That's it! Thank you so much!

Ok, I'm going to press my luck and go for one more long shot today.

This time I'm trying to find a children's book that I think I read when I was about 5 or 6 years old, which would have been in 1984-85. The only detail that I remember well is that the characters (fairies maybe?) lived in a sparkly cave. I think maybe the walls of the cave were made out of diamonds. I really can't pull any other details out of my memory bank. The only other thing I can say is that it was not a chapter book.

Hope this gets me somewhere! Thanks!

This is probably a long shot, since I don't have much information to go on, but I'm trying to come up with the name of a book I read in grade school, in the early to mid '80s.

The only thing I remember clearly is that the main girl and her friend start taking horseback riding lessons, and they have to wear jodhpurs. One of the girls (the protagonist, I think, although I could have the characters mixed up) is shorter and heavier and doesn't like how she looks in the pants. There is an illustration (a sketch, if I recall correctly) of the two girls in their riding outfits.

I don't remember much else about the book. Hopefully this will be enough to trigger someone's memory!

Oooo...this is driving me crazy! I think I know the book you're talking about. I've never read it, but I'm certain that I got a question about it in the Never-Ending Book Quiz a few weeks ago. Of course, now I can't remember the title, and I've had no luck with Google.

I'll let you know if I come up with it!

Thank you Jessica!!! That is exactly the book I was thinking of! This just made my day, and you definitely deserve a cookie!

Yes, Anne definitely wanted to wear pink, and she did accidentally dye her hair green, but that's not the book I'm looking for.

The one I'm trying to think of was set in the '80s. I think the girl's mom was a hair stylist, so she "borrowed" her mom's stuff to set up a little salon at home. She chopped off a blonde girl's long curls.

No, that's another one I'm very familiar with. What is it with me and the redheads? Thanks for trying!

Thanks for the suggestion, but I would definitely remember Anne. I pretty much thought I WAS Anne when I was little, even though I don't have red hair! The book I'm thinking of is more contemporary, probably written in the early to mid '80s.

Thanks though!

Miriam wrote: "I don't know! I've been trying to recall this chapter book I read as a kid about a girl who hated her red hair because the other kids teased her. I think she got called "carrot top" and "ginger" et..."

So we're in this together now! I'll let you know if I come up with anything. I've been trying all different keyword searches in Google, but nothing so far.

Miriam wrote: "Was there a scene where she found an autumn leaf that matched her hair?"

Hmmm...Now that you say that, I think maybe there was. I'm not sure, though, if that is a real memory or just some kind of psychological trick my mind is playing on me. What book were you thinking of?

Kate wrote: "I seem to recall one of the Ramona books having a scene where she was obsessed with a classmate's curly blonde hair and getting into trouble for pulling the curl, and possibly cutting it off. She ..."

I actually remember that Ramona book, but unfortunately it's not the one I'm looking for. I don't think this book was part of any series. I'm pretty sure I read it sometime around 1986-87, and it was probably relatively new at the time. I remember that the cover had a picture of the beauty parlor scene.

Thanks for the suggestion!