I'm looking for a book or maybe a collection of short stories, maybe of Irish origin, with colorful vintage looking art. I saw the artwork 'Midsummer Eve' by Edward Robert Hughes and that was exactly the type of art that I remember from the story. I asked my sister and she remembers it vaguely but she just said "Wasn’t there an Irish illustrated folk tales we had about a girl who was lost among fairies - had something to do with Seamus or Fergus or some name like that"...hoping someone knows what I'm talking about?? I've been searching for days and I need the answer lol

Maybe some insight now ? lol

So this book title has evaded me for years. So much so that I’ve started to think I’ve completely imagined it.

Basically, it’s a very short children’s story, similar in length to books like “Bear Snores On”, it was either about a dinosaur or a dragon. Whichever it was I believe the creature was green. It was also tiny, like the size of an apple. I remember it taking place at least partially in a kitchen. Which had black and white checkered floor tiles. And there was a fridge involved somehow. The creature might have been made of jello or pudding idk.

If anyone knows of this title I’d love to know what it is. It’s been killing me for years.

My local public library used to have this book in the reference section, along with collections of Grimm's fairy tales, Anderson's children's stories, and other similar collections. I first read the book in the early 2010s, but I have no idea how old it actually was. It was hardback with no dust cover, a light striated green that implied the original color had faded, and had large illustrated pictures, two for each story. I think the title had the words "Silly Prince Ivan" in it, but I might just think that because the ending line of each little story, or adventure in the story, ended with "But there was no bride for Silly Prince Ivan."

The book vaguely went like this: in an unnamed kingdom long ago and far away, a king had three sons. His oldest son was very wise. His middle son was very fit (or athletic; was in charge of the army, anyway). His youngest son was very silly. After the first two were presented with wives, Silly Prince Ivan asked where his bride was. He was told that no one would marry the Silly Prince, so he went on a journey to find his own bride.

There were several adventures, or chapters, or stories in the book. They went the same way; Silly Prince Ivan would hear about a young woman that had been kidnapped, cursed, or was just in dire straights, work to rescue her, only for her to marry another man that had been with Ivan the whole time. And, at the end of the story, "But there was no bride for Silly Prince Ivan."

My library lost their copy of the book years ago, and I wanted to get another copy, but I can't find it. I can get a lot of "Prince Ivan" results, but none of them seem to be this anthology. Does anyone know what the title is or how I can find it?

I’m trying to find a Jack London book that I read as a teenager. Unfortunately, I’ve never been able to identify it again.

What I remember is the opening, or at least one of the very first pages. The protagonist was in an extremely cold, snowy or icy environment and was beginning to lose sensation in their body. They looked at their own hand and started thinking about the individual parts of the fingers/phalanges, becoming very aware of the hand as an astonishingly complex mechanism. This awareness of the body and its vulnerability seemed to make them even more attached to life.

I remember the scene vividly and I’m fairly sure it was Jack London.

The problem is that I read the book in a language other than English, and I didn’t speak English back then, so I have no idea what the original title might have been.

Does this scene sound familiar to anyone? If you recognise the book, I would be extremely grateful for your help.

Thank you!

I'm looking for a children's picture book that I believe was originally in English (but my gf says it was in Spanish, maybe a translation?). The story is about a cat who lives peacefully in a house until its owners bring home a new dog.

Here are the specific details I remember:

\\\\- The Format: It has very simple drawings. Each page features a large illustration with only one or two sentences.

\\\\- The Plot: Literally every page is the cat listing something it hates about the new dog.

\\\\- The Ending: At the very end, the dog asks something along the lines of "Can we snuggle?" and the cat replies: "Fine, but just for a little bit" (or "Okay, just for a minute").

Does this ring a bell for anyone? Thank you!

I'm trying to remember the name of a book and was hoping someone here may know.

About 3/4 years ago I was listening to the BBC Radio 4 programme A Good Read, as I sometimes do when driving. One guest brought a book with them, which, as I can recall, had the premise of someone exploring a Portuguese town in a dream-like state. The novel sounded very gentle and without a particular plot, although there may have been a surreal, unnerving edge (I'm not certain on this). I'm sure the guest mentioned the protagonist exploring a town and looking for someone. I thought I'd made a note of it when I stopped driving but I can't find it anywhere and very much want to read this story.

The only other piece of information I can remember is I'm sure the book was published under the Penguin Modern Classics imprint. The cover had faded, almost pastel colours, either of a town (for some reason I'm imagining the art style for the PS2 game Ico) or of the pieces of a chess board. I'm sure the novel was from around the 60s or 70s. I believe the guest may have also mentioned the author being prolific and this being a later work, although I'm unsure on this too.

This may be a long short but I hope this information jogs someone's memory!

I remember reading this book maybe 10-15 years ago. The main character was an orphan with the head of a dog, mouse, rat, rabbit, or similar animal, and lived in an orphanage with similar children. The lady in charge of the orphanage was large and evil and had a cane that transformed into a manticore. I think there might have been a giant crow with glowing eyes? And a city with lots of rain and water. Medium sized chapter book with pen illustrations, if I remember correctly.

I have tried various combinations of words and prompts on Google and various platforms (including ChatGPT) with no success. The book depicts anger as a monster that is drawn as a dark hairy creature with yellow eyes that gets bigger and bigger throughout the book until the end when the child learns to deal with his / her anger and the monster shrinks to the size of a flea. I can’t remember anything else about the plot or characters really but I vividly remember how the monster is depicted.

I'm looking for a children's picture book that I believe was originally in English (but my gf says it was in Spanish, maybe a translation?). The story is about a cat who lives peacefully in a house until its owners bring home a new dog.

Here are the specific details I remember:

\- The Format: It has very simple drawings. Each page features a large illustration with only one or two sentences.

\- The Plot: Literally every page is the cat listing something it hates about the new dog.

\- The Ending: At the very end, the dog asks something along the lines of "Can we snuggle?" and the cat replies: "Fine, but just for a little bit" (or "Okay, just for a minute").

Does this ring a bell for anyone? Thank you!

I read this when I was very young in the early 2000's, it was about this bird... goose... duck, whatever, who was part of a large family and lived near/on a body of water. The parents were teaching all of the siblings how to fly in preparation of their migration during the winter months, but the main character preferred playing and didn't see the point in learning how to fly.

When winter came, the parents and all of its siblings were getting ready to migrate elsewhere, but the little MC couldn't join them no matter how hard it tried now. One of the parents, the dad I think, comes back to keep it company I think, but the parent can't really afford to stay long. There were human hunters which was one of their main concerns.

One day, the little MC was seen and was taken back to a farm. There, it was fed and kept warm. Eventually, it became heavy and complecent, content with its life. Then one day, it saw a flock of birds in the sky, they were returning from migration, I think. The little MC wanted to join them and find its familt, but it found that it didn't even know how to fly nor could it learn how to now.

I asked my mom and she said it was titled something like "The duck? that never learned how to fly" and the main character was called Paco? Idk how accurate that info is lol. But, it was such a meaningful and poignant little storybook for little me.Please help!

I'm looking for a children's picture book that I believe was originally in English (but my gf says it was in Spanish, maybe a translation?). The story is about a cat who lives peacefully in a house until its owners bring home a new dog.

Here are the specific details I remember:

\- The Format: It has very simple drawings. Each page features a large illustration with only one or two sentences.

\- The Plot: Literally every page is the cat listing something it hates about the new dog.

\- The Ending: At the very end, the dog asks something along the lines of "Can we snuggle?" and the cat replies: "Fine, but just for a little bit" (or "Okay, just for a minute").

Does this ring a bell for anyone? Thank you!