Can you help identify this book?

I receive lots of emails from people searching for books based on fragments of information. Sometimes I recognise the book immediately, but more often than not I don’t have a clue. Searching through reference books and online often turns up the answer but not this time, I’m completely stumped, and I’m hoping you might be able to help.

Does this ring any bells?

Bright red and orange nasturtiums growing over the roof of a cottage are mistaken for a fire. Nearby villagers call the local fire brigade to put out the flames.

This didn’t mean anything to me, so I visited the BookSlueth forum on ABE books, and one of the lovely people there came up with this; 

Patty Wolcott, The Forest Fire, (1974). An Addisonian Press book, published by Addison-Wesley in 1974, this story tells the tale of some forest animals who mistake some bright flowers for a fire.

But that doesn’t sound quite right - so do you have any other ideas? 

I get numerous requests from people looking for titles of long lost books. I’m always happy to help and often recognise the book – but not always. That’s when this website is useful Whats the name of that book.com. It’s an excellent resource where you post a vague description of the book and get lots of people trying to come up with the title. The people that use the forum have a wealth of knowledge, and usually someone knows something! Loganberry Books have a stump the bookseller section that is always fun to visit.  BookFinder.com is also worth a try, put a brief description in the keyword search and see what comes up – you might just be lucky.  

Juliet in the field of Nasturtiums; picture from Pinterest

Just as I finished putting this post together I was asked to help find another book. And what do you know – this one has me stumped too!

Does this mean anything to you? Hardback book without dust jacket approximately the same size as a Ladybird book (four-and-a-half by seven inches/11.5cm by 18cm). Published around 1959 -1962. The story is about a Cherry Fairy. At night, the cherries are sour but in the morning, they are sweet and juicy.  I think it's going to be quite difficult to find because all searches with fairies and fruit inevitably point to Cicely Mary Barker or Margret Tarrant, but the person looking for the book is certain it's not by either of them.

Thanks for calling in. Please leave a comment if you have an idea about either of these books, or if you know of other great places to search, or if you just want to get something of your chest! All comments appreciated. Barbara

GREAT NEWS

The wonderful Michelle from Vintage Cobweb recognised the nasturtium story and came up with the title and the series, thank you Michelle you’re good at this! Thanks are also due to Kylie from Lucy Violet Vintage for pointing out that the story was in a school reader probably published in the 70s, and for reminding me that the nasturtiums were growing in a pair of boots. The person looking for the book did tell me that, but I didn't jot it down and had forgotten all about it. Thank you both very much.

In case you’ve not read the comments the nasturtiums story is from the school reader, Dick and Dora, happy venture books. I’ve passed the information on together with a link to ABE books where there are a few copies for sale. So I think we can mark that one as solved!

Update October, 2014 

Michelle from Vintage Cobweb kindly suggested the story was in one of the Dick and Dora Happy Venture Playbooks.  These were a series of primary school reading books, very much like the Janet and John, Peter and Jane, or Topsy and Tim series. The problem is I still don’t know which of the Dick and Dora books the story is in.  I’ve contacted several booksellers who have them for sale but so far none have had the time to look to see if the story is in the books they have.

Since this post was published it’s also been suggested the story could be in one of a series of books by Fred J. Schonell co-written with Phyllis Flowerdew, which might have been for the American market. They were called Wide Range Readers as opposed to the Happy Venture Readers. One of the stories is about the man who grew nasturtiums in his boots that subsequently covered his entire house. 

Another lady emailed to say she thinks the story is called The Nasturtiums which grew too big for their boots.

I also received a very nice email from Eleanor, who would like to add that despite not knowing the title or author, she remembers reading the book in primary school, and as she is in her sixties, it must have been published before the 1970s. 

MORE NEWS

Susan, the lady looking for the Cherry Fairy has provided some more information and is happy for me to share it here;

The Cherry Fairy paints the cherries overnight, so that is how they ripen... It was a real page-turner!!  As I turned the page, there they were all rich dark cherry colour!   I remember noticing the reflections in the images (seeming white marks on the dark cherry). Example image attached.  As I draw and paint, I realise that I was able to see in an artists way at that time, just naturally.

Style-wise it was very 1950s; rather like the book you reviewed recently “The Impatient Horse” – that had the feel of The Cherry Fairy book.That is why I probably thought it wasn’t a Ladybird book, yet as we had those, it may well have been, before they became so branded. It will probably end up being more like “What fun – an Invitation to a party”!It was most definitely that illustration style/time.

Update October 2015; The Nasturtiums that were too proud for their boots.

I’m very grateful to Frank for sending the following information and scans.

The Nasturtiums that were too proud for their boots comes from The Happy Venture Readers - Book 4 written by Fred Schonell and illustrated by Kiddell-Monroe. First Published in 1959.   Frank still has many of the books he read at school, and remembers reading this one in 1969. He is kindly sharing the images here in the hope they will bring back memories for other people. 

I do love a happy ending, and I am thrilled to be able to share this with readers of my blog. Thanks Frank!

Thanks as always for any help/comments.
Barbara