# Help me remember a book of short stories from my childhood.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-remember-a-book-of-short-stories-from-my-childhood/642169>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [November 26, 2012, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-remember-a-book-of-short-stories-from-my-childhood/642169 "2012-11-26T16:51:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-remember-a-book-of-short-stories-from-my-childhood/642169/1 "2012-11-26T16:51:43Z")

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When I was 5 or 6 years old – around 1974 – I loved reading a book that contained a number of short stories. It was very elementary stuff; I’m guessing the target age range was 5 to 8. There were lots of illustrations.

I’m sketchy on the details, but I recall one story was about a cat (or kitten?) that was kicked out of his home. He was wandering around one day, lonely and cold, when he saw some fish in a pond. He got his paw stuck in a fishing line, and the fisherman (it may have been a boy) pulled in the fish _and_ the cat. The fisherman took the cat home. The last illustration was the cat sitting in front of a warm fire inside the new owner’s home, and the cat was eating some of the fish that was just caught.

One of the other stories was about a family that went out on a lake in a rowboat. The boat started taking on water and sinking. It was later discovered someone had forgotten to install the plug in the drain hole.

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**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-remember-a-book-of-short-stories-from-my-childhood/642169/2 "2012-11-26T18:02:42Z")

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I don’t have your answer, I’m afraid, but those sound like the sort of shenanigans Richard Scarry might have gotten up to.

[Any of these look like the style of illustration as you recall it?](http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=richard+scary+characters&qs=IA&form=QBIR&pq=richard+scary&sc=8-13&sp=2&sk=IA1)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-remember-a-book-of-short-stories-from-my-childhood/642169/3 "2012-11-26T23:15:00Z")

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> [@kaylasdad99](#):
>
> I don’t have your answer, I’m afraid, but those sound like the sort of shenanigans Richard Scarry might have gotten up to.
> 
> [Any of these look like the style of illustration as you recall it?](http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=richard+scary+characters&qs=IA&form=QBIR&pq=richard+scary&sc=8-13&sp=2&sk=IA1)

Perhaps. I’ll do some searches on his works to see if I can come up with anything. Thanks.