# How do I find this old children's book?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-this-old-childrens-book/502336
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [July 8, 2009, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-this-old-childrens-book/502336 "2009-07-08T15:13:07Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2009, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-this-old-childrens-book/502336/1 "2009-07-08T15:13:07Z")
I’m posting here rather than GQ, hoping that the indigenous population of this part of the SDMB might have special insight into the question. Many MANY years ago, maybe around 1946, I had a children’s book that I dearly loved. I would love to see it again, but I have no idea of the name. The only thing I can remember about it was that it had pictures (drawings) of a man standing on the back of a whale. Maybe a far picture on the horizon, and a closer picture. He may have had a sort of large belly, maybe a queue for hair. Maybe striped shirt. I don’t remember any of the words, if, indeed, there were any. Maybe they were in French? How do I search for this book? Any ideas? Thanks, Dopers. xo, C.
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### Author:  [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2009, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-this-old-childrens-book/502336/2 "2009-07-08T16:23:33Z")
Once upon a time there were five Chinese Brothers and they all looked exactly alike. They lived with their mother in a little house not far from the sea.
The first Chinese brother could swallow the sea.
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### Author:  [@Surok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surok)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2009, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-this-old-childrens-book/502336/3 "2009-07-08T16:28:40Z")
I have no idea, but you could try asking over at “[What’s The Name of That Book???](http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/185.What_s_The_Name_of_That_Book_)” on [goodreads](http://www.goodreads.com/).
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### Author:  [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2009, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-this-old-childrens-book/502336/4 "2009-07-08T20:02:41Z")
Was the man wearing a pair of suspenders (which you must not forget, Best Beloved)? Maybe it was Kipling’s _Just So Stories_, and the illustration was from “How the Whale got his Throat”.
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### Author:  [@MisterThyristor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MisterThyristor)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2009, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-this-old-childrens-book/502336/5 "2009-07-09T04:33:03Z")
Another good place to ask arouind would be Loganberry Books _Stump the Bookseller_ – they specialize in hard-to-find childrens’ books, and that particular section of their webpage concentrates on books that you can only remember a few things about. For example, about when it was published, what the cover illustration was, the names of some of the characters, a brief plot summary, etc.
I’ve found a few books this way when the board here wasn’t much help, and I and others have recommended them in similar threads.
Webpage [here.](http://www.loganberrybooks.com/stump.html)