Since both Google and Amazon have failed me, I thought I’d better take my quest to the ultimate source of all knowledge. That is, of course, the SDMB.
My problem is this: Many, many years ago (mid 80’s) a big box of books was lost during a move. In it was one of my favorite collections of children’s short stories. For some reason lately I’ve really been wanting to reread those stories and have been unable to find another copy of that book. Mainly because my faulty memory has lost the title of said book over the years. :o At this point I can only remember the synopsizes of two of the stories…
So, has anyone read the following two stories? And do you remember the name of a book that they were both in?
#1
A tale of a dragon who loves ice cream but can’t eat any because it always puts his fire out. Kids help him try out different flavors and a friendly ice cream man comes up with “hot” ice cream flavors just for the dragon. The dragon gets to have his ice cream and fire breath too.
#2
A dragon is captured by a small village and the villagers feed it nothing but bread and cream. The dragon, while enjoying the bread and cream, seems to shrink in size. His scales fall off leaving soft fur behind. He becomes the first cat and the reader is gently admonished to never feed a cat raw meat lest he become a dragon again.
Any help, comments, speculation is appreaciated. I loved these stories as a kid and would like to have them on hand to read to my own child someday.
People send the used book seller who runs the site queries about dimly remembered children’s books. Often she knows the answer. If not, she posts them, and she has a host of librarians, children’s book lovers, and know-it-alls who come to the site and try to solve them.
It’s not free, but it’s only two dollars (less than half a subscription to the SDMB), and she has a 62 percent success rate, which doesn’t sound too impressive until you see the extreme vagueness of some of the queries.
That’s too bad, Tally-Ho. Based on the short description, I thought it would be what you are looking for. Perhaps the book is a reprint?
Anyway, when I was searching for a lost childhood book, I emailed the kind folks at Books of Wonder in New York City. The woman could not help me with the book, but they were very nice about it. They are a very good source. www.booksofwonder.net.
Even though the woman could not help me identify the book, she suggested that I try the New York Public Library’s database. You can do an online search. That’s where I ultimately discovered my book - the title jumped out at me.