Radio Lady: Searching for 1946 book: "The Lion's Paw" by Robb White -- Greetings from Sanibel Island

[Radio_Lady]

Our only wedding picture from 1973 -- those kids are almost in their 40s now!

Florida is everything it's meant to be -- a place of rest and relaxation -- and finding shells!
We're walking the white sands of glorious Sanibel Island. The island seems to have completely recovered from the hurricane that devastated it a few years ago.

This beautiful place reminded me of a book I read as a child in Miami. It was called "The Lion's Paw" and I've tried to find it. Regretfully, it does seem to be non-existent now:-( (See list below of the ten most requested out-of-print books.)

Perhaps some DUer would know if there might be any other place to get it. Booksellers or book finders, can you help?

If so, kindly PM me, as time on the Internet is restricted to library use for just an hour or two. Many thanks.

Happy Holidays to all!

Radio Lady and Audio Al in Florida

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The Top Ten Out-of-Print Books


I happened upon the Bookfinder.com list of the most sought after out-of-print books of last year. Perhaps Scholastic will notice that it includes my favorite children's book, a wonderful adventure story with a strong female lead character first published in 1946 that I have read to each of my elementary school homeroom classes since 1970. It's place on this list makes The Lion's Paw the most popular children's book among all the out-of-print children's books extant, I suppose, at least according to Bookfinder.com. I wish Scholastic or Mickler or someone would reprint it again so my students could find reasonably priced copies.

The top 10 as compiled by BookFinder.com:

1) Sex (1992) by Madonna; A perennial favorite, the pop icon’s first book

2) Football Scouting Methods (1963) by Steve Belichick; Legendary college football scout’s playbook, used by coaches and players

3) Touch Me Again (1978) by Suzanne Somers; A collection of poetry from the devotee of “inside out” self improvement

4) Man in Black: His Own Story in His Own Words (1975) by Johnny Cash; Original autobiography (and the source for the hit film Walk the Line)

5) Treasury of Great Recipes (1965) by Mary and Vincent Price; Recipes from world-famous restaurants reworked for the amateur kitchen

6) The Principles of Knitting (1988) by June Hemmons Hiatt; The ultimate hand knitting resource

7) The Lion's Paw (1946) by Robb White; An enduring children’s adventure story

8) The Secret of Perfect Living (1963) by James Mangan; An influential work in the personal behavior modification genre

9) Once a Runner: a Novel (1978) by John L. Parker, Jr.; Cult classic (a long-awaited sequel Again to Carthage expected soon)

10) One Way Up (1964) by John F. Straubel; Chronicles the history of helicopter development

[Suich]

1. Hi Radio Lady!

Hey, you're missing all this wonderful NW weather???? Glad to hear Sanibel Island has recovered.

There used to be a place here that got me a copy of an out-of-print book. I'll PM you as soon as I remember the name of the place.

[Radio_Lady]

4. Hello Suich! Missing all the NE weather, too! We'll try to call hubby's sister in Boston tonight.

We both lived on the East Coast for almost 50 years.

Then we ran like crazy to get away from the snow!

Happy holidays from "the warmth"...

Radio Lady and Audio Al

[Fire Walk With Me]

2. Amazon.com links to independent booksellers with used items...

The hardcover looks like it's going to cost, at least from these folks, $200.00 and up, but there's a paperback for $75.00.

Then again, eBay with an International search might be a better idea.

[Radio_Lady]

14. Well, at $200, and even at $75, I guess I will pass...

I'd write more, but this is my first time using a laptop computer belonging to one of my friends. It has a "red button mouse" and different reaches... so I'm going pretty slow... Sorry...

Thanks for your searching, Peake. You're very kind.

Happy holidays

Radio Lady in FLA.

[Lisa]

23. Abebooks has one for $65

http://www.abebooks.com

[Radio_Lady]

30. Hi Lisa... Thanks again for the private message.

I'll check this out next week.

Appreciate your research -- and all the other kind DUers who did the same.

Radio Lady on vacation in Florida

[Radio_Lady]

3. Thanks for the links... I should look in this library but too busy typing!

The shells were better just after Hurricane Charlie (or one of the other two that scooted over this island) -- or so I was told by a man from Maine who was walking on the beach.

[tigereye]

5. try Powell's

powells.com, I think


my husband orders OOP books from there all the time!

[Radio_Lady]

7. Tigereye! Makes sense!

I was just hoping to read it while in Florida until December 30th. We're meeting our children and grandchildren in Orlando at the end of next week.

Thanks for the hint!

We're at Powell's all the time in our adopted home town, Portland, Oregon -- to get hubby's travel books.

Happy Holidays from Radio Lady and Audio Al on Sanibel Island, FL

[tigereye]

8. how lucky you are to live near Powells!

it sounds so cool!


hope you have a nice trip!

[Radio_Lady]

13. Hi TigerEye! We used to be closer, but they moved uptown.

Still live in the same town, though.

Yes, it's a great store, and I get to all three locations (Beaverton as well as two stores in downtown Portland) quite often.

Thanks for your good wishes... Storm coming in Saturday night to Sunday morning, but we are planning to do the jazz brunch at the Dolce Vita restaurant on Periwinkle tomorrow morning with our friends from Mequon, Wisconsin. Hey, it's not the Olive Garden, but who cares? :sarcasm:

Happy holidays from both of us in Florida

[quip]

6. Oooohhh, Sanibel Island

Mrs temeah's family has had a time share there for decades-- we try to get down there every spring. We love it!

We are towards the light house end of the island; actually next door to the "Summer of '42" house, if you know of it.

Enjoy shelling and chilling :hi:

[Radio_Lady]

16. Hello Temeah... Yep, I must have driven by it today. We took our friends

to the lighthouse, then over to a couple of stores, and all the way to the end of Captiva and back.

We're at the Casa Ybel. It's a very comfortable location, if you're still young enough to climb to the third level and then up the stairs from the living area to the bedrooms. Some of the original owners have now grown too old to make the trek... this place opened in the 1970s, I'm told, but they did a complete restoration after the major hurricanes a few years ago.

Appreciate your comments and hope you have a wonderful time here, too.

My first visit was in 1955 or 56, taking the ferry with my first boyfriend -- all I remember on that trip was that I was disobeying my mother's orders by even coming here! Oh, well, the transgressions of youth are now forgotten and mother is gone. The 71 year old boyfriend lives in Miami, and we had planned to visit with him and his brother on this trip, but had to change our schedule.

[marzipanni]

9. The Amazon readers' reviews are so enthusiastic about The Lion's Paw

you would think someone would reprint it. I'm also wondering why it hasn't been made into a movie!

It would seem that the libraries in Florida would strive to have it available since it is a local story. Maybe you could find it at that library, or another nearby, and sit in a quiet corner and read it. Also library children's departments usually let you read to kids, if you want to read it to grandchildren.

My library and its partners in local communities in No. Cal. have two of Robb White's books for adults, but no "Lion's Paw". :(

[Radio_Lady]

17. We'll probably be back at the library later this week after our friends with the computer leave...

I'll try to talk with one of the local librarians if I can.

Thanks for looking in your library!

Wish I had kept my copy of the book -- I think I owned it once, but not sure.

Happy holidays from Radio Lady and Audio Al

PS. Does Robb White have a website?

[trof]

10. Bring back lots of shells.

Do you have 'sheller's stoop' yet?
Try the Mucky Duck on Captiva.
Quaint little beachfront bistro.

[Radio_Lady]

18. Shelling was better after the hurricanes, I've been told.

We have found a bunch, but we'll have to consider luggage weight in bringing any home.

Stooped? Yeah, I've had that since I was a kid (lordosis and kyphosis)so husband is doing the pick ups. I wear a shoulder brace due to overexertion -- not bending much.

Mucky Duck. I'll write it down.

We ate at The Green Flash -- I had portabello mushroom appetizer... delicious!!!

Thanks for the suggestion.

Happy holidays from Radio Lady and Audio Al

[TheCentepedeShoes]

11. Is the Bubble Room

still there on Captiva? I've wondered how some of those places made out after the storms of a few years ago.

Sounds like you're going to have a great time. :hi:

[Radio_Lady]

19. Yes, it's still here. We have a photo of that place BEFORE they painted the bubbles on it!

I guess that was our visit from Boston back in the 1980s. The building had clapboards on it and was painted a bright yellow, with outlines of pink and blue.

We didn't get to stop, but we'll be here for another week and when the weather cools off to the 60s after the low passes, I'll have more reason to get out. It's been in the mid-80s for the entire visit.

Hot and humid Radio Lady send her regards -- and I know some of you are freezing and you would enjoy it here -- and hope you get here someday.

[Fran Kubelik]

12. I didn't know you were a teacher!

What grade(s) did you/do you teach?

[Radio_Lady]

20. Hi Fran... I read the book as a child and a student, not a teacher!

My background is in communications, and for most of my life, I've been in TV and radio.

I'm volunteering for Oregon Public Broadcasting now with a weekly audio program on one of their service channels.

I did have a career change into sales and marketing for about fifteen years. I taught haircoloring basics to hairdressers for the Clairol company as their Boston area technical consultant.

Read more about my lifetime escapades at:

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Radio_Lady/179

Thanks for your comments, and enjoy the holidays!

Radio Lady

[swag]

22. Hi!

Who are the students referred to in the quote below from your post?

"I wish Scholastic or Mickler or someone would reprint it again so my students could find reasonably priced copies."

You must be a teacher if you have students!

Have fun on vacation! Sounds dreamy!

[Radio_Lady]

35. ...

Swag, not sure what you're commenting on, but nevermind...

Have a wonderful holiday season in Portland!

Radio Lady and Audio Al in Florida

[swag]

21. whoops!

[Radio_Lady]

31. Hello swag... OT: How did your October art gallery showing turn out?

I announced it on two of my shows -- hope it was a success!

:hi:

[auntAgonist]

15. here...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0913122416/ref=dp_olp_2/103-9808750-8025406

[Radio_Lady]

27. Thanks for the link, auntAgonist -- I'll try to a few Florida libraries first...

Not sure I want to spend money on this, but you're a dear one for checking this out.

Happy holidays from Radio Lady Ellen in Florida

[JCMach1]

24. Sanibel was a HUGE disappointment...

I remember the piles of shells when I was a kid. When we visited 2 Summers back the shells were almost non-existent and they shunting flood water from the Everglades. The island was more swamp than ocean.

While I suppose someone might see it differently who wasn't there in the past, Sanibel is one of those pieces of paradise that has been destroyed by civilization.

[Radio_Lady]

28. Were you here after the storms? It is more built up than when I was here in the 1950s,

but I don't agree that it is destroyed -- just different.

There is still all the acreage that was set aside as a wildlife preserve by "Ding" Darling and we're going to visit there tomorrow.

All of Florida was so much wilder when I grew up in southeast Florida during the 1940s and 1950s. So, on balance, the whole state is more populated than ever before. I remember the Chamber of Commerce said that 1,000 families PER DAY move to Florida. That was several decades ago and I don't know what the figure is today.

What I find sad is that Al Gore's movie shows all of South Florida inundated by water if the current sea rises as anticipated. I won't be alive then, but perhaps my small grandkids will be.

Happy holidays, and enjoy whatever you can on this planet!

We'll be at Disney World shaking hands with Mickey...

Radio Lady in Florida

[JCMach1]

39. My family are Floridians from way back, so I was like the 4th

generation to go to Sanibel. We went the year after the storm. It was nothing like even the early 1980's.

Sometimes I want to cry for my home :( I hardly recognize it at all when I go back there.

On a happier note, on Sunday the 23rd me and my family are taking a trip to Khor Kalba (the northern most mangrove swamp in the world) on the Indian Ocean side of the UAE. IT is the height of the migratory season, so should be fantastic!

[grasswire]

25. Powell's doesn't have it.

I just searched their site.

[Radio_Lady]

32. Oh, dear. Well, thanks anyway, Grasswire.

If Robb White (the author) is still alive, maybe I can find him. But that's a pretty common name...

[Bzzzz]

26. Sanibel is a Beautiful Place...

last time we were there, we met Stephen King and Willard Scott. It's always depressing when the red tide appears. My sister and brother-in-law spend about 2 weeks there in March of every year. I love the periwinkle.

[Radio_Lady]

33. I think so also. Thanks for posting. The sunset tonight is gorgeous.

Temperatures tomorrow will be in the 60s and there is some danger of frost in low-lying interior areas at night.

This is the wintery Florida I love. Just enough chill for a long sleeved shirt or a light sweater.

Yes, the red tide is disgusting. I don't remember that on the east coast beaches, but we had plenty of seaweed and something we called "sea lice" in the 1940s, followed by oil on the beaches much later.

The oceans still look beautiful, but I think it was Jacques Cousteau who reported that there was human debris in the farthest oceans he visited -- and that included rubber tires. I'll never forget him saying that. Sad but true.

[GirlinContempt]

29. I'm sure someone has already mentioned this

but you're best bet is somewhere like abebooks.com or alibris.com or biblio.com

[Radio_Lady]

34. Gonna try the Florida libraries first -- we're in FL until December 30th.

Maybe I'll be lucky to find a copy.

Thanks, GirlinContempt -- appreciate the information.

[mitchum]

36. I loved "The Lion's Paw" when I was a kid in the 60s

haven't thought of it since then
now, I'm going to have to look for it

[Radio_Lady]

42. Found it...

there are three copies at the Sanibel, Florida, Public Library. Sorry I can't forward you the money to get down here...

I'm taking one back to my villa to read again.

Best to you for the holidays!

Radio Lady Ellen (lived in Florida for 28 years)

[Whoa_Nelly]

37. THat book is available for $1

at http://www.abebooks.com

Just enter the title in the title search browser, and it's the first hit in return

[grasswire]

38. I also checked Multnomah County Library system...

...just in case. No luck.

Although they might be able to get it on an inter-library loan. But I suspect that most libraries have seen any copy of it disappear.

[Orsino]

40. ABEBooks.com is the place...

...being a network of stores. They have The Lion's Paw, but they start at sixty-five bucks:

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=Robb+White&bi=0&bx=off&ds=30&sortby=2&sts=t&tn=The+Lion%27s+Paw&x=43&y=16

[Radio_Lady]

41. UPDATE: Eureka! I HAVE FOUND IT. Sanibel Island library has the book!

I have to pay ten bucks to get a visitor's library card, but I'm planning to check it out.

Thanks to everybody. The book has been under my nose all this time.

In peace,

Radio Lady in Florida on vacation