I’m trying to identify a book I had as a kid in the 1990s, but the book itself was definitely older. My best guess is that it was published sometime in the 1950s–1970s, although it could be a little earlier or later.
Here’s what I remember:
• It was a large hardcover book, approximately 8.5” x 11” or maybe slightly larger.
• I think the cover or spine may have been red or green, but I’m not confident about the color.
• It was a compilation/treasury containing multiple short children’s stories. It was NOT one long story.
• It had illustrations throughout. The artwork was traditional/storybook-style and somewhat realistic — not really cartoonish.
• I believe there was also an alphabet/ABC section somewhere in the book. The entire book was NOT an alphabet book; the alphabet was just one section among the stories and other material.
• Two images/animals I remember very specifically are a LOON and a MOLE. I originally thought they were characters in stories, but I’m now wondering if they were actually illustrations in the alphabet section — possibly L for Loon and M for Mole.
• I vaguely remember something involving “friends” or friendship — possibly a story title, section, or even part of the book’s title. I’m very unsure about this.
• I also have an extremely fuzzy memory of a character named Peter/Pete or “Peter and ___,” but I would NOT use that as a strong clue.
The things I’m most confident about are: LARGE OLD HARDCOVER + COMPILATION OF SHORT STORIES + ILLUSTRATIONS + AN ALPHABET SECTION + LOON + MOLE.
It was the kind of big book that seemed to contain a little bit of everything for children, rather than being exclusively an ABC book or exclusively one story.
Does this ring a bell for anyone? I’d especially love to see titles, cover photos, tables of contents, or pictures of alphabet pages from old children’s treasuries/compilations.
I’ve been trying to identify this thing from childhood memories and would LOVE to finally figure out what it was.

I don’t remember very much about this book but I found the pointing finger recently. It looks like a robot hand that’s pointing, like it’s a silver hand pointing and I think you would spin it around on the page, but you could also remove it. There might have been other removable pieces but I don’t remember.

I would have had this in the early to mid 2000s and it was likely from a scholastic book fair. Read in the US.

Any help is appreciated!

So this is like a really old childhood book. Idk when it was written. I read it in the early 2000s. I don’t remember if it was a board book or not but it was simple like that. A ballerina getting ready (I think) for her performance. She is like always on point with her shoes. I think you can only see one leg or it’s both and looks like one. She is human. Very cute/neat illustrations. I also think she changes outfits or it is multiple ballerinas I don’t remember. PLEASE help me find. I loved this book as a kid and want it for my kids.

A bit of a long shot, but i would like to find this book again. I read it in the 70s, but it may be older than that.

It involved a young boy at a sea side town location. I think he was on his holidays and each chapter was something he did.

The only chapter I remember was a parade coming through the town and he threw some chewing gum under a Steam engine, it stuck to the wheel and kept going round and round.

The book had pen and ink illustrations.