A sticky problem: Tape residue

Tape is the worst! Removing sticky residue can be done with the help of a crepe eraser. If that doesn't work you can try heating it with a hair dryer and scraping it with a micro-spatula. If that doesn't work you can create a poultice of methyl cellulose, wait and then scrape.

I want to be clear that the products you suggest: Un-du and Clean Cover Gel are not ideal for all tape removal. Specifically, Un-du and simiilar products should only be used to remove tape from solid plasticized surfaces. Never use these products directly on book-cloth, leather or paper. The acidic ingredients will soak in and destroy the materials over time. Clean Cover Gel is also not recommended for any valuable book and especially older books because it smears the color of the book-cloth around so the color covers the lettering and changes the original look. Again, on modern plasticized covers it is likely just fine. Be sure to test all chemical products on an inconspicuous area before going for it.

Well, I will concede that those two products are primarily for the exterior - getting rid of library stickers (the absolute worst) and on kids books which tend to have glossy exterior surfaces. But yellowing tape on even glossy picture book pages needs some help beyond a hair dryer. I will gently continue.

Please do continue. I feel I have not given you a sufficient answer. Can you post a picture?

So, to be clear, in repairing kids books if they come to me already "fixed", i.e., torn pages taped I am EXTREMELY hesitant to attempt removing tape and trying to "improve" the situation. In this particular case the pages were shiny, and the "repair" was done with haste so edges were turned under, taped, and I (perhaps foolishly) removed the taped and was left with the sticky mess and on two adjacent pages. The solution, such as it is, has been to heat and scrape, gently q-tip alchohol, and carefully undo the turned edges and glue the tears with PVA. Now this has left a sticky residue along the tears, so I (forgive me) resorted to covering the (now glued) tears with Lineco Transparent Mending Tissue. This is virtually invisible and has covered the sticky so life can go on. Postings pics seemed pointless since we were going to be looking at tears or tears glued back together. Ah, such is life.

And finally, this particular book is a large picture book of glossy exterior, measuring right at 1/2 inch thick including boards. It came to me with the bottom half of the spine completely missing. In the past my approach to such situations is to use cardboard (like from a tablet) to glue together appropriate sized strips to form a new spine, glue that structure to a piece of brown packing/wrapping paper and attach the "new" spine. This gives a consistent structure underlying the application, then, of a book cloth tape "spine". This has served me well, but the key step is gluing the heavy brown paper "spine" into place on the glossy exterior. I have tried NUMEROUS glues with varying success. Any thoughts on this approach and/or glue to use would be appreciated.