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M is for Mischief
I vaguely remember this book from my childhood.  These three or four siblings have to move to a new house, and their mother is allergic to dust.  There is a shed or playhouse in their back yard, and it has a stove in it.  A mysterious person comes and gives them a dial for the stove, and they use it to cook some recipes with magical results.  The only one I remember is that one or two of the children become invisible.  Eventually, the mysterious person takes his dial and leaves the kids with the memory.

M94 (Magic stove dial invisible siblings) is M FOR MISCHIEF by Richard Parker, ill. by Charles Greer 1966. I read this book over and over and am lucky enough to still own my childhood copy, so I am pretty positive this is the one.  ~from a librarian
More on the suggested title M for Mischief by Richard Parker, illustrated by Charles Geer, published by Duell 1966, 90 pages "Three children, two girls and a boy, who have just moved into an unexciting old house, find an ancient rusty stove, complete with its own baffling cookbook, hidden away in a long-neglected summerhouse. Two settings on a dial - O for "Ordinary" and M for "Mischief" take the place of the usual oven gauge. Life grows hilariously complicated for everyone in the family when the children experiment with the recipe for boiled eggs which will render the eater invisible. But



Machine
"Do not fold, spindle, mutilate."  I am looking for a children's book from the '70s  (I think) entitled "The Machine". The story concerns a little boy who was given a toy robot (for a birthday, perhaps?) that begins change as it encounters other electronic devices (i.e., it 'sees' a radio and suddenly assumes some of the qualities of a radio--a tapedeck appearing in its chest; it sees a bulldozer and suddenly develops treads like a bulldozer). This continues to occur, and the robot continues to grow larger and more menacing until the little boy fears he may do real harm. At last the boy pulls from his pocket a ticket that came with the robot which reads "do not fold spindle or mutilate." Of course, he does just this (folding, spindling, and mutilating the ticket) and the (now gigantic) robot spurts and rattles and finally shrinks back to its original (and unmenacing) size. I remember the illustrations being particularly enjoyable (b/w cartoonish illustrations). Can you help me out?

Shoberg, Lore, Machine, McGraw-Hill (1973).  Card catalog description:  A boy becomes worried when the machine he receives from a TV celebrity keeps growing and the people in the city want to make it king.  ISBN: 0070569886
I saw the listing for my book query today and was so excited to find the book had already been identified. Thank you so much for your help. My 2 1/2 year old son is enamoured with all things mechanical (he already knows the names of most construction vehicles and calls out their names when we pass road crews; "backhoe, pay-loader, grader!").  My wife and I don't know where he gets this (we're a couple of book-nerd professors at the U of Utah); but when he recently become enthusiastic about robots, too--I thought, 'here's my chance to share with him a book I loved from my childhood.' I just couldn't for the life of me remember the author's name (and searching under "Machine" or "Robot" was returning thousands of hits). I had all but given up hope when I found Loganberry books and you. I am so grateful to you. This will be such a wonderful xmas present (for both my son and me). Thanks again and happiest of holidays.



Macmillan Reading Program Primers
Jeff, Mary, and Mike textbook(s) My first grade textbook (or series, like the Dick and Jane series) was about Jeff, the oldest child, a brunette with a red bicycle, Mary in the middle, a blond with a blue bicycle, and little brother Mike, sandy-haired with a yellow bicycle.  Although I was in first grade in 1968-1969, this was probably early 1960s as Jeff and Mike still had the crew cuts and "flood pants" so sadly out-of-style a few years later.  A book titled "Titch," written and illustrated by Pat Hutchins and first published in 1971, features children in the same order, the girl also named Mary and the boys
with one-syllable names (Pete and Titch) and bikes of the same color, though Titch's was a little yellow tricycle.  I have to wonder whether this was a coincidence or whether Pat Hutchins, knowingly or otherwise, was paying tribute to Jeff, Mary, and Mike.

Primers featuring Jeff, Mary, and Mike should appear under the heading "Macmillan Reading Program preprimers."  The three books definitely in the Jeff, Mary, and Mike series are Opening Books, A Magic Box, and Things You See, all by Mae Clark and all published by Macmillan in 1965 in softcover, and in 1970 possibly in hardcover.  These three are all classified as "preprimers."  Another, Lands of Pleasure, is classified as a "first primer," but I don't know if it also features the same characters or is a regular textbook with poems and stories, as are some of the other ten books I found listed under this author and publisher.  One book of Mae Clark's I would be interested in which is not Jeff, Mary, and Mike is Worlds of Wonder.  It seems to be Book #1 in the "California State Series."  You might make another heading for "California State Series, School Readers" and list Worlds of Wonder, Book 1(?), Much Majesty, Book 4, First Splendor, Book 5, and Wider Than the Sky, Book 6, and maybe someone will know what Books 2 and 3 are and I can put together the set.
The entry under Macmillan Reading Program in your "solved" section seems to indicate that someone would like more information about these books. When I started teaching first grade in 1968 we used this series of readers. Opening Books was preprimer1, A Magic Box was preprimer2, and Things You See was preprimer3. The next book in the series was Worlds of Wonder and it was called the primer. That book was followed by Lands of Pleasure which was the first reader. Children who did well in school would be expected to go through all of these books in first grade. I have the second grade books from this series also; one of them is called Enchanted Gates. There were 2 books for second grade (teachers referred to them as the 2-1 and 2-2 books). There were also 2 books for third grade. There was just one book each for fourth, fifth, and sixth grades.  One thing i liked about these books was that each title was a phrase from a poem about books and reading; the poem would be printed before the title page of the book.


Mad Scientists' Club
Monster of the lake is fake.  About some kids that make up a �Loch Ness monster� for their own lake, to help a friend out of a lie. To support the lie, the kids construct one, and this is seen by witnesses, this eventually gets out of hand with many sightings, news crews, etc..

Sounds like Bertrand Brinley's The Mad Scientists' Club from the early 1960s. It was followed by The New
Adventures of the Mad Scientists' Club and, in the 1970s, The Big Kerplop - which is a prequel written in
novel form. (That one is not so terrific.) The illustrator was perfectly chosen. The Club is made up of 7 boys aged 12 to 15 or so, and they get involved in all sorts of hijinks with the help of all sorts of WWII surplus electronic equipment that they collect. (Examples: gas balloon race, long-lost fortune, "high-tech" prank at the mayor's speech, night rescue of a downed pilot, a cleverly "haunted" house, bank robbers, submarine, "flying saucer", rainmaking, and kidnappings by the rival club.) They are all out of print, but the reviews at you-know-what dot com are many and passionate - the first two books ARE very funny and you may have to read them first so you won't burst out laughing with every other page when reading to your kids! While somewhat socially dated, as you
might expect, they are very much worth it and a fascinating look at what kids could (sometimes) really do even before the computer age (though Henry does, in the first story of NAotMSC, reveal that he has a homemade computer!) I often wonder just where it's supposed to be - it's very rural and you know from one story that they're in a Yankee state, but my guess is it's not in New England, anyway.
Probably the Mad Scientists' Club or the New Adventures of the Mad Scientists' Club by Betrand R. Brinley.  I know there is a fake monster in the lake chapter in one of those two books.
yes, I'd love to get all three of the Mad Scientist Club books.  Just let me know.



Madamoiselle Misfortune
In this book a young girl is sent by her family to accompany a wealthy older woman on a trip from Paris to Southern France. Trip may have been by train or by car; can't recall. The young girl isn't happy about going, because she finds the old lady rude or brusque or patronizing. I think I recall them buying creche figures in Marseilles -- in that famous market. But I could have this confused with Family Sabbatical where they do that. Of course, the old lady has a heart of gold and all turns out well in the end. I read this book in the 50's.

Brink, Carol Ryrie, Madamoiselle Misfortune


Madeline is Sleeping
Book came out about 5 years ago, 3 girls (and a baby?) in Victorian dress on the sepia-toned cover, author Katherine perhaps? Professor at USC or UCLA or some university in California (I think), the book was very surrealistic and fantastic, the baby was in an interminable state of sleep, there was a trio of circus-like odd people, a pedophile was in there, very strange book. Somehow connected to Alice in Wonderland.

SOLVED: It's "Madeline Is Sleeping" by Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, who teaches at UC San Diego (close!). It was nominated for the National Book Award in 2004 (or maybe 2005). I did pretty well, all things considered!
You sure did! Thanks for your Stumper.


Maggie B.
This book is from my childhood (I was born in 1969) and features a girl wishing on a star and wanting to take a trip.  She magically/via imagination sets sail on the ocean with her baby brother who she is now responsible for.  She grows pears and other fruit on the boat for them to eat.  They may have a chicken on the boat who lays eggs for them???  A large part of the book seemed to be her growing/making food for her brother. She washes her brother up after their meal, bundles him up, and rocks him to sleep.  The book ends with a return to reality, I believe.  I would love to locate this book again to share with my young daughter!

This looks like the same book as M 68: The Maggie B by Irene Haas.  It's recently been reprinted and is an adorable book.
I'm the author of G48 and am pleased to say that, yes indeed, The Maggie B. (same as M68) was indeed the book I was looking for!  I checked it out of the library and have shared it with my daughter and she loves it too!  As a matter of fact I've read it with all my mom friends as well and have told them about this wonderful site.  Thank you very much for solving my querry!
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I read the book to my kids in the late seventies, early eighties.It was a paperback and belonged to my younger brother. It was a picture book story about a little girl, Maggie and her baby brother, who she cared for on their little boat. Actually, I think that "The Maggie B." may have been the name of their boat.  She kept a goat, a little garden and fished from her boat. A sweet book.  Can you help me find it, or more info. about who wrote it, etc.?  Thanks for your help.

I was just browsing through your website, when I came across this "unsolved mystery": "M61: Maggie B."
I think I know the title of the book -- it's simply called The Maggie B. by Irene Haas; it was recently reprinted (Aladdin Picture Books). Hope this helps!
M61 is The Maggie B by Irene Haas.  A *great* book.
This does sound like The Maggie B, by Irene Haas (on Solved list) published New York, Atheneum 1975, reprinted various times, 32 pages. "Before sleep one night, Margaret Barnstable wishes for a ship named for herself. The next morning she awakes on the Maggie B. and the adventure begins! The ship has a garden growing on it, and she cooks and cares for herself and baby brother James. Full color paintings loaded with detail."  See also G48 Girl on boat
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I am desperately searching for a children's picture book my mom read to me as a child, probably published in the 70's, - seems thre was a child with his/her grandma out to sea on a ship ...I think they caught crab or lobster and cooked and had warm cozy dinners in the cabin of the boat - I think there were descriptons of food and smells? ...may have been a storm, but I can't quite remember - this book reminds me of warm, cozy, safe memories...Please help me find it once again!:)

The Maggie B. This book may be The Maggie B., although that is about a girl and her baby brother - no grandmother. The girl does catch and cook their dinner and there is a storm - but they are snug inside and the ship rides it out safely. Definitely a strong feeling of comfort and safety. My daughter & I love this story. I bought it for my daughter in the 80's, but I think it may be back in print.
Irene Haas, The Maggie B, 1975. I think this must be The Maggie B. -- maybe you thought of a grandmother because the illustrations of little Maggie show her wearing an old-fashioned dress and apron, with a kerchief on her head (and of course she does all those grown-up things like cook the lobster stew and bake the muffins, and lash down the ship against the storm).
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1970s, illustrated.  Girl lives on small boat.  She's alone, except for animals (including a caged parrot).  Smooth sailing for a while, but then a storm hits.  Girl gathers animals in cabin; all are warm and cozy inside as girl prepares dinner.

Irene Haas, The Maggie B.
   This is one of my favorite books! "A little girl's wish to sail for a day on a boat named for her "with someone nice for company" comes true. Maggie's little brother is that "someone nice" and the two of them spend the day on their little boat living the sea life. The boat is fully equipped with an apple, peach and orange tree bearing fruit (and a beautiful toucan). There is an abundance of fresh eggs and milk to be had from various chickens and the goat. Maggie herself fishes and serves up sumptuous meals of lobster and peaches with cinnamon and honey for dessert. The day is simple and homey, the only real source of concern a thunderstorm that crashes and booms towards the end of the day. Even then, Maggie thoughtfully battens down the hatches and plays her fiddle to her brother, tucked snugly in his bed."
Irene Haas, The Maggie B.  Yes, this is the book!  Thirty years muddled a few specifics (toucan/parrot, I forgot the little brother), but your description has rekindled the memories.  For weeks after first reading of them, I was absolutely relentless in bothering my mother to make peaches and cinnamon.  Outstanding - thanks so much!

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Picture book about an old woman living on a houseboat of sorts, with only animals as companions.  She eats oatmeal with milk from the cow.  I don't remember much of a plot.  As a child I was just really impressed by her independence, and also the fantasy of living on a boat.

Shot in the dark, but could it be THE MAGGIE B. by Irene Haas?
SOLVED: Irene Haas, The Maggie B. Someone solved my stumper! Thank you! Thank you!


Maggie in the Middle
see The Seven Stone
Maggie Muggins
Looking for a book 1960's....Title, Maggie Muggins Every book in series ends with, "I wonder what we will do tommrow."

Mary Grannan, Maggie Muggins.  Several others in series e.g. More Maggie Muggins, Maggie Muggins and Benny Bear, The Wonderful World of Maggie Muggins, Maggie Muggins in the Meadow, etc.
Mary Grannan, Maggie Muggins series.  Maggie Muggins and Her Animal Friends (1959), Maggie Muggins Again (1949), Maggie Muggins and Benny Bear (1962), Maggie Muggins and the Cottontail (1960), Maggie Muggins in the Meadow (1956), More Maggie Muggins (1959), New Maggie Muggins Stories (1947), Maggie Muggins and the Fieldmouse (1959), Maggie Muggins by the Sea (1959).
 Interpreting
Condition 
Grades
Grannan, Mary.   Maggie Muggins and Her Animal Friends.  Illustrated by Bernard Zalusky.  Pennington Press, 1959.  Dust jacket frayed at extremities, otherwise a nice copy.  VG/G+.  <SOLD>  


Magic Ball from Mars
There's this boy who's in touch with these wise beings from outer space, and they give him a little marble.  They don't tell him how to use it. He gets into some trouble, his life is actually in danger and he has a breakthrough and uses the glowing marble to -- I think -- put a shield around himself that makes him invulnerable and he gets away.  I think the marble was blue.

M71 - could this be Nicholas Stuart GrayThe Applestone ? Some similarities.
I have to say, the only similarity with The Apple Stone is the size of the item. Gray's book contains no aliens, no force-fields, no blue. Instead, the Apple Stone is golden and speaks for itself, instructing the group of children how to use it. This book sounds more American than English, and more science fiction than fantasy.
Maybe Carl Biemiller's Magic Ball from Mars New York, Morrow, 1953?
M83 and M71 seem to be asking about the same book.  Not that that helps either searcher much.
M71 and M83:  Carl Biemiller, The Magic Ball from Mars
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I remember this book from the mid fifties.  It was an adventure story about a boy who finds a marble that turns out to be magic.  Not sure about title, author.  What a fun site to reminisce about the books we loved.  Another favorite of mine was The Book of Live Dolls.
Magic Ball from Mars, by Carl L. Biemiller, illustrated by Kathleen Voute, published Morrow 1953, 127 pages. "An amusing bit of science fiction about Johnny Jenks' adventures with a mysteriously glowing ball of 'marsquartz' given him by a kindly man from 'Out There' who comes to Earth in a flying saucer. Johnny's visit to the Pentagon to show the ball to the authorities and his subsequent kidnapping are lively enough adventures." (HB Oct/53 p.360)
I tripped over your site and noted with interest that my father's book, The Magic Ball From Mars, was the subject of one of your stumper questions. About a year and a half ago, I developed a web site devoted to Dad's books and getting them back in print. This link to, "The Magical Stories of Carl L. Biemiller" may be of some help to your project.  The Magic Ball From Mars should make it back in print this Fall as part of a Forrest Ackerman "Martianthology" to be published by The Sense of Wonder Press.  Funny how projects and web sites grow.  I'm still learning.

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Children's science fiction book about a boy visited by an alien, a tall thin man if I remember correctly, from the Andromeda galaxy.  The man gives the boy a shining marble that he says will protect him, and I think is also a transmitter to the man's spaceship.  When the boy is threatened -- I think by thieves with guns -- he almost doesn't believe it will help him but then he takes it out and it makes a cocoon around him and bullets can't get through.  There's a song the man's crew sings: "Out in the Coalsack there's nothing but dust, and nucleonic (?) storms make the instruments rust, Patrols head through but only on trust, we'll be back in old Andromeda, in the morrrrrning."  Anybody know this book?

I remember the book, but not the title. I do recall that the space marble responded to the boy's thoughts, when one thief took it he told it to burn the man's pocket  he called it back when it was lost, and the like. The friendly alien may have taken his marble back when he was worried about what would happen to the boy, but don't recall much more. Hope this helps.
Biemiller, CL, The Magic Ball From Mars. Just remembered the name of the book, about the Martian ball, you can find the text online. It does have the chorus you're talking about.
That song sounds like a Cordwainer Smith space chanty, but the story is not one of his that I know of. The author could have been a Smith fan. Possibly orHarlan Ellison, James H. Schmitz William Rotsler?
Carl L. Biemiller, The Magic Ball From Mars, 1970, approximate. I think B794, Boy visited by an alien, might be The Magic Ball From Mars.  A "stranger" visits a boy on earth and gives him a gift, small ball/marble that will protect him.
Carl L. Biemiller, The Magic Ball From Mars, 1952, 1953. This is The Magic Ball From Mars by Carl L. Biemiller. It was serialized in Jack and Jill under another name, which is where I ran into it as a child. The author's son has a website you can check: http://www.biemiller.com/bchapt1.htm
The book has the song, and the marble, and the boy escapes from people who want to steal the marble.
SOLVED:
The mystery is solved!  This is the book, The Magic Ball from Mars, by Carl Biemiller.  I visited the website below and the whole book is online, with the rest of Biemiller's childrens' stories, and with the original illustrations.  Thank you so much to the people who gave me this information, it was so delightful to read it through again.



Magic Bicycle: the story of a bicycle that found a boy
I am looking for a book about a kid who finds a bike in a junkyard. He tries out the bike and finds out that if he pulls back on the handlebars, the bike can fly. There is also a group of evil characters who have an affiliation with a cobra or snake of some kind. Thanks!

A couple of possibilities:  The Magic Bicycle  the story of a bicycle that found a boy / John Bibee /1983/ "The Spirit Flyer, a rusty old bicycle found in the city dump, surprises its new owner, John Kramar, when it magically lives up to its name, introducing John to an unknown world and changing his life for good."  Or maybe The Fabulous Flying Bicycle / Glen Dines / 1960/ (I think this is the one with the ice cream man, but I'm not sure)
Bibee, John, The Magic Bicycle: the story of a bicycle that found a boy, 1983.  Sounds like the first book in the Christian-fantasy "Spirit Flyer" series.  Young John Kramer finds a rusty old bicycle in the city dump and discovers that it can fly.  This ends up bringing him into conflict with the boys in the Cobra Club, who represent the evil Goliath toy company.  There are at least eight books in the series - sequels include "The Toy Campaign", "The Only Game in Town", "Bicycle Hills", "The Last Christmas", "The Runaway Parents", "The Perfect Star" and "The Journey of Wishes".
MICHAEL AVI-YONAH , No More Magic, 1975.  1990 re-issue.  Matches poster's details. If this helps: Bike is lost when left out on Halloween. Dad is a librarian.


Magic Bonbons
The magical box of candy?  Children's book of short stories and illustrations including one with the title mentioned. Probably from the early 20th century.

Could the "box of candy" possibly be Masefield's Box of Delights? Just a thought.
I just wanted to drop you a short note to say that M130b is NOT Masefield's Box of Delights.
more info about the story: the story's main character is a young girl, who when she goes to bed each night can chose two candies from the box, if she takes more the box will emply, if she takes only two, the box will magically re-fill.
Found- Magic Bonbons by L. Frank Baum. But the candies do not refill-rather each different color bestows special talent on the eater.(musical talent,etc.) Little girl starts playing Beethoven! Story is found in the Bobbs-Merrill Best in Children's Literature set-The book: Beyond the Horizon. (authors: Smith,Hart,Baker)


Magic Bus
It was a story of a magic bus with a driver and school children. and when a special button was pressed or glowed on the dash board, the bus would fly over the countryside...... colored illustration, early fifties.

Maurice Dolbier, The magic bus, 1948.  The story of what was an ordinary bus until a little boy discovered the gold button on its dashboard...and then the most exciting things happened!
Maurice Dolbier, The Magic Bus,1948. "This bus was just an ordinary bus until a little boy discovered the gold button on the dashboard and then the most exciting things happened. The cover has a picture of the magic bus flying through the sky with the children looking out the window."



Magic Carpet
Missing title of beloved childhood textbook-reader containing the following stories:  Gudbrand On The Hillside, Mr. Murdle's Large Heart, The Tar Baby,  Donkey Ears, and possibly The Owl And The Pussycat.  Published late fifties or early sixties.  Beautifully illustrated, but I can't recall the cover.

various, Best in Children's Books.  1960s.  This series of children's books was one of my all time favorites as a child.  They are published by Nelson Doubleday, Inc.  I don't know which one has the stories mentioned but I'm absolutely sure of the publisher and series because I have it - just can't find it right now!  I found another in the series to get the publisher info.
Or could it have been a set of The Children's Hour?  You can read the contents of the 1953 edition online here, and the books do include Mr. Murdle and Gudbrand.
C394  Mr Murdle has been included in more than one book. The ff  website lists in detail the contents of 42 vols of Best in Children's books. Vol 40 has Mr M but none of the other titles being sought
I have researched the Best In Children's Books and, while the stories listed here are scattered among their collection, they are not the solution to my stumper.  I truly appreciate the knowledgeable input from everyone who is attempting to help me.  It is amazing that I remember everything about this book but its title and its cover.  One thing that I remember is that it was a discontinued, school-issued anthology textbook, and not part of a store-bought, or bedtime collection.  All of the stories that I have listed, (plus the recently recalled There Once Was A Puffin,) were contained in one book.  This book and Over A City Bridge were the only two anthologies in the house where I grew up.
This is Magic Carpet by Eleanor Johnson and Leland Jacobs. (Charles Merrill-1954) It is part of the Treasury of Literature- Readtext Series. All the stories match and many, many more. A wonderful school text.


Magic Cave
A brother/sister are in a park when lightning strikes a tree and frees a Merlin character. They take him home, hide him and have several adventures.  They have a real pirate adventure in the wading pool when some of Merlin's magic dust (?) gets in it.  He has a long beard and likes peanut butter.

Chew, Ruth, Hidden Cave. 'When lightning splits an old oak tree, a brother and sister discover Merlin who has been sleeping inside the tree for many centuries.
Chew, Ruth, The Hidden Cave, 1973. First published in 1973 as The Hidden Cave and reprinted in 1978 and subsequently as The Magic Cave.  When lightning splits an old oak tree, a brother and sister discover Merlin who has been sleeping inside the tree for many centuries.
Ruth Chew, The Magic Cave.
SOLVED: Ruth Chew, The Magic Cave. That's it!  I've been looking for this book for 20 years.  Thank You!!



Magic Christmas Tree
I remember a book about 2 little girls who lived on opposite sides of a forest.  One little girl was from an impoverished family and one from a wealthy family.  Each on their own time finds a special evergreen tree in the middle of the forest and begins to leave "treasures" there.  They each feel a strong sense of ownership towards the tree and in the meantime find an unexpected friendship in each other.

Lee Kingman, The Magic Christmas Tree, 1956, copyright.  This story matches the poster's description exactly.  By the way, it was reprinted in American Girl Magazine in the November/December 1996 issue.
YAY!!!!!!!!!! You guys are awesome.  I found out the title and just ordered a copy from Alibris.  THANK YOU!!!



Magic Circus
Ok - when I was a kid a friend of mine had a book with very creepy, psychedelic illustrations. I know it was about some kind of circus, but cant remember the title. But I DO remember the cover - a very bizzare looking mouse with gigantic oversized eyes riding a unicycle across a tightrope. I remember he had very slender human hands and was holding them up in the air. the colors were sepia tones, almost monochromatic. Please help!!

Christopher Logue, The Magic Circus, 1979.  I stumbled on this while browsing the internet.  I hope this is your book.  Christopher Logue, Illustrated by Wayne Anderson, The Magic Circus  London: Jonathan Cape, 1979 Hard Cover. ISBN:0-224-01555-9. Book about The Magic Circus, a group of bizzare circus people who meet a man who hates circuses (Dr. Growser).  Cover has a mouse balancing a unicycle on a tightrope.
HURRAY!!!!!!! I just looked this up and indeed The Magic Circus is the book I was looking for! It has been about 25 years since I have set eyes on it, and that cover is just as freaky as I remember! Cant wait to get my copy!



Magic Clown
You already led me to one childhood memory. Thank you! Now here is another.  My brother and I remember a short book from the 50's about a TV clown who, on a rainy afternoon, takes a boy and girl
into the TV for a picnic in the sun.  Any ideas?

C42- The Magic Clown (Treasure Books #876)
A little more on the suggested title: Sutton, Felix Magic Clown (A Treasure Book) NY Treasure Books, 1954, 8vo; color illustrations by James Schucker, 28 pages. "Join that famous TV show character Magic Clown and his puppet Laffy"



Magic Elizabeth
The other book is about some dolls. I think there are one or two of them, and they live in an attic until they are discovered by a little girl who takes them out and plays with them. It's not the Raggedy Ann stories -- I think at least one of the dolls was porcelain or bisque. And the little girl in question liked to dress up in the old clothes in the attic. If you can help me I'd surely appreciate it! Thank you!

Could it be Hitty, Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field? But there's only one doll...
The second book must be Magic Elizabeth by - oh darn, the book is upstairs right now, so I can't check the author - it is actually only one doll, but has two main girl characters - one in modern day and one in the past - the modern day girl has to stay with her aunt and while in the attic discovers a diary about a girl in the past with a doll named Elizabeth who gets lost one Christmas Eve and isn't ever found. The modern girl dresses up in the old clothes from the chest and, with the help of an old mirror, is transported back in time to the life of the other girl where she relives the entire experience of having and then losing her doll Elizabeth - the modern day girl's goal becomes finding lost Elizabeth.
Kassirer, Norma.  Magic Elizabeth. Scholastic, Inc., 1966.  Young Sally while staying in creepy old house with her Aunt Sarah, tries to find an old doll named Elizabeth. B&W Illustrations by Joe Krush.
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Love your site!  I'm looking for a book about a girl (around 12) who is sent to live with her stern maiden aunt for a summer.  I think the aunt's name is Sarah, and she's incredibly stuffy.  This girl starts rooting around in the attic and finds a diary, some clothing, a doll, etc. of a girl named Sally and eventually comes to believe either that she *is* Sally reincarnated, or haunted by her ghost.  In the end it turns out that Aunt Sarah was Sally.  Any help would surely be appreciated.

S64 is Magic Elizabeth by Norma Kassirer.  My copy has the title page torn out, so I don't know the year, but it's a pretty common Scholastic Book Services title. Elizabeth is the doll's name.
S64 Stern Aunt Sarah:  This is MAGIC ELIZABETH by Norma Kassirer, and it is listed on your solved
stumpers page and may appear on most requested page too. It was recently republished.
The book you're thinking of is called "Magic Elizabeth".  I don't know the author, but I know it had wonderful illustrations by Beth and Joe Krush.  The story was of Sally, who went to stay at an elderly aunt's house and finds in the bedroom allotted to her a portrait of a little girl her age who looks just like her, holding a wonderful doll.  Aunt Sarah tells Sally that the doll's name was Elizabeth and the girl's name was Sally also.  Through the book, Sally gets to know and love old Aunt Sarah and her black cat Shadow and has dreams in which she experiences going back in time to be the other Sally.  She wants to find Elizabeth, whom Aunt Sarah says disappeared a long time ago.  Finally Shadow finds the doll and Sally finds out that the other Sally was her Aunt Sarah and the doll was hers.  A favorite book of mine and of my daughter's, who I believe has it now which is why I can't put my hands on the author's name.
S64 has got to be Magic Elizabeth, by Norma Kassirer "A grumpy aunt, a black cat, a spooky old house, and a doll named Magic Elizabeth," says the front cover. The aunt is named Sarah, and the little girl is named Sally.
Thanks for the answer!  I'm thinking about this book as a gift for a neighbor girl for her birthday later in the year.  If I can't find it locally, I'll turn right to you.  I appreciate the service you provide.  Your website is a lot of fun and brings back tons of good memories!
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i read a book when i was a child in about 5th grade. that would be around 1969, a young girl spends the summer with her cranky, aged aunt who hates children. while there, the young girl goes into the attic and finds some victorian clothing just right for a girl her age. she puts on the clothing and eventually falls asleep. in her dreams she goes back in time to become her aunt as a child  and is able to locate the beloved lost doll her aunt had lost as a child when she finally wakes up out of her time travel dream, for it is the same house her aunt lived in as a child. i dont know the title of this book but i would love to read it again. i have been all over the net looking to find it. thank you.

I think this one is Magic Elizabeth by Norma Kassirer. The little girl goes to stay with her a grandmother, not an aunt, but otherwise the details seem to match.
I think both G66 and T101 are thinking of Magic Elizabeth by Norma Kassirer. It appears on your Solved Stumpers page, and it was recently republished. ~from a librarian
Sounds like Magic Elizabeth to me!
A few years ago, on a fluke after I happened to find your website, I entered a request for a search on a book I had read as a 5th grader in 1969 and had loved very much..  Forgetting about the website, about 4 years went by and just this week, I happened to fall upon it again. lo and behold! you had found my book, allthough i havent a clue when.  Not even knowing the name of the cherished book, I soon found out it was called, MAGIC ELIZABETH. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for that because I just came home today to find it on my computer desk, a gift from my husband. I have never forgotten how much I had loved this book. It will always be a treasure to me.  thank you.
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Someone has asked me to help identify a story with a secret garden with a character in it named Elspeth.  The person has read the Burnett Secret Garden and that is not it.

I have a suggested book for your stumper, Mandy, by Julie Edwards, published in 1971.  The description calls it an "enchanting bestseller in the tradition of The Secret Garden.  Ten-year-old Mandy lived in a lovely orphanage where the kind Matron Bridie looked after her well.  The good houskeeper, Ellie, slipped her special treats from the kitchen. Mandy was happy, but nothing Mandy had was hers alone.  Until that magical day when she climbed the stone wall at the bottom of the orchard, followed a little path through the forest and found the most beautiful deserted, small cottage, sitting in the sunlight, as if it were smiling at her."  I only read this once, years ago. I don't know if Ellie was ever referred to as Elspeth, but it's worth a look if the date is right.
Not too likely, but there's Nobody's Garden by Cordelia Jones, illustrated by Victor Ambrus, published NY Scribner 1966, 190 pages. Outgoing Hilary Toft decides to make friends with sullen, withdrawn Bridget, whose parents were killed in WWII. They find a common interest in their love for "The Secret Garden" and in recovering the garden of a deserted, bombed-out house, which becomes their own 'secret garden'. No mention of an Elspeth character.
Perhaps ... My Horse Says, by Mary Schroeder, illustrated by P. Stone, published London, Chatto & Windus 1963, 170 pages. "An imaginative story about three children and their widowed mother who have been given notice to quit their home. They start on the difficult search to find another house to rent and Elizabeth (the youngest), who is visited by a make-believe horse when she is alone, insists that they follow the instructions given to her by the horse. These lead eventually to an old deserted house in a walled garden. This was once the home of the squire, but it holds so many sad memories for him that he will not live in it himself or let it to anyone else. The children find an ally in the squire's sister and they are allowed to restore the garden to its former beauty. In time they get their wish and the house is theirs." (Junior Bookshelf Jan/63 p.26) The latter part of the plot is similar to The Secret Garden and Elizabeth is a similar name to Elspeth ...
Perhaps, it is Elizabeth and her German Garden, the first book by Marie Annette Beauchamp--known all her life as "Elizabeth", originally published in 1898. It starts like a diary. It is freely downloadable.
Hi - don't know how much this will help (or how old the question is!) but I think I know the answer to the above stumper.  The book sounds like Ginnie and the Mystery Doll. There is a secondary character named Elspeth, whom Ginnie befriends while staying at her crabby elderly auntie's house. Together Ginnie and Elspeth try to discover the whereabouts of a lost doll mentioned in an old diary.
Hi there - I made a mistake earlier! The book in questions is, I believe, Magic Elizabeth, by Norma Kassirer, as referenced in your #T101. I had the general plot right, but the wrong book.  It's even still in print.  Here's a short summary: Eight-year-old Sally faces an entire summer trapped in a creepy old house with no one for company but her spooky Aunt Sarah and a black cat named Shadow. But soon Sally uncovers a mystery about a beautiful old doll in a portrait -- and a little girl who looks just like Sally herself! In search of clues, Sally is drawn toward the attic and the old mirror that sits there. And when she looks into it, something magical happens....
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Probably close to 30 years ago there was a childrens book that I read at school.  It was kind of a scary mystery about a girl who went to visit her Aunt or her Grandma, and while she was there she found a doll in the attic in a trunk.  The doll had special powers.  I don't recall the doll being evil or anything . . .but I remember that it was a fabulous mystery.  Can you help me locate this story?

A common theme....  Behind the Attic Wall by Sylvia CassedyRachel Field, Hitty: Her First Hundred Years?  Checked Solved Mysteries for details.  (More likely the former.)
I've checked several of the options, Hitty and Behind the Attic wall, but neither were the one I was thinking of.  Additionally it came to me that either the girls name or the dolls name may have been Elizabeth.  I also checked the solved stories for that name - but couldn't find it there either.  Thank you so much for the assistance in trying to find this book.
Could this be Magic Elizabeth by Norma Kassirer?
So many hidden dolls...some titles you might try:  Ruth M. Arthur, A Candle in her Room, 1966.  Very scary.  The doll's name is Dido, and it tries to control the girl who finds it.  Janet Lunn, Twin Spell, 1969.  This one has twins, a hidden doll, a missing doll, and an angry ghost. Jacqueline Jackson, Missing Melinda, 1967.  More twins, another missing doll, found in an attic, but not scary.  More of a treasure hunt mystery.  If it has an old-fashioned feel, it could be one of Rumer Godden's doll books, and I think Mary C. Jane had a missing doll book as well.  The others mentioned might be it as well...especially Magic Elizabeth, which is a wonderful story.
Norma Kassirer, Magic Elizabeth. Magic Elizabeth, that's it!  I've found a copy and the front cover is exactly the same as I remember now.  Thank you so much!!  I'm buying the copy for my 11 year old niece so she can enjoy it to.  Thanks again!
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1960's-70s. I can remember everything so vividly EXCEPT for the important parts:  The title & author!  A child goes to stay with their Aunt who lives in New York City {I believe} in the only Victorian house remaining on the block, surrounded by apartment buildings.  The child is frightened at first thinking the aunt who has a black cat, is a witch.  Also remember a player-type of piano.  The child while playing on an old sled in the carriage house is somehow transported back to the Victorian Era.  I believe it was the sled that was magical but it could have been an old diary perhaps??  I really loved this book & remember reading it around the time that, "The Wednesday Witch" was popular.  Thanks so much!!

Norma Kassirer, Magic Elizabeth, 1966. I'm pretty sure this is the book you are thinking about.  Sally has to go stay with her aunt who lives in old Victorian house.  She finds a diary of a little girl who use to live in the house and lost her favorite doll.  Sally has dreams that correspond to events in the diary.  One includes a sleigh ride.
Norma Kassirer, Magic Elizabeth. See solved stumpers!
kassirer, norma , Magic Elizabeth. One of my favorites! I recognized the storyline right away. Sally must stay with her Great Aunt Sarah while her parents and usual caregiver are away. At first she is frightened of her aunt, but is won over as she becomes fascinated by the "mystery" of a lost doll,  named Elizabeth, and is transported back in time.
Magic Elizabeth.Your details aren't bang-on but they're close enough that this must be the book--sorry it is so hard to find, I'd like a copy myself! Sal goes to stay with her Aunt Sarah and finds out about a doll, Elizabeth, that had been lost in the house years before.  She keeps having dreams about going back in time, and eventually she and the aunt's cat find the doll. The "player piano" is a melodeon in the parlor.
Norma Kassirer, Magic Elizabeth, 1966. Sounds like this could be the book because Sally, whose parents are out of town, goes to stay with her Great-aunt Sarah at her large and scary-looking old house which is surrounded by apartment buildings.  Sally discovers that when she looks into a wall mirror, she sees another girl from the early 1900s, also named Sally, who lived in the house then.  She also discovers her diary in the attic.
etc.



Magic Everywhere
I'm looking for a specific edition of I *think* A Book of Wizards by Ruth Manning-Sanders.  The book is hardbound in a reddish/salmon color with a wizard on the cover and contains numerous color illustrations throughout- not just the frontispiece. I know Long Broad and Sharpsight is in it, I think Farmer Weathersky is in it.  I recall a color illustration for Long Broad and Sharpsight of the wizard with iron bands.  There is also another color illustration of a lady in a pink gown and hat being liftted out of water (or someplace) by an ugly giant or ogre. I had this book in 1985. thanks!!

Miriam Blanter Huber & Frank Seely Salisbury, Magic Everywhere. Thanks, I found the book I was looking for via the Book Sleuth forum.  The seller confirmed with pictures.


click here for pictures and profileMagic Faraway Tree

Magic Forest
I know this is going to sound so vague... this book I am looking for is about a boy, who has to travel through the wilderness to either escape, or get to where he needs to go and has no other alternative.  He meets up with someone who helps him, possibly an indian.  At one point he ends up being rescued from a river, or has to hide in a river, but somehow loses most of his clothing and must wear this big trenchcoat type of thing, I think provided by his helper, so maybe it wasn't an indian, but there may be indians involved in the story.  Yikes, thanks for any help!

B113---sure this isn't The Sign of the Beaver?
B113 boy in wilderness: I don't think this is it, but in The Magic Forest, by Stewart White (first published 1920s, reprinted many times) young Jimmy sleepwalks from a stalled train into the forest, wearing only pajamas and slippers. He is found at the river's edge by canoing Indians who give him native clothes to wear because his are wet through from the snow.


The Magic Friend Maker
This was a story I read to my daughter in the early 70's about a girl who moved to a new house and made friends through a stone or rock that when she put it into water turned beautiful colors.

Gladys Baker Bone, The Magic Friend Maker.  A book that sounds exactly like this came up on the Abebooks booksearch board.  It was identified as The Magic Friend Maker by Gladys Baker Bond.
Thanks -- not sure it's the same one, but it sounds like it could be!  I've sent for a copy and will let you know if it's the same story.
Yes, that was the book.  Thanks so much.
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1960s-1970s. This was a book about a young girl and a friend.  They were near the ocean or a lake.  There were stones/rocks that they washed in the water and traded, I think.  There were drawings of the rocks, which were very pretty when wet.  Maybe one of the friends was moving away?

Baker Bond, Gladys, The magic friend-maker. Illustrated by Stina Nagel It was published in large format by Whitman in approx 1966.  The series was "A Whitman Small World Library Book"  It was also published as a Golden Book and I think there were several re-issues.You can see some of the illustrations from the golden book version herehttp://mywaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2009/03/magic-friend-maker.html

Gladys Baker Bond, The Magic Friend-Maker, 1966. When Beth meets a new girl named Jean, Jean asks, "Would you like to see my rock?" and shows her a wonderful rock that is especially beautiful when wet.  With this as a starting place, the two girls become inseparable until Jean's family has to move away.  As a parting gift, Jean gives her sad friend the special rock.  When Beth meets Anna, a new girl moving into the building, she knows just how to start a friendship..."Would you like to see my rock?"  I too had fond memories of this story and the enchanting pictures, and I tracked it down several years ago.  Enjoy! 
Gladys Baker Bond, The Magic Friend-Maker, 1966. This is it! Solved.  Thanks so much.  I recognized the cover right away. 

Magic Garden
My Dad used to work as a trashman and would bring home books from the trash. I got lots of great books that way. One book that I loved but was in poor condition was about a little rich girl named Amaryllis whose father ignored her until she ran away from her nurse. She found a boy and his father and they took her to their house which had a gorgeous run-down garden where she found that she was named after a flower. The boy taught her mumblety-pegs. Her father found her and became a wonderful loving Dad after a change of heart because of her running away. The boy became a famous violinist. She would go to his performances in secret and send Amaryllis blossoms. In the end he goes on a ship (I don't recall why) and the ship wrecks (only he missed it). She thinks he is dead. A wonderful tear-jerking reunion occurs at the end. If I remember correctly all the illustrations were in green ink.

Gene Stratton-Porter, The Magic Garden.  This is definitely the book!
Gene Stratton-Porter, The Magic Garden, 1927.  "The Magic Garden is about a little boy and girl (Amaryllis) that meet in a beautiful garden and the little girl promises the boy that some day she would meet him there again. He goes off to study the violin in Italy and when he returns he finds the girl in the garden."
Gene Stratton Porter, The Magic Garden.  Whoooooooooooooooooooohooooooooooo!! That's it!! Now, the big question is does Harriet have it? I would prefer to buy it here!!
<yes, sold.  thanks!> really casts them into ludicrous predicaments when they bake cupcakes "for changing someone into a harmless domestic animal"; for while they manage to turn a thoroughly unpleasant neighbor into a lovely brown donkey, they also inadvertently transform their mother into a speckled hen." (Horn Book Jun/66 p.307)
This is a book about I think four children who move to a new neighborhood into a little house that they describe as looking like a shoe box.  Their mother sends them from the house on the moving day complaining that she is allergic to dust and they find this shed in their new back yard with a stove in it.  I believe it is missing a dial, and a strange man comes and brings them a dial with a setting on it that says something like 'magic' on it.  They cook recipes which become magical when they use this setting.  The only magic I remember is that one or all of the
children become invisible.  I can't remember what the conclusion is except that I think the man comes back and takes away the dial.  Please help me find this!!



Magic Grandfather
A boy's magician grandfather (or uncle)is sucked into magic portal while the boy is assisting him with a spell.  The boy and his girl friend work together to bring the grandfather back using a magic book? At the end they save the grandfather and find out that the girl friend is a witch. This is a book that I read in Jr High in the 80's.  Any help is greatly appreciated...Thanks

Jay Williams, The Magic Grandfather, 1979, copyright. Sam is the boy, it's his grandfather that gets stuck in Beta, and the girl is Sam's cousin, Sarah, who finds out at the end that she got Grandpa back through the portal because she's a witch.
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A boy learns to do magic from his grandfather, who goes back in time to a tavern and brings a pewter(?) tankard into the present time (to sell) whenever he needs some money.  The boy must develop his concentration skills, and practices by imagining a brick wall, one brick at a time.

Could this be The Magic Grandfather, by Ruth Chew? or maybe another Chew title? She wrote shortish (100 p+/-) books that got picked up by the book clubs in the 80's.
The Magic Grandfather was actually by Jay Williams, but I haven't read it so I can't tell you whether this is the right book.  Plot of The Magic Grandfather:  "An 11-year-old discovers that not only is his seemingly ne'er-do-well grandfather a bona fide sorcerer but he too may have an untapped talent for magic."
Jay Williams (author), Gail Owens (illustrator), The Magic Grandfather, 1979.  This is definitely the book you're looking for!  Eleven year old Sam Limner accidentally discovers that his seemingly unemployed, unambitious grandfather is actually a powerful enchanter. His grandfather decides to cast a spell over Sam to make him forget what he has learned, but agrees to let Sam witness one spectacular feat of magic first.  (Sam has already seen his grandfather perform some small acts of magic, like mending a broken window, pulling a child's chipped tooth, and repairing a car that won't start.  He also sees his grandfather earn money by transporting a pewter tankard from a tavern in 1790 to a present day antique shop, where he sells it for $100.)  When Grandfather decides to summon a creature from another world, he allows Sam to hold a necessary piece of equipment.  Sam drops the equipment during the spell, and Grandfather is sucked into the other world, where he becomes trapped.  Sam, with the help of his cousin Sarah, decides to rescue his grandfather.  Sam studies his grandfather's magic books and discovers that he has a talent for sorcery that has been obscured because an addiction to television has ruined his powers of imagination and concentration.  He strengthens his imagination by reading a passage from The Wind in the Willows and imagining Badger' kitchen.  He has trouble picturing the kitchen's brick floor, and concentrates so that he can imagine it in detail, brick by brick.  After many mishaps, Sam rescues his grandfather, who acknowledges his talent and promises to help him develop it.  If the author's name sounds familiar, it's because he is also a co-author of the Danny Dunn science fiction series---and he plugs the first book in The Magic Grandfather!  Sam Limner hides his grandfather's magic notebook on his bookshelf between Treasure Island and Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine!



Magic Grinder
In the book, Mickey Mouse had a magic ice cream maker/wishing box/magic box and he wished for ice cream, but he couldn't turn it off, and the ice cream filled the castle (?) or room. There may have been a dragon involved somehow, but I'm not sure. I would have read it in the early 80's, so it's been around since at least then. Thank you for your help!

The Magic Grinder, 1975.  Part of the Disney's Wonderful World of Reading series.
Thank you so much for this site! I sent you this stumper and that's absolutely the book I was looking for. If you can, please post my thanks to the person who solved it. I've been looking for that piece of my childhood for years and I'm delighted to finally have the name!



Magic Hat of Mortimer Wintergreen
The amazing Mr. something ... Magic wagon ... travel or voyage??? 1988-1990  In this book, a brother and a sister who are poor meet a magician that comes to their small town. I seem to remember something about them hiding in a haystack to meet him. Soon, they are travelling with him on his wagon, and I remember that he had lots of magical stuff. They end up in a big city (New York, maybe?) and the kids are amazed at the fancy hotel room with running water, which they have never seen. I think the magician was there to put on a show. There was also something about the magician helping poor children and animals in the streets of the city. In the end, I don't remember exactly what happens to the kids, but the magician leaves and tells them he will return when the moon is a certain odd color - maybe orange?? I don't know if this ever happens.

#T105--Two siblings travel with magician:  in some ways this sounds like Mr. Mysterious and Company by Sid Fleischman, only in that book the children were his own, so there would be nothing about picking up or leaving
them.
Hi, my book stumper is #T105, "Two Siblings Travel With Magician," and I am just writing to let you know that the book I'm looking for is definitely NOT Mr. Mysterious and Company -- I checked it out. The details I listed are all very accurate -- I remember the plot clearly, but unfortunately I just blanked on the title. I hope someone is able to figure this one out, as I would love to get my hands on a copy of this great book!! Thanks for all your help.
Good news! I went back to my "childhood" library this weekend and they still have the book - it's called The Magic Hat of Mortimer Wintergreen. Now I just need to locate a copy of it that I can keep (I tried bribing the librarian but to no avail!) Thanks.


Magic in the Alley
Thank you for your site. I hope you can help me find the title of this book. I must have take it out of a public library in Alexandria VA in the early-mid 70's. I have only vague memories of the story line: It was about a boy who was friends with a crow or raven who could talk. At some point in the story, the crow/raven had to choose to give up being able to talk to save the boy. Does this ring any bells with you? Thank you for thinking about this book...

On the talking raven or crow, I *think* there was such a creature in Alley Magic, by Mary Calhoun, but as I never finished the book I have no idea if it gave up its powers.
This is really a long shot, but could this be Magic in the Alley by Mary Calhoun? The main character is a girl, with a friend who's a boy, and she reanimates a stuffed crow with magic, which can then talk. At the end of
the book she must decide whether to use her last magic to turn the crow into a real non-magic crow, who will lose the ability to talk. As I said, really a longshot.
I looked this up and found only one expensive ex-library copy, but here's the info:
Calhoun, Mary: Magic in the Alley. New York: Atheneum, 1970.
Oh My! It could be-- as I said all I remember are very vague things. I just remember being really affected by the choice that had to be made...  I will now go out looking for this book. Was Mary Calhoun the author of the Katie John books?? I loved them too & could have read this because of that.
Thank you so much for your help. I love poring over your site & hope to be able to help someone the way you have helped me!



Magic in the Park
What a great site! My sisters and I have all been stumped with this one. We all read this book as kids (late 60s - early 70s) abut can't remember the name or author. It's about two kids in NY who turn into pigeons and go to the island in the middle of the lake in Central Park. I realize this is a very vague description, but I can't remember more than that, other than there was also a stolen bicycle involved. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

P-43 is, I think, another Ruth Chew book.  It MIGHT be Earthstar Magic, but I'm not sure.
P43 Pigeons Who Were Once Children:  The other person who answered that it was a Ruth Chew book was right on track, but the title is MAGIC IN THE PARK, 1972.
Just wanted to confirm that P43 is definitely Magic in the Park by Ruth Chew. Plot summary: "Jenny and her friend Mike discover a magic tree and an old man who feeds the birds in the park. They discover that the tree moves around and that they can go underground and become birds with the help of the magic beech tree."
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A chapter book was handed down to me in the early 1970's about a brother and sister who discover an old tree in a city park (New York Central Park?), and climbing up through the trunk they are turned into crows.  The setting is in winter.  Thanks for any help!

C230 Sounds like it could be MAGIC IN THE PARK by Ruth Chew, 1972 ~from a librarian
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Fantastic website and idea!  The book I am looking for was probably a scholastic book from the 70's.  I think it was about a girl who moves to the city into an apartment and befriends a boy.  Together they discover a tree in the park that is sometimes there and sometimes not (when it is not there, a man who feeds the animals and keeps them safe in the pockets of his coat is there - he of course turns into the tree).  They learn how to turn into birds (or squirrels - I can't remember which) and then back into humans by eating nuts (I think from that tree).  Any help remembering the title and author is much appreciated!  Thanks.

Ruth Chew, Magic in the Park.  I posted this question last week but think I soon found the answer on your website.  I am pretty sure the book is Magic in the Park by Ruth Chew.  Thanks!
Magic in the Park by Ruth Chew?  What's amazing about her is how she makes writing books for that age level look so easy. She's written about two dozen fantasy books and one non-fantasy book. See Solved Mysteries for her name.
Ruth Chew, Magic in the Park
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Possible titles are:  A Tree in Winter, or A Tree in the Park, or The Park in Winter.  A Boy and Girl meet an old man who feeds the birds in winter, who turns green in the spring, then disappears, but a big tree appears.  Kids fall into the tree and turn into birds -- maybe crows. Adventurous tales.

Ruth Chew, Magic in the Park, 1972, approximate. Definitely this one! "It is winter, and Jennifer Mace is new to Brooklyn. She visits Prospect Park and meets an old man who feeds the birds, a raven named Napoleon, and a boy named Michael Stewart. Jen and Michael explore a magic island in the lake that turns into an underground tunnel, and a magic tree that temporarily turns them into pigeons. In the spring, Jen gets a bike for her birthday, but a mean boy named Steve tries to steal it. Mike helps her get it back, but almost gets stuck as a pigeon!"
Chew, Ruth, Magic in the Park. Sounds like Magic in the Park. If thats not the right one, it could be another one by Ruth Chew, like The Wishing Tree or The Secret Tree-House~from a librarian.
Ruth Chew,  Magic in the Park. I am sure that the book you are looking for is Magic in the Park by Ruth Chew. Plot summary: "Jenny and her friend Mike discover a magic tree and an old man who feeds the birds in the park. They discover that the tree moves around and that they can go underground and become birds with the help of the magic beech tree."

Ruth Chew, Magic in the Park, 1974, approximate. I am the original requester.  I recognized it immediately.  I also recognized the plot of the story from some of your stumper solver comments.  Yay.  I am so happy.  It's really been bugging me trying to find this book.  I really want my children to read it, cuz I loved it so much.  I see they reprinted it in the 80's, so it must have been pretty popular.



Magic Island
I read this book in the early 1970s when I was about 10 or 12.  It is about an orphan girl who is taken in by a rich shipping family in NY or Boston.  She is small of stature.  The family that takes her in has a daughter her age and an older daughter (18, maybe) who is newly married to the captain of one of the family�s ships.  She goes with the two daughters on a sea voyage to Barbados where she lives on a sugar cane plantation.  Because of her small stature, she is able to rescue a young child from a well, which makes her feel better about her size.

Mady Lee Chastain, Magic Island,1964.  Every detail matches.  It's an interesting cultural artifact, and a book that couldn't be written today.  Set in the early 1850s,  Barbados is depicted as a beautiful, idyllic place, with the dark shadow of slavery lying upon it nearly unnoticed - although the protagonist, Angel, has relationships with some of the slaves!  My copy is a withdrawn library copy with the usual defects, but no story pages missing.
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i remember really enjoying this book but the details in my mind are sketchy. a few girls were taken on a trip, probably with relatives, to a tropical island.  i remember that there was a friend named dodie, who thought she wasn't included. when informed of the trip, she said, i h-hope you all have a good time, sniffling. and the person taking them on the trip said, why, dodie, dear! and informed her that of course she was going along. i don't know when it was printed, but i read the book in the sixties. thanks.

I've been looking for this book too. For some reason, I think it's by the author of the Best Friends, books, Mary Bard, if that's any help.
I found it!  "There was a muffled sniffling near the door.  It was Dodie putting on her cloak.  "I---I---I hope you all have a wonderful time," she said tearfully.  "Dodie!" cried Aunt Abbie.  "Dodie, dear.  It includes you, too."  From page 45 of Magic Island by Madye Lee Chastain (1964).  Angel Thorne, a sickly ten year old, is sent to stay with her grandfather's boyhood friend.  He decides to send her to Barbados to recuperate, along with his granddaughter Lissa, and her two friends, Emmy and Dodie.  This is the third book Madye Lee Chastain wrote about these girls.  The first, Dark Treasure  (1954), is about Lissa and her cousin Andy, the captain of a clipper ship.  In the second, Emmy Keeps a Promise (1956), Emmy and Lissa encourage a romance between Emmy's sister, Arabel, and Lissa's cousin, Andy.  By the third book, Magic Island, Arabel and Andy are married, and they take Angel, Lissa, Emmy and Dodie to Barbados.  I don't think Dodie ever got her own book!
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I remember reading this book during the sixties. It was about three children- all girls, I think- who were taken on a trip to a tropical island. I think two of them belonged to the same family. The third was named Dodie, and she thought she wasn't invited. She cried, "I hope you all have a very nice time," and then some adult in the romm said, "Why, Dodie! Dodie, DEAR! Of course you are invited too."

Madye Lee Chastain, Magic Island. This is the same book as T104, which has been solved.  It is MAGIC ISLAND, by Madye Lee Chastain.


Magic Key
As a child born in 1949, my parents bought many books for my sisters and I to read. One of my favorites was a book about a little boy and girl who were walking along and found an unusual key. The key fit into a keyhole in a toadstool and unlocked the door into fairyland. The children sailed down a river on a leaf and met the queen of the fairies. I thought the book might be a Little Golden Book, but I have been informed by a collector that this is probably not true. Do you know of any book written or published around that time that would fit the description? Any suggestions on ways to locate the title. Thank you for your help.

K1:  this book was called The Key That Fit Fairyland I read it in first grade and we used it for a school play.  I too thought it was a Little Golden Book.
Well, I looked it up and there is no LGB, Wonder or Elf title exactly like that.
There was another series of books in the 1950's that was similar to Little Golden Books called Jolly Books. One of the Jolly Book titles is The Magic Key - perhaps this is the book.
I too had a 20 year search for this book after giving our copy to a doctors office when I was a child. My sister (born in 1949) always held me responsible for losing "her book" so we had a  20 year quest along the east coast to find it. My first bit of luck was finding the cover in an antique shop (near home), the shop owner thought it was cute and that someone might want to frame it. It was a bargain at 5 cents.   It gave us a starting point.  The book is The Magic Key by Mary Francis, illustrated by Sylvia Holland it was published by Jolly Books NY , Avon
Publishing, with a copyright of 1952.  I called my sister in VA for the storyline (since after locating it from a book dealer, I gave it to her for Christmas in 1998). The storyline is, Tommy and his sister are walking through the woods when they find a key on the ground, They look around and notice a hole in a large rock or boulder and when they put the key in, they are transported to a  new place. In this place the toadstools seem to grow (or are they getting smaller?) and as they explore they come across fairies and elves building  tables and benches. They meet the  head elf, Gruffy who asks them how they got there and if they know the magic words. Tommy tells him the only magic words he knows are "by hickory and by dickory" (which happen to be some of "the magic words of the elves" ) and Gruffy takes them off to the Queen Fairy to decide what should be done with them. They go to the biggest tree in the forest and a door opens for them to enter. Once inside they meet the queen and it is decided that the children will have to stay till after the Queen's party. The children get to see the fairy party dresses and Tommy gets to sail in an Oak leaf boat.(about 3 pages from the end of the book is a full page illustration of Tommy in the boat.)  Whoever was asking about this book had a pretty good recollection to remember the boat part. For me it was the fairy party, the toadstools and the Big rock with the keyhole.
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Hi - hope someone can help me find the titles/authors/sources of 2 stories I dimly remember from many years ago.  ...  The other had a child, boy I think, finding a mysterious key which opens a door in an old stone wall - I think a horse and a crow or raven also appear in there somewhere. Anybody out there ever read anything that sounds like these beginnings?  I can't remember anything more than that, and would like to know how the stories finished!

The second story ounds like stumper S69 stone wall holds key to mystery
Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden, 1911.  Regarding the second part of this request: There are two main boy characters in this story, and a girl- she finds a key to a locked garden, and helps her cousin to discover the real world, after being bed-ridden all his life.  They make friends with Dickon- a boy from the moors or dales, who has a pony and a crow or some other bird.
I think I missed the second part of this one previously.  Also check out The Magic Key on the Solved Mysteries page, that's one that eluded me for a long time since it sounded much like The Secret Garden, but clearly wasn't.
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1955.  This was an illustrated story of a brother and sister who found a gold key in the woods. It opened a tiny door at the base of a large tree, and that led them into fairyland. My memory tells me the illustrations of fairies were wonderful.

The Magic Key by Mary Francis, illustrated by Sylvia Holland,  Jolly Books, 1952. It's on Solved Mysteries.



Magic Locket
MY LITTLE LOCKET, I THINK, LATE 1980s.  THIS BOOK HAD A REAL LOCKET INSIDE THE FRONT COVER.  IT HAD A PINK COVER (I THINK).  MY GRANDAUGHTER IS 16 AND HER FATHER GAVE HER THIS BOOK WHEN SHE WAS 3 0R 4.  HE DIED WHEN SHE WAS 10 AND THE BOOK IS THE ONE THING SHE WOULD LIKE TO HAVE TO REMEMBER HIM BY. THE ORIGINAL HAS BEEN LOST. PLEASE, HELP.  THANK YOU.

Took me a moment, but here it is:  Elizabeth Koda-Callan, The Magic Locket.  Workman Publishing, 1988.
 Interpreting
Condition 
Grades
Elizabeth Koda-Callan, The Magic Locket.  Workman Publishing, 1988.  Used copy, VG but lacking locket.  $6

Elizabeth Koda-Callan, The Magic Locket.  Workman Publishing, 1988.  New copy.  $12.95



Magic Lollipop
i am looking for a children's book from the 1970's, there were no illustrations, only photographs.  the hardcover was orange.  the photos and story was about kids in an urban setting who could make things appear.  i remember one photo of an all day sucker (lollypop) and another of a huge ice cream sundae that they all ate.  the book was more horizontal than vertical and the photos were black and white.

Ellen Koshland, The Magic Lollipop.
  I'm almost certain this is the book you're looking for.  It's illustrated in black and white photographs, and my copy has a swirly orange, yellow, and blue design with a young boy holding a lollipop. The plot - a young boy wakes up with a large lollipop that makes magical things happen when it's licked.  One of the photos is the boy and his friends eating a large ice cream sundae.  At the end the lollipop is used up, and then turns into a banjo.
my apologies that i forgot about checking back for the past few weeks--it was only when i looked tonight that i saw the response.  this is exactly, precisely the book i was thinking about.  thanks--i look forward to finding this for my three daughters who, like their mother, enjoy their sweets.


Magic Meadow
A child in a very drab school (orphanage?) can transport to another (better)place with the power of his/her mind.  Classmates and the teacher do not believe until the child comes back holding a dandylion.  This flower is not around the drab place.  Then the entire class and teacher (who has no ties) all decide to move/transport to the better place leaving the drab world behind.  The child's thoughts are very "loud" in the second nice place where everyone has this ability. Hope this story is remembered by someone else.

Key, Alexander, The Magic Meadow, Westminster 1975.  Maybe this one - "The author here writes, as he did in a number of books, of isolated children with extraordinary mental powers. In this fantasy/science fiction tale, five crippled kids, confined to a hospital ward, are about to be separated because the hospital has been condemned -- then one boy discovers that he has the power to teleport them to the beautiful other world that they had conjured up in their imaginations." "Five crippled children in Ward Nine--Brick, Diz Dobie, Princess, Charlie Pill, and Lily Rose--play a game of imagining themselves in another world. Just imagine what happens when one of them finds out he can really take them there." The adult is Mrs. Jackson. Oh yeah, this is it - the first chapter is called The Dandelions.
Alexander Key, The Magic Meadow.  Brick, Diz Dobie, Charlie Pill, Lily Rose, and Princess are the Incurables.  They can't move their bodies much but they play the "traveling game" every night and imagine themselves away from Ward Nine.  One night Brick is able to go to their magic meadow and no one believes him when he returns until Nurse Jackson sees a dandelion under his neck.  He is able to transport all of the others to the meadow in the nick of time since their hospital has been condemned and the kids are going to be split up.  Very memorable story.
Thank you, thank you.  Too bad The Magic Meadow is out of print and hard to find.  However, I did find a website to re-read the book online.  What a gem.
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A story about a group of hanicapped children who find a way into a different world (maybe through a construction site?). Once there they notice that they develope psychic powers (and I think their handicap challenges resolve) The stronger (maybe older) children help the other ones to "come over". There are a few back and forth visits until finally they decide to stay. The natives of this new place sing to bring up the sun and everyone communicates telepathically.

Key, Alexander, The Magic Meadow.  Several severely handicapped children in an institution manage to escape by using the power of their minds.  They travel to another place (earth in the future)- the one with the most ability has to make several trips back and forth to bring them all there and he almost doesn't make it.  Their nurse caregiver comes with them and they all start on a wonderful new life.  The people already there do sing to the sun and are welcoming and kind.
My sister just lent me this book and the details match the poster's memories. There is more information on the solved mystery pages.
Alexander Key, The Magic Meadow, 1975.  This is definitely the book.  See the Solved Mysteries M page for more information.
Alexander Key, Magic Meadow
Alexander Key, The Magic Meadow, 1975. H196 sounds like it *might* be The Magic Meadow by Alexander Key. "Five crippled children in Ward Nine--Brick, Diz Dobie, Princess, Charlie Pill, and Lily Rose--play a game of imagining themselves in another world. Just imagine what happens when one of them finds out he can really take them there."


Magic of Millicent Musgrave
I do not know the name of this book or the publish date or the author. All I know is content, and a lot of it.  I am 33 years old, so that may at least lend a clue as to the age of the book; it was my book as a 6 to 10 year old.  The book begins when a magician (could the magician's name be Milicent or that may be the little girl's name?) calls a little girl on stage and turns her current doll or some other toy she is holding into a new doll.  She is not very happy about this and I believe the magician convinces her to spend the next week or so with her new doll and see if she likes her more; if not she is to come back and he will magically return her other doll (or toy).  The little girl (her name may be Melinda or that may be the doll's name) takes the doll with her on several different 'travels' including a hot air balloon ride and, I believe, a steamer ship voyage.  I think her parents buy matching clothing for the girl and her doll.  Anyway, by the end of the week or so, the little girl does become fond of the new doll and when she returns to the magician she cannot bring herself to return the doll.  Or maybe she does return the doll and then shortly after she returns because she decides she'd like the doll after all.  I feel like maybe the little girl was English or perhaps she and her dad travel to England.   At the risk of seeming a little nutty, I also seem to
remember that the father traveled and brought the girl clothes for her and her doll or even maybe a different doll( to try and please her ) from one of his travels.  I would be so happy if someone remembers this sweet story  and can come up with a title or some other clue to this mystery.  Thanks

Sounds like THE MAGIC OF MILLICENT MUSGRAVE written and illustrated by Brinton Turkle, 1967. A magician gives Millicent a doll instead of a rabbit, and she and her father try to find the magician again.~from a librarian
Brinton Turkle, The Magic of Millicent Musgrave, 1967.  "Turn-of-the-century story of a little girl, a deceitful magician & a doll named Melinda Melee " and "outwitted by a magician who gives her a doll instead of a promised white rabbit, Millicent and her father travel to Paris and London in pursuit of the trickster."
Turkle, Brinton, The magic of Millicent Musgrave, 1967.  Viking Press, written and illustrated by Turkle.  Outwitted by a magician who gives her a doll instead of a promised white rabbit, Millicent and her father travel to Paris and London in pursuit of the trickster.


Magic Pot
this book was weird: it was about a couple who owned a funky black pot. the pot got up and shouted "hucka pucka" a lot. Weird!

#H24--Hucka Pucka:  Man, I JUST saw this in a local thrift store!  Was looking at it just before the answer to the "Pot called Peep" stumper was posted.  Looking in the store just now, I couldn't find it, meaning it was probably sold, although things around there do have a funny way of disappearing and reappearing.  Anyhow, it was called something like The Imp in the Pot and was about an imp that took the form of one of those large black three-legged cooking pots.  It was one of those small cheap hardcover easy readers which appeared in profusion in the '60s.  The pot kept jumping around and the imp popping up shouting, "Hucka pucka!"  Seriously weird,
yes.
Junior Bookshelf review again: Patricia Coombs "The Magic Pot" published by World's Work, 1979, 32 pages "The demon who turns into a black iron pot with a 'Hucka-pucka' and robs the rich to feed the appreciative poor, hucka-puckaing off with the rich man in a fine mystery ending ... enchanting two-colour crayon illustrations in fine red frames ..."
It is The Magic Pot! Thank you so much for finding these, your site is priceless!!



Magic Shop
From the early '50s. Two children stop in front of a shop and they see a large map in the window. As they look closely at the map they see animals on the plains of Africa and other moving things on the map.

Maurice Dolbier, The Magic Shop, 1946.  This was also anthologized in "Best in Children's Books," Vol. 28, Nelson Doubleday, 1959.



Magic Soap Bubble
Hi. I'm looking for a book that my Mom remembers when she was little living in Ohio. It was a slender children's book maybe 20 pages long, approximately 9" by 12" with delicate full-color illustrations. Written around the early 1930's. The story was about a little boy who blows a large soap bubble and steps inside it and flies gently to the moon. Unsure what happens next except that he gets home safely. Can anyone help me with this book? Many thanks for a wonderful service.

Could this be David Cory, The Magic Soap Bubble (N: Grosset & Dunlap, '22), part of a series, Little Journeys to Happyland, in which Ned journeys to Happyland, rather than the moon?  There is a voyage to the moon in Bobbie Bubbles(Chicago:RAnd McNally,1916), but this is a longer book, with both  b&w & color illustrations


Magic Spectacles & Other Easy-to-Read Stories
I just found your website and I love it!  I am a dyed in the wool booklover, so what a treasure your site is! There is a book from my childhood that I would like to find, or at least  discover the title of.  I don't know the title, author, or year published, and I only have a sketchy memory of the story line.  I recall a grandfather telling stories, possibly bedtime stories, to his grandchild.  He wore spectacles as he told the stories.  The grandchild found the spectacles and put them on, and he/she discovered that the grandfather saw the stories in the spectacles.  It seems that I remember the story that the grandchild saw had something to do with fairies, possibly a fairy wedding.  Does this ring any bells for you?

Could this be Lilian Moore,  The Magic Spectacles & Other Easy-to-Read Stories , ill. Arnold Lobel (Parents' Magazine Press,'65)?
I have often wondered the same myself.  Grandfather Owl wears spectacles and answers questions and solves arguments for all the other animals in the woods.  Little Toot aspires to be as knowledgable and attributes this knowledge to Grandfather's Spectacles.  One day he gets to try them, but alas, they tell him nothing.  Grandfather Owl explains "Spectacles are for seeing and not for knowing.  Knowing comes with growing and growing."  Not exactly the same as the stumper, but in case the story became confused over the years, I do have a copy for sale!
Moore, Lilian.  The Magic Spectacles and Other Easy-to-Read Stoies.  Illustrated by Arnold Lobel.   Parents' Magazine Press, 1965.  Cover slightly soiled and binding worn, otherwise G.  $10
Just another possibility, if it was the grandmother instead, but probably too recent: Beattie, Ann Spectacles New York, Ariel Books, 1985 "When Alison puts on Great Grandmother's glasses, they become magical and enable her to understand some of her grandmother's frustrations and unfulfilled aspirations."
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My grandparents used to read my sister and me a book that featured a train (freight train, locomotive), I believe at night. There was a boy in his bed, who either couldn't sleep and was told a story about this night train, or dreamed of this train speeding through the countryside at night. Most of the illustrations were dark and pen-and-ink-like, and I specifically remember a page where the train was out of control and the boy or conductor (or both) were pulling back hard on the throttle to stop it. I believe the cover was dark, like night. It was a relatively thin hardback. I would love to find this book for my sister, who is now a reading teacher. We read it in the mid- to late-70s, but I think it was used even then.

Chris Van Allsburgh, The Polar Express.  Just a suggestion.
David M. McPhail, The Train, 1977.  Could this be it?  When Matthew lets baby brother operate his train, the youngster crashes it  Matthew goes to the rescue in a life-sized dream. Ages 4-8.
Lilian Moore, The Magic Spectacles, 1965.  I was the original requester and I found it! The train story was a part of "The Magic Spectacles, and other easy-to-read stories," by Lilian Moore, illustrated by Arnold Lobel. Published by Parents' Magazine Press 1965. I found the other stories (The "Now Really" Time, Janey's Boss, The Pet that Benjy Wanted, The Silver Bird Express, Wait for a Windy Day, Little Willie) and it rang a bell! Thanks!


Magic Stone
I read this book sometime in the 1970s.  It was about a girl (I think a teenager) who found a special stone, which I recall had a sliver of metal stuck in it.  She  eventually figures out that when she touches the stone at the same time as another girl (whom she doesn't know very well initially), something magical/supernatural occurs.  For some reason I can recall the first girl walking across a field to get to the second girl's house.  I definitely can picture a book cover, with a girl with long dark hair walking across a field.  I think the word "stone" may be in the title but am not sure.  The book was more "dark" than "fun" magical in tone.

Might be Penelope Farmer, The Magic Stone.  When I read the description I immediately thought of this book, and went looking for descriptions on the web to confirm.  Couldn't find any, but I'll make the suggestion anyway.  I think it's Farmer's The MAGIC STONE which I remember featuring two girls, and a piece of stone (white, IIRC) with a sliver of metal stuck in it, and when they touch it together, or try to pull out the metal something magic happens.  Hope this helps.
Farmer Penelope, The magic stone, 1964.  In this remarkable fantasy a girl from London's slums & a girl from the country find a magic stone that gives them heightened perceptions..
Farmer, Penelope, The Magic Stone.  Yes, this is definitely it. Thank you!


click here for pictures & profile
        pageMagic Summer
I read a book sometime during the late sixties or early seventies about children who are sent to live with an eccentric old woman (aunt, grandmother?). I enjoyed the story enough to check it out from the
library several times but now I can't remember the title or author. I do remember that at one point the old woman cooks wild mushrooms that the children are afraid are toadstools and that she wears outlandish clothes and talks during church. These are about the only details I remember. Can you help?

Later:  This was probably set during the second World War and involved about 4 children, siblings I believe, who were sent to the country to stay with an elderly relative.  The only good clue I can give you is that the one of the children's cats was named Ozymandias.  I tried looking under Noel,
Streatfield and Ozymandias but no luck.  I have read a lot of the titles, hoping to recognize my description, but no luck.   I did find references to lots of other books I read as a child tho!
I have this book.  It is called The Magic Summer by Noel Streatfeild.  The children stay with an aged great aunt who is extremely eccentric, to say the least.
Hi-I found the Noel Streatfield book I was looking for about the children and a cat named Ozymandias -it's the Magic Summer.  I hope you can find a copy cheaper than $121, which was what was offered on amazon.com.  I don't know why this book has become so important for me, but I am getting the strong desire to own the books that were important to me as a kid, and I hope I can find them here.  I can think of no more rewarding collection that the pursuit of books one has loved.
Thank you so much for your info!! Magic Summer is out of print and it would be great if you could find a copy for me.
 Interpreting
Condition 
Grades
Streatfield, Noel.  The Magic Summer.  Illustrated by Edward Ardizzone.  Random House, 1967.  First edition.  Ex-library copy with usual markings.  G/G.  <ON HOLD>
order form


Magic Tales - Holl
These are a mix of European, African and Asian tales, IIRC. One is about a tar ox that a farmer builds and that traps many useful animals; one is about hungry animals and a tree that drops its fruit only when the right word is spoken - the downtrodden, exhausted tortoise is the one who manages to find out the magic word and is lavished with gratitude; one is a version of "Rapunzel" in which she destroys the witch by cutting off her hair at the right moment; and one, my favorite, is about three girls, kidnapped one by one by a troll to be his houseslaves, only to be tricked by the youngest into carrying them all back home in sacks. The troll takes the form of a pig rooting in the cabbages in the beginning. My guess is that the book was compiled in the 60s or early 70s.

I may have the answer to stumper A20- Anthology, multiethnic It may be MAGIC TALES retold by Frances Ross, Elisabeth Harner, Wilhemine Mohme, Stella M. Rudy and Eugene Bahn.Illustrated by Arthur Griffith, helen Osborn and Phoebe Flory. Published by Charles E. Merrill Company, 1946, 1950. The stories included are The Pig That Was Really a Troll; The Fisherman and His Wife; Little Daughter and the Lion; The Ugly Duckling; The Lost Axe; Rapunzel; The Bear and the Goblin; The Prince of Engalien; The Silver River; East O' the Sun and West O' the Moon; The Rabbit and the Monkey; Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; Cinderella; The Straw Ox; The Green Monkey; The Flying Ship; Blunder; The Emperor's New Clothes. I did not find one about a magic fruit tree and a tortoise. However, The Straw Ox matches the description. The Rapunzel in this book does kill the witch by cutting her hair at the right moment. And a troll (who turns himself into a pig) does kidnap three sisters (on three separate occasions) and the one sister saves them by making the troll bring sacks of wood to the mother, but instead of putting wood in the bag, a sister goes in instead. Illustartions are black and white. The person who wants this book should try to get it through his/her local library first to make sure it is the right one. At the very least, the person has the names of two of the stories- The Straw Ox; The Pig That Was Really a Troll.
Thanks, I'll assume it is Magic Tales. Now does anyone know how to find the story about the tree and the tortoise? Another detail: the other animals keep trying to find out the magic word but they all forget it on the way home, but the tortoise is more diligent and simply keeps repeating it as he returns.
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This is part of a collection, I think. The story I remember is about hungry animals and a tree that drops its fruit only when the right word is spoken - the  animals keep travelling to find out the magic word but they all forget it on the way home. The downtrodden tortoise is more diligent and simply keeps repeating it as he returns and is lavished with gratitude. I think the word was something like "Bonjo".

How about this - The Bojabi Tree, by Edith Rickert, illustrated by Anna Braune, published originally in 1923, reprinted by Doubleday in 1959, 46 pages "This once-popular picture book 'adapted from an African folk tale' will with its satisfying adventure, repetition of action, humor, and precise, colorful details, give fresh delight to kindergarten storytelling. In the land of All-the-Beasts, the so-HUNGRY animals seek the name of a strange fruit so that they may enjoy eating it. It looked like an APPLEORANGEPEARPLUMBANANA but it smelled like a BANANAPEARPLUMORANGEAPPLE. Four visits to King Leo are required before one of the creatures can remember the name of the fruit. Amusingly illustrated with pencil drawings." (Horn Book Feb/59 p.32)
The Bojabi Tree was published in at least one collection - Told Under the Magic Umbrella, collected by the Literature Committee of the Association for Childhood Education, illustrated by Elizabeth Orton Jones, published
Macmillan 1939. The first story is Ask Mr. Bear, by Marjorie Flack, and the last one is Elsie Piddock Skips in Her Sleep, by Eleanor Farjeon.
Well, Edith Rickert's version certainly fits the plot - but the one I'm looking for is much less cutesy - the animals have no names, IIRC, and they certainly don't wear clothes. In all, it's more streamlined. I remember that one animal forgets because he bumps his head and another because he falls and rolls and bites his tongue too often to pronounce the word properly. The one picture I remember is that of the tortoise looking sadly at the angry wise man.
B96 bonjo: aha! there's another version of this story - The Bojabi Tree: a Folktale from Gabon, written and illustrated by Gerardo Suzan, published Scholastic, isbn 0590728903. I haven't been able to find a publication date or any more information though.
This sounds a lot like a book I spent years looking for... it turned out (in my case) to be an African Bantu folktale commonly known as The Name of the Tree.  I found a nice description of it online about halfway down the page.  One version is The Name of the Tree by Celia Lottridge.  Sun-bleached illustrations by Ian Wallace are intended to convey the shimmering heat and noon-day mirage of the African landscape. In this Bantu tale from Africa, a humble tortoise saves his hungry animal friends. Only those who know the name of the tree can reach its fruit. When haughty Gazelle and Elephant fail to bring the tree's name all the way back from the king, Tortoise attempts the task. On his journey, Tortoise repeats the name over and over until he reaches the foot of the tree, where the branches respond by bending down to the waiting animals. An enjoyable retelling conveying a theme common to folktales - effort and dedication succeed over talent and pride.
B96 bonjo: another version is called The Magic Tree, and is found with other stories in The Magic Horns, by Forbes Stuart, illustrated by Charles Keeping, published Abelard Schuman 1974. "The Hare and the Tortoise
apparently originated with the Hottentots - and it is good to see our old friend Tortoise once again the hero, in a delightful story called 'The Magic Tree', the humour of which is typical of these African tales. Charles Keeping's running lion, prancing ox and snapping alligator add to the delight of this collection." (Children's Books of the Year 74, p.42)
I posted both stumpers and here's the real answer to both: Magic Tales, retold by Adelaide Holl, 1964. The contents are similar to the other identical title, but not quite. They are (in this order): The Bojabi Tree, Wishing Gate, Cat and the Parrot, Cinderella; Five Peas in a Pod, The Flying Ship; Golden Pears, East O' the Sun and West O' the Moon; The Lost Axe; The Monkey's Heart, Troll of the Cave, The Silver River; Prince of Uppland, The Rabbit and the Monkey; Rapunzel; The Straw Ox; Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; The Steadfast Tin Soldier, & The Tinderbox. Three tales are from India. The illustrations, unfortunately, are annoyingly generic. Other than that, the collection is unique and quite good.


Magic to Burn
Leprechaun on a ship with two siblings (stow away on return from Ireland?) He speaks in a code.  The book would have been published by 1974 or so.  I think it had the word "Magic" in the title.  I think it opened with two siblings on a ship? returning from a family trip to  Ireland? and finding a little man? leprechaun? who has stowed away/accidentally  gotten packed in their luggage?  I don't remember anything about the plot, but  the key detail that sticks with me is that the little man writes letters that  sound like advertisements and dry announcements of boring information, but if you count every ten? words, you can figure out the hidden message.

I am not sure about the secret language part, but Ruth Sawyer's Enchanted Schoolhouse has to do with an Irish lad bringing a leprechaun to America! Might be worth a look!
I can't identify the book but was wondering if it might be one of Patricia Lynch's many books possibly one of her Brogeen books.
L99 I think this one may MAGIC TO BURN by Jean Fritz, 1964. It is technically a boggart that stows away with them on the ship, but I remember thinking that the illustrations or description made him sound like a leprechaun. I don't remember him speaking in code, but that doesn't mean he didn't. I think he travels with them because the woods are being torn down to make a road. He comes to America and is really freaked out. Magic happens when he smokes his pipe. I think it ends with the boggart knowing some important information or having an important document of a famous author, which helps the children's father who is a historian/professor/writer? ~from a librarian
L99 Fritz, Jean    Magic to burn    illus by Beth and Jo Krush    Coward, 1964.  Irish boggart [like a leprechaun] goes to America - secret code - every 10th word gives the message


Magic Touch
I thought this book was titled The Magic Cookbook, but I haven't been able to find it under that title.  I do not know the author's name. I can only date it to the 1980s or earlier (probably earlier).  It was a fictional book for young adults.  I seem to recall the book was bound with a rough-textured material and it had a very bland, beige color. Here is what I remember of the plot, setting and characters:  There were 3 (?) children (I believe there were two boys, one very small, and a girl) who lived at a house on a beach for the summer.  I think this was a European setting.  Their parents may not have been there.  They had a (new?) cook named Fanchon who delighted in cooking rich, fancy foods, which the children could not stand. There was another boy who lived down the beach from them, I think, and they all became friends and he helped them out whenever he could.  One day, they found a cookbook filled with magic recipes.  This was a lifesaver to the three siblings, since they were starving for not being able to eat the cook's food.  Following these recipes they were able to transform their group into various animals.  One time they changed into dogs.  Another time they changed into cats.  Still another time they changed into birds. The recipes involved simple foods and incantations.  For example, to change into cats, they had to cook hamburger seasoned with catnip, then recite the incantation, and then eat the prepared meal.  Then they'd all lay down for a nap and when they woke up they would be a cat (etc.). They would have to eat a prepared remedy to turn back into humans.  As cats, for example, they had to drink milk stirred with a crust of bread.  I also remember that the youngest boy always changed into something especially beautiful or different.  I also seem to remember that at the end, they finally told Fanchon their problems with her cooking, and so she made them hot dogs (or somesuch).

THE MAGIC TOUCH by Peggy Bacon, 1968


Magic Toyshop
For several years I have been trying to find out the name and details of  a Christmas Play that we, as primary school children, performed in the 1970s. I remember that it began in a toy shop, and that the toys somehow came to life. There was an old toymaker involved. Pinocchio and Gepetto were in the play, but I don't know whether this play was "Pinocchio".  There were various songs involved, and I remember being one of a group of 'dancing dollies'. We sang something like "Look at how we go, all the little dancing dollies, look at how we go, round and round on tip tip toe" as we danced. I seem to remember a 'train' being involved as well.  There were also groups of other toys who had various song/dance routines to perform. Does anybody in Cyberspace recognize this play?

The standard musical adaptation is John Morley, Pinocchio -- lots of song & dance, but I don't think it's the play you recall. Thre is a musical by Patricia Clapp called The Magic Toyshop, but I don't know anything more than the title. She's been writing since the early '70s.
Thanks for your e-mail. The reply certainly sounds promising and I am keen to find more information about "The Magic Toy Shop" as it could well be the play that I recall. A search on the internet
uncovered a play by Patricia Clapp called something like "The Toys That Took Over Christmas" about some toys in a toy shop that were brought to life, but was advertised as being a 10th anniversary performance, which dates it to 1990. Perhaps Patricia Clapp has written several plays along similiar lines -- the play I recall was performed by us as seven or eight year olds in about 1975 or 1976. As well as groups of toys having their own songs, I seem to recall a toy train taking all the toys to a location outside the toy shop. Pinocchio had a leading role, but I am pretty sure that this was not a musical adaptation of the Pinocchio story. Hopefully someone might have details about "The Magic Toy Shop". Thank You! [And later...]
Thanks to everyone who thought about the possible answer to my stumper.I have actually found out the answer, which is quite different from what I expected it to be. Eventually I managed to find an e-mail address for my old primary school of 25 years ago, and wrote to ask about the play I remembered. After making various enquiries, the Principal wrote me and said that the play I recall was written by a group of teachers after they had gathered ideas from the children, and incorporated various popular songs. They called it The Magic Toybox, but it is no longer known if a script exists or ever did exist. It's great to have an answer after wondering about this for so long.



Magic Tunnel
Here's what I remember - a brother and a sister are in a train/subway wreck in the Holland Tunnel(?) in NY, and are transported back in time to when NY was New Amsterdam.  They meet Peter Stuyvesant, the girl has to sit and turn a spit all day, and one of them gets in trouble for yawning during "The Lord's Prayer" in school. Any hints will be appreciated!  Thank you!

I just picked this one up for the store.  It's called The Magic Tunnel by Caroline Emerson, and it's $8.  Shipping is an additional $3 within the U.S. for a total of $11...and you have a $2 credit from the stumper, so if you want our copy the amount due would be $9.  It's a Scholastic paperback in G condition (well-loved but the title is not that common), copyright 1966.  Sticker removal mark from spine and homemade? card pocket taped to inside back cover. Interested?

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K36: I remember being surprised to find out, recently, that this was written in 1940 and not the 1960's, as I had thought. (You know, to correspond with 1664?) The historical details are great fun, such as when the boy asks for a fork at dinner only to find, to his embarrassment, that even the governor doesn't own one. One important
detail that was avoided was that when the English claimed the town for their own and ordered Peter Stuyvestant to hand it over or they'd raze it to the ground, the Dutch colonists refused to back him because he was a hated tyrant and they decided they'd rather take their chances under English rule. THAT would have made the story a lot more intriguing...and accurate! It's not as if it were written for first-graders, after all.
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Paperback of maybe 100 pages. I think "Magic" was in title, like "The Magic Subway" or "The Magic Underground." A brother and sister who live in New York City get on a subway. When they get off, they find themselves in New Amsterdam in the 1600s. Life is very different, they discover. They finally relocate the subway and return to the present.

S192: The Magic Tunnel by Caroline Emerson, 1940. See Solved Mysteries for details the book doesn't cover!
Caroline Dwight Emerson, The Magic Tunnel
Caroline Dwight Emerson, The magic tunnel,1964.  Two children enter the New York subway and suddenly find themselves in a time tunnel that takes them back three hundred years to New Amsterdam where they watch history in the making and compare colonial and modern ways of life.
Emerson, Caroline Dwight, The Magic Tunnel.  Illus by Jerry Robinson, Four Winds Press, 1968, c1964.  "Two children enter the New York subway and suddenly find themselves in a time tunnel that takes them back three hundred years to New Amsterdam where they watch history in the making and compare colonial and medern ways of life."
Caroline Emerson, The Magic Tunnel, 1940s.  This is on the Solved Mysteries page.
Caroline Emerson, The Magic Tunnel.  "Juvenile time travel adventure of two kids who take a subway ride, but it doesn't
let them off at the zoo."
For over 10 years I have been dreaming off and on about a book I read when I was a pre-teen in the early 50s about a brother and sister who are on the NY subway and it crashes and they wake up in Dutch New York- a book made more vivid ny the fact that I first read it actually riding on the NY subway- and this evening on a whim decided to try to Google a description to find the title ("new york subway stuyvesant children's book"), never expecting to actually get a result, and lo and behold your site came up and there it was- The Magic Tunnel by Caroline Emerson, first published in 1940  Thank you.

Thank you for your comments on TheMagic Tunnel, one of my two favorite childhood stories.    The mysterious adventure of the storybook children transported from then-present day New York to 1664 New Amsterdam via the underground system captivated me and in hindsight, greatly contributed to my own move to New York in 1971, to find adventure, mystery, and, of course, magic. 


Magic Universe
The answer is not "On a Lark to the Planets" - I got that book and checked it!!  I think it is from the 1920's, it had a blue/grey cover with a sun or moon on it I believe.  They traveled around the solar system meeting the inhabitants and rulers - "Just Go to Planet Jupiter" was a poem or song. The book was a gift for my father who was born in 1927, I think he was 7 or 8 when he received it.  It is a fantasy book where the travelers went to the moon and several planets in the solar system meeting the main inhabitant or ruler of each one.  I seem to recall Mercury was always in a hurry and that Saturn had something to do with �Father Time� and I think he had a scythe.  The main part I remember is a song or poem from the visit to Jupiter.  �Just go to planet Jupiter, just go to planet Jupiter, just go to planet Jupiter.  That is, if you can go.�    The book was about the size of a �Tom Swift� book of that era but had a bluish grey cover and a picture of a sun or moon and stars. Someone suggested on your site several years ago �On a Lark to the Planets� � I recently acquired that book and it is NOT it.  Any help would be appreciated and I would certainly want to purchase this book if it could be found.  Thanks!

Mary Graham Bonner, The Magic Universe, 1930, copyright. I'm pretty sure this is it. It'\''s the story of a boy who travels around the Universe visiting the planets and stars. It has your Jupiter poem (on page 64), but it's copyright 1930. The cover is dark blue with a picture of a man covered in stars.  It has cool deco-ish illustrations by Luxor Price.
Roy Rockwood, Great Marvel series, 1906-35. A long shot, but a series running concurrently with Tom Swift was the Great Marvel series.  Thought there doesn't seem to be a book devoted to Jupiter, several volumes featured space travel (Through Space to Mars  Lost on the Moon  By Air Express to Venus...).  Some of the earlier titles in the series are available in full text at Project Gutenberg, so they can be checked easily.

It would appear the mystery is solved - I can't imagine that poem showing up in more than one book!  Now I have to find a copy!!  Thanks!!
Mary Graham Bonner, The Magic Universe,1930, copyright. SOLVED - Definitely solved.Thanks so much!!!


Magician: Apprentice
Fantasy.  In the initial quest, a shortcut is taken under a mountain through abandoned mines (caves?) and a legendary sword is found under the mountain. The story involves men, elves (who live in homes in trees) and perhaps dwarves.  There were two or more books in the series, 1990s.

C.S. Lewis, The Silver Chair. I think this might be the one you are looking for.
Tolkien, Hobbit, Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Has to be too easy. But in the Hobbit, Bilbo is helped by dwarves & wizard
LoR trilogy includes men and elves
Raymond Feist, Magician: Apprentice.  There were 4 books in the original series, published late 1980's - early 1990's.
A youth gets caught up in a war between the people of his world,including elves, dwarves, etc., and invaders from another planet.  While following the dwarves to safety after a battle, he finds armor and weapons that turn out to be enchanted.  His friend is apprenticed to a magician (hence the title of the book).
Brooks, Terry, The Sword of Shannara, 1977.  It's a long shot, given the date, but there are elves, dwarves, a magic sword and high adventure!
It is neither C S Lewis nor Tolkein.  I have just finished reading Sword of Shanarra and can rule that one out.  I have acquired the Feist: Magician Apprentice, and this one looks promising.
Raymond Feist, Magician: Apprentice (1982, 1999) is definitely the one. My thanks for solving this mystery.


click here for pictures & profile
          pageMagician's Nephew
I hope this doesn't stump you! I'm looking for a book which was read to my fourth grade - this would be around 1972 or 1973 - which was very similar to Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe, but it wasn't that one.  In this one the (I think two) kids found some kind of doorway through to another world in their attic. This other world had a red sun - I remember that affecting me very much because it was the first I knew about stars being another color.  I'd appreciate any help anyone has....thanks!

This sounds like The Magician's Nephew, which is part of the Chronicles of Narnia series.  The two children in it enter other worlds through a doorway in the attic which connects their houses, and one of the worlds has a red, dying sun.
R8 is definetely The Magician's Nephew. The book G5 isn't remotely like The Magician's Nephew.
I know the book being refererred to in R-8. It's The Magician's Nephew, the first book in C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the second book in the series.
I was reading through the "Stump the Bookseller" page on your website, and I think the book the reader is looking for under "R8: Red Sun" is The Magician's Nephew also by C.S.Lewis, and is part of the Narnia series. I actually loved these books as a child and recently re-read them, and the plot described in R8 is the same as in The Magician's Nephew.  All the Narnia books are worth a second look.
 Interpreting
Condition 
Grades
Lewis, C.S.  The Chronicles of Narnia.  Macmillan, 1955.  Complete series of seven books.  Book Club hardback editions from the sixties (see image).  VG/VG  <SOLD>  



Magoose's Grocery
This is a book I remember from the late 70s or possibly early 80s (before 1982, anyway) about a family of ducks (or maybe geese) who have an egg that they are caring for. Mom and Dad leave Sister and a little brother in charge of the egg while they go out. Sis and brother don't want to stick around either. The line "Sister left the egg in charge" appears long about this point. Then some weasels arrive and create havoc in the ducks's home building forts out of tin cans and menacing the egg, but somehow it all comes right in the end. This is a picture book with cartoony line drawings.

Magoose's Grocery, 1970's.  I know this book well. This was a Parent's magazine book club book.



Magpie's Nest
40s?  This is going to be wonderful. I am trying to get my hands on a book (or harder yet, it may be a story in a book) about how the birds beg the Magpie to teach them all how to build a nest because his is so snazzy. He's a little cranky, but relents. He gathers all the birds around and starts by saying "You take two twigs.." Those crazy mourning doves tale off saying "Take toooo,take toooo.." and that's all they heard. And that, gentle reader, is  why the mourning dove's nest is so sloppy and falls apart. The story goes on with other birds, describing them and their nests. It's a honey. I've checked through the Thornton Burgess titles. Couldn't find it there.

H87: The Magpie's Nest, which shows up in many collections. Here's Joseph Jacobs' edition.
Other editions of The Magpie's Nest include those by Addison Barker (Wings Press, 1950), Jason Bolles (Martha Bolles, 1943), Joanna Foster with illustrations by Julie Downing (Clarion Books, 1995), William Stobbs and Joseph Jacobs
(Follett, 1970) and Isabel Paterson (John Lane/Bodley Head, 1917).  I'm not sure which edition you're looking for (or if indeed you remember one in an anthology, which broadens the scope considerably).  But this is certainly the (folk) story you're looking for.



The Magus
Hello there, not exactly sure how this works...do you only know children's books? I hope not because i must discover the name of this book! I will tell you what i know...please help!! A teacher loses his job, applies everywhere, gets a gig somewhere in the mediterranean sea, on an island. eventually meets and bonds with a rich old man who basically owns the island and is actually responsible for bringing him there. he actually sets up this teacher from day one, telling him he'll fall in love with one of his daughters one day and the guy is like, whatever...but does anyway. next things he know, the family up and leaves and he spends countless years searching for them. anyway, he finds them in europe somewhere and finds out only at the end the the whole thing was a huge scheme againsthim. i know this is vague but please help if you can!!! pretty please!! Thank you oh so much for any light you can shed and happy holdiays to you and yours!

I think there is a chance that I11 may be The Magus by John Fowles. There are some little differnces, but the general plot line is the same...
The island and the teacher...could this be A Breath of Air by Rumer Godden? (loosely based on The Tempest).
I agree with the person who thought the answer might be "The Magus" by John Fowles.  Just to give a few more details that might help, the protagonist is Nicholas Urfe.  The old man is Conchis.  The daughters are Lily and Rose.  And there is another woman, who is in the end Nicholas's true love, named Alison.  This book was made into a film as well. Best Regards
John Fowles, The Magus, 1965.  Per the "What Do I Read Next?" database at our library, this book is a novel about a teacher named Nicholas Urfe, who takes a job on a Greek island and makes friends with Mr. Conchis, a wealthy estate owner.  "After numerous violent erotic encounters, including a staged murder, the man is left fighting for what little sanity he has left." Descriptions online give a similar picture of the plot.
John Fowles, The Magus.  Sounds similar to The Magus by John Fowles: The story concerns young and intelligent Oxford graduate Nicholas Urfe, who takes up with Alison, an Australian girl he meets at a party in London. The affair gets more serious than Nicholas can stand, so he leaves her to take a position as an English instructor at the Lord Byron School in the Greek island of Phraxos. Bored, depressed, disillusioned, and overwhelmed by the Mediterranean island, Nicholas contemplates suicide, then takes to long solitary walks. On one of these walks he stumbles upon the wealthy Greek recluse Maurice Conchis, who may or may not have collaborated with the Nazis during the war and apparently lives alone on his island estate.



Maida's Little Shop
I recall a children's book in which a rich girl opens a shop in a poor neighborhood.  The only other detail I recall is that this rich girl at one time had a skirt with flowers on it, and diamonds as the dew drops on the flowers. Could that possibly be right?  I'd love to find that book again.

Inez Irwin, Maida's Little Shop.  It's the first in one of those Startemeyer series  Maida is a rich girl who opens a shop in a poor area of Boston. She makes friends in the nieghborhood, one of whom turns out to be her nanny's grandson from Ireland.  Only I think the diamond was in a necklace...



Make a World
Book is a step by step book on drawing various stick figures, buildings, car, etc. Step one would be a little circle, then a line down, legs, arms, add a hat (for say a fireman), etc.. etc..  Book had just tons of little examples to use for various things. I remember the book being hardcover and would have been published prior to 1981.

Ed Emberly, Big Green Drawing Book.  Sounds like Ed Emberly's series of drawing  books - the Green one was my favorite as a kid.
Emberley, Ed.  This sounds like it could be any of the many drawing books by Ed Emberley.
Ed Emberley, Ed Emberley's Drawing Book: Make a World.  This definitely matches the description, although there may be others as well. I adored this book--you really could make a whole little world, without any particular drawing talent.
Have you looked at the Ed Emberly drawing books?  There are many and they are in the right time frame.
S399 Sounds like the drawing books by Ed Emberley~from a librarian
Ed Emberly had several drawing books that fit your description.  The Big Green Drawing Book, The Big Purple Drawing Book, and the Big Book of Drawing Faces come to mind because I have them in our elementary library!
Ed Emberley, Make a World From description, most likely this one of his many books. Finally back in print. It's one of my favorite gifts for children in elementary school--this book, a big blank book, and a set of markers, with the invitation to "make a world." The results are incredible. My favorite is a child who made an atlas of his "planet."
Ed Emberley, Make a World, 1972.  Thanks!  After doing a search on Ed Emberley, the exact book I believe I was looking for is Make a World copyright 1972.  Not sure who was the solver but, I thank you!!!


Make-Believe Parade
Hi, I am looking for a book that has the saying,' hay foot, straw foot, left foot, right foot'. My mother thinks that it was published by Golden Books. My dad read this book to me three or four times a day when I was about 5 (i'm 28 now). I don't think that it was Dr. Suess.  I remember one of the illustrations.... it was a little girl going to small school dressed as a nurse and I believe there was a little boy dressed as a fireman. I hope you can help. Thanks in advance for trying.

H5:  I don't know if this is the right book, but it's worth a check Hay-Foot, Straw-Foot by Erick Berry.
I saw the inquiry about a book with the saying "hay foot, straw foot, left foot, right foot."  This comes from a Wonder Book titled the Make-Believe Parade  published in 1949.   The author is Jan Margo.

All I remember about this book is a little boy who would march around with a paper hat on his head and chant "hayfoot, strawfoot" as he marched.
One I read around 1968 about a little boy who would march around with a paper hat singing "Hayfoot, Strawfoot."
For interest's sake - my father long ago told me the joke this comes from, about a country boy who joins the army and can't learn to march because he doesn't know left from right. His sergeant, also a country fellow, asks him
if he can tell hay from straw. Of course he can, any durn fool can do that! So Sarge ties a wisp of hay to one foot and straw to the other, and drills him by calling 'hay-foot, straw-foot' instead of 'left, right, left'.



Make Room For Rags
I am looking for a book about a dog named Rags(?) - his loyalty is unappreciated by his owner, in the end he almost freezes to death saving his owner.  I read it as a child in the '60's.  My family will not believe it if you can find it - we all loved it.  Thanks for trying.

A couple of possibilities:  By the Sandhills of Yamboorah by Reginald Ottley (1965, "The story of a boy who lives alone on the edge of the sandhills of the Australian desert.  His only companions are a dog named Brogla an her puppy Rags."  Or --  Rags, the Firehouse Dog by Elizabeth Morton, 1952.
I was enquiring about a book my family read 30 years ago.  It was about a dog named "Rags" who loves his owner, a rancher, very much but is not appreciated by his owner because he is not pure-bred.  At one point, the owner's two dobermans(?) attack Rags but he beats them decidedly, however, the owner sees the fight, but not the beginning and forces Rags, badly injured to leave.  Just after Rags runs off, a boy on the ranch runs up to the owner and tells him the other two dogs started the fight and crying tells him how much Rags loves him.  The owner is unable to find Rags no matter how much he looks for him.  Finally, they meet in a blizzard and Rags almost dies getting the owner to safety.  Then while Rags is dying the owner lays down with him and tells him over and over how sorry he is and Rags finally gets better.
by Laura Bannon, Make Room for Rags, 1964.
Bannon, Laura.  Make Room For Rags.  Houghton Mifflin, 1964.  Illustrated by Vee Guthrie.  When the small dog Rags appeared at the farmhouse in the middle of a storm, the family knew they would have to make room for her, for a short time, anyway. Danny hoped that the place could be permanent, but the more Rags teased the kittens and chased the chickens, the slimmer the chances seemed to be.



Man in the Box
I'm remembering a powerful book that I read as a child in the 1970s. I thought the title was something like "My name is Charlie" or "C is for Charlie" but I can't find any books by those titles. The book is about a prisoner of war in a Korean or Vietnamese village, kept in a bamboo cage, who is befriended by a local boy. I remember something also about morphine addiction. The boy called the POW "Charlie." Thank you for any help locating this book!

Mary Lois Dunn, The Man in the Box.  The description sounds exactly like a book that my teacher read to me in 6th grade, approximately, 1971.  It was about a man kept in a box in Vietnam and I think the local boy helps him escape to a cave.
Dunn, Marylois, The Man in the Box, 1968.  Maybe this one:  "Compassion for an American soldier suffering from torture in a small wooden box compels a young Montagnard to give up his family, free and care for the big, blond stranger in a jungle cave, and lead him to safety through the uncertainties of his war-torn land."
Thank you, thank you to the people who responded to my stumper "C is for Charlie." The correct title is The Man in the Box, and I was able to find it at my children's school. I am enjoying rereading it very much.



Man in the Tree
This is a book from the early 80's, about a giant named Gene (I think), who had some sort of magical powers, but it wasn't necessarily the focus of the book.  At some point he joined a sideshow, made some friends, and got involved with a female sword swallower.  Would love to read again!

Lucy M Boston, The River at Green Knowe,
1959.  Your description of a giant in a sideshow/fair made me wonder if you might be thinking of 'The River at Green Knowe', although this is a children's rather than an adult book, so this is a bit of a long shot.
Damon Knight, The Man in the Tree, 1984, copyright.  This is definitely it.  There are some religious parallels.  The story of Gene Anderson, an eight-foot-tall giant, who uses his ability to reach into other dimensions first to become rich and then to reform the world.
Damon Knight, The Man in the Tree.  That's the book!  Thank you so much.


Man of Peace
I do not know the title or author or when it was written - only the plot. Also, I *think* it was a short story, rather than a book.  I am fairly certain it is fiction.   I read it in about 1981 or 1982 as a Junior High School student in an English class.   It may, or may not have been in a larger book - within a "collection" of short stories - or a within a textbook that contained short stories. The 1991 Hollywood movie, "By the Sword", starring Eric Roberts and Mia Sara seems to be almost exactly the same story I am looking for - as if the movie was written based on this written story that I am looking for. Unfortunately, I can't find a credit in the movie that says it was based on any literary precurser or if the script was adapted from any literary book or story.  In any case, the story involves a two men at a fencing (swordsmanship) school... one the current master or "maestro" and the other an older man who seems to have a haunted past.   The elder man is also an expert, but is past his prime.  The two men become embattled over something in their history - I think it had something to do with the elder man and the *father* of the younger maestro.   There is a climactic duel.  I vaguely remember one line from the story, describing part of the duel and what the older man was thinking as the duel began. I think that it went something like, "He opened by attacking, and attacking often, because swinging the weight of the sword, despite the toil it would take on his stamina, was preferable to having to catch the weight of his opponents sword, multiplied as it was by the speed of his strikes."   The elder man character *may* have been Spanish or Portugese... and I think perhaps he had a name that sounded as much.  As I recall, it was not a "kids" story or a story for youth... it was a serious, literary short story that just happened to have a swordfight in it that young boys would pay attention to in English class.

ARGH!  I read that story over and over in eighth grade (1978)!  It made me want to learn fencing, though I never did.  I keep thinking it is Richard or Robert somebody.  If anyone can track down the literature textbook it is in, that would help me solve an earlier book stumper I sent in about a boy named P.S.
unknown, A Man of Peace (?).  This description sounds just like a short story I too had to read for an English class in junior high!  I THINK the title was "A Man of Peace."  I seem to remeber that the theme - or at least, what we had to write our essays on - had to do with how an old fencer considered himself to be a 'man of peace' who didn't like fighting (or by implication, war), but in the story he winds up fighting really hard to defeat some arrogant, 'bad guy' fencer (a student or another instructor) and put him in his place.  The point is that he does this so that the other students won't learn to look up to the arrogant, conflict-loving fencer and come to think of him as the "better" fencer, but instead realize that a peace-loving person could still be the better fighter if need be.  I also have a dim idea that the theme was made important by an association with real fighting/war - like maybe all the students were set to be drafted when they came of age, or the country was facing impending war, or recovering from war, or something?  I DINTINCTLY remember writing an essay answering the question "Was [so-and-so] really a man of peace?" about this short story!  The only problem is, Googling "A Man of Peace" coupled with "short story" doesn't yield any results, so perhaps I've got the title wrong. For some reason, I also feel like the story MIGHT have been translated from French, and/or set in France, and/or that the characters had French names, but I may have imagined the French angle just because of the fencing.
I'm still thinking about that fencing story (now it's driving ME crazy!), and I found this by Googling.  On this website I found this bit about a television drama:  "Leonard Nimoy, by the way, worked with my teacher Ralph Faulkner in a little tv drama called "Man of Peace" back in the early, early 1950s. It was about a fencing master dedicated to the art of fencing who has a student who only fences for the brutality he can put into his game. Nimoy played one of Mr. Faulkner's students. The story was later remade starring James Mason in Mr. Faulkner's role. Mr. Faulkner directed the fencing in this one, and doubled for Mason. This time, the bad fencing student was patterned more along the line of James Dean, as Dean was the reigning "delinquent" at the time."  This sounds like the story I remember, but it was definitely a STORY I read for school, because I know I wrote an essay on it.  It looks like the story I remember may also have been made into a tv drama.  But I don't know if this is related to the solution sought by the stumper poster, or if it will help the detective work.
Lawrence Williams, A Man of Peace, 1976.  After MUCH searching, I finally found the answer to my own stumper!   "A Man of Peace" by Lawrence Williams was a short story in the 8th grade literature textbook, "Counterpoint In Literature", copyright 1976 by Scott Foresman and Company. It is the story of a duel between student Ramone De Parma and the fencing professor Claude LaFleur. The textbook is out of print, but I was able to find numerous used copies.



Man of the House at Huffington Row
Girl with deceased father seeks comfort in wearing his red scarf and visiting church nativity. Brother builds snow nativity and finds lost scarf when church doesn't want girl visiting.  Christmas picture book.

Mary Barrett, Man of the House at Huffington Row, 1998, copyright.  SOLVED.  Someone on one of my loops heard about our query and emailed me.  They said this is definitely the book.  Looks charming! Thanks anyway!!



Man Who Cooked For Himself
Please HELP!! I have been searching for 16 years for this book. I am so happy I found this site. You are so smart to have started this. Anyway, I am looking for a book that is about this little man that lives in the woods and he is hungry, but doesn't have any money to buy food, therefore he takes a walk trying to find a way to fix his hunger. He ends up catching fish with a paperclip and gathering berries on the bushes for desert along with watercrest from the river for a salad. It was a bright yellow hard back that was probably printed in the early 80s. I can pretty much tell the whole story, but I want the book along with the cute pictures for my own babies. If you can help I wouldapriciate it.

A possible from online search: Krasilovsky, Phyllis The Man who Cooked for Himself NY, Parents Magazine Press, 1981. First Edition, Hardcover "A man who lives at the edge of the woods discovers that he need not rely on the store for a supply of good things to eat." Color Illustrations by Mamoru Funai.
F53 food on trees sounds like H6 hungry walk.
H6 hunger walk: a bit more on the suggested story by Krasilovksy - "A story about a man and his cat who live at the edge of the woods and buy everything to eat from the store. When his friends goes on vacation and he runs out of food, he finds he can live on the garden food he finds in the woods." Which does fit. The cover of the book is white, though, not yellow, with a picture of a plump balding man with a hat and apron, flipping pancakes while his cat looks on.



Man Who Didn't Wash His Dishes
i wanted to ask for your assistance in finding two childrens books from the late 60's early 70's. the first is about a boy who goes over to an old mans house and the old man drives his dishes around  in a pick-up truck during the rain to wash them. he then hangs them on a clothes line to dry.

Sounds close to THE MAN WHO DIDN'T WASH HIS DISHES by Phyllis Krasilovsky, the man does load his dishes in a truck and the rain washes them, but he doesn't hang them on the line to dry, and there is no little boy in the story. ~from a librarian
Krasilovsky, Phyllis, The Man Who Didn't Wash His Dishes. I'm not 100% sure, there could be another book where someone washed dishes outside, but I do remember this story.
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A bachelor/widower decides one day to leave the dishes for the next day; after a while they fill his whole house. He's saved and learns his lesson though when it rains and he puts everything outside to get clean at once. (What a great site... thanks for The Furious Flycycle!)

The Man Who Didn't Wash His Dishes by Phyllis Krasilovsky.
 Interpreting
Condition 
Grades
Krasilovsky, Phyllis.  The Man Who Didn't Wash His Dishes. Illustrated by Barbara Cooney.  Scholastic, 1950, 4th paperback printing, 1971.  Trade paperback size, some wear, but a clean copy.  G.  <SOLD>  



Man Who Lost His Head
I'm looking for a children's book I read in the early '60's but it was from the library so it could be much older. It was about a man whose head turned into a number of vegetables and possibly fruit. I seem to
remember a rutabaga and a parsnip. Is there any hope of finding this?

It's THE MAN WHO LOST HIS HEAD by Claire Huchet Bishop and illustrated by Robert McCloskey, 1942, 1970,1989. A man wakes up one day without his head. He carves out substitutes from vegetables - I remember a parsnip and perhaps a pumpkin. But everyone laughs, so he rejects the vegetables. He carves a head out of wood, and that's better, but he still wants his head back. So a young boy, who is making a ball out of tightly wound rags says he can get the head back. He hits the man with the ball, and the man wakes up with his head back.
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Can't remember title. Story is about a man who wakes up without his head, tries a bunch of things as substitutes (including a parsnip, which for whatever reason is etched in my memory). 1970's? Possibly published by Bobbs-Merrill, since my dad used to work for them and get books through them.

Claire Huchet Bishop, The Man Who Lost His Head, 1970.  More on the Solved Mysteries page.
Clare Huchet Bishop, The Man Who Lost His Head


Man Who Was Magic
book title I believe is simply ''Adam"  publication date about 30 years ago- Adam is a magician possessing real magic -meets up with stage magicians who cannot figure out his "gimmicks ". Young girl wants to be his prop assistant  Plot unfolds. No other clues. Good luck!

Paul Gallico, The Man who was Magic, 1966.  The title isn't "Adam", but the protagonist's name is, and the plot fits.  Searching on Google will get you several synopses.
Paul Gallico, The Man Who was Magic. I'm pretty sure about this one. Adam appears in the heroine's life and goes to a magicians' convention (or similar). He scrambles and unscrambles an egg, and makes a wooden staff burst into bloom (white roses). The other magicians turn him away ... he changes the child heroine's life for the better, but leaves in the end.


Man Who Wrote Dirty Books
Humour letters between the Man Who Wrote Dirty Books and a reader.

Hal Dresner, The Man Who Wrote Dirty Books About a writer who's being sued because of the similarity of one of his characters to a woman named Bibbsy Dibbs.  It's written in the form of letters.



Mandie and the Secret Tunnel
There was a book series about a girl named Mandy or Amanda.  In the first book her father dies and she runs away and finds her Uncle John.  Later her Uncle John finds her birth mother named Elizabeth I think.  The book is set back possibly in pioneer times.  In later books her Uncle & mother have another child, Mandy goes to boarding school.  In another book she does on vacation overseas.  I really want to share these books with my daughter if possible :)

Leppard, Lois Gladys, Mandie and the Secret Tunnel (Mandie bk 1).  Bethany House 1983.  A long-running series with Christian values. The first book is set in 1900, when Mandie is 12 and her father has just died. She runs away to the city and finds her Uncle John, discovering that he and her father are half-Indian. Her father's friend, Uncle Ned, is full Indian.
Lois Gladys Leppard, Mandie series.  These sound like the Mandie series, published by Bethany House. Probably more than 30 titles in the series by now, and still in print as far as I know.  They're sort of Nancy Drew-type mysteries with an inspirational twist. Set in the NC mountains, although Mandie travels a lot in her adventures.
Lois Leppard, Mandie and the Secret Tunnel.  I am positive that you're looking for the Mandie books.  The series starts with Mandie and the Secret Tunnel.  In that book, Mandie's father dies and she leaves her stepmother and stepsister to find her father's brother.  Her Uncle John (a Native American)who was a friend of her father's, helps her.  She eventually finds her uncle and her birth mother, whose name is Elizabeth.  Mandie also has a boyfriend-type character whose name is Joe.
This is a mystery series.  In later books, Mandie does go to boarding school and eventually, on a trip to Europe.  There are twenty-some books in the series.


Mandy
I read this as a young girl and would love for my daughters to read it.  I can't remember all the details, but a young girl, I believe an orphan, climbs a wall and enters the woods to find an old, broken down cottage.  This becomes her sanctuary and she lovingly fixes it up. The story, I think centered around her lonliness and the joy that the cottage brought her.

Julie Edwards, Mandy. Could this be Mandy?  It sound a lot like it.
I'm sure you'll get several other responses to this one, but O20 definitely sounds like Mandy by Julie Andrews Edwards.
Edwards, Julie Andrews, Mandy, 1971, reprinted 1983.  plot description from amazon.com: "For an orphan child whose life is filled with comfortable, predictable sameness, with no particular hardships, life is, well, all right. Really, what does Mandy have to worry about? So it comes as a surprise even to Mandy when a small restlessness begins to grow in her. This lonely ache sets her to wandering farther afield, and leads her to a startling and wonderful discovery over the orphanage wall--a very old, very small, seemingly abandoned cottage. Embarking on a clandestine domestic fantasy involving gardening tools and soap flakes, Mandy finds herself being less than honest about where and how she's spending her days. Holding her secret closer and closer to her heart, this imaginative dreamer inadvertently endangers her reputation--and her life."
Could the solution to O20 be, plain and simple, The Secret Garden? There isn't a cottage, but she does get into an off-limits garden and lovingly fixes it up. And she is orphaned.
Julie Andrews (may be under Julie Edwards), Mandy.   The story is similar to that of "The Secret Garden" but without so much death.  I haven't looked at it lately, but it was a favorite of both mine and my sister's.  Her 10 year-old daughter also loved it.
Julie Edwards, aka Julie Andrews, Mandy.  1971.  Wow, a stumper I actually know, and a book I love!  You're describing Julie Andrews's first book for children.  Hope you enjoy it now as much as you did as a child.
This reminds me of a book that I have been looking for too.  Is there some kind of windowseat with old curtains that she curls up in and reads while she looks out over the delapidated yard?
Mandy by Julie Edwards (Andrews)--Lots about gardeniing--I think she gets adopted in the end...
Edwards, Julie, Mandy. This book was written by Julie (Andrews) Edwards, the wife of director Blake Edwards.  I think she wrote it for her daughter. I just unpacked my copy from childhood books.
Julie Edwards, Mandy, 1971.  This is a wonderful book, written by the actress Julie Andrews writing under her real name Edwards (husband is Blake Edwards).  Mandy the orphan finds a deserted cottage in the woods with one room covered in seashells all over the walls and ceiling.  She fixes up the house and restores the neglected garden, and ultimately is adopted by the family who owns the land and cottage. It's a wonderful story. Julie Andrews/Edwards also wrote one other children's book, The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles.
Julie Edwards (better known as the actress Julie Andrews), Mandy, 1971,  1989. This fits the description, but I seem to recall from another stumper (here or elsewhere) that there was another book with a similiar theme. Worth taking a look at Mandy, though. ~from a librarian
This has to be Mandy by Julie Edwards, aka Julie Andrews, the actress. Mandy is rescued from her cottage when she falls ill, and eventually is adopted by the family whose estate it's on.
Mandy by Julie Andrews, Harper & Row c. 1971 This sounds like the book she's looking for.  From the flyleaf: "For ten-year-old Mandy, the old stone orphanage on the outskirts of the pretty village was the only home she remembered....Then one day, when Mandy climbed over the high orphanage wall to explore, there it was--a tiny deserted cottage in a clearing in the woods.  Here at last was her very own, very secret home.  She would tidy it up and plant a garden. All through the spring, summer and fall, Mandy worked for--and sometimes "borrowed"--the little things she needed for it.  And to guard her secret, she even lied..."
Julie Andrews Edwards, MANDY
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My teacher read this book out-loud in Grade 5 or 6. A girl goes exploring and finds an abandoned cottage. She cuts overgrown folliage back and starts tending to the garden. She steals some soap to clean the dusty place.  The fireplace or maybe all the walls in one room are decorated with shells.

G108 Sounds like it might be MANDY by Julie Edwards. ~from a librarian
Andrews, July, Mandy.  See Solved Mysteries.
Dandelion Cottage.  This is a book about a little girl who fixes up an old house.  Don't know if it's the same one or not.
Sounds like Mandy by Julie Edwards (Julie Andrews)
Elizabeth Enright, Goneaway Lake.  I am not positive that this is the right book, but the part about the deserted cottage is correct, and I believe I remember a room lined with shells.
Julie Edwards (aka actress Julie Andrews), Mandy.  This is of course Mandy, by the actress Julie Andrews writing under
her pen name.  It's on the Solved pages with more descriptions.  A great book.
Julie Edwards (Andrews), Mandy, 1960s.  My favorite book of all time! Mandy climbs over the wall of the orphanage and
finds this cottage.  Lucky for her, it is owned by a wonderfully nice rich couple who discover her one stormy night when
she is tending to her cottage but falls very ill.  They take her in and eventually (surprise!) adopt her. This one is also a previously solved stumper that i noticed a few days ago.
Julie Edwards, Mandy.  This could be the book Mandy by Julie Andrews Edwards.  Mandy is a girl who lives in an
orphanage.  She goes exploring on the property next door and finds an abandoned cottage.  I believe it has been reissued.
Julie (Andrews) Edwards, Mandy.  I have the book on tape read by Julie Andrews Edwards. I believe the book was published in 1971.
Julie Andrews Edwards, Mandy
Julie Andrews, Mandy
A Secret Garden??
Julie Edwards, Mandy.  See entry in Solved Mysteries page.
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I'm looking for a book I read as a child about a girl named, I believe, Marnie.  She discovers a secret little house and a secret garden and spends time re-doing them both.  I'm almost sure the name Marnie is involved somewhere because that is my middle name.  This book was probably not published after 1980 because I read it before that date.  If you can help, I'd be really grateful!  Thanks!

Julie Edwards, Mandy. (1970)  Lonely for a place of her own, a ten-year-old orphan creates a secret home in a deserted cottage.
Andrews, Julie, Mandy.  How about Mandy instead of Marnie.  Ten-year-old Mandy feels lost among the thirty children who live in the old stone orphange. She dreams of a home of her own, a place where she belongs. When Mandy climbs over the high orphanage wall to explore the outside, she is lucky enough to find a tiny deserted cottage hidden in the forest. With a few "borrowed" items, the cottage becomes a refuge. To guard her secret, Mandy even lies � but when she falls terribly sick, no one knows where she is. No one, that is, except for a special admirer she didn't know she had.
Julie Edwards, Mandy.  This is probably the book you're looking for...but maybe you also read Joan G. Robinson's book "When Marnie Was There," about a lonesome little girl who meets a girl named Marnie, whose real nature remains unexplained?
Julie Edwards (Andrews), Mandy
Julie Andrews (Edwards), Mandy.  Could it be Mandy, by the famous Julie Andrews, but originally published as by Julie Edwards?  Mandy is an orphan who finds an abandoned cottage in the woods.  She cleans up the cottage and brings tools to work on the garden.
Julie Edwards, Mandy (1971) A wonderful book about a ten-year-old orphan who one day climbs over the wall and discovers a small cottage and garden. She keeps them a secret, cleaning them and creating a private refuge from the orphanage. See Solved Mysteries.
Edwards, Julie Andrews, Mandy. (1971)  I know it's not Marnie, but how about this one?  Description: "Longing for a place of her own, a ten-year-old orphan creates a secret home in a deserted cottage in the village of St. Martin's Green." From the flyleaf: "...Then one day, when Mandy climbed over the high orphanage wall to explore, there it was--a tiny deserted cottage in a clearing in the woods.  Here at last was her very own, very secret home.  She would tidy it up and plant a garden.  All through the spring, summer and fall, Mandy worked for--and sometimes 'borrowed'--the little things she needed for it...
Julie Edwards, Mandy. (1971)
Julie Edwards, Mandy.  Is this Mandy by Julie Edwards (aka Julie Andrews)? Sounds very similar "Longing for a place of her own, a ten-year-old orphan creates a secret home in a deserted cottage in the village of St. Martin's Green."  There's another book When Marnie was there by Joan G Robinson, but not this storyline - this one is a time-slip/ghost story. Perhaps you've read them both and are remembering bits of each as one book?
When Marnie Was There, maybe? See Solved Mysteries.
Could the person be thinking of MANDY by Julie Andrews Edwards? Originally published in 1971, and republished several times since.~from a librarian
Julie Andrews, Mandy.  I think that M381 is on your Solved Mysteries page.
Julie Edwards, Mandy.  Could you be thinking of Mandy, by Julie Edwards (Andrews) where orphan Mandy discovers an abandoned cottage and spends a lot of time there? Plot line sounds like the book you are thinking of.
Julie Edwards, Mandy.  Except for the name, this sounds a lot like Mandy...
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I'm 34 years old now, but I read it when I was in grade school.  It was about a lonely and unhappy girl that climbs over a stone wall and into a forest area where she finds an abandoned cottage.  She spends each day sneaking away over the wall to it, and cleans and sweeps it up and plants a garden, I think they were roses.  I can't remember much more than that about it.  I hope you can help me because it is driving me crazy.

Edwards, Julie (Andrews), Mandy. Mandy is an orphan who discovers the cottage in the woods and sneaks away to fix it up.
Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden. I'm almost embarrassed to suggest the reader may be thinking of The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.  Too obvious, but still . . .
Francess Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden. If, instead of climbing over the wall, she might have found a key and gone through a doorway, this could be the one you're looking for.  Mary, with the help of her sickly cousin, Colin, and new friend, Dickon, restores the overgrown garden hidden behind a wall on her uncle's estate, at the same time transforming herself and Colin from miserable, lonely, spoiled children to happy, healthy ones.
Julie (Andrews) Edwards, Mandy. "For an orphan child whose life is filled with comfortable, predictable sameness, with no particular hardships, life is, well, all right. Really, what does Mandy have to worry about? So it comes as a surprise even to Mandy when a small restlessness begins to grow in her. This lonely ache sets her to wandering farther afield, and leads her to a startling and wonderful discovery over the orphanage wall--a very old, very small, seemingly abandoned cottage. Embarking on a clandestine domestic fantasy involving gardening tools and soap flakes, Mandy finds herself being less than honest about where and how she's spending her days. Holding her secret closer and closer to her heart, this imaginative dreamer inadvertently endangers her reputation--and her life."
Patricia St. John, Rainbow Garden. This wouldn't be Rainbow Garden, would it? A very slightly edgy Christian novel. Single mom realizes daughter Elaine isn't having much of a life in London flat, sends her off to North Wales to board with minister's family. She's shy, gruff and somewhat snooty. The minister's younger children Robin and Frances are nice, but the two older ones Peter and Janet are covertly nasty to her -- they don't even realize it themselves -- because she's not Christian. While exploring alone, she finds a beautiful forest and an abandoned cottage with a garden which she undertakes to fix up. And this, as Spike Milligan said, is where the story really starts!
It's been a year and a half since I posted this question regarding a book that I couldn't remember the title of or the author's name.  I thought to check on it today and am THRILLED, because it's been solved!!!!!   YAY!!!  I'm so happy!!  THANK YOU!  Yes, it is indeed titled "MANDY" and written by Julie (Edwards) Andrews.  I just wanted to thank you sooooo much for helping me figure that out, I couldn't have done it without you.


 Interpreting
Condition 
Grades
Edwards, Julie Andrew.  Mandy.  Illustrated by Judith Gwyn Brown.  Harper Collins, 1971, 1989, 2001.  30th Anniversary edition.  New paperback, $5.95



Manners Can Be Fun
I have always wanted to locate a book that I loved as a young child. It was a book about etiquette/manners and had very simple drawings...somewhat like stick figures today. I believe the drawings were black and white and seemed to be very playful in concept.

Try Munro Leaf's Manners Can Be Fun, 1936.
Sesyle Joslin/ Maurice Sedak, What Do You Say, Dear?  Another suggestion, though the Munro Leaf seems more likely.



Manse
"Our Ancient Ancestor Was Probably Arboreal"  - It's about a monkey whose name is "Probably Arboreal" but his close friends call him "Probably" for short. I'm guessing it's at least 40 years old. I have googled a multitude of searches starting with Monkeys, the title, the monkey's name, childrens short stories and then drilled down each but gotten nowhere.

Robert Louis Stevenson, The Manse. Here is a quote from the story:  "And I know not which is the more strange, that I should carry about with me some fibres of my minister-grandfather or that in him, as he sat in his cool study, grave, reverend, contented gentleman, there was an aboriginal frisking of the blood that was not his tree-top memories, like undeveloped negatives, lay dormant in his mind tree-top instincts awoke and were trod down and Probably Arboreal (scarce to be distinguished from a monkey) gambolled and chattered in the brain of the old divine."
My searches have returned quotes from Darwin, Huxley, and Stevenson
Don Marquis, The Revolt of the Oyster.  This book looks likely!



Mansions of Secrets
A girl detective in an old, many-roomed house, notices that false windows (that don't seem to have rooms associated with them) are opening and closing. She finds a secret passageway by pressing knotholes in a wall in the shape of a cat and finds the missing rooms.

Judd, Frances , Mansion of Secrets.  A Kay Tracey Mystery.  Abandoned house is filled with secret rooms and passages.


Manwolf
Fantasy novel or set in Middle Ages in Europe. I read the book in 1999 or 2000. It starts from the POV of a woman in a village where a knight visits. The knight has a facial disfigurement so he keeps his face covered. She leaves with him and ends up sleeping with him. Rest of book follows their son. Updated: My brother got it from his middle school library so I think it was a young adult book. I went there but they do not have records from that long ago anymore. The knight had a squire with him when he went to the village, and when they stopped at night with the woman who went with them she takes off his helmet/mask to see his disfigured face. Like I said before the rest of the book is from the POV of the knight and woman's son. At one point the son, now a man, gets thrown into a cage and set in the middle of a town. Everyone gathers and starts to throw things at him.

Gloria Skurzynski, Manwolf
SOLVED: Yes Manwolf is the book that I read. I borrowed it from the library and read it and yes it is the book. Thank you so much for helping me locate it. It has been bugging me for a couple months now. I love the site and now know if I have any more book questions where to go to get them answered.


click
          here for imageManxmouse
A potter who makes porcelain mice for a living gets drunk one Christmas and decides to make a model mouse whilst under the influence. When the mouse comes out of the kiln it is all the wrong proportions and is also blue!  Possibly also with orange ears and a  slightly kangaroo-like appearance, but Im not sure. The mouse basically comes to life and goes on to have lots of adventures, the most surreal of which being meeting a wax model of itself in Madame Tussauds. Which spoke... I think the books title was the name of the mouse character, but I couldnt be sure.  Possibly '(something)mouse'??  I really hope I didnt dream this story and that someone out there knows what on earth Im talking about!!  If you could possibly put something on the list for me I'd be eternally grateful.

P81 - Think this is Paul Gallico's Manxmouse - potter makes a mouse without a tail by mistake, which comes to life.
Gallico, Paul, Manxmouse. 1960s/70s. Potter overtired (and possibly drunk) makes mouse with large ears but not enough clay for tale - somehow comes to life and has adventures.
Thankyou so much for the reply, you truly are a genius!  If you do happen to find a copy I'd definitely be interested.



Many Hands Cooking
Childrens' cookbook with recipes from children around the world. I was given as a gift in the 70's. Please help!

Cooper, Terry Touff, Many Hands Cooking: International Cookbook for Girls & Boys, 1974, copyright.  Might be the one. Spiral Bound. I got mine as a gift in the 70's too.
Terry Touff Cooper, Many Hands Cooking, 1974, copyright.  Yes yes this was the book I was looking for! My mystery is solved! Thank you!



Many Lives of Chio and Goro
The story I'm looking for involves hedgehogs.  It is about a hedgehog couple who are so in love that they make plans about coming back together in the next life, only in subsequent incarnations, things always seem to go wrong.  I think this was read to me in the late 60s or early 70s.  The reincarnation theme probably had this one pulled off the shelves by certain religious groups.  I'm only somewhat certain it was hedgehogs, as we don't have them in Hawaii, that stood out. Found this site through an "Ask Jeeves" posting and find it incredibly enjoyable!  ** Later... Regarding my hedgehog question, I think it may have been an adaptation from an Asian folktale.

Could this be Patricia B. Ardley, Mr. and Mrs. Hedgehog (London,1936) ?
I haven't had any luck tracking down info on Mr. & Mrs. Hedgehog, but appreciate the tip.
Lifton, Betty Jean, illus. by Yasuo Segawa, The Many Lives of Chio and Goro. NY Norton 196.  This fits for date and is an Asian folktale. The plot is similar, except it is foxes. Perhaps there is another version with hedgehogs, or badgers? "The Japanese folktale of the old farmer Goro and his forgetful wife Chio who decide to be foxes in their next life when they die.  However, Chio forgets what animal to be and chooses a chicken instead. Goro, the fox, goes to catch a chicken to eat but is mesmerized by the chant  that Chio always said, and he leaves her alone. He cannot live with himself as a failure fox so he dies and becomes a rooster to take the chicken  for his wife. They are happy and again pass on to become people again and live happily ever after, until the next life. 60 pps."
H10 hedgehog love: it's not hedgehogs, but it is reincarnation gone wrong and based on an Asian folktale - The Many Lives of Chio and Goro, by Betty Jean Lifton, illustrated by Yasuo Segawa, published NY Norton 1968 "Japanese folktale of an old farmer and his wife who decide to be foxes in their next life. Instead several things go wrong and they end up as a rooster and a chicken."
I would like to thank the person who responded to my now very old stumper with The Many Lives of Chio & Goro, even when I gave the wrong details.  I haven't checked in for a while and was thrilled to see a new response.  This may very well be the answer.  I may have confused that story with Grimms' Hare and Hedgehog tale.  (I suspect I was eavesdropping, not participating, in the storytelling session!)  The wife becoming easily confused strikes a familiar note.


Many Moons
There was a children's book I remember from the library at the small college where my father taught--it was about a princess who wanted the moon, and no matter who her father, the King, sought for advice (astrologers, wise men) he couldn't get it for her.  Meanwhile, the court jester gave the princess a little round white stone to wear around her neck and told her it was the moon.  And she was perfectly content.  Ring any bells?

James Thurber, Many Moons, Harcourt Brace 1943.



Many Names for Eileen
The book I am looking for is one that my daughter used to check out from the library during the 1970s. It was about a a little girl named Eileen and her nicknames. It's elementary school level; the main character, Eileen, has short, curly, Shirley-Temple style blonde hair. One by one, throughout the day, people -- a neighbor, the mailman, the milkman, etc. and then her dad at the end of the work day-- talk to her and call her by a different nickname. Thanks for your help.

Sullivan, Peggy, Many Names for Eileen, Follett Pub. Co., 1969.  "Eileen doesn't really object to being called "Missy," "Princess," "Tiger," "Curlytop," and other nicknames, but she wonders why people can't just call her Eileen."


Marco Comes Late
Is a picture book (First to Third Grade level) about a little boy who  arrives late to school.  When the teacher points out the time (either quarter to or quarter past nine), the boy spins a story about the things he saw which delayed him.  He embellishes a bird pulling a worm, street construction, and such, into a huge adventure.  It is sort of the opposite of Dr. Seuss's "And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street," as that boy didn't exaggerate enough and this one did too much.  It is in verse similar to Dr. Seuss and almost certainly appeared no later than 1970.  (No answers.)

#B64--Big Imagination Boy:  No answer, but I have a lead:  someone at the Alibris Boards is looking for a copy of an obscure Dr. Seuss story titled "Marco Comes Late."  Since they have a typed copy of it, I'll get back to you as to whether it's the right one.
Later...
Marco is the name of the boy in a number of Dr. Seuss stories, including his first book, And to Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street!  I KNEW the one I was looking for was like And to Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street! only in reverse, as that is about a boy coming FROM school and this is about a boy going TO school.  "Marco Comes Late" is a narrative poem which appeared in the collections Treat Shop and More Read to Yourself Stories, but seems to have never been published as a book by itself.  Didn't find the whole poem online, but enough so that I'm sure it's the one I'm after.
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I am writing you this letter to see if you might be able to help  me locate a couple of my favorite books.  I'm now a  school teacher myself for my son that I am home schooling and would  like very much to find the following books. They helped me so much  throughout my ele. years as I believe they will do the same for him.   I would appreciate it emensely if you could help me locate all these books and i am willing to pay!   One story in particular is "MARCO COMES  LATE."   Marco comes late is about a  boy who arrives to school late and tell this long story of what  happened on Mulberry street that made him late. It's all rhymes!

Well, I can certainly help with the "Marco Comes Late" story.  It is  Dr. Seuss, And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street.
Your response to M252 (Marco Comes Late) is not correct.  The poem she is referring to is named "Marco Comes Late", is written by Dr Seuss and happens on Mulberry Street, but it is not the book And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street.  I went that route a few years ago when I was searching for "Marco Comes Late" and spent way too much money on the wrong book.  I have been searching for this poem for years because I memorized it for a speech contest as a 3rd grader.  A librarian in my family finally got tired of me begging her to help, and used her vast resources to locate the poem.  I'm told it can be found in the book  Treat Shop, 1966 edition.  I am about to order this book, to see if it is really there.
Dr Seuss, Marco Comes Late.  For the full text of Marco Comes Late, go to this website, and then go to page 25.  I cant imagine this isn't protected by copyright, but there is is.
I couldn't find any book with the title Marco Comes Late, and and in the Geisel (Seuss) entry of Something About The Author - which lists a comprehensive list of everything done by an author - this poem is not listed.  But I did find a copy of the poem on the Internet by doing a Google search  it's on the Elementary Speech Meet site.
Yes, Yes! It is, indeed, in Treat Shop-one of the Treasury of Literature-Readtext Series. Charles E. Merrill Books, Inc.1960 Written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss.(pp 119-124) Nicely done.



Margy
I'm looking for a book that is about a girl named Marjory or Margaret or Margy.  I think it's a Canadian book.  The picture on the front had a girl on a train.  I remember that in the book, Margy had to leave her home and move somewhere else.  She felt like an outcast, but eventually made friends.  The book was set in the 1930s but was probably written in the 1990s.  It's for ages 9-12 approx.  Some more details:  Margy gets a "bob" which makes her more fashionable.  She also gets nicer glasses which help her to look less nerdy.

Janette Sebring Lowrey, Margaret, 1950?  For M418, how about Margaret by Janette Sebring Lowrey? If this is the right one, it is the book upon which the Annette series of the Mickey Mouse Club was based.
Margaret Smith, Margy.  I am the one who suggested Margaret might be the solution for this book, but now I think it is Margy by Margaret Smith:  Margaret Smith's novel Margy is a Canadian Children's Book Centre choice. In this well-written narrative, the protagonist, thirteen-year-old Margy Stratton, lives with her father in Manitoba. Margy's mother has been dead for four years. When her father is faced with friction between Margy and her stepmother, he contacts Children's Aid to find a home for Margy.  Through the intervention of a kindly neighbour, arrangements are made for Margy to live with her two maiden aunts in Bancroft, Ontario. Although her mother's family was affluent, the depression has left them with few resources. Margy originally suspects that the aunts have taken her in through a sense of "duty", but she and her aunts slowly come to appreciate and love each other. Margy and her aunts are likeable, real characters who are in fact based on actual people. Margaret Smith skillfully portrays the hardships of the depression without melodrama.
I don't think that this book was written that early but I could be wrong.  Do you have any further details on what the book was about?    I tried to find descriptions of it on the internet, but haven't found anything so far.  I remembered something else about this book.  The girl (Margie or whatever her name was) discovers a book of poems by Robert Frost and really enjoys them.  I think she lives with her grandparents or maybe a strict aunt or something like that.  I remember that a lot of the book was set during the wintertime.
Yes, I think Margy is it!  As soon as I read "Margy Stratton" I knew it was the right one.  Thank you so much, I can't wait to read it again!  By the way, this site is great... I'm sure I'll come back to it with lots more stumpers!



Maria, Everybody Has a Name
a littel boy named jonny does not go to school and instead hangs out with a fruit merchant named mr. elephantopolus.  in the end he decides to go to school.  the fruit merchant gives him an apple.

Dorothy Haas, Maria, Everybody Has a Name,1966. I still have my copy of this book!!! Saved it for my son. It was a "Whitman BIG Tell-a-Tale" book.  Illustrated by David K. Stone. Story was about a kindergarten type class.  Jonny was was one of about 5 students. All the kids were trying to help Maria start talking. Eventually they went on a field trip & Mr Elephantopoulous was finally able to tease her into saying at least her name . . .!!!
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I'm looking for a book (could be a golden book--I think it was that standard size anyway) about a girl named Maria that couldn't talk. She finally spoke aloud while visiting a market with her classmates. It might be called, "Maria can talk"--but I'm not sure. Thanks!

M77 is Maria, Everybody has a Name by Dorathy Haas A whitman Big tell a tale book.
M77 maria can talk: this sounds like Maria, Everybody has a Name, already listed on the Solved list. The class is visiting Mr Elephantopoulos' fruit market when he gets Maria to speak.


click here for imageMarianne Dreams
Also, wondering about another children's book about a girl who was convalescing in bed and to alleviate boredom, started to draw a large house, but when she went to sleep, she dreamed she was in the house - the more she drew, the more involved the story got. There was a boy living in the house she drew, and they became friends in her dream.

This sounds like a book whose name I of course cannot remember; it was made into a movie (marketed as horror, but not!) called "Paperhouse."
This book was also published under the title, The Magic Drawing Pencil.
C34 is Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr.  It's a good, but very creepy book.  At one point she draws rocks with eyes around the house.
"Paperhouse" is based on the book Marianne Dreams.
I don't know this book or movie, but according to Robert Ebert's review, the movie "Paperhouse" was based on a novel by Catherine Storr called Marianne Dreams.
I have an answer for one of the stumpers...C34 is Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr.  Marianne is recuperating from a long illness and finds a magic pencil in her mother's mending basket.  What she draws with the pencil during the day, she dreams about that night.  She draws a house and a boy in that house and then learns that the woman who is tutoring her through her recovery is also tutoring the boy Marianne has been dreaming.  It's a wonderfully eerie book.  There is a sequel entitled Marianne and Mark.

Hi.  I am looking for a book that I read over and over in my teens in the early 70's.  It was a paperback book that was about either a boy or a girl who is sick and confined to bed and every night dreams about the mountains or something of the like that are outside the house or maybe just in the dream.  the person gets scared as they get closer and closer in the dream or in real life.  a child friend helps this boy or girl.  I remember the sick child has to do drawings and whatever the sick child draws also occurs in the dream.  I cannot remember what happens in the end.  sorry to be so vague.  Hope u can help.

M49: Sounds like Marianne Dreams, which was turned into the very good 1980s low-key horror movie
"Paperhouse". She's ill and delirious, and she can't drive away her nightmares, but through her drawings, she can influence them.
M49 Definitely sounds like Marianne Dreams.  It was written by Catherine Storr and she wrote a sequel as well, called Mark and Marianne.
Thank you so much!!  I have been looking for this book for years.  It was one of my favourites from my early teen years. i am also very interested to hear that it was made into a movie. what a wonderful service!! i cannot thank you enough.
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Do you have any information regarding the television series based on the book Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr. I can find plenty of information about the movies "Paperhouse" but it is the television show I remember vividly.
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The Magic Drawing Pencil, or The Magic Pencil.  This book is about a little girl who gets sick with scarlet fever or smallpox.  She is quarantined at home and put to bed...then she is given a sketch book and a new drawing pencil -- one that is not too scratchy and not too light, but just right.  She draws some pictures of a house, trees etc., places some large rocks outside of it.  Soon she drifts to sleep and finds herself in her drawings -- not everything she has drawn is kind, either.  The book details her adventures as she adds to her drawings while awake, and returns to the magical land when asleep.  I remember enjoying it very much when I read it, some 30-odd years ago, and wish I could locate a copy to purchase for my kids.
I'm a friend of Catherine Storr. Marianne Dreams was reprinted a while ago in England.  I've been using the
paperback in my Fantasy class (U of Illinois--I recently retired).
First of all, thanks for a great website.  I found it entirely by accident, and have been perusing it all afternoon.  I'm sure you hear this all the time, but having recently had a daughter, I am trying to accumulate many of the books I remember from childhood, and the most infuriating are those where I can't remember the title.  On your site, I found reminders of several great books I had forgotten, AND the answer to MY number two stumper -- Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr -- incredible!
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I'm interested in a book I read when I was about 11. It is about a girl who goes off to stay in a house (maybe a lighthouse?) by the sea. There are big rocks all around the house that she perceives as strangely threatening.  Gradually she becomes ill, and starts having strange dreams about the rocks. She battles back, and ultimately triumphs over them. I recall the stones at the end shouting "Not the light, not the light!!" That's what makes me think it might have been a lighthouse she was in. It was very spooky and I loved it. Any idea what it was?

The book you're looking for is Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr.  It was first published in 1958 but has been reprinted many times.  The back cover reads: "Soon after Marianne found the pencil in the old workbox, she began to have strange dreams of an old house, with a boy in the upstairs room.  Then the amazing truth dawned on her:  it was she who had created the house and the boy because whenever she drew something during the day, that night she would dream about it."  Marianne drew the one-eyed rocks that watch the house and become more menacing each time she dreams.  The lighthouse she drew as a place of refuge  its light blinds the rocks as she and the boy make their escape. It's a mesmerizing story, and one of my favorites.
MARIANNE DREAMS by Catherine Storr.  First published in 1958, Catherine Storr's deservedly popular children's story has been through numerous reprints.  It  also became a movie titled "Paperhouse."  It is now available from Lutterworth Publishing.
Catherine Storr, Marianne Dreams, c.1965.  This is in the solved mystery section!
S156 sounds like Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr to me. It was also made into a movie called "Paperhouse" in the late 80s.
Catherine Storr, Marianne Dreams.  A sick girl has strange dreams about the things that she draws, including
some evil-looking stones.
 Interpreting
Condition 
Grades
Storr, Catherine.  Marianne Dreams.  Illustrated by Marjorie-Ann Watts.  Puffin Books, 1958, 1964.  Paperback.  VG  <SOLD>  



Marianna May and Nursey
1975-1985.  This little girl only owns all all white dresses, but she wants more colorful dresses, so she goes into the mud in one dress and then she has a brown dress, then she goes into the garden of yellow flowers and has a yellow dress. She wears all her white dresses in different places until she has a dress for each color of the rainbow. I remember my mother taking the the book out of the library for me in the eighties, although the book could be from the seventies. I thought Tomie De Paolo was the illustrator, but I can not seem to locate it under his name, so I am probably mistaken about that.  Although, I feel the drawings were...

Marianna May and Nursey by Tomie dePaola. (1983)
dePaola, Tomie, Marianna May and Nursey. Holiday House, 1983.  Actually, the servants dye all her dresses different colors so that stains don't show up - she can roll in the grass in her green dress, make mud pies in her brown dress, eat strawberry ice cream in her pink dress, etc.
Is this the same as W201?
Tomie De Paola, Marianna May and Nursey. (1983)  See stumper W201 for more details.
Tomie dePaola, Marianna May and Nursey.  See stumper W201 below
Tomie dePaola, Marianna May and Nursey.(1983) A little rich girl is miserable because she isn't allowed to do anything but sit still and keep her white dress clean, until the iceman comes up with the suggestion to dye her dresses different colors, so that she can make mudpies in brown, eat strawberry ice cream in pink, roll in the grass in green, etc. When she paints pictures, her dress is rainbow colored.



Marie Louise's Heyday
a 70's children's book about a mongoose who has  a banana and wants to eat it but keeps getting interrupted by a gang of naughty baby mongooses I think he has to babysit. I remember at one point him musing aloud "should I do this and eat banana, do that and eat banana, or just plain eat banana?"

Carlson, Natalie Savage, Marie Louise's Heyday, 1975, Charles Scribner's Sons.  It starts out "today is my heyday, because I have found the sweetest, fattest banana on the Man's tree....Shall I play with my seashells and eat banana or swing in my swing and eat banana or just eat banana?"    But babysitting five little possums gets in the way and she doesnt get to eat her banana till the end of the book.
Natalie Savage Carlson, Marie Louise's Heyday, 1975.  Marie Louise is a mongoose who thinks it is her heyday when she finds the biggest, fattest banana ever.  But she has to babysit the five naughty Possum children, and they keep interrupting her attempts to eat that banana.
Try MARIE LOUISE'S HEYDAY by Natalie Savage Carlson, illustrated by Jose Aruego & Ariane Dewey, 1975. Marie Louise is a mongoose who has to babysit for 5 possum children. (And in case you're interested, there are 2 or 3 other books about Mary Louise the moongoose)~from a librarian
Carlson, Natalie Savage. Marie Louise's heyday,  illus by Jose Aruego & Ariane Dewey. Scribner, 1975.  Sequel: Runaway Marie Louise.  Scribner, 1977
Thats it!! I had no idea there were other books in the series...can't wait to get my copy!
 Interpreting
Condition 
Grades
Carlson, Natalie Savage. Marie Louise's Heyday. Illustrated by Jose Aruego and Ariane Dewey. Scribner, 1975,  Ex-library edition in library binding with usual marks.  Soiled, slighty musty, owners name on flyleaf; overall Good-.  $7



Marilda and the Bird of Time
I think this one was written in the (20's? 30's?) and I think it was titled "Bird on the wing" or maybe "Bird of time" about a girl who goes to stay with her uncle (I think) and leaves letters in the redbud tree by the road and learns to clear the high jump and apply that accomplishment to life and her homework.  And I think she got sick and wandered down the road in a fevered daze after a school dance... and I think she's a red head who gets a green dress for the prom that makes her look like a blooming rose... or maybe that's a different book.  If so, I would like that one too...

Not too likely because of the date, but perhaps Esther Bates' Marilda series, which includes Marilda and the Bird of Time illustrated by Gustav Schott, published New York, McKay, 1960. The first two books are Marilda's House(1956 and Marilda and the Witness Tree (1957). The only description I have is "When young Marilda is orphaned, she and her friends raise the money to enable her to keep her house. The later books follow her growing-up period." There's enough resemblance (orphan, which would explain an uncle, and the witness tree, which could be the redbud tree) that it seems worth mentioning.
B28 bird on the wing: More on the suggested title Marilda and the Bird of Time, by Esther W. Bates, illustrated by Gustav Schrotter, published McKay 1962. "Marilda, as Class President, begins to grow up in this lively new story by the author of the popular Marilda books. Ages 12-14."
Mildred Lawrence, Peachtree Island, 1940s.  I don't have a copy to check, but I vaguely remember the girl staying with her uncle. Or I could be thinking of another book.


Marjorie
My Mother (born 1938) has fond childhood memories about a series (I think it was a series) of children's books with Marjorie in the title -or- the primary character was Marjorie.  The books were lost in a fire and I can't seem to find anyone who can recall the books.  I'd like to "comb the earth" and find these books for a Christmas present.

Wells, Carolyn, Marjorie's Vacation, 1935.  One possibility:  Wells, Carolyn. Marjorie's Vacation - Marjorie #1 Grosset & Dunlap 1935. VG/VG- Orange cloth binding, glossy frontispiece, full-color dust jacket.
Lorna Hill, Marjorie & Co. Lorna Hill wrote a series of books about Marjorie and Friends - Guy, Patience, Esme.  The live in Northumberland England, ride horses, have picnics, go to Gymkhanas etc.
MARJORIE SERIES:  1 Marjorie and Co (Art & Educational 1948); 2 Stolen Holiday (Art & Educational 1948); 3 Border Peel (Art & Educational 1950); 4 Northern Lights (privately pub. 1999); 5 Castle in Northumbria (Burke1953); 6 No medals for Guy Nelson (Nelson1962)  PATIENCE SERIES:  1 They Called Her Patience (Burke 1951); 2 It Was All Through Patience (Burke 1952); 3 So Guy Came Too (Burke 1954); 5 The Five Shilling Holiday (Burke 1955).
M137 marjorie: perhaps All About Marjory, by Marian Cumming, illustrated by David Stone Martin, published Harcourt 1950, 148 pages. "Texas in the early 1900s is the scene of this sensitive story of 8-year-old Marjory and her little sister Nancy. The band concert in the park, the stolen dream and Miss Louisa's wedding are among the highlights of their lives. Interesting and unusual line drawings." (HB Nov/50 p.473) There's at least one sequel  Just Like Nancy, published Hale 1953, 174 pages. This is probably too late a publication date, though, as someone born in 1938 would have been 12-15 and likely too old to read about an 8 year old. Another possible, with a better date, is Dandelion Cottage and its sequels, which include The Adopting of Rosa Marie (1908), by Carroll Watson Rankin, published Holt 1904 and reprinted a few times since. It's about four young girls, Bettie, Jeanie, Mabel and Marjory, who earn the right to use a small cottage for the summer by digging dandelions from the lawn.
Hill, Lorna, Marjorie and Co.  The "Marjorie" series sounds like the one required. The quality of the writing would stick in anybody's memory. So Guy Came Too from the "Patience" series has the same hero, Guy Charlton, as all the Marjorie stories. Guy (and some of the others) also crops up in quite a few of the Wells series. This year (2002) and this week mark the 100th anniversary of Lorna Hill's birth.


Mark of Conte
Monty/Morty??, before 1985.  This book is about a boy who is starting highschool.  He is accidentally registered as being a freshman and a junior, but instead of fixing the error, he decides to attend both class sets, and graduate in 2 years instead of 4.  In order to avoid detection, he would wear something distictive to each of his classes.  For example - he would always wear a red to his freshman classes, and be known as the 'red hat boy'.  Then for his junior classes, he would wear a green scarf, or something else distinctive.  His mother was a famous artist, so his teachers did not want to criticise him if he did bad artwork.  She (his mother) was also very eccentric, and would dress up in jail clothes and hand cuffs if she felt she was doing too much house work.   That's all I can remember.  Thanks in advance.

Sonia Levitin, The Mark of Conte, 1976.  Due to a computer error, Conte Mark's school thinks he's two people: Conte Mark and Mark Conte.  He decides to take advantage of the error and attends HS as 2 people taking twice the courseload in order to graduate in 2 yrs instead of 4.


Market House Mystery
What a wonderful service you provide! I have fond memories of a book I read around 1958--probably when I was in 4th grade. I think the name of it was The Old Market House Mystery, but I have no idea who the author is. It was in our classroom library, and I seem to remember it having a red hardbound cover with no picture on the front. It has been so long that I cannot remember anything of the story anymore but I would love to find this book again and discover just what has kept it in my memory all these years!

Could this be it?  Hark, Ann.  Market House Mystery: Adventure in a Pennsylvania Dutch Market House.  Philadelphia: The John C. Winston Co., (1955).
Thank you! I do believe that is probably the book! You are amazing. I will let you know if I decide to order it. I am referring you to everyone I know!


Marsha
Marsha?  or The Other One?, early 1970s.  This was purchased from Scholastic Book Services.  There are two sisters, one named Marsha, who are close in age.  Marsha is a good person, hardworking, average in appearance, her sister however is beautiful, selfish and always puts herself first, although the sisters get on well.  At the very beginning the selfish sister has just purchased a beautiful, exravagant gown for $300 or $500, and is twirling around the living room while her family admires her.  When Marsha hears what the dress cost, she says, "No wonder there's no money to send me to college."  And her mother says to her, "Now don't be selfish," and she answers, "Do you really think I'm the one being selfish?" and her grandfather mutters, "I can answer that one for you."  Then her father says he has been blind for years, listening to his wife who only wants to dote on her beautiful daughter, and says if they cut corners, they can possibly send both girls to college.  Marsha gets a job as a census taker but then gets sick and can't do the job so all of her friends do it for her.  She is also befriended by a young man back from the war. He had come to their house, looking for her sister, because a soldier who had died had had her sister's picture up and talked of nothing else, although he had never even really  met her, just admired her from afar.  Then the man's aunt enters the story who is a very well-known New York columnist, I think, and Marsha's mother finally gives her some credit, but just because the man's famous aunt thought her worthy of her attention.  I have very vivid memories of this book but can't find it anywhere based on my guesses at the title, please help!  Thank you.

Craig, Margaret Maze, Marsha,  1955.  I just finished reading this so it is absolutely the right book. All the details are right except that it is towards the end of the book that the sister buys the dress and Marsha finally stands up for herself. Also, you should buy Trish by the same author- they are quite similar. Both are terrific books and really sweet.
I can't remember author or title, but I also remember the book.  The selfish sister was named Diane or Diana, the mother expected the aunt to wear something 'town & country' and Marcia/Marsha the decent daughter says "jeans.  Probably paid all of $3.95 for them.'    The selfish sister has been recognized as a loser by the important characters including classmates in the end.  Marcia works for the census to earn a few hundred dollars for college.  The breaking point comes when her sister, admitting she doesn't need another dress, spends more than half the amount she earned on yet another dance dress.  Maybe these additional details will spark someone else's memory.  The author *might* have been Betty Cavanna - if not, someone like enough to share the space in my memory.
What a great service!  I have been trying for years to remember the names of those books and you got them solved in a matter of days.  W178 is Patricia's Secret (I checked on the Internet and they even had one with the cover, which I remember, so I know it's the right one), F204 is The Unchosen and M325 is Marsha, thank you, thank you.  The last one, V40, sounds like Miracle on Maple Hill which I have read, but I don't think it is that one, although I want to get it from the library and double check before submitting a denial, it was a very good guess.  You have made my day, you have no idea!


The Marshmallow Ghosts
This is a weekly reader club book from late 60's.  It is about 3 ghosts who want to go trick-or-treating instead of learning to to "ghost" things, like floating, etc.  They end up at halloween party, where they eat a lot of candy.

Priscilla and Otto Friedrich, The Marshmallow Ghosts,
1960 illustrated by Louis Slobodkin. Cover shows the three ghosts out trick or treating. Description from the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books:"A light-hearted approach to ghosts.  Lady Esther lived in a deserted house with her niece and two nephews, and she despaired of ever teaching them to become proper ghosts.  On a haunting visit to the supermarket, the three little ghosts ate so many marshmallows that they became visible  taking advantage of this opportunity the three pretended to be children and went to Halowe'en parties. They had a fine time, but Aunt Esther felt that they were in danger so they moved to New England where they made new friends and lived happily ever after."

SOLVED: Priscilla and Otto Friedrich,  The Marshmallow Ghosts. Yes, that's it!!!!  I am so excited to finally have this "mystery" solved.  Thank you so much!!  Now I can move on to other things!


Marta Finds the Golden Door
I'm looking for a book I read in third or fourth grade (about 1989 or 1990) but which I'm sure was published much earlier than that (maybe the 60s) which involved a little girl escaping from Nazi germany with her doll which is her favorite posession.  It turns out that her father (who I think she gets separated from at some point) has hidden some diamonds inside the doll. I also seem to recall a train ride where a soldier nearly discovers the secret but doesn't.  Perhaps there is a scene with the diamonds getting put in a glass of water in which they can't be seen?  Thanks for your help!

D46 is Marta Finds the Golden Door by Frances Cavanah, 1941 later reissued as Marta and the Nazis. Marta's father hides the diamonds in her doll's baby bottle which is filled with water.  She travels to America to live with her uncle and his son.
D46 diamonds in doll: more on the suggested - Marta Finds the Golden Door, by Frances Cavanah, illustrated by Harve Stein (b/w) & Janice Holland (color), published Grosset & Dunlap 1941, reprinted by Scholastic 1974 as Marta and the Nazis, illustrated by Wayne Blickenstaff. For some reason, plot information is very hard to find.
I read this book in 1954.  Marta hides the family's diamonds in her doll's bottle containing water which concealed them especially as the Nazis paid little attention to a little girl playing with her doll.  Thanks for the memory!



Martin and His Friend from Outer Space
A boy builds a communication device with a meterite and he is able to contact a girl on another planet.  Her planet is all water. She lives there with her grandfather.  She comes to visit the boy and attracts the attention of a man who overhears her telling the boy that some of her hair is real gold.  The man want to sell her hair.  I used to take this book out from the public library in the 1960s. It was illustrateed with black and white photographs.  I can't remember the title or author. I would be grateful if anyone recognizes the story and can supply this info. I would love to try to get a copy of it before my own children are too old to appreciate it!

A very similar sounding query was posted on the Alibris board, but the only suggestions so far are the two I'm repeating here: The plot sounds like Star Girl, by Henry Winterfeld, published Lutterworth 1963, 168 pages, but that's illustrated with line drawings by R. Ackermann-Ophuls. It's about Little Mo, from Venus, who falls out of her spaceship, is befriended by children and protected from officious and greedy adult humans. Otherwise, maybe: Martin and his Friend from Outer Space by Ivo Duka and Helena Kolda, illustrated with photographs. "A new story about Martin, the young hero of "The Secret of the Two Feathers", and a girl from one of the nine moons of Saturn who comes to New York for a day of amazing adventures. 96 pages, ages 7-11, published Harper, 1955. (from an ad in the Horn Book, Apr/55 p.147)
Ivo Duka, Martin and His Friend from Outer Space This is definitely the book.  Martin builds a radio and contacts a girl from another planet with gold hair.
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This is a 1950s children's book about two little boys who have a transistor radio.  At night, they somehow use the radio to communicate with a little girl from a distant planet.  She has a silver streak in her hair.

Duka, Ivo, Martin and His Friend from Outer Space.  Harper 1955.  I've just been talking with someone on the ABE boards who has this book and we are pretty certain this is it: "Martin builds a tele-spacer using odds and ends ... radio tubes, copper wire, aluminum foil, knobs, keys, an old fashioned space helmet (like a fishbowl), a bit of meteorite.  He is able to contact Aknele-Alpha, a girl who lives on Saturn.  Her face shows up in the space helmet.  They have lots of interesting discussions, telling each other about their respective planets.  Finally, they make plans for her to beam herself to Earth, where they meet at Coney Island for a day of fun.  Later in the day she tells him that the golden hanks of hair in her bangs are real gold and she needs this metal hair in order to space travel.  A bad guy overhears this and tries to kidnap her, in order to steal her golden hair.  After a hair-raising getaway (couldn't resist), she and Martin go to the top of the Empire State building and she is able to beam herself back home.  The best part of all is that the book is illustrated with page after page of black and white photographs, so we know this story is TRUE!". Va-li-bree adds: "Since the photo illustrations are black and white, Aknele-Alpha's hair looks black with white (or silver) streaks in the bangs.  There is one scene fairly early on in the story where Martin is able to reverse the picture transmitted in the tele-spacer's space helmet so that he sees himself.  There is a photograph of this scene and may account for why the stumpee is remembering two little boys."


Marty
I hate to bother you when I do not know the title/author of the books I seek...I belive they are autobiographies of a young woman set in the '50's in a smaller Midwestern town. The first book takes place the summer before her first year of college, and I think she wrote for the local newspaper. The image I retain is of her sitting at this little typing table typing on an old typewriter. The second book chronicles her years at college, or at least her first year. Thanks ever so much!

W66 has to be the Marty books by Elisa Bialk.  There are three books--Marty, Marty Goes to Hollywood,and Marty on Campus.  Marty is set during her senior year of high school.  She works on the paper, and the cover of the paperback edition shows her sitting at a typewriter. She is athletic and lives in a small town outside of  Chicago.  Marty Goes to Hollywood is set during the summer between high school and college when she has a paper assignment in Hollywood.  Marty on Campus is her first year at Northwestern University in Chicago in the
journalism school. 


Marvelous Inventions of Alvin Fernald
The book was a favorite of both my husband and myself but neither of use can remember the name.  The book was about a boy inventor whose inventions never worked very well.  He invented a machine to attach to his bicycle to deliver the newspapers on his paper route.  He also invented a lawnmower that did not need to be pushed

Sounds like it might be THE MARVELOUS INVENTIONS OF ALVIN FERNALD by Clifford B. Hicks. ~from a librarian
Clifford B. Hicks, The Marvelous Inventions of Alvin Fernald  The Foolproof Burglar Alarm. The Sure Shot Paper Slinger. The Portable Fire Escape. "Alvin Fernald invented them all. His brain's working a mile a minute -- just ask his best friend, Shoie, or his little sister, the Pest. But even Alvin needs to think twice around the old Huntley place. It's like something out of a horror movie -- especially because no one's seen Mrs. Huntley in days. Can Alvin and his inventions crack the case?"



Marvelous Land of Oz
In the late 60's I checked this book out of the library.  It seemed to be quite old at that time, I'm guessing from the '30's or '40's.  It was a storybook with large pictures. I'm sorry I don't have many details, but I loved this book!  It kind of scared me and I remember feeling great sympathy for one of the characters--he was a man without a head who used a pumpkin for a head.  I believe he was on horseback at some point, maybe in a garden or pumpkin patch.  It seems that he had incurred the wrath of a witch and was under a spell but I'm not certain of that!  Really sorry the details are so sketchy--I'd LOVE to locate this old book.  I know for certain it was not a version of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow--I've checked several of those since it does involve a "headless horseman," but this one is definitely different!  Thank you so much in advance!

Ah, one of the Oz books slipped through the cracks.  There are LOTS of responses, memories, and solutions for this stumper.  I'm posting the first solution received for now, and we'll post the others on Monday.  You can be pretty sure this one is solved.  Thanks for all the memories!
L. Frank Baum,  John R. Neill (illus), The Marvelous Land of Oz
1904.  A boy named Tip creates Jack Pumpkinhead from sticks, old clothes, and of course, a carved pumpkin. Jack is brought to life by the old witch, Mombi, using a magical powder. Mombi wants to enslave Jack and turn Tip into a marble statue, so they run away. With the help of their friends, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodsman, the Wooden Sawhorse, the Woggle-Bug, and the Gump, Tip and Jack must overcome the rebellion of General Jinjur and her army of girls, thwart Mombi's evil schemes, and save the Emerald City.  The book is beautifully illustrated by John R. Neill, featuring many full-page color plates plus large black-and-white line drawings. There are multiple pictures (both b&w and color) of Jack Pumpkinhead and his friends riding the Wooden Sawhorse. This book has been reprinted many times over the past 100+ years (also printed as The Land of Oz).
L. Frank Baum, Jack Pumpkinhead and the Sawhorse of Oz,  1939, copyright.  If the book you're looking for isn't The Marvelous Land of Oz, you could also check this one out.  Jack Pumpkinhead and the Sawhorse must rescue two children from a gloomy forest. The book also includes the story Tik-Tok and the Gnome King of Oz. Both stories are included in Baum's short-story collection, Little Wizard Stories of Oz. Published by Rand McNally in 1939, though the original publication date was likely earlier.
L. Frank Baum, The Marvelous Land of Oz, 1904, copyright.  This is the second book in the Oz series. A young boy named Tip, who lives with a witch (actually, an evil sorceress), brings Jack Pumpkinhead to life with a magic powder.
L. Frank Baum, The Marvelous Land of Oz, 1904, copyright.  Tip brings Jack Pumpkinhead to life with a magic powder. Mombi, the witch he lives with, gets angry so Tip and Jack run away. On the way, Tip brings a Sawhorse to life with the powder. When Glinda the Good Witch takes Mombi's powers away, Tip turns into Ozma, the Princess and ruler of Oz. It turns out that she had been turned into a boy when she was a baby and was forced to work for Mombi. It's a great book with lots of pictures!
L. Frank Baum, The Marvelous Land of Oz,  The character sounds a lot like Jack Pumpkinhead, especially in this book where he is created by Tip to scare Mombi the witch and he rides the sawhorse. Not sure if the original Baum book would count as a storybook with large pictures, though, so perhaps you are seeking an adaptation for younger children?
The Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum? This introduced Jack Pumpkinhead. Also, Ruth Plumly Thompson wrote Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz.
L. Frank Baum , The Marvelous Land of Oz, 1904, copyright.  "First issued in 1904, L. Frank Baum's The Marvelous Land of Oz is the story of the wonderful adventures of the young boy named Tip as he travels throughout the many lands of Oz. Here he meets with our old friends the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman, as well as some new friends like Jack Pumpkinhead, the Wooden Sawhorse, the Highly Magnified Woggle-Bug, and the amazing Gump. How they thwart the wicked plans of the evil witch Mombi and overcome the rebellion of General Jinjur and her army of young women is a tale as exciting and endearing today as it was when first published over eighty years ago."
L.
Frank Baum, The Land of Oz.  Perhaps you are thinking about a book from the Wizard of Oz series. Book #2, "The Land of Oz", has characters that sound similar to the ones you've described. (Books #2 and #3 were combined to make the movie, "Return to Oz") Here is a brief synopsis... A little boy, Tip, escapes from his evil guardian, the witch Mombi, with the help of a walking wooden figure with a jack-o'-lantern head named Jack Pumpkinhead (brought to life with the magic Powder of Life Tip stole from Mombi), as well as a living Sawhorse (created from the same powder.) Tip ends up on an adventure with the Scarecrow and Tin Woodsman. Tip finally learns that he is really Princess Ozma, the true ruler of Oz, is changed back into a girl, and ascends the throne of Oz.
L. Frank Baum, The Marvelous Land of OZ, 1904, copyright.  This book is liberally illustrated with pictures of Jack Pumpkinhead, a stick man brought to life by a magic powder of the witch Mombi, and shows him riding an animated sawhorse as he and little Tip, the servant boy, try to escape from the witch, which leads them into all sorts of exciting adventures.
Thanks so much for your fantastic service---thanks too to all those knowledgeable folks with great memories!!  I can't wait to try and find a copy of this one--I have some of his other Oz stories.  Again, many thanks!!

 Interpreting
Condition 
Grades
Baum, L. Frank.  The Land of Oz.  Illustrated by John R. Neill.  Rand McNally & Co., 1904.  Trade paperback.  VG.  $8.
 


Mary Changes Her Clothes
This is a picture book that I loved to read when I was young.  I am 35, so it would have been early to mid 70's?  It was about a girl who got up in the morning and put on an outfit, and then proceeded to change her clothes many times throughout the day as she wanted to pretend she was different people.  I'm thinking maybe she dressed as a princess for one.  I think the title has the girl's name, then "changes clothes" or "changes her clothes."  Something like "Mary changes clothes" or "Susie changes clothes" but I'm not 100% sure about that.

How about Mary Changes Her Clothes by Ellie Simmons (D. McKay Co., 1960)?  It's earlier that the years you gave but the title fits.


Mary Frances Cook Book
The book belonged to my mother, who was born in 1926 in Los Angeles.  The story is of a little girl whose mother becomes ill; the kitchen utensils come to life and teach her to cook.  A hobo comes to the house, and the little girl gives him a dish of bread and milk - the book has that recipe, as well as others for children.  The drawings are black and white.  I know neither the title nor the author.  My sister remembers this book with great fondness, and I'd love to find it for her and her new son and daughter.  Thank you so much for your wonderful website - I hope the NPR coverage doesn't create a deluge for you.  But what wonderful work you do!

The Mary Frances Cook Book, or, Adventures Among the Kitchen People, Jane Eayre Fryer, 1912.  "The first Mary Frances book. Mary Frances spends 3 magical weeks in fairyland with the Kitchen People (humanized kitchen utensils) including Aunty Rolling Pin and others. By the end of the book, the young reader can cook a variety of dishes. Illustrated by JANE ALLEN BOYER with color frontis plus a profusion of color and line illustrations throughout the text by Margaret Hays."
The Mary Frances Cook Book by Jane Eayre Fryer (1912).  This book and the others in the same series were recently reprinted by Lacis [la-SEECE], a needlework shop in Berkeley, CA, and are available by mail order. Thanks again for your wonderful website!
You're amazing - my sister will be ecstatic!  And her children will be able to pass on the book too.....thank you, thank you!



Mary Frances Sewing Book
My mother was born in 1906. I was born in 1932. The book I am looking for was her book as a little girl and my fondest memories are of her reading it to me. It was a hard cover book, possibly dark green, and it was about a little Victorian girl and her doll. At the end of each chapter was an envelope and within that envelope was a tissue paper pattern to sew the particular outfit for her doll that that chapter depicted.  Now I am a grandmother and would like to do the same for my two granddaughters!

Sounds like Jane Eayre Fryer's  Mary Frances series.  There's The Mary Frances Cook Book, 1912, The Mary Frances Garden Book, 1916, The Mary Frances Housekeeper, 1915, The Mary Frances First Aid Book, 1915, The Mary Frances Knitting and Crocheting Book, 1918, as well as the one you might be looking for, The Mary Frances Sewing Book, 1914. 


Mary Jane
I remember reading a book when I was about ten or eleven about ayoung black girl who goes to a predominately white school.  Her grandmother works in the school cafe.  When the girl has trouble adjusting to all the stares her grandmother tells her to put her nose in the air like she's sniffin' pies in heaven!  It's a great book and I'd love to know the title.  Thanks!  This is great feature of your great page!

D11.5  I remember reading a book called Tessiethat was written in the late 1960s, about a black girl who goes to a white school.  I don't remember anything about her grandma working there, but  I do seem to remember Tessie straightening her hair, and there might have been something about her white blouse (hmm...maybe she was ironing both her hair and her blouse?).  Does this sound like what you're thinking of?  I looked up Tessie in a library catalog, and the only likely candidate I found was written by Jesse Jackson- I assume the same person who ran for president.
I have found the book, it is called Mary Jane and the author is Sterling. thanks for such a great service!!


Mary Jane series
Help: I have been trying to find an old childhood favorite that was once a favorite of my mother's. I remember inheriting two books from the series, both, alas, now lost. The books were about the adventures of a little girl, about 7-8 years old with Twenties styled bobbed hair which would put the publishing date during the 1920's. The titles were along the lines of Mary Jane in the Country, Mary Jane . . . etc. I distinctly remember her as Mary Jane, but it could have been Mary Anne. I would
appreciate it if any one can locate a copy, or at least prove to me that the series actually existed.
Thanks much

Must be Clara Ingram Judson.  Published in the 1920's by Barse in green, and reprinted in red by Grosset & Dunlap.  Many titles -- Mary Jane in Canada, Mary Jane: Her Visit, Mary Jane's Winter Sports, Mary Jane: Her Book, Mary Jane's City Home, Mary James' Summer Fun, Mary Jane in Scotland, in France, at School, in New England, Down South, in Holland, in England....
I believe that M86 is the Mary Jane series by Clara Igram Judson.  There are 19 books in all. They are as follows:  Mary Jane Her Visit, Mary Jane Her Book, Mary Jane Down South, Mary Jane in England, Mary Jane in Canada, Mary Jane in New England, Mary Jane at School, Mary Jane in Switzerland, Mary Jane in France, Mary Jane's City Home, Hary Jane's Kindergarten, Mary Jane's Country Home, Mary Jane's Vacation, Mary Jane's Friends in Holland, Mary Jane's Winter Sports, Mary Jane in Italy, Mary Jane in Scotland, Mary Jane's Summer Fun and Mary Jane in Spain.  I hope that this is what the person is looking for.
Thank you so much. I do remember the "green binding". If you could find any one of the books, I
would appreciate it. I am particulary interested in Mary Jane Down South or Mary Jane in the City. If you do come across any books in the series, please send me price information.
Mary Jane by Dorothy Sterling, illustrated by Ernest Crichlow, published Doubleday 1959 "Mary Jane was one of six Negro students to enter newly integrated Wilson School which had junior and senior high in the same building. She knew there might be problems but Wilson was a better school than Dunbar and she was ambitious to take advantage of this opportunity. She saw herself as a "foreign ambassador" to Wilson. There were shocking experiences for a twelve-year-old girl to face but Mary Jane kept her head high and veiled her unhappiness and fear. ... Girls between ten and twelve can find here two engaging new friends, and will probably be as much concerned over the trouble caused by an ingratiating but obstreperous pet squirrel as over the problems of school integration." (Horn Book Jun/59 p.216)


Mary Jane and Sniffles
I am looking for a book I remember reading as a child in the 50's.  I always thought the title was 'Maryjane and Sniffles' but maybe not.  I also don't know if it was just one book or a series.  It was about a little girl and a mouse.  As I remember it, somehow or other the girl could shrink down to the mouse's size and they had wonderful adventures outside in the garden under all the plants.  Hope this is enough for someone to help me.  Have been searching for this for years!

Chase Craig, Mary Jane & Sniffles,1941.  There are numerous entries for this on the Internet. It was apparently a comic strip series created by Chase Craig that first appeared in "Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies Comics" in 1941. According to www.toonopedia.com/maryjane.htm, "[Sniffles] was teamed with a little girl named Mary Jane, who could shrink to his size and have fantasy adventures with him in a land of living toys. At first, the series was titled �Sniffles & Mary Jane,� but eventually that was reversed, giving its true star top billing�Mary Jane's exact technique for shrinking varied. At first she would sprinkle magic sand on herself, saying, �Magic sand, magic sand, make me small at my command!� or sometimes �Oh, magic sand upon me fall, and make me very, very small!� In 1949, the words became �First I shut my eyes real tight, then I wish with all my might! Magic words of poof, poof, piffles, make me just as small as Sniffles!�" Ebay.com is a likely resource to obtain copies.
There was a comic book about Maryjane and Sniffles. To make herself small she would say, "Magic words of poof poof piffles, make me just as small as Sniffles."
I'm one of those who sent you a stumper after the spot on NPR last Sat.  I just checked and someone has figured it out already!!!  Thank you so much.  As soon as I read the 'magic words' Mary Jane used to make herself small (�First I shut my eyes real tight, then I wish with all my might! Magic words of poof, poof, piffles, make me just as small as Sniffles!�) I knew this was it.  I remember that!  Thank you so much.
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This is a book that had a character that was a mouse named "Sniffles".  The book followed the adventures of Sniffles and a young girl.  The girl could make herself the same size as Sniffles so she could go where mice went.  My father's older siblings nicknamed him "Sniffles" after the book. My Dad was born in 1941.

Chase Craig, Mary Jane and Sniffles.  Seems to be the same book as M148
Chase Craig, Mary Jane and Sniffles.  1940s-1950s.  This was a comic strip series that debuted in "Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies Comics" in 1941. See the Solved Mysteries page under "Mary Jane and Sniffles" or check out their website for more details.
Chase Craig (creator), Mary Jane & Sniffles, 1941.  Sniffles was a cartoon mouse created by Warner Brothers in 1939.  He was licensed in 1941 for a Dell Comics monthly anthology where he was teamed up with Mary Jane.  Go here for the
whole story.


click
          here for imageclick
          here for imageMary Poppins series
China Plate Transportation.  After looking at a china plate on a shelf that has a painting on it of three boys playing a game of �hosey� (two hold the ends of a rope, the third who is getting the ride) the boy is transported into the picture on the plate.  This might have been ashort story.

This has got to be the Bad Wednesday chapter 3 from Mary Poppins Comes Back by P.L. Travers. Though it's Jane that goes into the plate, not Michael. She's angry and throws her paint-box at the plate, cracking one boy's knee. They try to keep her as their sister, but Mary Poppins rescues her.
Garner, Alan.  "The Owl Service."  1968.  Through an old dinner service found in the attic, three teenagers unwittingly awaken an ancient evil and are caught up in the reenactment of a tragic Welsh legend.  May be a pretty far cry from three boys playing "hosey," but again someone might look through it to see if it is NOT the china plate story.  Won a Carnegie medal and went into lots of paperback editions so should be easy to find.
The C57  story is chapter three "Bad Wednesday" from the book Mary Poppins Comes Back by P.L. Travers
C57: Sure sounds like the chapter "Bad Wednesday": from Mary Poppins Comes Back - except it's Jane who goes into the Royal Doulton Bowl and finds more than she can handle. BTW, the illustration in that chapter is based on a real dish which can be seen at the Donnell(?) library branch in Manhattan - on the children's floor, of course! You can also see the umbrella (with a wooden parrot's head) and a reproduction(?) of the Dutch doll that Mary Poppins is based on. In another glass case around the corner are the original Winnie-the-Pooh toys!
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A little old woman had a bakery and a boy and girl would visit her.  She would somehow break off a couple of her old wrinkled fingers and come up with these beautiful stars to put up in the sky. Hope you can help me.

Travers, Mary Poppins.This is a chapter from Mary Poppins, but I understand it appeared in a slightly different version as a picture book, so maybe that's what you're thinking of.
#P115--Pasting cookie stars in the sky:  Man, Harriett, I can't believe you even posted this as a stumper.  It's so well-known and has appeared so often I thought everyone had it memorized by now.  There are two versions, one of them a chapter in Mary Poppins, by P. L. Travers, and the other a Little Golden Book from the 1950s illustrating just this story.
Yes, yes, head hung down abashedly.  Especially since I brought up the Golden Books variant the last time this was a stumper.  That one is listed on the Solved Mysteries page under Gingerbread Shop.
This may be one (or a combination of two) of the stories found in the Mary Poppins? It's one of the visits into town (maybe to Mrs. Correy?), and the woman breaks off her fingers and they become peppermint sticks. I remember vaguely a story about putting the stars in the sky, too.
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I'm looking for a book that was read to me as a child in the 1950s.  I have always thought it was an early Mary Poppins book but this could be wrong. It's about a nanny who takes care of two children, a boy and a girl.  This particular story involves them going to a shop and buying gingerbread. Each piece of gingerbread has a gold star on it.  The last line in the book runs something like "Were the stars gold paper, or was the gold paper stars?"

Travers, Mary Poppins.  The chapter you want is "Mrs. Corry."
Travers, P.L, Mary Poppins Comes Back, 1935.Mary Poppins takes the gold paper stars from the cookies and pastes them in the sky.
Travers, P.L., Mary Poppins, 1934.  The story "Mrs. Corry" is in the first Mary Poppins book.  It was also published as a Little Golden Book (called The Gingerbread Shop)--in that version, there were only two children, Jane and Michael (the babies were left out).
This is the "Mrs. Corry" chapter from Mary Poppins, or the little Golden Book, Gingerbread Shop, that was based on this chapter.
Travers, P.L. , The Gingerbread Shop: a story from Mary Poppins.  NY: Golden Books 1952.  I think this is on the Solved pages already - this excerpt from the books was published as a separate story by Golden Books (Simon & Schuster) in 1952, and is fondly remembered by a good many people who may never have seen the original books.
P. L. Travers , Mary Poppins.  If it helps, the scene described is from the "Mrs. Corry" chapter in Mary Poppins, including the question about the gingerbread stars.
Yes, this is from Mary Poppins (the first one).  You'll probably get 8 million other people saying so too, but am chiming in anyway.
P. L. Travers, Mary Poppins, 1934, 1962.  You're right!  I looked it up in the first book, Mary Poppins, in the chapter entitled "Mrs. Corry."  Mrs. Corry returns in other Poppins books, but the quote you cited is in the first one.
P.L. Travers, Mary Poppins, 1934.  The episode you describe is in chapter eight of Mary Poppins, titled "Mrs. Corry".  You remember the story pretty well, except that Mary Poppins is taking care of four children (Jane, Michael, and twin babies John and Barbara) and the "last line" isn't at the end of the book (which has twelve chapters), but close to the end of chapter eight.  Please note that there are two editions of this book: the original version, and a revised edition that expunges racial stereotypes from chapter six, "Bad Tuesday".
P.L. Travers, Mary Poppins.  I'm pretty sure this is indeed the one  Mary Poppins pastes gold paper stars on the sky in one of the stories.
 Interpreting
Condition 
Grades
Travers, P.L.  Mary Poppins.  Illustrated by Mary Shepard.  Reynal & Hitchcock, 1934. Early American edition, beautiful condition.  F/F.  $60
Travers, P.L.  Mary Poppins in the Park.  Illustrated by Mary Shepard.  Harcourt, Brace & World, 1952.  Nice copy.  VG/VG.  <SOLD>
Travers, P.L.  Mary Poppins Opens the Door.  Illustrated by Mary Shepard and Agnes Sims.  Harcourt, Brace & World, 1943. with dustjacket, VG/VG, $25.  another copy, VG.  <SOLD>
Travers, P.L.  Mary Poppins Comes Back.  Illustrated by Mary Shepard.  Harcourt, Brace & World, 1963.  VG/VG  <SOLD>
Travers, P.L.  Mary Poppins and Mary Poppins Comes Back. Illustrated by Mary Shepard (augmented color plates).  Harcourt, Brace & World, 1963.  Larger format with color illustrations.  VG-.  <SOLD>
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Mary's Scary House
Mary's Scary House, 1954.  This was a favorite of my daughter Mary, Adele and Sallie Belle --

Hurd, Edith Thacher, Mary's Scary House, 1956.  Sterling Pub. co.  Illus. by Clement Hurd.
There is a book entitled Mary's Scary House, by Edith Thacher Hurd, but it wasn't published until 1956.  Illustrations by Clement Hurd, who also did Goodnight Moon.


Mary Wore a Red Dress
I'm looking for a picture book or 'easy reader' that may have been part of a collection. It was written before '90-'91 because we used it as part of my first grade class project. There was a party in the woods and the story followed all the animals to the gathering. Each of them were wearing a colored article of clothing that was emphasized. My page for the project had to do with Rose wearing a red dress, I believe Rose was a racoon. I remember a lot of alliteration throughout the story. Please help.

Sounds like MARY WORE HER RED DRESS AND HENRY WORE HIS GREEN SNEAKERS, adapted and illustrated by Merle Peek.
Merle Peek, Mary Wore Her Red Dress (And Henry Wore His Green Sneakers).  Could be this one- it's about animals at Katy Bear's birthday party.  They all wear different colored clothing and the color is emphasized in the text.  I don't believe there is alliteration, though, so it may not be the title you are seeking.


Long overdue update and thank you. The book I was looking for in stump the bookseller request R187 was in fact Mary Wore Her Red Dress by Merle Peek. My husband and I met during a class project about this book in first grade and we thank you for helping us track in down.


Masha
This was a young adult book about a girl who I believed was orphaned (after the battle of Borodino?) and was sent to a special school in Moscow established by the Tsar for daughters of officers.  At first she is lonely but she soon learns to love it, etc.  The latter part of the novel is taken up with the 1825 Decembrist Revolution (a group of officers who rebelled against the Tsar and demanded reforms.)  There was also a sequel, with the fates of the characters taken up a few years later.  One of the characters in the book was named Sonia and I believe there was a chapter in which the
Neva floods and the girls have to be rescued. I remember a good deal about this book except, of course, the title and author.  Please please help.

Mara Kay, Masha.  Or possibly one of Mara Kay's other books?
Mara Kay, Masha.  This is the original poster.  I did some research after posting and I think that this is indeed Masha and the sequel is The Youngest Lady in Waiting. Unfortunately this seems to be a very difficult and expensive book to find now (the going price is $366.00!)


click here for imageMasquerade
I�m looking for a book that came out in recent years about a search for a golden rabbit.  It was an account of how to trace the rabbit (although it had already been found). Sorry I can�t help any further.

I think the book they are talking about is Masqueradeby Kit Williams.  It is a series of puzzles that when put together, tells you the location of a golden rabbit that Kit Williams had hid somewhere.  I think there is an edition out now that has the solution too.  I also wanted to say that this webpage is absolutely terrific!  What a good idea!
I love your site...and I think I have a few more answers for some of the stumpers. This is Masquerade by Kit Williams. And yes, alas, the treasure has been found.
see also Untitled
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Treasure hunt picture book from the 1970's.  The book is beautifully illustrated and is about a rabbit that is travelling somewhere.  There are large medieval-looking letters surrounding each illustration.  Most are black and some are red.  Supposedly, this is a code and the reader is challenged to break the code using the letters and hidden hints in the illustrations.  The code will lead you to a  a real life rabbit made of gold and jewels that the author himself buried.  I remember staring for hours at one illustration involving bees.  I am dying to find another copy of this book and to know whether anyone ever found the treasure.

Kit Williams, Masquerade, 1979.  This is definitely the book you're searching for!  It was re-released in a paperback edition in 1993 as Masquerade: The Complete Book with the Answer Explained.  And yes, the treasure was found---you can read all about it in the book Quest for the Golden Hare by Bamber Gascoigne.
Kit Willams, Masquerade, 1993.  I'm sure this is the one. It was a Hare, rather than a rabbit, and yes, it was found. It was republished (including the answer) in 2001, the ISBN is 0894803697 . He laos worte several other 'puzzle' books.
Kit Williams, Masquerade, 1980.  As far as I can tell this must be the book you are looking for (this is one of my sister's favorite authors actually).  "On his way to deliver a splendid necklace to the Sun from the Moon, Jack Hare is diverted by a series of odd characters and when he finally reaches his destination he realizes that the necklace is missing. The reader is invited to answer several riddles and solve the mystery from clues given in the text."
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I remember a book from my childhood, but I have been unable to remember the name of the book.   The book was in my elementary school library between 1985-1988 so I figure that it was published sometime in the 70's or 80's.  The book is an illustrated book, and the last two pages are a picture find.  You have to find the rabbit in the garden (I think it was a rose garden).  If you find the rabbit, you write to the address in the back of the book, and you won an incredible prize (I think it was alot of money, autograph, or meeting with the author/illustrator). I never found the rabbit, but the illustrations were beautiful, Amazing!  I am 99.9% sure it is NOT a Beatrix Potter or Velveteen Rabbit book.  I think the front or inner cover page had a picture of a brown rabbit running, and a beautiful leafy background.  I think it had to do with a rose garden.  If it helps any, I think the book was an English/British book, because I think the address you had to write to was in England (or pretty far away for a little kid) and some of the words seemed to be spelled different (like "colour" instead of "color").  I would love to find a copy of this as a personal keepsake, and to find out if any child ever found the rabbit in the last two pages!  Thanks!

Kit Williams, Masquerade, 1979, copyright.  This was a best seller, and a lot of kids remember the illustrations and the promise of a treasure hunt, the search for the Golden Hare.
Kit Williams, Masquerade.  Possibly Masquerade by Kit Williams? There was a golden rabbit prize associated with deciphering the clues in it.
Williams, Kit, Masquerade, 1979, copyright.  Definitely this book.
Kit Williams, Masquerade.  Perhaps this is the famous puzzle book by Kit Williams? Every page does have either a hidden or obvious hare in the beautiful paintings, and there was a real buried treasure associated with the book. You can see page by page reproductions of the paintings here: http://www.bunnyears.net/kitwilliams/masq.html.
Williams, Kit, Masquerade, 1979.  There was a later copy released with the solutions - Masquerade, the complete book with the answer to the riddle.

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I am 41 yrs. I read this when i was a child. It was a very detailed (illustrations) book, with the pictures in the margins. I think it had a rabbit as the main "character"? Written for adults as hard to solve the clues for a real treasure to be found. My mother thinks treasure was found in England.

Kit Williams, Masquerade, 1979, copyright. Lot's of people remember this book fondly, though the treasure scandal marred it's reputation temporarily (not the fault of the author).
Kit Williams, Masquerade.This is definitely your book. You can read an in depth description of the book, the hunt , the clues and the scandal.
Kit Williams, Masquerade, 1979, copyright. This is the book you're looking for.  If a reader solved the book's puzzle, he or she would be able to find the treasure in England.  
Kit Williams, Masquerade.I believe this is Masquerade.
Kit  Wiiliams, Masquerade,1981, copyright."The Moon has fallen in love with the Sun, and sends a rabbit off with a beautiful necklace as a gift for her But along the way the necklace gets lost. You are supposed to look for clues in the pages, in the riddles and find the hidden pictures to solve the riddle." This was a world-wide treasure hunt, and the winner received a real necklace.
Kit Williams, Masquerade, 1979.The treasure was a golden hare, buried in the ground.  People had to find clues hidden in the book's pictures in order to find the treasure.  The hare was found by someone who claimed to have figured out the secret clues in the book, though I seem to recall it later transpired that he had cheated - someone, possibly his girlfriend, had given him inside information about the hare's hiding place.  

Solved: Masquerade
Hello- this was solved! Thank you- is ther e anything i should now do on the web site ? Great ! So happy it was "found" !! wondeful service, thank you. I willnow try an d find a copy to giv e to my son ,  who is only 10 months, but its never to early read to read aloud ! :)

 Interpreting
Condition 
Grades
Williams, Kit. Masquerade.  Schocken Books, 1979, 1st American edition 1980.  A fine copy with no detectable flaws.  F/F.  $20


 Interpreting
Condition 
Grades
Williams, Kit.  Masquerade.  Schocken, 1979.  Fifth printing, 1981.  Ex-library edition, VG-/VG.  $15
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Master, The
Looking for a YA sci-fi book; all I can remember is that there were two children protagonists, a boy and a girl, about 10-12 years of age, and they've been captured by some power or another and they're being kept in a tower by the sea. Their caretaker is a very tall Negro man, and when they ask him a question, he opens his mouth and "he had no tongue." I know this is very little to go by, but I've seen the miracles you've worked.  I read this book when I was in the 4th or 5th grade, which puts it at 1969 or 1970.  I've already found two other book titles from your site that I'd been looking for for many years.  This is wonderful!  Many thanks for your invaluable service.

Noel Streatfield , The House in Cornwall
Elizabeth Goudge, Linnets and Valerians, Dec. 2001, reprint.  I am sure of this one.  It's been reprinted. "When the four orphaned Linnet children are sent to live with their nasty grandmother, they decide at once that their new life is unbearable-and run away. Making their way through the English countryside, they first charm the gruff but lovable Uncle Ambrose and his gardener, Ezra, then stumble upon the eccentric Lady Alicia, who seems to have lost her family. And then the real fun begins! The Linnets start their search for the missing Valerians-but will they be thwarted by the witch Emma Cobley and her magic cat?" It is Ezra the gardener who is missing his tongue, I believe.
This is not Linnets and Valerians by Elizabeth Goudge.  Ezra is not missing his tongue and the children are never kept in a tower by the sea.  The previous person is possibly confusing a plot point in Linnets and Valerians where Lady Alicia's missing son has been put under a voodoo curse (the voodoo doll has a pin in its tongue) so that he can not speak. This stumper has come up in rec.arts.books.childrens and several people have suggested The Master by T.H. White.  I have not read The Master and cannot confirm the plot to submit it as a stumper solution.
Well, I've just received a copy of The House in Cornwall by Noel Streatfield and it's not the book I'm looking for.  There are 4 children, not 2 the chauffeur indeed has no tongue, but he's not a tall Negro man who's been their caretaker and the children were informed of his missing tongue at the beginning of the book.  That being said, I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the novel, and I'll let you know if The Master by T.H. White is the book I'm looking for.  (Oh, the joy of discovering all these books I never knew I missed!)
White, T. H., The Master, 1957.  This is it!  I'm so happy!  (Dancing around my cubby and making my co-workers stare at me...) Thank you, thank you - I hope I can now become the instrument of someone else's delight  I will continue to scan the stumpers and see if I can help others become as crazy/thrilled as I am.  Y'all are just the greatest!


Master of all Masters
I am looking for a children's picture book that my grandfather memorized and recited to me in the 1970s.  It was about a man on a farm who insisted his helper call everything on the farm by names he made up.  Then there was a fire (and maybe burglers?) and the helper had to explain the whole thing with the funny words. that part read something like "master master the castle is burning, high topper mountain is on hot crackaloram." (master was the man, the castle his house, high topper mountain the hill, and hot crackaloram was fire.)

Bill Harley, Dinosaurs Never Say Please, 1987.  The story is called Master of All Masters and I think it is a folk tale. We have a very funny version on a cassette tape by Bill Harley called "Dinosaurs Never Say Please."  I'm sure there are other book versions.  The wording in the story he tells is identical to your version.
A 'net search for "high topper mountain" pulled up several sites reprinting the short story "Master of All Masters." Apparently it's contained in the compendium English Folk and Fairy Tales collected by Joseph Jacobs. The story's punchline is: "Master of all masters, get out of your barnacle and put on your squibs and crackers. For white-faced simminy has got a spark of hot cockalorum on its tail, and unless you get some pondalorum high topper mountain will be all on hot cockalorum."
Master of All Masters.  This is an English folktale that's been published in many compilations. It was also published as a children's picture book in 1972, illustrated by Marcia Sewall, entitled "Master of All Masters."  I'm not sure if her version had the man on a farm or not, though.
H59 Sounds like a version of the english folktale MASTER OF ALL MASTERS. Anne Rockwell and Marcia Sewall both did versions. Or it could be the one by Dick Gackenbach called ARABELLA AND MR CRACK ~from a librarian
The Marcia Sewall illustrated book was published by Little, Brown.  There's another edition, also from 1972, published by Grosset & Dunlap that was illustrated by Anne Rockwell, ISBN 0448214334 & 044826210x.
H59: "Master of all Masters." Shows up in many collections. I remember it from the My Book House series, 1920s. Here's Joseph Jacobs' edition.
 Interpreting
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Grades
Jacobs, Joseph.  Master of All Masters. Illustrated by Anne Rockwell.  Grosset & Dunlap, A Thistle Book, 1972.  An oblong, hardback picture book.  Worn at edges and especially corners, clean and crisp inside.  Hard to find.  VG-.  $35
order form


Matilda, MacElroy and Mary
I am looking for a book I thought was titled "The House of Mrs. Mouse".  It is actually a poem which my father used to read to me in the 1950's.  It was in the form of a children's book.  It contained the following verse, which I remember:  This is the house of Mrs. Mouse and these are her children three, Matilda is the oldest mouse, then McElroy, then Mary, Sometimes they're good, as good as gold, Sometimes they're quite contrary.  The book contained pictuires of the mouse family sweeping, etc. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Fairweather, Jessie Home. Matilda, MacElroy and Mary, 1950.  The answer to this one appears under stumper #T116. Fairweather, Jessie Home, illustrated by I.E. Robinson, Matilda, MacElroy and Mary.  Racine, Whitman Tell-a-Tale 1950.
Fairweather, Jessie Home. Matilda, MacElroy and Mary.  It's a Whitman Tell-A-Tale book from 1950.
#H61--The House of Mrs. Mouse:  The solution of this was one of several recently offered as possible solutions for another stumper, I don't know was solved.  If not solved, it should still be under "Stump the Bookseller," perhaps the Ms--something about three mice with names beginning with M.


Matilda's Masterpiece
I had a paperback copy of this book in elementary school.  It featured a plucky girl and her little brother sidekick.  Somehow they get involved in an art mystery.  The missing painting was definitely a Degas.  The original is found UNDER a different painting.  Also, a tube of Pillsbury biscuits was used as a "weapon" because it made a popping sound.

The Mystery of the Missing Painting (hardcover title: Matilda's Masterpiece) by Mary Anderson. Mattie Cosgrove and her little brother, Jonathan become involved in a mystery when a painting is stolen from the Art Museum while Mattie's class is visiting.  Mattie is interested in becoming a detective so she attempts to find the missing painting.  Her brother is interested in cooking and cleaning.  She brings along a tube of biscuits because she thinks the popping sound will scare the thief.  She finds the painting at a street fair where it has been painted over by an art faker who was disguising the painting so he can sell it.
This appears to be Matilda�s Masterpiece by Mary Anderson, later reprinted as The Mystery of the Missing Painting. Matilda and her brother Jonathan investigate the disappearance of a Degas.
SOLVED: Anderson, Mary, Matilda's Masterpiece. Thank you so much!  This is definitely the book. My heartfelt thanks to whomever solved my mystery.  I am so thrilled to have the title and I have already ordered a copy to share with my kiddos.  I am SO happy to have found Loganberry.  A million thank you.

Matthew Looney series
Matthew Looney and the Space Pirates
This book would have been published before 1978.  If I remember correctly, it had a long title and the name Melvin, Marvin or Moony in it.  It took place in outer space.  The main character was an alien on a planet that was not where he was from but was inhabited by another type of alien.  I think he was imprisioned during parts of the book.  I think  he may have been forced to work in a brewery or something for the other aliens.(odd for a children's book so maybe I am remembering things incorrectly - lol)  On this planet was a book that foretold the future.  I think the "hero" of the book steals the book.  The other aliens knew that this was going to happen because it was foretold in the book, but they were powerless to stop it because you can't change the future.   There were pictures here and there in the book and I remember the main character being kind of puffy looking - like the Pillsbury Dough Boy kind of.  I really hope someone can help me with this book.  I would love to reread it along with my children.

Don't recognize the plot, but the "Marvin or Melvin" etc. in title memory and the description of the artwork reminds me of Jerome Beatty's MATTHEW LOONEY space series, illustrated by Gahan Wilson. Some of the art can be seen on this website.
A191 Could they be Moomins?  See the Back in Print page.
Beatty, Jerome, Matthew Looney and the Space Pirates.  NY Avon, 1974.  I agree with the first suggestion. The illustrations (Gahan Wilson) do show a rather puffy doughboy character, and the name Matthew Looney could be remembered as Melvin or Moony. Matthew is an alien - native to the Moon, and in this book he is leading an expedition to another planet when he is captured by space pirates - so he spends time in captivity. I haven't read this one, so I can't answer for the brewery or the book (but surely one CAN change the future? it's the past that can't be changed!), but otherwise this seems a likely answer.
Yes!  It is Matthew Looney and the Space Pirates by Jerome Beatty, Jr.  I checked it out of the library today.  Very cool!  Thank you so much for your help everyone!
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Matthew Looney's Voyage to the Earth
I believe this was a Scholastic series (around the 70's) about people who lived in the craters of the moon.  They were silly books with cartoon-like illustrations.  The one I remember had a judge who sucked some libation through his fountain pen and was caught when he actually sucked up some ink.  Also - the children were always being warned of not bouncing too much, because they'd be sucked into outer space.

Jerome Beatty Jr, Matthew Looney Series.  This sounds like the Matthew Looney series. The first is Matthew Looney's Voyage to the Earth. In that one, Matthew's uncle is in charge of an expedition of Moon people who will go explore Earth. Matthew wants to be on the crew. The people on the moon are convinced the Earth is lifeless because of all the poisionous water on it. The illustrations are very cartoonish--the moon people have large round heads.
Shot in the dark, but could this be the Mushroom Planet books by Eleanor Cameron? Scholastic did republish them in the 1970's.~from a librarian
That's IT!!!  The Matthew Looney Series.  The one I was remembering was Maria and the Red Planet.  I have been looking for this book for 15 years!  THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!
 Interpreting
Condition 
Grades
Beatty, Jerome, Jr. Matthew Looney's Invasion of the Earth. illus by Gahan Wilson.  William R. Scott, 1965.  Ex-library in library binding.  Usual marks and stamp, pocket on front free endpaper.  Pages clean.  G.  $16 

Beatty, Jerome, Jr. Maria Looney on the Red Planet. illus by Gahan Wilson.  Avon/Camelot Books, 1977.  First paperback printing.  VG.  $16




A Matter of Feeling
I am looking for a book I read in the early 80's. All I remember about it was a young adult book that took place in France about a young french school girl who had an affair with an artist or professor and would go to his apartment after school.  I would love to read this again if I could figure out the title!!

Madeliene L'Engle, And Both Were Young.  This is possible though unlikely. An American girl goes to a Swiss boarding school and befriends a boy living nearby, who lives with a scholarly type. She is not supposed to meet any boys but the scholar and her school's art teacher facilitate their relationship because it helps the boy.
Madeleine L'Engle, The Small Rain, 1945, reprint 1985.  The Small Rain, focuses on Katherine Forrester, the daughter of distinguished musical artists, whose career as a concert pianist evolves through loves and losses. Katherine is a child growing up in a refined, yet bohemian, artistic ambience--theatrical as well as musical . . . . [Her] adolescence is lonely and difficult, but as Katherine advances to young womanhood, her heart as well as her talent is promisingly engaged.  Katherine has a relationship of sorts with her piano teacher, Justin Vigneras, at boarding school. In ther sequal, A Severed Wasp, she reflects on her life and you find out she does indeed marry him.
Francoise Sagan, A Certain Smile, late fifties.  The girl was named Dominique and the man was Luc.
Janine Boissard, A Matter of Feeling, 1981.  Boissard wrote several books about 4 french sisters: A Matter of Feeling (which is, I think, the book described), A Question of Happiness, (it could be this) and Cecile.  Here's the description I found for A Matter of Feeling: Events of a winter and spring in the life of the Moreau family, who have a happy, comfortable home outside Paris. Centers on seventeen-year-old Pauline, who hopes to be a writer, and her bittersweet romance with Pierre, a forty-year-old Parisian artist.
Today I checked and you definately solved it. There were a couple of other tries, but the one posted today was it!  A Matter of Feeling by Janine Boissard. I already found it at my library and have started reading it.  I am so impressed with your service.  Thanks so much for helping find this old book! 


A Matter of Pride
Young adult book from 1940s-1950s?  A girl named Janie lives in Maine (or island off the coast of Maine?) with parents and brother Hugo. She has no shoes because her family is poor. Her teacher Miss Henshaw (Crenshaw?) scolds her for coming to school barefoot. Janie gets shoes like Miss Henshaw's.

Dorothy Simpson, A Matter of Pride, 1959.
Simpson, Dorothy, The Honest Dollar, 1957. There are 3 or 4 books about Janie Marshall and her family -- sorry I can't recall more of the plots (after 40 yrs.), but I'm pretty sure the shoes issue was in the first one, "The Honest Dollar".  Didn't Janie have to earn the money for them herself?  The other Simpson titles that sound familiar are "A Lesson for Janie" (1958) and "A Matter of Pride" (1959), and possibly "New Horizons" (1961). I loved the ones we had in the public library -- thanks for recalling them!
Dorothy Simpson, The Honest Dollar. There are several books in this series about Janie who lives on a Maine island, and whose family has little money. ''The Honest Dollar'' is the first book  sequels include ''A Matter of Pride'', ''A Lesson for Janie" and ''New Horizons''. I am sure the requested book is from this series, but I'm not quite sure whether it's the first book or one of the later ones.
SOLVED: Thank you so much for finding the book I'd been looking for, "A matter of pride".  I've ordered it online, as well as the other books in the series.

Matthew & Maria Looney series
The little people live on the moon. The junk that human astronauts abandoned on the moon is a re-occuring plot element...I think. I seem to recall somewhat cutsie drawings of the little moon people, even if they were just on the cover. 70's I think.

Jerome Beatty, Matthew & Maria Looney Series
, 1970s, approximate.   There are a number of these, including Matthew Looney's Voyage to the Earth, Matthew Looney's Invasion of the Earth, Matthew Looney in the Outback, Maria Looney on the Red Planet. More info is at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Looney.
Jerome Beatty, Matthew Looney series.  Check out the Matthew Looney series, which starts with Matthew Looney's Voyage to the Earth. The Moon people are very round looking. I don't offhand remember space junk being a theme, though--it starts out with an expedition to explore Earth, which clearly can't have any life because of its poisonous atmosphere.
Jerome Beatty Jr, Matthew Looney series.  the "cute drawings" aspect suggest Jerome Beatty's series about Matthew Looney and his sister Maria: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Looney, which were illustrated by Gahan Wilson.
Jerome Beatty Jr., The Matthew & Maria Looney series, 1961 - 1978, approximate.  That's it! Thank you so much. Can't wait to share these books with my kids.


Matthew Looney's Voyage to the Earth
My son found a paper back book in the 60's, which I seem to remember  was called 'Matthew LOONY'S VOYAGE TO EARTH, or something like that. It's about a boy who lives on the moon, where they don't believe life is possible on earth, who stows away on his father's spaceship and lands on earth. Zany drawings and funny story. does this ring any bells.?

You've got it.  Here's the scoop:
Beatty, Jerome Jr., Illustrated by Gahan Wilson MATTHEW LOONEY'S VOYAGE TO THE EARTH.  William R. Scott, 1961.  Avon Paperbacks, 1972. 



Maude Reed Tale
My friend is trying to find a book she loved as a child (early-mid 1970's).  She remembers a strong, feisty, dresses-up-as-a-boy-heroine and that (her strongest impression from the book) the barber was also the physician and set bones (possibly someone's hip bone needs setting during the book).  That's it.  It's definitely not Karen Cushman (publish date wrong).  She also said there may have been a castle and a joust and, of course, in the end, Spunky Medieval Girl triumphed against Evil Forces!  Thanks muchly!

Norah Lofts, The Maude Reed Tale.  Thanks to Cathy from Google's rec.arts.books.childrens.  Solved quickly.  Hooray!
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late 60's or 70's, juvenile.  This book is about a girl, the daughter of a widower noble, who's sent away to be a page in a medieval castle.  Normally only pages are boys, and she trains with the other boys. She observes the behavior of adults at the castle and learns some hard lessons (one of the women she befriends commits suicide, in fact).  At the end she returns home as a young adult, only to find her father enfeebled and childhood home falling apart.  She takes over running her father's estate and I think falls in love with one of the pages she knew from her time at the castle.  I checked this out several times from the library as a young girl, but now I can't find it anywhere online or at the library.  I hope you can help me!

Norah Lofts, The Maude Reed Tale.
  This sounds like The Maude Reed Tale, which was a children's/YA book that was based on a section of one of Lofts' novels for adults; I'm pretty sure it was The House at Old Vine, but could be wrong.  In any case, The Maude Reed Tale was different than the original story in a several ways.  Not all the details of the description match my memory of the book, but overall it seems like a good match.
Norah Lofts, The Maude Reed Tale.  At first I didn't think I was looking for this book (I didn't remember the wool merchant part) but as soon as I saw the cover art I knew it was.  Thanks!  I can't wait to reread this.  This site is great.
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Read when aged 11, circa 1974.  Adolescent girl is sent to a castle, maybe to train as a ladie's attendant. Her unenthusiastic chaperone (Melisande?) wears a pointed cap, they eat onion soup and use the garderobe (toilet). I can't recall anymore; coming of age, adventure, mystery, romance? Help!

Norah Lofts, Maude Reed Tale. This is a long shot because I remember reading that book but I think that the castle life is not the main part of the story. I don't have this book in front of me so I''m not sure it's this one.
Norah Lofts, The Maud Reed Tale. The Maud Reed Tale is a shortened form of one of Lofts' adult novels, and the ending is changed.

Solved: The Maud Reed Tale.
Solved - faster than a streak of lightning! Book Stumpers has done it again  not that I've come to expect anything less. Thank you for your answers I can't wait to read this again.  I wasn't too far off - the female mentor is named Melusine. Maud wants to become a wool dealer, but instead is sent to a castle to learn to be a lady.  I'm not surprised this is a Norah Lofts book. I read most of her books back in the 70's and 80's, nurturing my love of historical fiction.

Maxton series
Can anyone provide me with information about a series of large, single-story picture books sold in the mid-sixties? I don't know the names of the authors, illustrators, or publisher, alas!  But there were five separate stories (books) that I remember--Goldilocks and the Three Bears (with a pink cover), Cinderella (a yellow-green cover), Aesop's Fables (yellow, with a lion holding a mouse on his paw), The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse, and Sleeping Beauty. The only other details I can recall are that the Sleeping Beauty's bleeding finger always scared me and that Cinderella's gown had a stand-up collar, with diamonds sewn among her petticoats.  Any information would be greatly appreciated!

When I read your description, I ran up to my daughter's room where all my old Cinderella books are.  The good news is that I found the oversized, thin picture book with the yellow-green hard cover.  The bad news is that all I have left is the front cover and the text-  no title page (assuming there was one), spine, back cover, or identifying info.  The title is in bluish-purple capital letters, no author named.   I would describe the illustrations as stylized, with clothing and settings in a mishmash of styles from Elizabethan to Victorian.  The most amusing thing about it is how mod the Cinderella figure is- she could be a Bond girl, "I Dream of Jeannie," or a blonde 99 from "Get Smart," with long legs, late-60's hair, and almond eyes that look loaded with dark shadow and false lashes.  The text is different from the standard Perrault retelling, and from any other I've seen.  The fairy godmother is given the name Rowena.  Cinderella's ball gown is described as "a gown of pink silk, delicate as the petals of the rose and embroidered with crystals as blue as a summer sky.  Her headdress was of silver, spun by a fairy spider, and her veil, transparent as moonlight, was bordered with petals which bathed her in sweet perfume."  The illustrations, however, show no headdress or veil but a small pink coronet the spun silver component is the huge, Elizabethan-style stand-up collar you described, and there's a transparent Watteau train extending from it, bordered with a sheer pleated frill.  I have no idea if all this will help you, but assuming this is the same book you
recall, details might make it easier to locate!
Thank you so much for the response to #F47, but the dress worn by the Cinderella I remember was white; the predominant colors in the story were greens and grays.  Also, the name "Rowena" doesn't ring a bell.  Thanks, though!
The Maxton Series.  Hello!  I'm the person who submitted this stumper, and I'm writing to let you know that I found the answer.  This fairy-tale series was printed in Italy in 1960, each story featuring a different author and illustrator.  Published in the US as the Maxton series, the books were distributed in the UK by Odhams. The words "My Book of" appeared in the title of each volume in the series--My Book of Cinderella, My Book of the Sleeping Beauty, etc.  If you ever come across any of these books in your shop, will you let me know? Thank you so much!



Maybe a Monster
I remember being read this story in the early 70's, though the book may be older. Here's what I remember: A boy builds a trap to catch a monster (or dragon or a large scary animal).  The trap (a pit covered with sticks) is sprung, but the boy doesn't look in at the animal.  First he builds a cage.  The cage becomes increasingly large and elaborate as the boy adds room for the creature's wings, tail, etc. that he imagines it must have.  At the end of the story the creature turns out to be a rabbit or some other small, harmless animal.  They end up using the cage for a big play fort.

I'm almost sure I remember this book too, from the early '70's, and that would make me think it might be a Parents Magazine Press book since we had a lot of those.  If it's the book I'm thinking of, the title could be something like "How to catch a..." (whatever it is), and the name is something like a squeezle or teazle or something silly like that...although I could be confusing that with PMP's Never Tease a Weasel which I know we also had.  Sorry I can't be more help, I tried searching a used books site but only came up with books on catching butterflies and heffalumps.  :-)
Alexander, Martha G., Maybe a Monster, 1968.  Must be this one:  A little boy builds a huge cage for the monster he thinks he is going to catch.  Then he checks the trap he has set and finds a rabbit.
Martha Alexander (author and illustrator), Maybe a Monster, 1968.  This is definitely the correct book: the text and
illustrations match the stumper's description exactly.  The boy digs a pit and covers it with branches, then builds a cage to hold the monster he expects to catch.  The cage (a large wooden structure that looks like a fort) is huge, with room to accomodate the creature's two heads, enormous tail, and big wings, as well as holes to allow fire to come out of its nose.  Then the boy puts on his football gear and arms himself with a slingshot, water pistol and rope before retrieving
the monster, which turns out to be a rabbit.  The last illustration (on the back cover of the book) shows the  boy, a smaller boy, and the rabbit all eating ice cream cones while sitting on top of the cage.  A cute little book, illustrated primarily in greens and browns, with one or two sentences per page.
Thanks for solving my bookstumper.  My boy, almost three, likes the book perhaps as much as his dad did.  I didn't respond right away because I had to wait for weeks to get an interlibrary loaner book to arrive to be sure it was the book.



Maze in the Heart of the Castle
The book I'm looking for is a fantasy one about a boy who goes on an adventure, I'm not sure why. I think the cover of the book may have had a castle on it. I can't remember the title or the author. I read it sometime around 2000 but it could have been published earlier. I think it was a young adult book. This is not Lloyd Alexander's series. The boy watches pigs but decides to leave (I can't remember why). He takes seven gold pieces with him. He goes to this castle and meets a wizard who tells him to go through this maze. In the maze he meets a lot of people who have been in it for many years. He figures out that to beat the maze you have to climb on top of the walls. They find the exit which involves jumping from the walls (I believe into a desert). Everyone is too afraid to jump so he ends up being the only one to do it. The next thing I remember happening is that he's in some mountain area and is accepted into some community but they won't let him leave. He runs away and steals a bear skin for warmth. He ends up in a village at the bottom of the mountain and tries to sell the bear skin but the weather's warmer there and the bear skin is worthless. He goes into a back room and sews six of his gold pieces into his clothes for safety and buys supplies with one of the gold pieces. The shop owner gives him a ton of change because the gold pieces are worth a lot. He gets attacked by bandits on the road and is robbed and thrown into a cage. He is kept there as some sort of show for people. They throw rocks and dried bits of tomato at him. He figures out that if he acts a certain way they'll throw
more tomatoes and so he does that for food. There is also a tiger locked up with him. Some people come along and one of them uses wax to make and impression of the keyhole to make a key. They release him but I'm pretty sure he refuses to leave without the tiger. I think there's also a girl with a magic wallet that makes food that doesn't taste good but is nutritious. That's al

Dorothy Gilman, The Maze in the Heart of the Castle. I was obsessed with this book for a while, so I know it's the one!
Dorothy Gilman, The Maze in the Heart of the Castle, 1983. I think you'll find that this is The Maze in the Heart of the Castle by Dorothy Gilman. Gilman referenced Maze (without noting title or author) many times in her adult mystery The Tightrope Walker, citing it as a childhood favorite of the heroine of that novel. So many people wrote to her asking for details on this children's book, she had to admit that she hadn't yet written it!! Of course she did finally write and publish it, and its since become a bit of a cult favorite. It's a lot of fun to read Maze in the Heart of the Castle and Tightrope Walker as a pair, since one literally gave birth to the other!
Dorothy Gilman, Maze in the Heart of the Castle. This is Maze in the Heart of the Castle. Interestingly, the book is heavily featured in another Gilman book, The Tightrope Walker. I've always wondered which she planned out first
Dorothy Gilman, The Maze in the Heart of the Castle, 1983. Definitely the book you're looking for. I LOVED this one as a kid, and read it over and over.
Dorothy Gilman, The Maze in the Heart of the Castle, 1983. It sounds like The Maze in the Heart of the Castle...from the CIP data: Consumed by grief after the deaths of his parents, sixteen-year-old Colin accepts the challenge of the maze of Rheembeck Castle and begins to unravel the mystery of the maze within himself.  (And yes, it is that Dorothy Gilman)
etc.


Mazemaker
Early mid 1990s or earlier, juvenile; When I was in elementary school in the early to mid 90s, I read a book about a girl who walked on a spiral labyrinth/maze path on the ground that sent her back in time.  I think it sent her back to the 1800s, but I am not sure.  She ended up on a family's land.  In order to get back home, she had to walk back around the maze.

Andre Norton, Lavender Blue Magic. This story has a group of siblings, not just one child--but they definitely walk through a maze and time travel, and to get back, they have to walk it again.  So...maybe worth checking out.
Andre Norton, Lavender-Green Magic,  1974, copyright. Eleven-year-old Holly Wade and her twin siblings, Judy and Crockett, are sent to live with their grandparents in the small town of Dimsdale, Massachusetts when their father is declared missing in action in Vietnam. Dimsdale is nothing like Boston  there are only two other African-American children in the entire school. Even worse, Grandpa and Grandma Wade live in an old junkyard! While exploring one day, Holly, Judy, and Crockett wander into an overgrown hedge maze�and find themselves transported back in time to Dimsdale�s past. Can they right an ancient wrong and free the town of Dimsdale from a witch�s curse?
Andre Norton, Lavender-Green Magic, 1974, approximate.'Excerpted from Macmillan's website: "Holly Wade and her twin siblings, Judy and Crockett, are sent to live with their grandparents in the small town of Dimsdale, Massachusetts . . . Dimsdale is nothing like Boston  there are only two other African-American children in the entire school. . . . While exploring one day, Holly, Judy, and Crockett wander into an overgrown hedge maze�and find themselves transported back in time to Dimsdale�s past. Can they right an ancient wrong and free the town of Dimsdale from a witch�s curse?"
Catherine Dexter, Mazemaker, 1989. Playing in a maze, twelve-year-old Winnie is hurled back in time and marooned on a nineteenth-century estate until she can solve the maze and return to the present.
Helen Cresswell, Moondial, 1987, copyright.Thought I sent this in earlier but I don'\t see it yet so am resubmitting.

Catherine Dexter, Mazemaker, 1989. Someone found the book on your sight!  The book I was looking for ward Mazemaker by Catherine Dexter.  Thanks so much!



May I Stay?
1982.  I remember someone is searching for a king with answers and each time the person goes to a king that king directs the person to another king. The first king is huge and as the person goes to each more knowledgable king the king gets smaller. The final king is so small that he has to speak into a horn to be heard. I remember the illustrations were very colorful.

K73  I think I may have the answer. Try MAY I STAY? by Harry Allard, illustrated by F.A. Fitzgerald, published by Prentice-Hall, 1978. A traveler stops at a castle and asks if he may stay the night. The man sends the traveler to his father, who sends him to his father and so on until the final father who is ancient and very small. I remember as a kid finding the illustrations creepy but fascinating. My only hesitation is that I didn't think the fathers were kings, but they were some kind of aristocrats because the ancestral home looked like a castle (but maybe my  memory is faulty - I haven't since the book since I was young). And I don't remember it being a matter of the oldest father being the wisest, but rather that he could grant permission as the eldest male. The book was based on a German fairy tale "Der Hausvater" so that be another avenue to pursue.~from a librarian
I just wanted to thank you for finding the book I remembered reading as a child. I finally found a copy of May I Stay? By Harry Allard and was happy to have this finally solved. About 15 years ago I went back to the public library where I had checked it out before, and went book by book trying to find this title. That is how obsessed I was with finding this book. Anyway another mystery solved in my life, thanks so much!



McBroom's Ghost
This book is a tall tale about a farm family with a ma, pa (lots of boys' names)and a little Clarinda.  The winter is so cold that Pa's words are frozen until spring when they thaw out and you can hear them in the air.  That's all I can remember.

This is one of the McBroom books by Sid Fleischman. McBroom has about eight kids whose names all rhyme (except for little Clarinda).  I think this particular title might be McBroom's Zoo--I know they accumulate various animals because of some harsh weather, and it might be because it's cold.
Could this be one of Sid Fleischman's McBroom books? (Probably Here Comes McBroom -- the Booklist review refers
to words freezing in midair.)  The family had numerous children: WillJillHesterChesterPeterPollyTimTomMaryLarryandLittleClarinda.
This has to be Grandpa's Farm by James Flora (Harcourt, 1965) Tall tales where words, as well as bullets, freeze in the air till spring! From your Solved Pages!!!
Sid Fleischman.  This is one of the McBroom series of books. There are several, all filled with outrageous claims, and I don't remember which this particular claim came from.
Sid Fleischman.  One of his books about McBroom- though not McBroom tells the Truth (just had a quick look through that)
Sid Fleischman, McBroom series.  There are several books about the McBroom family, all tall tales about Ma, Pa and the
kids: Willjillhesterchesterpeterpollytimtommarylarry and little Clarinda--they have a farm that grows things in a single day, etc etc.
Sid Fleischman, McBroom's Wonderful One-Acre Farm
P190 McBroom has many children, including Little Clarinda, and he tells tall tales. The freezing incident is in McBroom's Ghost which can be found by itself, or can be found in HERE COMES MCBROOM! by Sid Fleischman. ~from a librarian
P190: HAS to be one of Sid Fleischman's tall tales about the farmer McBroom. Don't know which, but they're all wonderful and funny. McBroom had 11 children in the series, I believe. 


McBroom's Ear
I used to belong to a children's book club. It might have been scholastic. I got two  different books about the same farmer. All I can rember is that he had yellow teeth and I think everything about him was yellow. I think He had several children. I recall that locusts or grasshoppers invaded his farm in one of the books. Sorry I can't be more speciific

Sid Fleischman.  Of course this is just a guess, but this reminds me of books by Sid Fleischman--I think he had a farmer character named McBroom.
Fleischman, McBroom's Ear.  The grasshoppers consume a phenomenally large ear of corn growing on McBroom's farm.  He has multiple children (some w/rhyming names) and when he calls them, the names are all run together (I think the first two are Will & Jill).



McCall's Giant Make-It Book
I am looking for a crafts book I had in the mid-1960s.  It may have been one of the oversized Golden type books.  It has full pictorial covers that were laminated.  The cover may have had a blue background.  It included the following crafts:  sock bunny, towel bear, shoebox camera, fishing rod, and more that I don't recall at the moment.  I think it also had a recipe for no cook fudge using cream cheese, confectioners sugar and cocoa. Illustrated in color.

Mccall's Giant Golden Make-It Book, 1953.  I had this too (I may still have it buried somewhere) but I think it had the projects mentioned plus a lot more.  It definitely had the shiny cellophane binding.
I think this is the one:  Mc Calls Giant Golden Make-It Book.  Copyright: 1953.  Author: Peter, John.   Illustrator: Malvern, Corinne & Riley, Bob
Yes, that is it.  McCall's Giant Make-It Book.  Thanks so much!



McCall's Read Me a Story Book
I am looking for an anthology from my childhood which included a number of tales, including (I believe these are mostly correct!): Mr vinegar, Pear blossom, The bear's bargain, Lazy Jack, Valiant Vicky the weaver, Goosey grizzel, Why the sea is salt, The lad who went to the north wind (?), A stranger at the window (?), The golden bull, Mr snip, Doll in the grass, Musicians of Bremen, The fisherman's wife.  I think the cover was a greyish color, but I have no memory of author or publication date.  Thanks so much!

My Book House series?
See the Anthology Finder at http://loganberrybooks.com/most-anthologies.html.  Note that there are 6 different editions (they contain
different story collections) of the series, which comes in several volumes.
Collier, The Junior Classics, 1958, approximate.  Given the broad variety of stories you mention, is it possible you are remembering a set of books, rather than a single volume?  Collier's (the encyclopedia people) printed up a set of books called "The Young Folks' Shelf of Books / The Junior Classics" with multiple reprints ranging from 1912 through at least the 1970's.  There were several major revisions, but the sets published between 1938-1960 might be worth looking into. Each volume had a different theme and a different colored cover.  The titles were: 1) Fairy Tales and Fables, 2) Stories of Wonder and Magic, 3) Myths and Legends, 4) Hero Tales, 5) Stories That Never Grow Old, 6) Stories About Boys and Girls, 7) The Animal Book, 8) Stories From History, 9) Sport and Adventure, and 10) Poetry Reading Guide & Indexes. (Sets before 1938 and after 1962 had different titles.)  Volumes 1-3 & 5 (because it had a grey cover) might be especially worth looking into.  I don't have this set, but the 1958 volume 1 contains the following of the stories you listed:  Mr. Vinegar, The Fisherman and his Wife, The Doll in the Grass, and The Lad who Went to the North Wind. I have the 1962 set, and it doesn't look likely. The first volume (ABC Go!) contains Mr. & Mrs. Vinegar, and the second (Once Upon a Time) contains Why the Sea is Salt and The Fisherman and His Wife, but that's about it.
Thanks for all the help.  So far I haven't found the exact book.  It was definitely a single, large volume, probably quite old, but could have been as late as the '60's or '70's. Here are some more story names I remember: Oxtail and the yam; Lord peter; Fish in the forest; The wizard's apprentice; How the sun and the moon went to dinner; The two brothers; Man, snake and magpie; Lily and the Tiger; Le petit perroquet; Rose red.  Story lines I remember:
* two brothers go out into the world to seek their fortune, one takes all the food and when the other brother asks to eat, the first one says "only if you let me take the sight of one of your eyes."  He throws grit from the path into his brother's eye in exchange for bread and meat.  This happens twice, then the cruel brother abandons the blind one.  Someone heals the blind brother with the juice of a plant, and he in turn is able to heal a blind king and gain the princesses' hand in marriage.  The cruel brother becomes a beggar. 
Two men take refuge in a cave.  A lion returns and roars at them from the entrance that it is his cave.  To scare the lion, one man shouts that he is a monster, and shows the lion an elephant's tusk which he says is one of their teeth.  Then they say say they will roar, and fire a gun, which frightens the lion away for good. 
A man accidentally drops his ax into the water, and a nymph appears with a shiny silver or gold one.  A jealous friend goes to try his luck, but when he throws his ax in the nymph snubs him.
Margaret Van Doren Bevans, McCall's Read Me a Story Book, 1961, copyright.  Definitely includes Why the sea is salt and The doll in the grass.
Margaret Van Doren Bevans,  McCall's Read Me a Story Book, 1961, copyright.  Thank you so very much - this is the book!  I would never have found it on my own, but have now found a beautiful copy.  Other stories include: The Boy and the Devil, Mr. Rabbit and Mr. Bear, The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse, A Tale of Woe, Mr. Rabbit Grossly Deceives Mr. Fox, The Hare and the Tortoise, and The Elephant's Child.  This is a fantastic collection, though some of the stories are a little scary, and I highly recommend it.


McWhinney's Jaunt
Book about a boy who pumps up his bicycle tires with "Z-gas" which gives him the ability to fly on his bicycle, and thus have many adventures.  Think he had a dog.  This illustrated book was read to my kindergarten class in 1951.  Would love to know the author and title.  Thank you

Robert Lawson, McWhinney's Jaunt. (1951)  Professor McWhinney, while on summer vacation from his duties as a physics professor at the local university, creates a marvelous gaseous concoction in his basement laboratory..."Z-Gas"! He proceeds to inflate his bicycle tires with this new gas and, after hours of practice, is able to pedal briskly and glide over trees and houses. A new flying machine! Professor McWhinney informs his wife, immersed in her needle work, that he is taking a journey across country to Hollywood to see the movie star Gloria Glamorous.
Robert Lawson, McWhinney's Jaunt. (1951)  Haven't read it, but here's a description: Professor McWhinney, while on summer vacation from his duties as a physics professor at the local university, creates a marvelous gaseous concoction in his basement laboratory..."Z-Gas"! He proceeds to inflate his bicycle tires with this new gas and, after hours of practice, is able to pedal briskly and glide over trees and houses. A new flying machine! Professor McWhinney informs his wife, immersed in her needle work, that he is taking a journey across country to Hollywood to see the movie star Gloria Glamorous. The journey across the country by flying bicycle is beautifully chronicled and illustrated by Robert Lawson.
Robert Lawson, McWhinney's Jaunt. (1951)  Written and illustrated by the author.  Professor Ambrose McWhinney is the creator of z-gas, a remarkable substance that causes the tires of the professor's bike to ride at least a foot off the ground. The professor sets off on a cross-country jaunt filled with adventures.
Wow!  I'm stunned.  In just 24 hours your crack children's book experts solved my stumper.  Guess my memory of the book was rather flawed - the protagonist was a professor, not a boy.  Duh.  However, a tremendous thanks to those who took the time to help me out.


Me
It is a children's book and was read to the children during the 50s or 60s.  I remember the cover being very abstract with pinks and purples and maybe blue. The name has something to do with 'Me'. The story starts out something like - (I can't remember the very first) ....there was only one word in the world, Me. (Then it goes on to say if you wanted to say something like There is the sun - you would say Me. I just made that up I don't remember exactly what it said but it gave examples like that.) Then it said something like 'soon everyone was saying Me all the time' and it showed a bunch of abstract people with the word "Me" coming out of their mouths. Then something happens and there's the dark page with the street light and then maybe a page with a sunrise and it said (and I'm pretty sure this is a quote) 'And then there was a new word in the world. You.

Saroyan, William, Me. My husband wrote his master's thesis on William Saroyan and was very fond of Saroyan's works. He bought the book _Me_ for our children, probably sometime in the mid 1960's. We would like to know if it is still in publication. (I don't remember the publisher - we no longer have our copy)
William Saroyan, Me, 1963. Hi, I put this in once before but it hasn't been posted.  I am sure that this is ME by William Saroyan.  Illustrated by Murray Tinkleman.  I have a copy and most of the details are correct.  Cover - pink and purple.  The word that changes everything is actually "no" not "you".  "If there could be me there could be you, if there could be no there could be yes...Soon people were speaking to one another.  They were asking and answering questions.  They were finding out what it is all about.  They are still finding out.
William Saroyan, ME, 1963. First Page: "Once upon a time there was only one word - me.  If you wanted to say here I am, you said - me.  Illustrated by Murray Tinkleman.  A Modern Master's book for children.  LOCCC# 63-17468 

ME. Thank you! You solved the mystery!


Me and Emily and the Cat
I am looking for a paperback book published by Scholastic in the 1970's. It was about a girl and her sister who live in an apartment building (Manhattan??).  The girl has a kitten and her sister gets a fancy sewing kit for her birthday.  The girl is envious of the fancy sewing kit and agrees to trade the kitten to her sister for the sewing kit and then regrets the trade.  Their is a strange lady neighbor who lives in the apartment building who has a lot of cats with Russian names.  The kitten might end up getting lost after the trade and the girl suspects the Russian lady has the kitten.  Any ideas??

K53 Acting on a hunch, but this could be AMY & LAURA by Marilyn Sachs. Amy and Laura are sisters, and there is some envy involved. I couldn't find a detailed summary, and my copy is still packed away in storage. But it would be worth looking at. ~from a librarian
Doris Orgel, Bartholomew, We Love You!, 1973.  This must be Orgel's Bartholomew, We Love You!  (Also published by Scholastic under the title: Me and Emily and the Cat)


Me and Fat Glenda
there was a book that I'm thinking is in the same style as Judy Blume, if not actually written by her where the kids are left alone a lot and they are always making hamburgers, but wach day they make hamburgers that start with a letter of the alphabet - like on day 'O' they have olives on their burgers.  Any idea?

I cannot recall the title or the name of the author, but I remember reading a book like this. The family (mom, dad, boy, girl) comes to a new town in a converted garbage truck. The parents are hippieish vegetarians and the kids make alphabet burgers. The mother loves to sketch or photograph spiderwebs (even does it in the realty office) and she refuses to live in a modern home (crackerbox) so they eventually move into an old (Victorian?) home. That's all I can recall but perhaps 'twill help.
Lila Perl, Me and Fat Glenda. I've been trying to figure out this stumper for weeks. I couldn't remember anything more than the alphabet hamburgers part either, but whenever I'd type that phrase into Google I'd get a bunch of recipes. I just now tried again on a whim and this time pulled up "Me and Fat Glenda." One site's synopsis mentioned eccentric hippy parents -- the mother wore a black leotard and painted her room black, and the father drove a garbage truck and collected junk.
A105 alphabet hamburgers: I think I can confirm the suggested title, Me and Fat Glenda, by Lila Perl, published Clarion 1972. "Sara Mayberry, characterized by the family's former landlady as the only normal person in the 'pixilated' Mayberry family, becomes friends with Glenda, a very fat girl her own age, soon after Sara, her college professor father, and her mother move from California to conservative Havenhurst, New York in a secondhand garbage truck. Despite a number of complications, caused in part by Sara's father's outdoor junk sculpture and Glenda's mother's ensuing petition against the Mayberrys, the friendship between the two 7th graders manages to survive ... Sara's favorite food, alphabetburgers." (dustjacket blurb)
Thank you! That was it. I bought a copy and read straight through. It's amazing anyone could have identified it with all the details I forgot. I didn't mention the alphabet burgers, hippy parents, or even the character of Fat Glenda.
Perl, Lila, Me and Fat Glenda, NY Clarion 1972.  I'd like to add my vote to this suggested solution, based on this blurb.  "Sara Mayberry, characterized by the family's former landlady as the only normal person in the "pixilated" Mayberry family, becomes friends with Glenda, a very fat girl her own age, soon after Sara, her college professor father and her mother move from California to conservative Havenhurst NY in a secondhand garbage truck. Despite a number of complications, caused in part by Sara's father's outdoor junk sculpture and Glenda's mother's ensuing petition against the Mayberrys, the friendship between the two 7th graders manages to survive." It also mentions that readers may want to try Sara's favourite food "alphabetburgers". Which looks like a strong resemblance.
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I believe I read this book in the 80s, but my impression is that it was originally written much earlier than that. A young girl (perhaps around 12) and her family move to a new town. They don't fit in very well because of a few oddities. The father made large sculptures out of tin cans on the front lawn. And there was an older sister who painted her room in an odd way. I think she painted it black with white arrows going up the wall and across the ceiling. (That may not be exactly right.) The house was old, and I think the older sister's room was round and on one corner of the house. I don't remember the plot at all. The only incident I remember is that on Halloween the girl is trick-or-treating, and sees someone dressed as a ghost running towards her. There is a long paragraph at this point where she reflects that in such a situation where you don't know the intentions, or even the identity, of the person, it is impossible to know how to react, if you should run or stay. She was undecided, so she stayed put. It turned out to be her friend from school who was coming to warn her that vandals were at her house destroying her father's sculptures. That's all I can remember.

This sounds like Lila Perl's Me and Fat Glenda, which I also suggested for A105: "Alphabet Hamburgers." The protagonist, a young girl, has a mother who wears a black leotard, paints her room black and photographs spider webs  her father drives a garbage truck and collects junk.


Me and Mr. Frumpet
I remember reading a book when I was in Elementary School (don't remember which grade), about a little man made from a pipe cleaner. I must have read the book in the mid to late 70's, however the book was probably much older since it was illustrated with black and white photographs of the pipe cleaner man in various poses. I think I remember that the pipe cleaner man was explaining scientific principles to a little boy. For example, (I might be making this up, of course) the pipe cleaner man had a high pitched voice and I think he explained that this was because he was smaller and the sound waves were closer together, or something equally convincing. I almost remember that there was a model train, and that possibly either light speed travel or relativity were being illustrated with this model train, as well. Or general concepts of time, I'm not sure exactly. Clearly, the didactic portion of the narrative was totally lost on me! Of course, I remember making many pipe cleaner men after reading this book, and trying to get them to talk. Now, I am a 3D Character Animator! Anyway, have you heard of that book? Thanks for your help, this is better than regressive hypnotherapy!

P7 pipecleaner man: wow, another one I thought was unfindable - this has to be Me And Frumpet: an Adventure With Size and Science, by Evans G. Valens, introduction by Dr. Edward Teller, published Dutton 1958 "A model railroad, a little pipe-cleaner man, and an imaginative story introduce the basic laws of physics to young children. Illustrated with photographs. Ages 7 up." (HB Apr/58 p.79 pub ad)



Me and My Flying Machine
I am looking for a book that I used to read to my son years ago.  He is now 32. I guess it was in the late 70's.  It is the story about a boy who builds an airplane in his garage at home.out of wood.   He realizes after he finishes that he can not get it out of the garage. because it is to big. The final page he says sometthing to the effect of--thats okay tomorrow I will build a rowboat.....Any information would be greatly appreciated.

A291 and T314.  Mayer, Marianna and Mercer, Me and My Flying Machine.  This is the book!  A Parents' Magazine Press book.  My brother had it as a child and now my 10 year old son has a copy.  They both specialize in building contraptions out of whatever is lying around the garage.
it has been solved I am so grateful    thank you sooooo much.....
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from the late 70's early 80's a book about a boy who builds an airplane in his garage and cant gt it out..last page is tomorrow I will build a rowboat....

A291 and T314.  Mayer, Marianna and Mercer, Me and My Flying Machine.  This is the book!  A Parents' Magazine Press book.  My brother had it as a child and now my 10 year old son has a copy.  They both specialize in building contraptions out of whatever is lying around the garage.



Me and the Terrible Two
I'm looking for a book I read years ago, but I only remember a few details.  A girl lives next door to two brothers, who I think were identical twins.  The girl hates the boys - they do a lot of annoying things, and she may have some additional grudge against them.  At one point the twins annoy her by hammering loudly on a weekend morning while singing the German "ach du lieber augustin" folk song over and over.  The boys have a pet guinea pig that they walk on a leash.  The guinea pig had babies, and may have died before the end of the book.  At the end of the book, the girl has learned to get along with the twins and they give her one of the guinea pig's babies as a pet.  There was a lot more to the plot, but all I remember is the bit about the guinea pig and the singing and hammering. (Because I had a guinea pig, and my mother used to sing that song, that was the part that stuck, while the plot was forgotten!)

Conford, Ellen, Me and the Terrible Two,
1974, approximate.  This is definitely the book.  One of my favorite authors growing up and one my favorite books by her.
Ellen Conford, Me and the Terrible Two, 1970's, approximate.  The main character is named Dorrie and her obnoxious twin neighbors are Haskell and Conrad.  This is absolutely the book you are remembering.  It has the loud hammering and the guinea pigs.  Sometimes the twins talk in a Dracula accent or do anything else that might drive Dorrie crazy.  Some of Dorrie's friends think the boys are cute, but Dorrie thinks her friends are nuts. I remember that I learned about the word "nepotism" from this book because Dorrie's dad works for a newspaper, and Dorrie really wants to be in the paper.  Her dad replies that she can be in the paper when she has done something newsworthy and not before, because that would be nepotism.  In the end, Dorrie and one of the twins are part of a group project (I think creating a newspaper based on fairy tale events) that her father sees as newsworthy.
Conford, Ellen, Me and the Terrible Two, 1974, approximate.  Definitely Ellen Conford's Me and the Terrible Two.  The boys (Conrad and Haskell) move next door after Dorrie's best friend moves to Australia and clashes ensue.
Ellen Conford, Me and the Terrible Two.
Ellen Conford, Me and the Terrible Two.
  The girl had a grudge against the twins because her best friend had lived in that house and had just moved far away. I remember the singing and hammering! I think they gave her the guinea pig baby at the end because she was sick and they wanted to cheer her up.
Conford, Ellen, Me and the Terrible Two.  Yes, this is it! As soon as a read the title it sounded correct, and the other details provided about the friend who moved away and the newspaper also sounded familiar.  So does Ellen Conford's name.  Thanks much!



Me, My Goat, and My Sister's Wedding
I'm fairly sure it was a chapter book.  There's this boy who's sister is getting married and she has a daughter who is about the same age as the boy, and they think the whole uncle-niece thing is funny.  The boy has a clubhouse and winds up with this pet goat somehow.  In the end he has to give it away, and he's sad, and his sister is nice to him.  It might NOT be a goat, though, although I'm fairly certain it is.

Eleanor Estes, ?Rufus M.  I have a similar memory of a similar uncle/niece situation and something about the little boy being "the youngest uncle in town." I've always remembered it as one of the Moffats series by Eleanor Estes, but this could be completely wrong.
Stella Pevsner, Me, My Goat, and My Sister's Wedding, 1986.  Sounds like this one, but I can't remember any plot details.
Stella Pevsner, Me, My Goat, and My Sister's Wedding, 1986.  "Doug and his friends are delighted to goatsit for Rudy. They fix up their clubhouse, build a feeding trough, and fill it with goat fodder. But they have to keep Rudy a secret--and that's not easy when Doug's family is always around, trying to plan his sister's wedding."
Thank you so much for finding the book!  It's been driving me crazy for over a year.


Me Too
I remember reading a very sensitively written book while in elementary school about a young girl, preteen age, I think, who has a twin sister who is mentally challenged. The standout phrase I remember is that she kept describing her sister as "exceptional." The rest of the story is a blur. Can anyone help?

Vera and Bill Cleaver, Me Too, 1973.  "Left to look after her retarded twin for a whole summer, Lydia determines to be the one to really change Lornie."
Vera and Bill Cleaver, Me Too.  This may be the one  it is about a girl called Lydia whose twin Lornie has an intellectual impairment.
Betty Ren Wright, The Dollhouse Murders, 1983.  This book is a possibility. Amy and Louann aren't twins, just one year apart. Amy does specifically refer to Louann as "exceptional" and she goes to a school for "exceptional children."  The main plot is, of course, about the children solving the 30 year-old murders, but Amy's frustration at always being expected to look after Louann and how they work it out is a major sub-plot.



Me Too!
I am looking for a book for my mother that holds special significance for her.  She just turned 50 this year (I telling you this for publication purposes, not just to fill you in on all the little details of my life!! :)  This is a book that she had when she was a young girl.  She remembers it being titled "Me, Too".  But her recollection is vague, so it might be something close.  She also felt like it was a Golden Book or something similar.  It was about a little sister who is always following around her big sister and saying "me, too".  That's all the info that I have.  I certainly hope you can help me... it means a lot!!  Thanks so much!!

Stella Williams Nathan, Me Too!, 1962.  A Whitman book--one of our favourites when we were very small.  Little Anne follows her slightly bigger sister Rhoda around, trying to ride on her tricycle and so on, always saying "Me too."  At the end they are so tired out from playing that they fall asleep on a couple of cushions.
Stella Williams Nathan, Me Too!, 1962, copyright.  A Whitman Tell-A-Tale Book, illustrated by Jessica Zemsky, about 2-year-old Anne, who tries to do everything her big sister Rhoda does. This is a small book, with a pink cover showing a blue-eyed, blonde toddler in a flower-print shirt pointing at herself.



Meadow
Doris Burn.  Could this be Andrew Henry's Meadow?
This MAY not be Andrew Henry's Meadow by Doris Burn, 1965 (see Solved Mysteries) since the end doesn't match, but check it for details anyway.
Burn, Doris, Andrew Henry's Meadow. I'm positive this is the book the person is talking about. It's one of my favorites from childhood too! I was JUST thinking about trying to locate my own copy to read to my 4 year old daughter and looked it up on Google only to find that they are reprinting it as a 40th Anniversary edition! I'm SO excited!  I'm excited to see that this book might be released as a movie!!  See website.
Doris Burn, Andrew Henry's Meadow.Yes, Andrew Henry's Meadow is the book I've been looking for.  Thanks much for helping me find it after all these years.  It's already on order and I'll be reading to my 2 boys very soon.


Meanwhile, Back at the Castle
This is a book I read in the late seventies or early eighties.  It was about a family that inherits (I think) an island on the St. Lawrence River, and discovers that the island belongs neither to Canada nor the United States, and so is a sovereign nation.  The family (with a teenaged female protagonist) moves up there, and discovers the merits and problems of having their own country.

Hope Campbell, Meanwhile, Back at the Castle, 1970.  "The Henderson family's plan for an island retreat takes an unusual turn when they discover the island they have just purchased in the St. Lawrence River is an independent country."
Solved already!  Thank you so much-


Meet Corliss Archer
Characters in this book that I read at about the same time I was reading Nancy Drew Mysteries are a female Corliss Archer and her friend Dexter. His real name is Poindexter.  I believe it might have been written in the 40s-50s.  I read it in the 60s.  Last time I tried to find this--in the 1980s-I was told it may have been a series. I remember the writing as being a little "old fashioned" as they discussed social intercourse. At the time, I was sure they were talking about sex--but I found out before the end of the book that it was social interaction.  Book was the same size as a Nancy Drew Book-about the same # of pages. Anyone else recall this character?

Herbert, F. Hugh, Meet Corliss Archer, 1944.  There was also a TV sitcom called "Meet Corliss Archer" during the 1954-55 season, as well as 2 movies - "Kiss & Tell," and "A Kiss For Corliss," starring Shirley Temple.


Meet John Trow
I read a review just last year about a man who joins a Civil War reenactors outfit to get out of the daily rut he's in. I've tried book sites on the web using key words, but with no luck. I figure it's well worth the two bucks to save me the time.

I sssumed from the description that you were talking about a real person, but if it's a fiction book you're looking for, maybe it's Last of the Dixie Heroes by Peter Abrahams.  "When an Atlanta businessman is invited to a Civil War reenactment, he becomes drawn into a world that somehow seems more real than his own."
Tom Dyja, Tom Dyja.  Sounds like this one, though I haven't read it myself.
Correction to my previous entry:  that should be author Tom Dyja, title Meet John Trow : a novel.  Publication date 2003.  Summary: When Steven Armour becomes a Civil War re-enactor to help gain control of his life, he gets more than he bargained for.
Your site solved one of my two postings so far. C181 -  Civil  War Re-enactor is a book called Meet John Trow which I just ordered.  I know it's not a kids book, but I tried to find it on other sites before the NPR story. Keep up the good work. This is a great site!



Meet the Austins
This was a series, I think, of two or more books. The main character was a girl named Vicki or Vicky (I think, short for Victoria.) In the first book she is 14; all I remember from that one is that near the end she leaves a family function at night on her bike, falls in a dark country lane, and breaks her leg. Her father might be a doctor. In the second book the family goes on a roadtrip through national parks. On one camping stop she meets a boy (she's aged around 16 at this point) with dark hair and has her first kiss. Possibly she is still 14 or 15 and lies about her age to the guy.

This is Madeleine L'Engle's Austin family series.  The book where Vicky meets Zachary at the national park is The Moon By Night the first book is Meet the Austins, and the others in the series are A Ring of Endless Light, Troubling a Star, The Arm of the Starfish and The Young Unicorns.
Madeleine L'Engle, The Moon By Night, 1963.  I think the reader is looking for a series of books by Madeleine L'Engle.  One is Meet the Austins  others are The Moon By Night, A Ring Of Endless Light, Troubling a Star, Stone For a Pillow, and The Twenty-Four Days Before Christmas.
I think you will probably get alot of responses to this, and more precise ones, if my hunch is correct: Vicky Austin is the heroine and she appears in a series of books by Madeleine L'Engle.
Madeleine L'Engle, Meet the Austins This is the first of L'Engle's books in which the Austin family appears.
Madeline L'Engle, Meet the Austins.  The first book is Meet the Austins and I think the second is A Ring of Endless Light.


Meg and the Ghost of Hidden Springs
I hope you can help with this one. The book is a series similar to Nancy Drew. In this story two girls try to solve a mystery involving a girl who looks like another in a painting. the lookalike is either a ghost or younger relative of the girl in the painting. The girl in the  painting is dead. i think she dies on her sweet sixteen birthday. No one came to the party. I think the butler or someone in the house didn't send the invitations. She slips,falls and drowns. The dead girl may have been wearing blue velvet. One of the two girls detectives comes from a large family and I think the other is an only child. I appreciate any info you can supply.

Holly Beth Walker,Ghost of Hidden Springs.  Sounds like one of the Meg Mysteries.  Meg Duncan and her friend, Kerry, solve mysteries. I believe Ghost of Hidden Springs involves a little girl and her mother coming to Meg's town because of an inheritance.  One of the conditions of the inheritance is that the girl has a birthday party which is a reenactment of the tragic birthday party many years ago where noone showed up to the party and the little girl ran down to the river.  Ends up the sister of the girl who died was jealous and had taken all the invitations and hidden them in a window seat and nailed it shut.  The sister lived to be an old lady and regretted her actions so she wrote in her will about having another birthday party.
Might M130a be one of the Trixie Belden books?  This was a series with Trixie as a "girl detective" similar to Nancy Drew.  I read them as a kid, and seem to remember one of them having a story line similar to the one described here, though I can't remember the title of it.  Trixie also comes from a large family, as the person asking thought,...and her friend was either an only child or only had one sibling, I can't remember which.
M130a mystery: I've found a copy of the suggested Meg and the Ghost of Hidden Springs, by Holly Beth Walker, illustrated by Cliff Schule, published Whitman 1970. There are some very close correspondences - the two girl detectives are Meg Duncan, who is an only child, and her friend Kerry Carmody, who has 6 siblings. Kathleen Hannigan and her mother will inherit the old Hannigan mansion if they fulfill the terms of Amelia Hannigan's will. Kathleen looks just like Amelia's sister Kathleen, shown in a family portrait. The dead Kathleen's room is kept as she left it, and the pink satin dress she drowned in was cleaned and left lying on the bed. Kathleen died on her sixteenth birthday, when no one from the town showed up for the grand party, and she ran crying from the house, slipped by the stream and knocked her head on a rock. Meg discovers that Amelia had hidden the invitations, and finds them in a nailed-shut window seat.
Walker, Holly Beth. Meg: The Ghost of Hidden Springs. Racine, WI: Golden Press, 1978. "Meg and her friend Kerry tackle the oldest mystery in Hidden Springs. These twelve year-old supersleuths get haunted by the ghosts of the Hannigan family. When fifteen year-old Kathleen, the heir of the old Hannigan mansion, arrives from California with her mother, the girls put on their bravest faces and look for answers to the ghosts that haunt the mansion. This book is fun and exciting and is a non-stop read all the way through. This is a great book for young middle-schoolers. It would probably appeal to both boys and girls, and it is a part of a series of books, which could offer some foundation for the discussion of mystery as genre."
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I read this book (I think) between the ages of 8 and 12.  I was born in 1978.  I don't think it is a Nancy Drew book, although it could be.  The story involves a mystery of a young girl who suffered some kind of untimely death.  Years later another girl (either at her home or summer home) is haunted by her presence.  The only other thing I remember is that the culmination of the book takes place on the night of the living girl's birthday party.  I think the book was set in the 60's or 70's and I remember there being a lake and possibly a gazebo.  The birthday girl is wearing a yellow or a white dress.  I think it was a 16th birthday and I also think that it was a dance.

Holly Beth Walker, Meg and the Ghost of Hidden Springs, 1970.  I haven't read this book, but the description on the Solved Mysteries "M" page certainly sounds appropriate!  Please check it out and let us know if this is the title you seek!
Holly Beth Walker, Ghost of Hidden Springs.  See Solved Stumper -  Meg and the Ghost of Hidden Springs
This seems to be Volume #4 of the "Meg" series, by Holly Beth Walker, published by Whitman Publishing Co 1970.  I'm uncertain if Meg is a legitimate part of the title, but we'll keep it for now, unless someone can clarify that.
Holly Beth Walker, Meg and the Ghost of Hidden Springs, 1970.  This one is on the solved mysteries page.


Melendy Family
A novel about a large family with lots of children.  I don't remember the family's name but I believe it started with an "M" and the title was, I believe, "The M. . . Family."  It was a delightful story and quite long, at least a few hundred pages.  The book related the adventures (magical?) of the children in the family.  It seems that, perhaps, there were no adults but I'm not sure.  1960s.

For some reason I was thinking of the Miriam Mason 1950s series, with The Middle Sister, The Sugarbush Family and Matilda and Her Family, but I don't know if this right...
Elizabeth Enright, The Melendy Family.  The first three books about The Melendys (The Saturdays, The Four-Story Mistake, Then There Were Five) were also published together in one volume maybe that's why you remember the book being so big?
Perhaps the Moffat family series by Estes?  The "magic" part doesn't fit, but other than that....
Frank B., Jr. Gilbreth, Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, Cheaper by the Dozen and Belles on Their Toes.  While the titles don't match the request, these books are about the hilarious adventures of a large family. Cheaper by the Dozen - No growing pains have ever been more hilarious than those suffered loudly by the riotous Gilbreth clan. First, there are a dozen red-haired, freckle-faced kids to contend with. Then there's Dad, a famous efficiency expert who believes a family can be run just like a factory. And there's Mother, his partner in everything except discipline. How they all survive such escapades as forgetting Frank, Jr., in a roadside restaurant or going on a first date with Dad in the backseat or having their tonsils removed en masse will keep you in stitches. You can be sure they're not only cheaper, they're funnier by the dozen. Belles on their Toes - Life is very different now in the rambling Gilbreth house. When the youngest was two and the oldest eighteen, Dad died and Mother bravely took over his business. Now, to keep the family together, everyone has to pitch in and pinch pennies. The resourceful clan rises to every crisis with a marvelous sense of fun -- whether it's battling chicken pox, giving the boot to an unwelcome boyfriend, or even meeting the President. And the few distasteful things they can't overcome -- like castor oil -- they swallow with good humor and good graces.
??Tove Jansson, ??Finn Family Moomintroll  It's not one of the Moominvalley books, is it?  Did they have a lot of children? Were they ever published as a set?
This is probably The Melendy Family by Elizabeth Enright (1941) 241pp. This orange volume consists of 3 novels about the Melendy family. The mother died, the father is often away working, and except for Cuffy, the housekeeper, there is little adult presents. No actual magic- but Enright does MAGICALLY recreate childhood and wonderful sibling adventuring with these exceptional children: Mona, Rush, Randy, and Oliver. Some feel that Enright has created, in the Melendys, one of the most realistic and memorable families in childrens literature. In the introduction to this volume Noel Streatfeild says "she writes better for children than any other living writer."


Melissa
I remember the title of this book, "Melissa," and that it wasn't new, but not the author.  It was a sweet, old-fashioned chapter book about Melissa, maybe in her early teens, who goes to live with relatives sometime in the 30's or earlier.  There's an episode in which she's in some kind of school revue or play, and another in which her grandfather tells her about a trip he took long ago and a little lake he found.  Sorry I can't recall much more...hope this rings a bell with someone. This site is wonderful!

just guessing, but could this be Melissa Ann: a little girl of the eighteen twenties, by Ethel Parton, illustrated by M. A. Lawson, published Doubleday 1931? The story is set earlier than described, but is about Melissa Ann, called Mitty and how she "went to visit her cousin Lucy in Newburyport and of the home she won for herself, of the dolls the little girls played with, and the games they shared with plucky Dicky Purvis. But also it tells of traveling by stage, of the return of a sailor from a long voyage, and the launching of the brig, the 'Fair Melisssa'."
M88 melissa: possibly Melissa, by Ina B. Forbus, illustrated by Sue Felt, published Viking 1962. "Missy, a country girl, finds it hard to adjust to city ways. But her talent in music and a fortunate accident make her a real part of a city family. Ages 9-12." (HB Oct/62 p.524 pub ad) "Melissa goes to visit her cousins and has many adventures with them."
Thanks for the replies!  The name Ina B. Forbus rings such a bell, especially since it matches the place where the book was shelved in the library, and the summary and date fit well enough that I'm sure that's the one.



Mellops Go Flying
Looking for a childrens book about a family of pigs (well-to-do) they went on an outing, were in a plane and it crashed.  it was an earlier reader book - lots of pictures - like drawings.  I remember the picture of the plane crash, the pigs had X's on there eyes, some broken bones....... I'm thinking that their last name begain with a "S"   please help!

Tomi Ungerer, The Mellops Go Flying
Tomi Ungerer, Mellops Go Flying, 1957.  Yes, that's the book!    Thank you so much


Memo: To Myself When I Have a Teenage Kid
Help!  I'd like the author and/or title of a book I read (c. 1985-1988) when I was a child.  Book is from a teenage (pre-teen?) girl's point-of-view.  Girl's mom gives Girl the diary she (Mom) kept when she was Girl's age.  Girl reads an entry a day about Mom's first love.  Girl starts to worry that the first love is a man who recently visited and that Mom is falling back in love w/ the Visitor (and out-of-love w/ Dad).  At the end, it turns out that Mom's first love is Dad. Also, there's a concurrent storyline of Girl's first love.  Hope you can help--I've been thinking of this book for the last 15-18 years . . . .

G145 It might be worth taking a look at MEMO TO MYSELF WHEN I HAVE A TEENAGE KID by Carol Snyder, 1983. It's about a girl who thinks her mother will never understand her. Then her mother gives her the diary she keep when she was a teenager. ~from a librarian
Maybe -- Memo: To Myself When I Have a Teenage Kid by Carol Snyder (c1983).  "Reading the diary her mother wrote when she was thirteen helps Karen understand both her mother and herself better."
Snyder, Carol, Memo: To Myself When I Have A Teenage Kid.  I think I found the answer to my bookstumper.  Since the book is (apparently?) out-of-print, I had a hard time verifying if "Memo" was the book I remembered.  But the title sounds familiar and the brief synopsis I was able to glean seems about right.


Memoirs of a London Doll
help!! I am looking for a little girl's book about a doll that is handed down from one generation to another. It is very old - perhaps 1900s, the name of the doll may have been Rowena or Anasthasia or something like that.  Any ideas?

D13: Possibly it sounds like Memoirs of a London Doll by Richard Henry Horne. It traces the life of a doll and her owners. It is from the 1900s.
Another title tracing a doll through generations is Deborah Remembers.  Unfortunately, I forget the author and our copy is not at hand.
Could this be Hitty ?  I don't remember the author but it is still on the bookstore shelves, it is a Newbery book, I think.  Or, there  is a book by Rumer Godden about a simple "penny" doll who lives in a dollhouse with other dolls and the evil, conceited Marchpane.  I forget the name of this one, but it is certainly by Rumer Godden.
Hitty is by Rachel Field, illustrated by Dorothy Lathrop, 1929.  The doll's name is, of course, Hitty.  Rumer Godden has written several doll books, including Candy Floss, Dolls House, Mouse House, and The Fairy Doll.  But I'm not sure any of these are a match, although from the scant description, it might be hard to pin this down.  Not forgetting the favorite Wonderful Fashion Doll by Laura Bannon.
Probably too late, but from Horn Book again, Nov-Dec/50, ad for children's books published by Thomas Crowell: Angelina Amelia, a Doll, by Henietta Jones Moon. Illus. in three colors by the author. An appealing picture-story of a doll that lived through several generations in the same house. Ages 3-6
Tracy Friedman, Henriette: The Story of a Doll, 1986.  This is just a guess, but it might be Henriette: The Story of a Doll by Tracy Friedman. It's about a French doll named Henriette who belongs to a very old woman on a Southern Plantation just after the Civil War. She was handed down to the old woman's daughter, but she was killed during the war and the granddaughter Amanda (Henriette's rightful owner) is living in an orphanage.  Henriette travels to join her, meeting people, animals and having adventures along the way.
Well, 'Araminta' is the name of Grandmother's Doll in the 1931 book by Elizabeth Bouton Gladwin. Though that doll only goes from Grandmother (who got her from London in 1875) to Betty. Araminta is found in the attic and has 'all her furniture and clothes' and even a diary she wrote herself.
The red poster mentions Deborah Remembers. It's by Lillie V. Albrecht, published by Hastings House 1959. "Deborah is a doll in a museum reminiscing about her 250 years of life for a group of younger dolls. Unlike Hitty, she is merely a device to connect a number of stories of New England life and history, from the Deefield massacre, the Revolution, the Underground Railway, the Civil War, to World War I. The stories are lively and interesting."
#D13--Doll hand-me-down:  An obscure doll story is The Journey of Bangwell Putt, based on the history of a famous early American doll.  Since she was around for many years before ending up in a museum, she may well have gone through several owners, though the same person did possess her for eighty years!
D13 doll hand-me-down: probably way too late, but Little Lottie, by W. Mathiessen, published Burke 1961, 124 pages is about "Little Lottie, a doll which belonged to Ruth's grandmother. This story tells of her adventures
after Ruth acquires her. These adventures are all quite natural and in the course of them the doll has several devoted owners. The interlude with the doll-collector is very charming and will intrigue little girls." (JB Jan/61
p.25) Actually, it would be very helpful to know whether the poster means that the book itself was published in the early 1900s, or whether it tells the story of a doll made in the 1900s!
Mary Fielding Moore, Dorcas the Wooden Doll, 1944.  The other suggestions also sound plausible but here is an additional one, which I remember from my childhood.
D13 doll hand-me-down: another possible is Dorcas the Wooden Doll, by Mary F. Moore, 16 drawings by Peggy Fortnum, published by Sylvan Press, London 1945. "The adventures of Dorcas, the wooden Doll, start in the reign of Queen Anne and go up to the present day." Not much detail though.
If you are placing this book in the early 1900's the suggestion of Memoirs of a London Doll seems a good possibility. Published first in 1846 it spans 100 years of London history as the doll Maria Poppet tells her tale.Over the years it has appeared in newer editions . In 1922 there was an edition illustrated by Emma Brock. Most recently, in 1967, it was reprinted. This is considered a minor classic.


Memories Live Forever
In 1995 I bought a book for a child of a close friend of mine who died.  It was a children's book about death and losing someone close to them.  It had something you could fill out about memories of the person who had died.  It was a small poster or paper or maybe you just filled out pages in the book.  I'm not sure which.  When my father passed away last year I tried to find the same book but couldn't find any bookstore who had anything like it.  I had purchased the book at a Christian bookstore.

Saw this online Memories Live Forever : A Memory Book for Grieving Children by Sharon Rugg, Julie Rugg, Amanda Mullis, Leah Haider (Illustrator)Reading level: Ages 9-12 Paperback 3rd edition (May 1996) ISBN: 0965241009 Probably too recent to be the one wanted, but may be a substitute if it can't be found.
D32 death and losing someone: perhaps the book wanted is an earlier edition of the book suggested, since the 3d edition was published in 1996 and the book wanted was bought in 1995.


Meg Mysteries
I am looking for a series called The Meg Mysteries.  I read this series as a young girl and would like to obtain a set for my daughter. I can't remember how many books were in the series, nor can I remember the author's name. Please help!

I think you're looking for the Meg mysteries by Holly Beth WalkerMeg and the Mystery of the Witch's Stairway, Meg and the Disappearing Diamonds, Meg and the Treasure Nobody Saw, etc.  We don't have any in stock right now, but let me know if you'd like me to look for them.  And let me know if I'm totally wrong about my overly confident answer!
Yes, that sounds like the series I'm looking for. I would appreciate it if you could look for a set or even one at a time, it doesn't matter. I'll be happy with whatever you can find! Thank you so much.



Merlin's Keep
I am looking for an older novel. I read it between 1983-1986. It was about an English girl whose father was stationed in India in the 18th or 19th century. When she was a child, her parents were killed in a revolt.  She was protected and taken out of India by one of her father's soldier during the revolt. She and her protector escaped through the mountains of Nepal (I think).  While traveling through the mountains, she became very ill and almost died.  Eventually, she arrived in England where she grew up. She repressed all the memories of the revolt and her escape for several years until something happens to make her start remembering them again. I am pretty certain the book had the phrase "Snow Leopard" somewhere in the title. This is NOT the book by Peter Matthiessen.  I do remember thinking that the story style was similar to Madeleine Brent�s Moonraker�s Bride. I have asked several librarians and have done lots of internet searches, including the Library of Congress, to no avail. Thanks for any help you can give me!

Pizzey Erin, The snow leopard of Shanghai, 1988.  Could the stumper be confusing two books?  Erin Pizzey'sThe Snow Leopard of Shanghai tells the story of twin daughters of a diplomat in China who flee after political unrest in 1917.
Madeleine Brent, Merlin's Keep.  Have you looked at some of Brent's other titles? I mention this one, even though the title isn't similar, because the plot is. Stormswift is another possibility.
Madeleine Brent, Merlin's Keep, 1978.  This is it. One of Peter O'Donnell's (he wrote as Madeleine Brent) wild adventures: "The distance between a Tibetan monastery and Merlin's Keep, in the English countryside, was a long one and to Jani, reared in Tibet, nearly incomprehensible. Nor could she grasp the full meaning of the high Lama's words to her that wintry day: "I see the woman in red who will be your friend, and through her will come the one to fear, who will be your enemy, the Silver Man..."
Brent, Madeleine, Merlin's Keep, 1977.  The mention of Madeleine Brent brings to mind this title of hers, where Jani lives in the Himalayas with her protector Semburr, they flee from pursuit by a British soldier, and Semburr dies. Jani develops diphtheria and almost dies, but recovers and is sent to England. She leaves an orphange and goes to live at Merlin's Keep. After some years she discovers a letter to herself written by Semburr pasted between the endpapers of a book, and learns the truth about her parentage and inheritance. She returns to Tibet eventually, to help her rescuer and friend.
THANK YOU!!! Merlin's Keep must be it!  I remember the part about the "woman in red," "the Silver Man," and the name, "Semburr," and the rest of the description is correct.  I would never have thought the title was Merlin's Keep.  I have requested the book from my library!



Merlin's Magic
The book that's stumping me is one I loved as a kid, but I can't for the life of me remember the title or author.  The story involves a group of children (a British family, I think) who love treasure hunts.  The story follows them on one hunt that is set by one of their number, but it quickly dissolves into fantasy, with the first group of treasure-hunters suddenly being taken under the wing of the Roman god Mercury, and visiting the planet that bears his name.  The book so inspired me that for a couple of years I personally created treasure hunts in the neighborhood for my friends, using puzzle and poem clues for them to follow.  Does this ring a bell at all?  Thanks again for the pleasure of revisiting old memories.

M43 sounds like Elaine Horseman: The Hubbles' Treasure Hunt ; 1965, W.W. Norton & Co. Hardbound picture cover, 175 pages. Illustrated by John Sergeant. Sequel to Hubble's Bubble. When five children find a cryptic message referring to hidden treasure inside an old doll, they use an ancient volume of spells to travel back in time and solve the mystery. I haven't read this, but I have Hubble's Bubble, and the children are British, so this sounds close, and the date is probably about right.
Another possibility: An ad from the Jan/53 issue of Junior Bookshelf: Merlin's Magic (by) Helen Clare. This is the story of six children who, on a lovely summer's day, set out on an ordinary enought treasure hunt. But it is not long before strange things begin to happen: and the weathercock on the stable arch becomes enchanted and points the children towards the four quarters, where they are to search for their treasure. With the help of a
very practiced magician and a fabulous and funny beast of great antiquity called a hippogriff, they are carried away on the most remarkable adventures, back into times past, away into far planets and distant seas, and at last to the very stronghold of imagination itself ... On their way they meet many heroes, some who lived once on this earth, others from the world of myth and story. At last, with the help of the sword of King Arthur and the drum of Francis Drake, the enemies are defeated and the treasure saved.  Helen Clare is a pseudonym for Pauline Clarke (Return of the Twelves)
Thank you very much! Someone has correctly identified the book I queried in your Stump the Bookseller section.  Helen Clare's Merlin's Magic is it!
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I am terrible at remembering the names of books I loved as a kid- and you seem to be able to get all the answers!.  The one I'm inquiring about is set in England and involves a group of children who set off on a fortune hunt, following clues written on slips of paper that have been hidden in secret places, each clue leading to the next.  The children break off into groups, and the story quickly slips into fantasty.  In particular, I remember one group being suddenly taken up by the god Mercury and transported to the planet bearing his name. Judging by the few illustrations there were in the book (all black and white pen drawings) I suspect the story was written in the 1930's. I was so enthralled by the idea of  fortune hunts that I started creating them for my own friends in the neighbourhood.  Do you have any idea what this book might be?

#F37--Fortune Hunters:  see #M43--Mercury.
Isn't this the same as M43 Mercury?
A possibility. Here's the Junior Bookshelf (July 1953) review: Clare, Helen. Merlin's Magic, illustrated by Cecil Leslie. 204 pages, 8x5. Bodley Head (1953): "We begin by following the trail of what appears to be
an ordinary summer afternoon's treasure hunt, though the mention of a "classical beast of great antiquity" and the fanciful names of some of the children should have prepared us for the flight into the world of fantasy which soon follows. Each child has to follow a clue which leads to the intangible treasures of his own heart and mind, and in each case the search is imperilled by the appearance of an army of robot-like monsters, who, lacking imagination themselves, want to seize it from those so gifted. The contrast betweent the glories of the days of King Arthur, Elizabeth I or Kubla Khan, and the Wellsian atmosphere created by the robots is too sharp ... the characters of romance are not always true to their periods either; no one minds the delightful hippogriff lapsing into Cockney, but to find Queen Morgan le Fay speaking of people "barging about" or Sir Walter Ralegh mixing himself up with Edward Lear's Jumblies is a bit odd."
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am looking for a British children's book which I read in early 80s - maybe written/set in 60s or perhaps earlier. It was about a group of siblings who were somehow split up and transported to separate historical worlds. One or two of the children met Kubla Khan and one or two went back to King Arthur's time. Can't remember any more about it although I think there were one or two other historical settings.

Edith Nesbit, The Story of the Amulet. A long shot, but might be worth looking into. The Story of The Amulet is third book in Nesbit's Psammead trilogy, after Five Children and It and The Phoenix and the Carpet. In this story, the children embark on a quest to find the missing half of a magical amulet. The half that they do have allows them to travel through time, visiting (among other places) ancient Egypt, Babylon, Tyre, and Atlantis. I don't know if they meet Kubla Khan, but they do meet Julius Ceasar - and inadvertently convince him to invade the British Isles. They also travel into the future. While this is a very old book (first published in 1906) it has been reprinted many times - including during the 1980's and 1990's, and the first book of the trilogy (Five Children and It) has been adapted to film and television.
Helen Clare, Merlin's Magic. A group of children ask a friend staying with their family to organise a treasure hunt for them.  He (Merlin in disguise, as it turns out) sends them on their way separately or in pairs and gives each one the adventure they most want:  one travels to ancient China and becomes a messanger for Kubla Khan, eventually meeting the great Khan.  Another fights with Sir Francis Drake, one encounters Morgan le Fay and King Arthur, and another Pan. Yet another travels to another planet with Mercury.  Their separate adventures end by bringing them all together to defeat an invasion from another planet (I think).  It's a bit patchy but still a very pleasant read.
SOLVED: Thank you!! My stumper has been solved! The book was indeed Merlin's Magic by Helen Clare as described by the poster on your website - now I just have to try to track a copy down.



Merlin's Mistake
something about the moon? I read this fantasy book maybe ten years ago in the fifth grade. There's a protagonist who sets off on some sort of quest, and there's two sisters involved somehow. I think one of the sisters travels with the protagonist, and one stays behind the one that travels has brown hair, the one that stays is blonde. The adventure involves some sort of black knight, which I'm pretty sure of, who may or may not be the protagonist's father, which I'm not so sure of. Also, I seem to remember something about the moon, whether it was part of the plot or the title of the book, I'm not sure.

Might be Merlin's Mistake.In Merlin's Mistake by Robert Newman.  There' a black knight, a 15 (or so) year old boy on a quest with the brown haired sister, while her blonde sister stays home.  The questing sister has used makeup to age herself.  Don't remember anything special about the moon, though.  The black knight turns out the be the questor's father, who'd had amnesia.  There's also a companion, Tertius, on whom Merlin cast a spell which gave him knowledge of science, instead of magic.  Does that sound familiar?  They get Merlin out of Nimue's hold w/gunpowder.
Edward Eager, Knight Magic,1999.Your stumper reminded me of Knight Magic by Edward Eager, who has a wonderful series of books that take the rules of magic very seriously! Here is the description of the book I think you might be looking for: Four cousins, Roger, Ann, Eliza, and Jack, have an extraordinary summer when, after an old toy soldier comes to life, they find themselves transported back to the days of Robin Hood and Ivanhoe.
Robert Newman, Merlin's Mistake, 1970.I think this must be it - and was a favorite of mine. Tertius has been given all future knowledge by Merlin, which is a bit of a curse in medieval England. He joins forces with an idealistic young squire, Brian, to find Merlin. Brian's father, who had disappeared, is the Black Knight. The dark-haired sister disguises herself as an old woman and joins them on the quest.
The Perilous Garde. This may be a long shot, but it did involve a quest with one sister. They go underground, to land of evil fairies and he is kept enchanted for a while, but the sister is able to bring him out of it through her love. There is a full moon ceremony and he is supposed to be sacrificed, but they escape. Then, she's afraid he will fall in love with her more beautiful sister, but of course, he doesn't.
robert newman, merlin's mistake.this is definitely merlin's mistake by robert newman. thank you all so much! :)


Mermaid's Three Wisdoms
Hello! First of all, I just wanted to let you know that this is an excellent website - I've enjoyed reading both solved and unsolved mysteries. I'm so glad that there is a site like this available! My question is this: I'm looking for a book that I read as a child, probably somewhere around 1979-82. I don't know the author or title, but I vividly remember a part of the plotline. The subject concerns a girl who befriends a mermaid - the mermaid becomes human for a while, but can't communicate by speaking as we know it. That's all I remember, except that I loved this book. Oh, and one line of dialogue - the mermaid said that [something the girl wanted her to do] "is not part of our creed." Please note: this was not the Anderson fairy tale, or any fairy tale for that matter - it was an actual children's book. Any guidance you could provide would be appreciated! I'd love to find it again. Thanks!

Are you thinking of Jane Yolen, The Mermaid's Three Wisdoms ('78)? The girl (about 12 yrs old) is deaf.


Merrylegs
This is a stump the Bookseller thing. I checked this book out of the elementary school library. in the early 60's. The illustrations were wonderful and as a horse lover I just loved this book. I think that it was called Merry Legs. There was a boy and a rocking horse and the rocking horse turned into a real pony or something like this. It was a long time ago and I have tried to get this book for years. Please try to figure this out for me, I really want this book.

M3--Merrylegs by Paul Brown-this is a really cute book about a little boy and his toy rocking horse, with great illustrations.
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At night a boy's rocking horse (or perhaps statue of a horse?) becomes real.  The horse is white with a black mane and tail.  It's possible that, like Pegasus, the horse flies. I think this was a short book, with lots of illustrations.  The illustrations were bright and colorful, and rather cartoonish and flat, not realistic.

Merrylegs the Rocking Pony by Paul Brown, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1946.  Scarce!



Merry Adventures of Little Brown Bear
I'm looking for a children's book that had a collection of short stories about a young bear.  One of the stories was about a picnic that was pot-luck and everyone brought a chocolate cake.  Another story was how he got berry stains on his red shirt and to remedy it his mother dyed the shirt red, in another story a brick was used to warm his bed.  The book had a red cover. Thank You!

Elizabeth Upham, Little Brown Bear, 1942?  Maybe not the same book, but pretty similar.  Little Brown Bear has a birthday party for his mother and they eat a white cake with pink frosting  he goes blackberry picking, and his mom make a pie with the berries (no mention of dying his shirt)  he invites his friends to a party and has doughnuts and milk.  There are 10 stories in all.  The cover of the book is orange with a drawing of Little Bear in black, and the book is illustrated by Marjorie Hartwell.
Elsa Holmelund Minarik, Little Bear.  Could this person be looking for one of the Little Bear books?  The only one I can find just now is the first one, which is not the one being looked for, but there are several in the series, and the situations described do sound familiar.
This book, as described, seems like the book for which I am searching!  Not sure if it's the same book, but I would have read it in the late 1950s or early 1960s.  I remember a picture of a picnic that was very detailed (I was most impressed by the variety of pies).  I also remember the dying of the shirt, etc.
Still think the original requester was closer to the mark! I definitely remember the dyeing of the shirt, the picnic (seems like there were 2, with the first one all chocolate cakes, then they get it right -- the rich full-color illustration I remember and the phrase "even chocolate cake") AND the brick bedwarmer.  I remember the cover as red (somewhat like "Book Trails" covers).  Minarik's "Little Bear" has Sendak illustrations, which are not the same.
Elizabeth Upham, The Merry Adventures of Little Brown Bear, 1952.  This book contains ALL the stories you mention.  The cover for my 1965 reprint is green, however, but an earlier reprint might have a different color.  (There is a 1955 reprint, also.)  The illustrations are by Marjorie Hartwell.  The stories you mentioned are:  Little Brown Bear and the Picnic (everyone brings chocolate cake to the potluck picnic), Little Brown Bear and the New Blouse (the bear stains his new white blouse eating raspberries in the woods and his mother dyes it red when she can't remove the stains), Little Brown Bear at Grandmother's (the bear spends a winter night at Grandmother's where she heats a brick to keep his feet warm).  There are 16 stories in this book (97 pp.)
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Collection of little bear or little brown bear stories in one book.  Red hard cover book medium size probably 50's or 60's. this is a collection of stories about a little bear not the little bear that is more popular and had a show on nickelodeon.  One of the stories was specifically about his little tin cup he leaves out in the rain by the water pump and when he goes to get it several days later it is all rusty.  His mom suggests painting it red and he does and is happy now.  I wish I could remember at least one or two more of the stories in the book but that is the only one I can specifically remember.

Elizabeth Upham, Little Brown Bear and His Friends, 1952.  This is definitely a Little Brown Bear book.  The story to which you refer is "Little Brown Bear and the Tin Cup"  the storyline is exactly as you describe. Elizabeth Upham printed her stories in more than one book.  I found this story in Little Brown Bear and His Friends and The Merry Adventures of Little Brown Bear (c. 1952)  it may appear in others.  Look in the Solved Mysteries to see some of the stories of Merry Adventures of Little Brown Bear  perhaps that is your book. Little Brown Bear and His Friends includes:  LBB and the Red Sleeve, LBB and the Birthday Present, and LBB's Happy Thanksgiving (there are nine stories in this book).
Elizabeth Upham, The Merry adventures of Little Brown Bear.  Solved my own stumper.  found several copies of this title and others by upham.  thanks.



Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
My husband learned to read with this book, but he cannot remember much about it! Possibly Disney-fied version, but he doesn't think so because that one had a fox as Robin. Recalls it being 'big' probably 8x11, glossy green cover. Mom bought it for him new at end of 1972 or early '73. You can imagine how many hits come up when doing searches. Can anybody help?

There is a Disney book- Robin Hood and the Great Coach Robbery (1974) that features a fox as Robin and a bear as Little John.
There are green-covered versions that fit the right date (say 1960-75) by Rosemary Sutcliff, Howard Pyle, and Roger Lancelyn Green.  However, none of those seems to fit the description of a learning-to-read book.
I'm the original stumper requester... guess my description was unclear. It wasn't specifically a learn-to-read book, and we don't think it's Disney because Disney's had a fox as Robin Hood and the book we're looking for didn't. Thanks for trying :)
Walt Disney, Robin Hood, 1973.  Upon consulting with my husband's older sister, I've decided to ask more details about the Disney version, with a glossy green cover. Anyone seen this? I've come up with some hits on searches that would be around the correct date, now I just need to know which is 'glossy and green' Sure appreciate the help!
Disney, Green and glossy- this fits: Robin Hood -story and pictures by the Walt Disney Studio-Golden Press-1973. Cover shows Robin (fox) leaning against a tree that has a wanted poster of himself. Endpapers have nice map of Nottingham, Sherwood Forest etc.
Howard Pyle, Robin Hood.  This edition of ROBIN HOOD sounds very much like one I had and enjoyed while growing up -- unfortunately, I don't recall the publisher, and the book isn't easily retrievable now.  What I do remember:  The book was large, had a mostly-green color illustration on the cover, and had a green spine and back.  It was part of a series of
childrens' versions of classic literature -- possibly but not necessarily from Time-Life.  (I want to say that the Robin Hood book was #4, but that's a guess.)  Others in the series were Charles Kingsley's THE HEROES, Owen Wister's THE VIRGINIAN, and a selection of Sherlock Holmes stories.  Although the back covers of the books stated "complete and unabridged", this wasn't necessarily the case -- in particular, I was peeved as a child that a sizeable chunk of "A Study In Scarlet" had been omitted from the Holmes volume.  The interior pages had wide side margins in which notes and annotations were inserted highlighting obscure or unusual material in the texts.
Pyle, Howard, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, 1968, reprint.  Classic Press (Santa Rosa, CA), 1968  ISBN 0716632039.  I've now had a chance to do some Web-spelunking which confirms in virtually all details my memory of the series mentioned in my previous note (it seems to have been called the "Educator Classic Library").  Moreover, the publication date is about right -- I guarantee this is the edition I had as a youngster, and I'm almost sure it's the one the original poster is thinking of as well.
Illustrated by Don Irwin, #9 in a series of 12 Educator Classic Series.



Merry Christmas from Betsy
1980, childrens.  I've tried the Betsy Tacy & Maud Hart Lovelace, but still can't seem to find this book.  I read it in 1979/1980.  I thought the title was "Betsy's First Christmas".  I only remember she's a very young girl, snow, Christmas time, she goes shopping for a new slicker with her mom, and puts out orange peelings filled with peanut butter for birds I believe.  And possibly a white, hardback.  Think I recall a Christmas wreath on its cover.  Oh please you've got to know this one.  Thank you ever so much!

Haywood, Carolyn, Snowbound with Betsy
.  This is Carolyn Haywood's Betsy not Lovelace's, and the episode described is in Snowbound with Betsy.
Carolyn Haywood, Snowbound with Betsy
.  Try this one--it does have the scene with feeding the birds.
Haywood, Carolyn, Merry Christmas From Betsy, 1970, copyright.  "Merry Christmas From Betsy" is a collection of short stories from numerous winter-themed Haywood books.   Feeding the birds with peanut butter is from Haywood's most popular novel, "Snowbound With Betsy."
I'm only guessing- but could this be one of Carolyn Haywood's Betsy books?? Snowbound with Betsy? or Betsy's Winterhouse?? These might be possibilities!
Haywood, Carolyn, Snowbound with Betsy, 1962, copyright.  Synopsis: It is usually a harrowing experience to be snowbound, but to Betsy and Star the snowstorm that came a week before Christmas was a perfect delight. For company, they had Neddie and Susan who, along with their mother, had been rescued from a stalled car on a snowy turnpike by Father. Even though the electricity was out and they could not watch television, Betsy was never at a loss for other ways to pass the time. Soon she infected Neddie and Susan with her contagious knack for complicating the simplest situation.  Before the week was over, Betsy washed a can of unpopped corn that got scattered on the floor and then, using her own peculiar logic, dried it off in the oven wwith devastating results. --She devised a birds' Christmas tree that her father called a Garbage tree-- and, with cheer and aplomb, thoroughly misdirected the making of a snowman.  These are only a few of the merry adventures and mix-ups that make this snowbound week a joyous holiday for Betsy and her family.
Carolyn Haywood, Merry Christmas From Betsy.  You might try Carolyn Haywood's books about Betsy and her little sister, Star.  Betsy and her sister Star remember all the special Christmases they have spent together in "Merry Christmas From Betsy", a collection of holiday chapters gathered from the Betsy books, as well as two never-before-published episodes.  Another one that might be worth a look is "Snowbound With Betsy" in which a terrific snowstorm hits the week before Christmas, and Betsy, Star, and their parents are snowbound, much to the girls' delight. There are snowmen to be built, Christmas presents to be made, and a tree to be decorated.
Carolyn Haywood, Merry Christmas from Betsy, 1970, approximate.  It might not be this book, but have you checked out the "other" Betsy books, by Carolyn Haywood? I can't remember the slicker story, but I'm absolutely certain that there is a story about putting peanut butter out for the birds in orange peels. Again, I think that it might be this book, but I can't be sure because I don't own it and am unable to check for certain.
Carolyn Haywood, Merry Christmas from Betsy, 1970, copyright.  This is NOT Betsy's first Christmas but there are different stories about Betsy and her little sister, Star, who was born on Christmas Eve and does have her first Christmas in the book.  In one story they put peanut butter in orange peels to hang on a tree outside for the birds.
Carolyn Haywood, Merry Christmas from Betsy.  Could this be from the long-running Betsy series by Carolyn Haywood? There is a Christmas book.
Carolyn Haywood,
Betsy series.  I don't know the exact title, but this stumper is referring to one of the Betsy series by Carolyn Haywood, a great series. There is at least one full Christmas title, but a couple of the others may have Christmas bits in them too. Anyway, this is the author she's looking for.
Check the Carolyn Haywood books about Betsy. (Look in the Solved-B section, "B is for Betsy Series") This is a different Betsy from the Lovelace one. At least one of them is about Christmas. See if any of that looks familiar.
I want to thank ALL who responded to my book stumper.  I surely hope you're right.  Now all I have to do is find a copy.  I'm so excited.


Merry Little Grig
The book is one I had as a child in the Thirties. It was a collection of stories illustrated in color.  One story was about two girls; one who always wore blue and was blonde; the other girl always wore red and was a brunette.  The other story I rember was called "The Merry Little Grig" and was a rebus.

Anonymous, Story of the Merry Little Grig:  Rebus Riddle Reading, 1928.  I can't pin down the whole book you're looking for, but I can steer you to this bit, anyway:  "Collection of stories about elf-like grigs told in rebus form with small pictures
replacing key words."
Publisher info for above:  Newark, NJ: Charles E Graham, 1928.  Alternate title = The Merry Little Grig & His Good Time.



Merry Muprhy, the Irish Potato
My Mom recalls this beloved children's book (1930s) was about vegetables and the saying she remembers is "Laugh amd Be Merry Said Merry the Irish Potato"

HRL: I think I've seen this one before...
Lang Campbell, Merry Muprhy, the Irish Potato, 1929.  This is the book you want - all about an Irish potato, from the right time period and contain the "Merry" refrain :)


Merry, Rose, and Christmas-Tree June
I recall a favorite story about a girl who is going to live with her older (not very friendly) aunt, and on the way there they stop in a store.  The girl is allowed to pick one doll and she is torn between a nice, new, fancy doll and an older, dusty doll she spies on the back of the store shelf.  I remember her aunt is impatient with her when she chooses the older doll.  Somehow the girl ends up with both dolls and loves them each.  It was illustrated by a popular male illustrator (he liked fancy mustaches but I can't think of any of his other books) and was probably from the 70s.  It isn't "The Best Loved Doll" or "The Most Wonderful Doll in the World" but somehow I think the title might be similar to those.

Re: D48, my sister was able to help me figure out that the illustrator is Edward Gorey and from there I found a list of his books and found it ... it's Merry, Rose, and Christmas-Tree June.  Thanks so much for the site ... it has gotten us reminiscing happily!
D-48 is a wonderful old story called Merry, Rose, and Christmas Tree June.  It is by Doris Orgel and the pictures were done by an Edward Gorey.  It was a Scholastic book and published in 1970. The tattered cover on my book is pink and has 3 dolls and a cat on it.
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I am searching for a book that I believe I got through the Weekly Reader Book Club around 1970. It was about a little girl who went to visit (I believe) her wealthy aunt. The aunt takes her to a doll store so the little girl can buy a new doll. The little girl bypasses all of the fancy talking dolls and chooses a plain one. She may actually break one of the dolls causing it to go slack jawed. The other thing I remember is that the aunt holds a dinner party in which she has something like duck and wild rice and cherries jubilee and the little girl would much prefer chicken and tame rice. I believe the length of the book was similar to "No Flying in the House". Any ideas on what this might be?  Thanks very much for your help.

I think both G66 and T101 are thinking of Magic Elizabeth by Norma Kassirer. It appears on your Solved Stumpers page, and it was recently republished. ~from a librarian
This is definitely *NOT* Magic Elizabeth.  No stores, no shopping trips, no fancy dinner.
I appreciate your reader's comments regarding Magic Elizabeth.  I, too, looked at that description but decided Magic Elizabeth was not the book because in my book, the aunt takes the little girl to a doll store and the aunt is pressuring her to choose a modern doll that walks or talks. I'll keep monitoring the site to see if others have recommendations.  Thank you so much.
I originally posted that the answer was MAGIC ELIZABETH when the only clue was that it involved an aunt and a doll. With the addition of more clues, it's clear that it's not MAGIC ELIZABETH. The book the person wants about a great-aunt, her great-niece and three dolls is   MERRY, ROSE, AND CHRISTMAS-TREE JUNE by Doris Orgel, illustrated by Edward Gorey, 1969. I'm sure about this because I still own my very tattered copy from childhood. It also appears on your Solved  pages. ~from a librarian
You're right, you're brilliant!  The title IS Merry, Rose and Christmas tree June.  Thanks so much! Harriett, do you happen to have any copies???
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THE ORDINARY DOLL?  My sister and I are going nuts trying to remember this one..It's about a doll who lives on a dusty shelf in a toy store who thinks she will never be sold because she is ordinary. she is bought by a little girl with one or two other dolls just like her...free associaltion memory:  brown hair, blond braids, plain dresses, illustrations and Scholastic published it!

#D65--Dolls, Christmas, dusty store shelf:  Sounds a little like The Story of Holly and Ivy, by Rumer Godden.
D65 dolls, christmas: I took a look at The Story of Holly and Ivy, by Rumer Godden, illustrated by Adrienne Adams, published Macmillan 1958 (also illustrated by Barbara Cooney, published Viking 1985). Holly is a blonde doll with brown eyes and a red Christmas dress. The sinister stuffed owl Abracadabra tries to keep her from being bought on Christmas eve. Ivy is an orphan girl with brown hair and a green dress. Ivy gets both Holly and a family at the end of the story. However, Holly is given as a gift, by herself, not bought with others, and she had only just arrived at the shop that Christmas, so there's no dust. Could it be Merry, Rose, and Christmas Tree June, by Doris Orgel, illustrated by Edward Gorey, published Scholastic 1970? That has more than one doll and dusty shelves, along with a Christmas theme.
D65 dolls christmas, dusty shelf: Merry, Rose and Christmas Tree June seems likely. In I. Greedy's Distinguished Doll-arama, all the dolls "had strings coming out of their bellies or buttons on their backs, and could do the most distinguished things ... unlike ordinary dolls, these had already been given names ... except the forgotten doll up on her shelf" who doesn't have buttons or strings. When Jane is in the shop looking at the distinguished dolls, none of which are nice to play with, the cat Cheaperthanmousetraps knocks down a box of Christmas ornaments from the "high, dusty shelf" along with the forgotten doll. "She was a tiny bit taller than Rose and a tiny bit smaller than Merry (the other two dolls Jane owns). She wore a cobweb-covered dress under which, Jane knew, there'd be no strings to pull and no buttons to press." Her eyes and dress are green. Merry has "brown braids, just like Jane" and Rose has short black hair, and they wear "cotton dresses - the kind Jane wore herself." So it looks like a pretty good match.
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Dolls named similar to Mary Rose and Christmas Tree June.  Doll sits in store where toys play at night till girl gets her.

Check several titles by Rumer Godden...
Rumer Godden, The Story of Holly and Ivy. I know you've already been directed to Rumer Godden, but reading your description made me confident that it is The Story of Holly and Ivy, which is about as sweet a Christmas story as you can hope for.  I have an ancient, well-loved paperback of it.
Doris Orgel (author),  Edward Gorey (illustrator), Merry, Rose, and Christmas Tree June, 1969.  Definitely Merry, Rose, and Christmas Tree June. When Jane goes to visit her aunt, she forgets her beloved dolls Rose and Merry, so her aunt decides to buy her a new doll - a wonderful, expensive doll. But at the store, Jane has trouble choosing among all the fancy dolls - including some that talk, walk, dance, etc.  (While trying them out, she gives bubblegum to Talking Tillie, who has asked for it - causing the doll's jaw to drop off completely.  She also over-pulls the string on Bella Ballerina, causing her legs to drop off.)  Just when Jane is about to give up on finding a doll she likes, the store cat jumps onto a high, forgotten shelf, knocking down a box of Christmas Ornaments - and an ordinary doll, which is exactly what Jane wanted.  She names the doll "Christmas Tree June" because she came tumbling down with all the Christmas ornaments, and because it was during the month of June.
Orgel, Doris, Merry, Rose, and Christmas-Tree June.  Knopf, 1969.  "Unhappy without the dolls she left at home, a little girl is promised a new one by her great-aunt."
Doris Orgel, Merry, Rose, and Christmas Tree June.  This must be the one.
Rumer Godden, The Story of Holly and Ivy.  Ivy is an orphan, Holly is a doll.  Ivy ends up with a home, and Holly ends up with Ivy.



Mexicali Soup
I believe the name is Mexicali Soup. It is about a Mexican family who makes soup with only boiling water but then relatives come over with vegetables (carrots and potatoes, etc.) to add to the water.

This is based on an old folktale called Stone Soup. There are many versions and illustrations of it, most notably Caldecott-winner Marcia Brown's 1947 version and Ann McGovern's Scholastic version in 1968.  I thought your title was correct, as it sounds familiar, but I'm not bringing up a book with that title. I think I have it confused with Rene d'Harnoncourt's Mexicana.
Katherine Hitte (and William D. Hayes), Mexicali Soup, 1970.  This is a more plausible solution here than Stone Soup.



Mickey Mouse Goes Christmas Shopping
My question concerns a little golden book that featured Mickey Mouse shopping at Christmas with his 2 nephews Morty & Ferdy. Morty & Ferdy get locked in the store at closing time. This must have come out in the late 50's, early 60's, and had a dark green cover with Mickey Mouse wearing a trench coat and fedora hat carrying gifts.

Bedford, Annie North, Mickey Mouse Goes Christmas Shopping, 1953.  "Everyone has fun when Mickey Mouse does his Christmas shopping  Mortie and Ferdie have an adventure they don't expect."



Middle Button
see Little Rhody

click here for imageMiddle Sister
A pioneer girl was planning to bake apple dumplings for a special occasion, perhaps the visit of a special relative/friend.  I believe the apples were from her own apple tree (she might have brought the tree west when the family moved). An Indian?? comes to her cabin while she is alone preparing the dumplings and eats all the apples but one small one. Something might have also happened to some of the apples earlier so she just has a few left. She manages to make a dumpling out of the one remaing apple and all is well.  I have the vaguest feeling her name was Sarah, but I am not at all sure.  Thanks in advance.

P88: This is The Middle Sister by Miriam Mason, 1947. Written at the second-grade level or so, it's about a timid girl who asks her uncle for his lion's tooth to give her courage, and he agrees on condition that she take care of an apple tree and make him an apple dumpling when he comes back. On the back cover, it says "...but who would expect it to be so hard - and so scary - to look after an apple tree?"  The family also, at one point, takes in a small lost Sioux (?) boy in Minnesota until his family is able to find him and take him home. By the time Sara fulfills her end of the bargain, she has already learned how to be brave on her own, but only the reader realizes this.
Thank-you so much for indentifying my childhood memory.  I actually found and successfully purchased the book from E-bay the same day I learned the title.  I hope to receive it any day now.  I will continue to check your web-site frequently and help "solve" stumpers when possible.  I just love this site!!
I'm another NPR junky who visited your site after listening to the NPR piece.  I came to your site with the plan to submit a book stumper, but after a couple hours searching through your Mysteries Solved, I found what I was looking for:  The Middle Sister by Miriam Mason.  Yeah!!  When I was young I read a copy that had been my Mom's.  I now have a daughter and am excited that I might be able to share this with her.  My local library has a copy, but I'll be moving to a smaller town soon, so if it is as good as I remember, I'll be back to your site to purchase.  Thanks for offering such a cool service.  I likely will be back, and will definitely forward your web address to my mother-in-law who is a retired librarian. Thanks!
 Interpreting
Condition 
Grades
Mason, Miriam. The Middle Sister.  Scholastic, 1947.  Softcover.  Seventh printing, 1973.  Previous owner's inscription on title page.  VG.  $5
order form


Midnight Horse
I remember reading a library book when I was small and horse crazy.  This one stayed in my mind and I would love to read it again.  It was British, I think because I vaguely remember something about gob stopper candies. The girls were all mad about horses. But the detail that stuck in my mind was that the main girl bought "plasticine" and fashioned several little pony and horse statues.  One was a cream or yellow cob (I think cob) that was named "Cornish Cream." I was reading this during the 1960s. I don't think it was a new book.  Then the dastardly library took it off the shelf.

John Verney, Friday's Tunnel?,  c.1952.  The combination of England, horses and gobstoppers strongly suggests Friday's Tunnel-- or at least another in the series of books about the Callender family, by John Verney. The plasticine models are *not* in Friday's Tunnel. I don't remember the other books as well. They are February's Road (quite likely), Ismo (not likely at all), and Seven Sunflower Seeds (conceivable).
Ruby Ferguson, Jill Has Two Ponies; Jill Enjoys Her Ponies (many other titles), mid 50s / early 60s.  This sounds like the "Jill" series, details as above.  They all featured the same lot of horsey characters (including the splendidly-named Captain Cholly-Sawcutt!).  Narrated by Jill herself, with tremendous gusto and humour.
EDWARDS Monica, The Midnight Horse.  Tamzin makes several horses from plasticine. As well as Cornish
Cream, she makes Honey Bee (brown), Spanish Gold and a white one,  Silver Circus. Silver Circus is the name of the Midnight Horse, a stolen racehorse which she and friends Rissa, Lesley,Meryon and Roger rescue . This is the 3rd of her Romney Marsh series, of which ther are about a dozen. (She also wrote the Punchbowl Farm series)
Monica Edwards, Spirit of Punchbowl Farm, 1950s? Gob stopper cadies don't ring any bells, but Lyndsey Thornton, main character in the Punchbowl Farm series, made horses and ponies out of plasticine. the name Cornish cream sounds familiar. May not be the title given, but could be one of the others in that series.
Monica Edwards, The Midnight Horse,1949. One of the Romney Marsh adventures about Tamzin and Rissa.  My copy is in an anthology called 3 Great Pony Stories published by Collins in 1971.
Monica Edwards, The Midnight Horse, 1949.  Sorry - got wrong series in previous message. NOT Lyndsey Thornton from Monica Edwards' Punchbowl Farm series, but Tamsin Grey and Rissa in The Midnight Horse, one of her Romney Marsh series. Tamsin made horses from plasticine, including Cornish cream, when, I think, they were camping at the Merrow's farm on the marsh.
M136 mad about horses: well, February Callendar is pretty horse mad (though her sisters aren't), but I don't recall plasticene or Cornish Cream in Friday's Tunnel (and the gobstoppers are silver and special). The problem is that there were SO MANY 'pony books' published in England during the 60s that this one will take real luck to pin down. (One English reviewer expressed surprise about an American kid's book being about a BOY's love of a horse).



Midnight is a Place
I am looking for a book I read in the mid-1970's about a young girl in England who is forced to work in a carpet factory (dickensian) where many children lose fingers doing dangerous jobs.  I think that the girl is part French but I remember the name Murgatroyd and I am afraid that's it.  Thanks for any help.

Joan Aiken, Midnight Is a Place
.  Two children, Lucas and Anna Marie (who is part French), are forced to work in a dangerous carpet factory when their guardian dies and leaves them unprovided for.
Aiken, Joan, Midnight is a Place, 1974.  I'm not sure why, but this title sprang to mind when I read your clues.  As far as I remember, it's about a boy during the industrial revolution in England, who befriends a girl who was working in a factory. I do think there were some scenes where either someone mentioned losing fingers in the machinery, or it actually happened.
Joan Aiken, Midnight Is A Place, 1974, copyright.  I know there was a French girl in this, and another character named Murgatroyd.  Also a carpet factory.  May be worth checking out?
Aiken, Joan, Midnight is a Place.  Book Description: "Now, back in print, the engaging and suspenseful British fantasy by one of England's most imaginative storytellers. Lucas Bell is lonely and miserable at Midnight Court, a vast, brooding house owned by his intolerable guardian, Sir Randolph Grimsby. When a mysterious carriage brings a visitor to the house, Lucas hopes he's found a friend at last. But the newcomer, Anna Marie, is unfriendly and spoiled�and French. Just when Lucas thinks things can't get any worse, disastrous circumstances force him and Anna Marie, parentless and penniless, into the dark and unfriendly streets of Blastburn."
Joan Aiken, Midnight is a Place, 1974, approximate.  From the 'net: "Lucas Bell is lonely and miserable at Midnight Court, a vast, brooding house owned by his intolerable guardian, Sir Randolph Grimsby [who also owns Midnight Mill - the town�s largest carpet factory]. When a mysterious carriage brings a visitor to the house, Lucas hopes he's found a friend at last. But the newcomer, Anna Marie, is unfriendly and spoiled � and French. Just when Lucas thinks things can't get any worse, disastrous circumstances force him and Anna Marie, parentless and penniless, into the dark and unfriendly streets of Blastburn. ...They eventually move to the old ice house near Midnight Court and there they meet Lady Murgatroyd - Anna-Marie�s grandmother."
Joan Aiken, Midnight is a Place.  This is not one of her "Wolves of Willoughby Chase" series, but it is a really good book!
joan aiken, midnight is a place, 1974, copyright.  This might be it. A french orphan girl in england works in a dangerous carpet factory with a deadly carpet press among other child killing hazards. The children must try to beat the press coming down if there is a peice of fluff on the carpet without getting squashed. I also remember her working another machine... perhaps this was the finger hazard. She also tries collecting cigar butts to re-roll and resale but is bullied by a group of english children and is forced to work in the factory. There is a boy in this book too with whom there are minor quarrels... both kids being forced to provide for themselves when their mutual guardian drukenly sets arson to his estate... they come to respect and look out for each other.
Joan Aiken, Midnight is a Place.  This has got to be your book!  Lucas Bell is a lonely orphan with an unpleasant guardian, living in a frightening mansion called Midnight Court. Things begin to happen quickly, including the unexpected arrival of another orphan (Anne-Marie, a plucky young French girl), a terrible fire, the need to find work in the local carpet-making factory, the help of a secretive old lady, and the long unraveling of the mystery of his name and fortune.
Joan Aiken, Midnight Is a Place, before 1977, approximate.  Apparently this is about a French girl (whose last name is Murgatroyd) who goes to live in an English town where there is a carpet factory. It sounds like it must be your book. PS- there was a TV series made of it in 1977.
Joan Aiken, Midnight Is a Place.  This is definitely Midnight Is a Place by Joan Aiken. I read this book several times as a young girl. In addition to the carpet factory, there is a boy who has to work in the sewers looking for salvage--things that can be resold. A great, great, and horrifying book for kids.
Joan Aiken, Midnight is a Place.  This must be the book- have just ordered it and will be reading it to my sons.  Thank you for all the replies! This is a wonderful service.


Mighty Hunter
This one is driving me crazy.  I remember reading a book back in the 80's about a young indian boy who does not like being in school so one day, he runs away from school and goes into the woods.  In the woods he finds some bear cubs and plays with them until the cubs' mother shows up.  The mother talks (I think) to the boy and eventually starts to chase him.  The boy escapes from the woods and run back to school.  The last page illustrates the boy running back to school with a trail of dust floating behind him.  I have no idea of the author,the name of the book or any character names.

Berta & Elmer Hader, The Mighty Hunter.  Solved my own mystery.  The book name is the Mighty Hunter.  Its about a little boy named Little Brave heart.  He decides he wants to go hunting instead of going to school.  So one day he sneaks off into the woods and goes hunting.  Every animal he enounters leads him to a bigger animal until he finds a grizzly bear.  After a brief conversation with the bear, the bear chases him out of the woods and he runs back to school.



Millicent's Cat
a black cat looking through the window of a dollhouse at the reader  full-page scary black-and-white (?) illustrations  the word "antimacassar" is in the story! a visit to a formal relative's house?

Flora Gill Jacobs, The Dollhouse Mystery. Was the cover predominantly red with a picture of a black cat?  If so, this is "The Dollhouse Mystery"---Jacobs owns the Washington (DC) Dollhouse and Toy Museum and this was her first children's book.  The museum still sells the book though I don't know if it's available anywhere else.
Possibly - Fun With Mrs. Thumb by Jan Mark and Nicola Bayley, Candlewich Press, 1993.  "A cat taunts the inhabitant of a dollhouse until a human comes to offer him his dinner."
Mary Emett, Anthony and Antimacassar.Not sure if it's the one (haven't read it in many years) but it's probably the only book for young children with 'antimacassar' in the title!
D97 It's possible that it AMONG THE DOLLS by William Sleator. Definitely creepy! Can't remember the cat, but I'll check. ~from a librarian
D97 Doublechecked AMONG THE DOLLS. There wasn't a cat in any of the illustrations. Sorry about the false lead. ~from a librarian
D97 I think you can  eliminate Sleator. None of the b & w sketches inside.
I contributed the first clue, although I went back and re-read it and I don't see "antimacassar" in there.  The cat definitely fits.  Definitely not Among the Dolls.  There are so many doll books out there!!
Unfortunately, I don't know the answer, but I got here through a search engine when I was looking for the exact same book! The only extra thing that I can remember is that the girl thought that the antimacassar was a scary "Antie Macassar." I remember the black and white pictures, and it always reminded me of the Madeline books. I recall the book from about 30-35 years ago.
Joan M. Lexau, Millicent's Cat, 1962. This is definitely Millicent's Cat by Joan M. Lexau. "A little girl goes to visit her great-aunt who lives in a haunted house, full of ghosts and goblins and witches."
Saw the blurb below on Millicent's Cat - Title is actually Millicent's Ghost by Joan Lexau, illustrated by Ben Shecter.  I have a copy of the book from when I was a child - mostly
black and white illustrations with some touches of pink and flesh tones here and there.  There is a dollhouse, a cat named Clementine, antimacassars, a ghost that is
not really a ghost - Millicent goes to visit her Great Aunt Agatha and scares herself while looking around the old house.  



Mind-Call
A young girl wakes up to find her town has been flooded, and her abusive uncle has forced her aunt and cousin to leave her behind when the family evacuated.  However, she has been having psychic dreams of this happening for several weeks, and has used them to plan exactly how she'll escape.  She finds a baby with psychic powers whose parents have drowned, and possibly meets up with another psychic boy her age, and they all find refuge with a distant relative, who is rich, crazy and wants to use their powers to take over the world.  In the end they defeat him and end up with his money, which they use to open a school for other psychic children.  I read this sometime in the 80s, and have no idea what the cover looked like, when it was published, or what the title or author was.  I do remember there were two other books she wrote, which I think were loosely connected to this one.

Wilanne Schneider Belden.   I think you're looking for Mind-Find, Mind-Hold and Mind-Call, all by this author.  I don't remember which plot goes with which book, but they all have a psychic child as the main character.  In the last book, the three children (who are different ages by then) all end up in the same place, where people are teaching them to work together.
Mind-Call is definitely the one I was looking for!  Thank you so much.  Judging by the prices, it looks like I'm not the only one who remembers it fondly.

Mindsweepers
The Minesweepers poem (not by Kipling)?  WW I or WW II era, from an anthology.  "Slowly, carefully, patiently / The men of Grimsby town / Grope their way o'er the rolling sea / The stormswept, treacherous gray North Sea / Keeping the death rate down."  It may be a chapter header in a book on naval warfare.  Possibly some sort of boys' book of sea fights.  My 80-year-old father can't get it out of his head and can't find it anywhere.

William Delf, Threescore and Ten.  This is an old sea poem called Threescore and Ten, found in Songs of the Sea.
Methinks I see a host of craft, spreading their sails alee, / As down the Humber they do glide, all bound for the Northern sea / Methinks I see on each small craft a crew with hearts so brave / Going out ot earn their daily bread upon the restless wave. / Chorus: And it's threescore and ten, boys and men, were lost from Grimsby town / From Yarmouth down to Scarborough, many hundreds more were drowned. / Our herring-craft, our trawlers, our fishing-smacks as well, / They long did fight, that bitter night, their battle with the swell.
H. Ingamells, The Mine Sweepers. A Google search of the terms "slowly" "carefully" "patiently" and "Grimsby town" turned up a Google books result for "The Story of the Submarine" by Farnham Bishop, published February 1916.  The results-page displayed is the header and beginning of Chapter XI: Mines.  The chapter header is part (or all?) of the poem "The Mine Sweepers" by H. Ingamells.  The attribution indicates that the poem was printed in the "London Spectator."  No date given, but the quote is as follows: ''Ware mine!" / "Starboard your helm!"..."Full speed ahead!" / The squat craft duly swings -- / A hand's breadth off, a thing of dread / The sullen breaker flings. // Carefully, slowly, patiently, / The men of Grimsby Town / Grope their way on the rolling sea -- / The storm-swept, treacherous, gray North Sea -- / Keeping the death-rate down. This seems to be exactly the poem the requester was looking for.  I compared it to the lyrics of the folk-song a previous responder suggested, and though there are similarities of setting, tone, meter and rhythm, they are apparently not the same poem.  Interestingly, I find that the meter and rhythm are similar to that in many of the Yukon/Klondike gold-rush adventure poems by Robert W. Service, also published in the early 1900s.  So the poem could relate to WWI or to other conflicts (don'\''t know enough history to suggest any, other ideas?) within the previous several decades involving England, North Sea naval activity, and mines.
H. Ingamells, The Mine Sweepers, 1914 - 1916, approximate. I just responded with a partial solution to this stumper and now have the full solution.  The poem "The Mine Sweepers" can be found in its entirety in the book "These Were The Men: Poems of the War 1914-1918."  The entire poem is located on page 82 and 83 and it has quite a few additional stanzas to the ones I quoted from the other source.  The full text of the book "These Were The Men" can be found at http://www.archive.org/stream/theseweremenpoem00jaqurich/theseweremenpoem00jaqurich_djvu.txt, and you can then find the poem by using your browser's find-on-this-page function to locate "Ingamells" (authors'names are at the bottom of the poems so you will have to scroll up to the beginning of the poem).  Hope this answers the question in time for the requester's 80-year-old father to enjoy!

Hello,
I'm so very grateful to have the answer.
My father is still living and will be 87 in February.  Just last night he asked me if I'd found the poem yet.
I checked Loganberry again, and there it was!  I don't even know when it was submitted.
How wonderful to have the name, author, and source!
I desperately want to thank the person who tried to help us and the one who solved the mystery.
Dad will be tremendously excited.



Mindy's Mysterious Miniature
i read this book in the 70's as a young girl. This book is about a young girl who went with her parents to an auction/estate sale. One of the things they purchased was box full of differnt things. the parents had bought the box because there was an antique hand hammered plate or server. something like that. I beleive she may have found something in the box that had something to do with shrinking houses. Not sure about how she found them, but she finds several houses that were shrunk, along with the people in them. The houses were shrunk along time before she found them. If i remember correctly the people had continued to age. One of them i think was a young teenager at the time, and was now older. At some point she was shrunk and was living in one of the houses. It was a reader book with chapters. The only little picture i remember was when the girl was in the house, and her and the elderly lady were going upstairs, she had a candle, and part of the peeling wallpaper at the top of stairs were drawn. The houses with the people in them were shrunk during a town carnival? or something along those lines. there was the bad guy who shrunk them and kept them in his garage? not sure of the room. At the end the Houses and People are all restored to normal size. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, i hope someone knows this book.

Jane Louise Curry, Mindy's Mysterious Miniature.  This is also published under the title "The Mysterious Shrinking House."
Curry, Jane Louise, Mindy's Mysterious Miniature. (1970)  This is definitely the book.   "Mindy found the miniature house hidden in the attic of the old barn. It was so perfect it looked like a real house--that had somehow shrunk. But she never guessed its terrible secret or that she herself would be trapped inside."
Jane Louise Curry, Mindy's Mysterious Miniature. (1970)  This book was also published under the title "The Mysterious Shrinking House."  I am sure you will get lots of answers to your question as this seems to be a favorite book of many people.  "Mindy found the miniature house hidden in the attic of the old barn.  It was so perfect it looked like a real house-that had somehow shrunk.  But she never guessed its terrible secret-or that she herself would be trapped inside!"
Jane Louise Curry, Mindy's Mysterious Miniature. (1970)
This might be Mindy's Mysterious Miniature, also published under the title The Mysterious Shrinking House, by Jane Louise Curry.
The Mysterious Shrinking House, aka Mindy's Mysterious Miniature, by Jane Louise Curry. Not as scary as the back cover implies - especially if you're old enough to read it alone.
ohmy. you all ROCK!!! that definitly is the book. i've looked for years, put in all the different combinations of words in searches, and in a few days, you all got it! i've already called the library and had her put the book on hold. Thank you all so much!
There's a sequel to "Mindy's Mysterious Miniature" called "The Lost Farm".  In that one, a boy and his grandmother are shrunk on the family farm, and they have to keep things running. Eventually, Mindy shows up and figures out the problem and unshrinks them.  Just if the person asking wanted more...  :)


Mine of Lost Days
First let me say, this is NOT the book "Grave" by James Heneghan. I read this book prior ot 1990, probably around 1987-88.  It was hardcover, maybe 9"x7".  I got it from the Rogers City, MI library and did a book report on it.  It is about a young boy who went somewhere for summer vacation (maybe grandparents?) and he was bored.  He went exploring and found some old smokestacks or chimneys coming out of the ground and he went down in one (I think they were chimney's...maybe mineshafts?).  He went thru the underground tunnel and found a big cave with a cottage in the cave.  The boy was confused about where the smoke went from their cottage chimney.  There were people living in the cave, they were very pale and thin.  Lack of sunlight and food.  He became friends with them, they said they were down there because of the potato famine.  The boy thought that was weird because there was no famine in his current timeperiod.  He kept visiting them and for some reason he wanted to bring them topside.  The people were scared to cross through the tunnel because of the "wolves" in the dark.  When they do get above ground they start to age very rapidly...the underground cave somehow preserved them in time.  I think at the end of the book the boy is very sad because he is trying to cross a lake with one of the girls from underground and she is dying on him because she is aging so quickly.   Please help me figure out what book this is, I'm starting to think I dreamed it up and though it was a book.

Brandel, Marc, The Mine of Lost Days, 1974.
---
in about 1972, i read a story, hard cover, thick volume (for a kid) about a child/some children in england who come across an old tin? mine (you know, the stacks you see in the english country side?) and while walking around it they kick it or kick a stone at it and a door opens to world below...i would love to find out the name of this book.

David Wiseman, Jeremy Visick
hi- i don't think that jeremy v is the book - but thank you!!
Brandel Marc, The mine of lost days, 1974.  Philadelphia, Lippincott [1974] On a visit to Ireland, Henry falls into a "haunted" copper mine, and discovers that he and his new friends can travel into the past.  Could this possibly be it - time frame is fairly close and it appears to feature a group of people as the requester remembers
brandel, mine of lost days I just posted a solution and then noticed that this also appears on your solved pages - with much more detail - the chimney stacks match so I'm sure this is the right book.



Minette
The children's story is about a cat, French I believe, that went to work with her master.  He was the guard at an art gallery/museum.  His name I think was something very French like Henri, Monsouir Henri.  While he watched the pictures this cat kept a look out for mice that would nibble on the velvet curtains.  There is a line in the end about how she always slept with one eye open and an illustration of her sleeping with the one eye opened looking for mice.  The details of the book.  It was in my school's library.  While I read it in the early 90's it looked to be from an older press (late 60's/early 70's).  It was hardbound and contained illustrations.  They are not so fresh in my mind but I think they were not in full colour and instead limited to just a few like black,white, gold, red, and blue.  It was shorter, say, like 40 pages maximum.  I was in America at the time  and it seemed like an American book.  However, it could have been British or translated from French.

The mystery has been solved through about half a dozen cat forums looking for me.  The book's title is Minette.  The author is Janice.  I do not know if that is sirname or firstname.  She/he may have another name but I was not able to find it.  Glad to have the mystery solved.  You can file it as done. 



Ming Lo Moves the Mountain
early to mid 80s, childrens. It was about a asian couple who lived at the base of a mountain. Rocks kept falling onto the house. They go to a wise man about how to move the mountain. After the third visit to the wiseman he tells them to pack up the house and do a dance. When they are finished they set the house back up and they think they moved the mountain, but they really moved. The illistrations were lovely lots of blues and yellows. I remember the one of the wiseman with a pipe and smoke around his head. I carried this book with me until it fell apart and I cried when my mother finally put it in the trash.

Arnold Lobel, Ming Lo Moves the Mountain, 1982. A wise man tells Ming Lo how to move the mountain away from his house.
Lobel, Arnold, Ming Lo Moves the Mounain, 1982. Ming Lo's wife is angry. The couple live beside a big mountain which causes them no end of trouble. Shadows fall over their garden. Rocks fall through their roof. And it is always raining. "Husband," says Ming Lo's wife, "you must move the mountain so that we may enjoy our house in peace." But how can a man as small as Ming Lo move something as large as a mountain? Maybe the village wise man can help. This whimsical literary folktale is set in China.
Arnold Lobel, Ming Lo Moves the Mountain, 1993. This is definitely the book, a classic.
Lobel, Arnold, Ming Lo Moves the Mountain, 1972. Ming Lo and his wife lived in a house at the bottom of a large mountain.  They loved their house, but they did not love the mountain.  So Ming Lo's wife decided that Ming Lo should move it.  Ming Lo had no idea how a man as small as he could move something as large as a mountain.  And indeed, it was not easy.
Arnold Lobel, Ming Lo moves the Mountain. This is exactly the book you are looking for - by the wonderful author and illustrator of the Frog and Toad books and many others.



Minnikin, Midgie, and Moppet: A Mouse Story
This is a book that my girlfriend remembers when she was young. Her grandmother used to read it to her. It's near Christmas and I owe her a book as she found one for me for my birthday that I could never find. What she remembers: three mice that lived in a wonderful tree trunk with their mother, who perhaps wore an apron. The book was about adventures they had. Maybe they were always getting into trouble? The cover of the book was checkered pink and white, and the author and illustrator might have been the same person. The book was illustrated with very colorful illustrations. The title of the book seems to be the name of the three mice. She kept saying that it was not Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail, which of course are rabbits, but maybe Flopsy or Mopsy or a similar name had something to do with it? One other thing, she remembers the name Pipsqueak, but I've looked everywhere for a book with Pipsqueak in its title, and all I could come up with was "Hey, Pipsqueak!" This is not the book. Thanks for your help.

#T116--Three mice that live in a tree with their mother:  It couldn't have been a church?  During my long search for my "church mouse" book (solved only by your site!) I found one book where the sister mouse, named Muffy, went to be a missionary.  Another series, published in Australia, was about "Pip and Pippa" or something like that.  Similar names, anyhow.
Fairweather, Jessie Home, illustrated by I.E. Robinson, Matilda, MacElroy and Mary.  Racine, Whitman Tell-a-Tale 1950.  "Mrs. Mouse has three children, Matilda, MacElroy and Mary. This book describes the day they live told in rhyme." The story may begin "This is the house of Mrs. Mouse and these are her children three." The mice are white, MacElroy wears a red jacket with white collar, and the others wear aprons. However, the cover is blue, with pink and white lettering, showing the 3 little mice in front of some white flowers. Otherwise it sounds like a good possible.
Tarrant, Audrey, Pip Squeak....,  mid-late 1970s. There were a number of books about Pip Squeak, a woodmouse, but I didn't see anything about 3 mice.  However, there were two squirrels named Hoppy & Skippy that joined in the adventures (kind of like Flopsy & Mopsy?).  Titles include Pip Squeak Sets Sail, Pip Squeak Saves the Day, Pip Squeak Joins The Band, Pip Squeak's Trouble, Pip Squeak And The Thieves, Pip Squeak's Spring Holiday. There may be even more but these are all I found.  Sorry that I can't add more about whether the mother wore an apron, or what the cover looked like, etc.  There is also a book called Pip Squeak, Mouse in Shining Armor by Robert Kraus, but I can't find a summary.  Knowing Kraus, though, the illustrations were probably cartoonish and colored with bright primary colors.
I did ask about Matilda, MacElroy and Mary, and this was not the book. It would have been late 60's or early 70's that this book came out. The author, it turns out is a British woman, and we're still pretty sure that she illustrated the book as well. The book could have been in rhyme, but maybe it wasn't. The Pipsqueak name is probably a false clue, but the name of the book was definitely the three names of the mice. Thanks again!
How about this?  The midnight flight of Moose, Mops, and Marvin by Suzanne Wilson Bladow illus by Joseph Mathieu, pub 1975  Three little mice begin an unusual adventure when they are accidentally caught in one of Santa's sacks and are left under a Christmas tree.
I checked my 98 mouse titles and found 1 with 3 names, but couldn't work my way to its box to check whether they lived in a tree. Here is what Lib of Congress says about it: *   Minnikin, Midgie, and Moppet : a mouse story / by Adelaide Holl ; pictures by Priscilla Hillman. New York : Golden Press, c1977.   Three mice leave their mother and comfortable home in the meadow to find good food and adventure.
Adelaide Holl, Minnikin, Midgie, and Moppet: A Mouse Story. (1977) Thank you so much for this solution. It is definitely Minnikin, Midgie, and Moppet. Using this title, I found it on the internet, bought it, and showed my fiancee and grandmother, and they we sooo happy for having this book again, which they value so highly! Thanks for making me a hero!



Minnow on the Say
book read at middle school (uk) around 1983 about a treasure hunt of sorts, i have a map drawn about the story (for homework!) which has castleford road, the river say, secret channel, railway line, a bridge with a rose, samuel truelove's farm, mr nunn's farm, coddlings, smiths, mosses, a mill, a church and a person called 'squeak wilson'. the picture i drew is available by request if it would help. i vaguely remember that some kids were following clues around and one of the clues led to a hiding place behind a rose sculpture on a bridge.

Philippa Pearce, Minnow on the Say, 1954.  I'm pretty confident about this.  I expect a dozen other people will be too...
Philippa Pearce, Minnow on the Say/The Minnow Leads to Treasure.  I just read it.  The second title was the U.S. version from the 1960's Scott Foresman book used in schools.  It's been reprinted recently under the original British title.
Philippa Pearce, Minnow on the Say, 1954.  A Google search for "Squeak Wilson" pulled up Philippa Pearce's "Minnow on the Say." A 'net description synopsizes the book thusly:  "David can't believe his luck when a worn wooden canoe mysteriously appears on the banks of the River Say behind his house. With summer stretching endlessly before him, it seems too good to be true.  "Soon there is another boy -- Adam, the Minnow's rightful owner. Adam wants his boat back...but something else, too: a trustworthy friend to help him find the long lost ancestral jewels that could save his family from financial disaster!  "Can two boys find what history has kept an untouchable secret for hundreds of years? Or will they lose the race against time and against another treasure seeker lurking at the river's edge."
Philippa Pearce, Minnow on the Say, 1954.  "Two English boys, David and Adam, spend the summer canoeing on the River Say and, with just an old riddle for a clue, try to find a treasure hidden along its banks by one of Adam's ancestors."
A. Philippa Pearce, Minnow on the Say, 1955.  Definitely the book you are seeking.  An English boy named David is delighted to find a canoe at the bottom of the garden and tracks down the owner, another boy whose name is Adam.  Together, they spend the summer canoeing on the River Say and, with just an old riddle for a clue, try to find a treasure hidden along its banks.  One of the characters is indeed named Squeak Wilson.  This has been reprinted several times over the years, most recently in 2000.
Philippa Pearce, Minnow on the Say.  I'm pretty sure this is the book you're looking for.  They search for treasure in their canoe called the Minnow.
Philippa Pearce, Minnow on the Say, 1954.  Thanks to everyone who helped identify this book!!! I have just ordered a copy from [blip] so should be reading it again before xmas!


click here for image"Minnow" Vail
There was another great book in that series called Minnow Vail.  This one is about a girl named Minnow who wins a contest to be the mermaid in her town's annual parade. I would love to have any copy of either or both so that I can share them with my niece. I'd appreciate any help or advice you can give --

I have it here in my hand:  Wise, Winifred E.  "Minnow" Vail.  Illustrated by Mimi Korach.  Whitman, 1962.
---
A typically grumpy pre-teen is forced to spend the summer somewhere other than home.  The family comes to California and visits with someone who is a marine biologist.  As part of the plot, they go grunion hunting and find or look for phosphorescent algae.  Read this in the early 1970's, but it was a library book so could have been published earlier.

Have you tried checking L'Engle's Arm of the Starfish?  I'm fairly certain that Zachary (a grumpy character in some of her other books) runs into Adam Eddington, who's a marine biologist.  You might want to check some of her other books, since I'm not 100% certain that it's this particular title.
L'Engle, Madeleine, Meet The Austins, The Moon By Night, A Ring Of Endless Light, Troubling A Star.  I think the poster is looking for L'Engle's "Austin Family" series. All four stories in the series are written in the first person, from the perspective of Vicky Austin (the eldest daughter.) The Austins travel to California in Book #2, The Moon By Night. Vicky meets Adam Eddington, a marine biology student (whom you correctly recall as a main character in The Arm of The  Starfish) in Book #3 of the "Austin Family" series - A Ring of Endless Light.  The latter book was recently adapted for
television by our friends at The Disney Channel. :-)
I can't tell you what this is, but it's not anything of Madeleine L'Engle's. None of her books take place in California except the very end of The Moon by Night, but no one goes hunting grunion. The Arm of the Starfish does have a marine biologist in it, but it takes place on the island of Gaea, off the coast of Portugal, not California.
Winifred E. Wise, Minnow Vail, 1962.  Minna "Minnow" Vail is  a teen living in CA who watches the grunion run each year and pretends to be one during the annual carnival.  One summer, her snooty cousin comes to stay and tries to steal her sort-of boyfriend.  There are some more subplots, but Minnow is crowned Queen of the local carnival.
 Interpreting
Condition 
Grades
Wise, Winifred E.  "Minnow" Vail.  Illustrated by Mimi Korach.  Whitman, 1962.  VG-.  $15 
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Mio My Son
I am looking for a book I read in the early 1970's that had a magical horse with a golden mane.  I think the horse had wings too.  The first sentence of the book said something like, "If you had read the newspaper on October 15..."  This was cool to me because that's my birthday.

This could be Ride a Wild Horse by Ruth Carlsen, published in 1970.  It's been a long time since I read it, but it's about a girl who's traveling from the future.  She's somehow gets lost, and ends up with no memory.  While staying with a foster family, she starts to remember stuff, and her foster brother helps her find or fix a carousel horse which is her means to get her back to her own time.  I do remember something about a whipping mane as they travel, because she has to get goggles to keep the mane out of her eyes.
Lindgren, Astrid, Mio My Son, 1960s.Could this be Mio, My Son by Astrid Lindgren? Young boy travels to Farawayland where he learns he is really Prince Mio.  He has a horse with a golden mane named Miramis.  Don't remember if it can fly or not.
Lindgren, Astrid, Mio My Son, That's the one! Thank you so much! I'm going to look for it right now!!



Miracle at Carville
I remember reading a book (probably in the 1960's) about someone who has leprosy - it seems like it was a nonfiction book - about a US person in the early 1900's perhaps.  I vaguely remember this person being in the south (Louisiana?) and went on a train trip somewhere (across the US?) (to a leper colony somewhere?)

Betty Martin, No One Must Ever Know,1959.  This is the one I remember, about a young woman sent to the leper hospital in Carville, LA.
L58 I bet it is one of Betty Martin's 2 books.  No one must ever know or Miracle at Carville.
No One Must Ever Know is the sequel, but Miracle at Carville is the one that is actually about the girl's life inside the leper
colony.



Miracle Life Of  Edgar Mint
A couple of years ago I read a newer book that I believe is by a Native American writer. It starts out about this kid on the reservation. I recall this part where he talks about how the tree in their front yard is decorated with beer cans. Early in the story, his head gets run over by the postman when this kid crawls under his vehicle in their driveway.  He survives. In the story he ends up in this tough boarding school.  I thought the writer was Sherman Alexie and the title was The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. So I bought that book--it's not the right book. That book is short stories. I've read The absolute diary of a half Indian, by Alexie. That isn't it either but it is written in the same style as the one I'm thinking of. I've also read Alexie's Ten Little Indians, also short stories. So if you can find this book, written probably within the last 10 years, probably by a Native American male author, with the storyline I've mentioned, I will be forever grateful!

Sherman Alexie, Reservation Blues.
Udall, Brady, The miracle life of Edgar Mint, 2001, copyright.  The details match: http://tinyurl.com/6njtsr.
Brady Udall, The Miracle Life Of  Edgar Mint.  Thank you so much. I can't tell you how thrilled I am to be able to purchase this book and read it again.

The Miracle Season
An owl seer is reborn as a crow with a white feather on his forehead, and joins other young animals with white markings on their foreheads (including an armadillo and maybe a snake?) to spread a message of survival to all animalkind. Probably published 1970s.

Cline, Linda, The Miracle Season,
1977. I'm positive this is your book, I've read it many times. The white markings on the animals' foreheads (a crow, a raccoon, a snake, and a group of four armadillos) were meant to indicate that they were exceptionally intelligent members of their species."In the strikingly original tradition of Watership Down and Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Linda Cline presents in THE MIRACLE SEASON a warm and estraordinary allegorical story of the conscious awakening of the Animal Kingdom to the dire threat to survival as man imposes the mounting tragedy of industrial civilization on the world's natural environment. A feisty young crow with an overwhelming curiosity for life and a genius intelligence seeks out and communicates with his fellow wild creatures. Crow calls the thinkers together for a group entrancement session to solve the perplexing problem of the increasing death rate among birds and animals. Man is poisoning the natural environment and survival may become the exception instead of the rule. Crow preaches throughout the animal kingdom, travels the world for 7 years spreading the word. At first he is ridiculed, humiliated and ignored. Not until he changes from a radical preacher of doom to a storyteller, a singer, a poet, is his message finally heeded."
SOLVED: Linda Cline, The Miracle Season, 1977. The description in the entry for this stumper fits my memory of the book. I think you found it! Thanks.
Miracles on Maple Hill
Anyway I am looking for a book that i read several times as a elementary child from 1960-1963.  It was about a young girl that moved from the New England States to another town and she had a big maple tree in her front yard. It was a fiction book,  maybe a grey covere and a picture of a big tree with a girl sitting under it.  I thought it was called Under the Maple Tree.  but cant find anything except the book by Zoe Meyer which is not it.  Although I do remember it being in the middle section of the school library possible letters H-N.  Thanks so much.  This site is wonderful.

U26 is NOT Maple tree by Selsam. That has photos of a girl playing with maple seeds, but is nonfiction about maples.
Sorenson, Virginia, Miracles on Maple Hill, 1957.  Could it be this one, even though the author's name begins with S?  Her''s a brief synopsis from the Web: "A heartwarming Newbery Medal winner. Dad has returned from World War II a changed man: withdrawn, touchy, unable to work. The family moves back to the family farm where dad gets the healing he needs. Includes a great description of maple sugaring."
Sorenson, Virginia, Miracles on Maple Hill, 1956.  Newberry Medal winner 1957. Marly and her family share many adventures when they move from the city to a farmhouse on Maple Hill. After her father returns from the war moody and tired, Marly's family decides to move from the city to Maple Hill Farm in the Pennsylvania countryside where they share many adventures which help restore their spirits and their bond with each other.
Virginia Sorenson, Miracles on Maple Hill, Yeah,  this is the book.  Thanks so much.  I am very excited to add this to my collection.
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A brother & sister go hiking in mts. They meet a man who herds goats & sells cheese. He must watch his goats everyday so he has a sign saying "Take cheese--leave money." No money is left & everyone takes the cheese. The siblings want to bring him home but he smells bad (cheese) & their Mom objects.

Sorensen, Virginia, Miracles on Maple Hill,
1956. The cheese man is Harry the Hermit. When Joe and Marly go up the mountain they discover his cheese stand, Where is says's leave money. Later in the book Harry is injured and Joe brings him back to his house, where Joe's mother doesn't appreciate the smell. Harry is a wonderful wood carver and spends time teaching Joe.
Virginia Sorenson, Miracles on Maple Hill. I agree that this is probably Miracles on Maple Hill.  In my recollections of Miracles on Maple Hill, I remember a girl who moved to a new town, and couldn't make any new friends, especially in her class in school.  She met some people who spent their weekends gathering mushrooms, so she thought she would join them.  Later in the book, the man who led the group ate some mushrooms that made him ill, and he almost died.  I thought the cheese man character was from a different book entirely.  Perhaps I should create another book stumper for the mushroom story, as it does not appear to be Miracles on Maple Hill. :)


Mirror of Danger
British title: Come Back, Lucy
This was a young adult book about time travel.  The main character is a young girl who has been raised by her very Edwardian grandmother.  When her grandmother dies, the girl is sent to live with distant cousins and their parents.  She's appalled by their behavior, mores, etc. They eat on the street, they have a blue christmas tree.  She misses her grandmother's traditionalism.  She comes upon a mirror in their house (I think) that gives her access to a girl from the Victorian/Edwardian era and their way and life and visits often.  When she realizes she wants to stay in her own time, things get ugly and, I think, the mirror-girl tries to break the mirror to trap her in the past.

sounds like jane-emily, again (whick i was glad to see in your answers from a previous question: i had "jane-Somebody" only) -- led here by a pointer from rec.arts.books.childrens (we love figuring out books for people!)
Pamela Sykes, Come Back Lucy. Again not 100% sure as I don't have a copy to check, but the details
sound right from memory.  It was published in the UK in the 1960s (I think). There's also a sequel called Lucy Beware which is much harder to find.
#T88--Time Travel, Young Adult:  Mirror of Danger, by Pamela Sykes.
Sykes, Pamela, Mirror of Danger, 1976, reprint.  I love this book!  I still have my copy, even though it's pretty
weather-beaten by now.  A little blurb on the inside says it was originally published in England as Come Back, Lucy.  My copy was published by Archway Paperback/Pocket Books.  I hope this helps!
Sounds like - Come Back, Lucy, by Pamela Sykes, illustrated by Tessa Jordan, published Hamish Hamilton 1973, 183 pages. "When Lucy suddenly lost the only relation she had ever known, there was no choice for her but to learn to live with her riotous cousins. This was difficult enough for Lucy, who had led a sheltered life with her gentle but old-fashioned Aunt Olive, and there seemed to be no peace for her in this noisy house. Or was there? Shocked by unhappiness and unwilling to accept her new-found family Lucy was only too glad to turn to her mysterious friend Alice, whose life was so akin to that which she had enjoyed with Aunt Olive. But was Alice a true friend - or someone to be feared?" (from the dust-jacket) When Lucy explores the attic room "The third frame, a heavy gold one, held not a picture but a mirror. Lucy crouched to peer into its mottled surface. Her own pale face peered back at her. And then, suddenly, there was another face beside it, a round laughing one. 'I'm Alice,' said the girl 'and I live here.'" At Christmas "And the tree! Instead of the lovely dark fragrant thing Lucy had expected there stood an imitation one. Blue of course. Only witch balls were hung on it, blue and silver. No colour anywhere, no warmth."
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All I really remember is that a girl finds a mirror (maybe in her new home ?) and when she looks in it, she notices the room in the reflection is different.  Somehow, she steps into the reflection, and is transported to the very same home only now from a Victorian time in the past.  She meets another girl and they befriend each other.  She  goes back and forth in this mirror (from her current time to the Victorian time) to play with the Victorian girl.  She attends a lovely party with the Victorian girl in the mirror, but when the first girl wants to go home (back to her real time) the Victorian girl gets angry and tries to hold her back from going thru the mirror -- maybe breaks it so she can't go back.  PLEASE help me remember this book.  I am very interested in purchasing it to read again.  It was one of my favourites.  THANK YOU !

I was too quick to jump the gun since I am so tired... I got all excited about your site, and didn't take the time to read first about the solved books...  The book I was seeking is called:  Come Back Lucy  by: Pamela Sykes
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I don't remember the title or author.  I read this book in the early eighties.  The character, I think her name was Lucy, lived with her great aunt.  They were very old-fashioned.  Her great aunt dies, so she has to move in with her aunt, uncle, and cousins, whom she has never met.  They are very modern, with a pink Christmas tree.  She is very unhappy, and every time she looks into a reflecting surface, she gets sucked back into Victorian times and befriends another girl.  The Vic. girl gets jealous of her modern life, especially as Lucy begins to adjust, and becomes very possessive.  At the end, Lucy is looking into some water.  The Vic. girl is moving away, and she wants Lucy to stay with her permanently.  She pulls her into the water and Lucy almost drowns.  She tells her aunt and uncle all about it, and they find a diary that shows the Vic. girl used to live in their house back at the turn-of-the-century.

Sykes, Pamela, Mirror of Danger. Also called Come Back, Lucy. I loved this one too. My edition was called Mirror of Danger, but apparently it was also released as Come back Lucy.
Pamela Sykes, Mirror of Danger. This is on the Solved pages under MIRROR OF DANGER (also published under the title COME BACK LUCY) by Pamela Sykes.
Pamela Sykes, Mirror of Danger / Come Back, Lucy, 1973. Definitely it.
Sykes, Pamela, Come back Lucy.Surely this is Come back Lucy by Pamela Sykes. It was made into a tv series in Britain quite a while ago. The plot seems to match it.
Pamela Sykes, Come Back Lucy, 1973. This is Come Back Lucy, by Pamela Sykes. The US title was Mirror of Danger, which was published in 1974 (year after the UK release).
Pamela Sykes, Mirror of Danger (Come Back, Lucy). I haven't read this one, but the description sounds like Mirror of Danger (British title: Come Back, Lucy) on the "M" Solved Mysteries page.
Pamela Sykes, Mirror of Danger (aka Come Back, Lucy). I'd give a synopsis, but the stumpee seems to have it down pretty accurately! :)
The stumper can be filed as Solved.  It had already been solved on the "Solved Mysteries" page.

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A girl goes to stay with another family (cousins?) in possibly England (I seem to remember them eating fish and chips at one point).  She feels alone, and makes friends with a girl ghost from another time.  She might even go back in time with the girl ghost, not sure.  In a climactic scene, the girl is standing by an icy fountain/pond/pool where the girl ghost appears to her (from within) and pulls her down.  The other children/relatives (a boy and a girl or two?) see this, but they see the girl jump/fall in and drag her out to rescue her.  The girl then begins to appreciate her cousins/relatives and ignores the lure of the ghost girl (who could be petulant and mean) in favor of finding a place for herself in the modern world.  No idea of author or title.  It was read by me in the late 70's or early 80's and I am pretty sure it is post WW2.

This is definitely Mirror of Danger (also titled Come Back Lucy).  Lucy is an orphan raised by an elderly aunt and used to quiet and ladylike ways.  When the aunt dies she goes to live with distant cousins who are friendly but loud and boisterous.  She becomes "friends" with a ghost in the house who wants her to stay and tries to drown her at the end of the book.
Mary Downing Hahn, Wait Till Helen Comes, 1986.  It doesn't have anything to do with England, but it might fit. Molly's new stepsister, Heather, is just plain nasty. Heather becomes friends with Helen, a ghost who eventually tries to drown her in an icy pond. Molly pulls her out, and she and Heather start getting along better. The ghost can be nasty (she destroys Molly's room and all her things). No time travel, but there is some detail about Helen's life in the mid-to-late-1800s, and she tries to drown Heather because she wants a friend to stay with her forever.
Sykes, Pamela, Mirror of Danger (also published as Come Back. Lucy.)  Lucy is an orphan who is sent to stay with cousins when her elderly aunt dies. Unhappy with their boisterous ways she keeps to herself and discovers that she can go back in time through a mirror/reflection. The little girl she meets in her visits back in time tries to get Lucy to stay in her time forever.
Plot sounds similar to MIRROR OF DANGER (also published as COME BACK, LUCY) by Pamela Sykes, but I can't verify the part about the hand reaching out of the fountain~from a librarian
The person who wrote in Mirror of Danger was absolutley correct, that was the book I meant. Thank you so much for this service.
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I�m looking for the name of a book I had when I was a child in the early 80s (although I got it secondhand and I�m pretty sure the kids in it wore flares). It was an early teen novel about a girl (maybe called Lucy?) who had no siblings and had been raised by her grandmother. The book is about her going to live with a new family of �hipsters� who seemed brash to her. The book contrasts the old-fashioned kind of life she had had with her grandmother, with the modern life of the new family.     The key scenes I remember are:  *  The girl going shopping for a Christmas tree with the new family, and crying when they bought a tinsel �themed� tree rather than an old fashioned one;  * Her playing with her grandmother�s collection of mother of pearl combs which were kept in mini chest; and  * The girl going out for fish and chips with the hipster children and eating them out of newspaper.  Does that ring any bells? I�d really appreciate any assistance you can offer!

Pamela Sykes, Mirror of Danger, 1974, reprint.  The American edition was first published in 1974 by Thomas Nelson.  The British also made a TV show out of it, called Come Back Lucy, so I assume that at one point the book was also released under that title.  Lucy is the girl who goes to stay with her cousins; she travels into a past via a mirror.
Pamela Sykes, Mirror of Danger (Come Back, Lucy), early 1970s, approximate.  It's definitely this book. Lucy was raised by her grandmother in an old-fashioned way and after she dies goes to live with cousins who are very contemporary.  She also meets a ghost named Alice.
Pamela Sykes, Mirror of Danger (Come Back, Lucy)
Pamela Sykes, Mirror of Danger.
  11-year-old Lucy was brought up by her eccentric aunt to love all things Victorian. When her aunt dies and she has to move in with modern and loud (though very friendly) relatives, she can�t handle both her grief and the stress of change, and pulls away from her new would-be family. A little girl who lived in the same house in the 1870s, Alice, can peer into/haunt the future house and has become determined to make Lucy her playmate... forever.
Sykes, Pamela, Mirror of Danger (aka Come Back, Lucy), 1974, copyright.  Oh this is a popular one!  Poor little Lucy felt so out of place with her 'modern' relatives and their 'modern ways' after having been raised by an elderly aunt (The blurb says "aunt" but I want to say it was her great-aunt.) The scenes you described are in the story. "11-year-old Lucy was brought up by her eccentric aunt to love all things Victorian. When her aunt dies and she has to move in with modern and loud (though very friendly) relatives, she can�t handle both her grief and the stress of change, and pulls away from her new would-be family. A little girl who lived in the same house in the 1870s, Alice, can peer into/haunt the future house and has become determined to make Lucy her playmate... forever."
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I read this book in the 1970's. It was about a young girl who lived with her elderly Aunt. They lived as if it were in the 19th century (old fashioned life).  The Aunt dies and the girl is sent to live with her cousins. They live a modern life.  The girl is homesick and she begins to see a ghost named Alice. Alice takes her back in time to the 19th century. The relationship continues until Alice tries to harm the girl. I remember a broken window and a cut arm. I think the girl only sees Alice in a reflection when she is in the current time. Alice may not really exist, I can't remember. She may only be a figment of the girl's imagination but to the girl she is real.  I can remember one other seen about the girl eating fish and chips out of newspapers with her cousins so it must take place in England. I also remember Christmas - the girl hates the modern fake tree and goes with Alice to see her real tree.  Like so many others I loaned this book to friend 25 years ago and no longer remember the title.

This sounds exactly the same as stumper G459, which has been solved as Mirror of Danger by Pamela Sykes.
Sykes, Mirror of Danger.  Thank you everyone! The book was definitely Mirror of Danger. It seems a lot of people have been looking for it and remember it fondly.
Pamela Sykes, Come back Lucy.
  This has been correctly solved as Mirror of danger, but you might want to add that this is the US title. The original UK title is Come back Lucy. There is also a sequel, Lucy beware.



Mirror, Mirror
A high-school grad named Kim gets a full-time job and is made over by an acquaintance (named Christine, I think?).  Written in the mid-60s or perhaps late 50s.  I do remember one of the girl�s co-workers telling her that �Kimberly� is a funny name.

Marjory Hall, Mirror, Mirror, 1956. It sounds as if this could be Mirror, Mirror by Marjory Hall, one of her "career girl" series. Kim, after graduating from high school, gets a job in the personnel office of a china company. She makes friends with the daughter of the owner, Lisa, and Lisa and her friend Christine give Kim a makeover. Naturally Kim grows up to her new image, gets the right guy, and goes on to college at the end.
Yes, this is the book I remember.  Thanks so much!


The Mirrorstone
I'm looking for an illustrated children's book about a boy going into a mirror to an underwater world to find some lost jewelry. Pictures had muted colors, mirrors and glass may have been shown with foil. The boy wore a Ghostbusters t-shirt, so it was printed after 1984. May be pictures only.

The Mirrorstone, Alan Lee, illustrator, Michael Palin, author, 1986. This is definitely your book. A boy who is an excellent swimmer is kidnapped through his bathroom mirror by a sinister medieval magician who uses him to retrieve an underwater treasure guarded by enormous creatures. Top billing really goes to the amazing illustrator and his detailed watercolors. You can see a couple of reproductions here and here.

I�m happy to report that I found the book. It�s The Mirrorstone by Michael Palin, the literal Knight who says Ni; Alan Lee, the famous Tolkien illustrator; and Richard Seymour, who is described on the back cover as an award-winning designer. The Mirrorstone was published by Jonathan Cape Ltd in 1986. In my description, I said that �mirrors and glass may have been shown with foil�. Close, but no cigar�in fact, several reflective surfaces in the illustrations are holographic images. Also, the boy (named Paul) doesn�t wear a Ghostbusters t-shirt. I have no idea where I got that impression, but fortunately the book really was published after 1984. The book is an illustrated story; it isn�t pictures-only.

Misplaced Persons
i can remember the storyline of this book, which is prob pitched at younger teens. it's quite a slim book and is written in the first person, set in england. it's about this guy who finds that people (parents, friends) start forgetting or ignoring him, and the world is turning strangely grey. eventually he realises he's disappearing from the real world and is living in a parallel-type universe.  he finds another girl and an old man who are also in the same situation and they team up for company, to get food etc., (they're
able to get those fruit, tins etc. that have also "slipped through" into their world, and are recognisable by the fact that the colours etc. are bright to them.) as they talk, their conclusion about why this happened is (i think) that they had just slipped god's mind. the old man starts seeing shadows encroaching and one day disappears  from their parallel world. and then the girl does. but before she
does they tape themselves talking and singing. then the main character slips back into the real world too and when he wakes up it's as if he had never been away - except for the tape recording. really like the book and keep thinking its 'empty world' by john christopher but it's not!!! can help please? thanks!

Doesn't sound like William Sleator, either.
#P74--Parallel Universe:  Harlan Ellison wrote a similar story, which appears in his collection Shatterday, with a much grimmer ending.
HE rarely sets anything outside of the U.S.
I think this is MISPLACED PERSONS (1979) by Australian writer Lee Harding--that's the US title original Australian title was DISPLACED PERSONHarding originally published this as a short story in the early 1960s, then expanded it to short novel length for teen-age market under titles noted above.
Lee Harding, Misplaced Persons, 1979. Misplaced Persons is indeed the book referenced. The premise sounded so intriguing I found myself a copy and read it in one night! The plot is exactly as the "stumpee" described (though it's set in Australia, as the person who provided the solution pointed out). Here's the blurb from the book jacket:  "The change began gradually. At first, Graeme barely sensed it. But people were ignoring him. Not only the waitress at McDonald'\''s, but his girlfriend and even his parents were looking right through him, as if they could hardly see or hear him. And as it became harder for him to make contact with people, Graeme noticed another change. Everything and everyone was becoming grey in his world -- everything and everyone except him. Was he going crazy or was the world? Did anyone else feel as trapped and misplaced as he?"  As the "stumpee" mentioned, the protagonist does meet an older man, Jamie Burns, and a young woman, Marion, in the "greyworld" limbo, with whom he teams up to survive and strive to master the mercurial rules of the mysterious dimension.


Miss Grimsbee Is a Witch
I read a book numerous times in the third and fourth grades in the early 1960s.  Its main characters were a witch called Mrs. Grimsby and a boy and a girl.  Mrs. Grimsby specialized in transforming things into food items, in particular desserts and candy. Some of the most memorable transformations were ones in which different kinds of soda pop and lemonade would come out of all the faucets in her  house and her changing the sidewalks into sponge cake.  One of my favorite sayings came from that book when she told the children that "they should eat dessert first because they might not have room for it if they ate it after their meal!"  What child wouldn't love that concept!  I remember there was a "bad" guy in the book that Mrs. Grimsby had to try various kinds of food-related transformations on to resolve their problems.  For the past 20 years, I have looked in numerous out of print book listings and in the Library of Congress for this book, without success, so the name I remember must be incorrect.

M183 A shot in the dark - could this be THE WITCH NEXT DOOR or one of the other witch books by Norman Bridwell? They did come out in the 60s. However, I don't know if she had a name. ~from a librarian
M183 Can poster think harder about the witch's naem? I put Grimsby and witch into search engine  Google and got more than 400 matches. I quit after 400. The British  town of Grimsby is associated with wiches, but I found no ref to a book.
Weales, Gerald, Miss Grimsbee Is a Witch, 1957.
Gerald Weales, Miss Grimsbee Takes A Vacation, Atlantic-Little Brown, 1965.  Miss Grimsbee Is A Witch,  Atlantic-Little Brown, 1957. Sponge rubber streets in town?


Miss Happiness and Miss Flower
two girls are give a japanese dollshouse, one very clumsy the other, I think of Far Eastern extract, was very delicate.  I can't remember much more except I know they cut up white cotton for rice and that at the beginning of the book they do not like each other bur become friends at the end.

Rumer Godden?
Rumer godden, miss happiness & miss flower


Miss Hickory
A child's book about a corncob doll that comes to life when the family goes away and interacts with a bird, maybe others, but definitely a bird, a black bird, I think.. I was 6-9 years old when I repeatedly checked it out of the library.

Sounds like Carolyn Bailey's Miss Hickory.  "Miss Hickory is a country doll, made of a hickory nut head with an apple twig body. Unexpectedly, she finds that her mistress and family have left for the winter, leaving her to fend for herself during the cold dark months in New Hampshire."
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twig body, nut (pecan?) head. Miss ____? 1940s  This was a story about a "lady" whose body was a twig (with two arms, two legs) and she found a nut to serve as her head.  At the end of the book, she grafted herself back onto a tree, and blossomed.


click for imageMiss Jaster's Garden
This one will be more of a trouble, I think.  I believe the title is "Mrs. _____'s Garden" and it is the story of a hedgehog named Hedgie who lives in a lady's garden.  Not much to go on, but it was my brother's favorite book as a child and I sure would like to be able to get it for him. Thanks for all your help.

Bodecker, N. M., Miss Jaster's Garden, Golden Press, 1972.  A garden romance featuring Miss Jaster and a dear little hedgehog named Hedgie.
Miss Jaster's Garden, written and illustrated by N.M. Bodecker. "Myopia is an endearing weakness, but in Miss Jaster it is nothing less than enchanting. She scatters seeds on a hedgehog in her garden one spring, then thinks someone is stealing her flowers when the hedgehog wakes up in the summer and goes for a walk." (Children's Books of the Year 1978 p.115) Bodecker was the illustrator for several of the Edward Eager fantasy books.
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I'm looking for a picture book for a friend.  She remembers the title as 'Mrs. Jasper's Garden' but I can't find that title listed anywhere. The story is about a shy hedgehog in a large (possibly English) garden. The woman who tends the garden accidentally sprinkles some seeds on the hiding hedgehog, who then sprouts flowers from it's back. My friend remembers a picture of the woman watering her flowers when one clump begins moving through the garden. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

N.M. Bodecker, Miss Jaster's Garden, 2002, reprint.  Yaay!  Solved my own stumper!  The book was out of print for a number of years (can find 1st editions going for over $200!) and just came back into print! Author/illustrator N.M. Bodecker also did the great illustrations for the Half Magic series.
Bodecker, N. M. author & illustrator, Miss Jaster's Garden, Collins 1973.  Sounds like this title, which is on the solved list. Short-sighted Miss Jaster accidentally seeds and waters her little hedgehog friend.
I believe that's Hogglespike, which is British and written before 1980. I can't find any mention of it, though - I'll have to check my copy again. He actually rolls around in a garden and then curls up to sleep in a flowerpot, so people at the flower show end up thinking he's a "multifloripricklium."
Miss Jaster's Garden.  It's "Miss", not "Mrs.", I believe. The book is at my mother's house and I'll check for the publication info this weekend.  Follow-up message: Remembered the correct spelling of the name and did a quick search. The book was apparently reprinted last year, since the original publication date was at least 10 years back. The hedgehog is sleeping in the flowerbed when Miss Jaster scatters and waters her flower seeds. The seeds "sowed" on him develop into his own crop of flowers.
Bodecker,  N. M., Miss Jaster's garden, 1971.  This was a Golden Book about a hedgehog who became a walking garden.  It was reprinted in 2001, also as a Golden Book.
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THIS WAS A BOOK FROM THE 70'S, AN OLDER WOMAN FINDS A HEDGEHOG IN HER GARDEN AND I THINK IT WAS CALLED MS JENKIN'S GARDEN BUT NO SEARCHES TURN IT UP.  I REMEMBER IT BEING A BIG BOOK AND LOVED THE ILLUSTRATIONS. THANK YOU!

You're close.  Try N.M. Bodecker,  Miss Jaster's Garden, Golden Press, 1972.  A garden romance featuring Miss Jaster and a dear little hedgehog named Hedgie.
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This is a children's story about a hedgehog who fell asleep in a new tilled flower garden and the lady of the house sprinkled seeds on him while seeding the garden. Beautiful flowers grew on him and I remember that at first he was very upset and confused but at the end saw his reflection and saw how wonderful it was. I remember loving the color illustrations. I've loved hedgehogs ever since!

N.M. Bodecker, Miss Jaster's Garden,
1972, copyright.  Charming story about what happens after Miss Jaster mistakenly sows marigold, Sweet William and Baby's Breath seeds on a hedgehog as he napped in her flower bed. Published by Golden Press and illustrated by the author.
Hogglespike by Patricia Drew, 1971? (The details don't quite match.) There were two sequels.
Miss Jaster's Garden.  Yes, this is it! I remember the Sweet William very well! Thank you so very much-this has been bugging me for so many years!


Miss Lollipop's Lion
1960s weekly reader book club or i can read book. She kept getting more cats and running out of food.

Calhoun, Mary, The House of Thirty Cats, 1965. This might be the one... In search of a kitten for her own, Sarah befriends eccentric Miss Tabitha Henshaw, who lives with (yes) thirty some-odd cats in a tumbledown house - which looks a bit like a cat. At first, Sarah is somewhat ashamed of her friendship with Miss Tabitha, especially after she sees Miss T raiding restaurant garbage pails for food for her cats (Sarah starts to bring table scraps to prevent Miss T scrounging in town). The atmosphere is wonderful, with detailed and funny cat antics, Miss T is wise and understanding, and Sarah learns to value Miss T's and her own individuality. This is reinforced when Miss T is ordered to drastically reduce the number of her cats by the town council after the "evil" cat Tarnish wreaks havoc in town with his "gang". Sarah helps to find new homes for the cats, making new friends in the process with many people she'd never have approached before. Contains one of the most touching cat-death scenes (Aramantha's) I've ever read. Originally published by Harper & Row in 1965, I have a paperback published in 1970 as an Archway Paperback by Pocket Books, ISBN 0-671-42064-X. Could well still be in print.
Gag, Wanda, Millions of Cats, 1928. This is the first thing that occurs to me for someone who keeps getting
more and more cats!  It's still in print, so the questioner can check it out and see if it's the right one fairly easily.
Sounds like Millions of Cats!
Millions of Cats?
Yes, but in Millions of Cats, the old man goes out to find a cat, comes home with a million and his wife immediately says no, choose the prettiest (thereby starting the famous cat fight).  However, the cats eat and drink plenty on their journey with the old man to his home in the first place....
This is a complete guess, but possibly Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag.  It's the story of an elderly man whose wife wants a cat.  He has so many to choose from that he can't decide. He asks the cats to decide for him.
Chaos ensues.  Published in 1928.  Black and white illustrations.  A picture book classic.
Judy Varga, Miss Lollipop's Lion, 1963. This is a great book! She didn't just get lots of cats--she got lot of
animals!
I don't suppose M118 refers to Miss (or Mrs.) Lollipop and Her Lions? (The reader would probably remembered lions instead of just cats.)  If I recall, Miss Lillipop felt sorry for the lions in the zoo and brought them all home to live with her in her big Victorian house.  It was a lot of trouble at first and the lions had terrible manners.  Miss Lollipop, through her firmness and love, tames the lions and the all live happily ever after.  I think I read this book in the late 60's
Just possibly - Mr. Petersand's Cats (and Kittens), written and illustrated by Louis Slobodkin, published Macmillan 1954, 64 pages. "Mr. Petersand lived on Firefly Island and loved cats. Every summer when the summer people came to the island they would borrow one of his cats to make their summer home complete. Mr. Petersand knew that all the cats would return to him when the summer people went back home and he would take care of them during the winter as usual - until one summer Mr. Petersand broke his toe and had to go the hospital on the mainland. What happened to the cats when the summer people went back home? and Mr. Petersand wasn't on the island to take care of the cats? This is a wonderful story."
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The Scraggly Lion gets a home?, 1950-1960.  An older poor woman has severly pets living at her house that she takes in when they don't have a home. One day a lion appears on her front porch and she thinks it's a cat. She takes it in feeds it, gives it a bath and loves it. The circus people are looking for the lion and finaly knock on her door and tells her it's an escape lion. The lady ends up getting a job as the lion tamer and all the animals are taken care of and she isn't poor anymore. The pictures look a lot like the ones in the "Happy Lion" and I think it might be one in that serise but I can't remeber the name and looking under that author hasn't helped.

Miss Lollipop's Lion.  It's an older book.  I found one on e-bay.
Varga, Judy, Miss Lollipop's Lion.  Morrow 1963.  I'll agree with this suggestion. Heres more plot "Miss Lola Lollipop takes in stray animals and eventually takes in a lion, but when he tries to eat all the other strays, she tells him he should be ashamed! She even makes him take a bath. In the end she becomes a famous lion tamer."


Miss Mary Mack
I am looking for the title or complete verse to the following line:  "My mother gave me 50 cents to see the elephant jump the fence, he jumped so high he touched the sky and didn't come back til the 4th of
July".

E21 is a line from a hand-clapping game we played when I was a kid called "Miss Mary Mack".  It goes like this:
Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack / All dressed in black, black, black / With silver buttons, buttons, buttons / All down her back, back, back // She asked her mother,  mother, mother / For fifteen (fifty) cents, cents, cents / To see the elephant, elephant, elephant / Jump the fence, fence, fence / He jumped so high, high, high / He touched the sky, sky, sky / And didn't come back, back, back / Til the Fourth of July, ly, ly.   I typed Miss Mary Mack into the bookfinder.com site as a title and came back with several children's books, so that sounds like the best route to pursue.....
This sounds like: MISS MARY MACK AND OTHER CHILDREN'S STREET RHYMES (1990) by Joanna Cole and Stephanie Calmenson. One reviewer of the book said that street rhymes are one of the few ways kids can lash back at commercialism - as in this line from a rhyme about McDonald's: "...but don't forget those frosted shakes/They come from polluted lakes!" Another rhyme is a take-off on "I'm a little Dutch girl" - "I'm a little hippie all dressed in blue/Here are the things I like to do./Spit at the captain/Kick the queen/Burn my draft card for the U.S. Marines."  Very colorful.


Miss Minerva
In 1963, my third grade teacher read a book to my class.  The things that I remember are:    1.  The main character's name is Mrs. Minerva and I think she is human, but could be animal.    2.  There are several support characters and I think they are animals.    3.  It is a chapter book and each chapter is based upon a different adventure but a continuation of the main story with the same characters.    4. I seem to remember a red cloth, hard bound book.    5. This book was very enjoyable to myself and the class and I want to share it with my third grader.  I have tried to pick the brains of some of my old classmates.  Most of them remember the book about as well as I do but noone can come up with a title or author name. There is a book called Mrs. Minerva's Scallywags, by Emma Speed Sampson, but
I cannot seem to find out enough information about the content to know if this is the book that I am searching for.  Can you help?  Thank you very much.

The Miss Minerva books are a series, begun by Frances Boyd Calhoun and continued by Emma Speed Sampson.  They were written in the thirties and published by Reilly & Lee in Red hardcovers with black illustrations and matching DJs.  They take place in the rural south of the late 19th century and featury blacks and whites, children and adults.  Much of the stories are written in black dialect.  Scallywaggs has a picture of three children on the cover, two white and one black.  The books are about 300 pages long.


Miss Nelson is Missing!
Children's pic book-Story of a young teacher with badly behaving students.  She is replaced with a new subsitute teacher that the students suspect is a witch.  The teacher is mean and scares the students into behaving well.  The teacher comes back to reveal she was in disguise as the mean teacher.

Sounds like Miss Nelson is Missing! by the dynamic duo of Harry Allard and James Marshall.
SOLVED: Yes, that is the book!!!  Yeah, thank you.



Miss Osborne-the-Mop
1960s.  My recollection of details is poor, but the gist of the story is that a mop comes to life and is like a teacher- or nanny?- to a boy and a girl.  She is only  like a person around them.  Maybe in a treehouse?  I believe the title includes the mop's name, like "Mrs. _____".  The pictures in the book were few, drawings of the characters, with most of it left to the reader's imagination.

Wilson Gage, Miss Osborne-the-Mop.  This is almost certainly the book!
Wilson Gage, Miss Osborne The Mop, 1962, approximately.  Very definitely Miss Osborne The Mop.  The girl who brought the mop to life thought it resembled her teacher, thus the name.
Wilson Gage, Miss Osborne-the-Mop, 1963.  "Two children are faced with the problem of how to keep a mop busy, happy, and out of sight of adults."
That was amazing!  I am so surprised that anyone remembered this book!  I was afraid it was some obscure, rarely read volume that I had a quirky affinity for....go figure!  Thanks so much to the 3 rapid responders!  I can't wait to see if I can find it in our library system. This was well worth the $2!!!!
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a children's book (4th grade level) written in late 50s or early 60s about 2 children who have a cantankerous broom for a nanny, she ends up in a tree with a broken back (broom handle).

Actually, I figured it out.  What I remembered as a broom was a mop and the answer is Miss Osbourne the Mop.  Great book when I was in the 4th grade.  Thanks!
Wilson Gage, Miss Osborne-the-Mop
.  Sounds like Miss Osborne-the-Mop,  who is created from a mop by two children, named after a disliked adult, and acts as a housekeeper.
Wilson Gage, Miss Osborne-the-Mop, 1962.  Could it have been a mop instead of a broom?  If so, you might want to check out this one...


Miss Pickerell goes to Mars
1950/60/70s book about an old lady who accidently goes to outer space. Has a few illustrations.  I think was part of a series, there might have been another one about the same old lady who went in a submarine. For elementary school kids, I think around 7-10 years old.

Could this be Miss Pickerell? In Ellen MacGregor's series she travels to mars (Miss Pickerell Goes to Mars, 1951) and explores the deep (Miss Pickerell Goes Undersea, 1953). 
You're right, Harriet.  This could only be Miss Pickerell stories.  They are a happy memory from my childhood.  I still remember her magnetized hammer causing trouble with the rocket instruments.
Ellen MacGregor, Miss Pickerell goes to Mars, Yes, that is it, THANK YOU so much! WOW that was fast too!


Miss Sniff
Okay.....I'm going to give this a shot since nothing else has worked.  In the early 1950's I had a book (I believe it was probably a picture book) about a little girl with short blond curly hair and a puppy.  The main thing  about the book is that the little girl loved the color pink and I'm pretty sure she had a fuzzy looking pink sweater with maybe the initial "S" on it.  I thought the name of the book was Suzy Pink or something along those lines but I have had absolutely no success tracking it down.

Could this be Flora Hood, The Pink Puppy? I'm not sure this is old enough to be the book you remember.
That doesn't sound familiar...I appreciate you looking.  Honestly, I really didn't expect to hear from you!!! I have searched every web/auction site I can think of and have had no luck.  I am employed in a used book store so I am hoping that someday it will show up.  It is amazing how many books we get that I remember from when I was a little kid in the early 50's so there's a possibility.
I just did some further research on The Pink Puppy and it appears to have been published in 1966 which would definitely not make it old enought to be the book I have been looking for.
I Like Mine Pink, by Miriam H. Brubaker, published by the National Dairy Council, 1947, about a little girl with short blonde curls, in a pink dress, who loves pink and prefers strawberry ice cream when she visits the factory. No idea whether she has a puppy.
I had a similar book back in the late 1940s. I recall the illustrations as being mostly bright pink and black with fuzzy elements that delighted me. The main character was called "Polly Pinks" because pink was her favorite color. She had a fuzzy black cat that her father described as always getting into mischief. Polly named the cat "Miss Sniff" (which was how she pronounced "mischief." I'd love a copy of it. Mine disintegrated.
I, too, am looking for the book. It was a "fuzzy" book, the fuzzy being a black cat. The little girl was NOT named Polly  however, she had an Aunt Polly. As another reader noted, she called her cat Miss Sniff, because she could not say "mischief." The little girl loved the color pink  her bedroom had pink rosebuds on it and she always dressed in pink. She was blonde, with big blue eyes, as I recall. There was an episode in which the cat got into yellow paint and it was spilled all over. They had thought the cat was a male  in the end, it had been gone for several days. When they found it, it had a litter of kittens....at least this is how I recall it. I've thought about this book for years.
Well, there is a book called Miss Sniff, but it's definately a cat.  It's by Jane Curry and was a Whitman Fuzzy Wuzzy Book, 1945.  "Miss Sniff the cat is fuzzy to touch on all the pages and front cover. Adventures of a fuzzy black kitten named Miss Smith which came to Polly Pinks in an Easter hatbox."


click here for pictures & profile pageMiss Suzy
I am looking for a story about a squirrel who ends up in an attic full of toys.  I recall there were toy soldiers.  I heard about your site from the recent story on NPR's Saturday morning show!

This one's easy:  Miss Suzy by Miriam Young. See more on Most Requested Books.

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Lady squirrel makes house in a doll house she finds in an attic and has to defend it with a toy soldier?

Young, Miriam, Miss Suzy. What else can this be?
Miss Suzy. Definitely the one.
Miriam Young, Miss Suzy, 1964. Bet you get a ton of answers to this one! It is of course the classic Miss Suzy, about a gentle gray squirrel whose treetop home is taken over by a band of rough red squirrels, and the brave toy soldiers she meets in an attic dollhouse who help her reclaim her home. It was republished by Purple House Press in 2004.
Miriam Young, Miss Suzy, 1964. This is definitely "Miss Suzy", which I think can be bought on this site.  First my kids and now my grandchildren love this book  I got our copy at a garage sale way back in the 70's.  It's getting a little tattered now, but even the 8 and 10 year-old boys still like to hear it.  It's such a charming story. It also comes up here on the Stumpers fairly regularly.
Miriam Young, Miss Suzy, 1964. Miss Suzy is a little gray squirrel who lives happily in her oak-tree home until she is chased away by some mean red squirrels. Poor Miss Suzy is very sad. But soon she finds a beautiful dollhouse and meets a band of brave toy soldiers. This was reprinted by Purple Housse Press - 2004.
SOLVED:
Young, Miriam, Miss Suzy. Hello Harriett, I forgot about checking up on this for a while. Both are solved! My wife is thrilled. I've been hearing about W322 (Ratsmagic) for years. She would inquire at every independent bookstore we've ever been in. Thank you so much. Both have been ordered, she can't wait.


click here for pictures & profile pageMiss Twiggley's Tree
My wife is looking for a book about an old lady who lives in a treehouse. All the people in the town think she is strange, but then it rains and it floods, and everybody ends up coming up to stay in the old woman's treehouse with her, then they learn that she is actually a nice woman and come to like her.  One more clue: the old woman wears funny socks; they might have been paper bags.

That's certainly Miss Twiggley.  To read more comments and fanfare about her, visit the Most Requested page.
 Interpreting
Condition 
Grades
Fox, Dorothea Warren.  Miss Twiggley's Tree.   Parents Magazine Press, 1966.  Purple House Press, 2002.  New hardcover, $17.95


Missing Melinda
OK, here is my "stumper". When I was at camp in 1970, I read a book I really loved. It was hardback, about 5"x7" with a turquoise, I think, cover. It was about two little girls and a beautiful doll, named Melinda, that has BROWN eyes.That was the big thing, that the doll had brown eyes rather than blue. I think the two little girls get involved in some kind of mystery or something. Anyway, I loved it, especially since I have brown eyes too. :-) Does anyone recognize this? Thanks much!!!!

The book about the two llttle girls and a brown eyed doll might be Missing Melinda by J. Jackson.The two girls were twins named Cordelia and Ophelia and they had long blond braids.
M2-Missing Melinda by J. Jackson.
I love your website!  The message about two little girls and a doll named Melinda triggered my memory.  I definitely remember it, but unfortunately not the title.  The two little girls were sisters, and they did solve a mystery involving the doll they found in the attic soon after moving into a big old house.  One of the girls was named Cordelia and the other possibly Ophelia (their dad was a big Shakespeare fan).  The mystery had to do with the doll having brown eyes instead of blue, and I think it went into the history of doll making�  I believe it was part of Scholastic book club or something similar.  Sorry I can�t remember more, but maybe these clues will help someone else!

Hi Harriett! I had just about given up on that one. The book I'm thinking of, involved two little girls who wanted to name the doll and they combined the names somehow--- I think it was Miranda and Linda = Melinda. Something like that. Can't remember another thing about it, but I think the book was smallish and had a yellow cover. Does this one match the one you found? 



Missing Man
I'm looking for a science fiction book I read in the 1980s.  It was about a a guy with telekinetic powers and I believe his parents died in a plane crash.  He may or may not have been somehow responsible, or felt he was responsible.  I can't remember much more except that it was a really intriguing book.  Hopefully someone can help from that skimpy info!

Katherine MacLean, Missing Man.  Despite having read this twice, I had to Google frantically for the title - it's one of those hard-to-remember ones!  The narrator, George, (who appears for most of the book to have some sort of mental disability) works to locate missing people in a very peculiar future city.  At the end he recovers from the trauma induced by the incident you described - and the last sentence reveals the name of the city in which the story takes place.



Missing Persons League
I read this book most in the late 80s or early 90s.  It is a young adult science fiction book.  It is set in the future when pollution has taken over the earth.  The main character is a boy in high school.  The air is so polluted that oxygen stations are at the school.  He is occassionally harrassed by some "bully."  The boy lives with his father.  There are many rules and regulations set by the government.  I think food is rationed.  But the family is able to hide supplies, like a garden and even chickens, in their basement.  Humans are not expected to survive on the planet much longer.  Select people are chosen based on skills, etc. and given rings.  The rings allow them to gain entry to a station where the people are put to sleep.  While they are in this dormant state for many years, the earth is expected to regenerate itself so that the people can live there again.

Bonham, Frank, Missing Persons League
Frank Bonham, The Missing Persons League. (1976)  Hi Harriett.  It looks like my mystery has been solved.  I can't find a detailed description of the book online, but what I found looks to be a match.  I also found pics of the cover art and it looks familiar.  I am hoping to get a copy tomorrow.  I am 99.99% sure it's right!  I am so excited.  This has been driving me crazy for years.  Endless searches online never turned up anything.  It only took 2 days on your site.  Thanks so much!
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I read this book in the early to late 80's. I remember a boy who lives alone and secretly grows vegetables and raises a chicken for eggs in his basement. The Earth is in bad shape so nothing grows naturally, the seas are full of redtides, and the air quality is poor. People start disappearing for no reason, and somehow he finds himself in a silo where the missing people have gone. They will go to sleep for some time in the silos while the earth renews itself and then will wake up and live on the renewed earth.

Frank Bonham, The Missing Persons League,1976, reprint. A boy lives with his very absent minded professor kind of father in an overcrowed world where lots of the brightest and best people have gone missing.  The boy's mother and sister have been missing for a year.  They keep chickens in a hidden basement and they grow vegetables under special lights in the basement, too.  He finds a friend who he confides in about half of his family disappearing and he finds out that his friend is secretly alone too.  In the end they both have to figure out on their own how to get in the silo with the others "missing" people who are in suspended animation.
Frank Bonham, The Missing Persons League,1976, reprint. Yes, yes, yes! This is the book! Thank you so much- I have been going nuts trying to remember! This is the BEST website
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Read in late 70s/early 80s, global warming, no fresh food. Teen boy + his dad; mom disappeared. Trapdoor in floor to gardens + rabbit hutches, great scene of boy's female friend moved to tears biting into fresh tomato; find mom at end in rocket ship in woods waiting to leave Earth.

Frank Bonham, The Missing Persons League
.  It's actually not a rocket ship at the end, it's a cryogenic bunker.  The hero and his family are among those secretly chosen to be frozen until humanity has killed itself off and the Earth recovers, then they will emerge to repopulate it.  He's picked for his farming skills, his female friend is artistic, his mother was a dancer or something; they're trying to select a cross-section of society.  The key to enter the bunker is mercury, hidden in things like a golf club or a ring.
Frank Bonham, The Missing Persons League.  This is the book.  My book is in storage so I don't have it but all the particulars fit.
Frank Bonham, The Missing Persons League.  Wow! I can't believe this was solved on just a few meager details! Thank you, thank you so much, I have thought about this book for years and I can't wait to read it again. Amazing!


Mister Dog
My stepdad loves the book Mr. Dog.  It's a children's book that he remembers from when he was a child, and he's now 50 years old.  I have no other information on the book except that it's a children's book called Mr. Dog and it's pretty old.  If you have any info on this book I'd appreciate it if you could drop me a line and let me know.  Thanks!

M28  might be Mister Dog, the Dog who Belonged to Himself, by Margaret Wise Brown, S&S, 1950
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HELP... I AM LOOKING FOR...CRISPIAN...A LITTLE SCOTTIE DOG! IN THE FIFTIES..A LITTLE SCOTTIE DOG WHO LIVED INSIDE A HOLLOW TREE AND WORE A SMOKING
JACKET..HIS NAME WAS CRISPIAN (KRISPIAN?)...AND HIS LIFE WAS ALL HIS OWN..THEREFORE HE WAS "CRISPIAN'S CRISPIAN!"  IT SEEMS THIS ILLUSTRATED CHILDREN'S BOOK MAY BE A LITTLE GOLDEN BOOK...OR SOMETHING OF THAT NATURE (AND NATURALLY I DON'T KNOW THE TITLE..AND I DON'T KNOW THE AUTHOR) HOPE YOU CAN HELP

This is definitely Mister Dog (the Dog who Belonged to Himself) by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Garth Williams, Little Golden Book published 1952.
I saw a couple of pages from the Golden Book (on EBay), and the dog does seem to live in a hollow tree, smokes a pipe, and wears something like a smoking jacket. Couldn't read enough of the text to find whether he was called Crispian, though.
Margaret Wise Brown, The Dog Who Belonged to Himself.  This is definitely the book you're looking for - I have a copy in front of me right now and the first line is "Once upon a time there was a funny dog named Crispin's Crispian because he belonged to himself."
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Mister Dog
This is a kids book about a dog who lives alone and goes about his day, wakes up alone, eats breakfast alone, goes to the market alone and then somehow meets a little boy that lives alone and does all the same things the dogs does.  Somehow the little boy ends up living with the dog and they go about their days together from then on and are happy.  It is illustrated.

Margaret Wise Brown, Mister Dog. This has to be Mister Dog, a Little Golden Book written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Garth Williams.  It was my husband's favorite book when he was a boy.
Margaret Wise Brown, Mister Dog. This is from the Little Golden Books series and it sounds like the book you described. The dog's name is Crispin's Crispian and it is stressed that "he belonged to himself." He meets a boy who also "belonged to himself." It's a charming book with illustrations by Garth Williams, I believe.
Margaret Wise Brown, Mister Dog. I just wanted to let you know that I submitted this and the people who suggest Mister Dog are correct!!!  I'm so excited to finally remember what this book is called.  Thanks so much!!!



Mister Stormalong
OK, here's another one.  There was a book in the 1950's that I read that is kind of like the Paul Bunyan stories, but instead it's about a large (giant sized) man who goes to sea.  I think that in the title there was something like "SS Midshipman...." but I could be getting that wrong, it's been so many years.  He does all kind of things -- they have to build him a cabin that's the length of the ship to accommodate his size, but he turns out to be able to protect the ship and the seamen because of how talll and strong he is -- like fixing the rigging, maybe holding the rigging up in a storm? and being able to swim under the boat and fix the keel, I also recall he fights the Kraken (a huge mythological crab like monster reputed to live in the northern seas) and saves the ship from the Kraken's wrath..... Any thoughts?  Thanks loads.

S84 ss midshipman: maybe True Tall Tales of Stormalong, Sailor of the Seven Seas, by Harold Felton, illustrated by Joan Sandin, published Prentice-Hall 1968, 64 pages. The cover appears to show a giant sailor picking up an anchor in one hand. "Some people said that the new arrival in the Stormalong family had been created out of thunder and waves, that he was the result of rain and wind and rocks. This unusual baby was eventually to becomet he greatest sailor of all times, Alfred Bulltop Stormalong." It may be too recent, though. The Giant Alexander went to sea once, but I believe that was just a single episode.
S84 ss midshipman: an earlier version is Mister Stormalong, by Anne Malcolmson and Dell McCormick, illustrated by Joshua Tolford, published Houghton 1952, 136 pages. "Freshly humorous version of the Stormalong legends, in which Alfred Bulltop enters as a boyish giant of 13 years ... Here are his fabulous tussles with the giant octopus and the great white whale, the advanced discoveries and inventions engineered for his giant windjammer the Tuscarora, and her record-breaking contests with the Flying Cloud and the Liverpool Packet. Rich in salty language and sea lore and with a generous provision of vigorous pictures."(HB Apr/52 p.108) The Kraken is sometimes represented as a giant squid or octopus.
Anne Malcolmson and Dell J. McCormick (authors), Joshua Tolford (illustrator), Mister Stormalong, 1952.  This is the one you're looking for!  According to Anne Malcomson's Acknowledgements in the first three pages of this book, Dell McCormick was the first author to envision an entire volume devoted to Alfred Bulltop Stormalong.  (All previously published Stormalong stories were in general collections of tall tales.)  He completed his research for the book, but died before he finished his final draft.  In a letter to his publisher, McCormick wrote, "The story of...the dreaded Giant Kraken [was] told to me by a Swedish habor pilot."  In other words, this was the first time that particular tale was ever published. It's in the chapter called "The White Cliffs of Dover" and the Giant Kraken is described as "...related to the octopus...In shape he vaguely resembles a crab, with...great tentacles, like giant lobster claws, [that] extend from the sides of the shell."  (Please note that there is another chapter in the same book called "The Fight With the Octopus" which has nothing to do with the Giant Kraken.)  The book True Tales of Stormalong: Sailor of the Seven Seas (by Harold W. Felton, illustrated by Joan Sandin) does not contain the story of the Giant Kraken and was published too late to be the one sought.



Mitchells series
This site is a real public service!  I've solved many of my own stumpers here--but one just won't come to light.  It concerns a book and its sequel about a big family with lots of children.  The first book opens in the U.S., and the children's father and uncle are off to fight in World War II.  I remember a birthday party that is interrupted by the delivery of a terrible telegram--the father and uncle are missing in action.  The mother doesn't tell the children right away, thinking that it will be better for them to have one day of complete happiness.  In the second book (the end papers have line drawings of each child), the father returns from the war (I think the uncle does not return) and the family moves to Quebec, although they struggle with French.  One of the little boys tries to tell a new neighbor that his mom is having yet another child, only this time it's twins (he holds up two fingers and says, "Deux bebes").  The neighbor is horrified by all this fecundity!  I also remember one of the girls was near-sighted, but preferred her fuzzy world to corrected vision (what she thought was a beautiful flower would turn out to be an old soup can when she put on her glasses).  Not much to go on!  I am hoping that these scanty clues will jog somebody's memory.

Hilda Van Stockum, The Mitchells: Five for Victory, Canadian Summer, Friendly Gables, 1945, copyright.  My daughter has read these over and over and she says she is almost positive you are looking for the Mitchell family series.  These were republished by Bethleham Books in the 1990's and are still available from them.
Hilda van Stockum, The Mitchells:  Five For Victory, Canadian Summer, Friendly Gables.  It's been a while since I've read these, so I can't confirm all the details in the stumper, but the Mitchells' father is reported missing in World War II and the telegram does come on somebody's birthday, and the family does go to Quebec and the mother does have twins!  Not all in the same book, but in the course of the series.  So I'm guessing this is the right set of books.
Hilda van Stockum, Friendly Gables, and others.  You are thinking of Hilda van Stockum's books about the Mitchell family (The Mitchells, Canadian Summer, Friendly Gables).  The one with the baby twins is Friendly Gables, and you can see a sample here:  http://www.love2learn.net/literature/samples/friendly.htm .  The books have been reprinted by Bethlehem Books.  Hilda van Stockum's website is here:  http://www.hildavanstockum.com/ .
My stumper (B591) has been answered--and solved!  Is that some sort of record for speed?  I am positive that the answer provided, Hilda Van Stockum's "The Mitchells" series, is correct.  I am so grateful to these internet angels!  It's been rattling around in my head for many years, so it is a relief to say the least.  I'd like to say "thanks"!



Mixed Up Max
I'm trying to find a children's book that would have been out in the late 1960's, early 1970's. It featured a small dog, possibly a dachshund, that had an owner that traveled a lot. The dog would be sad to be left behind, but would sniff the owner's shoes when he returned and learn about his travels. I think the dog's name was Maximillian.

Gustaitis, Rasa, Mixed Up Max, 1968.  I found this description in my local library network:  "Two dachshunds trade places because one travels to exotic lands with his master while the other is continually left behind."  Don't confuse it with a more recent book of same title by Dick King-Smith -- that Max is a hedgehog.
I think this may be it! THANK YOU SO MUCH. It's been driving me crazy for years and no one in my family remembers the book. I think they all thought I was making it up.


Mockingbird Flight
Economy Company was taken over by another publisher. Mockingbird Flight is a large, spiral-bound book of songs for the primary grades. I imagine the copyright date is in the 60's or 70's.  I have searched for this book for many years and have never come up with anything closer than To Kill a Mockingbird.  Somewhere, someone, or some school has an unused copy -- I'm just sure of it!

Patricia Haglund Nielson, et al., Mockingbird Flight: Songs for Kindergarten Keys,  1975, 1982.  I don't know where you can buy a copy, but according to WorldCat, about 24 libraries have copies.  A search on Google also lists it as being used by at least 2 school districts. Published by the Economy Company in 1975, and again in 1982. This is almost certainly the book you are looking for, you may just have to keep looking until a copy turns up.



Modern Story Book
Looking for large picture book, with storylines, US published, late 40's/early 50's. The cars and trucks had faces and their headlights were their eyes.  I think one of the stories was of a big fire in the winter and how everything froze up from the firemen's hoses.  But the faces on the cars, trucks, tractors, etc. have stuck with me.  A long shot but hope
someone can help.

Maybe Virginia Burton's Katy and the Big Snow?
This sounds like Number 9 - The Little Fire Engine on the solved mysteries pages, but I checked the book, and the only vehicle pictured in the story is the fire engine. His eyes are indeed the headlights, and he gets stuck under the ice formed by the fire hoses.
No luck. My older brother (b. 1947) remembers this book too. Being mostly a picture book makes it hard to identify.  Many full colour illustrations.  The characters were cars & their faces were in the grilles, bumpers and headlights. I thought it might be Fire Engine by Mistake by Leila Berg but don't think so. I will have to work on my brother some more.
I got a tip this could be a story/book called gears and gasolene about a car that gets in an accident and spends time in a repair shop where it is talked to by other cars and trucks.  I'm not finding any trace of anything with this title though.  Will keep looking
Regarding Gears and Gasoline- It is found in an old Ginn 3-2 reader called Friends Far and Near. The author is Caroline D.  Emerson. Under acknowledgements the story is attributed to Story Parade, Inc. (1940) This is a possible solution!
The closest thing I could find in the Library of Congress (which won't have the magazines or primers) is Caroline Dwight Emerson, The little green Car, Grosset & Dunlap, 1946. Illustrated by Paul Galdone.
Wallace Wadsworth, The Modern Story Book, 1950.  I am surprised at how long it took me to identify this book,
even though it is readily available.  I think the generic title causes it to be skipped over.  Too bad, because the illustrations are very good.  You can put this under the SOLVED category now.  Thank you for providing this service.


Moe Q. McGlutch, He Smoked Too Much
In the early-to-mid-1970s, my dad bought several illustrated children's books through the book of the month club.  I've been wracking my brains about two of them that I really loved as a kid.  I believe both were written and published pretty contemporaneously.  The first had as its hero a guy, possibly an anthropomorphized animal, who lived in a house on a hill, probably alone.  What I remember most clearly about him is that he smoked cigars, and would blow smoke rings in the shape of Q's (and probably other things, but that's what I remember).  I think the story was of the Scrooge variety, ie crotchety old man learns to love kind of things.

Another Parents' Magazine Press book:  Moe Q. McGlutch, He Smoked Too Much.  Written and illustrated by Ellen Raskin, 1973.
 Interpreting
Condition 
Grades
Raskin, Ellen. A Moe Q. McGlutch, He Smoked Too Much.  Illustrated by Ellen Raskin.  Parents' Magazine Press, 1973.  VG.  <SOLD>  


Mojo Swoptop
Im looking for a book as a gift well books this may sound weird but Im look for advice or your help in help me track a copy of this book it was a children books called Mojo Swaptop it was about a Red Car that could go into his Gargage and change into different things like Fire Engines and Ambulances and he use to get into adventues I believe it was a series with at least 5 - 8 books but I have been trying to track it down to no avail.  Well you probably think Im mad but I really wanna get hold of this for my girlfriend as she remembers it from growing up.

Cindy Black & Rich Ward, "Mojo Swoptops"series, c.1979.  Mojo Swoptops Cleans Up, Mojo Swoptops Gets All Mixed Up,  Mojo Swoptops Goes to School, Mojo Swoptops Goes to the Races. These are the titles I could track down -- I don't know if  there are others.  These four seemed to have the same date.
Cindy Black, Rich Ward, mojo swoptop, 1979.



Molly, Pete, and Ginger
Molly Pete(r?) and Ginger, early 1960's.  learned to read with this book

Molly, Pete, and Ginger Reading for Interest Series published by D. C. Heath and Co., copyright 1955. Early reader. Ginger is the dog.


Molly's Miracle
When I was in 5th grade our teacher read us a fictional book about a little Eohippus horse (the forerunner of the modern-day horse). If I remember correctly, it was living in modern-day times and was found in a cave. I don't remember if there were people in the book--there was just an awful lot of detail about how the horse looked, and that it was the only one living.

Linell Nash Smith, Mollly's Miracle.  It's years since I've read this, but it sounds as though it *might* be the one.
Eohippus--The 1969 movie "The Valley of Gwangi" featured an adorable eohippus.  It was based on the story "Valley of the Mist" by Willis H. O'Brien.  Academy Award-winning special effects artist Ray Harryhausen created the creatures and coproduced the movie.
H54  I doubt very much if it cld be this:Rhodes, Eugene Manlove (1869-1934) Bransford of Rainbow Range. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, [1914].  30626; PQ4; GL; TDB.  [Originally titled Bransford in Arcadia; or, The Little Eohippus. New York: H. Holt & Co., 1914.]
Smith, Linell Nash (Ogden Nash's daughter), Molly's Miracle, illustrated by author. Boston, Little, Brown 1959.  More on this suggestion - 98 pages, "Story of Molly, an old mare, who finds a young horse which she names Dawn. A lost race novel of sorts, as Dawn is from a forgotten valley with a group of Eohippus, Dawn horses." Most copies online are exlib from church or school libraries.
---
Juvenile chapter book, I think. People discover baby horse, name it Dawn because they found it at Dawn. It's small, and I believe the other farm animals make fun of it. It runs away to a cave, where it goes back in the cave and finds that once it travels through the cave it goes back in time to the time of the "dawn horse" or eohippus. It is rejected by its herd and has to try to survive on its own.

With a name like Eohippus, it's gotta be: Smith, Linell Nash (Ogden Nash's daughter), Molly's Miracle, illustrated by author. Boston, Little, Brown 1959.  "Story of Molly, an old mare, who finds a young horse which she names Dawn. A lost race novel of sorts, as Dawn is from a forgotten valley with a group of Eohippus, Dawn horses."



Molly Moves Out
Looking for a book about a bunny named Molly and she moves out of her busy house to live on her own and loves it untill she gets lonley. I think its called Molly Moves Out, but I can't find it anywhere.  Help

Marilyn Sadler, It's Not Easy Being a Bunny, 1983.  Not sure if this is the book you want, but both my daughter and I flashed on this book when we read your stumper: PJ Funnybunny wants to get away from his too big, too busy family.  So, he tries being other animals, but finds that he doesn't quite fit in.  In the end he decides that his family is just right for him.
Susan Pearson, Molly Moves Out, 1979.  This was one of my favorite books. Molly decides she can't cope with her whining, fighting, disruptive and destructive younger siblings, so she gets a little place of her own and is very excited. She has things that are all hers, like a little plant in a pot. But then she misses her family, and realizes she would like some company sometimes, even from her sometimes-stinky diapered brother. Bunny, of course! The illustrations are really darling also. You can find it online (for too much money. They should reprint it!)
M357 She has the title right. Author is Susan Pearson.
M357 Seems to fit MOLLY MOVES OUT by Susan Pearson, illustrated by Steven Kellogg, 1979. Molly is a rabbit who gets fed up with her family and moves out~from a librarian
Pearson, Susan, Molly Moves Out, 1979.  illus. by Steven Kellogg. "Molly is so upset by the things her brothers and sisters do, she finally moves into a house of her own."



Momo
I don't know if this is a kid's book or a teen book or whatever because I can only recall some details. It was about a young girl (for sake of the description, I'm going to call her "Madeline" but I don't know for sure if that was the characters) name. She would go around the town telling the townsfolk her stories, and all the townsfolk loved this. Then, one day, the so-called "Men in Black" show up and convince the townsfolk that they don't have the time to listen to Madeline's stories. This seems to make sense to them, and their lives fill up with busywork like paperwork and having to do all sorts of things for their jobs that take up all their free time. In actuality, the "Men in Black" are stealing the townsfolk's time... but I can't remember why they did this, or what they did with the stolen time. Any clue?

Ende, Michael, Momo.  I'm pretty sure this is Momo, by Michael Ende. The men are in gray, and the storyteller's name is Momo, but the rest of the details fit. The men in gray keep the free time in a time bank, and smoke it to keep themselves in existance.  Lovely book.
Ende, Michael, Momo.  Penguin / Doubleday 1986.  Another translation was published in 1974 with the title The Grey Gentlemen, but this edition is probably easier to find. The gentlemen in grey are the time-thieves, and the ragged little girl Momo is the storyteller who recognises what they do.
Momo by Michael Ende
Michael Ende, Momo, c.1985  Just read it this year.   The time-stealing is also symbolic: Momo and her friends enjoy life (taking their time, doing what pleases them) until the men infect the adults with busy-ness, filling their days with rushing through work-related activities, draining their pleasure in life. In her quest against the time stealers, Momo is aided by a turtle (more symbolism...)


Monday Horses
It's about a young woman - probably a teenager - who works with show ponies.  I believe she works in a barn, and that she is an exercise-rider and hired show-rider for expensive show ponies.  The book depicts the whole horse-show world very darkly:  The wealthy owners often don't care about the ponies or their well-being, riders cheat by lying about their ages so they can ride in younger divisions, ponies are given drugs to mask injuries or behavior problems so they can compete when they shouldn't (I think this is where I first encountered the term "bute up"), the workers are often injured by the ponies, and there was a general suggestion of exploitative class divisions between the wealthy horse owners and the people who worked in the barns.  The girl might have had a pony of her own (maybe rescued?), but I'm not sure about that.  I do remember that she was in a bad accident at one point, when a pony she was riding in a competition missed a fence and landed on her.  She wound up with a concussion and other injuries, and the pony's owners tried to blame her, but it came out that the accident was due to banned drugs in the pony's system that made it crazy.  I don't remember where it was set, but it was all English-style riding and jumping, not a Western setting. I think there was a picture of a girl on a horse jumping a fence on the cover.  There might also have been a detail of a small stone horse statue that the girl's father gave her, but that detail might be remembered from another book.

Jean Slaughter Doty, The Monday Horses -or- The Crumb 1978 and 1976.
Jean Slaughter Doty, The Monday Horses 1978, copyright.The book youre looking for is The Monday Horses by Jean Slaughter Doty....plot exactly as you describe (the girls pony was injured while trail riding by walking on broken glass...the stables closest was the showing stables  while he was there recovering, she began riding competitively for other owners). Monday Horses came out in hardcover and in paperback, with different cover art: the hardcover was predominately white with the girl on horse jumping over the "Monday Horses" title, the paperback was much more vibrant, again with girl and horse jumping, but very different (far better) artwork. Somewhat hard to find and expensive in either edition unfortunately, but well worth the trouble and expense! Another by this author that you might enjoy is The Crumb, like The Monday Horses it takes in the dark side of the world of showing. This one is easy to find and inexpensive as it came out in hardcover with dj, hardcover/picture cover (identical cover art) from Weekly Reader, and in paperback with revised cover art.The Stone Pony you mention does indeed come from another book...The Stone Pony by Patricia Calvert (1982). Calvert also wrote The Money Creek Mare and The Snowbird, all good books.

Jean Slaughter Doty, The Monday Horses. Yes, this is it!  As soon as I read the title and author it sounded familiar!  I looked up the author and realized I read some of her other books as well (Summer Pony, Winter Pony). Thank you!



Money Cat
children's chapter book about kid who goes to a mysterious house on a large estate and finds a "money cat" ? I think this was a statue or figurine or something. I always thought The Money Cat was title but that is not so according to the internet. There is a pond involved - I think a key or something is buried on a string in it. And also wallpapered over cupboard. Sorry very vague. I think there were jewels or money inside the cat.

The Money Cat,
1960, approximate.  "The Money Cat" was a serial story published in Jack & Jill magazine around 1960.  I remember looking forward to the new issue each month so that I could find out what happened at the end.  There was a mark in the velvet on the shelf of the china cabinet and guess what had once been there?  The Money Cat!!  The head screwed off to reveal something inside...but I won't tell you what it is unless you want me to.  The woman who owned the house/cupboard was named Eglantine....  Is this your story?  Sorry, I don't know the author, but sellers of old mags on eBay might have one or more of the issues.  Good luck!!
Margaret Sutton, The Mysterious Half Cat.  Kind of a long shot, but this reminded me a bit of the Judy Bolton mystery The Mysterious Half Cat. The treasure is inside a stuffed cat that was half orange and half black.
Phyllis Whitney, Mystery of the Green Cat.  The solution to the stumper MIGHT be The Mystery of The Green Cat by Phyllis Whitney. I read this quite a while ago so I don't recall much of the story.  But I know that at the end of the book that some sort of treasure is revealed inside a statue of a cat.
This sounds a lot like one of Phyllis Whitney's juvenile mysteries--The Mystery of the Green Cat has a cat figurine, but it actually sounds a little more like The Mystery of the Angry Idol...which isn't a cat, as I recall, but does have some of the other elements you mention.
Phyllis A. Whitney, Mystery of the Green Cat, 1957, copyright.  The only 'money cat' I know is in Anne Petry's 'Tituba of Salem Village', but there's a strange old house in San Francisco, two mysterious old ladies, and a little green cat statuette. I bet this book has come up before and is in the solved mysteries section so you could look up descriptions there and see if it matched... if not, you might like to read it anyway, it's one of her best books.
Yes Money Cat is right. I didn't read it in a magazine however - thanks for your help! Elisabeth Kyle is the author I have now discovered! This has been bothering me for years!


Monk
At least 15 years ago I read a book (juvenile sci fi/fantasty) about a child who had been chosen to fight against evil/bad magic/the devil/etc. The plot of the book concerned a group of monks/brotherhood of good magicians who had to protect the child and escort him/her to a location where he/she could grow up enough to start fighting back successfully. The two motive images I remember are that the child and guardian are protected on their journey by a noble Mastiff, who personifies good. The evil sometimes takes the form of a crow or raven that flies endlessly for days, searching for the child. It may take place in the British Isles.

William H. Hallahan, The Monk. (1983)  'Brother Timothy and a hawk from hell hasten to find Brendan Davitt, an otherwise ordinary man with an extraordinary purple aura, who can forgive Timothy for the greatest of all sins and bring ultimate destruction to the Inferno�unless the hawk finds him first.
William Hallahan (author), The Monk, (1983). Yes! This is the book. Thanks for clearing this up for me.


Monkey Trouble
Hi!  I am hoping you can help me.  I was born in 1973 and I remember reading a book when I was little that had a really cranky monkey in it (I think it was a monkey and an elephant, but I'm not sure.)  All I remember from the picture book was that the monkey said, "You stepped on my toe, you clumsy elephant."  And the monkey had a big cast on his leg.  Do you the title of this book?

Could this be the poem Way down south/ Where the bananas grow/ The monkey stepped/ On the elephant's toe./ The elephant said/ With tears in his eyes/ "Pick on someone/ Your own size." -Anonymous. Anthologized in lots of poetry books, maybe A Rocket in Your Pocket.
Not 100% sure, but might be worth looking at THE MONKEY'S WHISKERS: A BRAZILIAN FOLKTALE, 1971 by Anne Rockwell. Very cranky monkey. But I don't know about the elephant and the monkey ending up in a cast. So it might be a false lead.
I don't know the name of the book the person is looking for, but I can tell you that it is not The Monkey's
Whiskers: A Brazilian Folktale. That books does not have an elephant in it.
This could be a false lead, but has the poster of M8 checked out William Wondriska's All the Animals Were Angry?  In that book, one animal is having a bad day and takes it out on the next one, ruining their day, which
continues until, well, all the animals were angry.  The lines I recall from it are things like "I hate you because you're so big", "I hate you because you're so colorful", etc...  There were probably a monkey and elephant in there as well...
M-8  I remember this book!!! I have no idea what the name was, but I can fill in a few more details in case
somebody out there knows what it is. I don't remember why the elephant stepped on the monkey's foot, but I
believe the monkey then pretended to be so hurt that he had to stay in bed and made the elephant get him everything he needed. every day while the elephant was out, he would get up and run around and dance and
stuff. Eventually he gets found out, I think. Is this any help?  Maybe I got your old book as a hand me down and it's the only copy in existence??? *grin*
M8  I think I've got the answer! I think it's MONKEY TROUBLE by Lisl Weil, 1971 (be careful, there are other books with this title) The cover has an orange background and the elephant is carrying the monkey on his trunk, and the monkey is crying huge tears. ~from a librarian
In the Watty Piper anthology Folk Tales Children Love, there's a story called 'The Elephant and the Monkey' but no description of plot.



Monster Adventure series
I'm looking for a series of books I used to take out of the library probably in the mid-70s to mid-80s. They were soft-covered books that were taller than they were wide. They were about a tall light purple monster. I remember them being relatively simple books. I vaguely remember one of them being something like "Monster Finds A House", and another about him riding a bus. I think he may have had trouble doing ordinary things because he was so tall.

T243 Try the monster books by Ellen Blance & Ann Cook, illustrated by Quentin Blake (for example, MONSTER COMES TO THE CITY; MONSTER LOOKS FOR A HOUSE; MONSTER MEETS LADY MONSTER). He is purple. I don't know how many there were, but I found a listing of about 21 different titles in the series. They are on an easy reader level~from a librarian
Blance, Ellen and Cook, Ann (illustrated by Quentin Blake), Monster's adventure series, 1970s.  London : Longman also published by Bowmar/Noble A 24 volume series of readers. 21 cm tall.  Titles include: Monster on the bus,  Monster meets lady monster,  Monster looks for a house,  Monster looks for a friend,  Monster, Lady Monster and the garden,  Monster goes to the zoo,  Monster goes to the museum,  Monster goes to school,  Monster gives a party,  Monster comes to the city,  Monster cleans his house,  Monster at school,  Monster and the magic umbrella,  Monster & the magi,  Monster gets a job,  Monster goes to the hospital.
M213 Could it be the series by Ellen Blance? Monster Goes to the Circus, Monster Goes to the Hospital, Lady Monster Helps Out, Lady Monster Has a Plan, Monster Goes Around the Town, Monster Comes to the City, Monster Looks for a House, Monster Goes to the Museum,  Monster on the Bus, Monster Goes To The Zoo, Monster and the Magic Umbrella
Hi - I'm the poster of this stumper & I can't believe that it only took one day to solve - it's been driving me crazy for the longest time. I could picture Monster in my head, I just couldn't find him. Thanks to the people who helped solve this.


"Monty"
Wm Steig? Sandra Boynton?  Childrens picture book, featuring a duck and maybe an alligator. The one spread I remember is that the duck is trying to think of something and a whole bunch of turtles gather around saying, "Think, Think, Think. See the duck think."

Sounds very like Dr Seuss ...?
Thanks for posting my stumper. Definitely not Dr. Seuss,though - the illustrations were water colors, I think, and I don't remember the whole book being rhymed.
S97 see duck think: there is a book involving a duck and turtles - The Story of a Bragging Duck, written and illustrated by Juliet Kepes, published Houghton 1983. "A boastful duck gets her comeuppance when she must rely on four little turtles to save her life."
Stevenson James, Monty, c. 1979.  Could this be Monty?  Monty the alligator taxis Doris duck, Arthur frog, and Tom rabbit to school.  They complain about the way Monty does things and so Monty goes on vacation.  They then have to come up with an alternative way to get to school (which may be where the stumper remmbers the "think Duck think" part from. Alternative title seems to be No Need for Monty.

Original poster here! I've finally tracked down copies of both "No Need for Monty" and "Monty" (two different books, btw), and the book I was looking for was indeed Monty by James Stevenson. Thanks so much!



Monster Museum
I'm looking for a short story I would have read in the late 70s or early 80s.  I think it was in a book of horror or sci-fi short stories.  An amorphous black blob lives in the sea for eons, surviving by surrounding and devouring anything alive.  Something happens - an undersea earthquake or tidal wave or epic storm - and it is washed ashore.  It adapts to life on land, sliding around in the dark and devouring animals and people, leaving a slime trail.  It seems unstoppable because it can simply absorb bullets, cant's be "cut" (it jsut reforms) and can sieve through any size opening.  The only thing it fears is light.  In the end, the army or national guard or soemthing kills it with a flame thrower; turns out it feared light because light is linked to fire, and fire was the only thing that could hurt it.  Other details I remember: it eats a cow out of a barn at night; it eats a camper after his fire goes out; and one policeman survives an encounter by giving into a sudden instinct to drop his gun and shine a flashlight on the thing that's chasing him in the dark, scaring it away with light.  Anyone recognize this story?  It made me afraid of the dark for quite a while!

Joseph Payne Brennan, Slime, 1953.  I'm sure it's been anthologized elsewhere, but I know this story appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Monster Museum.
Brennan, Slime, March 1953 in WEIRD TALES.  "Slime" has been anthologized or collected a few times, but the easiest sources in which to find it are probably either of two Hitchcock anthologies:  STORIES MY MOTHER NEVER TOLD ME (1963) or MONSTER MUSEUM (1965).
Brennan, Joseph Payne, Slime, 1953.  Yes, I think this is it! The title rings a bell - I might have found it by Googling if I'd thought to look for "Slime," instead of getting stuck on "Blob".  I also checked out the Hitchcock anthologies mentioned, and I'm pretty sure I must have read it in Monster Museum, because other titles in that anthology sound familiar too.  I won't know for sure until I get a copy of Monster Museum, but I'm betting this is a "solved". Thanks to those who wrote in!



Monster Night at Grandma's House
This was a thin paperback from either the late 70's or early 80's about a boy who stays at his grandmothers haunted house for the night. The illustrations were watercolor and ink, I believe. One pic was of him looking up at a large moosehead on the wall. I think it ends up that the ghosts were all in his imagination...

I posted this Stumper - sad to see no one yet knows what it is...here is some more info...there is another pic where the boy is laying in bed and I think the sheet starts flashing all these different colors (or he is imagining), the pic shows him surrounded by floating quilt pieces...at the end of the book he has "chased" the ghosts (which we never really see) out of the house and falls alseep on the porch swing - wakes up and sees the snowball bushes in front of his grandma's house, feels proud he chased the ghosts away...the pics were also done on a blue/black ink wash
Richard Peck, Monster Night at Grandma's House, 1977.  "The illustrations, which are ink sketches with blue highlights, have a great ability to show the scary, dark house at midnight without being too dark... The story describes Toby's summer vacation visit to Grandma's, where he thinks he hears a monster at nighttime. He sleeps out on the porch swing to guard the house from the monster. The story's open-ended conclusion doesn't spell out whether or not there is a monster, but kids will be comforted."
It IS Monster Night at Grandma's House!  You guys were a few days late though - my brother remembered the name right before you posted the answer. But many thanks anyway! You make many nostalgiaphiles (like myself) very happy!! Loganberry Books rules!!



Monsters of Old Los Angeles
Book was shelved toward the end of the fiction section, so author's name must start with some letter R - Z., c.1963.  I recall this book as a dramatic story of a small animal hidden in a tree watching other animals come to drink the water on top of the seemingly innocent La Brea Tar Pits of California.  The setting is in the Pleistocene when saber-toothed cats and other predators would attack the herbivores (e.g., mastadons, native horses and camels) and get themselves caught in the tar.  The irony wasn't lost on this then-10 year old.  I took this book out multiple times during my elementary school years yet I don't recall the name or author.  It's not a short picture book but more like a 100 page novel.  I developed a career as a wildlife biologist and remain fascinated with predator-prey relationships.  This book is an important part of my childhood.  Thanks for your help.

Andrews, All About Strange Beasts of the Past.  This book is non-fiction, but some parts are written almost like fiction, with dialogue among characters.  It's about unusual mammals from prehistory.  The cover features a saber-tooth cat springing onto a giant sloth which is sinking in the La Brea Tar Pits, while other animals sink.  Vultures are sitting around, too.  This was one of my favorite books as a child and I checked it out of the library incessantly.
Andrews, Roy Chapman.  All about strange beasts of the past.  Random
Charles M Martin, MONSTERS OF OLD LOS ANGELES: The Prehistoric Animals of the La Brea Tar Pits, 1950s.  IMPORTANT!   Your solution is INCORRECT! The solution is NOT the non-fiction All About Strange Beasts of the Past, but the fiction title Monsters of Old Los Angeles, The Prehistoric Animals of the La Brea Tar Pits, by Charles M Martin!   It fits the requestor's memories EXACTLY.  It is the story of a prehistoric Racoon, Racky, who lives in a tree above the La Brea Tar Pits.  He is lonely but eventually finds a mate, Ricky.   The book is about 100 pages long, packed with scientific information, written in collaboration with scientists at the La Brea site (though for purposes of dramatization the racoons are somewhat anthropomorphized), and with highly detailed illustrations.   It came out around 1950, by Viking.   I searched for this book for years, remembering it as "Monsters of Old La Brea," but finally found it was "Monsters of Old Los Angeles."  Thank you!



Monstrous Glisson Glop
I am looking for a book about a sea monster who loved to eat lantern fish. The book was in rhyme with watercolor type illustrations.  I read it to my daughter back in the 70's.

Massie, Diane Redfield, The Monstrous Glisson Glop, Parents Magazine Press, 1970.  "The Glisson Glop's favorite diet was lantern fish and electric eels, but after eating them all he discovered he was afraid of the dark."



Moominsummer Madness
I am looking for a book that I took out of my grade school library around 1960.  It was about miniature people living on a showboat traveling up and down a river.  "My" was the name of one of the characters.  She was always getting into trouble.

Tove Jansson, Moomin Midsummer Madness, 1955.  This book, part of the Moomintroll series, features a character called Little My who is always causing trouble, but she is the only one who is unusually small.  She lives with Moomintroll and his family -- they resemble domesticated hippos.  In this book, Moominvalley has flooded, and the family and Little My seek refuge on a theater which has come unmoored from its foundation and floats like a giant raft.  They put on a play which the audience watches from dozens of little boats.  No traveling up and down a river, though.
Tove Jansson, Moominsummer Madness.Great book
Jansson, Tove, Moominsummer Madness.  London, Benn 1965. I'd suggest this one, though it isn't a complete match. Moominvalley floods, and the Moomins and others take shelter in a theatre, which floats away. It takes them a while to figure out what the theatre is - they discover curtains and costumes and props. A Hemulen (I think) explains it all to them, and Moominpapa writes a play (The Lion's Brides), which they perform as they float down the valley. Little My is one of the characters in the book.
tove jansson, moominsummer madness.try moominsummer madness, by tove jansson. two of the characters are mumble and little my.
Tove Jansson, Moominsummer Madness, 1971.  This sounds like Moominsummer Madness by Tove Jansson.  The Moomins were little creatures, sort of trolls, who lived in a valley, and in this book there was a flood in the valley (possible leading to them living on a boat  I admit I have have read most of the series except this one!).  There was a character in the
books called Little My, who was always getting into mischief  this is what makes me think this is the book you'\''re looking for.  There was a whole series of these books, and they were absolutely great.
??Tove Jansson, ?? one of her "Moomintroll" series??  1946 and after.  "Little My" is a prominent character in Tove Jansson's MOOMINTROLL series.  I don't recall if any of the nine or so books involves any sort of showboat plot, but the name "My" is so unusual that I suspect it must be one of them
Oh good, I did think of Jansson's Moomin series, but I didn't know which one.  Some of these gems were reprinted in nice hardcovers, and some, like this one, are already out-of-print again.  See the Back in Print  page for a list of others in the series (hopefully still available; I have a half dozen on the shelf now).
 Interpreting
Condition 
Grades
Jansson, Tove. Moominsummer Madness.  Translated by Thomas Warburton.  Farrar Straus Giroux, 1954, 1955, 1961, 1991.  Recent hardback reprint, now out of print.  F/F-  <SOLD>  



Moomintroll series
the book may have been a series of books. between 3 and 8 different  books in the series? they were paperback novels.  i am guessing they were printed between 1980 and 1988.  i believe the author was male.  the main memory is that all the books had very simple, black and  white line-drawings of creepy but cute little creatures/monsters who  were the characters of these fantasy stories. no humans in the  stories (that i remember), the characters were these little creepy  creatures. there were not illustrations on every page, but since they  were a little more "grown-up" than regular children's picture books  the illustrations were scattered on the first pages of each chapter  and in random places throughout. if i remember right, the  illustrations never took up a full page, but they appeared along with  the text. overall, the pictures were cute but weird...like perhaps in  a trippy sort of way. i think the plots were strange too.  they were in the same section as early roald dahl novels: charlie,  peach, marvelous medicine, etc. - therefore, they were thin paperback  chapter-books.  the author MAY have been european...like british or some other  european country. it didn't seem classically american.

Jansson, Tove.  Could this person be thinking of the Moomintroll series?  The length of the stories would fit with the beginning chapter books that they remember.  I wouldn't say they are creepy but it does seem a good fit with the timeframe.  There are good pictures of the various covers at this site.
Tove Jansson, Moomintroll series.  I think this may be what you want.  There are a series of books about the Moomintrolls, they are illustrated as you described, and they are unusual but well-loved by many.
Jansson, Tove.  Possibly the Moomintroll series? They look kind of like hippos without noses or mouths.  They were originally published in the 1950's but have been reissued through the years.  Some titles are:  Finn Family Moomintroll, Moominpappa at Sea, & Moominsummer Madness.
Moomintroll series, Tove Jansson.  Perhaps this series? Finn Family Moomintroll, Moominsummer Madness, etc.
Perhaps the Moomintroll series by Tove Jansson?  Not sure the date fits, but the description seems to.
tove jansson, moomintroll series. the reader suggestions are all definitely correct. this is exactly what i was looking for! i am so amazed at this book-stumper site. thanks so much to everyone. and i am kind of amazed that a faint memory from 2nd or 3rd grade could have resulted in people figuring out this unusual book series.


Moon Cake
book is about little bear and a rocketship.  It is a children's book.

Asch, Frank, Moon Cake.  Little bear wants to taste the moon so he builds a rocketship.  He climbs in-  winter comes -he falls asleep.  The wind blow the ship over and the bear wakes up thinking that snow is on the moon.  Tastes the moon, climbs back into ship, falls asleep again and wakes in the spring.
Litle Bear.  In one part of the the book Little Bear, Little Bear wears a box on his head for a space helmet and pretends to go to the moon.
Well, there's Mooncake, by Frank Asch (1983, Bear builds a rocket to take him to the moon so he can taste it.)  Or, Bobby Bear's rocket ride, by Marilyn Olear Helmrath (1964, Bobby Bear wants to fly like a robin so he gets a ride on a rocket to the moon and other planets in our solar system.)  There's also Lorenzo Bear & Company, by Jan Wahl (1971), Lorenzo Bear launches a space program for animals by building a moon rocket), and SuperTed and the stolen rocket ship, by Mike Young (1982, SuperTed, the teddy bear with super powers, thwarts an attempt to steal a rocket ship).  Also, Rocket bear, by Katherine Redfern (2000, board book, no description available).  There's also a Berenstain Bears book called, The Berenstain bears on the moon, but you would probably remember if it was that series.
Frank Asch, Mooncake, 1983.  Bear and his friend Little Bird make a rocket ship to travel to the moon. By the time winter comes, Little Bird migrates south, and Bear winds up falling asleep in the rocket ship. He wakes up mid-winter, thinking he is on the moon, since he has never seen snow before.  My copy is a reprint by Scholastic, 1987
L54 Not sure if either one is the right book about a bear and a rocketship, but take a look at YOU'RE A GENIUS, BLACKBOARD BEAR by Martha Alexander and WHAT NEXT, BABY BEAR by Jill Murphy. ~from a librarian


Moon Colony
I am looking for a childrens book that has tomatoes, cowboys and I think aliens in it.  We saw it in a bookstore (discount) several years ago and have been sorry since that we didn't get it then.  I think it turns out that the tomatoes or the cows are aliens and climb trees to get to their ships.  It is fairly short in length and is a paperback.  I think the tomatoes may be the ships and the cows shed their skins, which were disguises to keep them hidden, and the cows climbed the trees to get to the tomatoes at the top.  I timed out at the Library of Congress.  It is not Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.  It is a funny, lighthearted childrens book.  I hope you can help!

William Dixon Bell, The Moon Colony, 1937.  So far this is the best guess I can come up with: Juvenile SciFi "The story of Julian and Joan and Bob and their hazardous adventures on the Moon Colony is a fascinating preview of the future and the dangers that await intrepid explorers of the heavens." : "When Julian Epworth started on a special mission for a big Airline Company to search for a missing plane, he never dreamed that his quest would take him on a rocket ship to the moon. could he have foreseen.his adventures with the whistling Ramphs and the Cricket army, even his stout courage might have failed him."
T135 Is prob right.  Bell, William Dixon. The moon colony.  Goldsmith, 1937
I have to think that a paperback found in a discount store would be much more recent than the one mentioned above.  There is one called Tomatoes from Mars by Arthur Yorinks that was published in 1999.  It does look pretty lighthearted.  A scientist named Dr. Shtickle (who resembles Einstein) has to figure out how to keep the tomatoes from turning Earth into the second red planet.  From descriptions I've seen it seems that the tomatoes do hover, like spaceships, but I haven't found anything about cows, cowboys, or aliens.


Moon Man
I hope you can help me in remembering the name/author of this book. It's one I remember fondly (but unfortunately not accurately) from childhood. The story features a man from the moon who visits earth. He is captured by soldiers and put behind bars. Being from the moon, he waxes and wanes with the phases of the moon. When the moon has waned sufficiently, he is able  to slip through the bars and escape. There's more to the story than that, but that's about all I can remember. The reading level is, I would guess, about age 7 or 8. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

M72 - I'm sure this is by Tomi Ungerer - is it called Moon Man ?
M72 Moon Man -- Yes, this looks like Tomi Ungerer's Moon Man Info from the reprint edition: Niwot, CO: Tomico/Roberts Rinehart, 1998 Trade Paperback. About 9" Wide x 12" Tall. ISBN:1570982074. Unpaginated, about 40 pp. "One night, while watching the people on earth dancing happily, Moon Man decides to fly downand join the fun. But instead of giving their distinguished guest the welcome he deserves, the people send the mysterious visitor off to jail! Alone in his cell, the Moon Man very cleverly uses his special lunar powers to slip through the hands of the law. His ensuing adventures create a gently satiric fable that Children are sure to find delightful."
Enid Blyton, Five on a Treasure Island, 1960.  Could be one of several Famous Five books set on an island.  The Uncle's name was Uncle Quentin.



Moon Singer
(1968)  Blonde, orphaned peasant boy is worked hard and badly treated.  He rarely speaks, but at night when the moon is full, he sings beautifully, with the voice of an angel.  His guardians discovered his gift and wanted to profit from it, but he refused to sing or speak in public.  Beautifully illustrated, set during the Renaissance period, he is discovered by a Lady of the Court and brought before her to sing.  Her kindness helps the boy to speak and to eventutally sing in public and she takes him in to live with her.  My brother and I read this book together as children and I have been desperately searching for it as a gift for his 45th birthday next April.  Even before I myself could read, the illustrations told the story in beautiful rich colors and I believe my brother identified with the shy, awkward character.  I think the book was offered through Highlights book club, but I can't be certain.

My brother was just visiting me and I told him I was searching for the book.  He thinks it was part of a Weekly Reader order.
Clyde Robert Bulla, The Moon Singer. (1969)  I have some experience searching for my own lost books so this is what I came up with for yours. It's supposed to have been weekly reader book about a boy who sings to the moon.  Good luck
Clyde Robert Bulla, The Moon Singer, 1968. SOLVED!  SOLVED!  Thank you so much for this wonderful service and thank you wonderful readers for finding this wonderful book for me so quickly. As soon as I saw the cover of the book, I recognized it, even though I was only 4 years old the last time I saw it.  I am so excited to give this book to my brother for his 45th birthday.  I am deeply grateful to the person who solved the mystery for me.



Moonball
I remember this book being part of our required reading when I was in the 3rd grade in 1977-78. It was about a moon ball that fell to earth and was found by some children who didn't know what to do with it. I think it had some unusual qualities to it... other than those we would assume a rock from the moon would normally have. I know this is vague, but if anyone recognizes this theme, I will be thrilled! Thank you.

The Moonball (1958) by Ursula Moray Williams? Illustrated by Jane Paton. On the back cover of one edition, it says: "It's alive! cries William, holding the moonball. How can it be? asks Gloria. It doesn't have nay mouth, or eyes, or anything! It's just a furry ball. But it is alive, William says. It's licking my hand! Ever since the children first found the mysterious moonball, it has made them happy. But now the Professor has taken the moonball away to study it. He won't give it back! And that's how the trouble starts."  Not to be confused with Jane Yolen's much more recent sci-fi baseball book. Williams also wrote Adventures of the Little Wooden Horse, Gobbolino the Witch's Cat, and quite a few others.
Another possible solution to #M371:  Moon ball, is The Magic Ball From MarsBiemiller, Carl L.  New York:  William Morrow And Company, 1953.  At least six printings.  What magic happens one lazy summer night when a "stranger" visits earth and discovers a small boy catching fireflies in the gathering dusk?  Perhaps this child reminds him of another, a child many light years away....  And so a "gift" is bestowed, with the best of intentions, and thus begins the adventure.
The Moonball.  That's it! That's the book! Move this one to the "Solved" page! Thank you SO much!
---------
Date, '60's. Genre, childrens. A group of children find a hedgehog like creature and make a pet of it.  it is some kind of supernatural thing.  i seem to remember that the creature changes size and floats in the air. It is quite affectionate with the children and they become very fond of it, maybe protecting it from some danger.    I remember the book as somewhat surreal a

Could be The Moonball, 1958. See Solved Mysteries. (I didn't actually read it.) http://www.loganberrybooks.com/solved-m.html
I remember reading this book!  I think it was called Moonball, but I don't actually recall the author. There is a 1965 book by Ursula Williams called that. I think the scholastic paperback had a different title than the hardcover though, and this looks like both are the same, so it may not be the right one. But still, worth checking out...
SOLVED: Ursula Moray Williams, The Moonball. That is it.  Even the cover looks familiar.  I cannot believe how quickly this was solved.  I was not even sure whether this was a book I had read or a dream  the whole story was so surreal and improbable.



Moonfleet
I read a book at a Canadian middle school, it was historical fiction and involved a boy living in perhaps 17/18th century United Kingdom or Canada who stumbled upon a mariner mystery.  Only thing I can remember is that there was heavy symbolism in the letter "Y" plus it had the feel of "Great Expectations."  I don't know but I think there were pirates or criminals involved.

Leonard Wibberley, The Crime of Martin Coverly, 1980.  This might be the one.
J Meade Faulkner, Moonfleet, 1898.  I'm sure this is it. It's a classic English story with smugglers, a lost diamond, a shipwreck and a pub called the 'Y not'. The Y is a family symbol and represents choices, paths not taken etc. It's a masterpiece and should be easy to find.
H159 Author is spelled Falkner.  The book is published online


Moose, the Thing, and Me
A JUVENAL SERIES ABOUT A KID NAMED MOOSE. ATHLETIC TYPE. SIMILAR TO HORRIBLE HARRY OR ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN.FROM 15-20 YEARS AGO.

M45: this sounds like Moose, the thing, and me  by W.E. Butterworth


click here for imageMop Top
This was a book I used to check out of the library as a child about a little boy from a big family that has really long hair that sticks up all over his head.  He goes to get it cut, and after it's cut, it's short, red, and parted on the side.  I'm not totally sure, but I THINK nobody else in his family has red hair.  The book was possibly in black, whites, and greens.  Any ideas?

freeman, donald, Mop Top, 1955.  I am happy to help you out- you helped me out a great deal and made me
very happy by helping me find the title of "Secret of Stone House Farm" by Miriam Young , a childhood favorite! thank again!
Don Freeman, Mop Top, 1955.  Could this book be, Mop Top, by Don Freeman,copyright 1955? I remember having this read to our kindergarten class,about the boy with the long bushy red hair called Moppy.Moppy resented getting a haircut,even if it was on his birthday,and hid in a hardware stroe.Then a man grabbed his hair,mistaking it for a mop.This caused him to get a haircuit right away-and on the last page,when he returns for his birthday party we learn his real name is Marty.
R55 could be MOP TOP by Don Freeman, 1955. He needs to get his hair cut for a birthday party (his perhaps, I can't recall) and is stalling. He goes into a store, and ducks behind a barrelful of mops, and a lady grabs his hair, thinking he is a mop! He finally gets his hair cut in the manner described in the stumper.
Don Freeman, Mop Top.  Mop Top doesn't match the description exactly.  Moppy, a.k.a. Marty, doesn't come from a large family that I know of.  The book is in black, white and (what else?) ORANGE!  Moppy goes to get his hair cut, and on the way enounters a dog, a lawn, etc. getting a cut.  He chickens out when he gets to Mr. Barberoli's barber shop and hides in a store next door behind a barrel of mops.  A woman grabs his head, trying to purchase it as a mop, and this convinces Marty that he needs a cut.  It is cut short and parted on the side, and on the way home, the lawn, dog, etc. are all clipped too.   A GREAT, GREAT book....I loved it as a kid, and now my kids do too!
Could this be Mop Top by Don Freeman? "An almost-six-year-old with a mass of floppy red hair tries to postpone the inevitable trip to Mr. Barberoli's barber shop." I remember this book as being brown, black and white -- don't remember any green, but definitely no bright colors.
Yes!!!!!  Thank you so much stumper magicians!  MOP TOP is the name of that book.  It all came back to me when someone wrote about the lady that tried to grab a mop and it was his hair!   Thanks, again!
 Interpreting
Condition 
Grades
 Freeman, Don. Mop TopViking Press, 1970.  Softcover with sticker to each cover (inside and out).  Previous owner's stamp to title page.  VG.  $7
order form



More Adventures of Susan & Spotty
I'm looking for a picture book from the late 1960's or early 1970's, about the secret adventures of a doll and a dog.  The book was illustrated with color photographs of a doll and what I'm pretty sure was a toy dog.  Possibly a Scottie?  The doll is a plastic/vinyl 1960's-1970's child-type doll (not a baby doll or a Barbie), probably a blonde, and I think she was dressed in bright colors (pink, orange, or red?)  One of their misadventures involves them spilling a large sack or canister of dry macaroni.  There was a picture of them pretty well buried in macaroni, and another of them cleaning it up by shoveling it with large spoons into a child-sized suitcase.  It's possible that the doll's name was Susan, but this is NOT Susan and Spotty by Antonio Colacino, though it is very similar.  I recently bought a copy of that, thinking it was the one I'd been looking for, and there's no macaroni in it.  This is also not Dare Wright's The Lonely Doll.   Thanks so much for your help!

Hi. After I submitted this query, I discovered that Antonio Colacino did a second book, More Adventures of Susan and Spotty.  Does anyone know whether the macaroni incident is in this book?  Thanks!
Could it be Take Me Home by Dare Wright?  This is not part of The Lonely Doll series.  It's illustrated with photographs of a doll named Susan who ends up living in the woods.  She leaves a note for the little girl who played with her.  The book is yellow and illustrated with a photo of the doll in a dress made out of leaves.
All of Dare Wright's books are photographed in black and white, and I don't remember any dogs.
Antonio Colacino, More Adventures of Susan & Spotty, 1969. I finally found a copy of More Adventures of Susan & Spotty, and it is indeed the book I've been looking for.  Chalk one more up in the solved column!



More and More Ant and Bee
When I was a preschooler, in the 1970s, there was a picture book I liked very much.  Unfortunately, I don't remember much about the story, but graphically/visually it was very vivid to me.  I remember it being just my size, and I believe the cover was red.  It was long and portrait-style in orientation.  Inside, I remember something with an ant, a stick of butter, and some bread, although this may not be the complete story.  I remember the drawings being very graphically done in black and white, with a graphic wash over the line drawing to denote the colour.  I remember the yellow.  I grew up in the 70s, but my siblings grew up in the 60s, and I believe the artwork is more in style with their time....I'd love if you could find this book!

Bernice Frankel, Timothy and Alexander the Great, 1962. A long shot, but might be worth looking at. The cover is red, and the illustrations (by Flo Jacks) are black-and-white line drawings with a color wash applied to selected areas.  Story about a boy named Timothy and his friend, an ant he calls Alexander.
Angela Banner, More and More Ant and Bee. I'm not sure this is the book you are looking for, but it's worth a shot: it's an alphabet story book for very early readers with very striking illustrations. By alphabet story, I mean that Ant and Bee fly through the air on a ARROW, then land in some BREAD AND BUTTER, etc. Unfortunately this great series is out of print and now very expensive!
I wanted to thank the latest submitter of this thread.  I'm fairly sure this is the one!  Thanks so much for your help.  Now the mad search for a copy begins!!!
Polly Cameron, I Can't Said the Ant,1966. Some of the details are familiar but there is no butter in the book.  There is a picture of this book in the Solutions section.  The book is about an ant that helped a teapot after it fell off the stove.  There are rhymes, e.g., "Is she dead?" asked the bread. The cover is yellow and the drawings inside are red.
Polly Cameron, I Can't Said The Ant. This came to mind immediately, although the description doesn't quite match.


More Five-Minute Bedtime Stories
I was looking for a large, thin book of about 5 or 6 kids bedtime stories from probably the late '80s, early '90s.   There was a story about a little boy playing baseball, one about fairies, one with a little girl named Penelope and her cat, and one with a toucan who dyed her beak so she could be beautiful like the other tropical birds.


SOLVED: McConnell, Nancy P. More Five-Minute Bedtime Stories, 1986. My dad found it in the basement!  This is definitely it.


More Than a Summer Love
It is about a teenage girl named Casey (I think) who writes about the events in her life from her perspective, her aunt comes to live with them for the summer (Think the mother has died or for some reason is not around), she has siblings who do not understand her and a distracted father. Think she was 16 with a 19 year old sister and a younger brother.  Lord I am making a mess of this, just remember being 13 and laughing through that and through Are you there God, it's me Margaret.

Phyliss Reynolds Naylor.  Any chance this is one of the "Alice" books?  Alice has no mother, an older brother and an Aunt Sally who stays with them for a while. It is written is first person narrated by Alice.
C89 casey: not much to go on, but there's Concerning Casey, by Eve Bennett, published Messner 1958, 190 pages. "a warm-hearted story of a teenage girl who put loyalty to her family before her own ambitions" (HB Feb/58 p.71 pub ad)
C89 casey: matching some of the criteria is More Than a Summer Love, by Jeannette Eyerly, published Lippincott 1962. Casey finds excitement - and an enduring relationship with a boy - taking care of Gran in a small Iowa town. Ages 12 up." (HB Oct/62 p.564 pub ad) The family situation doesn't seem close enough, though.



More Than Words
This was a hardcover school textbook, probably 4th grade level, from the 1960's.  It had bits and pieces of "Danny Dunn" stories worked into it, including excerpts from "The Homework Machine" and if I recall correctly, something called "The Wonders of Machines".  It also had a section where they were discussing microwave relay towers.

Wright, Josephine L. (With Mae Knight Clark & Albert J. Harris.) (Edited By: Grace S. Walby.) , More Than Words, 1970.
This is a reading textbook, containing a number of short stories.  The one I remembered as "The Wonders of Machines" is actually "The Wonders of Robots".  The excerpted "Danny Dunn" story is called "Meet Minny", referring to MINIAC, the computer Danny tries to use for homework.


More Times and Places
Possibly "More Times and Places", but not sure.  1950's, pre-1960 for sure.  My father's mother was a third grade teacher, so I assume this was a third grade reading book.  The cover was brown and there was a line drawing design on the cover and I also remember a patch of green.  The stories included a section on children from around America, including two boys bringing a basket of crabs home from the shore on a train, a girl helping her father light smudge pots to protect Florida orange groves from frost, a flap-jack eating moose in Maine, a boy and his grandpa hearing loons while fishing in Minnesota, a boy who pretended moonlight on the desert was snow at Christmas.  Also there were fairy tales, including Snip, Snap, Snurr and the Red Shoes, and some biographical sketches of famous Americans as youths: Clara Barton  learning to nurse, Noah Webster tackling the problem of spelling, and I think George Washington learning to be a surveyor.  After much searching I think that the cover of "More Times and Places" is the best match, but I can't find any listing of the stories in that book so I don't know if that's it.  THANK YOU for any help.

William S. Gray, Marion Monroe, A. Sterl Artley, May Hill Arbuthnot, More Times and Places, 1955.  I read this book when I was a schoolgirl, and later discovered that the story about "two boys bringing a basket of crabs home from the shore on a train" was an excerpt from the book Penny and Peter by Carolyn Haywood.  An internet search turned up the following information: More Times and Places: The New Basic Readers Curriculum Foundation Series, 4th Grade 1st
Semester, by William S. Gray, Marion Monroe, A. Sterl Artley, May Hill Arbuthnot, published by Scott Foresman and Company, 1955.  Stories include: Young Citizens Here and There:  "Unwelcome Passengers" by Carolyn Haywood,  "A Christmas to Remember" by Catherine Blanton,  "Adventure in the Swamps" by Idella Purnell, "Judy's Chickens" by Gladys Relyea Saxon,  "Maple-Sugar Time" by Gladys Relyea Saxon, "The Quiet Mountains" by Clare Bice, "Alarm in the Night" by Fleur Conkling, "The School Train" by Helen Acker, "A Camp in the Canyon" by Eleanor Hammond.  The Great Outdoors: "A Zoo Without Bars" by Garald Lagard,  "The Wild Colt's Lesson" by Paul Brown,  "A Falls and a Fawn" by Dorothy Dill Mason,  "Bushy Tail's escape" by Alice Gall and Fleming Crew,  "Billy and the Loons" by Laura E. Wiggins, "Wilderness Partners" by Jim Kjelgaard,  "The Magic Cot" by Allen Chaffeee, "Willie the Moose" by Adolph Regli,  "A Dangerous Surprsie" by Harold McCracken, "Gray Wing and Nika" by William H. Bunce.  Famous Americans of Other Times:  "George Grows Up" by Clara Ingram Judson,  "The Boy Hunter" by Clarence M. Lindsay,  "The Spelling Bee" by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey, "Fulton's Folly" by Clara Ingram Judson,  "How a Song Named a Flag" by Fannie R. Buchanan,  "A Boy and His Book" by Alice E. Allen, "A Great Showman" by Harvey W. Root,  "Nothing for Herself" by Jeannette Covert Nolan, "Night is Turned into Day" by Enid La Monte Meadowcroft.  Old Tales from Everywhere: "The Four Musicians" by Grimm, "A Barber's Discovery" La Fontaine Fable,  "Tyll's Masterpeices" German Tale,  "Chanticleer and the Fox" Chaucer, "The Seven Dancing Stars" Indian Legend, "Rumpelstiltskin" Grimm, "The Ugly Duckling" Hans Christian Andersen, "The Golden Eggs" Aesop fable, "Cinder Lad" Norse tale.  I think this is the book you're looking for!
You are correct about the title!!! More Times and Places!!  My 1955 copy has all your stories but Snipp, Snapp, Snurr. The crab story is the first in the book  written by Carolyn Haywood it is  titled Unwelcome Passengers.This is a fourth grade reader, second half (4-2)-part of the New Basic Reader series by Scott Foresman.


click here for imageMorris's Disappearing Bag
This is a picture book about a bunny who gets a bag for Christmas that makes him invisible.  He climbs inside so no one can see him.  At first, he thinks its a great trick, but then he begins to miss his family, and he climbs back out to join them.  I think his name was Max and I think he had a little sister or brother and that there might have been some sibling rivalry going on.  Thanks for your help!

Rosemary Wells, Morris's Disappearning Bag, 1970's.  Wells is better known for Max stories, but this one is Morris and his brother and sister.  Still in print, usually in the stores starting around October every year, as it is a Christmas story.
Rosemary Wells, Morris's Disappearing Bag.  This is a Morris story but it's by the same person who does the Max picture books.
Rosemary Wells, Morris's Disappearing Bag. I think it was Morris rather than Maurice! And he may be a mouse rather than a bunny, but the story is right, and Rosemary Wells also has a character called Max (who is, I think, a rabbit) in some of her other titles.
B133 It's MORRIS' DISAPPEARING BAG by Rosemary Wells, 1975 (The same author/illustrator who did the Max [a bunny] picture books) ~from a librarian
Wells, Rosemary, Morris's Disappearing Bag.  She also writes several books with the character Max.
---

 Interpreting
Condition 
Grades
Wells, Rosemary. Morris's Disappearing Bag.  NY: The Dial Press, 1975.  Children's Choice Book Club Edition.  Worn at extremities.  Hard to find!  G.  $12


Most Wonderful Doll in the World
A little girl loses her doll in the park.  When she describes the doll to someon, she embellishes what the doll looked like, the clothes it had etc.  When she find the doll, she realizes that all the things that she had said about it were not true.

D132 It could be THE MOST WONDERFUL DOLL IN THE WORLD by Phyllis McGinley, ill. by Helen Stone, 1950 (and republished by Scholastic, 1978). Dulcy is the girl, the doll is Angela. ~from a librarian
Phyllis McGinley, The Most Wonderful Doll in the World, c.1950.  I believe this is the book you are looking for although I believe the loses the doll while helping out with some sort of gardening chore and not in the park.

 Interpreting
Condition 
Grades
McGinley, Phyllis.  Most Wonderful Doll in the World.  Illustrated by Helen Stone. NY: J.B. Lippincott, 1950, 11th printing.  Ex-library copy with pictorial library binding and usual marks and front pocket, otherwise Good.  $12 



Motel of the Mysteries
An illustrated hardcover book called Mystery Motel (or Mystery Hotel), author unknown, circa 1970-74.  The story takes place 2000 years in the future after our nation has been buried and destroyed by a deluge of third class mail.  Archeologists of the future unearth a Motel 6 and begin to analyze the artifacts they find and to attribute special religious significance to items such as a toilet bowl covered with a strip of paper that reads "sanitized for your health."  They find haircurlers and other items and they ponder the uses and meanings of such mundane artifacts.
It's an hilarious spoof on the cultural assumptions today's archeologists make about their finds.

Motel of the Mysteries by David Macaulay (Houghton Mifflin, 1979).  "Presupposing that all knowledge of our present culture has been lost, an amateur archeologist of the future discovers clues to the lost civilization of "Usa" from a supposed tomb, Room #26 at the Motel of the Mysteries, which is protected by a sacred seal ("Do Not Disturb" sign)."
oops, I let an easy one by, didn't I?  I can't believe it's so old already....
David MacAulay, Motel of the Mysteries,1979.  This was extremely popular when it first came out -- it's sitting with the rest of my coffee table books.  "The findings from a motel of an amateur archaeologist in the year 4022. Funny book with nice drawings. His assumption of a toilet seat is it must be The Sacred Collar worn by the ranking celebrant at the final burial ceremony".  The reader might also enjoy the book "The Weans" by Robert Nathan, 1960, an earlier book on the same theme.
David Macaulay, Motel of the Mysteries,1979.  It is the year 4022  all of the ancient country of Usa has been buried under many feet of detritus from a catastrophe that occurred back in 1985. Imagine, then, the excitement that Howard Carson, an amateur archeologist at best, experienced when in crossing the perimeter of an abandoned excavation site he felt the ground give way beneath him and found himself at the bottom of a shaft, which, judging from the DO NOT DISTURB sign hanging from an archaic doorknob, was clearly the entrance to a still-sealed burial chamber. Carson's incredible discoveries, including the remains of two bodies, one of then on a ceremonial bed facing an altar that appeared to be a means of
communicating with the Gods and the other lying in a porcelain sarcophagus in the Inner Chamber, permitted him to piece together the whole fabric of that extraordinary civilization.
David Macaulay, Motel of the Mysteries.  I just bought a brand new copy of this book, so it's still in print. (Or back in
print?)
Not a solution, but I recall reading an excerpt of this in Reader's Digest Magazine.
David Macauley, Motel of the Mysteries.
David Macaulay, Motel of the Mysteries, 1979.
Macaulay, David, Motel of the Mysteries.  This has to be the book you're looking for!  Spoof of archaeological digs, written as though the motel was an Egyptian tomb.  The "Toot 'n' Come On" Motel was the name of the motel in the book, I think.
 Interpreting
Condition 
Grades
Macaulay, David. Motel of the Mysteries.   Houghton Mifflin, 1979.  Paperback edition.  Corner clipped from front free endpaper, otherwise Fine.  <SOLD>

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In the 6th grade (back in '94 or '95), we read a book about a team of archaeologists going through the remains of our current-day society, which had been wiped out long ago by some sort of catastrophe.  The archaeologists would find artifacts from our time and puzzle over their uses.  I think one of these was a shower cap, which they found on a skeleton in a bathtub buried in rubble.  I can't recall, actually, if these were archaeologists or if they were aliens from another planet.  If were archaeologists, I'd wager a guess that they were descendants of ours from the very distant future--this would explain the confusion regarding the uses of common, every-day items.  The book had some creepy black and white illustrations.  I don't remember it being very long.  Any ideas?

Macaulay, David, Motel of the Mysteries, 1979.  This is the book you want. The USA gets completely buried under junk mail (I think) and future archaeologists wind up digging up a motel and mis-interpret everything they find inside. It's a riot!
David Macaulay, Motel of the Mysteries, 1979.  This is the book.  Its a satire on archaeologists and their methods, and is probably still in print.
Macaulay, David, Motel of Mysteries.  This book cracked me up!  Macauley is, of course, famous for his Pyramid, Castle, Underground, and other books explaining ancient buildings.  Here he does a parody on archeology by having future archeologists uncover an "ancient" 20th century motel and arbitrarily assigning deep lofty significance to the most mundane discoveries.  You'll love it!
David Macaulay, Motel of the Mysteries, 1979.  This tongue-in-cheek book describes what happens when future people (in the 4200's) uncover a long-buried motel, the Toot'n'C'Mon Motel.  Some worldwide disaster had occurred in 1985 and buried much of the planet, I think.  The author was making fun of the discovery of the tomb of the pharaoh Tutankhamen.  The future people cannot understand what the common objects might have been used for.  One is lying in a "porcelain sarcophagus" (the bathtub) and the other is lying on a ceremonial platform (the bed) facing the altar where they worshipped (the TV).  The illustrations are a little creepy.
David Macauley, Motel of the Mysteries.  Could this be what you're looking for? I haven't actually read this book, but I hope to do so soon.  As I understand it, the premise of the book is that archaeologists are excavating a motel from the late 20th century and find all sorts of every day objects that they attach great significance to. I know there's one scene in which they decide that a television was the god of our culture.
Good grief, that was fast.  I'm a little embarrassed that I had to post the stumper, since so many people seem to know off the top of their heads, but this is one of the few times that Google has failed me on something like this.  I spent a solid hour playing with keywords and nothing turned up.  Then I finally posted here.  Anyway, thanks very much.  I'll probably pick up a new copy at [evil corporte monolith].



Mother Goose
It was a collection of illustrated children's poetry given to my stepfather in the mid-late 1950's. The only poem remembered had a line which read "I do not like you Mr. (or Dr.) Snell, I do not like you very well". It would have been a new book at the time, they bought only the best, so probably by a major publisher at the time.

Wallace Tripp, A Great Big Ugly Man Came Up and Tied his Horse to Me. I haven't seen this book in twenty years, but as I recall, the Dr. Snell poem is featured.  I hope I'm not misremembering.  It does have illustrations, and also features the poem "I eat my peas with honey / I've done it all my life / It may taste kind of funny / But it keeps them on the knife."
Dr. Fell. I can't even guess about the collection of poetry, but the poem referred to is "I do not love thee, Dr. Fell".
The Wallace Tripp compilation wasn't published until 1973, so it probably isn't the one remembered... but it *is* a great collection, and does include "Dr. Fell".
The Dr. Fell poem ("I do not like thee, Dr. Fell / The reason why I cannot tell / But this I know, and know full well / I do not like thee, Dr. Fell") is a standard nursery rhyme and included in most of the larger Mother Goose collections.  I don't suppose the person who asked about the book can remember any other information  -- style of illustrations? design?
Dr. Fell is found in The Real Mother Goose (1916) Rand McNally and Co. The book seems to be a ever popular as it has been reprinted almost annually since it was first produced.
Thomas Brown, I do not Love thee, Dr. Fell. Most of Mother Goose rhymes were originally adult verse, frequently satiric. A famous one, of course, is Ring-around-the Rosies having to do with bubonic plague. The original Doctor Fell (1625-86) was an English scholar and prelate.  Thomas Brown was an English satirist who attended Christ Church College at Oxford. "The irregularity of his life" while there caused Dr. John Fell, the dean, to almost expell him, but his extempore translation of a Latin epigram by Martial (i.e., the Dr. Fell quatrain) is said to have prevented this. In any case, he left Oxford without taking his degree and moved to London where he earned his fame as a satirist. The expression now is an eponymous  expression for a senior person one dislikes.



Mother Goose: A Treasury of Best Loved Rhymes
Fairy tale compilation book with very lovely illustrations and most "typical" Mother Goose fairy tales.  About 10 in. wide by 13 in. tall, not very thick. Last page had unique (at least I'd never heard it before) fairy tale and picture--there was an old man sitting on a pie "island" and surrounded by ink "water" with bottles of ink floating by.  Poem went something like "If all the world were apple pie/and all the water were ink/what.../....to drink?/it's enough to make an old man...and think."

Ed. Watty Piper, Illus. Tim and Greg Hildebrandt, Mother Goose: A Treasury of Best-Loved Rhymes, 1972, copyright.  I have had this book since I was one year old and was reading from it to my one-year-old just yesterday.  The poem described is the last one in the book. The picture is of an old man sitting on an apple-pie island floating in a sea of black ink, scratching his head.  "If all the world were apple pie And all the sea were ink, And all the trees were bread and cheese, What would we have to drink? It's enough to make an old man Scratch his head and think!"
Ed Watty Piper, ill. Tim and Greg Hildebrandt, Mother Goose A Treasury of Best Loved Rhymes, 1972, copyright.  This is definitely the book! Thank you to whoever submitted the response. I'm going to put in a book search for it right now.  Thanks again!


Mother Goose in Prose
My sister and I always talk about a book we had back in the seventies. All we can remember is that it was a book containing detailed stories based on nursery rhymes. Sort of like the stories behind the stories. The book was hardcover and fairly large; the stories were fairly long. I remember there was a story about Mary, Mary Quite Contrary, among others. The stories were wonderfully fun. We're the only ones I know of who ever had such a book. Any ideas?

Must be The Annotated Mother Goose- Nursery Rhymes Old and New Explained by William S. Baring-Gould and Ceil Baring-Gould. Baring-Gould has done several of these huge and comprehensive studies- one on Sherlock Holmes.
William S. Baring-Gould, The Annotated Mother Goose, 1962.  By now there is more than one volume of annotations of nursery rhymes, but this is THE one to check first.
Hi, my query regarding a "behind the nursery rhymes" stumper isn't actually solved. I just checked the Annotated Mother Goose that is supposedly my book, and it isn't it. :-(  To help further clarify what I'm looking for:  This book was not a literary dissection of Mother Goose rhymes. It was a book of actual stories (sort of like fairytales) that happened to have the characters of the rhymes. There wasn't any sort of "This story actually came from an old Scandanavian folk tale" kind of thing. They were just short stories, like any children's stories--only with Mother Goose characters. So, for instance,  there was a story about a girl named Mary who had a garden she liked to work in (filling in the story behind "Mary . . . how does your garden grow") and a story about what actually happened in Humpty Dumpty's life before he fell off the wall--why he was there on the wall, so to speak. Stories for kids. Hope that helps clarify. If it makes you feel better, the other query I had just got solved and I'm very happy to report it was correct and I've already found and read the book for the first time since 1976. What fun! :-)
L. Frank Baum, Mother Goose in Prose, 1986.  This is by the same author as "The Wizard of Oz".  The story about Mary Mary Quite Contrary (called "Mistress Mary" in the book) has her plant her flowers in rows and name them after her absent brothers.  The wind gets them and she thinks her brothers are going to die.  But the kindly squire shows her some wildflowers of the same sorts and reassures her.


click here for pictures & profile
          pageMother, Mother, I Feel Sick! Send for the Doctor Quick, Quick, Quick!



Mother Rabbit's Son Tom
Small sized paperback book with 2 stories in it about a bunny. It's from the 60s or 70s, as I remember it. First story, bunny is with his mother. They live underground. He really wants a hamburger with pickles and ketchup on a poppy seed bun. Second story he wants a dinosaur. He ends up with a big dinosaur balloon. The end of the book is a picture of him and his dinosaur balloon coming up a hill.

This is MOTHER RABBIT'S SON TOM by Dick Gackenbach, 1977. This is an easy reader book with 2 short stories. Tom loves hamburgers so much that his mother warns him that he will turn into one. So he plays a trick on her, and makes something that looks like a giant hamburger. And I definitely remember the image of a giant balloon. Gackenbach had more books about this rabbit family (including Tom's younger sister Hattie).
The entry below was my stumper, and.......  Yes, that is the book!!!!!!
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I remember a book I read as a child in the late 70s about a rabbit who loved to eat hamburgers.  His mother told him that he would turn into a hamburger one day if he continued to only eat hamburgers.  He decided to trick his mother by putting a large hamburger in his bed.  Thanks for your help!

Dick Gackenbach, Mother Rabbit's Son Tom,
1977, copyright.  Includes two stories. Hamburgers, Hamburgers: Young Tom does not eat the tender spring dandelions or good white corn of fall. He only eats hamburgers. When Mother Rabbit worries that he will someday "turn into one great big hamburger," Tom decides to teach HER a lesson. Tom's Pet: Tom likes pets too. he wants a big dog, a cat, a frog, even a chicken.... "No, no, no!" Mother Rabbit says each time. But Tom does not give up, and one day he brings home a very special "pet."
R210 This is MOTHER RABBIT'S SON TOM by Dick Gackenbach. There were some other easy readers written about Tom and his sister Hattie~from a librarian
Dick Gackenbach, Mother Rabbit's Son Tom: Hamburgers, Hamburgers, 1977.  Thank you!  This was indeed the book I was looking for.  Now I can share this wonderful book with my children!  Thank you again!


Mother Rigby's Pipe
This is either a children's book or an adventure book for younger readers.  It was published before 1939.  My dad read it as a kid.

Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mother Rigby's pipe, 1872.  Mother Rigby's Pipe was a story presented as being  by Nathaniel Hawthorne in a book by H.A. Page [pseud.] entitled Memoir of Nathaniel Hawthorne with Stories Now First Published in This Country. The book was first published almost a decade after Hawthorne's death, and reprinted in the 1950s and 1970s. The story does not appear in editions of Hawthorne's complete works.


Mountain of Adventure
Believe this book's author is from Great Britain (references in the book to torches enstead of flashlights and the boot instead of truck of car).  Sixth grade teacher read it to us at Beaufort Elementry in 1n 1957 in S.C.  About some children (believe 3) that have mystery adventures.

Blyton, Enid, The Mountain of Adventure, Macmillan Co., 1949.
Enid Blyton, The Mountain of Adventure. 


Mouse Book
I have already bought 32 books, looking for a book I used to read to my daughter over 30 years ago.  It is not "A House for Mistress Mouse, it is not A House for Mouse, No House for Mouse, etc.  It is a very thin book (like a Golden Book) and it has pictures on each page.  It has a mouse who is looking for a house.  On EVERY page it says:  "Is this a house for the mouse?  No, this is not a house for the mouse."  Any help would very appreciated.  I used to read it to my daughter in the early 1970's.  The mouse in the book was not a cartoon character or a caricature.  It looked like an actual mouse.  The one I received today is "No House for A Mouse" and it is, yet again, not the correct one.

Helen Piers, The Mouse Book. (1966)  Just a maybe -- "The mouse finds a house, finds a friend, and they find food. Featuring pictures of live mice during their adventures that are clever and will be fun for children."  "Photographs and large-type text follow a mouse's fruitful search for a house, a friend, and food."  I found a picture here.
This is THE MOUSE BOOK photographs and story by Helen Piers. The version I have is a paperback from Scholastic Book Services, 1970, but it was
originally published as MOUSE LOOKS FOR A HOUSE, MOUSE FINDS A FRIEND, and HOW DID IT HAPPEN?, 1966 by Methuen & Co. Ltd. It's a really charming book, and when I read it to kids they always say, "Again!". If it helps, part of the text is: "Is this a good house? No, it's too small. Mouse is looking for a house. He needs a house that is not too cold, not too hot, not too big, not too small" And here's a picture of the cover~from a
librarian.
The Mouse Book.  I just wanted to let you know how much I LOVE �Stump the Bookseller�. What a wonderful website.  I�m so thrilled that my book has finally been found.  I will be looking at your website now on a regular basis.  I can�t thank you enough for all your help.
Hello, Harriet,  I am absolutely elated that "Stump the Bookseller" was able to find my book, "The Mouse Book".  I have looked continuously for the past two years for this book and have bought 32 various books, believing that each was the correct one, only to find out that they were not.  I put my note on �Stump the Bookseller� (Code M380) and the answer was posted the following day.  I have bought two copies of the book to give to my daughter.  I can�t tell you how impressed I am with your website. Thank you so much for all your help.



Mouse Cafe
I am searching for a book that was probably from the 1960-1970 range.  It was about a mouse named Lollymops who had a Mouse Cafe.  It may have been titled Lollymops and the Mouse Cafe or just Mouse Cafe.  I have not seen it or heard about it in 30 years.  Any help you might give would be greatly appreciated. I would love to read it to my own children.

Well, there is a Mouse Cafe written by Patricia Coombs in 1972.  Coombs is best known for her series on Dorrie the Witch (now in hot demand), but this looks like the one you seek:  "Thrown out by her selfish family when she becomes exhausted from overwork, Lollimops' fortunes change when she gets a job at the Mouse Cafe."  I couldn't find a copy for less than $100.


click here for pictures & profile pageMousekin's Golden House
A mouse prepares for winter by bringing leaves, feathers, cotton, etc. into a smiling jack-o'lantern as these preparations go on, weather gets colder, face of pumpkin starts to sag closed in last picture mouse is snug inside, tail curled around him, eyes, nose, and mouth of pumpkin now completely closed.

Edna Miller's Mousekin's Golden House.  See Most Requested.



Mouse's House
This was a large picture book with glassine covers -- the sort of book you'd buy in the dime store, not an expensive one, but bigger than a Little Golden Book. Plot involved a mouse with a beatifully furnished house, which a cat covets. Wonderful illustrations of the cat from the mouse's viewpoint, giant eye staring into the kitchen and so forth. I can't remember if the cat eventually gets in or if the mouse successfully defends her house. I recall the illustrations as stylish, witty, very pretty, in full colour. I would love to see them again.

Kathryn Jackson/ Richard Scarry (illus), Mouse's House, c.1949. This was my stumper - but my own mother eventually solved it by finding the book, battered and without a cover, on a bookshelf at her house. The picture I remember turns out to be one of various adventures these two mice have, trying to
find a house of their own. The pictures are early Richard Scarry, no wonder I remember them vividly.


Mr. Angelo
I sure hope you know what i'm talking about.  In my grandmother's house was a book and i'm guessing at the title.  Perhaps "mr. angelo's kitchen" "angelino's kitchen" "angelino's bakery" "mr. angelino's kitchen"? these are my guesses but the memory is far away. The book is about a man, (who i think is named angelo) and his passion for cooking. a little boy talks him into opening a restaurant in his home.  he does and gets frustrated because what he loved about cooking was that he created whatever he was
inspired to make that morning. "let's see, what do i feel like eating today?" was his common question.
When he opened the restaurant people began demanding all sorts of things for him and he almost lost his love for cooking entirely.  Finally, the boy and he work out a system where he wakes up every morning and cooks his hotcakes or what have you and the little boy takes the rest around in a little red wagon to sell and everyone is happy :)  Again, this is my memory of the book and I've tried to find it for a couple of years.   Please give me any insight or thoughts you have, it was one of my imprinting books and now will mean something on a bigger level i'm sure! thank you.

How's this match?
Schwalje, Marjory:  Mr. Angelo.  Illustrated by Abner Graboff.  London: Abelard Schuman, 1960 and New York: Scott Foresman, 1960.  Reprinted by Scholastic, 1965. <SOLD>
thank you for remembering me!! i have since found a copy of mr. angelo to read myself and love it as much as i did in childhood, truly strikes me somehow :)  please do put it on hold, i'd love to have a copy, expecially if it's a really good copy.
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I think it might be called Angelo's  Eatery.  It was read to me in the early eighties but I am not sure if  it was published much before then.  The book was hard cover and red.  It was about a man (maybe named Angelo) who tries to open a restaurant but has many difficulties.  I remember that he tried to open a pancake and spaghetti restaurant.  That is all I remember. Again, I am not sure if the title is correct or if the main character's name is Angel.  If you require anything further please do not hesitate to write.

Schwalje, Marjorie, Mr. Angelo, illustrated by Abner Graboff.  NY Abelard-Schumann 1960.  This is on the solved list, and sounds like the right book.


click here for imageMr. Apple's Family
This is a story I checked out of the library many times when I was little.  It would have been in the sixties, but the book may have been older.  I'm not sure if the story was in a separate book or was one story in an anthology. The story was about a family whose last name was Apple.  As the children were born, the father was determined to name them all "apple" names.  The sons were Jonathan and Macintosh, the daughters were Snow and something else.  When the fifth child is a daughter, they are stumped for a name until they finally come up with Ann Apple (as in an apple)!  This has been bugging me for years.  Does this sound at all familiar?

I wouldn't have thought, when I started reading your Stump the Bookseller section, that I would  be able to answer someone's question! It just "jumped" out at me, and I got a strange sort of  "deja vu" feeling, because I read this story as a child too, it was in a book of collected stories,  poems, etc. It is in regards to A9. The story is called Mr. Apple Names the Children and is written by Jean McDevitt. The book that I found it in is called The Story Hour and is one of a series called Child Horizons. The book was published by Standard Education Society in 1967. The really wierd thing is that I just bought this book yesterday at a used book store close to my house, where I had gone to look for another book from my childhood. I did not find that one, but this book also sorted of jumped out at me, and it was such a neat feeling to open it up and go back in time about 30 years! I hope this helps your reader in finding a copy of the story! I would also like to compliment you on your site, and your service! I wish I had been able to use it a couple of years ago when I started looking for a fondly remembered childhood book, of which I could not remember the title nor author! Keep up the good work!

This is in regards to stumper A9.  It sounds like this might be what I'm looking for!  Please let me know if you can get a copy of the book called The Story Hour.  Thanks!!
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Looking for a series of books that I read in grade school 1967-72. They were about an Apple family. Every child was named after a type of apple ie, Jonathan, MacIntosh, etc. Thanks
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The book is about a family with the last name of Apple.  They have many children, each one named for an apple (MacIntosh, Delicious etc.).  The mother is upset because the children have such odd names.  The father loves it.  The last child is a girl named Snow and both father and mother are happy.

McDevitt, Jean. Mr. Apple's Family.  Illustrated by Ninon.  Doubleday & Co., 1950.  See more on Solved Mysteries.
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Who wrote this book and do you have a copy of it.Is it about a family whose children were all named after a variety of apples?
Hello, here's the book you seek:  McDevitt, Jean. Mr. Apple's Family.  Illustrated by Ninon.  Doubleday & Co.,  1950.  (The first chapter is "Mr. Apple Names the Children").
Thanks for your reply. I actually found a copy from Doc�s Books in Salt Lake City, Utah.Thanks for your wonderful service.I was beginning to think I would never determine the name of the book/story I loved as a child. With my limited memory and your wonderful assistance � I can cross that mystery of my list.Thanks.
 Interpreting
Condition 
Grades
McDevitt, Jean. Mr. Apple's Family.  Illustrated by Ninon.  Doubleday & Co., 1950.  (The first chapter is "Mr. Apple Names the Children").  Slightly acidic, but clean and tight. <SOLD>
also in:  Best in Children's Books.  Doubleday, 1957.  (Contains "Mr. Apple Names the Children").  F/F.  $10
order form


click here for pictures & profile pageMr. Bear Squash-You-All-Flat
Mr. Blossom's Shop
Thanks for this terrific site and for reacquainting me with some companions of my childhood that I remember reading and rereading so many times.  The paperback book that I've lost and been unable to identify was for juveniles and I think I purchased it in England or somewhere in Europe in the early 1960s.  It was about a village shop that sold magical "cures".  Similar in concept to the Piggle-Wiggle stories but for a slightly older reader.  I remember one chapter in which a woman in the village boasted of her baking skills.  She bought a special baking powder at the shop for her prized biscuits (or sally-lunn cake?).  The dough started to rise so high that the woman sat on the pan of dough to make it stop rising but it continued to rise and became so light that it floated away carrying the disagreeable woman with it.  I think that another chapter concerned two neighbors feuding over who could grow the best flowers (lupins, I think).  One or both purchased a packet of seeds from the magical shop and resulting flowers were of a completely unexpected color and somehow ended the feud. I hope this gives enough to someone to come up with the title or author.  Please, please don''t be stumped by this one!

Joan Aiken. I can't identify the actual story but this "feel's a lot like it might be one of Joan Aiken's short storys - maybe one of the Armitage family ones?

I checked into the suggestion of Joan Aikins books but her works were written later than the one I'm trying to find.  The book I remember was either published in 1963 at the latest or it is entirely possible that it had been in print for years when I bought it.  However, I also wanted to let you know that although Joan Aiken is not the author I'm looking for in this request, her stories look intriguing and I'm going to add them to my reading list.Thanks.  I'm looking forward to more responses to my stumper and hopeful for a successful resolution.

Euphan-Todd, barbara, The shop on wheels, 1968, copyright. An elderly couple buy a horsebox and convert it into a travelling shop stocked with odds and ends that take on extraordinary magical qualities.  Possibly this one?  Euphan-Todd was the author of the worzel-gummage stories and the idea would fit with her kind of humour.

Mr. Blossom's Shop by Barbara Euphan Todd.  This is the one!  The suggestion of one of Todd's later books led me to check out her bibliography.  It is her earlier work "Mr. Blossom's Shop" (first published in 1929) that is my missing treasure.   Thank you so very much!



Mr. Blue
This is a children's book is from the 1960's about a siamese cat that talks in a semi human language. I think the title is "Blue".  The cat says things like "meout" for out and "mein' for in.  That's all I remember.  *I hope it can be found!

S392 This is MR. BLUE by Margaret Embry. "Yin" means in, "Nan-yu" means thank you, etc.~from a librarian
Embry, Margaret, Mr. Blue, 1963 Holiday House, 1968 Scholastic, 71 pgs.  Just a guess, since you didn't say if this was a picture book or a chapter book.  Here's the description:  "Story of Mr. Blue, a cat, who wanders into Miss Zorn's 3rd grade classroom on a rainy day."
Calhoun, Mary, Cross-Country Cat, 1980's.  This is a guess since the cat is named Henry, not Blue and it isn't from the 60s. However, the illustrations are old fashioned and the  siamese cat is smart and has adventures and does talk like you mention. There are 4-5 books about Henry by the same author, so take a look at them too. They are usually easy to find at libraries as they are still popular.


Mr. Grabbit the Rabbit
Small book about a greedy rabbit living in excess trying to gather and get everything he possiblycan from umbrellas in every color to vegetables etc

#M203--Mr Grabbit Rabbit actual title golden book?: Mr. Grabbit, by Virginia Hoff, Whitman Tell-a-Tale, 1952.
Virginia Hoff, Mr. Grabbit the Rabbit, 1952.  Tell-A-Tale Book #2526.


Mr. McMilikin's Mountain
Plot: A farmer has a mountain in his yard and has it moved only to realize the benefts of the mountain after it was gone. So he has it brought back in. Suspect title: Mr. McMilligans Mountain I'm 37-so at least 30 years ago. Author:???

Wilma Klimke, Mr McMilikin's Mountain, 1969, approximate
. I submitted a request a little bit ago. I spoke with my mom and brother and we actually figured it out. Now, to find a copy. I think most of the info is correct, but you may want to check and add some detaails. Thanks....



Mr. Moggs' Dogs
Little book, perhaps Golden, from early 60's about a few puppies named at the end  of the book, Vanilla, Butterscotch, and Chocolate or Hot Fudge Sundae.  Please help!

Revena,illustr. by Si Frankel, Mr. Moggs' Dogs,1954.I had no idea what the title of this book was. I stumbled across a picture of the cover. Delighted to have a copy at last!


Mr. Mysterious and Company
Probably for young teens or pre-teens.  A story about a family of entertainers in the midwestern US in the  1800s.  Pa wore a top hat and had a neat, pointed beard. They travelled in a wagon which was a travelling  theatre and had a variety of acts:  Pa rode one of  the old-fashioned bicycles with the large front wheel, the son played a disembodied head which fortold the  future, they had a magic lantern show, etc.

F62 Sounds like it could be MR. MYSTERIOUS & COMPANY by Sid Fleischman, 1962 (also republished since). It is a family of magicains traveling across the plains in the 1880s. Mr. Mysterious has a top hat and a pointed beard. I haven't read the book, so I'm not 100% sure about this. ~from a librarian
Sid Fleischman, Mr. Mysterious and Company. Definitely Mr. Mysterious and Company. I loved that book! The part I remember best is where his son was practicing untying knots with his toes- and unties the cow from the back of the wagon. There is a delay getting to the next town because of this. Luckily, once a year each child in the family can do something wrong and get away with it,and the son (Opie?) invokes this rule. Also, a bandit steals Pa's gold watch, which has a distinctive chime. When the son is performing the "ask the head in the box" act, a townsperson asks where the notorious bandit is, drawing chuckles from the crowd. The boy hears the watch chime, and whispers the answer in the sheriff's ear. The sheriff then lassoes the bandit.
sounds like Mr. Mysterious and Company, by Sid Fleischman, illustrated by Erik van Schmidt, published Little Brown 1962, 151 pages. "Across badlands and prairies, through cactus, mesquite and greasewood traveled the red covered wagon carrying Mr. Mysterious and his 'company'. Whenever they came to a town the company helped Mr. Mysterious put on his magic show: Jane as a sleeping princess who floated in mid-air; Paul as the Sphinx whose head only could be seen in a square box; Anne as a little girl whom the audience saw transformed from a rag doll; and Mama playing the background music on a tiny piano and keeping track of properties and cues." (HB Jun/62 p.279) Illustration shows a line drawing of a top-hatted man on a huge penny-farthing bicycle with children running after.
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Family traveling in wagon out west I think, may have been gypsies.  The children got to pick one day out of the year to be bad.  In one part of the book the children spent their time counting the number of times that a handkerchief tied to a spoke went around.  The father calculated the distance and determined that they would not reach their destination in time.

Sid Fleischman, Mr. Mysterious and Company.  I remember this story from "Wide Horizons."  I distinctly remember the part about the children calculating the distance they're travelling by counting the number of times the wagon wheels go around.  The family is a traveling magic show.
Sid Fleischman, Mr. Mysterious and Company.  This has to be Mr. Mysterious & Company. The family are travelling  west in a covered wagon, and earn their way as a magic act. Each kid gets one "Abracadabra Day" a year, where they can pull all the pranks they want without being punished for it. The girl uses hers to put her hair up like a grown-up before she comes on stage as her father's assistant.
Sid Fleischman, Mr. Mysterious & Company.  Not gypsies- they're a traveling magic show. You might remember the boy practicing untying knots with his toes in this way he lets the  family cow escape.
Fleischman, Sid, Mr. Mysterious & Company. Definitely this book!
Sid Fleischman, Mr. Mysterious & Company. (1997, reprint)  Oh, this is one of my favorite books! It's about a family, the father is a magician and they travel doing magic shows. The day they get to be bad is Abracadabra Day. Jane uses it to put her hair up, because she's too young to do it all the time. I have at least 5 copies of this book and his other books, I just can't walk away from them when I see them!
That is exactly the book I was thinking of.  I am so pleased to see that others remembered and liked it too.


Mr. Nip and Mr. Tuck in the Air
My mom had an old book called Mr. Nip and Mr. Tuck in the Air  (I think),,,,,It was about two mouse-like creatures...I think one had a fork and spoon for his hands and one had a hook for a tail.....If this is a set of books...The Adventures of.....etc....I would love to find a set for her.....It was such a loved book in our home of six kids I remember when the pages started falling out...Thanks for your help........

There is an old book called Nip and Tuck, but I don't remember any sequels.  I'll have to check...
There was a series of books by Caroline Dwight EmersonMr. Nip and Mr. Tuck in the Air was published by E.P. Dutton in 1946.  There was also a Mr. Nip and Mr. Tuck which was a sequel to A Hat-Tub Tale with illustrations by Lois Lenski.


click
            here for pictures & profile pageMr. Pine's Purple House
click here for imageMr. Pudgins

A man came to stay with some kids while their parents were gone. He was kind of magical.  The only thing I remember is that he made punch or some other liquid come out of the water faucets. I think this was a picture book.

MR PUDGINS by Ruth Christoffer Carlsen, 1951. It's not a picture book, it's actually a chapter book, but the illustrations are definitely memorable. And he does make different sodas/drinks come out of the faucets.
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This was a book from school, maybe 3rd or 4tth grade (late 1950s, early 60s), about a family that lived in a house that had grape drink, juice, or purple liquid coming from all the faucets of the house. I  believe also the outdoor faucet, so that the lawn turned purple when it was watered. The children also turned purple when they took baths. The book had a lot of pictures in it.  I cannot recollect the title, or even come close.

Ruth Christoffer Carlsen, Mr. Pudgins.  1951, Scholastic.  This is a book about three children and their magical babysitter.  The chapter about the grape pop coming out of the faucets is "Mr. Pudgins Turns Plumber".  Other chapters involve a flying bathtub, magic birds, a dodo, and a black bear.
Gerald Weales, Miss Grimsbee is a Witch.  This book was about 4th grade level, and contained an episode where water from the faucets turned "Prussian blue".
Ruth Christoffer Carlsen (author), Margaret Bradfield (illustrator), Mr. Pudgins.  This book is probably Mr. Pudgins, which is already on the Solved Mysteries page. Three children are left in the care of a middle-aged male babysitter and have surprising adventures whenever he smokes his magical pipe.  In one episode, different flavors of soda pop flow from the taps in the house.  I'\''m sorry I cannot give my usual detailed synopsis---I went to the public library yesterday, and was heartbroken to find that they recently DISCARDED the last copy of this book (a hardcover in good shape!)for thirty miles in any direction. :-(  Not hard to find in paperback (though clean copies are expensive) impossible to find in hardcover.Ruth Christoffer Carlsen, Mr. Pudgins, 1951.
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I can't remember ANYTHING more about the book I am looking for other than I read it around 1975-  I know there was a household full of children and they had a repairman come to do some work at their house and one of the repairs he did made the bathtub faucets produce soda pop?  Am unsure of publishing date... Characters names, author,  etc. escapes me?!  Can you help?  Thanks so much!

Ruth Christoffer Carlsen, Mr. Pudgins.  This one is on the Solved Mysteries page.
Ruth Christoffer Carlsen, Mr. Pudgins, 1951, Scholastic  Paperback 1964.  This is the book, already on the Solved Mysteries Pages.  I wonder why everyone always remembers the soda pop faucets in this book?  I always remember the dodo and the time the kids hiccupped live birds in the house first when I think about this book.
Sounds similar to a scene in Mr. Pudgins by Ruth Cristoffer Carlsen.
S283  Sounds like Mr. Pudgins byRuth Christoffer Carlsen, only he wasn't a repair man, he was a baby sitter. He also made the bathtub fly and the children's reflections come out of the mirror
Ruth Carlsen, Mr. Pudgins.  This sounds like Mr. Pudgins, who baby sits for three kids and does magical things like
making a bathtub fly and making soda pop come out from the faucets.
S283  This is MR. PUDGINSby Ruth Christoffer Carlsen, 1951. Probably on your solved stumper page. ~from a librarian
Carlsen, Ruth Christoffer, Mr. Pudgins, 1964.  On the Solved Mysteries page already
Ruth Christoffer Carlsen, Mr. Pudgins.  Are you sure it was a repairman?  It could be Mr. Pudgins, that amazing babysitter with the magic pipe.  In one chapter, orange, grape and root beer soda come out of the faucets.  As I recall, this makes dinner and bath time very interesting for the children.
Carlsen, Ruth Christoffer, Mr. Pudgins. Illustrated by Margaret Bradfield, Boston, Houghton, 1951. Me and several other people will suggest that this is Mr. Pudgins, (on the Solved List) where a magical babysitter does such things as cause the taps to run with soda pop.
To all who responded to my request for the book about "The plumber who made the faucets produce soda pop" THANK YOU!  I started one day to actually just read through as MANY "Solved Stumpers" as I could- But these ladies have done a WONDERFUL job at solving the mysteries of curious readers and there were just TOO MANY to go through! Had I made it to "M" however, I would have found the book I have been searching for, for so many years! Thanks to all of you who helped me find Mr. Pudgins!!!!!!
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I'm looking for a book I read in elementary school back in the late '70s. I can't remember the actual title but the phrase 'The Wonderful Mr...' or 'The Amazing/Magical Mr....' comes to mind. One day, three children get a new babysitter in the form of a slightly rotund, older man.  He has some magical powers. I remember he made soda pop (orange squash?) come out of all the faucets in the house (I remember thinking the kids should have hunted around for empty bottles to fill up with the stuff while they had it). And I think they flew on a magic carpet too? He had to
leave at the end of the story, but he sent them a Christmas bauble for the tree and if they looked carefully they could see his smiling face reflected in it! I remember the names of most of my favourite children's books but not this one. I've asked my elementary school librarian but he couldn't remember it either. Can anyone help?

Ruth Christoffer Carlson, Mr. Pudgins, 1951.  I have never read this book myself, but it has appeared on this page so many times by now that I know that description by heart!  It is Mr. Pudgins again.  He is the babysitter with a magical pipe who comes to look after three children.  He makes soda pop come out of the house's faucets.  Other adventures include a flying bathtub, a bear and magical birds.
Ruth Cristoffer Carlsen, Mr. Pudgins, 1951.  Mr. Pudgins, again.  He's on the Solved Mysteries page, too.
If your babysitter could be female, it sounds like The Peculiar Miss Pickett (on Solved Mysteries Page).
Ruth Christoffer Carlsen (author), Margaret Bradfield (illustrator), Mr. Pudgins, 1951.  Please check the "Solved Mysteries" page under "M".  It's funny how everyone remembers the soda coming from the faucets!
B334 It is NOT Hughes, Shirley. George the babysitter.  Prentice-Hall, 1975.
Christoffer, Mr. Pudgins. Thank-you everyone! A 25 yr old mystery has been solved!
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In this book a group of kids set up a lemonade stand but find that they cannot get water from their faucets, instead, the get root beer from the sink, lemonade from the faucet, grape soda from the tub, ect. my sister read it as a child and cannot give me any more info than that.

Sounds like Ruth Christoffer Carlsen, Mr. Pudgins, 1951, Scholastic  Paperback 1964.  See more on Solved Mysteries.
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Somewhere from 1956 - 1962 our elementary library teacher would read a story near the end of our library time. The elementary school was in Detroit,MI.  The story was about an old man it could of been an old neighbor or grandfather. I want to think there were three children 2 boys and a girl. This old man smoked a pipe and rings would appear from his pipe and then a different adventure would happen each time he baby sat. One time the faucets were leaking so he went to fix them maybe in the basement he was banging on the pipes. When the children would turn on the faucets a different flavor pop would come out. The youngest boy was taking a bath and grape pop came out and his skin was purple. So he had each child fill bottles of their favorite pop and he fixed the pipes.  Another time there was a DoDo bird that would seem to cause trouble. Of course just before the parents came home everything was back to normal.  At one time I knew the name of the book. Very little pictures in book

I already found it last night at 11:59pm it is Mr. Pudgins do you know where I can get a copy of that book?
Ruth Carlsen, Mr. Pudgins.  No doubt about it, this is the one!
Ruth Christoffer Carlsen (author), Margaret Bradfield (illustrator), Mr. Pudgins, 1951.  This is absolutely the book!  See Solved Mysteries  for more information!
Carlsen, Ruth Christoffer, Mr. Pudgins.  This is definitely it.
Ruth Christoffer Carlsen, Mr. Pudgins.  see solved stumpers
Ruth Christoffer Carlsen, Mr. Pudgins, ca 1952.  Mr. Pudgins, again.  As well remembered and beloved as this book is, some publisher ought to look into reprinting it.
Ruth Christoffer Carlsen, Mr. Pudgins, 1951.  Again! See Solved Mysteries.
O81 Definitely MR. PUDGINS by Ruth Christoffer Carlsen. Seems a lot of people remember it fondly, and I'm sure there's more info and details on the Solved pages~from a librarian
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I love your site, and I did look quite a bit for my book but couldn't find it.  So here goes.  It's about a bunch of kids who time travel after they pour this delicious tasting purple syrup on food and eat it.  I read this in the 50s, so it's pretty old.  It's a chapter book, I think, and was in hard cover.  That's it!

Possibly -- Mr. Pudgins by Ruth Christoffer Carlsen.  The 'purple' in the description reminds me of the soda pop that comes out of the home's faucets.
Ruth Christoffer Carlsen, Mr. Pudgins. (1951)  Thanks!  I do indeed think "my book" is Mr. Pudgins.  It's such a relief to figure this out.  I have obtained a copy from my library, and though I remembered "purple syrup"  it was "purple soda pop" coming out the taps in the house...



Mr. Snitzel's Cookies
I am looking for a book for my children that I read as a child.  It seems like it was maybe one of the Golden Books but I'm not sure.  I remember that it was about the Muffin Man and on the cover was a picture of a fat man in a white chef's outfit with the white hat.  I know this isn't much but I would
really appreciate it if anyone could remember the title or knows how to get a copy.

#M84-- the book is Mr. Snitzel's Cookies, by Jane Flory, Rand McNally, 1950, Junior Elf-sized.
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About a baker who is sad he cannot open his shop the next day because he is low on sugar and cherries, but the next day, when he wakes up, his jars are suddenly filled and he can bake again. The illustrations in the book show a very cherubic-looking baker with very round cheeks.

Jane Flory, Mr. Snitzel's Cookies, 1950.
SOLVED: Jane Flory, Mr. Snitzel's Cookies. I checked my posting of #B823 today, and lo and behold, you had solved it!  Mr. Snitzel's Cookies is the book I have been looking for! I was so excited that I nearly cried.  My grandmother used to read this story to me when I was little.  She has her 90th birthday next month, and I am so excited to show her the book.  She may not remember it in her old age, but my siblings and I have fond memories of her reading this book. I cannot thank you enough.
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Your site and service is AWESOME. Looking for a little book, probaby 4" x 5", from my early childhood, so 1960s.  Was a fable; jolly baker, disapproving grocer neighbors;  he was nice to a beggar and had enough flour to bake all day; they tried,ended up sweeping all day. Round scalloped cookies.
Sounds like Mr. Snitzel's Cookies by Jane Flory.
Someone posted the title of the book I was trying to find! Mr. Snitzel's Cookies! I've found a copy online and can't wait to see if I remembered any of the story correctly--I mostly remembered the pictures. It was a pre-literate memory for me.


Mr. Twigg's Mistake
Giant Mole and secret vitamin factory


I read this chapter book in the early 80's.  There is a secret, underground factory that is making some amazing cure-all, vitamin formula. A pet mole disappears at the beginning of the book. Towards the end, the mole who has been underground and tunneling throughout, has now grown huge (like whale-sized), because somehow he ingested the stuff made at the factory.
Robert Lawson, Mr. Twigg's Mistake. The mole gets fed "Vitamin X?"
SOLVED: Robert Lawson, Mr. Twigg's Mistake. This is the book, thanks so much!


Mr. Wicker's Window
The second book was another fantasy, called Mr Wicker's Window, and was about a boy who had magical adventures involving things he saw in the window of an antiques store, run by (who else?) Mr
Wicker.  I may have misremembered the titles, and have no idea who the authors were.  Any help would be appreciated.

M57 - Mr. Wicker's Window was written by Carley Dawson.  She wrote 3 or 4 other books as well
M57 is indeed Mr. Wicker's Windowby Carley Dawson. The magic things in the shop window include a rope and a carved figure of a Negro boy who comes to life. Chris and the Negro boy go into the past of the town to foil a magician pirate who uses a poisoned whip. There were two sequels Sign of the Seven Seas(1954) and Dragon Run(1955), all illustrated by Lynd Ward. They show up now and then but prices tend to be high.
I also wanted to confirm that M57 is definitely Mr. Wicker's Window by Carley Dawson.
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For a number of years I have been trying to locate a book(s) that I read in the early 1960's.  The books (there were probably 2 or 3 in a series) featured a young boy who meets an ancient storekeeper in a New England shop (perhaps Boston), who as the story progresses turns out to be a magician. Somehow, and I can't remember how, the boy and the magician end up in Colonial America, and the story involves the boy changing into various animals under the tutelage of the magician, who in Colonial America is young and robust. There is one particular incident where the boy turns into a bug, and tries to go under a door, but can't because there is an air barrier.

Thanks for your reply. My guess is that it is Mr. Wicker's Window by Carley Dawson. (thanks to your site)
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I am looking for a book about an American child who discovers a magical/ genie type person who claims he comes from Ancient China, and together they travel back in time to China.

Carley Dawson, Mr. Wicker's Window.  In this book, Christopher Mason replies to a "boy wanted" sign in the window of a strange junk/antique shop and ends up getting involved in magical adventures.  A main part of the book has him travelling to China.
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Teenager goes into Boston curio shop looking for a job and is asked to describe what he sees out the window.  He is surprised that Boston has returned to revolutionary times.  He becomes a spy and receives magic powers including the ability to disguise himself as a tree leaf. Once, he almost gets discovered when the leaf does not match the tree. He manages to get back in time and asks what the job is having just completed it! I read the book in the late 50's and I think there was a sequel but not nearly as good.

Dawson, Carley, Mr. Wicker's Window, Houghton Mifflin 1962.  "When 12-year-old Chris entered Mr. Wicker's shop to inquire about a job for his friend, something about old Mr. Wicker forced him to take the job himself. Chris found himself the pupil of Mr. Wicker, not the old man he first saw, but a powerful man in his forties - a magician. Chris learned how to turn himself into a fish, a bird, a flay, and with a magic rope he learned to make a boat or even an elephant. Chris had been chosen to sail to China on a mysterious mission. Long before he sailed, Chris met the enemies who would try and stop him - evil Claggett Chew, the dandy Osterbridge Hawsey, the treacherous old beggar Simon Gosler. With a Nubian boy Chris brought to life with magic, he set out on his hazardous voyage..."
Carley Dawson, Mr Wicker's Window, 1952.  Sounds like it may be Mr. Wicker's Window.  There were sequels, The Sign of the Seven Seas and Dragon Run.  Hmm, Claggett Chew...
Dawson, Carley, Mr. Wicker's Window, 1952.  This is definitely the book I was looking for.  It is enormously expensive in the old book racket but I found it in a special vault at the New York Public Library.  I sat there in the kiddie section among the tiny chairs and reread it happily.  Many thanks.
Your reader found the story but not the collection. Might it have been The Little Bookroom by Eleanor Farjeon? I think it had some black- and-white illustrations. Another of the stories was called West-something, about a prince who seeks his bride in lands named for the four directions.  The northerners were too cold, the southerners too slothful, the easterns too brisk. He had been forbidden to go into WestWOOD (aha!) but he did anyway, and there he found his true love, who had been his maid all along. There might have been another tale, too, about a princess who is bored with the color of her room. She commands her fairy godmother to give her a pink room and is instructed to lie on her bed and kick her toes at the ceiling--voila! pink walls, pink bed, pink floor. Soon she's bored again and commands another color change. This happens several more times until finally, she wants a black room. After lying on her bed and kicking her toes at the ceiling, the walls fall away, the roof comes off, and she gets her wish for a black room. I don't remember the dust jacket, but the book was smallish and had a light russet woven cloth cover I vaguely remember.  I just discovered your site and am enthralled. I found it by searching for Mr. Wicker's Window, one of my favorite books as a child. My neighbors and I are trying to get several houses on our block landmarked as they were built between 1876 and 1889. Because of the research we've done, I now walk around my neighborhood in west Berkeley imagining the livery stables, forges, tanneries and saloons that used to be here and the people who lived and worked in them. The sense of superimposing our modern life over the historical one reminded me of the Georgetown of my childhood layered over the colonial one. (As I recall, when Christopher turns the rope into an eagle, not quite escaping Clagett Chew's metal-tipped whip and getting a lasting scar on his cheek for as a lasting souvenir, and flies into the emperor's garden to steal the jade tree, it's to provide means to Mr. Wicker to help fund the Revolution.)
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The book I need to identify is the story of a modern-day boy who wandered into a quaint little shop in an old New England town (as I recall).  I think I read this book in 1960 - so I think it was probably published in the 10-15 years prior to that.  It was a "time travel" book - but I would not have understood that at the time.  I've loved time travel stories ever since.  Anyhow - the little shop was his portal to a time long ago.  When he stepped out of the shop, back on the street, everything had changed.  It was now (probably) the mid-1700's.  He had an adventure on a ship (a pirate ship?).  I was so scared for him that he would not be able to find the right little shop again, and that he might not return to present time.  I was so worried for his family and about him being stuck in this OLD time.

Hilda Lewis, The ship that flew, 1939. I think this is it. Location is England, not U.S.
Dawson, Carley, Mr. Wicker's Window.
SOLVED: Dawson, Carley,
Mr. Wicker's Window, 1952. I submitted this stumper, and someone suggested this title.  I checked it out on line -- YEAH!  This is it!  I've been trying to remember this story for a LONG time.  Thanks so much for the help!  Can't wait to read it again.


Mr. Widdle and the Sea Breeze
I remember absolutely loving this book as a kid (maybe 25 yrs ago), but cannot remember the name of it.  It's about a man that hops or jumps everywhere around islands or citys or something and I believe he had bells on his ankles. He kind of irritated people (if I remember correctly) but always had fun.  I hope someone can help. I've been looking for this book for years (casually) but have a son now and would love to find it for when he's older. Thanks.

A107 adventures of jumping man: my guess is that this would be Mr. Widdle and the Sea Breeze, written and illustrated by Jo Ann Stover, published Dell Yearling 1962, 119 pages. "Mr. Widdle, in pursuit of perfect happiness, builds himself a village on an island, plants in it three unusual inhabitants and settles down to live strictly according to schedule. When a particularly strong sea breeze and a strange little man named Bump Jump visit the village, Mr. Widdle's entire schedule goes awry and he is forced to discover a surprising new life ..." Bump Jump is "a strange little man. He wore a funny red, blue and green suit. On each of his feet was a cowbell." He is called Bump Jump because he jumps bumps. When he does, the bells go Plunkle.
I put my request in the Stump the Bookseller just a few weeks ago and it's already been solved. I'm so excited, I've been looking for that book literally for years. Thank you for the service and thanks to Nan at nannysweb.com for referring your site.


Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree
I have another stumper for you.  It is a wordless, Christmas, picture book. The story line goes something like this:Santa comes home with a huge Christmas tree, but it's too big, so they chop off the top portion and throw it away. A Bear comes along, decides the "treetop" is perfect for his family, so he takes it home.  Alas, the tree is too big for HIS house, so the family chops off the top portion and throws it away.  A Rabbit comes along, takes the tree home, the same thing happens. etc. etc.  In the end, a mouse family ends up with the "tip" of the original tree and (if I remember correctly) the last scene is a shot of Santa's tree looming in the great hall, and through the mouse hole you see the little mouse family celebrating around their tree.  It was a really cute story and any help will be greatly appreciated!  Thanks!

In going back to your website, C11 caught my eye. I think the person is mis-remembering the detail about Santa (unless there are two very similar books out there) The person should take a look at Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree by Robert E. Barry, 1963. It matches the description, right down to the final scene of the mouse family (sans Santa).

Thanks for your email! I am planning go to the library to see if it is the same book and will let you know if I need you to search for a copy.   I think you have an amazing site and an excellent service!!! I have been telling all my book-loving friends about it. If I am ever in Cleveland, I will definitely stop by. :-)
I love that you are such an expert about childrens books.  I am hoping to find 1 or more copies of Mr. Willoghby's Christmas Tree or something like this.  It was read to me in the 1960s and its about the Willoghby's who live in this mansion and they always get a really big Xmas tree.  They get a tree thats too big to fit in the mansion and they cut off the top and throw it outside it gets made into a tree for some rabbits or mice or something like that, anyways could you do a search for this book?  Thank you.
Barry, Robert. Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree.  McGraw-Hill, 1963.  Cover and interior are a bit faded, and binding is looser than it originally was, but copy is nice and clean.  VG.  <SOLD>.
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This book was read to me once in the mid 70s, and I never came across it again. At the beginning a very large Christmas tree is purchased for either a mansion or a large public building with a high ceiling. The tree turns out to be just a little too tall, so the top 5 or 6 feet are cut off, and since this height by itself is still a decent tree, it is given to someone to take home as a second smaller Christmas tree. But this tree is also a bit too tall, so the top several inches are snipped off and given to a woman (perhaps a secretary) who lives in an attic apartment with a low ceiling and only has room for a tiny tree. Even then, it is just a little too big, so she snips off the end, which a mouse picks up and takes into its hole, so it can have a tree too. I may be off on some of the finer points of the storyline, since it was only read to me when I was 7 or 8, but that's essentially it. Any ideas.

Barry, Robert. Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree.  McGraw-Hill, 1963.  Recently reprinted, new hardcover copy available for $15.95
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This was a book about a christmas tree.  A family with a really big house buys a tree that ends up being a bit too tall.  They cut the top off and put it out in the trash.  Someone comes buy and takes it thinking that it is the perfect size for Their house.  Turns out it's just a bit too tall again and once again the top goes out in the trash.  This keeps happening until finally a mouse family ends up with the the tippy top and it's a perfect tree for them.  So many families end up feeling that christmas tree joy from the same tree.

Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree.  It's been reprinted with illustrations by Paul Galdone.
 Interpreting
Condition
Grades
Barry, Robert E.  Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree.  Illustrated by Paul Galdone.  McGraw Hill, 1963, 2000.  New hardcover, $12.95


Mr. Wilmer
Man talks to zoo animals. A man wakes up on his birthday and discovers he can hear what animals are saying, and that he can talk back to them. The zookeeper is having trouble with the lion, and our hero tells them the lion has a toothache. He ends up working at the zoo and eventually the pretty girl falls for him. The book had black and white illustrations, and I always thought the hero looked like a young James Stewart. I think the relatively short novel was written in the mid-50's, but could have been earlier.

Doctor Dolittle can talk to animals of course, but the birthday boy is Robert Lawson's Mr. Wilmer, 1945.  Lawson's award-winning drawing talent turn boring Mr. Wilmer into a young James Stewart indeed, and his new-found language talent finds him new jobs, friends, and, of course, the girl.
 Interpreting
Condition 
Grades
Lawson, Robert.  Mr. Wilmer.  Little, Brown and Company, 1945.  5th printing, 1946.  Tan cloth, corners and spine edges bumped.  G.  <SOLD>  


click here for imageMrs. Coverlet series
I have a childhood book mystery! The story revolves around a family of children living in a large old Victorian house with a governess or an old aunt or somesuch woman. Their parents are gone (of course!) but not surewhere? They do return by the end of the story. One incident that sticks out in my mind is that one of the children sends away for a voodoo kit and makes a wax doll of their governess (she's a cranky one!) but when the older children find out they scold him and they try to melt the figure out of being a resemblance by holding it near the fireplace. Before this is done, I think someone drops it and it goes in the fire and they are all worried about what will happen to the woman (or perhaps it's a nasty neighbor?) I don't remember much more! Are you stumped?!

The book is Mrs. Coverlet's Magicians by Mary Nash. It's one of three in a series. The other two are Mrs. Coverlet's Detectives and While Mrs. Coverlet Was Away.
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Hi - I remember reading a great book in elementary school (late '60's, early '70's) about a single father with hardly any money raising a couple of kids in a cabin in the middle of nowhere.  His livelihood was
entering contests, and he made pancakes for his kids all the time (that's mostly what they ate).  Any ideas?  Thanks in advance.

This description rang a few bells and after looking it up, I think I found it.  It might be called While Mrs. Coverlet was Away by Mary Nash.  There are several Mrs. Coverlet books as she is a "nanny" housekeeper for a family of kids and their dad.  In this one, she is away and the kids are trying to earn money. They know there dad has an award winning pancake recipe, but the dad says it is his secret recipe and doesn't want to share.  The kids request pancakes and  watch dad every time he makes them.  They sneak down the ingredients and the measurements and mail the recipe.  They win and the dad is angry until he reads the recipe and discovers they forgot something.  I always thought the ending was so funny!
Thanks for your reply.  The book you mentioned just doesn't sound familiar, though -- my gut feeling is that it's not the one.  There was no nanny (even one who was away) in the book I'm thinking of. I'm a librarian, so I'll try to find a copy of Mrs. Coverlet to see for sure.  I'll let you know if it's the one!
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There was a series of books about three children living with their widowed father.  The youngest was Theobold(?), but was nicknamed "the Toad".  These were my favorite growing up, along with the Betsy books and "All-of-a-kind" Family.  I've been able to find these to share with my sons, but not "the Toad"!

The answer to T-92 is the Mrs. Coverlet series of books by Mary Nash.  I believe there are three total: Mrs. Coverlet's Magicians, While Mrs. Coverlet Was Away, and Mrs. Coverlet's Detectives.  The three
children--Malcolm, Molly, and Toad (Theobold) live with their housekeeper, Mrs. Coverlet, and their father, a vitamin salesman who is frequently away. That's when they get into their mischief. Great books!
T92  This person is thinking of the Mrs. Coverlet books by Mary Nash. Mrs. Coverlet is the housekeeper for Mr. Persever and his children, Malcolm, Molly and Theobold "Toad" Persever. The book titles are MRS. COVERLET'S MAGICIANS and MRS. COVERLET'S DETECTIVES and WHILE MRS. COVERLET WAS AWAY. ~from a librarian
T92 toad: In the series of books about Mrs. Coverlet, by Mary Nash, the three children living with their widowed father are Malcolm, Molly, and Theobald Persever. Titles are When Mrs. Coverlet Was Away (1958) "The three Persever children try various money-making schemes, but the cat Nervous is the one to save the day." Mrs. Coverlet's Magicians (1962) "Malcolm and Molly make their little brother, Toad, promise not to run away from home again. So the terrible-tempered Toad is forced to take other steps--magical and mysterious--to solve the latest crisis in the Persever household." And Mrs. Coverlet's Detectives (1965) "The Persever children travel to New York to find the kidnapers of Nervous, the Toad's prize cat, and the Toad becomes a hit on television."
Thank you, thank you, thank you for helping me introduce the Toad to my sons!
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From the 60s. A boy buys a magic or voodoo kit from back of magazine. Little boy sings christmas carols with the words: Dig the holes with trowels by golly and Old man wenches car back out on a piece of stephen. Think the mom in family is dead?

Mary Nash, Mrs. Coverlet's Magicians, 1961.  This is the second book in the wonderful "Mrs. Coverlet" trilogy about 3 motherless children (Malcolm, Molly and "the Toad") whose housekeeper, Mrs. Coverlet, is occasionally called away, resulting in all sorts of trouble.  The first book is While Mrs. Coverlet was Away (1958) and the third book is Mrs. Coverlet's Detectives (1965).  In the one the writer is seeking, Mrs. Coverlet's Magicians, the Toad sends away for a voodoo kit from the back of a comic book, which he uses to put a "sleeping spell" on the children's fussy babysitter Miss Penalty so that they can do as they like while Mrs. Coverlet is away at a bake-off during the Holidays. Toad does indeed sing Christmas carols with mangled lyrics.  The good news is that this book was just reprinted in 2001 by Hyperion Paperbacks and so should not be too hard to find.
Mary Nash, While Mrs. Coverlet Was Away,  Mrs. Coverlet's Magicians, 1960s.  Don't remember the voodoo part, but the warped Christmas carols are definitely from the Mrs. Coverlet books.   They were Scholastic paperbacks.
Mary Nash, Mrs. Coverlet's Magicians.  Theodore "the Toad" Persever orders a voodoo kit from the back of a magazine and uses it to keep their annoying babysitter, Miss Penalty, bedridden while their regular caretaker Mrs. Coverlet is away.  The other book about the Persever children is "While Mrs. Coverlet Was Away". Both of these are terrific and back in print!
Mary Nash, Mrs Coverlet's Magicians.  The children don't like the babysitter who has taken over while their regular nanny
is away during Christmas, so they keep her in bed with a voodoo kit that the youngest child, called Toad, ordered out of a comic book. They have a cat that gets at the turkey they try to cook for Christmas dinner. Hope that sounds familiar!
I remember this one! There were three kids--they tried to have a real Thanksgiving--the cat ate much of the turkey and they had to wash the turkey off and eat it anyway. I remember this book every Thanksgiving because of that part! The cat later turns out to be a rare male (female?--whichever doesn't usually happen) tortoiseshell.  Do the kids have a babysitter? Maybe
they try to use the voodoo kit to make the babysitter nicer?
Mary Nash, While Mrs Coverlet was Away.  This is very familiar. Bells are ringing in my head on this. I think it may be one of the Mrs Coverlet books by Mary Nash, possibly While Mrs. Coverlet was Away, or Mrs Coverlet's Magicians. I haven't read these in many years - great books!
Pretty sure this is MRS COVERLET'S MAGICIANS by Mary Nash, 1961 (and republished under Hyperion's Lost Treasures in 2001). They are the Persever family, the mother is dead, the older brother and sister are Macolm and Molly, the youngest is nicknamed Toad, and their housekeeper is Mrs. Coverlet. Toad uses his magic kit against the babysitter while the housekeeper is away.~from a librarian
I think that is right. I knew the youngest had a nickname but for the life of me I couldn't remember it. And I thought they were scholastic books too. Thanks everybody.
Toad Persever's name is Theobold, not Theodore.
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A young boy goes home to find out that his mom or nanny has won a bake-off for one of her cookie recipes - he is a boy who mispronounces words in songs - thinks Good King Wencelas says "Good King's Wencelas' car backed up oer a piece of Stephen" The book is written in the style of The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler. I think the boy goes following his mom (nanny?) to the Bake-Off.

Mary Nash, Mrs. Coverlet's Magicians, 1961.  This is definitely it.  The three Persever children, Malcolm, Molly, and six-year-old Toad (Theodore) are left home with a babysitter (Miss Eva) after their housekeeper (Mrs. Coverlet) goes to New York for the White Blizzard Flour Company Bake Off. (The recipe is for Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding, not cookies. The recipe was accidentally created when Toad knocked an open bag of chocolate chips into a batch of bread pudding.) The children dislike Miss Eva, so Toad uses a magic kit to create a wax voodoo doll of her, with which he keeps her bedridden nearly the entire time Mrs. Coverlet is away. The book takes place at Christmas time, and Toad's favorite Christmas carols are "Dig the Holes with Trowels, by Golly!" and "Good King Wences' Car Backed Out, on a Piece of Stephen."  The children do not follow Mrs. Coverlet to New York in this book, but in another book in the series,Mrs. Coverlet's Detectives, they do go to New York to help recover a kidnapped cat named Nervous, a male tortoise-shell who was a former pet of Toad's. A third book, While Mrs. Coverlet Was Away, details the children's money making schemes, while their beloved housekeeper is out of town tending to a sick sister.  In this book, Toad requests "The Little Mashed Girl" (Match Girl) and "Snow White and Roast Beef" (Rose Red) as bedtime stories.
Nash, Mary, Mrs. Coverlet's Magicians.  from Solved Mysteries: In the one the writer is seeking, Mrs. Coverlet's Magicians, the Toad sends away for a voodoo kit from the back of a comic book, which he uses to put a "sleeping spell" on the children's fussy babysitter Miss Penalty so that they can do as they like while Mrs. Coverlet is away at a bake-off during the Holidays. Toad does indeed sing Christmas carols with mangled lyrics.  The good news is that this book was just reprinted in 2001 by Hyperion Paperbacks and so should not be too hard to find.
Thanks so much - all of my stumpers have been solved and books purchased. I really appreciate you sharing all of your knowledge and setting up such wonderful service!
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Cat - Family (dad, brother, sister)own a tortishell cat that they want to have kittens.  The dad is an out-of work vitamin salesman.  The son makes a concoction out of the vitamins to help the cat get pregnant, but instead the townspeople somehow take the tonic and they all get heathly and energetic.  When the family encourages the little boy to continue making the tonic for money, he admits what he really made the tonic for, and the vitamin supply has run out.  It turns out the cat is a MALE tortishell - very rare! and they sell him for big dollars.

Mary Nash, While Mrs Coverlet Was Away. This sounds like one of the Mrs Coverlet books. I think it's While Mrs Coverlet Was Away. I remember wondering if it was really that hard to tell male cats from female cats when I read it.
Mary Nash, While Mrs. Coverlet Was Away. Three children (Molly, Malcolm, the Toad) fend for themselves after their father and the housekeeper have to leave for the summer.  In order to get his kittens to eat, the Toad brews up a potion made out of vitamin samples
 the kids bottle & sell this potion all over town.  Very funny book.
Mary Nash, While Mrs. Coverlet Was Away, 1958. I'm pretty sure the book you're interested in is While Mrs. Coverlet Was Away (128 pages).  It was illustrated by Garrett Price and published by Scholastic Book Services.  It has an original copyright of 1958 with a second printing date of September 1970 (USA).  It's about three children (Malcolm, Molly, and Theobold aka Toad Persever) who secretly take care of themselves (instead of going to the back-up caretakers' houses) while their housekeeper, Mrs. Coverlet, has to go away unexpectedly to tend to her injured daughter and while their father, a vitamin salesman, is in New Zealand.  Their cat, Nervous, turns out to be an extremely rare male tortoise-shell, and that's why it doesn't have the kittens that Toad has so anxiously hoped for.  To obtain much-needed money, the children sell the cat and get a mother cat and kittens in exchange. Toad concocts a special cat food recipe (for the mother cat and her babies) using his fathers plentiful vitamin samples.  Eventually, the children sell the product to the community as it is highly sought after for human consumption - until they run out of vitamin samples.  It's discovered that the children are alone, and Toad goes to New York to visit Nervous before his father returns home. I LOVE this book!!!  It's first in a series of three, I believe.  I've read the second one but don't own it.  I've never even read the third one.  Someday, I hope to replace my torn up copy of #1 and purchase the rest.  Happy reading!
Mary Nash, While Mrs. Coverlet Was Away, 1958. And there are a couple more Mrs. Coverlet books: Mrs. Coverlet's Detectives and Mrs. Coverlet's Magicians.
I cannot believe that my stumper was SOLVED.  I had been thinking for years, YEARS! that the title was "mishmash" (named after the tortoishell cat) but I was wrong.  While Mrs Coverlet was Away...as soon as I read the title the memories came flooding back. Thank you so much!


 Interpreting
Condition
Grades
Nash, Mary.  Mrs. Coverlet's Magicians.  Little, Brown, 1961.  Weekly Reader Children's Book Club edition, 1962.  DJ chipped at corners.  VG/G.  $15
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Mrs. Goose
I am looking for a series of books about a goose � called Mrs. Goose and Along Came/Comes Mrs. Goose. They were in my family when I was a child and my Mom read them to me over and over again. I have searched used book stores, Borders, etc. with no luck. Can you help? I would love to have them to pass on to children in my family.

Miriam Clark Potter's series:  Hello Mrs. Goose (1947), Goofy Mrs. Goose (1963), Mrs. Goose and Her Funny Friends (1964), Mrs. Goose and Three-Ducks (1936), Here Comes Mrs. Goose (1953), Just Mrs. Goose (1957), Goodness, Mrs. Goose (1960), No, No, Mrs. Goose (1964), Our Friend Mrs. Goose (1956), Queer, Dear Mrs. Goose (1959)


Mrs. Mole's House Warming
On sale in the UK in 1953/4. May be called 'Mrs Mole's Teaparty'. A story about Mr and Mrs Mole and their preparations for a teaparty. They lived in a house and had human characteristics. There was a family of chickens in the story and I remember the words, Mrs Mole is having a party, so I heard the chickens say. The book had illustrations on every page, and the text was written in rhyming couplets. For instance, I recall: Mr Mole has lost his glasses, / Without them, he can't see, / 'Never mind', said Mrs Mole, / 'You'll have to hold onto me'.  A delightful book that was read to me so many times that it literally fell apart.

Dorothy Richards , Mrs Mole's House Warming, 1947.  Illustrated by Ernest A Aris 


Mrs. Peter Rabbit
This looks like the site I've been longing for!! I've been searching in vain and even resorted to asking strangers about this long-lost book. The only thing I remember is this quote spoken by an owl sitting on the limb of a tree, "to whit to who, to whit to who; will someone tell me what to do?"  This was probably published before the 1930's and was about the size of a Nancy Drew book(?!)  It was divided into titled chapters and had beautiful pen&ink illustrations on glossy paper. It was about the adventures of various woodland animals and I do remember something about a Briar Rabbit(main character?). I don't think it has anything to with Uncle Remus (bre'r rabbit).  There was possibly a coyote causing trouble.  Thank you very much for any possible leads or information!!

Is this possibly The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis?
Boy, I was shaking when I saw I had an email about this book!  Thank you very much for your reply-but alas it is not The silver Chair.  I know a character named Glimfeather in Lewis' book makes a similar quote.  The book I'm looking for is quite a bit older than the 50's Chronicles of Narnia.  It's definitely more of a Beatrix Potter type of story.  Thanks anyway-I'll be keeping track of any responses on your stumper page
I'm pretty sure this is from a Thornton Burgess book but I'm not sure which one.  His books feature Peter Rabbitwhich may be why the poster is thinking of Brer Rabbit. You might try looking at Tommy and the Wishing Stone.
If this is from a Thornton Burgess book-they don't seem to know about it at the Burgess Museum in Sandwich, MA. The director said this quote didn't sound like his phraseology.  Also, I don't think Harrison Cady illustrated the book I'm looking for.  I've not completely ruled Burgess out yet though.  Thank you for the replies.
Thornton Burgess, Mrs. Peter Rabbit.This is definitely Mrs. Peter Rabbit by Burgess.  My grandmother bought me this book when I was very young.  I remember the owl in the tree saying "Tu whit tu whoo, will someone tell me what to do? My children have an appetite that keeps me hunting day and night..." Anyway, I'm 99.9% positive that this is the book you're looking for.
I sent the original Burgess suggestion in blue and have just checked my copy of Mrs. Peter Rabbit after reading the 2nd poster's suggestion and found the quote.  "Towhit, towhoo! Towhit, towhoo!/ Will some one tell me what to do?/  My children have an appetite/  That keeps me hunting all the night,/  And though their stomachs I may stuff/ They never seem to have enough./  Towhit, towhoo!  Towhit, towhoo!/  Will some one tell me what to do?"  This is found in the third chapter.


click here for imageclick here for imageMrs. Piggle-Wiggle
I remember a series of books that I think are intended for third or fourth graders. They are about a little old lady who lives in a upside down house and finds ingenious ways to help parents solve problems with their kids. I think they may have been written in the fifties or sixties. Help! These were my favorite books and I can't find anyone who has heard of them.

Stumper "U2: Upside down house" is definitely the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle series by Betty MacDonald.
U2 is the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle series, illustrated by Hillary Knight, and I cannot remember the author.
Just discovered your cite tonight and as a great reader and librarian I am really enjoying all the book descriptions. These books must be the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books by Betty MacDonald. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle had unusual cures for every childhood failing, including being selfish and being dirty. For a dirty little child, she invented the "Strawberry Cure" where strawberry seeds were planted in all the dirty little crevices, soon to grow into real plants. Needless to say the cure worked! Thanks for the memories.
I LOVED this book as a child!!! The minute you said "upside-down house" I KNEW it was Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald. I think they still print this book in paperback. Enjoy! :-)
This sounds a lot like the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books written by Betty Macdonald. The time period is right, as is the essential clue about the ingenious ways she solved children's behavior problems. I loved these as a kid! I think she wrote 6 or so in the series.

My daughter & her friend remember a story about a girl who was so dirty that she planted radish seeds on herself.  When they grew, she pulled them off & hurt her skin.  I remember a similar Mrs. Piggle Wiggle story about a dirty boy in whose hair Mrs. Piggle Wiggle planted radish seeds.  The boy was surprised when they grew & was convinced that he needed to clean up.   Do you know these stories & where we can find them today?
I believe it IS the Mrs Piggle Wiggle books this person wants. The story "The Radish Cure" is from MRS PIGGLE WIGGLE, and it is a girl that won't take a bath. There was a picture book version done much later of this story.
Yes, thank you.  This is the answer I was seeking.  Now we can return to second grade & read Mrs. Piggle Wiggle stories.

I distinctly remember a book as a child (I was born in 1960) about a nasty little girl who hated to take baths.  Exasperated, her mother decided to teach her a lesson.  She announced to the girl that she no longer had to take a bath.  Months went by, and a layer of dirt accumulated all over the girl.  One night the mother sneaked in and planted radish seeds in the dirt that was all over her.  They actually grew, and the radishes had to be pulled out, unfortunately for the little girl.  She always took a bath after that.  Am I imagining things??
Your mind is not playing tricks on you; this is Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald.  I have one sitting on the shelf, would you like it?
Yes, please!!  I have a son who needs to read this!!!  Thank you so much...
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I was born 3/5/56, Wichita, Kansas.  I was at least age 5, not over age 8, when my sister (8 years older) and my mother took me to a branch location of The Wichita Public Library.  My sister picked out one of her favorite children's books, which had some pictures in it with some words.  I don't remember who wrote it.  It was about 6"x8"x1/4"--or less--very thin and not a thick cover--but was a hardback.  I believe the title was something like "Mrs. Pickerel's Upside Down House."  Or could be Miss instead of Mrs.  Could be Pickeral, or some other spelling variation.  I remember in the story, the children --at least two --perhaps a boy and a girl --maybe brother and sister, visit the strange lady at her unusual house.  The scene/picture I most clearly remember is of them using --what would be a ceiling light if the house were rightside-up --a light fixture as being like a campfire to roast hot dogs!  I just decided to see if I could locate a copy for sale, and send it to my sister, who lives in England now.  I've tried all kinds of searches, which failed, and the library has not been helpful.  I'm beginning to wonder if it was a short story in a thicker book with other short stories. [About that same time, one day between 1961-1964, I also recall a character, of likely a different story, about a boy who becomes a fish; his name being James, so my sister bugged me about it.] Can you help?

If you look under Ellen MacGregor at the library, you'll find a series about Miss Pickerell, but I couldn't find anything about an upside down house. Mary Nash wrote a couple of books about Mrs. Coverlet, but no upside down house there, either.  I'll drop you a line when new info comes in.
I forget the author just at the moment, but I believe the story referred to is about Mrs. Piggle-wiggle who lives in an upside down house.  She has magical cures for whatever ails children, like not picking up toys, tattling etc. There are several Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books out, each contains several short stories.
Could this be Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle?  She had an upside-down house and there is an illustration of two children sitting by the upside-down chandelier--no hot dogs, though.
I think the persn is looking for the MRS. PIGGLE-WIGGLE (the very first book) by Betty MacDonald, ill. by Hilary Knight, originally printed in 1947. The specific illustration this person is remembering (children sitting around chandelier as if it is a campfire) is opposite the title page. ~from a librarian
Definitely my favorite series of books, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, Mrs.Piggle-Wiggle's Magic, Hello Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Farm. The first three were illustrated by Hilary Knight and the last by Maurice Sendak.Currently back in print!
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Around 20 yrs. ago my elementary library had a series that involved a nutty old lady who lived in an upside-down house. All the neighborhood kids came to her with their problems and she helped them find wacky solutions. Sorry I don't remember more. Your website is wonderful.

This has got to be Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald.  There are several books in the series, including Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Magic, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Farm, and Hello Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle.
Betty MacDonald, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle.  This is it! This site is awesome! I thought I would never know what this book was called. Thank you, so much.

 Interpreting
Condition 
Grades
 MacDonald, Betty.  Mrs. Piggle-WiggleIllustrated by Hilary Knight.  J.B. Lippincott Company, 1957.  1st edition hardback with dust jacket protector.  VG/VG.  $25.
 

 Interpreting
Condition
Grades
MacDonald, Betty. Hello, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle.  Illustrated by Hilary Knight.  Softcover.  Scholastic, 1987.  Worn but solid.  G+.  $6
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Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Magic
the second is a boy goes over to an old womans house and she sends him up in the attic to explore.  he finds a chest with gold coins in it. when he goes home to tell his mother of his adventures she thinks hes  exaggerating. when she goes to put his umbrella away she opens it (to let it dry) and a gold coin drops out. if your familiar with either story please let me know. its been 27 years since i have read either story and i think it would be nice to revisit them.

there is a similar incident in one of the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books. When all the children have to stay inside during a rainy day, she has them hunt for the treasure her pirate husband hid somewhere in the house. One little girl finds the secret hiding place when the handkerchief pinned to her pocket snags the catch, up in the attic.
this does have some resemblance to the chapter The Waddle-I-Doers, in Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Magic, by Betty MacDonald, illustrated by Hilary Knight, published Lippincott 1957. In that, all the children go to Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's on a rainy day. On the way, Mimi and Lee find a black silk scarf stuck in a drain, which turns out to have a pirate's gold coin tied into one corner. The children are asked to search the house for pirate treasure that the late Mr. Piggle-Wiggle hid in secret drawers. Mimi is up in the attic when the lights go out, her hanky catches on a board behind the chimney and she loses the gold coin (tied in her hanky). When she goes back with a candle to find it, she pulls open the secret door and finds all the treasure. There are enough resemblances - old woman, attic exploration, gold coins, rain (umbrella) that it's worth checking out, but enough differences that I wouldn't want to say this is it for sure.
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Don't have much info, looking for a friend who would love this book.  She is 48 but read it in elementary school, the book is about a teacher who is actually a witch and casts spells on the students to get them to do their work. She remembers the witch as being a good kind of witch.  She thinks the teacher/witch's name was something like Mrs. Tinkle, Tickeral, Tig. . . or similar.  Please go ahead and make up a keyword code for me, you may be able to do it best as this is all the information I have about this book.

M251 The only ones that I found about "witch teacher" are: Dadey, Debbie;  Jones, Marcia Thornton.  Witches don�t do backflips. Scholastic, 1994. Is the gym teacher really a witch? The Bailey School kids series.  Barbara Brooks Wallace. The trouble with Miss Switch. illus by Hal Frenck. Pocket Books, 1971 Is their teacher, Miss Switch, really a witch?
I read this query with interest since I'm the same age as the poster and loved books about witches and magic. I just wondered if this isn't a really blurry memory of the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books. The name he/she remembers sounds similar and while Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle was never "officially" a witch  you could say she "cast spells"!!
Betty MacDonald, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Magic, 1949.  Could the poster be referring to the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle series? I don't believe she's a teacher, but the name kind of fits.  Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle loves everyone, and everyone loves her right back. The children love her because she is lots of fun. Their parents love her because she can cure children of absolutely any bad habit. The treatment are unusual, but they work! Who better than a pig, for instance, to teach a piggy little boy table manners? And what better way to cure the rainy-day "waddle-I-do's" than hunt for a pirate treasure in Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's upside-down house?
 Interpreting
Condition 
Grades
MacDonald, Betty.  Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Magic.  Illustrated by Kurt Wiese.  J.B. Lippincott, 1949.  4th printing.  DJ worn, esp. at corners.  VG/G.  $20
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Mrs. Razor
This is a short story. Not really for kids, but we heard it in 7th grade. All I really remember is that a girl, younger than ten, keeps tearfully insisting to her family that she has a husband and kids waiting for her to come to them. At the end, her disgusted father drives her (in a horse and wagon) in the direction she points out for about an hour before turning back. IIRC, it's not meant to be humorous. Sorry, that's all I can remember.

#G19--Girl thinks she has other life:  Don't know what version you had of this or whether it's even the same story, but it's very similar to the purportedly true case of Shanti Devi. One version entitled Shanti Devi--A Living Riddle appeared in the book Strange People, by Frank Edwards.  Our copy was a paperback, published by Popular Library in 1963, and is literally in flinders (each page separated) from my constantly scaring the piss out of myself with it as a kid.  I understand the hardcover, published by Lyle Stuart, appeared in 1961, and I'd love to get it--our paperback is pretty sad!  Shanti Devi's attempts to contact with her "past family" were rebuffed, which my mother always found strange, as the girl was born in Delhi, India.  Mom would ask, "If those people REALLY believe in reincarnation, why didn't they just take her at her word and run up to her crying, 'Mom!'?"
I read Frank Edwards' version and while it's fascinating (there's more about Shanti Devi on the Web, too) I don't remember the story I knew being in India. It was written in storybook style with dialogue and I'm almost certain the teacher didn't say it had anything to do with reincarnation or real life (we heard it in the late 1970s). Also, Shanti Devi's real-life story included finally meeting the family whose dead wife she claimed to be and she passed all "tests" done to make sure this wasn't a hoax, which doesn't happen in the story.
This sounds as though it may be based on the famous story of Shanti Devi, an Indian girl born in the 1920s who supposedly claimed (as a child) that she had a husband and children.  It's often cited by believers as proof of reincarnation.
James Still, Mrs. Razor collected in PATTERN OF A MAN.  This is not a story of the supernatural, but it fits the description here.
G19: Yes, Mrs. Razor sounds right! I don't have it yet- I ordered it through my library, but I'm pretty sure. Thanks so much. Amazingly, the collection it comes from was published in 1976! 


Mrs. Santa's Adventure in the Sugar Plum Sleigh
I don't have high hopes of locating this, as it falls into the "not a real book" category.  It may even have been a coloring book.  It was certainly that size, printed on that sort of paper, and had line drawings similar to coloring book drawings, though I don't particularly remember coloring in it.   It told of Mrs. Santa Claus taking two children, a boy and a girl (I want to say Tommy and Annika but I know that's from Pippi Longstocking) in her Sugar Plum Sleigh.  The boy had black hair.  We read it so many times the quilt on the bed we read it in became known as "the sugar plum quilt," but alas, we wore out both the book and the quilt and they fell apart.  No later than 1969, but may not have been much earlier, as it was flimsy and would wear out relatively fast.

#M60--I got a copy of this, and I was very close as to the details!  The title is Mrs. Santa's Adventure in the Sugar Plum Sleigh, and I was right about its not being a "real" book.  It's copyrighted 1962 by Phillips and Van Orden Co. and was a Christmas handout from Montgomery Ward's.  I was right about the type of paper stock, though it was smaller and more colorful than I remembered.  I was even right about the boy's name being Tommy!



Mrs. Tim
A series of books written about the life of a British army officer's wife and her daily experiences.  I believe perhaps the author's husband was in the army and this was based on her life.  Scotland comes to mind.  The story line follows her struggles when left behind, friends and the relationship with another officer who is a friend or somehow related to her husband.

D. E. Stevenson, Mrs. Tim.  Could this be the Mrs. Tim series (3 or 4 titles, I think) by D E Stevenson??? published in the 1950s/60s or so.
D.E.Stevenson, Mrs Tim, Mrs Tim carries on, Mrs Tim gets a job, Mrs Tim flies home.  Almost certainly these books as already suggested. They are written in diary form, Mrs Tim is mostly in her own looking after her 2 children while her husband is away, in the army. Mrs Tim  gets a job is set in Scotland, she is acting as housekeeper to elderly lady. Daughter is called Betty, forgotten son's name, he's at boarding school. The first book was originally called Mrs Tim of the Regiment, but later just Mrs Tim


Mrs. Tortino's Return to the Sun
This must also be from the late 70's to early -mid 80's.  This story is about a old lady who is sad because her cute house is overshadowed by all the buildings around her, and doesnt get any sun. A highrise wants to build on her lot, so they move her house to the roof of the building. the woman is so happy and she is surronded by a garden. I think she also has a cat. any help would be great!

Virginia Lee Burton, The Little House, 1978.  This is something of a longshot, since it ends with house being moved into the country, not to the top of a skyscraper. But it does have the theme of all the skyscrapers towering over a cute little house.
Virginia Lee Burton, The Little House, 1942.  I saw a reference to a story like this in the Book "New York's Architectural Holdouts" by Andrew Alpern & Seymour Durst. In the  introduction they talk about a book called "The Little House" about a pretty little house in the country who, over the years becomes surrounded by the ugly city. The great-great-grandaughter puts the house on a flatbed and trucks it back into the country.
The little house is not it. Any other suggestions....? my brother thinks he remembers the house being lifted by a crane, and the house hanging in air, watching as the levels of the skyscraper are constructed. I hope this detail triggers anothe suggeston.
Shirley Rousseau Murphy, Mrs Tortino's Return to the Sun, 1980.  I am sure this is the book.  I did a similar search, and was only able to find the book again because one of the librarians here knew the book I was asking about.
Mrs Tortino's Return to the Sun, is the correct book. Thank you once again to everyone who makes finding these "lost" books possible.



Much Bigger Than Martin
A childrens book, around the 1980's or 1970's about two brothers. It begins when the little brother can't swim out to the dock in the middle of the lake and he thinks about all the things he could do if he was BIG. One was of him as a giant grinding bones to make bread. Each page had his big brother hidden in the scene.

Kellog, Stephen, Much Bigger Than Martin.  A little boy thinks about what he can do to grow bigger than his bossy older brother Martin.
Steven Kellogg, Much Bigger Than Martin, 1976, approximately.  I believe this is the book you are looking for. "A little boy tries to think of all sorts of methods that would help him grow bigger than his bossy older brother."
Steven Kellogg, Much Bigger than Martin, 1976.  Finally! Thank you!!


Much Majesty
The book I'm looking for is going to be extremely difficult, I'm sure, but it doesn't hurt to try. It is an anthology of children's literature, and included stories, or exerpts of stories, and poems of all kinds. Some that I specifically recall are "Three Little Ghostesses," "Wait Till Martin Comes," "Oliver Goes to the Circus" (or maybe it was "Oliver's Saturday"), "Hidalgo" (about a boy who stops a train from colliding with rocks that have fallen at the entrance to a tunnel), and I believe it also included one of the Melendy stories by Elizabeth Enright about the girl who had teacakes with her neighbor and a girl named Randi who has a bicycle accident... I think a Pippy Longstocking story (Pippy made pancakes) may have also been included. Also I remember at the end of the stories, there was also a list of suggested readings (I know, that narrows it down, right?). There was also a story about an African-American family, I believe set in the Great Depression, with a boy named Roosevelt whose mother keeps telling him to hush when he keeps asking something, & they have a dog run.  There seemed to be a story also about a handicapped girl who had to walk with crutches & she had to dress herself one morning & was afraid of how hard it was going to be for her.  It had a yellow hardcover with, if I'm not mistaking, kind of like a basket-weave design, and towards the center of the cover is an oval shape. Inside the oval is a picture of a nighttime cityscape reflecting in the water, with a full moon over the city. I believe it was published in the 1960's or 1970's. I have no idea what keywords to even begin to try as most of my own keyword searches have found NOTHING!!!

Can't help with the anthology so far, but the part about the girl with crutches (Sal who has cerebral palsy) would be an excerpt from Jean Little's Mine for Keeps.
Hidalgo and the Gringo 3-5 Train  illus. by Kelly Oechsli. Dutton, 1958. 89p. Nine-year-old Hidalgo Andres loves to leave the farm chores to watch the Southern Pacific train go by. One day the boy finds a rock pile in the tunnel  he flags the train and prevents an accident. The passengers give him money and the friar who has been teaching him to read surprises Hidalgo by taking him to a celebration where the governor praises him. The theme of the book is Hidalgo's desire to read  spurred by a book that has been thrown from the Gringo Train, he starts in January and by August has learned to read in Spanish (chiefly by his own efforts) and is starting English. The story about Oliver going to the circus is from Elizabeth Enright's first Melendy book The Saturdays.  The girl named Randy who had a bicycle accident is also from Elizabeth Enright, this time her second Melendy book The Four Story Mistake.
Srygley and Wenzel, eds., Much Majesty. Anthology for school use. Orange basketweave in the 1968 edition, but no city inside the oval.


Book Stumper H267 has been solved! Much Majesty is the main book I was looking for, which led me to the other one, First Splendor. Thanks!!



Mud Baths for Everyone
There was a picture book my mother read to me sometimes during the 1980s about a small pig who had some trouble with a big, bad pig. The name Booble Big Pig sticks with me, although I haven't found anything close to that, so maybe I'm not remembering correctly. The only other thing about the story that really stands out is the big mud puddle that this bad pig would come out of - maybe he lived below the depths?

Denys Cazet, Mud Baths for Everyone, 1981.  "When three little pigs are frightened by Booble Bigpig, they seek revenge disguised as a butcher."
Denys Cazet, Mud Baths for Everyone, 1981.  Wow, I think you did it! Hooray!



Muffletumps
Hello---just stumbled on your remarkable site and found two books already I'd been wondering about off and on since elementary school. I plan to take a more detailed look soon.  This may be impossible to trace but circa 1966-67, Humpty Dumpty magazine printed a story that I believe was excerpted from a book. I thought the excerpt, and possibly the book, was called "The Moffats," but NOT the famous book by Eleanor Estes. Anyway, four dolls in an attic come to life when the family goes away for a vacation; the dolls come downstairs and get into mischief. One wears the mother's dressing gown, another accepts a package delivered by a forerunner of UPS. The package turns out to be scented soaps. They decide to eat the soap (don't ask me why) and end up a little under the weather. Anyway, the family eventually comes home and they go back up in the attic until the next occasion for freedom. The dolls' names are Edward, Henrietta, Elsie and Maud and they are dressed in antique clothes. Sound familiar to anyone?

Answer to D45 Dolls Eat Soap:  The person is thinking of the Muffletumps. I'm not sure which one because
they had a couple, but maybe it's THE MUFFLETUMPS: THE STORY OF FOUR DOLLS by Jan Wahl, illustrated by Edward Ardizzone, 1966. The dolls' names are indeed Elsie, Edward, Henrietta and Maud.
Thank you for forwarding the information. I had seen it a few weeks ago and hadn't yet done anything about it----I am extremely grateful to the person who answered the question and to you folks for having a site where I could find this out. Can you tell me the availability of this book, and-or other Muffletumps books by the author? I understand there may be three or four altogether.
--
Back in April I purchased a book through you folks (I believe I was helped by Audrey) called The Muffletump Storybook by Jan Wahl and illustrated by Cyndy Szekeres. The book itself had no flaws and the service was prompt. Once I received it, however, I realized the illustrator was not the same as the Muffletump book of another title I had enjoyed in childhood. (My mistake.) I'm still interested in finding the story and illustrations I'm familiar with and I think probably that would be THE MUFFLETUMPS: THE STORY OF FOUR DOLLS by Jan Wahl, illustrated by Edward Ardizzone, 1966. I don't think you have that in stock, but if so, could you give me a price? If a search is necessary, I'd probably be willing to pay up to $20 or so to get it. I haven't rushed to inquire about this, so you needn't rush to reply. But I appreciate any help you could give me.
We don't have the Ardizzone in stock, you're right.  For $20, I can get you either a very nice pb or a solid reading copy hb (ex-lib, used, good for years).  I'm sorry the first wasn't the one you remembered; glad you know which
one you need!  I'll be happy to get it for you as soon as you let me know whichone you'd like.  Thanks for your message.
Actually, I prefer the older books, especially former library books. They have more history than newer paperbacks. As long as it has no torn or missing pages and minimal to average wear, that's what I'd like.
Thank you for finding and sending The Muffletumps. It's a gem --both for the content and the evidence of use by other baby boomers of days gone by. It  brings me great pleasure, and thank you again for your part in that.



Muley-Ears, Nobody's Dog
This book was published in the mid-seventies or earlier. It takes place at a rental house which gets a great deal of turnover. Mostly families with children move in and out. For some reason there is a dog which goes with the property. People move in but are never told about the dog. They are always surprised to see a dog hanging  round the property, but since he is a friendly dog and seems to think that he lives there, they quickly warm up to him and adopt him. Then they move away and leave the dog behind for the next tenants to discover. Eventually the house is rented to a man with no family. He has no interest in the dog and completely ignores him. The dog somehow befriends him by the end of the book. I seem to remember that there is a picture in the book of children on a tobaggen with the dog. This book is definitely not either of the Summerdog books, nor is it a book entitled "He was there from the day we moved in".

Marguerite Henry, Muley-Ears, Nobody's Dog, 1959.  The story is set in Jamaica.  The house is a vacation rental house that is leased for a month at a time.  A great book!


Multiplying Glass
Does anybody remember a book about a girl who had one of those 3-glass mirrors in which there were 3 different versions of herself (1 good, 1normal, and 1 badly behaved)? I read this book sometime in the 80's and would really like to know more about it!  I've tried A TO ZOOS and examinging all the
children's/YA books in our collection with the word "mirror" or "Looking glass" in the title, but no luck.

I think I may have an answer for L9, as well.  Or at least a suggestion.  Could this person be thinking of the scene in one of Jane Langton's books where the children find a maze of mirrors...they can walk through them, chosing the reflection they prefer.  Unfortunately, I can't remember which book...Swing in the Summerhouse, Amazing Stereoscope, or Diamond in the Window.  I think it may be the latter.  Love your website... especially those adorable pictures of Suzy!
Really, I am obliged to you. I will look at the Langton books , and see if it works. If it does, I will let you know.
This book could very possibly be The Multiplying Glass by Ann Phillips which was published in 1981.  A girl called Elizabeth finds the 3 part mirror in an antique shop and it shows three  'selves' all slightly different.
Thank you very much for this tidbit. I will check this book out and see if it is the one. Will let you know what gives.
I was looking for the titles and authors of L9 and R16. The Multiplying Glass and The Bewithching of Alison Albright both sound like the right books. Many Thanks!



Mummy Market
I read this book sometime between 1983 and 1986, so it was published before or during then.  It was about a girl who is upset with her mother and finds a garden where she can try out other mothers for a period of time.  She tries out several different mothers who each seem like they would be better than her current mother, but they each have problems.  In the end, she learns that her own mother is the best.  I have been looking for this book for years - in the LOC, Amazon, out-of-print places - but I can't remember the title.  It may have had the word "Fair" in it or had something to do with the girl going to a fair or a market.  I also recall the word "thyme" but I know it wasn't the book "Parsely Sage, Rosemary and Time", although my memories of the book are related to the Simon and Garfunkel song, "Scarborough Fair" and the song "Incense and Peppermint".  Hope that's enough detail to get an answer!! Also, the girl may have found the mothers at a fair or a market.  I have the phrase "mommy garden" in my head re: the book but lately in my searches I've been getting mental nudges that it may have been a fair or market instead of a garden.

Nancy Brelis, The Mummy Market (akaThe Mother Market), 1966.  This has to be The Mummy Market, about 3 children (a girl and 2 younger brothers) who, with some magical assistance ("flower magic") from a neighbor, are able to trade in their own mother.  They then head to the local "Mommy Market" to pick out a new mom.  However, after trying out several new moms, they, of course, realize that their original mother was the best one for them.  This book was made into a movie, "The Mommy Market" in 1992, then re-released under the title "Trading Mom" in 1994. Unfortunately, this book is out of print, and copies appear to be both scarce and expensive.  Good luck!
That's definitely it!  Now I know what I'm getting myself for Christmas this year.  Too bad it was already made into what looks like a poorly-received movie - I always thought it would make a great film.  Thanks so much for solving my stumper!!


The Mummy, the Will and the Crypt
This is a children's mystery that I read it in the early 80's as a child, so it was probably written in the 70's, maybe even 60's.  A boy explores an old empty mansion looking for the fortune that the owner (who made his fortune making health drinks, then health cereal) hid there after his death.

John Bellairs, The Mummy, the Will and the Crypt,
1983.This is a wonderful mystery/adventure by one of my favorite authors! The eccentric cereal millionaire H Bagwell Glomus left strange clues in his will to a supposed hidden treasure. Johnny Dixon and his friend Fergie manage to break into his deserted mansion while on a scout trip, and search for the treasure during a storm. But it seems that something evil is stalking them...
John Bellairs, The Mummy, the Will, and the Crypt, 1983. A Johnny Dixon mystery.  "Johnny is fascinated when he learns about the death of H. Bagwell Glomus. There are rumors that Glomus has left a will, but the location and contents of the will are a mystery, and there are only a few clues. Johnny's grandmother falls ill, but cannot afford the costly operation that she needs. Johnny decides he will solve the mystery of Glomus' will in order to earn a $10,000 reward to help pay for his grandmother's operation."
SOLVED:
John Bellairs, The mummy, the Will, and the Crypt, 1983. You're right, that's it!  Thanks a lot, you guys are awesome!


Mumpsy Goes to Kindergarten
1. this book was about a little girl and a kitten. the girl played with the kitten a lot and one day the girl made paper links for the cat to play with. She took strips of papers and glued them into little circles, then connected each one so the cat could enjoy the "chain". I don't remember much beyond this but it was a kid's book and very cute!

#K15--Kitten and paper chain:  This may be Mumpsy Goes to Kindergarten, by Louise Lawrence Devine.  As I remember, after Mumpsy plays with the paper chain her owner lengthens it and uses it to decorate the cage they take her to school in.  It's just possible, however, that I am confusing two books.  If someone who has "Mumpsy" would be so good as to look and the paper chain is NOT in it, that means there is yet another Rand McNally Junior Elf-type kitten book I'm looking for!
On the "kitten and paper chain" query, I finally got a copy of Mumpsy Goes to Kindergarten and it's definitely the same book.
AHHH that's it~ That's it!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you so much!


The Museum comes to Life
The story is about a live field mouse in a natural history museum. At night, he visits displays and hears the life story of various animals on display. I recall an Arctic Tern and a Kangaroo Mouse (perhaps an albatross too). 

Jan Wahl illustrated by Bob Doucet, The Field Mouse and the Dinosaur Named Sue,
2000. Not sure this is the right answer. A field mouse ends up being transported into a natural history museum with a box of dinosaur bones.
Maribelle Cormack, The Museum Comes to Life, 1931, Here is an older book that might be what you're looking for. From introduction: "What could be more diverting ... than a little short-tailed wanderer mousing around the museum, holding intimate conversations with the animals and birds and listening to their thrilling life-stories!" Great and often funny drawings of a giant turtle, a salamander, a shrew, a golden eagle, an Artic rabbit, and many more.
SOLVED: Maribell Cormack, The Museum Comes to Life, 1931. Maribelle Cormack, The Museum Comes to Life. I am pretty sure this is the book I was looking for!! Thanks!!
My Bedtime Book of Two Minute Stories
It was a collection of stories and one was about a teapot with roses on it.  The teapot had either lost its lid or its lid was broken.  Another story was about a cute little hedgehog;  she thought the hedgehog story may have been where it was looking for its mother, but she wasn't sure.  It was not a Golden Book.  She said it was bigger than a Golden Book, but not as big as the old Dr. Seuss books.  It was a hardback book.  Not much to go on, but then again, you found Indian Indian !!!

Are you sure this isn't one of the "Frances" books, as in  Bedtime for Frances, or A Baby Sister for Frances?
It's awfully tempting to call this a Frances book, since A Bargain for Frances involves both the little hedgehog(?) girl and a china tea set. But the Hoban Frances stories are all single stories, not collections. This may be an English collection, just to guess from teapot and hedgehog as characters. Maybe one of Ruth Ainsworth's collections for younger readers?
possibly Humpty Dumpty's Bedtime Stories, by Kelly Oechsli, published Parents Magazine Press, 1971. Includes stories: The Patchwork Puppy by Lilian Moore; Timothy's Tree by Gail Stephenson; Rascal Raccoon and the Thing Changer by David Barclay; Bedtime Giggles by L. V. Francis; The Magic Teapot by Mary Calhoun; Little Bug and Big Bug by Miriam Clark Potter; The Magic Pencil by Peggy Johnson; Martin the Magpie by Lois Watson; Mother's Little Helper by Peggy Johnson; The Llamas' Pajamas by Claudine Wirths. It does have a teapot story, but no obvious hedgehog story.
A52 anthology with teapot & hedgehog: Okay, here's one with a hedgehog for sure - My Enid Blyton Story Book, illustrated by Willy Schermele published London, Juvenile Productions 1953? 8 stories are: THE BRIGHT NEW SIXPENCE, THE INQUISITIVE HEDGEHOG, THE QUARRELSOME BROWNIES, THE CHINA RABBIT, THE GOBLIN'S DOG, MARY JANE THE LITTLE DOLL, THE BROWNIES SPECTACLES, THE PARTY IN THE HOLLOW TREE. Another possible is My Greatest Book of Bedtime Stories, published London, n.d., contents including THE LOST LITTLE HEDGEHOG, HILDA THE HIPPO, TERRYS FIRST PRIZE, HONEY BEAR'S PROMISE, TEDDY'S SOUP, and JOLLY MONSTER'S BIRTHDAY. However, this has about 100 stories in it (according to the vendor) and looks bigger than the Suess books. No stories specifically about a teapot, though two with tea parties.
This looks good!!!  My Bedtime Book of Two Minute Stories, edited by Rosemary Garland (Grosset & Dunlap) (Copyright- Eurobook Limited,1969) Page 12 has The Rosebud teapot! Best china teapot over time gets put in back of closet due to damage. Eventually sent to a Jumble Sale! A little girl buys it and puts it in her bedroom filled with fresh flowers .On page 42- Dumpling the Cuddly Hedgehog. Dumpling gets teased and chased and called names  because he has soft spines and he is cuddly!! He runs away but eventually he is taken in by some children and finds a good home! Very nice collection of unique stories- well chosen for its kid appeal!!
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Collection of stories, including one with characters Peter, Pierre, and 1-2 others with variations of name (Piotr? Pieter?). Read late 70s/early 80s. Fairly sure that this is same book as "C760: Collection of stories and activities" current stumper, remember potato print story also.

Edited by Rosemary Garland, My Bedtime Book of Two-Minute Stories, 1969. This book has 122 two-page stories, including "Petros, Pietro, Pierre, Pedro, Pieter, Pyotr" and "Mr. Gobbledegoop" (the one about the potato-print clothes).
SOLVED: I submitted stumper  C767, and I saw a response posted on your site this week: Edited by Rosemary Garland, My Bedtime Book of Two-Minute Stories, 1969. I haven't seen the book, but I'm almost positive that's right! The cover is familiar. Thank you so much!



My Book House
I am looking for a book I received as a child while in the hospital and lost upon returning home. The dates would have been in the early 50's, say 1952-54.  It was a collection of children's classic tales with lovely illustrations, some colored and some pen and inks or etchings. I believe the story of Rose Red and Snow White was in there, and one with a large candycane lantern or barber pole in it and a male or boy?? It seems to me it was at an oblique angle, looking down upon it from above?? I have thought about this book over the years and occasionally looked in used bookstores but never come across it.  As I recall, it had a blue or green hardback cover. I know that is not much to go on but perhaps someone recalls such a book.

Collier & Son, Publishers, The Junior Classics, 1938.  The books you are describing may well be part of the "Young
Folks Shelf of Books" published by Collier in the mid-20th century and reprinted several times.  They were ten volumes with colorful hardback covers (red, blue, green, etc.) and had both color plates and line illustrations with the stories.  The first volume, entitled "Fairy Tales and Fables", is a red cover with a woodcut-style illustration of Jack climing the beanstalk, and it contains a great many tales, including "Snow-White and Rose-Red".  The second volume contains more fairy tales and has a green cover.  The third volume contains various mythological stories and has a blue cover.  I hope this helps.
See A116 ~ The contributor who suggested A Child's Book of Stories by Jessie Wilcox Smith has an anthology of stories which also include "Snow White and Rose Red."
Oliver Beaupre Miller, My Book House. Could be one the My Book House series. There were twelve books that ranged in color from pale green to dark blue. The story of  Snow White and Rose Red is in one of them and also a story about a little boy in a stroller whose mother takes him for a walk past a barber shop. There's a picture of a barber shop pole. The endpapers show storybook characters walking towards a castle.
Olive Beaupre Miller, Up one pair of stairs, 1936.  I have a set of My book house from 1936 that my father received from his mother. Volume 2 is entitled "Up one pair of stairs" and the cover has a picture of Rose Red and Snow White kissing a bear. The rest of of the cover is olive green with darker green accents. One page 35 is the story of Rose Red and Snow White from the Brothers Grimm and on page 328 is a poem by Walter de la Mare, entitled "The barber" with a picture of a curly-headed child sitting in a barber's chair with a barber pole seen outside the window. 


My Book of Cinderella
Hi ~ I'm looking for a book of Cinderella from my childhood. Unfortunately, I do not remember much about this book except that it was BEAUTIFULLY illustrated.  (Realistic and gorgeous colors.)  It was probably printed mid '60s to mid '70s and I remember that it was oversized.  The only illustration that remains vivid in my memory is one of Cinderella holding a WHITE kitten (possibly) in front of a fireplace.  The kitten is curled up sleeping in Cinderella's lap and Cinderella's hand is on the kitten as though petting it.  I have emailed individual ebay booksellers with this description and posted on a few other sites with no luck.  This is not the storytime treasury Cinderella (which I own) and I'm not even sure if this book is only of Cinderella or has other stories in the book too.  Thanks for any help!

Jane Carruth, My Book of Cinderella, 1960.  This large picture book is one of a series of fairy tales, all beautifully illustrated, and it definitely shows Cinderella petting a white cat in front of the fireplace. The American version was published by Maxton, but there's also a British version, published by Odhams.  The two are identical.
In doing research on the answer above, this is indeed the book I have been searching for!!  I contacted a bookseller who had this book and asked them if they could send me an email with a scanned picture of the illustration I  described.  A few days later, there it was!!  I can't even begin to tell you how thrilled I was to see this picture again after so many years.  It's much easier looking for a book when you know the title of it and the author's name!   Thanks so much for the help!!  This is really a great site, I am so glad I was led here during one of my many, many searches looking for a book I didn't even know the name of!  Thanks again, and keep up the great work!
---
I stumbled across the Stump the Bookseller section while I was looking for a replacement for a copy of the Maxton "My Book of Cinderella" (it's falling apart).  Alas, while the English Odhams book with the same title is very nice, it is definitely not identical to the Maxton book--while the inscription on the title page below the title is the same, neither the text nor the illustrations are the same. It would probably be best to update the Solved-M page to reflect this.



My Brother's Keeper
I read this book in the 1960's and it was an old old book back then. It is about two brothers who live together and never throw out their newspapers (or I don't know if anything else) and they have the newspapers stacked to the ceilings and they walk through their house in newspaper passageways.One brother met a female and they got married and he moved her to the house where he fixed up their bedroom very nice.  The other brother felt so left  out.  I CANNOT REMEMBER THE NAME OR AUTHOR AND WANT SO TO READ IT AGAIN!

Marcia Davenport, My Brother's Keeper, 1954.  Clearly the reference is to a book about the (real) Collyer brothers, Homer and Langley, who died in NYC in their packrat house in 1947.  Here's a website with basic historic information.  There was a recent book on them (cited on that cite), and chapters about them in various collections etc., but given the description of the book sought as relatively old, I suspect the questioner is thinking of MY BROTHER'S KEEPER by Marcia Davenport, a 1954 Scribner hc which has been described as a novelization of the Collyer case.
T261 In real life, the Collyer brothers in NYC fit this description, except they lived by themselves and were found dead under an avalanche of the piles. I always expect that to happen to us with  our books.
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I read this book in the 1960's and it was an old old book back then. It is about two brothers who live together and never throw out their newspapers (or I don't know if anything else) and they have the newspapers stacked to the ceilings and they walk through their house in newspaper passageways.One brother met a female and they got married and he moved her to the house where he fixed up their bedroom very nice.  The other brother felt so left  out.  I CANNOT REMEMBER THE NAME OR AUTHOR AND WANT SO TO READ IT AGAIN!

Marcia Davenport, My Brother's Keeper, 1954.  Clearly the reference is to a book about the (real) Collyer brothers, Homer and Langley, who died in NYC in their packrat house in 1947.  Here's a website with basic historic information.  There was a recent book on them (cited on that cite), and chapters about them in various collections etc., but given the description of the book sought as relatively old, I suspect the questioner is thinking of MY BROTHER'S KEEPER by Marcia Davenport, a 1954 Scribner hc which has been described as a novelization of the Collyer case.
T261 In real life, the Collyer brothers in NYC fit this description, except they lived by themselves and were found dead under an avalanche of the piles. I always expect that to happen to us with  our books.



My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes
My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes.  Paperback, 1970, and short as are many children's books.   I think above is the title, but if not, that phrase is repated two or three times in the story.

Sutton, Eve, Illustrated by Lynley Dodd. My Cat Likes To Hide In Boxes. NY: Parents Magazine Press, 1974.
 Interpreting
Condition 
Grades
Sutton, Eve.  My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes. Illustrated by Lynley Dodd.  Scholastic, 1973, 3rd paperback printing.  VG-.  <SOLD>  



My Christmas Treasury
"A Shoe for Blitzen"  This is a collection of Christmas stories, probably published by Golden Books in the 50's.  Other stories are:  "The Penny Walk" "The Snowshoe Rabbits" among others.  Also has a few carol lyrics, and telling of "The Christmas Story."  Please help me find this book!

THE REINDEER'S SHOE AND OTHER STORIES. Karle Wilson Baker. Found this:  Ellen C. Temple: 1988, Austin, Texas. 112 pages. 29cm. Hardbound. Fairy tales, reindeer, children's. Illustrated with drawings, silhouettes. Definitely not 1950's Golden Book but the subject matter fits.
contents for The Reindeer's Shoe and Other Stories: The reindeer's shoe -- The reaching princess -- The Storm King's plume -- 'Pilio -- Karle Wilson Baker / by Pamela Lynn Palmer.
My Christmas Treasury.  I'm positive this is the book you're looking for. We own it, it was my mother's from the 50's. It's a Giant Little Golden Book published by Simon and Shulster. It has all the stories mentioned! wonderful collection!


My Color Game
I am looking for a book that was read to me in the 1970-1980's. It was a book about colors. Here are a few lines from the book:  " I see blue, what is blue ? The sky is blue, the twinkle in your eye is blue." Another - " yellow is a mellow fellow " Another - " orange is orange orange orange " ( I think that is how it went ).   Please help, you are my last resort.

Mary O'Neill, Hailstones and Halibut Bones.  This sounds an awful lot like Hailstones and Halibut Bones. If so, it's  recently been reissued with new illustations, but probably the reader is remembering the original (classic) illustrations.
I looked up and read that book called " Hailstones and Halibut Bones, and unfortunetly that is not the one I am looking for. I remember there was a young boy on the cover with a quilt.
If the original stumper requester is quoting the remembered lines accurately, then the book in question is NOT Hailstones and Halibut Bones: Adventures in Color by Mary O'Neill (author) and Leonard Weisgard (illustrator), copyright 1961.  For blue, it says (in part): "What is blue?/Blue is the color of the sky/Without a cloud/Cool, distant, beautiful/And proud.  Blue is the quiet sea/And the eyes of some people..."  That's as close as it gets to "I see blue, what is blue? The sky is blue, the twinkle in your eye is blue."  The poems for yellow and orange are completely unlike the ones remembered.  It's a lovely book, and worth checking out, but if you're sure your memories are accurate, it's not the one you're looking for.
The sentences fit the description customer gave. The cover is greenishyellow with a very-red-haired boy holding up crayons or marking pens taken from the basket of them held in the mouth of a cocker spaniel perched on a stool.   Begley, Evelyn M.  My color game.  illus by Winnie Fitch.  Whitman Big Tell-a-Tale #2436, 1966. child lies in bed and thinks  about what colors things are.
YES !  IT IS SOLVED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  THAT IS THE BOOK ! ( "Tell-A-Tale My Color Game").  I AM SO SO GRATEFUL TO HAVE FOUND THIS SITE !!!!!!  AND A HUGE HUGE THANK YOU TO THE PERSON WHO KNEW WHAT BOOK I WAS TALKING ABOUT !!!!  I AM SO GRATEFUL !!!  THANK YOU A HUNDRED TIMES OVER !


My Dolly
I remember a children's board book my sister used to read to me when I was 5 or 6 (1972) It had probably 6 pages to it, and showed pictures of beautiful dolls. The one I most remember was a blond hair doll with her eyes closed. I think a brown hair doll was standing next to her "bed" and the words on the page were "Shh, Mary Ann is sleeping." The whole story may have been about nap time etc. but I'm not sure. This is one of my favorite memories of my sister and I. I would greatly appreciate any leads.

S133 shh mary ann: a board book with doll photos is My Dolly, published Whitman 1968, a board book with photos of different dolls, including a Kewpie Doll. One caption says "Susy and Sally are going for a train ride. All aboard!" Can't confirm a Mary Ann picture.
S133 shh mary ann: another board book with doll photographs is MY DOLL BOOK LOOK AND SEE, published Wonder Books, n.d., yellow cover shows dark-haired doll with blue scarf over head.
That's it!! I remember the Kewpie doll, and the "suzy and sally are going for a train ride"!! Thank you so much!  Now, if I can just find it somewhere.....


My Dolly and Me
Hi.  I am looking for a book that I think is a Little Golden Book, possibly illustrated by Eloise Wilkins.  It is about a little girl that I think has a tea party and has it with her animal toys and maybe a baby doll.  I remember there is a hippotamus in it and maybe a pig and she dresses them up.  It maybe a tea party or she pretends they are her children and gets them all dressed up.  It was one of my favourite books as a child.  Hope u can help me

W46- Come Play House (Little Golden Book #44)
#W46--Wilkin Tea Party:  I believe this is Come Play House, by Edith Osswald, illustrated by Eloise Wilkin.  I only recently rediscovered it in a Little Golden Books guide, but don't have a copy yet so don't know this is
definitely the one.  If this is NOT the book described, I WOULD like to know, as it means there's another Eloise Wilkin book I'm still looking for!
I posted the question about the above book and I thankyou both for your help but the book is not Come Play House as I have seen that book and it is not the one.  however I have good news for you and myself.  I was searching thru Ebay auctions at the Little Golden Books site and found it!!!  it is called My Dolly and Me. So if you haven't heard of it, yes you can add it to the Eloise Wilkins collection.  Many thanks anyway.  i stumped you on this one, but you came to my rescue with another book about 2 months ago.  a great site.
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Illustrated by Eloise Wilkin.  I remember very little about it.  The inside front cover has a little girl with long blond hair doing different things, such as eating something from a bowl, skipping rope, etc.  I think it was a book about her day.  Any ideas?

W80 Most of my Wilkin books are in a box under too many other boxes and books, but in my other stash, all but one were Golden Books, which don't have endpapers ith illustrations. Baby's House is a very small board book.
The golden haired child steps in the front door and says "This is my house. I live here with Mommy and Daddy" [who are sitting in livingroom chairs.] Next pages: "My sister lives here too. So does Fuzzy he cat. I like to play
with Mommy's pots and pans. But sometimes I make too much noise. Mommy hangs up her washing in the back yard. I hang up my washing too. �even help Daddy sweep the leaves. Sometimes I make a little house of my very own. That is coziest of all."   [That is the  whole bk. I doubt it is the one.]
eloise wilkin, My Dolly and me.  I think this book is My dolly and me by eloise wilkin.  it is about a little blonde girl who pretends she is a mommy. there is a picture in the book with the little girl eating soup from a bowl and skipping rope while her little dog runs away with her baby doll.  she dresses up and takes her dolls for walks and feeds them and washes their clothes and then the story ends with her putting her doll to bed and her taking a nap herself. this was a favourite of mine when i was a child and i was lucky enough to get a copy in a local charity store recently.  i have since found out that it is a very popular book and quite expensive.


click here for imageMy Father's Dragon
Also I am looking for a book about a boy who goes to an island where all he eats is tangerines. This is from the 60's.  Do you have this?

T20 sounds like My Father's Dragon.
Thanks so much!!!  As soon as I saw the title I went that is it!  I now know what book I am looking for. Thanks again.
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A book about a boy who befriends a dragon called Elmer.  I'm not sure about the name of the dragon.

Even though I'm sure you'll get a thousand responses... This is My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett, starring Elmer Elevator.  Two sequels, Elmer and the Dragon and The Dragons of Blueland, and all of them still in print.
It may be MY FATHER'S DRAGON; ELMER AND THE DRAGON; or THE DRAGONS OF BLUELAND, all by Ruth Stiles Gannett  ~from a librarian
E22 elmer: if the BOY is named Elmer and the dragon is a baby one, it would almost certainly be My Father's Dragon, by Ruth Stiles Gannett, where Elmer Elevator rescues the baby dragon from the animals who are using him as a river ferry. If it's a boy befriending a dragon in a fantasy-medieval setting, it could be The Reluctant Dragon, by Kenneth Grahame, though nobody in that is named Elmer. There's another story about a dragon named Homer who lives under the Thames River, but he's befriended by a little girl.
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The book i am looking for is a children's book which i borrowed from my local library in the early 80s.  When I went back many years later I could not find it again.  Unfortunately I don't know the author or the title, but I remember the plot -- a little boy received a letter from his uncle (or maybe his grandfather or godfather) with detailed instructions on how to rescue him from an island.  He was told to bring such things as a comb, 3 ribbons, 5 pieces of gum, 7 oranges, etc., which would help him get by the various animals between him and his uncle.  For example, he encountered 3 grumpy lions who wanted to eat him, but once he combed the tangles out of their manes and tied in ribbons, they let him go by.  I think he gave the oranges to monkeys, and the gum to crocodiles in a river so that they would not eat him.  Their may have been mirrors, too.  I appreciate any help in tracking down this book.

It's been a long time since I read it, but some of the details sound like My Father's Dragon.
Gannett, Ruth Stiles, My Father's Dragon, 1948.  Although it is actually a baby dragon that young Elmer Elevator sets out to rescue from the animals that are using him as a slave on Wild Island (and not an uncle or grandfather), this is definitely the classic My Father's Dragon.  All of the other details match.  The book is still in print, as are the two sequels, Elmer and the Dragon and The Dragons of Blueland.
Ruth Stiles Gannett (author), Ruth Chrisman Gannett (illustrator), My Father's Dragon, 1948.  Is it possible that the stumper requester is confused about the story's plot?  In My Father's Dragon, the author describes how her father, Elmer Elevator, went to Wild Island to rescue a baby dragon held in captivity by the island's inhabitants, a group of very wild animals.  Wild Island is nearly bisected by a river full of crocodiles, and the animals force the baby dragon to fly them across and back.  With the help of an elderly stray cat, Elmer compiles a list of items he'll need to rescue the dragon, and gets past the lion (just one) with the hairbrush, comb and ribbons,  the seven tigers with chewing gum, the rhinoceros with toothpaste and toothbrush, the gorilla and monkeys with magnifying glasses, and the crocodiles with pink lollipops.  Elmer doesn't give oranges to any of the animals, but he does eat tangerines he has collected on the Island of Tangerina.  Followed by two sequels: Elmer and the Dragon (originally called Canary Island) (1950) and The Dragons of Blueland (1951).  All three books were collected into one volume in 1998: Three Tales of My Father's Dragon.
This sounds like My Father's Dragon--a great book for young readers.  Sequels are Elmer and the Dragon and the Dragons of Blueland.  Although the boy is rescusing a dragon, rather than his grandfather, many of the items he brings along and the situations sound like My Father's Dragon.
Ruth Stiles Gannett, My Father's Dragon.  Thanks, this is the book! You all are the coolest ever.
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My Father's Dragon
I remember loving a book about a lion (I believe he was the king of some make-believe land) who loved to have his mane braided and have bows put on the ends of the braids.  I believe the braiding done by a little girl?  I can see the cover and simply CANNOT see the title. If anyone has any ideas at all, I would really appreciate it. Thanks.

Ruth Stiles Gannett, My Father's Dragon, 1940. This is most likely the book you're looking for.  The cover depicts a lion with a braided mane, with bows on the end, though the one who made his mane look so pretty is a boy, not a girl, named Elmer Elevator.  The lion does indeed live in a make believe land, and Elmer distracts the lion with prettying up his mane in order to distract him so a captive dragon, enslaved by the wild animals, can be set free.
Baum, L. Frank. This is a long shot, but maybe it's one of the Oz books. Not the Wizard of Oz or the Magic of Oz, but I seem to remember Dorothy weaving flowers into the Cowardly Lion's mane in a field in one of the books..
Ruth Stiles Gannett (author), Ruth Chrisman Gannett (illustrator), My Father's Dragon, 1948. Sounds like this one! You can see a picture of it here and read about it on the Solved Mysteries "M" page. Followed by two sequels, Elmer and the Dragon (original title Canary Island) and The Dragons of Blueland.
C.S. Lewis, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.  Could it be one of the editions of the first book of Lewis's Narnia Chronicles, with a cover illustrating Lucy braiding Aslan's hair -- the lion, Aslan, being the king of Narnia -- before Aslan faces his great test.  I know I've seen a cover illo like this, and the ritual preparation of Aslan by Lucy (and, I think, Susan in the background) might be stumping the requester because it doesn't focus on the actual storyline.

 Interpreting
Condition 
Grades
Gannett, Ruth Stiles. 
My Father's Dragon. Random House, 1948, 1979.  New paperback, $6
Elmer and the Dragon.Random House, 1948, 1979.  New paperback, $6
The Dragons of Blueland. Random House, 1948, 1979.  New paperback, $6

__

I was read these books at school in the 1950s. It is about  a boy and his blue and yellow banded dragon. Every time the boy leaves home on an adventure he takes a large bag of tangerines with him, when in danger he and the dragon hide in a culvert.

Gannett, Ruth Stiles, My Father's Dragon.
Perhaps it is this series.
SOLVED: My Father's Dragon - 1948- Knopf,  Elmer and The Dragon - 1950- Knopf, and The Dragons of Blueland - 1951- Knopf. This what I was looking for. Hiding in a culvert to keep away from bad men is most likly in the last book. Thanks.
My Favorite Book of Bedtime Stories-250 short Stories
I had a book when i was young in the late 80s early 90s that had a pink hardcover and was filled with lots of short stories. Some were longer than others. I don't remember the name of the book just that it was pink and i don't remember any of the stories either. I think it had a contents page or maybe an index at the back and there were probably 300 to 500 pages.  One particular picture that i remember was of a man and woman in a brown large barrel that was in the sea. The man had brown hair that was up to his ears and had one leg out of the barrel as if he were trying to move the barrel. The woman sitting inside the barrel was asian i think and had a pink flowing dress on and a large tall hat that looked like the pope's hat. It was gold.  This is really all i can remember clearly of this book.  I really hope someone can help me because it is driving me crazy - I have looked everywhere on the net - it's not the fairy book by andrew lang.  Thank you in advance to anyone who can help me.

World's Best Fairy Tales: a Reader's Digest anthology.  
This is just a guess since I don't have my copy in front of me, but I previously answered another stumper for this book and it may be your book, too.  Mine had a slipcover, but the book underneath was mainly maroon (pink?).  If you do a Google Images search you can see some of the illustrations from the book - that should let you know if it's the right one.

Classics of children's literature, 1987.Someone has suggested this book, and the picture on the front rings a bell but the picture im looking for is not there. However i have been told that this book has many editions, if anyone has seen or knows the pink edition please let me know. I'm pretty sure this is the book but not the same edition im looking for.
a while ago i sent in a book stumper. The book stumper is P416 Pink hardcover children's book with short stories and i have found the book i am looking for.
I is called "My favourite book of bedtime stories - 250 short stories" by Barbara Matthews and illustrated by Nadir Quinto.


My First Love and Other Disasters
Adolescent girl goes to live in oceanfront house with family that hires her to babysit with their children for the summer.

Francine Pascal, My First Love and Other Disasters, 1979.  Blurb on the back:  "It's not easy to be fifteen and in love - especially if the boy you love is seventeen, gorgeous, and doesn't even know you exist!  Victoria is determined to be a mother's helper on Fire Island, where Jim will be spending the summer.  So what if he's got a girlfriend back in the city.  Anything can happen.  Victoria finds herself overburdened with two small children and endless household chores, but she's sure it's worth it because Jim not only notices her - he likes her!  And yet, if this is her dream come true, why isn't she happy?"  I would add a mention that the family in this case is a single mother struggling with keeping her kids out of contact with their father and grandfather.  At the end there's a "dramatic" boat rescue scene.



My Friend the Monster
This book is about a little boy, Prince Hal.  He goes intot he woods, maybe gets lost, and meets one of the Monsters that live in Black Mountain.  The Monster is sad because he has been locked out of the mountain, I think because the secret door in the side of the mountain only opens at a certain time, like the night of the full moon or the lunar eclipse or something.  Hal and the Monster become great friends and Hal helps the Monster return to Black Mountain.  The illustrations are maybe India ink washes, shades of gray, there is one that illustrates how the Monster has huge, scared, yellow eyes.  I NEED THIS BOOK!  No one has ever heard of it and I have no idea who wrote it.  HELP!

P170 Sounds like it's MY FRIEND THE MONSTER by Clyde Robert Bulla, illustrated in Black and white by Michele Chessage, 1980. Different summaries mention a prince making friends with a monster, and about trying to find a door in the mountain. ~from a librarian
Miriam Blanton Huber, Prince Hal and the Giant, 1951.  I found the title and author of this book, but no plot summary, unfortunately.  It is a 28 page children's story illustrated by Nellie H. Farnam and Mary Royt, and is from the "Janet and John story books series-no. 37".  Hope this helps.
Clyde Buller, My Friend the Monster.  I hope this is the book you are looking for....
Could it be a giant instead of a monster?  The only children's story that I could find with a Prince Hal is Prince Hal and the Giant by Miriam Blanton Huber.  It's in an old school reader titled After The Sun Sets by Miriam Blanton Huber, Frank Seely Salisbury, and Mabel O'Donnell (1938, 1962, 1976 / gr. 3 in the Wonder-Story Book reader series).  (Incidently,
other 'stumpers' from this site can be found in this book -- must have been a good one!)  It also appears it was published separately by Nisbet as a 28 page book in the  Janet and John Story Book Series, no. 37.  If this isn't the book you're searching for, good luck in your search.
Clyde Robert Bulla (author), Michele Chessare, (illustrator), My Friend the Monster, 1980.  This is definitely the book the stumper requester is looking for.  Prince Hal is sent to stay with his Aunt Ivy, who lives near Black Rock Mountain.  While he is on a walk, Hal discovers a heap of clothing near a pool.  He examines the clothing, then continues on his walk, and is chased by a young monster who is dressed in the clothing Hal disturbed.  When Hal picked up the cap, a black fir twig fell out and was lost, and the young monster needs the twig to open the door that will allow him to return to his people in Black Rock Mountain.  Hal resolves to help Humbert (the monster) obtain a black fir twig from the king's garden, then rescues Humbert when he is trapped by Hal's Cousin Archer and imprisoned in his menagerie.  During the rescue, Hal is injured, and Humbert takes him into Black Rock Mountain, where his mother cares for Hal until he is well.  The illustrations do look like India ink washes, but while there is a picture of the monster with a frightened look in his eyes, his eyes are not yellow in the book or on the cover.  All of the other details match.


My Giant Story Book
I am looking for a fairy tale collection from prior to 1978, probably prior to1975. Large, cover maroon covered with old writng. It was a collection of fairy tales but not by a single author.  Both color and BW pictures. Stories I definitely remember are: The Princess and the Pea (bw photo of a girl dripping wet at the door); The Little Fir Tree (beautiful color picture of a family around a tree); The Steadfast Tin Soldier (I remember a color picture of a hand reaching into a fireplace grate and pulling out a gold (?) heart; The 12 Dancing Princesses (color picture of corpulent king holding up string with his daughters' shoes attached and staring disdainfully at holes in the bottom of the shoes; The3 Wishes (BW picture of a woman with a sausage dancing on the end of her  nose); It may have also had Snow White and Rose Red. But the one story it did have that was completely unique to the book was a story of a boy with curly, blonde hair who wakes up on the wrong side of the bed, literally. He stubs his toe getting out of bed and becomes very grouchy and mad. He goes for a walk in the woods for some reason (runs away) and he is muttering "stupid rabbits" and kicking carrot tops out of the way that they left there. I don't remember what happens except that he meets some elves/gnomes and they feed him something that looks like julienned bark and then the last picture is of him leaving the woods, shaking the hands of the elves/gnomes and now smiling brightly. Any thing you know or remember would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

My Giant Story Book, 1972, 1973.  Large book (256 pages.) Red cover with pictures of fairytale characters. Published by
Popular Press Limited, London.  Fairy tales and animal stories.  The story about the boy who stubbed his toe is called Peter Pumpkin.  Other unusual stories include Princess Precious Heart and The Lonely Stone Gnome.  40 stories altogether.  A lovely book - I've kept my own copy from childhood.
Hi. I'm sorry but I never got to write to you to thank you for helping me find my childhood fairytale book.  The stumper clue was " wrong side of the bed".  As soon as I saw the stumper I immediately ordered it but the first order was lost or didn't get processed right so I had to order it again.  That's why I wasn't sure and did not respond that it was solved because I wanted to be sure it was the right book.  I check the site every week and have (very happily) helped someone else find their beloved childhood book.  I work at a school library and have been telling the teacher's about your wonderful site!  Again, thank you.
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I'm looking for my fairy-tale book from early to mid '70s.  It contained most of the traditional fairy tales, along with these that I remember:  Rapunzel, Rumpelstilskin, The Tinderbox, Rose Red and Snow White, Thumbelina.  There were also stories that I can't remember the names too:  A cobbler and little elves that come out at night and make shoes for him.  I remember that the elves bare-bottoms showed! Also, there was a story about a wolf who tried to get a family of young goats.  The final illustration in that story was of the goats looking down the well they had thrown the wolf in. I THINK there was a story about an abominable snowman. There was another about a princess whose father built a glass cover over the palace to protect her. She went out one day and got hurt in a storm. She couldn't remember who she was, and was taken in by a farmer.

Ottenheimer Publishers, Inc., My Giant Story Book, 1972, 1973.  This posted on my birthday and this was my own favorite fairy tale book as a child which I had lost and then posted on your site and found it again--it is already on the solved pages--so I'm glad I can help someone else find this wonderful book.
My Giant Story Book.  This is it!  Thank you so much.  I am thrilled to be on my way to having a copy of my favorite childhood book. 



My Great-Grandfather and I
Can't remember the title of this book, and I'm hoping that somebody can help me identify it from the scant details I remember. I probably read it around the age of 10 or 11 (1978-79). It takes place in the UK, where a young boy is sent to live with his grandfather somehwhere on the coast of the North Sea. The grandfather is a crusty old sea captain who is always drinking grog. The kid has a great time in the grandfather's old house and with his colorful friends. I believe the book was illustrated with line drawings. That's all I rememeber, except that it was a yellow hardcover and was a considerably longer book than any I'd read at that age. It might also have been part of a series, but I'm not sure about that.

James Kruss, My Great-Grandfather and I,1964.  This is the story of a young boy sent to live with his great-grandfather and great-grandmother when his sisters contract measles.  They spend the summer writing verses and telling stories.
Gotta say how pleased I was to get such a quick answer to what I thought was going to be an unanswerable question.  The book was indeedMy Great-Grandfather and I, and my copy arrived in the mail today. I'm looking forward to reading this with my own kids, a book I fondly remember from my childhood. Thanks so much for providing a wonderful service.



My Heart's in the Highlands
Young woman, student, goes to the Scottish Highlands to attend school (university? I'm almost positive it wasn't high school, but I could be wrong) for her senior year. In the book's beginning, she travels by cruise ship to Scotland, meeting other exchange students bound for the same school. Once there, she has a hard time fitting in at first because she's a bit snobby. She meets a friendly female French-Canadian student. One scene is about graduation, "gaudeamus igitur" and the black ceremonial grad robes they wore. She ends up catching the flu and is sent to Wales (I think) to recover, then back in the Highlands, falls in love with a Scottish student. He tells her the Robbie Burns poem, "My Heart's In The Highlands", and I could have sworn that was also the title of the book, but apparently not. I've spent the past 5 years looking online for the title. I believe the author was female; it was almost definitely published before 1970. I suspect it was post-war but pre-Sixties. I adored this book and would be able to track it down if I just had the title. Thanks!

Ann Durell  (n.b. - with only one r), My Heart's In the Highlands. (1958)  I can't confirm all the details, but I think this may be your book -- I remembered the title and author, though not the plot.  An online reference says the main character is studying at St. Andrew's University in Scotland.  Apparently there is another Ann Durrell (two 'r's) connected with children's literature, so watch out for false trails.
Durell, Ann, My Heart's in the Highlands. (Doubleday, 1958) You had the title right.  the cover shows a blond girl in a red coat/cloak sitting on a stone wall with a ?castle/building and a guy in a kilt in the background.  Jill Brown is the "Rich American Girl" who attends St. Andrews in Scotland and her friends are Helen, Fiona, Catriona,  Laurie, and Pam - and Tim.  Ian MacKenzie was 'the Scotsman of her dreams.'  To jog your memory, the chapters are : I'll Be In Scotland / The Low Road / The Bonny Banks / New Acquaintance / Universitatis Sancti Andreae / My Highland Laddie / Gaudeamus / Swing Low / Pereat Tristitia / Dashing Through the Snow / God Rest Ye Merry / She'll Be Coming round the Mountain / The High Road / Better Loved You'll Never Be / eighteenth-Century Drawing Room / Where Late the Sweet Birds Sand / When Sweet Airs Come Seaward / Home Thoughts from Abroad / Auld Acquaintance / Lady Katherine / Lady Ellen / Farewell to the Highlands / Wherevver I Wander
Ann Durell, My Heart's in the Highlands. (1958)  Thank you SO much for solving this! Now, the hard part: finding it. It doesn't exist anywhere in cyberspace, but I'll never give up. At least I have an author and title now!



My Japan 1930-1951
A memoir of a young girl who survived the atomic bomb drop on Nagasaki (or possibly Hiroshima). The story begins with the war itself.  I believe she is coming home from school when the bomb is dropped. She tells the story of her survival and goes on to tell the rest of her life story, which I think ends with her becoming an interior designer. I've become somewhat affixed to the title My Japan but I'm not at all convinced that is the name. The only other detail I remember is the children putting stitches into sashes for the soldiers in little booths on the way home from school. They would stitch a few and when the sash was fininshed, it would be sent to a soldier who would know that children were supporting him. I'm almost completely certain she lived in Nagasaki.

Hiroko Nakamoto (as told to Mildred Mastin Pace), My Japan 1930-1951.  McGraw-Hill Co, New York, 1970.


My Learn-to-Cook Book
I'm 33 and remember everything about a cookbook I had when I was little, except for the name! It starred a cat and dog and had illustrations of all the different recipes. There were recipes for pizza with anchovies, baked Alaska, toad-in-the-hole (a slice of toast with a circle cut out and an egg fried in it)--and other things. I think the illustrations were watercolor and maybe the cat wore a beret. I remember the book being oversized, but could be wrong because I was smaller then.

I think this might be My Learn to Cook Book, by Ursula Sedgwick.  It has the recipes you mentioned, and the cat and dog.  The cat is wearing a beret for making Croque Monsieur!  This was published in England in '67, but I don't know when or whether it was published in the US.
C62 cookbook with cat & dog: more on the suggested title - My Learn-to-Cook Book, by Ursula Sedgwick, illustrated by Martin Mayhew, published Hamlyn 1967. "It would be hard to go wrong with this big, enticing book, based on pictures rather than text, and very nice pictures too, in cheerful line and colour. The edibles mostly are simple egg-dishes, sweets, cakes and such, but Baked Bananas, Knickerbocker Glory, Fruit Fried Sandwich and Pizza Pie should stir the adventurous. Weights, measures and methods are clearly given." (Best Children's Books of 1967 p.93) It doesn't mention the illustrations, but the contents seem like a not-bad match.



My Mama says there aren't any zombies, ghosts, vampires, creatures, demons, monsters, fiends, goblins, or things
I am looking for a book I remember reading as a small child in the 1970's. It was definitely intended to be a scary book - but geared toward a child perhaps 5 - 8 years old, with relatively few words on a page, etc. Unfortunately, all I really remember about the book is a ghost/monster swirling around the child's window to get in, and long, scary fingers reaching out. I believe the book was a hard-cover book with illustrations along the lines of Sendak? Perhaps the illustrations were pen and ink or sketched along those lines. The book was maybe from the 1960's or 1970's. Please help me find this book -- I've been trying to find it and remember more details.

Judith Viorst, author, Kay Chorao illustrator, My Mama says there aren't any zombies, ghosts, vampires, creatures, demons, monsters, fiends, goblins, or things, 1973.  A wonderful book with spooky black and white line drawing illustrations showing all the creatures that mama says don't exist: "My mama says there isn't any mean-eyed monster with long slimy hair and pointy claws going scritchy-scratch, scritchy-schritchy-scratch outside my window"... but sometimes even mamas make mistakes.
Judith Viorst, My Mama says there aren't any zombies, ghosts, vampires, creatures, demons, monsters, fiends, goblins, or things. Yes, thank you very much! This is my book. When I found a few sample pages available online, it was amazing to see the book that has been haunting me. Thanks a million!



My Pal Al
Book from probably 70's or 80's.  Girl lives in apartment and becomes good friends with her male neighbor (Mr. Italian name).  He makes sandwhiches with butter and sugar.  Cleans his floors with rags on his shoes.  Calls his pasta macaroni.  Girl has a friend she tells all this to.  Neighbor dies.

Constance C Greene, My Pal Al.  I think the book you're looking for is one of a series and I'm not sure which one has the events you describe. The book is from the Al series. I think it's My Pal Al, but there were other ones called things like Your Old Pal Al, Al(exandra) the Great, etc. I think they're out of print, but the children's section of your library might have them. Al and her friend are friends with the janitor who lives in their building. He gives them shots of soda (coke?) and cleans his floors by skating on them. I don't remember the macaroni, but I'm pretty sure about the butter and sugar sandwiches.
Constance Greene, A Girl Called Al, c.1975.  The book the poster describes is definitely the first book in the series of books about Al and her unnamed friend--A Girl Called Al. And besides the ones mentioned, there was another one called I Know You, Al.


My Picture Book of Songs
Illustrated children's song book, probably from 1950s.  One song, about stomping on raked leaves in fall, included the lyrics "Crunchy, crunchy, hear the noise, made by little girls and boys".

I found the song you mentioned in My Picture Book of Songs by Alene Dalton, Myriel Ashton, & Erla Young (Hubbard Press, 1947, 1974).  Other songs include I Am Five, Skating, The Puppy Next Door, Mr. Jack O'Lantern, Tony's Pony, Dolly's Lullaby, The Postman, and The March Wind.  It's a big book (12 x 9) and has a yellow cover  with 3 faces singing.  Is that the book you're looking for?
This is the book!  And thank you SO much for this wonderful service!
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The book I'm looking for was possibly published by LDS Books, or something like that.  Deseret?  It was an oversized, yellow children's singing book.  The songs were all illustrated at the top of the page.  The one I remember best was a song about clouds, and the picture showed a child (maybe two) laying down watching clouds.  It may have been part of a series, but this one was the yellow one.  It was published in the '60's.

D187  I did a search for Deseret song books, and I turned up three for kids but the one with the right time frame was LITTLE STORIES IN SONG by Leann
Farley, 1962 (be aware that another one of the same title was published in 1940). However, I can't confirm that this is the right one. I did not find a picture and have never seen it.~from a librarian
Wilma Boyle Bunker, Lift Up Your Voice and Sing, 1964.  If it was an official church publication, then this might be it. The song you remember is probably "Oh What do you do in the summertime, when all the world is green? Do you fish in a stream, or lazily dream on the banks as the clouds go by?" I'm pretty certain that the song (written in 1964) first appeared in this book. I looked in the BYU library catalog, and I don't see any others in their collection that fit your criteria ("Sing With Me", published in 1969, had an orange cover, I think and the 1951 "The Children Sing" had a turquoise cover).
That may be the one, the Wilma B. Bunker book.  Is it oversized and yellow?  I remember the song you mentioned  I think you're right, it may be the one I remember illustrated.  I do have the other two books, the turqoise one and the orange one.  The one I'm looking for is before either of them (or concurrent with the turquoise one).  Thank you for your help!
Alene Dalton, Myriel Ashton, Erla Young, My Picture Book of Songs, 1947.  This HAS to be the book!  Three LDS ladies wrote it, and it was published by M.A. Donohoe & Company.  It's illustrated with typical 1950s-style kids.  There are songs about seasons and holidays, and there is a song entitled "Clouds."
That's the one!  Thank you so much, everyone, for your help.  I've been searching for this book for YEARS, and you've helped solve the mystery!  I found the book in a bunch of vintage books on eBay, and I was able to buy it.  Thank you again!


My Side of the Mountain
I have often thought of a book I read as a child in the mid sixty's.  When I ran across your website this
past weekend I became excited about finally locating a book that had a great impact on me.  It was about a boy, possibly a run-away, who survives the winter in the woods.  The boy builds a home inside a tree, a redwood perhaps, and makes flour from acorns.  Please help me find this book!!  My 13 yr. old daughter enjoys Paulson books and I think this is one she would also appreciate.  Thanks so much!

This is My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George.
B89 is My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George.
My Side of the Mountainby Jean Craighead George.  There is a second book titled On the Far Side of the Mountain in which Sam and his sister go on a journey to save the falcon, Frightful.
B89 is My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George, and a Newberry Award winner.  (She also wrote Julie of the Wolves.)
#B89:  Boy survivalist:  Almost certainly My Side of the Mountain, by Jean Craighead George.  The giveaways are the hollowed-out tree, and the story carrying through the entire winter.  If the tree was not a redwood, it was something very large in the evergreen family anyway.  This Newbery Honor book was filmed by the Disney wannabees Doty-Dayton Productions, and the sequel is On the Far Side of the Mountain.  Suggestions for other boy survivalist books:  "The Summer I Was Lost," by Phillip Viereck.  Its paperback title was "Terror on the Mountain," perhaps to capitalize on the popularity of "My Side of the Mountain."  Farley Mowat, author of "Never Cry Wolf," also wrote "Lost in the Barrens" (paperback title "Two Against the North") and its sequel "The Curse of the Viking Grave," which was filmed.  Also try "Home is the North" or just about anything else by Walt Morey, and a number of William O. Steele's books, most notably "Winter Danger."  They are all noble predecessors to the current works of Gary Paulsen.
All of the details here fit Jean Craighead George's My Side of the Mountain perfectly.  The boy also makes himself a suit out of dearskin,and at the end, the rest of his family joins him in the woods.
B89 - I think this person might be thinking of Jean Craighead George's My Side of the Mountain.  Certainly, if they are into survivalist stories, this would be one they would want to look at.
The book is My Side of the Mountain, written and illustrated by Jean George, copyright 1959.  My copy is a paperback from Scholastic Book Services, #TK 1294, printed 1969. The story is in the first person, by a boy, Sam Gribley, who runs away from his large family in New York City in order to live off the land on land once owned by his great-grandfather in the Catskills.  He hollows out a huge old tree to live in, lives off plants, bulbs, fish, crayfish, deer, etc., and trains a young peregrine falcon (named Frightful)  to catch food for him.  He spends
maybe a year on his own, seeing other people only very occasionally.  The book was made into a movie Canadian, I think), starring Ted Eccles and Theodore Bikel.  I just found a third book in the series by this author, written much later, about how the peregrine falcon is set free.
Jean Craighead George,My Side of the Mountain.  This book is still in print and has been reprinted many times. It also has a sequel, On the Far Side of the Mountain, and a third book, Frightful's Mountain, told from the falcon's point of view.
You are a genius and your website is a gift to those of us who have been touched by a book but don't have a very good memory.  Thank you so very, very much!!
[Don't think I can take credit for this one, rather embarrassing that I missed it, but look how much fun others had solving the mystery!]
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My dad had a favorite book in the 1950�s, about a little boy who ran away from home and lived in a tree.  He made use of all of the things in the forest to survive.  Any ideas?

Rutherford George Montgomery, Kildee House, 1949.  Possibly Kildee House, about a man (not a boy) who builds a cottage adjoining a redwood tree.
Doris Burn, Andrew Henry's Meadow, 1965.  The book Andrew Henry's Meadow might fit this description. The little boy is an 'inventor' who runs away and builds a tree house using things he finds, and eventually is joined by all the other children in town, who want him to build them houses of their own. It was written in the 60's, not 50's, but it just came to mind because it is now being adapted as a film.
George, Jean Craighead, My Side of the Mountain, 1959.  Sam runs away to the Catskill Mountains, where he lives on property that used to be the family farm, while living in a hollowed out tree and raising a falcon named Frightful.
Jean Craighead George, My Side of the Mountain.  I'm sure this is it.  It comes up so frequently on book search boards that it must be in the Solved Mysteries section too!
Jean Craighead George, My Side of the Mountain, 1959
Jean Craighead George, My Side of the Mountain, 1959.  Possibly this one?  Sam Gribley leaves home and heads for the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York.  He makes a home for himself in a hollow tree  traps or gathers his meals  and acquires and trains a hunting companion, Frightful the falcon.  Followed by two sequels, On the Far Side of the Mountain (1990) and Frightful's Mountain (1999).  Please see the Solved Mysteries "M" page for more information.
Jean Craighead George, My Side of the Mountain, 1959.  "Sam leaves home to fend for himself in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York. For a year he lives in a hollowed-out tree, befriending animals and depending on his wits for survival." There's also a movie version.
George, Jean Craighead, My Side of the Mountain, 1960.  Sounds like this classic.  Could he have read it in 1960?
Jean Craighead George, My Side of the Mountain.  I don't know if this title is early enough to be the one, but maybe.  The boy lives in a tree and survives off what is available in the woods.  Even if it's not the one you are looking for, it's a great book.
George, Jean Craighead, My side of the Mountain, 1959.  this has got to be it.
Jean Craighead George, My Side of the Mountain.  It could be My Side of the Mountain: A boy named Sam Gribley runs away to prove he can live in the mountains on his own. He makes a home in a hollow tree and survives on things he finds in the woods.



My Sister, Mike
I remember reading a book in 1978 about a girl who was a star basketball palyer who didn't care about her looks.  Surprisingly, she was asked on a date by a popular boy.  Her younger, beautiful sister gave her a make over and when the boy came to pick her he didn't recognized her because she was so beautiful.  It turned out that he only asked her out because of a bet, but of course he falls for her.  I'm pretty sure this was the same vintage as Anne Emery books.

Amelia Elizabeth Walden, A Girl Called Hank, 1951, I'm pretty sure this is A Girl Called Hank by Amelia Elizabeth Walden....very much in the vein of the Anne Emery, Betty Cavanna, Lavinia R. Davis light romances of the 1950s...this time about one girl in a family of boys who are all basketball players.
Walden, Amelia, My Sister Mike
My Sister, Mike is the right book.  Thank you so much!



My Sister's Keeper
I'm trying to remember the title of a book that was published some time around 1980, but is set in the 19th century in a small American town. The teen-age protagonist is visiting her married sister, and has a crush on her handsome brother in law.  Later, a fire sweeps through the town, and the girl comes realize that her brother in law is weak and selfish, and the immigrant farmer she had previously scorned is actually a much finer person.  I always though the author was Katherine Paterson, but the lists of her books don't seem to include anything like this. By the way, the jacket depicted the protagonist wearing a green dress.  Thanks for your help.

F18 is My Sister's Keeper by Beverly Butler published 1980.  Though the story itself is fiction, it is centered around the very real and tragic Peshtigo, Wisconsin fire of 1871.  (My copy of this book has a dust jacket picturing a girl in a green dress on the front cover.)
Thank you to whoever identified my stumper (F18) as My Sister's Keeper. That title sounds exactly right!  Now I have a chance of seeing if the book is still as good as I remember it to be.


My Special Day
My friend's been searching for a book from her childhood (late '60s/early '70s) about a little girl's "very special day" which was actually full of quite ordinary things. It was probably written late 50's or early 60's.  It's only as long as one the "Golden" books.  It's about a little girl and the fun stuff she does during the day, but the nicest event is the end of the day when she runs out to greet her father coming home from work...some of the things she does throughout the day is go out in the rain in her slicker and jump in the mud puddle, have a little tea party... girlie things like that.  She recalls that the cover was "bright and colorful... the little girl had dark brown/black hair... very 60s-ish looking.  The rain slicker was yellow."

Fiedler, Jean, My Special Day. Just a guess !
I think this is My Special Day, a Whitman Tell-A-Tale book from the late 60's, and the author's name was Fiedler.  I remember the girl jumping in puddles and having chocolate milk.
That's odd--it's not listed in Santi's Collecting Little Golden Books, but I did find this reference elsewhere: Fiedler, Jean, My Special Day.  Illustrated by June Goldsborough. Racine, Wisconsin: Whitman Publishing, 1967.  A Whitman Big Tell-A-Tale Book.



My Sweet Audrina
I have been searching for a mystery / crime thriller I read in my early teens and have no idea what the name of it is or who wrote it.  I remember the plot pretty well but don't know any of the character names.  I do know that it was not a children's book; it was definitely written for the young adult crowd as it was ultimately about a rape.  It was about a girl who lived with her mother and grandmother at the edge of a forest through which she was forbidden travel.  She had an older sister who died in the woods mysteriously - the mother wouldn't tell the girl how her sister died, only that something horrible happened to her.  There are other odd things about the girl's living situation too, like there are no clocks, calendars, or newspapers around.  She starts to unravel the family secrets with the help (I think) from a boy who lived in a cottage in the woods (there was an older woman that the boy lived with, possibly his grandmother? - but she was kind of creepy-scary).  When horrible truth comes out, the girl realizes that there is no "sister"; that she, herself, was raped by a bunch of boys from school in the forbidden forest and ended up losing her memory about it.  Her mother and grandmother decided to take advantage her trauma amnesia for her protection by pretending it happened to an "older sister" so the girl could start her life over.  The story was so well written that I am now trying to find it again - I would be grateful for any clues about the book's name.

I believe M516 refers to My Sweet Audrina by V. C. Andrews.  Copyright 1982.
V.C. Andrews, My Sweet Audrina, 1982.  Sweet Audrina is defintely the book you are looking for.
V. C. Andrews, My Sweet Audrina.  Sounds exactly like My Sweet Audrina by V. C. Andrews, of Flowers in the Attic fame.
Andrews, V.C., My Sweet Audrina, 1982.  This must be the book you are describing.  Wikipedia calls the genre "Gothic Horror", and it is an adult book (although I read it as an adolescent as well, when it made the rounds at sleep-away camp). Your description fits perfectly except for the most minor details.
V. C. Andrews, My Sweet Audrina.  Definitely this book. See http://www.completevca.com/lib_adare_audrina.shtml for more details.
V.C. Andrews, My Sweet Audrina.
V.C. Andrews, My Sweet Audrina, 1982, copyright.  Wow - I am astounded by the quick responses!  My stumper has been solved in a matter of one day!!!  Thank you all so much - I was off in some respects (the name I was thinking was actually close to the name of one of the chapters) and I can't tell you how not knowing was driving me nuts.  And to think that the book was written by one of my favorite authors in middle school.


My Tell-Time Book
THIS WAS A BOOK WHICH MUST AVE BEEN PUBLISHED IN THE LATE 60�S OR EARLY 70�S. THE BOOK HAD A CLOCK FACE AT THE UPPER LEFT HAND SIDE WHICH HAD MOVABLE HANDS. THE COVER MAY HAVE BEEN ROYAL BLUE. I THINK IT WAS ABOUT A BOY WHO GOES THROUGH HIS DAY DOING HIS DAILY ACTIVITES . AT EACH TIME THE TASK OCCURRED YOU WOULD SET THE TIME ON THE CLOCK WITH THE HANDS. I BELIEVE HE ENDS UP IN HIS BED AT THE END OF THE STORY AND GOES TO SLEEP. THIS WAS A FAVORITE OF MINE AND I WANT TO SHARE IT WITH MY 2 YEAR OLD SON. IT MAY HAVE BEEN PUCHASED FROM A BOOK CLUB OR BOOK FAIR BACK THEN.

T199 I haven't looked at this to see if they seem to match, but it sounds good: Bennett, Vivian.  My tell-time book.  illus by Bob Velde.   thick cardboard cover is a  clock with movable plastic hands,  Learn-to-do book
Watson, Jane Werner, How to Tell time, 1957.  This is a Little Golden Book illustrated by Eleanor Dart.  It does involve a little boy going through daily activities, and it does have moveable plastic clock hands (my memory is that they're on the inside front cover).
I THINK THE BOOK MAY BE MY TELL TIME BOOK. 1975, VIVIAN BENNETT. BUT I'M STILL NOT SURE. I TRIED TO GET A PICTURE OF THE COVER OR SOME PAGES INSIDE SO I COULD VERIFY THIS.   ALSO I DO NOT THINK IT IS A LITTLE GOLDEN BOOK BECAUSE IT DOES'NT HAVE MOVABLE HANDS.
Both of the books suggested here have moveable hands.  I believe the Little Golden Book features a cut-out cover with the hands on the first page, taking up the entire center space, so doesn't fit your description of a clock in the upper left hand corner.  I don't know about the Bennett, but I'll try to find out.
Watson, Jane Werner, How to Tell Time, 1957.  I have this book and it closely matches the poster's description. The cover is black with a cut-out for the clock face which is inside the cover with moveable hands.  Each page spread has a small clock in the upper left corner which has the time of the featured activity  i.e. 12:00 on the page with the boy eating lunch. It is a Little Golden Book.
I was the person who submitted stumper t-199. The book is not "how to tell time".I saw the book cover and it does not match what I remember. The cover was different and the clock was not in the middle. I think the book is " MY TELL TIME BOOK " Vivian Bennett 1975. I can't seem to find a picture of the cover of this book on the internet .



My True Love Waits
YA novel from 1960's (prob. old even then--library copy was rebound) 19th century America Young woman lives with aunt; aunt wants her to marry son of town's leading family; she falls in love with itinerant actor--he always calls her "ma pettite chou"; he goes West, promises he'll send for her; after he's left, she's invited to a fancy party (having to do with engagement/wedding of man whe was supposed to marry?) and has to dye and sew beads on an old dress--her arms are stained from dye; she follows her husband West; at some point, she has a baby; while she is on the trail, the group she is travelling with runs into a troupe of actors who need a baby for the play; she volunteers her daughter, who is to be rescued from Indians by the hero of the play, who is--you guessed it--her own father.

Lenora Mattingly Weber, My True Love Waits, 1953.  This is Mrs. Weber's most well-known non-series novel (she is best known for her Beany Malone and Belford family books). The heroine is Mary Conroy, who marries Armen Neff despite the disapproval of her family. The story of her journey out to Denver by wagon train to find her husband climaxes as described, when Armen and Mary are reunited as he discovers his never-before-seen infant daughter Annabelle during a stage performance. All of Mrs. Weber's series books have been reissued in beautiful trade paper editions by Image Cascade, and plans are in the works to reprint this title as well as others that are even longer out of print. Hooray!



My Very Own Special Particular Private and Personal Cat
The book I remember has a primarily yellow cover with simple geometric illustrations in black, red, yellow and white. It was about a boy and his cat. The phrase "My Very Own Personal Cat." was repeated over and over in the book.

I'm pretty sure there's a book called My Cat.  There's also Eve Sutton's My Cat Likes To Hide In Boxes (NY: Parents Magazine Press, 1974), which is less likely.
wow, look at this:  Warburg, Sandol Stoddard, Illustrated by Remy CharlipMy Very Own Special Particular Private and Personal Cat.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1963. The essence of "catdom" is offered with minimal text and wonderful bold color illustrations by Charlip.  A hard one to find, and often quite pricey.  For more on Charlip, visit the Most Requested pages.


Myeko's Gift
Middle grade novel, which I read in the early 70s, about a Japanese or Japanese-american girl who possibly lives in California. She wants to be more American, but her mother doesn't want her to lose her Japanese traditions. There was something about her wanting to wear pedal pushers.

Yoshiko Uchida?
Have you looked at any books by Yoshiko Uchida?  She started writing in the late '50s (when pedal pushers were popular) and continued for many years, and her plots often involved Japanese-American issues.
Cavanna, Betty, Jenny Kimura, 1964. Just a guess.  This is a book about a girl whose father is American and whose mother is Japanese.  There are several discussions about Jenny's long thick black hair which becomes a lifesaver for her.
Kay Haugaard, Myeko's gift.
Thank you so much! The book I was trying to remember is Myeko�s Gift by Kay Haugaard.
Mylor, the Most Powerful Horse in the World
I read this book in the 80's but have no idea when it was published.  It is a story about a group of children possibly siblings, that for some reason go to a big house and it is owned by some mad professor type who in order to win a title he has been after all his life he has to invent and build a horse that will will the grand national. The children help and the horse gets built, I think one of the girls sits inside the horse and drives it like a car with her view through the horses eyes.  They enter the Grand National and half way round the jockey falls off but they still go on to win it with a loose horse, which means the professor has won. I think there may be several mechanical horses in the race as all the mad professors want to win this title. Really hope someone can help as I have looked everywhere for this one to remember what it is called.

Michael Maguire, Mylor, The Most Powerful Horse in the World. (1977)  Looks like the server ate my solution, so here goes again:
This has to be the one you're looking for.  The book concerns a group of inventors racing to create a robot horse that can win the Grand National without being detected as a robot. At least one edition of the book features a cover illustration of a brown horse w/ white socks & white blaze on face, and three children, superimposed over a circuit/transistor board.  The children are a blonde teen in a plaid jacket w/ white wooly collar, blonde girl in lavender sweater, and brown-haired boy w/ glasses in a brown/blue striped shirt.  There is also another book, probably a sequel, called Mylor: The Kidnap.  These books are pretty scarce, but can be found online through several U.K. booksellers, as they were published in London.
I can't believe it -  my stumper solved and so quickly!!  I was so excited managed to find a copy on internet and it has now arrived,  exactly the book I remember illustrations and all.  Thank you so much will be able to read it to me niece now and get her hooked on reading just like I did.



Mysteries of Harris Burdick
I remember a book from my elementary school days (~10-15 years ago) that was just wonderful. I've tried googling to find its title with all different terms, but am not having success. I'd like to find the title so that I can order a copy for a friend's daughter.  What I remember: It was a large and beautifully illustrated book. Each page was the "first page" of a story, containing an illustration and one or two sentences. Our teachers would pick one of the pages and we'd then be assigned to finish the story. The story (as I remember it being told to me by my teachers, and which may or may not have been true) is that the person who wrote these stories traveled with the first pages of various stories he'd written to try and get them published. He left the first pages with the publisher, and promised to bring back the rest. He was never heard from again.

Chris Van Allsburg, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick
Chris Van Allsburg, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick.  Beautifully illustrated picture book with mysterious pictures and a few sentences about each-  the reader must come up with his own stories for the pictures by using his imagination.
Van Allsburg, Chris, Mysteries of Harris Burdick, 1984.  Still in print (even reissued in portfolio format) and still tricking the occasional reader into thinking there was a real Harris Burdick, the book begins with an introduction claiming that a visitor left a collection of pictures with nothing but the captions on them.  The drawings that follow are unsettling and memorable -- a nun sitting in a flying chair, an overlarge ocean liner in a small canal, etc.
This is definitely MYSTERIES OF HARRIS BURDICK by Chris Van Allsburg, 1984~from a librarian
Chris Van Allsburg, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick.  No question. And I use it in my classroom in the same way!
Van Allsburg, Chris, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, 1984.  This sounds like The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Van Allsburg (the same guy who wrote and illustrated The Polar Express).  Not sure if it's still in print.
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Black and white picture book, each two page layout is its own short story, or at least the start of a short story. I believe there was an explanation in the beginning of the book that an author had dropped off a number of story ideas with illustrations at an editors office. After the editor reviewed them he was unable to find the author. The author was never found, the stories never finished but they published the one liners with the illustrations in this picture book.

Chris Van Allsburg, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick. A haunting book by a wonderful illustrator.
Chris Van Allsburg, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, 1984
Chris Van Allsburg, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, 1984. I think that this is the book you remember.  It has fantastic black and white drawings and a single, catchy, first line of each story.  It is used in many schools to spark creative writing assignments.  ISBN 0395353939
Van Allsburg, Chris, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, 1984. Black & white pictures with captions - you have to write the story.
etc.
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A picture book of detailed black and white line drawings, each accompanied by a cryptic sentence or two that provide a fragment of a story. The idea is to use your imagination to fill in what the rest of the story might be, using the clues provided in the illustrations. There was no continuous plot or character, each illustration stood alone. Not really a mystery or puzzle to be solved, as there wouldn't be any one "correct" answer, but with a mysterious tone, and fairly sophisticated (not aimed at very young children, and I enjoyed it as an adult, my kids as middle schoolers - but it was in the children's picture book section at the library). I'm pretty sure the author/illustrator was a man, and that he was a well known author or artist.. I saw it in 1999, and I don�t think it was either brand new or very old at that time. I�d guess it was published after 1970.

Chris Van Allsburg, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick.
  Each full page eerie black and white illustration is paired with a title and a one sentence teaser of an imagined story.
Sounds like Chris Van Allsburg's "The Mysteries of Harris Burdick."
Chris Van Allsburg, Mysteries of Harris Burdick.  A description of the book includes the following:  The enigmatic black-and-white drawings are each accompanied by a title and brief caption: for example, a picture of a nun placidly sitting in a chair floating in a cathedral is labeled "THE SEVEN CHAIRS: The fifth one ended up in France."  I think this is the right book.
Chris Van Allsburg, Mysteries of Harris Burdick, 1984.  It must be this one...everything fits!
Van Allsburg, Chris, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, 1984, copyright.  I think it must be this one. It's presented as illustrations that were left with a publisher, but with no stories attached. Each illustration has the title of the story, but the rest is left up to the reader's imagination.
Van Allsburg, Chris, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, 1984, copyright.  I'm sure this is the book.  A great book to inspire creative story writing.
P424 This is THE MYSTERIES OF HARRIS BURDICK by Chris Van Allsburg. I love the mysterious illustrations and story teasers~from a librarian
Van Allsburg, Chris, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, 1984.  Yep, that's the one, and "eerie" is the perfect word to describe it! Same author as the well-known "Polar Express" and "Jumanji", as well as a couple dozen others. I highly recommend it, not just for kids but for anyone who enjoys stretching their imagination. Thanks "Stumper Solvers", you rule!


Mysterious Disappearence of Leon (I Mean Noel)
I remember only a few scenes from this book, but I would love to read it again. One involves a pair of neighboring families, one with a a son (perhaps named Smith) and the other with a daughter (perhaps Jones). The families create a recipe for a wonderful soup, and wish to market it, but cannot agree on weather to call it 'Smith and Jones' or 'Jones and Smith' soup. Their solution is to marry the son and the daughter, and call the product 'Mrs. Smith's Soup'!  The other detail involves a boy and girl new in school (siblings, I think). They claimed to be Siamese twins recently separated. When asked where they were joined, the girl points and says, 'Here, at the right hip'. The other students pointed out that this would necessitate that they always faced different directions and asked how it was possible for them to walk. The girl responded that they walked in circles.  I also remember a carillon being featured quite prominently towards the end of the book.  I realize that my fever-obscured childhood memories aren't much to go on, but i would appreciate any help; I've been asking people about this book for years, but no one has heard of it.

Ellen Raskin, The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon (I Mean, Noel), 197?.  I loved this book (and all her other books) when I was a kid. Leon and, I think the girl's name was Caroline, were members of two extremely poor families who got together to make soup one night, and it was so good they started a soup company, but because they couldn't decide whose name should appear first on the can, the married Leon to (?)Caroline, and named it Mrs. Carillon's soup.  They end up sending Leon off to boarding school, but no school will take a married girl, so Caroline is home schooled. She and Leon don't see each other for a very long time. Leon writes her letters once a year. One of the letters reads "I've grown a moustache, it's red, red, red." There is a horrible, tragic accident at the soup factory, and all the members of both families are killed, except for Leon and Caroline. The manager of the company later makes up a new jingle for the soup to the tune of "On Wisconsin" that proclaims that Mrs. Carillon's soup is "strictly veg-e-tar-i-an". The book later follows Mrs. Carillon's adventures as she tries to track down Noel with the help of a set of boy-girl twins, and her old childhood friend (Whose name I can't recall) who writes crossword puzzles. I remember the illustrations were word pictures. Unfortunately, I don't have a copy of this book anymore, and I would be shocked to find out it was still in print.
Ellen Raskin, The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon (I Mean Noel)I'm certain this is the right book. It matches in every detail and it's one of the funniest books ever written. The soup is Mrs. Carillon's Pomato Soup, and the unfortunate little girl who has to get married, thus uniting the family so the soup is named for both sides, becomes Caroline Carillon. Her husband (Leon) disappears and she spends years searching for him, guided on by the "glub blubs"--clues spoken by a mysterious messenger while drowning.
Ellen Raskin, The Mysterious Disappearence of Leon (I Mean Noel), 1975. The soup is actually called "Mrs. Carillon's Pomato Soup" (it's made from potatos and tomatos).  When the young Mrs. Carrillon grows up, she tries to find her husband Leon who has left home, and changed his name to Noel. She enlists the help of the twins Tony and Tina, who she adopts.  Tina makes up the story about them being Siamese twins joined at the right hip.
Ellen Raskin, The Mysterious Disapparance of Leon (I mean Noel).  Solved! This is definitely it!!
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I am looking for a book that I read as a child in the 1970's.  I believe that there was a series of books.  All I remember is that there was something about a carillon (bells used to play music); it was a chapter book; there were line drawings of the characters, with curly cue noses.  I also remember vaguely something about purple: in one of the titles? or perhaps just the color of the cover. Thanks so much for helping to solve this mystery!

Ellen Raskin, The Mysterious Disapparance of Leon (I mean Noel).  See under solved stumpers
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I read this children's book at the Montebello Public Library in Montebello, CA 90640 during the early 1970's.  I remember it having a purple checked bookcover (very loud design).  Hardback.  The plot was about an extended family of very eccentric people. I think there were twin children, maybe a kidnapping or a missing person.  I remember thinking that it seemed to bizarre to be a children's book.

Ellen Raskin, The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon (I Mean Noel).  Could be this book, there are twins in it and a disappearance.  (Same as C156, above?)
Ellen Raskin, The Mysterious Disapparance of Leon (I mean Noel). This is the same as C156: Carillon chapter book with line drawings.  The twins were Tony and Tina, and sometimes they were referred to jointly as "Tiny."  The missing person was their adoptive mother's husband.
Ellen Raskin, The mysterious disappearance of Leon... Just a guess.Might be worth a look at the solved mysteries page?
Perhaps The Diamond in the Window, by Jane Langton?



Mysterious Schoolmaster
I read this book in the 70s. I believe it was set in Sweden, and the main character was a boy. He discovered some criminals in his school (perhaps disguised as teachers?) and tapped out a beat on a pipe ("Snare Drums and Trumpets" ) that his girl friend heard to rescue him from being trapped/held hostage in the school basement.  Anyone?

Karin Anckarsvard, transl. Annabelle MacMillan, The Mysterious Schoolmaster, 1959, copyright.  One of my favorite books ever!  Michael and Cecilia are schoolmates in the little town of Nordvik. A new physics teacher and a plumber who works at the school are both in the pay of foreign spies, and try to escape with a lot of information about the nearby military installation.  Michael discovers their plot, but is nearly killed, and it's up to Cecilia to put all the pieces together and get him rescued.  They had agreed on using the "Snare Drums and Trumpets" rhythm for a signal during a party at their dance club.
Karin Anckarsvard, The Mysterious Schoolmaster, 1975, reprint.  Michael and Cecilia, two Swedish school chums, help expose a new teacher, Mr. Engman, as a spy after military secrets.  Michael is caught following Engman and his associate, and is trussed up and left in a school basement, while the two spies attempt to escape.  During classes the next day, Michael manages to attract Cecilia's attention by tapping "Snare Drums and Trumpets" (their prearranged signal for danger) on radiator pipes.  Needless to say, Michael and Cecilia save the day!  The author, who based the main characters on her own children (also a Michael and Cecilia) also wrote two sequels: "The Robber Ghost" and "Madcap Mystery."
Karin Anckarsvard, The Mysterious Schoolmaster.  I think this is the right book.  The main characters are Michael and Cecilia.  It's set in Sweden, and the mysterious schoolmaster in question is passing on military secrets, if I recall correctly.
Anckarsv�rd, Karin, The Robber Ghost, 1961, copyright.  I think this is the one you're looking for. If it's not this one, it's another in the series about the same kids--it may be The Mysterious Schoolmaster.
Karin Anckarsvaard, The Mysterious Schoolmaster.  Sounds like the first of Anckarsvaard's Michael and Cecelia mysteries.  Michael definitely beats out a tune on pipes when he's captured and tied up in the school basement.  Cecelia recognizes it and he's rescued and the teacher who is actually a spy is captured.


Mysterious Shrinking House
I can't believe it!!  I just decided to go back (AGAIN) through all your Stumpers and Solved Mysteries looking for "shrinking".  Which I did that last time, but for some reason, it didn't work.  And there it was!!!!!  Hidden in #A69, Diamond in the Window, someone had suggested The Mysterious Shrinking House by Jane Louise Curry.  So, now I am on a hunt for the actual book.  I just want to tell you again what a great website you have.  It is so fun to look back through all these books I remember, or had forgotten.

Well, it starts in an attic, and Curry is something like L'Engle in style. But I don't know how many children are involved:Curry, Jane Louise The Mysterious Shrinking House (original title Mindy's Mysterious Miniature) Scholastic 1970, "Mindy found the miniature house hidden in the attic of the old barn. It was so perfect it looked like a real house--that had somehow shrunk. But she never guessed its terrible secret or that she herself would be trapped inside."
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I read this only once in the 1970s because I found it depressing or unsettling somehow. A late elementary or early teen book about a girl named Melinda or Belinda or or Mindy who had a dollhouse into which she would shrink. Possibly she could go through the dollhouse into the rest of a dollhouse sort of world.

D155 Curry, Jane Louise.  The mysterious shrinking house [original title: Mindy's mysterious miniature]  illus by Charles Robinson.  Scholastic, 1970.  dolls; dollhouses, doll houses, miniature of the main house - juvenile mystery
Thank you, Ms. Logan. You and your readers are excellent book detectives. Those three titles are the books I remember.



Mysteriouser and Mysteriouser
Looking for this YA or maybe adult mystery I read in 1970s or 1980s, it was a library book with the Alice in Wonderland & mushroom statue on the cover.  The main character was a rather hard-boiled detective or maybe newsman and he might have had a friend who was on the police force.  The author of this book wrote several others about this same main character.  I think they were all murder mysteries.  I thought the title was Curiouser and Curiouser but I can't find a mystery with that title.

Fredric Brown, Night of the Jabberwock, 1950.  This is the one you're thinking of. There are several in the series. The character's name is Doc Stoeger. He's a newspaper editor.
Your suggestion (Night of the Jabberwock) isn't the one I'm looking for, but it does look like one that I should read!
George Bagby, Mysteriouser and MysteriouserFound it!  This is it.



Mystery and More Mystery
This book was one of a series sold through book clubs (Scholastic?) in the early seventies. It was a collection of short stories all featuring an ironic twist -- I thought it was called "Tales of Irony" but can't find any children's book by that title. One story I recall was about a thief who, chased by police after a robbery, buried his loot under a tree in a stranger's front yard. Returning years later for the money, he found a tree too big to uproot. Over the next few years he became entrenched with the family in an attempt to get at the goods, finally marrying the woman who lived there, but his happiness with the family always prevented him from digging for the money. What he found under the roots when the tree finally toppled in a storm was one of the examples of irony. There was another book in the series I'd also like to find, of "suspense" or "spooky" stories, including one of a blind man recruited to listen for the footsteps of an invisible demon that persistently chased a cursed man. Does this series sound at all familiar?

I78: Sounds like a story from Robert Arthur's short-story collection Mystery and More Mystery, but my memory's fading, so I can't be sure. Ironically, I wouldn't have known that, but another stumper at this site a couple of years ago reminded me of his semi-famous story The Midnight Visitor, which inspired me to find out the name of the book that came from - and then to read the whole book! Lucky thing. He was the original writer of The Three Investigators series.
Robert K. Arthur.  The short story you describe is Mr. Manning's Money Tree by Robert Arthur. Was the collection you're looking for a paperback with a silver cover? If so, then it was a collection of Arthur's (mostly scary) stories published ca. 1974.
Robert Arthur, Mystery and More Mystery.  The money tree story is by Robert Arthur, and can be found in his collection titled Mystery and More Mystery. Many of the stories had an ironic twist to them (such as the one about the Man on the Balcony). He also wrote Ghosts and More Ghosts, which may be the spooky book you are thinking of.
I78 The description of the blind man hearing the footsteps of something supernatural following a man sounds like the short story "Footsteps Invisible" by Robert Arthur from the book GHOSTS & MORE GHOSTS. Robert Arthur also came out with other books that were similar, SPIES & MORE SPIES; THRILLERS & MORE THRILLERS; MYSTERY & MORE MYSTERY. And MYSTERY & MORE MYSTERYcontains the story "Mr. Manning's Money Tree" which  sounds like it be worth checking.~from a librarian
I78 Arthur, Robert, editor   Mystery and more mystery    illus by Saul Lambert    Random c1966      10 short mystery stories; appendix telling how author wrote them    THIS DOES HAVE THE MONEY TREE STORY
I wanted to confirm that one of the stumpers had been solved. I posted it and am happy to say that everyone's identifications were correct, it was "Mystery and More Mystery" after all.


Mystery at the Doll Hospital
I read in the mid-1970s about an old woman who owned a doll repair shop.  Had descriptions of the dolls heads with glass eyeballs sitting on shelves.  She had a Halloween party that a little girl went to and I think I remember descriptions of old-fashioned Halloween games.

Elizabeth Honness, Mystery at the Doll Hospital, 1955, copyright. The book youre looking for is Mystery at the Doll Hospital by Elizabeth Honness. Judith and Jonathan, twins, are staying with their Grandmother, who runs the doll hospital in an old East Coast town, when a mysterious intruder breaks in and ransacks the hospital! With help from the police, they trap the villan...during the old fashioned Halloween party you remember.
Elizabeth Honness, Mystery at the Doll Hospital, 1955, copyright. This is definitely Mystery at the Doll Hospital, by the excellent Elizabeth Honness. The children are staying temporarily with their grandmother (who runs the doll hospital) while their parents are away. The hospital is broken into, the intruder is caught during the Halloween party. The "spare parts" room with doll heads, limbs and eyeballs is just as you describe!
Honness, Elizabeth, Mystery at the Doll Hospital. You are amazing!!!  I had given up hope of ever finding this title!



Mystery at Crane's Landing
Mid-1960's, juvenile.  In this YA mystery the heroine's name is Paula. I distinctly recall the cover - she is kneeling at the side of her car (flat tire) and there is a handsome young man in a Confederate uniform astride a horse, part of a Civil War reenactment.  I believe that's the opening scene in the book.  She has come south to visit her college roommate in some creepy old mansion, however, the roommate is either missing or too ill to see Paula.  An aunt and uncle are living in the mansion, but they're imposters.  Perhaps they're after the roommates inheritancce?  Family jewels?  Thank you.

Marcella Thum, Mystery at Crane's Landing,
1964, copyright.  Definitely Mystery at Crane's Landing by Marcella Thum. The book was an Edgar Award Winner, and won the Dodd, Mead Prize for Girls Fiction.
Mystery at Crane's Landing.   Wow!   Paydirt!  This is the second one you folks have solved for me.  This is like finding a long lost friend.  It's been forty years since I'd read this book - I was beginning to think I had imagined it.  I've been in every used book store on the East coast, just hoping I'd stumble upon it.  I am so excited and grateful.  Thank you for restoring a lost part of my youth - a tiny memory, to be sure, but a happy one that I can't wait to revisit.


Mystery at Echo Ridge
mystery about blue fire in tower; author has three names. This is part of a series of mysteries; read in the late 60s-early 70s. The series was written for the Children's/YA crowd and the books were about the same size (and style of mystery writing) as Nancy Drew.  The author's name was something like Mary Jane ??? -- I vaguely remember Jane as being one of the three names, but it could have been Jones.  There were almost no recurring characters in the series, they were only linked by sharing an author.  I think there were only five or six books, definitely no more than 10.

Laurie Lykken, Little Room, 1991. I know the date is wrong, but it sounded to much like this book to not say it.
Mary C. Jane, Mystery on Echo Ridge, 1959. Mary C. Jane wrote mysteries from 1955 to 1970, about one a year, for the aged-10 and up reader.  I've read many of them but not this one.  I wonder if this title could be the one in question because its cover depicts an old house with a tower that has a window filled with blue light.
Mary C. Jane, Mystery at Echo Ridge. This was the book I was looking for - thanks to this information.  You've solved a decades old mystery (no pun intended).



Mystery at Laughing Water
Mystery set at a teen girls' summer camp in New England, upstate NY, or Canada.  One of the girls is looking for information about an ancestor's relative (like great-grandfather's brother) who used to live in the area as a child.  Her family has letters or a diary from this relative in which we find that the child was badly cut on his foot with an axe.  Since that time, this branch of the family has been lost. I keep thinking the child's father was a French Canadian fur trapper.  There is a budding romance between this girl's older brother and another girl at the camp, who turns out to be a descendant of the missing relative.  Her last name is either French or Latin for "beaver," which is what the ancestor trapped.  Book would've been published between 1950 and 1970.

Dorothy Maywood Bird,Mystery at Laughing Water, 1946.  If this is the one about Phyllis Rockfort and her friend whose nickname is "Beaver" (because her surname is the French for same), who meet at camp and eventually discover they're distantly related, by unraveling a family mystery involving the small pioneer child w/axe scar who was found wandering after a forest fire which had killed his parents (early-day garnet miners), check a couple of the Google references you get by entering the author's name.  I loved this book -- sorry to say it appears to be rare now, but good luck!
Not a solution but some assistance--the French and Latin words for beaver are the same, and the word is "castor".
I'm the original poster and I think the people who responded hit the nail on the head!  I didn't realize I was so far off on the the publishing date. And you're also right that the book is quite rare.  It's currently going for about $300, but at least now I know the title.
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Read about 45 years ago and don't know how old the book was then. Young adult mystery. A group of mid teens are at a camp or summer home. In the UP?. One is an orphan. She has a scar on her foot which eventually solves the mystery. Also a locket involved and one grandfather was a French Can trapper.

Dorothy Maywood Bird, Mystery at Laughing Water,
1946. I think this may be the book you're remembering.  It's described in the Solved Mysteries section of this site.  A couple of the details in your post are different, but this story is so complex, that wouldn't be surprising. (For example, it's not the modern girl who has the foot scar, it's her ancestor, the little boy who'd been injured by an axe.) Great book! 
SOLVED: Dorothy Maywood Bird, Mystery at Laughing Water. I just wanted to let you know that I got a response right away on my inquiry. Turns out the book is The Mystery at Laughing Water. I had mis-remembered some of the details, (OK, it's been 45 years after all *G*), but had enough of them so that someone recognized it. It was one of my favorites as a young girl. Thanks so much for your help!!!!



Mystery at Moccasin Bends
The book had a character in it named Viney and the whole name was something like Viney Garden Flowers or Viney Flowers Gardens. Viney was poor and used to watch these kids from afar having picnics and whatnot. Somehow they found out Viney had been watching them, and they let Viney join them. So Viney started bringing buttermilk to the picnics for all of them to drink because that was the only thing he had. These are the only details she remembers. But she said the descriptions of the picnics always made her hungry. I don't know how old the book is or even if it's still in print. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks :)

Christine Noble Govan and Emmy West, Mystery at Moccasin Bend,1957. I have the book called Mystery of the Vanishing Stamp and a poor boy named Viney Garden is in it who supplies buttermilk to his picnicking group of friends who call themselves the Lookouts.  I don't have even half of the books (because they are expensive) so I'm just guessing that the actual book you want is the Mystery at Moccasin Bend.
Christine Noble Govan and Emmy West, Mystery at Moccasin Bend, 1957. Thank you SO much. I've found the book and ordered it for my mom now. We aren't sure if it's this one or the other that you spoke of, but it's definitely in this series. Once again, thank you :)
Christine Govan and Emmy West, Mystery at the Deserted Mill, 1958.I'm the person who had half the books in the series and could only guess which title was the one where the Lookouts met Viney Flowers Garden.  I have collected all of them now and I know for sure that the book this person is looking for is Mystery at the Deserted Mill.  The five lookouts meet Viney for the first time in this book as he hid in the woods watching them play together.  This is the 6th book in this 16-book series about a group of kids who solves mysteries while living near Lookout Mountain in Tennessee.



Mystery at Old Sturbridge Village
I'm looking for a book I read in the early 70s from my elementary school library which was about a mystery that takes place at Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge Massachusetts. I think the title was something like-The Secret of the Old Covered Bridge or The Mystery of the Old Covered Bridge. The girl solves the mystery by finding something stashed behind one of the crossed boards inside the bridge.

Julia C. Mahon, Mystery at Old Sturbridge Village, 1966, copyright.  Albert Whitman & Company, 1966, ISBN: 0807553603; Illustrated by Sidney Rafilson.
Lillian Carroll, Secret of the Covered Bridge, 1967, copyright.  Secret of the Covered Bridge by Lillian Carroll, published by Meredith Press in 1967.
Peter John Stephens, The Perrely Plight - A Mystery at Sturbridge, 1965, copyright.  "Set in 1836 Sturbridge, Massachusetts. Twelve-year-old Gib Martindale sets off to take lunch to the Haymakers down by the Hollow, a mysterious and forbidden place. But why is it forbidden, who burned the barn, and where is the missing money? This leads to a fun mystery just begging to be solved that involves the whole town and a strange secret." A long shot, but it is a mystery set in Sturbridge, MA, so might be worth looking into. Illustrated by R.D. Rice.
Julia C. Mahon, Mystery at Old Sturbridge Village, 1970, copyright.  Definitely Mystery at Old Sturbridge Village by Julia Mahon....I've got a copy, and I've read it recently...the poster's plot points match perfectly.
Thank you for verifying that my recollection matches that book, Mystery at Old Sturbridge Village!


Mystery at Shadow Pond
I am looking for a book i read in the 1970s.  It centered around a family who was going to lose their summer camp (?) i think.  Anyway several kids undertook to locate these missing documents.  There is a hermit (?) living on the other side of the lake.  It turns out that he had the documents all along.  When questioned he says he hid them in the lake.  One of the boys asks, "you mean you threw them into the lake?!"  And the old guy says that he wrapped the letters in oilcloth, good and tight.  There is a flood and the kids end up racing around the lake.  it was very thrilling.  they end up finding the package of lost documents (of course) and saving the camp.  Thanx!!

Jane, Mary C., Mystery at Shadow Pond, 1958.  I am most certain this is the book you are thinking of, I read it just last year. When Neale and Margie Lawson heard that their father would have to sell his shore land and their beloved horse, Firefly, they were miserable. They could find no way to help him until a strange red car, a lost cat, and the odd behavior of an eccentric old man drew them into a mystery involving the lost letters of a famous New England artist. The Lawsons and their friend Rupert Reed, son of the Ranger at the camp across the lake, were plunged into a bewildering tangle of strange doings. Neale thought that his robot-burglar alarm might help to solve the mystery, and Margie was sure that her grandfather's books held the key to the problem. Both children were right, but it took two discoveries-one in a cave on the mountain and one in the middle of Shadow Pond-to set things straight
Mystery at Shadow Pond, Mary C. Jane, 1958.  This was a Scholastic paperback with a very memorable cover.  It is most definitely the book being sought.
Mystery at Shadow Pond.  Oh my gosh!!!!  You guys are sooo right!  after reading the first answer i knew it had to be right!  i am soo excited i'm shaking!  I remember now that the boy's name was Neale and that there was a robot burglar alarm.  i seem to remember now that the robot was on the cover wasnt he?  Anyway I cant tell you how happy i am!  It seems that now that i am 40 i keep looking back at my childhood for so many happy memories.  Anyway, Harriet, a thousand thanx!!  your site is now 2 for 2 in rekindling my failing memory.  Thanx also to both sleuths who wrote in.  This stumper has been bugging me for months! xoxox
Mary C. Jane, Mystery at Shadow Pond, 1958.  My sister and I have this book, and I just re-read it this year, so I know this is the correct book.  The hermit's  name is Mr. Wiley, and he was a good friend of the grandfather of the children in the book.  He wasn't a bad man he took the documents and hid them so they would be safe from distant relatives of Jerome Elwell, a deceased artist.  Jerome Elwell had written these letters to the grandfather of the children in this book, which is what the documents in the oilcloth were.


Mystery at the Villa Bianca
I am looking for a young adult novel published prior to 1985 about a young teacher in a girl�s boarding school somewhere in Europe.  She suspects one of the other teachers of being a Nazi or a spy.  The girls go on a trip to another European country (Switzerland or France, maybe Germany?).  The young teacher is able to help the authorities apprehend the spy.  I think there was a lake involved, perhaps in the title?  The author�s name starts with an A, B, or C, but most likely an A.  It was on the very first shelf of juvenile fiction in my hometown library, so it can�t have been very far into the alphabet.  The library has since discarded the book due to space constraints and no one there remembers the book.

N59 Some of the details match up with SPYING ON MISS MULLER by Eve Bunting, but it was published in 1995. It takes place in a Belfast boarding school, and the teacher is half Irish, half German, and beautiful and admired. When war breaks out, Jessie suspects her teacher may be a Nazi spy.~from a librarian
Eve Bunting, I'm Spying on Miss Muller.  The summary i found is a little different than the request but seems close:  YB Spying on Miss Muller, by Eve Bunting At a Belfast boarding school during World War II, thirteen-year-old Jessie and her friends suspect their favorite teacher, Miss Muller, of being a Nazi sympathizer or even a Nazi spy! When Jessie agrees to spy on Miss Muller, her discovery changes the teacher's life forever.  And the author's name begins with a B, so....
It's not the Eve Bunting book.  Someone said the Bunting book was publised in 1995.  I read the book I'm looking for during junior high or high school, and I graduated from HS in 1985.  I think this book was part of the spate of Cold War literature and movies that the US produced during the 1960s and 1970s.   The younger teacher is the main character, and the students are secondary characters.  I don't remember how the older teacher is apprehended, except that I think it was on the trip to the other country they visited.
Hagon/Allen, Mystery at the Villa Bianca, 1967/1969.  I am the original poster.  I went home for Memorial Day and on a hunch, went by the local library where I first read this book.  I had to go through the juvie section A-D twice before I found the book. They had not thrown it out, after all.  It's Mystery at the Villa Bianca, by Esther Allen under the pseudonym Patricia Allen.  I tried to purchase it from the library, and was practically accused of trying to steal the book.  I was finally able to get it back long enough to photocopy the pertinent information so that I can purchase it used, since it's no longer in print.


Mystery at Thunderbolt House
I read a novel centered about a boy who inherited his uncle's library just before the San Francisco earthquake. The book he saved out of the library was about the Donner tragedy and was the last copy since the rest had been destroyed by a man who was defamed by the book. Although it doesn't particularly sound like a children's book, I read it when I was in the fourth grade in Ventura, California, in the early fifties.

Hi. The answer to S-21 is Mystery At Thunderbolt House by Howard Pease. It is indeed a children's book and a great one at that.
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late 1960's early 1970's  fictional story (chapter book) of a young boy's experience during the "big earthquake".  I think his name or one of the character's names was Jud or Judson.  He may have lived on Nob Hill.

Pease, Howard, Mystery of Thunderbolt House."Thunderbolt House takes place in 1906 San Francisco where the young hero of the book, Judson Allen, uncovers a dark family secret involving his wealthy great uncle known as Thunderbolt Judson. When old Thunderbolt died, everybody called Judson's family the lucky Allens. They inherited his fortune and his San Francisco mansion at Bush and Leavenworth on Nob Hill. (Of course, I went there just in case the dark foreboding mansion really existed even after the 1906 earthquake and fire, but, alas, all I found were post-earthquake apartment buildings.) Unpleasant events began from the very first day the Allen family arrived from Stockton on a ferry boat across the bay. The book presents a picturesque description of San Francisco of the 1900s, including a cable car ride from the Ferry Building through the fog on the hills of The City.   Judson discovers a secret about the mansion's great library and a blood stain on the ballroom floor and is just about to solve the family mystery when the 1906 earthquake shatters San Francisco and the Allen family. The account of the historic fire and earthquake is vivid. The book gives a colorful recount of the Barbary Coast, the City of Paris and other long-lost San Francisco treasures. "
Could this be Mystery of Thunderbolt House by Howard Pease?
Howard Pease , Thunderbolt House,1944.  My copy (published by Doubleday & Company, Inc. in 1944) is called Thunderbolt House, not Mystery of Thunderbolt House.  Perhaps the name was changed for a later edition?  The story takes place in a mansion in the Nob Hill district of San Francisco around the time of the 1906 earthquake and subsequent fire.  The young protagonist is named Jud Allen, and his late great-uncle was Edward Judson.  I'm assuming that "late 1960's early 1970's" is when the stumper requester read the book, not when it was published, and certainly not when the story takes place---there have been many earthquakes in and around San Francisco, but 1906 was the "big" one.
I did suggest this one to the customer, but we weren't sure.  Since others out there think it's a match, I'm marking it Solved.
Interpreting
Condition 
Grades
Pease, Howard.  Mystery at Thunderbolt House.  Scholastic, 1944, 1973, 8th mass paperback printing.  VG-.  $15



Mystery House
I hope someone can help.  I have searched for this book for some time now.  I read it in the early 80's when I was in the sixth grade.  It was the story of a girl who was separated from her family. While I do not recall the reason (orphaned, recession, etc) it is not really important to the story. No, the focus of the story was the new friends she made that lived next door, and the marbles they found.  She became friends with the children who lived next door, and they played together as often as possible. They also communicated with one another by means of handkerchiefs of varying colors hanging on the window sills outside their rooms. At night, they used flashlights, instead. A nearby mansion was being renovated and the kids, being curious, decided to explore. During this exploration they found a door that was being hidden by wallpaper and behind that door was an entire unused wing of the mansion. They roamed through this wing and found a bag of marbles in one of the rooms.  There was one marble for each of the kids. This excited them and they each took a marble and decided as a group to make a wish on their marble for something they always wanted. As the story went on, each of these wishes came true, and as they did, the marbles would disappear. For example, one of the boys wished for a canoe, and he got one. As he climbed into it for the first time, his marble slipped from his hand and rolled under the floor of the canoe. Another little boy wished for a rabbit, and when he got it, the rabbit ate his marble (there was a decent section on this, as the kids worried that the rabbit would choke.)  Any help would be most appreciated.  Thank you in advance.

Hobson, Polly, Surprise House. (Lippincott, 1964)  The Mystery House, by Polly Hobson, illustrated by Judith Ann Lawrence, published Lippincott 1964, 159 pages. "Marilyn at eleven dreads her boarding-school vacations, for her father, whom she scarcely remembers, works in far-off Africa, and her mother, a smart London dress designer, is always in a whirl of activity. When Marilyn's mother takes her to their country cottage on Christmas holiday, her loneliness is forgotten as she discovers a new family with four children occupying the long-deserted house next door. Five beautifully coloured marbles found hidden away in a secret attic room lead the children on to a series of adventures, until each one finds quite mysteriously his unspoken wishes coming true." Horn Book Apr/65 p.171
Polly Hobson, The Mystery House. (1963)  This is it!  With help from a local librarian, I was able to find a copy and this is exactly the book I was hunting for.  I am extremely grateful for the help.  Now to find myself a copy.  Thank you again!



Mystery in Longfellow Square
Young adult book about groups of kids trying to find a treasure in their hometown, following clues around the city.  I vaguely recall the hardcover illustration, which was a vaguely psychedelic or flowery drawing style, possibly including a bicycle or vehicle with white background.  I read it in 1988, but was probably written between late 1960s to late 1970s.  Also, may have had a long title.  Possibly in the 100-200 page range.  The only clue I (maybe) remember involved a statue in the town square and (maybe) some sort of latitude/longitude coordinates.  My memory could be making any of this up, so don't be too quick to rule things out.  I'll happily do the legwork for investigating anything you come up with.  Thank you much.

Sorry, don't know the title. I'm fairly certain this is the same book I'm trying to identify, and I can add two specifics - the trick with the statue is that it physically points in one direction but the clues on the map form an arrow, with the statue location at its tip, that points in the opposite direction. Also, one of the decoded clues is "house on a hill" or something similar, and there's a scene where one team wonders whether they have accidentally revealed this bit of information to a competing team before they had worked it out for themselves.
The additional details supplied triggered new memories about the book I'm looking for! Thank you!  Yes, that's the one!  Does this sound familiar to anyone else?
Mary C. Jane, Mystery in Longfellow Square.1964. The IOBA article on Jane's dustjackets has pictures, which may help jog your memory. The book is 128 pages long, which would seem to fit. Here's a link to the article.



Mystery in the Flooded Museum
Teenage girl works in a museum/reproduction of a pioneer house?  One day, they get dismissed early from work due to an encroaching flood. As she's locking up the museum, she encounters a burglar stealing valuable Indian beads from a case.  He ties her to a post and much of the drama in the book has to do with her getting free before the rising flood waters drown her.  The description of the beads and their use as wampum is very detailed.  Probably a 1970s/80s book.

Margaret Goff Clark, Mystery in the flooded museum, 1978.  "Rising flood waters and the disappearance of a valuable wampum belt mar the beginning of fifteen-year-old Susan's summer of volunteer work at the Fort Pitt Museum."
Clark, Margaret Goff, Mystery in the Flooded Museum.  Dodd, Mead, c1978.  "Rising flood waters and the disappearance of a valuable wampum belt mar the beginning of fifteen-year-old Susan's summer of volunteer work at the Fort Pitt Museum."


Mystery in the Night Woods
Wow, what a great site!  I am been looking for a book for sometime. It was a scholastic book--probably from the mid seventies. It was about a flying squirrel who wanted to fly--not glide. He was nocturnal and I think hung out with a bat??? I remember the illustrations are very soft pencil sketches. I wish I had more details, but I have forgotten them. I would love to read this to my children!

I think this book must be Mystery in the Night Woods.  I read this book as a child and recently picked up a copy at a thrift shop.  It's a Little Apple book published by Scholastic in 1969. The author is John Peterson and the illustrator is Cyndy Szekeres.  The characters are F.S. (Flying Squirrel), Mr. Bat, Beautiful Miss Owl, Police Chief Skunk, and the Weasel.
Hey, THANKS! That looks like it! You made my day!
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the book I'm looking for was a book I had gotten sometime between 1977 - 1981 or so - it was one of those Scholastic Books you order from a school catalogue & bother your parents to buy for you!  It was about some little animals (a bat, owl - possibly a Flying Fox & others) who had some sort of detective agency or mystery solving group. It was a soft cover - Night Animals may or may not have been in the title... I know that's not much info to go on - I hope you can help!

John Peterson, Mystery In The Night Woods.  I think this might be what you're looking for. I remembered a book I loved about a flying squirrl who gets accused of something and is sent to an island ?? i ran a search and this is the book i was thining of, sounds like it might be the one you want, to. It is Scholastic book as well. Thank you for remonding me of a wonderful memory!  I am going to get a copy for my kids.
Peterson, John.  Mystery of the night woods.  illus by Cindy Czekeres.  Scholastic 1421
John Peterson, Mystery In The Night Woods, 1975.  Thank you so much! I believe that this is it!
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This is a children's book most likely published in the 1970's where there were several night animals living in a tree community.  I remember the sugar glider and there may also have been an opossum and an owl.

John Peterson, Mystery in the Night Woods, 1969, Illustrated by Cindy Szekeres.  When Flying Squirrel kidnaps the beautiful Miss Owl after she laughs at his unexpected marriage proposal, he is sentenced to serve time on Far Island, the animal prison.  He escapes to seek revenge on his former best friend, Bat, whom he blames for his arrest. However, upon his return, he and Bat are faced with a larger problem: a series of mysterious bank robberies which they are able to trace back to the wicked Weasel and his gang.  They are able to help Police Chief Skunk capture Weasel, who has been using a hive of trained bees to carry off the money.
Thank you!



Mystery Mountain
1965-66.  This story was about three cousins, two boys and a girl who went to their Grandmothers ranch in the southwest-maybe Arizona- for a summer vacation.  I think their Grandmother may have been in a wheelchair or unable to walk.  They get to go on a camping trip into some mountains and find the lost mine and I believe also their great Grandfathers remains.  The copy I had in the mid sixties had a green and yellow or gold cover that showed some mountains in the background and maybe a horse running before them.

Florence Laughlin, Mystery Mountain
, 1964.  Matches all your criteria, 3 cousins, gold mine, etc. pretty sure this is it!
Florence Laughlin, Mystery Mountain, 1964.  Found a picture of book cover on the web.


Mystery of the Auction Trunk
mystery involving 2 or 3 children who find some lost paintings hidden in the walls of their (?) house.  One painting is of a apple tree in bloom and the other is of a small town parade.  I probably read this book in the early 70's.

Elizabeth Enright, The Four-Story Mistake.  You couldn't possibly be thinking of The Four-Story Mistake, could you?  Because there is a hidden painting in that story--just one, though, of a girl in dancing shoes, and it's not in the walls, it's hidden in a secret room behind a wall in the attic.  I know it's a long shot!
No it is not the Four Story Mistake, but I do love Elizabeth Enright's books.  I think the author I am looking for also wrote another book about this set of children.  That mystery involves a wooden cigar store Indian.  I think they were set in a small town.
I wonder if this could be Elizabeth Honness?  She wrote Mystery of the Wooden Indian, Mystery of the Pirate's Ghost, Mystery of the Hidden Face, Mystery of the Secret Message, Mystery of the Auction Trunk, Mystery of the Square House, Mystery of the Square Tower, and Mystery of the Maya Jade, among others.
Happy Hollisters?  Could this be your title about the cigar store Indian?  The Happy Hollisters and the Whistle-Pig Mystery, by Jerry West.  "A million-dollar train robbery, a stolen wooden Indian, a German woodcarver, and a family of whistle-pigs all play a part in this Hollister family adventure."
Elizabeth Honness, Mystery of the Hidden Face, 1963.  A previous poster thought it might be one of Honness' books...it is, and its definetely the Mystery of the Hidden Face (there's also an odd...for a childrens book...subplot involving art theft/forgery/communists)
Elizabeth Honness, Mystery of the Auction Trunk, circa 1956.  I'm certain it's Mystery of the Auction Trunk.  The painter was named Jacob Whitcomb he painted on wooden panels instead of canvas and later built the paintings into his walls because they were unappreciated . . . at the time of the story, though, his works have become valuable.  There's also a crooked art dealer named Sanford Cummings who's trying to trick the kids' parents into selling him the house, which he believes contains the lost paintings.  Mystery of the Wooden Indian was one of my favorites when I was a boy, largely because it involves a cipher and lost coins, and I enjoyed (and still enjoy) cryptography and numismatics. The kids find a diary from 1870 in the head of a cigar-store Indian, and an enciphered message in the diary eventually leads them to the coins. I remember that one of the coins was an 1838-O half dollar.
Hi!  I sent in a solution to H133 about 2:30 yesterday morning. . .it might be more cogent if I amended it by noting that the first pictures the kids found agree with the descriptions given in the stumper (apple tree in blossom and parade).  I reread Auction Trunk about three months ago, and I have no doubt that it's the book.



Mystery of the Chinatown Pearls
I am looking for a children's book about a young adult woman who lived in San Francisco.   It may have been set in the 40's or 50's.  In fact, may have been written around that time, too.  I remember that the main character thought that she had really large feet.  She went to charm school.  I believe she lived in a flat -- either a two flat or three flat.  I also remember that it was catalogued in the library probably by the Rosamond DuJardin books or the Cherry Ames books.  I think the woman maybe dated a police officer?  She was self-conscious about her height, weight and shoe size.

Walden, Amelia, 1964.  Okay, I sent a message about an hour ago, giving a few clues I also remembered about this book, then, while I was grocery shopping, the author came to me!  I believe the book is by Amelia Walden--sometimes known as Amelia Elizabeth Walden.  The title *might* be The Spy with Five Faces or it might be one of her other mystery titles...one of the others with "Spy" in the title.  Good luck!
I have a suggestion for a solution to G304.  Could the book possibly be Beth Hilton: Model by Lee Wyndham??  It was copyrighted around 1961.  I read it and used to have a copy of it.  I don't remember where it took place, but Beth in it went to charm school somewhere or other and she was self-conscious about something.
Betty Antoncich, The Mystery of the Chinatown Pearls, 1965.  A fun book. I am positive this is the one you are looking for. I have read it several times. I had a copy when I was younger and somehow lost it. It took me several years to track down another copy.
I'm checking on The Mystery of the Chinatown Pearls.  My University library has the book and I will look to confirm. I ordered the other two possibilities via inter-library loan.  I want to buy the book but, of course, I want to make sure what I buy is the right one  :)   Thank you all so much!
Betty Antoncich, Mystery of the Chinatown Pearls, 1965.  I sent in the previous suggestion of Mystery of the Chinatown Pearls. I thought I would provide a little more info about the book to help the original requester. The summary on the inside flap of the book includes the following: "As marcey approaches Charm School she wishes she had not come. Her feet are big - she is tall - she is fat, . . . Marcey, already actin, looking and feeling more confident, walks home through San Francisco's Chinatown. As she strolls she encounters a girl who resembles her, only this girl looks as Marcey would like to look. . . . It is only when the F.B.I. steps in that Marcey wonders about her Chinatown pearls . . " I skipped a lot of the summary to highlight the parts that match the memories of the orignal requester.
Betty Antoncich, Mystery of the Chinatown Pearls I only had to read 3 pages of this book to KNOW that it was it!  Thank you all so much.  I would love to find a copy for my collection.
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mid- 1960's,  juvenile.  I was thrilled to find your site!  I'm trying to find a YA novel about a girl reluctantly attending charm school in San Francisco.  She lives with her aunt? I recall a scene where she's at a wharf and her shoe slips off her foot onto a ship and a sailer retrieves it.  She remarked that every ship needs a gunboat, or something to that effect.  I have a vague memory of the cover - a dark haired girl on a flight of stairs.  Let me repeat - VAGUE!  I thought "charm or "charming" might be in the title.  Debutante?, Deb?  Or some synonym which escapes me!  Thank you.

Betty Antoncich, Mystery of the Chinatown Pearls,
1965.  I haven't read it since the 70s, so my memories are a little vague, but I think it's the book you're looking for! The girl, who I think is named Toni, is in charm school, and has big feet.  (If it's not this one, I'm mixing it up with a book by Amelia Walden, which I read around the same time.)
betty antoncich, the mystery of the chinatown pearls, 1965, approximate.  i recognized this the moment i saw it but the name escaped me!! i have the book in my hand it took me 5 minutes to find it (my house is full of books). i couldnt remember if it was secret of or mystery of. glad i could help!! by the way my cover shows a girls upper silhouette (red hair) wearing white gloves and holding pearls.
Mystery of the Chinatown Pearls.  Thank you so much for solving this stumper!  I've been wracking my brain for years trying to remember the name of this book.  It's funny how some relatively innocuous story, from so long ago, resonates.  I had just about given up hope of ever finding this book, until I stumbled upon your site.  Thank you again.



Mystery of the Emerald Buddha
A teenaged girl travels to a foreign country with her father who is a photographer.  While they are there a valuable statue, maybe made of jade or gold, is stolen so travel is suspended and bags are searched.  To prevent the film from being taken, the girl hides it in her bra.  When her father develops the pictures, she notices that the level of liquid in one vat is higher on earlier pictures.  The statue has been hidden inside a vat of, I think, white paint, or white something.  Any help is appreciated.  Thank you!

Betty Cavanna, The Mystery of the Emerald Buddha,1976. I think this is the book you are searching for: "When the sacred Emerald Buddha is stolen from a Bangkok temple, a young girl and her father try to solve the mystery surrounding its disappearance."
I have a feeling this may be a Betty Cavanna book-Maybe Mystery of the Emerald Budda??



The Mystery of the Haunted Pool
Hi, I'm searching for a fondly remembed kid's/teen's novel which would mean a lot to someone close to me, who is now in failing health. It was a mystery or adventure paperback novel that was published by Scholastic between 1968 and 1974 (most likely 1969-72), because he got it through Scholastic's classroom ordering program. They would hand out catalogs and kids could order through the school.  It was set in a small town on the Hudson River, and one of the characters was an angry kid named Gene who wore a leg brace. It also had: a kindly uncle or grandfather who had been a captain on the river, a volunteer fire company and a "blackball" voting box, he thinks for membership in the company. A fire takes place in the story. I'm seeking a copy, or at least the title and author. Many thanks.

Thanks!  We found the book on Sunday, using the keyword search. It was The Mystery of the Haunted Pool, by Phyllis A. Whitney.
Phyllis Whitney, Mystery of the Haunted Pool, 1960.  Definitely it! Susan goes to stay at her aunt in a little Hudson River town. She meets Gene (the boy with the brace)and his grandfather, Captain Dan (who is with the fire department). At the end of the story, Gene is made an honorary member of the fire department, and blackballs Captain Dan (at the Captain's request).



Mystery of Hurricane Castle
I'm looking for a book I read in the 1970s, although it could be older.  A little girl and her brother are living or vacationing at the seashore....they play in the dunes, there is a mysterious stranger, and a big scary old house involved.  One day there's a storm, the little brother wanders off or gets lost, and takes shelter in the *scary* house, so the sister has to go and find him.  It turns out that a nice old artist lives there, she took the little brother in and put him to bed.  She was "lurking" around because she was painting - there's a description of a life-like picture of the little brother's teddybear in the sand that she made.  This sounds like the Boxcar Children "Mystery In the Sand", but it is NOT that book.  This one was more atmospheric, and a little better written, I think.  I have the image of the girl walking, frightened, up the stairs in the house, with light spilling from behind a door, looking for her brother.  Not much to go on, but can anyone help?  I seem to think the word "dunes" was invovled somehow.

Joan Lowery Nixon, Mystery of Hurricane Castle, 1966.  This is definitely the book! Kathy, Maureen, and Danny (plus his teddy bear Todey)take shelter from the hurricane- but realize that 'Seaweed Annie' is in the castle, too.
Joan Lowrey Nixon, Mystery of Hurricane Castle, 1964.  This is Mystery of Hurricane Castle, a very early book by prolific author Joan Lowrey Nixon. The mysterious stranger turns out to be a woman recluse who lives in the scary house, who is an exceptional artist. She recognizes the girl's talent, gives her some tips, and by the end of the book, is going to give her lessons in painting.
Joan G. Robinson, Dark House of the Sea Witch.  It sounds a lot like this, except I can't remember the bit about the teddy bear in the sand...?
Joan Lowery Nixon, Mystery of Hurricane Castle, 1964.  copyright 1964 published by Criterion Books, Inc., first printing October 1966 by Young Readers Press Inc.  Kathy, her sister Maureen, and her brother Danny go to stay at the seashore. Kathy, a serious artist, and her sister hear stories about the frightening "Seaweed Annie," a strange woman who wanders the dunes. When a storm forces the three children to take shelter in a mansion, Kathy discovers a gallery of beautiful paintings. The children meet Seaweed Annie, a lonely, talented artist. They become friends and Annie promises to give Kathy painting lessons.  I read this book not long after it was first published. I also had vivid memories of the sand dunes. I couldn't remember the title or author, but ran across my old copy in a box of books a few months ago. Hope this is the right one.
Joan Lowery Nixon, Mystery of Hurricane Castle Yes, this all sounds right! I think we've got another one solved - thank you!



Mystery of Morgan Castle
I read the book I'm looking for in approx. 1977 when I was in 3rd grade.  It was a library book and I remember it being very popular although it seemed older - maybe from the 60's.  It could have been part of a series.  The book revolved around a haunted mansion located on or near a boardwalk. The main characters were I think a boy and a girl and of course this mansion where I believe a scary old lady lived - the children were more intrigued by her than afraid as I remember. I remember the book being on the thin side (maybe � inch or less) and having a gray/black image of the mansion surrounded by a tall fence on the cloth cover.

Whitney, Phyllis A, Mystery of the Green Cat, 1959.  Could this be Mystery of the Green Cat?  I know that Scholastic reprinted it sometime in the 1970s. The reprint cover is totally different to the original.  I too, vividly remembered this book by its cover and was thrilled to find it earlier this year.  I don't have it in front of me but is is dark greeny/grey and has a tall house on top of a hill, with a wide path leading up to it.  Not so much a haunted story as a mystery - It's set in San Francisco and the big house looms above theirs on the hill. The story focuses on a 'blended' family of two girls and two boys. The parents have just married, and there is tension between the boys and their step-mother. The eldest boy loves to draw, and he and the girl become intrigued with the house on the hill and the lady that lives there.  There are two sisters that live there, one who they percieve to be scary and who is  protective of her invalid sister. The children always sneak into the house when the "mean" sister goes out. They have a Japanese family living with them, and the invalid sister had lived in Japan with her husband - and this is where the green cat mystery comes into the story.  If you could find a picture of the 1970s cover, I'm sure it would be the right book.
John and Nancy Rambeau, The Mystery of Morgan Castle, circa 1962.  A boy and a girl (brother and sister?) investigate a mystery having to do with an old woman who lives alone in a large house. It takes place near a beach/boardwalk. The book was very thin and the cover image sounds very similar, but it was in hardcover (could be a different edition).


Mystery of the Black Diamonds
Sometime in the mid to late '80s, I read a childrens/young adults mystery set somewhere in the American west. It involved a buried treasure of some kind at the foot of a pine tree...or the stump there of...there had been three pine trees, named Shadrach, Meshak, and Abednego (out of the bible), and the names were the clue to where the treasure was...or something like that.  The area where this was taking place was also due to be flooded for a reservor, I think.  And I believe there were at least two children/teens, that the story was set at an old mining camp, and they were staying with a relative -- as children in these stories often are.  Sorry I don't have more information.  Thank you.

#B236--Biblically named Trees:  Mystery of the Black Diamonds, by Phyllis A. Whitney.
Whitney, Phyllis A., Mystery of the Black Diamonds.  Westminster Press, 1954.  Angie and Mark visit the ghost town of Blossom, Colorado, with their parents.  They've got a treasure map given to them by an old prospector.  Grandpa Kobler leads them to Shadrach, a huge blue spruce, and tells them they'll find the stumps of Meshach and Abednego in the brush.
I'm the person who sent the stumper -- yes it's the Mystery of the Black Diamonds.  Thank you!  I've been looking for this book for ages.  Now I actually know what it is.


Mystery of the Black-Magic Cave
I think I read this in the early 70's.  It was about 2 little  girls staying in an old boarding house or something similar, but I don't remember if it was a vacation or a permanent arrangement. They find an old book or journal and puzzle over the funny old archaic writing until they remember that "s" used to be written tall and narrow so that it looks like "f" to modern eyes.  At breakfast they say "Pleaf paff the eggf" to one another and laugh. They discover a coven of witches working nearby  there might be a cave the witches use.  They spy on the witches and hear this chant: "Rosemary, Thyme and bitter Rue, A witch's evil curse on you!" There's probably some mystery to solve along with witches to defeat, but I can't remember any more details. I remember it being just scary enough to be fun, not scary enough to completely freak me out.  Sound familiar?

Holly Beth Walker, Mystery of the Black-Magic Cave. This is the 5th book in the Meg Mystery series (there are 6 books total in the series .  Meg Duncan and her best friend, Kerry, go to visit her Uncle Hal in Merrybones, Maine.  They stumble upon a mystery involving local women pretending to be witches in a cave up on a mountain.  They also find a spell book in one of the women's house which has the 's' spelled like an 'f' printing which causes them to say silly things at breakfast the next day such as 'please paff the eggs'.



Mystery of the Corbett Family Silver
1951-60.  It was a story of a modern family who went back to live on a plantation that their ancestors had owned before the Civil War.  Somehow the silver that the plantation owners owned had been hidden before the Yankees overran the area, but it haad never been found.  There is an old lady who reads tea leaves.  Somehow she interacts with the child or children in the family and helps them find the silver.

I'm sure this was just solved recently, but I couldn't find it on first check.  So here's an easy one for the Stumper Magicians...
?Riddle at Live Oaks.  This is on the Solved pages, and if it's not the right one, at least there are a lot of other possibilities in the postings.
Richard Peck, The Ghost Belonged to Me.  I believe it's jewels rather than silver in this one, but very close.
In the Solved Mysteries section, under Riddle of Live Oaks, there are also several other suggestions for similar books that people suggested -- you might go there and look at the comments people made on that solved stumper, because there are 4-5 other titles there.
This  sounds very  familiar! Was this a book by Wylly Folk St. John?
#M191--Mystery of Missing Silver:  When the description said silver, I somehow thought silverware, but if it is by Wylly Folk St. John, The Secrets of Hidden Creek is about three visiting children and their local friend finding Confederate silver coins at an old estate in Georgia.  See Solved Mysteries for further description.
This is the book that I am also looking for!  I believe it is called The Mystery of the Corbett Family Silver.  The children are Billy and Beulah Corbett.  Beulah owns a silver heirloom which is a little sterling teacup in the shape of a flower (tulip?).  The story is that this cup was part of a set, all shaped like different flowers.  The silver was buried to protect it from the Yankees.  Billy and Beulah get clues from former slaves, find the saucer that matches the cup and eventually the buried family silver.  I'd love to find this book, too, as it was a childhood favorite!



Mystery of the Fat Cat
This paperback book, with a shiny silver cover, was in my possession is the mid to late 1970s.  Some of the plot points I can remember are:  a group of inner city (or poor urban neighborhood) boys are trying to find out if a cat that inherits a large sum of cash is really the cat that deserves the money; since the cat is living in a house behind a gate that prevents them from getting close enough to take a picture of it, they devise a camera flash on an arrow that they shoot next to the window at night that the cat is lying in, they set up a camera through the metal gate, open the shutter with a greased click, shoot the arrow, when it hits the house the flash goes off and they have the picture;  they mistakenly develop the picture backwards; one of the boy's brothers (mentally challenged) notices that the bag in the picture reads Doof God Dna Tac instead of CAT AND DOG FOOD; the boys, being bored, capture ducks from a city pond and move them to a different pond, they swim underneath them at night, grab them by their feet, put rubber bands around their beaks, bag them and move them; one of the boys gets bitten by a rat at the city swimming pool when it swims up from the pool drain and bites him on the arm.  Thanks for any help that you can provide.

Bonham, Frank, Mystery of the Fat Cat, 1968.  "In his will, a very rich man left all his money for the care for his cat. Upon the cat's death, the remaining money was to go to the Boys' Club. Four members of the Boys' Club begin to suspect that the cat has also died, but that its caretaker has secretly replaced it to keep his job."   Another description: "When their club, threatened by lack of finances, is forced to close down, four friends devise a scheme to locate the fat aging tomcat whose inheritance, destined eventually to go to the club, is being shared by a sly lawyer and the cat's caretaker.
Frank Bonham, Mystery of the Fat Cat, 1968.  No question about it---this is the book youre looking for!  When Buddy Williams, a young lifeguard at the Dogtown Boys Club, is bitten by a rat while doing laps in the pool, the Health Department condemns the facility. Mr. Hannibal, the Boys Club director, manages to get a last minute reprieve, but an attempted fumigation goes terribly awry and the building is destroyed. With no place to go and nothing to do, the bored boys relocate the ducks and get into trouble.  Finally, Buddy Williams, Johnny Pastelito, Rich Smith and Cool Hawkins decide to help Mr. Hannibal acquire the funds necessary to have the Boys Club rebuilt. Years ago, a wealthy woman left her fortune to her cats, but stipulated that when her cats died, the remainder of her estate should go to the Dogtown Boys Club. One cat, Buzzer Atkins, is still alive. Is it really the same cat, or are a couple of greedy co-conspirators defrauding the Boys Club?  The boys decide to photograph the elusive cat and compare it to a newspaper photo taken at the time of its owner's death.  And yes, they use a bow and arrow flash and accidentally develop the picture backwards!  Author Frank Bonham spent months talking to black and latino teenagers in and around Watts and Pasadena and used these interviews to capture the essence of young lives spent on the edge of trouble. His description of Ralphie, Buddy's younger brother, is an extremely accurate portrait of a child with Asperger's Syndrome or high functioning autism. (Those diagnoses were not well known in 1968, so Ralphie is called "mentally retarded.")  A well-written slice of southern California urban life in 1968.
Bonham, Frank, Mystery of the Fat Cat, 1968.  Thanks so much.


Mystery of the Gingerbread House
It was an old book when i had it, and that was in the 80s. I'm guessing it's from the 60s or thereabouts. all i remember is there were two kids who inherited a trunk (maybe their aunt's?) and they were trying to find out what she wanted to tell them by getting it open. they had a clue saying there was a "key under the frog," but they couldn't find the frog... then one of them remembered that this weird-looking iron thing was actually called a GARDEN FROG. that was a big deal - the key was underneath it. when they opened the trunk they saw it was lined with flowered wallpaper and then noticed there was a single frog among the flowers. when they slit it open they found a bunch of hidden papers. this somehow led them to a house that seemed abandoned and had a stained glass window... that's all I remember. would so appreciate your help!!!

Wylly Folk St. John, Mystery of the Gingerbread House,
1969. "If Evie had known her grandmother's name it would have been all right, but that was the mystery. Evie knew only that her grandmotehr lived in Atlanta, and that her mother had grown up in a gingerbread house with a yellow rose at one end of the porch and a stained-glass window on the stair landing. But for some reason, Evie's mothe rhad been careful never to tell her much more than that, and the key to the old locked trunk that might provide a clue couldn't be found. It was imperative that Evie find her grandmother, and a real problem of sleuthing began for the three children."
SOLVED: Wylly Folk St. John, Mystery of the Gingerbread House. Yes, that's it!!!!!!! I can't believe you knew it right away - this has been haunting me for YEARS. Thanks so very much!!


Mystery of the Golden Horn
One of the first mysteries that I remember really enjoying (other than Trixie Belden or Nancy Drew) was one about a young girl who was in Istanbul with her parents (father?) and the mystery somehow revolved around an elevator.  I know that isn't much to go on!  It was a chapter book and I read it in the late 1950's.  I finished reading the book on Christmas Eve and it brings back very warm memories of staying up late reading.  I would love to find out what the title is!  Thanks for any help.

Phyllis Whitney, Mystery of the golden horn,  1962.  I think this is one of Whitney's mysteries for younger readers -  Starts with the young girl having her palm read...
I18 istanbul elevator: more on the suggested, but the publication date may be too late for a book read in the late 1950s - Mystery of the Golden Horn, by Phyllis Whitney, illustrated by Georgeann Helms, published Westminster 1962, 240 pages. "The setting in Istanbul, Turkey, is unusually clear in this story of two American girls, one for whom Turkey has always been home and who is adjusting with difficulty to the loss of her parents and the other newly come to be with her father because she has proved too much of a handful for her aunts. The mystery is of less interest than the girls themselves ... and the whole cast of well-realized characters - from the very small gypsy to Vicki's professor father." (HB Feb/63 p.57)


Mystery of the Great Swamp
In this book there is a boy who floats on a raft/canoe/boat through a old primodial swamp that I think was the everglades. He uses a pole to push his boat through the swamp. The boy, who spents all his time exploring the depths of the marsh, floats to a deep unknown part of the swamp and the descriptions take on a surreal, dream-like quality as he slips into the ancient undisturbed heart of the marsh. He discovers something that resolves a mystery that is the main premise of the book. I seem to recall that the swamp was described as emerald, or maybe that was part of the title? I don't know for sure. I don't think that any of the books described in E1.

E49 I don't suppose it would be Rawlings The yearling. There wasn't a mystery, was there? You'd have thought of it right away.
#E49, Everglades mystery, is reminiscent of a sequence in the movie "The Yearling" but NOT the same part in the book, which has a lot of differences. The boy is in a leaky canoe, not a raft, and he is gone only about a day and a half, rather than weeks, not being as handy at finding food in the book as he evidently was in the movie.  He headed home deciding "the world had rejected him"--one of my favorite lines from the book.
Marjorie Zapf, Mystery of the Great Swamp, 1967.  I think this must be the right book.  Its set in the Okefenokee.  The boy's name is Jeb. He paddles through the swamp with his puppy in a canoe.  One day he finds an emerald green lake which he visits several times.  Eventually he tracks down the two surviving members of an isolated Indian tribe who live deep inside the swamp. Its a great book, very atmospheric.  My copy is from the Weekly Reader Book Club.  The cover is green.
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I read a book when I was somewhere in 4th through 6th grade, between 1968-71.  I believe it was one purchased through the Scholastic Book Club.  I do not remember author or title.  It was about a young boy that like to canoe.  I don't remember his family situation, I think he had parents, don't know about siblings.  During one of his canoe trips, he was caught in a storm and blown through many different channels, I recall many of these channels being like tunnels because of overgrown trees.  He ends up lost and on an island that has a tribe of Indians (I think they were very tall) - like a lost tribe.  He eventually gets back home after some interaction with this tribe.  I don't remember much else - any possible ideas?  Thank you very much.

Marjorie Zapf, The Mystery of the Great Swamp, 1967.  This is the book, set in the Okefenokee.  The boy's name is Jeb.  This is in Solved Mysteries, too.
I checked E49 based on the comments and at first I didn't think it was the book.  I obtained a copy and just finished reading it today. I was so excited as I was reading it and more and more became convinced this is the book I read so many years ago.  I have thought about this book on and off for years and was pretty much resigned to the fact I would never find it.  I must thank you for your wonderful website and for the individual who read my stumper and offered the suggestion.  Thank you so much! 


Mystery of the Haunted Mine
superstition mountains mystery scholastic book peaches Teenagers on a ranch go into superstition mountains hunting for lost dutchman mine. The peaches are canned peaches found in the mountains. This was a book I had as a kid, lost it in one of my family's moves. It was a Scholastic Book, ordered from school.

G. Shirreffs, The Mystery of the Haunted Mine
Dionetti, Michelle V., Coal Mine Peaches, 1991.
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The book is about 3 teens, Gary, his friend Tuck (or Tucker), and Tuck's cousin Sue.  They live in Cottenwood Wells near the Suerstitious Mountains.  They find a map that shows where the Lost Dutchman's Mine is and go after it.  They have a lot a difficulties because someone else is after the map.  Another character is Candyman, a peddler.  I remember the story so well I could almost rewrite it, but can't remember the title or author!

Gordon Shirreffs, Mystery of the Haunted Mine
Gordon D. Shirreffs, Mystery of the Haunted Mine, 1970, reprint.  Copyright 1961--Formerly The Haunted Treasure of the Espectros  From the back cover: "Somewhere in those canyons is a fortune .... The Indians say it is guarded by ghosts -- but Gary and Tuck refuse to believe that ghosts use live ammunition!"  Tuck's cousin Sue is in the story also.



Mystery of the Haunted Pool
I would have read the book as a young teen in the very late 60's or early 70's. It was a mystery/suspense paperback. The front of the book had the main characters looking into the depths of a small pond.  The main characters were a young teen brother and sister who had moved/or were visiting at a big old home.  In the gardens or woods near by was a pond that when they looked into water, they saw the reflection of a beautiful woman.   It seems as though it was set in the Northeast.  The house and grounds seem to have been very old and mysterious, but as one time had been very grand and elegant. As the story turns out the face in the pond was actually the figurehead of a ship laying on the bottom of the pond/pool. I think it turned out that one of the previous owners of the home may have been the captain of the ship that it came from.  I also seem to recall that this brother & sister were characters in another book or two that I read.  It seems they also had younger siblings in the book, but not sure.

Phyllis A. Whitney, Mystery of the Haunted Pool, 1960.  I'm not sure of this, but it reminds me of what I remember of Mystery of the Haunted Pool.  There are no younger siblings, but I was reminded of the Happy Hollisters series and wonder if you could be mixing it up with those?  Whitney's mysteries were rather similar in mood.
Whitney, Phyllis, Mystery of the Haunted pool, 1960.  From the jacket:  "Leaving her family in New York at the start of summer vacation, Susan Price comes up the river to the little town of Highland Crossing, where her aunt runs an antique shop. Aunt Edith has been working on a deal that, if successful, will permit the Price family and herself to live in the big house belonging to Captain Dan Teague.  Besides the antiques in her aunt's shop, Susan meets a number of oddities, including a middle-aged spinster who cavorts about in spectacular play clothes, and a boy with a brace on his leg and an oversized chip on his shoulder. The bizarre bachelor lady shows an unusual interest in a barrel of books Aunt Edith has acquired from the Teague attic. Later, Susan discovers Miss Altoona hiding in the brush, watching the Teague house most suspiciously.  Captain Dan at last agrees to rent his house, and that's when the mystery surrounding it really goes into high. The very first night that she and her aunt sleep there Susan hears strange noises, and both of them find an opened window and, on the living room floor, something ominous indeed. Most frightening of all is the face in a pool: it stares up at Susan through the water, then disappears!  What everything means, Susan learns in the end, of course, but not before a fire in Miss Altoona's house sets many matters to right and readers themselves have gulped in mystery-fan's delight.
Phyllis Whitney, Mystery of the Haunted Pool, 1960.  This sounds like another Phyllis Whitney one - apparently she was one of the most widely read mystery authors from the 60's/70's. I recall reading this in my high-school library, which hasn't changed its collection in decades.
M287 Pretty sure this is MYSTERY OF THE HAUNTED POOL by Phyllis A. Whitney, 1960. ~from a librarian
Phyllis A. Whitney, Mystery of the Haunted Pool.  If the figurehead at the bottom of the pond was wearing a necklace of wooden beads with diamonds hidden inside, this is the book!
Phyllis A. Whitney, Mystery of the Haunted Pool, 1960.  Leaving her family in New York at the start of summer vacation, Susan Price comes up the river to the little town of Highland Crossing, where her aunt runs an antique shop. Aunt Edith has been working on a deal that, if successful, will permit the Price family and herself to live in the big house belonging to Captain Dan Teague. Besides the antiques in her aunt's shop, Susan meets a number of oddities, including a middle-aged spinster who cavorts about in spectacular play clothes, and a boy with a brace on his leg and an oversized chip on his shoulder. The bizarre bachelor lady shows an unusual interest in a barrel of books Aunt Edith has acquired from the Teague attic. Later, Susan discovers Miss Altoona hiding in the brush, watching the Teague house most suspiciously.  Captain Dan at last agrees to rent his house, and that's when the mystery surrounding it really goes into high. The very first night that she and her aunt sleep there Susan hears strange noises, and both of them find an opened window and, on the living room floor, something ominous indeed. Most frightening of all is the face in a pool: it stares up at Susan through the water, then disappears!  What everything means, Susan learns in the end, of course, but not before a fire in Miss Altoona's house sets many matters to right and readers themselves have gulped in mystery-fan's delight.
Phyllis Whitney, The Haunted Pool.  I read this book so long ago I don't remember any details except for the part about a girl looking into a pool and a face looking back.  Maybe this is a fit.



The Mystery of the Myrmidon's Journey
looking for info on a series of children's mystery books. read them around 1971-72 as a grade-schooler. had monochromatic covers with purple illustrations. only recall one title contained the name "tsing" (a character), and it was a series in soft-cover, with any number of installments. book was found originally in grade school library in caldwell, nj. thanks !

John & Nancy Rambeau, The Mystery of the Myrmidon's Journey, 1965.  You are definitely looking for the Morgan Bay mysteries.  The spines, covers and illustrations are all in shades of purple.  The main characters are brothers Bill and Gabby Summers and their sister, Vinny.  There are other recurring characters, as well, including Mrs. Wellington and Fritz the dog.  There are at least eight books in the series (the ones I have) -- The Mystery of Morgan Castle, The Mystery of the Marble Angel, The Mystery of the Midnight Visitor, The Mystery of the Missing Marlin, The Mystery of the Musical Ghost, The Mystery of Monks' Island, The Mystery of the Marauder's Gold, and The Mystery of the Myrmidon's Journey (with a female character named Tsing).  Each book began with illustrations of the main characters in the book and ended with exercises/questions about each chapter (clearly intended for school use).  Published by Harr Wagner Publishing Company -- San Francisco.  My family was going to get rid of these books in a yard sale and I grabbed them out of the box as fast as I could to save for my children (one loved them, the other is about the start them).  I'm glad someone remembers them, too, and I'm glad I could help.


Mystery of the Other House
The book dealt with two girls who became friends after one of the girls moves into the neighborhood.  One girl's mother  (grandmother? aunt?) took in boarders and the children suspected that one of the boarders, an elderly French  gentleman, was the Lost Dauphin of France.  I believe the book  was set in a large city and that the girls were frequently roller skating and eating peppermint candy.

Augusta Huiell Seaman (Freeman), Mystery of the Other House, 1947.  The two girls in this book are Susan, who lives with her Aunt Ruth, and Bernadette (Detta) who lives across the street with her 3 aunts - the Misses Genevieve, Hortense, and Cordelia.  They do have an elderly boarder - Mr. St. Croix. The girls discover a secret entrance to the house which is being used by secret visitors for Mr. St. Croix, who thought that he was the Lost Dauphin of France (because of a tatoo on his chest)  It is a wonderful story.  The copy that I have was discarded from the library.  On the front, it has the author's name, but on the inside, it has her name plus another last name - Freeman.  There is no explanation for this or any other information about her or other books she may have written. Hope this helps you!
Ruth Sawyer, Roller Skates.  This should be easy to check.  It's been ages since I read Roller Skates, but I think Lucinda, the heroine, romanticizes one of the building's boarders into the Lost Dauphin (never mind that the Dauphin was lost in the French Revolution and the book is set in New York at the turn of the 20th century).
Certainly Lucinda ate peppermints and (obviously) roller skated.
The answer to the Stumper M112 is indeed  Augusta Huiell Seaman (Freeman), Mystery of the Other House, 1947.  Thank you so much---I loved this book as a child and was so happy to re-discover it.  We were finally able to interlibrary loan it, but I am sending a separate request in case you might locate a copy for me to purchase.  Thanks again!


Mystery of the Pirate's Ghost
I read this book when I was 10 or 11 and I was a good reader so it is not necessarily a children's book. It was a small hardcover book with a blue cover that showed a picture of the ocean/beach. My best recollection is that it focused on a family (a mother, son, daughter--don't remember a father) who had either moved to a new house near the ocean or were vacationing at a house by the beach. I recall one scene where the mother brings groceries home. It is a murder mystery and the daughter, whose name is KIT, is the curious detective trying to solve it. I can't remember anything else about this book. I have searched everywhere I can think of to find the title and I would be so grateful to anyone who could provide a title. Thanks!

This doesn't quite fit, but there's Disappearance at Lake House, by Helen Girvan, published Westminster 1959 "When Kit Reed inherits an old mansion in Canada, she also inherits a strange mystery with it! Girls 12-15." (Horn Book Oct/59 p.345 pub ad)
Mollie Chappell, Kit and the Mystery Man,1965.  I don't have clear memories of this book, but think it *might* be the one.
Hi:Looking same book.Brother and sis named Kit and Abigail.Family inherits house with tunnel to sea. Kids have key. Kids and black skeleton keys on cover of book. Unblock the tunnel and find ancestor Pirate. He came home and the tunnel was blocked. Dies in tunnel,leaves letter. Read in 1970 in 6th grade.
Elizabeth Honness, The Mystery of the Pirate's Ghost.  1966 copyright. A Weekly Reader book.
M103  Elizabeth Honness, Mystery of the Pirate's Ghost, 1966.  Just got it ILL. Read it again from 1966. Yes, Kit and Abby do find Robert the pirate's skeleton behind the wall in the cellar between the door at the tunnel. A good mystery.
This could be Mystery of the Pirate's Ghost (1966) by Elizabeth Honness, Illustrated by Beth and Joe  Krush. This book has a blue cover. At the start of the story Mrs. Hubbard, the mother, inherits a large old home on a cliff from an elderly relative. They eventually move in. From another relative, Miss Pingree they hear tales about their new home: its past, pirates, pirate's ghosts and an old smuggler's cave. Are they legends or are they real? The  two children, Abby, (especially) the girl and Kit, her brother try to solve several mysteries about the houses past and some strange goings-on involving their handyman. Toward the end of the story Mrs. Hubbard goes grocery shopping for candles and food etc. because of an impending hurricane! Following the hurricane a cave is revealed at the base of the cliff. I hope this is your long lost book!


Mystery of the Red Carnations
I am looking for a couple of mystery books I read as a child in the early eighties.  The titles (as best as I can remember) are The Mystery of the Red Carnations (I think it was an Edgar Allan Poe grave-type of mystery-- someone's leaving carnations on someone's grave) and The Mystery of the Missing Emeralds (has a blind girl named Stella, the stone ends up having been hidden in a statue which she had sculpted).  Please help!  I've been looking for title/author/book for many years.

Hello,  A while back there was a request for two books in one paragraph--M12.  I was able to supply the title and author for the second book, Secret of the Emerald Star, but I didn't know the first.  Today I found this book!  It is Mystery of the Red Carnations by Mary C. Jane.  Published 1968. 



Mystery of the Second Treasure
Hello--I've been racking my brains trying to remember this book's title! It's a YA mystery set in FL & features at least one boy & one  girl (I believe they are siblings). There is a map in the book of the subdivision they live in & hidden in the maze of streets are several streets that spell out "Betty" in cursive. I believe the legend of the Flying Dutchman also has something to do w/the plot. This book was in  my elementary school's library in the early-mid-'70s, & I'm pretty sure  it was written in the '60s. Thanks for your help!

Just to mention the possibility that Y 23 and the old, VERY OLD!! stumper S 93 might be the same book! If so, we now have more info to go on! I have been working on this one for eons!!
Thanks to whoever noted the similarities between this stumper & S93--there does seem to be a correlation there. After some heavy thinking I'm almost positive that Y23 takes place in Florida, over near Tampa/St. Pete, as it seems to me that the kids could ride their bicycles around the neighborhood all year 'round.
Reid, Eugenie, Mystery of the Carrowell Necklace.  NY Lothrop 1966.  I don't know enough about this book to be sure it's the answer, but it is a YA mystery of about the right date, set in Florida. "Visiting in Florida, three young cousins work together to solve a family mystery, and have a wonderful time doing it." "Lou goes to visit her great-aunt Isobel in Florida & is joined there by her cousin Caroline. There Lou decides to try to find the diamond necklace that was said to have been hidden on the grounds years before." Less likely is The Pelican Mystery, by Ruth Hooker, Whitman 1977 "While staying in a motel in the Florida Keys with their convalescent mother, Grand and his sister Shelley become acquainted with a pelican and investigate a mystery involving the robbery of a beach home."
This solution was submitted on another forum: "Well, this could be the book you're looking for or not but my copy of The Mystery of the Second Treasure by Eugenie Reid has a picture of a street map that has the streets spelling out the name "Betty" in cursive.  The story is set in Florida and the main characters are siblings and they do ride their bikes a lot.  It was published in 1967.  Hope this helps."


Mystery of the Secret Message
Hello--I've been looking for this book for a long time. The author's name begins w/a letter between E & H (at least that's the section of my elementary school library I always found it in), & she wrote other YA girls' mysteries. This one featured a girl named Penny, whose dad had disappeared. It turned out that he had been a secret agent of some sort for the govt. & had helped avert the Cuban Missile Crisis. At the end of the book, Penny gets to meet President Kennedy & receives an award for her father's heroism. There was also some mysterious scroll that figured in the plot. I was reading the book by the early '70s, so I'm guessing it was written shortly about the crisis (early-mid-'60s). It had a black cover & no dust jacket. Thanks for your help!

Hi--I'm the original poster, & remembered something else to add: this book was published by JB Lippincott, Philadelphia. Maybe this'll help--thanks!
Elizabeth Honness, Mystery of the Secret Message, 1961. Well, I think I've solved my own Stumper--I'm almost positive that this is the book. Someone on another Stumper mentioned Elizabeth Honness & that really jogged my memory. As this book was published in 1961, it's not about the Cuban Missile Crisis (which was in 1962), but the Bay of Pigs incident was in early '61, & I think I must have remembered the wrong Cuban crisis initially. Thanks for getting my mental gears going!


Mystery of the Silent Friends
In the late 70s, I had a paperback book, very possibly Scholastic. The storyline involved three automatonic dolls, one drew pictures, one played an instrument...and I can't recall what the third one did. Anyway, the whole point was that the bars of a bird cage were actually solid platinum....I know this is scanty info, but...

D9:  Mystery of the Silent Friends by Robin Gottlieb (story about automated dolls, one sits at a writing desk and her message is a clue).
I believe that D9 the mystery about the automatonic dolls is MYSTERY OF THE SILENT FRIENDS, by Robin Gottlieb.
Thank you for figuring out the title of a book that's been bugging me for years!  (Mystery of the Silent Friends) Now I just need to find a copy of it!
I've found a Scholastic paperback, used but in good shape. Want it?
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Girl discovers dolls with ability to write secret messages

gottlieb, Robin, Mystery of the Silent Friends.  Three mechanical dolls in Nina's father's antique shop seem to hold a secret & are wanted by two men. She & her friend Muffin try to solve the mystery.
Robin Gottlieb (author), Al Brule (illustrator), Mystery of the Silent Friends, 1964.  Without more information, this is the only title I can think of.  I don't own a copy, and can't find an online synopsis, but this is what I remember.  A girl's father works in an antique store.  The store has three jointed mechanical dolls on display, all from the same estate.  Each doll performs a specific task when it is wound up.  One doll writes, one doll draws, and the third doll plays a small piano or harpsichord.  The girl discovers that the previous owner hid his vast fortune and left the three dolls as clues.  The drawing doll draws a picture of a monkey, the writing doll writes the word "cage" and the musical doll adds four notes---C, A, G, and E---to the end of the piece she plays.  It turns out that there once was a fourth mechanical doll, a tumbling monkey in a cage.  I seem to remember that the monkey had broken or disappeared long ago, but the painted cage is the missing treasure.  Underneath the paint, it is made of solid platinum!
Gottlieb, Robin, Mystery of the Silent Friends, 1973.  Nina finds that her father's automaton dolls can write secret messages leading them to solve a mystery.
Robin Gottlieb, The Mystery of the Silent Friends, 1964.  A possibility--The Mystery of the Silent Friends.  There are three large mechanical dolls who write out a message that in the end leads to a treasure.
G271 You may be thinking of MYSTERY OF THE SILENT FRIENDS by Robin Gottlieb. Two girls get interested in 2 mechanical dolls in the father's antique store. One doll sits at a writing desk and I think the other one has an instrument? The doll makes the same messages over and over, but when they turn the setting too far, she writes a new message about a treasure. Vague on everything, but I seem to recall that the treasure was a birdcage that was made of platinum and was very valuable.~from a librarian
I probably should have included more of a description for my stumper.  Here's what I can remember.   I read this book in the mid 1970s when I was in middle school.  The details are vague but it involves a girl who discovers two dolls, one of each gender, possibly in an antique shop.  I think they were dressed in traditional German clothing (I think the boy wore liederhosen) and that one or both of the dolls sat at a desk.  The child discovers that there is a hidden switch or mechanism of some sort that causes the doll to write a secret message.  The message was a hidden function engineered by an undercover agent or spy.  There may have been a hidden compartment of some sort in a doll or desk. I do know that at that age (and still!) I would have been fascinated by anything smacking of the occult, adventure, mystery, spies etc., so I'm guessing that the title that suggests mystery or secrets.  I do know I was riveted to the book and it obviously made quite an impression.
Looks like this was solved before the details provided!  Amazing.
Thank you to everyone who answered! Obviously time has played some tricks on my memory, so I plan to read this as soon as I discover a copy!
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I read this in the 70s but I don't know how new/old it was at the time. I don't remember much; it was a mystery, there were a lot of automatronics in the house (someone collected them?) including a doll that could draw/write, which figured prominently in the mystery. May be part of a series?

Robin Gottlieb, Mystery of the Silent Friends,
1964. Try this one.  Nina's father owns an antique shop which includes two automatons named Henri and Henriette, who can draw (and Henri can write his name).  Nina's beloved "silent friends" become the center of a mystery which Nina and her friend Muffin are determined to solve.
Gottlieb, Robin, Mystery of the Silent Friends. Girl's father has a shop in which he has 3 animatronic dolls, if you put all the dolls clues together they solve a mystery.  One draws, one plays the piano, and Robin Gottleib, The Mystery of the Silent Friends, 1967, approximate. I bought this in a Scholastic Book order!  The two animatronics hold a secret...two girls know that in order to solve the mystery (and save the antique shop owned by one of the girl's grandfather) they have to figure out the riddle AND find the third, missing automaton.  One writes, one plays a miniature piano, and the third...might draw?  (I haven't read it in years, so the details are hazy.)  It's very memorable though!
Robin Gottlieb, Mystery of the Silent Friends. This has very little in common with the author's description except that it features two automata, Henri, who writes, and Henriette, who draws.  They provide clues to a mystery, so just on the off chance that the stumper requester is confusing details from two books, I thought I'd throw this title in.
Robin Gottlieb, Mystery of the Silent Friends
Robin Gottlieb, Mystery of the Silent Friends, 1969, approximate. Sounds like MYSTERY OF THE SILENT FRIENDS by Robin Gottlieb. The book I had in childhood was a paperback from the Scholastic Book Club. The dolls are not in a home but in the father's antique store, and the one doll writes something that leads to something valuable (a birdcage made of platinum). I know she wrote SECRET OF THE UNICORN which involved the same characters, and the author has other mysteries which may or may not have the same characters (the unicorn one is only one I know for certain).
SOLVED: Robin Gottlieb, Mystery of the Silent Friends. I just wanted to let you know that this was indeed the book I was looking for.  Thank you for helping me find this book again.



Mystery of the Spanish Cave
A story about a surviving prehistoric animal (dinosaur ?) which lives in a cave on the Spanish coast and is attacking shipping. A young boy solves the mystery and kills the beast.  1950's.

Geoffrey Household, Mystery of the Spanish Cave, 1936.  Definitely! My copy is a reprint,1964.



Mystery of the Witches Bridge
The title may have the words "seven bridges mystery" in it. There is a black dog named Caliban that is suppose to be evil but ends up good. Girl? sent to live with not-so-friendly/scary relatives in huge mansion with secret passages, marshes (salt marshes maybe?) surrounding the property, ghost legend for the house, town, and marsh (I think), befriends one or two local children, fall into trouble, end up solving mystery.  Seemingly ghost/murder/money mystery. I read it in the mid-70's as a paperback.

Barbee Oliver Carleton, The Witches' Bridge,1967. Definitely this one. I loved this book when I was younger, and hunted for it FOREVER before I got the title right! Dan Pride comes to live with his uncle Julian at Pride's Point, where a Puritan ancestor was once accused of witchcraft, and a ghostly fiddler is supposed to haunt the Witches' Bridge.  Anyone who hears the fiddler's music is supposed to be cursed.  Dan learns that his own grandfather died near the Bridge years ago, while the Fiddler played.  When Dan hears the ghostly music and sees mysterious lights in the marshes, he decides to try to solve the mystery of the bridge, with the help of his friends, Pip and Gilly. It's been a long time since I read this (back in the 70's) but as I recall, the fiddling sound was actually wind whistling through holes under the bridge, where there was some sort of hidden passage leading to a secret chamber under the chapel.  Dan's grandfather had been murdered over some money, which he had hidden there prior to his murder.  The lights Dan had seen were actually Billy Ben, the hired man, searching for the money.  Billy Ben turns out to be the villain in the book, framing Dan for arson, and later pursuing Dan through the passage where he tries to kill him. Dan is saved by the black dog, Caliban.  This book has been reprinted as The Mystery of the Witches' Bridge.
Barbee Oliver Carleton, Mystery of the Witches Bridge,1967.I'\m sure this is the book the original title was The Witches Bridge. The main character is a boy, Dan Pride, who goes to live with his uncle in a spooky mansion across salt marshes.  The dog Caliban is there, and Dan does make friends with local kids and they solve the mystery of the bridge.
Thank you so much for your website!  My mystery book has been found - and so quickly too.  I can't believe it.  I have been wracking my brain for a good 10 years; looking in bookstores; asking anyone in the store who looked like they might actually know books - nothing.  This is wonderful.



Mystery Trail
I'm looking for a book I read in the late 50s or early 60s. It is a juvenile fiction adventure about a tourmaline(?) mine in the wilderness. Has a young boy surviving a trip in the woods in Canada or Alaska or Wyoming or Maine? Some woods survival tips were in the book.

A long shot, but maybe it's Mystery Back of the Mountain by Mary C. Jane, 1960? See Stumper R158 in the archives for more details.
Carl D. Lane, Mystery Trail, 1951, copyright.  Turns out it was Mystery Trail by Carl D. Lane.  I found it online. It took place in the New England woods and had many survival tips and involved a tourmaline mine.



Mystery Up The Winding Stair
I read this book during the 1980's, though the book could have been a little older.  The main themes I remember were a young boy, a pair of boots with diamonds hidden in the toes, a mystery, and a room that was decorated as a cabin.  I also seem to remember a staircase of some sort, but I'm not sure.

Not Tom Sawyer, Detective perchance?
Helen Fuller Orton, Mystery Up the Winding Stair, 1948, copyright.  This sounds like Mystery Up the Winding Stair by Helen Fuller Orton.
Thank you, Mystery Up The Winding Stair was exactly what I was looking for.  Thanks again!


The Mystical Beast
I read this book around 1982-1986 (2nd-6th grade). I got it through a book order at school (Scholastic?) It was a paperback and the cover was bright blue. I think the picture was of a dragon against a light background. From what I remember, 2 kids are trapped by witches (who may be sisters.) At one point the witches order the kids to clean a very dirty room that includes dirty dishes and silverware with only a broom that has just 3 bristles and a dirty cloth. One kid either writes down a list or tells the witches about all the cleaning products they will need to do the job adequately (including a chamois for the windows) but the request is ignored. They do the best they can but the place is still pretty dirty. (This isn't central to the story but I remember the list.) The main thing is that a dragon is being held captive because he is magical. He is a nice dragon. He has a heavy iron collar around his neck and it has worn the scales smooth underneath. His scales are magical but I think he has grown weak and/or that he only has a few scales left that can be used to perform magic/grant wishes.(?) The kids need to get the key that locks the collar so they can free the dragon. I'm pretty sure they achieve their goal but I can't remember anything else. This book has been on my mind for years and I would really love to find a copy. Thank you!

Allison Farthing, The Mystical Beast.  This is absolutely the book you are looking for. I own it and reread it recently. Good news! It is readily available and cheap online!
I just wanted to write and let you know that the stumper I submitted, D222, was correctly solved. It is indeed The Mystical Beast by Alison Farthing. I ordered it online (used) and it arrived yesterday. It even had the same cover I remembered. Thank you so much- your service is great. Reading through the solved Bookstumpers I was also able to find the other two books I desperately wanted: Magic in the Park and No Flying in the House.
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Kids book. 70s? Brother and sister see a schoolmate walking a goat, follow her, end up in another world, helping her search for her missing aunt, a witch. Either the girl or aunt is called Lavinia. Note from aunt: "Let Garlick be your guide." Garlick turns out to be the name of the aunt's helper/sidekick/familiar. At one point the kids have been captured by the villain and are being menaced by a black cloud (called the prickles?) and the girl chases it off with a can of hairspray from her bag. Later, the brother saves the day because he'd somehow gotten a dragon scale stuck in his shoe/sock. I don't think it was one of Ruth Chew's books. I remember it being a Scholastic-sized paperback with a few black and white line-drawings, but I could be wrong about at least the paperback part. Dragon scale in the boy's shoe saves the day.

Alison Farthing, The Mystical Beast, 1978. Lavinia is the caretaker for the Mystical Beast (a friendly dragon-like creature)who has been kidnapped by evil witches. You can find a short summary here: http://books.google.com/books?id=AM5TAAAACAAJ&dq=the+mystical+beast.
Alison Farthing, The Mystical Beast. Sara and Henry help Lavinia find the Mystical Beast on the "Other Side."

Thanks to the folks who suggested Alison Farthings The Mystical Beast. They were absolutely right, despite what turns out to be a lot of misremembered details on my part.



click here for imageMystifying Twins
I had two paperback books about twins that were probably published about 1970.  The twins went to boarding school and tricked people by trading places with each other.  Their names began with L, I think, and they were not rhyming names. In the second book, one of the twins had an accident and
was temporarily paralyzed. I don't know the author or titles.

T35 I think it may be Lisa and Lotte (was it by Erich Kastner?).  It's the book on which the movie "The Parent Trap" was based.
The person could be thinking of 2 different books: Lisa and Lottie by Erich Kastner - two twins meet at summer camp and switch places (there are the "L" names) or The Twins at St. Clare'sby Enid Blyton in which two mischievious twins attend boarding school - this one is a series, but the twins are Pat and Isabel.
#T35--Twins, tricky.  I think I've definitely found these: Delightful Stories by Joan Price Reeve from Moody Press Publications,  The Mystifying Twins  Because Lois and Lettice Belmont are identical twins, they become involved in innumerable humorous and exciting adventures.  Their daring pranks at Rivercote School continually get them in trouble, not only with their friends but also with the headmistress.  Midnight banqueting, hiding frogs in bed, chasing ghosts, and falling into the river add spice to their lives.   Told in a pleasing, informal style, the story moves swiftly.  Spiritual crises confront the twins when Lois becomes a Christian while at summer camp.  The Secret of the Mystifying Twins  Excitement fills the air as the twins return to Rivercote and immediately
team up with their old friend Jane Smith, who always shares with them in their delightful pranks.  Then a sudden accident cripples Lettice.  Jealousy, hate and fear fill Lettice's heart.  But soon she learns that 'all things work together for good,' and faith, hope and prayer bring victory.  The Lord richly rewards the twins for their shining testimonies.  Both of these were in print by 1963.
Enid Blyton, The twins at St. Clares, ca 1940s. This is one of a series of books taking the O'Sullivan twins through their boarding school days, in England.
I am very grateful to the suggestions made but they have not found the book I am after. My sister remembers the illustrations which depict little-dark-haired girls, one in gingham with pigtails. It is not a "Fun and school-adventures" book. The girls have quite a hard time in the book.  Thank you for your wonderful website!
Antonia Forest, Autumn Term.  Could this be the series about the Marlow family?  In the first book twins Nicola and Lawrie go off to boarding school and have a hard time as they don't live up to the standards set by the rest of the family. The book ends with them acting successfully in  a play, The Prince and the Pauper. In the second book The Marlows and the Traitor, Lawrie breaks her leg. No dark haired little girls in gingham though, the twins are fair.
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I am looking for a book series about twin (red-headed - I think) girls.  The series starts off with them at boarding school and getting into a lot of trouble because of their schemes. Eventually, one of the twins becomes a Christian and tries to get her sister to find God as well.  I read them in 1979, but I don't know how old the books were at the time.

This plot sounds a little bit like an old Hayley Mills movie,  "The Trouble with Angels," which was taken from a book of the same name by Jane Trahey.  I know there are two books in the series, maybe  there are three.  I never read the books, but I remember loving the movie when I was 13.
Reeve, Joan Price, The Mystifying Twins.  Twins names Lois & Lettuce.
Yes!!! The Mystifying Twins is the book I have been looking for.  I had just about given up on anyone solving my "mystery".  I remember the story so well, but the title still does not ring a bell with me. I wonder if it had a different title when I read it in the late 1970's.
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Do not remember name or publisher. Paperback book.  May have been a series. Probably purchased at a Christian book store. About identical twin girls; names started with the letter J. One girl wore a pink ribbon and one a blue ribbon in order for people to tell them apart. In one of the stories one of the twins broke her leg. One girl was a Christian, one was not. They may have attended a boarding school. One story was about camp. I believe one sister broke her leg in one of the books and in the other book I believe there was something about missing food in the kitchen. I was given the books in the 1960's. Mystery books....Identical twin girls. Loaned them to some one....never to be seen again. If there are more than two in the series, it would be wonderful to have the whole series. I can see the cover...just can't remember the titles...

Joan Price Reeve, The Mystifying Twins,
1960.  This is so funny because I just solved this stumper for another person.  It tooks months for someone to solve it for me.  Lois and Lettice are identical twins who get into all kinds of trouble at boarding school.  The sequel is called The Secrets of the Mystifying Twins.  I have been able to find the first book online, but not the second.
After over 20 years...you found it!  Thank you.  I have ordered both books.  Looked at the Table of Contents on line...yep...a flood of memories!

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I read two books in about 1968 or 69 about sisters (twins?) in a boarding school. There were some great adventures, sneaking around, maybe a mystery and interest in boys. In the 2nd book of the series, one of the girls is in an accident and becomes paralyzed - the sister by then has a boyfriend.

Joan Price Reeve, The Mystifying Twins,
1960, copyright.  This was one of my book stumpers a while back. It took a long time for someone to answer it, so I'm glad I can help you!  The first book is The Mystifying Twins and the second one is The Secrets of the Mystifying Twin.  Lois and Lettice are identical twins who get into all kinds of mischieve at their boarding school. Lois becomes a Christian and Lettice feels left out. In book 2 Lettice becomes paralyzed in an accident and is desolate until she too finds God.
Natalie Savage Carlson, The Half Sisters & Luvvy and the Girls, 1970 & 1971, copyright.  Possibly these two books?
Is it possible you're remembering different books?  The part about the accident reminds me of What Katy Did, and the sequel to that is What Katy Did at School.  But the sneaking around part and the general (highly moral) tone of those books doesn't sound like what you're describing.  Enid Blyton wrote the St. Clare's school stories (in the 1940's) about twin sisters Pat and Isobel O'Sullivan--maybe what you want?
Yes, Thank you. It is The Mystifying Twins. I am so thankful to finally know what my memory couldn't pull up!!! What a wonderful website and thanks to those who take the time to contribute.
joan price reeves, the secret of the mystifying twins
.  the first one is the mystifiying twins. the second one is the secret of the mystifying twins. they might be available in religious stores?





 
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