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Y1:
Yellow
dress and sailor
For years now I have been trying to find the
name of a children's story that involves a teenage girl who has a crush
on a sailor who goes off to sea. She says good-bye to him wearing
a pretty yellow dress. He promises to come back to her someday,
and
he asks her to be wearing that pretty yellow dress when he comes home.
So every day she goes out to the harbor wearing her yellow dress, but
he
does
not come. Then many years later, when
her dress is washed thin and no longer fits (because she is now a young
woman) her sailor arrives at last.
Could Y1 be Eleanor Farjeon's Mill
of Dreams? It was published separately and as one of the
stories
in Martin Pippin and the Apple Orchard. Only problem is the
dress
there was blue, but the rest sounds very similar.
Lord of the Rushy River. This
is a beautiful little book, but the girl is the young daughter of
the sailor, not girlfriend. The yellow dress is wonderful.
The Lord of the Rushy River is a swan that she and her father used to
feed
by a river before he leaves. The swan rescues her from the town
where
she has been taken, and carries her back to the river where she wears
the
dress, now much too small, and meets her father. One of those
books
that is happy, but makes you want to cry.
Sorry, but this description definitely doesn't
match Farjeon's Mill of Dreams.
The girl in Mill of Dreams goes only
once
to the shore -- as a middle aged woman, when a flood brings the shore
right
up to her mill.
Correction to an earlier post:
The book suggested by the poster in red is spelled incorrectly; it's Lord of the Rushie River,
and the author is Cicely Mary Barker.
Y2: Yarn
and Grandma
Solved: Little Colonel's
Hero
Y3: Yukon
Solved: Lost Island
Y4: Youngest
child in family
Solved: Lisa and the Grompet
Y5: Young
Merlin
Silver something? pre-1975 Novel about young Merlin, ~200pp. Had
an appendix on the runic alphabet.
Mary Stewart, The Crystal Cave,
1970. Could this be The Crystal Cave?
(Crystal
and silver associate in the mind.) This is definitely a story of
the young Merlin, with a copyright in the time frame specified. I don't
know about the runic dictionary in the appendix, but it could be that
one
of the editions had this feature. (The one I saw had maps on the
endpapers
but no dictionary as such.)
Andre Norton, Merlin's Mirror,
1975. This might also be Merlin's Mirror by Andre
Norton. It's more of a length to fit the criterion, and The
Crystal Cave doesn't have a runic alphabet (I'm not sure this
does
either, but I can't remember one way or the other).
It is not one of the Mary Stewart books, which I read several years
later.
This is a long shot -- but is it possibly Cooper's
The
Dark Is Rising sequence? The stories do deal with Merlin
and related legends, and the last book in the sequence is titled
Silver
on the Tree.
Y6:
YA
pre/early Civil War book
I'm looking for a fiction book about a family living in the North
whose southern-born parents go on a trip to the South just as the Civil
War is breaking out. The children must deal with the town's suspicions
that they are Confederate sypathisers, remain loyal to thir parents and
to their own beliefs and keep the family together. Main
characters
are the older teen-age children, Carrie and Ben.
Norma Johston, Ready or Not, 1965.
Two oldest children are named Carolina aka Carlie & Ben. Set in NJ
during the Civil War. Mother born in the south & parents are
visiting south when war breaks out. Children must survive both
accusations
about the parents and financial hardships of supporting family.
Y7: Your
fur needs combing!
This was a favorite book about a forest creature in search of
friendship.
The main character would go around telling all he met that thier fur
needed
combing. I wish I could remember more but that is all. I would
love
to share this story with my children. I hope you can help.
could this be Bartholomew the Beaver,
from the Solved List? While not exact, it does have a forest creature
looking
for friends and references to untidy fur.
patti stren, hug me, 1977.
Y7 Could your character be a porcupine who wants a hug? Newly
illustrated
edition recently published, but call me sentimental, I prefer the
original,
line drawings with minimal color.
Marjorie Weinman Sharmat, I'm Terrific.
I think this might by "I'm Terrific" by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat.
Jason Bear thinks he is wonderful and keeps awarding himself gold
stars.
I think he tells his friends that they need to comb their fur. He
is quite unpleasant to them, so they don't like to be with him.
As
a result, he is very lonely. He finds out that being terrific is
not enough--he needs friends. You might also be thinking of "Mole
and Troll". Troll asks Mole, "Who will tell me when my fur needs
combing?
Marjorie Weinman Sharmat, I'm
Terrific.
I think this might by I''m Terrific by Marjorie
Weinman
Sharmat. Jason Bear thinks he is wonderful and keeps awarding
himself gold stars. I think he tells his friends that they need
to
comb their fur. He is quite unpleasant to them, so they don'\''t
like to be with him. As a result, he is very lonely. He
finds
out that being terrific is not enough--he needs friends.You might also
be thinking of Mole and Troll. Troll asks Mole, "Who will
tell me when my fur needs combing?" I hope this helps.
Y8:
young girl getting her period
Solved: Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
2002
Y9: Young
witch, young boy, talking bear
Solved: The Second Witch
Y10:
young spies in Eastern Europe
Looking for a book, written before 1963, about young people (I think
a boy and a girl) who get caught up in a spy adventure in an unnamed
but
vaguely communist country. The one clear memory I have is that the
secret
code for identifying fellow spies is: "The snow on Mt. Tana is red."
Y11:
Young
girl travels in time to ancient Egypt
Solved: Cat in the Mirror
2003
Y12:
young boy's adventure to The Pas in Canada
Solved: Lost in the Barrens
Y13: You
say...no Santa Clause
1912-1920. Poem my mother often quoted but couldn't recall
all lines. You say there is no Santa Clause / That's cause
you
do
not know / I saw him one Christmas Eve / All covered with the snow.
//
His cap was red, his coat a pretty green / (xxx....................xxx)
/ You say there is no Santa Clause/ That's cause you do not know.
Y14: young
boy/horse
1950's. Young boy runs away from home with his horse and
narrowly
escapes a flash flood in an arroyo
#Y14--young boy/horse: It would really
help
to know the type and length of each book described if at all
possible!
If this was picture book size, it could be one of the Billy and
Blaze
series by C. W. Anderson. There are a couple of incidents
like this in Little Britches, by Ralph Moody,
but
this is a long chapter book. In one, Ralph runs away on horseback
to seek help for a sick horse, and in another, he barely escapes a
flash
flood but his horse is lost.
There is a rescue from a flash flood in a canyon
in Little Vic by Doris Gates (1961)
Y15: Yellow
Line
This was a story about two sisters that could not get along.
They shared a house and painted a yellow line throughout the inside of
the house to separate their living areas. The porch of the house
also had a yellow line painted across the front. The sisters may
have been twins. A teenager boy or girl is interested in the women and
the mystery of their feud. Eventually the teen discovers that one of
the
sisters has been dead for years and the other sister has been painting
the line on the porch so no one will know that she is dead.
Yikes. Quite a jump from This
Side
is Mine.
Y16: Young
kids in Nazi mystery
I read this book in 6th grade in Missouri
and was quite scared by it. It involved two boys and maybe a girl
involved in a mystery (the details of which I don't remember).
But
the main bad guys turned out to be Nazis in post war America. I read
this
in the mid-seventies and I think it was set in the 60's. The
thing
I remember most vividly is the ending where the Nazi is chasing the
boys
acros a rickety railroad trestle. One of the boys slips and is hanging
on for dear life as a train is coming. The Nazi eventually falls
between the slats while trying to kill the boy, and is hanged. I
remember
this being described in a very graphic and grisly way (at least for my
delicate sensibilities at the time). The trestle plays a pretty
large
part as the kids have to cross it several times, with much
trepidation.
This has been bugging me for years and I would greatly appreciate any
help
you may provide in finding it!
Jacynth Hope-SImpson, The Man
Who
Came Back. I remember this spy story, although I think it was
set
in England, in a boarding school. One of the children was named Nigel.
The girl was Lucy, and I think her dad was the headmaster of the boys'
school, so Lucy lived in the school building but was not of it.
Y17: Young
girl's diary
Solved: Gertrude
Kloppenberg
(private)
Y18:
Young
Boy Finds Dragon Puzzle in Abandoned(?) House
Solved: Dragon Magic
Y19:
Young
migrant worker in California
A children's book I read in the late 50s,early
60s about a young migrant worker (boy) who picked fruit with his
family in the California Central Valley. The library book from
which
I read the story was light blue in color with a picture of the
boy
in overalls with a fruit bag over his shoulder an walking beneath a
grove
of trees.
#Y19--Young migrant worker in
California:
Author is probably Lois Lenski.
I don't have any memory of this specific book,
but it could be one of the many by Lois Lenski, as she had a
lot
about migrant workers, poor families, etc. in different regions of the
country.
Louisa Shotwell, Roosevelt Grady,
early 1960s. A possibility, especially if the characters were
African
American.
If the child is a Mexican boy -maybe A
Place for Johnny-Bill by Ruth Juline (1961)
Correcting a previous submission: MEXICAN migrant
worker is Mario by Marion Garthwaite (1960), A
Place for Johnny-Bill by Ruth Juline (1961) is also a
story
of migrant workers.
unfortunately, none of those mentioned are the ones I am looking
for. Thanks again for your time and effort.
Y20:
Young witch in training
Solved: The Resident Witch
Y21:
young
woman raised by indians
Solved: Witch's Silver
Y22:
yellow was a mellow fellow
Solved: My Color Game
Y23: YA
Mystery--Set in FL; Streets in Sub Spell Betty
Solved: The Mystery of the
Second Treasure
2004
Y24:
Young
adult novel set during Vietnam War era
I read this book between 1969 and 1975.
It was one of those modern, relevant novels that were popular with
teens
at the time and was recently published when I read it. The story
was about a family with 3 young adult children and was set in the
Vietnam
War era somewhere on the East coast. One of the sons and the daughter
in
the family are adopted and are not related to each other by
blood.
The other son isn't adopted. The natural son has been drafted and
is in Vietnam. The adopted son drew a high number in the draft
lottery
and hasn't been drafted. The daughter has sought and found her
birth
parents and convinces her brother to try to do the same. She helps him
and in the process they fall in love and decide to marry. Their
adoptive
parents are horrifed because they consider this incest. In the
midst
of this crisis, the family receives news that the natural son has been
killed in Vietnam. Sound familiar to anyone? I believe the
word tree was in the title.
Y25:
Young
Witch
Solved: The Witch Who Was Afraid of Witches
Y26:
Young girl befriends blind girl
Solved: The Seeing Summer
Y27:
Yellow
Jacket
Solved: Yellow Jacket :
the
story of a domestic cat
2005
Y28:
Yaks,
pots in picture book
1974 Picture book, rich/vibrant/earthy tones. Boy lives
in the mountains and makes pots with his family. They load up
their
yaks with the pots and make the long journey to the market.
(Moral
of the story: Yaks and pots are very cool.)
Y29:
Young
rabbit won't sleep
Solved: Good night,
Richard
Rabbit
Y31:
a
year of life
looking for a play where four (?) children
each decide to give up a year of life to save dying friend's life
Y31: Not a play originally, anyway, but it
sure
sounds like Ray Bradbury's The Halloween Tree. Love those
pen-and-ink
illustrations! He should turn 85 this summer.
Ray Bradbury, The Halloween Tree,
1972. On page 160 of this novella, Carapace Clavicle Moundshroud
asks eight boys to give one year from the end of their lives to ransom
the life of their friend, Pipkin. Ray Bradbury also wrote a
teleplay
with the same title and a slightly different plot: it won an Emmy Award
for Outstanding Writing in an Animated Program in 1993.
Hanna-Barbera
animated the teleplay, and it is still available in VHS. That
particular
version is probably the one the stumper requester remembers: four
children
(three boys, one girl) are asked to trade a year of their lives for the
safe return of their friend, Pip. Leonard Nimoy (Star Trek's Mr.
Spock) is the voice of Moundshroud and Ray Bradbury is the narrator.
Y32:
Young
Witch or Mermaid Crystal Cave under House
Solved: The Witch
Family
Y33:
Young Witch, broom stick, something silver
I read this book for the first time in 4th grade- 1987- and my Dad
remembers reading it at about the same age (he was born in 1952). It
was
about a young witch girl who wanted to fly (maybe couldn't fly?), there
was something silver that paid a large part in the story- like a silver
bird or a salt shaker or something like that. It was a chapter book,
and
I know I loved it, but I can't remember much beyond it.
Jill Murphy, The Worst Witch.
Could it be The Worst Witch? I remember the girl witch
as
wearing baggy red and white stockings in the book I had as a girl, but
all the copies of the book I can find for sale have illustrations from
the T.V. series.
There is a series of books about Wendy
Witch.
The title is usually Wendy Witch and the...
ssomething Chew (Elisabeth?), What
the Witch Left, 1970s. I can't remember a witch wanting to fly
but there was definitely a silver bird-shaped salt shaker in What
the Witch Left. I remember it came alive when the 2 young girls
polished it and I think it laid a tiny silver egg at the end of the
story.
This was a great book!
Patricia
Coombs, Doorie's Magic, Doorie and
the Blue Witch, etc. I too was searching for
the name of a children's book about a little witch. I remember
the sweet illustrations. Especially the stockings and a little
crooked hat ...Pat Coombs' little witch, Dorrie. Ms. Coombs wrote
about 20 books about Doorie and her cat, Gink. I don't know if
they are available in print anymore. I hope the image at this
link immediately reminds you of your
childhood...http://dorrie.jdfiles.org/
Norton,
Mary, Magic Bedknob,
1940s, copyright. Perhaps it could be The Magic Bedknob
by Mary Norton. Although this
book involves an inexperienced witch, she is not young. The witch and
children go flying off with mixed results on an old bed using the
bedknob (silver?) as the magical object.
2006
Y34:
Yellow
Peril
I'm looking for a girls'mystery series which included a book about
older chinese men posing as high school students, something like Connie
Blair or Judy Bolton. I thought it was called "The Yellow Peril" or
something
like that. We have a bet on whether or not this book exists, so I look
forward to hearing from you all!
Gene Stratton Porter, Her Father's
Daughter.
Very non-PC book but a great read. Japanese men pose as teen boys. Key
part of the plot. Yellow peril referred to specifically as such. Teen
girls.
I'm sorry, I don't think this was a Gene Stratton Porter book. It
was definitely a series, one where I "knew" some of the characters
already.
This is definitely not the book I was looking for--'way too grown up!
My
book was in a stack of free reading books in a third grade classroom.
Y35:
Young
Merlin, Orphanage, Postapocalyptic Future
Solved: Winter of Magic's
Return
Y36:
Young
girl with psychic ability
Read around 1985/86, about a girl who was
psychic. I remember that she somehow found herself transported onto the
Titanic where she saw a young boy in a room and she wanted to save him
but couldn't. She may have had two good friends and wasn't very
popular,
maybe kind of poor. Something to do with an old woman they were afraid
of as well.
Richard Peck, Ghosts I Have Been.
One of his series about Blossom Culp. She uses her psychic powers
to travel back to the Titanic to try to rescue a boy who drowned.
Richard Peck, Ghosts I Have Been, 1979,
reprint. I am sure this is the book you are looking for.
The
name of the girl is Blossom Culp and she has second sight. She
lives
with her mother and they are very poor. She becomes involved with the
ghost
of a boy who was on the Titanic and even is "transported" to the
Titanic
and brings back a towel (or something like that) that is proof that she
was there.
Y37:
young
cowboy and cowgirl
Solved: The
Book of Cowboys
Y38:
Young
man lives with father in mountains
I'm looking for a series of books I read when I was in grade school.
They were about a young man who lived in the mountains with his father.
His father was a ranger or ran an avalanche patrol.
Y39:
Young
cursed man
Young man moves to village that thinks he's cursed. This is
a chapter book I read in elementary school (3rd-5th grade). The
young
man moves back to the village where he was born but he's unwelcome
because
the villagers think he's cursed--it's something to do with his birth
and/or
his mother...I think she made some sort of deal with a demon/devil and
possibly sold her son's soul. Much of the book is about the young
man trying to fit in. One thing in particular that I remember is
a scene at a harvest-type festival where the young man gets his hand
caught
in an apple press (?) when he's trying to fix it. I think he
meets
the demon/devil at the end and somehow breaks the curse / wins back his
soul.
Y40:
Yellow
Book with Rabbit
Solved: The Whispering Rabbit and other stories
Y41:
Yellow
string and stuffed bear adventure
I'm looking for a book that I read as a kid
in the late 70's or early 80's. The story is illustrated with live
photographs
of a stuffed bear in different settings. For example, there was a
picture
of the stuffed bear climbing a mountain trail, then the bear in front
of
his house, etc. Also, there is a piece of yellow string or yarn that
comes
out of a magic music box and leads the bear on his various adventures.
He follows the yellow piece of yarn around. I remember one book in
particular
where the bear was going to a party. I'm not sure if that was the only
book or if it was a series.
Alfred the Little Bear. This
book
may be the answer to your stumper. Visually it is a series of
photographs
of a little stuffed bear in different real-life settings. My
sister
had this book as a child and loved it. In one part Alfred is
shown
with an apple and he says, "Whew! That apple almost knocked me
silly!"
There was a mention of string, but each event or what-have-you in the
book
lasted only one or two pages. I hope this is the book you are
looking
for, but if not, perhaps there were other Alfred books and yours is one
of them.
Stephanie, Yellow String and Stuffed Bear
Adventure. This isn't the book I was looking for, but you are
on the right track. The bear was a larger teddy bear and the yellow
string
that came out of the music box led him on all of his adventures. He
might
have been British... for some reason that seems familiar. In the book I
remember he was given an invitation to a party and had to follow the
yellow
string to get to the party location.
2007
Y42:
young
English boy
This is a contemporary fiction book that I read (in paperback) in
1998 while living in London. There is a young English girl (fresh out
of
high school or college) who takes a year (whether it is her official
"gap
year" trip, I can't remember) and travels around the United Kingdom,
spending
three months each in four separate locations: Cornwall, Ireland,
Scotland,
and somewhere else in England. The book is about her adventures, the
places,
and the people she meets. I think her aunt or close older family friend
sponsors the trip, so all of the stops and the people she stays with
are
a surprise. I can't for the life of me remember the name of the book or
the author. Any help would be appreciated! Thank you!
Y43:
Young
woman seeking career in radio
I thought this was a Phyllis A Whitney
title, but it doesn't seem to be. Young woman comes to big city (New
York?)
to try to start career in (I thik) radio. Lives in boarding house where
all young folks show off their musical talents after dinner; her only
musical
talent is whistling, which she apparently does very well. There is a
nice
young man living there too--he may be the one who is in radio, and of
course
they fall in love. I think I recall they visited an artist friend who
has
unusual mobile in doorway that somehow would scare away a thief. I read
this in the late 1950s.
Y44:
"You
won't be needed until morning"
Solved: How To Grow Up In
One Easy Piece
Y45:
Young
woman engaged to higher-class man, story within story, ancestress
Solved: Witch's Silver
Y46:
Young
boy, elderly gent, monkeys with ice cream cones
The book I am searching for has a young boy with elderly gent.
Last page or so covers monkeys in trees within an iron fence, each
holding
a different colored ice cream cone. Thank you. I read this
book around 1962, in the Hollywood Library, Hollywood, Ca, which has
since
been torched by arsonist.
H
A Rey, Cecily G. and the Nine Monkeys.
If the illustrations you remember were in the same style as Curious George,
then this might be it. We no longer have our copy so I can't
check but I sure seem to remember they all ended up in the zoo, with
ice cream.
Sorry, I can't identify this book,
but it is NOT Cecily
G. and the Nine Monkeys by H.A.
Rey. I own a copy, and there is no elderly gentleman, no
boy, and no monkeys with ice cream cones.
Ruth
Helm, Mimi Love (illus), The Roary
Lion, 1954, copyright. This is a total long shot,
but when I search on "ice cream" and "zoo" this keeps popping up.
"Augustus the lion roars constantly in the zoo, so Uncle Henry and Aunt
Alverta agree to let Tommy bring him home to find out why he roars.
Tommy tries training him and giving him a new diet. Finally, Tommy
discovers that what Augustus really loves is ice cream, and that's what
been making him roar." It does have a young boy (Tommy), an older
gentelman (Uncle Henry), ice cream, and a zoo. I have not read the book
myself, but can speculate that perhaps at the end of the book, Augustus
is returned to the zoo and everyone (including the monkeys) has ice
cream? Front cover is orange, with a line drawing of the lion holding
an ice cream cone in one paw and licking it.
2008
Y47:
Young boy defeats aunt's boyfriend at
"muckraking" game in swamp
Solved: How Tom beat Captain Najork and His Hired
Sportsmen
Y48:
Young black girl's adventures
Solved: Philip
Hall Likes Me... I Reckon Maybe
Y49: Yellow
hardback
story collection
My
sister and I remember a collection of children's stories in a large
yellow hardback book with pictures from each story scattered across the
front. This was in the mid-fifties (1957 - 59). One of the
stories was "The Fussy Furnace" - the thin lady wanted the furnace to
be hot and the fat lady wanted it to be cool - Toodles Lolly Tompkins
was the name of the fat lady. Another entry was Biffington Bop -
a poem. Genevieve Goes to Bed Early was another entry in this
collection.
Tibor Gergely (illus), The Golden Story Treasury (A Big Golden
Book In Full Color), 1951, copyright. If the cover
might have been pink instead of yellow, perhaps this is the one you're
looking for? Cover contains a montage of images from many stories,
including children flying a kite, a kangaroo, an elephant, a panda, a
camel loaded with bundles, a rooster, a fire engine with firemen, a
steam shovel, a trolley car, a tugboat, a lion, a frog, a donkey
wearing a staw hat, and a sheet with a green jack-o-lantern head on
top. Stories include Samson, Biffington Bop, The Very Quiet
Forest, William the Rooster, Genevieve Goes to Bed Early, The Jolly
Jack-O-Lantern, Ellie Phantastic, Farmer Jim, Oliver the Old-Fashioned
Trolley Car, The Littlest Fire Engine, The Mirror, and many more. I
don't know if "The Fussy Furnace" is in there or not - I can't seem to
find any reference to that story, but I don't have the complete listing
of the contents of The
Golden Story Treasury, either.
Y50: Young
man warns
galaxy of "bug" invasion
Scifi: young male diplomat is captured
on starship, slave in mine, owner is woman he falls in love with, but
then must escape to warn galaxy of impending "bug" invasion, returns
with army and saves woman.
Robert A. Heinlein, Citizen of the Galaxy/Starship Troopers.
I think you are
mixing up two novels. In Starship Troopers,
there are bugs. I don't remember the first book as well, but I
think it has the enslaved boy.
Y51: Young
woman in
jungle civilization
Solved: Zahrah
the Windseeker
Y52: Young
adult
romance
Solved: Rainbow
After Rain
Y53: Young
man
frozen, unfrozen in future
Hi, I'm looking for a book that I read
in the mid to late 70's and was about a young man, possibly named Evan,
who had a famous father (famous for cryogenics). He was frozen
and then unfrozen in the future where people live to be very old (have
paper thin skin) and cars navigate themselves...help!!
Y54: Young
black girl in the city, wants garden
Picture book. Young black girl who
lives in the city and wants a garden. She tries planting the
carrots that her mom intended for their supper - Mom gets mad; carrots
wilt. Brother shows her where a sunflower is growing against
brick wall. Girl puts on yellow dress and dances for her
grandmother.
Faith Ringgold, Tar Beach, 1991, approximate. This book was
featured on Reading Rainbow:
http://pbskids.org/readingrainbow/books/episode_detail_081.html.
Baldwin,
Anne Norris, Sunflowers for Tina,
1970, copyright.
Y55: yellow cover, humorous
poems, limericks, epitaphs
Seeking a book with a yellow cover
that would have been read in the 1970s. Described as small and
thin, probably paperback. Contained humorous poems and children's
poems, including limericks and epitaphs. It is NOT the Pocket
Book of Humorous Verse. Trying to find it for a friend.
Thanks.
Christopher Logue, Children's Book of Comic Verse. The Faber Book of Comic Verse has
been around for a long time, but you might also try The Children's Book of Comic Verse,
edited by Christopher Logue. I have a copy here and it does have
epitaphs.
Beatrice
Schenk De Regniers, Abraham Lincoln
Joke Book, 1965, copyright. This is a long shot,
since I don't remember it having any poetry, but it does have a yellow
cover, with a picture of Abraham Lincoln on it. It's a collection of
anecdotes and jokes, mostly revolving around Lincoln.
edited by Julia Watson, The Armada Lion book of young verse,
1973, copyright. Could you be thinking of this book - it was a
thin yellowish paperback with a few line art illustrations on the cover
by Quinten Blake. I know
it had poems/limericks by Edward Lear, Hillaire Belloc and other
similar poets. I think it was mostly nonsense rhymes but we also
had a Spike Milligan's nonsense verse and I may bet getting confused
between the two. The library catalogue describes it as "Strange
creatures and peculiar people, rhymes and riddles, adventures and
journeys - all in verse".
Y56: Young Girl instrumental in
battle of Light and Dark (must choose side?)
Solved: Running
With The Demon
Y57: Young black girl makes desk
out of wooden crate
Young Black Girl living in the city
has no space of her own and creates a desk out of an old wooden
crate. This was a magical book about imagination and making a
space or home for yourself even if you had nothing. It may have
been a card board box? 60's or early 70's?
Y58: Young girl, time travel
The story was about a little girl who
discovers a way to go back into the past through what was (maybe?) a
deserted house foundation. She learns about and spends time with the
family she meets from the past. Eventually she has to stop going to the
house, but comes home with a kitten that helps her remember her time
there.
Sauer, Julia L., Fog Magic.
Sauer, Julia, Fog Magic,
1944, approximate. Could this be Fog Magic?
A town (from the past) emerges on foggy days on the (now empty) site
where it originally stood. The main character, Greta, visits it
and makes friends with several of the townspeople, but gradually
realizes that after she turns 12, she won't be able to see the town any
longer (and learns that her father had a similar experience).
Julia
L. Sauer, Fog Magic,
1943, copyright. From the back of the book: "Greta had always
thought that there was a secret hidden in the fog... then one day when
Greta was walking in the woods and the mist was closing in, she saw the
dark outline of a stone house -- a house where no house had stood for a
hundred years...." The plot points mentioned match up, including the
kitten.
2009
Y59: Young black girl named Lula Mae who lives
on Hibiscus Street
A beautiflly illustrated book (I
believe there were 2 or 3 published) about a young black girl named
Lula Mae who lived on Hibiscus Street with mother or grandmother.
I think the name of the book might be Hibiscus Street.
Lois Lenski, Mama Hattie's Girl. Loved by everyone!
Lenski, Lois, Mama Hattie's Girl, 1953, copyright. Google turns
this up for a Lois Lenski book
called Mama
Hattie's Girl: All the children on Hibiscus St. had heard
glorious stories of up North, now Lula Bell was going their to join
Daddy Joe. But Lula depends on her grandmother, Mama Hattie.
Lenski, Lois, Mama Hattie's Girl, 1953, copyright. Lenski, Lois,
MAMA HATTIE'S GIRL, (1953): All the children on Hibiscus St. had
heard glorious stories of up North, now Lula Bell was going their to
join Daddy Joe. But Lula depends on her grandmother, Mama Hattie.
Y60:
Young girl moves into new house, has to
share bedroom
Solved: A Room for Cathy
Y61:
Young girl escapes into a fantasy world and
must defeat witch
Young pre/teen lives in kind of
enclosed area with no natural light with parents (or possibly without)
and somehow finds herself in an alternate world (escapes outside?) full
of vivid, saturated reds and oranges - only problem is she must defeat
a witch and does so by tricking her with mask 80's bk
George MacDonald, The Day Boy and The Night Girl. The mask doesn't sound familiar
but the girl living with no natural light who escapes into the bright
world outside reminds me of the Day Boy (Photogen) and Night Girl
(Nycteris). The two are brought up separately by Watho the witch. At
the end they escape together by helping each other. Watho turns herself
into a wolf to hunt them down Nycteris smells a wild beast and
Photogen shoots the wolf with his arrow.
Y62:
Young woman lives alone, can "call"
mystical creatures
Solved: The
Forgotten Beasts of Eld
Y63:
Youth and Dead Girl Adventure Possibly
First in a Series
Young adult (series?) read in early
90's. Fantasy adventure. Teen boy. An amulet. A portal opens in his
bedroom. Meets a dead girl and a warrior. Goes into their world on a
mission. Enemy soldiers. When going to get caught they hide under water
and he has to kiss the dead girl in order to breathe.
Kara Dalkey, Water trilogy, 2002, copyright. Possibly
published too late and not all of the details match, but in either the
second or third book (titles are Ascension, Reunion, and
Transformation) the protagonists, chased by soldiers, are either hiding
in or escaping through a river or aqueduct and the human boy breaths by
kissing the girl, who is not dead but a mermaid with legs instead of a
tail. IIRC, she finds moving on land difficult and possibly grows
weaker the longer she goes without immersing herself in water.
I came here looking for a book
that's very similar to this one. I think it had the word "pearl"
in the title, possibly "grey pearl," though I haven't been able to find
anything with that title. If it's the same one, it was published
before the '90s - I read it in the mid-to-late '80s. When the guy
initially went through the portal, he first goes to a pavilion where he
finds the girl, and (I think) doesn't realise she's dead. I don't
think it was a series book. I hope this helps track it down!
Y64:
You'll never walk alone from the musical
carousel features in this fantasy novel
I read this fantasy novel in the
80's
or 90's. There are two protagonists, a boy and a girl, and the song
"you'll never walk alone" from the musical "carousel" is a prominent
plot point. Very dark.
Y65: Young child gets
toddler/baby sibling
dressed to go on a trip
Solved: Tell Me a Mitzi
Y66: Young American Indian
girl grows sunflowers
Solved: Sunflower Garden
Y67:
You should be sleeping
yourself
Solved: Wide Awake Angel
Y68:
Young Orphaned Girl young girl (young teen?) is orphaned -
lives with foster
family (anunt and uncle?) in Victorian house.
Time-travels through old mirror (or any reflective surface) Meets
girl who used to live in house. Girl from the past tries to trap
girl from
the present... girl gets home by looking at pond ic
Sounds
like it might be Jane-Emily by Patricia
Clapp. Check the solved section.
Sykes, Pamela, Mirror
of Danger, 1974,
copyright. The
mirror looked ordinary. It had a heavy
gold frame and leaned against the wall in the attic. But when
Lucy first looked into the mirror, a
strange thing happened. Another girl’s
face appeared beside hers, laughing.
Whirling around in surprise and alarm, Lucy saw a girl wearing a long
dress, a pinafore… and a sly triumphant look on her face. Also,
the attic has disappeared and another
room had taken its place – a room that belonged to the past.
≈. The girl in the
mirror was Alice, and she had lived a hundred years ago. Lucy
found she could visit her any time she
looked into the mirror. At first, it was
fun to enter the past and see how Alice had lived. But,
gradually, the chill of terror took
over. Alice’s friendliness turned into a
sinister desire for power and control over Lucy. And Lucy found
it harder and harder to resist
being trapped in the past with Alice forever!Similar book is Jane Emily
by Patricia Clapp.
Pamela Sykes, Mirror of Danger (Come Back, Lucy). British
title is Come Back, Lucy, Lucy, who had
been living with an elderly relative in a very old-fashioned way, has
to live
with some very modern cousins. She is
able to travel into the past via reflections, where a girl named Alice
is
determined to keep her. There is a
sequel, "LUCY, BEWARE, and the original book was made into a British
television mini-series.
Pamela Sykes, Come back Lucy. This one
is probably Pamela Sykes Come back Lucy (US title Mirror of danger).
Theres
also a sequel, Lucy beware. Lucy is an orphan living with an aunt who
dies, so
goes to live with another aunt and uncle, and 3 children Patrick Rachel
and Bill.
The Victorian ghost child is Alice.
Y69:
Young man (Tony?)
He pretends to be classy &
wealthy.
Goes through several incarnations to pull off this persona. Ends up in
Africa
as a big game hunter. He is very charming and conniving. Towards the
end of the
book the author writes "his lights had gone out." Couldnt pull it
off anymore.
Twain, Mark, The Million Pound Bank Note, 1893,
copyright. This
isn't the solution to your book stumper, but the idea of a poor man
masquerading as a rich one is a common theme in fiction.
I've found three of them: Mark
Twain's The Million Pound Bank Note,
originally publishd in 1893, made into a movie with Gregory Peck in
1954 called
Man with a Million John Guare's play
Six Degrees of Separation, from 1990, made into a movie in 1993 with
Will
Smith and one of the novelizations of
the TV series Lost, called Secret Identity (Lost novel #2), written by
Cathy
Hapka and published in 2006.
Twain, Mark, The Million Pound Bank Note, 1893,
copyright. This is
not an answer to your question, but the theme of a poor man pretending
to be a
rich one is a very common one in literature.
I thought of three immediately.
The first is Mark Twain's "The Million Pound Bank Note,"
published in 1893 and made into a movie called "Man with a Million"
starring Gregory Peck in 1954. The
second is John Guare's play "Six Degrees of Separation" from 1990
and made into a movie starring Will Smith in 1993.
The third is an original novelization based
on the series "Lost." It's
called "Secret Identity," by Cathy Hapka, published in 2006.
Y70:
Young Adult Fantasy Series About Angels
Read this
series in the early 80s, I think. It was about an angel who doesn't yet
know
he's an angel, he's just a human with extraordinary powers who heals
quickly,
etc. The series goes on to profile a number of different angels (I
think it's
the usual suspects, with names like Raphael and Gabriel.
Could it have
been "The
Fallen" series by Tom
Sniegoski? They're later (1990s) but sound similar.
Y71:
Youngest Brother
Follows the adventures of the youngest
of three
brothers. Family gets a watercloset,
youngest brother worried house will smell like outhouse. Youngest
brother tired of being sick after
brothers, purposely gets mumps from friend so his brothers will be put
to bed
with him and get sick after he is well and running around. Friend
loses leg (maybe to tetnus),
doesn't want to live, tries to help him hang himself and when the horse
doesn't cooperate, youngest brother teaches him to run and play ball
despite
having a prosthetic.
John
D. Fitzgerald, The Great Brain.
I'm
not sure whether the incidents mentioned all happened in the first
book, THE
GREAT BRAIN, but they definitely did somewhere in the series. THE
GREAT BRAIN, THE GREAT BRAIN AT THE
ACADEMY, ME AND MY LITTLE BRAIN, MORE ADVENTURES OF THE GREAT BRAIN,
and one
other whose title escapes me at the moment.
John
D. Fitzgerald, The Great Brain,
1967,
copyright. This is
the first book in the semi autobiographical series about the author's
boyhood in Adenville, Utah. I just re-read it, it's a great description
of
the life and times of small-town boys of that era.
JD
Fitzgerald, The Great Brain.
Y71
sounds like one of the many Great Brain books by John D Fitzgerald.
They'\''re
a fictionalized version of his childhood growing up in Utah with his
older
brother Tom. (The oldest brother Sweyn
is a pretty minor character.) In the first book, The Great Brain, John
works to
catch the mumps from his friend Howard.
John
D. Fitzgerald, The Great Brain. There's no mistaking it...
John
D. Fitzgerald, The Great Brain,
1967,
copyright. This is
the book you're looking for.
John
D. Fitzgerald, The Great Brain series,
1970's-1959. You're thinking of the series of
books by John D. Fitzgerald based on his childhood. The book is
set in Adeville or Adenville and
features 3 brothers.
Fitzgerald,
John D., The Great Brain,
1967,
copyright. This is
the first of the Great Brain series by John D. Fitzgerald.
John
D. Fitzgerald, The Great Brain,
1967,
approximate. This is
definitely your book.
John
D. Fitzgerald, The Great Brain.
These
plots are definitely from The Great Brain books -- they may not all be
from the
first book, but the mumps plot definitely is. Check out the whole
series.
John D. Fitzgerld, The Great Brain.This is
from The Great Brain or one of its many sequels
The Great Brain.
First in a series of eight. See
Solved Mysteries
Fitzgerald,
John D., Great Brain.
Definitely this book, and this is
probably one of dozens of responses.
John
D. Fitzgerald, The Great Brain.
I
don't remember which one of the Great Brain series this is, but it is
definitely one of the Great Brain Books.
It is about the childhood of author John D. Fitzgerald and his brother
Tom, AKA The Great Brain, and their brothers Sweyn and Frankie in Utah
at the
turn of the century. Great series!
John
D Fitzgerald, The Great Brain.
The
indoor plumbing and the youngest brother getting sick are from the
first book, but
the whole series is excellent.
John
Dennis Fitzgerald, The Great Brain,
1967 copyright. I think
that it's the first book in the series, about a boy (JD) who's older
brother (Tom) is very smart and likes to con the other children out of
their
spending money. It's set in Utah, in a small town in the late 1800, and
is
an 8 book series. I think the first book has the amputation and the
water
closet in it.
John
D. Fitzgerald, The Great Brain,
1967,
copyright. I
believe this is the book you are looking for. John D. Fitzgerald wrote
several
books about the exploits of J.D.
"The exploits of the Great Brain of Adenville, Utah are described
by his younger brother, frequently the victim of the Great Brain's
schemes
for gaining prestige or money."
John
D. Fitzgerald, The Great Brain,
1967,
copyright. This is
definitely The Great Brain by Fitzgerald. Other titles in the series
are: More
Adventures of the Great Brain, Me and My Little Brain, The Great Brain
at the
Academy, The Great Brain Reforms, The Return of the Great Brain, The
Great
Brain Does it Again, and The Great Brain is Back. The stories follow
the
adventures of three brothers growing up in Utah around the end of the
19th
century. The family gets the water closet in the first chapter of "The
Great Brain" (and entrepreneurial middle brother Tom charges his
friends a
penny apiece to see it). In chapter two, younger brother and narrator
J.D.
intentionally gets infected with mumps so that he can have them first
before
his brothers. In chapter seven, a friend (Andy) loses a leg to gangrene
after
stepping on a rusty nail in the barn. In the final chapter, J.D. tries
(unsuccessfully) to help Andy kill himself, first by drowning and then
by
hanging. Tom discovers them and, determined to prove that Andy is not
"plumb useless", sets out teaching him to run, play, and even do his
chores with his peg leg until he can do just as well as the other
children.
Y72:
Young Witch in Training
I read this book in the 70's, I
remember it was filed
near the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, it had an Orange cover and was
about a
young girl who was from a family of witches and was learning to be a
witch
herself, she used her powers to have fun at a carnival. She
counted bats "forty-twelve"
Marian Place, The
Resident Witch, 1970,
copyright. Definitely this one! Witcheena, a
lonely young witchling, is sent by her aunt, a senior witch, to ruin a
neighborhood carnival - but instead, decides to disguise herself as a
regular
girl and mingle with the crowd. There she befriends a girl named Nancy.
She
tells Nancy that she has "twenty-six cats and forty-twelve bats." She
later tells Nancy's father the same thing. When the abandoned farm on
which
Witcheena and her aunt live is purchased to build a children's
amusement
park, they must find a new place to live. The girls come up with the
idea of a
"Resident Witch" who will live in a "witch house" at the
park, to scare the children who come for overnight campouts, and
Nancy's
father (the park operator) approves the idea. Witcheena, of course,
wins the
contest to become the new Resident Witch. You might also remember
Witcheena's fascination with the "Moon Ships" from a carnival ride
- Witcheena enchants them several times during the story and flies
around in
them, calling them "the modern way to fly."
Y73: Young Boy Seen
by
Therapist or Psychiatrist
Solved: C.
Terry Cline, Damon, 1975.
Y74:
Yarn/Sewing
card book
A yarn or sewing card type book, 10 x 10 or 10 x 12 inches,
robin's egg blue soft card cover with wide yellow borders with wavy
margins. In
the centre a rabbit with a carrot in the foreground.
Inside,
6 or 8 pages
of various pastel colours with dashed black outlines of pictures to be
sewn in
(& coloured) with yarn. Pictures were: rabbit with carrot, kitten
with yarn
ball, two birds in a shrub, boy on pony at beach, daffodils, and tulips
etc.
Purchased approx 1956. I thought it might be a Saalfield piece as the
illustrations are very similar to those by Corinne Ringel Bailey in a
1935
Saalfield "Sewing Cards" book. But I have accessed the Saalfield
archives & it appears this was not one of their publications. There
was a
title I think with the word "Yarn" in it as I remember a discussion
at the time as to what yarn was. "Oh, it's just wool!" I know this
isn't children's fiction & I apologize for that, but I've been
looking
for several years including ebay with no luck.
Z1:
Zipper
the puppy
Solved: Lands of Pleasure
Z2: Zipperropazues
Solved: Little Monster's Bedtime Book
Z3: Zoo
Solved: A Visit to the
Children's
Zoo
Z4: Zorn
Solved: Battle of Zorn
Z5: Zeb,
Zeke & ? argue about the moon
Solved: Who Owns the Moon?
2003
Z6:
Zipperumpazoos
Solved: Little Monster's Bedtime Book
Z7:
zoo animals escape
My wife and I rad a book we found in the
public
library in Superior, WI in 1981 or 1982 that was a novel re: zoo
animals
that had escaped from a zoo. We have been trying to find it for several
years. No one has a clue. With re: to genre--it had a pro animal
rights theme.
John Irving, Setting Free the Bears,
1970. This is not a children's book, but in it two Viennese
university
students free the
animals in the city zoo.
Jahann V. Jenner , Sandeagozu,1986.
A little later than you mention, but a possibility. It isn't a
children's
book, though. It is the story of several escaped animals trying
to
find the mythical "Sandeagozu" (in reality, although they don't know
it,
it's the San Diego Zoo.) It has a very strong pro-animal-rights theme.
McNaughton, Colin, The Great Zoo Escape,
NY Viking 1979. Might be this one, it's at least early enough -
but
only 32 pages long. "When a tropical bird from a desert island is
captured
and taken away to a zoo, he is helped by his brave
friends."
In The Zoo, by William Papas
(Oxford University Press, 1974), all the animals in the zoo escape. The
king/prime minister (?) orders them captured. Animal catchers catch all
the normal animals, but the fantastic ones (dragons, unicorns,
mermaids,
etc.) fight back so well that the government have to give up on them.
Z8: zoo
animal conversations
Solved: Mr. Wilmer
Z9:
Zeldean
was a character in book
My older cousin had read a book with character
named Zeldean. I was born in 1936. I know no further
details
of book---probably a novel.
2004
2005
Z10:
Zookeepers's holiday
Solved: A Holiday
for Mister Muster
Z11:
Ziggy
Solved: Ziggy and his
friends
: music, animals, colors
Z12:
Zoological
adventures
Solved: Price, Willard ...
Adventures
Z13:
Zelona
bear
My aunt read a book that she got off the bookmobile that had her
name in it - she said all she can remember is that it had a bear in it
and the little girl's name was Zelona (that is where my grandmother got
her name from) She said it had pictures with words
underneath.
The girl was Indian. Any help you could provide would be
appreciated.
i think i read a book like this once it had
something
to do with a turtle and the stars to but i dont remember much eather
hope
i helped
Florence
C. Fox, The Indian Primer,
1906, copyright. The Indian Primer
by Florence C. Fox might be
the book you're looking for. It is in 5 parts, or chapters, with a
different Indian child for each chapter. Zelona is in the first
chapter. The bear is in the 4th chapter with another child's story. It
was published by American Book Company in 1906.
2006
Z14:
Z-gas
Solved: McWhinney's Jaunt
Z15:
Zot
juice speeds up boy
This was from my junior high library (1972-1975). It was my
first science fiction story and I really enjoyed it. Whatever
help
anyone can give would be appreciated. The boy drinks zot juice
and
it speeds him up until he finds a world within his own world. The
two worlds are not aware of each other because they operate at
different
speeds. I seem to remember that the "fast" world's members are
skeletal
and/or robotic. The boy has adventures and then stops drinking
zot
juice, slows down, and returns to his own (slow) world. Weird,
huh?
The book was small, hardback, cover was white with the robot form?
shown.
Thanks!
This is not a solution, just an interesting
observation.
A similar plot device was used in an original "Star Trek"
episode.
Capt. Kirk was "speeded up" so he could communicate with the survivors
of some kind of disaster. The beautiful Kathy Brown was a guest
star
- as the doomed but gorgeous femme fatale that Kirk always seemed to
find
on every planet!!
2007
Z16:
Zoo
or circus animal party
Zoo or circus animals have a party. Black bear eats red cherries,
polar bear swims in pink lemonade and drinks with straw. Peanuts,
popcorn,
other animals. May be a train at the end. Illus. are black, white, red,
pink. 50s/early 60s / I think it's a Little Golden Book
Roethke, Theodore, Party at the Zoo.
1963. Possibly this one? Cover shows a giraffe and a
bicycle
riding monkey with an icecream
Z17:
Zillah
the Dancing Girl
The book was called something like *Zillah the Little Dancing Girl*
and my mother loved it when she was a child in the 1930s. I have
googled and googled this for years and tried Bookfinder, etc. It
could just be something like "The Little Dancer". She was
befriended
by a rich family. There was also a barrel organ in the
story.
I would LOVE to find this for my mother who is 80!
Mrs. Hugh St Leger, illus. Rex Osborne,
Zillah
: the little dancing girl, or, "One of Christ's lost
little
lambs,1906, S.W. Partridge & Co. Ltd.
Madeline Brandeis, The Little Spanish
Dancer,1936.Just
a guess, the only title I could find close to matching, but the 10 year
old girl's name is Pilar.
2008
Z18:
Zachary? is always last
Solved: The Story of Zachary Zween
2009
Z19:
Zip Zip
Solved: Zip-Zip and His Flying
Saucer
Z20:
zoo, little girl
A little girl visits the zoo, probably
written in the 40's, possibly a Golden Book. The cover shows a
little girl standing at the the zoo gate (I think).
Florence Sarah Winship (illus), Jack and Jill Visit The Zoo, 1942, copyright. Not a lot to go
on, but this does fit your time frame & recollection of the cover
picture. Front cover shows a little girl in a red coat and a straw hat
with black ribbons and a little boy wearing brown shorts and knee
socks, a blue-striped shirt and a sailor hat. The children are standing
on either side of the ticket booth at the zoo entrance. The booth is
centered under a stone archway, with flowers growing on either side. A
uniformed employee sits behind the booth. Behind him is a white grid
(bars) through which can be seen some of the zoo beyond. This is a
Peek-A-Boo book, with cutouts on each page, allowing you to see bits of
the pages behind. Text on the page with the lions is: A Lion,
they found, was not at all fierce, But playful as a kitten. / "I'm
firm, but I'm kind," the Keeper explained, "I've never once been
bitten."
Mabel
Watts and Art Seiden, Where is the
Keeper?, 1954. A Whitman book. I don't
remember a little girl specifically, but it's definitely at the
zoo. It was a small book, similar in size to Little Golden Books.
Marion Conger, A Day at the Zoo, 1950, copyright. This Little
Golden Book has a cover picture of a little girl with dark ringlets and
a big pink hairbow holding her father's hand in front of the lion's
cage at the zoo. The background is dark blue. Molly and her
father spend the whole day at the zoo. At the Children's Zoo
wishing well, Molly wishes to return again.
Z21: Zodiac
Solved: The
Valley of Song
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5/14/09
