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Have you forgotten the title of your favorite children's book? This is a service to help solve your book mysteries.

Submit your memory here, and see if anyone else remembers your book memory, or better yet, knows the title and author! After all, it's easier to find the book when you know what it's called.

I'll post copies for sale when I have them, and am always glad to search for copies not currently in stock. Loganberry Books is a used bookshop after all, and this page is only a small sideline offered as a service to my customers.

Original requests are in bold,
comments and solutions
from internet friends are in color.
My comments (HRL/staff) are in black.

How does this work?

Book Stumpers cost $2 to submit, and will be posted alphabetically by Keycode until solved. New Stumpers will be on this page for at least four weeks, and are then moved to the archive pages. Once solved, the posting moves to the Solved Mysteries pages, alphabetical by title. New comments and stumpers are posted on Tuesdays, and whenever else time permits.

The 2003 Tally
1192 Stumpers posted; 742 (62%) Solved
The 2004 Tally
527 Stumpers posted; 393 (75%) Solved
The 2005 Tally
902 Stumpers posted; 497 (55%) Solved
The 2006 Tally
858 Stumpers posted; 393 (46%) Solved
The 2007 Tally
974 Stumpers posted; 399 (41%) Solved

Updates

Some new solutions today, and more moving to solved.

posted 6/16/08 posted 6/16/08
posted 6/23/08 posted 6/23/08
posted 7/1/08 posted 7/1/08
posted 7/7/08 posted 7/7/08
posted 7/14/08 posted 7/14/08

The 2008 Tally
418 Stumpers posted
118 Moved to Solved

last updated
7/17/08

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B639: Baby sister named Star
Chapter book probably published in the 1950's about a little girl who wants a baby sister. Her mother has a baby around Christmas, and the little girl names her Star.

Carolyn Haywood, Betsy's Little Star, 1950, copyright. Great book, but I think it might be out of print.
Haywood, Carolyn, Merry Christmas from Betsy. This is from one of the Betsy Books, not sure which one. But it is probably in this compilation of Betsy Christmas stories.
Carolyn Haywood, Betsy and Billy. Definitely the one.
Carolyn Haywood, Betsy's Little Star, 1940's. Haywood's popular character Betsy gets a little sister on Christmas whom she names Star.
Carolyn Haywood. Could this be one of Haywood's "Betsy" series?
Carolyn Haywood, Betsy and Billy. Just to note: Betsy's Little Star is NOT the book where Star is born; that's a book that turns the attention to Star herself. Betsy and Billy is the book about Star being born at Christmas.

B640: Biography of American inventor
I am looking for a book that I read as a kid, that I think was a biography of an early American inventor. I remember most distinctly how he had to make his own ink and pencils, using gum arabic, lead, wood and other ingredients. I had thought that the book was about Robert Fulton, but I did not find the parts I remembered when I got the book. I think it was sort of a book meant more for boys- I got it from my brother's bookshelf and read it in the late '60s or early '70s. Thanks for any help.

Making his own pencils sounds like Henry David Thoreau...
For what it's worth, the inventor Thomas Edison was a heavy user of pencils and at one point had a supply specially made to his own specifications (so they would fit in a vest pocket). Might be a possibility!

B641: BOY CAMPING DOG ABANDONED HOUSE CIRCA pre 1980
I am trying to put a name to this book, it is from my childhood..in this book is about a boy who either goes camping or gets lost..but he has a sleeping bag, so I am guessing he went camping, he is with his dogs, there are woods, they find an abandoned farm house and sleep in it on the second floor, there may or may not be a bear scare in it...it was read by me in the mid 70s and may have been published before that, hardback, picture book, lots of brown and green hues.....HELP??

B642: Boy hides pebble in foil ball
Story from elem school reader, mid-70's. Children raise $ to buy candy/soda by recycling bits of old foil. One boy is short of foil needed for desired treat, so he hides a pebble inside the ball of foil scraps to make it heavier. Junk man takes foil, hands boy coins for full weight - and the pebble.

Robert Newton Peck, Soup, 1974, copyright. This particular incident is in chapter 5, which is entitled "Cheating Mr. Diskin". The details match exactly.

C574: Cat's eyes change color
I'm trying to find the title of a book I had as a child. It was a very simple, PB story book about a cat whose eyes would change colors depending where it stood. For example, when it was in the grass, its eyes were green. The next page, it is in like a bunch of blueberries, and its eyes are blue. Finally at the last, its eyes are blue and it puts on pink glasses, and now they look purple? Or something like that! :)

Alice and Martin Provensen, Roses Are Red, Are Violets Blue?, 1973, copyright. Pretty sure the solution is this paperback. Other characters are a boy and a girl with colored spectacles.

C575: Colorful creatures, series of books
This was an obscure series of picture books, each with the same structure and same ending. They were extremely colorful. Each was, I think, based around a colored creature, and at the end the creature went to the magical fantasy land. Very strange, probably, in retrospect, diversity-oriented. Published most likely between 1973-77.

Children of Wonder, 1987?, approximate. This is a long shot, but would it be the Children of Wonder series? There were four books, Helping the Sun, the Night, the Plants, and the Animals. The structure was simple enough: a child and his or her special animal friend would go through nature (animals, the sky, etc) and help set things up as needed. The books were quite colorful and meant for very young children, they may have been cardboard books. Hope this helps.

C576: cricket magazine dead friend 1970s
This is driving me crazy. It was a serialized set of beautiful stories published in Cricket magazine, for many issues, and the time period had to have been between 1973 and 1978. It was about a boy who had a dead friend who followed him and talked to him. I have no idea if it was ever published as a book. My mother chucked out all my old Cricket magazines. Alas. I would be eternally grateful if you have any idea. I wish Cricket would publish some archived stuff.

Ruth Ainsworth, A Sprig of Rosemary, 1978, approximate. A long shot, but if instead of a boy it might have been a girl named Joanna, with a ghost friend named Rosemary, this could be the one. I remember reading this story in Cricket magazine, probably in the late 1970's or early 1980's, but I don't recall whether it was serialized or not. While playing in the overgrown garden of the house next door, Joanna meets Rosemary, who is blind. The two become friends and play together often. Rosemary is troubled, however, by the absence of the rosemary bush from the garden, and feels that if she could smell it, she would remember something important that she has forgotten, since "rosemary is for rememberance." Joanna eventually plants a rosemary bush for her friend, and when she smells it, Rosemary remembers falling over a crumbling cliff. Shortly after, the owner of the house, Mrs. Raven, appears at the window. Rosemary looks up at her and calls out, "Mother, I'm coming!" Then both of them disappear. Joanna returns home, alone and bewildered. She is later informed that Mrs. Raven had died that morning, at the same moment that the girls had seen her in the window, and that Rosemary had been her daughter, who had died many years before. The story haunted me for years, until I finally posted a stumper on this site, which led me to find it in the book "The Phantom Carousel and Other Ghost Stories," by Ruth Ainsworth.
Astrid Lindgren, The Brothers Lionheart, 1973. I've got a handful of Cricket Magazines left (brought home from my Mum's just 2 weeks ago!), Volume 1, Number 12, September 1975 has part 2 of a serilisation of The Brothers Lionheart by Astrid Lindgren. I think it's the one you seek... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brothers_Lionheart.

C577: Cat hiding place
This might have been a serial in Jack and Jill Magazine in the 1950s. A girl is told never to play with a special ring which belongs to her crabby aunt. She hears a sound and drops or pushes the ring into a china cat. Then either she can't remember where the ring is or she is to afraid to tell her relative.

Was the girl blind? One of Phyllis Whitney's mysteries--The Secret of the Emerald Star--has a blind girl who hides a valuable emerald (although I think it's a necklace or pendant) inside a statue that's drying. I can't remember why it's a mystery, other than the main character isn't the same girl who hid the jewel...I think the girl who hid it doesn't want to admit it or something. It's been a *really* long time since I read the book, but it sounded similar enough that it might be it. And the original publication date was in the early 60s.

C578: Cannonballs filled with water
Story in elem school reader, mid-70's, 3rd-4th grade level. In winter, child (girl?) filled old cannonballs or similar item with water, so they split when the water froze/expanded. I think she did it to earn money? Once split, they could be melted down by foundry & recast? Older gentleman involved.

I wish you had asked this a month ago. I remember the cannonball story from fourth grade, and I was at a library book sale holding the thing in my hands! I read the stories I remembered and put it back. The title wasn't memorable.

D292: dragon hit with candy apples
1980, childrens. Illustrated hardback of short stories, about 10" x 13". Snippets of three individual stories I remember are as follows, and may be based on the actual story or are created by my memory of the illustrations that went along with them:
- a town center fair is disrupted by a fire-breathing dragon. A boy throws his candy apple at the dragon and hits him in the eye. Others throw their candy apples in a full-fledged attack, effectively taming the dragon which then gives the children flying rides as a replacement for the carousel and ferris wheel which it previously destroyed.
- a doctor with an old-fashioned black doctor's satchel. A wish is involved and I think that wish is to have pistachio ice cream fall from the sky. Which it does, and the streets are filled with mounds of green ice cream snow. A castle interior might be involved, with a stone staircase adjacent to two walls.
- A giant young man or boy dressed in a striped old-fashioned one piece bathing suit meanders his way through New York City and settles himself in the water at the beach to cool off.
Each of these was accompanied by very evocative drawings. It had a bit of a Sendak-quality to it, in terms of the quality of the drawings, the fancifulness of the overall book, and the overall "feel" (the book was fun to read but not "cheery" by any means -- it was strange and a bit "dark" at points).

D293: dog loves garbage, cat, horse, cow chews cud
I'm looking for a book that has several short stories or possibly just chapters about animals. I know for sure there is a chapter called "The Dog." The dog goes on and on about how he loves to eat garbage, and describes coffee grounds and eggshells for sure. Other known chapters are "The Cat" "The Horse" "The Cow." I think the cow talks of chewing her cud, but I'm not sure. I read it in the early 80s, but I was pretty young. I hope this was enough information. Thanks!

D294: Disney Biography about Films from Artists Perspective
I've had wonderful luck with this site before, I've got my fingers crossed that you can find this book for me! This is a Disney resource that I used for a project in 1997. The book tells the story of how a variety of Disney movies were created and offers a unique perspective. I have some direct quotes from the book, that did not appear on any google searches. I know that the publishing date has to be after the making of The Little Mermaid because one of the areas that I have quoted features that movie. Here is a quote from the book: "The artists wanted to create both a convincing illlusion of underwater reality and an emotionally believable set of characters. For inspiration in creating the fantastic undersea world, an aquarium was installed in the animation building. To emulate the movements of mermaids, a larger tank was built for live-action model Sherri Stoner to swim in." Another quote I have is from the Jungle Book, "In preparation for the story development, Disney handed Larry Clemmons, one of the four story men he assigned to the film, a copy of the Rudyard Kipling book and instructed him : "The first thing I want you to do is not to read it." This book also explains how Don Bluth was orginally an artist for Disney, but left to form his own company. I hope this is enough information!!

Christopher Finch, The Art of Walt Disney, 1995, copyright. A classic that has sold more than 500,000 copies since it was first published in 1973, now updated with seven completely new chapters (fully half the text and illustrations in the book) that carry the story forward, chronicling the dramatic resurgence of the company under new management, which has seen the release of the three most successful animated films ever made - Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King. This new edition also covers live-action movie production and the growth of the Disney theme parks. To prepare this new edition, author Christopher Finch was given unprecedented access to Disney, interviewing scores of individuals, from chairman Michael Eisner and other senior executives to animators and Imagineers, as the artists who design the theme parks are called. The book is profusely illustrated, including concept art, background paintings, and stills from every important animation project, beginning with Mickey's 1928 debut in Steamboat Willie and including works in progress, such as the feature The Hunchback of Notre Dame; production shots and stills from live-action movies; and an enormous variety of views of the theme parks around the world, with close-ups of innovative rides and attractions. Art for the book was carefully selected in consultation with the artists and animators themselves. Cover is white, featuring Micky Mouse in traditional red shorts, holding a paint brush as if he has just finished painting the title of the book.
Bob Thomas, Disney's Art of Animation: From Mickey Mouse to Beauty and the Beast, 1991, copyright. A celebration of the world's most famous animated films features color artwork, interviews with illustrators and animators, a complete history of Disney animation, and an analysis of the making of Beauty and the Beast. Cover shows Mickey at center of a dark blue fading to white background, with rounded pictures at the corners, showing characters from Beauty and the Beast. Title appears above Mickey's head on a curved red banner. A 1992 reprint of this book shows Belle and Beast at the center, with corner illustrations of Snow White, Mickey (as the Sorcerer's apprentice), Dumbo, and Bambi. There is a later edition of this book (1997) subtitled "From Mickey Mouse to Hercules" which has illustrations from Hercules on the corners, with Mickey in the center of the cover.
We own a book that isn't the correct book the poster is seeking, but it does contain the exact Little Mermaid quote. It is titled Disney Treasury of Children's Classics From Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to Chicken Little published in 2007. It contains 22 classic Disney movie stories with a unique behind the scenes look following each story. The Little Mermaid quote is here verbatim. However, the behind the scenes Jungle Book article does not contain the requested quote. I skimmed the other articles and didn't see anything about Don Bluth. The copyright info in the front of the book indicates that the Little Mermaid article was in an earlier edition published in 1997 with the same title except it only went from Snow White to Pocahontas. I wonder if this could be the book.

D295: deep diving adventure
Man turned down by the draft board 'it hurts to turn down someone who really wants to go' goes treasure hunting with tough street kid in Carribean. Kid tries to make him seasick with story of man who ties string to oyster, swallows it, then pulls oyster up by string. Kid always calls him 'Mac'. Man foils radar of pursuers by leaving decoy boat with foil strips on it behind him. Kid wonders if pursuer will catch up with him, present boat and say 'hey, you dropped something'. Man caught by giant octopus, horrifing description of being raked by beak while trying to stab it between the eyes.. Must move slowly so as not to alarm the octopus. Distributed by Scholastic Book Services.in late 1960's. Any ideas?

I didn't really read it, but it sounds like Secret Sea (1947) by Navy ensign and engineer Robb White (1909-1990 - not to be confused with the much younger Georgia boatbuilder).
Photo & review: http://susanabraham2007.wordpress.com/2007/04/19/book-review-secret-sea-antiquarian/ See here for his booklist: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robb_White. And here for his film credits: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0925380/. He wrote Up Periscope as well, which was filmed in 1959.

E135: Ex-warrior, spinal injury, post-apocalyptic world
Solved: The Black Mountains
This book I can only remember a little bit of. Adult fiction, fantasy/sci fi, I believe post-apocalyptic semi lost technology type of stuff. Most of wold back to sword swinging warfare. Starts out with a man who is an ex-warrior reduced to crippled beggar from a spinal injury. Someone or something comes to him in the night and pours some kind of healing liquid (possible past medical technology or even magic) onto his festering lower back open wound. He begins to heal overnight and finds he can walk again (and fight). He becomes involved in some kind of major battle involing a fortress on top of a steep cliff. This book was from the good old days when one book could tell the whole story and fantasy didn't have to be a twelve book epic. Any help would be apreciated (oh by the way the cover was in a black ink drawing and a brown background.)

Oh by the way I read the book in the mid seventies but could have been published in the sixties as well.
Piers Anthony, Battle Circle (Neq the Sword), 1968 -1975. I think this may be one of Piers Anthony's Battle Circle novels. Each is stand-alone but set in the same post apcalyptic world. I think this is most likely "Neq the Sword" but it is twenty odd years since I read them. The other two are Sos the Rope and Var the Stick?
Fred Saberhagen, The Black Mountains, 1972, approximate. Solved on the Amazon Sci Fi forum. Been looking for this title for many years. You Can get the whole trilogy in one book called Empire of the East. Great Stuff!

F314: Family stranded in desert when car breaks down
Resub F251. Car breaks down in desert, possibly Death Valley? Family survives by eating cactus pulp, collecting dew in hubcaps, eating crayons. Family member, perhaps son, walks out to find help. Prev. suggested Readers Digest, but I don't think I read it there. Reprinted elsewhere? Not Runaway Home.

I don't remember the author or title, but I know I read it in an elementary school reader, probably 4th or 5th grade which would make it 1980 or 81. The mother also feeds the kids a box of crayons, after checking that the label says 'nontoxic.' Hope that helps!

G476: Girl never gets older
I’m looking for a book that I read when I was a kid, but I can’t remember the title or author of it, and I was wondering if anyone could help me. I’m sure I read it before the year 2000, so it had to have been published before then, but I suspect it was published at least a decade or two earlier. Here’s what I remember of it, although the details are a bit fuzzy. The book begins with a girl and her mom. I believe that the dad was not present in the story. I think that he had died, although it could have been a divorce. The girl and her mom are driving around on a snowy day and run into another girl. They end up bringing her home with them. Throughout the course of the story, they find out that this girl saw her family die when her house burned down many, many years ago. Since that time, she has never gotten any older, and she still has a burn on her leg from the fire, as fresh as the day she got it. She can go back and relive those memories of the fire, and I believe that she somehow takes the girl she’s staying with and possibly the girl’s boyfriend back into the memories with her. I don’t remember the ending well but I believe she has to work through these memories somehow.

This sounds a little like a Lois Duncan book...but searching through the descriptions of her titles, I can't find the right one. Maybe this will help though.
Lois Duncan, Lost in Time, 1986. This sounded familiar to me when I read the stumper although it is a long time since I read the book and I don't have a copy to verify the details - I recall that the book was about a girl whose father had remarried - his new wife has 2 children (girl & boy) - I seem to rememebr that it was they who did not age, and there was something to do with their home having been burned down years before. I think it was set in Louisiana, if that helps!
Locked in Time isn't it, and I can't find another Lois Duncan book that seems right. Thanks for your help though! I think the book I'm looking for would be for slightly younger readers. It would have been perfectly acceptable for a 5th or 6th grader to read. Here are a few other random scenes I remember in case they help anyone remember. In one, the girl who never gets older talks about having to move from place to place every few years so no one will start to question why a young girl never appears to age. She has to change the style of her clothing the way she acts, etc. as she stays the same but everything around her changes. The other scene I remember is really random, but I'll put it out there just in case it jogs any memories. The normal girl and her boyfriend are getting ready to go back into the memory, and the (relatively new) boyfriend is giving her a back massage to try to relax her, and she is very embarrassed about the fact that he might feel her bra strap through the back of her shirt. And the book might begin with the girl looking out her bedroom window on a snowy day. I don't know why I remember that, but I would really love to find this book, so anything that might help...
The child who never gets older having to move around and be a bit clandestine so not to have people get suspicious is (oh, you're going to love hearing this) in several stories, one I'm sure is by Ray Bradbury and I can't think of the name of it -- the other is Jeffty is Five by Harlan Ellison, but that's about a boy. And I believe there is at least one more.

G477: Girl makes friends with witch who was left by family turns into turtle
A girl becomes friends with a witch who was left in a deserted house nearby. Goes home with the girl, takes the form of maybe a turtle? Goes to school with her and helps with her daily struggles (mean kids, test). Maybe the witch/turtle name is Merlin?? It maybe also could be Max??? Not sure though. In the end the witch's family comes back and takes her with them. Read this back in early 80's. Have googled nonstop!! Can't find the name of it!! It is a small chapter book, probbaly considered juvenile. Thanks for any help!!

Florence Laughlin, Sheila Greenwald (illus), The Little Leftover Witch, 1960, copyright. Ok, so this is a total longshot, but it might be worth a look: When her broomstick breaks on Halloween, little Felina is stranded in the "human world" for a year, until her witch family can return for her the following Halloween. She is found in a tree by Lucinda Doon, a human girl her own age, and Lucinda's family takes her in. At first, Felina is naughty and troublesome - what one would expect from a young witch - but through love and patience, the family is able to transform her into a normal little girl. Multiple reprints.
The weirdest thing: just as I posted this solution, I realized that Harriett had placed a copy of The Little Leftover Witch right next to the computer for me to post as available to buy. How did she know?? :) (She tells me this book comes up often, and is already on the Solved pages, but still -- weirdest coincidence!)

Interpreting
Condition
Grades

Laughlin, Florence. The Little Leftover Witch. Illustrated by Sheila Greenwald. Macmillan, 1960. Hardover with protected dj. F/VG. $75.

G478: girls who are friends - one rips the dress of the other
I think this is a book from the 40's or 50's, about two little girls who are good friends with each other. At some point they decide to dress like twins so each asks her mother to make her a dress out of the same material - a print of monkeys swinging from palm trees - but while one mother is a good seamstress, the other one isn't and her dress looks terrible. The girls get into a fight and the one with the terrible dress rips the pocket of the one with the good dress. They make up later.

Beverly Cleary, Ellen Tebbits. details match exactly.
Cleary, Beverly, Ellen Tebbits, 1955, approximate. This is it without a doubt. I'm sure you'll get a lot of comments on this one.
Beverly Cleary, Ellen Tebbits, Morrow, 1951, copyright. This is definitely the book you're looking for. Ellen lives in Portland, Oregon, the only child of a single mom who is a Donna Reed, 50s tv-mom type, everything perfect. She has no close friends until Austine Allen moves to Portland from California. The girls become very close and want to do everything together, including start the fourth grade looking like (fraternal) twins, and that's what leads to the episode you remember. Austine's mother can't sew and Ellen's mom of course makes a picture-perfect dress so Austine gets jealous. There is another book solely about Otis, the Dennis-the-Menace / Penrod-like boy who teases the girls.
Beverly Cleary, Ellen Tebbits, 1951, copyright. Lots of details about this book can be found in the "solved pages", including this part about the matching dresses of Ellen and her best friend Austine. This book is a classic and you will have lots of responses, I'm sure.
Beverly Cleary, Ellen Tebbits, 1951, copyright. Definitely the book. The monkey-patterned dresses seems to be a very strong memory for readers of this book. Look in Solved Stumpers.
Cleary, Beverly, Ellen Tebbits, 1951, copyright. This is from Ellen Tebbits - Ellen and Austine want to wear the same dress for the first day of school, but Austine's mum can't sew as well as Ellen's. Austine and Ellen fall out because Austine keeps tugging at the sash on Ellen's dress. The ripping incident doesn't happen until a later moment in the book -when Ellen rips Austine's sash when they are dusting erasers together. The incident leads to them restoring their friendship.
Beverly Cleary, Ellen Tebbits. You'll get a lot of responses to this one - everyone remembers those monkey dresses! See solved mysteries for more descriptions.
Beverly Cleary, Ellen Tebbits. This is definitely the book. It's in Solved Mysteries, too.
Beverly Cleary, Ellen Tebbits. I remember this scene so well because I longed to have a mom who sewed, but sympathized more with the girl whose mother couldn't sew her dress properly! The book includes illustrations of the print the girls used for their dresses, complete with monkeys swinging from palm trees.
Beverly Cleary, Ellen Tebbits, 1951, copyright. Definitely this one! Look under Solved Mysteries for additional details.
Beverly Cleary, Ellen Tebbits, 1951, approximate. I'm sure this one is Ellen Tebbits--my favorite Cleary book. The friend is Austine Allen and they meet over the shared dilemma of long underwear at dance class. I still own my paperback copy from 35 years ago. Thank goodness for the Scholastic Book Club!

Interpreting
Condition
Grades

Cleary, Beverly. Ellen Tebbits. Illustrated by Louis Darling. Dell Yearling, 1951, 1979. Used paperback. G. $4.

G479: girl in 1930's or 1940's living with aunts - book concerns a dress
Book from the 1980's, I think, concerning a girl who goes to stay with her aunt/s. They are very austere and dress her plainly, but she has a cousin or second cousin who is very pretty with blonde curly hair and lots of nice clothes. The girl is jealous of her cousin. She somehow ends up with a "couture" dress, which doesn't really suit her (although the cousin says it's a pretty dress), and at the end of the book she has a dress made by her aunt which really suits her (I remember the cousin said something like "you look pretty" rather than "the dress is pretty" and that was significant). The main character may be called Adelaide or something like that.

G480: Ghost story
Solved: Jane-Emily
The second book was a slimmish paperback book read during the same time. It was a ghost story. The cover showed a Victorian house with a girl, in a nightgown or that type of dress, I believe. At some point in the story there was the mention of pneumonia, or a girl becoming very ill from being dunked in water and then standing in a window and catching a chill. I remember the book being "just the right amount" of scary. Not too much, not too little.

Clapp, Patricia, Jane-Emily. See Solved Mysteries.
Patricia Clapp, Jane-Emily, 1969. Isn't this Jane-Emily? There's a lot about it on the Solved I-J page, also Stumpers E-F -- check there and see if the descriptions match up.
Patricia Clapp, Jane-Emily, 1969, copyright. This sounds like Jane-Emily. It's on the solved mysteries J page.
Clapp, Patricia, Jane-Emily. This sounds a lot like Jane-Emily. Its on the solved mystery pages.
This could be Jane-Emily, by Patricia Clapp again. Check the solved mysteries!
Jane-Emily. Yes! It is Jane-Emily! The minute I saw the title I remembered it. Thank you!

G481: Girl moves to farmhouse, aunt's house changes number
I remember only a few details about this book. It was read to my class in elementary school in 1968-69. I believe it was by a Tennessee author, set in the 1920s to 1950s. All I remember is that it was about a young girl who moved to an old farmhouse with her family. She picked a bunch of daffodils for the kitchen table. Her bedroom was in an attic-like space with a chimney rising up from floor to ceiling. In this chimney she discovered a loose brick which she was able to remove and use the space inside to hide her personal treasures. In addition, I remember a later part of the book where the girl must go to the city and stay with an aunt. For some reason, the aunt's house number must be changed from 112 to 113. This causes major trauma. These are the only details I remember. Thanks for your help.

Frances Fitzparick Wright, The Secret of the Old Sampey Place, 1946, copyright. One of my favorites! This was the first book of a 5-book series about Judy Jemison: Surprise at Sampey Place, Number 11 Poplar Street, Poplar Street Park, Daybreak at Sampey Place. Judy starts out as a 10-yr. old when her family (sometime in early 1900's?) moves into a farmhouse left to them by her Great-uncle Eben. In her attic bedroom, Judy discovers a jewelry box and old letters behind a loose brick in the chimney, a discovery which leads to her family holding onto the farm forever. Later books involve Judy's growing closeness to her wealthy Great-aunt Maria who lives in a town 40 miles away. The Poplar books are about Judy's long visits with her. I think these books were loosely-based on the author's own childhood. I loved reading them as a for their realistic detail about farm children's work and play, and their family bonds. On some online book sites, this series has been described as "Christian" but they're not overtly religious at all.

G482: Ghost siblings afraid of people, hide in their house
I am looking for a children's book that I had growing up in the 1970's. It was about two ghosts (or ghouls, or monsters -- I can't remember -- but I'm sure they were siblings) that were afraid of people and going outside. They always stayed in their house, hidden under furniture that they piled in the middle of the room. The shades were always drawn and they would hide if anyone rang their doorbell. Thank you so much for your help!

Betty Virginia Doyle Boegehold, What the Wind Told, 1974, copyright. The wind is telling a little girl stories about who lives behind the windows across the way. Behind one window live two scary monsters, Drool and Ghoul. They are especially scared of children. (Their uncle once walked into a school by mistake and "scared himself to pieces, and had to be swept away.") There is a wonderful illustration of the monsters hiding under all their furniture piled in the middle of the room. If the doorbell rings they shout "Go away!" or "There's no one home."

G483: Girl's doll stolen, returned
Resub of G206. Girl has new doll, shows it off to her friends. Doll is stolen - poor girl suspected. Doll later returned. Girl gives doll to poor girl - possibly anonymous xmas gift? 1970's or older, few pictures - maybe some line drawings? Poss. blue cover? I don't think it was in an anthology.

H237: Hunting guide become the prey
Solved: Deathwatch
A young man is a hunting guide for big horn sheep in the deserts of the southwestern United States. When his customer "accidentally" shoots an old hermit the young man becomes the hunters next prey. The young man must navigate through the desert back into town while being stalked and hunted. The young man is eventually able to overcome the hunter with just a slingshot. Young Adult Fiction. Please help.

Robb White, Deathwatch. This is definitely your book! I haven't read it since I was in junior high, but the writing was so strong and suspenseful that I've never forgotten it.
Robb White, Deathwatch, 1972, copyright. This is one of my favorites. It's also been solved before, and is on the solved D page.
Robb White, Deathwatch. This book closely matches your description.
White, Robb, Deathwatch, 1972, approximate. Definitely Deathwatch, one of my favorites as a kid. The man who hires the teenager as a guide (I think his name is Madoc) kills an old man out in the desert, then proceeds to hunt Ben. Ben manages to get away, turn the tables on Madoc, and bring him back to town...but then he's arrested because people can't believe that his story is true. Eventually, his story is verified, and the book ends with him saying "I just wanted to report a murder."
Robb White, Deathwatch, 1972, approximate. This is definitely the book. As soon as I saw the title I knew it. Even the names came back to me. Thank you for this site and service.

H238: handicapped girl, religious (saints?), single mom, dies
I am another one looking for a book from my childhood. I think this was a true story and there may have been more than one book. Written by the mother, it is about her life with a handicapped girl (for the life of me can't remember why she was handicapped). Definitely religious in tone, but the story transcended it. Clearest scene I can remember is they are driving in Colorado and have to put tire chains on the car because of the snow. Think the mom was a single mom, can't remember a dad ever mentioned, but could be wrong about that. Girl eventually dies. Has driven me nuts for years trying to remember it! Have a feeling it was set in the '50's. Thank you for a great service - how fun!

Marie Killilea, Karen, 1952, copyright. This reminds me of Karen and its sequel, With Love from Karen, true stories written by Karen's mother, Marie Killilea. Karen has cerebral palsy. The book is set in the 1950's and often refers to the family's Catholicism. The mom isn't single and Karen doesn't die, but there is a scene that involves driving in the snow in one of the books.
Marie Killilea, Karen. Might be Karen. She has cerebral palsy. She doesn't die at the end of Karen, though. There's also a father, Jim. The book is written by her mom who is deeply religious.

H239: Hot enough to melt the fat off of Mrs. ____
I'm looking for a children's picture book read to me in the mid 1970's. The story is about some children trying to find a way to cool off during a summer heat wave. I think the pictures were black and white drawings, but there may have been some color, not sure. Very detailed illustrations. It was "hot enough to melt the fat off of Mrs. ____" (can't remember her name), and the picture of her sitting out on her stoop sure did make her look hot and unhappy. I believe the setting was urban. There was only one guy in the neighborhood with a fan in his apartment, and I think the kids attempt to borrow, or steal it. I guess they eventually cool off, but I wish I could remember more! Obviously written before air-conditioning was common. I'd love to find this book. Hope someone can help. Thanks!

Arthur Getz, Tar Beach, 1979, copyright. A long shot, but might be worth a look. "Joey and his sister Teresa find that rooftops make wonderful beaches on hot summer days." Front cover shows children running through water spurting from an opened fire hydrant, in front of apartment buildings. Lots of people in background, at windows, doorways, and on front steps. I don't have a copy, to check for the specific line and illustration you remember, but you should be able find a picture of this on online and see if it looks familiar.

I131: Investigator, missing Russian ballerina, teleporter system
The book concerns an investigator who is looking for a missing Russian (I think) Ballerina who was traveling with her luggage via a teleporter system that is world wide. The system has sending stations, and receiving stations. Before transport they weight the person, and the cargo that will be transmitted to determine how much power to push them into the system with so they will arrive at their destination. Without accurate measurements they will overshoot, or undershoot the destination. Later in the novel the investigator is in one of the "relay" rooms. They have large metal spheres that somehow boost the signal as it moves along. They ping, or ring, when a person or signal is transmitted. The plot revolves around the Russian Ballerina who goes into the system but never comes out of the teleport system. It runs very much like a murder mystery, the investigator looks into other deaths related to the system. One of which was the death of a linemen, the persons who get into a suit with a power supply of its own and coils on it that allows them to flow in the system, to pull people and items out. The linemen have a job where they are paid very well and retire only after a few years of svs due to the high hazard level of the work. This lineman had been retired a few years was living in a posh California home, when he fell into a depression. He took his life by putting a pistol to his head and pulling the trigger, twice. Linemen who live develop very fast reflexes. The setting is very 1950s to 1960s. The cars, they cold war… all still a factor in the system. They treat the teleport stations very much like an airport of today, making a point that the system is expensive and not used for short trips. They depend on a recovery drug that is taken to assist with the transport shock, a pill. One trip, with the drug is fine, a few more and it starts to catch up with you, and you really start feeling poorly.

Lloyd Biggle, All the Colors of Darkness. It's been a long time since I read it, but this description reminds me of All the Colors of Darkness, one of Biggle's novels featuring the detective Jan Darzek.

J85: Jeanie Wallace, mountain nurse with psychic gifts
Gothic novel published in the late 60's or 70's about a rural nurse [Jeanie Wallace] who has psychic gifts that help her solve a mystery which also involves a romance with a widower whose wife died mysteriously. I think the villainess was named Kate. The evildoers haunted and gaslighted the heroine with mechanical devices.

K118: "King of the Cats" book
Scary (maybe Halloween), book of short stories by different authors. One story in the book was King of the Cats.

C. B. Colby, Strangely Enough, 1959, copyright. This is a collection of (supposedly) true short stories. The "King of the Cats" story is called "The Bewitched Cat of the Catskills" here. It was a Scholastic paperback.
There are many collections that contain the classic King of the Cats story. To narrow down your exact book, can you remember ANY of the other stories in the book, or at least plot lines of some of the other stories?
Poppy Z. Brite, Are You Loathsome Tonight?, 2000, copyright. This might be too recent, but it is a collection of short scary/macabre stories, which includes a story called "King of the Cats," and is not the more usual fairy-tale collection. The book is illustrated by J.K. Potter, with an introduction by horror author Peter Straub. Titles are: In Vermis Veritas; Arise; Saved; King of the Cats; Self-Made Man; Pin Money; America; Entertaining Mr. Orton; Monday's Special; Vine of the Soul; Mussolini and the Axman's Jazz; Are You Loathesome Tonight? Front cover shows a bluish-toned picture of a man, from shoulders up. However, instead of hair, he has octopus-like tentacles curling around his head. These are not, however, children's stories - the book is written for an adult audience.
Kevin Crossley-Holland, Emma Clark (illus), Enchantment: Fairy Tales, Ghost Stories, and Tales of Wonder, 2000, copyright. "A treasure house of folk & fairy tales that brings together the talents of a brilliant storyteller & a much-loved illustrator…there are stories to make you jump out of your seat, stories about some rather silly people and many stories of fairy magic & mystery, taken from all over England, Scotland, Ireland & Wales." Stories are: The Cow That Ate the Piper; Fairy Ointment; The Frog Prince; The Shepherd’s Tale; Tom Tit Tot; Billy; Three Heads of the Well; Hughbo; Monday, Tuesday; Samuel’s Ghost; The Changeling; Mossycoat; King of the Cats; Dathera Dad; Sea-Woman; Charger; The Three Blows; The Mule; The Dauntless Girl; and Boo! Cover and dust jacket show assorted small images from the various stories on a whitish background.
Claire Necker (editor), Supernatural Cats, 1972, copyright. If it's possible that all of the stories in the book you are looking for were about cats, this might be the one. It is a collection of cat tales about felines with weird and wonderful powers and characteristics. Some of the many stories in this anthology include: The Game of the Rat and Dragon (Cordwainer Smith); Space-Time for Springers (Fritz Leiber); The Green Cat (Cleve Cartmill); Space Cat (Ruthven Todd); The Cat Who Became A Queen; The White Cat (Comtesse d’Aulnoy); Puss in Boots; The Troll Cat; The King of the Cats (Traditional); The King of the Cats (Stephen Vincent Benet); The Cat, "I Am" (Gerald Heard); Broomsticks (Walter de la Mare); The Bad Kittens (Elizabeth Coatsworth); A Demon Cat of Old Japan; The Demon Cat of Connemara; Balu (August Derleth); De Black Cat Crossed His luck (JD Corrothers); The Black Cat (Edgar Allan Poe); The Cats of Ulthar (HP Lovecraft); The Squal (Bram Stoker); He Didn’t Like Cats (L Ron Hubbard); The White Cat of Drumgunniol (Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu); The Language of Cats (Spencer Holst).
A few other anthologies (there are many more) that contain Benet's "King of the Cats": The King of the Cats, (ss) / Stephen Vincent Benet; Out of This World, ed. Julius Fast, Penguin 1944; Alfred Hitchcock’s Monster Museum, ed. Anon., Random House 1965; The Golden Road, ed. Damon Knight, Simon & Schuster 1973; Masterpieces of Fantasy and Enchantment, ed. David G. Hartwell, SFBC 1988.

L237: Little girl walks through forest with goblin
I have very vague memories of this book from childhood. At the age of about 9 or 10 I won a prize at school and was asked what book I'd like. I'd read this book but couldn't remember its name. They tried to find it for me then but couldn't and I was given "The Princess and the Goblins" which was wonderful, but I've never stopped wanting the one with the child walking through the dark forest with the friendly goblin. I think there might have been a witch at the end of the story too. I don't have much to go on, and I don't really ever expect to find it, but it's worth a try.

Lynn Reid Banks, The Farthest Away Mountain. A long shot, but maybe it's this one?
I highly doubt it -- I loved The Farthest Away Mountain in elementary school, and this doesn't sound like it at all. The main character is a teenager, and she goes into the forest with a gnome/elf statue that comes to life, not a goblin.
Thanks for the suggestion of The Farthest Away Mountain. I've considered this, and without seeing the actual book it sounded quite promising. But I read on a website that Lynn Reid Banks published her first children's book in 1973. The one I'm looking for must have been written before about 1966, as that was when I left primary school.
Could this be one of the other books by George MacDonald? In the sequel, The Princess and Curdie, Curdie (the Princess' friend) has some dealings with both goblins and witches.

M525: money cat mysterious house
Solved: The 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!

M526: Man finds portal to other world in his yard
A book I started reading in the early 90s. from that period or maybe from the 80s. Sci Fi/Fantasy about this man who when excavating around a mound in his yard (must be kind of rural)(not sure whether it is US or UK could possibly have a celtic background) he discovers a opening into an underground stone room (cairn?). Inside this room is a stone lipped pool of (glowing?) water. when he tests how deep the water is he discovers that his feet go through the water and a couple of feet below what appears to be the bottom of the pool he feels dry sand. When he lays down in the pool he "falls" the two feet onto a warm sunny beach and can't see the portal from the other side. He can locate it though and finds he can go back and forth. He begins to stock "his" beach with supplies to attempt to explore the beach and the forrested hills he can see inland. He stocks up with food, camping equipment, guns and even a motorcycle. He begins to explore inland into the hills and ..... I lost the book! It was a adult paperback, I believe it was possibly the beginning of a two or three book series. It's been bugging me for a long time now. Oh when he starts out somehow he runs into some kind of trouble and loses his motorcycle and ends up on foot in the hills. Well thanks in advance if anyone could help.

M527: Mystery, "The Dove" by Wilson Tucker?
I am looking for a mystery that I last read in 1958. It was hardcover, grayish in color and MOST OF ALL it had a small embossed GOLD DOVE on the upper half of front cover. The story ended in a cemetary with the identity and capture of the killer. The story by author Wilson Tucker "The Dove" comes very close to fitting this description but the 1st edition cover is not in any way the same. I thought the my description might be another book altogether but so far it seems it might just be another later edition. The original publishers were the RHINEHARDT pub co. USA and the CASSELL and co. of London UK. Lastly and again I am absolutely-beyond a shadow of doubt-positive about that small gold dove on a gray hardcover. I have been looking for some 44 years for this particular hardcover but no luck.

M528: Mail-order detective school
Searching for a young adult book about a girl who signs up for a mail-order detective school and becomes an apprentice to a detective. She ends up solving an arson. Thanks!

Ellen Raskin, The Tattooed Potato and Other Clues, 1975. OK, I know this is really a stretch, and some of it doesn't fit exactly with what you said; but the "apprentice to a detective" scenario does remind me of The Tattooed Potato. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tattooed_Potato_and_Other_Clues. A young woman named Dickory Dock answers an ad looking for a painter's assistant, but the painter, Garson, turns out to be sort of a detective as well, and she ends up helping him solve several cases.
Carol Russell Law, The Case of the Weird Street Firebug: A Mystery for the Mail-Order Detective, 1980, copyright. While taking a course from the Dangerfield Detective School, Stephanie searches for an arsonist she believes is setting fires in her neighborhood. Illustrated by Bill Morrison. Front cover of paperback edition shows Stephanie standing in front of a burning multi-story building, with ladders, firemen, streams of water, and large cloud of smoke. She is wearing a reddish zip-front jacket, and has dark hair in two ponytails tied with red ribbons. She is writing on a small notepad, and looking sort of sideways at a man who is at the bottom edge of the cover. He is wearing a trenchcoat with the collar turned up, a hat pulled low over his eyes, and has one hand up, either shielding his face or adjusting his hat.

M529: Mexican boy sells caramels, earthquake destroys theater
Resub M411. Mid 1970's elem reader. Boy works as street vendor in Mexico selling caramels. One hot day, he enters a theater to try sales/cool off. Earthquake destroys theatre - boy trapped inside with another boy, also a vendor? Boys retrieve scattered caramels and...? to eat while awaiting rescue.

O133: Old Mr. Rivers
A friend remembers the line, "Old Mr. Rivers, caught in a flood," from a book read to him, aged 4 or 5, about 194l. The illustrations were in blues and browns. I thought the source might be Thornton Burgess but have had no success finding it. Help! Thanks very much.

P402: Parent's Magazine Press book
Solved: Arm In Arm
It was a hard back book with strange illustrations on the front, like a man and woman bust face to face connected by a pink squiggle... I can't remember much about it, but the book was full of odd pictures and stories and things...one I remember was a spiral printed, and the letters got smaller and disapperared... and it said "It was a dark and stormy night. We were standing on the deck. The ship was sinking. The captain said to me, tell me a story my son, so I began...It was a dark and stormy night. We were standing on the deck..." etc. until it disappeared. I loved this book as a child... I think it came out in 1971-1973 just not sure when. Thanks!

Remy Charlip, Arm In Arm: a collection of connections endless tales reiterations and other echolalia, 1967, copyright. From the question about "It was a dark and stormy night. We were standing on the deck. The ship was sinking. The Captain said to me, 'Tell me a story my son.' So I began..." etc. printed in a spiral. This is the book! I put in the inquiry and found it myself, but I know there are a lot of other people looking for this book! It's one of my favorites from my childhood. Enjoy!

P403: Puss n Boots, Specific Edition
I am looking for a specific edition of Puss n Boots that I had in my childhood. I remember it had a green cover and Puss had pinky coral boots. The book was rectangular in shape (taller than wide). I used to read it at my Grandmother's house, and she died in 1984, so it would have been published before that.

Heirloom Classics (published by Rand McNally & Co.), Puss in Boots, 1980, copyright. Possibly this one? Cover is green, with a design that looks like it's leather or something, with a delicate gold filigree-type rectangular border. Inside the rectangle is a smaller oval filigree frame, surrounding a picture of Puss, who is a white cat with orange patches, standing upright in reddish boots and wearing a fancy jeweled collar. At the top center of the cover is a picture of a little gold key, and there is a picture of a gold lock at the far right, so that it looks like an old-fashioned book that one would have to unlock to open.
Jane Carruth, My Book of Puss in Boots (A Giant Maxton Book), 1963, copyright. Possibly this one? Published by Follett. Back cover and top 1/3 or so of front are a yellowish-greenish shade. Lower 2/3 of front cover shows Puss (a black and white cat) wearing a large plumed hat, a pale greenish shirt and cape, pinkish pants, and large boots, which appear to be a pinkish-tan color in the picture I was able to find online. Behind Puss, his owner is helping a blue-clad princess down from a lavendar carriage, while the white-beareded king stands opposite him, wearing an orangish robe beneath a red cloak with ermine trim and capelet, and of course, a gold crown. On the back cover are listed the titles of other Giant Maxton Books.

P404: Poem named Glory? swain, soldiers tale
I am trying to track down a poem for my father in law... he thinks that the title was GLORY and that the first verse went, ... "And is this glory quoth the swain who'd listened to a soldiers tale. To fall upon the battle plain or maimed for life be should one fail. To scape of bullet, sword or gun, tis monstrous surely to misname, that wholesale murder I have done, both with carnage, field and fame.. " Thanks for you help. :o)

P405: Potato famine
Solved: The Potato Eaters
A book about a girl and her family during the great potato famine. I remember the cover having a scene with many shades of deep green, peach and yellow. A country scene with a dawn or sunset depicted. The story was so good I read it several times. There was hunger and illness, of course. It was a chapter book of at least 135 pages, if not more.

I've remembered a few more details about the book. They book cover had beautiful billowing clouds on the cover. The book was written from the point of view of a girl who was either a preteen or in her young teens. She called her father Da. I believe at some point in the story her mother may have passed away and she became a mother figure to her siblings or, at the very least, she cared for her ailing mother. I read the book when I was a preteen myself, somewhere around 1977-79. I believe it may have been thicker than I originally thought.
Branson, Karen, The potato eaters, 1979, approximate. A family attempts to withstand the hardships brought about by a blight, which strikes Ireland in the 1840’s, ruining potato crops. The girl is Maureen (aged 13) and the family is forced to split up because of the famine. Maureen and her father and siblings emigrate to America, leaving her mother behind in Ireland. There is a sequel Streets of Gold, which tells Maureen's story as an irish immigrant washerwoman in New York.
Branson, Karen, The Potato Eaters. Yes! I believe this is the book, although I don't remember such a queer title! Still, the name Maureen rings a bell as well as the family having to leave the mother behind and traveling to America. Thank you so much!

P406: Pearls found in picture frame
The Pearls?, 1974 when I was about in the 5th grade, juvenile. A girl learns of a hidden treasure in the house where she is staying. While dusting she accidentally knocks a picture from the wall. The frame breaks and out come pearls that had been hidden inside it many years before. She wraps the pearls in a scarf and hides them in a hollow tree trunk where they are stolen from her by someone who is watching. She finds a pearl or two that have been left behind and searches for the thief.

P407: picture book of house changes
Solved: The Story of an English Village
A picture book or wordless book. It started out with an ancient country scene like from an English hillside. Little by little (page by page) the scene changed from a path, to a village, to a town, to a city. On the right hand side of the page was the interior of a dwelling, and as the book moved through the ages, you could see the changes in the living conditions within the home, like from maybe a grass hut, to a mud hut, to a log house, a caste, etc. I can't remember how "modern" the house became, but it was just cute the way the living standards changed and improved, adding more room, "modern" conveniences, etc. And it seems like it was supposed to represent the same bend in the road, so all the dwellings were located at the same location.

I sent you information for a children's book search about houses. The search is for my sister and a friend thought she had found the book for her. It was Anno's Journeys or a similar title, but was NOT the book she was looking for. Thanks for the help!
This may be one of John S. Goodall's books. He had several books that showed a place changing over time. Likely possibilities are: THE GREAT DAYS OF A COUNTRY HOUSE or THE STORY OF AN ENGLISH VILLAGE or THE STORY OF A FARM.~from a librarian
John S. Goodall, The Story of an English Village. Thanks so much! My sister found the books in her library and thinks they are what she remembered. What fun!

P408: puppy saved from drowning (becomes show dog?)
All I remember about this book is that a child rescues a puppy from a sack in the river. The child trains the dog to become a show dog (I think). I read this book somewhere between 1987-1990. Also, I think it might be set in England? And the dog might be a labrador? Not positive on those details. Thanks so much.

Christine Pullein-Thompson, A Home for Jessie, 1988, approximate. "There's something in there!" Matt stared at the sack he had pulled from the water. He could feel his heart beating as he put his hand in it. Something alive was in there. It was a puppy, a Labrador, barely breathing. Matt was determined to help it survive. He believed that fate had sent the puppy to him. No one would take the Labrador away from him, now or ever. But Matt didn't know the incredible adventure awaiting him and Jessie. And danger was right around the corner!" The first of the Jessie trilogy, A Home For Jessie begins when ten-year-old Matt Painter finds a black Labrador puppy being drowned in a stream. The pup has a speck of white on her chest, which is unthinkable for show dogs, but Matt rescues her and takes her home. His parents insist that he cannot keep a dog, not when they're moving to America, so he leaves her with his Uncle Eric. When a car accident sends Eric to the hospital for months and Jessie into kennels, she escapes, determined to find Eric and Matt. Sequels are "Please Save Jessie" (about Jessie and her son, Jasper) and "Come Home, Jessie," in which the unlucky Labrador has the misfortune of being trapped in a car when three men steal it. Afraid that she might give them away after they ditch the car, they beat and abandon her. Jessie loses her memory and wanders around trying once again to get home, with a little help from a well-meaning but snippy old couple.

P409: Polar bear, arctic adventure, shipwreck
This book was read to my 5th grade class, back in the mid 1990s. I remember that it was about a man who was shipwrecked in the arctic; either he was the sole survivor or he got separated from the rest of the crew somehow. He managed to survive for months by living in the wrecked ship. He made friends with a young polar bear, who I think may have saved his life. I cannot for the life of me remember the title or author. I'm not sure if it was a young adult novel or an adult novel. I think the edition Mr. Harrington read to us was a mass paperback, and the cover had a picture of the man and the bear and the ship.

Wulffson, Don L., The upside-down ship, 1986, approximate. Describes the adventures of teen-aged Bruce Gordon, who, following an Arctic shipwreck in 1757, survived for six years in the ship’s upside-down carcass with a polar bear as his sole companion.
Arthur Roth, The Iceberg Hermit, 1974, copyright. A seventeen-year-old boy manages to survive, alone on an iceberg, for two years after his ship sinks. Based on a true story. Shipwrecked in 1757 on an iceberg in the Arctic seas with only an orphaned polar bear cub for companionship, seventeen-year-old Allan begins a seemingly hopeless struggle for survival. Reprinted in 1989 and still in print.

R201: rafting children end of summer
Solved: The Summerfolk
Illustrated softcover book, unsure of size. The story is dreamy and hazy, and although a children's book, is somewhat creepy, with undertones of alienation and rebellion. A raft is involved, being poled through a watery world along a sinuous channel through reeds and tree roots. I think it starts out in more of an open marshy atmosphere with only one child at the helm, but as he/she moves along through the hazy afternoon, he gradually makes stops and picks up additional children, perhaps even a set of twins, and then enters more of a forested swampy environment and the mood grows darker and more mysterious and ultimately they end up, in the evening, within a forest clearing that contains a rickety circus/carnival, with trapezes swooping from the trees and giant nets descending from the branches. No adults appear in this book, and there is a distinct sense of being in a world of lost children. I believe it is the last day of summer, or midsummer's eve.

Doris Burn, The Summerfolk. This sounds similar to The Summerfolk by Doris Burn.
This makes me think of THE SUMMERFOLK by Doris Burns, 1968. Sick of the summerfolk invading the beach, Willy poles his raft through the swamp where there are a very different bunch of people living there. There's a strange/unsettling feel to the book. If it helps, it was also published as a Weekly Reader Book Club book. If you look online, you can find images of the book, and see if it matches your memories.~from a librarian
Doris Burn, The Summerfolk, 1968, copyright. Thank you SO MUCH!! I have been looking for this book for years, and was beginning to think I had made it up...
As soon as I googled it and saw the cover image, I knew it was the correct book. I cannot wait to be able to read it again and see if it's as I remember. Your description of it as strange/unsettling makes me think it will be!

R202: rural area, girl, twin bullies, fire
A girl and her family move to a rural area (possibly depression era). She is befriended by two boys and is sweet on one of them. There are also a set of twin boys who are bullies and are constantly picking on the three friends. At one point someone's house catches on fire and the hound dogs are so scared they won't come out from underneath the house and are killed. The twins catch one of the boys alone and drag him to death behind a pick up truck. I read this in the early 80's.

Crystal Thrasher, Between Dark and Daylight. This was also one of my stumpers way back (B140). The incident with the boy being dragged behind the car was the main thing that stuck in my mind, too. There is a whole series about the girl. You can find a list and description of the series on this webpage: http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Rec/rec.arts.books.childrens/2007-12/msg00000.html.

R203: Rabbit Family and Hobo Bunny
Solved: Nine Rabbits and Another
My sister-in-law and I both remember this book from the 1950's, but everyone else says we are nuts. It involves a very poor rabbit family who have a visitor - a hobo rabbit. The hobo asks to sleep in the family's yard. They agree. The family feels sorry for the hobo rabbit because he looks so uncomfortable sleeping under a tree and bring him a pillow and a blanket and maybe some other things. Then it starts to rain and the poor rabbits feel even more sorry for the hobo and invite him to sleep in their house by the fireplace. When the family of rabbits wake up the next morning, the hobo is gone but he has left behind many gifts/candy for the family (maybe he was the Easter Bunny?).

Miriam Clark Potter, Nine Rabbits and Another. I loved this book when I was a kid! The rabbit family helps out an old, bedraggled rabbit just as you describe. In the morning, he is gone but he has left a row of easter baskets lined up on the hearth for each of the little bunnies and they realize that they hosted the Easter Bunny. The illustrations are darling. I believe it has also been published as "10 Rabbits."
So happy to report that R203 was solved for me. Per the solution, the book was published under two names - Nine Rabbits and Another, also as 10 Rabbits (which is the one I remember - per photos of the book I found online). Thanks so much for hosting this site. I've looked for this book for over a year - once I found your site, it took less than a week to get the answer.