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Not much to go on, but maybe one of Dikken Zwilgmeyer's books, like Four Cousins? He was writing in Norwegian, translated by Emilie Poulsson, and wrote about mischievous children.
Another possible is Afke's Ten by Ninke van Hichtum (real name: Sjouke Troelstra-Bokma de Boer), translated from the Dutch by Marie Pidgeon, illustrated by Hilda van Stockum, published Lippincott 1936, 256 pages. It's the story of 10 children on a Frisian island through a year. "Mother Afke, Father Marten and their ten children. The story begins with the appearance of a new brother and relates the day to day adventures which make up their lives." Apparently as much of a classic in Holland as Little Women is here.
This is apparently quite similar to the Noisy Village stories: The Hill House by Ragnhild Chevalier Williams, illustrated by Kurt Werth, published by McKay 1966, 160 pages "based on the author's childhood in Bergen,
Norway, has frequent changes of scene and introduces new characters from an enormous circle of friends, relatives and servants. The separate, often suspense-filled episodes re-create the fun and mischief of child play, the sharing of handed-down stories, and the anticipated excitement of special family gatherings and national festivals." (Horn Book Feb/66 p.60)
This doesn't really fit, but I keep wanting to suggest it - Kersti and Saint Nicholas, by Hilda Van Stockum, published by Viking 1940 "Kersti is the seventh, last, and naughtiest daughter of the van Disselens, and she has a way with her. Even Saint Nicholas and his faithful helper Pieterbass find themselves leaving gifts for the bad children on the good Saint's birthday - and it's all Kersti's fault." (Horn Book Dec/40 p.382 pub ad) It's European and involves naughty children and Christmas.
C1 Just verified that Lindgren Xmas at Noisy Village is NOT it
1970?  Beleive it or not, this might have been published in Cosmopolitan magazine, when it wasn't so sleazy. I recall that line, about the Impossible, the thing that wasn't supposed to happend to any child, finally coming true. There was also a segment where the children lost money to buy a Christmas tree, and another where a rich relative sends a giant barrel full of mud. It was rather somber in tone, ending with comments about WW2.

Solved: Charlie

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C16: Chinese boats & rice cakes

This might be a book that I think was called Ping, but that involved a duck and his "master."  The duck (whose name is Ping) lived on the Yangtze river in a boat with his master.  One day, as I recall, he goes exploring.  At one point he is lured by a naughty little boy with rice cakes and is trapped under a basket.  I think Ping eventually gets back to his kindly old master.  The book was fairly short and written for first-graders and was in a landscape layout.  I don't remember the colors, but I do remember the boats had exotic looking eyes painted on their bows.
Well now, I did think about Ping, but I'd forgotten that bit about the rice cakes (the good master has no mention of rice cakes!).   But this probably is a match.
Flack, Marjorie.  The Story of Ping.  Illustrated by Kurt Wiese. New paperback available for $6.
Sorry, this is not the book.  I checked out a picture of the cover on Amazon.com.  The illustration style is all wrong.  The book I'm thinking of had very monochromatic drawings, I think just greens and blacks and grays, drawn with thin lines like pen and ink.  Thanks though.  Keep looking.
First, relating to C-16 but not necessarily to be posted (mostly because it wouldn't help any), I remember reading "Ping" as a child. Like all my other favorite childhood books, it got put in the "give-away" box.....  :(
A possible, but no mention of rice cakes: Martin, Patrica Miles The Dog and the Boat Boy color illus. by Earl Thollander, 48 pages, Putnam, 1969 "The adventures of Chung Yong, a boy who lives on a boat in Hong Kong's crowded harbor. Chung Yong wants to keep a dog he has found, but his grandmother wants a cat which will kill the mice on the boat. ... The craggy, almost cartoon-like drawings (in subdued shades of purple, gray, and brown) ... occasional splashes of bright orange ..."
There's also Chinese Ink Stick by Kurt Wiese, Doubleday 1929, which includes a little boy who travels with his father, a tea merchant. It's 199 pages, though, so probably too long. Eleanor Lattimore's Little Pear (Harcourt 1931) falls into the river and is rescued by a man on a boat, but that's 144 pages.
Another written and illustrated by Eleanor Frances Lattimore is Fisherman's Son, published by Morrow, 1959, 128 pages. Small Liang is the oldest of fisherman Liang's children, and the only boy. Horn Book says "their daily life on a river boat in China is told in ten chapters with simplicity and charm. Pleasing, clear type and lively drawings." Size and shape of book not mentioned, but apparently for early readers.
Yet another, but finally short enough - Little Fu, written and illustrated with lithographs by Raymond Creekmore, published Macmillan 1949, unpaginated with map, grades 1-3 "Fu has an eventful trip down the great Min River to Foochow where his father sells his cargo of tea. After an exciting day they go home in a new motor boat with steel sides instead of bamboo leaves. The black and white lithographs are excellent." (Children's Catalog 1956)
C16 chinese boat: well, the shape is right and it's about an Asian boy and boats - Nu Dang and His Kite, written and illustrated by Jacqueline Ayer, published Harcourt 1959, 31 pages, 10x8". "Unusual drawings with splashes of color - orange, cerise, coral and green - give a real sense of the busy life of Bangkok, the river and canals lined with shops and filled with boats: the vendors of lotus and jasmine, curry sauce and chilies; the chick-pea-green-bean boat; the "all kinds of fish" boat. Nu Dang's search for his kite, which the wind had carried away, took him far up the 'long brown river', through the Floating Market, into a small canal, through a herd of lazy gray water buffalo, past shops and a farm house until he finally turned home ..." (HB Apr/59 p.121) There's a sample double-page spread shown, interspersing blocks of text with detailed line-drawings (NOT brush-style) "Out on the big river, he came first to a vendor of sweet cakes and colored water. 'Have you seen my kite?' But the vendor was much too busy to notice a lost kite. Nowhere. Not anywhere. No kite at all."
Meindert deJong, The House of Sixty Fathers,  1955.  This is a novel, not a picture book, so it may not be the right one, but there are enough similarities that it might be worth looking up. There is an Asian boy on a houseboat and a scene with ducks, and the original cover (illustrations are by Maurice Sendak) fits the description you gave somewhat. Look at the library edition cover, not the paperback--both are still in print.
retold by Arlene Mosel, ill. Blair Lent, Tikki Tikki Tembo, 1968.  The illustrations are in black ink with green blue and
goldenrod blocks of color.  It is about 2 brothers, who disobey their parents and enjoy their rice cakes near a dangerous well.  When the younger brother, Chang, falls in, the older brother Tikki Tikki Tembo-No Sa Rembo-Chari Bari Ruchi-Pip Peri Pembo has no trouble finding help to get him out, but the next time they are eating their rice cakes near the well, and the older brother falls in, Chang has a hard time getting anyone to listen to him. There were''t any boats in this one, but there was a river where their mother was washing clothes.  I am basing my guess mainly on the mention of rice cakes and the quality of the pictures.
Marjorie Flack, The Story About Ping. This really is the book you are looking for. It was my favorite as a child and was delighted to see it available for my sons. I, in fact, found another copy at a used book store which is much older and beat up that I read to my youngest every night. Keith Weisse is the illustrator. You might be thinking about what the original looked like. This is Weisse's trademark Crayola look. Quite stunning and the "wise eyed boats" are quite alluring. But you'\''re wrong about the "boat boy" He wasn't naughty at all  it was his job, as "boat boy" to lure the animals to him. It is what makes Ping so charming, the cadance of the "beautiful yellow waters of the Yangze River," and the simple life of Chinese fishermen in the 1930s.

C17 crafts: completely whistling in the dark, but maybe The Bread Dough Craft Book, by Elyse Sommer, illustrated by Giulio Maestro, published Lothrop 1972, 128 pages. "with six slices of bread, six teaspoons of white glue and a half a teaspoon of liquid detergent, a child can learn the basics of a centuries-old folk art ... how to mix, color, and work with the dough ... nearly 60 simple projects that children can create as gifts or decorations." The finished projects are apparently only shown as coloured drawings, though, and don't sound like the complex scenes described.

#C24:  Clown, Wardrobe, etc.  If such a book indeed exists, I want it for a friend!  If he likes it, I want it for myself!  After hours of keyword searches in all sorts of places, I may have a resource for you.  A site called "Fantasy Finder" has a message board called "The Board Room."   Hopefully this is one of those places where they "know it, or know who knows it," and will be of interest to anyone whose queries involve fantasy.
#C24--This query was also posted on the message board of the British Fantasy Society in February 2001.  As of June, no answers.
This query was also posted on the Alibris list. A number of suggestions were made, but no cigar as yet.
C24---Been a while since I've read it but the clown thing (esp the illustration) sounds a lot like Diamond in the
Window by Jane Langton.
C24 Has customer checked Langton yet? I can ask a friend who has a copy for sale, but I notice there are plenty on the Net so I wonder if someone hasn't checked already.
C24 clown wardrobe: had a look at Diamond in the Window and there's no real correspondance - no clown figure, no elevator/lift in the wardrobe, no tournament, no puns. It might be worth looking at Erich Kastner's Thirty Fifth of May, published 1934, reprinted 1958 and 1961, 192 pages. "If this date isn't on your calendar, you'll wish it were after reading what happened to Conrad. It began at the magic door of a wardrobe, and led to the Land of Cockayne, where fruit salad grows on trees; the the Mighty Fortress of the Past for a hello with Hannibal, Julius Caesar and Napoleon; and on the Electropolis in Topsy Turvy country, notable for its school or unsatisfactory parents to be trained by children! Ages 9-12." At least it starts with a wardrobe and looks episodic and nonsensical, but I haven't read the book so can't confirm more.
Hey, shall I buzz back to Junior Bookshelf for the late 50s early 60s?  My first thought is Enid Blyton, because the structure is reminiscent of the Faraway Tree series ... but this is almost no help at all because she's so prolific and there don't seem to be any annotated bibliographies. And if it is her work, there won't be anything in Junior Bookshelf about it, for sure.I'm pretty sure it isn't E. Nesbit because I think I've read all of hers, including the short stories - though the one with the little girl shut in her room who discovers that the wardrobe/dresser is a magic train station sounds kind of reminiscent.
Doesn't seem like E. Nesbit to me, and I don't think it's Edward Eager or anyone well-known, as I posted it on a couple of fantasy boards and not even a nibble. The only other author I thought of was Margaret Storey, but
couldn't seem to find anything of hers pblished prior to 1965. I hope it's identified--I'm quite intrigued by it.
I'm sorry to say I can't be any more specific. Whenever I try to remember more detail I think I'm just making it up from people's suggestions! The memory of the Coles Notes size and binding may be a completely separate affair too.  Another memory that springs to mind, though again, it may be another book entirely, is a story wherein the "gateway" is the bottom of a helter-skelter. Did you ever come across a helter-skelter? Very old cheap funfare ride, consisting of a lighthouse shaped tower with a slide corkscrewing around the outside. One climbs up the interior stairs, takes a bristly mat and throws oneself onto the slide. They scared the hell out of me, and having read this story where a little girl (I think) continues at the bottom into the earth and ends up in some spooky place, I never did try it.  Thanks again for your help. I'll be looking at the King of Kurio this weekend.
Well, still plugging away at this, though not confident about this suggestion either: The Thirty-fifth of May, by Erich Kastner, illustrated by Walter Trier, published Franklin Watts 1961, 192 pages. "If this date isn't on your calendar, you'll wish it were after reading what happened to Conrad. It began at the magic door of a wardrobe, and led to the Land of Cockayne, where fruit salad grows on trees; the the Mighty Fortress of the Past for a hello with Hannibal, Julius Caesar and Napoleon; and on the Electropolis in Topsy Turvy country, notable for its school for unsatisfactory parents to be trained by children! Ages 9-12." (Horn Book Aug/61 p.302 pub ad) This is apparently a republication, and of course a translation, so it may have been published with various illustrators and in more than one country.
C24 clown wardrobe: I'm wondering now if this wasn't one of the many British children's annuals or "gift books", and this may have been a single or continuing story in it, perhaps along with the helter-skelter story? That would tie in with the memorable illustrations and punning humour, as well as the difficulty in IDing it, as these books weren't reviewed and there were a lot of them. Still, we got Peter Puffer's Fun Book!
C24 clown wardrobe: Not a solution, but perhaps someone looking for the same book - here's a description: "This is a book of children's fiction that I read in the 1950s. I am not sure when it was written. It concerns some children who go through an odd door in a wall and find themselves in a magical land. Fairly common theme but distinguishing features are that they can go up and down between parts of this land in a lift. The children make friends with a queen and her children who have been dispossessed of their kingdom - it is now in thrall to a set of 3 monsters - one is called I think the Hobbledee-something or other. Amongst the 'goodies' helping the queen and her family is an Elastic Dog who can walk miles but leave his back legs at home. A memorable monster is a squirrel with an eye in its tail - if it looked at you, you went blind. I would be delighted to find this book - I used to have to check under the bed every night to see that squirrel wasn't there, but I loved the book."
Bates, Joan Mary, The Magic Helter-Skelter.  London, Blackie 1959.  This is a suggested answer NOT for the stumper itself, but for the related stumper mentioned with it, about a helter-skelter. This description is from another forum : "It is about Anne who is a selfish type and her punishement involves a spell in Topsy Turvey Land where she has to walk on her hands and is given the freedom to gorge herself on chocolate until she becomes sick of the sight of it. Similar aversion therapy techniques are applied to money, and by the time she is allowed to return home she is transformed beyond recognition."
Sieman, Frank, The Kingdom of Punch. (London, Eyre & Spottiswoode 1957)  Yet another longshot! "Faith and Christopher meet an old tramp in the woods who leaves with them a bag containing the wooden figures of what he says are the real one and only Punch, and Judy, and Dog Toby. Because the children show love to them, these figures become alive with lifelike proportions and take the children back with them to the Kingdom of Punch that Punch might regain his rightfl throne and depose the tyrannical usurper who has taken his place. Here we have the adventures of the children and their friends of the Court of Punch as Scara the imposter is overthrown. ... constant chatter reminiscent of panotomime repartee." However, there are no illustrations.

Could it be The Country Mouse and the City Mouse.  That matches the story in that the city mouse calls and is coming to visit the country mouse.  My sister and I had this on a 45 record that came with a book when we were kids. Good Luck!
I will check this out, I know that I went through the City Mouse and the Country Mouse.  I don't remember it being on a record although it might have been but the local library only had the book.  I use to check it out when I was about 6-7 so that was about 1950 - 51.  I did search the website for the Country Mouse and the City Mouse after I saw the note on the bottom of mine, but I didn't see any that were published that early, so I will have to keep looking.  I even went through the listing of books through the Library of Congress under mouse just to try to find it.  Do you have any idea who would have written this one, maybe knowing the author might help.   Your website is really fantastic, just reading the others and what they were looking for also brought back some memories.  I thank you for the chance to post it and hopefully someday will locate it.  It was such a cute story with a big moral to it, as I said in my posting I can still see the pictures showing her dirty messy house, the cleaning up (her friends helping) and then the picture of her all dressed up in a clean dress and shoes (red), looking around at her nice clean house, waiting for her house guest. Thank you again for all your assistance.
The Country Mouse & the City Mouse is an Aesop tale; there have been so many versions that your best hope is to simply stumble across the one you remember. There is a Wonder Book from 1947 (Phoebe Erickson, ill.) that contains this tale, Peter Rabbit, & Henny Penny. I've seen this one around; check for it -- maybe you'll be lucky.
Well, if the emphasis is on cleaning for the visit rather than on country versus town, maybe: Van Leeuwen, Nans Spring Cleaning with Mrs. Mouse Amsterdam: Mulder & Zoon, n.d. (ca. 1968), decorated boards, "lovely colour illustrations throughout the book, a real charmer"
There's also Mrs. Mouse Cleans House, by Alison Uttley, published Heinemann 1952 "Spring cleaning always means a day of bustle and excitement for the Brown Mice at the Rose and Crown, but the day that scoundrel Rat came to help was the most exciting of all." No mention of a city visitor, but the date is closer.
M108 mouse wears red sounds like C25 country mouse cleans up. The 1950ish date, special occasion/visit, the red dress and shoes, ...
C25 mouse cleans up and M108 mouse wears red: Another possible is Margie Merry Mouse, written & illustrated by Willy Schermele (Blyton illustrator), published Clifford series 1950, reprint Agfa 1986. A mouse in a red dress cleans house with the help of friends. If it's the earlier printing it's not a bad match, though I couldn't find any mention of a visit as the reason for cleanup.
Elizabeth Upham, Little Mouse Dances.  I found this in a basic reader "More Friends and Neighbors" by Scott, Foresman, and Co. 1946.  It's not exactly as you describe but features a mouse who doesn't like to clean and lets the dirt and dust pile up while she sings and dances all day.  Then she buys a new red dress and shoes and they get dusty so she eventually cleans them up then goes ahead and cleans up everything else in her house because she enjoys the way the clean clothes look.  At the end she puts on her red dress, red shoes, and a red flower over her ear and dances in her clean house.  I hope this is what you're looking for.

I have 2 really old craft books.  One is McCall's Giant Golden Make-It Book.   Copyright 1953 by Simon and Schuster, Inc., and Artists and Writers Press, Inc.The other one is newer McCall's Golden Do-It Book.  Copyright 1960 bye the McCall Corporation and Golden Press, Inc.Both of these are crafts made with at home items.  Perhaps one of these is what they are looking for.
A long shot, but maybe Toys You Can MakeChicago: Popular Mechanics Press, 1953, cloth, 160 pages. "Suggestions and diagrams for dozens, perhaps hundreds of toys you can make for your child. Most are wooden, this book being published before plastic took over the toy market. Hence the toys you can make are much more durable than anything you can buy today."
Tangley Oaks Education Center, Junior Instructor (Books 1 & 2), 1916, copyright.  Our copies were reprinted for the 40s.  They are embrossed yellow and red not green.  Lots of fun projects and readings.

Don't know if thisis the series or not, as I don't know when they were first published, but it could be Frank Peretti's Cooper Kids Series.
This just might be the Jack Dawn series by Joseph Coughlin. He wrote a number of titles in the 1940s and one in the 1960s. I have a copy of Jack Dawn and the Vanishing Horses and it is a boys Christian mystery.
C27: Christian Brothers -- Bernard Palmer had a series about Danny & Ron Orliss -- published by Moody Press that was available in the 1950s; that *might* be it
Regarding the Orlis suggestion, I've finally seen one of these and there are some resemblances. The book is very Christian, with more than one conversion and a fair amount of discussion of Christian behaviour, and the Orlis family does live in the boonies, at Angle Inlet, without electricity, television, etc. The title list on the back cover mentions Ron Orlis as well as Danny, but there is no indication in this book whether Ron is an older or younger brother, or adopted, or where he is the rest of the time.
I think this person might be looking for the Danny Orwell series--there was also a radio program that aired on Saturday mornings during the late 1950s featuring these boys.  I hope I'm right about Danny's last name, but the shows (and the books) definitely had a Christian theme.
Could this be the Sugar Creek Gang series by Paul Hutchens? The boys in this series weren't brothers, but the two main characters were a boy named Bill and his best friend, nicknamed Poetry. The other members of the group were Dragonfly, Little Jim, Big Jim and Circus. The other details are similar to what you describe: Christian-oriented mysteries, at least one conversion, etc.
Palmer, Bernard, Danny Orlis and the Rocks That Tal, 1955.  Bernard Palmer was published through Moody Press and wrote other children's series.  The Danny Orlis series featured Danny who lived with his parents in Angle Point, Minnesota together with adopted twin siblings, Ron and Roxie.  The books are back in print and are readily available.  Danny orlis also had an advice column in the Campus Life monthly magazine, as I recall.
Ken Anderson, The Austin Boys, 1943-44. It might be the Austin Boys.  Jim & Tim Austin are twin sons of a missionary couple living on an island in the Coral Sea.  There are only 2 books about them that I am aware of:  "The Austin Boys--Marooned," and "The Austin Boys--Adrift."

C48 a long shot maybe Orton, Helen FullerCloverfield Farm Stories NY: Lippincott, 1947 Omnibus of four books: Prince and Rover of Cloverfield Farm, Bobby of Cloverfield Farm, Summer at Cloverfield Farm, and Winter at Cloverfield Farm.

Just wanted to say that this book does exist, though I can't identify it yet - several years ago I saw a description of it, and remember thinking it was a knock-off of the Chinese Brothers story.
Five Chinese Brothers.  This one is already listed in your solved pages.
C49 chinese boy: There are at least two other versions of this folktale, one being Six Chinese Brothers: an Ancient Tale, retold and illustrated by Cheng Hou-Tien, published Holt 1979, 32 pages. The story is essentially the same, illustrated with scissor cuts in bright red and black. More recent is The Seven Chinese Brothers, retold by Margaret Mahy, illustrated by Jean Tseng and Tseng Mou-Sien, published Scholastic 1990. "The seven brothers walk, talk, and look alike, but each has his own special power. When the third brother runs afoul of the emperor and is sentenced to be beheaded, the fourth brother, who has bones of iron, takes his place. The emperor then tries drowning and burning but each time a different brother foils his scheme." The illustrations are colourful watercolours.  So I don't think we have to be too sure that it's the Claire Huchet Bishop version ...
C49 chinese boy: the Mahy version can be ruled out. I saw a copy at a thrift shop and the story does NOT include swallowing large quantities of water. Instead the emperor is afraid of the power(s) of what he believes to be a single man, and tries to execute him in various ways. Six Chinese Brothers, by Cheng Hou-tien, is supposed to have pretty much the same story as Five Chinese Brothers but different illustrations, and is probably worth checking out.
Claire Huchet Bishop, Five Chinese Brothers.  This is DEFINITELY Five Chinese Brothers, not six, not seven.  The first brother can hold a lake in his mouth, but a village child wanders out too far to pick up fish and drowns when the brother releases the water.  The emperor orders him executed by beheading, so he tells the emperor he needs to go home to say goodbye to his family.  The second brother (who just happens to have an iron neck) is sent in his place.  When the executioner breaks his sword on the brother's neck, the emperor orders him burned.  So they swap in the brother who ca''t be burned and so on...    The stories with six or seven brothers are more about the emperor's fear of the brothers' power, and his attempts to prevent them from taking the throne.

not that I've ever seen the cover, but there's Ghost Boat, written and illustrated by Jacqueline Jackson, published Little, Brown 1969, 148 pages. "A mysterious boat provides four children with an adventure while they are vacationing at their summer cottage."
C56 Is this a possibility?   Zapf, Marjorie. The Mystery of the Great Swamp.  Same as E1?
C56 creepy cover: after checking pictures on eBay, I have to say that unfortunately the Zapf cover doesn't match, neither does the cover of Ghost Boat, or The Button Boat.
L.M. Boston, The Children of Green Knowe, 1955, reprint.  Athough there is some discrepancy, THE CHILDREN OF THE GREEN KNOW has a dark green dust jacket with a yellow drawing of a creepy looking house. Rather than 3 children, there is an old man with an oar and a boy in the front of the boat holding up a lit lantern. It's a spooky cover!
Strange Monster of Strawberry Cove, late 1960s.  The cover description sounds to me like a Scholastic Press book I read in elementary school -- these were paperback books peddled in the California school system via a newsletter passed out in class. Can't find any record of this book in Internet searches, though there's a (Disney?) movie from the '80s with the same title and plot: some children try to hunt down a sea monster that only they have seen, and it turns out to be a canvas superstructure disguising a smuggler's boat. The lantern lights the monster's eyes, or something . . . hope that's what you're looking for! BTW the title I supplied is that of the movie. The book title was at least similar but may not be completely identical.
More clues on #C56, Creepy Cover:  It wasn't much like the hardcover illustration for "The Button Boat" and nothing at all like "Mystery of the Great Swamp" or "Children of Green Knowe."  The differences were, in those pictures the children are standing in the boat or getting into or out of it with faces turned away.  The picture I'm looking for had younger/smaller children (4 to 8 rather than 10 to 12) sitting in a small boat facing towards the lantern in the water. It was MUCH more colorful--rather than two-color with black and white, brown and green, or green and yellow, this had a lot of murky blue, swamp green, yellow glow from the lantern.  The feature which struck me most was the particular round, protruding characteristic of the children's eyes, giving them an eerily apprehensive appearance.  The style of the drawing, particularly those bug eyes, is very much like that of the prolific and popular artist Susan Perl.  Whether that provides a clue I couldn't say, as I don't know that the illustrator was Susan Perl, or that there'd be any way to confirm it, such as an official Susan Perl website.  No idea who published such books, but I'm thinking not Weekly Reader or Scholastic but some fly-by-night printer no one will have heard of.  Might I say, I *did* have a book illustrated by Susan Perl which has proven EXTREMELY rare! It was a paperback of Eugene Field's "Wynken, Blynken and Nod and other poems" from Wonder Books.  Normally, once I know the title and author of a favorite childhood book, it's been relatively easy to get copies for my sisters, but in this case my own copy is the ONLY one I have ever SEEN--that includes not only in used bookstores but on eBay or any other online search.  It was a big favorite and will go right in the glass case I've built for rare and hard-to-find titles.
Vera Cleaver, Ellen Grae, 1967.  I keep thinking that this might be Ellen Raskin's original cover for Vera Cleaver's Ellen Grae - the kids have dropped the lantern and are trying to get it back with the fishing pole.  But I can't find a copy of the book or an image on-line to check my memory!
Wylly Folke St. John, Secret of Hidden Creek, 1968, approximate.  I think this might be the book your looking for.  the older version has a cover like the one you described.

Don't know the story, but this person must find a copy of Crusade in Jeans by Thea Beckman. Won awards in the Netherlands, and is a great story of the Children's Crusades.
The Chidren's Crusade (1975?)  Remember reading this one in my local council library (Adelaide, Australia) in the late seventies/ early eighties.  Title was definitely "The Children's Crusade" but I can't remember the author.  Used to get this one when I'd forgotten the title of "Crusade in Jeans" (heartily agree with the earlier recommendation on this one, too)!
Henry Treece (75, approximate) Back again.  Internet suggests the Author may be Henry Treece? This is definitely the book I remember, and involves the boy (and his sister? - memory escapes me) being rescued from slavery by his father's priest at the end, but wouldn't fit with the suicide part.

#C65--Chipmunks dressing as humans:  It's worth having a look at The Little Mailman of Bayberry Lane, by Ian Munn, illustrated by Elizabeth Webbe, Rand McNally Junior Elf Book, 1952.
C65 It doesn't seem to me as if this book quite matches, but here's more info: almost Little Goloden size; chipmunk mailman on yellow cover, putting mail in a mailbox. Inside, he makes deliveries to different animals in human clothes.
Marjorie Torrey, Three Little Chipmunks,1947.We searching forever for this book as well and my sister just recently found it and bought it - We grew up with Chuffy, Chirpy and Cheeky!!!
McElroy and Younge (American Book Company), Toby Chipmunk, 1931, copyright.  I read this book in a Wisconsin one-room schoolhouse in the late forties and then tried to find it for YEARS; I finally found one last year on ebay.  Good luck!
MCELROY, TOBY CHIPMUNK, 1937.  AN EASY READER(1ST OR 2ND GRADE) USED IN MANY RURAL SCHOOLS IN THE 1940S - TWO CHIPMUNKS, TOBY AND HIS SISTER, WHO GO TO LIVE WITH GRANDMOTHER CHIPMUNK IN HER HOME IN THE TRUNK OF A HOLLOW  TREE.  A DARLING BOOK AND HARD TO FIND.

#C67--Civil War era family story:  "He is not gone, he is just away" has been used in a number of variations, most notably in a poem by Walt Whitman, who did write a lot during and about the Civil War era.  Since the poet is
so well-known, you should have no trouble in locating the poem.  Can't say the same about the book.
C67 civil war era: perhaps Nellie's Prayer by George R. Sims, illustrated by J. Willis Grey, published London & New York by Raphael Tuck 1880, unnumbered pages approx 22, with 28 monochrome illos. "The story of a little girl's prayer for her father's safe return from war." The cover shows soldiers marching with a young boy running beside them, a little girl watching and a woman weeping. However, the soldiers are in red with tall bearskins, very English and not at all American Civil War.

Are you sure this is a children''s book?  I read a short story recently on the same theme in The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror (edited by Datlow & Windling  I think it was last year's edition).  It's a crazy story set in a town populated by clowns that does involve a missing nose (one of the main characters is embarrassed by the fact that his nose is ill-fitting).

Big Big Story Book. I have an anthology of childrens stories from the 1960's called Big Big Story Book.  Mine is hardcover wtih a picture of a circus on the front. Your requests sounded like the story PICNIC IN THE PANTRY, although there is no store owner or car backfiring.  This is in rhyming verse with the first verse being:  The peppermint stick and the candy bar / Sat and dreamed in the big glass jar.  We'll see the World, they cried one day.  And hand in hand they ran away.

C85 El Cid sounds like I26 stories of heroes
C85 el cid: well, Knights and Champions, by Dorothy Heiderstadt, illustrated by George Fulton, published Nelson 1960, 191 pages, includes stories of "twelve legendary and historical heroes, including St. George, Beowulf, Roland, King Arthur, Richard Lionheart, El Cid of Spain, and Bayard the last knight. Ages 10-14.". I couldn't discover the size or confirm colour illustrations, or any other definite characters beyond Ogier the Dane - nothing certain on Gawain or Horatio.

sounds slightly like one suggested for another stumper - The Green Bronze Mirror, by Lynne Ellison, published London, Blackie 1966, 124 pages. "Karen is 15 years old, and on holiday with her family at an English seaside resort. Everything is ordinarily nice, until she finds an old bronze mirror buried in the sand and looks into it. Hearing the tramp of approaching feet, she turns to face a company of what appears to be Roman soldiers. They ARE Roman soldiers, and Karen finds herself in the Britain of almost 2000 years before her own time. Her
adventures go on from there ... romance pervades the story after Karen meets Kleon, a handsome slave boy." The author was apparently only 14 when she wrote the book.
C100 camping trip time travel: there is a short series by Meta Mayne Reid, including The McNeills at Rathcapple, published Faber 1959 "combines the family story with the magic of adventures into the past"; Sandy and the Hollow Book, published Faber 1961 "An exciting story of two children in Ireland who relive forgotten episodes from past history"; and With Angus in the Forest, published Faber 1963 "The story of a girl who went back into Irish history during the desparate times of the 10th century Danish raids, and found there an answer to her own problems." One of Elinor Lyon's books, The Golden Shore, published Hodder 1957, is about cousins John and Penelope, who jump a stream while on a picnic, and find themselves in ancient Greece, where they live for almost a year. There is also a short time-travel series by M. Pardoe, involving the MacAlister children and their tutor - Argle's Causeway, illustrated by L. Atkinson, published Routledge 1958, 244 pages "Another excursion in time granted to the MacAlister family who break through a 'thin spot' in the region of Lymington and find themselves in Norman England in the 11th century. While it is a little difficult to believe that the children's kilts enable them to pass without a great deal of commment ... the historical background is extremely thorough ..." (JB Jul/58 p.135) and Argle's Oracle, illustrated by Audrey Fawley, published Routledge 1959, 197 pages "The MacAllister children and their young schoolmaster friend Mr. Burke are forced down in the sea on a flight to Athens and almost immediately find a 'thin spot' where they break through the veil of time and begin to live in the Greece of 415 BC."
C100 camping trip: the first book in the Pardoe series is Curtain of Mist, illustrated by Leslie Atkinson, published Funk 1958, 246 pages. "Three modern children and their tutor in the Scottish Highlands step throught the 'curtain of mist' into Celtic Britain. They remember that they belong in the 20th century and realize that they have  somehow got into the wrong era. They are thrilled by their experience but frightened too, and anxious to get back home." (HB Feb/58 p.38)

Possibly The Cave, US title Five Boys in a Cave, by Richard Church, published London 1950, New York, Day 1951, 180 pages. "John Walters was visiting his uncle and aunt when he discovered the entrance to the limestone caves near their home. At once he decided to invite four of his friends to explore with him. The effect that danger and fear have on the characters of the boys - bringing out both good and bad traits - is well depicted. For readers of twelve and over." (HB Jul/51 p.249) Not sure about an underground river, though.
another possibility is The Mystery of Mont Saint-Michel, by Michel Rouze, illustrated by Peter Spier, published NY Holt 1955 "The story of four French boys and one girl who, on a summer camping trip, decide to explore the famous abbey at Mont Saint-Michel. Eluding the guides and the regular tours they go underground by themselves and are soon lost in a network of passages and caves. The author combines vivid and realistic descriptions of the ways in which the children meet danger - how they avoid the rising tide, provide themselves with light, fires, food - with their interest in trying to find proof that there is truth in the legend that here once grew the great Forest of Cokelunde. A well-written, exciting and credible tale, translated from the French by George Libaire." (Horn Book Dec/55 p.459) Though it's not an underground river but underground tides.
C107 Have sold this so can't check inside: Wallace, Bill    Trapped  in Death Cave  cover by Don Clavette    Holiday House, 1984; cover art 1987.    Weekly Reader  Just for Boys series
Joyce Sweeney, Free Fall. 1996.  This is about 4 boys who find a cave and go exploring, but they get lost. They find an opening in the cave ceiling, but when one boy attempts to scale the wall, he falls and breaks his leg.  They finally escape by swimming underwater.  Lots of male bonding, kind of like the movie "Stand By Me" but set in modern times.
C107 cave exploration: more on the Richard Church book - "Five boys explore a Severnside cave-complex and find their way out along a subterranean river, after physical hazards and re-alignments within the group. In the sequel (Down River, 1958) they surprise crooks taking contraband down river to a waiting ship." (Growing Point Jan/75 p.2567) There's also one of the books suggested for C94 catacombs: Escape into Daylight by Geoffrey Household. "Carrie and Mike are kidnapped and imprisoned in a dark, damp dungeon beneath a ruined abbey. The only way out is through twisted passages and an underground river."
Could this be The Mystery of the Piper's Ghost by Zillah Macdonald?? Set in Nova Scotia, the story involves an old gold mine with many lengthy tunnels,- it is here that the children get lost.
By title alone how about The Singing Cave by Ellis Dillon-1960?? There was a book in the Trixie Belden series where the kids were in a cave, and there was an underground river.  Involved some kind of endangered fish called the "ghost fish."  Don't know if that's helpful.  (Trixie Belden was a character sort of like Nancy Drew  she and her brother were middle-class kids, and they had a rich friend, Honey, who lived up the road at the mansion, and Trixie had a cute boyfriend named, I think, Jim.)
Enid Blyton, The Secret of Killimooin.  possibility...
Enid Blyton, The Valley of Adventure, 1950s approximate. This third book of the Adventure series (which also includes Castle of Adventure, Ship of..., Island of..., Sea of...) has all the elements that make it difficult to stop reading in the middle: Fast-paced action, burnt old houses, caves and secret tunnels, treasure, and four children who try to outwit bad guys while trapped in a remote and lonely valley. I'm not positive, but the kids might very well have escaped from the Valley by boat down an underground river. I believe they talked about stalactites quite a bit too. The original Blyton "Adventure" books included terrific drawings by Stuart Tresilian which make the reader feel as if he or she is actually a participant in the story. They are now available as reprints in paperback with entirely different covers.

Taro Yashima, Umbrella.  Could this one possibly be Umbrella?  Momo receives boots and an umbrella for her birthday and then has to wait and wait for it to rain. She does walk through the rain in the story, to nursery school.
Could this be the Alice and Jerry reader Day In and Day Out? It has a maroon cover with a girl in summer shorts and light top and an umbrella in rain splashing around in puddles. Like  most reders it consists of many different stories unrelated to one another. The cover and the Title somewhat matched your description!! (You can often find this reader on auction sites with photographs.)
C123 city lights: perhaps this one is too old, but Paris in the Rain With Jean and Jacqueline, written and illustrated by Thea Bergere, published NY McGraw 1963, features a boy and girl with a big black umbrella in city scenes. "Her full-page illustration, using blue, grey, white and just a little red tone. The effect is really pleasing to the eye and consistent with the Parisian tour mood!"
Ludwig Bemelman, Madeline.  The discription scene is very reminisent of a part in Ludwig Bemelman's MADELINE. The copy I had was reprinted by Puffin Books in 1967. I don't know if this is what you are looking for, there is a part where Madeline is exploring Paris in the rain, or perhaps she was lost from the group. This is the first thing I though of.  I hope it
helped!  Afterthought::  I should have said....It could Be or may have been ONE of the many Madeline stories. The First or Original story was Madeline in the hospital had her appendix out I believe. But I recall one where she was lost or exploring Paris in the rain.
Seignobosc, Francoise, Jeanne-Marie in Gay Paris. NY Scribner 1956.  Again, not an exact match. "Jeanne-Marie in her red kerchief, with umbrella and suitcase to match, sets off by herself to see Paris in the springtime. It is a children's Paris that she sees: the puppet show, the merry-go-round, the gay stalls along the Seine where she can choose presents for her friends Jean-Pierre and Patapon." (Horn Book Jun/56 p.183)
Irma Simonton Black (editor), Uptown Downtown.  Uptown Downtown is the title of one of the Bank Street Unit Readers, which was a basal reader series featuring multiracial kids living in urban areas. It is out of print. Published by MacMillan in
1965. Edited by Irma Simonton Black. Illustrated by Ron Becker, Robert Quackenbush, and others. Unfortunately, I don't remember if there is a story about a girl in a rain storm.

I do not know  if the device of the chain is used in the book but a very popular history of the world was  Henrik van(von)Loon's History of Mankind--the 1922 winner of the Newbery Award.
Not a lot of help, I'm afraid, but this is NOT the Van Loon - I've just checked my copy, nor is it his Ancient Man - I looked at my copy of that, too!
Gregg, Pauline, The Chain of History, 1958.
the book i am looking for is fictional, so it wouldn't be a history by van loon nor *the chain of history* (1958), which i was able to look at. but i do appreciate the suggestions.  my mother is quite old and this is the one book she keeps talking about. she read it around 1941 so it had to have been published earlier than that. i have already checked out (all) the several fictional works at the library of congress that have "chain" in the title. i have also searched OCLC.
This is a selection - probably a short story - in a high school literature anthology.  I remember it very clearly.  Check out some textbook anthologies.
I looked through the high school literature anthologies in the Library of Congress from the 20s and 30s without finding the story. More specific information would help.

Betty O'Connor, editor, Better Homes and Gardens Storybook, 1950.  The story about the little old lady whose pig won't go over the stile can be found in the Better Homes and Gardens Storybook from 1950, although I don't think any of the other stories described in the stumper are included in this anthology.
w/ pictures by Blanche Fisher Wright, The Real Mother Goose, 1992.  The Crooked Sixpence is in this book (very beautifully illustrated).  It goes like this: There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile/ He found a crooked sixpence beside a crooked stile/He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse/And they all lived together in a little crooked house.  This is definitely a reprint of The Real Mother Goose, because I had another copy of it nearly 20 years before Barnes & Noble, Inc published this 1992 copy by arrangement with Checkerboard Press, Inc.   Unfortunately, I don't know anything about the other two stories described.
Jessie Willcox Smith, A Child's Book of Stories.  See A116 ~ The contributor who suggested A Child's Book of Stories by Jessie Wilcox Smith seems to have a book similar to mine and their book has "The Old Woman and Her Pig,"  which sounds like it could be the third story described here.
I can identify one of your stories. "Scat, scat! You old street cat!" comes from a story by Lucy Sprague Mitchell called- "How Spot Found a Home". Unfortunately "Crooked Sixpence" is not in my book but this info may further the hunt for your treasured book! Good Luck!
http://www.authorama.com/english-fairy-tales-6.html

James Thurber, Many Moons.  This is a pretty unlikely match, but it does have some things in common. It's about a princess who wants the moon, and everyone the king asks explains why this is impossible, until the the court jester comes up with a solution.
Jan B. Balet, Amos and the Moon, 1948. A wonderful book! Balet's great illustrations show an old New York's different immigrant shopkeepers' windows in colorful detail. It is the Chinese laundryman who gives Amos the birdcagto hold the moon's reflection.

C138 I checked google for Caresse... and got nothing. When I tried Marie Laveu, there were tons.  Perhaps this is of possible interst to customer:  D'Argent, Jacques.  Voodoo.   Sherbourne Press, c1970.
Stern, Steven L., Hex. NY Simon & Schuster 1989.  This may be too late, but the blurb says "In the blackest night the voodoo queen strikes with magic, terror and death!" Which sounds promising. 

Might be worth checking some of Leonard Wibberly's (Mouse That Roared) historical fiction- like his Treegate series.
Jerry West (pseudonym), The Happy Hollisters and the Old Clipper Ship.  This came to mind because the Happy Hollisters books are mysteries (in the same sense that the Bobbsey Twins books are mysteries!) and it's only time I've ever seen "clipper ship" in a book's title.
Before 1950, approximate.  So glad to see this request -- I have been looking for this same book for ages!  I read it in 1956, and it was not new then.  The girl in the book is quite sickly, and she worships her big brother, the captain of the clipper ship.  The title might be the name of the ship . . .  but I remain stumped!  Good luck!
Chastain, Madye Lee, Dark Treasure(1954)  Found it!  I too have been looking for this book forever! It's New York, not Boston, and Cousin Andy, not Lissa's brother -- but he definitely brings her the mini-croquet set, and it is a mystery.  How lovely to finally own this favorite book of my childhood!

C164  Ruth Plumly Thompson, Kabumpo in Oz, 1922.  A longshot, but there is an incident in this book in which the Nome
King grows to a tremendous size and makes off with Ozma's palace on his head.  The illustrations are by John R. Neill.
Jane Langton, The Swing in the Summerhouse,  1967.  Again, a bit of a longshot, but in "The Swing in the Summerhouse" there is a chapter called "The Man Castle" where Eddy finds himself inside his body as if inside a castle and must go up toward his head and awaken his senses.
David Weisner, Free Fall, 1988.  Was it a wordless picture book? Boy falls asleep reading and dreams of flying, almost
MCEscher-esque bizarre juxtapositions and connections. Brilliant illustrator also won Caldecott not too many years back for TUESDAY (also wordless) Anyway, the castle part tugs at me...

Leila Berg, Fire Engine by Mistake.  I think it might be this, or Berg's other book, The Little Car.
The Little Car (Puffin, 1974):  "Eleven brief episodes record the adventures of the Little Car and the Driver who understands every noise it makes."

Kornei Chukovsky, Crocodile

I can't tell you what edition to look for, or even precisely which fairy tale to look for (there are a number which employ the three dresses, among them being "Donkeyskin" or the Grimm version of "Allerleirauh (the Many Furred Creature)" but I can tell you you're not going to figure it out looking under Cinderella.  I'd widen your base to look at some fairy tale anthologies if I were you.
This book does not match in all particulars BUT.. Princess Furball by Charlotte Huck, matches the other details so well! The three balls, the three gorgeous gowns (superior illustrations with unusual textures by Anita Lobel) Great version of Cinderella!! I just had  to toss that out there.
The description of the three gowns of Cinderella sounds like The Fairy Tale Book by Adrienne Segur (1958) under the Solved items.  [Actually, that's illustrated by Segur; adapted and compiled by Marie Ponsot.  See also the Back in Print page.]
I am thinking of a series of book I had as a child. there were about 15 of them and every book had 2 fairy tales in them, I
remember they were tall and did not fit in my lap. The pictures were wonderful and I remember that Cinderella had 3 dresses because that was the only time I had seen that version of it.One as bright as the moon, one as golden as the sun and I believe the first one was red.They were from Mc Calls. I believe the one with Cinderella had a pink cover. The other stories were just as wonderful. Bluebeard, 5 Peas in a Pod,Rapuzel,Hansel and Gretel etc.

Be sure you look at the books on the Most Requested Antholgies page to see if any look familiar.
#C178--Children's Poetry Book:  Could be one of the poetry volumes of Childcraft, 1954 edition with orange and blue cover, reprinted 1961 with red and white cover.
Jane Werner (ed.), The Big Golden Book of  Poetry, 1965.  If "New Shoes" is actually "Choosing Shoes" ( About buying new shoes) then this book fits in all particulars except Paul Klee artwork-but then again I am not exactly sure what Paul Klee bugs look like! Check out this book at this site!

Chris Crutcher, Stotan!, '90's.  This is a YA novel about a swim team. Don't remember anything about the word game...
This has to be much older than the 90s.  I remember reading this story in either elementary school or junior high and I graduated from high school over (Gasp!) 30 years ago.  For some reason, I associate the story with the author of Follow My Leader.  Did he write for textbooks or school readers?
HRL: Probably just means the book was available through Scholastic Book Services, as I know Follow My Leader was.
Eric Berger (editor), For Boys Only, Scholastic 1964.  Any chance this was a short story and not a novel? This Scholastic anthology is from the right time and includes a story called High Diver, by John Ashworth. Stories include - The Adventure at the Toll Bridge by Howard Pease, A Good Clean-Cut American Boy by Harlan Ware, First Command by Eugene Burdick, The Slip-Over Sweater by Jesse Stuart, Caesar's Wife's Ear by Phyllis Bottome, Sally by Isaac Asimov, Open Sesame by Ray Harris, The Torn Invititation by Norman Katkov, High Diver by John Ashworth, As the Eagle Kills by Hal G. Evarts, Alone in Shark Waters by John Kruse, and the Rookie Pitcher by John McClellen.
Franklin M. Reck, The Diving Fool  RECK, FRANKLIN M.  The Diving Fool, (Short Story) (in) The American Boy Anthology, ed. Franklin M. Reck, Thomas Y. New York: Crowell Company 1951  Also found in:  The Arrow Book of Sports Stories and in several reading/literature textbooks of the 60's and 70's
Franklin Reck, The Diving Fool. Just to confirm that yes, this has got to be the short story ?The Diving Fool?! The new diving team member who?s absolutely a natural (and has great technique too) lets nerves derail his performance when the pressure?s on. The first-person narrator, a generous-spirited old team member who recruited him (i.e., doesn?t mind if this new guy is better, if it helps the team ? in fact is simply happy to watch such a brilliant performer) jollies him along and gets him ?in the zone?, as we?d say nowadays, in a crucial swim meet (the fate of the powers-that-be granting the money for a new pool, etc. etc... the pressure was indeed on). The new guy had bombed somewhat in his first meet a few weeks earlier. The nice old team member (whom the coach keeps saying is good, but not performing up to his full potential) does indeed psych his new fellow team member up (again, terminology not used back then!) by playing the ?iggle? game they?d goofed around with in practices, as described by the OP. (It was decades later that I realized they were modifying the word ?eagle?!) Anyway, what worked for the scared new kid worked for the other! By gosh if the old kid wasn?t the one who came in first, and the new kid second, so they won handily. I even remember exactly the closing dialogue: The old kid says bewilderedly, stunned at his own success: ?I... I did what you wanted, Coach. I... I talked him into it...?  The coach interrupted him: ?You talked yourself into it, you diving fool!? (Wish all of us ever experiencing stage fright always had such a compatriot to talk us into the right frame of mind! In fact... hmmm... really getting too long-winded here -- feel free to edit!! -- I was reminded once again of this story yesterday when someone was kind enough to call me a "singing fool". My sight-reading abilities, for instance, are really, really good. Sometimes I let nerves get in the way of the production of beautiful vocal tone, however! If I get "in the zone" though, I'\''m all right. I want a companion on hand at all times like the old team member in this story!)

I couldn't find Snip the Tailor as part of an anthology, but I did find it as an individual book.  It's by Miriam Blanton Huber (Nisbet, 1952).  And I found Snip the Tailor: a play for boys by Vincent Bedford (S. French, Ltd. 1930).  Sorry, don't think this is what you're looking for.
I found a reference to Snip the Tailor in Index To Fairy Tales, Myths, and Legends - 2nd Supplement, but I don't think it's the book you're looking for since it appears to be a school reader.  You can find the story in After The Sun Sets (Miriam Blanton Huber, F.S. Salisbury, & Mabel O'Donnell = ed. and comp., c1938, Row, Peterson & Co.)  Note: Wonder-story books reading foundation series.
Saw "Snip the Tailor" in a children's reader today- After the Sun Sets- ( A Wonder Story Book) I believe these books were supplementary readers to go along with The Alice and Jerry Readers. A good number of other tales were included in the reader.

Byrd Baylor, The Chinese Bug, 1968.  Could this be it?  "Using a broken hoe and an old kitchen spoon, a little boy who lives in the city is determined to dig his way to China in the small dirt plot behind the neighborhood grocery store. He decided he might even learn to speak Chinese, at least a few useful words like CHOCOLATE MILK and PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY. -- in the very center of the hole was a small glistening bug -- fluttering and bright.". Illustrated by Beatrice Darwin.
C196 Could this be the same as D114 Lifton's Taka-Chan, the dog that digs thru?
Wilbur, Richard, Digging for China, 1970.  This picture book poem has illustrations by William Pene du Bois.  Doubleday, 1970.  I also vaguely remember a very small picture book about digging to China with illustrations (and possibly the writing as well) by Joan Walsh Anglund.  Hope this helps. 

A little earlier than the 1930's, but...The Little Carpenter by ?? (Samuel Raynor, 1849).  Series: New and true books for the young, no. 4.  Also anthologized in New And True Stories For Children: with 100 pictures.

Here is a link for Chinese Folk Tales.
I checked the links suggested for Chinese Fairy tales/folktales.  None of the books listed were the book I am looking for.  I may have purchased it through a school book fair??  I'm just not sure.  Please keep looking, thank you.
Not a solution, but could it be an anthology of Japanese fairy tales, rather than Chinese?  The first story described sounds like the Japanese story The Crane Maiden, about an old woman who takes in a crane during a winter storm, the bird turns into a beautiful girl, and the woman raises her as her daughter.
This is definitely an anthology of Japanese folk tales that you are looking for, not Chinese. The first story is The Crane Maiden, by Miyoko Mitsutani.  The second story is the basis for The Terrible Eek, retold by Patricia Compton. (On a rainy night, a man tells his  son that the things he most fears are a thief, a wolf, and a "terrible leak." He is overheard by both a thief who happens to be on the roof and a nearby wolf. The thief falls onto the wolf and each believes the other to be the "terrible eek." Terrified, they bolt and frighten several other animals with their misheard story about the "terrible eek," leaving the family safe in their home.) The date for Compton's retelling (1991) is too late for the anthology that you are looking for, but it sounds like basically the same story.

William P�ne Du Bois, The forbidden forest, 1978.  A lot of the details are different than the book described, but it's the only thing that came up in my database search of kangaroos and wars!  "There were three heroes on the British cruiser Barkham when it docked in Syndey, Australia. They were known throughout the world as the "Stoppers of the Great War". They are Buckingham bulldog dog, Spider Max (a man), and the mysterious Lady Adelaide Kangaroo.  Lady Adelaide, a boxing kangaroo, helps to defeat the German army, thus becoming a heroine of the Great War."

Alfred P. Morgan, Boys' Book of Science and Construction. Another possibility is N.B. Stout: Boys' Book of Mechanical Models, 1921.
H.H. Windsor, editor, The Boy Mechanic Book 3, 1919.  This is a series of books (I have 1, 2, & 3 - may be more printed) published by Popular Mechanics Press (Chicago).  They consist of articles with diagrams for building all kinds of things.  Book 3 is subtitled "800 Things For Boys To Do" and has instructions for an aerial cableway, miniature tank, motor car, parcel delivery bicycle, etc. Hope this helps - just discovered your wonderful site tonight!

Tomie de Paola, Bill and Pete. A possibility. Picture books about a crocodile and his bird friend who claims to be his
'toothbrush'.
C214 I thought it might be this, but when I look at it, it doesn't seem to have the geometrical artwork that I think I have seen on a smaller book around here. This is picture-book size, with bold illustrations throughout. Kissin, Rita.  Zic-Zac, the crocodile bird; a good neighbor story from the Nile.  Messner, 1942, Junior Literary Guild.  Another title I find on the Net is: Pickford, Susan B.  Zic-Zac and the Crocodile

Griffith, Helen, Alex and the Cat, 1982.  Just a possibility - but Alex (the dog) thinks that being a cat is preferable to being a dog.  The life of a cat does not require as much as that which is expected of a dog.

Meader, Stephen, Bulldozer, 1951.  I think this is it. I remember the part where the hero(es?) got hold of the bulldozer attachment for the tractor.
Meader, Stephen, Bulldozer, 1951, copyright.  It is definitely Meader's Bulldozer. I am a librarian in New Jersey and we have a collection of Meader books.

Merritt Parmalee Allen, Mudhen.  It is a long shot, but it is the only book of boy stories featuring one character that I know.  The Mudhen played a lot of tricks, too.
Robert Newton Peck, Soup series.  Just a possibility - I can't identify the episode, but I've only read one or two of the books.
Could this be an episode in one of Robert Newton Peck's Soup books?  I know there's a chapter in Soup where he ties people up with rope, including his Aunt Carrie, which earns him a thrashing.  The episode described sounds like something Soup would do.
Jamie Gilson, 13 Ways to Sink a Sub. I seem to remember the incident with string occurring in this book, where 4th-grader Hobie Hanson and his friends try to make their substitute teacher cry.  Gilson wrote several books about Hobie and his school friends.

C229 It's not Stockton The griffin and the minor canon
gerald durrell, the talking parcel
Gerald Durrell, The Talking Parcel, 1974.  I too am almost sure this book is Gerald Durrell's The Talking Parcel.  Although it was published in 1974.  There are fire breathing Cockatrices and a Gryphon.  Three cousins called Peter Penelope and Simon journey to the land of Mythologia where flowers never die and there are four sunsets a day.

I think you have the title correct.  Try this: Henry Schindall. LET THE SPRING COME. Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1953. Dramatic Novel of Virginia and Kentucky in Revolutionary Days-   poignant love story, fast-moving story of adventure, intrigue and a fearful battle against odds, and an inspiring story of hope and courage- story of human beings in time of turmoil and stress- .  It's hard to find; but I did find a nice first edition copy available for $80.  Let me know if you want it...
You answered my query (C231) , but I think you chose the wrong book.  The book by Henry Schindall takes place in the Revolutionary War, and the book I am interested in takes place in the American Civil War.  I contacted a bookseller who has the book for sale and he said it definitely takes place during the Revolutionary war.  I specifically remember that the period is the 1860's because the guy never tells the girl what side he is fighting on.  The book takes place over the 4 years of the Civil War.  The Revolutionary War lasted 8 years.
John Lawson, The Spring Rider. This sounds like a wonderful out of print book from Harper & Row, in which the
mysterious soldier may or may not be Abraham Lincoln. There's a young girl and, I believe, her brother.

I am the original stumper requester- the book has an elf that they call a brownie (apparantly brownies and elves are the same thing) and one is grandpa and he falls asleep on a shelf, another loses his glasses, Mrs. Claus bakes cookies for the elves, they feed the reindeer and on brownie spill red paint.  this book is so important to me and my mother.  neither of us can remember the name, but it wonderfully and colorfully illustrated.  thanks!

Sparkie with George Hinke illus., Jolly Old Santa Claus, 1961.  This sound an awful lot like Jolly Old Santa Claus published  by Ideal in the early 1960's. There are a couple of things that don't match.  No Brownie.  Gran'pa Elf just won't wear his glasses.  Everything else matches.  The illustrations are vibrant busy oil paintings by Geo. Hinke.  At the end Santa returns to find that their cat has had kittens.
Sparkie , Jolly Old Santa Claus, 1961.  I wrote in that I believed this to be Jolly Old Santa Claus, but that one thing I could not find was an elf named Brownie.  When I said that I was going by the 1990's reprint, which said it had the original story and all the original illustrations! Still I had a sneaking suspicion that it was revised because I vaguely remembered some things such as the spilled paint and the elves going to bed which were not there!  Well,  I found my brother's 1961 copy and lo and behold it has been much revised.  Nearly all the elves have been renamed, except Grampa.  And in the original the elves are all called brownie  there is Brownie Jingle who spills the paint, Brownie Grampa who is always forgetting his glasses, Lazy brownine who hides high on top of a shelf so as not to have to work and there is and section where the brownies help Mrs. Claus in the kitchen with making cookies and when the work is all done she serves them cookies. What I can not find is anyone sleeping  on a shelf, but like I said Lazy Brownie is on a shelf and looks like he is snoozing!  If this is the book beware of the reprint!  It is not the same (but still very charming). There are sections missing and some new ones added.
Mauri Kunnas, Santa Claus and His Elves,1981.This sounds quite a bit like a book that I just recently refound for my son who was born in 1981, so the right time frame. There is a lot going on in the pictures including pretty much every thing you mentioned.   I think it was originally written in Finnish.

The genre is defintielty not in the children's section! It's definitely adult fiction I am starting to think it's probably in an anthology of short stories.
This has some similarities to the short story "The Unknown Masterpiece" by Honore de Balzac, but I don't think anyone paints cats.  In Balzac's story, a young painter persuades his beautiful girlfriend to pose for an older man, a painter who has gone mad over a masterpiece he has been working on.  It's a great story and the poster would probably enjoy it.

Here are some more details: The trap that the people designed was a large hemisphere suspended from a pulley. I think the people wore pointy hats and rode horses. 

Could this be Color Kittens, the Little Golden book?
Margaret Wise Brown, The Color Kittens
Margaret Wise Brown, The Color Kittens, ca. 1950.  This does sound like The Color Kittens, except that there were only two of them (Hush and Brush), and I don't recall the colors as being pastels, necessarily.  (As I recall the story, Brush and Hush were trying to create green paint, and came up with pink and orange before they finally got the recipe right.  They then fell asleep and had dreams about some other colors before waking up, getting pouncy, and spilling over all of their buckets, thus creating all the colors in the world.)  The original illustrations were by the Provensens  I've seen a more recent edition with redone pictures, but if the contributor is thinking of a book published 45 years ago (and assuming that The Color Kittens is the correct book), then the memory the contributor has must be of the Provensens' illustrations.

Myers, Dragon Takes A Wife.  There was an early edition of this book that might be what you are looking for.
I totally remember that quote, also had the book in question. There was more than one in the series but the character (boy dragon) was called dennis the dragon and at least one of the books was named dennis the dragon. I think the first one was about him going off to school. they had brilliant illustrations!

Henry Van Dyke, Foolish Fir Tree.  This sounds like the story of the foolish fir tree who wished for leaves of gold, glass
and lettuce. See this website.
Thanks for taking the time to send in this suggestion.  The gist of the tree story is the same, but the book we're trying to find was prose. Any other thoughts would be appreciated.
Bailey Carolyn, short story in collection - little fir tree?  I have  clipping from an old book.  I tell my own version of this story.  The tree is not a Christmas tree, however, just a fir tree in the forest.  It wants to have pretty leaves instead of ugly needles.  Then when given a chance to wish, it tries for something even better than the broadleaf trees.  It gets crystals and the wind destroys them, gold leaves and a man picks them.  Then the tree decides to go with the original idea of green broad leaves, but a goat eats them.  Finally the tree realizes that it is best to be happy with one's self.

Rose Dobbs, Once Upon a Time Story Book, 1958 Random House, copyright.The story in the collection is entitled The Pine Tree and is the same referred to by Caroline Bailey. This version is not a Christmas tree by a pine tree in the forest that wishes for gold leaves, then glass, then green leaves and is finally happy with the original green needles.

Ursula K LeGuin, Catwings series ???
Boegehold, In the Castle of Cats?

Jean Paul Clebert, The Blockhouse, 1958  in English, 1955 in French.  What must be the same book was asked about a few years ago on another of my lists;  it eventually drew this response (note that a movie was also made from the book):  "The Blockhouse" (1973), directed by Clive Rees, starring Peter
Sellers, Charles Aznavour, Jeremy Kemp, Peter Vaughan, Nicholas Jones, et al. Maltin summary:  "Dismal, downbeat story of laborers trapped in underground  bunker when the Allies land at Normandy on D-Day."  And OCLC yields this:  1955 novel by Jean Paul Clebert, "Le Blockhaus" -- English edition 1958. 

I'm pretty sure this is one of the Cosgrove "Serendipity" books - not sure which one, but sounds very, very familiar.
C260 is not Cosgrove's The dream tree which is about a caterpillar wishing it knew what it would be like to be a butterfly -  no friends in danger. It is not the Chubby Board Book The Caterpillar who turned into a butterfly.
Beverly Nichols, The Mountain of Magic. This is the third book of the series,preceded by '\''The tree that Sat Down'\'' and '\''The Stream that Stood Still'\'' A wicked witch gets all the animals in a cave, and prepares to break open a dam and drown them all. A caterpilar that was scared of becoming a butterfly hatches out, and flies furiously to warn them. I think he dies of exhaustion.

i guess i should add...the illustrations were of the paintings the kids did on the walls of the apartment building, super rich colors of animals and landscapes....
i'm the poster of c267 and i had a question... i've been reading through your pages of books to see if anything sounds familliar to jog my memory for the name of the book i'm looking for, and I ran across the book No Children, No Pets... do you happen to know if this was an illustrated book or not? I told my sister the name and she said that sounded familliar, but we may be confusing our information?? We both really only remember the pictures in this book, so we have little other reference to go by...  Thank you so much for your help.
As far as I can tell, it's a juvenile novel with some b&w drawings.  Here's another description:  New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1957. Hard Cover. Weekly Reader. Nice black and white illustrations.  A classic kid's story of a family who inherits an apartment house in Palm Glade, Florida and the strange tenants and hurricanes that they have to deal with.
o.k. thanks...its not the book i'm looking for if its just black and white illustrations...But again many thank yous for any attempt at finding this book for me!
o.k. talked to my dad, he says that it had to be new around 1969-1975, it was larger scale, hard-backed, but not alot of pages...he seems to think the title was something like "Mrs. Hopkins Apartment" or something of that nature...but he also said that he could easily be wrong...does this ring a bell with anyone out there?? peace...
I wonder if M248 & C267 refer to the same book?
yes, i'm pretty sure the other post is by another curious family member...the quest continues!!
hi i'm the poster of C267...but was wondering if possibly C261 was looking for the same book? I'm still in search of this colorful thing and actually have found pictures of a wall painted with the same illustrations in the book i'm trying to find,,,but still no title.... anyone...anyone??? thanks again for your help..
C261 was just solved as Leonard Shortall's The Curious Clubhouse, 1967. I don't think yours is the same...
i'm the original poster of C267...and i am still on the prowl for this book i had as a kid...after asking more family about it...some seem to recall it being called something like "mrs. (something or others) boarding house" or "mrs. something or others apartment building"...and only around 30 pages...if this helps or rings a bell with anyone, i would love to know!! updated: but now i have an image that may ring someones bell! i'm the poster of C267 and when we were kids and had this elusive book, my dad took one of the illustrations from it and painted it on my wall...well i found a picture of that wall painting and was hoping maybe someone would recognize it! crossing fingers~~

Blount, Iva M., Poems of Texas, 1936.  Was your aunt from San Antonio?  If so, this may be the book you're looking for:
Published in San Antonio by The Board of Education.  "Reproduced from type-written copy./ "This is a collection chosen and selected by pupils in the Edgar Allen Poe Junior School under the guidance ... of Mrs. Iva M. Blount ..." Foreword."  There is a copy in the Univ. of Texas at Austin library - check your local library to see if you can get it through interlibrary loan.
I did check with UT Austin library research. They say my aunt's poem is not listed in this book so I guess it isn't the book I'm looking for. But thank you for your trouble. I appreciate it.
Some more long shot possibilities, found in the WorldCat database:  But for a light  original verse /  Poetry Club (Thomas Jefferson High School, San Antonio, Tex.)  The Sigmund Press, 1935.  If crickets hear : original verse / Poetry Club (Thomas Jefferson High School, San Antonio, Tex.)  1936 Patriotic moments, a second book of verse by the Bellerophon quill club of the Booker T. Washington high school, Dallas, Texas.  by Brewer, John Mason, 1896-1975.  Booker T. Washington High School (Dallas, Tex.). Bellerophon Quill Club. 1936 Youth in verse : an anthology of poems by high school students.  North Texas State Teachers College, Denton, Tex.  1938 Youth in verse : an anthology of poems by high school students, volume II /  North Texas State Teachers College.  Denton, Tex. 1939
Bound typescript complilation of poems by students of the Demonstration School of the North Texas State Teachers College./ Foreword by Lillian Walker. edited by Georgia Rae Glover.

Check the Solved Mysteries pages for BIG Story Book (Malvina C. Vogel, 1978) and Giants & Witches, and a Dragon or Two (Phyllis R Fenner,  1943).
Govindan, Santhini, The ice-cream dragon and other stories.  Harper Collins 1993.  This may be too late a date, but I'm sending it because of the title. "Have you ever met .. a real Fire Breathing Little Dragon with a weakness for ice-cream? And Balban the Lion who hiccups .. and the Tooth Fairy who .. If not, you can meet them now as they inhabit the magical world of this book."
The first story doesn't ring any bells, but the second sound exactly like one of the stories in E. Nesbit's 'The Last of the Dragons and some others'

Smith, Dorothy Hall (ed.), Tall Book of Christmas, NY Harper 1954.  It may be this one (on the solved list), if the story of The First Christmas Tree is a bit garbled - in that one the woodcutter father gets lost in the snow, and is guided home by Christmas lights on trees. It has colour illos and a peach(?) background to the cover illo. However, it could also be The Santa Claus Book, if the recollection is of the story Susie's Christmas Star, with the little girl following her own footsteps in the snow along a street. That one is Golden Books, 1952, and also on the Solved list.
Christmas Ideals.  This book sounds very much like one of the Christmas Ideals. I was a child in the 50s, and read my grandmother's. She bought them every year. They are now softcover magazine format, but they used to be hard cover. Some booksellers specialize in them They would have color as we well as line and monochrome illustartions, stories and poems. They repeat a lot, so the individual story could be repeated later.

Mr. Pine's Mixed-Up Signs features a similar idea: Mr. Pine makes new signs for the town, but he can't find his glasses, so he puts them up randomly all over the city, to comic effect.  Now back in print.  See the Leonard Kessler page.
You suggested that the solution to my query might be Mr. Pine's Mixed-up Signs, but Kessler's illustrations didn't look familiar at all. The book format, as I remember, was bigger than an easy reader with full-page spreads and much brighter, less sketchy illustrations than were pictured in the "Purple House" book. So, unless the illustrations were very different in the "Signs" book, this isn't it. But, thanks anyway!
Eastman, P.D. (Philip D.), Sam and the Firefly, 1958.  Could this be it?  I hesitate to mention this book because it is an easy reader (so it isn't "bigger than an easy reader") and the illustrations are in four colors (turquoise, yellow, black and white) and may therefore not be "colorful" enough.  The plot: Sam the owl befriends Gus the firefly, who can make shapes in the air by keeping his light on and flying about rapidly.  Sam teaches Gus to make words that look like neon signs.  After a short period of innocent fun, the mischievous firefly uses his newfound talent to crash cars, confuse airplanes, and cause a stampede towards the local movie theater (he writes the words "COME IN!  FREE SHOW" over the marquee) and away from a local restaurant (he writes the word "COLD" over an ad for hot dogs).  The angry cook catches Gus in a jar and begins to drive the firefly out of town.  His truck stalls on a railroad track just as a train approaches.  Sam the owl smashes the jar and liberates Gus, who prevents a collision by writing "STOP" in front of the oncoming train.  All is forgiven and the two friends depart.
Arnold, Tedd, The Signmaker's Assistant, 1992.  If you're absolutely sure that the book is from the 1960s, this can't be it, but it meets all the other criteria.  This book is larger than an easy reader and full of big, colorful street scenes.  Norman, a young boy who cleans brushes at the signmaker's shop, decides to make a few signs of his own when the signmaker isn't around to supervise.  Norman has a great deal of fun at the townspeople's expense, but realizes he has erred when they become angry and tear down every sign in the town, old as well as new.  Chaos ensues and the townspeople chase the signmaker into the woods.  Norman apologizes and peace and order are restored.  Even if this isn't the book you're looking for, it's a worthwhile read, so check it out!
No, it's definitely not SAM AND THE FIREFLY. Actually a particular sign I remember is more like a big billboard and something on it - a picture or phrase- is defaced (in a humorous way). Possibly traffic signs are changed as well. Very colorful pics, busy and funny - sorry I can't remember more. I remember the cover was salmon-colored, but I think that was just a library binding - now why can I remember that detail, but not more important ones? Frustrating. Thanks for the guess.
Lipkind, William, illustrated by Nicolas Mordvinoff, Perry the Imp.  NY Harcourt 1956. Kind of a longshot, but the date is right. "The comic adventures of Perry the imp who came up from the sea, full of mischief, shouting "Landfolk, look out!" Turning the city of Dopple into another Venice made him a celebrity  taking care of the Dopplers' clocks had a different result. It is all fantastic nonsense, carried out with perfect harmony in the good read-aloud text and the details and atmosphere of striking color illustrations. The double-spread scene showing the Dopplers enjoying their new canals will occupy a small child a long time." (Horn Book Oct/56 p.346)
James Flora, Great Green Turkey Creek Monster, 1965. In this story the whole town is turned topsy-turvy great green hooligan vine town, a really fun book

Zilpha Keatley Snyder, The Changeling.  I could be wrong, but I know I read this book back in the 70's.  I don't, however, remember the plot.
Snyder, Zilpha Keatley, The Changeling, illustrated by Anton Raible.  NY Atheneum 1970.  This does sound like part of the answer (but only part) - the main characters are two young girls, Martha Abbott and Ivy Carson, but Ivy's young sister does play a part, and there is a memorable picture of a dark-haired girl crouched under a bush. The Carson home is large and dilapidated - the girls also explore the ruins of a burnt-out house. However I don't recall anyone called Luci or fleeing from a danger. The other book that comes to mind is The Other One, by Josephine Lee (alt. title Joy is Not Herself), published Knight 1974. In that one a very ordinary English family has one different daughter, called Melusine, who seems to have witchy powers and can ill-wish people. At one point the children hide behind a hedge while a girl who let Melusine's guinea pig die is bucked off her horse. The house they live in in the country is rather old and dilapidated. At the end of the book they seek the vicar's help in driving the evil spirit from Melusine through a night of prayer, and after that she is called by her middle name, which is Joy.
Boston (last name), The Children of Green Knowe, 1960s.  I think this may be the book you are looking for. The first in the series of the Green Knowe books.
Greaves, Margaret, The Dagger and the Bird, HarperCollins 1975, copyright.  I wonder if this could be The Dagger and the Bird? Two children, Luke and Bridget (shortened to Biddie) search for their younger brother who's been stolen by fairies. If the poster has reversed the names in memory, but remembered that one name was shortened, it could fit.

Red Boots for Christmas / The Cobbler's Gift.  If it's a Christmas story, it's one that has been told in many versions.  The Lutheran church put out a book and video called Red Boots for Christmas.  It's also been called The Cobbler's Gift.  The cobbler in these stories doesn't always show kindness, though, until the end in Red Boots for Christmas, he is a bitter, selfish man.  He is visited by an angel who says that God will be visiting him he goes around cleaning up, making a special meal and trying to find a gift for God in the meantime, assorted poor people come to his door and are either helped or not helped, depending on the version.  In the end, he is upset because God didn't come then God or the angel speaks to him and says that the needy people coming to the door represented God, and that was the point.
Additional Story details:  The story is of a child/angel who arrives in a small town and asks a wealthy shopkeeper and his wife for some food and they send him away.  He then asks a poor shoemaker/cobbler and he asks the child/angel to join him for dinner and shares his humble dinner with him.  He then offers the "child" a place to sleep (a straw mat) and then a breakfast.  The "child" thanks him for his kindness and tells the cobbler that whatever he does that day he will be successful at and do all day long.  When the cobbler arrives at his shop he begins to repair the shoes and proceeds to do so all day long, making a lot of money.  The greedy shopkeepers see this and ask him how this has come to be, so the cobbler tells them of the "childs" "wish".  The wife tells the husband to find the "child" so that they can benefit the same way.  The husband finds the "child" and takes him in for the evening providing him with a wonderful dinner, a feather bed to sleep in and a wonderful breakfast.  As the "child" leaves he tells them the same as the cobbler.  So the shopkeepers rush to their store and clean out cabinets and drawers to hold all the money tey're going to make. Instead, all they do is empty boxes all day and they make no money. I saw this story in a small book, like a Golden Book in the early seventies, but I don't know who the author was or the name of the story.  I have looked for it for quite some time.

I actually have three suggestions for this one.  The first is the 1928 book Candy Land, which was a part of the Little Color Classics series and had a number of color plates of illustrations.  No author was listed for it, but the illustrator was Hildegard.  It was about a little girl named Betty and her friend Brunny (who was a bear, not a boy) and how they visited a land made of candy.  The second suggestion is Candy Country by Louisa May Alcott (who, of course, wrote "Little Women").  It was published in 1900 and has a similar story (a girl named Lily visits a fantasy land of candy), but I do not know if it was ever published with color illustrations.  Finally, there is In Wink-a-Way Land by Eugene Field, published in 1930 - it definitely had color illustrations and a picture of children picking candy from a field on the cover, but I do not really know the story.  Hope one of these is what you are looking for.
Baum, Frank, Magical Monarch of Mo.  Sounds like it could be a chapter out of the Magical Monarch of Mo, written before 1930s.  In one chapter one of the princes is banished to an island made entirely of candy.
I have a few suggestions for you since they were offered to me as solutions to my stumper.
1.  A trip to Lazibonia, by HM Denneborg aka Heinrich-Maria Denneborg, translanted by Anne Rogers, illustrated by Horst Lemke, published in London by Kaye and Ward Ltd, 1971
2.  Adventures of Calico Cotton, Helen Lawrence Backman, drawings by Joyce Langelier
published by Rolton House, Inc., 1967
3.  How about Hansel & Gretel, Dot & Tot from the Oz Books, or the Nutcracker and the Mouse King?' 

Except for the dates, plot sound similar to those in Eugene Burdicks The 480 and Ninth Wave. (He also wrote Fail-Safe and The Ugly American.)
Not sure, but I think that might be today's newspaper (Nov 3rd, 2004)
Probably Sinclair Lewis' IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE (1936)?  If not--  Two long shots, both obscure: PRESIDENT RANDOLPH AS I KNEW HIM by John Francis Goldsmith (1935) and PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH by Frederick Upham Adams (1897, but reprinted a few times since then).  I think President Smith turns out to be a good president (the book is sometimes cited in bibliographies of utopian fiction), though.  I don't know anything about the Goldsmith book beyond the title and fact that it's set some twenty years in what in 1935 was the future.

Have you looked through the Anthology Finder to see if anything looks familiar?  Check out the Big Golden Book of Poetry....
Puffin poem:  I don't know which collection you had, but you can find the puffin poem here (scroll down a ways).
I had a book of poems by Eugene Field (I think) that included Winken, Blinken and Nod and the Gingham Dog and the Calico cat.  I remember the dog and cat got in a fight and there were bits of fabric all around when they finished fighting. This might be it..
If the collection included The Owl and the Pussycat, it would not have been a book of poems by Field, since that one is by Edward Lear.  The Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat is properly called The Duel, and it has been included in many collections of childrens' poetry.

Here are some possibilities - who knew there were so many Christmas horror books out there??  And I'm thinking the first books may all be the same book with different titles. -Mysterious Christmas tales : horror stories for the festive season. (Scholastic, 1999, 1993) "Includes stories by Gillian Cross, Susan Price and Robert Swindells". -Chilling Christmas tales (Scholastic, 1993, 1992) -Haunting Christmas tales : horror stories for the festive season / Joan Aiken / Nine stories of Chritmas past and present, mysterious, scary things have a way of happening, whether the people in them have been naughty or nice. "Jingle bells / Tessa Krailing -- The woodman's enigma / Garry Kilworth -- The weeping maid / Robert Swindells -- The investigators / David Belbin -- The cracked smile / Anthony Masters -- The other room / Jill Bennett -- The chime child / Ian Strachan -- Crespian and Clairan / Joan Aiken -- Across the fields / Susan Price."  These look like adult titles: -Chillers for Christmas / Richard Dalby   -Shivers for Christmas / Richard Dalby  -Mistletoe & mayhem : horrific tales for the holidays / Richard Dalby
Scott Corbett (author), Mircea Vasiliu (illustrator), The Big Joke Game (1972)  I've read this, and it is definitely the book the stumper requester is looking for!  I don't have it in front of me, but here is what I remember.  Ozzie is a fun-loving boy who irritates the adults around him with his incessant jokes, riddles and pranks, and his obsession with board games.  When he gets into serious trouble at school, his parents think about sending him to a military academy, and Ozzie decides to run away.  While climbing down the trellis outside his window, he falls into The Big Joke Game, a life-size board game that he must win in order to return to earth.  With his "guardian devil" Bub at his side, Ozzie has many strange experiences and gains a degree of maturity before the book concludes.  Fun and interesting without being preachy or heavy-handed.  See the Solved Mysteries "B" page for more information.

Could it be any of these? Evers, Alf, The deer-jackers.  illus by Lewis Parker.  Macmillan, 1965. George, Jean Craighead. On the far side of the mountain.  Puffin, c1990.  I did just read more than I should have of this one: A teen  age boy, Sam Gridley, a teenager from NYC spends a yr really really living  on the land. He used a lot of wild plants, but ginseng was not one of them and there wasn't really any mystery cabin in this one, and  not 2 teenagers, tho he did have visitors.  Also by George, Jean Craighead,  The moon of the owls.  Crowell c1967
My book is not any of the Jean Craighead George books, as she is one of my favorite authors (I probably should have mentioned that in the original email).  Its also not The Deer-jackers. I also remember that the money that could be earned from the Ginsing somehow solved a problem-maybe in keeping the land that the cabin was on.
Eda & Richard Crist, The secret of Turkeyfoot Mountain.  I remember it well. I don't own a copy at this moment, so I can't give copyright date.  The story of two boys who seek a the lost cabin of a "Sang Hunter" (wild Ginseng hunter) and the treasure of fine roots he left behind. The book features the lyrics of a mountain ballas about the Sang Hunter's ghost "...in his long black coat/Laughin' through the wilderness."
Irene Hunt, No Promises in the Wind.   I don't know if these will be right, but two books came to mind, although both seem a little advanced for fourth grade. No Promises in the Wind (Irene Hunt) is about 2 brothers from Chicago during the depression, who run away and survive on thier own. Where the Lilies Bloom has several brothers and sisters living and surving on thier own by gathering herbs to sell, particularly Ginseng, they however live in the Appalachians not the Catskills. Don't know if these will help, Good Luck.

Lasson, Robert, Orange Oliver: the kitten who wore glasses, Young Readers Press, 1957.  Just a guess.

Sorry, no ideas about the specific craft book, but I might point out that Canadians (where I live anyway) usually spell Mommy with an o, not a u.  So maybe your book was a British import?
I think you may be right, this book must have been a British import.

Eva Knox Evans, Araminta.  1930s
Good guess, but the little girl is visiting her grandmother in the city, not the country.
This sounds like a story I read in grade school, that was in one of our readers. I remember "Aqu� est� mi nieta" - here is my granddaughter. I remember the little girl walking through the city. I don''t remember the author or title, but I'll keep looking!

There are a few Golden Books featuring Cars/Trucks: Try Cars #251, c1956, Author: Kathryn Jackson. Cars and Trucks #366,c1969, no author, Illus.Richard Scarry.  Also check the Little Golden Book Collector's Identification & Price Guide which should be in the library reference section.  It shows the front cover of all their books. I hope this helps.

From what I have learned about the book I seek, at least I was able to input that info on another stumper that describes the exact plot of the book I am searching. Unfortunately, the book I found was British, with fussy illustrations and too recently published.  The book I need about an undersea tour was likely American, published in 1953 or 1954, with illustrations that were more heavy black outlines and bold colors within.   I was able to find Priscilla and the Prawn on the Internet, look at its illustrations, and was able to determine it was not the book, but I did relate that book info to stumper # L 136, a quest for something that sounded identical.   Won't give up on my book, and am desperate!   Thanks for your site!
Hewson, Isabel Manning, Land of the Lost, 1945.  Could it be this one, from the Solved list? The time is right, and there is an undersea kingdom, though I don't know whether it is only for crustaceans.
Re stumper C341, someone has posted a response, but the suggested book, "The Land of the Lost" by Hewson (1945) is not the book, as that book deals with fresh water, originates above ground, and the book I am seeking takes place completely in the ocean, with marine animals (shrimp families, crab families, etc.). I remember that each marine animal family had its special color silk pillow on which to sit.   ... although I do want to note how appreciative I am for the reply.

C.S. Lewis, The Silver Chair.  Eustace Scrubb and Jill Pole are transported to Narnia where they must rescue Prince Caspian, who is under a spell and being held prisoner in a land deep underground. Not sure if this is the one -- they don't "swim through the earth" per se, but that phrase reminded me of the mayhemic scene in which they are trying to race to the surface.
The "CK Wallace" (which reminds me of Charles Wallace) and the three kids travelling makes me wonder if this could be A Wrinkle In Time by L'Engle. It's possible the scene described is when the kids go to the 2-dimensional world?
C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia.  Digory and Polly become friends when he moves in with his uncle a maigcian who has magical rings that transport the children into and enchanted world. They enter this world through a pool in the woods and encounter a land of eternal winter.  This is the first book of seven entitled The Magician's Nephew.  The more popular second book is The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe which has four children who live in Digory's home many years later.  Their adventures start by entering the land of Narnia by stepping through the back of the wardrobe.
Madeleine L'Engle, A Wrinkle in Time, 1962.  This sounds like A Wrinkle in Time, although others will know better.  Two siblings -- Meg and her brother Charles Wallace -- and a boy from Meg's school travel through a wrinkle in time to try to rescue Meg's father.  No tower in the title, but there's a lot of talk in the book of "tesseracts."  Also, it's not clear what the "ck wallace" as the heading for the request denotes, but if the contributor recalls that one of the characters had a similar name, s/he is probably remembering Charles Wallace.
Madeleine L'Engle, A Wrinkle in Time, 1962.  It's unclear why the title of this stumper is "ck wallace", but if the stumper requester thinks this could be the name of a character, the book sought could be A Wrinkle in Time.  Charles Wallace Murry, his sister Meg, and her schoolmate Calvin O'Keefe are transported through a tesseract to the planet Camazotz, where they hope to rescue Meg's father.  As for the "swimming through the earth" passage the stumper requester remembers---this description of the end of Meg's first tesseract trip is from page 58: "And this feeling of moving with the eath was somewhat like the feeling of being in the ocean, out in the ocean beyond this rising and falling of the breakers, lying on the moving water, pulsing gently with the swells, and feeling the gentle, inexorable tug of the moon."
the book I was looking for definately wasn't a wrinkle in time, I've read that whole series repeatedly and other than it having children in it, there aren't any parallels to the book I am seeking.
Alan Garner, Elidor, '60s??  This description reminds me of elements of Garner's Elidor, and of another of his books (where there's a substantial underground section, although I don't recall any "swimming") called The Weirdstone of Brisingamen.
Joy Chant, Red Moon and Black Mountain This might possibly be the one.
Margaret Jean Anderson, In the Keep of Time. (1977)  maybe _in the keep of time_ by margaret jean anderson?  even though i reread it recently I don't remember it well, but it's a fairly dark YA novel about 4 siblings who are exploring an ancient scottish tower and end up first back in time (during the battle of flodden, I think?), and then in the future.  from 1977.  I don't specifically remember the 'swimming through earth' but that sounds very familiar.
John White, The Tower of Geburah, 1978. This might be The Tower of Geburah by John White.  I'm not sure about the swimming through the earth part, because it's been many years since I've read it and I don't own a copy to check, but I think the rest of the description fits.

Marjorie Vetter, Journey for Jennifer, 1954. This is a guess - here's the only description I could find: Jennifer could feel her face stiffen as she watched Steve say good-by to the others. Didn'\''t their dates on board the ship to Havana mean anything to him? Wasn"t he going to miss her at all when she was in the hill country?

C351 You can't believe how many Google entries have concertina and toothache in them I gave up halfway thru.

Have you tried any of Eleanor Frances Lattimore's (1904-1986) books?  She was born in China, spent her early years there, and that's reflected in a number of her children's books, which she also illustrated.
Lattimore, Eleanor F., Little Pear, 1931. A possibility--Little Pear has two sisters.
The story was definitely centered around a young girl so I do not believe that the correct answer is LITTLE PEAR although I will read the book to see.
Jade Snow Wong, Fifth Chinese Daughter. Not sure, but it sounds similar.
Thomas Handforth, Mei Li, 1938.  This reminded me of a story in one of the Through Golden Windows books.  A little Chinese girl has adventures at a New Year's fair.  I didn't see a reference to watermelon seeds, but they could have been in the original book.

Patricia Lauber, Adventure at Black Rock Cave?  Synopsis:  A young boy and girl see lights at night on an offshore island, row out to the island and discover a cave, and eventually, during a storm, solve the question of what is going on out there.
Kahn, James, The Goonies, 1985.  There was a novelization published of The Goonies, based upon the 1985 Steven Spielberg film.  Is that what you're thinking of?
Hello again. I'm afraid that it is not The Goonies or Black Rock Cave. I actually bought Black Rock Cave a couple of years ago, but it was a cave that was entered from above and not under the water.  My sister also mentioned that she thought someone in the book was perhaps from Scotland or it took place in Scotland. And she had a vague memory that it was from someone with 3 names (like Robert Louis Stevenson perhaps).
Elizabeth Heppner, Palace Under the Sea.  Probably not it, but just in case...about Tracy, an American boy in Turkey (military family) and his Turkish friends who discover treasure (and an underwater palace) lost ages ago in an earthquake. Tracy is a diver, and does swim up into the palace.
Susan Cooper, Over Sea, Under Stone, 1970-1980.  Could it be this book?  Three children, Barnaby and his older sister (I think her name is Jane) and brother, hunt for the Grail of King Arthur in an undersea cave at the bottom of a cliff in Cornwall, in England, with the help of their Uncle Merry (Merriman Lyon).
Again, I'm afraid that Palace Under the Sea is not the correct book.  I got some more details out of my sister and it definately took place in Scotland and there were 4 children (or young adults, possibly) in it (at least 2 are girls).  It was in a book that had 2 stories by the same author.  At least two of the children in it are actually from Scotland and it takes place in the late 1800's or early 1900's. I'll let you know if I get more information and thanks, again.
susan cooper, over sea, under stone, 1965.  three kids, simon, jane, and barney, find a map that eventually leads them to a search for an underwater cave (though they finally reach it at low tide, when they can just wade in). inside, they find a goblet that's thought to be the holy grail. it's set in cornwall.
No, I'm afraid this isn't the one either, although it was the closest so far.  It was definately a cave that they had to swim underwater and into.  Thanks again though for trying.
Enid Blyton, The Valley of Adventure or The River of Adventure,1955. This third book of the Adventure series (which also includes Castle of Adventure, Ship of..., Island of..., Sea of...) has all the elements that make it difficult to stop reading in the middle: Fast-paced action, burnt old houses, caves and secret tunnels, treasure, and four children who try to outwit bad guys while trapped in a remote and lonely valley. They find a cave with a treasure in it. Not sure about swimming underwater to it. I believe they talked about stalactites and stalagmites in the caves quite a bit too. This is now available as a reprint in paperback with an entirely new cover. ALSO, perhaps more likely, is another of Blyton'\''s "Adventure" books called "River of Adventure". The same kids travel along a river to where it narrows and becomes a fast-flowing gorge. The boat is swept by the river towards a roaring cataract � a "gigantic underground waterfall" as Jack describes it � and the children are terrified of being dashed to pieces. Luckily, they manage to swing the boat sideways into a cavern in the cliff, saving all their lives. The children follow tunnels leading out of the cavern and stumble eventually upon the underground remains of a magnificent temple dating from about seven thousand years ago. The temple was erected in honour of a goddess, and kings and noblemen brought treasures there for generations. Many items have perished but the glorious treasures that remain include gold statues, bowls, combs, jewellery, ornaments and daggers. Could this be it?

Just a thought, but the description sounds like something Ruth Arthur may have written.  I can't find a title that matches though...

Cuould this be Taming of the candy Monster?  A cookbook somkewheat geared towards kids??

there are various versions, The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship, circa 1968.  This might be right.  I don't have a copy in front of me to check out the chicken legs or peas for sure, but the book is about the youngest son in the family (a fool)who sets out to bring the czar the flying ship that the czar desires and win the hand of the princess in return.  There are various reteller/illustrators of this book, and I'm not sure how much the details vary from book to book, but that is just a basic synopsis.
This is a bit of a long shot, but all the stories the poster mentions show up in Old Peter's Russian Tales by Arthur Ransome. It's a set of stories told by an old forester, not a single story about a prince, however.

This is "The family who never had roller skates" by Hildegard Woodward, and it appeared in volume 4 of the old, pre-1966 Childcraft books (the orange ones), in the volume titled Animal friends and adventures, under the section "Wheels, wings, and real things." The sisters are the little Pettingills. Ms. Woodward was an author and illustrator who won a few Caldecott medals. She is probably most famous for The Wonderful Story Of How You Were Born. Apparently the little Pettingills and their perplexing predicament originally appeared in a book about families who had never had... a washing machine, an automobile, a clock, and other modern conveniences. 

Alden Perkes, The Santa Claus Book.  1982.  "Presents information about Santa Claus and his associates, including how he gets all those toys into the bag
 where Mrs. Claus comes from  and why Santa lives so long." Also has a section on the elves hibernating.
Alden Perkes,  The Santa Claus Book,  1982.  Thanks, this is going to allow me to pass on a wonderfull book to my children.

Whitman Publishing, The Christmas Book, 1954.  Here's a website that shows the book [broken link].  I'm sure this is right I have it at home--and so does one of my coworkers!  Very happy memories of this one.
The Happy Christmas Story Book, 1961.  This book matches the description and was published by the Ideals Publishing Co.
The Christmas Book, published by Whitman in 1954, has the glossy Santa cover you remember, but many more than 8 or 10 stories, there are probably 40 stories and a few classic poems as well.  The version of "The Little Match Girl" in this book is quite abbreviated.

Linda Hayward, The Curious Little Kitten.  Is there any chance that this is The Curious Little Kitten?  The kitten is in the back yard, and first goes over the fence on one side, to find a dog, then over the other fence, to find a goldfish pond, (which she falls into) and then jumps over the grey stone wall to find another little kitten.  Lots of repetition, bright illustrations, and my kids loved this one, so it might be it.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Cook, Bernadine.  The Curious Little Kitten.  illus by Remy  Charlip.  Katonah, NY:  Scholarship Books, 1956.  1st  paperback printing. Oblong paperback, rubbed, lightly creased; names on endpaper & fly;  pages good [YQ1999]  $9

The Curious Little Kitten is not the book.  The book was definitely an adult cat, not a kitten.  Also not Jenny the Cat books by Averill.  Have wondered whether it could be a Claire Turlay Newberry book, but can't find a list of the plots of those books.
1950's, approximate.  story I remember is about 3 kittens who always run and hide when called to get their ears washed.  The gray kitty always hides by the stone wall, and the yellow one in the buttercups, and the third in the black-eyed susans.   One day they mix up the hiding places and Mama cat catches them.  Does this ring any bells?  I don't remember the title of the book.
Jane Thayer, The Outside Cat, 1957. I know the person making the request remembered a cat on a gray wall, but could it possibly be a cat on a gray roof? Much else about this book matches. I found this book used long ago and my son made me read it to him every day. It is illustrated by Feodor Rojankovsky , and the illustrations are on of the best things about the book.

Old Friends and Lasting Favorites, 1962, edited by Bryna and Louis Untermeyer.  The book I have contains the picture of Hansel in the cage. It is hardback and has a green and purple cover. The other stories are Puss in Boots, Tom Thumb, Snow White and Rose Red, Rapunzel, The Fisherman and his Wife, The King of the Golden River, The Magic Fishbone, Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp and The Real Princess (Princess and the Pea).  It is volume 4 of The Golden Treasury of Children's Literature, so perhaps you had a couple different volumes with the other stories you mentioned.
Bridget Hadaway, Fairy Tales, 1974.  This sounds very like this collection. You can find more about on the solved mystery pages. The part about Hansel and the bird cage definitely fits, and it does have all the other stories mentioned.
The pictures you are describing sound so familiar - but I can't remember the specific book.  I'm almost certain that the picture of the man beside the tree, and the witch with the long hooked nose, is from the story Jorinda (or Jorinde) and Joringel, by the Bros. Grimm. This story is not as common as some of the others, so might help you to narrow down your search. In addition to stories by the Bros. Grimm, your list also includes stories by Hans Christian Anderson and Charles Perrault. Hope this helps you find what you're looking for.
I have looked into both suggestions and neither is the right book.  Anybody else with a suggestions??
I don't know the name of this book, but I am also looking for it.  It was very thick, and had so many fairy tales inside.  I remember I always hated the Cinderella illustrations, but otherwise loved the book.  If we're talking about the same one, it also included The Swan Princess, The Tinderbox, Snow White and Rose Red, Ricky-of-the-Tuft, Jorinda and Joringel, The Red Shoes, The Snow Queen, The Golden Goose, The Goose Girl....also a story about two sisters who meet a witch, one is mean to her and then snakes and toads fall from her lips, the other sister is kind and roses fall from her lips... I want very much to find this book, too.  Can't understand why it's so hard to figure out!

Jane Carruth, The Giant All-Color Book of Fairy Tales, 1971. I KNOW this is the right book, because I have been looking for it for so long, myself!  The green illustrated cover is lush and features a giant in front of a tree, vines, and fairy tales characters in the vines.  The vine theme continues on the beginning title pages, and each story is illustrated by a different artist.  The subtitle is "50 Best-loved Stories," which is the part I remembered best, and threw me off the trail for so long. You can see it here:  http://www.librarything.com/work/2647288'

Kenneth Taylor, Giant Steps For Little People.  The subtitle of the book is The Sermon on the Mount and the Ten Commandments.  Each page has a four line verse, a short summary, a few questions and a Bible verse.  Children are encouraged to look for the tiny lady bugs in every picture. 

Eugene Field, "The Sugarplum tree."  I read this poem when it was collected in The Gateway to Storyland, edited by Wally Piper.
C381: This has a BLUE cover, but check Solved Mysteries for Illustrated Treasury of Children's Literature. The poem sounds like The Sugar-Plum Tree by St. Louis' Eugene Field, who died in 1895. You can read that poem here.
 Tasha Tudor's Bedtime Book, 1977. I thought I'd pass this along in case it's what you're looking for.  It's a little smaller than you remember yours being -- it's 10x12".  The cover isn't red, but the print on it is.  There are other stories printed along with The Sugarplum Tree. I hope it's the one.
Another story that's probably from the CHILDCRAFT series. This series had a red hardcover, and the story you are referring to is the "Sugar Plum Tree"... You can't reach the candy, but you get the gingerbread dog to bark at the chocolate cat, and the cat in the tree knocks down the candy for you to collect. Beautiful pastel illustrations.

Don and Joan Caufield, The Incredible Detectives, 1966.  This sounds very much like your book. While it does not take place in England, it's very possible you're remembering the English Bulldog character who narrates the tale, and uses many Britishisms. He and a Siamese cat (who does act a bit superior) and a pet crow work together to rescue their kidnapped owner, involving in a climatic scene in a natural history museum.
Freda M Hurt, Mr Twink Series, 1950's 1960's, approximate.  I wonder if the book about the cat detective could be the Mr Twink series of books by Freda M Hurt.  I have not actually read any of those books myself as they are very difficult to find.  Mr Twink was a cat detective and the books are set in England. I believe the hardbacks were published around the 1950's and then some were reprinted in the 1960's.  Mr Twink was assisted by Sgt Boffer a collie dog .  I think there was nine books in the series.

Conrad Aiken, Silent Snow, Secret Snow
I believe you are thinking of the short story by Conrad Aiken called Silent Snow, Secret Snow.
Cipher in the snow.  I only saw this as a film in the classroom, but it has to be the same story.  The boy gets off the bus and dies in the snow, and then the rest of the story was a flashback showing how he got to that point - that no one cared about him, or paid any attention to him.  Neglect kills.
Somtow Sucharitkul, The Fallen Country, 1986.  This story is about a young boy whose mother has let her boyfriend move into the house. During the course of events, the boyfriend, who drives a motorcycle, becomes very abusive to the boy. I remember vividly images of a snow dragon, or the boy imagining snow all around in order to deal with how horrible his life was. The tone of the book borders on the fantasy genre, but when I read your stumper, I thought of this one.

I've been looking for this one too! (or something very similar, anyway)  I do remember that the plant in the garden that grew babies was called Roanoke (or maybe rowen oak or roanoak) and that word, however it was spelled, was in the title.  The father was missing, I think, and may have been a sailor.  Some of the kids were "real", and others came from this mysterious plant in the garden.  Part of the storyline dealt with people in town becoming suspicious because there's a baby born while the father is gone.  I hope someone else can remember more.  I'd love to find it again.  I think the author's last name was in the R - S section of the library...
Ruth Loomis, Mrs. Purdy's Children, 1970, copyright.  This is definitely C388! One of my favorites, with illustrations by Steven Kellogg. The family makes amazing pies and cookies from the parts of the roanoke plant, and when the father returns home he decides they have enough kids and tries to make them get rid of it. There is a plotline about Mrs. Purdy being up for Mother of the Year.

Zilpha Keatley Snyder, Green Sky Trilogy?  There's also something Scandanavian on the Solved Mysteries pages somewhere that my sick head can't remember at the moment....
This sounds very reminiscent of Margaret Jean Anderson's In the Keep of Time, so I looked online and found she's written another book called In the Circle of Time, which is described thus:  "Jennifer, an American girl attending school in Scotland, meets up with Robert, a native Scottish boy at the Circle of Arden, a collection of standing stones much like its more famous sibling, Stonehenge. Although they are drawn to this site for very different reasons, the sudden rolling in of a thick mist one grey dawn changes their lives forever. When the mist finally disperses, they find themselves in the future, a world far more "primitive" in some respects than our own, but perhaps more advanced in terms of its values (this you'll have to judge for yourself, but the characters and the issues are well developed and you'll have a lot to think about). The very coastlines have changed and great cities have crumbled to dust. Robert is slightly more prepared for this strange world he has heard tales in the village of the mists suddenly coming down into the valley, with people mysteriously disappearing every once in a great while. His own mother wandered in among the stones as a small child and was found many hours later, safe, but wrapped in a strange, soft grey cloth. Jennifer is quick-witted and athletic, traits that come in handy when facing the perils of this "brave new world." What must they accomplish there? How are they to return to their own time?"
Norma Fox Mazer, Saturday, the twelfth of October, 1975, reprinted in paperback in the early 80s.  The details don't exactly match but it may be worth checking a copy of this book.  After spending almost a year with cave people from an earlier time, a young girl is transported back to the present greatly changed, both by her experience and by the fact that no one believes her. from the dustjacket:   "Loonies, Zan thought, her throat tight. Loonies! Crazies! She had never seen anything like the boy and girl who faced her. Naked, except for flaps hanging down from the front of woven belts, the two of them fingered, sniffed and tasted everything Zan wore, down to her dirty old sneakers. Loonies! But even as the thought came to her, Zan rejected it: there was another explanation, one that made her recoil. The terrifying "storm" that had wrenched her out of Mechanix Park on a Saturday morning in October had set her down in this meadow lush with strange foliage and teeming with birds, insects and animals she couldn't name. Something awesomely out of the ordinary was happening to her, and the two naked kids poking her and chattering in an unfamiliar language were further evidence of just how far from her normal existence she may have been swept. At first Zan cannot accept that there is no way back. And then she finds herself irresistibly drawn into the gentle community of cave dwellers. But even as Zan settles into the rhythms of life with the People, she clings fiercely to her own memories of home. All that she has to remind her of civilization is a button, a key, a safety pin and a jackknife, which she guards jealously. Only Diwera, the wise woman, senses the threat Zan poses to the ages-old life of the People. And it is Diwera who takes it upon herself to rid the People of Zan."
This is not the Green-sky trilogy or "Saturday, the 12th of October". It's much more like the Margaret Jean Anderson books. Hope this helps narrow it down.
Curry, Jane Louise, Beneath the Hill,1953.This is at best a partial match for the quoted details, but there are enough resonances that Jane Louise Curry's first published story involving the lost realm of Abaloc (in this case, hidden underground in the vicinity of an eastern-US coal mine) may be worth investigating.  The best reasons to think this might match are the underground journey and the author-comparisons.  [There are several other loosely -- sometimes very loosely -- linked books in Curry's extensive bibliography, though few are currently in print.]

Paul Jacques Bonzon, The Runaway Flying Horse, 1976, approximately.  Could it possibly be this one? See solved pages R. Illustrated by William Pene du Bois, published Parent's Magazine Press 1976. Story of wooden horse on merry-go-round that wants to be a real horse, until he finds out the lives that real horses lead. See solved pages R.
I am not sure if this is the right book or not. 

Helen Hill, Violet Maxwell, Charlie books, 1920's.  This is a very long shot, but these authors wrote a series of books in the 1920's about Charlie and His Kitten Topsy, Charlie and His Puppy Bingo, Charlie and His Friends, etc.  The only story from these that I'm familiar with is "How Charlie Made Topsy Love Him" (from The Better Homes and Gardens Storybook), but that one might fit your description.  Charlie learns not to squeeze and tease his kitten after he becomes tiny himself and is molested by a nasty giant girl--so, kind of a moral lesson plus a bit of fantasy.
Caudill, Rebecca, Did You Carry the Flag Today, Charley?, 1960, approximately.  Could this be it?  It's been a long time since I read it, but what I remember is that it was about a boy who got into a lot of mischief.  I think it was set in the Appalachian Mountains.

Lopshire, Robert, I am Better Than You, 1968.  This may be the one you want. It's an I Can Read Book.
Lionni, Leo, A Color of His Own, 1975.  It's not a contest, but in A Color of His Own A little chameleon laments: Elephants are gray. Pigs are pink. Only the chameleon has no color of his own. He is purple like the heather, yellow like a lemon, even black and orange striped like a tiger! Then one day a chameleon has an idea to remain one color forever by staying on the greenest leaf he can find. But in the autumn, the leaf changes from green to yellow to red . . . and so does the chameleon. When another chameleon suggests they travel together, he learns that companionship is more important than having a color of his own. No matter where he goes with his new friend, they will always be alike. 

Author:  Miles Franklin.  Title: My Brilliant Career.   Date (Copyright):  1954  There was also a movie of this book, starring Judy Davis.
Although this title or author don't ring any bells (and I believed it was a female writer) I'll look this one up.
Miles Franklin was a woman and My Brilliant Career is autobiographical. Here's a description of the book:  This book is a bit like a grown-up Little House in the Prairie but set in 19th century outback Australia rather than the Wild West of the US.  It is a story of a young, spirited woman who rebels against convention and the desire of her relatives that she marry the wealthy and highly desirable local squatter. Unlike Laura Ingalls, Sybilla chooses the road less travelled and refuses to marry. She follows her dreams instead.
Mary Elwyn Patchett.  Sounds like possibly you are looking for Mary Elwyn Patchett.  She wrote a lot of animal stories about the Australian outback, and I believe the title Ajax the Warrior is about her growing up years on a cattle station in NSW.  Originally published 1953.

A long shot here:  maybe Mrs. Mopple's Washing Line?  "On a very windy day, while Mrs Mopple is indoors making the dinner, her washing is blown into the most unlikely places."

published by Dover, English Fairy Tales - or - More Engish Fairy Tales. My dad was English too and we grew up with these two books.  I just looked to see which copy it was (I still own "More") but couldn't locate the book.  I KNOW I rememberall those stories.  I still say "I love you more that fresh meat loves salt"  I loved these stories much more than Grimm et al. The heroines always seemed more self assured and capable.  It is Published by Dover and I'm pretty sure its older than  '60's I read it in early 70s but my dad may have brough the books from England earlier.
---
Jacobs, Joseph, English Fairy Tales. I found my copy of English Fairy Tales - it has Tom Tit Tot and Cap O Rushes but not the Bunyip.  This copy is old, published by Grosset and Dunlop but has no copyright page in it.  A preface from author is dated 1895. It is not the one I grew up with (which was published by Dover) The other tales may be in More English Fairy Tales.  These 2 Dover books were interchangable in my memories.

This kind of sounds like a set of books I have been looking for. They are children's classics that came as a bonus with the purchase of Collier's encyclopedia sets in the 1960s. They are clothbound, oversized bound in different jewel-colored buckram. Two of my favorite illustrations/stories/etc. were Winken, Blinken and Nod and The Velveteen Rabbit.

Jackson, Kathryn, Golden Bedtime Book. (1949)  I remember this book, and I think this is the right title.  It's been expanded and reissued since, as "Richard Scarry's a Story a Day" (1998).  If it's the one I'm thinking of, the nice clown who lost his big red nose tried to make another out of bread and water. I think his name was something like Trundle.
I was wrong, it isn't the Kathryn Jackson book.  Finally got it from the library, and it's not the right one.  Darn.

Ungerer, Tomi, Beast of Monsieur Racine, The. (1971)  This sounds like it must be the book. From Novelist: "Determined to catch the thief of his prize pears, a retired tax collector sets a trap in his garden and captures a beast unknown to modern science.
Tomi Ungerer, The Beast of Monsieur Racine
Ungerer, Tomi, The Beast of Monsieur Racine. (1971) Determined to catch the thief of his prize pears, a retired tax collector sets a trap in his garden and captures a beast unknown to modern science.
Tomi Ungerer, The Beast of Monsieur Racine. (1971)  I have this book in front of me--it's definitely the one. It's a great story--hilarious! Totally charming from the first sentence.
Ungerer, Tomi.  The Beast of Monsieur Racine.  1971.

Elizabeth Beresford, Vanishing MagicorInvisible Magic. (1970, approx)  I think this is Vanishing Magic by the author of the Wombles series. I think I've got a copy somewhere around but I can't spot it immediately!
According to a another book I have by Beresford [Traveling  magic  -  abt a boarding house] the author spells her first name  "Elisabeth."

This is LEAVING EDEN by Anne D. LeClaire~from a librarian

It's actually an animal parade, not a circus parade.  They dress up like animals to sneak into and be a part of the parade.
Farley Mowat, Owls in the Family.  the book you could be looking for is Owls in the family in one of the chapters somting very much like what you decribed happens but the children bring there pets along to hope that helps

Fenton, Edward, Hidden Trapezes. (1950, approx)  I think the person is looking for Hidden Trapezes, by Edward Fenton.  I also remember the trapezes in the attic, where the boy practices and keeps that fact hidden from his father.  I think the landlady keeps ocelots who have some kind of amazing performance they practice, and there's an "india rubber man" who's a boarder.  The cover I remember was white and orange, with the boy in the center, trapezes flying around him, and a couple ocelots in his lap.

Possibly this one?  Cuthbert by Blanche J. Dearborn, illustrated by Richard van Bentham, Wilcox and Follett Company, 1952, 111 pages.  Definitely a children's book, but I can't find an online description.  Someone who suggested a solution for "D137: Dog who lived like a human" wrote: "This sounds like the book Cuthbert, but he didn't live alone.  Cuthbert was a butler.  My 3rd grade teacher read this to us in 1962."  I don't know whether this is the same book you're looking for, but how many books can there be about anthropomorphic dogs named Cuthbert?

Louis Untermeyer, The Golden Treasury of Children's Literature. (1966)  Louis Untermeyer compiled a number of anthologies, including the title cited as a possible solution to the stumper as well as The Golden Treasury of Children's Poetry, c.1959, which includes Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky.

Arthur Ransome, Swallows and Amazons. (1930)  This sounds like the Swallows and Amazons series, by Arthur Ransome (though they had a parrot, not a puffin!). Siblings John, Susan, Roger and Titty Walker have adventures sailing (the Swallow) and living (alone!) one summer on a little island in the middle of a lake in England. They meet and befriend local residents, sisters Nancy and Peggy Blacket (the Amazons) and their Uncle (dubbed Captain Flint, from whom the Walkers get the parrot). A long running series, and still in print...other titles are Peter Duck, Swallowdale, Winter Holiday, Coot Club, Pigeon Post (a Carnegie winner), We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea, The Big Six, Secret Water, Missie Lee and The Picts and the Martyrs. If you google "Arthur Ransome", you'll find a couple of Arthur Ransome/Swallows and Amazon fan sites that give plot descriptions and various cover art that the series has had over the years (and from country to country!).
Enid Blyton, The Adventure series.  Pretty sure C424 isn't Ransomes' Swallows and Amazons series.  Could it be Enid Blyton's Adventure series (eight books: Island of Adventure, Castle of Adventure, Valley of Adventure, &c)?  Four kids (Jack, Philip, Lucy-Anne and Dinah) and their cockatoo Kiki have various adventures, aided by their policeman friend Bill Cunningham.
If it's one of the Enid Blyton Adventure series it's probably  Sea of Adventure - it features 2 puffins called Huffin and Puffin.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Blyton, Enid.    The Castle of Adventure.    Pan Macmillan,  c1946 revised 1988.  some creasing; pages good (one group  accidentally creased at bottom corner) -- G [YQ24560] $8

Liesel Moak Skorpen, Elizabeth.  This doesn't fit exactly but I thought it was worth mentioning.  In this book the little girl (Kate) wants a fancy doll for Christmas but instead gets a rag doll.  She initially rejects it (being especially upset that her obnoxious cousin Agnes got a fancy doll that she wanted) but eventually comes to love it best.  Agnes' doll is quickly broken but 'Elizabeth' endures.  Agnes throws Elizabeth into the ocean but she is rescued, dried out, and is as good as new.  More info in the solved pages.
Liesel Moak Skorpen, Elizabeth. This might be worth a look. The little girl in this book wants a doll that does something, but is given a sweet cloth doll (with brown pigtails & red cheeks.) Unmoved, the little girl gives the doll to her dog (a collie) who runs off into the garden with it. Later, the little girl feels great remorse & goes out to find the doll-- wet but unhurt. She names the doll Eliabeth & realizes that the doll can do anything that the little girl can. Beautiful illustrations by Martha Alexander.
Lois Meyer, The Store-Bought Doll. (1983)  Sounds like it could be this one.  "Christina receives her first store-bought doll and finds her old rag doll superior in a number of ways." It's a Little Golden Book.
Little Golden Book, The Store Bought Doll.  This sounds so much like The Store Bought Doll, a Little Golden Book, book. The little girl lives in the country and has a few treasured toys, her favorite being a cloth rag-doll. One day a man with a shiny new automobile has car trouble and the girl's dad helps fix it. He comes back with a present for the girl in order to thank her parents. In my old book the little girl had brownish-red hair, the cloth doll looked similar to a raggety Ann, and the new doll had blond hair a pink dress and blue eyes that open and close. The old doll is left on the steps while the new doll is dressed and undressed, hair brushed and other wise fiddled with. But the girl cannot climb the tree with the doll for fear of dropping and breaking her, She cannot give a wheelbarrow ride to the doll for fear of getting her wet and dirty, etc. At night the girl returns for the rag-doll she left on the steps so she can sleep with it, but the fancy doll has to do with a chair in the corner of the room.
I haven't read this, as it is rare and exceedingly expensive, but another possibility is Cotton Top by Jean O'Neill.  Here's a description: "The story was about a poor little girl [from the Blue Ridge Mountains] whose mom had made her a doll that she loved. Someone later gave her a store bought china doll dressed in fancy clothes and she stopped playing with her handmade doll. After trying to do the same things with her new doll as her old one she realized that although her new doll was lovely, it didn't have nearly the play value or love attached to it as her original doll. This story is very similar to a Little Golden Book called The Store-bought Doll written by Lois Meyer."  You can see a picture of the cover here; click on the book cover, and you'll see a few pages from the inside of the book.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Meyer, Lois; adapted from Clara Louise Grant.  The Store-Bought  Doll.  illus by Ruth Sanderson.  1983.  boards; a bit of wear; removable tag; pages good. -- G [WQ5421] $4

Elizabeth Peters, Legend in Green Velvet. (1976)  This sounds a bit like Legend in Green Velvet by Elizabeth Peters, original published in 1976, its still in print. Though Peters has written many mysteries, this particular book wasn't part of a series. Well worth a read, even if not the book in question!
This is not an Elizabeth Peters book.  The female character was traveling on a bus tour in the Highlands and Edinburgh.

Children's Russian Tea  - Maybe How the Tsar Drinks Tea by Benjamin Elkin (1971).  "A peasant's song comparing himself to the Tsar brings him an audience with the ruler."

Could this be one of Gordon Dickson's books?  There are three that I remember: Secret Under the Sea, Secret Under Antarctica, and Secret Under the Caribbean.  The first one is about a boy named Robby with a pet dolphin who lives in the future (2013!) at a reasearch station with his father.  Vandals try to take over when he's alone, and he manages to escape and rescue his dolphin friend and save his father from one of the vandals, who has a grudge. It was written in the early 60s.  I think there was a girl in one of the later ones, and they definitely traveled in a kind of bubble ship but it's been so long my memory of it isn't that clear...  Good luck!
Ruth Nichols, The Marrow of the World, 1972, approximately.  There is a chapter that fits the description in this book. The main characters are two teenagers, a boy and his counsin Linda, who have 'fallen into' a Arthurian world. They visit the ruins of the castle of Morgaine Le Fay under a lake, protected in a bubble and guided by a merman. It's only a chapter though, not the entire book.
 You Will Live Under the Sea, 1965. This was a book about how in the future a city would be beneath the sea
 the little boy was taken on a tour of it in a sea-bubble boat. I think it was supposed to be non-fiction-ish. It was green/blue. The publisher was the same one who published the Dr. Seuss books.'

Perrault's Fairy Tales,"Cinderella or The Little Glass Slipper", 1729.  The first sentence starts out: "THERE was once upon a time, a gentleman who married for his second wife the proudest and most haughty woman that ever was known."
It's not Perraults, though the wording is very similar....I'm more interested in the illustrator!
Could the illustrator be Michael Hague? I'm trying to think of other illustrators from around that time period that are known for detailed and intricate work---Trina Schart Hyman, Lisbeth Zwerger and PJ Lynch come to mind, but not sure if they've done "Cinderella".
McCall's Storytime Treasury Series, 1969.  Very often when people are looking for fairy tale books with beautiful illustrations, they are remembering this series, which is described in depth on the "Solved Mysteries" page under the heading "Storytime Treasury."
Charles Perrault, though translated, adapted, and illustrated by Errol Le Cain, Cinderella, circa 1974.  This fits the description given of the very intricate illustrations, alternating color with black and white illustrations throughout the book. The text was translated from Perrault and slightly shortened. The first lines of text are as follows: Once upon a time there was a gentleman who married for the second time. His new wife was a very proud, haughty woman, and her daughters were exactly like her. Her husband had a daughter of his own, a girl of wonderful goodness and gentleness...
Charles Perrault, Perrault's Fairy Tales, 1998, reprint.  It may be this book, illustrated by Edmund Dulac.  The book was illustrated in 1912 but has been reprinted many times.  I just bought a copy printed in 2003.  The Cinderella story begins " Once upon a time there lived a gentleman who married twice." The illustrations are beautiful.

Marie Hall Ets, In the Forest  This is a very long shot, because I haven't seen any copies of this that are printed in purple, and I don't have it here to look at the last page--but if you look at the cover of the book on Amazon, you might be able to tell if they're the right kind of trees.  It starts out "I had a new horn and a paper hat, and I went for a walk in the forest."  Along the way the boy meets several animals who join in behind him, but they all disappear at the end when his father shows up to take him home.

Ruth Chew, The Wednesday Witch. (1969) The talking cat who eats pot roast is an element of The Wednesday Witch, which also has an old lady (the witch).  Maybe you are mixing up two or more books?  Check Solved Mysteries for The Wednesday Witch and see if it sounds familiar.
Ruth Chew, The Wishing Tree. (1980)  A talking cat, a mysterious tree, and a creepy old woman in the park involve two children, Peggy and Brian, in a magical adventure.  The children and the cat are able to pass through the tree, and come out in another land.

There's a chapter in one of the Mary Poppins books about going to the four corners of the world using a compass. Maybe it was published separately?

Hoffman, Ernst T.A,, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, 1930s.
So sorry I don't think that the Nutcracker book is it.  The book definitely did not fit a Christmas theme.  Also, it was a large heavy book with very detailed lush color illustrations.  The most vivid image I retain of the book is that on a right hand page, there is a picture of a girl holding a long stick or staff, as if she is walking a long distance - a journey.  I thought it could be Floating Island, by Anne Parrish, but the illustrations are in color so that wouldn't fit.  Unless the book was redone in color?  Thanks, keep giving me your ideas!
I'm not sure about this, but when you mentioned the woman with the staff, I immediately thought of the amazing Russian illustrator Ivan Bilibin and his illustrations of many Russian folktales. Some of those tales have themes about kids finding their way home - but none through a candy land. I have seen his stories in colections and published separately: you can see some of his work online   including a woman with a staff in the woods.
Julie Andrews Edwards, Last of the really great whangdoodles.  This is a very long shot but the children traveling through a candy land and forests and the bright illustrations reminded me of The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles.
Louise May Alcott.  Alcott wrote a short story about children travelling through a candy land (maybe land of sweets) as well as a more nutritious bread land.  It was in a larger book of stories.
Laura Bancroft (really L. Frank Baum), Sugarloaf Mountain.  Might this be Sugarloaf Mountain? Two children (named Twinkle and Chubbins, I'm afraid), wander inside Sugarloaf Mountain to a land where everything is made of sugar. I don't remember the book as particularly melancholy in general, but the children get very thirsty because even the drinks are made of sugar, and there is one poor character who is ostracized because he turns out not to be solid sugar, but only cake (I think) with an icing crust.
Could this be Dorothy Nell Whaley & Charles W. Knudsen, The Land of Happy Days, 1938 in the �solved� section? Brother and sister Betty and Jack travel through enchanted lands including one made up of candy and other sweets.

Betsy Allen, The Riddle in Red, 1948 (approx.).  Although there doesn't seem to be a character called Lorraine, this sounds an awful lot like Riddle in Red. This was the second book in the Connie Blair series. All the titles had color names in them.
Hila Colman, The Best Wedding Dress, 1947, approximate.  The stumper's description reminded me of a simlilar plot to the book The Best Wedding Dress, written by Hila Colman. Ms. Colman wrote in the 1940's "has written more than fifty books for young adults and several nonfiction books for adults, a few under the name of Theresa Crayder. In many of her writings for young adults, Colman has chosen themes that involve conflicts - between parents and children, among generations, economic classes and political viewpoints. She is noted for the realistic portrayals of her characters and her ability to capture the language of her young protagonists. Her characterizations are well rounded and her themes universal." Although The Best Wedding Dress is not the book the stumper is looking for, I felt that this writer would be a likely candidate for being the author of the book the stumper is looking for.
Marjory Hall, Bright Red Ribbon 1961 This book is definitely Bright Red Ribbon by Marjory Hall.  Beverly, aka Mousie, leaves her boring job at the Pillow Press to go to work for the glamorous Simone at the cosmetics company that has just opened in her hometown.  She falls in love with Simone's nephew, Andy.

Jane Werner, Walt Disney's Cinderella, 1981. I think this is what you are looking for -- it was one of my favorite books as a little girl! My much-loved copy was printed in 1981, but it says that that was the 47th printing. The covers aren't particularly blue, but the last page does show Cinderella, her prince, and her two dogs. It was published by Golden Press. The illustrations were adapted from the Disney film by Retta Scott Worcester and the story was adapted by Jane Werner.  Hope this helps!

Art Seiden (author), Gene Darby (il), Dinosaur Comes To Town (1963).  It does not say "Closer and Closer" but it says "Thump Thump Thump the meat eating dinosaur is coming!" At the end, he goes to the drive-in and orders 60 million hamburgers.  I'm sure it is the book (how can there be another one with a dinosaur going to drive-in!?LOL). I forgot to add that it is a Whitman "Top Top Tales" book (shape of a golden book).

Bianco, Pamela. The Doll in the Window.  New York: Walck, 1953. "Seven-year-old Victoria stood in front of the toy shop window. She had
come to choose Christmas presents for her five little sisters. But in the middle of the window was a beautiful painted wooden doll, and she wanted
the doll more than anything in the world. Then she accidentally lost all her money, and found she couldn�t buy anything at all. An unexpected meeting With a little boy who is a Cub Scout and a very great surprise which comes from the painted doll herself help Victoria and all her sisters to have a happy Christmas, after all.

captain kitty. i am sure of the title.  it is written in rhyme.  tabby went as my good first mate, and pearly and mew were the crew.  i was just wishing that we couldgo fishing if you think we could catch anything.  what a hullabaloo when pearly and mew caught a prize all wet and shiny...
Lynn, Godfrey, Captain Kitty, 1951, approximately.  Rand McNally, illustrated by Elizabeth Webbe

I think Whitman had a series called Calling All Girls...they were between the Trixie Belden and Meg series Books at our local department store.  I don't remember any more about them though!

Rosenburg, Amya, The Biggest, Most Beautiful Christmas Tree, Golden, 1985.  "Residents of a great fir tree in a thick forest make their home noticeable in hopes that Santa will come for his first visit to them.:  Check Google Images to find a pic of the cover to see if it's the correct book.
Jackson, Kathryn, The Animals' Merry Christmas, 1958. I'm not sure, but this may be it.  It's a Little Golden Book illustrated by Richard Scarry.  I think it has several stories.  One is about Mr. Hedgehog, who'\''s walking with his wife (and maybe some other family members) in a village and finds an apple in the snow, which he presents to his wife.  My memory is hazy, but I think another story involves a young fawn and his mother who see a Christmas tree that has been docorated by humans.  The fawn is fascinated.  When he wakes up Christmas morning, the mother has gotten help from other animals, who have put different kinds of food (and maybe decorations) on the tree, and when the mother takes the fawn there it'\''s covered with birds and is otherwise sparkling (maybe icicles?).  I think it may be this part that the requester is remembering.  (Aside from my general hazy memory of this book is the fact that, while I think the "Mr. Hedgehog" story was definitely illustrated by Richard Scarry in his pre-Busy World days, I don'\''t remember the forest Christmas tree story looking so much like his work, so it'\''s very possible this story is in another Little Golden Book containing Christmas stories.)
Scott, Ann, How the Rabbits Found Christmas, 1961. This is a Wonder Book and was one of my sister's favorites.

C457: Coolidge series
This isn't actually a book stumper but more an author-biography stumper. So maybe I'm not supposed to ask about this via book stumpers... Anyway: The Katy series by Susan Coolidge (Sarah Chauncy Woolsey) have been among my favourite books since I was about 8 yrs old (I'm now in my mid-30s). I recently discovered that the author "was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on January 29, 1835" and that "the Woolsey family home in Cleveland...served as the setting for the Carrs' home in What Katy Did, and the Carr children were loosely modeled on Sarah Woolsey and her siblings" (website).  Since my husband and I, with our two young children, are actually living in Cleveland temporarily (our "real" home is Brisbane, Australia) I would LOVE to know where the Woolsey family home is, or was, located!

The website in your link is mine.  I checked the census records and Sarah Woolsey's father was John M. Woolsey. (Coolidge was Sarah Woolsey's pseudonym.)  The Cleveland Directory for 1835-37 lists his address as "Euclid St. below Erie St," but that's all I've been able to find so far. According to the Morgan Library of Ohio's website, in 1850 her father (John M. Woolsey) lived at 137 Euclid St. in Cleveland.
Here's a website that I found that might help: http://www.heritagepursuit.com/Cuyahoga/Cleveland301.htm  The names aren't in alphabetical order, but the Woolsey family is about halfway down.
My curiosity has been sated  :-)  and even though I can't see the house any more, it's still interesting to know where it was.

David and Karen Mains, Tales of the Kingdom, 1983.  This is the book you are looking for. It is actually the first book in the Kingdom Tales trilogy, the other two books being "Tales of the Resistance" and "Tales of the Restoration".
David R. Mains, Karen Burton Mains, Tales of the Resistance.  I believe this is what you are looking for. It's been a while since I read it, but I do remember a boy with a scar on his face. I don't remember many details other than that, but I hope this helps!
David and Karen Mains, Tales of the Kingdom, 1983.  The first of the Kingdom Tales trilogy. A collection of stories about Scarboy, an orphan, who escapes from the Enchanted City with his brother, Little Child. He goes to live with the exiled king in Great Park and becomes known as Hero.

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Witch's Sister/Witch Water/Witch Herself books. Seems to me there was one part where Lynn and her friend Mouse went to the evil Mrs. Tuggle's house and got caught there.  Those books do take place in a rural kind of setting.
William Sleator, Blackbriar, 1972. Could be a couple different books, depending on how old the kids were and how menacing the witches were.  If the kids were teens, and the witches extremely scary, try  A boy moves into a new home in the country with his guardian, only to discover that it's being used by witches/devil worshipers.  A girl he meets at school helps him figure out what's going on.  If it's younger kids with more traditional witches, try Sneaker Hill, by Jane Little, 1967. Two cousins discover that the boy's mother is trying to become a witch, but her coven don't appreciate their interference in her witch tests.There are probably more that fit the description as well!
I don't recognize the exact plot, but it could be one of Ruth Chew's books she wrote many about witches, and they were almost always about two children who stumble upon either a single witch or a group of witches, and their tone is usually mildly scary.  All her books look very similar as well, with soft charcoal illustrations.
Roald Dahl, The Witches, 1983.  I'm not sure if this is the book for which you're looking, but part of it does take place in the english countryside, and there is a large portion of the book in which two boys are taken captive by a group of witches and are subsequently turned into mice.  Good luck!
Jay Jackson MacNess, The American Witch, 1966, Published by McGraw Hill.  I haven't read the book in a while, but I do remember that it was darn scary when the two boys were spying on the witches.

Ruth Ainsworth, Lucky Dip.  This is a collection of Ruth Ainsworth's short stories for children and I am fairly sure one of them is the one about Charles and his 'useful bag'. This probably came from one of her 1950s collections, Charles Stories and Some Others or More Charles Stories. Originally written for the radio programme "Listen With Mother", I believe.

I bet it's a book illustrated by Gyo Fujikawa.  If you go to Google Images and do a search with her name, you'll see covers of books that she illustrated.  One of them is mostly gray with a part of a tree trunk on the side and and angel/fairy floating.
or visit Loganberry's Most Requested pages for Fujikawa.
Gyo Fujikawa, Oh, What a Busy Day,1976.  This is the book: it contains a short selection by Christina Rosetti about the old woman in the lane, and it also has the Babes in the Woods poem.  Currently out of print but WORTH the time and money to track down--a true classic.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Fujikawa, Gyo.  Oh, What a Busy Day!  Grosset & Dunlap, 1976, 1986 edition.   Quite edgeworn, badly taped spine and hinges, well read and well worn.  P.  [EQ3052]  $8

Katherine Hull and Pamela Whitlock, The Far Distant Oxus.  Sounds like this classic, see solved mysteries E-F.
Thank you - the minute I saw the title I remembered the book.  I must have rec'd the 1969 reprint edition.

Interpreting Condition Grades

Hull, Katharine; Whitlock, Pamela.  The Far-Distant Oxus [abridged edition].  Afterword by Arthur Ransome, cover illusustration by Karl W Stuecklen.  Macmillan, 1969 1st printing thus.  exlibrary.  VG/VG [WHQ24605]  $20

There are at least two books based on this true story:  Grady's in the Silo by Una Belle Townsend, and The Cow In The Silo: Grady's Funny Adventure, by Patricia Goodell (Wonder Books, 1950). Now I am almost sure that we had the 1950 book, but with a different title because I remember Grady perfectly (we loved that story!), but the title doesn't sound right.  But I can't find any mention of another title, so maybe I'm all wrong about that.
C465 [from Wikipedia] On February 22, 1949, Bill and Alyne Mach's six-year-old Hereford cow, Grady, gave birth to a stillborn calf in a small shed next to a silo. Since she was having trouble with the birth, Mach called a veterinarian, D.L. Crumb, to help. Dr. Crumb tied Grady to a post so she would hold still. When he was finished taking care of her, he told Bill Mach to untie her. When Bill Mach untied her, she whirled around and started chasing him. He jumped on a pile of cottonseed sacks to escape.  The only light in the shed was from the small opening to the silo. Grady dove for the light in the opening. Mach and Dr. Crumb looked toward the silo opening and saw a few red hairs clinging to the edge of the heavy steel silo door which was only 17 inches wide and 25 inches high. Grady was in the silo.  They couldn't tear down the silo as it was too valuable and the opening could not be made wider because it was encased in steel. Bill Mach asked for help through his local newspaper. The response was overwhelming. All over the United States, people were trying to find a solution to the problem. Phone calls, telegrams and letters all flowed in with suggestions. Curious people started showing up in cars and even planes. Grady was featured in Life Magazine, TIME Magazine and newspapers all over the country. One person suggested tunneling under the silo. Another suggested bringing an attractive bull to the opening to lure her out. An Air Force officer said he knew of a helicopter that would lift 1,200 pounds but it was in San Marcos, Texas.  Three days after Grady's leap, Bill Mach got a call from Ralph Partridge, the farm editor of The Denver Post. He told Mach he was coming to Yukon to get Grady out of the silo. Partridge supervised while a ramp was built from the floor of the silo to the door. The door edges were coated with axle grease. Grady was then outfitted with two heavy halters coated with axle grease. Dr. Crumb gave her tranquilizers to make her relax. While men outside the silo pulled on ropes attached to her halters, Partridge and J.O. Dicky Jr., a Yukon vocational agriculture teacher, pushed. Grady slid through the door with only a couple of scratches along her back. Grady went on to become a mother several times, and she was such a tourist attraction that Mach put up a sign on Route 66 noting her home. He kept Grady in a special pen by the road. Grady the Cow died in July 1961 and the old silo was torn down in 2001 to make way for a regional hospital.  Two children's books have been written describing and illustrating the story of Grady the Cow. The Cow In The Silo: Grady's Funny Adventure (1950) by Patricia Goodell  and Grady's in the Silo (2003) by Una Belle Townsend.

Claude Brown, Manchild in the Promise Land, 1965.  I finally found it. Manchild in the Promised Land is indeed one of the most remarkable autobiographies of our time. This thinly fictionalized account of Claude Brown's childhood as a hardened, streetwise criminal trying to survive the toughest streets of Harlem has been heralded as the definitive account of everyday life for the first generation of African Americans raised in the Northern ghettos of the 1940s and 1950s. When the book was first published in 1965, it was praised for its realistic portrayal of Harlem -- the children, young people, hardworking parents the hustlers, drug dealers, prostitutes, and numbers runners, the police, the violence, sex, and humor. The book continues to resonate generations later, not only because of its fierce and dignified anger, not only because the struggles of urban youth are as deeply felt today as they were in Brown's time, but also because the book is affirmative and inspiring. Here is the story about the one who "made it," the boy who kept landing on his feet and became a man."

Cummings, Richard, Make Your Own Model Forts & Castles, 1977. contents:  A Roman Fort, Fort Phil Kearny, A Norman Castle, The Western Front, the Maginot Line, Castle Gaillard (the 'saucy castle'), Mount Cassino

hi im the original poster here, and im gutted no one remembers this book, so i want to add some more facts. this book is english and set in england, possibly london. and i read it late 80s early 90s. the main character was about 11 i think. she had a younger brother. the girl in it was overweight. her family were very poor, and her mum was a single parent. when she went to live with the dad and his new family there was another girl there, who did ballet i think. the dads family was well off and doing well for themselves. please help stumpers, this is driving me crazy!!!  thanks

Chester, Michael, The mystery of the lost moon, 1961.  There is a book by Michael Chester of that title, illustrated by charles Geer.  It was published by Putnam, New York in 1961

I saw something very like this as a Disney educational film at school in the very early 1960s. The body's cells are shown as little creatures who respond to immunization by believing they are threatened with enemy attack, so they build antibodies (shown as war planes, cannons, etc.), so later, when a real sickness attacks the body, they have those things in readiness. It was very WWII in storyline and general ambience. The film was clearly produced by Disney, so if this is the same as your story, Disney probably published your book as well. Good luck
Harry A. Wilmer, Corky the Killer: A Story of Syphilis,1945.Not all details are correct, but it's gotta be this book without a doubt.  Right time period, same premise (the body is an anthropomorphized battlefield, and there is a WWII feel in that some enemies are drawn as being Japanese or Nazi like), though Corky is not the boy but the virus.  Also, it seems more a book for teens and adults than kids, consitering syphillis is an STD!  "In this book an articulate microbe describes what goes on from the start of a syphilitic infection and what may happen if proper treatment is not given. Those who have read Dr. Wilmer's story of tuberculosis, Huber the Tuber (National Tuberculosis Association, 1942), will know what to expect. Lewis Carrol fans will find delight in the book. The uninitiated may expect information presented in a form that almost makes one feel sory for the trials and tribulations of the villain". Quoting Corky's working song: "Oh, there ain't no match for a mucous patch/ If you look all over the world/The skin may blotch, the liver notch,/The brain may shrivel and curl./But for beauty pure, with deadly allure,/And with stitches tightly bound,/There ain't no match for a mucous patch/From here to Chancretown."

Elizabeth Goudge, Linnets and Valerians. Maybe?  Uncle Ambrose does have a lot of things in his study including an owl.

Laurel Trivelpiece, Just a Little Bit Lost, 1988.Not all the details fit, but this book does sound like Just a Little Bit Lost.  A group goes on a camping trip, Bennett Kinnell (the girl - named after Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice) is completely unprepared, and gets lost.  Phillip Hargrove finds her but they both end up lost, and he does hurt his leg, and they do end up falling into each others' arms.  No diabetes or other disease that I remember.  A Scholastic paperback.

This is in reference to the email from C487 called Children in tunnel.  I also read a book similar to this as a child in the late 60's.  I thought it might have had something to do with the tunnel being made of snow and when the boy and girl went through it, they reached the North pole.  Does this sound familiar to anyone?  I am not sure if this is the same book as children in tunnel but it sounds close.  My Mother bought it for me and I loved the book so much.  I would love to find it.
Eleanor Estes, The Tunnel of Hugsy Goode. This doesn't sound exactly like what's being described but it does have a tunnel in the back yard and they do visit it frequently.  It's about two boys who are neighbors who unearth a tunnel right by one of their houses and explore it.  It's a sequel of sorts to Estes' book The Alley.
I appreciate the two suggestions, but they aren't my book.  I'm not able to remember much more about this book, except I have the vague feeling that the tunnel ended in a library, or at least the tunnel yielded documents that seem significant in the community's history.  I do remember that at the end of the book the secret tunnel is revealed to their families -- either the children share it with their parents or are discovered somehow and lead others into the tunnel.
Eleanor Estes, The Tunnel of Hugsy Goode, Are you sure this isn't the right one?  The tunnel does end in a library and the tunnel is revealed to the families of the kids.  The entire neighborhood traipses down there and walks through it!
This is a longshot, but your second clue makes it sound a little like The Man in the Long Black Cape, by Patience Zawadsky? I'm not sure when it was originally published, but I read a scholastic book copy in the 70s. In the story, a boy sets out to prove to his community (and a bitter enemy his age) that his several-greats-grandfather wasn't actually a traitor/spy during the American Revolution.  There is a tunnel, and a hidden musket in a fireplace that holds secret documents that reveal who was actually the spy. The parents (and one grandfather or uncle) play a big role as they're running some sort of town naming festival that keeps the kids harping at each other.  I don't remember a girl, but there is a younger brother who has a sort of unisex name.  Good luck!

Barbara Bartholomew, The Time Keeper, 1985. Jeanette and her brother Neil find some time-transport stones in an old hotel scheduled to be destroyed in a few days. One set of stones takes them to an Amish-type farm community in the past, if I remember correctly, and another takes them to a future where it is a crime to time-travel, and they are held captive.
N. Roy Clifton, The City Beyond The Gates, 1972, copyright.  From the back cover: What lies beyond the Fence? Why do living things wither and die on the other side? When Janey-Ann decides to find out, she enters a strange world where nature has been replaced by machinery and everyone is under the eye of the all powerful Kemarch - a world where she must risk unknown dangers when she encourages the Green Boy to escape with her back to the land of the Trees...  Quote p.46. "But you passed all the shops along the street. Didn't you wish for something you saw there? Didn't the wish-printer print your wish with dye on the back of your neck?"

Marg Nelson, A Girl Called Chris, 1969. This one could be A Girl Called Chris. It was a Scholastic paperback. Actually, she had to go work for the cannery (salmon or some kind of fish, I think) because she needed money for college--lost her scholarship or something.  Also seems like there were 2 boys--one nice guy and one from the wrong side of the tracks but I could be confusing that part with Seventeenth Summer. I read them both around the same time.

Eulalie (aka Eulalie Wilson), Baby's Animal Book (No. 860),1927, 1929. I'm almost certain this is it.  Hardcover book w/ burgundy spine, front cover shows donkey standing on the beach, w/ the ocean behind him. A little blonde girl dressed in lavender is seated on the donkey's back, and a dark-haired boy in an orange romper is walking beside them, with his left hand on the donkey's neck, like he's leading it.  A small white dog is running beside the donkey. The lettering on the cover is red, with the word's "Baby's Animal" written horizontally above the girl/donkey, and the word "Book" written vertically, on a slight diagonal, behind the girl/donkey. The book was published by Platt and Monk, and features pictures of pets, farm, and wild animals. Hope you are able to replace your lost copy!
Eulalie, Baby's Animal Book, 1927. Not a solution so much as a follow-up. After reviewing some of Elsley's artwork, I'm no longer quite so sure that this is the correct book. Eulalie's illustrations, while charming, are not quite as intricate as Elsley's.

This sounds possibly similar to my book stumper question. B556.

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, Remember The Secret, 1988. This is kind of a longshot, but this book does talk about leaving one's body at night and that this is proof of the soul's survival after death. The story presents Edgar Caycean doctrine similar to that found in books like Suddenly We Were or anything by Alice Bailey.
Boys and Girls Come Out to Play.This sounds a little like a picture book from I think the 70s-80s that illustrated the nursery rhyme,"Boys and girls come out to play,The moon doth shine as bright as day.  Leave your supper and leave your sleep,And join your playfellows in the street."

Caldwell, Taylor, THE LISTENER, 1960. If this is it, there's also a sequel--NO ONE HEARS BUT HIM (1966)
Gabrielle Bossis, He and I, 1985

children's anthology. I have the anthology on my lap. My copy (which was used when I was a child and contains no identifiers) begins on page 33 and ends on 370, with pages missing from both ends. "Chipper" (not Chopper) is in here, beginning: Chipper was a lazy dog/ He didn't like to run/ He didn't like to jump or bark/ Or play with anyone...  No author for Chipper is given, although many pieces in the anthology do list authors. My daughter loves this anthology, as I did, but the smell is unbearable. I was able to track down a shorter version of this anthology (through the title and author of another story included---Little Hank by Alice Sankey) this anthology is called Big Big Storybook. Whitman Publishing 1955. Hardcover 224 pages.  It has not arrived yet but a photocopy of the TOC indicates that it includes Chipper. Hope that helps. Would love to know the name of my larger anthology, too!

Calhoun, Mary, Katie John. Katie John and her family move into an inherited house in order to sell it, but find they don't want to part with it.
Many adventures and several sequels.
Mary Calhoun, Katie John. More about this series of books in the Solved Mysteries section

Carol Ryrie Brink, Andy Buckram's Tin Men, 1966. Could this be Andy Buckram's Tin Men?  I don't remember baked Alaska, but in the story, Andy built three robots a man-type robot, a softer, female-kind of robot, and a child robot. They develop personalities along those lines too.  Then there's a flood, and Andy, his little cousin and a girl from the neighborhood are trapped. The robots rescue them and they all float down the river in a boat. Somehow, at the end, the kids are rescued and the robots float away. Now, I read this a long time ago, and I may have some details wrong. But it might be worth checking out!

Eileen Goudge, Seniors, 1984, approximate.  The characters in this series were Kit, Lori, Ellen and Alex.  Alex's brother, "Noodle", had cystic fibrosis.

Marian Cockrell, Shadow Castle.
George MacDonald, The Princess and the Goblin. The classic tale of a young princess and a miner boy who outwit a colony of goblins in an exciting adventure set in a maze of underground caverns. When Princess Irene discovers a secret staircase at the top of the castle, she enters a world so mysterious she doesn't know whether to believe it is real. For, hidden in the highest tower, is a beautiful old lady who lives among the pigeons, spinning magic thread beside a fire made of roses. But when strange cat-like creatures are found prowling the palace gardens, and Curdie the miner boy encounters a band of embittered goblins plotting revenge on the royal household, the princess must place her trust in the old lady if they are to save the palace from destruction." Another possibility is "The Princess and Curdie", a sequel to "The Princess and the Goblin." These books are still in print.'
Marian Cockrell, Shadow Castle. The very popular Shadow Castle!
Marion Cockrell, Shadow Castle. Sounds a lot like Shadow Castle to me!  Check out descriptions in the solved section.
Marion Cockrell, Shadow Castle. Again!

Robert McCloskey, Homer Price,1943. This is the story "Mystery Yarn" in this collection.  Its in Solved Mysteries.
McCloskey, Robert, Homer Price. This is surely it.  The book is not an anthology in the strictest sense, but is episodic.  The pilgrim reference probably refers to the founder's day play that the townspeople put on.  Remember?  "Forty-two pounds of edible fungus/In the Wilderness a-growin."
Robert McCloskey, Homer Price. Not pilgrims exactly--the early history of Homer's town, Centerburg. (Edible Fungus, anyone?) And the ball of string episode is also included.
Robert McCloskey, Homer Price. Miss Terwilliger has two suitors, each of whom collects string.  When the two of them hold a contest, deciding that whoever has the longest string wins Miss Terwilliger, she joins in, with the yarn that she has collected over the years.   There is also a chapter in which the citizens of Centerburg hold a pageant about the settling of their town.  "Forty-two pounds of edible fungus, In the Wilderness a-growin'," they sing.  (The town was originally called Edible Fungus.  There's also a sequel called Centerburg Tales, which you will probably also enjoy.)
Robert McCloskey, Homer Price. Chapter book rather than short stories, and I don't remember a play, but one of the chapters focuses on a man and woman who unroll their balls of string to see who has collected the most.
Robert McCloskey, Homer Price. This has to be Homer Price. The chapter called 'Mystery Yarn'. Uncle Telly and Mrs. Terwilliger compete to have the biggest ball of yarn in the county.  It comes right after the donut machine chapter!

Peggy Parish, Key to the Treasure. I'm positive this is the book you're looking for.  There is a description in the solved section.
Peggy Parrish, Key to the Treasure, 1966. This is definitely the book.  Its in Solved Mysteries.
Parish, Peggy, Key to the Tresure. This sounds like it could be Key to the Treasure the plot is right although I recall the details a little differently (e.g., an Indian head-dress, not a doll). Here's the plot summary from Amazon: "Each summer Lisa, Bill, and Jed visit their grandparents, and they hear the story of the sketches hung above the mantel. The sketches are clues to a hidden treasure, and no one has been able to figure them out for a century. There is a missing first clue, but when the children stumble upon the second clue, they're on their way. Could it be that on this visit they will solve the secret that has eluded so many for more than a hundred years?" This book is part of a series.
Peggy Parish, Key to the Treasure. Bill and Liza and Jed are the names of the children.  There were several sequels - Clues in the Woods, Hermit Dan, and a couple of others whose titles I''m too lazy to go downstairs to find.

Mary Phraner Warren, The Treasure Trunk, 1967. If there's a chance that you're a little off with the date, this might be worth looking into.  It was published by Rand McNally as a Junior Elf book, and a Start Right Elf Book. It's the story of two children (a boy and a girl) who discover a trunk full of treasures, including old photographs and clothes to play dress-up with, in their attic on a rainy day.  Illustrated by Sharon Kane.

Adelaide Holl, Colors Are Nice, 1962. Could this 1962 Little Golden book be the one?  It was reprinted several times.  The cover has kids painting a fence with cans of different-colored paints.  Each page shows an example of how color presents itself in a child's everyday world, e.g. yellow flowers, a rainbow.
Baker, Alan, White Rabbit's Color Book. A white rabbit falls into a succession of paint cans, blending the colors.  (Falls in blue, then falls in yellow, comes out green, etc.)  Finally it falls into all the colors at once and comes out brown.

Todd, Ruthven, Space Cat.  This sounds like the Space Cat books, but the cat is named Flyball, not Captain.
Lloyd Alexander, Time Cat, 1996, approximate.  This doesn't quite fit your parameters, but it has to do with a time-traveling cat. Worth checking out, anyway.

Various authors, The Read Aloud Wonder Books, 1957, copyright.  There was a series of Children's Read Aloud stories from Wonder Books.  I still have the Read Aloud Mother Goose one.  There is a listing on the back of the book of various Read Aloud books such as Child Life and Stories About Children in Other Lands.
Various Authors, Childrens Read Aloud, 1957, copyright.  Thank-You!  I DO remember it saying Child Life somewhere on it!  I'd love to have a copy of this!  Maybe I can get it here?!  Thanks again!

Gertrude Hevener Gibson, Cat-Cat, 1970, copyright.  The story of a cat named Octavius Ramos Blue King, but everyone just calls him Cat-Cat. He owns a family, his own dish, and his own bed. Cat-Cat wants to play with young Jane's bird in a cage and her fish in the bowl, so Jane's father decides it is time Cat-Cat lives in the garage. But when Cat-Cat becomes so unhappy, the family decides there has to be a better way.
Gertrude Hevener Gibson, Cat-Cat
Gibson, Gertrude Hevener, Cat-Cat, 1970, [32] p. illus. 25 cm. / Chicago, Childrens Press ISBN: 0516034294 / "Cat-Cat runs away when the family moves her into the garage."