G4: Grandfather
Stories Solved: Grandfather Stories G8: Cornwall Solved: Green Smoke G10: Good and Bad Girl Solved: Goody Naughty
Book G11: Good Morning, Sun Solved: A Good, Good
Morning G15: Golden feather Solved: The Jungle of
Tonza Mara G17: Ghostly playmates, anthologized short story Solved: Ten Tales
Calculated to Give you Shudders G19: Girl thinks she has other life Solved: Mrs. Razor G21: Girl lives with grumpy grampa Solved: The Family
Tree G22: Genie & beeswax Solved: Do Not Open G24: Goldilocks Solved: Naughty Little Goldilocks G25: Growing Up Solved: Growing Up G27: Goober family Solved: Goober Village G28: Ghost Felicia, with baseball bat Solved: The Ghost in the Swing
G30: Greek History Solved: The Illiad and the Odyssey G31: Gruesome scary short stories Solved: Horror Tales: Spirits, Spells and the
Unknown G32: Gnome who grows geraniums Solved: The
Little White Horse G34: Grettir the Strong with creepy pictures There are many versions of the Norse (?)
legend of Grettir--Grettir the Strong, Grettir at
Thorhall-stead -- but I haven't come across the one I
remember. It had creepy, heavy-lined illustrations like
woodblock cuts, in the style of the cover illustration on Tales
from Silver Lands, and there may have been other stories
in the book. Not much later than 1970 and probably
earlier.
This book sounds like one I read when i was
a child (early 80's). It was a large hardback with a pale
purple cover and featured gruesome scaninavian fairytales. It
had very distinct (and quite scary) illustrations back and
white "wood block" style line drawings at the top of the pages
and full-page colour ones too. I remember a story about a clever
cat outwitting a hideous troll, a princess riding on the
back of the 4 winds to find her missing prince and a story about
a priest and a wolf. hope some of this rings a bell
G34 grettir the strong: Tales From
Silver Lands, the book mentioned as having similar
illustrations to the one wanted, has woodcuts by Paul Honore.
Allan French did a retelling, Grettir the Strong,
illustrated by Bernard Blatch and published by Bodley
Head in 1961. Robert Newman did one, also called Grettir
the Strong, illustrated by John Gretzer, published
Crowell 1968. There are several others that don't appear to be
illustrated. I couldn't find any collection of Norse or northern
tales illustrated by Honore specifically. French, Allen, The Story of
Grettir the Strong, 1908. Allen French's
retelling of the Saga of Grettir was first published in the US
in 1908. It had a colour frontispiece, a colour vignette of
Grettir on the title page, three other colour plates and three
black and white plates. The colour illustrations are signed by
F.I. Bennett, and dated 1908. The black and white plates are by
a different illustrator, and are signed CAB and dated 1908. This
edition was reprinted several times. In later printings the
colour frontispiece is also used as the dust jacket
illustration. The most recent printing I have seen is the
twelfth printing, dated 1966. In that one the three black and
white pictures by CAB are omitted entirely (they are no longer
included in the list of illustrations at the front of the book).
The five pictures by F.I. Bennett are retained, but are printed
as black and white drawings only, except for the cover picture,
which is in full colour on the dust jacket, but in black and
white where it is used as the frontispiece. The British edition
of Allen French's retelling of the Saga of
Grettir was published in 1961, with new black and
white illustrations by Bernard Blatch. I don't think it was ever
reprinted, and it was sold mainly in the UK.One of these could
be the book your reader is looking for. Jones, Gwyn, Scandinavian
Legends and Folk-tales, 1956, copyright. I
believe this is the book that is most likely to be the one your
reader remembers.
It is a collection of legends that included the story of Grettir
the Strong. The illustrator is Joan Kiddell-Monroe. The book is
one of an extensive series of collections of myths, legends and
folk-tales for young readers published by Oxford University Press
in the 1950s and 1960s. All the books were illustrated by Joan
Kiddell-Monroe, but several different writers wrote the books.
G35: Goblin eats children's feet Solved: Nightmares:
Poems to Trouble Your Sleep G36: Grimm's anthology Solved: Anderson's
Fairy Tales G37: Grimm's anthology--yes, another one! I am trying to locate a copy of Grimm's
Fairy Tales because of its wonderful water color and pencil
illustrations. Of course, I don't recall the artist's
name, which is why I am writing to you. First, a description of
the book. It was my father's when he was a child (late
1940s), so I am assuming it was published sometime before then,
possibly 1920s or 30s. The book was a hardcover, large-ish
in size (let's say 9" by 13") and had no dustjacket (my memory
might be fuzzy on this point). It's possible the jacket
was lost, but the hard cover was illustrated with a scene from
Beauty and the Beast. The stories were the old Grimm ones:
The Goose Girl, Snow White and Rose Red, Pied Piper, etc. but I
suspect the collection of stories was not complete, merely
representative, because the book was about 175 pages and
illustrated with small and full page illustrations. I
assume a complete collection would be much larger. Our
copy was in English. The stories were not edited for children's
delicate sensiblities: I well recall in the Goose Girl that the
horse's (Fala?) head is cut off and hung on a wall. Next, the
illustrations. They are art deco in style: wavy parallel
lines for hair, delicate ankles and joints on the figures,
simple rounded lines in the clothing. I suspect the artist
is either Dutch or Scandinavian because the characters tended to
be shod in clogs, which is why the delicate ankles are
memorable. The water color illustrations tended to be
large, full-page size and softly colored in muted shades.
I don't recall any vibrant, bright colors, but remember that
rich deep reds & blues, pale pinks and greens and such were
the norm. Characters' faces were not very detailed--a few
lines conveyed an expression. Throughout the book were
smaller (about 4" high, give or take) black & white
illustrations that were probably pencil or charcoal
drawings. The artist was not Rackham, Cruickshank, or
Maxfield Parrish. And that is all I really know at this
point. Any suggestions or ideas would be very
welcome. Thanks.
Gustaf Tenggren, illustrator, The
Tenggren
Tell-It-Again
Book.
Parts of the description seem to fit so well with this
one Gustaf Tenggren is Scandinavian, my copy of this book
is vibrantly illustrated, although all the drawings are in
color, even the smaller ones (but before relocating it, I also
thought the smaller drawings were black etchings). The main
difference is that not all of the gruesome aspects are present.
Falada is taken to a distant part of the stables instead of
having her head whacked off and displayed...BUT the description
gave me a very vivid memory of yet ANOTHER anthology. You may be
remembering two different books, this one and the more gruesome
one that I also have a memory of. Check out this website on Tenggren
and for some other illustrators, like Kay Nielson go to this
website. I am the person who posted the original query and want to
respond to the suggestions posted as possible solutions. To wit:
Thanks for the suggestions, but I am sorry to say that after
checking out the links you provided, neither of the illustrators
you suggested is the one I am looking for.
Furthermore, it was definitely one book (not two that I might
have confused) and Falada was also definitely beheaded, hung on
a wall, and talking to the Goose Girl. For what it's
worth, I absolutely loved Tenggren & Nielson's work
(thanks!). I am browsing the book website on which you had
found them and think it might have been John Bauer (his trolls
and hags look very familiar)... Here's hoping.
Everywhere I look at books I'm trying to
find answers to these stumpers!! I'm going buggy!!!! Is it
possible that your book is one of those collections that has
multiple illustrators?? Today I came upon The Platt & Munk Treasury
of Stories for Children. It contains Goose Girl in
which Falada's head is hung on the wall and he speaks. The
illustrator of the story is Eulalie-- but the artwork is very
different from her colored work in the Bumper Book,- rather it
is simple black and white line drawings that may have a hint of
the art deco to them. Other stories had other illustrators: Lois
Lenski, Tasha Tudor, Margaret Hoopes,George and Doris Hauman.
This particular book does not have The Pied Piper so it is
probably not the one you are seeking. However, under the
acknowledgements it is stated that Goose Girl comes from Famous
Fairy Tales, edited by Watty Piper and illustrated
by Eulalie and others- Copyright 1922,1928, 1933 by The Platt
& Munk Co. Sure hope this helps! Oh! Someone has stated that
Famous Fairy Tales is number 95 of the Platt& Munk Star Book
Children series. For those people hunting for series of books
this may be a useful bit of information!
Illustrated by Fritz Kredel.
Translated by Mrs. E.V. Lucas, Lucy Crane and Marian
Edwardes, Grimms' Fairy Tales. I am pretty sure
this is the book you are looking for. I have it sitting on
my shelf. There are both colorful pictures and some just
sketches (mine are in red and white). The stories are
pretty gruesome, including a talking severed horse head named
falda. Most of the stories include some death or
dismemberment. Some other titles, if this helps, are: The
twelve Dancing Princesses, The Three Spinning Fairies, King
Thrushbeard. Marie Ponsot, Translator, The
Fairy Tale Book: A Deluxe Golden Book.
(1961) Recently rereleased in the early 2000s, I still
have my orginal copy. Battered and beaten, with the cover
all but destroyed, the illustrations are as fresh and lovely as
the day it was given me. Grimm Brothers, Grimm's Fairy
Tales,1929.The original copyright of this was in
1919 by the Platt & Nourse Co., Inc., Copyright 1929 is
Platt & Munk Co. Inc. I think this is the same book
mentioned in the original query. It has an orange cover
with a black Sleeping Beauty illustration and line drawings
throughout. The art deco look and the clogs are all there.
The first story listed is Rumpel-stilts-kin and the last is
Clever Grethel. These are the gory oldies for the most
part. I have no idea who the translator is. The last
page notes that this series was published as "The Star Books for
Children: Happiness on every page". I hope that helps.
Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm, Hansel
and
Gretel and Other Stories by the Brothers Grimm,1925.Your
description
of
the illustrations reminded me of Kay Nielsen'\''s haunting
style, and he seems to be from the right era. This collection of
Grimm's Fairy Tales includes "The Goose Girl".
G38: Girl inherits house Solved: Wait for What
Will Come G39: Greek mythology Solved: Children of the
Dawn G40: Gaynelle Solved: Willful
Gaynelle G42: Giant needs glasses Solved: The Book of Giant Stories G43: Girl with lots of dogs Solved: Nine Friendly
Dogs G44: Geraniums in windowboxes... Solved: Little White
Horse G45: Girl with dogs Solved: Nine Friendly
Dogs G46: Goose girl story Solved: The Girl Who
Sat in the Ashes G47: Green ink Solved: Gruesome Green
Witch G48: Girl and brother on boat Solved: The Maggie B G49: Gergely book? Solved: The Golden Book
of Nursery Tales YES! IT WAS THE GOLDEN BOOK OR GOLDEN TREASURY OF NURSERY
TALES! It contained such titles as: The Hollow Tree
Store, The Boasting Bamboo, The LionHearted Kitten, The Golden
Key, The Magic Pot, The Three Sillies, Silly Will, The Three Pigs,
The Cap Mother Made....etc. etc. The illustrations were
COLOR. G50: Grandmother's garden A little girl is sent to stay with her
elderly grandmother, in an old country house. She spends a lot
of time in the garden where she meets various famous people from
the past. I remember Joan of Arc in particular. I read and
re-read this as a child and must have remembered the title
wrongly as I have never been able to locate a copy.
A possible is Castle of Comfort,
by L. Atherton, illustrated by S. Findley, published
London, Faber 1958, 153 pages. "Ten year old Nell has the happy
knack of going into the past through the door leading into the
flower
garden. Her home, the Castle of Comfort,
then becomes the setting for various historic scenes, and is
intended, with Nell herself and her family, to be a focus for
each bye-story." (Junior Bookshelf Mar/58 p.64) It does
seem that the historic scenes are all
loosely connected with the house, though, which this a less
likely match.
G50 grandmother's garden: there is a book
called Grandmother's Garden, by Hazel Cook
Corcoran, published Parthenon 1961. No plot description as
yet, but it seems to be fairly rare and there is no LC listing.
I started to read a book once in school
called Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Time (I think)
about a girl in a garden to which something magical was about to
happen related to the thyme plant when the teacher consificated
to book and I never got to finish it. Edward Eager, The Time Garden, 1950s. Someone suggested that your book
might be Parsley Sage Rosemary and Time, but it probably
isn't--that book takes the girl only goes back to Colonial
America. In the Time Garden, though, there are 4 kids
staying with an elderly woman, and they travel back in time to
meet famous people from the past--Louise May Alcott and possibly
Joan of Arc. It's worth looking at--paperback is still in print.
Trevor Meriol, Sun Slower, Sun
Faster, 1957.
"Two modern English children go back into their countries past
and live historically significant religious periods." I'm not
sure if this fits- might have possibilities. Hazel
Cook Corcoran, Grandmother's
Garden,
1965. This is a small
book of poetry.I have this book
and the companion bookThe Garden Grows, pub.
1970.Both are signed by the
author.I am trying to find out
more about the books and author.
G51: Girl finds secret room in new house Solved: Ten Kids, No
Pets G52: Griffin A story about a Griffin who hatched an egg.
Bill Peet, The Pinkish Purplish Egg. Probably this book, but I believe the
griffin hatches FROM the egg.
If the griffin hatched FROM an egg this
would be The Pinkish, Purplish, Bluish Egg -
Bill Peet 1963 and still in print. Maybe Could you be
getting it mixed up with Horton Hatches an Egg?
G53: Girl from planet of water Solved: Martin and His
Friend from Outer Space G54: Girl with wolf friend Solved: String of Time G55:
Girl pilot mystery Solved: Linda Carlton, Air Pilot G56: Girls' series Solved: What Katy Did
G57: Ghostly love Solved: Tryst
G58: Gillian, Gilly, Gill Solved: Witch of Redesdale G59: Glow in the dark-Mice This is a story about a little mouse, maybe a mouse family and
the illustrations are in Glow in the Dark. The little street
lights glow. My husband had this when he was young and has
no idea what the name of it is. Would love to surprise him
with it!
Kraus, Robert, Night-Lite Storybook,
Windmill, 1975. A
long-shot: I have two Night-Lite Calendars, both
illustrated by N. M. Bodecker, which have various tiny animals
(hedgehogs, rabbits, etc.) in assorted settings. The signs,
lighted windows of houses, etc., in the pictures glow in the
dark. Illustrations are copyright 1972 by Bodecker for
Night-Lite Library, but the only book showing on a google search
is Kraus's Night-Lite Storybook (and Kraus's publishing house,
Windmill, was the one that issued the calendars).
G60: Giant man and little man exchange houses Solved: Benjamin Budge and Barnaby Ball G61: Girl from Mars Solved: Star Girl G62: Gingerbread Boy and Three Kittens My sister and I are trying to find a book that our Mother used to
read to us as children. We have a portion of it but the
cover and first 15 pages are gone. You can find two scanned pages
here
and here.
The
book
is
60 pages and includes stories such as: Little Red Riding Hood,
Henny Penny, The Gingerbread Man, The City Mouse and the
Country Mouse, The Three Little Kittens, The House
that Jack Built, The Three Little Pigs. We
think it use to have the three Billy Goats Gruff also
Any Ideas? Thanks!!!
I am wracking my brains over G62 ...I
absolutely *know* those pictures - I will get back to you if and
when I can find my copy.
My college-age children and I all agree that
the illustrations look very familiar!! I am inclined to suggest
Gateway to Storyland by Watty Piper (late
50's edition) which was mine as child that I kept for my
children. It's up in the attic--I just went to check, but
it's about 130 degrees up there and I didn't find it immediately
and had to leave!! I'll try to check later.
Ok, it cooled off and it looks like I sent
in a false lead--it is NOT A Gateway to Storyland.
I still think I KNOW those illustrations--could you tell me a
little more info--what are the dimensions of the book and what
was time frame you first had the book? I looked thru all
the books I have here with no luck--but there is a falling apart
book of Mother Goose at my mom's that I'll check next time I'm
home. Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes.
I think we had this book as children too. Those pictures
are definately familiar. I would try Mother Goose.
Just a suggestion! I have a book called Favorite
Nursery Tales that is similar to what you describe.
It is smallish- 62 pages
long. It has all the stories but Three
Little Kittens- but there are some poems along the way. The book
is put out by Golden Books and the illustrations come from
Little Golden Books. Mine is a 1970 edition. There is an edition
from 1963- perhaps that resembles your long lost book.(I have
never been able to pull up your pictures to see what they look
like!)
G63a: Ghost story turns out to be amnesia can't remember much. I don't believe this is a Nancy Drew
mystery. Bunch of kids rent old house for summer. See lady
"ghost". She turns out to be a girl that is being drugged and has
lost her memory. She is being kept in this little room/cabin?
After they rescue her they all go on this boat-her Dad's? In the
beginning the kids-teenagers-go up to the attic of this old house
and find boxes with old clothes in them-this is where the lady
"ghost" got her dress that she wears to "haunt them" Sorry it's
not much!
Sutton, Margaret,The Haunted Attic, 1932. I can't remember the entire plot
of this Judy Bolton mystery, but this might be the one.
This is not the Haunted Attic
by Margaret Sutton. You mistakenly classed one of my stumpers as "solved". This
story is not The Haunted Attic by Judy Bolton as
somebody clearly stated. I have also read that story-a couple of
days ago-and it is not the book that I am looking for. Can you
please put it back under "unsolved"? Thanks! Jean McKechnie, Penny Allen and the
Mystery of the Haunted House, 1950. The Allen kids discover a girl
hiding in the cabin they're living in. She has been drugged and
has amnesia. It turns out she was kidnapped by a man who then
drugged her and tried to convice her that he was her father. The
kids go in search of the girl's identity and her real father.
They travel along a river in a cabin cruiser, pursued by the
kidnapper and his gang. In the end she's reunited with her
father. Margaret Buffie, The Dark Garden. Probably not the book you're
looking for, but enough of the details match that it's a
possibility.
G63b: Girl Named Lemon All I can remember about this one is that there is girl named
Lemon in the story and another possibly named Fern. They
live on a farm and they go to the fair.That's the extent of my
memory.
I don't remember a Lemon in Charlotte's Web, but
that's what I think of when I think of Fern.... Elizabeth Enright, Thimble Summer, circa 1939. Thimble Summer
is about Garnet, who lives on a farm in the Depression, and her
friend Citronella (which you may be remembering as Lemon!). It
includes a visit to a fair. It was a Newbery winner and
should be easily available. Elizabeth Enright, Thimble Summer,1938. Could it be Citronella, not Lemon?
The other main character, named Garnet, has a pig, which might
have led to the association with the name Fern.
G64:
glass-blowers children Solved: Glassblower's Children
G65: Girl's rejection of her
doll Solved: Elizabeth
G66: Girl who visits aunt
and gets a doll Solved: Merry, Rose,
and Christmas-Tree June G67: Glassblowing apprentice Solved: The Blowing Wand G68: Girls Shelling Peas in front of fireplace Solved: Childcraft G69: Girl-Silver Streak Hair-Outerspace Solved: Martin and His
Friend from Outer Space G70: Girls Travel From Germany-America 1940's Solved: Toward Freedom
G71: Girl obsessed with
Woody Allen and old film "Laura" Solved: The Rise and Fall of a Teen-Age
Wacko G72: Girls play dress-up in attic Solved: Once Upon A
Time In The Meadow
2002 G73: Girl Looking for
adoptive mom squiggly polka dot Solved: A Home for Penny G74:
Girl
with
Favorite
Color RED Solved: Ann Likes Red G75: Goose carries book under wing Solved: Petunia
G76: Ghost called Chloe Solved: The Otherwise
Girl G77: girl with glowing eyes
SOLVED: Glen Cook, Doomstalker.
G78: Grandpa's Farm Solved: Just Right G79:
Golden Book Solved: Little Mommy G80:
Girl must become a witch to find lost brother Solved: The Changeover G81: Girl Gets Back on the Horse Solved: Gypsy from Nowhere G82: Gazing Ball Solved: Jane-Emily G83: Girl Solved: Patricia's Secret
G84: Girl living in a hotel I read this probably in the late 1970's, early 1980's. It
is about a girl who is living in a hotel in NYC with (I think) her
grandparents. I think it takes place in the 50's or 60's,
but I'm not sure. One part I remember is that the girl goes
into a shop and there are the "see-no-evil, speak-no-evil,
hear-no-evil" monkeys for sell, and I think they are
mechanical. I know this isn't a lot to go on! I
remember I loved this book, but I don't remember any more details.
G84: Mystery of the Silent Friends
(1963, in Solved Mysteries?) The details don't quite fit, but
there are both "no-evil" monkey sculptures and very old
automatic dolls on platforms. One wrote, one drew a picture of a
chalet and one played a harpsichord(?) I remember begging my
mother to find dolls like that. Of course, who knows if dolls
like that were ever common even in the 19th century - and there
I was, asking for them in the late 1970's! Ruth Sawyer, Rollerskates, 1960s? Rollerskates is about a ten-year
old girl living in an hotel (or possibly an apartment building)
with two elderly relatives. It tells of her adventures
over the course of a year, and all the unusual people she
be-friends. However, it is set in late 19th / early 20th
century rather than the 1960s. Eloise at the Plaza,
children's book series. M.B. Goffstein, Daisy
Summerfield's Style. I just reunited
with this book myself! I'm pretty sure it's the same
one you are looking for. What I remember is that
somehow this girl is supposed to be going one place, but she
switches luggage(?) or luggage tags with a girl named Daisy
Summerfield, goes to a different place and kind of takes on
a new identity. I remember her being in nyc also, and
the store with the monkeys is an art supply store. She
wants to be an artist and she buys soapstone(?) and carving
tools. She carves figures with moveable parts, and I
think in the end she ends up selling them. I also
remember that in order to have this fantasy life, she has to
carefully budget the money she had for whatever it was she
was really supposed to be doing. I can't remember the
ending though!
G85: Giant befriends children Solved: Selfish Giant G86a: Girl and family move to new town Solved: Me and Fat Glenda
G86b: Greek Myths with
Phryxus and Helle on cover Solved: Enchantment Tales for Children G87:girl, neglected house, cookie
shop Solved: The Tiny Little House G88: Girl has mentally challenged twin sister Solved: Me
Too G89: Giant befriends children Solved: George the
Gentle Giant G90:Gray and Red Squirrels? Solved: Miss Suzy
G91: Grandmother and
Grandmother Rabbit Solved: Humbug Rabbit G92: Ghost or Astral Projection Solved: Who Says So? G93: girl visits medieval times Solved: The Beginning Place G94: gobbledy gook buns Solved: Stories for
Bedtime G95: Girl buys raft, runs away to island Solved: The Secret Summer G96: Girl searching for Favorite Day of Year grows up,
marries, has baby discovers her favorite day...baby's
birthday!!! Solved: Very Best Day
for Every Little Girl
G97: Greensleeves Solved: A Spell is Cast 2003 G98: Girl plants
buttons that grow Solved: What Shall I Put in the Hole That I
Dig? G99: Giant brothers Solved: Giants Come in
Different Sizes G100:
girl dances to heal legs Solved: Little
Ballerina G101: Gray Wolf Stories Solved: Gray Wolf Stories, Indian Mystery
Tales G102: Greek or Gypsy girl and donkey Solved: Nobody's Girl G103: goblin boy saved by girl Solved: Lots of Stories G104: goblins mine gold Solved: The Princess
and the Goblin G105: girl dresses as boy, nighttime adventures Solved: Hilary's Island G106: green meenies / snail whale Solved: Seals on Wheels G107: Gazebo Summer Two Children Time Travel Solved: The Swing in
the Summerhouse G108: Girl finds abandonded cottage Solved: Mandy G109: Girl goes to Louisiana swamp to teach Book I read in the fifties, about a girl who becomes a teacher or
substitute teacher in a very backwoods part of the Louisiana bayou
country. A boyfriend may be involved. I think New Orleans enters
into it too somehow, either a visit there or a cousin named Isabel
who lives there.
G109 might be The Girl of the
Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter
Gene Stratton-Porter writes of Indiana, I think. Cid Ricketts Sumner, Tammy series. 1950s-60s. A possibility: Tammy
Out
of
Time,
Tammy Tell Me True, Tammy and the Millionaire CS Lewis, The Magicians Nephew. Most of the things you talked about are
in this story.
G110: Good said Old Elephant Solved: Another Day G111: Girl with freckles threatens to hold breath until
she turns blue Solved: Katy Rose is Mad G112: girl moves to country and gets horse Solved: For Love of a Horse G113: girl and horse Solved: The
Horsemasters G114: Girl plays with "boy's" toys Solved: Nice
Little Girls G115: Golden Key Solved: The Magic Key G116: Good Manners Solved: Watchbird G117: girl follows spiderweb underground A girl befriends a spider, who lends her skeins of web to lead
her through an underground place - home of ants?? 1930s?
Lampman, Evelyn Sibley, City Under
the Back Steps.
Maybe? Not exactly right but: Craig and his cousin Jill have
been reduced to minute size and taken prisoner by an ant colony
in punishment for stepping on one of its members. Down beneath
the ground they are herded, down to the city under the back
steps, where the haughty and Queen ruled with an iron hand, each
of her subjects with a vital task to perform. Craig and Jill are
put to work!
G117 Didn't the princess and
Curdie follow something like that through a tunnel?
Or a wild guess Lampman The City Under the Back steps? George MacDonald, The Princess and
the Goblin, 1872.
I agree that this sounds like the story of the princess and her
friend Curdie, who followed an invisible magic strand to escape
the goblin'' underground lair. Loved that book!
G118: giants Solved: The Book of Giant Stories G119: Girl works too hard no time to find friend stops
time Solved: Little Babs G120: Ghost named Gus Solved: Gus Was a Friendly Ghost G121: Green Thumb Solved: Tistou of the Green Thumbs G122: Giant Golden Book of Fairies Solved: Golden Books Treasury of Elves
and Fairies G123: ...Goes to Bed Early Solved: Genevieve Goes to Bed Early
Golden Book, Sept.20/07. 'I have that book
with that story though I'd have to search for it. Its a large pink
book with many stories and verse in it. Genevieve goes to bed too
early bcz she misunderstands what her dr. wants her to do..so she
goes to bed earlier each night by one hour. Her Dr. figures out a
way to get her to wake up at the proper time. I can't remember off
hand but probably by going to bed one hour later each night too
until she's at the proper time. I'll try to find it. I've had this
book since I was a little girl and I'm now almost 48 and read it
to all of my own 4 kids. G124: Girl's Adventures in the Other World Solved: Knee-deep in
Thunder G125: girl changes clothes Solved: Mary Changes Her Clothes G126: Glasses, Peggy doesn't want "Peggy" finds out she needs glasses and doesn't want to wear
them. I think I remember a line "But I don't want to wear
glasses, wailed Peggy"; but in the end all her friends tell her
how nice she looked with them. The book would be from the
late '50s or early '60s because the one time I read it was some
time before I got glasses and I thought it was pretty lame at the
time. However, it was what I remembered in the shock of
having to get glasses myself, and so that was what I remembered
every year for years afterward when I had to get stronger
glasses. I tried to track it down in the Library of Congress
during breaks while I was doing "real" research there recently but
had no luck. Thanks!
No exact title, just a
suggestion. I recently found a book my daughter remembered about a
little girl who needed glasses by googling : booklist for children
about wearing glasses and then went through and researched each
book on the list until I found the right one. there is a list at:
littlefoureyes.com/ books-for-kids/.
Hope this helps. G127: Girl living with mother i read it in the early '60s, but it may have been written
earlier. a young girl living w/ her single mother--buying
groceries-- discovers the kosher butcher and begins buying meat
there, but doesn't tell her mother (they're not jewish) . . . G128: goose who dies and everybody is sad Solved: Go Tell Aunt Rhody G129: Goose on Skates Solved: Skating Gander G130: Giant Golden Fairy Book Solved: A Day in Fairy Land G131: Ghost Children, One Named Lucrece Solved: Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden G132: Girl Magician Solved: The
Rescue of Ranor G133: Ghosts tell their story Solved: The Sherwood
Ring G134: Go Go's Car Breaks Down Solved: Gogo's Car
Breaks Down G135: Gorilla in Central Park Zoo Solved: Gorilla Baby: the Story of
Patty Cake G136:
Golden crown? I'm looking for a book, but have little information. It was read
in school to fourth- or fifth-graders over the course of a couple
of weeks, so it's book-length. It was probably a fantasy novel. It
included, probably at the beginning, a boy sitting on a bench, and
also involved a golden, or more likely silver, crown (chair?).
Magical things happened. Any help you offer will be greatly
appreciated.
C.S. Lewis' Narnia series includes a title called
The Silver Chair...
This is a long shot: The Silver Crown
by Robert O'Brien. It was originally published around
1968. Robert O'Brien, The Silver Crown, 1968. I'm guessing this one rather than
The Silver Chair by Lewis, because the
latter is easier to find. "Ellen awakens one morning with
a mysterious silver frown on the pillow beside her. What magic
powers it possesses she has not yet discovered, but the sudden
changes in her life are unmistakable: her house is burned down,
her family has disappeared, and a man in a dark uniform is
stalking her. Can Ellen ever find her family? Can she use the
power of the silver crown to thwart the powers of darkness? What
diabolical force hides inside the mysterious castle in the
woods?
I'm inclined to second the recommendation of
The Silver Chair. I don't recall where the
children are when they get pulled into Narnia in this book, but
they are sitting on a railway bench when their adventure starts
in The Last Battle. Sounds as though the
requester may be combining these two titles into one. c.s. lewis, the silver chair.i agree. the book starts out with "jill
pole" sobbing on a bench or something behind the school.
"eustace scrubb" finds her. they run away from the mean
kids at school by going to narnia, half on purpose,
half-accidental. Charnas, Suzy McKee, The Kingdom of
Kevin Malone.
This is a contemporary fantasy that begins in Central Park, then
moves into an odd sort of alternate setting in which teenaged
Kevin is both prince and anti-hero. Not a perfect fit for
the posted description, but close enough to be a distinct
possibility -- and if not, there's a small chance that Charnas'
other YA trio, a trilogy beginning with THE BRONZE KING,
might be the right answer.
G137: Girl wears the same dress to school every day Solved: The Hundred
Dresses G138: Girl trapped in castle Solved: The Homeward
Bounders G139: Girl visits mars/moon colony, stays Solved: Journey Between Worlds G140: girl tacked to floor 1914-1916. "It is about a little girl
who refuses to stay home so her mother tacked her dress to the
floor. The picture shows a circle of tacks and wisps of fabric
on the floor to show where she had been." This query came to my
library the patron is trying to find this book for her
ninety-something yr. old mother. G141: grandfather, granddaughter, wheelchair Solved: A Special Trade G142: Grandfather teaches grandbunnies to paint Solved: Grandpa Bunny Bunny G143: Girl visiting seaside town wants to become a potter Solved: Kathy and the
Mysterious Statue G144: guy who blows smoke rings in the shape of Qs Solved: Moe Q. McGlutch, He Smoked Too Much G145: Girl receives Mom's Diary Solved: Memo: To Myself When I Have A Teenage
Kid G146: Girl riding horse in Hawaii Solved: Pam's
Paradise Ranch G147: girl kept awake by grandfather clock This is a book I used to read in the late
'60s to early '70s. I vaguely remember it being about this
girl who can't sleep one night and is kept awake by a
grandfather clock marking off time hour by hour. The
author used the words "Tick tock, tick tock, BOOM BOOM! to
describe the sound of the grandfather clock. I know this
is not much to go on, but hopefully you can help me.
Rebecca Caudill, Time for Lissa. It's
about a little girl who wants to be adopted and the clock
figures very prominently in the book. G148: Girl finds out she's a fairy Solved: No Flying in
the House G149: Girl goes back in time to Victorian family with 7
sisters Solved: The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the
Garden G150: Girl is a Tour Guide at the United Nations Solved: The Highest
Dream G151: Girl (teen) has girlfriend who hates being tall, but
ends up modeling Solved: Dinny Gordon,
Freshman G152: Girl thinks she will die, finds love and does not
die Solved: Blue Castle G153: Girl finds boots in drawer and each step takes her a
mile Solved: What the Witch Left G154: Girl who liked Unicorns This was probably an Apple paperback book or similar. I had it
during the late 80's - early 90's. The main character was a girl
in grade school and she adored anything to do with unicorns and I
think rainbows. She had unicorn and rainbow stickers, unicorn
purse, earrings?, backpack?, possibly a journal or book with a
unicorn on it. She had another girl as her best friend and they
had a falling out but made up in the end. I *think* that
there was a sub-plot about an old woman who lived nearby or across
the street in a creepy house, and the girl and her best friend
were scared of the house and the old lady and thought she was a
witch. The girl who liked unicorns might have had to go and visit
the old lady for some reason. In the end I think the girl
who liked unicorn gave her best friend some item with a unicorn on
it. Please help!! I lost many of my childhood books but have
managed to find out the titles of all except two! Thanks so much!
Rainbow Brite. Wasn't there a
big toy merchandise collection of toy unicorns for little girls
in the 1980s and early 90s, called Rainbow Brite? Or was
that just horses? This sure sounds like a book based on
those toys. Thanks for the suggestion, but it was
definitely not Rainbow Brite. It was an Apple
Paperback book. Coville, Bruce, Into the Land of the
Unicorns: the Unicorn Chronicles Book 1. NY Apple Scholastic 1994.
Right at the tail end of the possible period, but anyways, the
right publisher and topic. "The story of a young girl destined
to save a gentle land from the dangerous, evil hunters trying to
destroy it." "Fantasy and mystery combine when Cara is forced to
flee Earth, clutching her grandmother's amulet and carrying a
message for the unicorn queen." There's a dragon and something
called a Squijum. Patricia Reilly Giff, Polk Street School series, '80's,
approximate. Emily Arrow is in the second grade at Polk
Street school. Other characters are Sherri Dent, Richard
"Beast" Best and Matthew. Emily has a rubber unicorn, Uni,
perhaps an eraser. Uni accompanies Emily on quite a few
adventures. I don't remember much reference to rainbows,
but there is definitely a spooky book about an old house in
the series, and Emily has a falling out with her best friend,
Dawn, in another book. Probably the best known books in
the series are SNAGGLE DOODLES and THE BEAST IN MS. ROONEY's
ROOM. Hope this helps.
G155: grape purple faucets Solved: Mr. Pudgins G156: Grump family/stick&stone soup Solved: Little Brute Family G157: Girls Write story about dolls, and wear big Easter
hats Solved: Two Are Better Than One G158: Goose gets coat caught in door Solved: To Market To
Market G159: Girl Finds Love with New Guy Solved?: Ask Annie I read this book when I was in middle school. It is set in
Northern California. The lead character is a girls in high
school who has lost weight. She takes over an advice coloumn
in the school paper. A new boy, with dark hair, and a exspensive
car arrives. He is hostile towrds her. He is also secretly
writing an advice column in the school paper. The cover of
the book shows a girl sitting at a typewriter chewing on a pencil,
a boy with dark hair is standing behind her. I think it was
published in the 80's. Thanks for your help, I would love to
get my hands on this book.
G159 This is DEAR LOVEY HART, I AM
DESPERATE by Ellen Conford ~from a librarian
Ellen Conford, Dear Lovey Hart, I Am
Desperate, 1975.
Could it be the book Dear Lovey Hart, I am Desperate
by Ellen Conford? In Conford's book, the main
female character, Carrie, secretly writes an advice column in
her school newspaper. The description of the cover also seems
familiar as well. Ellen Conford. I haven't read
these in a while, so I'm not sure if some of the details fit,
but Ellen Conford wrote Dear Lovey Hart, I Am Desperate
and its sequel We Interrupt this Semester for an
Important Bulletin. Girl writes advice column
for high school newspaper and tries to impress cute guy who's
also on the newspaper staff. This is incorrect. I have this book and the character is not a
girl who was overweight. "lovey heart" is also set on the east
coast, in New York, not California. Beverly Cleary, The Luckiest Girl, 1950's or 60's? This may be the book that
you are looking for. It has to do with a girl writing for
her school newspaper, and it takes place in Northern California
or Oregon. It has been a long time since I have read it.
Suzanne Rand, Ask Annie, 1982.
This
is
one
of the original "Sweet Dreams" paperback teen romance series.
G160: garrote Spaniard Italian travelers canyon A tale of three travelers in the American
West: a Spaniard, and Italian, and an American (I think).
They meet by chance and end up talking about the way each would
fear dying the most. One of them feared the garrote, the
others I forget. They then separate and sure enough, each
of them meets his death in his most dreaded way. I recall
the title being "Faith Hope and Charity" or perhaps the sections
were so named. It was published prior to 1970 and was
likely a lot older - I read it in grade school in the 70s and
the book was old then.
Irvin S. Cobb, Faith, Hope and
Charity, 1930.
Sounds very much like Faith, Hope and Charity by
Irvin S. Cobb. I have this short story collected in a
book called 101 Years' Entertainment: The Great Detective
Stories 1841-1941, edited by Ellery Queen. I
have a vague memory of this possibly having been done as a
'Twilight Zone' or similar show episode.
G161: goats, twins Solved: Twin Kids G162: Game book This childern's book that was published in
canada and is rumored to be out of print. It has illustrations
in it that resemble a mysterious land. The book has games
that may include a large mountain. It has games to play in it
and one is called 'bouncing around the room'. There are
supposedly lizards and mockingbirds in the book. A version
someone saw at a garage sale was printed in 1982.
G162 This is a shot in the dark, but since
no-one else has answered, I figured I'd try. Could it be one of
the Kit Williams' books, possibly MASQUERADE?
The
whole book is posted online. There was a treasure
hunt involved. ~from a librarian
G163: Gypsium or Jypsium Island? translated from French, 1960s.
Serge's foster sister disappears from the docks in a southern
French port. Several years later he meets an older teen who has
escaped from an island in the Atlantic shrouded by fog, where
kidnapped children are used to mine gypsium or jipsium or
something like that. Serge is planted as a spy, finds his
sister and other children have had their memories wiped, use dog
carts for transport. Eventually the authorities raid the
island and break up the conspiracy. It was translated from
the French, and had a motif of using gypsy signs for
communication. Any ideas?
I think I know this book, but of course
author and title currently elude me. The spy kid meets
some girls who live in the only painted house on the island, and
there is a man named Eugene who runs a sort of general
store. The medium of exchange is called krinks, and the
children sing a song "Earn krinks for Eugene to drink a-drink
drink. Maybe this will trigger someone's memory that's
better than mine. Grattan, Madeleine, William Pene du Bois.
Jexium Island. Viking,
1957, 1st b/w title page and chapter designs by artist 184 pp. .
Drawn from memories of a childhood near the banks of the Garonne
and inspired by tales of the Resistance. The heroes crack a ring
of kidnappers who capture children to work on a North Atlantic
island of jexium deposits. An uneven but memorable book.
Trans. from the French by Peter Grattan,
Jexium Island (1957) I am so delighted to
"return the favor" someone did for me, and identify a
stumper! I am sure this is the book you are seeking.
It has black and white illustrations by William Pene du Bois,
and is the story of Serge, who makes his way from France to the
coast of Newfoundland to search for his kidnapped foster sister
Angele. There he finds many children who have been
captured to work on an island of jexium deposits. Grattan, Madeleine, Jexium Island (1957 approximate) Illustrated by Wiiliam Pene
du Bois
G164: Golden Witch Belinda Solved: Timothy and the
Two Witches G165: girl dreams her adventure Solved: Diamond
in the Window G166: girl with doll writing on the mirror with lipstick Solved: The Lonely Doll G167: gypsy and factory Solved: Nobody's Girl G168: Green Lantern and the Sargasso Sea Solved: Land of the
Lost G169: Grolier's Children's Encyclopedia Solved: The Book
of Knowledge G170: Ghost (nice ghost) in elevator I'm looking for a book about a ghost who
lived in an old-fashioned elevator. He was friends with
the elevator operator, and he made creaking noises that sounded
like the elevator. At some point the elevator is automated (or
maybe closed down and the ghost moves to an automatic
elevator?). Without his friend's company the ghost fades
until he's nearly invisible, but he still makes the creaking
noises. One day a little boy hears the noises and discerns
the ghost. They become friends, and the ghost regains some of
his visibility. I would really appreciate if someone can
find this for me. G171: girl making bobbin lace Solved: A Pocket of
Silence G172: Griffin is hatched from an egg Solved: The Pinkish,
Purplish, Bluish Egg G173: Grandfather by the Sea Solved: Stina G174: girl with esp Solved: A Gift of Magic G175: grandmother's christmas I am looking for a Little Golden Book that
has a little boy & girl going to their grandmother's house
at Christmas. One page shows a manger in front of the tree
with the children looking at it. Another page has the
grandmother taking gingerbread men out of the oven while the
children are looking on. I was born in 1953 and remember
it being one of my favorites but search as I have, I can not
find it. Do you know of such a book or did I dream
it? For some reason I believe it may have been illustrated
by Eloise Wilken but I don't know why I think that. I
remember the children being just beautiful with those typical
Eloise Wilken eyes. If you have any info or know of a place
where I might continue my search, I would be most grateful.
Marion Conger (illus. by Eloise
Wilkin), The Little Golden Holiday Book,
1951.
This is just a remote guess, depending on how definite your
memories are, but your description reminded me of this book,
which has Peter and Mary going through the year with the
different holidays. For Thanksgiving, Mary's grandparents
come to her house and there's a picture of her watching Mother
take the *pumpkin pies* out of the oven -- they are the color of
gingerbread and she has baked a small one herself "for Gramps".
(The stove is old-fashioned with a big copper kettle on
top.)There are several pictures in the Christmas section
one is double-page and has Mary in front of the tree, looking at
a creche on a small table next to the fireplace. ?? There's a
short description in the Solved Mysteries section. Hope this
helps... Wilken, Elosie, Baby's
Christmas. This
sounds an awful lot like Baby's Chrsitmas by
Eloise Wilken, except I don't
think they go to Grandma's. I think all of
the Christmas activities take place at "Baby's" home. In the
original version of this book the illustrations were absolutely
gorgeous!
It's NOT Baby's First Christmas
(I just checked multiple editions of that one) but I do remember
the book. The children are facing the creche, holding hands,
with their backs to the reader. . . I think it probably is
Wilkin although it could be Tasha Tudor . . . I'll find it, it's
around here somewhere!
It may be the Golden book Christmas
in the Country. Betty and Bob, along with
their parents, travel to visit their grandparents in the
country for Christmas. Betty strings popcorn and cranberies in
the kitchen for the Christmas tree which Bob chops down in the
pasture. It was published (I think) in the late 1950's the
illustrations place the story around the turn of the century.
The story ends with imagining the animals in the barn getting
ready for Christmas. Marcia Martin, illus. by, Waiting
for
Santa Claus, 1952. A Wonder Book. This
doesn't match exactly but it's very close. Three children,
Bobby, Sally, and Baby celebrate Christmas with their
parents. There's a picture of mother taking gingerbread
cookies out of the oven and a picture of Sally and Baby looking
at a nativity manger under the tree. They also go shopping for
ornaments, sit on Santa's lap, and pick out a tree with
Daddy. For Christmas Bobby gets a red scooter, Sally gets
a doll and a sewing set, and Baby gets a 'big brown Teddy bear
with black shoe-button eyes'' Grandparents come later to
visit and have a big turkey dinner. At the end the
children say "Oh, we can hardly wait until next Christmas!"
G176: Girl takes refuge under willow tree Solved: Blue Willow G177: Giant dog puts out fire with potato Solved: Otto and the
Magic Potatoes G178: girl steals netsuke elephant Solved: Lillian 2004 G179: Girl breaking into acting/stage mother Solved: Confessions of a Prime Time
Kid G180: girl finally able transform after finding an old
woman in the desert Solved: Red Sun Girl G181: Girl disobeys, wanders into forest after colored
flowers and is lost Solved: The Gunniwolf G182: German-American boy harassed during WWI Solved: A Nice Girl
Like You G183: Girl falls asleep and goes to fairyland Solved: Once Upon a
Birthday G184: Girl has pet sloth Solved: Julie's Secret
Sloth G185: Girls find route through garden maze Solved: Lavendar-Green
Magic G186: Girl haunted or followed by a red fox Solved: Nightmare
First off I think your site is Wonderful! I've browsed and
browsed... but I've had no luck finding what I am looking for.
:-) Okay.. I remember a girl who keeps seeing a red fox.
It apprears to her in the woods and on a road? and maybe even in
a city? It's as though it is haunting her, or following her. She
is really afraid about it and sees glimps all the time. Seems as
though she meets a psychic perhaps and is told something about
the red fox.. but I just don't remember any other details. I
really hope someone will have a clue!! Thank You! I
forgot to add that I read this around 1981 so it was probably
published in the 70�s sometime I�m thinking. I am the Original Poster....In Addition: The book was a
paperback, It may have been in night colors, deep blues and/or
pine greens. A girl in the woods looking rather upset and a fox
near a tree in the background. (I'm going on a 23 year old memory,
Please bear with me..Thank You!)
sigh* This has been posted quite a while and no one has a
clue? Thanks anyway! Hyman, Trina Schart, How Six Found
Christmas, 1969.
Okay, this is a long shot but the description of the cover
reminded me of this book. The girl is in the snowy woods and
there is a fox peeking out from behind a tree. The
background is dark green. But the girl and the animals are
searching for Christmas because they have never seen one so
while the anxiety is there the story doesn't sound the same.
Andre Norton, The white jade fox. I know this is the wrong colour, but the psychic
elements and the atmosphere described brought this book to mind.
I am sorry to say that neither one of these is the book I am
searching for, I really wish I could remember more about it,
sometimes I think that something is about to surface, but is
gone before it formulate's in my mind. Thank you for trying! The
Search Continues! Severn, David, Foxy-boy, illustrated by Lynton Lamb (US title The
Wild Valley). London, Bodley Head
1959. This may be a bit early, however Severn's
books do sometimes have supernatural or unsettling elements to
them. "When nine-year-old Phillippa arrived to spend her
holidays with her godmother at Lilliput Castle, she was
disappointed to find that the other children had moved away, and
the prospect of a long holiday with only Kitty and Prudence as
her companions was not a very exciting thought. The two women
share of the work at Lilliput Castle between them Kitty,
Philippa's godmother, worked outside, on the farm and in the
garden, while Prudence enjoyed doing all the household chores,
the cooking polishing and cleaning. So Phillippa was left to
amuse herself, and it was during one of her solitary walks in
Wild Valley that she first saw Foxy-boy. Was he a Fox or a boy?
What was he doing in the Valley? And would Phillippa ever be
able to get near enough to him to find out?" Hey, this might
work for G54 girl with wolf friend, too! Unfortunatly, Foxy-Boy wasn't it either. If I recall
correctly, I think the girl may have become a fox in the end,
but I'm not ever 405 possitive about that. Thanks for trying! I. M. Chilton, Nightmare, 1971, approximate. I
think this might be the book you're searching for -- I
looked for it for years too! Girl is in motorbike accident
and gets sent back in time as an old woman in a forest.
She finds a fox tail, which she wants to sell to have food for
the winter. The fox (evil spirit) starts haunting
her. She travels back & forth in time, trying to
convince everyone in her 'real world' that she's not crazy. L.M. CHILTON, NIGHTMARE,
September 1971, copyright. 95 page short story
excellent.
G187a: Giant Creatures Sea Solved: Just So Stories G187b: gaelic magic novel Solved: The Grey King G188: giant cleans statue with toothbrush and serves big
breakfast I'm looking for a book about a giant who cleans statues (in
England maybe?) with a toothbrush and at the very end serves a
"giant's breakfast" to all the town kids.
Frank Herrmann, Giant Alexander series. One of these?
G188 It may be one of the series but it is
not Herrmann The giant Alexander in America. He
holds a little friend Timmy in his shirt pocket - if that helps
identify the book as one of the series.
G189: girl who appreciated nothing I remember the story from the 1950s as being about a little girl
who didn't appreciate anything. One night the sheep came and
took away her wool blanket and then the next night the trees took
their wood away (her house). I remember someone or something
took her flying through the night to show her what the world would
be without the gifts of the animals and plants. I remember
the pictures as being dark. I have searched and searched for
this book. I hope so much to find it. Thank you for
your help.
See T59 for some suggestions. Lucy Sprague Mitchell, The Golden
Book of Nursery Tales(Silly
Will), 1948. This sure sounds like "Silly Will" by Lucy
Sprague Mitchell, except it's a little boy, instead of a
girl. But it does have the same theme of ungratefulness,
with the trees taking back the wood from his house, the sheep
taking back their wool, the goose taking back the feathers from
his pillow, etc. This story appears in The Golden Book of
Nursery Tales (A Big Golden Book) published by Simon
& Schuster in 1948. The illustrations are black and white,
except for one full-page color picture of Will standing naked
& shivering in front of where his house used to be, at
night, with all the animals and the trees in the
background. Picture is in dark tones. The story was
also published in The Here and Now Story Book pub.
by E.P. Dutton & Co.
G190:girl
finds old diary Solved: The Velvet Room G191: girl's family owns furniture factory Solved: After the
fortune cookies G192: Gentle Giant Book Don't Know Title HI! A good friend of mine had a book she
loved growing up (this was in the 70s) about a gentle giant who
was afraid of a neighboring giant. So he invites him to dinner
and the gIsnts wife plants a rock inside the bread. The Gentle
Giant accidentally gets the rock, but the scary giant sees he
can eat rocks and decides he is probably stronger than he is. Do
you know this story and how I might get a copy to surprise my
friend? Thanks! There is a new book titled: Mrs McCool
and the Giant: An Irish Folk Tale that has the same plot
line. But I am looking for the original picture book from the
late 60s to early 70s.
Here are two to look up on the Solved Mysteries page: George
the
Gentle Giant by Adelaide Holl (1960) and Arnold
Lobel's
Giant John (Harper & Row, 1964).
G192 Your friend may be thinking of THE
BIGGER
GIANT:
AN
IRISH LEGEND retold by Nancy Green,
illustrated by Betty Fraser, 1963, 1966. Scholastic Book Club
put out a paperback version. It may also be worth looking at FIN
M'COUL by Tomie DePaola but it looks like
it may have been printed in 1981. If not, it may help to know
that the smaller giant is Fin M'Coul (or Finn MacCoul), his
clever wife's name is Oonagh, and the bigger giant is
Cucillin.~from a librarian
The story is called "Fin M'Coul,"and
it
appears
in
They Were Brave and Bold (Book 5 of the Wonder
Story Books readers). This book also contains the stories Pecos
Bill, Beowulf, The White Cat, Sinbad, The Girl Who Hunted
Rabbits & others. Cover is dark blue, w/ Pecos
Bill riding Mtn Lion on front cover, old man on flying tractor
on back cover. Fin M'Coul also appears in Celtic
Fairy Tales, by Joseph Jacobs. Hope this
helps.
G193: girl sent to live w/hippie-like relatives for summer I read this in late 70's when I was around 12. It seems
like the title had the words 'secret' or 'summer' in it. A
girl is sent to stay with a hippie-type aunt for a summer and
meets another girl. There was something magic or secret they
discovered and at the end of the book the friend dies. Seems like
there was a man named Lewellyn who was her mother's boyfriend or
her uncle. I'd love it if anyone recognizes this. It
was a terrific book. Wish I could remember more of the particulars
of the story.
I keep thinking of Ghost Garden
by Hilda Feil, but I've never read it, so can't say for
sure. There is a good description under "Solved
Mysteries."
The book definitely isn't Ghost
Garden by Hila Feil. In the book
described, the girl who befriends the hippy girl is very
straight laced. She goes to the hippy's house and the girl
has an enormous room which she can skate in - but she doesn't
have her parent's love. Konigsburg, Jennifer, Hecate,
MacBeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth. I know that the description doesn't immediately
fit, but I think this is the book you're thinking of.
This is not Jennifer, Hecate,
MacBeth... and Me, Elizabeth which takes place
during fall and winter in a large city, probably New York. It
sounds more like The Birds of Summer, but in that
book the children's mother is the one who is hippie-like and
they live with her. Set in the 1980s, the novel tells the
story of Summer Mclntyre, who lives with her mother. Oriole, and
her sevenyear-old sister, Sparrow, in Alvarro, California.
Oriole harbors romantic visions of getting back to nature and
living the simple life, but she depends upon welfare to raise
her family. The Mclntyres live in a wooded area in a trailer
that they rent from their friends and neighbors, the Fishers.
The Fishers own some greenhouses in which they grow strawberries
and tomatoes to sell in town. Mary Francis Shura, Maggie in the
Middle (The Seven
Stone) I remember this book, the friend's room is painted
blue with astrological signs or starts on it. She learns
about runestones from one of the friends too.
Wylly Folk St. John, The Ghost Next Door
(1981, approximate) I remember clearly the owl with "love"
in its eyes. The girl went to visit family and met the
ghost of her half-sister who had drowned. There was an owl
figurine which her sister had made that solved a mystery.
G194: Girl discovers she is half fairy Solved: No Flying in the House G195: Girl in Hospital - head injury Solved: Kristy's Courage G196: Green Dress This book I'm remembering may have had
"green" in the title, like "The Green Dress,"or something like
that. Anyway, I seem to recall a girl being peeved because she
had to wear a used dress or coat. I think it had something to do
with her grandmother: either the dress or coat was made by the
grandmother, or it came from a trunk in her grandmother's attic.
And while the girl was peeved at the prospect of having to wear
it (instead of getting a new one, maybe?), it somehow turned out
to be a good thing. That's all I can remember. Hope you can
help. This book has been stuck in my mind for years. I actually
have a mental image of myself standing in the library at the
shelf, flipping through the pages.
Rachel Field, Polly Patchwork, ca 1928. This might be Polly Patchwork,
a short story included in The Junior Classics
Volume 6, 1958 edition. Polly is a little girl who
lives with her grandmother. They are very poor, and the
grandmother makes Polly a dress out of an old patchwork quilt,
telling Polly stories about family members who contributed
squares to the quilt. When Polly wears the dress to
school, the kids make fun of her, but in a spelling bee Polly
looks at one of the squares and gets help from an ancestor in
spelling Mississippi. Hmmm ... That sounds like it should be it, but I don't think it
is. I distinctly remember "green," as in a green dress or coat.
I don't remember the title or author but the
story I'm thinking of was part of a larger book like a
reader. The girl's family might have been Quaker or Amish
or something like that because she says that her mother knew how
to make beautiful dresses without ruffles or trim. Another
family loses their home (a fire?) and the girl volunteers to
give her dress away. Her family is surprised but she
actually means to give her everyday dress so she can wear her
new green one. Her grandmother makes her fetch her new
dress to give away and she grumbles to herself because her
everyday dress should be good enough for that other girl.
The story had a turn-of-the-century feel like a Laura Ingalls
Wilder (although it was not the Little House series). Hope
this is the story and gives a few more clues.
I remember reading a bioliography of Susan
B. Anthony that describe that story. It also had a story
about her working in her father's thread mill, and seeing it as
unfair that young girls work hard and their father would take
their earnings. She had gotten the job after wishing on a
star for something excited to do. Also after she gave away
her new dress she actually felt happy because she didn't need to
worry about keeping her new dress prefect. It seems that I
remember the bioliography as part of a nonfiction series of
varies American heros, Presidents, Presidents wives or
mothers. Hope this help. Monsell, Helen, Susan B.
Anthony : champion of women's rights. This is the story that I was
thinking of but I don't know if the dress was green. The
grandmother is the one who tells Susan B. Anthony that she can't
give her old dress away. The girl who receives the new
dress just had her mother die after a long illness so the mother
had not been able to take care of the family for a long
time. At the end, Susan is happy because her old dress is
comfortable and she wouldn't have been able to jump across the
creek if she had been wearing the new one (for fear of getting
it dirty).
G197: Girl hides china doll from her mother in closet Solved: The
Secret in Miranda's Closest G198: Girl survives a 1920s-era fire in Berkeley or
Oakland, California Solved: Julia and the
Hand of God G199: Girl with a newborn baby sister named "Star" Solved: Betsy and Billy G200: Girl and a circus The book was about a girl and a circus. I think the girl's
parents were circus performers (trapeze artists, maybe?) and she
was a bit of an oddball among her peers at school because of this
unusual lifestyle of hers. I seem to recall New York having
something to do with it. Like, maybe that's where she lived, or it
was the city the circus was performing in.
Carolyn Haywood, Betsy and the
Circus Make-believe daughter,
1972. I'm not sure why this one comes to mind, but you can
see a copy of it on this
website. It's about three friends, all named Matilda
(except they have different nicknames), and I'm pretty sure one
of them has some kind of oddball family background such as being
circus performers.
G201: Girl with polio uses horse to stop burglar Solved: Tall and Proud G202: Girl Scout Camper with prized white swimming suit Solved: Just Plain
Maggie G203: Gingerbread Stars Solved: Mary Poppins G204: Girl- A very long neck Solved: Struwwelpeter: Phoebe Ann G205: Girl lives in trees and meets girl who lives
underground Solved: Green Sky Trilogy G206: Girl gives stolen doll to thief for Xmas? Book about a girl who is given a beautiful new doll. She shows
the doll off to a poor girl, and the doll is later stolen. I
can't recall if the poor girl actually stole the doll, or if the
other girl only thinks that she has done so. The doll is later
returned anonymously, and the first girl gives the doll as a gift
(possibly a Christmas gift?) to the poor girl. I read this
book in the 70's, but believe it was older - possibly from the
40's or 50's. I seem to recall a blue cloth-covered binding,
and I think the words Christmas and Doll may have been in the
title. However, there are several books titled The Christmas
Doll (or Dolls) currently in print, which are definitely not the
one I'm looking for. Thanks for your help!
That sounds so familiar... but it's not Best Loved Doll
or the others I just checked.... Barbara Chapman, Santa's Footprints, 1948. If this is the same book you people
solved for me some time ago! It sounds very similar to the
short story The Wonderful Mistake. Thanks for your suggestion, but I just
looked up The Wonderful Mistake, and I'm afraid that's
not it. In the book I'm looking for, the first girl (not
rich per se, just middle-class) is given a beautiful new doll,
and invites her friends over so she can show it off. The poor
girl is somehow invited also, though I don't think she is
liked by the others. Possibly the first girl's mother made her
invite the poor girl? Or maybe the girl just invited her whole
class and the poor girl tagged along? Anyway, the doll
disappears, and everyone assumes the poor girl stole her -
which she may have done, I don't recall. The doll is later
anonymously returned to its owner, but the first girl
meanwhile gains some understanding of or sympathy for the poor
girl. She decides (perhaps with some urging from her mother or
some other relative?) to give the poor girl one of her own
dolls, and selects the new one, rather than an older (but
well-loved) doll. She might even have dropped the doll off
anonymously for the poor girl? The story takes place during
the winter time, at or shortly before Christmas. I seem to
recall the first girl walking home through a light snowfall
after giving away her doll. The book itself was fairly
small, I think with a blue cloth-covered binding, and the
writing on the cover may have been in silver. It was
mostly text, but I think there were small line drawings on the
first page of each chapter, above the text. There may have
also been some larger line drawings scattered throughout the
text, but I don't think there were any color pictures.
(Despite the choice of keeping the old, well-loved doll, this
is not The Best Loved Doll, either.) I'm almost positive that
the book was a single story, not a collection of short
stories. Thanks for your help!
G207: Gothic pre-teen books Solved: The Wish Giver G208: Giant egg turned into house Solved: Present
from a Bird G209: Goodnight mother I love you This is a children's book that I read to my
daughter at bedtime every night in the late 1970s so it had to
be published begore then. I think it was about getting
ready for bed or going to sleep. One of the lines in the
book was "goodnight mother, I love you." We cannot
remember the title, author or other information. We would
like to find the book. Please help!Thank you.
This seems too obvious,
but could it be Goodnight, Moon? It's been
years since my son and I read it, but maybe?
What a wonderful tribute to Goodnight Moon, but the
words "I love you" do not appear in the book. Thanks for the reply but unfortunately it is not Goodnight
Moon. My daughter did remember that on the page that
said "goodnight mother, I love you" was the picture of a little
girl in bed telling her mother goodnight. She also
remembered that it was not a "Golden Book" (it was smaller in
size) or hard bound book. Any and all input is
appreciated. Thanks. Lynn and Mandy Wells, The Goodnight
Book (1974) The
book The Goodnight book published by Tell a Tale books in 1974
by Lynn and Mandy Wells. Starts out "Goodnight Red sun,
goodnight stars, goodnight bus goodnight cars... Lynn and
Mandy Wells, The Good Night
Book, 1974,
copyright.I have this book -- it too was one of my favorites as
a little girl and it took me a long time to track down a copy.
It's about a little girl getting ready for bed and she's saying
"Good night" to everything she sees like the sun, the things and
people she can see out the window. Then she says hello to her
bed and good night to her stuffed animals and her baby sibling
then she says "Good night, Mother. I love you!" and a few more
good nights before she falls asleep.
G210: Green Glassy This is a story in a children's book from
1930s-1940s. Regular cloth bound not picture book or golden book
but did have black and white drawings. Story concerned a
wonderful green glassy/glassie which was a snow globe I
think. I read or had read to me in late forties. There
were a number of stories in book, I dimly recall ones about mice
and roller skates but that's all, unfortunately. I would love to
find this old book again!
Just wanted to add that I think the
Green Glassy of the story title, which I believe was a snow
globe, had inside of it the figure of a bear. I remember being
awed by the the b&w illustration of the bear inside the
snow globe (I was 5 or 6 I think). I am still hoping
someone remembers this story. Mary Grannan, Just Mary Stories. Just Mary was a radio personality in
Canada. This book which has both the skating mice and the
Bear in the Glassy is a combination of two of her books - Just
Mary and Just Mary again.
G211: Girl visits grandparents at farm Solved: Understood
Betsy G212: girl on vacation falls in love with older man I read this book in hardback about 5-6
years ago. Female author. A young (British?) women falls in love
with older gentleman on a mediterranean island (Greek island I
think). They are passionate for a few weeks but at the end of
her vacation, they separate but with a feeling of pleasure not
devastation.
Try looking at some of Joan Aiken's
adult novels from the 1970's - there was one that seems similar
- the girl was a musician or music teacher and there was some
kind of mystery subplot. The Greengage Summer.
I'm not sure of the author, maybe Penelope Mortimer.
I think this could be your book. Greengage Summer is by Rumer Godden and is definitely NOT the book you are
searching for.
G213: Girl who turned into a cloud. This was a little book (probably a school
reader) that I read in a Tasmanian school during the late 1960s.
It was almost certainly much older than that. It had a girl (I
believe a Victorian child) who somehow trned into a cloud. She
rubbed her slippers/shoes/boots together and found out they
didn't squeak. G214: girl hits head on sundial I wanted to re-read this mediocre book because it had an
intriguing plot. I remember the name as Stitch in Time? Slip
in Time? 1989? I can't find it and I obsess about it.
Just found this sight. The girl, a travel agent, gets fired
and spends the weekend doing a re-enactment, mystery weekend at a
new B&B with her girlfriend. She hits her head on a
sundial and is transported back in time. Thinking that
people are taking the re-enactment too far, she is annoyed with
her fellow guests who are investigating a real mystery which had
happened in the house years ago involving a stolen necklace.
After finally believing that she WAS transported in time, she
hears her new love interest humming the Beatles' Hey Jude and is
really confused. Nice plot. Worth one re-read. It's
the not being able to find it that makes me crazy. It's not
Galbadon or Weyrich or Deveraux. I've posted this in many
places and no one's ever heard of it. PLEASE HELP ME FIND
THIS OKAY BOOK. I can't even remember why I liked it, but I
will not rest until it's located.
Flanders, Rebecca, Yesterday Comes
Tomorrow.
Harlequin 1992. I'm dubious about this one, but it's the
closest I've found so far. "It began as a simple mystery
weekend. Then the present and the past merged, and Amelia
Langston was back in 1870 on the Aury Plantation with Jeffrey
Craig, the prime suspect in a murder. There she discovered
everything that had been missing from her life...excitement,
adventure, rapture with the man of her dreams...Jeffrey. Was
this a fantasy or a frightening reality?" Thank you for your help and the attempt
at a solution. I don't believe that there was a murder
and it didn't have a plantation. It was almost from a
Victorian time. I have other details, too if it
helps: There was a nutty professor in the book who
invented things. He made a kind of washing machine and a
toilet. As the book unfolds, you learn that the
professor had also come through the sundial. He wasn't
inventing things, he was re-inventing things. In
the story there were 2 brothers. The hero was the black
sheep of the family. When the girl had gone back in time
she knew some of the characters and the plot of the mystery
regarding the stolen necklace. She was very suspicious
of the black sheep brother. I really believe that the
word Time was in the title. I thought the name was A
Stitch in Time. The girl had been fired as a
travel agent, but had received the invitation to a murder
mystery weekend at a new B&B. She brought her best
friend. Every other guest for the weekend had a
title. She was called the Mysterious Lady. She
thought that she was gypped. It turns out she was
playing herself in the mystery. I come home from
teaching every day and I look to see if one of your readers
remembers. I have faith in your site! It'll
happen. My sister is sending a couple stumpers your way,
too.
G215: Girl in harrowing situations Solved: Terrible, Horrible Edie G216: Girl gives her clothes away I am looking for a story of a girl who is walking through the
woods. Along her way she runs into many other people who are less
fortunate than she. She ends up giving her boots to someone, then
her coat to someone else (etc.), and finally gives her underware
away to the last needy child. She is naked in the winter under the
stars, but feels warm. This story was in a collection of short
stories, before 1980.
..., Gold Heart (Guld Hjerte).
I
just
read
an interview with the director Lars von Trier who said that all
of his movies are influenced by a book called Gold Heart
-- I wonder if it's the same one? "It tells the tale of a little
girl who lives in a lonely cabin in the woods who one day goes
out into the forest and gives away everything she has. In the
end, broke, cold, and alone in the woods, at what should be her
deepest moment of despair, a mysterious power favors her with
wealth and the boy she gave her sweater to turns out to be
a prince, who marries her for her kind heart."
G216 Poster may want to see a picture of a
Danish version on which a filmmaker based a movie (online
here). Grimm, Star Money. This should be in any full collection of Grimms
fairy tales. it may be under a different name but Star
Money is the title I've seen. Grimm, The Falling Stars, 1985. Illustrated by Eugen Sopko. A
beautiful picture book version of Star Money by Grimm.
May be out of print as I got my copy years
ago. It is a great story for the Christmas holidays. The
story of Star Money is used in many Waldorf schools around that
time of year.
G217: girl living with scottish american relatives This book was a hardcover I borrowed from
the library. It must have been printed, or reprinted, in the
late 1960s, because the cover showed a teenage girl with long
straight hair and wearing a shift-style minidress (or maybe it
was a boxy-style coat) standing in front of a door. Her parents
had died, and she went to live with distance relatives in a
mountain town. Although her relatives lived in America, they
still kept to their Scottish customs and celebrated the holidays
differently. This book was the first time I encounted the word
�haggis.� G218: griffon tears alchemist short stories Solved: The Chewing-Gum
Rescue and Other Stories G219: Girl cares for dolly that has "Mumbledy Bumps" Solved: Little Mommy G220: Glass-bottomed airplane Solved: School in the
Sky G221: Grutchy circa 1948. The most vivid character is a
grumpy gnome named 'GRUTCHY'. As I recall, he's a Silas
Marner miser type who is transformed by caring for a young
child. Beautiful illustrations include a magnificent sunset. G222: Golden Key Solved: The Key to the
Treasure 2005 G223: girl who helps lion and swallows a bee I read this book in New Zealand in 1962 or
1963, so it's probably British. I don't know whether it was
published in the 20th century or earlier (I was only five when I
read it). A little girl meets up with a lion who has
injured itself with, I think, a can opener. She helps it
out. In another incident, she swallows a bee and is so
startled she falls into a pond,where she finds an upside-down world. I can't
remember whether this is a single story or a chapter book.
If the original poster is still
looking (it's been a while, I know) I think that this book is
probably The Curious Adventures of Tabby, by E.H.
Lang. If I remember correctly, it contains several
stories--I specifically remember the one with the girl falling
through the pond, and I believe there was another with her doll
coming to life. It's a tough book to find but there's a listing on
WorldCat with a brief description. G224: Girl old house jewel theives Solved: The
Secret of the Emerald Star G225: Girl refuses bath You did it before and I hope you can help
me again. My daughter remembers my mother reading a book
of sttories. One story was a girl that refused to take a
bath and woke up in a pigpen. She says not Mrs. Piggle Wiggle.
This would have been early to mid 60's but if it was my book it
was 40-50's.
Brown, Margaret Wise, Margaret Wise
Brown Storybook?
1950s? In this large Golden book of stories (the name of
which I can't remember exactly, but I have it at home) is a
story about a little BOY who doesn't want to take a bath.
He goes outdoors to see how the cat, the pig, etc. take their
baths and in the end decides to be a little boy and take a bath
in the bathtub. Might be what you're thinking of.
G226: Giants eating trees like broccoli I can't, for the life of me, remember the
title of a book I loved as a child (1970s). The only thing
I really remember was that a giant (ogre, or some other sort of
mystical creature) was talking about eating trees like his
little human friend ate broccoli. Some women on a mailing
list I belong to suggested "The Friendly Giant" but it wasn't
the right book. I'm hoping someone can help me as I'm
starting to believe I made this book up! Thank you so
much!!!!
James Thurber, The Great Quillow, 1973. perhaps... David L. Harrison, The Book of Giant
Stories, 1970's.
The book cover is green with a giant on the front. It
contains three different stories about three different
giants. I also had this book as a child in the 70's...I
hope this is the one you are looking for!
G227: Ghost/Monster/Ufo book series Solved: The World of
the Unknown: All About Ghosts G228: Grandma Rabbit Solved: Leo The Lop Series G229:girl
in
apartment
with
broken leg Kids' book from late '70's/early '80's about a girl who has moved
to new apartment complex with mother. It's summer, she knows no
one, has a broken leg, wears key around neck, bored, sort of
a juvenile "Rear Window". G230: Girl wins essay contest to get bike Solved: Nothing Rhymes With April G231: Ghost story; 2 brunette children; frozen lake Solved: All On a
Winter's Day G232: Girl goes to visit best friend in California Solved: Hollywood Dream Machine G233: girl marries school teacher It's a book I read several times while in High School- (1969 to
1973) About an early 1900's(?) family (travelled by horse drawn
wagons) and a young girls coming of age. She's a student in a one
room school house, the new male teacher is living with their
rather large family (farmers ?). They are friends and then she
starts to "act up" in class (to get attention???) Later they marry
and raise a family of their own. also includes story line about a
poor friends relationship with her brother who married into a
socially prominate family. For the life of me I can't remember the
tilte or the author, but I believe the name began with a W. (Not:
Little house on the prairie!!!)
Jessamyn West, Leafy Rivers. Not 100% sure, but a possibility.
G234: Girl, horses, murals, New England, growing up Solved: Pounding Hooves G235: Green and purple cookies a young girl, possibly a witch, bakes green and purple cookies
for parent night, because she has no parents--i think.
Late 70's. It was definitely a witch, and I think she
was trying to be a little girl. Anna Elizabeth Bennett, Little Witch.
I don't remember Minikin (Minx)
baking cookies, but thought I'd suggest Little Witch anyway.
Maybe the stumper requester could look at Solved Mysteries, to
rule it out?
I remember this book too, but unfortunately
no more details. I think you're right that the witch baked
these green and purple cookies for Parent Night or
Back-to-School Night. I think the rest of the parents who
were there found them very unappetizing (they were lumpy and
misshapen too). The witch might have been hiding the fact
that she was a witch, and trying to go to school like an
ordinary girl -- that might be why she didn't ask her parents to
make the cookies, because either they didn't know or didn't
approve? I would have read it in the 70's.
G236: German boy has adventure Solved: The Quest G237: Girl caught by indians ends up as seamstress Solved: Calico Captive G238: Ghost, frozen Several ghosts are searching for a treasure(?) and one must cross
a river to a cave to look for it. There is a shark in the
river and the water is so cold that the ghost freezes and icicles
form on his body. G239: Ginny Solved: Ginnie and the Mystery Doll G240: goose stuck in door Solved: To Market, To Market G241: Grandmother's lap Solved: Grandmother and
I G242: Girl with Mirror who gets pulled back in time Solved: Mirror of
Danger (Come Back Lucy) G243: Girl In a Haunted House?? Solved: Haunted Dollhouse G244: Ghosts at Grandma's house Solved: Monster Night at Grandma's House G245: Girl who drinks salt water Solved: Someday
Angeline G246: Ghost Story Sarah Grey Haunted dreams Solved: A Sound of
Crying G247: Good Dragon versus Evil Witches; blue pudding Solved?: The Mystical
Beast Some kids go down a manhole and end up in
another world, where there are lots of evil witches who are
trying to kill off a dragon-I seem to remember that he is the
last dragon alive. One of the boys who is very full of himself
manages to get captured by the witches in the witch house when
the kids are all snooping around there, and the witches lock him
in a big cage, possibly to eat him later (I'm not sure), or to
use him as bait to lure the good dragon there. The other kids
set off to find the dragon, and when they find him they discover
that his magic has grown quite weak, and he may only be able to
battle the witches with the children's assistance. He has enough
magic left to make them a meal; a delicious blue pudding unlike
anything they've ever had. (This is not a key element to the
book, it just stuck in my head for some reason). That's all I
can remember!
G247 Storey, Margaret. Timothy
and two witches. illus by Charles W
Stewart Dell Yearling, 1966. popular British
story about children, witches, a dragon
This book is definitely not Timothy
and Two Witches, due to the plot explanation on the
Solved page. This book is written for an older age group, but I
can't remember the name... :( I bought Timothy & 2 witches
- definitely not the right book :-( Alison Farthing, The Mystical Beast.
I think this may be the same as
"E108: Evil witches, good dragon" which seems very
similar--right down to the blue pudding. Someone posted
there that it was The Mythical Beast. Worth checking out,
I would think.
G248: grade school kids doing activities at home, school 1950s,1960s,1970s (not sure of year - style seems similar to Dick
and Jane, but kids are a little older and writing is aimed at
readers that are a little older than Dick and Jane, maybe 1950s,
but I was born in 1970s) book or books - probably several stories
or at least several chapters in each book, hardcover; some of the
stories... two kids holding suitcases, maybe getting ready to go
to Grandma's house; a girl gets to go with her father to his work
for a day at a television studio; boy and girl get to build a
bookcase; kids help mom and dad with yardwork; girl at school
learns about morning glories and how they open up in the morning;
these were hardcover books, larger, thicker, and more substantial
than something like Goldenbooks; more in depth and for older age
reader than Dick and Jane books; wholesome sort of stories G249: Girl wants curly tailed puppy Solved: Two Stories
About Wendy Two Stories About Wendy G250: Girl learns she can become bird This short story was part of an anthology, probably for teen
girls. I read it in the mid-70s, but my father had bought it
used, so I don't know when it was published. In this story, a girl
(late teens, maybe) feels very different from her family but
doesn't know why. She's alone somewhere, maybe at an inn, and
meets a somewhat mysterious couple. They inform her that she comes
from a different place (another planet?), was adopted, and can
transform herself into a bird. The girl at last knows who she is
and where she belongs. You think she's going to become part of the
strangers' world, but at the end of the story, she flies across a
lonely sky with powerful strokes--back to her adopted family. This
story has stuck with me all these years. I don't recall the title,
author, or any other stories in the book. I'd appreciate your help
in identifying this short story.
{Young Mutants} or {Young Aliens},
1984. I don't remember anything about a teenage girl
anthology, so this story appears to have been printed in a book
of short stories with a different focus. Regardless, it's
there. This story is either part of Young Mutants
(possible) or Young Extraterrestrials. Contents
at the bottom of this webpage.
Young
Extraterrestrials cover (big). Young
Mutants cover (big).It could also be other books in the
Young series, but I think it's one of those two.
Series listed here, although I disagree with
the
review content. Brock, No Flying in the House. This story is about a girl who feels
different and finds out she's a fairy (she can kiss her elbow).
There's a little magical dog as well. Kris Neville: Bettyann(1970). This is
indisputably the science fiction classic Bettyann. When a "car
accident" (actually a spaceship crash, I think) kills her
parents and damages her arm she's adopted by an old couple. As a
teenager she has an instinct to heal sick people. Her real
family find her and tell her everything. They are shapeshifters
and show her how to restore her arm. They take it for granted
she will want to come back with them, but she changes into a
bird and flies back to her earthly home. It is somber, as
you said, but beautiful. There is a sequel called Bettyann's Children.
Thanks to the people who have sent suggestions. The book
definitely isn't No Flying in the House. The story I'm
thinking of is fairly somber. I'll try to find a copy of the Young...
books. They sound promising.
G251: Girl with coin purse at candy store Solved: Geraldine Belinda G252:
girl on train i am looking for a book written
possibly in the 30's, 40's or 50's. it was read in
school. it was about a girl on a train, who is handed a bag of
jelly donuts, possible given to her by the train conductor. it
was written in some form of italic print, like the fancy
victorian calligraphy. thats all i know about the book. i
know i dont have enough to go on , but it may remind someone of
it, and they may have more clues. i would love to have a copy of
this book for my sister.
Palmer Brown, Beyond The Paw Paw
Trees, 1954. This is a
long-shot but there is something like this in Beyond the Paw Paw
Trees by Palmer Brown, from 1954. The girl's name is Anna
Lavinia, she travels on a train and is given, I think, some kind
of food by an old woman. Whether or not it's jelly donuts, I
can't confirm right now, since my Mom has the book. Do "lavender
blue days" a cat named Strawberry and floating down to the
ground with an umbrella after jumping off a cliff sound
familiar? Dorothy Canfield, Understood
Betsy, 1930's, approximate. In this
book, there is a chapter where Betsy and Molly go to the fair
and the people they are supposed to ride home with leave without
them. Betsy earns the money for train tickets by running
the donut booth so the girl can go to dance with her boyfriend
for an hour. When the girl comes back, she hands Betsy a
bag of donuts. "Take all you want," she says.
"Momma'll never miss 'em." Later on, the 2 little girls
are riding on the train and eating the donuts. Maybe this
is your book?
G253: girl in painting, boy's broken leg This is a book I read during the sixties or
seventies. I have absolutely no recollection of the title or
author. The story concerned a boy confined to bed with a broken
leg. Hanging in his bedroom is a painting. It turns out that the
girl in the painting is actually there as a punishment for bad
behaviour. (I think she was put there by her Grandfather) and
she can only be freed by being kind to someone. She takes the
boy on all sorts of adventures, but the only one I can remember
concerns a sea trip, when a merman tries to persuade her to stay
with him, but she refuses because of the boy. I particularly
want to find this book again, because I seem to remember that
the last few pages were missing when I read it for the second
time, and I cannot remember the ending.
Catherine Storr, Marianne Dreams.
The link has a synopsis of the
story. Doesn't quite match the description in the stumper,
but some how it feels like it might be the book being looked
for. I read the book a while ago. Our local library
no longer has a copy, but wasn't a movie made of it a year or
two ago? Link.
Thanks for the feedback, but this book is
definitely not Marianne Dreams. I do remember Marianne
Dreams though, as it was a TV series in England during
the Seventies, and I was disturbed by the rocks with eyes. I
also thought it silly that she drew a lighthouse as a light
source to aid their escape, instead of a constant source of
light.
G254: Girl adjusting to farm life Does anyone out there know of another book of this genre that is
not one of the following? The house of the fifers by
Rebecca Caudill, The wonderful year by Nancy Barnes, Understood
Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher, Homemade year by
Mildred Lawrence, Katie Kittenheart by Miriam E. Mason. I
am anxious to find a particular book that I read in Indiana as a
child in either 1964 or 1965. The memory of it has haunted me all
these years, but as with my last stumper, my remembered details
are unfortunately very vague. The story (similar to the above
titles) is of a plucky teen or pre-teen girl who is sent to live
on her relatives' farm. There is a struggle of adjustment to a
very different way of life, homesickness, and much growth
and change take place in her life. The theme, I've discovered, is
a fairly common one, hence I've read all the above books recently
in my search for "the one". It also seems almost like an
imitation of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. It's more
of a young adult book, not aimed at young children. My
overall impression is that it's written earlier than the early
1960's, even 1940's possibly. I think it takes place in the 20th
century, or late 19th at the latest. It did not have a
sparse feel, but the prose seemed intense and crowded with emotion
and detail about farm life. I don't think it's a slim book and I
don't remember any illustrations. I have dim recollections
of hoards of cousins surrounding the girl, and almost goading her
on. Sometimes I think I remember the name "Judy" or even "Julie"
or "Kate" being the heroine's name. There is a wholesome
feeling of "berries and gingham" about the book. An orchard may
appear in it. I am quite sure the author is American, and because
I was living in Indiana at the time, I am wondering if she/he
could be either one of the Indiana authors, Mabel Leigh Hunt or
Miriam E. Moore? Other books by Rebecca Caudill or May
Justus could be possibilities. I've been checking but nothing
sounds right or not enough info. Any ideas would be much
appreciated!
Kate Seredy, The Good Master. How about this or The Singing Tree
by Kate Seredy? Kathryn Worth, They Loved to Laugh.
A deluge of ripe apples is
Martitia's introduction to the five fun-loving Gardner boys when
their father, Dr. David, brings the sixteen-year-old orphan girl
to the hospitable Gardner home in North Carolina. They Loved to Laugh. This is
about a young girl, Martitia(?), who goes to live with relatives
who have a house full of boys. Her aunt always says, "Every tub
must stand on its own bottom" and the boys make her think she is
eating dog meat. Daringer, Helen F., Adopted Jane. Wonderful book about an orphan who goes
to stay with an older woman, then stays with a lively family on
a farm and has to decide if she will stay there or return to the
woman. Thank you. They loved to laugh
could indeed be a possibility and it's good to know that it's
been reprinted. I will obtain a copy very shortly &
will respond further then. I had considered Kate
Seredy's books before, but the descriptions don't sound right
nor the Hungarian setting. I am very sure this story
takes place entirely in the USA. Carol Brink, Caddy Woodlawn. I wonder if this MIGHT be "Caddy
Woodlawn"? Caddy herself lives on a farm with her siblings
however, some cousins from the city visit, and there's a lot of
adjustment and "growing up," including "goading" of each other.
(As I recall, Caddy's a tomboy and the girl cousins aren't,
which leads to problems.) The "mood" and time you
described seemed right, so I wondered if maybe your memory had
inadvertently "reversed" the plot, remembering the more common
plot where the protagonist goes to the cousins' farm instead of
having cousins come to hers. Since you've tried so many
other books with no luck, I thought I'd suggest this. Louisa M. Alcott, Eight Cousins. A long shot -- but perhaps this is it?
There is a hoard of cousins ... the pre-teen Rose is left with
her uncle, there is a great deal of health-regaining and romping
about. Thank you for these additional
tips! I will give Adopted Jane a try and take
another look at Caddie Woodlawn and also the sequel Magical
melons. I had dismissed "Caddie" for the very
reason you stated, but one never knows how memory can play
tricks! Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green
Gables. This is
probably a long shot, as it's such a well-known book, but is
there any chance this could be Anne of Green Gables
or one of its sequels? Irene Hunt, Up A Road Slowly. This one kind of fits. The character is
named Julie. She goes to live with her aunt after her mother
dies. The book covers her life from age 7 to age 18 or so.
Louisa May Alcott, Eight Cousins. This is a far out in left field
suggestion but it does involve hoards of cousins. Rose is
orphaned and is sent to live with her father's aunts in San
Francisco. She befriends her 7 boy cousins and they have
adventures that include sailing, gardening, visiting the
country, etc. She spends a great deal of time adjusting to
her new life since she has spent most of her life in a girls'
boarding school. Thanks for more suggestions. No,
it's not Eight Cousins or any of L.M. Montgomery's
books. My sense is that the author is much more obscure
and that's one reason I can't pin down this book.
What about Jennie Lindquist's books:
The Golden Name Day, The Little Silver House, and
The Crystal Tree? Maybe too young, but have the
feel that you're looking for. Nine-year-old Nancy is sent to
live with her Swedish grandparents for a year. I wanted flowered
wallpaper and a sewing basket for years after reading these
books. Elizabeth Witheridge, Never Younger,
Jeannie, 1963. Wow! It's great to have so many
possibilities and to re-read and get acquainted with some
excellent books. I am working my way through all your
suggestions. Unfortunately, I know now that my long lost
book is not either of the Caddie books, which are
simply wonderful stories. In fact, I am wondering if my
unknown writer writes as well as some of these others. I
think my adult self may be alot more critical of a very
sentimental, sweet, and even overwrought story which I suspect
I am looking for. It may also be written even earlier than I
think - two reasons why I am doubtful about Up a road
slowly which is next in line. Thank you again to
everyone, and I will continue to keep you posted. Jean Webster, Daddy Long Legs. This is a total long shot. Only part of this
book takes place on a farm. The protagonist's name is Judy &
she is an orphan. She did wear gingham uniforms in the
orphanage... She is older when she is on the farm-- she is sent
to college by a mysterious benefactor. The book is epistolary,
very sweet & wholesome. Something about your description
triggered thoughts of this book. As I said-- a long shot. But a
good read anyway! No, it's not Daddy Long Legs although
it
was a fun read - skimmed through the online version and want
to come back to it later. I'm still waiting for more of your
suggestions to arrive in concrete form as ordered books. Alas,
need to be reading nothing but school books before too very
long, so all this enjoyable detective work will have to be put
on hold for awhile! Never younger, Jeannie just
arrived today. There is nothing familiar about the look
of it, but just in skimming through the text it certainly has
the "right feel", as does Up a road slowly. I
have now also had a chance to glance through the Lindquist
books - yes, they look too young & the stories don't fit
what I remember, but am sure they are a delightful read. Like
a number of other readers/contributors to this site, I am
beginning to wonder if my memory hasn't juxtaposed two (or
more?) books, so still not solved with the books to date. This
is a truly remarkable service you offer, Harriett, and I thank
everyone for their interest & patience. Alice Lunt, Eileen of Redstone Farm,
1964. Probably not it,
because this one takes place in Scotland or England, but
otherwise it sounds similar. Thank you for continuing to take an
interest in my archived post! I will order a copy of Eileen
of Redstone Farm - you just never know... although you'd
think I'd be able to remember this title since my name is also
Eileen! I have enjoyed reading these books with a similar
theme. I did read They loved to laugh and
thought it was a moving and well-written book, with a very
similar feel to what I'm looking for, but alas not the
one. Of that I am very sure. Frances Salomon Murphy, Runaway Alice.
This could be it - Alice is an
orphan who goes to live on a farm as a foster child. Mabel Betsy Hill, Along Comes Judy Jo. (1943) Has the gingham and berries
feel, but not sure if it's really a farm story or not.
Might be worth a try...
This isn't by any chance Bluebonnets
for Lucinda, is it? Written by Frances Clark
Sayers and first published in 1934 with illustrations by
Helen Sewell. That is long out of print. One chapter was
reprinted in pre-1966 Childcraft, the one where Lucinda's been
told to stay away from the foul-tempered geese, but she finds
that if she plays her music box the geese become interested in
the music and calm down. Once again, I do appreciate more
suggestions for my post. It still haunts me and I fear
my memories are just too vague. "Runaway Alice"
and "Along comes Judy Jo" are charming books but not
the one. "Bluebonnets for Lucinda" is not it either. Gates, Doris, The Elderberry Bush. (1967) Could you be looking for The
Elderberry
Bush by Doris Gates? I am not sure
what this book is about, but I have the dimmest memory of
gingham and/or berries. Good luck! Thank you again but it's not "Eileen
of Redstone Farm", although you're right - it's similar,
but the setting is wrong. It's not "The elderberry
bush" either, published too late. I know I didn't
read it any later than 1966. I think I need to be hypnotised
for this one! The name Pat, Patsy, or Patty seems to
ring a faint bell also. She may have been one of the
cousins and Julie or Judy was the heroine or vice versa.
G255: Goodnight baby book Solved: The Goodnight
Book G256: Greenland Falcon Crusade This was a new book in the elementary school library in the late
60s/early 70s. Main character was a falconer, caring for a
Greenland falcon (white falcon) while on Crusade. Cover might have
been green. Chapter book - I read it in 7th or 8th grade
probably.
Rita Ritchie, Ice Falcon.
This sounds very much like the
sort of book Ritchie wrote - it's not The Golden Hawks of
Genghis Khan, so Ice Falcon may be a
possibility, although I can't recall anything about it
specifically.
G256. This book may be the one: Knox,
Esther
Melbourne Swift flies the falcon;
a story of the first Crusade.
illus by Ruth King E M Hale
1939 England - 11th century Gareth and
his sister Margaret [Meg] and some helpers spend many months
with scarcely any provisions travelling from England to
Jerusalem searching for their father, a Crusader. The pet falcon
with them was a big help. I'm the original poster and it's neither
Ritchies' ICE FALCON, which I own and is set wholly in
the north, nor the other which was only printed once, AFAICT,
in 1939. The book I'm trying to find was *new* in approx
1970-72. THe school library copy was brand new with no
dust jacket but a picture of the falconer on the cover
holding his white falcon. He was in the Holy Land for
most of the book, IIRC (which I may not). Don't remember
any family members being involved, either. Just the
falconer. And a bit where he explained 'falco
greenlandicus' to a Saracen. S
F Welty, Knight's ransom,1951. Young Vahl
Thorfinnsson, falconer to the son of the Duke of Burgandy
accompanies Crusader's to Turkey on Crusade Expedition. To
release the noble knights from bondage, he fights pirates &
icebergs to obtain 11 Greenland falcons for the Sultan of
Turkey.
G257:
Girl travels through 7 lands of the rainbow Solved: Once Upon a
Rainbow G258: Goblins on the Hunt This is a poem that was in a book of collected children's poems
and short stories. Must have been from the mid-1970s or earlier.
Possibly three other works included were: The Goops, The Owl and
the Pussycat, and Wynken Blynken and Nod. The Goblin poem repeated
the main line frequently but I don't remember anything else about
the poem except for the vague idea that it was telling children
they had better behave. A prime line in the poem is: 'the goblins
are going to get you if you don't watch out'.
G258 I don't know which collection the
person is thinking of, but the poem could be James Whitcomb
Riley's "Little Orphant Annie"also published as "The
Gobble-uns'll Git You Ef You Don't Watch Out!".
Don't know the book, but the part about the
goblins sounds like James Whitcomb Riley's poem Little
Orphant
Annie ("An' the Gobble-uns'll git you Ef you
Don't Watch Out!"). James Whitcomb Riley (1849-1916), Little
Orphant
Annie, 1900. I think
this is what you are looking for. It is a poem, and the refrain
repeats the line "An' the Gobble-uns'll git you Ef you don't
watch out." It tells what happened to children who didn't
behave. For example, "Wunst they wuz a little boy who wouldn't
say his prayers...". You can find the poem here
http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display/poem1703.html
Sometimes you see it as LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE, and with the
spelling corrected and not in dialect. James Whitcomb Riley, Little Orphant
Annie. This sounds
like the refrain to Little Orphant Annie: "An' the Gobble-uns'll
git you / Ef you / Don't / Watch / Out!" The poem is
online here.
I
have
no
idea which anthologies it's in, but this should help a little.
Jane Werner (ed), The Big
Golden Book of Poetry,1947.I betcha it's this one. I
was looking for this same book, now that I have a two-year-old.
I remember the James Whitcomb Riley poem (Little Orphant Annie).
The artwork on that page used to scare the bejeebers out of me.
I liked There Once Was a Puffin, especially. See here and search for Werne.
G259: Gulag Sovled: Coming Out of
the Ice G260: green magic Solved: Green
Smoke G261: gold buried in middle of road Hello, I sure hope that someone out there
has the answer to my query. I have memories of reading some
awesome fairy tale books (it sure seems like there was more than
one; perhaps a series of three?) My memory is fuzzy, but
one part that sticks out in my mind is of someone burying a box
of gold in the middle of a dirt road. Not much to go on, I
know; I've been searching this notion for years. I do
remember that the illustrations were quite enchanting, and
perhaps the stories were not American. I would appreciate
ANY help. Thanks!
James Stephens, The Crock of Gold, 1920s. "Meehawl MacMurrachu's old skinny
cat kills a robin redbreast on the roof one day, forging the
first link in a long, peculiar chain of events. For the robin
redbreast is the particular bird of the Leprecauns of Gort na
Gloca Mora, and the Leprecauns retaliate by stealing Meehawl
MacMurrachu's wife's washing-board, and Meehawl asks the
Philosopher who lives in the center of the pine wood called
Coilla Doraca for advice in locating the washboard...and the
chain leads on and on, up to Angus Og himself and to the country
of the gods. Unique and inimitable, this is one of the great
tales of our century." Could this be it? It's a great book -
well worth a read anyway!
I don't know the book, but the story reminds
me of the folk tale The King's Highway. A king
builds a new road, and decides to have a contest to see who can
travel the road the best. The contestants complain that there's
a pile of rocks in the road finally one weary traveller comes
carrying a box of gold that was hidden under the rocks. He wins,
of course, because "he who travels best is the one who smooths
the way for others."
G262: giants and fairies Solved: First Fairy
Tales G263: Ghost and rat living together Solved: Gus Was a
Friendly Ghost G264: Girl Scout, black, miniature tent Solved: Bright April G265: Gargoyle door knockers to kingdom Solved: Shadow Castle G266: German girl after WW II This is a chapter book set in Germany just
after the war (I believe WW II). The main character is a girl of
about 12 whose twin brother has died. The cover (of the library
book, anyway) was dark turquoise with orange figures on it--I
seem to remember the cover better than I do the book.
Margot Benary-Isbert, The Ark. Definitely the book.
G267: Girls and Horses, matching Born in '67 I read this book in the early
70s. The book was extra tall; about 3 girls (blonde,
brunette/black and redhead/brown haired) meeting 3 horses with
matching colored hair. They travelled in a whale shaped
submarine with red and white stripes, passing a land where
balloons grew from the ground, and there also was a dark haired
circus? man with a moustache.
Piet Worm, Three Little Horses At
The King's Palace.
This book is extra-tall, features three girls and three ponies,
one of each with red/brown hair, blond/white hair, and black
hair. There is a circus man with a mustache in this book,
but no whale-shaped submarine or land with balloons.
However, there was a prequel to this book called Three
Little Horses and that might have those things.
G268: girls first tooth to diamond This book is about how a girls first lost
tooth is later used as her diamond engagement ring. It may
involve the tooth fairy as well. I read it when I was around 8.
I was born in 1964.Seems like I remember the teeth of young
girls being taking to a place where they were put into fire and
changed into diamonds. Thank you so much for looking!
Otto Whittaker, The true story of
the tooth fairy (and
why brides wear engagement rings), 1968. "Because a
little boy and girl share their humble supper with a beggar,
they become the tooth fairies responsible for the money left
whenever a child loses a tooth and for the diamond engagement
rings brides wear."
G269: Green statue Solved: Stranger
from the Depths G270: Grandmother's viewpoint The book is one my wife read as a young
girl, so dates from the mid-seventies or earlier. It features a
young woman who goes back in time and switches places with her
grandmother. Her grandmother had been raped at one point before
the switch, and given birth to the girl's mother, Penny. She had
attempted to abort the pregnacy, but the botched result left
Penny sickly and weak. The girl lives a good amount of time as
her grandmother, who is something of a 'black sheep' in the
family and shunned by the rest. She eventually returns to her
present.
Marlys Millhiser, The Mirror, 1978. This might be it a similar
query was posted on anothr forum. Marlys Milheiser, The Mirror Marlys Millhiser, The Mirror,1978. The night before her wedding, Shay
Garrett and her grandmother, Brandy switch bodies, sending Shay
back to 1900.
I hate to disagree with the solution to this
stumper, but I know The Mirror well (I even have
an autographed copy!), and while the plot of the stumper is
close to The Mirror, there are several
signifigant differences between the two, and I do not believe
that this stumper is solved. The daughter and the grandmother
switch places in the stumper story AND in The Mirror,
but those are the only two things the two books have in common.
Here is what happens in The Mirror. First, the
name of the two women who switch places are Shay and Brandy.
Shay is the modern girl, just about to be married to a guy named
Mark, and she switches places with her grandmother, Brandy, the
old fashioned girl, on the eve of her wedding. Second, the
grandmother, Brandy, was never raped. The Mirror is very clear
on the fact that Brandy was a virgin when she was married. (The
doctor comes to examine her on her wedding night, because, by
that time, Brady now has Shay's soul, and Shay is a bit dizzy
and faint. In comes the doctor, who states very cleary that she
is a virgin, and that her new groom has nothing to worry about.)
Brandy (who is really Shay), marries Corwin, a Welsh miner, who
is killed in a mining accident. Then Brandy/Shay marries a man
(who is one part of a pair of twins) and she gives birth to a
daughter named Rachel, who turns out to be Shay's mother. Shay
never returns to the present day, and Brandy never returns to
the 1900's. Shay is a modern girl with modern ideas living in
the 1900's but she is not a black sheep, nor an outcast. Brandy,
in the modern time, adjusts to living there, and ends up
marrying Mark, the man Shay was originally going to marry. And
that is the plot of The Mirror! If the original
stumper stongly remembers a rape and an attempted abortion, a
black sheep issue, and a return of the charactesr to the right
year, then perhaps the stumper is asking about a different story
than The Mirror.
Are you sure that the Mirror
isn't the story? In the story I remember (but didn't
remember the title of), the grandmother Brandy wasn't raped, but
Shay was pregnant when the switch was made, so Brandy had to go
through the pregnancy. Penny was the baby Shay had with
the miner. From her 'future' she knew the baby wouldn't live to
adulthood, so she tried to avoid getting pregnant (with a copper
penny). The baby was sickly and died after a few
weeks. Shay wasn't sickly then, but later had TB for
years. The Mirror (possibly).
Your description of the book definitely sounds like the plot of
The Mirror to me, but the orignal stumper didn't.
I had forgotten about the baby Penny, who died early on. It
could be that the orignal stumper had remembered the baby being
born of rape, even though she wasn't. Maybe the original stumper
can shed some light!
G271: Girl discovers dolls Solved: The Mystery of
the Silent Friends G272: Girl Locked in School This is a story about a school aged girl who leaves her homework
or some paper that she needs at the school where she goes.
She goes back to the school to get it an hour or so after school
has ended and ends up getting locked in the school. Perhaps
in the janitors closet? I know at some point as she goes
into the empty school just the janitor is there and then he locks
up the school I believe she tries to get out a window in the
janitors closet or something. Older book probably 70's
Help! I'm a Prisoner in the Library!
Just
a
guess
- it's been years since I read it. Catherine Woolley, Chris in Trouble,
1968. This could be Woolley's
second book about Cathy Leonard's little sister Chris. One
day, she and a friend go inside her school when they're not
supposed to and accidentally leave their dolls in a
classroom. They're locked in the school and have to climb
out a window to get out. Later, when Chris tries to
retrieve the dolls without being seen, she tries to avoid the
school's janitor. Catherine Woolley, Chris in
Trouble,1968.Could the book be Catherine Woolley's Chris
in Trouble (part of her Cathy Leonard series)?
Nine year-old Chris gets into difficult situations one weekend
such as sneaking into her school with a friend and then
accidentally leaving their dolls behind. There's a janitor
they try to avoid. And Chris has to avoid him again when
she tries to retrieve the dolls undetected.
G273: Green man Solved: The Giant Under the Snow
G274: Green boy with wings I saw a book at a bookstore about a
decade ago. On the cover was a girl with brown shoulder length
hair, dressed in white clothes and holding a white orb in both
her hands. She was standing on a giant leaf which was floating
in water and being pulled by a green boy with dragon or faerie
wings, and long black hair. The back of the book said that the
girl was a princess and I think the boy was her pet, I'm not
sure. There was also a sequel or a prequel to that book, which
showed the boy flying in the air, and bellow them you could
see the princess girl and a guy in armor next to her, and both
of them were looking up at him. I hope that's enough to go on.
Norton, Andrew, Flight in Yiktor. The "girl with orb" book is Flight
in Yiktor, and the "boy flying while others watch"
is probably Dare to Go A-Hunting. Andre Norton, Flight in Yiktor, 1986. The cover is as described, and it
is one book in a series, but the plot is a little different: the
girl is a sorceress and the green boy is a former slave she has
rescued.
G275: girl who rides polo ponies Solved: Red Embers G276: girls trade places My mother remembers reading this book when
she was in grade school in the early 30s. A county girl trades
places with a city girl. G277: girl moves to inn meets ghost girl Solved: The
Haunting of Cliff House G278: Gutman, Bessie Pease I have a vintage children's book with full
page illustrations by Bessie Pease Gutmann. Majority are
rhymes, with the following stories... Mother's
Helpers, A Fox's Cleverness, Teddie, The Helper, The Ghose in
The Garden, A Visit to Nurse. There are also full
page illustrations/poems by F.W. Home. Please let me know
if you have any information or help on this book as the cover
and first few pages are missing.
I'm not sure which book you have.... But here's a bio and
bibliography for Bessie
Pease Gutmann.
G279: GIRLS RAISED BY OLDER BROTHER Solved: Rosemary G280: Gray kitten Solved: Peppermint G281: girl can "see" connections between people I read a science fiction novel in the 1980s or 90s (although I am
unsure of the publication date) about a race of people who had
supernatural "talents," and one of the main characters (a girl or
woman, I believe) had the ability to "see" connections between
people as visible bands or strings connecting each other. A
stronger bond such as a mother/daughter relationship had a
brighter, stronger band wherease a more casual acquaintance
appeared as a thinner, weaker band. My memory is hazy, but I
think the people were leaving their hometown or planet for some
reason, either evacuating or being exiled. I'm afraid that's
all I can remember, any leads would be great, thanks!
Zenna Henderson, The People. Just finished reading the G281 stumper
and have to say this sounds a lot like "The People" stories (I
read them as short stories but I think they were all gathered
into a book) by Zenna Henderson. I read them a LONG
time ago, 1960s, I think, so date does not fit, but everything
else does. A race of people with various powers must evict
their planet and they crash-land on earth and are
scattered. The stories follow the experiences of the
various alien characters and their encounters with the people of
Earth. Written in a style that is both highly realistic and
beautifully sensitive. Don't remember the character who
can see connections between people, though. There was a
boy who was learning how to fly who fell in love with an Earht
girl, there was a baby named Lala by its finders, there were
many others. Even if this is not the solution, I consider
this series as one of the best science fiction series of all
time and definitely worth any reader's attention. Orson Scott Card, The Memory of Earth. A possibility: the first book of the Homecoming
series. One of the girls in the book (Luet?)sees connections
between people, and the characters have to leave the city of
Basilica. (and, eventually, the planet) Other characters are
called Nafai, Wetchik, Shedemei. Zenna Henderson, Pilgramage/ The
People Stories,
1967 - 1987. This would be my first recommendation.
When one of the People comes of age, their natural "talent", or
"gift", such as healing, sensing metals, "lifting" (flying)
becomes apparent. The people must leave their disintegrating
planet, and the ties between mother and daughter, and
husband and wife figure strongly in the decisions made for the
evacuation. The grandmother in particular senses the ties
between the women in her family, and how they change when her
grandaughter realizes her love for a young man is as strong a
tie as the love of her birth family. This is a compilation of
short stories previously published in other sources. The
complete People collection is published as Ingathering:
The complete People stories of Zenna Henderson. Zenna Henderson, The People - No
Different Flesh.
The name of the short story in the series that deals with the
evacuation of the home planet is called "Deluge," originally
published in 1963.
I think this is not a People
story. I've read Ingathering (all the People
stories, including unpublished ones), and there's nothing about
being able to "see connections between" people. Possibly part of
the reason it sounds like Henderson is that the first People
story is about a woman who discovers she is a "Sorter" -- she
can see *into* people, into their deepest psychological
processes. (In later stories, we find Sorters can rearrange and
erase people's memories, too.) My guess is that the Orson
Scott Card book is it. Thanks for having this service!
Orson Scott Card, Homecoming. This is the book you're looking
for. There's a series of six books, but it's in
"Homecoming" that she can see connections. Gold strands
for some, silver for others. Still available in
paperback. I always remember that description. :)
G282: Garden where girl finds different mothers Solved: The Mummy
Market G283: Ghost in the Garden Solved: Ghost in the
Garden G284: Gun Solved: The Hole Book G285: girl is jealous of her friend this story was read by captain kangaroo frequently (1960s).
I can picture the illustrations of 2 young girls, one with a
ponytail and one with short hair...rather large heads. One
main character was always jealous of her friend. The story
took place at school and I think at the main character's
home. Her mother perhaps babysat for the 2nd girl. I thought
it was written by charlotte zolotow...by it is not.
I'm wondering if this
could be one of Janice May Udry's books? I believe her
books were read on Captain Kangaroo a lot. I'm not sure which
one it is, however. At first I thought it was Let's Be
Enemies, but that's not it.
You may want to look at the books by Phyllis
Krasilovsky, as well. Hope it helps. I still haven't found this
book----more memories of book the main character would alway try
to do things but did it wrong...her friend always did it
right...thus the jealousy
G286: Girl runs away and becomes witch Solved: Wickedishrag G287: Girl Involved in Hit and Run with Delivery Truck A girl hits and kills a little boy in a delivery truck that she
uses to deliver flowers for her summer job. She�s scared so
she drives away, then finds out that the boy died. She�s
haunted by the secret that she keeps throughout the summer, and
eventually she tells her boyfriend what she did.
Lois Duncan, I Know What You Did
Last Summer,1973.
Possibly? Julie, her boyfriend, and 2 friends hit a boy on a
bike while driving back from a picnic and later find out he
died. Julie wasn't driving, they were in a normal car and Julie
doesn't work at a flower shop, but the person who stalks the
friends a year later figures out who she was by asking at the
flower shop where she ordered yellow roses for the boy's funeral
and sent them without a name. Her boyfriend was in the car with
her and thus knows all about it, but he leaves town soon after
and doesn't come back until a year later, and at the end they
decide together that they need to come clean about the
hit-and-run. Lois Duncan, I know what you did last
summer. There is
a similar situation in this book but there are four people
involved in the hit-and-run that kills a boy on his bicycle.
Julie and her three friends take a vow of secrecy but she
receives a mysterious message saying "I know what you did last
summer." Suddenly all four of them become targets of
revenge. Hope Dahle Jordan, Haunted Summer, 1969. I am absolutely positive the book
you are looking for is Haunted Summer by Hope
Dahle Jordan. Rilla Martin is a teenage girl who is
working a summer job delivering flowers to save money for
college. On a rainy night she hits something and it turns out to
be a boy on his bike. She takes him to the hospital and runs
away and they think she is a boy. She feels guilty all summer
and tells her boyfriend. He eventually convinces her to go to
the police. The boy does not die.
2006 G288: Goldfish I am looking for a book I read about 15-20 years ago. It was
novel about a goldfish, who was dumped into a pond (back yard pond
that gets drained maybe??) by his owner and has a very interesting
adventure in the real world. He meets a lady goldfish, almost gets
killed a few times. I think I remember the lady fish being killed
by a water bug...The whole story centers around the goldfish.
I am also looking for
this book...my recollection was that a goldfish gets into the wild
somehow (I want to say he went down a drain or was flushed,
although this is hazy) and has to learn how to survive. He has all
kinds of adventures and is nearly killed several times (I remember
vividly a scene with a pike lying in wait for him, hanging in the
water below him).I also remember
that he meets a female fish who is nearly eaten by a water bug at
one point. I probably read this in the early-mid 1980s, so it was
published by that time.I remember
the cover as being white, with a pen-and-ink drawing of a goldfish
swimming around a water plant. Daniel
Pratt Mannix, Troubled Waters,1969. Goodreads forum
just solved query about similar book. Person who was looking may
have been the hunters here. Daniel
Pratt Mannix, Troubled Waters,1969. The
story of two goldfish, Buck and Roe.Buck
escapes from a backyard pond into a polluted river.He meets up with Roe and they make their way to a less
polluted tributary, meeting up with several adventures along the
way.Intended as an allegory about
the dangers of pollution, with information about all the trophic
levels of our streams and ponds. G289: Gregory Solved: Gregory, the
Noisest and Strongest Boy in Grangers Grove G290: Girl searches for Golden Rule A little girl is on a journey searching for the meaning of the
Golden Rule. I think her name is Zelda. She may even
travel to Outer Space. It's likely this book was written in
the 1950s or 60s. G291: girl runs away to become pirate Solved: The True Confessions of Charlotte
Doyle G292: girl and fairy I'm looking for a chapter book I read in Elementary school about
a relationship between a girl and a fairy. I remember at the end
of the book the fairy uses all of her power to create a child for
the girl who is now a woman and wants to have a baby but can't. It
seems like the fairy also chooses specific attributes for the baby
like red hair, blue eyes, etc. Please help!
Lynne Reid Banks, Fairy Rebel, 1988. The fairy gets the colors mixed and
has to do an emergency fix to make sure the baby doesn't have
blue hair. Later there is trouble with the Fairy Queen who had
forbidden contact with humans. Lynne Reid Banks, the Fairy Rebel, 1985. My daughter and I believe this is
the book. The name of the fairy is Tiki and she helps Jan
have a baby. This makes the queen fairy very angry.
Lynne Reid Banks, The Fairy Rebel. Your description about the fairy using her
power to create a child for a human sounds a lot like this book.
The fairy is punished by the (bad) fairy queen for helping a
human. I don't think there's anything about the human woman
knowing the fairy as a child. We do, however, get to see the
child the fairy creates for the woman grow up to about the age
of 10. I read this book in the early 90's in upper elementary
school.
G293: Gremlins in the cockpit WWII Solved: The Gremlins G294: girl survives alone ingeniously - shipwrecked? The book was about a girl who was left alone by mistake for at
least sevral months. Maybe a shepherdess? She had a
hut, a pencil stub, a very few things and was ingenious about
figuring out how to survive and get rescued. I think the
late 50s maybe.
Scott O'Dell, The Island of the
Blue Dolphins,
1961. The pencil stub is out, but this Newberry winner is
the best girl Crusoe tale ever, based on the true story of a
Native American girl who managed to survive alone on an island
off the Californian coast for 18 years. Magic! Some images
which may help: as her people are being evacuated from the
island, she dives off the boat and swims back to be with her
brother - who dies shortly afterward; she makes a
beautiful dress of green-black cormorant feathers; she
tames a feral, wolflike dog (and then his son) who keeps her
company and helps her hunt. There was a spate of wonderful lone
child survivor stories I read growing up in the 60s and 70s...
others include Call It Courage by Armstrong
Sperry, My Side of the Mountain and Julie
of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George...
great stuff! Monique Peyrouton de Ladebat, The
Village That Slept,
1965 (American ed.). Could this be The Village That
Slept? The girl is not alone -- there is a boy
and also a baby, all victims of a plane crash in the
Pyrenees. They find shelter in a recently deserted
village, and eventually find a dog, cow, sheep, and chickens
too. Their names (which at first they don't remember) are
Lydia and Franz. They are ingenious at surviving, and
after a year or two are found and rescued. Mazer, Island
Keeper, 1982, copyright. Not sure if
this is it, but plot is similar to your search. Brink, Carol Ryrie, Baby
Island. Re
G294, this is quite a long shot, because the most important
detail, the fact that your heroine is alone, doesn't match, but
several other things do. Could you maybe be thinking of
"Baby Island" by Carol Ryrie Brink? In this book, 12 year
old Mary and her 10 year old sister Jean are stranded on a
deserted island with four babies under the age of 2 after the
ship on which they were passengers begins to sink. While
drifting in a lifeboat, Jean's disorganized pockets turn up a
stubby pencil, among other odds and ends, and the girls discover
a good supply of canned food in the lifeboat, including canned
milk, which they feed to the youngest baby, Jonah. When
they run aground on the island, they find things to eat like
bananas, coconuts, crabs and clams. They build a teepee
out of the lifeboat's sail, and ingeniously construct other
things like a pram that they can pull the babies around in, and
even make dishes out of coconut shells (think Giligan's Island
minus the idiocy). Jean starts writing letters to their
Aunt Emma by putting them in the
empty food cans and letting them float away. They discover a
hermit named Mr. Peterkin living in a hut, which he somewhat
reluctantly shares with them after a storm destroys the
teepee. They are eventually rescued by their father and the
fathers of the babies. This little gem was originally
written in 1937, and was reprinted by Scholastic Book Services in
1965, which is when I found it. As I said, this is a long
shot, but the pencil stub, the hut, the very few things and the
ingenuity all match. Good luck with your search!
G295: Girl with upstairs male neighbor Solved: My Pal Al G296: Good Times Club Solved: Kendall's Second Reader G297: Golden Key I somehow paid for this before I posted any information.
This is what I have. It is a story about a golden key (but
it is not the book entitled �the golden key� by George
MacDonald.) In the book the key leads to a world under the
sea, where the children involved encounter a mermaid who shows
them how to use the key. The illustrations I remember are
silhouette illustrations (like those silhouettes in Arthur
Rackham�s illustrated books.) This is vague, but all I have right
now.
Joan Aiken, A Necklace of Raindrops, 1968. Could it be a story from the
collection A Necklace of Raindrops? It has
the silouette illustrations, but it's a series of short
stories...with children in magical situations.
G298: girl makes beautiful hats for dolls Solved: Polly
Poppingay, Milliner G299: Girl with red hair Girl with red hair, lives in the country, neighbor boy teases her
about her hair. She mail orders fabric to make a dress, is
initially disappointed in color, but ends up pleased. She
and the boy eventually make friends. I read this in the late
60s-early 70s. It is not Anne of Green Gables. Thanks
for the help.
Elizabeth Hamilton Friermood, Circus
Sequins, circa 1968. A real longshot! From
what I remember, the girl in this book has flaming red hair,
which people make fun of. She's good with horses, and
somehow ends up in a circus as a bareback rider, where she makes
a green dress which shows off her red hair and everyone thinks
she's beautiful. At the end of the summer, she has to
decide if she should stay with the circus or go back to the
country and marry her boyfriend, who had supported her through
all the teasing. Maybe worth a try, anyway!
Thanks for the suggestion, but I know that's not it. The
fabric for the dress was the same color as a leaf the girl found
(I think) and was intended to match her hair, so it's some
variety of brown/reddish brown. Definitely not
green. And I think the girl is of the 10-14 year old
range, not marriage material. Thanks for helping.
I've been
looking for this book for years i remember the girl with red hair
freckles plays in the woods with her friend, barefoot has her
first period talks with a southern accent written in the 60's or
70's.
G300: Gertrude Solved: Gertrude's Child G301: ghost story collection, possums, snakes Solved: Tales of Terror G302a: geese that come out of barnacles Solved: Where the Wild
Geese Go G302b: girl, a toy pig and knight The girl is in a new house (for summer vacation maybe?). I think
she finds these toys there. The pig and the knight "Sir
Something-or-other" come to life, and at some point they go to a
magical land...I can't really remember anything else about the
actual adventure. I think it was a Scholastic publication, but
can't be sure. The copy I had was paperback and light pink in
color. I read it around 1993.
C.S. Adler, Goodbye Pink Pig. Worth a shot- the girl has an unhappy home life
and imagines adventures with her animal figurines.
G303: girl gets hit by car I read this book sometime is the early to mid 80's. I'm almost
positive it is not Kristy's Courage. From what I remember
the girl was riding her bike or walking and a car hits her. She
gets hurt bad and has to learn to speak and walk again,.I remember
in the book that she had a brother who had some problems dealing
with his sisters accident.I believe toewards the end she recovers
somewhat and runs a race or just runs.I have been trying to
remember the name of this book for about 10 years now and I can't
find anything about it.Hope I'm not imagining it!
Cynthia Voight, Izzy Willy-Nilly, 1986. This is probably not the book, but
there are some similarities. The girl was in a drunk-driving
accident, and had to have one of her legs amputated at the knee.
Have a look online and see if this is the book. Babbis Friis, Kristy's courage, 1965. Translation of a Norwegian book
(Kjersti) and published by Harcourt, Brace & World in the
US. A little girl has problems adjusting to school life
after an automobile accidnt disfigures her and causes her to
have a speech impediment I checked out those two books and neither of them are the
book. I also remembered a few days ago that the girl was a
cheerleader before her accident. Barbara Conklin, I Believe In You, 1984. This could be the book that you
are describing. Some parts don't match, the girl's brother isn't
bothered by her accident and she wasn't a cheerleader. I can't
remember for sure how she had the accident but in this book the
girl's name is Penny Snow and she injured her hip and leg. She
used to be a great swimmer. She's afraid to exercise in any way
now because she used to be great at all kinds of sports and now
she would be average or less. She goes out to Oregon to help her
grandfather move to a rest home, meets a boy who teaches her how
to believe in herself and how to run. She competes in 6 mile
race at the end. It's #67 in the teen romance series Sweet
Dreams. Hope this helps.
Could this be a nonfiction book? I
remember a true story - very inspiring - of a young girl named
Kristie or Christy or Kristy (!) who was hit by a car while
walking or running. I vividly remember she was knocked out
of her shoes. The books told of her rehab, and relearning
all the basics of living. I'll do some sleuthing and see
if I can find it. I think the title was just the girl's
name. Funny! I just got off the phone with my
mother and she said it WAS a non fiction book, but she
couldn't remember the name either. Thanks! Barbara Miller, Kathy, 1980. The Millers were a typical American
family until the day a speeding car left 13-year-old Kathy
critically injured, in a coma from which the doctors said she
might never recover! How Kathy won back her health, gave her
family the gift of faith, and ran in an international marathon
less than six months later. Collins, Joan, Katy, 1982. This book tells the story of actor
Joan Collins daughter Katy, who is injured in a bike accident
and deals with her rehabilitation. I remember reading it
when I was about 10 or 11 near the time of publication.
G304: girl in San Francisco Charm School Solved: The Mystery of
the Chinatown Pearls G305: girl frees fox from trap I read this in the early/mid 80's. The
story was about a girl (pre-teen?), possibly on an Indian
Reservation somewhere, with a school or summer camp. There is a
mountain nearby, and I think someone who lives up there. The
girl may be a visitor or care-taker. Anyway, she finds one day a
fox (I think) trapped in a hunters' jaw/claw type trap and frees
him. G306: Good King Awkward The title is GOOD KING AWKWARD but I've
never been able to find it anywhere. This is a pop-up
book, published sometime in the late 60s/early 70s, about a King
who wants to learn magic. The opening lines are, "Good
King Awkward from the magic land of Nix/Had a powerful ambition
to be good at magic tricks./But although he practiced magic day
and night without a stop,/Every trick he did in public was a
failure and a flop." I will be the hero to my entire
family if I can find this.
Albert G. Miller, The Pop-Up
Tournament of Magic,1968.
G307: guards Searching over 10 years for this book and
not a single lead! A teacher and her students go to the park to
see grass, which is almost unknown in their time (perhaps after
a war, not sure). Rain starts to fall and they take
shelter in a shed. There they are kidnapped by a group of
dark men and taken to a huge fortress or compound. They
are provided with very little food and no reason is given for
why any of this is done. One by one the children are
killed by means of various traps. I remember some of the
children go swimming in a pond and something closes over the
pond, drowning them. Again, no reason is given. The
teacher struggles to keep her class alive. The men are
guards that prevent them from escaping but do not actively hurt
them or speak to them. I also remember the children
watching the guards have sex with each other in the breakroom
(yes, I am serious, I swear) and the teacher being happy to hear
this because it means the guards do have human needs.
Eventually an older teen who claims to be the only living member
of a previous class falls in love with the teacher and helps
them escape through a tunnel. Expect he might not actually
be a former student, there's a chance he is just a guard sent to
lead them into death- the book ends with them going through the
tunnel. The cover of the book looked like a black and
white marbled children's notebook and it was a hard cover. I
believe it was probably published around when I read it but I'm
not sure. I am sure there was no reason given for the
events- it wasn't about population control or war. It may
have been part of a series considering the ending. It was
in the children's section and read like a young adult book,
through rather more dark and scary then most. If anyone has any
idea for even a possible lead, I'd be forever grateful! Overall,
the plot of the book was sort of like the book Cube, with
mysterious events and no reason behind anything...
Irene Schram, Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down,
1972, copyright. This was positively identified on another
board as "Ashes,
Ashes, We All Fall Down" by Irene Schram. Plot summary: "Our whole class of
students was on the grass, in the park, for a picnic: it was
April and time for a picnic after a long winter full of weeks
and months of rain, boring rain. From this innocent opening
Irene Schram builds a terrifying tale about a concentration camp
for children. Like William Golding's Lord of the Flies, with which it will
undoubtedly be compared, Ashes,
Ashes,
We All Fall Down creates an extreme situation -- half
nightmare, half history -- to reveal the anxieties and terrors
of children growing up today. The children are fifth-graders in
a typical city; they are forced by a storm of pollution to take
shelter in a park building, where they are captured, then
transported and imprisoned, by robot-like guards. Their struggle
to survive in their new environment -- which has many parallels
to the world they are growing up in -- is told mainly through
the children's eyes and imaginations. Ashes, Ashes is a spell-binding fantasy that
is based on the real lessons city children must absorb daily
from their immediate surroundings (drugs, welfare hotels,
pollution, random terror, abandonment) and from the menacing
world beyond it, where geography is blight and hunger, and
arithmetic is body counts. This is a novel about how children
perceive, struggle against, and adjust to the nightmare of our
history." G308:
ghost stories or scary stories 1963-69, This book was
oversized. the front cover had maybe 6 to nine boxes with
a different symmbol or picture in each. I believe it had
Alfred Hitchcock's name in title. One of the stories was
about a spurned woman who came back as a ghost made of water and
was frozen in the end in a walk in freezer. Another story
concerned a haunted or abandoned house found by some kids.
I think there were about 10 to 12 stories all told. Book
was hardcover and did not come with a dust jacket. The
Sherlock Holmes story "The Speckled Band" may have been
included.
Alfred Hitchcock (nominal editor), Alfred
Hitchcock's Haunted Houseful, 1961. The first
story described is "The Water Ghost of Harrowby Hall" by John
Kendrick Bangs. This has been anthologized many times, but
the only appearance of it in a Hitchcock anthology is in HAUNTED
HOUSEFUL. I think the second story listed may be "Let's
Haunt a House" by Manly Wade Wellman, which is the first story
in the anthology. It also contains one Sherlock Holmes
story -- "The Red-Headed League." The cover as described
isn't the cover I'm familiar with, but there may have been other
editions. Alfred Hitchcock's Haunted House,
early 60s. Hi, I may have the solution to the G308
stumper. Title may be Alfred Hitchcock's Haunted
House. I was a little hesitant to submit this
as a solution because although the stumper's description of the
book's date, size, number of stories, etc., all fit, the
description of the cover does not. My cover had a very
scary illustration of Alfred Hitchcock's face coming out of the
door of a obviously haunted house. The cover art
frightened me more than any of the stories! Don't recall
many of them but one that comes to mind is about some children
convinced that a woman- perhaps an aunt, perhaps a nanny- whose
name was "Wasywich" or similar, is a witch. A black and
white illustration to that story showed a thin woman with
piercing eyes accompanied by some children. I am not sure but
the Sherlock Holmes story called "The Red-Headed League" may
have also been included in that book.
G309: Girl, Male Best Friend and the Moon I used to check this book out constantly as
a teenager (about 10 years) ago but cannot remember the title or
author. The book is a young adult, coming of age
book. The cover features a girl sitting with a bright full
moon in the background and that leads me to believe the word
"moon" is in the title. The main character, a teenaged
girl, grew up with her male best friend. However, their
friendship becomes strained over the summer. There is an
underlying romance that neither has addressed and they become
distant. She works as a waitress over the summer and he
starts to date a popular girl. The main character gets
jealous. I believe, the main character's mother is dead
and the father is raising her and possibly a sister. I
also think there is a character, either the main character or
the boy, with a name that begins with the letter "C". At
any rate, they get together at the end.
Robert A. Heimlein, Menace From
Earth. Many of
the details sound like the novella/long short story "The Menace
From Earth." Others sound like details from other Heinlein YA
stories and novels. These have been fequently anthologised.
G310: Game of Life and Beelzebub Solved: Big Joke Game G311: Girl at summer stock theater Book stumper request: Betty Cavanna-type
novel about a teenaged girl participating in a summmer stock
theater or festival. She learns about herself (gains
confidence) and I think there's a little romance. Probably
from the early 60's. The copy I remember had a blue and
white cover with a drawing of her in front of the theater stage.
Thanks for any help you can provide!
Lyn Cook, Pegeen
and
the pilgrim,
1957. How about this one? I also vaguely remember a blue
cover on the original. It was reprinted by Tundra Books in
2002. Here's a synopsis from their website:
Twelve-year-old Pegeen lives in the sleepy town of Stratford.
Money is tight since her father�s death, and she must help her
mother run a boardinghouse. She even has to share a room with
old Mrs. Leonard. Pegeen�s dreams of becoming an actress seem
hopeless. Then an extraordinary thing happens � a Shakespearean
festival is planned for Stratford. As the festival develops, so
does Pegeen. She learns a great deal about Shakespeare, the
boarders at home, and her circle of friends, including the
mysterious pilgrim, Mr. Brimblecombe Betty Cavanna, Stars in Her Eyes, mid-1950s. Girl was named Magda...her
Dad hosted a TV show in NYC and she wanted to be in the
business. Worked as a waitress on Cape Cod around the
summer stock areas Helen Dore Boylston, Carol plays
summer stock,
1940s. Maybe one of Helen Dore Boylston's series of 4
Carol books? US titles are - Carol goes backstage,
Carol plays summer stock, Carol on Broadway and Carol on
tour. UK titles are - Carol goes on the
stage, Carol in repertory, Carol comes to Broadway, Carol on
tour. I think they all have dustjackets with
one colour surround and picture of Carol in the middle - can't
remember which, if any, is blue. Although these are '40s not
'60s, they were reprinted fairly often and I am sure would have
been around in the '60s. Carol does quite a lot of growing up
over the 4 books, and there is a romantic interest. Janet Lambert, Up Goes the Curtain, 1946. Maybe? This is one of the Penny
Parrish books. She spends part of it working in summer
stock, and then gets to be in a Broadway show, where she meets
Josh MacDonald, the stage manager. Betty Cavanna, Two's Company, 1951. I think this book may be Betty
Cavanna's Two's Company, in which the heroine does
summer theatre in Williamsburg Virginia. Marjory Hall, Straw Hat Summer, 1957. Could this be Straw Hat
Summer by Marjory Hall? Gail becomes
interested in the theater when a summer theater group rents her
family's barn to put on plays. Our copy has a picture cover with
Gail standing and looking at the barn/theater. Wow! You've already given me so many great ideas, and I'm off
to investigate. Straw Hat Summer sounds very
familiar, and led me (through a mistyped google search) to the
1957 title Straw Hat Theater by Mickey Klar Marks...I'm
also going to track down Summer Stock Romance (aka Polly's
Summer Stock) by Elizabeth Wesley (Adeline
McElfresh). There are more possibilities than I'd
anticipated! Virginia Hughes, Peggy Lane series. I think this is a long shot, but
there is a series of Peggy Lane books - Peggy Find the
Theater, Peggy Plays Off Broadway, and others
that I can't recall, but one of them is about summer stock. Rosamond DuJardin, Showboat
Summer, 1955, copyright. This is about
twin girls, not just one girl, but could it be this? From the
description: "A summer vacation aboard the Harwood College
Showboat was an exciting prospect for Pam and Penny, the twins
of Double Feature. To Penny, it meant being with Mike who had
a job on the tugboat that pushed the old Regina from town to
town along the Ohio River. To Pam it meant a chance to act,
and perhaps a leading role in one of the gala showboat
performances." Tiffany, One
Summer in Stock, 1947, copyright.
Here's another possiblity (I have this in my little
bookstore, but haven't read it.) Main character is
Nan, and it appears to be a typical late teen romance novel
of the 1940s-1950s. Eleanor
Shaler, Gaunt's Daughter,1957, approximate. Could it be
Gaunt's Daughter? The girl's mother, a theater actor, dies
and to avoid moving in with her mother's Quaker relatives, she
gets a summer stock job. Turns out her estranged famous
father is going to be there too. At the end she has a
family emergency with the Quaker family and gives up her father
and the play to go to the hospital.
G312: girl with witches I checked this book out at the library from the kid's section in
the mid '70's. It was a hardcover about a girl that somehow ends
up in the woods and spies on a group of witches.The witches may
have been gathered around a bonfire or a cauldron.the girl gets
noticed by the witches, and that is where my memory ends. I
vaguely remember her riding on a broom with another witch. I think
the witches were friendly. I think the cover of the book was of a
scene at night, with one or more witches flying on broomsticks.
Witch's Sister by Phyllis
Reynolds Naylor, maybe? "Lynn's growing conviction that
her sister is learning witchcraft from a neighbor reaches its
peak when Lynn, her sister, and brother are left for a weekend
in the neighbor's charge." I never read it, but ever since I
heard a few details mentioned on the TV show Big Blue Marble,
it's stuck with me. It's not Witches Sister. That book is too new. The book
I'm looking for is from the early '70's.
I haven't read The Witch's Sister
by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, but it was written in 1975,
so it's certainly worth examining. It was reissued in
paperback editions in 1993 and 2002, which may be why you think
it's too new a book to be the one you're searching for.
I don't think it's Witch's Sister,
either. There's only one real witch in that book:
Mrs. Tuggle, although, she's trying to get Lynn's sister to
become a witch as well. No forest scene either.
G312 How abt this prequel to Witch's
sister? I just cataloged it yesterday: Naylor,
Phyllis Reynolds. Witch water. illus by Gail
Owens. Atheneum, 1977. Lynn is afraid her
friend �Mouse� will be made into a witch by Mrs. Tuggle -
juvenile fiction by an award-winning author
Is the poster really sure it's Witch
Water or any in Naylor's series? It's
been a long time since I read those books, but I read them
repeatedly way back when, and I don't remember any friendly
witches (or, again, any real witch other than Mrs. Tuggle) or
any broomstick riding. Mrs. Tuggle's thing seemed to be
more about control over people than about broomsticks. Thanks for all the suggestions! I checked
all the books by Naylor, and none of them are the one I'm
looking for. I believe the cover showed a night scene of the
sky, with a big moon, and a witch flying on a broom. It was
also a pretty short story. Patricia Coombs, Dorrie
and.....
Could the girl actually have been a witch herself? Then it might
be one of the Dorrie books by Patricia Coombs. Chew, Ruth , The Wednesday Witch. Could it be one of the Witch books
written by Ruth Chew? The scene you describe sounds
familiar to me. I read many of her books in the late
70's-early 80's and they were quick and easy to read. The cover
for the Wednesday Witch also seems similar to your description -
except the witch is on a vacuum cleaner instead of a broom.
I checked both of the above books-
neither one is the one I'm looking for. I think the cover may
have had more then one witch flying on a broom.
Adrienne Adams, The Halloween Party,1974.Is
there any chance at all the main character was a little boy
named Faraday (kind of an androgynous name)? Your
description made me think of The Halloween Party, and A Woggle
of Witches, both by Adrienne Adams. The cover shows a
witch on a broomstick, flying across the moon with gremlin
children behind her.
G313: Girl is a prisoner on the moon Solved: Ann in the Moon G314: Golden eggs the book was one in my elementary school library around 84.
It was about two sisters who had a goose that laid golden eggs,
and it gave them just enough money to make a pot of vegetable
soup. then the king or someone like a king or maybe a queen stole
the goose, and force fed it rich food so it would lay more golden
eggs. The illistrations were beautiful. Thanks for any help. G315: Ghost Stories Solved: Fifty Great
Ghost Stories G316: Girls in a boarding school Solved: Hey, Dollface G317: Gingerbread Man AND.... Title of this book is "The Gingerbread Man
and Other Stories" It is illustrated, oversize. It contains
"Little Black Sambo" Pub date is probably 1930-1934. KEY ITEM:
Must contain a story about an bearded elf or gnome named "Mr.
Popinjou". There is an illustration of this elf sleeping with
his beard sticking out over the sheets. G318: Girl Takes Care of Retarded Sister Solved: Risk n' Roses G319: Girl and purple maid Solved: Shadow Castle G320: Gladiator wrapped in cape I am looking for a book for my father that he had read to him in
the 6th grade in 1945. It was a young adult book about a
gladiator who was a prince? who fought with a net and triton and
in the end he is killed and wrapped in his own cape. He
thinks the title of the book was "the scarlet something" or "the
red something". He thinks the "something" is a cape or
tunic. It is definitely not "The Robe" or "The Red Cape" by
Britten. Thanks for your help.
Rosemary Sutcliff, Mark of the Horse
Lord & Warrior Scarlet. This is a long shot, but the description
reminds me a little of Sutcliff's Mark of the Horse Lord.
It's about a gladiator who impersonates the prince of a British
tribe and dies in the end (not wrapped in cloak though, and I
don't remember if he was a net-and-trident fighter).
Warrior Scarlet is not about gladiators, but involves a red
cloak (I think) and is by the same author.
While The Mark of the Horse Lord
is about Phaedrus, a gladiator in Roman Britain who impersonates
the lord of a northern tribe and nobly dies for "his" people, it
was published in 1965, twenty years too late for the stumper
requester. Warrior Scarlet was written in
1958 and is also unlikely to be the book sought, particularly
since there's no gladiator in it. Warrior Scarlet is
about Drem, a disabled boy (withered arm) who has to kill a wolf
in order to attain manhood and the right to wear the warrior's
scarlet of his Bronze Age tribe.
I'm sorry I don't have the answer, but I can
tell you that the book you're looking for is probably not The
Crimson Cloak by Lois Montross (1924), which
is a volume of poetry. It is also unlikely to be The
Red Cape by Rachel M. Varble (1928), which
is described online as the story of "A little girl [who] is
taken into a peasant's home."
G321: Ghost story, twins, a doll, or diary found beneath
tree? Desperately looking for a book an English Teacher once loaned me
that I read in the late 1970's... had to be published prior to
1978. If my memory serves me right it was a ghost story involving
twins, a doll or a diary found buried under a tree. The story took
place in the past, possibly victorian/early 1900's? I want to say
the cover was purple and that the young girl, main character's
name, was Rose or another older/classic name like that... I was in
high school during my reading of this book so it wasn't a book
necessarily for children, it was pretty scary. The title my have
been a name of a girl and/or have the word "twins" in it?
Additionally, this wasn't a super old book at the time of my
reading... Sorry, I can't remember more, I know this is pretty
vague. THANKS!
Might be Janet Lunn's
Double Spell. It was originally published as Twin
Spell. Lunn, Janet, Double Spell. (1968) also published as Twin Spell.
This features twins, ghosts and dolls, however the twins are
named Jane and Elizabeth and they buy the doll rather than find
it under a tree. Strangely attracted to an antique doll,
twelve-year-old twins buy the toy and soon find themselves
haunted by powerful and tragic memories of ancestral twins who
had also been owners of the doll Lunn, Janet, Twin Spell. (1968) I think this is it. See the
"Solved Mysteries". Lunn Janet, Twin Spell, 2003, reprint. I am really
certain that the doll and twin part of this stumper refers to
Janet Lunn's Twin Spell, reprinted later as Double Spell. It is a haunting book
about twins Jane and Elizabeth who live in Ontario Canada and
find a doll in an antique store which inexplicably seems to
belong to them. After they move into their Aunt Alice's
mysterious old house, they begin finding themselves sharing the
past experiences of two other twins, Anne and Melissa, who were
their ancestors and lived in the house (which was smaller and
did not have new additions built on it then) many years
before. They also have visions of a frightening girl named
Hester who seemed to hate the earlier twins. In the end
they solve the mystery and discover that Anne had died in a fire
(in a room they now use as an attic) that had been accidentally
started by her cousin Hester, and that it is the ghost of Hester
who is haunting the house. They discover this just in time
for Elizabeth to save Jane, who is trapped in the attic with the
ghost. I think the original stumper may have mixed up the
plots of two different books by Janet Lunn. She also wrote
one entitled The Root Cellar in which the main character is a
girl named Rose, who finds an old root cellar in the ground
which leads her to ghostly experiences with a long ago family on
the farm where she is staying.
G322: Green pitcher short story The boy gets a green pitcher as a gift from his grandmother for
his birthday and is very disappointed, until his mother uses it to
make all kinds of good things. This is a short story that
was included in compilation of short stories, book from 1970 or
earlier with a brown or green cover (possibly a Boy Scout book of
some kind but not at all certain). My brother read this over
and over as a child and it made a huge impression on him, trying
to surprise him with a copy but these are all the details I
have. This will be a tough find and I appreciate your help!
Kathryn Jackson (author), Richard Scarry
(illustrator), The Strange Pitcher.(1955) Possibly this one? A little
boy receives a strange pottery pitcher from his grandmother who
lives in Italy. The pitcher is made of pottery, "with
odd-looking leaves on it, the colors of fruit, and fruit that
was the color of leaves." The little boy doesn't like it,
but his mother says it matches with their dishes, and uses it to
serve orange juice, milk, chocolate milk, or lemonade at their
meals. "Day after day, the little boy poured good-tasting
things from the pitcher, and by and by, it didn't look strange
any more." Finally, he writes to his grandmother thanking
her for the beautiful pitcher. This story can be found on
page 11 of The Golden Book of 365 Stories: A Story for Every Day
of the Year (A Big Golden Book). It is the story for
January 6th. Please note that this book has been reprinted
numerous times with at least three different titles and
covers. The two other titles I've seen are: The Bedtime
Book of 365 Stories: A Story for Every Day of the Year OR
Richard Scarry's A Story A Day: 365 Stories and Rhymes.
Unfortunately, the pitcher isn't green (though it does have
green on it), and while it is a gift, the boy doesn't receive it
for his birthday. Also, none of the covers I've seen for
this book are brown or green---I've seen blue or white covers
with pictures of animals or children on them. So you may
be looking for a different story in a different book---or your
memories may have faded over time.
The more recent versions of The
Golden Book of 365 Stories: A Story for Every Day of the
Year may not be exactly what you remember.
Here's an online description: "Reissued after many years, this
beautiful collection offers a year's worth of original stories
and poems, including new selections for Hanukkah, Martin Luther
King Day, and Kwanzaa." Unfortunately, I can't figure out
exactly when the changes were made! I can tell you that
the edition I have (from 1969) does contain "The Strange
Pitcher" but I can't vouch for any edition later than that.
G323: Grand picnic I've looked for this book FOREVER!! I don't remember much
about it, except a beautiful full-color illustration of a picnic
in the woods with everything you could ever want to eat laid out
before you (perhaps even on the ground). There were
desserts, including cakes and pies of every sort. I would
have had this book no later than 1963. It may have had a red
cover. It may have involved bears. It's not Teddy
Bear's Picnic.
There is a page that sounds a lot like this
in the book about the Yami of Yawn, with the main character
Wide-awake Jake. Might this be it? Thanks for the response, unfortunately "Wide-Awake Jake"
(c. 1974) cannot be it, because I owned this book
pre-1963. My book may have been an anthology. I have
already checked the "Little Brown Bear" books.
G324: Girl's planet has almost no metal Solved: This Star Shall
Abide G325: Girl from advanced race Solved: The Far Side of
Evil
G326: Girl and boy hide
horse out West Solved: Hold the Reign
Free G327: Girl tests witch's ingredients Solved: Little Witch G328: Girl meets girl named Wisteria My elementary school had a series of
reading exercises, divided into colors by reading level. Some
were fiction, others not, but all were designed to improve
reading comprehension. One of the stories involved a girl
entering a secret world through her garden. She meets a girl who
says she was allowed to choose her own name -- Wisteria -- and
is surprised that the other girl could not choose her own
name. Any help on the story or even the reading
comprehension series is much appreciated.
This might help a little: SRA Reading
Series cards/booklets were once organized by color (I remember
from the 1960s.) SRA Reading Laboratory.
You are after the SRA Reading laboratory - there were several
editions of these - I'm not sure which one you are after.
We had different boxes of stories for different grade levels.
they're still being made by McGraw-Hill. Ghost Cat. i read a book
called ghost cat that seems kind of like the one you described
the one girl from the futer goes through her garden and finds a
girl from the pasti dont remember much else about it but i think
it was from a color coded series of some sort hope that helps
G329: Goat family goes to carnival, littlest gets
kidnapped It's a book about a goat family who go to a
carnival/amusement park, and the baby goat gets kidnapped while
there. (By other animails other than goats I think).
I belive it was published in the mid to late 70's? It's
written in comic book/storyboard format and the older sister is
on a ferris wheel when her sister gets kidnapped and she loses
her ice cream. Thanks for offering this service!
Watson, Nancy Dingman, The birthday
goat. (1974) The Goat
family enjoys its outing to the Carnival until Baby Souci goat
is kidnapped
G330: Girl
runs away, meets old sheepherder Solved: Runaway Girl G331: Girl merges with wall A young woman learns how to merge with
solid objects. In one chapter she practices making her hand melt
into a table. In another chapter, the woman who invented the
wall-merging technique steps out of a wall, naked (since you
can't merge clothes with walls), to confront the main character.
There may have been talking cats in it, or that may have been a
different book...
Could this be one of the Star Ka'at
books by Andre Norton? They were published in the
70s. I don't remember much of the storyline, but the cats
talked and were actually aliens. They met a boy and girl
on Earth, who helped them either fit in or get home. (My sister
actually read the books, I think I just skimmed them.) The
cover of one of them had a girl imerging from a wall. the
illustrations were grey and misty-looking. Might be worth
checking out, anyway. Judith Goldberger, Looking Glass
Factor. (1979) This
book is in the solved mysteries section. I read it a
couple of years ago after reading the description when another
reader was looking for it. I am sure this is what you are
looking for. It is available at ABE and through
interlibrary loan.
G332: Girl wins geography(?) test to earn trip Solved: Patsy's Best
Summer G333: Girl meets French boy Joel I probably read this young adult novel in
the mid 70's. It would have been fairly contemporary
then. A girl (American or English) goes to France
(Brittany or Normandy) - I can't recall if she is an exchange
student or visiting relatives - but she meets a local French boy
named Joel and they begin a romance. I believe she returns
home and they continue the romance, long-distance. It was
very well written and made a great impression on me as a young
teen. Wish I could read it again and have a taste of my
adolescence! Any tips, clues, or info much appreciated.
The description reminded me of a Ruth
M. Arther book, but I couldn't find a title to
match. Does that author sound familiar to the original
poster?
G334: Girl
and elephant A little girl(rag doll?), along with her
elephant (w/polka dots)pal, learns to use the potty.
Nicola Smee, The
Tusk
Fairy. (1994) Not
sure if this is your book, but your description made me think of
this one. It was one of my daughter's favorites when she
was little. The elephant isn't polka dotted, though. But
the girl is often wearing polka dot pants. The grandma
crocheted the elephant as a birth present for the girl, and it
did everything the girl did - including learn to use the
potty. One day something dreadful happened to the
elephant, but the grandma was able to fix it up. Great
Book! Even if it's not the one you're looking for! Astrid
Lindgren, Bill Bergson,
Master Detective, 1946, copyright.This is from one of the Bill Bergson
series of books, I don't know which one. Two groups of friends,
the White Roses and the Red Roses, "war" over possession of a
stone which they alternately hide. Other titles are Bill Bergson
Lives Dangerously, and Bill Bergson and the White Rose Rescue.
G335: Girls school adventures in 1915 Solved: Luvvy and the
Girls G336: Girl designs dress for dance Solved: Date with a
Career G337: Ghost rescues girl I believe that this book was published in
the early to mid-1990's. It is about a young girl who is
seriously hurt by a robber who broke into her house. A
male ghost rescues her spirit?(or something) and transports her
back to his realm. They have serveral adventures but I
don't really remember exactely what they were. I do
remember that one of the friends of the ghost was name
Iceman. I know this is not a lot to go on, but I hope
someone can help me. G338: Girls
is raped and kills attacker I read this book when I was about
twelve. I think it was set during the civil war. A
young girl (I want to say her name is Mattie) is raped by a
neighbor (I think his name is Ray Beard) when she is left home
to babysit. She shoots and kills the neighbor and has a
difficult time recovering from the attack. She marries a
young man toward the end of the book.
Betty Sue Cummings, Hew
Against the Grain,1977.This book is about a young
girl named Mathilda. It's set during the Civil War.
Mathilda's family is divided by the war. She is attacked
and raped by a neighbor during the last year of the war.
Mathilda kills her attacker and learns to heal with the help of
her grandfather.
G339: Girl
from city goes to live in country Solved: The Long White
Month G340: George This will probably be difficult because I
don't have many clues. It is the first book I ever took
out of a public library, probably in either 1959 or
1960. It was a children's illustrated book about a
dog named "George" who lived in the city. I believe the
character of George was humanlike. He might have spoken and
stood on two legs and worn clothes. That's all I can
remember about it. I do remember that I loved the book and
can recall sounding out the name "George" as "Gee-orge."
The library was in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania.
Cora Annett, The Dog Who Thought He
Was A Boy. (1965)
Ralph the dog wanted to be a boy, so the family let him.
The son finally got sick of not having a pet and told the dog
that he was a dog. Maybe the father's name was
George? The dog did wear clothes, go to school, etc.
Nope, nobody in Arnett is named
George. I just read the whole book. Phyllis Rowand, George Goes To Town,
1958. I dont think he wears clothes, but the dog's name is
George, and the book is from the correct time frame. Might
be worth investigating, anyway. Phyllis Rowand also
wrote an earlier book about him, simply titled "George" (c.
1956)
G341: Greenish-blue book of fairy tales I was looking for a hardcover book of fairy
tales from the late sixties to early seventies. The cover
is greenish-blue and it has pictures of fairies all around the
outside. The pictures in the book are beautiful
(characters are not done in the Disney-style). Some of the
stories in the book are: Cinderella, Aladdin, Hansel &
Gretel, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, etc.) There
is a picture of Cinderella in the ballroom wearing a dress with
pink roses all over it.
Ottenheimer Press, My Giant Story
Book. (1971) I'm
pretty sure this is the book. It is on the solved pages
already (it was my original stumper!) and all the stories are
there plus the Cinderella has the big flowers on her pink dress
at the ball. Only thing different is the cover but the
book I received when I ordered was a completely different cover
than I had. Hope this is it. Worth checking out.
Thank you, but I don't think it's "My Giant Story Book".
It looks like that one had Little Red Riding Hood in it, but the
book I am looking for did not. Thank you anyway.
G342: Girl becomes jealous of exchange student Hard back book from the sixties, but think
it was set in the fifties. Illustrations were Trixie
Beldenish. Story is about a teen and her family who
sponsor an international exchange student from Spain or
Mexico. At first she's excited because she thinks of how
she and her exchange student friend will be like sisters.
But she becomes jealous of the girl's exotic beauty, sweet
nature, and popularity. The sponsoring girl
has to learn a few lessons about her true nature.
Francine Lewis, Polly French
and The Surprising Stranger,1956. My copy of this
book is a Whitman glossy edition with illustration that look
Trixie Beldenish. Polly French's family host an exchange
student from Peru. Her name is Lita Barrios. She is
older than Polly but in the same grade because of the language
difference. Lita fits in well and Polly is jealous of her. This sounds like it could
be Cathy
and Lisette, by Teresa
Crayder, published in 1964. Cathy is excited for the
exchange student from France to come and stay with her family,
but quickly becomes jealous of Lisette.
G343: Girl candles ocean Japanese A Girl who lives by the ocean and lights
candles. My memory is that some how she is not free and has some
connection with Japan. Not sure if set in Japan or by a Japanese
Author. Childrens book read to us in the 1960s in Australia.
Would love to get a hold of this book. G344:
Ghost in a Haunted House Looking for a narrated (cassette?)and illustrated childrens ghost
story from early to mid-70's... told in first person (male
narrator, monotone).. he was looking for the source of some noise
in this dark house, alone, at night. Each spot he looked and
didn't find the thing making this noise, an echoing ghost voice in
the background would say "No One was Therrrre". The
closer the narrator got to the "ghost" the louder the voice got..
finally I believe he looked in the Closet.. and the final line was
this ghost saying loudly "I Was There". I don't
remember the title or author/narrator but I remember it really
used to creep me out. The picture book had these abstract
oil paintings, not drawings or cartoonish pictures. Any help would
be appreciated. Thanks. G345: Girl's clothes walk away Book about a girl who never picks her clothes up off the
floor. So one day her clothes get up and walk away. I
remember something about how she maybe wore a potato sack to
school because she didn't have any clothes.
Girl's clothes walk away - I've never
read this one, but the description of the book The House
That Had Enough by P. E. King (1986)
says: "Tired of being mistreated, Anne's furniture, clothes, and
house decide to leave until she promises to take better care of
them."
G346: Girl's Underworld Travel, Life Candles &
Lanterns I'm looking for a novel (it had a few illustrations) about a
preteen or teen girl, possibly Native American, who journeys to an
underworld, where she finds that all people and animals have life
clocks in the form of candles, or lanterns that burn down as we
age. Animals such as turtles figure prominently. I can't remember
much more, something about choices and consequences. It was a very
strange, mystical book, and I'd love to know what it was. I read
it in about 1976-77, I think it was new-ish then.
I wonder if the person is thinking of one
of Sheila Moon's books? It's not KNEE-DEEP
IN THUNDER, but there were a couple others feature a
girl who seems to be Native American in a strange world on a
quest with animal friends. I think the girl in all of them was
named Maris. I read them in the late 70s, which is the
right time frame for the OP.
G347: Ginger, Nurse, Litttle Golden Book Solved: Pepper Plays
Nurse G348: Girl Grows Pansy Garden in Yard Around 1971, a book about a young girl growing flowers in her
yard and I remember pansies. At one point she had to go out in the
pouring rain with her slicker on and take care of the seeds so
they wouldn't wash away. I thought it was the book "In My Mother's
Garden" but that was written in the 90's. This was definitely
before 1972. Illustrated.
J. David Townsend, The Five Trials of the Pansy Bed, 1967, copyright. I believe
this is the book you're looking for -- it was a favorite of mine
when I was growing up. A little girl grows pansies through
various trials. Illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman. You can see a copy of the
cover at: http://www.hyman.pagebooks.net/ Hope this helps! G349: Growing pains I thought it was called "Growing Pains" but when I do a search
for "growing pains" I get something else. It was actually a
collection of short stories with little life lessons and the
illustrations look very much like those of eloise wilkins (though
I don't believe she did them). sorry this is all i have to
go on.
Florence Taylor, Growing Pains. This one is probably it, with various
life lessons and illustrations by Lucile Patterson Marsh.
G350: Go-cart race in airport Solved: Drag Strip
Challenge G351: Ghost story teenagers & rituals I read this book when I was about 11 back in 1981 & it was
definitely set in modern times - I'm English but don't
remember if the book was. The characters were (a group of?)
teenagers & it was set in a house haunted by a malevolent
spirit. There may have been a poltergeist involved beacause I
clearly remember a wardrobe falling onto a character & pinning
them to the bed. One character used to use rituals to try to ward
of the evil spirit or to help them calm down? It was a very dark
novel aimed at young adult readers. Not quite sure why I'd like to
re-read this but it's just one of those books that has stuck in my
brain!!!!
Joan Aiken, The Shadow Guests, 1980. This could be The Shadow
Guests, by Joan Aiken. The main character's
name is Cosmo, and he is sent to England to live with a cousin
who teaches at a university. I remember that he was visited by
spirits from the past, and there's a dark family secret too.
G352: Gretchen Solved: Thirteen G353: Giant I am trying to find a book but I do not
know the title. My sister read this book in elementary school
which she attended from 1974 to 1980. The story is about a
giant. The cover and pages of the book are blue. Possible
picture of feet on cover of book. Story line might be that the
giants feet/legs were mistaken for tree trunks. G354: Girl travels to Victorian times Solved: Elizabeth,
Elizabeth G355: Gray Rabbit Named Annamarie Solved: Big Big Story
Book G356: girl who puts butter on fence Solved: Bony Legs G357: Girl turns into tree I can't remember very much about this one, I don't even know if
it's a book or a short story or mythology or what. I just
remember this girl turns into a tree and someone cuts her (like
cuts off a branch or something) and she bleeds, but she can't
scream or anything. It was a bit dark.
G357: Sounds like the short Greek myth of
Dryope, who picks flowers off a tree, which bleeds (it's a
nymph) and Dryope is punished by being turned into a tree
herself - but not before she has the chance to tell her family
to warn her baby never to vandalize plants. It probably was a version of that myth, I don't remember a baby
and I swear someone cut her after she turned into a tree, but it
was probably just the version I read (someone taking liberties
or something). Because I'm pretty sure it was a myth, or maybe
it was a fairy tale?
G358: Girl goes to summer camp Solved: Just Plain
Maggie G359: Gargoyles and witches Solved: The Farthest Away Mountain G360: Girl raised in complete darkness Solved: The Day Boy and
the Night Girl G361: Girl Ghost Solved: Haunting
with Louisa G362: George Washington 1957-1958. I am searching for a book
that I remember my second or third grade teacher read to my
class about 1957-58. I know the title is NOT The Cabin Faced
West, nor is it George Washington's Breakfastby
Jean Fritz. The story is about a pioneer girl who is at
home alone due to a pioneer sort of emergency. The girl serves
breakfast to General George Washington. I distinctly remember
the girl served Virginia ham. She does not realize that she has
cooked breakfast for George Washington until the end of the
story. This might have been a story in a reader series or
a picture book. I just remember I loved that book and would
dearly love to read it again. I'm hoping someone out there is
about my age (57) and remembers the story.
Lutie A. McCorkle-(Sheldon Basic
Reading), The Little Cook- (Story Caravan),
1957. Oh,think I can help you with this one. It was my
reader too and I looked forever on the internet trying to find
it until I stumbled on it by accident. The story is The Little
Cook about a girl who has to stay home while her family goes to
George Washington's Parade. She ends up unknowingly serving him
breakfast on his way there. And He tells her to tell her family
that she met him before they did. There are many other wonderful
stories in this book that perhaps your teacher may have also
read to you so it's worth checking out the Story Caravan.
G363:Girl
helps
ghost
change
past Solved: The Ghosts G364: Genie Solved: Fairy Tales (Hadaway) G365: Greek Juke Box The book I am looking for was a favorite of mine as a child ( in
the 70's). It was purchased in either Australia or England.
The story is set in Greece by the sea and is about a brother and
sister who's father( i think) plays music in a taverna. The
owner buys a juke box ( called a Rock ola, I think) and at first
everyone thinks it's great because it plays all night without
getting tired and needing a break. However, as the story
goes on they can't turn the jukebox off and the town grows tired
of hearing it. They finally thow it into the ocean and then
the musician starts playing again and everyone is happy. The
book is richly illustrated.
William Papas, Tasso, 1966.
This is definitely Tasso by William
Papas. I bought my copy a few years ago, having remembered
it being read to me during library time at school, in Australia,
back in the late 70s.
G366: Gypsy Cat San Francisco This book I read in the late 70s (I was probably 8 or 10) and it
was set in San Francisco. I want to say the main character's name
was Judy, and I definitely know there was a scene where her mother
had baked a cake for some reason and she was grating chocolate
over the frosting (we have a similar recipe in our family).
Anyway, it seems there was a mystery involved and there was a
"gypsy cat" who had a gold hoop earring in one ear. I can't
remember more than that except to say that I remember learning
that SanFran was hilly, foggy and filled with old Victorian
houses. Gosh I hope that's enough!
Byars, Betsy, Rama, the Gypsy Cat, c. 1966, reprinted by Scholastic
This could be The Mystery of the
Green Cat by Phyllis Whitney (1957). I read
the Scholastic edition during the 1960s. It was always one
of my favorite books! It is definitely set in San
Francisco. The names of the children involved were Andy, Adrian,
Jill, and Carol. If you think this could be the
book, then you should check the official Phyllis A. Whitney website
for the full plot description.
I wonder if you're combining two different
books by Catherine Woolley Ginnie and the Cooking
Contest and Ginnie and the Mystery Cat.
Ginnie and the Mystery Cat has friends Ginnie and
Geneva in Europe, traveling with their families. There's a
statue of a cat with gold hoop earrings that they're carrying
around that people keep trying to steal. No cakes or San
Francisco though. In Ginnie and the Cooking
Contest, there's a bake-off that Ginnie's
participating in that has a chocolate cake and grating
chocolate. I think the contest is in San Francisco, but
I'm not sure. No cat though. Both these books came
out in the 1960s. Good luck!
G367: Girl shrinks, enters brainbox A girl behaves like a brat at her birthday party. She twists a
ring on her finger and faints/shrinks; she shrinks so small that
she enters her own body. She visits various places in herself
including the brainbox which is a machine operated by a fat little
man and is malfunctioning to give her an earache. She visits many
other surreal locations in her body/head area and the brainbox
operator is her guide. Eventually, I believe she is chased out and
when she returns to normal size/comes to she is thankful for her
family. I read it sometime in the late eighties /early nineties
(85-9?), and I think the title was either "The Brainbox" or
"<MainCharacter'sName> and the Brainbox."
Kristal, Keren, The Brainbox. London: Methuen Childrens, 1987.
"Kiki shrinks during her birthday party and has the opportunity
to travel inside someone's brain." That's it! I've been looking (albeit not very hard) for years.
My childhood is reclaimed. Thank you so much.
G368: Green Oobly All I can remember from the book is a phrase "green oobly."
I might not even be spelling it right. I think the phrase
was referring to sneezing/snot. I read it when I was a kid,
but it might not be a kid's book. I know that it wasn't the
Dr. Seuss book about the oobleck. I vaguely remember the dad
is the one who said the phrase and I think the daughter had a
friend over during dinner when the conversation came up. G369: GIANT Solved: The Tall Book
of Christmas G370: Girl uses imagination to cope with life I read this book in the early 80's. It was probably
published shortly before I read it. It is about a young girl
(middle school aged?) who has an incredible imagination.
Each chapter is an incredibly detailed day dream spurred on by
something that happens in her life. The only two I recall
are (1) she rides a ferris wheel and imagines she is an astronaut
and (2) she is in a school debate and imagines she is the
President of the US or is running for election.
Ellen Conford, Dreams of
Victory
G371: girl pumpkin patch mouse I think I owned this book around 1971. It's
about a little girl who goes on a school trip to a pumpkin
patch, where the children are each going to pick a pumpkin for
Halloween. The little girl finds a pumpkin she likes, only to
discover a mouse living inside. She decides to leave the pumpkin
so the mouse can keep his home and leaves emptyhanded.
Mousekin's Golden House? See Most Requested.
The book described is NOT Mousekin's
Golden House. In that book, Mousekin is a
young mouse who finds a discarded jack-o-lantern in the forest,
in which he takes up residence. He fills it with seeds and
fluff, preparing for winter even though the other forest animals
think "that house will never do". However, as it grows
colder, the mouth, eyes and nose of the jack-o-lantern slowly
close to make a fine, cozy home for a mouse in the snow.
Though it is a beautifully illustrated, poetic book, there are
no human characters in Mousekin's Golden House,
nor does it follow the plotline described by the requester.
2007 G372: Girl's Birthday Party Solved: Debbie's
Birthday Party G373: Gangster-like Mice Solved: The Roquefort
Gang G374: Ghost Girl Solved: Stonewords G375:
Girl, room I read this book in the late 70s or early
80s. It was about a girl who was the eldest child in her family
and was desperate to have her own room, as she was tired of her
younger siblings constantly touching her things and breaking
them. One of her most prized possessions was her copy of 'The
Lord of the Rings'. So she moves into the cupola in the
roof. She gets up there by climbing a ladder.
Maybe not A Room for Cathy
by Catherine Woolley - see Solved Mysteries - but worth
checking. (Cathy would be too young to be reading Tolkien, I
think.) Jean Little, Look through my
window, 1970. The mention of Tolkien makes me think
of Jean Little. Might this be Look Through My Window,
in which Emily moves to a new house and claims an attic room for
her own? Or possibly another Little title, maybe Kate?
Although I'm pretty sure the room features mainly in Look
Through My Window. There's a little more description
under the Solved Mystery for Lulu's Window.
Enright, Elizabeth, The Four
Story Mistake, 1942. Not sure about this one. I
vaguely remembered this book, so thought I'd try some searches.
I found a book which has a girl with siblings and a cupola and
was a popular book, so worth a look. "The Melendy family moves
to a house in the country where a secret room, a cupola, a
stable, and a brook provide Mona, Rush, Randy, and Oliver with
adventures far different from the city life to which they are
accustomed"
Another long shot...but could it be The
Velvet
Room, by Zilpha Keatley Snyder?
Robin's family moves a lot (I think they may be migrant
workers). In their latest home, she finds a deserted
mansion, with a library full of books. She finds a way in,
and spends much of her time reading the books I remember either
a cupola or a glass window-seat where she spends most of her
time in the house. The book was originally published in
the late 60s/early 70s. It's worth a shot! Park, Ruth, Callie's Castle,
1974. I'm pretty sure this is the one. It was highly
commended by the Children's Book Council of Australia in the
awards that year.
G376: Gilead magic cats NOT Ace Astro Solved: Once Upon a
Saturday G377: gum Solved: The Affair at 7
Rue de M G378: girl raised by aunts after mother disappeared
Solved: Emily of New
Moon G379: goldilocks Solved: Beware of the
Bears G380: Girl with cereal box fantasy land Solved: Armitage
Armitage Fly Away Home G381: George Mouse My mom said she bought a little book for me when I was a baby
(1967), and the only line she can remember from it was "George
Mouse was a Happy Mouse." She said it had a little handle on it,
and I used to carry it around with me everywhere. I don't recall
it at all, but would love to find it and see if it triggers a
long-ago memory. G382: Ghost short stories Solved: The Phantom
Cyclist and Other Ghost Stories Phantom Cyclist and
Other Ghost Stories G383: Girl travels back in time to Colonial Williamsburg I can't remember much about this book, just
that I read it when I was young (sometime probably between 1978
and 1989), and it was about a girl who somehow traveled back in
time to Colonial Williamsburg.
Barbara Michaels, Patriot's
Dream. If it was an adult/YA book, this might be
it. Standard Barbara Michaels fare - our heroine is
living in Williamsburg, falls into a time-travel/out of
body experience. Goes back to the Revolution.
I can't remember much about this book, just
that I read it when I was young (sometime probably between 1978
and 1989), and it was about a girl who somehow traveled back in
time to Colonial Williamsburg. This sounds like it could be PATRIOT'S
DREAM, by Barbara Michaels, aka Elizabeth
Peters, not a juvenile book, but one of my favorite novels
by this author. It is set in the early to mid 1970's, it
may even have written in 1976, given the patriotic theme.
A young woman in her 20's is staying with an elderly aunt and
uncle in current-day Williamsburg, but has dreams that are very
real, about her Revolutionary-era ancestors. It is part
mystery, part time-travel/fantasy, part romance, as Barbara
Michaels does so well. There was also a sequel. Cynthia Blair, Freedom to Dream, 1987.While this isn't Colonial Williamsburg, it
is a time travel back to Colonial times.n accident hurls modern
Philadelphia teenager Katy Morris back to Philadelphia in 1787
where she meets Abigail, witnesses the making of the
Constitution, learns what daily life in Constitutional days was
like, and begins to appreciate her 1980s lifestyle. Janet Lunn, The Root Cellar, June
1981.
I
can't
remember
if
Colonial
Williamsburg
was
in
this
book
but
to
quote
the
synopsis
on
the
back
cover
of
the
book:
"Rose
Larkin
is
lonely
and
unhappy
when
she
moves
in
with
relatives
who
live
in
an
old
Ontario
farmhouse
(this
part
takes
place
in
the
present).
But
amazing
adventures
await
her when she discovers that an old root cellar is her entrance
to the world of the 1860's. Here she makes friends and
gets caught up with them in the excitement and chaos of the
Civil War across the border."
Could this one be Another Shore
by Nancy Bond? Originally published in 1988, it doesn't
take place in Williamsburg but in Louisburg,Nova Scotia. Here's
a blurb--Lyn Paget is spending the summer before college working
as a serving girl at the reconstructed 18th-Century Nova Scotia
port town of Louisbourg. She researches the life of a young girl
of that time period named Elisabeth Bernard to give her
character a real base. One day she blacks out and awakens to
find that it is 1744 and that others regard her as the original
Elisabeth. Struggling to understand what has happened to her and
to survive, Lyn/Elisabeth discovers that she is not the only
person to have slipped back through time, and the others have
been unable to find a way back to the 20th Century. I'm a fan of
the time travel genre and this is one of the best I've read.
G384: Golden bird illustrations "I remember from when I was very young -
probably around 1970 - going to the summer club at the local
library and having the librarian read a number of stories to us.
One in particular which I remember had beautiful illustrations
which the librarian used to hold up for us to look at. I have
various memories of the story, but to be honest I'm not sure
that I'm not mixing up more than one tale, so I'm going to focus
on the illustrations rather than confuse things. The story was
about a golden bird - maybe a firebird or phoenix? - and I
suspect that what I'm remembering is a particular version of a
folk or fairy tale. The illustrations were mainly silhouettes of
fantastical landscapes - castles, bridges, etc - and people, and
then the bird itself - very ornate and beautiful, which I
remember as being in colour (predominantly gold). I guess this
is so vague that I would question the memory even more, except
that while at university I visited the house of a friend's
parents, and they actually had several of the illustrations as
framed prints on their walls. Unfortunately, neither she, nor
her sister, nor her mum, knew where they were from - they
belonged to her dad who wasn't there at the time - and we
drifted apart not long after that so, having had a tantalising
glimpse of my childhood memory, I never got to pin it down. I've
searched several times on the internet, but never managed to get
any closer..." Thanks for your help. G385: Girl caught using tea set Solved: The Cabin Faced
West G386: Girls' gold dust link to life after death Solved: The Ghost
Garden G387: Girl wins horse in competition Solved: Becky's Horse G388: Giant terrorizes rural area Solved: Abiyoyo G389: Girl joins birds in trees Solved: The Tune is in
the Tree G390: Girl grows up, NY About 5 years ago... or more... I read a
book that I want to find SO bad!!!! I'm not sure on the year,
and I have no idea the title, or author... But I can give a
great basic summary... lol... You'd think if I could remember
the book so well I should be able to remember the book!!! Ok,
here goes.. The book starts out when the girl (later lady) is
little. Her and her parents move to NY or just LEFT NY... And
she had a bad dream. Well, one time her mom brought fairy dust..
(or something like that) and sprinkled it on her. (Her mom was
usually a bi***~) Fast forward a few years and President Kennedy
gets killed and her mother is devastated. One Halloween she went
out to trick-or-treat and ended up getting raped (or almost
getting raped) in a dark alley and her mom got mad at her b/c
she was late or got dirty or something. Few years later she gets
sent to a girls school. The girls are hateful and she hates it
there. At some point she gets pregnant and goes to have an
herbal abortion. She was riding in the car with some guy after
taking the herbs when she started bleeding horribly and having
terrible pains. After this she runs off with some guy.. Her
boyfriend, a hippie-ish guy, and they sleep in his van in
sleeping bags. They go rock climbing and explore the US. One day
it starts raining/ storming while he is up on a mountain and he
slips and dies. Years later it talks about her being married to
an author and living on the beach. Ok, now looking back... It
might be horribly hard to figure out that book... But if anyone
could help me I would be SO relieved! I read it while I was
still in highschool... and I think I needed to grow up a
little.. Now I want to find this book so bad.. it's killing
me!!!! If anyone knows what the book is then PLEASE let me know!
Thanks!!!!
Wally Lamb, She's Come
Undone. I don't remember the details but sounds
like the general flavor of this book..
G391: Girl finds "rock" egg A little girl goes to visit either her Aunt
or Grandmother for the summer. I think the Aunt/Grandma
lives in an English Cottage. The little girl finds a large
rock in the backyard or garden. By the end of the summer, she
discovers that the "rock" was actually a large egg when it
hatches into either a dragon or a dinosaur.
Helen Creswell, A Gift from
Winklesea. I'm
fairly sure it's out of print, but it rings a bell. Could this
be it?
G392: Give "What For" to scary animal read in the 1970s. This is a book or story my older sister
remembers and is dying to find, so I would like to find it and
surprise her. What she remembers is that an animal hears a scary
noise and decides to find the animal who is making the noise and
''give him what for''. As the first animal goes in search of the
scary animal he meets up with additional animals who join the
search and are 'going to him what for' -- that phrase is sort of a
refrain through the book. And for each new animal they recruit,
the story grows as to how scary the animal is and I guess the
horrible things he did/could do. At the end (when they've sort of
gathered a mob to get the scary animal), it turns out it was a
little baby owl. She doesn't remember if there were any pictures
and it may be a story in a larger compilation. She said it was
sort of for around age 5. She was born in 1968, so the story was
around in the early 70s. I was born in 1978 and have no memory of
the story, if that helps. G393: Girl who other kids think is a boy Solved: Nice Little
Girls G394: Girl takes ballet to strengthen legs Solved: Little
Ballerina G395: Girl checks out presidental bombshelter Solved: Strange
Tomorrow G396:Girl
takes
care
of
doll, learns responsibility I had a small cardboard book as a child (I
was born in 65) about a girl that offers to take care of a
raggedy ann (or similar)doll for her friend while the friend
goes on vacation. She drags it around, and totally wastes
the poor little doll and has to give it back to the
friend. It is about responsibility. G397: Girl moves to Australia, sheepdog Solved: New Patches for
Old G398: Girl, pier jumping pattern Solved: Up the Pier G399: Girl sees invisible people, bells Solved: The Secret
World of Polly Flint G400: Girl works in aunt's bakery Solved: Don't Ask
Miranda G401: Girl slays dragons Solved: The Hero and
the Crown G402:Grouchy
teddy
bear
cuts
foot Solved: Edith and Big
Bad Bill G403: Girl falls in love with "bad" boy Solved: Sex Education G404: Girl worried about being replaced by doll This is a book with striking black and
white illustration, probably published in the mid to late
1970s, when I was a child. The protagonist is a young
child and her parents bring home a doll (or doll robot thing)
that the girl finds threatening because it's so perfect - it
behaves nicely and politely, etc. She feels that it is beginning
to win over her parents' affections and that there is no place
for her. At some point she runs away and there's an illustration
of her up on a hill, at night, hiding under a large power tower.
I think her parents come to retrieve her, and if I remember
correctly the doll is eventually destroyed, perhaps
short-circuiting in water or something. So many images from this
book are emblazoned on my brain; I'd love to be able to find it
again. Thanks!
Mahy, Margaret, Raging Robots
and Unruly Uncles. The start of this stumper sounds
immensely similar to this book, but Prudence doesn't return
home. She joins up with her cousins (who have been chased from
their home by an evil robot, just as she has been chased out by
an overly perfect doll) to start a business, then they
eventually rescue their fathers from the doll and the robot.
Nope, sadly Raging Robots and Unruly
Uncles is not it. I think think the fact that the book
is entirely (I'm *pretty* sure) black and white may be a key
clue since it seems to me that most books for children have at
least some color in the illustrations. Also, this is really a
picture book, not a "chapter" book. Thanks for trying!
G405: girls solves mystery, inherits before other heirs Solved: The Westing
Game G406: giant bugs in Scotland Solved: Buzzbugs G407: girl and grandfather go fishing Okay, so I remember this book from when I
was a kid. It was about a little girl and her grandfather, and I
want to say they might have gone fishing? Because I can remember
an illustration of them with their pants rolled up walking
through water...I was born in '74 and I remember the
illustrations being a tad creepy. Help!
Lapp, Eleanor, In the Morning
Mist, A. Whitman, 1978. Just a guess since I don't
have the book, but the description reads, "A young child
and her grandfather set out on a fishing expedition and find the
countryside transformed by the morning mist." I'm thinking
that maybe the mist gave the illustrations you remember a creepy
feeling.
G408: Girl runs away to island and gets stranded for the
winter Solved: The Island
Keeper G409: Ghost children I think this book came out sometime in the
80's. This is a book about a brother and sister who
encounter two ghost children in the garden. The ghost children
have traveled to the future to get help. The future children
discover that the ghost children actually died in a fire a long
time ago, so they drink this potion the ghost children give
them, and they go back in time to help save the children from
the fire. I think the cover of the book had a boy and girl
sitting on a bench in the garden looking at the ghost children
standing a few feet away.
Antonia Barber, The Ghosts.
The children create a time-travel potion with herbs from their
garden. A memorable part of the book has the girl
walking down a burning staircase hand in hand with someone, and
surprised that the flames don't burn. She realizes the man
with her (a solicitor?) is absorbing the pain as penance for not
protecting the ghost children the first time around. In
the end, they check the local cemetery and see that the monument
is different. Antonia Barber, The Ghosts, 1969.
I
believe
this
is THE GHOSTS, by Antonia Barber. A
movie called "The Amazing Mr. Blunden" was made, based on this
book. Antonia Barber, The Ghosts,1969,
1993.
While
staying
at a rundown English country house (their mother has been taken
on as caretaker), siblings Lucy and Jamie meet the spirits of
Victorian children, George and Sara. By using a magic potion,
Lucy and Jamie are able to travel back in time 100 years to save
the George and Sara from a tragic fire. Through one of
those odd little time-travel paradoxes, Sara later turns out to
have been the great-grandmother of Lucy & Jamie. Barber, Antonia,The Ghosts, 1969.
Definitely
this
book
(also made into a tv series called the Amazing Mr
Blunden). The brother and sister are Lucy and Jamie - the
Victorian ghosts Sara and Georgie Antonia Barber, The Ghosts, 1969.
'"Lucy
and
her
brother
stood
in
the
garden
and
watched
two
pale
figures
--
a
girl
and
a
boy
--
coming
toward
them.
That
was
the
beginning
of
a
strange
and
dangerous
friendship
between
Lucy
and
Jamie
and
two
children
who
had
died
a
century
before.
The
ghost
children
desperately
needed
their
help.
But would Lucy and Jamie have the courage to venture into the
past and change the terrible events that had led to murder?"
etc.
sounds like one of the Green Knowebooks
by L. M. Boston. the books are still in print - it should
be easy to see if one of the series matches your recollection.
Peck, Richard, Voices after Midnight. If that other book isn't it, try this
one. A brother and sister go back in time and save another
brother and sister from a fire.
G410: Girls, palominos, whippoorwill This hardbound book was at my local library
between 1970-75, and it was probably about 20 years old then.
The setting was in the country and the era is somewhat hard to
place, since the details I remember are about two girls playing
in woods, field, and barn. A girl, probably pre-teen, wanted a
horse, and some new folks moved to a nearby farm or ranch with
several palominos (possibly breeding them or starting a riding
school). Around the same time she had a new friend, a girl
who had recently moved to the area - but I think not closely
connected with the palomino people. At the end, the girls
were going to have the chance to ride or take lessons. But
most of the story was about the friend coming over to spend the
night, listening to a bird (I think a whippoorwill), playing at
a stream in the woods, riding a wheelbarrow or toy red wagon
down a steep hill by the barn.
Tizz , Elisa Bialk. Could
this
be
the
Tizzseries? They were short books,
about 3rd or 4th grade reading level. I last read them in
the early 70s, but Tizz was a palomino pony in a riding stable,
and (I think) the girl who was the main character had just moved
to the area. I remember there were at least eight or ten
volumes.
G411: Graveyard "scary" story, Childcraft There is a story in childcraft that I
vaguely remeber from my youth that I would love to know of the
name of. I can give you very little information to go
on. It was in a childcraft book in a pre 1970 edition,
probably a much earlier addition. The story, to my
knowledge, never appeared in later versions. It was a "scary"
story of some type. It may have involved a grave or maybe
a graveyard, but I am not sure. Any guesses?
The Old Man With A Bump, 1964.
How
funny!
I'm visiting my mom, who still has our set of Childcraft
volumes. The story you're looking for might be The Old
Man With A Bump. It is from The Dancing Kettle
and Other Japanese Folk Tales, and it is "retold by
Yoshiko Uchida. It appears in volume 2, "Stories and Fables," in
the section named "Tales From Other Lands." An old man has a
large bump on his right cheek. Every day it grows bigger, and no
doctor can cure it. One day, the old man shelters in a hollow
tree during a storm. He hearns many, many ghosts and spirits
walking toward him. He is terrified! The spirits begin to dance,
and the leader calls for someone who can dance better. The old
man jumps out of the tree and begins to dance. The spirits like
his dancing so much that they ask him to come back the following
night. To ensure that he will, they decided to take something
precious from him as a forfeit. After much discussion, they
decide to take the bump, since such bumps are said to cause good
luck. The old man went happily home and celebrated with his
wife. Next morning, a greedy neighbor with a similar bump came
over to borrow some food. When he heard the story, he decided to
copy the first man's actions. He told the spirits that he was
the same man, but they hated his dancing. They scowled, and
frowned, and told him, "Here, take back your precious lump." So
the greedy neighbor had to go back home with a bump on each
cheek. "Ohhhh," he cried, "Never again will I try to be someone
else." Sol Stember, The Monster's Grave. 1966.
I wonder if you are thinking of a story in the "Scientists and
Inventors" edition of the Childcraft library of books. It
tells the story of young Heinrich Schliemann who goes to a
graveyard after his father told him a story about a wicked man
who is buried there and sticks his foot out of the grave.
Heinrich finds the gravestone, says "Hennig! Show me your
stocking!" and then is scared to see a light coming towards
him. It turns out to be his father looking for him.
Heinrich grows up to find the lost city of Troy and is
considered the rather of archaeology. Henig. I remember a Childcraft
story about an evil man named Henig who wore green
stockings. When he died they said he would never show his
stockings again, so each year his leg came out of his
grave. Very spooky. Could this be the story you remember?'
G412: Giants talk to boy on rafters Solved: The Book of
Giant Stories G413: Girl lives with sewing spinster aunt A young girl goes to live with her aunt and
the aunt makes all of her school dresses from the same bolt of
cloth because it is economical. The children at school tease her
for wearing the same dress every day when she is really wearing
a clean dress each day. On the way home from school the girl
stares longingly at the beautiful dresses in the general store
or mercantile window but knows she will never wear anything that
beautiful. She gets tired of the teasing and begs her aunt to
wash all of her dresses and have them hanging on the line so she
can prove that she has more than one dress. When she arrives
home that afternoon instead of her identical dresses hanging on
the line the dresses she has been admiring in the store window
are there. I also remember in the book that she made a game of
her chore of washing dishes by imagining that all the dishes and
silverware were people and were swimming in the soapy water. The
time period of the book would have been an era when it was
common to have a water pump at the kitchen sink but water would
have been heated on a wood stove. I read this book in the early
1960's from the school library or the bookmobile. It would be on
a 5th grade reading level and would be considered a "chapter
book" today.
L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green
Gables, 1908. Could
this possibly be one of Lucy Maude Montgomery's books?
She has so very, very many, and it's been at least 15 years
since I've read the books. In Anne of Green Gables,
Anne has a few dresses made by Marilla - all of the same design
but made from different fabrics. And, Matthew, purchases a
dress with puffed sleeves for her that she just goes ape
over. Of course, LMM wrote so many other books
about so many other characters that it's hard for me to remember
them all. It just sounds vaguely familiar. I'm sure
there are LMM fans with far better memories than mine who
can set me straight if I'm wrong. Good luck in your
search! I am the originator of the book stumper
request. The book I am searching for is not one of the Anne
of Green Gables series. I have read the series and that
is not the book I am searching for. Kate Douglas Wiggin, Rebecca of
Sunnybrook Farm. Not
sure about this, but it's worth checking out - I flashed on Rebecca
of Sunnybrook Farm when reading your stumper.
My memory of the book is fuzzy, though. Eleanor Estes, The Hundred Dresses, 1944. Could be this -- The book is about Wanda
Petronski, a poor and friendless Polish-American girl. Her
teacher, outwardly kind, puts her in the worst seat in the
schoolroom and does not intervene when her schoolmates tease her
mercilessly. One day, after they laugh at the faded blue dress
she wears to school every day, Wanda claims she has one hundred
dresses.
G414: Girl and elderly man take walks, red geraniums Solved: A Special Trade G415:
Girl who wants to ride horses Girl doesn't want to be ladylike, she wants to ride horses. This
is a first book in a series of books ( I believe there were three
or four in total) about a girl whose family owned a ranch. The
girl loved to ride horses, but her mother wanted her to be
ladylike and was very glad when her husband bought a house in town
so the girl would have to give up her tomboyish ways. But the girl
gets to go back to the ranch on weekends, and one weekend there's
a new horse that the girl falls in love with and rides. At some
point she runs away because she has heard that the owner of a wild
west show is looking for new talent, so she and the horse find him
and then end up racing his daughter( who is one of the stars of
the show) and winning so she's offered a spot in the show. I
remember the girl being very surprised that the show owner's
daughter was still able to be ladylike and ride horses, and I
specifically remember a line about how much food she was able to
eat, but she still managed to be dainty about it. I read this in
the late 1980s/early 1990s and I believe that it was written
sometime around then. Any insight is greatly appreciated! G416: Ghost boy named Miles Solved: The Ghost of Dibble Hollow G417: Girls at Camp I read this book in the early 60's. It was about a girl who
went to camp. I believe that girl's nickname was "Collie" or
something like that. What I am sure of is that she met a girl at
camp named "Penelope." That's about all I remember.
Can't wait to see your response! I've thought about this
book several times in the past few years. When I go to
antique shops or used book stores, I look at titles to see if
anything rings a bell but so far nothing has.
Scott Corbett, Pippa Passes, 1966. Pippa (short for Penelope) is a famous
child star. She's not happy though, and when she gets a
chance to be a "normal" kid (by joining two sisters on a train
to summer camp) she jumps at it. She bribes/threatens/begs the
sisters to help her cut and dye her hair, and call her their
cousin. Once at camp, she makes friends and decides to star in
the camp production...which makes her realize how much she
enjoys acting. I think one of the sisters is
"Callie". Could this be it? The other camp book from that
time period that was popular is Laura's Luck by Marilyn
Sachs. I don't know if there was a Penelope in it
though... Dorothy Maywood Bird, Mystery at
Laughing Water, 1963.
I am sure that this is the book you are looking for, as it is a
favorite of mine! Laughing Water is a camp for girls in the
Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Collie is one of the campers and is
known for her fudge making talents. The mystery revolves around
Phyllis, the main character, and Penelope Castor, also known as
"Beaver." As a baby, Beaver's great-grandfather was found by a
trapper named Castor. The baby was wandering in the woods around
Laughing Water, during a forest fire, clutching a garnet eardrop
in his hand. The trapper and his wife kept the baby when they
couldn't find his family and named him Jacques Castor. The
campers hunt for clues as to his original family. A wonderful
read by a fabulous author! Two other books by this author are Granite
Harbor and The Black Opal, both set
in Michigan, also.
G418: Genetics and hair/eye color I am looking for a large hardcover book, circa late 1960s or
early 1970s which I believe was all about the body. I
remember one page in particular that dealt with hair and eye
colour and a description of how genetics worked in children's
terms. I remember a drawing of a girl with red hair and
green eyes and a picture of her parents, her parents' siblings and
grandparents and it showed how she ended up with red hair.
Joe Kaufman, Joe Kaufman's How we
are Born, How We Grow, How Our Bodies Work, and How We Learn, 1975. I'm pretty sure this is it. This is
an oversized (it would have to be to accomodate that long title)
book from Golden Books. Pages 14 and 15 have the information on
heredity and genetics with the picture of the red-haired child
with his ancestors. There are 91 more pages of profusely
illustrated biology and anatomy for kids in this book.
G419: Ghost story, cemetery under man-made lake Looking for a book I read as a kid. Not sure when the book
was written, but I read it in the 1990's. It was about a
town that was moved to create a man made lake, with all of the old
buildings underneath the water. The graves in the cemetery,
though, had not been moved like they were supposed to have been,
and were underneath the lake. It was a ghost story about the
people in the graves. I remember a part where someone was
scuba diving in the lake, looking at all of the old houses
submerged underwater, and he/she was scared off by ghosts under
the water. I also vaguely remember a part where a woman and
her friend used some sort of metal pole to stick in the ground in
the new cemetery above ground, to see if they could tell if the
bodies had been moved, or if they were still in the lake.
I know I read this book too! Could it
be Gone Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright?
I think there's a bit where they see the church spire under
sticking out of the water. There are no ghosts in either
this or the sequel though. There was another book that
reminded me of Gone Away Lake when I first
read it...I think the title was something like "The Riddle (or
maybe Secret?) of the Stone House" and the authors last name was
in the W-Z section of the shelves. I think that had a lake with
the tops of buildings and an old tree sticking out of the water.
I don't know the book, but there's a list of
"drowned town" fiction here that may list it:
http://beyondrivalry.blogspirit.com/archive/2006/08/29/drowned-towns.html
-- maybe Mollie Hunger's The
Walking Stones or Michael Shea's The
Color Out of Time, since those two at least are
described as novels with supernatural elements?
It's definitely NOT Gone-Away Lake -
there is no lake at Gone-Away lake anymore (hence the name),
just a bog.
G420: Gift of strawberry to little blind girl A little blue children's book (approx. 4" x 4"). A young boy
gives a strawberry to a little blind girl. Maybe 10 colorful
pages.
A Present for the Princess.
Definitely the one. It
was also included in a collection of about four stories that we
had years ago (can't remember the name of that one though).
I'm not sure if this is A Present for
the Princess or another but similar book, unless the
original poster has the roles reversed. It was a Little Golden
Book about how the royal family was going to be coming through
town, and a little blind boy (I believe he was a gardener's son)
had it in mind to grow her the perfect strawberry. He did, and
she ate it and kissed him and he blushed and it was so cute. She
was getting all these lavish gifts, but she liked the strawberry
best. This sounds like A Present For
The Princess (A Rand McNally Tip Top Elf Book #8425) by
Janie Lowe Paschall. A
young boy who's blind wanted to give a princess something
special. He planted a strawberry plant and grew it with the
animals' help.
G421: Girl with guitar on spaceship The book I am looking for was a children's/juvenile fiction title
that I read in the early 1980's. I found it in the library
in the childrens/teen section back then. The publication
date would have been before 1984 for sure, probably late 70's or
early 80's, but I can't be sure. I can not remember the
title... It was something like "Can you feel the music?" Or "Can
you hear...." I am not sure what. But I remember the
title seemed ironic. The book cover had a girl with a guitar on
the front, sitting cross-legged, I think. She was an
American Indian, I think. She was trying to reach her
brother who worked for a space agency. The world was suffering
some kind of dramatic weather/geo change, and the only chance of
survival for humanity was to escape on a spaceship. I don't think
her brother made the ship... Jeep accident, I think. She reached
the spaceship, and the ship's captain agreed to take her on
because of her heritage would add to the gene pool. She is the odd
woman out, doesn't have a mate on board. She's younger than
the other crew members and uneducated. They were chosen for
their fields. She plays guitar, I think, and paints a
window on the spaceship walls so she can has a view. On the
spaceship, she butts heads with the captain and eventually leads
something of a mutiny against him. He was very rigid and
scientific, she was very much a spiritual, free spirit. But
circumstances I can't remember cause her and the captain to team
up together in exile and they fall in love as he loosens up and
she grows up. As a result, he wins back his crew and
eventually they go back to rebuild Earth, which was drastically
changed.
Anabel Johnson, An Alien Music. This is the book you are looking for.
G422: Ghost soldier, presents under pillow The book/ghost story is about a young girl
who visits her aunt up in Northern NY or North and her aunt is
an antique collector. The first night the girl meets a
young man in the hotel's garden. Not knowing the young man
is a ghost who is getting ready to go into battle (either
American Revolutionary or Civil War). When she comes back from
her meeting she finds a rose/flower underneath her pillow.
The next morning her and her aunt go out and the girl comes back
and finds expensive jewelry under her pillow. She meets
the young man again and soon finds out that he is really a
ghost.
Elizabeth Pope, The
Sherwood Ring. This book is
about a young girl who goes to visit her uncle in upstate New
York and meets the ghosts of Revolutionary war soldiers. I
believe that one of them gives her, or leads her to, the ring of
the title. I think the girl's name is Peggy.
Unless the original requester really messed up
the details, this book isn't THE SHERWOOD RING.
No flower under pillow, no ghost preparing to go into battle, no
aunt... This is not
the book. The book I am talking about was written in the
late 1960's or early 70's. It was a story in a book that
contained other ghost stories that I do remember. The
details I have submitted regarding this are accurate. Bruce Coville,
The Ghost Wore Gray,1988. Sixth-grader Nina Tanleven convinced her
architect father to let her best friend Chris go with them to
stay in the old inn he's restoring. On the afternoon they
arrive, the girls find a faded Civil War photograph of a
very handsome Confederate soldier. Nina and Cris are stunned
when the ghost of the young soldier suddenly appears at the
dinner table that night! They realize he's the ghost who
they've heard haunts the inn. When he appears to
them again--no one else can see him--Nina and Chris know
that the ghost is trying to tell them something. But
what? To find out, the girls begin investigating the old
country inn. And soon they are swept up in a frightening
mystery that began more than one hundred years ago--a
mystery involving danger, greed, a hidden room... and a
buried treasure!
G423: Girl gets kidnapped Solved: Last Seen on
Hopper's Lane G424: Gypsies, dolls Hello! I'm looking for a book my
grandmother had--I would have been reading it in the 70s, but
it's most likely from the 40s or 50s. It about a little girl who
gets two little dolls, on blonde, one brunette. One of the dolls
is I think named Annabel (or Abigail?). One is in a red dress,
the other a blue dress. At some point, the little girl ends up
away from home with her two little dolls, and she ends up with a
caravan of gypsies who give her a meal that the little girl is
shocked to find that she's meant to eat with her fingers. She
talks to the dolls, and they might talk to her or each
other--the dolls have characters, anyway. I hope you're able to
help. Thanks you! G425: Girl and horse Solved: A Very Young
Rider G426: Grandpa Tyler, old man reading a book on tape, with
a paperback book. 1980's children's series There were a series of children's books in the 1980's that my
sister used to buy me. They were paperback books with
cassette tapes that read along with you. There were usually
two, maybe three stories, in each book. There was also a
song that went along with the book series called Creativity.
It went, Cre-a-tive-it-y, is a part of you and me, I want to be
creative just as much as I can be. Then a narrator sounding
like an old man's voice, came on and said, "Hello, I'm Grandpa
Tyler, come on in and sit a spell." Then he would start the
story. The only story I remember was about a little boy who
invited his teacher up to his tree house that he built. The
boy built the tree house in his backyard out of an avocado
tree. He sold the avocados to pay for the lumber and
construction of the tree house. He also had a refrigerator
in the tree house, which I thought at the time was the coolest
thing in the world. I can't remember was this series was
called, or how to even go about finding it, but I'd love to get my
hands on the books and the cassettes. G427: Grumpy boy, farm animals, Norwegian accent Solved: The Little Boy From Shickshinny G428: grandpa tells a scary story to his grandson Solved: Grandpa's
Ghost
Stories G429: Girl is dirty/lazy and gets washed by house Solved: The Richest
Sparrow in the World and other stories G430: Golden retriever in shelter takes care of other
animals Solved: The Visitor G431: Girl gets hair cut for picture for mother This was a children's book where a girl gets her picture
(dagguerotype?) taken for her mother by a man (or boy?) in the
woods who is a friend. She cuts her bangs in a scallop for her
picture and has to save up money to pay for it. Her mother may be
sick, or it might be for mother's day or a birthday present. I
think it was illustrated, but not in many colors. Sorry for the
confusion here...any help is greatly appreciated! Thank you!
I just read this old scholastic paperback-
it is definitely Myrtle Albertina's Secret by Lillian
Pohlmann-illustated by Erik Blegvad (in black and
white)! The picture is a birthday present for her mom. The story
also involves a mystery about missing gold nuggets from the mine
where the father works.
G432: ghost knight in castle with moat A guy with glasses moves into castle with moat, and there's a
ghost of a knight in armor that moves around. The book is
probably from the 60s or 70s. The illustrations were sort of
dreamy.
Bendick, Jeanne, Good Knight Ghost, F. Watts, 1956. Don't have a plot
description, but the title looks promising.
This is definitely THE HAUNTED SPY
by Barbara Ninde Byfield, 1969. The illustrations are
great. There are other books about the spy and the
ghost, but this first one is the best.~from
a librarian.
G433: Girls with large heads, friendship stories Series from 80's or early 90's that featured cute little girls
with somewhat large heads. There was a brunette and redhead
(had her hair in a bun with whispies aournd her face?), and there
always seemend to be puppies or kittens with them. Books
were about friendship. In one book a girl (the brunette? she
carried books in a strap) was scared to go to school and the other
girl's helped her, in another a girl got sick (redhead?) and the
others helped her feel better. Books were hardcover.
Joan Walsh Anglund, various books.
The illustrations sound a bit like Joan Walsh Anglund:
http://logan.com/loganberry/most-anglund.html'. Delton, Judy, Pee Wee Scouts, 1988-2000. The cover illustrations seem to match your
description as do the helpfulness of the kids in the books.
G434: Garden story? I am looking for a book or story from my childhood (would have
been published before 1977 for sure.) I know there were several
female characters and I am positive that one of them went by the
name "Maeve." Another might have been called "Felicia" or
"Felicity." I think they were miniature and/or lived in a garden.
It's possible that they might have been flowers or gnomes. I
believe they could only talk to each other. I am looking for
anyone who might remember this (it has been driving me crazy!)
Thanks so, so much.
Mary Chase, The Wicked Pigeon Ladies
in the Garden. I
wonder if it could be this one again. Maybe it's Maude, not
Maeve? Perhaps look at the solved stumpers? There is that
business with the leprechaun in the garden...
G435: girl in NYC gets flying horse Solved: Lyrico: the
only horse of his kind G436: Grandmas and grandpas, not Alice Low's book This is a funny story, because for 20+ years, I had fleeting
images of a picture book, having to do with little boy and girl
visiting grandma and grandpa. After extensive searching (of
course, no title, author, illustrator), I found Alice Low's book
Grandma's and Grandpa's. This was the book, almost! I
found just about every one of those images in this book, with a
few exceptions. I tracked down Ms. Low, spoke to her on the
phone, where she confirmed that my memories were of her book,
however, a few of the images were not. The missing images
area: (Picture book) Little girl in the attic, she has short
brown hair, tries on grandpa's old raccoon coat, makes funny face,
collar up around her face. Also, mother (or grandmother)
making cake, little girl licks the bowl (chocolate).
Publishing would have been prior to mid-60's.
Betty Ren Wright, Grandpa's House, 1959, copyright. Oh my goodness.
This was one of my very favorite childhood books. I have
it sitting right here in front of me. Everything the
poster describes is in the book exactly - except there is no
little boy, just a little girl and the dog, fuzzy Tim.
Several of the pages have flocking, so when the little girl
tries on the coat, you can actually feel the fur. "I like
to go to Grandpa's house and sit in Grandpa's chair. It's
big and fuzzy - soft and nice And I play Grandpa there."
This was from the "Fuzzy Wuzzy Series" of
books from Whitman Tell-a-Tales. Mary Phraner Warren, The Treasure
Trunk. This is a
Junior Elf book that might be the one you're
thinking about with the little girl and fur coat. A
brother and sister go through a chest in the attic. The
girl does have brown hair but I'm not sure the coat is a raccoon
coat. As for the chocolate cake picture, I remember a thin
cookbook that had a similar picture on the cover- maybe a McNess
cookbook? Eleanor Estes, The Moffats. I seem to remember a scene in either "The
Moffats" or "The Middle Moffat "
where the little girl dressed up in an old raccoon
coat. I think I read these books in the sixties.
Betty Ren Wright, Grandpa's House, 1959, copyright. Just a quick addendum
on this - in some of the pictures the little girl is wearing a
typical puffy sleeved '50's dress but in others she is wearing a
cowboy suit. With her short hair she looks somewhat
masculine in the cowboy getup so maybe if this is the right book
that is why the poster is thinking the book has both a boy and
girl visiting the grandparents.
G437: Girl with very curly hair wishes for sunflower
instead I am looking for a book I read to my daughter in the 1980s about
a little girl who had very curly hair and fought and cried with
her mother about getting it brushed. She wished her hair was a
sunflower instead. But, when she got her wish, the bees buzzed her
head and the petals fell out and it was too heavy for her. I
remember a phrase something like "Rotten, snarls! Rotten curls!"
(or maybe with the word tangles) I think it might have been mostly
a pen and ink illustration as I don't recall full-color. I also
don't remember it being a "new" book when we got it from the
library so maybe it was published in the late-70s? I would have
been reading it around 1986.
Fitschen Dale, Rotten snags! Rotten
hair!, 1975,
copyright. A little girl is tired of her snarled hair but
learns that there are things worse than tangled locks.
G438: "goony goony goony and i'll never go to bed" My mom remembers reading a book to us when we were kids, probably
in the 70s to early 80s. All she remembers of it is a quote
that goes something like this: "I'm goonie, goonie, goonie, and
I'll never go to bed!". It could have been spelled "goony"
also. G439: Green-ink young adult book, witch and tree A young adult book about a tree and a witch. I believe there is a
boy and a girl and the witch was bad/evil. My memory is a bit
fuzzy on the storyline. However, the thing that I remember
most about the book was it was printed in green rather than the
more common black ink. It was a hardback and I read it in the mid
to late 1980's although the book could have been printed earlier.
Any help in figuring out the title of the book is appreciated!
Coffin, Patricia, The Gruesome Green
Witch, 1969,
copyright. It must be this book - it's the only one I know
with the text printed in green ink! "Two schoolgirls,
Puffin and Mole, discover a magic land entered through a closet.
They have various adventures, do their homework in Merlin's
concentration cave, where answers are caught as they bounce off
walls, attend an undersea party presided over by Neptune, with
Cinderella, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy among the revellers, then
Puffin incurs the wrath of the villainous, gruesome green witch
(who turns her enemies into statues) by seeing her back, and
Puffin's brother is captured when the girls bring him into the
land so he can profit from the concentration cave. But
eventually the witch is conquered by a magic brew which Puffin
slips into her tea, and melts down into a pile of green rags."
G440: Girl with rag kidnapped by captain in alternate
world I'm trying to remember the title to a book my brother and I read
when we were young (70's). My brother remembers it was a story
about a little girl with a rag (not a rag doll but a rag). He
believes she was transported to another world where she meets a
captain who she doesn't know at first is bad but he kidnaps kids
and takes them to a place where they are used as slaves. It was,
we believe, a hardback book with a dark blue cover. G441: gryphon/griffin with old knight Solved: Sir Tobey
Jingle's Beastly Journey G442: Girl plays with doll in the sand Solved: Ukelele
and
Her New Doll G443: girl stops burglers in department store An English book from the 40's or 50's where a little girl stops
burglers in a department store by pushing the escalator
button. Her family gets a new washing up machine as a
reward. 2008 G444: Girls at Boarding School Solved: Luvvy
and the Girls G445: Generations of women and a sapphire necklace This book started out with a main character, i believe her name
was Elizabeth waiting to meet her Grandmother at a portrait
gallery and she is supposed to be writing an article. It
traces her ancestry back from a woman who falls in love with a
bandit, someone who enters a loveless marriage with a Viscount
because her true love was a clergyman, to someone on the
Titanic. The story ends up full circle with the current
woman and the introduction of her man.
Could you be thinkining of Francine Pascal's Sweet Valley Sagas
(books that 'stood alone' outside the teen series)? Either "The Wakefields of
Sweet Valley" or "The Wakefield Legacy"? The only
reasons this comes to mind is that you mentioned the
writer/granddaughter is named Elizabeth and the book covered
several generations of women. This book definitely was not the Wakefield Legacies as
mentioned. I read those too and it wasn't it.
Pulling some more from my memories; one of the women fell in
love with a convict who was banished to Australia. The other
woman was in love with a vicar but forced to marry a Viscount
against her wishes. G446: GIRL, ATTIC BEDROOM, BIRTHDAY PARTY A girl lives with her grandmother and widowed or divorced mother;
her bedroom is upstairs or in the attic and it's been remodeled,
possibly with paneling, in preparation for a birthday
party/slumber party she plans on hosting. The paneling in the
bedroom could be blue; I may be thinking of a real life classmate
who had a blue paneled bedroom. It is NOT the same book another
person posted about a blue paneled bedroom.
Catherine
Woolley, A Room for Cathy, 1956,
copyright. 4th-grader Cathy Leonard is looking forward
to having her own room in her big new house after sharing a room
with her younger sister Chris for so long. She's thrilled
with painting it yellow and at how lovely it is when
newly-furnished. She can't wait to show the room off to all
of her new friends. When her family suddenly decides they
must rent out rooms to save money, Cathy is devastated at having
to give up her room and share Chris's. She considers moving
up to the attic. G447: girl, bumps head, back in time, befriends mother Solved: Hangin'
out
with Cici G448: Girl, Lion, Tea Party Solved: When the Sun Rose G449: Girl battles for boy's attention I read this book when I was 10 or
11 years old. It is a coming of age, comical story about a
plain-looking brunette girl who tries to gain the attention of the
perfect boy at school. Her nemesis is a blonde girl who she
perceives as being "perfect." They have an ongoing
rivalry. I only remember one portion of the rivalry
described, in which the brunette girl compares the blonde's
gorgeous natural curls to the botched job she did with her
mother's curling iron before going to school. I remember
that she finally goes on a date with the boy at some point, to a
pizza parlor, and she saves the straw he drank from. I don't
know why this book resonated with me so much at the time, but I've
got to find it and see what the rest of the story is!
Betsy Haynes, Taffy Sinclair and the Romance
Machine Disaster, 1987, approximate. This
is definitely one of the Taffy Sinclair books (I remember the
straw incident which was shown on the cover) but I am not
completely sure it is this particular volume. The author is
the same for all the books though, so you should be able to find
it. G450: Grimm's fairy tales i received the book in 1948 or
1949, it was a beautiful hardbound grimms fairy tale book..most
memorable about the book were the very beautiful color
plates. i appreciate any effort you can expend to locate
this beloved book. thankyou.
The Brothers Grimm, Grimms' Fairy Tales,
1945, copyright. My Grosset & Dunlap edition has a red
cloth cover with the title in gilt on the spine. It has
beautiful color plates and small red-ink illustrations throughout
the book by Fritz Kredel. It's size is about 5.5" x 8.5". G451: Girl
sells pies during Gold Rush Girl crosses the country in a wagon
train with her family during the Gold Rush. She falls in love with
the guide but he has to take the wagon train back. Her father dies
crossing the prairies, and as the oldest, she takes care of the
other children. In California, they sing for gold and end up
making a living baking and selling pies. That's where the guide
finds her in the end. I read this a lot during the early-mid 70's,
but I'm not sure how old it was. Thanks for any help!
Cushman, Karen, The Ballad of Lucy Whipple,
1998. When California Morning Whipple's widowed mother
uproots her family from their comfortable Massachusetts environs
and moves them to a rough mining camp called Lucky Diggins in the
Sierras, California Morning resents the upheaval. Desperately
wanting to control something in her own life, she decides to be
called Lucy, and as Lucy she grows and changes in her strange and
challenging new environment. Here Karen Cushman helps the American
Gold Rush spring to colorful life. I just read this book and
thought it was funny and fabulous! To the requestor for G451:
for what age group was the book you are looking for
written? Is it a children's book, young adult, or a
romance novel? The plot actually sounds similar to "Boom Town"
by Sonia Levitin
("Young Amanda's family has survived the three-week stagecoach
trip to California and now the boisterous brood is putting down
roots near the gold fields, where Pa pans for a fortune. Eager
to make the best of their conditions, Amanda improvises with
primitive equipment to turn out pies that she can sell to the
miners. When she expands and buys more pans, she recommends to
the peddler that he set up a trading post, and the boom begins.
Soon she's suggesting that others start a laundry, a livery and
other businesses that result in a bustling town. Sparked by a
historical report of a 'young lady' who earned $11,000 selling
pies, this spunky story makes information about westward
expansion pulse with fun.") except that the dates are WAY off -
Boom Town
wasn't published until 1998. The Singing Boones. Dale
White, The Singing Boones, 1957.Dale White (a pen name for prolific writer
Marian Templeton Place) wrote this folksy, clean romance and
adventure story of a rambunctious family who traveled to Californy
in 1852, hoping to strike it big in the gold mines. But for
this family, coming West late in the Gold Rush, the real
gold turned out to be their combined voices.
Exhausted, homesick goldminers willingly paid out gold dust and
nuggets for wholesome entertainment. Yes, there's a romance
between the eldest daughter Ellen, and the scoutmaster, Jed. And,
yes, it ends very happily. It's a very nice book - but tres
expensive! G452: Girl Lost Her Red Shoe(s) Solved: It Happened to Anita G453: Girl and horse recover together Solved: Tall and Proud G454: Grizzly in Colorado Solved: Scarface: The Story of a
Grizzly G455: Girl goes to
country, searches for lost item, finds it near end of book in
trunk behind attic baseboard Sometime before I graduated in 1977
(perhaps long before) I read a book about a girl (I think a teen)
who goes to the country for some reason to live with aunts? aunt
and uncle? some older people anyway. She is somewhat
of a loner and I believe did not want to be there. I do not
remember why she was sent or goes to the country to live.
She does make friends with a young boy about her age. I
believe there may have been another girl she made friends with
also. At the same time there is a dual story line about
something that has been lost or misplaced at the house.
Whatever it is they are looking for is found near the end of the
book in a trunk hidden behind the baseboard of an attic
wall. I do not remember what was in the trunk, but I think
it may have been a doll of some sort, maybe china. It could
have been china dishes or a special necklace or something
precious. Whatever it was she was glad to have found it and
the older people were too. I have a vague recollection the
book was hardcover and had a girl on the front with a tree
also. I don't remember the name of the book, but think that
maybe "attic" was in the name because I do remember thinking while
I was reading the book that they were going to find it in the
attic. There are no ghosts, dolls coming alive, time
traveling or anything like that in the book.
Margaret Sutton or Carolyn Keene. Hi, I know this is vague, but perhaps enough
information. Some of the details given in stumper #455
match one of the Judy Bolton mystery series stories, although I
don't remember which one. The books were by Margaret
Sutton. Also, those old Nancy Drew mysteries by Carolyn
Keene seemed to be full of mysterious things hidden up in attics! This book is The Wonderful
Fashion doll by Laura
Bannon. Debby and her mother go to live on a farm that
has been in the family for generations, and Debby discovers a
letter from her Great-great-great grandmother, Deborah,
regarding a doll that she treasures so much that she hides it at
night. Deborah eventually goes away to England, and Debby
wonders if the doll might still be hidden somewhere in the old
house. She befriends a young neighbor boy, and together
they explore, looking in the trunk of an old tree among other
places. Eventually the doll is found in the
baseboard in the attic. Dorothy Canfield Fisher, Understood
Betsy, 1917, approximate. The going to the
country part sounds like Understood Betsy, but I think
the treasure found at the end were some missing
kittens...obviously not lost for very long! Still, it
might be worth checking. Norma Kassirer, Magic
Elizabeth. This sounds like it could
be MAGIC
ELIZABETH, a popular request/inquiry. Check
the solved
stumpers page. I found and reread this one
myself recently. Sarah has to stay with great-aunt
Sarah in an old Victorian while her parents are away. She
befriends a little blond girl who lives in the apt. building
next door. Sarah dreams about a doll who went missing
years ago, belonging to another Sarah who used to live in
the house. There is an old chest of period clothes and
doll clothes in the attic. The doll is eventually
found tucked down under the eaves of the attic where a
mischevious cat hid it many years before. Norma Kassirer, Magic Elizabeth.
Sally
has
to stay with her Aunt Sarah while her parents are
away. She sees a painting of an old-fashioned girl
and doll and dreams about them. She finally finds
the doll hidden in the attic and discovers the girl in the
painting is her Aunt Sarah. This book is The
Wonderful Fashion Doll by Laura Bannon.
It's about a girl named Debby who goes to live in a
farmhouse that has been in her family for
generations. Her great, great, great
grandmother had written a letter to a cousin
describing how she had hidden her doll in the house, and
when Debby finds the letter, she tries to find the
doll's hiding place. She meets a boy who lives
nearby, and becomes friends with him, and they spend a
lot of time playing in a hollowed out tree.
Debby finally finds the doll behind the baseboard in the
attic of the house. Thank you so much for the
responses to my enquiry about this book. I'm
certain that it is not a Carolyn Keene (Nancy Drew)
book and I found a site that has synopses of all of
the Margaret Sutton books. None of them seemed
to be the book. I'm fairly certain it is
not Understood
Betsy although that sounds like an adorable
book. It could possibly be Magic Elizabeth,
but the apartment building part makes it seem
unlikely as I am certain it was in the country,
although I do think I may have to find that book
also as it sounds very sweet. I did read all
(and I do mean ALL) of the solved books entries
before making my enquiry. I discounted The Wonderful Fashion
Doll because one line described it as a
"Barbie type doll" which made me think that wasn't
the book. It was defnitely not a "Barbie"
doll. However, this description makes me
wonder if that poster simply meant it was not a
"baby" doll and simply a doll shaped like an
adult. I will see if I can find The Wonderful Fashion
Doll and see if that it is the book.
Thank you all again so much for your help! Calhoun, Mary, Katie John series.
a long shot, but you might want to check the Katie
John books. Not many of the clues match, but it is
worth a look. G456: Going to bed
"an hour earlier every night" Solved: Genevieve Goes to Bed Early G457: Girl With Separated
Parents New York Girl??? '40's
juvenile book. This book was described by an older
friend who read it in her youth, it is about a girl/young lady
whose parents have separated or divorced and an interfering
relative? In the end the parents reconcile and all is well. The
story sound too sophisticated for the midwest, probably set in a
city like New York in the late 40's early 50's.
L. M. Montgomery, Jane of Lantern Hill.
One
of the "other" books by the author of Anne of Green Gables.
Jane lives in a city in Canada with her mother at her wealthy
grandmother's house and doesn't know her father or anything about
him. The grandmother was the one who meddled and ruined the
marriage. Eventually, Jane meets her father and goes to stay
with him in the East. At the beginning of the book Jane tore
a picture of a man out of a magazine because the man looked like
someone she would like to have as a father; it turns out that the
picture was in fact of her father. (I'm being a little fuzzy
on details because it's been quite a few years since I read this). L. M. Montgomery, Jane
of Lantern Hill. (Resubmitting because I
just noticed the message about missing updates) This is by the
author of the Anne of Green Gables books. Jane lives with
her mother and grandmother in a city in Canada, and knows
nothing about her father. She finds a picture of a man in
a magazine and thinks she would like to have a father like him;
turns out it *is* her father. She gets to go and visit him
in his home by the ocean, and loves him. It was her
grandmother who caused trouble in the marriage. G458: German Gerry English boarding school girl named
Geraldine is tormented for having a German name. The other
students call her "German Gerry" (Gerrie?)
Christine Chaundler, Just
Gerry. Just Gerry. I don't think this is the right book
although the title seems right. When I researched the
book, it seemed to be about an Asian child. The girl I
remember was an English girl at boarding school. Of
course, the Ebay seller could have made a mistake. Any
more ideas? Thanks. Been looking for years! G459: Grandmother vs. Hipster family Solved: Mirror of Danger G460: girl goes for
walk with grandpa and gets chased up tree by bull Solved: Ultra-Violet Catastrophe G461: Girl taken
aboard ship, helps find Captain's twin brother Solved: American Dreams Series (Into the Wind, Song of the
Sea, Weather the Storm) G462: girl and boy
become friends, he is killed in woods Solved: Autumn Street G463: Girl Substitutes Cabbage/Lettuce for
Moon Solved: Cabbage Moon G464: Girl
lives in wilderness cabin with family not her own Solved: Song of the Voyageur G465: girl
and human race live in cars I think this book is from the
1970's and the only things i remember are as follows: its a story
about a girl who questions the fact that the entire human race
cannot walk, but they all "drive" in their own individual "cars".
as the story progresses, the girl realizes that all she has to do
is get out of the car and move her legs and can walk on her own. i
thought it was called the endless sidewalk, but i cannot find
anything with that name and think i am confusing it with the
sidewalk never ends which is not the same book it is driving me
crazy!
Jaqueline Jackson, The Endless Pavement. Josette wants to find out
what it's like beyond the endless pavement and decides to get out
of her personal car. Jackson, Jacqueline, The
Endless Pavement, 1973, copyright.
"Living in a time when people are the servants of automobiles
and ruled by the master auto of the planet, Josette longs to
leave her rollabout and try her legs." G466: girl who sees mother in magic mirror an old book about a lonely girl who
lives with a woman (maybe a foster or step mother or something,
but she's mean) and looks into a mirror and sees her mother and
talks to her.
Bennett, Anna Elizabeth, Little Witch.
Sounds
like Little
Witch. See Solved
Mysteries for description. Little Witch. Sounds
like Little
Witch to me! Anna Elizabeth Bennett, Little Witch,
1953, copyright. If the girl is living with a wicked
witch, and the mother in the mirror turns out to be a fairy,
trapped by the witch, then this is proably the one you are
looking for. See Solved
Mysteries for additional details - this is a popular
book, and has been asked about many times. Traditional, Mother
in the Mirror / The Mirror of Matsuyama.
This is a long shot, but your description reminded me of a
traditional Japanese story you can probably find online,
about a girl who thought her dead mother contacted her
through a mirror. This story is related to Shinto tradition
in which a mirror holds the image of the goddess that
created everything. G467: girl in hospital names paper doll Mia Solved: Bettina's Secret G468: Girls uses dolls to send messages I'm looking for a book for a patron
possibly set during World War 2. It was read to her as a
child. It is about two girls who are friends and they use
dolls to send messages.
Carol Ryrie Brink, Two are better than one. Could this one be the same
as F309? There is less information given, but the girls, Cordy and
Chrystal, do send their dolls to each other with the next chapter
of the story they are writing. Wouldn't have thought of it if I
hadn't just answered F309! G469: Girl tries to save baby owls I think this book was published in
the late 60's or the 70's. I believe the girl, and possibly
her brother, were visiting their grandparents. They find a
nest of owls. Unsure why, maybe logging, but the owls are in
danger and the kids decide to move them. The mother owl
attacks the girl when she is taking the owlets out of the
tree. Thank you for your help.
Bertha Crow, Hootlet Home, 1964, copyright. A long
shot, but might be worth a look. A little owlet falls from
the nest and is found by a little girl named Pansey. As it grows
up she finds the best place for her pet is back in the wild where
it came from. Lovely pictures of owlets and the grown horned owls. A.C. Stewart, Ossian
House, 1974, copyright. This isn't an
exact match, but in Ossian House, John visits his grandfather in
the highlands of Scotland and meets his cousins and a local
girl, Catriona. There is an owl's nest that the other
children are protecting, but John takes one egg out before he
realizes the situation, and then climbs the tall tree again to
put it back. The owl shows up and seems to be attacking
him (he falls out of the tree). After that he and Catriona keep
an eye out to see if the eggs will all hatch, and climb nearby
trees to look into the nest. The story also contains a lot
of historical information about the 17th-century Covenanters,
who fought religious wars in Scotland. Jean Craighead George, There's An Owl in the Shower, 1995,
copyright. I haven't read this since I was in elementary
school myself, but it seems like it fits: the children live in
a logging community, and know that the owlets face danger from
logging, and try to save them. I don't know if the mother
attacks them in this book, but the author has written about
birds of prey in other books, and it's happened there (in My
Side of the Mountain, for instance, a boy steals a young
falcon and his mother attacks him), so I wouldn't be surprised
if it happened in this book, too. G470: Girl
loses doll, eventually finds her in jar of jelly My mom talks about this book being
read to her as a little girl in the 1950s. She remembers the
cover was a pinkish color.
Phyllis Mc Ginley, Helen
Stone (illus), The Most
Wonderful Doll in the World, 1950, copyright. I don't
know about the jar of jelly, but when I search on "lost doll"
books from the fifties, this one keeps popping up, and there is an
edition with a reddish/pinkish cover. There is also an edition
with a green cover, and there is a dust jacket with a full-color
picture surrounded by a green border. "The classic tale
about imaginative Dulcy and her beloved doll Angela, who Dulcy
loses soon after she get her. When Dulcy finds Angela, she's not
at all like the doll Dulcy remembers, but that won't stop Dulcy
from hoping to find the doll of her dreams." Cover illustration is
the little girl (in a 40's-style polka-dot dress, complete with
pinafore and big hair bow) taking a doll out of a box, with two
additional dolls lying on the floor in front of her. Johanna Johnston, Sugarplum.
This
is
most definitely "Sugarplum". The doll getting lost in the
jar of jelly is a classic part of this book. It is
remembered fondly by many and somewhat pricy because of
this. There is a sequel, "Sugarplum and Snowball". Johanna Johnston, Sugarplum.
I'm
pretty
sure the book where the doll is locked in a jelly jar is Sugarplum.
Brace
yourself; it's expensive! Johanna Johnson, Sugarplum.
Might
be
the one, see solved stumpers... Sugarplum.
The
cover has her peering out of the jelly jar. G471: Girl
raised by aunt after mother dies Solved: Up a Road Slowly G472: Ghost
helps girl hide underground from fiance Young girl on family land hiding
from her fiance who is working on the land, she goes into some
underground tunnels and ends up getting locked in. In
complete darkness she lives down there for a long time with the
aid of a ghost "Jackie" (i think that's the name) who may be
some friend of the family who passed on. Later she gets out
to find out her fiance married her sister and she cons him into
going underground where he meets his demise...? G473: Greedy
pig gets stuck in hole of sty A big, thick, yellow with green
dots book. A collection of children's stories, one of which was
about a greedy pig who kept sneaking out a hole in the back of his
sty to eat acorns. One day he ate so many that he couldn't fit
back through the hole and got stuck. The farmer found him hanging
out the hole. The illustration on the front of the book was on a
white background and was of the greedy pig's rear end sticking out
the hole in the sty. I believe there was also a story about a
green cat in it too. It was during the 80's that I owned this
book, so I imagine it was published in the 70's, but not sure.
Arnold
Lobel, Small Pig, 1969. This doesn't match your description
exactly, but Small Pig is about a pig who loves to eat and sink
himself into mud puddles. After the farmer's wife vacuums up his
mud puddle, Small Pig escapes to the city. He mistakes wet
concrete for mud and gets stuck in it, then is rescued and returns
to his mud at the farm. The original illustrations are mostly
green/brown/blue. This story is in several anthologies of
children's books. G474: Girl, YA, ranch, horse, actor, film
movie Solved: The Luck of Texas McCoy G475: Girl finds spellbook in attic I'm looking for a book published in
the 1970's about a young girl who finds an old spellbook in a
turret / round attic room. I think she has or finds a bird (a
crow?) and a black cat as well. She reads the spellbook and starts
learning the spells secretly in this attic room. I loved this book
as a child and would love to get my hands on a copy. Based
on the descriptions I read on your site, I don't think it's the
Little Witch book.
E. W. Hildik, Active Enzyme Lemon-Freshened
Junior High School Witch. Allison finds an old book of
spells, and teaches herself witchcraft. At some point she pulls in
her sister and tries to form a coven. E. W. Hildick, The
Active-Enzyme, Lemon-Freshened Junior High School Witch.
This might be the book. Allison does find an old spell
book, and I'm remembering an attic. The title comes from
the fact that Allison has a tendency to substitute ingredients
for the spells. G476: Girl
never gets older I�m looking for a book that I read
when I was a kid, but I can�t remember the title or author of it,
and I was wondering if anyone could help me. I�m sure I read
it before the year 2000, so it had to have been published before
then, but I suspect it was published at least a decade or two
earlier. Here�s what I remember of it, although the details
are a bit fuzzy. The book begins with a girl and her
mom. I believe that the dad was not present in the
story. I think that he had died, although it could have been
a divorce. The girl and her mom are driving around on a
snowy day and run into another girl. They end up bringing
her home with them. Throughout the course of the story, they
find out that this girl saw her family die when her house burned
down many, many years ago. Since that time, she has never
gotten any older, and she still has a burn on her leg from the
fire, as fresh as the day she got it. She can go back and
relive those memories of the fire, and I believe that she somehow
takes the girl she�s staying with and possibly the girl�s
boyfriend back into the memories with her. I don�t remember
the ending well but I believe she has to work through these
memories somehow.
This sounds a little
like a Lois Duncan
book...but searching through the descriptions of her titles, I
can't find the right one. Maybe this will help though. Lois Duncan, Lost in
Time, 1986. This
sounded familiar to me when I read the stumper although it is a
long time since I read the book and I don't have a copy to
verify the details - I recall that the book was about a girl
whose father had remarried - his new wife has 2 children (girl
& boy) - I seem to rememebr that it was they who did not
age, and there was something to do with their home having been
burned down years before. I think it was set in Louisiana, if
that helps! Locked in Time
isn't it, and I can't find another Lois Duncan book that
seems right. Thanks for your help though! I
think the book I'm looking for would be for slightly younger
readers. It would have been perfectly acceptable for a
5th or 6th grader to read. Here are a few other random
scenes I remember in case they help anyone remember.
In one, the girl who never gets older talks about having to
move from place to place every few years so no one will
start to question why a young girl never appears to
age. She has to change the style of her clothing the
way she acts, etc. as she stays the same but everything
around her changes. The other scene I remember is
really random, but I'll put it out there just in case it
jogs any memories. The normal girl and her boyfriend
are getting ready to go back into the memory, and the
(relatively new) boyfriend is giving her a back massage to
try to relax her, and she is very embarrassed about the fact
that he might feel her bra strap through the back of her
shirt. And the book might begin with the girl looking
out her bedroom window on a snowy day. I don't know
why I remember that, but I would really love to find this
book, so anything that might help... The child who
never gets older having to move around and be a bit
clandestine so not to have people get suspicious is (oh,
you're going to love hearing this) in several stories, one
I'm sure is by Ray
Bradbury and I can't think of the name of it -- the
other is Jeffty is Five by Harlan Ellison, but
that's about a boy. And I believe there is at least one
more. The Bradbury story is "Hail and
Farewell"-it's in "S is for Space" for
one. I have no idea what the requester's book is,
though.
Kathryn Reiss, Pale Phoenix.This is the right book,
no doubt about it!
G477: Girl makes friends with witch who was
left by family turns into turtle A girl becomes friends with a witch
who was left in a deserted house nearby. Goes home with the girl,
takes the form of maybe a turtle? Goes to school with her and
helps with her daily struggles (mean kids, test). Maybe the
witch/turtle name is Merlin?? It maybe also could be Max??? Not
sure though. In the end the witch's family comes back and
takes her with them. Read this back in early 80's. Have googled
nonstop!! Can't find the name of it!! It is a small chapter book,
probbaly considered juvenile. Thanks for any help!!
Florence Laughlin, Sheila
Greenwald (illus), The Little
Leftover Witch, 1960, copyright. Ok, so this is a total
longshot, but it might be worth a look: When her broomstick breaks
on Halloween, little Felina is stranded in the "human world" for a
year, until her witch family can return for her the following
Halloween. She is found in a tree by Lucinda Doon, a human girl
her own age, and Lucinda's family takes her in. At first, Felina
is naughty and troublesome - what one would expect from a young
witch - but through love and patience, the family is able to
transform her into a normal little girl. Multiple reprints. The weirdest thing: just as I
posted this solution, I realized that Harriett had placed a copy
of The
Little Leftover Witch right next to the computer for me
to post as available to buy. How did she know?? :)
(She tells me this book comes up often, and is already on the
Solved pages, but still -- weirdest coincidence!) I don't think this sounds
like The Little Leftover
Witch at all--the little witch's name is Felina, she
moves in with the Doon family, there's nothing in it about
turtles, and in the end they adopt her (she doesn't return to
the other witches). You might want to leave it open for
other suggestions? We don't consider this one
solved yet, we just post related books for sale to let
everyone know that these are available for purchase. Just in case the posted
answer isn't right (I love THE LITTLE LEFTOVER WITCH, but I can't
remember a turtle in it) try this: GENIE AND
THE WITCH'S SPELL by Alice Low, 1982. The witch's name is
Merlina, and Genie and Merlina help each other with the
troubles they are having in school. I've been trying
to inter-library loan a copy to confirm it, but haven't
received it yet.~from a librarian Alice Low, Genie and the Witch's
Spells, 1982, copyright. I
haven't read it, but I think "Genie and the Witch's
Spells" by Alice
Low is a likely choice. Some additional plot
information: "Genie has a hard time with her school work
until she and Merlina, a witch who has trouble learning
her spells, enter into a partnership to help one
another. Failing math, science, and history, Genie
agrees to tutor the witch-girl, Merlina, in exchange for
some quick-learning magic spells that turn Genie into an
overnight whiz-kid."
Laughlin, Florence. The Little Leftover Witch.
Illustrated by
Sheila Greenwald. Macmillan, 1960. Hardover
with protected dj. F/VG. $75.
G478: girls
who are friends - one rips the dress of the other Solved: Ellen
Tebbits G479: girl in 1930's or 1940's living with
aunts - book concerns a dress Book from the 1980's, I think,
concerning a girl who goes to stay with her aunt/s. They are
very austere and dress her plainly, but she has a cousin or second
cousin who is very pretty with blonde curly hair and lots of nice
clothes. The girl is jealous of her cousin. She
somehow ends up with a "couture" dress, which doesn't really suit
her (although the cousin says it's a pretty dress), and at the end
of the book she has a dress made by her aunt which really suits
her (I remember the cousin said something like "you look pretty"
rather than "the dress is pretty" and that was significant).
The main character may be called Adelaide or something like that.
Berthe Amoss, Secret Lives, 1981, approximate. I'm
pretty sure this is the book you are looking for. The main
character is a girl named Adelaide Aspasie Agnew (Addie for short)
and she lives in 1937 New Orleans with her two elderly aunts. The
main plot of the book is her trying to find out about her mother's
life and how she really died. Her aunt makes over one of her
mother's old dresses for her to wear to dancing school, but it
looks terrible on her ("It's a Lily Dior!") At the end of the
book, her aunt makes her a pretty dress to wear. This is one of my
all-time favorite books! G480: Ghost story Solved: Jane-Emily G481: Girl moves to farmhouse, aunt's house
changes number I remember only a few details about
this book. It was read to my class in elementary school in
1968-69. I believe it was by a Tennessee author, set in the
1920s to 1950s. All I remember is that it was about a young
girl who moved to an old farmhouse with her family. She
picked a bunch of daffodils for the kitchen table. Her
bedroom was in an attic-like space with a chimney rising up from
floor to ceiling. In this chimney she discovered a loose brick
which she was able to remove and use the space inside to hide her
personal treasures. In addition, I remember a later part of
the book where the girl must go to the city and stay with an
aunt. For some reason, the aunt's house number must be
changed from 112 to 113. This causes major trauma.
These are the only details I remember. Thanks for your help.
Frances Fitzparick Wright, The Secret of the Old Sampey Place, 1946, copyright. One of my
favorites! This was the first book of a 5-book series about
Judy Jemison: Surprise at
Sampey Place, Number 11 Poplar Street, Poplar Street Park,
Daybreak at Sampey Place. Judy starts out as a
10-yr. old when her family (sometime in early 1900's?) moves into
a farmhouse left to them by her Great-uncle Eben. In her
attic bedroom, Judy discovers a jewelry box and old letters behind
a loose brick in the chimney, a discovery which leads to her
family holding onto the farm forever. Later books involve
Judy's growing closeness to her wealthy Great-aunt Maria who lives
in a town 40 miles away. The Poplar books are about Judy's
long visits with her. I think these books were loosely-based
on the author's own childhood. I loved reading them as a for
their realistic detail about farm children's work and play, and
their family bonds. On some online book sites, this series has
been described as "Christian" but they're not overtly religious at
all. G482: Ghost siblings afraid of people, hide
in their house Solved: What the Wind Told G483: Girl's doll stolen, returned Resub of G206. Girl has new doll,
shows it off to her friends. Doll is stolen - poor girl suspected.
Doll later returned. Girl gives doll to poor girl - possibly
anonymous xmas gift? 1970's or older, few pictures - maybe some
line drawings? Poss. blue cover? I don't think it was in an
anthology.
Is this book called A Doll For Gina? Solved: The Christmas Heart G484: Girl,
maple tree, cousins farm Solved: Understood Betsy G485: Grumpy
little girl Solved: Lisa and the Grompet G486: Girl Presumed Drowned Solved: The Color of Hope G487: Ghost
cat plays with real cat brother sister at Aunt's house mystery I read this mystery
1976-1980. Sister and brother go to stay with their Aunt and
Uncle, maybe in England? Pet cat (maybe orange) is
always playing with what turns out to be a cat ghost.
Possibly some child spirits involved. Huge key to solving mystery
is that Old English "s" was written as "f".
Beagle, Peter S., Tamsin, 1999. Could it be Tamsin?
This
is a much later book, but the cats are correct, and if memory
serves, so is the s/f issue. Gallico? This is a long shot, but could it
be one of Paul Gallico's
cat stories? He wrote books about cats, and he also wrote
some mysteries, therefore, ...? Just read the comments on my stumper and both are
definitely not the answers. Tamsin-definitely
published too late. The cat/ghost cat was not really
the focus of the story, just what made the kids realize
there were ghosts present. The story wasn't so much
about cats, they were just how the kids got involved in the
mystery. It was more about making something in the past
right by clearing someone's name. G488: Girl catches leeches with legs to buy
Dickens book Solved: An Australian Childhood G489: Girl from Canada, pet rat Rosemary This book is for adolescent ages. A
girl has a pet rat named Rosemary. She is from Canada and some of
the other kids call her "Canuk" (slang for Cananda") & pea
soup and johnny cake. I may be combining 2 stories. I read it in
the late 1960's or early 70's. Thanks! :-)
Kid
Sister? See
Solved Mysteries. G490: Girl's stepmother paints bedroom pink The book I'm looking for was my
mothers, but I adored it. I would guess somewhere 50's-70's
it was written. It's about a girl (who I think is called
Cathy) who's mother has died and her father has remarried a lady
named Barbara who is really nice, but the girl has issues.
Parts I remember are that the girl has a room she would love to
redecorate, it's faded yellow with bluebirds on the paper.
Barbara throws her a birthday party, and as a surprise, paints the
girls bedroom pink. If you could help, that would be
awesome!
Nancy W. Faber, Cathy at the Crossroads, 1962. I loved this book
too. IIRC, there's a subplot involving a boy at school
(Jonny?); Cathy likes him and is embarrassed to play opposite him
in a class program about Miles Standish. "Why don't you
speak for yourself, John?" is her big line, which her stepmother
helps her practice. (The sequel, Cathy's Secret Kingdom, is on the Solved
Mysteries page -- if I hadn't stumbled on it there a while ago I'd
still be trying to identify this book myself! :) ) G491: Girl, messy room Solved: The Big Tidy-Up G492: Girl
growing up in tsarist Russia Solved: Anna G493: Girl in bed, counting sheep, poodle Solved: Susi: A Little Girl Who had a Wonderful
Birthday Party G494: Girl
visits relative in Florida and solves mystery I read this book in the 70's about
a young girl who goes to visit either her Grandmother or Aunt who
owns a little pink hotel in Florida and she solves a mystery. I
believe it was called something like Calypso Motel and it had a
pink cover. Not The Pink Motel book.
Hooker, Ruth, The Pelican Mystery, 1977, copyright. Patti &
Grant come to stay at a beachside motel in Seashell Key, Florida
as their mother is recoving from a long illness. While there they
help the owner's daughter find her lost pet pelican and stumble
upon a mystery the police have been trying to solve for years. This sounds close but the little girl came to Florida
alone. Keep them coming!! Mildred Lawrence, Sand in Her Shoes, 1966, reprint. Could it
be Sand
in Her Shoes by Mildred
Lawrence? I can't remember the details, but I know my
sister and I loved this book and got it confused with The Pink Hotel when we
were looking for it years ago. Mildred Lawrence also wrote Peachtree Island and Indigo Magic, some other
childhood favorites. Lillian
Pohlmann, Calypso Holiday, 1959. This
book
has
a
pink cover and the cover picture is a yellow carriage with two
children in it behind a driver.It is
about a girl named Gay Carter who goes to visit her Aunt Clara in
Nassau for the summer. She and her friends helps her uncle look
for gold treasure. G495: Girl
steals pink glass elephant Gillan or Gillian. Scholastic
book from the 60s or 70s. About a little girl from Sweden, I
think. It was translated from another language. The girl's mother
(a widow or divorcee) had started dating again, a man the girl
didn't like. The girl stole a pink glass elephant to give
her mother.
I'm afraid this might
not be too helpful, but I'm sure I read this back in jr. high, and
for some reason I've always thought the book title was the girl's
first name. Of course, I also thought it was Lilith (or something
similar, like Lily or Lillian) - but now that I'm trying to look
it up, I can't seem to find anything promising under those names. Gunilla B. Norris, Lillan.
This
is
definitely
the
book. Your memories about the name made me think of
it. There's a lot of info about it in the solved mysteries
section but basically it's about a little girl named Lillan
whose parents are divorced and how she deals with it.
There is a part where she pockets a small pink elephant that she
desperately wants to give her mother but she returns it.
It's Lillan, not Lillian (no second i), that's why you couldn't
find it in a computer search. Norris, Gunilla Brodde, Lillan, 1968, copyright.
Looks like this must be the one: "During the year following
her parents' divorce, a sense of financial and emotional
security gradually returns to a ten-year-old Swedish girl as
she learns to accept her mother's new beau." Gunilla B. Norris,
either Lillan
OR Lillian
(Looking this up on a used book site, I see the title
spelled both ways.) Published by Scholastic, New York,
1970. "It's not the end of the world!" Lillan's mother
says. But it seems that way to Lillan. Papa has left them,
and everything is so changed." Another
description: "During the year following her parents'
divorce, a sense of financial and emotional security
gradually returns to a ten-year-old Swedish girl as she
learns to accept her mother's new beau." G496: Green
book, short stories Solved: Everyday Story Book G497: Girl finds boy prisoner in catacombs,
set in early times This is a book my sister read in
the early 1990s from the library, a very old copy. She thinks it
was set in the early centuries a.d. All she remembers is a
girl/teenager, possibly of royalty or higher class, who found a
boy being held prisoner in the catacombs, and sets out to free
him.
Le Guin, Ursula, The Tombs of Atuan. This is a possibility. There
are some good descriptions on the solved mystery page. LeGuin, Ursula, Tombs
of Atuan. You will no doubt get dozens
of responses to this Stumper. Arha, a
priestess-in-training, discovers that Sparrowhawk, a mage, has
become lost in the sacred catacombs of Atuan. With his
help, she learns the truth of her religion, and decides to free
him. The previous book in the series is "Wizard of Earthsea," and
the 3rd book is "The Farthest
Shore." Both of those books focus on
Sparrowhawk. There are also a few sequels beyond "Farthest Shore." Le Guin, Ursula K., The Tombs of Atuan, 1971. The
details MIGHT fit "The Tombs of Atuan", the middle book in the
Earthsea
trilogy. It was set in a fantasy world with wizards, not
"a long time ago", but the fantasy world was sort of primitive
and might have just seemed like a historic setting. (It's easy
to check online and see if this is the right book, since it
has its own Wikipedia entry.) Lloyd Alexander, The Book of Three,
1964, copyright. This book seems to fit the
criteria. Princess Eilonwy finds Taran the assistant
pig-keeper in the catacombs of Spiral Castle. G498: Grandmother makes several dresses
from same material Little girl lives with grandmother
who takes in laundry. Very poor. Kids at school tease her so
grandmother makes several dresses from the same material. I think
there's something about a Chinaberry tree too. It's not "The
Hundred Dresses." Read in late 50's.
Rachel Field, Polly Patchwork.You
may be mixing up two stories or misremembering this one.
There's a chinaberry tree in Polly Patchwork, where the
grandmother makes Polly a dress out of a patchwork quilt. There
was only one dress in this one. G499: Girl
runs away, lives in woods, obsessed with human skeleton SOLVED: Jean Renvoiz�, A wild thing. G500: GIRL TRIES QUEENSHIP BECOMES GARDENER Solved: The Half-Brothers G501: Girl's mom diagnosed with cancer The book I am looking for is one
that I had in the laster 1980's. It is about a girl whose
Mom is diagnosed with cancer. She is into gymnastics I
believe or it could be ballet and her Mom dies I believe like
Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. I believe it was published
by Scholastic but am not sure.
Patricia Hermes, You Shouldn't Have to Say Goodbye. "Hearing the unbearable news
that her mother is dying of cancer, thirteen-year-old Sarah Morrow
throws herself into her gymnastics and tries to forget the
situation until she and her father can come to terms with their
impending loss." G502: Girl
with one dress kidnapped by witch Story was about a little girl who
only had one dress for school so she had to wash it every
night. Somehow, she ended up living with (or was kidnapped
by) a witch. She kept seeing something out of the corner of her
eye. She figured out somehow to say "I Love You" and then her
family appeared.
Anna Elizabeth Bennett, Little Witch, 1953, copyright. Little Witch
again, as seen on the Solved Mysteries pages. Little Minx is
forbidden to bathe or go to school, and when she stares into the
mirror she frequently thinks she sees someone out of the corner of
her eye that she is just not quick enough to see. When she decides
to enroll in school, the nice teacher instructs her to bathe and
wash her only dress before she returns the next day. You might be describing two
different stories. I recall a Joan
Aiken story about a girl with one dress: it was rather
tight and she was afraid she was tear it, so she washed it while
she wore it, and hung herself up to dry, where she was
discovered by a friendly witch. The other half sounds like
Little
Witch, by Anna Bennet.
The little girl had been kidnapped by a witch, and got her
mother back by saying "I love you" to her reflection in the
witch's mirror. Bennett, Anna Elizabeth, Little Witch. See Solved
mysteries. Anna Elizabeth Bennett, Little Witch.
Definitely
this
one.
See
solved mysteries for more details. Little
Witch by the late Anna Elizabeth Bennett. See Solved
Mysteries. Bennet, Anna, Little Witch,
1953, copyright. I think the book you are looking
for is Little Witch. Check the Solved
Mysteries section. Anna Elizabeth Bennett, Little Witch.
details match almost exactly. Anna Elizabeth Bennett,
Little Witch. It sounds a bit like "Little
Witch"-Minx, Madame Snickasnee the Witch's
daughter, secretly goes to school during the day
while the witch is asleep. At night she gets
ready for school, and sometimes has her school
friends over, while the witch is making her
'rounds'. She is not actually the witch's daughter
but the daughter of a fairy whose faint image
appears in the mirror to Minx (she just catches
glimpses of her). I don't remember if she
washed the dress every night-but she goes home with
a friend from school and the friend's mother gives
her the first bath she'd ever had, changing the
water several times till it quit going black from
the dirt. Anna Elizabeth
Bennet, Little
Witch. If this is "Little
Witch", it's on the solved pages. Minikin hates
being a witch's child. She's really the daughter
of a fairy who was enchanted into a mirror by the
same witch who pretends to be her mother. She
keeps seeing her real mother in the mirror and in
the end frees her from the enchantment by saying,
"I love you". Anna Elizabeth
Bennett, Little
Witch, 1953, copyright. G503: Ghost and mouse in the attic Solved: Gus Was a Friendly Ghost G504: Girl sent to live with cousins on farm
Solved: They Loved to Laugh G505: Girl raised in complex away from people This has been driving me crazy . .
. A girl raised in some
sort of complex away from other people, or maybe just boys, I
can't remember, and then she meets a boy and sees him on a
security screen like thing and ends up running away with him. It's
very fuzzy, and I read it maybe 10 years ago.
Michael Frayn, A Very Private Life. This book contains a similar
episode where a girl from an isolated community sees a man on a
screen and goes in search of him. If the heroine's name is
Uncumber, this is the one! Ruth Rendell, The
Crocodile Bird. Possibly this one?
Liza's mother deliberately raises her in isolation, but she
makes friends with the garden help and ends up running away with
him. (Not a children's book.) Pamela Sargent, Alien
Child, 1988, copyright. This is a
science fiction book. A girl is raised in isolation by a
furry, cat-like but sentient alien. She discovers, by seeing
him on a screen, a boy (blond, with a Scandinavian name like
Sven) also in the complex, raised by another alien. They learn
they were originally frozen embryos thawed by the aliens. At
the end of the book the boy and girl leave the complex intent
on finding other people and they want to eventually return to
thaw more embryos and raise more humans. Keith Roberts, Molly Zero,
1980, copyright. Since you said memory was fuzzy --
MOLLY ZERO does involve a girl in a strict near-future
communal indoctrination school sort of thing who runs away
with a boy from that school (both boys and girls attend the
school but generally do not mix). I don't recall
anything about her meeting him via security screen
however. (And this is only the first quarter or so of
the novel, which goes on to describe their mostly-unpleasent
adventues on the run in dystopian near-future England.) G506: Girl sent to relatives with note pinned to her This book is from the mid-1960s to
early 1970s. It is about a little girl, approximately 9 years old.
She lives in the city, and due to some family problems, she is
sent to live with some relatives with a note pinned to her person.
The note is torn during travel, and the part that the little girl
[rest left out].
Joan G Robinson, Charley, 1969. a.k.a The girl who ran
away. Doesn't something similar to this happen in Charley -
she is sent to live with one aunt but something happens and her
aunt puts her on the bus or train to the other aunt with a
note. Something happens to the note and she only reads part
of it about her aunt not wanting her - but she misreads the
intention behind it? Robinson, Joan G., Charley.
Charley's parents are away overseas and her Aunt Emm is looking
after Charley and her brothers. Charley doesn't get on
well with her aunt. One brother is going away on holiday,
and the other, who has been ill, is invited to the seaside along
with her aunt. Charley is sent to stay with her other Aunt
Louie. When she goes to catch the coach to Aunt Louie's
house, Aunt Emm realises Charley doesn't have a label for the
luggage - she tears Aunt Louie's address off a letter and gives
it to Charley. Charley reads the following text on the
back of the scrap of paper "I don't want Charley. You know
that. It's the work. Really I've got my hands full
already. If it could" Charley thinks that Aunt Louie
doesn't want her and runs away instead of going to her house -
living in the woods for a week. G507: Girl has a secret life under a willow
tree This is either a picture book or a children's book about a
girl who has a sort of secret fort under the low hanging branches
of a willow tree in her yard: she has tea parties there and
various other activities. I read this as a child in
the mid-sixties.
Shirley Hughes, Sally's Secret, 1976, approximate. Sally
and her friend Rose have a teaparty in Sally's garden hidey hole
after her cubby house indoors is tidied away. They dress up for a
high tea party and are visited by a cat, bird and ladybug. Norma Kassirer, Magic
Elizabeth. This is such a long shot
because the book is so much more than the tea parties that "old"
Sally had under the tree with her "friends", but I thought I
would suggest it anyway. Sally goes to stay with her
strict Aunt Sarah. She learns the story of another Sally
who lost a precious doll one Christmas Eve, long ago. Sally
begins to hunt for the doll in the attic and "travels" back in
time to remember the other Sally. Several of the memories center
around playtimes under a willow tree. No the book is not Sally�s
Secret but thanks for the guess. The girl in
my book is alone under the willow branches which droop all
the way to the ground and hide her. She takes refuge
under the tree for reasons that I don�t remember. I am
now sure that this is a picture book. It must be from
the 1960�s. Patricia Lee Gauch, Christina Katerina and the
Box.
This could be Christina Katerina and the Box I
have no idea when it was published but I loved the story as
a little girl growing up in the '70s. About a little
girl who drags a refrigerator delivery box under a tree in
their front yard and plays in it for several weeks, much to
her mother's chagrin. Christina pretends to have a tea
party there, a pirate ship, a ballroom... all sorts of
adventures. 2009 G508: Girl gets new room and then must give
it up Solved: A Room for Cathy G509: gypsy childrens. boy, dog,
responsibility, gypsy dancing in old, vacant house, boy lends her
his radio for dancing, one day she is gone, but she leaves his
radio there. (NOT Gypsy Summer by Wilma Yeo). G510: Ghosts Foil Burglars Solved: Georgie and the
Robbers G511: Girl
with Pets Lives on Boat Solved: The Maggie B. G512: girl enters beauty contest its about a girl who is in a beauty
contest. read it in the early 90s. i remember there was a guy
named andy that was described as being cute, having gray eyes, he
had a crush on her. her mom worked at a pottery shop or flower
shop, cant remember. on the cover, i think her foot was in the
toilet.
Alida E. Young, Megan the Klutz. There are a whole series of
these (all with variations on the klutz name), but the orginal is
out of print (i think) so I can't find the cover, but i think it
was a real picture (not an illustration) of a girl with her foot
in the toilet. G513: Girls play make-believe (or do they?)
about fairies Solved: Afternoon of the Elves G514: Girl
w/rings that control dragons This was a series of two YA fantasy
books. I read them in Jr. High, so they probably came out in the
early '80s. I have no idea about title or author. Here are the
things I remember: Two male kids/young adults are travelling
(no idea why). At one point they fall into the clutches of a group
of witches (though I think they don't know that). Turns out the
young girl witch has a ring that can summon/control a earth dragon
and her scratching at it causes some tremors during the dinner the
5(?) people are having. I remember later they have found a second
ring and I think I recall the witch girl (who goes off with the
boys) running around a battle scene lighting fires and summoning
the dragons. The only other incident I recall clearly is that at
some point the group (2 guys and girl) arrive at a wizard's (?)
home. One of the guys is given a test in which he has to nail a
board to a wall using enchanted nails. When he hammers the nail
in, it magically turns around and comes out of the board,
point-first. He finally figures out he must put the nailhead
against the wall and hammer down on the board.
Graham Dustan Martin, Giftwish and Catchfire, 1976, approximate. The two
books you are looking for are as listed above, although you've got
some details wrong. The first one is Giftwish.
Even is the 15ish traveler who is escaping being sacrificed to
keep an evil down. He gets across the magically sealed
border to the neighboring land where he meets the kindly wizard
Caperstaff and passes the tests, including the one with the
nails. (I remember I thought he was very clever to figure
that out.) The other two tests were finding a ring ("Evan
looked everywhere for that blessed ring..." ) and a sort of
geometry problem involving a person climbing a mountain.
Caperstaff says he's the one to fulfill the prophecy and sends him
out traveling with a small armed escort - perhaps that's why you
remember two travelers? - the leader of the escort was
Tatterbeg. Anyway, they wind up caught by the Witch Magwick,
whose apprentice/daughter is Catchfire who takes to Evan and frees
him, and uses the earthdragon to bring down Magwick's
castle. Further adventures follow with Even eventually
besting the Necromancer and becoming king of that land. The
sequel Catchfire
follows from that, and includes discovering that the other ring
that Catchfire has, the one that controls weather, is actually the
ring of the dragon of the air, Whirlwind, and they have to deal
with the people in Evan's country where things are really going
wrong, and Catchfire is needed to heal the princess there, because
they're linked and Catchfire has all of Starfall's spirit
now. They were split into two and need to become one. G515: girl and her mother silver dollar
room Solved: Bonanza
Girl G516: group of girls form story writing
club Story about a group of girls who
form a story writing club. Girls names are Erin, Verity,
Priscilla... They come from different backgrounds - one is only
child, one has a big family, one's parent remarries and they move
to a new house called Lynwood. Possibly written in the 50s. They
put together a book and have it bound with their pictures on the
first page.
Clare Mallory, The Pen and Pencil Girls, 1945, approximate. This is Clare Mallory - The Pen and
Pencil Girls. They are Audrey, Erin, Priscilla, Norma
(known as Berry) Vere and Gaynor (Gay). Vere and Gay are
stepsisters - they are the ones who live at Lynwood. G517: Godmother Reina, girl Kitten, London
mystery Solved: Stairway to a Secret G518: Girl
hides in Trafalgar Square and runs away to find dad book from probably the late 80s or
early 90s. I had book club & I got hardcover books each month
(2 of these I remember were Almost Fifteen and Going on Sixteen).
The girl wants to find her dad who I think lived on highland
moor?) pretends aunt named elsie bloomer in wardrobe at theater at
one point.
Betty Cavanna? You might want to look for
a list of books by Betty Cavanna
and see if any of the titles look familiar, although one book you
mentioned is by Marilyn Sachs. Years ago (early 1980's) I
used to get Nancy Drew books through a book club, and when they
ran out of ND books to send, they started sending Betty Cavanna
books instead. Don't know the book but I'm
fairly certain the book club was the Weekly Reader Books --
Especially for Girls. Couldn't find a list of their books but a
quick search of the two phrases in google brought up a number of
pictures of covers, which might give you what you need. Good
luck! G519: Ghost girl in new house Read this in the late 70's from my
grade school library. A young girl, siblings and parents
move to a new house. Turns out there is a friendly ghost of
a young girl (named Jade? Jaina?) there, she only interacts with
the girl. I believe the ghost girl has long dark hair in
pigtails. The girl also befriends the neighbor who is an
older woman. People think and gossip that this woman is a
witch. The neighbor has strawberries growing in her
yard. They're delicious, but the neighbor is an awful
cook. The local fair is coming up. The girl convinces
the neighbor to take cooking lessons from her mother and enter her
strawberries in the jam contest. The girl also decides to do
a parade float with "Jade" riding it as a beautiful princess, and
she will make it look like she's made an elaborate hologram
machine "projecting" Jade, who will kind of appear and
disappear. The neighbor wins the jam contest.
Something goes wrong at the parade -- I think Jade (who is quite
timid and really didn't want to do it) has a cat on her lap for
the float, and someone's dog jumps up and attacks it. This
creates a huge commotion, and Jade vanishes and doesn't come
back. But a week or so later, another new family moves in
the neighborhood with a young girl who is the spitting image of
Jade -- her name is Jane Sheets (why I remember that, I don't
know!). The book ends as she meets the girl, they talk a
little, and Jane looks at the girl's house and says something like
"wow ... it's so strange, but I feel like I know this place ..."
Hendrich, Paula, Who Says So?, 1973, approximate. You have
a good memory for details! G520: Giant
named Gene, concerns some kind of magic (adult fiction) Solved: The Man in the Tree G521: Gnomes
smoking meerschaum pipe My hubby read a book that belonged
to his grandmother, (pre-60s children's book) about gnomes who
smoked meerschaum pipes, and there was a war with pirates and
rats, and limburger cheese was the weapon. Meerschaum was
memorable because he had to look it up in a dictionary. Help! His
grandma passed. G522: Girl accidentally marries, breaks
family curse Solved: The China Garden G523: girl loses favorite toy in potato
sack picture book. young girl
lives w/mother. has favorite stuffed toy. looks like knit
lizard maybe? not sure. girl always misplacing things...shoes
mittens etc. she goes on errand run with mother to grocery store then fish market but then
lost toy. go back to grocery store no luck. girl sad.
toy ends up in bottom of potato sack when they are unloading
groceries. colorful fun pictures. read it in the
80's. toy might be named moe? thanks sooo much!!!
Kay Chorao, Molly's Moe, 1976, approximate. I think
this was one of Kay Chorao's first books. Beautifully
illustrated with pen and ink. G524: Grandma
(who is very resouceful) comes to live with family Solved: Best Friend G525: Girl
lives in Florida (keys) and gets caught in a hurricane with her
girlfriend 1960's, childrens. This is a
story about a girl who lives in Florida, probably off one of the
keys. Her family is poor, and she tries to help make money
by finding and selling driftwood. A new family moves into
her neighborhood. The new family has a young girl the same
age, and the two girls become friends. The new family is
poor, and the girl shows the new girl how to find driftwood to
sell. The two girls get in an argument about who found a
bunch of driftwood first. They get caught in a Hurricane
together and then realize how silly their argument was.
Enjoyed the book as a young girl. Would like to see it again.
Dorothy Ball, Hurricane: The Story of a
Friendship, 1964, copyright. I wasn't able to find a description
of this anywhere, but the title sounds like a possibility!
I purchased a used copy of Hurricane: The Story of a
Friendship, 1964, copyright, but that isn't the story I was
looking for. In Hurricane, The Story of a Friendship,
the main characters are boys, one black and one white.
It looks interesting, but unfortunately, it's not the book.
Two young girls are the main characters in the book that I am
looking for. I'll keep looking. Thanks for trying.
The
first author I thought of when I read this was Marjory Hall. I
can'\''t find a specific title that matched the description, but
it's a long time since I read it!
I found some books from Marjory
Hall, but none of them are what I was looking for. Marjory
apparently deals with historical young women figures from the
Revolutionary War Era and shortly thereafter. Thanks for the
suggestion. Ill keep looking!
I remember some more details
about the story.This girl and her best
friend are always searching the beaches for ambergris, which is
produced by whales, used in perfume and is very valuable. I think
the one girl's name is Mary and the other girl's name is Mandy?Mandy finds a bunch of firewood, and the
two girls get into a fight over who found the wood first. Both
families are very poor.The hurricane
hits and the two girls get stranded together.Mary's home is still standing, but there is sand all over
the floor.Mary's Dad makes Mary
apologize to Mandy for the firewood incident.Not sure of the exact order of the events, but the
friendship between the two girls is restored.
G526: good
flowers and an evil candle-snuffer 1940's possibly, childrens.
This was a story from my father's childhood. I believe it
came from treasury collection. It was about flowers that come to
life in a house and a candle-snuffer comes to life and tries to
catch them. G527: Girl
sells greeting cards to keep horse Solved: Horseshoe
Hill
G528:
Garden,
girl, pond, school, grandfather
1920-1945, childrens. I once owned this book but can't
remember the name or author. It was green hardcover and about
and inch or two thick 6 x 8 book. I remember the young girl felt
alone and would stop at pond in the woods on her way home from
school.
G529: Golden
Book, summertime Solved: Fun with Decals G530: Girl
Finds
Cave, Rides Bicycle, Loses Weight Book about an overweight girl with
beautiful older sisters who discovers a cave (or beach??) one
summer and rides her bike there every day. By the end of the
summer she's thin from riding her bike so much.
I recall this plot in what I thought was a
short story but it might have been condensed from a book. I
read it in either Teen or Seventeen magazine circa 1970-72.
What I recall is that the girl not only is overweight, but shy
and cares nothing about her appearance, perhaps even thinking
her beautiful sisters to be frivolous for caring so much about
theirs. She becomes friends with another shy girl. Her friend
isn�t overweight, but equally dowdy and uncaring about
appearance. Together they take long bike rides every day
during the summer. One day after school has started a boy
comes up to her and says something like I�ve been staring at
you trying to figure out what�s different about you. I just
figured it out. You�re not fat anymore. She�s stunned and
rushes home, strips to her underwear and stares into the
mirror where she discovers it�s true. She attributes it to the
long bike roads and that she and her friend usually just took
fruit for snacks. She calls for her sisters and mother and
they can�t believe it. The girl always wore shapeless clothes
so neither she nor her family had noticed they had gotten
looser. With her face thinner they can see she has beautiful
bone structure. She might have worn glasses too, that
concealed the beauty of her eyes. Her sisters bring her their
beautiful clothes to try on and everyone fusses over her while
stares into the mirror in disbelief. I recall the story ending
with the girl becoming popular and as meticulous about her
appearance as her sisters. She and her summer friend drift
apart because they no longer have anything in common.
G531: Girls Reading to
Become Witches
Solved: Headless Cupid
G532:
Graveyard on the front Cover I am
looking for a book I read in 1999. It was paperback and had a
Graveyard onthe front, I believe.It was about these twins who
ran a mortuary and controlled demons. The sheriff (John Sutton,
i think) and a professor, were trying to stop them. The evil
twins were able to raise the dead
G533:
Great Mumbo SolvedG534:
Solved: Ghost Hotel
G535:
Grandma Story Time I am looking
for 2 books that my Grandma use to have. One was a book of
poems... it had Lewis Carroll's Lobster Quadrille and The
Walrus and The Carpenter, Edward Lear's The Owl and the Pussy
Cat, Mr. Nobody - author unknown and others. It was a hard
cover. All the pages were illustrated.
The
story book was mostly about animals. One was about a rabbit
and choosing what color wheelbarrow to buy. One was about a
mouse and she went for a picnic and use her umbrella to get
berries, hid from a fox and crossed a stream. One had to do
with fairies, another was about some animals that didn't want
to wash their dishes and then ending up having to bring in
snow to melt to use as water since the pipes were froze. I
remember that one of the books had a boy and girl on the cover
using a swing from a tree on a little hill. All the pages were
illustrated. There weren't that many pages. Not sure when the
book would have been published but I would guess before 1995. G536: Girls
to Witches Book from the mid-1970s about two
girls who were reading a book about how to become witches and
performing the tasks needed to become a witch - one of the tasks
was walking on the furniture in order to not touch the
floor. I think another task involved a frog.
Konigsburg, EL, Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and me,
Elizabeth , 1967,
copyright. Definitely this one. E.L.
Konigsburt, Jennifer, Hecate,
Macbeth and Me. That was the title of the English edition. I think the
original American one had a longer title - possibly Jennifer,
Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth. Snyder,
Zilpha Keatly, The Headless
Cupid,
1971, copyright.
G537:
Grey Horse and/or Hat
I was born 1958, so probably from 50's or 60's about a man who
came to town on a horse and knocked all the buildings down. I
think his horse was grey, or his hat was grey, something was
grey! and he knocked down the church and all the buildings
as he rode through town. That is all I remember of the
story. My memory is more of the graphics.... things were
outlined in black with bold blocks of color: for example, a
tree would be a green circle outlined in black - very simplified.
I designed a biz card for my brother based on this book (at least
I think that was my influence), you can see it here: http://citystreetproperties.com/ Thank you!G538:
Greyhound Dogs
It's a book I read in the Mid-late 60s about a brother &
sister around 12 years old. With the help of a group of
stray dogs (greyhounds, I believe) they solve a crime or mystery
in town. They get to keep all the dogs at the end of the
story. Also the boy sprains his ankle towards the end of the
book & the doctor makes a house call. The kids mother
doesn't want the dogs on the boys bed because they may hurt his
sprained ankle. Also the boy sneaks turkey to the dogs when
he gets dinner in bed because of his ankle injury.
Betty Cavanna, The Black Spaniel Mystery.Are you sure it was greyhounds?Betty Cavanna had a book that sounds similar, but with
black cocker spaniels. Most of her books were romances, but this
was a slightly younger mystery, with a brother and sister as the
main characters.I don't know if she
wrote any other dog mysteries, but it might be worth looking at.
G539:
Girl Who Doesn't Talk New Zealand book, about a girl who
barely talks (may have given it up entirely) who meets an old
woman who features heavily in the book. There is some lovely
bits said about the destroyed bird population of New Zealand.
Believe she had quirky family.
Margaret Mahy, The Other Side of Silence.Could
this
be
the
book?' Margaret Mahy, The
Haunting. Margaret Mahy's the Haunting is a
New Zealand YA fantasy featuring a girl who doesn't talk, but I
don't remember anything about birds Margaret Mahy, The
Other Side of Silence. I'm pretty sure this is
it. It fits in every detail. A wonderful book.
G540:Girl
& Brick House Solved Katie John G541:Girl lives
with family of pandas
My wife believes she had this in the late 60's or early
70's, and thinks it was about a girl living with a family of
pandas. The book was possibly illustrated with photos rather than
drawings, and one picture my wife remembers is of the girl in the
kitchen with the panda parents.
G542: Girl saves blind
prince
Solved: Pigs Don't Fly
G543:
Girl and her dog have telepathy Children's novel about a pregnant
woman and her dog who encounter something supernatural. When the
baby girl is born, she has the power to communicate with the dog.
I cannot remember anything else about the plot. I think it was a
short novel, written before 1985, possibly for ages 8-12.
William Sleator, Into the Dream,1979, copyright.This
sounds similar to Into the Dream (which already appears in the
solved section). A pregnant woman and her pregnant dog witness a
UFO landing while staying at the Stardust Motel. When the child
(Noah (a boy, not a girl)), is born, he and one of the puppies
(Cookie), are telepathically linked. The main characters are
actually a girl (Francine) and a boy (Paul) who are being sent
messages in their dreams indicating that the young boy is in
danger and they begin a search to find him.
G544:
Glass Hill Princess, other stories 1950s children's stories. This
full-color collection featured stories about The Five Chese
Brothers the Princess on the Glass Hill and the knight on
the horse (three times, three colors) who rides up the hill and
returns the apples a story about the Pennsylvania
Dutch about a frontier family who made friends with a
hostile Indian by giving him apple pie a swiss boy and his
alphahorn a costume party a family whose luck ran out
until they realized they had nailed their horseshoe upside
down and more.
G545:Glass Hill
Princess, Chinese Bros, Collection
1950s children's book.Though I enjoyed full-color illustrated
book as a child in 1980 or 81, the book must have been from the
50s or so. It was an anthology. Some of the stories I remember
were the 5 Chinese brothers.[I know, its also listed separately
here.] It had the story of a princess on a glass hill and the
three apples she throws after the knights. It had a story of a
woman baking an apple pie for an Indian who was menacing her
frontier family. It had a story about Pennsylvania Dutch. It had
a story about kids going to a costume party, where 2 boys
dressed as the front and back end of a horse.) I think there was
also a story set in Switzerland, with a kid blowing an
alphahorn. I think also there was a story of family whose luck
was running out because they had hung their horseshoe upside
down.It's possible I'm conflating two diffrent
books. The earliest of childhood memories can be so powerfully
hazy! But I would be ever so grateful to discover these books
again. These memories have haunted me, in a bittersweet way, for
nearly thirty years.
G546:
Girl Moves to Pink House Read book as a child in the
sixties;a girl who had to move to a new home and she did not
want to leave her old home and friends;very impressed when
her family drove up to the new house, which was white, but
appeared pink due to the tree blossoms-maybe cherry.Maybe a
mystery. Maybe house in title.
Christine Govan, The Pink Maple House, 1950, copyright.Two girls are afraid that
when one moves away from their neighborhood that their
friendship will end. A visit from the friend left behind
helps both girls. This is a hard-to-find book which is
out-of-print. Carol
Ryrie Brink, The Pink Motel, 1959, approximate. Possibly
The Pink Motel? "When Kirby, Bitsy, and their parents inherit an
unusual and very pink motel in Florida, they find it filled with
eccentric characters, mystery, and adventure." Orgel,
Doris, Cindy's Sad and Happy
Tree,
1967, copyright. This probably isn't the book you're looking
for, but it does involve a cherry tree. Cindy's Sad and
Happy Tree is about a girl who plants a tree to replace the dead
elm in her yard. The sales tag for the tree the family
buys to replace the elm is misprinted and says "Weeping Cheery
Tree." Govan,
Christine Noble, The Pink
Maple House,
1950, copyright. I am pretty sure this is the book you want - I
distinctly remember something about the title coming from the
fact that the sun through the leaves of the maple made the house
look pink. The author, Christine Noble Govan, wrote many
mystery novels, though I am not sure The Pink Maple House was a
mystery itself. "Eight-year-old Polly was unhappy at the
thought of moving away from her best friend, Jenny, although she
did like the idea of living in a larger house. The house turned
out to be all she could desire and the telephone and week-end
visits with Jenny solved the problem of their separation.
The new school was not bad except for one girl, Tilly, who was
fat and quarrelsome and managed to make Polly's life miserable.
In a highly sentimental, tearful scene Polly discovers why Tilly
is the way she is and how sordid her life is as compared with
Jenny's and Polly's. There are some good family relations but
the whole story is too sentimental to have much value. Not
recommended." - from a period reviewer if only they could
know in retrospect how beloved (and expensive!) this book would
become!
Govan,
Christine Noble, The Pink Maple
House,1950.
Definitely the correct answer. Here's the relevant section
from the book: "In the first place the maples had turned and were
the loveliest shade of goldy pink, imaginable. The morning
sun shone through the leaves. They seemed made of very thin
pieces of some sort of rosy precious stone. Polly knew that
she had never seen anything as beautiful as those trees in all her
life. "Look! They're pink!" she cried. "They're
rosy pink! And---the house is rosy pink too!" Mr.
Trent threw back his head and laughed at that. For the house
was white, a bright and sparkling clean white like sun on the
fresh snow. But where the sun shone through the pink leaves
there was a pinkish glow, all across the front of the big
freshly-painted house..."Oh!" breathed Polly. "It is the
most beautiful house I ever saw. My beautiful, beautiful,
pink maple house!"
Most of the rest of the details
match as well---Polly Trent, her brother Jonathan and their
parents move to the new house, and she's sad because she's leaving
her best friend, Jenny Spears, behind.The
book is not a mystery, but it's likely that the original stumper
requester is misremembering that part.
G547:
Ghost Girl Principle Cemetary
Read book in the 80's. A girl goes to visit a realitive (?) and
their daughter went missing years before. This girl starts seeing
a ghost. She figures out that the principal accidently run over
the missing daughter and buried her in a fresh grave and never
told anyone. She's found and has a funeral.'
Someone was asking about
this one earlier (archived stumper S636) Stumper S636
(now archived) is a query after this same story. I am sure I've
read it, but still can't remember the title. I keep thinking the
author's name started with an L. Larsen?
Bolton, Carole, Little Girl Lost,1980, copyright.Found this from Kirkus
Review: "At age four, Carrie Hobart vanished without a
trace, and a massive police search failed to find her. A year
later, her parents had another daughter, Elizabeth. The father
then vanished. For 20 years, the reclusive mother has worshipped
the memory of the lost girl, keeping the nursery intact, marking
each anniversary of her birth and disappearance, openly longing
for her return. Says sister ... More Elizabeth, now 19 and
narrating rather stupidly, ""Except for that shadow over my
life. . . I guess I had a fairly normal childhood."" A newspaper
article prompts Elizabeth to investigate the cold trail. All
clues lead nowhere until, under hypnosis, Elizabeth is carried
(ho ho) back to infancy and before, when--prepare yourself--she
was Carrie in another life. This is a fairly normal novel except
for that and other such nonsense. As for Carrie? Dead. Hit by
the school principal (then a mere teacher) on his way to an
assignation. Stuck in the trunk and buried later. On his
deathbed he tells where the little bones are." Mary C. Jane, The Mystery of the Red Carnations.I know this isn't the book you're looking
for, but it might be worth mentioning, just in case this author
did another, similar title. In Red Carnations, a new family
moves to town, and there is a cemetery down the street. Every
year, on a certain date, someone places red carnations on an
anonymous grave. It turns out that the young man buried there
was the brother of a local teacher, who was killed in a
motorcycle accident. She didn't want to admit he was her brother
for some reason (drug use, maybe?) . The school principal is
somehow involved, either as the teacher's boyfriend or maybe the
cause of the accident. Anyway, probably not your book, but there
are some similarities, so... Bolton, Carole, Little Girl Lost, 1980, copyright. Found this from Kirkus
Review: "At age four, Carrie Hobart vanished without a
trace, and a massive police search failed to find her. A year
later, her parents had another daughter, Elizabeth. The father
then vanished. For 20 years, the reclusive mother has worshipped
the memory of the lost girl, keeping the nursery intact, marking
each anniversary of her birth and disappearance, openly longing
for her return. Says sister ...More Elizabeth, now 19 and
narrating rather stupidly, ""Except for that shadow over my
life. . . I guess I had a fairly normal childhood."" A newspaper
article prompts Elizabeth to investigate the cold trail. All
clues lead nowhere until, under hypnosis, Elizabeth is carried
(ho ho) back to infancy and before, when--prepare yourself--she
was Carrie in another life. This is a fairly normal novel except
for that and other such nonsense. As for Carrie? Dead. Hit by
the school principal (then a mere teacher) on his way to an
assignation. Stuck in the trunk and buried later. On his
deathbed he tells where the little bones are."
G548: Girls
at boarding school old book, leather bound? girls at
boarding school. one loses a tooth and hopes the tooth
fairy will come. her teacher secretly leaves money under the
pillow. they also have paper dolls with back stories in a
dresser drawer. How will I know when it's solved?
Nordstrom, Ursula, The Secret Language, 1960.This would be it!
Eleanor
Shaler, Gaunt's Daughter,1957, approximate'. Could it be
Gaunt's Daughter? The girl's mother, a theater actor, dies
and to avoid moving in with her mother'\''s Quaker relatives,
she gets a summer stock job. Turns out her estranged
famous father is going to be there too. At the end she has
a family emergency with the Quaker family and gives up her
father and the play to go to the hospital
Ursula
Nordstrom, The Secret
Language.This is definitely
your book. Ursula Nordstrom, The Secret Language. This is The Secret Language by Ursula
Nordstrom. Great book. I believe it's out of print, but it's not
hard to find. Ursula Nordstrom, The Secret Language.1960, copyright. Sounds like "The Secret
Language". Everyone always remembers different parts, but it's
such a good story. Two eight year old girls become best friends
at boarding school. The Secret Language by
Ursula Nordstrom. See Solved
Mysteries. Ursula Nordstrom, The Secret Language.Both details fit this very leebossa book
about Martha and Victoria at boarding school. Ursula Nordstrom, The Secret Language. Possibly this. You can find a synopsis
online. Ursula Nordstrom, The Secret Language, 1960, copyright. Nordstrom, Ursula, Secret Language, 1960s, approximate.Victoria North is
homesick at boarding school, until she meets Martha. They
have a secret language (leebossa, ick-en-spick), dress as ice
cream cones for Halloween, and eventually get a nice
housemother, Miss Denton, to replace harsh Miss Mossman (and her
whistle). Ursula Nordstrom, The Secret Language.I sent a reply for this one when it
first went up, but I don't see any answers to it in the Dec. 2
updates--so resending it. This is definitely The Secret
Language--the dolls in the drawer and the tooth part both fit.
G549:
Grammer at the Chalkboard
Looking for a
novel (pre-teen/teen)that has a
section about a boy in a class who is asked a grammar question on
the board. The question is about a MOOSE with a CAMERA - and - due
to the dangling participle - hilarity ensues. Perhaps by Brian
Doyle - but can't seem to find it. Please help!
Brian Doyle, Angel Square. Also
in the collection "The Low Life."
G550:
Girl on European School Trip -An Affair
1972-76
juvenile book. Nan? takes a trip with classmates to
France? Starts noticing a mysterious and suspisious man.Visits a restaurant in Montmartre?
follows man and is kidnapped in an alley way.She is transported to Albania? on an airplane with
mysterious man who is also tied up.Lots
of intrigue and adventure.There is a
boat on a lake and she escapes with mysterious man.I thought the title had the word affair in it but not sure.This was my favorite book when I was a
teenager.
Dorothy Gilman, The
Unexpected Mrs Polifax, 1985, reprint. Not all of the elements match, but
the truly unusual ones do. Mrs Polifax is an older woman who
decides to volunteer for danagerous CIA assignments. She does
get kidnapped, she is transported by plane to Albania with
another person, and she the other person and a mysterious
stranger have a harrowing escape by boat across a lake. Dorothy
Gilman, The Unexpected Mrs
Pollifax.
I wonder if the poster is confusing the French/Montmartre
kidnapping/Nan book with The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax, which has
the tied up on an airplane/Albania/escape by boat plot. Mrs.
Pollifax shows up at the CIA and offers to be a spy. She ends up
actually getting a mission in Mexico. When she goes to meet her
contact, she is kidnapped along with another CIA agent and taken
to Albania to be interrogated. She and her fellow agent
eventually escape, along with a third prisoner, and find a boat
and sail out of Albania. I have read the Pollifax books
and the plot is similar but I read this book in high school
so it must have been written around the late 60's or early
70's. It definitely was about a high school girl and
her classmates on a trip to Europe. I may not have the
exact country correct, but it was an Eastern
European country.
G551:
Goat cut's Santa's Beard
Willy Whiskers, 1980's.This book was about a goat that loved
his whiskers. He was jealous of Santa's beard so one night he hid
in the bushes, jumped out and cut it off with scissors. I think
his name was Willy Whiskers. The book came with a tape that had a
song on it. "Willy, Willy Whiskers, your beard is such a sight.
Farmer, Farmer Gilly had to stay up half the night..." or
something like that. The book was white and made of a thick paper
with a staple binding(i think). I remember one picture where he is
holding the scissors. I think in the end he feels bad and cuts his
own beard off and gives it to Santa? I got it in the late
80's-early 90's. Thanks for your help :)
G552:
Girl, doesn't realize a ghost
Young adult book that probably came out in the 90's -
starts off about a girl who is in a faraway town and doesn't
realize how she became a ghost. She looks through the bushes at
some boys who were mean to her and then wanders off into the
town, I believe. Cover shows her location and ghost.
Diana
Wynne Jones, Time of the
Ghost,
1981.This is a long shot, but your description reminded me of
this book: a girl finds herself as a ghost without knowing quite
who she is or what happened to her.
Diana Wynne
Jones, Time of the Ghost.Not
sure if it's the right book, but there are a number of
similarities (the heroine realizes she's a ghost, but isn't sure
who she is or how she diedat one
point she observes a group of boys).
G553:
Ghost Stories from the 70's for Young
Adults/Children
Book had maybe 8-10 ghost stories.One
story
had a young couple who stop at a house on a rainy night and the
old couple give them a kidney-shaped table.The
next
day
they
find the house is old burned-out shell.Another
story, about a dead race car driver driving the truck tranporting
his casket.
G554:
Greyhound in WWII
Solved: The Greyhound
G555:
Giant in a Dress Solved: A Sweetheart for Valentine
G556:
Government bans emotions; people pay to see little boy
with emotions on display
Emotions banned.Boy (slow?) with emotions displayed to
public; made happy by treats/new goldfish; sad by killing goldfish
or mentioning parents. Adultrescues
him but can't deal w/ emotions;decides
gov't is right; returns him and submits to reeducation. Older
story.
G557:
Gothic Reincarnation Romance
I'm looking
for a book that I read years and years ago. It would have been
published in the 60s or 70s...possibly the very early 80s. It
was about a fairly newly wed wife whose husband is spending most
of his time locked away in...a lab or a basement work place
maybe? Anyway, this woman comes to realize that they are
reincarnated souls doomed to never find love because in their
first encounter centuries before he was cursed by her. I think
she was killed, possibly for being accused a witch, but anyway,
one of them died before she could forgive him for his betrayal
of her. So they went through at least two more lives, coming
across each other but with heartbreak until this woman finally
figures out what's happened and she forgives him. It's not Green Darkness by Anya
Seton. I have that one. And it's not Lady of Hay by Barbara
Erskine, although I've read that one since. Any other ideas of
what it might be? This has been driving me nuts for years!
G558:
Ghost Story Collection
In one story, two kids need to write a
play.They enter a house where there
are other children.The house and the
other children (ghosts) eventually disappear.st
G559:
Goat and Bird Share a Home
In the 1970's my mother enrolled me in the Random House "Best Book
Club Ever" book club.One of the books
I received was a book about a goat and the bird he had that lived
with him.It was a canary or a
parakeet, I believe.The goat got angry
and yelled at the bird, and it ran away.
Jody Silver, Rupert, Polly, and Daisy, 1984. Polly (the bird)
is upset when Rupert (the goat) seems to be paying more attention
to their new roommate Daisy (the goldfish). Then, when Rupert
gives Polly's favorite toy bell to Daisy, Polly decides to fly
away. Part of the Parents Magazine Press "Read Aloud and Easy"
reading program.
G560:
"The Goops" My mother swears this is the title
but I can't find anything even remotely close. Published in
the early 60's or earlier, this was a collection of nursery rhymes
in hardcover (I believe blue) that contained a rhyme about "the
goops". It was a relatively large book.
Just wanted to comment that the title my family
remembers is something like "The Encyclopedia of Nursery
Rhymes". I have found nothing even remotely close
to this.
The Goops. My daughter had a Goops book
when she was a child. It contained rhymes about proper
behaviour for children. If you failed to exhibit proper
behaviour, you were a "Goop". There are plenty of
references to the Goop books on the Internet. Just Google
"Goops". Gelett Burgess, Goops and
How to be Them : A Manual of Manners for Polite Children
Inculcating Many Juvenile Virtues Both by Precept and Example.
Good manners are a habit, GOOPS AND HOW TO BE THEM filled with
rhymes and illustrations delight children, making it easy to
learn proper manners. Burgess, Gelett, Goops and How to Be Them, 1900.The Goops they lick
their fingers/ And the Goops they lick their knives/ They spill
their broth on the tablecloth-- / Oh, they lead disgusting
lives!There are two sequels: More
Goops and How Not to Be Them (1903) and New Goops and How to
Know Them (1951). Gelett Burgess, Goops
and How to Be Them, 1900, numerous reprints,
copyright. Maybe this one? It's quite famous, and has been
reprinted several times. Or possibly a different book
containing one or more of the poems from "Goops"? Gelett Burgess, Goops
and How to Be Them: A Manual of Manners for Polite Children,
1900, approximate. Gelett Burgess, The
Goops, 1900, approximate."The Goops" was a
series of poems about manners and etiquette, written by Gelett
Burgess in the early 1900s. "The Goops, they lick their
fingers And the Goops, they lick their knives They
spill their broth on the tablecloth Oh! They lead
disgusting lives." The poems have been included in many
anthologies. One book that you might look into is "The Better
Homes and Gardens Storybook" (1950) which included The Goops:
Table Manners (quoted above), Peter Pan in Neverland, The Night
Before Christmas, The Little Red Hen, Peter Rabbit, Little Black
Sambo, Old Mother Hubbard, The Wonderful Tar Baby, The Owl and
the Pussycat, and many other stories and poems. Another
possibility is "Tiny Tots Picture Book" (1962) which includes
Dinner With the Goops, Merry Mother Goose Rhymes, Little Tim and
the Brave Sea Captain, What is Red?, Thinking Games, and
Starfish at the Seashore. Or, if you just want the poem about
the Goops, you could always get Burgess'\''s book, "Goops and
How to Be Them: A Manual of Manners for Polite Infants." The
books starts off with the above quoted verse, "Table Manners,"
and also includes many other poems encompassing such topics as
cleanliness, courtesy, generosity, honesty, bed time, bravery,
patience, hospitality, etc. I'm guessing this is the
1950s The
Illustrated Treasury of Children's Literature,ed. Margaret Martignoni. (It
IS blue under the dust jacket.) See here at Solved Mysteries - http://logan.com/harriett/solved-ij.html - you can also see the dust
jacket when you click on the picture of the camera.
G561: Girl's Hair gets Turned into Flower
Petals Looking for a picture book from
late 70s-mid80s about a girl who refuses to brush her hair so
she's turned into a flower (I believe a daisy or sunflower -
petals sprout from her head to replace her hair).
Dale & Marilyn Fitschen, Rotten Snags! Rotten Hair!,1975,
copyright.
A little girl is tired of her snarled hair,
but learns that there are worse things than tangled locks.
G562:
Girls, candles, stream, flowers, night time, ethereal SOLVED:
Becky's Birthday
G563: Girl at
Panama Canal A teen-age girl, very shy and
unsure of herself, is entrusted (by her uncle) to deliver an
important letter to someone in charge of building the Panama
Canal. She has many frightening and exciting adventures as
she travels alone to the Panama canal area where she discovers the
message/letter was unSomehow part of the book description didn't
get included. Here is the full item, read by my mother in the
1940s. A teen-age girl, very shy and unsure of herself, is
entrusted (by her uncle) to deliver an important letter to someone
in charge of building the Panama Canal. She has many
frightening and exciting adventures as she travels alone to the
Panama canal area where she discovers the message/letter was
unimportant and the trip devised to help her discover her own
strengths and worth and her abilities to cope with life. G564:
Gazing ball, girl, house SOLVED:Patricia Clapp, Jane-Emily.
G565:
Goat named Can-Can Looking for a children's book about
a goat who ate tin cans. His name was Can-Can. The
book was a hard back with a picture of Can-Can standing on a dog
house with a tin can in his mouth.
Fritz Willis, Cancan, 1945.The picture on the cover of the
original edition is just of a goat on a gray background (no
doghouse). I don't know if there is a later edition with the
described goat on a doghouse, or if it might be a picture
inside the book.
G566: Girl,
eccentric father, mismatched socks, rain Bev Cleary type of book
about a girl (7-12) who lives in California (or somewhere else
temperate where there occasionally is a rainy season) in a worn
dilapidated house.Eccentric father
(teacher maybe) or parents.Girl
wears mismatched socks and feels bad about their situation. Circa
1960s.
Pippi
Longstocking. The description
reminds me a little of Pippi
Longstocking, though I doubt
that's it. Good luck. Pretty sure that's Cleary's Mitch and Amy.G567:
Ghost Stories I am trying to track down a
hardback collection of ghost stories published between 1992 and
1996. One of the stories was about the haunting of a man
named Cliff. Cliff and his wife moved into a house and he
was then haunted by a previous occupant. He later died. G568:
group of children trapped in mysterious building learn to
manipulate a machine to produce food pellets Read in the 1970s. A group of (I
think 4) children find themselves trapped in a building filled
everywhere with staircases that lead nowhere, as far as the eye
can see. No way out. They wander around and begin to get hungry.
Eventually they find a mysterious machine in a landing. In
frustration, one boy sticks out his tongue at the machine, its
red light turns green, and it produces a food pellet. Sticking
out a tongue continues to produce food pellets for some time,
but then stops working until they figure out they need to add
another gesture. This goes on for a while ... towards the end,
they have evolved a complex dance involving all of the kids that
must be performed to get a food pellet. At some point, a door is
left open and they are released. They walk down the sidewalk of
the street and as they approach a traffic light, the light turns
red (or maybe it was green), and they begin to dance ...
William Sleator, House of Stairs, 1991. This is definitely House of Stairs William Sleator, House of Stairs,1990,
reprint."One by one, five sixteen-year-old orphans are brought
to a strange building. It is not a prison, not a hospital
it has no walls, no ceiling, no floor. Nothing but endless
flights of stairs leading nowhere �except back to a strange red
machine. The five must learn to love the machine and let it rule
their lives. But will they let it kill their souls? This
chilling, suspenseful indictment of mind control is a classic of
science fiction and will haunt readers long after the last page
is turned." William Sleator, House of Stairs,1974.
Children are subjected to a strange behavior experiment in a
dystopian future. They are kept in a strange space made up of
staircases and are trained by a machine that delivers food to
them when they take certain actions, such as dancing. Two of the
kids rebel and are released before they starve. William Sleator, House of Stairs,1974. Set in a dystopian America in an
undefined future, the story records the connections of five
sixteen-year-olds who are taken from state orphanages and placed
in a strange building with endless flights of stairs leading
nowhere, with no perceivable edge, unaware they are part of a
government-run experiment. William Sleator, House of Stairs.I'm sure there will be a lot of responses to
this one... William Sleator, House of Stairs. You will get a bazillion responses about
this one. This is definitely House of Stairs. William Sleator, House of Stairs, 1974. The submitter has the details
correct. I read this in Junior High and found it to be
disturbing but unforgettable. Williams Sleator, House of
Stairs. William Sleator,
House of Stairs, 1974. This is
definitely "House of Stairs" by William Sleator. William Sleator, House of Stairs,1974. From the net: "Five 16-year-olds are
taken from state orphanages and placed in a strange building.
The building has no walls, no ceiling, and no floor: nothing but
endless flights of stairs leading nowhere, with no perceivable
edge. On one landing is a basin of running water that serves as
a toilet, sink and drinking fountain on another, a machine
with lights that occasionally produces food. Without prior
preparation or introduction, the five must learn to deal with
the others' disparate personalities, the lack of privacy, their
clear helplessness, and a machine that only feeds them under
gradually more exacting situations." William Sleator, House of Stairs. This has to be House of Stairs...I don't
think there's anything else like it out there! William Sleator, House of Stairs,1974. William Sleator, House of Stairs.This has been reprinted, so the cover may
not match the person's memory. William Sleator, House of Stairs, 1974. Pretty sure it's this one.
G569:
Giant with a jar of fireflies This is a favorite of a friend when he was a
child and I would like to find out what its called and if a copy
is available.
Roald Dahl, Big Friendly Giant.Not
sure if the book even involved keeping fireflies in a jar, but
any chance this is Roald Dahl's Big Friendly Giant?
G570: Good Witch/Bad
Witch A girl, maybe 8 or 9, who
found some sort of magic path. One side of the path lead to a
bright garden owned by a good witch, the other into a dark forest
owned by a bad witch. The girl could stay with the good witch as
long as she didn't go into the dark forest.Okay...A girl, maybe 8 or
9, who found some sort of magic path. One side of the path lead to
a bright garden owned by a good witch, the other into a dark
forest owned by a bad witch. The girl could stay with the good
witch as long as she didn't go into the dark forest.So the good witch
(or sorceress or whatever) takes the girl in and everything is all
light and wonder. I remember a description of a bathroom which was
all glass and there were fish swimming in the walls (I wanted a
bathroom like that SO bad). But the evil witch was constantly
trying to lure the girl over to her side, where the good witch had
no power. So one day the evil witch hung a swing on a tree branch
on her side of the garden/forest. The little girl was swinging on
the swing for a while before she realized that the tree was
actually on the wrong side of the garden and (you guessed it) she
was snatched away by the evil witch. I'm not sure what happens
after that but I'm pretty sure it all ends well with the little
girl defeating the witch and the evil curse being lifted on the
dark side of the forest (or garden).I hope you can
figure this one out!
Margaret Storey, Timothy and the Two Witches. A boy and a girl are the main
characters, but i think this is your book.
G571:
girl, fiction, Norse gods, missing letters in signs 70s/80s fictional bk for
preteens/teens about girl who sees fortune teller/some kind of
advisor who tells her to look for the missing letters in signs to
find a message, and involves Norse mythology (references to Loki,
etc.) Darker in tone. G572: girl, tennis
championship, brother 70s/80s fictional bk about girl
trying to become tennis champ. Brother plays tennis too. Both go
to championship. Brother loses, gives racket to sister whose
racket broke (hard for them to get to championship in 1st place
due to $ issues). I think girl wins her match against older girl.
I'm sorry I don't
have an answer for you, but I do remember reading this story. It
seems like it may have been in a school reader, during the late
1970s or possibly very early 1980s. I think the brother was
supposed to be the tennis player in the family, but then his
sister took it up too and proved to be quite good at it - there
may have been a little sibling rivalry going on. Either at the
end of one of the elimination matches leading up to the
championship match, or during the match, the strings on the
girl's racket broke, and there was no time to restring it.
Because money was short, she didn't have a spare racket, which
is why she had to borrow one. Maybe this will help jog someone
else's memory? I didn't read it, but could it be Champions Don't Cry by Nan Gilbert, 1960? Champions Don't Cry by Nan Gilbert--orig. published in 1960,
but MMPB issued at end of 70s, early 80s. Goodreads says: book data Champions Don't Cry 3.20 avg
rating, 5 ratings, 0 reviews, details edit published1960 by
Harper & Brothers details Hardcover description "I'm going
to be a champion tennis player, " Sally tells her older brother.
But Denny isn't so sure. Sally's got a terrible temper. And when
she gets mad on the court, look out! Now there's a big tennis
tournament coming up. If Sally can only raise enough money to
play in it, she'll prove, even to Denny, that she really is a
champion. But will she get to play? And if she does, will that
temper of hers ruin everything? NAN GILBERT, CHAMPIONS DON'T
CRY, 1960.
G573: Girl breaks stained
glass window Searching for a book about a small girl who
breaks the stained glass window in the church at Christmas
time. She used her blanket? to cover the hole in the
window. Returned to see the window whole and her blanket
gone. Had this book in 1966-68. Character's name possibly
Katie.
Beth Vardon, The Wonderful Window. This seem to be a popular book
that many people remember fondly, and it gets asked for often.
Original copies are rather expensive. Fortunately, it has been
reprinted, so new copies are available at a reasonable cost. Beth
Vardon & Charlot Byj (illus), The Wonderful Window. It's Christmas, it's Christmas, That
wonderful season, When Children are good, For a very good
reason. They've almost got wings, Sprouting out of their backs,
And that's when their guardian angels relax." All the children
are good at Christmastime, giving their guardian angels a break
- except Katie. When Katie accidentally breaks the stained glass
window in the church, her guardian angel prays for a Christmas
miracle to fix it in time. A delightful classic pop-up book that
has been reproduced for a new generation.
G574:
Grandmother babysits and uses disguise when kids act up A grandmother is babysitting for 3
or 4 children, and they disobey her and make a huge mess. she goes
upstairs, puts on a dress and a wig and comes back down as a mean
version of herself. she yells at them and makes them clean, and
they are happy to have their real grandmother when she comes back.
Harry
Allard, Miss Nelson is Missing!, 1977. Well,
if
it's
not
a grandmother, but a teacher, this plot sounds a lot like Miss
Nelson is Missing. The kids in room 207 are the worst behaved
class in school. They are rude to their teacher, Miss Nelson, and
don't follow the rules. One day, Miss Nelson is sick, and a
substitute teacher arrives - the mean, strict, witchy Viola Swamp,
who dress all in black. She whips the kids in to shape, piles on
the homework, and takes all the fun out of school. Of course, the
kids learn their lesson, and hope for Miss Nelson's return. When
she finally comes back to school, the class stays on their best
behavior, so that they will never get the mean substitute again.
But what is that strange black dress doing hanging in Miss
Nelson's closet? G575:
Girl at Russian ballet school I read this in the late 50's or
early 60's. I think the main character was a Russian girl
named Katrina who went to ballet school, probably in
pre-Revolutionary Russia. It had a very dark blue cover and
seemed like a thick book (when I was a child). It is NOT
Gladys Malvern's Anna Pavlova book.
Mara Kay, A Circling Star.The heroine is called Aniuta, not Katerinabut it is about a girl attending ballet
school in pre-revolutionary Russia. Nada
Curcija-Prodanovic, Ballerina,1961. This might be Ballerina
by Nada Curcija-Prodanovic. The cover art of the original edition
has a dark blue background, and it's 255 pages, so fairly thick.
(Later editions had very different cover art, with light blue
backgrounds). Main character is Lana Popovic, but another student
is Katia. G576: Girl watches hats go by from her
bedroom window SOLVED:Jennie's
Hat.G577:
Grumpy Alligator Paints House Multicolors I'm
looking for a children's picture book, which I likely read in
the late '80s or early '90s, about a grumpy alligator/crocodile
who wasn't very friendly with his neighbors. Somehow, someone
convinces him to paint his house in vertical, multicolored
stripes and the new paint job makes him happy.
Bernard Waber, The House
on East 88th Street, 1965.This might be stretch, but could it be one
of the "Lyle the Crocodile" books? I don't think Lyle ever paints
a house, but he is artistic, and does get grumpy at various times. Doug
Cushman, Nasty Kyle the
Crocodile,
1986. Someone asked this
on one of the librarian email lists, and the answer she received
was Nasty Kyle the Crocodile. SOLVED: Doug Cushman, Nasty Kyle the Crocodile, 1983.The book was found by a very diligent youth services
coordinator in the Washington D.C. Public Library system. I found
a copy ... for only 55 cents! It was just as I remembered it,
although Kyle the Crocodile remains nasty. G578:
Girl goes to island and meets ghost Read this book in 1990, pink
paperback. Girl who takes a ferry to an island to stay with some
relatives, but she didn't want to go. I remember as the ferry
pulled up there were waves crashing on rocks. She meets a young
ghost (boy?) while there. I think they play catch. Doesn't want to
leave at end.
Kit Pearson, Awake and Dreaming Unfortunately it is not Awake and Dreaming which was
published in 1996, although that does sound interesting, the book
had to have been in existence at least for a few years in 1990
when I received a used copy. G579:
Girl in Storybook Forest inhabited by Dolls A young girl follows a squirrel
into the woods and finds Storybook Forest. Possible title:
"Rebecca/girl's name in Storybook Forest." Published 1960's
early 70's. Color photography, dolls posing as classic fairy tale
characters. Not a Lonely Doll book.
Hazel Thompson Craig, Molly in Story Book Forest,1964. I think
one of your fans may have found my book. G579: "Molly in
Story Book Forest" (1964) by Hazel Thompson Craig. I checked
and it is listed in the Library of Congress. I've been
searching the Internet and the one description that
I've found so far is: "Wonderful black and white photos of
Molly, dolls and toys throughout." Does anyone reading this
have a plot description? I hope to find this long, lost book
and buy it. Thanks in advance
for your help!
G580:
Girl tells lies, neck grows Short story: Every time little girl
tells a lie her neck grows until she has to push her head/neck
along in a wagon. This was in a book of other short
stories. Era: 1950's.
G581:
Girl draws statues to life in NY city
SOLVED: Stoneflight
G582:
Girl sent to live with aunt, suspects uncle of crime early - mid 90's about a girl who's
mom died/dying. dad sends her to live with an aunt in the country
who has a big house has an uncle who lives nearby & always
drunk & plays golf, she suspects of a crime, meets a bad boy
type, cover is of a brunette with thick long wavy hair sitting on
a fence.
Irene Hunt,
Up a Road Slowly, 1966. Most
of
your
description
fits:
Girl's
mother
has
died
and
Julie
and
her
brother
Chris
are
sent
to
live
with
their
aunt
who
is
a
schoolteacher.
The
uncle
lives
in
the
guest
house(?)and
looks
like
he
golfs
all
the
time
but
is
actually
burying
his
alcohol
bottles.
Julie
does
got
involved
with
a
so-called
bad
boy
but
the
"crime"
is
that
she
writes
his
papers
for
him and gets caught. I think the paperback had a picture of a girl
with long hair sitting on a fence. Hunt,
Irene, Up a Road Slowly.Could this be Up a Road Slowly?Julie
is sent to live with her Aunt Cordelia, uncle is an alcoholic, she
dates a boy named Brick for a while who gets her to write his
papers for him. G583:
Girl finds room with old woman and big globe light over bed
that can't go out Reader's Digest Condensed Books is
where I read it. 1960's is when I read it but it could have been a
much older version of the book as my grandparents gave them to
us. "Girl finds room with old woman and big globe light over
bed that can't go out."
MacDonald,
George, Princess and the Goblin This would be Princess and the
Goblin by George MacDonald. MacDonald's
The Princess and the Goblin
is much discussed on the solved page:http://www.loganberrybooks.com/solved-p.htm MacDonald,
George, Princess and the
Goblin.This
would be Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald. [...]Review:As
always with George MacDonald, everything here is more than meets
the eye: this in fact is MacDonald's grace-filled vision of the
world. Said to be one of J.R.R. Tolkien's childhood favorites, The Princess and the Goblin
is the story of the young Princess Irene, her good friend
Curdie--a minor's son--and Irene's mysterious and beautiful
great great grandmother, who lives in a secret room at the top
of the castle stairs. Filled with images of dungeons and
goblins, mysterious fires, burning roses, and a thread so fine
as to be invisible and yet--like prayer--strong enough to lead
the Princess back home to her grandmother's arms, this is a
story of Curdie's slow realization that sometimes, as the
princess tells him, "you must believe without seeing." Simple
enough for reading aloud to a child (as I've done myself more
than once with my daughter), it's rich enough to repay endless
delighted readings for the adult. George
MacDonald, The Princess and the
Goblin. Must
have been an abridged version of this 19th century classic.
You can download it from Project Gutenberg.
You can also purchase a copy of MacDonald's The Princess and the Goblin from Loganberry
Books!
2011
G584: Girl who likes laser printers I seek a fond book from my
childhood, likely published late 1980s to early 1990s. (By
Scholastic?) Has a core group of friends but one affable girl in
particular who's a short story writer and remarks how much she
likes her laser printer (HP LaserJet?).
G585:
Girls Boarding School at Turn of Century There were two books in a series written for the tween
reader. I read (and bought) it in the late 70s but it was set
around the turn of the century. First book involved the heroine
and her horse. I think the horse died (might have been a
parent?). The second book the girl went to an all girls
boarding school. The girls were elementary maybe junior high
age. Might have been Boston or New York. Thought the
heroine was named Libby. I am fairly certain they had a
telephone and there were cars but very early ones...so maybe set
in the 20'\''s. This
is NOT the Horseshoe Hill
(Pamela Reynolds), Catherine Woolley series, Zilphon Keatly Snyder
book nor "The Taste Of Spruce
Gum" by Jacqueline Jackson. Natalie
Savage Carlson, The Half
Sisters, Luvvy and the Girls.This was already solved on
another board.
See this page (scroll to bottom) for Luvvy and the Girls:http://www.loganberrybooks.com/solved-l.html G586: Goodbye Mouse Looking for "Goodbye Mouse"
an old childrens book.Cover has a
pix of an old house trailer and out of the back window is the
mouse looking out.He's leaving
his friends - but finds the desert an intriguing place.My grandson loved this book and now I
can't find it - Please help.
Edna
Miller, Mousekin Takes a Trip.I haven't read the book so I'm not positive, but the
elements seem to match. Mousekin Takes A trip by Edna Miller.
While looking for food in a trailer, the trailer starts moving and
Mousekin is along for the ride. He gets to see the desert. G587:
Girl, baby brother "Honey" Chap book read in 1960's, may been
pub. in 40s or 50s. A few black line draw/illus.. May
have had yellow cover & yellow house may b part of
title. Girl about 9 w/family. Has baby bro named
"Honey" whose b-day is Midsummer's day. Book ends with his
1st b-day party, I believe.
Ruth
Borchard, Children of the Old
House, 1961. G588: Girl
named Ruth dealing with poverty and loneliness 80s novel, set in the
1950s, about a young poor girl named Ruth who was possibly an
orphan. I believed she lived with relatives and had a lovely
dollhouse. She was tormented by a rich girl named Mercy Berry, but
ultimately their fortunes reversed when Mercy contracted polio
from a swimming pool.
Phyllis Green, Wild Violets, 1977. A poor and friendless
nine-year-old witnesses the changes in her life and herself
during the early days of World War II.
G589: Girl,
grandmother or aunt, eye medication, fairies A girl's (grand)mother/aunt is
given medication for her eyes/lids by little
fairy/pixie/woodland creature. The girl is told not to use it on
her own eyes. She uses it against their warnings, and she is
then able to see them getting into mischief...
Fairy
Ointment shows up in several anthologies; here's Joseph Jacobs'
version: http://www.authorama.com/english-fairy-tales-43.html Lillie Patterson , Jenny,
the Halloween spy,1979. Jenny visits an elderly neighbor and
puts some of her eye ointment in her eye. She can then see the
fairy world, but they don't like being spied on.
G590: Guardian
witch, children and powders Book from the 1970s. About a
group of children that mix colorful powders to create different
creatures and stories. One of the kid's guardians is a witch or
something similar. The book is not Little Witch, thought
that was it, but it is not. thank you.
Diana Wynne
Jones, The Ogre Downstairs, 1974. Could
this
be
a
garbled recollection of The Ogre Downstairs?There are five children in a stepfamily: Douglas and
Malcolm, sons of the eponymous Ogre [not a real ogre], and Caspar,
Johnny and Gwinny, children of his new wife.The Ogre buys each set of siblings a chemistry set, and
they discover by experimentation that some of the chemicals have
interesting, magical effects.For
instance, Vol. Pulv. ("flying powder") lets them flyand Animal Spirits lets them bring inanimate objects to
life, so they end up with a variety of creatures that had started
out as things like toffee bars and construction blocks.Definitely a long shot, but it has
powders, animals, magic, and a guardian who might at a stretch
have been misremembered as a witch. Nope!My 4th grade teacher read this to our class, would have
been 32 years ago that he read it, but I tend to think it may be
from the late 50s early 60s.There
were two characters, children, that were in a room with lots of
shelves and on the shelves were glass jars with lots and lots of
different colored powders.They mixed
different combinations all through the book and were afraid the
person that owned them would discover they had tampered with them. Anna
Elizabeth Bennett, Little
Witch, 1953.This sounds like the correct book. G591: Girl finds
necklace on playground and puts it on
there is a little girl on the playground during recess and she
finds a necklace. she puts it on and it attaches itself to her and
won't come off. turns out the necklace belongs to an evil fairy
queen of sorts. that's all i really remember... i hope you can
find it for me! Thanks so much
Lynne
Reid Banks, Fairy Rebel. Might be this book, which
includes a necklace that the evil fairy queen gives to the little
girl, which digs its thorns into her, if I recall correctly. Lynne Reid
Banks, The Fairy Rebel, 1985. "By
the author of Indian In The
Cupboard fame. Bindi's parents save a pair of fairies
from the evil queen, and in return the fairies use magic to give
them a child. The queen holds a grudge for a long time, and sends
the girl a magic necklace she can't take off that makes her act
greedy and steal. If you like this one, try The Farthest-Away
Mountain by the same author!" G592: Girl
and sister live with aunt, sister runs away I read this in the late 80's early
90's a girl and her older sister live with aunt after parents die;
aunt has fondness for chocolate older sister runs away; ends up in
canada (prince edward island) younger sister goes on a trip to
find her when she is seventeen
Elissa Haden
Guest, Over the Moon
G593: Green clothing,
wall, camouflage I am looking for a children's
book published before 1996 (not sure of the year). The
only thing I know about the book is the plot: A man
wearing green sits upon a wall for camouflage.
Elizabeth
Shub, Seeing is Believing,1979, 1994. Shot in the dark that it may be Seeing
is Believing by Elizabeth Shub.
G594:
Golden River, Other World This is a
young adults' book I read in the late 60s or early 70s. The
protagonist is a man from our world, c. 1900, who accidentally
goes through a thin place into another world. In that other world,
he finds a town next to the sea. Here, the locals make their
living by rowing laboriously up a rushing river, collecting gold
dust and then trading it for basic necessities with other people
who come by ship from somewhere else. The main character
participates in a gold collecting expedition and is appalled to
see how little the hard-working villagers are given in return for
the gold. He incites a revolt, helps the villagers make a cannon
out of gold (virtually the only metal the have), makes gunpowder
and masterminds the rebellion. Along the way he also falls in love
and marries a local girl. There's something for everyone in this
book: fantasy, adventure, romance, culture clash and a rousing
battle scene. Random details: the sky is always cloudy in
that world, never blue. For their honeymoon, the young lovers go
all the way up the river to its source, a lake, and stay in a
cottage on an island in the lake for a whole month. G595: Girl with a
messy room Picture book 1970s about a girl who
had a messy room. Cover page had a huge close up of the girl's
face. She had black bob hair cut with bangs and she had a
sucker/lollipop half in her mouth. Room illustration of the mess
showed a piece of pie or apple core under her pillow.
I think it was called J is for Jennifer, but I
can�t find the book anywhere. The book about the messy girl
is The Big Tidy-Up
by Norah Smaridge, Golden Books. G596: Great novel
collection
SOLVED: E O Parrott, How To Become Ridiculously Well Read In One
Evening: A Collection Of Literary Encapsulations, 1985, approximate. G597: Gothic Romance
- girl must choose between two men in a castle I think this book was published in
the early to mid 80's, but could be from the 70's. I read it in my
high school library sometime before 1987. I would say it's YA (not
a bodice buster... but that can be a fine line to interpret!). The
story was about a young woman who goes to live with her extended
family (two cousins, perhaps they are brothers) in a castle-type
mansion. I think she has been orphaned and is an heiress to her
family's estate. She is drawn to her dark and rather menacing
cousin, but is being wooed by her friendly and fair cousin. Then
as the novel draws to an end (involving a chase through candle-lit
stairways and possibly being locked away to die in an old wine
cellar?), she discovers that the "good" cousin really wanted to
marry her for her money but is crazy and wants to kill her. While
her menacing cousin is actually a good person who saves her and
they marry (or some version of happily ever after).
Michaels,
Barbara, Sons of the Wolf Michaels,
Barbara, Sons of the Wolf, 1967. I believe this may be the
one you're looking for. "Ada and Harriet don't know what to expect
when they meet their new guardian, Mr. Wolfson. Here is a
strangely magnetic, darkly amusing man confined to a wheelchair
and flanked by a pair of fierce, dangerous dogs�an enigmatic
benefactor, at once welcoming and intimidating. Even more
unsettling to the girls are Wolfson's two sons, Julian and
Francis. One of them is warm and good-natured, the other is pure
malevolence. But young Harriet is about to discover a frightening
truth: that evil runs rampant throughout their mysterious new
home, Abbey Manor, and the surrounding moors�especially when the
moon comes out . . ." Michaels,
Barbara, Sons of the Wolf, 1967.This is just a shot in the dark, since there are so many
titles that could probably fit the description. Sons of the Wolf
by Barbara Michaels (aka Elizabeth Peters, aka Barbara Mertz). Mary
Stewart, Touch not the Cat.This also sounds
like it could be Touch Not the Cat by Mary Stewart. G598: Greensleeves,
girl meets boy, forest, fever, convent Greensleeves is a theme....the girl
hears the haunting tune. She meets a boy from the past in a
forest? Is his name Robin? I think there is a romantic theme
between them. And the book ends with a fever and her ending
up in a convent? Help!Updated:
I spent hours reading your page and wonder if the book I am
looking for is "To nowhere
and back" but I just remember the book having a one
word title. I would have probably read it in 1978-1980 and it
would have been a school book order book like Scholastic. I
thought for years it was called "Greensleeves" but it's not. I
know the music/song "Greensleeves" does play a theme in it.
I know there was some level of romance between the girl
and the boy....who I seem to think was named Robin? And
she meets him the woods or forest? And I remember the
ending....she is being cared for in a convent by nuns....she had
a fever? and they give her a note and necklace or
something from the boy from the past? I have been thinking about
this book for 30+ years. Any help would be appreciated.
Alison
Uttley,
A Traveler in Time,1964. Not a one-word
title, but other parts fit the description (and "Greensleeves"
is a recurring element in the story, even though it's not
mentioned in the plot summary): "When Penelope visits her
relative's manor house in England, she receives the gift of
being able to see backward in time and witnesses the events that
occurred in the great house in the sixteenth century." Alison
Uttley, Traveller in time.Greensleeves comes in Alison Uttley Traveller in time, but the
rest doesn't fit. I wonder if this is memories of more than one
book? Eileen Dunlop's
Robinsheugh (US title Elizabeth, Elizabeth) has a girl going into
the past meeting a boy called Robin, but he's her older brother,
no romance. Neither of these ends up with girl in a convent. Frances
Eagar, Time Tangle. This sounds to me like Time
Tangle. "While staying at her convent school over Christmas, a
young girl meets a mysterious young man she believes is a ghost
from the sixteenth century. Was Beth Lorimer really able to go
back into Elizabethan times, or were the boy Adam and the crucial
message he gave her just figments of an overheated imagination?"
It features Greensleeves, and Beth breaks a limb and ends up
writing the story while she convalesces.If not that, it may be "Robinsheugh"
by Eileen Dunlop. The American title was "Elizabeth, Elizabeth". G599: Gardener finds
monster's thumb A woman is digging in her garden
and she finds a box with a hairy thumb. That night, she
hears a scary voice saying "Who has got my hair thumb?" and then
there's a loud "thump, thump, thump." eventually the monster
shows up, and they become friends.
Anne Rockwell, Thump,
Thump, Thump! 1981. It's a toe, rather than a thumb. An old women
digs up a hairy toe in her garden, takes it home, and puts it in a
box. Then the Thing comes for it. G600: Girl, heart
problem, Switzerland, dancing I have been looking for a book that
featured a girl with a heart problem, this would have been early
eighties, possibly a seventies book. It had a beach sunset on the
front of the book. The girl featured in the book, had parents that
had taken her to all kinds of treatments around the world,
specifically, Switzerland to try and help her, as they were well
to do. The girl loved to dance, and at the end of the book, she
was dancing, and "her mother told her if she was not careful, her
vena cava would fall out". The book was about her parents letting
her go, and about the girl accepting the problem of her heart. I
am not sure about the title, but I think it had something, summer
in it.....but not sure. Any information would be appreciated. G601: Girl and pet
turtle Picture book of a black girl who
gets a turtle for a pet and decorates a corner by the window of
her apartment for her turtle, maybe from the 1970s.
John Gabriel Navarra, A Turtle in
the House,
1968. A young girl and boy, Lisa & Jackie, find Red Eared
turtle eggs, watch them hatch and bring one home.
Illustrations by Kamoda Kiyaoki. G602: Girl with
dreams of being an octoroon girl in New Orleans Teen book; the late 70's. A
girl living with a relative for the summer in a new city
(SF?) She starts having dreams where she gets flashes
of being an octoroon girl in New Orleans. There is
also something about a type of museum with a garden and
statues. Also a young boy and quotes about time.
Cameron, Eleanor, Court of the
Stone Children, 1973.This sounds like Eleanor Cameron's
National Book Award Winning title, The Court of the Stone Children. Out of print at
the moment, but easily available used as it went through a number
of editions and printings. The original hardcover has lovely cover
art by the Caldecott award winning Trina Schart Hyman. I suspect
that the edition you're thinking of is actually the 1990 Puffin
paperback, which had a style/format very similar to the Apple
paperbacks of the same era. G603: Girl works for
an evil shopkeeper SOLVED: Carol B. York, Beware of this
Shop, 1977.
G604: Girl does
not cut hair SOLVED: Luciana Roselli, Princesses' Tresses, 1963. G605: Girl forced to
go live with aunt who either eats or some how absorbs the life
force of children to stay young My stumper is for my wife. We have
both read the book in the mid 90's. A girl goes to live with her
aunt and the aunt is evil and magical. The aunt absorbs the lives/
souls of children in order to remain young. The story is set at a
country manor and there is a caretaker/ uncle who I would swear
was named Merlin.
Diana Wynne Jones, Aunt Maria (Black Maria in Orig British Edition), 1991. Could this be
your book? Mig and her brother and mother go to live with the
seemingly sweet Aunt Maria in the town of Cranbury-on-the-sea
after the death of their father. However they find that their
Aunt has terrible powers. You can find expanded summaries on the
author's website. G606: Giant
Mole and secret vitamin factory SOLVED: Robert Lawson, Mr. Twigg's Mistake.This is the book, thanks so much! G607: Girl and family
travel in wooden house on wheels Young girl living with her
family, traveling in a wooden house on wheels.
Father was a tinker or trader? I believe I read it sometime
between 1957 and 1961.
Howard, Elizabeth, Peddlers Girl, 1951. When Lucy Taylor's mother
dies, she is unsure what she and her brother Elijah should do. She
persuades her Uncle Adam to take them both with him on his
peddler's travels for the summer - to explore the world outside
Detroit traveling in his peddlers wagon. Elizabeth
Coatsworth. I thought
it was Away Goes Sally, by Elizabeth Coatsworth, but the summary I found
online doesn't fit. Maybe it's another of this author's books. Jane Flory, Peddler's Summer,1960. Jane Flory wrote about a
little girl who went with the peddler for the summer her
family was alive and well and she had a nice adventure. Jane Flory
wrote another book about the same character called Mist on the
Mountain."This book is one of my all-time
favorites! It revolves around Amanda Scoville, 10 years of age,
her seven sisters, ranging from 16 to toddlers, and their mother,
trying to make do in their home halfway up the mountain after
their father dies. It continues the story began in "Peddler's
Summer" and follows their struggles to make a life for themselves
after the hardships that had befallen them. They manage to have
fun and laughter along with the hard times. It's an uplifting
story and it definitely is heartwarming! G608a: Girl, secret
door in piano, musical notes I've been looking for this book for
years. Any help is appreciated! It's a children's picture book and
all I remember is a little girl visits all the musical notes (do,
ray, me, etc) who are creatures. I think the last one was mean or
a monster. And I think the way she visited them was through a
secret door in a piano.
G608: Grandmother and Manachek SOLVED:
Frank Anders / Mary Anuszkiewicz, Grandmother and Machek,1961.
G609: Greedy pirates
find treasure and sink each other SOLVED: Guillermo Mordillo, The damp and daffy doings of a daring pirate ship, 1971. G610: Girl and Boy
time travel and/or runaway A boy & a girl (early teens)
who run away or discover a way to time travel. (or this book is
set in the future). I just remember the cover - & VERY LITTLE
plot (a stolen car?), but need to find this book! The cover had a
pinkish sunset hue, there was a neon sign - or something to do
with neon, star
I forgot to mention that I read this book in middle school around
1996, 97, 98. (although I do not know how old the book was at that
time)
Andre Norton and Phyllis Miller, Seven Spells
to Sunday,
1979. Summary from back cover: For unhappy Monnie Fitts and timid
Bim Ross -- two foster children who live with the Johnsons --
finding an old, faded purple mailbox in a vacant lot was to be
their secret. The seven mysterious stars painted on the door
made it even more important -- and strange. Once they wrote
their names on it, life would be different for them. The paperback
cover shows a purplish red fade/sunset background with a boy and a
girl falling out of a star with a space background. They are
falling into a junkyard with broken cars, trash, and the purple
mailbox. G611: Girl goes
through mirror Young adult book about a teenage
girl who buys an old mirror at a flea market i think and ends up
getting pulled into the mirror by another girl in olden times. she
likes it at first until the girl won't let her leave
Pamela Sykes, Come Back,
Lucy, 1973. Possibly
a garbled recollection of Come
Back, Lucy by Pamela Sykes?The
ghost
girl, Alice, does indeed try to keep Lucy in the past, and mirrors
are the portalbut the link is the
house both girls live in, and the ghost can use any reflective
surface, rather than being limited to one particular mirror. Pamela Sykes,
Mirror of Danger.The mirror in Mirror of
Danger isn't from a flea market, but it does enable the girl to
travel back into the past.At first,
very unhappy in the present (she has been raised by a very
old-fashioned relative but must now live with a very modern
family) she is happy to visit the past, but eventually is afraid
that she is going to be trapped. Pamela
Sykes, Mirror of Danger(also published as Come Back Lucy).Not sure this is
right, but it sounds like it could be MIRROR OF DANGER (also
published as COME BACK LUCY) by Pamela Sykes. Pamela
Sykes, Come back Lucy.Sounds very like Pamela Sykes Come
back Lucy (aka Lucy beware), except that she finds mirror in
attic, doesn't buy it in a junkshop. Girl from the past is Alice. Sarah
Armstrong, Blood Red Roses, 1982.Here's a possibility from the right time period: one of
Bantam's TWILIGHT: WHERE DARKNESS BEGINS paperback series. Girl
buys mirror from dusty antique store and discovers that it's
inhabited by a psycho teen witch. G612: Girl
named deb, lost in woods, wants a horse Probably scholastic, 60's -
70's. Deb (age 12-14?) lives with her mom, a widow.
Deb wants a horse but her mom wants her to be more
dependable. Deb gets lost with a cow who has recently
calved. She gets everyone safely home; her dream of being a
vet is now possible: "Depending!" says her mom.
Patsey Gray, The Horse
Trap. Gray
wrote a 1950/1960s series about a girl named Deb and her horse,
Star. In this one, which is a prequel, Deb's left in
charge at home for a short time and finds a mare and foal trapped
in a canyon. G613: Girl on another
planet runs away SOLVED: Marzollo, Jean, Red Sun Girl.G614: Girl
too Small to Help 1970's-1980's. This book may have
been a Golden Book, Wonder Book, or Elf Book. It was about a
little girl who may have been too small to do many things to help
her mom. Finally at the end of the book, the little girl is
looking over the edge of the table in the kitchen and her mom lets
her stir the pudding in the bowl because she is big enough to
help.
Phyllis Krasilovsky, The Very
Little Girl, 1953. A delightful book bought for me by my mother when I
became a ''big'' sister. The pictures by Ninon are quite special. Phyllis
Krasilovsky, The Very Little
Girl, 1953. This is in the solved stumpers
section. I also remember another possible edition of this
book from the late 1960's or early 1970's which I think was
published by Hallmark and available in their gift shops.
It has different illustrations, but the same premise. I am
not at home so I can't double-check, but I would start with the
Very Little Girl. The Very Little
Girl:I
don't think this is the book.If I
remember, the illustrations were very similar to Eloise Wilkin.I can see the little girl peering over
the table watching her mother, but can't recall much more. G615: Girl's parents
are divorced 1970's-1980's. This book would have been a Scholastic book
club paperback from the late 70-'s to early 80's.A young girl's parents are divorced, and her mother is
remarrying and sending her daughter to stay with her father in San
Francisco? while she is on her honeymoon.While
with her father, the girl learns about stamp collecting. G616: Girl named
Mary--brother drives her in his Jeep This book was about a girl named
Mary. She had an older brother she adored who drove her around in
his Jeep. She met a girl from school who had 40 dolls, but didn't
feel jealous. The girls in this story would often say, "Vengence
is mine..." to one another when they wanted to get back at
someone. G617: Girl teen
with leukemia loses her vision SOLVED:
Isaacsen-Bright,
13 Is Too Young to Die,
1980. G618:
Gosh is a bad word All I remember about this book is a
girl being reprimanded by her father for using bad language: the
word "gosh"! I read it in the mid-80s, but it was clearly rather
old even then. I would guess 50s or early 60s. It was a chapter
book. I know that's not a lot to go on! Any ideas?
Mary Calhoun, This is a total shot in the dark,
but take a look at the covers of the Katie John books by Mary
Calhoun to see if they ring any bells. I remember reading a
book where two girls were friends, and one was a bit rough. She
said "gee", and the other girl didn't think much of that because
it was a sneaky way of saying "God". I don't think it was any of
the Katie
John books. It seems to me it was something by Jean Little, possibly "Spring
Begins in March". Don't know how much help this is. Wilder,
Laura Ingalls, Little Town On
the Prairie.This
is a long shot, but in one of the Little House books,there's a
line that runs (sort of): "Gosh!" She said the [rude?] word
boldly. G619: Girl gets old
horse(poss. named Chief?) dies at end of book I believe the girl lived with her
father. He took her to buy a horse at what seems like a county
fair type sale. All they can afford is an old broken down paint
horse, I believe named Chief. she is disappointed,Updated...I remember the horse being a sort of
old indian (poss. arabian) nag that the girl was not
interested in, he perks up into a shadow of his former self as
they leave and the seller gives her an old indian (again,
poss.arabian) bridle that belongs to the horse. The story
revolves around her growing to love the old guy and to see him for
what he may have been once upon a time, the middle details of the
story are hazy to me, but what stands out, as it made me cry as a
girl, was that he eventually dies and the girl, her father and a
neighbor boy bury him lovingly with his bridle in a very moving
scene. I would love to find out what book this is so I may share
it with my daughters. Intensely frustrating since I can remeber
the names AND Authors of pretty much EVERY horse book I have
ever read with the exception of this one.... Thanks in advance for
your help.
Marylois Dunn and
Ardath Mayhar, The
Absolutely Perfect Horse,1983. I believe
this is "The
Absolutely
Perfect
Horse." The narrator is the brother of teenager Annie,
who is horse-crazy. Annie buys a skinny, beat-up Appaloosa
named Chief out of pity from a travelling carnival/Wild West
show. He's so old and ugly that she's very defensive about
not being ashamed of him, but he proves himself in the
end. The other major plot is about the family adopting a
Vietnamese orphan.
2012 G620: Girl lives with grandmother,
witches My wife has been looking for a book
for ages and I just don�t know what else to do. It would probably
be considered young adult. It is about a girl who went to live
with her grandmother in a rustic/country/woods type area. Her
grandmother and her friends would probably be most described as
witches and the sense of smell plays a large roll. She remembers
the girl going to the grandmother�s friend�s house and having it
smell like roses. She was also required to do chores such as clean
the pig pen. She became friends/loved with the pig and ended up
having to slaughter it. Would have been before 1995 but could be
pretty old. Any ideas?
Monica
Furlong, Juniper,1990. Juniper is a princess who is
sent to live with her godmother to train as a witch/healer. The
godmother lives in total poverty and makes Juniper kill the pig
they need for their winter food supply. She also trains for a
while with the godmother's friend. When her training is finished,
Juniper must use what she has learned to keep her evil aunt from
harming her baby brother in order to take over the kingdom. This book has a sequel called Wise Child. G621: Greedy baby
chickens Book may have been about the size
of a Little Golden Book. All I remember is that some greedy
baby chickens ate a whole lot of feed and their tummies blew up
like fuzzy yellow balloons. The illustration was of some
very silly (slighly drunk looking) chicks lolling on what may be
hay? Thanks! G622: Girl possibly
crippled - lives in closet and dreams of unicorns - maybe set
in 1800s About a lonely young girl who is
possibly disabled in some way (clubfoot, blind, deaf, etc) and
dreams of finding a unicorn. She meets a boy who is a
pirate/sailor and I think he goes to jail. She helps him escape on
his ship but she is left behind, unable to forget him. I read it
in the mid-90s G623: Goat and
rabbits share clover In print early 70s, suitable for
age 4 or 5. Goat lives alone on a little hill, contentedly
nibbling clover. A family of rambunctious rabbits moves in and
begins eating it all up. Goat grows very sad and one day starts to
leave the hill. The rabbits ask what's wrong and agree to share
the clover. G624: Gypsy
caravan Children's book with fantastic illustrations of a gypsy
caravan.
Enid Blyton, Animal
Lovers Book,
1952. Two children go to the country with
their mother whilst she recovers from an illness. While there
they meet a gypsy (zachary boswell) who lives in the woods in a
traditional gypsy caravan. The illustrations show the caravan
with beautifully carved animals running down the sides. G625:
Girl's
bear
injured
on train to visit Asian grandmother, who repairs bear's arm Little girl gets on
the train with her beloved bear, to visit her grandmother in
either China or Japan, unclear whether her parents know. Bear's
arm gets caught in train door but when they find grandmother, she
soaks bear and fixes the arm like new. My daughter LOVED
this book 10-12 years ago. THX!
Akiko Hayashi, Aki and the
Fox.It sounds a lot like this book...only the
stuffed animal is not a bear, it's a fox.Aki
takes her stuffed fox Kon by train to her grandmother to have it's
arm sewn on. G626: Girl lives with
relatives at beach, buys beer hat Read in early '90s, but maybe from
'70s or '80s. A girl goes to live with an aunt due to probs at
home. Her girl cousin shocks her by wearing a tube top and
sneaking out at night. They hang out on the beach with boys. Main
character spends all her money on a hat you drink beer from, aunt
gets angry.
No Place
For Me.I totally remember this book!The girl's name is Copper and her mother
is in rehab.She goes to live with
family member after family member and ends up getting kicked out
of each one. G627: Grocery store,
1950s Searching for a book my mother had
in the 1950s. Man and wife own grocery store and decide to
clean it up on New Year's to attract more customers so they will
earn $$ all year long. End up cleaning store all year long
instead. Recall "wife was still sweeping all year", stacking
produce (cabbage?) G628: Girl,
snake, underground tunnels Looking for
the title of a book I read in the late 1970s/early 1980s when I
was in middle/junior high about a girl who falls down a
hole/ravine and befriends a snake while living underground in
tunnels. She is rescued but has difficulty adjusting to life
above and later returns to the underground. G629: Girl has doll
and time-travels A young girl has a doll, I
think it's a porcelain doll. Something about the doll makes her go
back in time. A scene I remember is her traveling with a covered
wagon train and they have a very large prairie fire. She runs and
runs and finally lies in some sort of ditch and is able to survive
the fire.
Cora Taylor, The Doll (aka Yesterday's Doll) G630: Girl 'becomes'
Goddess Athene Girl & father travel to Greek
island. She & local boy find a lost shrine to Athene. She's
scared of snakes but in shrine snakes twist themselves around her
arms. Her name is short for Athene. I think she has an owl amulet
& they find coins & save island. Read late 70's/early
80's. Pre-teen/teen book.
Shelagh Macdonald, A Circle of Stones.G631: Giraffe,
mailman, LGB SOLVED: Polly Ferrell, Jasper Giraffe. G632: Girl draws
stone griffin, griffin and other stone animals come to life at
night
SOLVED: Georgess McHargue,
Stoneflight. G633: Green Thumb,
Magpie, and Father Time A beautiful, distinctively
illustrated book about an old man with a green thumb (both
literally and figuratively) who lived on a hill. The
antagonist was a magpie, and the story somehow involved Father
Time and a grandfather clock. I had the book in the 80s or
early 90s. G634: Girl befriends
unpopular girl, then betrays her with cruel comments in a slam
book Maybe from Scholastic circa
1975-1979. Adolescent girl befriends quirky girl (illustrations
show her with long, frizzy hair & wearing eyeglasses &
sandals) and then writes mean comments about her new friend in a
slam book that's created by the popular girls. Sad ending:
unpopular girl moves away.
Eleanor Estes, The Hundred
Dresses.
Perhaps "The
Hundred Dresses" by Eleanor
Estes? Ann Martin,
Slam Book, 1980, approximate. Could this be Slam Book, by Ann
Martin? Judy Blume,
Otherwise known as Sheila the
Great, 1980 ,
approximate.I can't remember
whether Sheila has red hair or not, but there is a slam book scene
and her family moves back home to New York City at the end of the
book--they had moved to Tarrytown for the summer. G635: Goat character,
people have departed Hi - probably from 60s or 70s -
similar to Dr Seuss and others. It took place after people had
left in a swarm. There was a stand of trees and tufty grass
- all the pavement had covered everything else. This goat
character lived in a big gap in the ground until things grew
back...
Bill Peet, Wump World,1970.
This sounds like Bill
Peet's The Wump World. Charming illustrations! G636: Girl raises
family SOLVED:
Patricia A. Engebrecht, Under
The Haystack. G637: Girl searches for lost
grandparents, scar on her foot or mother's foot helps solve
mystery SOLVED: Dorothy Maywood Bird, Mystery at Laughing Water. G638: Girl travels back in time
witnesses titanic sinking A girl somehow travels back in time
and either witnesses titanic sinking or relives it through dreams.
One of the quotes is "whiskers round the moon," which the girl
thinks of as she is sailing over the place where the ship sank.
There is a connection to a poor girl, possibly a passenger.
Richard Peck, Ghosts I Have
Been, 1977. One of my very favorites. "Plucky Blossom
Culp, Bluff City social outcast, in 1914, starts out as a mystic
manqu� tricking gullible classmates, but then suddenly she
starts having honest-to-goodness visions: first of a car
accident, then strange flashforwards (even one of the moon
landing), and finally a trip back twenty months in time to
relive the watery demise of a British boy who sank on the
Titanic." (from Kirkus Reviews) Peck,
Richard, Ghosts I Have Been. If your story involved a poor girl
having visions, it might be this one. It's part of the Blossom
Culp series. Blossom is a poor outcast in a small town not long
after the sinking of the Titanic. She learns that she has the
ability to travel across time and see ghosts when she has visions
of a boy who died on the Titanic. She even gets transported into
his room on the ship and is with him in his last moments. Later,
she travels with friends to England and passes over the spot where
the ship sank. Peck,
Richard, Ghosts I Have Been, 1977. Here's the summary:
"Blossom Gulp's second sight joins her to a small boy deserted by
his aristocratic parents during the Titanic disaster." Richard
Peck.You may be conflating Peck's book with one
of L.M. Montgomery's.
There was a character in her ''Anne'' series nicknamed
"Whiskers-on-the-moon". G639: Girl befriends merman A young girl comes into contact
with merpeople possibly becoming one herself. At end of book
merman is talking to her in a tree house and somehow flies back to
river where he lives.
Audrey Brixner, Lucy and the Merman,1977. This sounds like
Lucy and the Merman to me. "Lucy is sitting alone in her tree
house one summer day when a seagull drops something into her lap.
As it turns out, it's a small merman named Triton."
G640: Girl sells
apple pies from her wagon Girl sells apple pies from her
wagon. I think this was a Scholastic book published in the mid
1960s (at least I purchased it then). I think the premise
was that she couldn't have her own bakery because she didn't want
to bake a variety of things each day, just one. G641: Girl named Cinnamon I read a book in 1975, 76, and 77,
about a girl named Cinnamon whose bedroom was in a rounded part of
her house and she solved a mystery. The title had something
about a hill in it. That is all I can remember but I cannot
find anything about it. I really hope that somebody can help
me!
McLaughlin, Lorrie, The
Cinnamon Hill Mystery,1967.
Maybe? "Juvenile novel by the award winning Canadian author
involving a family of girls and their inventive boy cousin who
spend a summer solving a mystery involving nasty neighbors, a
family estate, a lost will, and a hummingbird tree." Thanks for the suggestion.
That may be correct but I'm still not very sure. I remember
it as the girl being the main character and I cannot find a
picture of the cover that I remember, which is mostly red. I
thought that it was an outdoor picture with the hill and a
house. The only pictures I find are of a red cover with kids
on it and a yellow non-jacketed cover. Despite these doubts, the
title sounds correct with "... hill mystery" in it. I could
have sworn that her name was Cinnamon and that the name of the
hill was something different, but we're talking ages and hundreds
of books ago! If you happen to have the book with a diferent cover
than I have found, I would appreciate a picture. Thanks so
much for taking the time to help me, though. Elizabeth
Enright, Gone-Away Lake, Return
to Gone-Away.
Just throwing this out there too--Portia in Return to Gone-Away Lake sleeps in a round tower room. She first sees the
room at the end of Gone-Away Lake. "It was situated in the
tower, a perfectly round little rooom, with a curved window and a
curved window-seat beneath it. The wallpaper was patterned
with faded forget-me-nots, and there was a small fancy desk with a
key to lock it." Lorrie
McLaughlin, The Cinnamon Hill
Mystery,1967.
Here is a picture of an orange cover of the book. http://kisstheprincess.blogspot.com/2011_04_01_archive.htmlThe book was illustrated by Leonard Shortall who also
illustrated the Encyclopedia Brown books. Bunting,
Eve, Ghost Behind Me.I happened upon your website while
searching for another title and happened to see the entry about a
girl named Cinnamon. It�s possible that the requester is actually
searching for a book called, �Ghost Behind Me� by Eve Bunting.
It�s a story about a girl named Cinnamon who blames herself for
her mother and sister�s deaths. She moves to a new house in San
Francisco (I think) with her father and brother. She chooses the
attic room with a broken window and finds a packet of love letters
describing a forbidden love between a girl named Emily who lived
in the house years before and a boy from the wrong side of the
tracks- the girl�s father keeps them apart. Cinnamon begins
hearing the sound of a car starting and even sees an oil stain on
the driveway. Eventually, she meets the ghost- a young man named
Felix. He tells Cinnamon he�s the reason the glass in the window
is continuously broken- he couldn�t stand her father keeping them
apart. He was killed in an accident with Emily but can�t
find Emily on the other side, so he�s still hanging around. He
begs Cinnamon to help him find Emily. It�s actually a pretty good
book. G642: Girl named
Penelope SOLVED: Gerald Durrell, The Talking Parcel.
G643: Girls write
story Children's book that i read in
maybe 1973? about 2 or 3 girls who live next door to each other,
or maybe they are sisters. They write their own story within the
book itself. I remember that their novel was about tiny people.
The font of their story was different from the main story, to set
it apart.
Carol Ryrie Brink, Two Are
Better Than One.Best friends Cordy and Chrys take turns
writing a story about their small dolls. G644: Girls club I am looking for the title of a
book i enjoyed as a girl in the 1960's. It was about a club of
girls . One activitiy was a progressive luncheon, each course at a
different girl's house. I think one girl's name was Marcy
and another, Irma. "Once Is Enough" was a chapter
featured in a reader.
Lovelace, Maud Hart, Betsy Was a
Junior, 1947. Betsy
and
her
gang
of girlfriends, including Irma and Carney (Marcy?), definitely had
a progressive dinner among all their houses.I believe this was in BWAJ, and actually I think they
repeated it the next year.If you
remember the setting as Minnesota at the turn of the 1900s, this
may be your book. Response to commenter: thanks so
much, but it's not Betsy was A Junior or any of the Maud Hart Lovelace
books. The girls in the book I'm searching for were not teens,
they were younger girls. You might check out the Lovelace books anyway. The series
follows the girls well into their teens. There's even one called "Betsy's Wedding."
(Which I am proud to own!!) Catherine
Woolley, Ginnie and the Cooking
Contest, 1968,
approximate. It sounds a little likeGinnie
and
the
Cooking Contest, part of the Ginnie and Geneva
series. In that particular volume, Ginnie is determined to win a
contest, so she and a few other girls take turns cooking different
dishes at each other's homes. I don't think it was actually a
club, but it might be remembered that way. It's not Ginnie and the
Cooking Contest, but thank
you so much for your input. Something else I remember was that one
of the girls at the progressive luncheon served something that was
extremely hot and spicy and everyone kept drinking water to offset
it. Also, by the time it got to dessert- something with
marshmallows and nuts, no one except for one girl had any appetite
left.G645: Gnomes, elves,
forest animals children's series There was a series of books I had
in the 80's as a kid that had gnomes, forest animals such as
badgers, and also elevs in the forests. It told stories of their
lives together and I think the little elves would sometimes fight.
It had beautiful illustrations. The books were thin and tall. G646: Green mother
goose book, hardcover Sea-green, hardcover mother goose
book, I believe it had the goose on the front w/old woman riding
it. Had all the more common nursery rhymes, I remember the
dish and the spoon one, not full page illustrations. From
the late 80's/early 90's. Haven't been able to find a photo of it
specifically.
Briggs, Raymond, Mother Goose
Treasury.
Some of the older editions of Briggs Mother Goose Treasury have an old woman against a blue
background. There's an illustration of one cover at http://www.librarything.com/work/1371625/descriptions/
' G647: Girl lives next
door to ghost girl Girl regularly talks to neighbor
girl through fence in backyard. The neighbor says her mother
doesn't like her to smile because it'll cause wrinkles. She is
pale, gets nose bleeds (?), and eventually doesn't show up and the
girl finds out she died actually died decades+ ago of scarlet
fever (?) G648: Group of
dolls, published pre-1960
Looking for a chapter book I read as a child (would have to have
been published before 1960) involving a group of dolls (I was very
fond of doll books). At one point they are traveling in a boat and
one or some are separated and trying to find each other again.
There might have been a toy soldier involved.
Rumer Godden, Home is the
Sailor, 1964. Sian
lives
in
Wales
and has a doll house that is missing all of its male dolls except
for Curley, a little boy doll.One of
the missing male dolls is Thomas, a sailor doll who was to marry
Miss Charlotte before he sailed to France.Curley
decides
he
must
find Thomas to alleviate Miss Charlotte's sadness.His chance meeting with a lonely French boy named Bernard
who's visiting Wales leads Curley on a daring adventure to bring
Thomas back to the dollhouse.This is
one of Godden's best doll books and an often overlooked work. I, too, read Home is the Sailor, thinking
it might be the book I was looking for, but in the book I read
several dolls traveled in a boat (not just the sailor), and I was
in high school when it was published. I read the book much earlier
than that. Anne Parrish,
Floating Island. It's been a while since I read
this, but I do know that it involves a group of dolls that are
shipwrecked and I believe at one point separated. G649: Girl, 3-D
glasses I am remember a book from England I
read about 1962 or 63, but was probably from the mid-50s because
it was about 3-D glasses. A girl about 10, in London, has an
older, unpleasant sister who goes to secretarial school. The 10 yr
old girl is unhappy until she puts on the 3-D glasses. G650: Girl saves
to buy mother stove(?) from sears or wards catalog Girl saves to buy mother stove(?)
from sears or wards catalog
John and Patricia
Beatty, The Nickel-Plated Beauty, 1960s. I don't know
if this is the one you're thinking of, but it involves a girl in
early-day Washington state and her numerous siblings, who sell
berries, do chores for neighbors and whatever else they can
think of to save up enough money to buy the stove they saw in a
catalog (not sure whose). There is an online
description at the Solved Mysteries section. One
detail: the family name is Kimball and all the children have
black hair, so the neighbors call them "the glowering Kimballs". Patricia
Beatty, The Nickle-Plated
Beauty,1965,
approximate.It may be The
Nickle-Plated Beauty. It's a whole family of kids saving for the
stove, but it's told from the perspective of one daughter. They
live on the northwest coast, at the turn of the century.It's a great book! Patricia
Beatty, The Nickel-Plated
Beauty.Kids order a cooking stove for their
mother, but have yet to earn all the money to apy for it. If you
check for covers, keep in mind that it was published in the 70s
and republished later withadifferent
cover. Margaret Sidney, Five little peppers and how they
grew.The
details don't quite match, but could it be this book? More details: Hello! I am trying
for the life of me to find a chapter book I remember from my tween
years (late 70's, early 80's), and hope you can help me. I
checked the book out from the Juniors section of the Austin Public
Library. The book is about a very independent girl/young teenager
(?) in pioneer times, and I remember that a big part of the story
was that she was trying to earn/save money to buy her mother
something from a mail order catalog to be delivered to her town's
general store (Sears or Montgomery Wards?). I think it is a (wood
burning) stove that she wants to buy�there is definitely something
about a stove being a prominent feature of the book. The narrative
is about a series of things that she attempts to do that don't
ever quite work out the way she plans. I remember her
(loving and kind) father being prominent in the story. Something
in the story is about a rose (either her name is Rose, or she
wants or has a dress with rose print fabric, or the picture on the
cover has the girl in a dress with a patchwork rose?). I remember
a very descriptive part of the book where she is baking a red
velvet cake. It�s the first time I ever heard of a red velvet
cake, and the description sounded so delicious and rich.
Thanks for any leads you may have! Patricia Beatty, Oh, The Red
Rose Tree.I still think you're looking for
The Nickle-Plated Beauty, but you may be combining a few parts of
the sequel--Oh, The Red Rose Tree. Four of the girls from
the original story are working on creating a quilt of roses...and
things keep going wrong. I don't know if the two books were
ever combined in one volume, but maybe they were! Patricia
Beatty, Nickel-Plated Beauty.Others (inc. myself) have
sent in the answer of Nickel-Plated Beauty by Patricia Beatty and that's still the right answer.
But since the searcher posted more details and remembered a rose
detail, I wanted to add that there was another book by Patricia Beatty,
O THE RED ROSE TREE(I think it was a sequel but not
100% sure) In the rose one, 4 girls are trying to help a woman get
7 shades of red cloth to make a special rose quilt. Hope this
helps. G651: Girl named Ari c. 1985? A juvenile fiction book
about a girl named Ari. She has siblings who tease her a bit.
There's a part in the book about some confusion with her neighbors
and the SPCA. Also, I seem to remember there being a part in the
book about a bicycle (stolen?)
Francine Pascal, The Hand-Me-Down Kid, 1982. Francine Pascal, The
Hand-Me-Down Kid, 1982.Ari Jacobs finds that being the youngest in
a family that does not seem to care is no fun, so she learns to
assert herself. When a thief steals the bicycle she has secretly
borrowed from her sister, 11 year old Ari, in trying to recover
the bike, learns a lot about dealing with people.
G652: Goat Ate Tin Can
Hologram (3-D) 1940's or early 50's children's
book. Probably elf or little golden book. A goat
ate a ragged tin can and you could see it in his tummy which
was a hologram or 3-D view.
G653:
Girl in elementary school, candies
SOLVED: Beverly Cleary, Ellen
Tebbits.
G654: Girl visits aunt(s)?
who live above a town and may be witches Here are my memories: the girl
visits/goes to live with her aunts (I think) - the house is on
a hill above a town and the town people think the aunts are
witches. It is very cold when the girl arrives and the room
she stays in is pretty spartan.
Norma
Kassirer, Magic Elizabeth. This is a long shot, but when
Sally goes to stay with her great-aunt Sarah, she gets there
on a dark, rainy night, the house is spooky-looking and hard
to find, and she does think her aunt looks like a witch--plus
there's a black cat. See D347. Magic
Elizabeth was a good
guess but it is not the right book. Sylvia
Cassedy, Behind the Attic
Wall. Shot
in the dark b/c I'd think you'd remember the dolls, but have
you looked at BEHIND THE ATTIC
WALL?
G655:
Girl from wrong side of the tracks falls pregnant with
rich boys baby he dies
teen story, white background, small red & blue logo, girl
with long dark hair on front, possibly with a plane (drawing
not photo)? He leaves to be a fighter pilot and dies,
called Powell? He lived in a house which was 3 stories high
and described as looking like a cake. written pre 80's
possibly?
I STAY NEAR YOU by M.E. Kerr, 1997 Girl
is Mildred Cone, boy is Powell Storm, boy lives in a mansion
called Cake.
G656: Good good good, Bill
shouted, today is my birthday! In the late 1970s, my sister
had a book memorized whose first line went like this:
Good good good, Bill shouted, today is my birthday!
The book had a 1950s art style like a little golden book.
. He went throughout the house and yard on a search
for his birthday present. He finds a puppy!
Irene Blair, Hazel Hoeeker (illus), Bill's Birthday Surprise,1954. A Whitman Tell-A-Tale book. Cute pictures of
Bill (w/ reddish-brown hair, wearing a red-and-white striped
shirt and blue suspender overalls) looking for his surprise.
Mother and father suggest that perhaps the surprise is
hiding and help him look.
G657: Gunslinger
searches for killer
I read a book once with a "gunslinger" like main
character who traveled during the day searching for a man
who killed at night. In the end of the book the main
character ends up at his house and finds a secret room in
the back and realizes he is the killer he has been searching
for the whole time.
Stephen
King,
The Dark Tower Series. You might be thinking
about this whole series and not just an individual book.
G658: A Ghost Story... That was
the title, I believe. Just "A ghost story" and I believe the
book was from the late 1970's. If I can remember correctly,
it was a story of a young girl (teen possibly), who was
staying in a home along the coast, and it was haunted by a
man I believe was a pirate, ship captain... but he was stuck
and kept walking the shore, and he thought the girl was his
lost love. I think she tried to explain that she wasn't, and
somehow, toward the end of the story, it was found that his
long lost love was a ghost as well, and they walk away
together... I think, for the time, the book was fairly well
written, and well, haunting. :) I remember the cover being
white, I think, and the writing being in red, but I cannot
remember the author. It was a paperback book I bought
through the book orders our teachers passed out in class.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Unknown,
The Concrete Captain,1972, approximate.
This is so similar to the plot of "The Concrete Captain" it
was a TV episode of a 1970's ghost story series, but
perhaps it was based on a book or short story? It was
aired as an episode of the TV series "Ghost Story". It
was first aired in 1972, but was perhaps rerun again in the
late 70's, because that's when I seem to remember seeing
it. You had mentioned just remembering the words
"ghost story", and that's the name of the TV series. In the
Concrete Captain episode, a young woman is staying with her
husband at an inn (actually an old house), on the coast. She
is haunted/obsessed by the ghost of a sea captain, who was
buried 100 years earlier in the rocks on the coast, near the
inn. The house/inn was the home of the dead captain and his
wife 100 years before. The young wife staying there walks
the shore repeatedly, he (ghost of captain), crawls onto the
shore calling for her. The ghost of the captain is "stuck"
or "trapped" and can't move on. There is also the actual
ghost of the dead wife involved also, more toward the
end---the ghost of the long lost love/dead captain's wife,
finally is able to encourage him that they can finally be
together again. If you go to YouTube and search for
"concrete captain", someone has posted the entire episode in
3 parts. I know it's not your book but the plot is so
similar, and the TV series was called "ghost story", so
maybe the idea for the book came from the show, or perhaps
the show was based on your book! Elizabeth Walter, The Concrete Captain
(short story in her collection In The Mist
(Arkham House, 1979), previous to 1972, approximate.
WorldCat record notes: Title: Ghost story. The concrete
captain / Author(s): Cabot, Sebastian, 1918-1977, host. /
G659: Grandmother tells
exciting story of girl in the old country, reveals she
was that girl 1960s
book? beautiful illustrations. grandma tells story of girl
in "the old country" (Poland or Russia or Hungary by the
dress?), story involves the brother, something about
catching a giant fish which then slaps one of them on the
face with its tail, then grandmother reveals she was girl in
story.
Frank Anders, Grandmother
and Machek Frank
Anders was a
dear friend of mine, a wonderfully talented artist who lived
in Rochester, NY. He passed away a few years
ago. �Grandmother and
Machek� was based
on a story told to him by his paternal Polish grandmother
(the family name was Anuszkiewicz, which he changed to
Anders). The book, published by Whitman, has been long
out of print. I believe Frank�s son is trying to get
it republished.
G660: Girl, birthday
wish, record
I was reading this between 1982 - 88. Could
have been published anytime before. About a girl who for
her birthday wants & asks everyone for a certain record.
When opening presents at party, she received the same gift over
and over. Book may have included read along record. Soft cover.
G661:
Girl, woods, boy ghost
Girl moves to new home, conflict in house with either sister or
parents. Meets boy in woods who turns out to be ghost. He may have
been a suicide, or she considers it to join him. Ultimately
she senses he means her harm. Read this in high school library in
1978. May be up to 10 years older.G662:
Girl grows weeds
A book about a girl who can't do anything right until she grows
weeds. I recall the drawings as black & white, but who
knows? G663:
Girl pees in potty
I remember the book in the mid 80's. About a girl named Catherine
(unsure of the spelling). There is a part that goes through all
the places she shouldn't pee and a part that says something like
"the dog pees outside, the cat pees in the box and Catherine goes
pee pee in the potty. A board book. G664:
Girls finds secret passage in her room 1990s kids book, green cover w yellow text and antique
doorknob. Part of a series, author had 2 first initials. girl
moved away from her friends to a Victorian house with her mother
and brother. Son - plaid curtains w red walls. Girl � yellow walls
w flower curtains. Girl discovered a secret passage. G665:
Girl
befriends
witch
girl on her way to school Children's book about a girl who encounters another girl
claiming to be a "witch" in the forest on her way to school. The
two girls become friends. Setting is somewhere in northern US
during the fall. Recall that it had a won (or been nominated) for
a children's book prize. Published before 1981.
Probably Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth,
William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth, by E.L.
Konigsburg. Newbery Honor Book. "I walked the back way
because it passed through a little woods that I liked.
Jennifer was sitting in one of the trees in this woods."--page 3. Konigsburg, E. L., Jennifer, Hecate,
Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth.G665
sounds
like it must be Jennifer, Hecate, MacBeth, William
McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth by E. L. Konigsburg,
published in 1968. "Elizabeth is new in town and having
trouble making friends. When she meets Jennifer, things take a
turn for the better. Jennifer claims to be a witch and she
recruits Elizabeth as her apprentice. The girls communicate
through notes and secret messages. As part of her apprenticeship,
Elizabeth has to eat raw eggs, onions, spaghetti noodles and give
up sweets for the holidays. There are also taboos for the girls to
follow or face the consequences. During their weekly meetings and
rituals they plan to invent a flying ointment. The two develop a
special friendship as they spend time in the library researching
the formula for this magical ointment." The book was a Newbery
Honor Book. Konigsburg, E. L., Jennifer, Hecate,
Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth,1967.
G665
is probably Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley,
and Me, Elizabeth by E. L. Konigsburg.
It was published in 1967 and was a 1968 Newbery Honor Book, and
Wikipedia has a (spoilerish) synopsis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer,_Hecate,_Macbeth,_William_McKinley,_and_Me,_Elizabeth
That's "Jennifer, Hecate, William
McKinley and me, Elizabeth" :)
I think this must be Jennifer, Hecate,
Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth, by E. L. Konigsburg,
1967. It matches the description perfectly and you can find a
detailed summary on the book�s Wikipedia page, here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer,_Hecate,_Macbeth,_William_McKinley,_and_Me,_ElizabethG666:Garnets
buried like treasure, brother and sister find painting
of woman with mismatched eyes Read in the 70's, children's mystery. There is an old
painting of a woman with one blue eye and one green eye, poem
on back reads, "One red rose more lovely than all the ruby
fire buried in the mountain by the pool of lost desire" The
rubies refer to garnets found eventually by the children. The
woman in the painting is now old and resurfaces as a character
identified by the children later only by her mis-matched eyes.
The children are brother & sister (I think) recently moved
into an old house. Near the beginning they meet another young
girl named (I think) Olivia who has an interesting character
and something physically wrong with her (a limp?). It turns
out that the woman in the painting and the man who had it
painted were in love but quarreled long ago over what should
be done with garnets he had found on property now owned by the
protagonists' family. She felt they should be used to set
something right with Olivia's family. When she ran away he was
heartbroken and never dug the garnets up even though he had
intended to. The children are able to find the garnets and do
something to right the old wrong. There is a forested pool on
the house's property and a "mountain" by it where the garnets
are found.
Mystery Back of the Mountain,
by Mary Childs. Jane, Mary C. I think the G666
solution is the correct one for the book Mystery Back
of the Mountain but the author of that book is not
Mary Childs. It was one of mystery writer Mary
C. Jane's books.
G667: Girl
crosses plateau to escape a wind that freezes people A girl is trapped by a wind that acts as an assassin for
an evil queen. The wind freezes people, but for some reason
let's the girl escape. She flees up onto a plateau. Somewhere
along the way, she joins up with a boy. At one point they
encounter horses called night mares.
This could be "The Darkangel"
by Meredith Ann Pierce. G668: Gazing
ball with children trapped inside 1950's child lit chapter book (not picture book) about
children trapped in a world inside a yard gazing
globe/ball. Plot is how they return to real world.
This sounds like one of the chapters in A
Diamond in the Window by Jane Langton.
This could be The Diamond in the
Window by Jane Langton. Although
it's a very small part of the plot, I think the missing aunt
and uncle (children through most of the book, but adults at
the end) were released when a gazing ball on the lawn was
broken. Another mystery where a gazing ball played a big role
was Jane-Emily, by Patricia Clapp. But the plot is a little
different--the ghost of a girl haunting the ball is banished
when the ball is broken by the child she's haunting.
Still, just in case, I thought it was worth a mention.
I believe the searcher is looking for The
Diamond
in the Window by Jane Langton. A
girl and her brother search for a lost aunt and uncle, who
became trapped inside a gazing ball when they were only
children. It was published around 1960, but has since
been reissued. G669:
Girl hides in brambles/thicket Sent in here several years ago, was wrongly marked "solved"
by someone who claimed to be, but was not really the OP.
That person found their book, but I never found this one. This
book was written no later than the 50s/60s. I read it in the very
early 70s. The book is about a young girl who is sent away/goes to
live in a lonely place with a relative, I think. She had a
secret hiding place she would often escape to- a woodsy area, in a
thicket, or brambles. A wolf, or some such animal, was her friend.
There was something unusual about the color of the animal's eyes.
The color of the animal's eyes is brought up a few times. At
the very end, (like on the last page) there was some hint that the
animal was really this man she knew,(gardener, groundskeeper?) as
she noticed he had the exact same color eyes.
Absolutely for sure NOT IT... My Wolf, My Friend/Sasha, My Friend- Barbara Corcoran;
Girl in the Golden Bower- Jane Yolen; String Of
Time/Nightmare- Irma Chilton; Foxy Boy/The Wild Valley-
David Severn; The Secret Garden- Frances Hodgson Burnett
Sorry to learn that your original stumper was not indeed
solved!
G670:
Girl mixed up in espionage Girl who somehow gets mixed up in espionage. I read this book
in the 6th grade, so the early 90's but I think this book was
written in the 60's or 70's. The only line I can remember is when
the male spy says he loves her and she says "those words went off
like a firecracker in my head."
Amelia Elizabeth Walden. Could
this have been a book by Amelia Elizabeth Walden?The
Spy
Who
Talked
Too Much was my favorite, but she wrote a bunch of
girl-mixed-up-with-spies books in the 70s. I think she even
had a state award named after her. G671:
Goat and barnyard friends Small orange book RE: a goat ("Gabby"?) and her barnyard
friends want to get a b-day gift for goose ("Mrs. Goose"?). Goat
jumps up on barrel to get an old halter off a nail in barn. She
nibbles the halter apart to get a red ring that is presented as a
necklace to goose. publ 1960-1989? Thanks! G672:
Girl Scouts on Camping Trip Probably published in the 1960s. Story about girls (maybe
Girl Scouts) on a camping trip. Two girls set out at night with
flashlight in search of their missing friend. Beautiful pastel
colored illustrations. Stump the Bookseller has helped me find 10
books to date!
Wow! Let's make it eleven. G673:
Ghost who leaves water rings
I am looking for a book about two kids who end up befriending two
ghosts in an abandoned house. One of the ghosts is a girl who
drowned after falling overboard a steamboat. When she appears she
leaves a hoop skirt shaped water ring. There might be bad guys
trying to get at hidden treasure.
The books about the ghost
with dripping hoopskirts isWHO
KNEW THERE'S BE GHOSTS?,byBill Brittain.There's
a sequel,THE GHOST FROM BENEATH
THE SEA. I think this might be The
Ghost Belonged to Me by Richard Peck. G674:
Gypsy named Randi, silver mine, horse racing
I am looking for a young adult book that I read circa
1976. I know it has the word Gypsy in the title but it was
not one of the Gypsy Love trilogy. It featured a young girl,
Randi who was a gypsy girl with red hair. A silver mine,
horse racing and a family secret are involved. Hero's name:
Troy.
Gypsy Secretby Florence Crane. G675:
Girl befriends a girl who's accused of being a witch and
has a bedroom in a barn
A book I had in the 1980's and might have been from a book club at
school (Scholastic?). The book was about a girl who befriended
another girl who I think was a new girl in her class at school.
The new girl had very long straight black hair and was teased by
the other kids at school who I think called her a witch. One day
while at school the new girl was somehow injured and then the girl
who had befriended her went to visit her at her home. She found
the black-haired girl in bed with a her head bandaged and I think
she might have been delirious as well. The black-haired girl had
an unusual bedroom in that the family had turned their barn into a
bedroom for her and it had a big skylight. I think the
black-haired girl lived with her single mother and the single
mother's parents. They may have been Native Americans. She had a
large custom-made doll house that was very tall. The book was
illustrated and I specifically recall and illustration of this
girl's bedroom in the barn and the skylight open to the night sky
with stars. I wish I could remember the title and author... Thanks
for any help with locating this one :)
Some of the elements in your
stumper remind me of Snowbound in Hidden
Valley, by Holly Wilson. You may want to
check it out to see if it's your book!
This could be The Seven Stone
aka Maggie in the Middle by Mary Francis Shura.
See the solved page under "S" for more
details. It definitely has the main character visiting a
weird girl from school who has a bedroom in a converted barn. G676:
Girl, relative, Victorian house SOLVED: Katie John G677:
Girl, witch rituals
Girl who spends a lot of time alone goes through many (harmless)
rituals to become magical or a witch. A couple I remember is that
she spends a whole day not walking on any floors, and spends
another day not speaking to anyone � but she can�t tell people why
she�s doing it. I can�t remember if there was a club, etc. She
learns about the idea of a �familiar� and I believe has a cat as
her familiar. I read it in the mid-80�s, but am not sure when it
was published.
E. L. Konigsburg,Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and
Me, Elizabeth, 1967.Possibly? I think
there's a section in this where she is not allowed to step on
the floors during the training. Is one allowed a double
guess? The Headless Cupid,Zilpah Snyder includes the "don't step on the
floors" part. Amanda is the new stepsister of the four Stanley
children; she dresses all in black, and claims magic powers; she
has a crow as a familiar. Intrigued, the others go through
rather elaborate and confusing rituals such as the floor one,
avoiding metal and the like, to learn magical powers. They try
to keep things from their parents, mainly out of the fact they
like secrets, but things get out of hand. In the end it turns
out that she wasn't sure about her new family and put up the
magic facade as a way of keeping her distant; the other kids
don't really mind, and all ends well, with a whiff of mystery at
the end. Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William
McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth, EL Konigsberg.Elizabeth, the narrator, is new to the city but
befriends a mysterious and clever black girl, Jennifer, who
claims to be a witch. She offers to teach Elizabeth to be one,
but this includes having to do things like not cut her hair, eat
lots of onions, never touch pins, etc. and of course not tell
anyone about what's going on. Elizabeth gets into rather amusing
troubles with her parents and snooty friends, including when she
filches rather yucky health food from The Greats, her great-aunt
and -uncle. Jennifer has a toad for a familiar; this is part of
a flying ointment the girls plan to create. The girls tend to
argue, but all ends well. Hope one of these helps. Wallace Hildick, Active Enzyme Lemon-Freshened Junior High
School Witch,1974. Zilpha Keatly Snyder,
The Headless Cupid. Zilpha
Keatley Snyder, The Headless
Cupid, 1971. This sounds like
Amanda in The Headless Cupid.
She's a new stepsister to the Stanleys (David, Janie, Esther
& Blair) and is "studying" to be a medium. She sets up
various ordeals, like not touching anything metal or not
stepping on the floor, that all the children have to pass if
they want to participate in her occult doings. Her familiar is a
crow called Rolor. E.L. Konigsburg, Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley,
and Me, Elizabeth.Longshot guess here, but is it possible it might beJennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and
Me, Elizabeth,byE.L. Konigsburg? I do
remember Elizabeth going through harmless rituals devised by her
friend Jennifer to become a witch. I don't remember if those
rituals included not walking on floors for a day or not talking
to anyone for a day, but do recall some of the other rituals
like eating a raw egg every day for a week, not cutting her
hair, etc. Also remember a discussion of familiars in the
book - Jennifer's said that her pet toad was her familiar.
Like I said, a longshot guess, but might be what you are looking
for.
I believe the querent is remembering both The
Active-Enzyme, Lemon-Freshened, Junior High School Witch
by Wallace Hildick and Zilpha Keatley Snyder�s The
Headless Cupid. I would ask if they remember a
�squiggly code� and a garter made from a hair ribbon with a little
bell attached. Hildick worked from an introductory book on
witchcraft by Paul Huson which is still in print. G678: Girl visits aunt It is about a girl going to visit her aunt. She
reads part of a letter from the aunt while she is on the way
there and thinks the aunt doesn't want her to come stay. So she
runs away and lives in a small shed in a field near a tree line.
It may have taken place in England.
Charley
by Joan G Robinson This would be Charley by Joan Robinson c. 1969.
Feeling unwanted by the aunt who has come to stay during her
parents' absence, a young girl runs away and lives on her own. This sounds very like Charley by Joan G Robinson.
She reads a page of her aunt�s letter which says �I don�t want
Charley, you know that� and runs away to live in a wooden
caravan by a wood. When she finally meets the aunt at the
end, the aunt produces the preceding page of the letter which
ended �It�s not that....I don�t want Charley, you know
that�. It was published in the UK in paperback by Lions so
easy to get hold of a secondhand copy. G678: is The
Girl Who Ran Away by Joan G. Robinson (I
seem to remember there was a note on the cover that the original
title had been "Charley") I think the book this person
is describing is called "The Girl Who Ran Away",
by Joan G. Robinson. Published in 1969 and yes, it takes
place in England. The Girl
Who Ran Away (Original Title: Charley)
by Joan G. Robinson, first published in 1969. G679: Grandparent's camper Description: This is a chapter book I remember reading in the
late '60's. There were two children (I think they might've been
orphans) whose grandparents take them camping in an old 1930's
touring car that has been rebuild as a camper, with beds, a
stove, etc. I think the author also wrote another book about a
magic elevator, but I could be wrong about that (no, it's not
Dahl).
I think you're
looking for Ruth Cristoffer Carlsen's Henrietta
Goes West. (Henrietta is the car). The
two kids are newly orphaned, one of them won't speak, and
Henrietta belongs to a great aunt and uncle. She's an old
touring car with some magical properties. It's been years
since I thought of the book, but it's great! Could the author be
Edmund Ormondroyd, who wrote Time at the Top ( the "magic
elevator book")? Otherwise, the stumper sounds like the Disney
movie The Gnome Mobile. G680: Girl likes photography, sheet
music
Girl who likes photography, has an Alice Blue gown? or likes the
sheet music. Young adult, book, she was in high
school. Likes a boy. Edwardian era or early 20's
era. Was in the Oroville, CA library in the early 80's, but
the book could be much older. G681: Girl with orange hair, hair
stylist mom I know this children's book was in the library in the 1980s but
I don't know when it was published. A mom who is a hair stylist (salon, beauty shop) has a
daughter with red (orange?) hair. The little girl doesn't think
her hair is pretty, though the mom tells her it is. For some
reason in part of the story they visit the neighbors, who are
Chinese (Asian? or in the vocabulary then, Oriental?) and run a
restaurant. At the end of the book, however, the mom shows the
little girl the Harvest Moon, and when the little girl asks what
it is, the mom tells her it's orange. So the girl then knows the
color of her hair is pretty. Unfortunately that's all I know.... G682: Girl, bear, hut, forest,
Christmas tree SOLVED: Deep in the Forest G683: Girl sews patchwork I have a vague memory of reading a story about a little
girl who learned to sew by hand. The thing that sticks out in my
mind is that she was sewing an apron or a skirt with pieces of
yellow fabric with red patterns on it. Can't remember anything
else at all about the story.
This might be Ellen Tebbits by Beverly Cleary
since there's a chapter that features Ellen and her friend
having matching yellow dresses with a red monkey design.
At a long shot it might also be the short story Polly Patchwork
by Rachel Field, which is about a little girl wearing a dress
made of a patchwork quilt, some of the patches were yellow and
red. G684: Girl in Rome searches for lost cat Looking for a
book that I read in the late 80s/early 90s. The story
is about a young girl in Rome looking for a lost cat.
She eventually finds the cat when it comes out of the
mouth of truth statue. I remember the book being large
having a hard blue cover. G685: Ghost girl named Lilith, lighthouse
at the seaside All I can remember is that
it was a hardback book with a blue cover and
(possibly) a Lighthouse on that cover, or something
like that (maybe a manor/mansion? Not sure, but I
think it was a lighthouse). The story, if I remember
correctly, involved a young girl (who may well have
been sent to live at the seaside, again I've no ida)
becoming friends with another girl called Lilith. If I
remember correctly, Lilith is a ghost, and the living
girl is unaware of this fact. I'm also vaguely
remember that at some point Lilith gets angry/annoyed
with something or some one. I know it's not a lot to
go on, but I really hope somebody can help me find
this book. Thanks in advance. G686: Grey squirrel dies, lives on through
children
The book I am looking for
is a 1950-1960's book something like the Little
Grey Squirrel. Childrens book about a mother Grey
Squirrel and her children and how she lives on through
them when she is killed by a car. G687: Great Stories for Children,
including Noah's Ark I was born in 1968 and I
remember reading this book when I was maybe 10.
I remember it as a large size book, tall and narrow,
with a deep pink/purple cover. I feel like it
was called something like "Greatest Stories for
Children". My parents were not big readers so
the books we had usually were from Reader's Digest (ie
the condensed book series) - and I associate the one I
remember with another book I had, called "Strange
Stories and Amazing Facts".Anyway,
the
"Greatest Stories" book had a story in it that I think
had vaguely religious overtones, and was about the
themes of redemption and forgiveness. A young boy in
it did something bad (I don't remember what) to a
little girl (maybe hurt her in a careless accident and
crippled her or something like that?) In the
end, he carvers her a beautiful Noah's Ark set that he
gives to her as a gift.
H1: Halloween Solved: A Tiger
Called Thomas H3: Hat Parade I�m so glad I found your website. I hope
you can help me find a book I used to borrow from the library
when I was still in third grade (1974). The school is in the
Phillippines but the book I�m looking for is an American book. I
no longer remember the title and the author. It�s a hardbound
book. The cover is green (or red, I�m not sure). It has colored
illustrations inside. It has lots of stories but the characters
are the same throughout the book. The only character I remember
is Peggy. Most of the stories are set in the school. There�s a
chapter about a hat parade in school where a boy is wearing a
hat made of 3 balloons. Another girl is wearing a hat made of
autumn leaves. Another scene is the circus and there�s a picture
of a female rider who jumps from the ground or teeterboard on to
a aack of a running horse. That�s all I can remember.
Thanks so much for your help.
Not much help here, but this sounds like a
school reader, the kind with connected stories about continuing
characters. The description of the illustrations also sounds
like a reader.
H4: Hats of seven colors Solved: Up and Away
H6: Hunger Walk Solved: The Man Who Cooked For Himself
H8: Horses, rehabilitation
and valedictorians Solved: Dark Sunshine H9: Holy
grail hunt Solved: Hidden Treasure
of Glaston H10: Hedgehog love Solved: The Many Lives
of Chio and Goro H13: How a girl befriends an angel Solved: Snow
Angel H14: Hoban book? Solved: Harvey's
Hideout H15: Homely male doll story read by Capt. Kangaroo Solved: Herkimer the
Homely Doll H16: Hide and Seek, y'all Trying to recall the name of a book where the black children
played hide and seek and called out, "Honey in the bee ball,
bee ball, bee ball. I can't see ya'll, see ya'll, see ya'll."
I am sure it was a well known piece of literature. Thanks.
I guess this would just be too obvious : City
Kids, City Games written and photographed by James
Wagenvoord, designed by Anita Wagenvoord. Philadelphia:
J. B. Lippincott Company, 1974 128 pages, illustrated with
numerous full-page photographs of African American children,
photograph on cover of a running Afican American child. "James
Wagenvoord spent six months roaming with his camera, catching
city children at play in tenements and housing developments,
on cement stoops and building roofs. The photographer, who was
born in Lansing, Michigan and attended Duke University, is not
African American."
I'm pretty sure the mystery book is not Wagenvoord's
City Kids/City Games. As you probably know
it's not a children's book, rather a sort of sociological/urban
studies photo essay. I believe it's rather obscure, but that
could just be my perception. Anyway, terrific idea and
site. Wish I'd thought of it!
Well I don't know of a book where children
sing it, but "Honey in the Bee Ball" is a jazz classic by Lewis
Jordan, written in the 1930s, if that's any help. Mary Dutton, Thorpe (1967) approximate) I wonder if it might
be this book, although the song is said to be a southern
traditional game-song (like the skipping rope songs, etc.)so it
most likely would be featured in other stories as well.
This book takes place during the Depression, in the South
(Arkansas I think) about a little white girl, Thorpe, whose
father is a principal or official of a school and gets into
trouble with the board for giving the black school books that
were being discarded anyway. Thorpe is friends with some
black children, I think their mother works for hers, and there
are several scenes where a boy called Thee sings "Honey in the
bee ball", at least once while playing in the woods. Thee
drowns in a waterhole while trying to get away from some local
bullies.
H18: Hilda Kolakowski Solved: Upright Hilda H19: Hot Hot Peppers The title may be hot hot peppers or a number of other
combinations It is a story about seven bandits who steal peppers
from farmers. The entire book goes through the farmer's attempts
to get the peppers back. In the end the bandits and the
farmers eat the peppers together. This book was originally
purchased from a school book fair around the year 1986. It
is a paperback, very thin book. something you'd read to a
kindergarten age child at bedtime. The only phrase that may
be distinguishable is that each time hot peppers are mentioned in
the book, the H-O-T is spelled out just like that. I have
never even read the book. This is all information I've
gotten from my boyfriend's mom. She sold the book in a
garage sale a few years ago without thinking about it. It
was his favorite book as a child and I've been looking for it for
months. Please Please Please help me find it!
Audrey Wood, Twenty Four Robbers, 1980. Child's Play (International) Ltd. printed
in Singapore I have a hardcover version of this book, found
second-hand somewhere... "Not last night, but the
night before... "Twenty-four robbers came a-knocking at my
door. "I asked them what they wanted, "And this is what they
said... "H...O...T... hot peppers!!!" The robbers
return several times to a (single?) woman, taking more
ingredients, only to return with a pot of hot pepper soup to
share.
H20: Harold series Solved: Herbert's Space Trip H21: Horse story: kids help old nag Solved: Horse Haven H22: Hucklebones Solved: Hucklebones H25: Horse wants off the round-about. Solved: The
Runaway Flying Horse H26: Holocaust survivor story Solved: Stolen Years H29: House goes through transitions in series of books A series of books that I read as a young
girl in the 50s dealt with a house in England. The first book
was about its construction, some time in the 1600s or so. The
next book was about the next owners of the house - their stories
and how they changed the house. The next book was about the next
owners. And so on. I think there were about 10 books in the
series, winding up with the house being made into apartments or
lofts or something and then telling the stories of all the
families that lived in these apartments. Does this ring a bell
with anyone? This series was one of my favorites and I'd like to
recommend it to my daughters.
#H29--House goes through transitions in
series of books: Sounds like L. M. Boston'sGreen
Knowe series, which ARE wonderful books you SHOULD
read, but there is NOTHING in them about the house being divided
into apartments! Also, they are not in sequence--the
earliest, The Stones of Green Knowe, was
published last in the series.
H29 - Sound like the books by Norah
Lofts that include The House At Old Vine, The House
at Sunset, etc. But I don't think they go up
to modern times, so these may not be the ones being searched
for. barbara willard, the mantlemass
chronicles. i
also can't remember anything about apartments, but i may not
have read every book in the series. they take place in
england and are novels that tell stories through the families
that live in mantlemass- their manor- over hundreds of years,
beginning in the 1400's. they are not all about the same
family necessarily, but the characters interlink in some way
with those in other books. titles include the sprig of
broom, the lark and laurel, keys to mantlemass, harrow and
harvest, a flight of swans, and others.
H31: Horse breaks leg Here goes: I loved and read every horse
book I could find when living in Virginia as a child and there
is one I'd love to find. As best as I can remember, the young
girl in the story goes to live with her riding teacher and works
for her. She wants to enter shows and the teacher buys her
riding clothes and so forth. Somewhere along the line she rides
her teacher's favorite horse and when it jumps a jump, the horse
breaks a leg. Any clues
Jean Slaughter Doty, The Monday
Horses, late 1970's.
This book isn't the Monday Horses.
I'm wondering if it's one of Barbara Morgenroth's,
though? Kathleen Herald, Sabre, the Horse
From the Sea. A
good possiblility. Gillian Baxter, Horses in the Glen,
1962. Sharon Wagner, Gypsy From Nowhere. I haven't read this but I have read the
sequel, Gypsy and Nimblefoot. In Gypsy
From Nowhere, I think Wendy, the human heroine, goes
to stay with her aunt and uncle. She rides a horse and it
breaks its leg. She feels terrible about it but makes
friends with Gypsy, another horse. Jane McIlvane, Cammie's Choice, 1963. Cammie moves from the city to
Virginia and discovers riding. Because she shows promise
she gets free lessons from Missy who runs the Pony Club.
Missy gives her riding boots and clothes and teaches her to ride
on her favourite old thoroughbred, Corinthian. Through
overconfidence Cammie lets Corinthian jump a wired fence and he
has to be put down, spoiling the Pony Club's chances at the Pony
Club Rally. Cammie then shows that she can ride the
difficult Sabrina and they prove themselves at the Opening Meet
of the foxhunting season. In tne sequel, Cammie's
Challenge, Cammie rides Sabrina to victory in the
National Rally.
H32: Hot Pink Pages The book I'm looking for was given to me
new sometime between 1965 and 1972. It was an oversized hard
bound children's book, and had short stories, poems, and rhymes
in it. I think the cover was mainly white with characters on it.
The main thing I remember was the color of the outside of the
pages. Looking at the book closed, the outside of the pages were
hot pink colored. My brother received a similar
looking book but his contained all stories. The books may have
been part of a set or series but they weren't encyclopedias.
They weren't that big. They must have been cheaply priced even
when new, as my mom only shopped in bargain stores and 5 and 10
cent stores. I also seem to remember the quality of the
paper used in the book wasn't too good. The paper seemed to me
to be almost newspaperish type, like in a paperback book instead
of a hardbound one. Does my description ring any bells?
I've asked for this book numerous times and nobody remembers any
such book.
Going by name only- how about Noddy's
Tall
Pink
Book by Enid Blyton?
H33: Hag Dowsabel Solved: People in the
Garden H35: Humphrey the Horrible Solved: Great Ghost
Rescue H36: House I remember reading a story about an old house that was unsold and
closed for many years. And then one day a family buys its. And the
story is about the the transition the little house goes through as
her owners renovate. The shutters change colour, the paint etc
Sounds like it could be THE BIG
WORLD AND THE LITTLE HOUSE by Ruth Krauss,
ill. by Marc Simont, 1949. A house is empty until a family moves
in and fixes it up. ~from a librarian Virginia Lee Burton, The Little House, 1942. It's possible that the book is The
Little House by Virginia Lee Burton. The book begins
as the house is built out in the country on the top of a hill.
Eventually cars arrive, other houses are built, and the house
ends up in the middle of a big city, surrounded by apartment
buildings and neglected. Finally, a woman walks by,
recognizes the house as the one built by her great great
grandfather, and has it moved back to the top of a hill in the
countrty. They do fix the windows and shutters and repaint
it, although I don't think they change the colors. Also, this
happens right at the end of the book, so if renovation is a big
part of the story, this isn't the book.
H36 house: more on one suggested title - The
Big
World
and
the Little House, by Ruth Krauss,
illustrated by Marc Simont, published Schuman 1949, 40 pages.
"The thread of story tells about a family in which each member
adds one cherished feature after another to an empty old
house, standing alone in the world, to create the feeling of
home. The modern and colorful pictures capture the mood of the
story, as they show the dark round world where the house
stands, while it gathers up the happy spirit and love of the
people who live there." (HB Jan/50 p.35) Another possible
is The House of Four Seasons, written and
illustrated by Roger Duvoisin, published Lothrop 1956,
32 pages. "Father, Mother, Billy and Suzy buy an old house
in the country and can't decide what color to paint it. Shall
it be red and green to look pretty in spring, yellow and
purple for summer, brown and blue for fall, or green with
orange shutters like a Christmas tree in the snow? Finally
Billy suggests that they make the four sides different, one
for each season, so off they go to the paint shop. The
children are disappointed when the salesman tells them he has
only blue, red and yellow paint, but Father shows them how
they can 'play tricks' with those colors and get every shade
they want or, better still, have a real 'house of four
seasons' with all the sides alike." (HB Aug/56 p.257)
Another possibility is Shefelman's
picture book, Victoria House: two
architects buy a run-down Victorian house and move it to a
neighborhood in the city, where they redesign the interior and
restore the exterior.
On the older stumper #H36--House, this
further information on one of the suggested titles gives
enough detail that the original poster should be able to
confirm or eliminate it: The Big World and the Little
House, (1949) by Ruth ("The Carrot Seed") Krauss.
It's a wonderful book by a well-known author with enchanting
pictures by Marc Simont. It begins "The world is a big
place. The house was a little house. The house was a little part
of the world. It sat alone on a hill that was rough and
completely bare... At night it was part of the dark. No heart
beat in it. Nobody lived there." Then a family moves in,
fixes it up. "The dog dug a hole and the kids poured water in it
to catch the stars. And they invited chipmunks to come and live
among the roots of the roses." "The father put down a little
blue rug with a black sheep on it made by a lady in Canada."
Incredibly poetic, somehow incredibly evocative of what it means
to live in a family... and more... "They put in a telephone and
if you got the right number you could talk with somebody in
China. And they put in a radio. On the radio, you could hear
people from another part of the world, but they couldn't hear
you. If someone on the radio said, 'Children should be in bed
right after supper,' you could yell 'Yah yah yah yah yah!' and
they couldn't yell back because they couldn't hear you.... If
you turned on the music loud enough, the floor of the little
house would shake in time to it. Someone making music far away
across the ocean could make your house shake." One clear
night the kids start to make up a song beginning "'We've got
chipmunks in our roses and stars between our toeses...' They
didn't get any further. And like this song of the
children, that had no ending, the house was no filled with the
feeling of the people in it even in what was not there--like the
curtains Grandma never put up in her room and kept saying she
was waiting to get just the right kind. Only everyone knew it
was one of those things Grandma never got around to, and never
would." "The little house had become a home. 'Home' is a way
people feel about a place. These people felt that way about the
little house. Some people feel that way around a room, which is
just part of a house. Some people feel that way about a
corner, which is just part of a room that is part of a
house. Some people feel that way about the whole world."
H37: House is book's cover, corner slanted like roof The book I'm looking for is one of the few
books I've seen, back then, that the cover was a house and the
corner was slanted like a roof. There were children on the
cover, one either mowing grass or raking, one leaning out a
window. If you can either locate or give me the name of
this book, I would appreciate it. It is a fond memory of
my childhood. Thank you!
One of the Golden Shape Books? There's This
is My House (A Golden Sturdy Shape Book) written and
illustrated by John E. Johnson, published NY:
Golden/Western 1981. Or The House Book (A Golden
Shape Book) by Carol North, published NY: Golden, 1985.
H38: Hollow Solved: The Truth About
Stone Hollow H39: A horse named Horse Solved: The Year of the
Horse H40: Hungarian refugee helped by camping Teens Solved: Journey With a
Secret H41: Hazel, the maid? I remember a (series I think) of books
about a family with a large house. The main character was
a girl in the family, and I think they had a maid (possibly
named Hazel, although I may be mixing that up with the tv show!)
who was a central figure in the family's life.
This is just a wild guess, but I'm thinking
of the Melendy family stories by Elizabeth Enright:The
Saturdays,
The
Four-Story Mistake, Then There Were Five, and
Spiderweb for Two: A Melendy Maze. The maid
was Cuffy and she did figure prominently in the stories.
The girls were Mona and Randy. Janet Lambret, Star-Spangled Summer. This could be any of the Peggy
Parrish books by Janet Lambret. The large, happy family
has a mai nemaed Trudy (I think) who is like a member of the
family.
H42: House with windows Solved: Four Story Mistake H43: Home, nothing, nobody Solved: Nothing at All
H44: Henry and the Ant Solved: Henry's Awful Mistake
H45: Henrietta the
roller-skating hippo I am looking for a book I read as a child that was about a roller
skating hippo (I think her name was Henrietta). Her family did not
want her to roller skate, so they would hide her skates and you
had to try to find them in the pictures throughout the book.
Finally at the end the whole hippo family was on roller skates.
This book is important to me because as a child I loved the
colors in it and discovering where the hidden roller skates were.
Do you know where I could find it? I do not remember the publisher
or the author.
H45 is most definitely Henrietta
Hippo - I remember it well. Now we just need
to see if I can actually find the book to figure out the
author! I'm almost positive it was a Scholastic book - I
can see the cover in my head!
the closest title I've found so far is Henrietta
the Clumsy Hippo, by John Greaves,
illustrated by Edward Maclachlan, published Barrons 1988, which
seems a bit recent. "Henrietta the clumsy Hippo wreaks havoc
with her careless dancing, until one of the other animals makes
a wise suggestion."
I have been looking for this book too. I
think the Hippo's name was Petunia, though, not Henrietta. And a
saying in the book use to be "oh no her family cried!" every
time Petunia was found roller skating. Hope this helps you get
closer to finding the book! Roger Duvoisin, Petunia *or* Veronica, c.1977.
H45 Petunia was a goose and Veronica was the hippo in books by
Roger Duvoisin, and they met up in Our Veronica Goes to
Petunia's Farm It's not easy having a book
about a hippo with the same name as YOURS in your elementary
classroom library!
How 'bout this one: Greaves, John,
Illustrated by McLachlan, Edward. Henrietta the Clumsy
Hippo. Barron's Educational Series, 1988.
Henrietta the Clumsy Hippo wreaks havoc with her dancing until
one of the other animals makes a wise suggestion. Lively,
colorful illustrations (Henrietta is pink) accompany the simple
text in this delightful book. Alida McKay Tacher, Elephant on
Wheels (1974) I
think you are thinking of the book "Elephant on Wheels" which
featured Petunia the elephant, who was fond of rollerskating.
Her family weren't enamoured of her pastime, and so hid her
rollerskates.
H46: Horror anthology Solved: Baleful Beasts & Eerie Creatures H47: Herbert's Treasures Solved: Herbert's Treasure H48: Hair is the color of sunlight Sovled: The Witch Family
H49: Huckabuck and more Solved: Storytime Tales H50: How-To Book for Young Kids I recall this being a large format book of perhaps 30 or 40
pages. It was a how-to book for children, covering such
essential skills as how to shell a hard-boiled egg, how to
make a PB&J sandwich (you put the peanut butter on first and
then the jelly), how to tie a shoe, and a number of other things.
H50 Is it possible that your book's
intended audience was 'special education' kids? As a teacher, I
see a lot of this type of texts and nonfiction trade books aimed
at what we call transition-age students. Those preparing to
leave special education programs for as independent a life as
possible. Might take your search in a direction you hadn't
considered. Good luck!
H51: Hawaiian girl comes to mainland to go to school Solved: Best Friends at
School H52: Hello, World! Solved: The Big Brown
Bear
H53: horse allergic to
flowers Solved: Robert the Rose Horse H54:
Horse/Eohippus book Solved: Molly's Miracle H55: Horses with rainbow? manes and tails Solved: A Season of
Ponies
H56: House in tree, winged
seed Solved: The Wonderful Tree
H57: Hedgehog Solved: Miss Jaster's Garden H58: Hole from Pennsylvannia to Tasmania Solved: Speedy Digs Downside Up
2003 H59: Hot Crackaloram,
High Topper Mountain Solved: Master of all
Masters H60:
hidden room mystery Solved: The Youngest
Artist H61: The House of Mrs. Mouse Solved: Matilda,
MacElroy and Mary H62: HOMER (A PIG) WEEKLY READER BOOK(?) Solved: Hamilton H63: History of America contrasted with other things
going on in the world Solved: Abraham Lincoln's World H64: Horse Stories Solved: Silver Snaffles Primrose Cummig, Siver Snaffles',
reprint. 'Although this
stumper hs been solved, you miht be interest to know that Silver
Snaffles is oing to be reprinted b Fidra Books of Edinburgh - it's
due out in October 2007. See www.fidrabooks.com formore info. What
a relief - have been trying to get a copy for my daughters for
months but originals are well out of my budget! H65: Highway Exit Solved: The White
Mountains H66: Hymns Book lists a background/history of the
composers of the great Christian hymns. i.e. Silent Night
by Franz Gruber... Then would have a one/two page history
explaining the occasion of the writing of this hymn. Probably
lists 30 hymn titles with composers and their
histories. Heard about you Sat. on NPR. Good
idea.
H66 Probably not exactly what the
reader is looking for, but Greenleaf Press Catalog has a listing
for Color the Christmas Classics. The real story
behind Christmas Carols such as Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,
O Come All Ye Faithful and Silent Night. Coloring book,
biographical sketches and a music cassette.
#H66--Hymns: Great Hymns and
Their Stories.Sheppard, W. J. Limmer.
The Religious Tract Society, London, 1923, went through various
reprints, including London: Lutterworth Press, 1950.
One illustration is a photograph of the Cleft Rock at Burrington
Combe, which inspired the hymn Rock of Ages. 186pp, indexes of
hymns and authors. Details of approx. 170 hymns.
Also: Treasury of Great Hymns And Their Stories.
Johnson, Guye. Greenville, SC, U.S.A.: Bob
Jones University Press, 1986.
H67: Henry and his Velociped Solved: Bertram and his
Funny Animals H68: Herb Farm Solved: Something Short and Sweet H69: High school teens marry because of pregnancy and
live with her mother
SOLVED: Barstow, Stan, A Kind of Loving.
H70: Heliotrope Scented Woman - Mystery Solved: Revelations in
Black H71: Horses - model 1950's. This book was about a little boy who may have lived
on a ranch, probably had no horse of his own, but had a wonderful
collection of model horses I think they were made of
leather/real horsehair. At the end, he may have had his own
(live) horse. I recall wonderful illustrations of these
model horses.
C.W. Anderson,Blaze and the
Gray Spotted Pony. In this book, a little boy
named Tommy collects model horses while yearning for a pony of
his own, like Blaze. He eventually receives a gray pony.
That seems to fit. Anderson is
famous for his beautiful pencil sketches of horses. He
wrote Blaze in 1968, and original editions can be
quite pricey. Fortunately, there were paperback reprints,
and those are readily available. I recently sent you a "stumper" which you published under H71,
Horses - model; you supposedly identified it as "Blaze and the
Grey Spotted Pony." This is NOT the book I'm after; first
of all, I noted that I read it in the 1950's, and you said this
was published in 1968. I am very familiar with C.W.
Anderson's books, and, in fact, collect them. This is not the
right book. I read the book I'm searching for when I was
no older than 10, so it was published before 1956.
H72: Heart belongs...knows it best Solved: "I Remembered" H73: Homes with Originality Solved: The Big Orange
Splot H74: Halloween Party Solved: Tell Me, Mr.
Owl H75: House Solved: The House of
Four Seasons H76: Hospital Recovery from Surgery Novel about recovering from surgery in a
hospital with inside info from a Dr/surgeon persepective.
Could this be Bypass, A Doctor's
Recovery From Open Heart Surgery? Joseph
D. Waxberg tells what it's like for a doctor to be the
patient. (Appleton-Century-Crofts, c1981)
H77: Hendricka the Cow Solved: The Cow Who
Fell in the Canal H78: henry father omaha business Looking for an early 20th century
children's book that involves a boy named Henry (maybe his name
is Bertram.) His father would always on business trips to
Omaha, Nebraska. The boy would get into mischief and his
father would come back to solve the problem... any ideas?
H78 Long shot, but may be worth checking.
Could it be one of the books about HENRY REED by
Keith Robertson? He started writing them in the late 50s.
~from a librarian
Henry Reed's dad is in the diplomatic
service overseas. Henry Reed Inc., Henry Reed's Big
Show, etc. take place during Henry's summer visits
with his aunt and uncle in Grover's Corner, New Jersey. So
these wouldn't be the books you're looking for.
There's a series, including Henry
Reed, Inc (1958), Henry Reed's baby-sitting
service (1966), Henry Reed's big Show (1970),
Henry Reed�s journey (1963).
You have listed H78 as solved as Henry
Reed,
Inc. This is almost certainly not this book.
Henry Reed's father was not in these books at all. They took
place in the Trenton, New Jersey area and were set in the 60's,
not the early 20th century. The main characters, Henry and
Midge, were 11 and 12 and didn't need any help getting out of
their own scrapes they always took a twist that ended
well!! Gilbert, Paul T., Bertram and his
Marvelous Adventures.
NY Rand McNally 1950. Since the original poster suggested
that the boy's name might be Bertram, and since the first in
this series was published in the 1930s (and since I just
suggested them for another "Henry" book!) let's try for this one
as well. No solid information on Bertram's father, but he does
seem to have an adventure per chapter - in one case going off to
find his own rhinoceros because he isn't allowed to play rhino
with Baby Sam.
H79: horse funded by bank Solved: Hanover's
Wishing Star H80: herbs turn children's wading pool into lagoon Solved: The Hidden Cave H81: humorous family siturations Solved: I Capture the
Castle H82: Horse named Baby in book Solved: High Hurdles H83: Horses - Three Solved: Three Little
Horses: Blackie, Brownie and Whitey H84: Herky Hurky Helicopter I am looking for a child's story book that was a childhood
favorite of a man about 60 years old. It may be called Herky,
Hurky, or something similar. I believe it is about a
helicopter. I would really appreciate any thoughts or
recollections about this book. Thanks! Peace.
Jack Alden, Cocky the Little
Helicopter,
1943. The date's right on this, and I could plausibly see
the name getting misremembered, as it's rather similar. "A
very early picture book about an overconfident little
helicopter."
H85: Heliotrope My memories of this book are hazy, but here
goes: There are animals that fly (possibly a griffin), an old
lady, & a secret garden with heliotrope.
See also H70. Goudge, Elizabeth, the Little
White Horse,1950s.This is a long shot, but could
your book be The Little White Horse (or possibly
another book)by Elizabeth Goudge? There is an old
lady named Miss Heliotrope, a unicorn ( not sure about a
griffin) and I remember the garden with heliotrope in another of
her books.
H86: Henry...........(the explorer??) Solved: Henry the Explorer H87: How the Magpie Built his Nest Solved: The Magpie's Nest H88: Horse Eohippus, Dawn Horse, Cave, Time travel Solved: Molly's Miracle H89: Humorous catalog of fictitious magical products Solved: The Witch's Catalog H90: Hawaii In the mid 60�s, I read and re-read a thick chapter book about
Hawaii, target audience early teens. This was not a junky dime
novel, probably not a mystery, but an in-depth well-connected plot
covering a lot of places on the islands. I don�t even remember the
central character, it seemed to be historical fiction describing a
trip (a family?) to Hawaii. Probably the scenes depicted a Hawaii
of the late 30�s. I guess that time frame because in 1964 the book
seemed old to me. It was a blue cloth cover, 2 inches or so, thick
and a few black and white drawings. Two descriptions of the
breath-taking scenery stand out in my mind�� Moonlight sparkles
off the waterfall and it is clear enough to see a night rainbow
above the spray. Also native boys swimming out to welcome an
incoming boat. I cannot believe my recall on the book is so limp.
As much as I read it (borrowed from the neighbors) and loved it,
it slips my mind. I have looked in vain on Ebay, then heard about
this book search on NPR. Hope someone can help.
Larry Barretto, Hawaiian Holiday, 1938. I have not read this, but the
title and date seem plausible. Knowlton, William, Beneath Hawaiian
Seas, 1962.
"Summer vacation on the Hawaiian Islands, diving, sharks,
adventure!"
Going only by title- Lois says Aloha
by Dorothy Heiderstadt James A. Michener, Hawaii, 1959. Thick book, historical fiction...
sounds very much like Michener's work.
H91: Hannah and plain Bonnet Solved: Thee, Hannah H92: Houseplant takes over Solved: The Remarkable Plant in Apartment 4 H93: Hobo Fairies Hobo Fairies. this childrens book was read by my mother
over 60 years ago. please email me when you find one, or the
title and author ,etc. thank you.
Jack London, Hobo and the Fairy i went to your site last night and found that H93 was listed in
the found category. I forwarded the info to my mother and asked
her if this was thebook she had read .the following is what she
wrote back; Gosh, I wish it were, but Jack London is most
likely a world away from whatever the text was in the book(s) I
would love to find. And thank you for remembering - I can
see the pictures so clearly even now, but the problem in finding
the book is that this was when I was maybe 3 years old, and I
couldn't read yet. So I have no recollection of any
words. The artist might be an Arthur Rackham, but I am not
sure since the only pictures I have seen of his are postage
stamp things on the Net. It will take some more
investigation to find the book, I am thinking... is
there a chance there is another childrens book with hobo
fairies? do you have a copy of the Jack London book to see if
there is art work in it? Or do you have access to someone who
can tell you if and whose art is in it? my mother was 3 in 1942.
maybe this can help your search timetable.
H94: High school boy helps old ladies Solved: The Ghost of Garina Street H95: Hawaiian mystery involving sisters, one is a singer I read this book back in late elementary/early jr. high years,
1975 - 1978ish. It's a murder mystery w/ a fairly
sophisticated plot for a juvenile book (at least it seemed to me
at the time). I remember a Hawaiian setting, and involves 2
sisters, one of whom travels HI to help the other. The
sister who goes to Hawaii is a singer and has a broken leg.
Because of this she does her lounge act in a mermaid costume to
hide the cast. I seem to recall that the mystery involved a
jewelry heist, and one of them is kidnapped and held in an
unexplored cave, expecting to drown once the tide comes in.
Any ideas? By the way, I absolutely love your
site. I've found several beloved, but impossible-to-recall
titles that I read as a kid. Thanks much! H96: Hot rodder loses drivers licence then learns to fly Solved: Conquer The Wind H97: Hippo? is jealous of little brother A simple picture book (maybe a Golden Book?) I read in the early
1970s. I think it may have been a paperback. An animal
that lived in the water (probably a hippopatumus, but might have
been a manatee or some other large aquatic mammal) was always
upset because he felt his mother favored his little brother,
giving him larger snacks, etc. He may have used the phrase
"no fair" or "not fair" several times. In the end, of
course, he discovered that his mother loved him just as much. H98: HUGE Fairy Tale Book from 80's with fairy on cover Solved: Fairy Tales (Hadaway) H99:
Hostile Takeover Solved: Going Public H100: How to Make Papier-Mache Dolls Solved: American
Costume Dolls: How to Make and Dress Them H101: How to Make Dolls From Wire & Stockings Solved: Homemade Dolls
in Foreign Dress Here's another "how to" book I'm searching for...this one was
about making dolls using copper wire for the "skeleton" &
stockings for the skin. The dolls were then dressed in
international outfits--I think there was a Mexican boy &
Peruvian girl. Each doll was illustrated w/a B&W line drawing.
This book was in a branch library in the 1970s, but I think was
written well before then. It had a red Brodart-like dust jacket
w/black drawings of some of the dolls. Thanks for your help!
Nina R. Jordan, Homemade
Dolls in Foreign Dress, 1939. This book was
reprinted, probably several times my copy bears the date
1967. It was published by Harcourt, Brace, &
World. Instructions show how to make a doll using a wire
skeleton covered by strips of stockings and cotton. There
are instructions for, among others, "Mexican Pedro Goes to
Market" and "Pancho of Peru." Instructions for making
scenes in which to pose the dolls are also included in each
chapter. Other dolls are Eskimo and Igloo, Indian Mother
and Baby, Hendrik of Holland and the Windmill, Scotch
Highlander, French Peasant, Swedish Greta, Angelo of Italy, and
several others.
H102: Hat brags to coats I have been looking for a large-sized illustrated children's book
for some time now. It is about a hat that is bragging to the
coats on the rack next to him. Zeus overhears this because
he is tuned into the conversation from the clouds via a shortwave
radio or grammaphone and he blows the hat away on a wind to the
end of oblivion. He falls for days or eons and eventually
lands in a sea where a cricket lands on him and they float along,
seeing amazing and strange sights (that I think are supposed to be
allegorical). I say it's a childrens' book because it's
illustrated but there is some existentialism in the story. I
think it was printed in the 50's maybe. My copy was green
and had the fabric type of binding. Hope you can help. H103: Homemade dress Solved: Trish H104:
hippos
in
dar
es salaam Children's book about hippos in Dar es
Salaam - more than a picture book, but the text was basic. I
think the plot was one hippo being taken by poachers and almost
killed, but returned to the mud hole at the end. There was
beautiful artwork - blues and purples, great drawings of hippos.
I loved this book as a kid and have never found it!
Hugo the Hippo. I am
pretty sure it was set in Dar Es Salaam. The mid-1970s is
when I read it. Great cartoon illustrations! I found
out recently that they also made a movie out of it, but I never
knew about that as a kid.
H104 I found a fantasticly long list of juv
bks on hippos, with a sentence describing each--but no Dar es
Salaam: http://members.aol.com/HippoPage/hpbkfict.htm
H105: Hippo in Dar Es Salaam Looking for an illustrated children's book
that I originally purchased in mid-1970's, featuring a hippo in
Tanzania. I presume author was a Brit living in Dar es
Salaam. I have a hunch the hippo was named Harriet.
Wow, look at the stumper for H104 above! There are of
course several bibliophilic Harriet Hippos, including Miss
Harriet Hippopotamus and the Most Wonderful by Nancy
Moore, Vanguard Press, 1963. But it could also be Hugo
the Hippo by Thomas Baum, Scholatic, 1976, as
suggested above.
H106: Hortense, Grater Heroine: Hortense. Passes thru opening (window?) where
inanimate objects come alive. Friends: highboy,
lowboy. Villan: grater. Was in Chicago Public Library
system friend in Massachusetts also remembers it. She
thought west wind was in title but I can't verify that. Read to
our elementary class in 1940's in Chicago.
Might have been the Enchanted (something)
or similar title?? Late 40's? approximate. "Ride, ride,
ride, for the world is fair and wide, and Tom and Jerry are able
very to ride, ride, ride" (Incantation to compell Tom and Jerry,
the horses, to ride forth (fly?) for good or ill purpose.
In the house, something, something, something, "and Grater comes
out at night" (producing fear and alarm among the characters
(and the young readers, as well)). Grater had a henchman
of sorts among the furniture. When he had captured a character
(Highboy, or, as it might have been, Lowboy), the furniture
became inert drawers could not be opened, even by day. I
have been searching for this book for a long time (nostalgic
revisiting of one of my earliest fantasy books. Perhaps
checked out from Sheridan, Wyoming Carnegie Library The Cat in Grandfather's House, 1929.This
sounds
like
the
book
my
3rd
grade
teacher
read
to
us
the
year
she
retired,
1975.
(How
many
books
have
a
highboy
and
a
lowboy
as
characters?!)
As
my
teacher
got
to
the
end,
she
realized
that
the
last
few
pages
were
missing
and
we
never
found
out
what
happened.
I've
been
trying
to
find it ever since, but thought the title was The Cat in
the Grandfather Clock (I think the clock was the
portal to the secret world). Searching this site using
different keywords, I saw someone else post the actual title and
date for someone else's query. Carl Henry Grabo, The
Cat in Grandfather's House. The book is
called The
Cat in Grandfather's House and posted on line at the
following website:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/23737/23737.txt. I have
been looking for it for over 20 years and just found it today.
Enjoy and please read it to your kids!
H107: Hop Little Kangaroo Solved: Hop, little
kangaroo H107: Horse story, perhaps limited print run Solved: A Horse Named
Summer 2004 H108: The Hole Book or Book W. Hole Solved: The Hole Book H109: House in the Forest Solved: The New House in the Forest H110: How Come? Solved: How Come? H111: Horse named Woody Dip Solved: Hard Luck Horse H112: Horse story about "Blanco" Solved: Horsepower H113: Horse (spotted) childs book, with brother and sister and a horse (spotted),
actual pictures not illustrations. Age 9-12. I cannot
remember their names but it was simple like Dick and Jane (but not
that). H114: Horse novel character Kevin Young adult horse novel, circa 1950's. School book mobile. The
main character was "Kevin". May have been about a race horse that
was stolen and shipped overseas. Horse was eventually rescued by
Kevin. I read this when I was 14 yrs old in 1956. My little
brother was born and my parents let me name him "Kevin" after the
character. I want the book for a gift to my special brother.
Faralla, Dana, Magnificent Barb:
horse with the magical foot. NY Grosset 1947. Because of the date,
this seems the most likely "Kevin, the grandson of an Irish
horseman, dreams of the Godolphin Barb - so when he finds a
horse with the one magical white foot, his dream becomes a
reality and the horse exerts a magical influence on his close
and loving family." "Sean Fitgerald brings his bride and blooded
horses to Georgia just after the Civil War. He has little give
his family but a love of horses, and particularly his grandson,
Kevin. Nurtured on Gaelic folklore, Kevin dreams of the
Godolphin Barb, and out of these dreams comes the belief he will
find a horse with a white foot-which becomes reality with the
horse The Barb. finally luck comes to the Fitgerald
family." However, there are two later books that may be
possible: Keepers of the Bell, by Beulah
Karney, published NY John Day 1961 "Tells of the
O'Mellaine family of Donegal, in Ireland, and especially of
Kevin and Conal, the oldest and the youngest of eight brothers.
The family is noted as the hereditary guardians of the bell of
Saint Patrick and the parents, Myles and Maura, impress
upon their youngsters that this proud responsibility imposes
also an obligation to fight for justice among men. The story is
of the great black stallion Ahaygar, - a reputed mankiller that
the brothers purchase, of their taming and training it by secret
methods their father has taught them, and of how the horse
points a way to liberty for the O'Mellaines when their power-mad
landlord seeks to ruin them. The time is the 1860s." and Cactus
Kevin, by Heck Holland, published World
1965. "From the first, Kevin longed for a horse of his very own
- a golden palomino. Kevin had to prove he was grown-up enough
for such a big responsibliity." The books you mention are not the book I am looking for. The
book I read would have been published before 1957. Maybe this
will help---The book reminded me of the Black Stallion
series ( the way it was written). I really want to find this
book. Thank you for your help. Faralla, Dana, Black Renegade. Lippincott 1954. "Kevin exercises a
trainer's racehorses while waiting for the Barb's son Balzan to
grow up. But then an unmanageable stallion called Black
Lightning catches his interest." Sequel to one of those
previously suggested, but perhaps a closer date. Thank you for the help on this. Magnificent Barb and Black
Renegade sound close, but still doubt they are the books
that I am seeking. I plan to read them to be sure. Thanks again!
H115: Home for unwed mothers Solved: The House of Tomorrow H116: Huncan Duncans Solved: The
Hunkendunkens H117: Hippo hardcover children's storybook I am searching for a large, hardcover children's storybook about
a hippo. Possibly published in early 70s but probably earlier. The
book had an illustrated, dark blue cover and full page or almost
full page (possibly water colour) illustrations inside. One
illustration that stands out is of the little hippo walking under
the water in the river. Thanks!
Roger Duvoisin, Veronica
series. Series
about a hippopotamus perhaps it's one of those books? Thanks for the suggestion. I looked at some of the series on
eBay, and I don't think that's it. A neuron is telling me
something like "Little Hippo" but I honestly have no idea
whether I am completely making that up. I seem to recall that
underwater illustration I remember best, as being either
watercolour paint or maybe tissue paper collage (like Eric
Carle). I *think* there were lots of bubbles in the water too? Maryann Macdonald, Little Hippobooks No, it's not one of the Maryann Macdonald books. Thanks for
trying though! I read it in the mid to late 70s. It was about
the size of a Rand McNally Giant book but I have no clue whether
it was actually part of that series. I'm the original poster. Can't say how reliable they are, but
in wracking my brains trying to remember this book, I am having
memory flashes of the hippo wearing an old-fashioned, one piece
swimsuit (blue and white stripes). Rainey Bennett, The Secret Hiding
Place. (1960)
This is a long shot, but have you checked "The Secret Hiding
Place"? It is a story about Little Hippo who craves a special
place to be--away from all the big hippos who are constantly
hovering around him. The illustrations are line drawings with
water color washes. Cute story! Morris
Lurie, The 27th Annual
African Hippopotamus Race, 1970's, approximate. This was the answer to my
own personal stumper a few years back I don't know what
the art looks like, but it definitely has a young hippo and
hippos underwater.
SOLVED: I've solved my
own stumper! The book I was looking for turns out to be two
books: Little Hippo
and Little Hippo at the
Circus by Christine Chagnoux, published by Methuen
& Co in 1970 and 1972, respectively. "Little Hippo" has
the storyline I was remembering, including the illustration of
the hippo in an old-fashioned striped bathing suit; "Little
Hippo at the Circus" has the blue cover I recalled. Many
thanks to everyone who tried to solve my stumper.
H118: horse old west All I can remember is it is a book told from the horse's
perspective. The young horse and his mom live on the plains of the
Old West. In one scene, they are looking at a train running on the
new railroad and I think the mother horse called it an "iron
horse". In another scene, there is a lightning storm and all the
horses huddle under a tree. There were some pencil sketches
thoughout the text and I think the book was for 9-12 year olds. I
would have read it in the 70's.
Perhaps one by Glen Rounds? Miriam Mason, Broomtail. The mention of the train makes me think
that this is another person searching for Broomtail.
H119: History of the World on Stage Solved: Life Story H120: Hippies in Europe A young adult girl goes on a European trip in some
relationship to her mother dying of cancer. She encounters
artist-hippie type friends of her mothers who help her through
this difficult time. The movie Stealing Beauty jarred my
memory, causing this book to come to mind. Any ideas??
Anyone??? thanks for any help!!!
Rosamunde Pilcher, The Day of the
Storm.Could this be a
Rosamunde Pilcher novel? "On the last day of her mother's
life, Rebecca learns she has a family in Cornwall, and sets out
to find the grandfather and cousin she has never known." The
mother does die of cancer, and the grandfather is an
artist/hippie type. This post also reminds me of the
Rosamunde Pilcher book, Sleeping Tiger, about a girl whose
mother has died. She goes in search of her father on some
European island, Ibiza possibly, and falls in love.
H120: Hercules Solved: Steve Forrester
series H121: House Paint Solved: Oh, Were They
Ever Happy! H122: Haunted Mansion Solved: The Mystery of
Morgan Castle H123: Historical romance - Dona Esperanza Trying to trace this book - here's what I
remember: Historical romance possibly published in
70's. Set in california ? - family with mexican (?) family
background - one female charecter is Dona Esperanza. Also
character "Charley Kingdom". Two brothers fall out over girl who
is a neighbour - older brother known as Bud. Family house
is prominent to the story, also mentions rise of the railroad,
prospecting etc
Jacqueline Briskin, Paloverde Dawson, Grace Strickler, The
Butterfly Shawl.
I remember reading a book called "The Butterfly Shawl" when I
was in elementary school, but I'm not positive this is the
author. I don't remember much about the book, other than
it was about a young girl in early California. I believe
someone (her father?) brought her a present of a shawl with
embroidered butterflies on it. There might have been a
plot line of an older sister who eloped. I always keep my
eye out for this book as I've always wanted to re-read it.
H124: 'How-to' Fashion Bible 1970s (New York?) I'm pretty sure it was a book published in
the US during the 70s. It was a small-size hardback
sparsely illustrated in black and white. It was mostly a 'how to
dress with style' book and a little of a memoir of the author's
sartorial life. At the time I found it extremely glamourous and
exotic. I can remember charming details - little diagrams drawn
in black line of the author's gucci loafers and of her russian
3-band wedding ring and other rings. She was very keen on
'signature' accessories and these were hers, though a friend of
hers always wore a 'schoolboy watch' (maybe this was the era of
Annie Hall). She also began one chapter with a description
of her first pair of jeans (tight - at first she didn't
understand the appeal but she soon got into it). Perhaps this
points to late-70s Studio 54-era disco-drainpipes, but some of
those flares were pretty snug too... I'm now a fashion
illustrator myself - please help me rediscover one of my early
influences.
H124 - I wonder if this could have been one
by Edith Head? Would you be interested in a list
of fashion-related books? I'll try Edith Head. I've looked her up and it sounds like it
might be dress for success (1967) although in the book I
remember, some of the fashions described sounded as if they
might be more 70s than 60s. Yes - I'd be interested in a list of
fashion books. You never know, I might recognise it from amongst
the titles. And of course I'm fascinated by fashion anyway... Sadly this is not Dress for Success by Edith Head
(great book, though). The one I'm looking for has a more
distinctly modern flavour and is not quite so prescriptive. I'm
sure the fashions (some illustrated - I remember another little
line drawing of tasselled 'gucci' loafers) were more 1970s than
1960s. Any other suggestions? any luck with my bookstumper? I've been searching for a year
myself and have come up with nothing so far. I'm convinced this
book exists as I can remember the illustrations in such detail!
I've even contacted the library I borrowed it from but they
don't have records going back that far. Averil Demuth, The House in
the Mountains,1940. Beckerman, Ilene, Love, Loss, and
What I Wore. Quirky,
enjoyable memoir of Beckerman's life told in terms of her
clothes. She is in her 60s, so may be a little older than
poster remembers. The physical description (size, line drawings)
seems to match, although I can't remember it well enough to
vouch for contents. Beckerman, Ilene, Love, Loss, and
What I Wore. Could
this be the book you are looking for? It was published in
the 1990's, but it is a retrospective of the author's life and
what she wore in different eras. It is a small, simply
illustrated book. Hope this helps!
H125: Hunting accident Solved: Deathwatch H126: Hole thief Solved: "The Hole Idea" H127: Horses or ponies dancing around a maypole This is a book that I had as a child in the 1950s to 1960s.
It's about a horse or pony not thinking he or she is good enough
to go to a party (that feeling could have been brought on by other
horses or not). It's told from the viewpoint of the horse or
pony. At the end of the book, there are horses or ponies of
many colors and sizes dancing around a maypole.
Marks, Mickey Klar, Hucklebones (Cozy Corner Book series). Tuck
1951. Could it be this one? Can't promise a maypole, but
the plot sounds similar "A story of a small horse named
Hucklebones who is invited to the Steeplechase Ball and he
doesn't know how to dance." Season of Ponies. (1964)
Could this be "Season of Ponies" by Zilpha Keatley Snyder?
Pamela is staying with her aunts for the summer (not her choice)
and meets a boy with a whole herd of multicolored ponies.
At the end, they dance around the maypole, with Pamela riding
her favorite and the boy playing a flute. M.K. Marks, Pipo the Little Horse. (1949) This sounds like a book we had as
kids. It's in French, but I imagine it might be a
translation of a story that was originally in English. The
title in French is Pipo le Petit Cheval (Pipo the Little Horse),
by M.K. Marks, illustrated by I. Wilde. Pipo is invited to
a ball, but he doesn't know how to dance the foxtrot. Then he
runs into a bunch of rabbits on the path and he learns how to do
the foxtrot by picking up his feet to avoid stepping on
them. So he puts ribbons in his tail and goes to the
dance, and a picture shows a horses of different colors going in
a circle with streamers and balloons overhead (not a maypole.)
The Little Wooden Horse.
You could try this title. Had this book as a child. The wooden
horse goes on many adventures trying to be a real horse. It
could be worth a try Mickey Klar Marks, Hucklebones. (MCMXLIX) This sounds like the
horse named Hucklebones, who received an invitation in the mail
to the Steeplechase Ball. He was worried because he didn't
know how to dance, specifically dance the one-step. He
taught himself how to dance the one-step by trying to avoid
stepping on a bunch of rabbits running along the road, and went
to the Ball. The illustrations are wonderful, and the last
page shows several horses of different colors dancing under some
bright ribbons and balloons. I had to look hard for an
original copy of this book, which I remembered vaguely from my
own childhood, and I was delighted to find a copy and see the
illustrations again. It is a Story Hour Book, with large
print, similar in size and style to a Little Golden Book.
H129: Historical romantic fiction Solved: Williamsburg Series H128: Headless dolls Solved: Fix the Toys H130: hidden treasure Solved: The Haunted
Treasure of Espectros / Mystery of the Haunted Mine H131:
honey bee Children's books, probably read during the
1940s, about a young honey bee who searchs for a good shape to
use for building a honeycomb. After experimenting, he
comes up with a hexagon as an ideal shape and goest back
to the hive to suggest that they use this shape - not knowing
that is what they already use! Sort of a "re-inventing the
wheel," or "doomed to repeat the past" thing. Thank you. H132: Horse Story A girl moves somewhere for the summer (I'm
not sure if she is moving there permanently, or if she is just
staying there for the summer). Anyway, she meets a neighbor girl
and they rescue a horse from the animal shelter. They also find
an old horse stable hidden in the woods that belongs to an old
mansion near where they live. They keep the horse there and take
care of it without their parents finding out. Here is where it
gets fuzzy. Maybe they run into the caretaker or owner of the
mansion and he/she finds out about the horse. This is all
I remember, but I remember loving the book, and I hope you can
solve it for me!
Phyllis Whitney, The Mystery of the
Crimson Ghost,
1969. Janey has "horse fever," so it's love at first sight
when she meets Star. Janey is spending the summer in New
Jersey's Sussex County, and the beautiful thoroughbred is
stabled right across the lake from Aunt Viv's. Star
belongs to eccentric Mrs. Burley, who lives with her two
grandsons in the ruins of a burned-out hotel. Roger, the older
grandson, is quite friendly, but Denis is sullen and suspicious.
Mrs. Burley is not only crotchety-it's even whispered that she
may be "crazy." And she has a ghost! On moonlit nights the
community is awakened by a phantom hound, bathed in eerie red
light and howling horribly at the moon. Exactly how do you make
friends with a horse whose owner is so peculiar? How can a
person sensible enough to love horses believe in ghosts? And if
the apparition isn't a ghost, what is it? There's mounting
suspense as Janey begins to unravel the mysteries surrounding
Star. Holland, Marion, The Secret Horse. Little Brown 1959. Here's another
possible. Nickie Baxter is unable to go to camp (and ride
horses) because the front porch is termite-ridden and must be
repaired. Her summer looks bleak until she meets the
grandchildren visiting next door, Gail and Corky. They visit the
Animal Shelter and see an old stray horse. Nickie has a secret
place, which is the stables of an unoccupied mansion, and the
two girls hide the horse in the stables. They name the horse
Highboy. There is also a kitten called Tigger. They feed the
horse with hay and grass cut from Nickie's older rother's
lawnmowing jobs. Then the mansion's owner, Mr. Olds, decides to
open it up again. The Secret Horse by Marion
Holland is correct. The details match! Cute story.
H133: Hidden paintings Solved: Mystery of the
Auction Trunk H134: Harness Racing Handicapping Book. I can't remember the name of the book or the author or publishing
company. I purchased the book in the 70's. The book gave step by
step instructions on how to arrive at adjusted final past
performance race times of each horse in tonight's race so that one
could arrive at the projected winner. Here are a few examples from
the book to arrive at adjusted final times. a) Post position change�subtract or
add 1/5 of a second according to an up or down move to final
time. b) For each parked out symbol subtract 2/5 of a second
from the adjusted final time. c) For each class move up or
down�add or subtract 2/5 of a second from the adjusted final
time. d) Any horse with no effort in last race is considered
a non-contender in tonight's race. c) Any horse that broke
stride in last race is considered a non-contender in tonight's
race. d) A driver's win percentage is taken into
consideration when adjusting final times. e) If a horse did not win the past performance race�each length
back at the finish is multiplied by 1/5 of a second and added to
the winners finish time. f) Track variants are given 1/5 of
a second for fast or slow track in the past performance
records. The book's size was approximate size was 8 �
x 11 with soft tan cover.
I found a LOT of possibilities. I'll
list some to see if any of them jumps out at you as the correct
title. If not, I'll list more later. ---Theory
and practice of handicapping. /TomAinslie/1970/
126pg/ 29 cm. /New York, Trident Press
ISBN: 0671270486 ---Bettor's guide to
harness racing : a complete book of standardbred
handicapping / Steve Chaplin/ 1977 / 245 p.
: forms 24 cm. /New York : Amerpub, ---The complete
handicapper's manual / Randolph Reynolds/1974
/185 p. : ill. 21 cm. /New York, Pagurian Press, /
0919364837 ---Handicapping to win. /Scott Flohr/1970
/221 p. 24 cm. Los Angeles, Melrose Square Pub. Co., ISBN:
0870678019 ---Randolph Reynolds' new handicapper's manual
: a scientific guide to making money at the races. /Randolph
Reynolds/1974/ 185 p. : ill.
21 cm. /Toronto : New York : Pagurian
Press distributed in the United States by Arco Pub.
Co., ISBN: 0919364845 :
---Race horse handicapping /
Harry Lee/1978 new, updated/ 160p.: ill. 21 cm. /New
York: Cornerstone Library
0346123178 ---Everything you should
know about making money at the races : a scientific
approach to handicapping in the field of thoroughbred racing
/Randolph Reynolds/1971 /143 p. 21
cm. Toronto : Brattleoboro, Vt. : Pagurian Press
distributed in the U.S.A. by Stephen Greene Press,---Winning
handicapping: secrets of a successful race handicapper
/ Chuck Badone/1977 /123 p. 22 cm. Scottsdale,
Ariz. : Pay Day Press ---Lessons in handicapping /
George Lawton/1978 /50 p. : ill. Cherry Hill, N.J. :
Promosales ---The handicappers' handicapper :
triple-equation method / Robert Sheban/1977
/127 p. 28 cm. /Huntington Beach, Calif. : Libnan Pub.
Co., ISBN: 0918636019 Among the possibilities there seems to be
only one book on harness racing handicapping Bettor's
guide to harness racing by Steve Chaplin. Much to my
sorrow this is not the book. I have searched almost all of the
internet book stores but you came up with several titles that
i did not find. If you would list a few more titles maybe we
will find it. Thank You very much.
Here are more possibilities: ---The
game
plan for handicapping harness races / John
Steward Sloan / 1975 1st ed. / 351 p. : ill. 27 cm.
New York : Vantage Press, ISBN: 0533017300 ---Advanced
harness handicapping : reading between the lines / Steve
Chaplin /1979 /267p 24 cm. New York, N.Y. : Amerpub Co.
---Exactime-speedtrax calculator for harness racing:
instruction manual/ Clovis Rousseau /1971
/21 p. 22 cm. North Bay, Ont.: C. Rousseau ---A
"stamina-speed ratio" handicapping procedure for harness
races / by Lenruth Associates. /1968 1st ed. /48 p.:
ill. 22 cm. /Dallas, PA : Lenruth Associates
H135:
House Beside the Mill Book of Verse, circa 1940. Illustrated poems - titles I
remember include The House Beside the Mill, The Man from Muldare,
and one with the lines "There's a robbin in your garden and he's
eating all your angle worms." H136: Horror Stories Solved: A Nasty Piece of Work and other Ghost
Stories H137: Hoot Owl Hoots My question is, my mom remembers reading a book when she was a
child in the 1950's or 1960's. She doesn't remember the name or
author, but she knows it was a book of children's poems. The poem
from the book that she remembers is "The hoot owl hoots, and the
bats fly free." Is there any way you could help with this? I am
hoping to find this for a christmas present. Thanks for your help. H138: Horse story about a wild horse Solved: Broomtail 2005 H139: How to Draw Book Solved: Ed Emberley's
Drawing Book of Animals H140:Huge
Animal
book
with
Bible Stories? Solved: Character
Sketches H141: Highway Takes Family To Beach Solved: The Runaway Road H142: House in the Mountains Solved: The House in
the Mountains H143: House that Jill Built Solved: The Children's
Treasury H144: Hermit with a mustache Solved: The Haunted Churchbell H145: Horse, winged Solved: The
Silver Pony H146: Horse Solved: Lucky, Lucky
White Horse H147: Herbert who ate Sherbet Solved: Herbert, the lion The other story I'm looking for is about a lion named
"Herbert" who ate Sherbet. There were humans in this
story was it was a fairytale format. (People were probably
trying to cash in on his sherbet obsession, or something--tee
hee). Anyway, I would love to find these treasures from my
childhood, so any help would be verrry much appreciated.
HRL: I think this is Clare Turlay Newberry's Herbert,
the
lion, 1931.
H148: Hedgehog I am trying to remember this book I had as a child in the mid
eighties. .. it is about a young girl hedgehog (I am almost
positive it is a hedgehog) and and she goes to some kind of fair
or market with her mother, and she gives up her dolly to the poor
or an orphanage. She becomes sad and wants it back until she sees
one of the poor or orphaned hedghoge hugging the dolly, and then
she is happy again.
HRL: Did you check everything by Russell and Lillian
Hoban and Jan Brett?
H148 Google, Hedgehog society lists a
book w/ a likely title: Little Hedgehog Helps Out,Amye Rosenberg ISBN: 0-307-12310-3 I searched a lot of
Google and could nothing abt content. Might be she helped with
cleaning house for anr animal I've looked up all of these, none of them are it. . . Jane Carruth, Tiggy Changes Her Mind. This book fits the posters description
exactly. Tiggy is a little hedgehog. Her town is
having a special fair to help the children in the
orphanage. Everyone is giving away some of their favorite
possessions but Tiggy is reluctant to give anything away.
Her mother finally convinces her to donate her doll 'Raggedy
Dot'. AFter Mr. Weasel comes to Tiggy's house to pick up
the items to donate Tiggy changes her mind and runs after him
but it's too late. When they get to the fair, Tiggy sees
that an orphan already has her doll and is holding it
lovingly. She thinks about asking for it back but decides
that the little girl is so happy it would be mean to take the
toy away. At the end she feels glad she did the right
thing and reads her new book she bought at the fair. I
found this story in a book called "My Favorite Happy Endings" by
Jane Carruth, illustrated by Tony Hutchings. It was
published in 1986 by Modern Publishing and contains the stories:
Tiggy Changes Her Mind, Adventure in the Dark (Tippu the Mouse
overcomes his fear of the dark), and Making New Friends (Chippy
the Squirrel makes new friends).
I'm almost positive this is Tiggy
Changes Her Mind, one of the "Happy Endings" books
by Jane Carruth, illustrated by Tony Hutchings. One of
the main characters in the series was a hedgehog named Tiggy,
who starred in several of the books. I remember this one
specifically - her mother cleaned out a box of things to donate
to the fair and asked Tiggy what she would like to donate, and
she ended up donating her old stuffed dog and then wanted it
back later on. She bought herself an orange drink at the fair
and then later saw a younger hedgehog hugging her stuffed dog
and was happy that someone else was happy with her old toy.
Jane Carruth, Tiggy Changes Her Mind. This book is Tiggy Changes Her Mind by Jane
Carruth, one of many books about Tiggy the Hedgehog in the
"Happy Endings" series by Carruth, illustrated by Tony
Hutchings.
H149: Holidays and Seasons Looking hopefully for a "little golden book type" I had as a
child - too many years ago! No idea of the title, but
featured a cat who celebrated holidays and seasons with rhyme and
cute pictures. I can recall several of the poems. Here
goes............. 1."The postman brought a letter, a pretty Valentine, / It's
filled with lace and flowers, and says, "Will you be mine?"
(kitten sitting with a Valentine) 2."Sitting on your doorstep on the first of May, / You'll find
this little basket, filled with blossoms gay." (kitten with May
basket) 3."Someone has been shopping, I'll just peek and see / How this
nice new bonnet looks on me." (kitten wearing a bonnet) 4."Kitten on the keys, playing merrily, / Making pretty music,
do, re, me".(kitten playing on the piano) 5."Down in the lily pond, looking very sad(?), / Mr. Frog is
sunning upon a lily pad." (kitten visiting with a frog at the
pond) 6."I like to watch the fire, and listen to it snap. / What a cozy
spot, in which to take a nap." (kitten curled up in front of the
fireplace) 7."At night when it is dark, the fireflies dance about, / The
little stars twinkle and the jolly moon comes out." (kitten
outside?) 8."I'm getting very sleepy, it's time to say goodnight. / Lets
hear a bedtime story before we dim the light." (kitten going to
bed) Thanks so much in advance! H150:
house that talks Solved: Wicked, Wicked
Ladies in the Haunted House H151: Hawaiian sisters Solved: Best Friends series H152: Hadrian's wall mystery Solved: The Stolen
Seasons H153: Holiday in France Solved: I Love a Lass H154: hogan Anerican author, early 50s-late 60s.
My favorite childhood story. Story of a young Navahoe
Indian girl named Nesbitt. She lived on a reservation, in
a hogan, she had some family, I remember particularly a
grandmother. She attended school on the reservation.
She had a pet lamb. When she walked to school, a bulldozer
driver (male) would wave to her. In the story, she hurt
her finger and went to clinic or school nurse. It was a
"big deal"-I remember picture of her holding up
bandage/bandaid. The book was purchased by a friend in the
Peace Corps - maybe actually on a Navahoe reservation? H155: Hester Ghost I've been searching for hours on your site
and Google, but can't seem to find this. Thanks for
bringing back memories of a ton of other books that I read,
though! A girl goes to stay at a friend or relative's
house and/or goes to a neighbor's house, where she encounters
the ghost of a young girl (who I think was named Hester) who had
died in a fire, after which the room was closed off. I
don't remember much else other than that the book may have had a
yellow cover and been called "The Ghost in the Attic," "The Girl
in the Attic," "The Girl Behind the Wall" or something similar,
though I can't find it under any of those titles. I
thought I'd tracked it down a few years ago, but can't remember
the author or title!
Janet Lunn, Twin Spell or Double Spell.Sounds
like Twin Spell, also published as Double
Spell. Here's an online
description that should help. Sylvia Cassedy, Behind the Attic Wall. It's been a while since I've read this, but I
do remember a fire,plus a walled- off room, talking dolls, and
weird relatives.. Janet Louise Swoboda Lunn (author), Emily
McCully (illustrator), Twin Spell,
1969. Twins Jane and Elizabeth buy an antique doll and
begin having visions about a tragedy involving another set of
twins long ago. If I remember the story correctly, Hester
is not one of the twins---she's the mean-spirited girl who is
inadvertently responsible for the tragedy. Please see the
Solved Mysteries "T" page for more information.
I suggested Twin Spell yesterday,
and
now I wonder whether you've confused Twin Spell with
Behind the Attic Wall by Sylvia Cassedy
(1983). That would certainly explain the title you've been
searching for! Both books involve girls, fires and dolls,
but only Hester is in Twin Spell. Sylvia Cassedy., Behind the Attic
Wall
I remember a book about a girl who died in a
fire called The Truth About Mary Rose.
Also, check out Stumper B401 Blue Carnations; I wonder if you
too, are looking for The Ghost Next Door by Wylly
Fox St. John. Good luck. Janet Patton Smith, The Twisted Room,
1983. This might be The
Twisted Room, by Janet Patton Smith (more
famous for her only other book, The Ghost in the Swing)...here's
a plot description: "Lisa Emery, the new girl in town,
wants to help Marie, the strange girl* at the window of the
deserted mansion - but will her efforts destroy her, holding her
captive in a prison of frozen time and hatred?." *note:
girl in question is actually a ghost who died in fire
Could this be Wait til Helen Comes
by Mary Downing Hahn? The girl who died in the
fire is named Helen, not Hester.
I think the book this person is asking about
is also one I read as a young adult. The main character
moves/stays with friends, etc., but it is specifically in Salem,
MA (home of the witch trials of the 1600s), and the girl who
died in the fire, haunts the room which is nearby where the main
character is staying (I can't remember specifics on how the main
character finds out about the ghost girl). I remember that
the main character descides to be sneaky and investigative,
going around town trying to find clues about why the girl haunts
the house/room. Turns out the girl who died in the fire
was suspected to be a witch and was accused of performing
witchcraft, and either burned herself or was burned by
someone. This is why I remember the story taking place in
Salem.
H156: Horse named Tamberlaine Solved: Tam the Untamed H157: History of Man This book is at least 20 years old. I
probably read it in the early 1980's. It involves a man
who is in a place where he is able to experience all the
evolutions that the human race has gone through. I'm not
sure if he is time traveling or if he is in a place where all
these evolutions of man exist simultaneously. At one point
he sees creatures who are like dinosaurs that walk upright and
speak. As they walk they leave a trail of dead plants in
their wake. These creatures are very noxious. The
guide he is with states that at one time man chose this
form. The man also notes that in one time the moon is
missing. The guide he is with states that losing the moon
was an accident and he (the guide) didn't think it was such a
big deal. The man who is seeing all these evolutions also
enters a room at one point where he is sprayed with a substance
that makes his body completely numb. He is concerned that
he will wander around losing bits of his body because he can't
feel anything. H158: Halloween traditions Solved: Halloween H159: historical fiction, boy, mariner, Y Solved: Moonfleet H160: Holocaust nativity Solved: Twenty and Ten H161: Horses, club, mysteries Solved:
Lookout Mystery Series H162: House on the Hill Solved: The Little
House H163: Horse story, YA, injured girl and scared horse Solved: Gypsy From Nowhere H164: How to Make Animal Costumes Book This was a thin, horizontal paperback book from (I assume) the
late 70's/early 80's that showed how to make animal costumes out
of household stuff - paper bags, newspaper, string, construction
paper, etc. I made a dog costume in 1st grade out of this book -
complete with shredded newspaper fur taped to a brown grocery bag
body & head (w. a smaller lunch bag for the snout)!
Goldie Taub Chernoff, Easy Costumes
You Don't Have to Sew,
1975. I still have this book from when my 33 year old
daughter was in first grade. We made her the giant chicken
costume in 1982. It is an old SeeSaw book from Scholastic.
H165: horse living on an apartment building roof Two girls enter a contest to win a horse/pony. The cereal
they have to eat is nasty but they eat it anyway. I'm not
sure if the actually win the contest but the do get their
horse. They lead it up the stairs of their city apartment
building stairs to the roof top garden where the horse them
lives. Copy write 1940's or 50's?
Elizabeth Vincent Foster, Lyrico:
The Only Horse of His Kind, 1970s. I don't remember about the
cereal, but Lyrico is definitely kept in a rooftop garden.
This sounds like the Horse on the
Roof by Bob Wells, 1970. It's not Horse on the Roof by Bob Wells, 1970.
It's a different story line. I also remember that the
girls do win the contest but it's not first prize. They
win a life time supply of the nasty cereal! Somehow they
do get a horse and lead it to the roof with a cereal
trail. The horse likes it! Does this ring any bells
out there?
H166: Hullabaloo the Kangaroo Solved: Hullabaloo H167: Hawaiian vist by young girl 1950s. Young girl living with
aunt/grandmother in streighted circumstances on the mainland
goes to visit friend/relative in Hawaii. Great contrast in
the way people live. Early in the vist there is a
description of the Chinese cook cutting chicken breast for a
recipe into slivers with a scissors. Mention of an
Hawaiian school that has an english language exam
requirement. The trick question was a sentence that showed
the applicant knew the difference between "to tear" and "to
cut."
James Michener, Hawaii. The rest of the Stumper doesn't sound
familiar, but in Michener's Hawaii, there is a
similar scene about a school entrance exam. A Japanese (?)
boy applied to enter the good school and had to have an
interview. The headmaster, who didn't want any non-whites
in his school, tore a piece of paper in front of the boy and
asked what he had done to the paper. The boy answered,
"You broke it." The headmaster smiled patronizingly and
said, "No, I tore it. You obviously don't know enough
English to be a student here." When the boy and his father
left, the father hit him and chastised him for not knowing the
difference. The boy thought this was ironic, because his
father certainly didn't know, either.
I read the response, and realized I'd mixed up two
books. The tear/break passage is from "Hawaii" by Michner,
and doesn't belong in the other book at all. Thanks for
solving half the mystery.
This is the same book I am
trying to find. I know that the girl and her aunt come from
mainland to visit another aunt on a ranch in Hawaii. The aunts
name is Kulani (of Heaven or Heavenly) and there are Hawaiian
cowboys on the ranch called Paniolos. There is a cattle drive
where the steers are swum out to a ship and liffted aboard in
slings. There is a little information about the religious ancient
taboos of the islands. In the end the Stateside Aunt leaves the
girl in Hawaii to grow up.There were also several good recipes in
the book. The cut up chicken slivers (using scissors) go into a
broth made of tea and soy sauce.2006 H168: Hal I am searching for a book that I read as a
child in the 60's. It is a book of about 5 stories of a boy
named Hal. In the last story he dents a car with a hammer and
hides it in the leaves. I beleive that story title is Hal and
the hammer. In the 1st story he loses his hat as he goes into
the woods and finds it hanging on a branch as he leaves. H169: Horse (Prehistoric) and Girl Solved: Yesterday's
Horses H170: Hepzibah, a mischeievious girl funny book about a girl with a temper who
ruled her own world, sprinkled tiny sheep and cornflakes about,
had a Carribean ice-cream making king friend, a friend who made
hats for his invalid wife, a friend who took her on a motorcylce
ride. About 1976 I think, with a yelow cover and
delightful cartoonish illustrations.
Edna Mitchell Preston, Horrible
Hepzibah, 1971.
Relates the adventures of a terrible little girl who grew up to
be happily mean. Found this review online"A Caldecott Award
winner, this book is a delightfully refreshing tale along the
lines of Great Expectations, but with a sardonic twist. This is
a story children would love - because it speaks to the mischief
maker in each of them. Hepzibah is outspoken, intractible, and
quite often right on target - and anything but politically
correct. Could this be why the book is so hard to find? Written
with simple yet compelling prose, accompanied by intricate line
drawings by Ray Cruz, "Horrible Hepzibah" is worth a search -
for the kid in us all, and our children as well." Peter Dickinson, Hepzibah, 1980. I kept searching and solved my own
mystery. Found several used on Amazon, though I had looked
several times before. Can't wait to surprise my daughter
with her favorite childhood book!! Edna Mitchell Preston, Horrible
Hepzibah, 1971.
This might be a possiblity for H170.
H171:
holiday house mystery This was a fiction story about a group of
(primarily) girls who meet up at an old mansion for
Christmas. The main girl gets drunk waiting for her friend
to pick her up at the train station and ends up rescuing a
singing crippled girl named Sylvia (she liked her name because
it sounded like a party) whose Aunt turned up missing.
Over their holiday, the group ends up getting stuck inside a
secret passageway (on the landing of the stairs) that goes into
a long tunnel underground (originally used to help escaping
slaves) and helping solve a mystery of why there is a locked up
study/library on the top floor with a beautiful stained-glass
window that has been boarded over and why the grandfather of one
of the girls had a bad falling out with his best friend (who
lived across the street, thus the window was boarded up).
At the end of the novel, Sylvia had tried a special
therapy/operation to heal her legs, and it didn't work, but the
shock of seeing an old relative (perhaps the missing grandfather
of the other girl) caused her to stand and be able to
walk. It was such a great mystery novel and I lost it in
3rd grade. H172: ham radio adventure books Solved: SOS at Midnight H173:hardcover
book
from
the
60s or 70s Solved: Just Before Bed Time H174: Hudson River mystery Solved: The Mystery of
the Haunted Pool H175: Haunted Doll It was a children's book that I read in the mid-80s about a
little girl who goes to a house that has been vacated. Another
girl who had lived there before left her doll, which is now
haunted like a ghost and is floating down the staircase in one of
the illustrations. The little girl gets scared and runs out of the
house, but I think eventually gives the doll a home. Thanks!
McMillan, Bruce, Ghost Doll. Thought I had submitted this already,
but later solutions of mine are appearing, so I'll try
again. I'm fairly sure this is the book being
sought. I looked through it at my daughter's school
library a couple of weeks ago. McMillan, Bruce, Ghost Doll. (1983) I think this may be the one. I
just looked through it at my daughter's school library today and
it all matches except that the girl doesn't run out of the
house, but she is frightened at one point. Summary:
Only a very brave little girl could do what Chrissy does.
Unafraid, she enters the house on the hill when she hears a
faint call from within. It's the voice of a lonely, abandoned
doll - a ghost doll. An eerie adventure awaits her in this
haunted house. And though she thinks of running out more than
once, she doesn't. Instead, courageous Chrissy reaches out to
the lonely ghost doll. And at the end of the story she finds a
happy surprise - as will every young reader.
H176: House burned Solved: The Silver
Crown H177: Horse's life recounted Solved: The Story of a Little Bay
Horse H178: Harry cat stays with babysitter Mrs. Brewster Solved: Be Good, Harry H179: Haunted house mystery Solved: The Haunted
Attic H180: Homes around the world Solved: Come Over to My
House H181: House becomes a garden This book was about a young girl whose
house slowly is invaded by nature. Plants grow in the
closet, animals come to live in the house (alligator or
crocodile?). The family comes to loves living like this,
though the city wants to destroy/clear out the house. I
seem to remember some illustrations - published in the 70s I
think.
If it's at all possible that you're mixing
books, you might be thinking of the Lyle Lyle Crocodile
books, plus maybe something like Old McDonald Had an
Apartment House. I don't remember the name
of this book, but I do remember a couple of salient details.
The story started with the house getting dirtier and dirtier,
and then plants started growing, and the house turned into a
sort of forest. I do remember animals moving in. At the end
the family cleaned the house.
H182: High school girl drama Solved: True to You H183:
Healer's daughter in Cypress I do not have any idea of the author's name, the title of the
book, or even the characters names, but I remember some of the
details, it's been about 16 years, so please forgive
me. 1) it was a really thick book! (But that was
probably just in the mind of a 14 year old) 2) it was
set around the mediteranean probably before the time that the
romans were in power (not sure exactly of the time period)
Possibly in Cypress or thereabouts. 3) the majority of
the book is about the daughter, but first you meet the mother who
is a healer and very respected. the daughter is born out of
wedlock (of course. lol) (possibly the daughter was abandoned with
the healer) 4) the daughter leaves the mother. i think
it was because someone needed healing and she went to see to them
because her mother had grown too old to travel, and her mother had
taught her all she could. 5) this i remember vividly,
she healed a queen who was very possesive and wanted to keep her
in her kingdom. there is a ceremony in which the daughter thinks
she is going to be beheaded, but they stop the blade at her neck
and the queen placed a ruby necklace around her neck that
symbolized the death of her old life and the beginning of her new
life with the queen. 6) there was already a male
healer in the land who did not like her replacing him. the
servants in the queens chambers are all made mute so that they
could not tell her secrets, and the current healer teaches her to
perform the operation to make the servants mute. she thinks it is
a terrible practice and so when she is supposed to perform the
surgery she doesn't complete it. the man she was supposed to
perform the surgery on is nordic and they do not speak the same
language but he understands he must be silent so the bad healer
will think she performed the surgery. 7) she and the
nordic man become friends and they escape together. they have one
night of passion (ooooh) and she has a daughter. I believe this
daughter's name is Chloe? 8) i read it
Barbara Wood, Soul Flame, 1987. I read this book when I was around
14, too. I remember it quite vividly. Barbara Wood's
other novels are also very good.
H184: Hot peppers Solved: Twenty Four
Robbers H185: House of Mrs. Mouse 1952 or earlier rhyming story about mice that begins: "This is
the House of Mrs. Mouse and these are her children three."
Check under "Solved Mysteries" for Matilda,
MacElroy and Mary.
H186: Horse - Blueberry Solved: Blueberry H187: H-boy Name and auhor of a series of children's stories from the
mid-20th century. They were about a boy with a name that begins
with the letter H (I think), and in each story, they boy had some
kind of improbable adventure. I read the books (each book
has seven or eight stories about the boy) when I was about 10 and
all I can remember are bits from two stories -- one where he found
a mouse that could sing (which later lost the ability to sing) and
another where he accidentally colored his skin with some kind of
spray gun hooked up to a garden hose. It's NOT Homer Price
or Harold (Purple Crayon) or Henry Huggins.
Merritt Parmalee Allen, Mudhen. This sounds like the Mudhen series.
H188: Hurricane I read this in the 80s, but I think it was my mom's, and she
would have read it in the 60s. This book is about a brother and
sister (or at least 2 children) who live on the east coast with
their family. I remember they own a store, and a hurricane comes
and they go to the store to wait out the storm. One of the kids
and the father go outside during the eye of the storm. I seem to
remember some mystery element, but I'm not sure what it is. Thank
you!! H189: Harriet and Smith the cat children's book about Harriet and Smith her cat - 1960s,
illustrations in mainly red and black, large format - don't know
author. This is a book I enjoyed as a child in the 1960s, I am
guessing it was given to me new then, and was a UK publication as
that's where I grew up. It was about a little girl called
Harriet, and her cat Smith (or maybe Mr Smith). It was a
large format picture book, probably for 4-5 year olds, and as I
recall the pictures were in black-and-white, but Harriet had a red
coat and Smith had a red collar. She had a friend called
Mitzi with a poodle called Fritzi, and they had a blue coat and
collar respectively; I don't think there were any other colours in
the illustrations. H190: Haunted house next door Solved: The Treasure
Trap 2007
H191: Hesperus Solved: The Television
Book of Hesperus H192: horses 1940s??? Two sisters, who both ride show jumpers live with
their father a military man. The older sister's horse get
hurt right before a big show in Madison Square
Gardens. The younger sister loans her horse to her sister so
she can compete. I think the horses were named Jack Snipe
and Charlemagne.
Janet Lambert , et al, The
American Girl Book of Horse Stories, 1963,
approximately. This is actually a short story from the Ameican
Girl Book of Horse Stories (selected by editors of American
Girl Magazine). The story in question is by Janet Lambert,
and called Tall as the Stars. Judy lends her
horse Jack Snipe to her spoiled sister Cynthia for the
competition, because Cynthia has bragged to her friends about
what a great rider she is, while all along neglecting the
schooling of her more expensive mount Charlemagne. Of course
Cynthia rides Jack Snipe badly and Judy rides Chalemagne very
well, with expected results! Lambert wrote many full
length books about military families, some with horses, some
without. Her most "horsey" books are the Dria Merideth books...Star
Dream, Summer for Seven and High Hurdles...well
worth checking out...they're available used and in new paperback
reprint. A few of the other authors contributing stories
to this book are Frances Priddy, Margaret Leighton and Vivian
Breck. All the stories are great, which is what kept this book
in my collection since childhood...unusual for me, because I
don't even like short stories! There are multiple copywrite
dates in my book, (a picture cover illustrated by Sam
Savitt...blond girl in green jacket riding a palomino on the
cover) ranging from 1946 to 1963..I suspect they represent the
original copywrite dates of the individual stories, but there
could have been an earlier printing of the book in another
format (perhaps with a dustjacket?).
H193: home on the range Solved: Raising Demons H194: Harlequin male dolls Solved: Sweet Valley
Twins Series H195: Hillbilly brothers Solved: The Spooky
Thing H196: Handicapped children Solved: The Magic
Meadow H197: Houses of the World Solved: Come Over to My
House H198: Heroes in History Solved: Junior Classics H199: hungry monster runs amok Solved: The Hungry
Thing H200: humorous short stories, amish/mennenite community Solved: Signs And
Wonders H201: humorous SF, character named "Martin E Ann" Solved: The Spaceship
Under the Apple Tree H202: hand sticking out from under bed I remember a book that was read to me in
the mid 70's with a child who specifically said there was a hand
sticking out from under his bed, and he had to be careful not to
step on it. H203: house cares for man Solved: Lazy Tommy
Pumpkinhead H204: house falling apart An illustrated book published either in the
early or mid-80s. It was about a house falling apart. Each page
spread had a full blead double page picture of the cut away side
of the house. As you turned the pages, more and more of the
house was collapsing or burning down or something.
This may be the same as M565. H205: houseboat shelter for kite-flying kids Houseboat is shelter for kite-flying kids.
This story involves two kids who go kite flying in a park (in
London?) and when their outing gets rained out, they seek
shelter and find friendship aboard a houseboat docked in a
nearby canal. For some reason, the story and/or illustrations
remind me of A.A. Milne. Could the illustrations have been by
E.H. Shepard? Not sure. Anyway, I was a child in the mid-sixties
when we read this. I know my three-year-old would love it if I
could find the title!! Can you help? H206: homework machine 1960s-early 70s. 'Boys spend a lot of time
& effort to create a machine to do their homework.
Making the machine takes more time than to do the actual
homework! Thanks!!
Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine
by Jay Williams?
H207: haunted, Mansion, Girl, Ghost, Pictures, Paintings My story is about a girl that visits a huge
home. There is a young man who lives there. The girl
develops interest in the young man. She starts to feel a
cold presence occasionally as she walks around the home.
Eventually she finds a couple of paintings in the home, one
looks exactly like the young man she is interested in now -
however the paiting was done over 100 years ago. The
"ghost" is the woman who was in the other painting. I
believe the title of the book was something like "The Haunted"
or "Haunting" or something.
Marian Cockrell,Shadow
Castle. In Shadow Castle, Lucy meets
a young man in a castle and helps to bring the magic alive
again. Unfortunately that's not the one...
thanks for submitting though!
H208: House, family builds after searching for perfect It would have late 40s - early 50s,
illustrated with pen and watercolor drawings, I think. It told
the story of a family (Mother, father, brother, sister and dog,
at least) who were looking for a home (each family member had
something they particularly wanted). The ones they looked at
were wrong for various reasons. Then they saw a sign, (land for
sale?) and found that this piece of property had everything they
wanted, including a creek. They built their own dream home there
using the stones on the property. Any help in finding this book
would be much appreciated.
Alice Rogers Hager, The Canvas
Castle, 1949.
This chapter book isn't watercolored but has Mary Stevens's
wonderful line illustrations. Twelve-year old Maidie's
father is an engineer whose work requires him to travel from job
to job, constantly relocating his family. Maidie hates
moving. She is thrilled when her father decides to
build a house in their new California location, a place where
she has made friends. The house is to be partly made of
canvas like a tent so the family can still feel like they're
outdoors when inside. Maidie, her two brothers, and mother
will all get the rooms that they design. There is a family
dog too. Thank you for this suggestion, but the
book I'm trying to find was not a chapter book - it was a
picture book. And I don't remember any canvas involved.
Stones, yes.
H209: Horse statuette comes to life, medieval/ fantasy
universe My question is similar to the entries for
Dapple Grey and Merry Legs; but those are not the right
answer. I have the same memory as the person in Dapple
Grey -- the boy may have been Timothy, but his statuette of a
winged horse with a unicorn horn comes to life and he is
transported into a medeival/fantasy universe and with the horse
they defeat the bad guy (black knight?) and recover 7
crowns. The boy returns home and the winged horse/unicorn
reverts back to statuette form. A picture of the boy on
the horse is on the cover and it was a little book, same size as
the golden books.
Elisabeth Beresford, Dangerous Magic. 1972. Hundreds
of years ago, the Unicorn had been turned into a marble statue to
protect it from enemies who were hunting it for its magical
powers. When the Unicorn is brought back to life by a flash of
lightning, its enemies are soon on its trail again. If it can only
get back to its own kind it will be safe - but where are they? Can
human children Sammy and Eleanor find them in time? The Unicorn
hasn't practiced any spells for a long time, and the three of them
soon find themselves mixed up in Dangerous Magic. Meanwhile, their
Black Magic enemies creep closer and closer..." Front cover shows
a Black Knight, a unicorn behind him, a flying crow or raven, and
a young boy held in the knight's left arm, struggling to get
free. The boy is wearing a green-and-white striped sweater,
and holding a bird cage containing two small birds. This book is
part of a series of "Magic" books, including Awkward Magic,
Traveling Magic, Vanishing Magic, Invisible Magic, Secret Magic,
etc.. by the author of the popular "Wombles" series.'
H210: House with kids who cannot escape This story was in a horror anthology I read
in the late 1980's, but I would bet it was published in the
60's. The story was quite scary: a boy moves into a new
neighborhood and keeps walking by a house that draws him in. He
walks up the sidewalk and enters, only to find other children
who seem to live in the walls and cannot leave. It turns out
they are dead, and he manages to escape. The thing that stood
out was when he left the house, it seemed to pull him back and
he barely got out. I have never forgotten this story!
Clive Barker, The Thief of Always. Children
are
attracted
to
a 'holiday' house and find that they can't escape.
No, this book was older than that...although
I do not know the publication date of Barker's book. I
read this story in 1987-88.
I don't know the title for sure, but this
reminds me of a paperback scary-tale anthology I had in the
80s. It was probably Scholastic or Weekly Reader, and it
featured a story where the new boy in town checked out the old
"haunted house" only to find it full of children from previous
eras, who had been trapped there by the monster. In the end, he
manages to flee, but he doesn't shut the door behind him, so the
monster is now able to LEAVE the house, and grabs him and drags
him back in. There was also a tale about biking across a haunted
bridge after dark (there was a body entombed in the concrete)
and I think possibly one about a midget who was forced to work
for a magician and operate a "robot". Hope this helps.
That (above) sounds like the book! Now if
only I knew the title... Ruth Ainsworth, The Phantom Cyclist
and Other Ghost Stories, 1971. A long shot, but maybe the story with the
house was "The White Haired Children"? Other stories in
the book are The Phantom Cyclist, Cherry Ripe, The Whistling
Boy, The Cat Who Liked Children, The Silent Visitor, and Mirror,
Mirror On The Wall. Check out Solved Mysteries for more
details about this book.
H211: Hunter with one bullet Solved: Great-Grandfather in the Honey Tree H212: High school adventure series A series of books set in the 40's or 50's with a young woman as
the main character being raised by her father and a few older
brothers. Her mother has died. Her on/off again
boyfriend is named Joe and they marry toward the end of the
series. She has a high school chum who moves to town halfway
through the series who is named Darcy and is considered
"fast." This is not the Joe from the Betsy
books. Joe and the woman get married and I think move into
an apartment over her father's garage in the final book.
Most of the stories are about high school adventures.
Lenora Mattingly Weber, Beany Malone
series, 1940-60s. Are
you possibly thinking of the popular Malone family books set in
Denver? There is a widowed newspaper columnist father with
three grown/teenage daughters and son. All of the books in
the series except for the first,"Meet the Malones", focus on
Beany, the youngest girl. One of her best high-school
friends is a new girl named Dulcie who is considered "fast" and
brash. Beany ends up marrying her brother Johnny's best
friend, Carlton, literally the boy next door. Lenora Mattingly Weber, Beany Malone
series. Please consider
the Beany Malone series as the solution to this stumper though
some of the details are skewed. Beany's mother is
deceased. She has two older sisters and one brother.
Her "fast" friend is named Dulcie--not Darcy, but she does
arrive midway through the series. Her on-again off-again
boyfriends are Norbett Rhodes and Andy Kern, but her friend Kay
Maffley does indeed marry a guy named Joe and move into an
apartment over the Malone garage. Just a thought . . .
Lenora Mattingly Weber, Comeback
Wherever You Are. There
was a series of 14 books by Lenora Mattingly Weber. The
first book was written in the 40's and the last one in the
70's. The main character was Beany Malone but one of her
best friends name was Kay who did marry Joe. "Dulcie" was
another friend who was considered "fast". One of the books to
feature Kay (although she is in other books) is Comeback
Wherever You Are.
H213: Hidden Passageway, Underground Railroad I am trying to remember the title and author of a children's
chapter book that I read long ago (probably around 1966). It's
about a (white) girl who explores an old house and discovers
(possibly by pushing aside a dresser or bookcase) a hidden
passageway. It turns out that the house had been a stop on the
Underground Railroad. That's all I remember, besides that it was a
gripping read to a 10-year-old.
Lois Ruby, Steal Away Home. Florence Hightower, Ghost of
Follonsbee's Folly, 1958.
...it had a regular edition, but also came out (with same cover
art/illustrations) as a Weekly Reader Hardcover. I don't think the Lois Ruby book could be
the one as that book was pubbed in the 1990s. I'm
looking for a book that I read as a child in the mid-1960s.
This sounds like it might be The
House of Dies Drear by Virginia Hamilton,
which was first published in 1968, except that the main
character was a 13-year-old boy named Thomas.
H214: Hedgehog, sisters and brother, UK Chapter book set in the UK about 2 sisters and a brother who have
to solve a mystery. The youngest sister writes a story for
school about her stuffed hedgehog "Egog". I read this in the
late 1980s. H215: Hologram forest cover, Indian man and modern woman
love story Solved: Charmed H216: hidden passageway I am trying to remember the title and author of a children's
chapter book that I read long ago (probably around 1966).
It's about a (white) girl who explores an old house and discovers
(possibly by pushing aside a dresser or bookcase) a hidden
passageway. It turns out that the house had been a stop on
the Underground Railroad. That's all I remember, besides
that it was a gripping read to a 10-year-old.
Lois Gladys Leppard, Mandy and the
Secret Tunnel, 1980's,
approximate. Possibly what you're looking for. May
be off on spelling of author, but it'll get you started!
Books (this on is the 1st of a series) have a Christian theme.
Anne Halliday, The Door Under The
Eaves, 1936. You
may be looking for "The Door Under The Eaves" by Anne
Halliday. A little girl named Annie finds a door in
a bedroom closet at her grandmother's house that leads to a
secret stair that was part of the underground railroad.
There's a mystery involving lost treasure that's solved at the
end, but much of the book is just about Annie's normal "little
girl" adventures. If you remember a chapter about a
braided rag rug, this is probably it.
H217: hippo named Tom having birthday Early 1990's. A hippo named Tom is having a birthday. He
brings cupcakes to school for his class to share. He is
short one cupcake. His teacher cuts hers in half and shares
with him.
Peters, Sharon, Happy Birthday, Troll,
1981.
"Tom the hippopotamus has a happy birthday when teacher shares
her cupcake."
H218: horse-loving sister falls from tree house and dies Solved: Beat the
Turtle Drum H219: Horses, real and mythical, illustrated book SIMPLY GORGEOUS picture book of HORSES (real AND MYTHICAL),
Published in the 40's or 50's, Full Page hand drawn color
illustrations/paintings, Has stunning detail and quality of detail
like that of Equine artist Karl-Ernst Struck, and astounding
BACKGROUNDs and use of color like that of Maxfield Parrish,
approximately 25-30 pages. Dimensions of the book:
APPROXIMATELY 10"T x 14"L. This book was part of the book
collection in the Waite Park Elementary Scool Library (in
Minneapolis, Minnesota) between 1962 & 1969.
Marguerite Henry had a book like
this, I can't remember the title. Marguerite Henry, Album of Horses, 1951, copyright. Ok, so this is a long
shot, because it doesn't contain mythical horses, but the
pictures by Wesley Dennis are absolutely gorgeous, so it
might be worth at least looking into. (And the picture of
the Lipizan kind of looks like he might be flying, which might
put one in mind of mythical horses.)
H220: Hal, Watusi, Mt. Killamanjaro Read sometime in the 1960's, adventures of a boy named Hal and
his brother in Africa.... they join up with a Watusi tribe that
raises cattle... kill an elephant and remove its heart.
After cutting an artery, they mix it with blood to drink.
Sounds gross, but my husband read the book as a child, and I'd so
love to find it for him... Thanks so much!
Price, Willard, African Adventure, 1963, copyright. Bound to be this book -
part of Willard Price'sAdventure series. My
teacher read us this when I was seven. They also have a
cheetah as a pet.
H221: hunter, water buffalo The story I want is one I read in this school reader book in the
1950s. I was in elem school 1951-59, K-7 grades. I know I
read such a story of a HUNTER being run up a tree by a WATER
BUFFALO, which some say is more dangerous than a lion because he
won�t give up. This guy was up the tree all night and next day,
the buffalo was still there. He had dropped his rifle. I think he
used some fishing line and a paperclip to hook the rifle that day
and escape, or shoot the buffalo, or something. The story probably
ran 5-6 pages with some pictures. I don�t know where it was
a GINN reader (same as my last name) or some other reader. I
actually found a copy 25 years ago at a school in South Georgia. I
should have stolen it! ANYWAY, if you ever find this ...
I�LL BUY IT.
Theodore J. Waldeck, Treed
by a Water Buffalo, 1940, copyright. You
are almost certainly thinking of "Treed by a Water Buffalo" by
Theodore J. Waldeck. According to a note in my copy, "Treed
by a Water Buffalo" is actually part of a larger book called "On
Safari" by Theodore J. Waldeck, illustrated by Kurt Wiese,
copyright 1940, The Viking Press. I LOVED this story when I
was a kid! For this story and many others, see "Adventure
Bound," 1956, 1961, Houghton Mifflin Company, George A. Hughes,
Marion Kellogg, Georgiana Smith. Note the cool picture of
the astronaut on the cover! Sorry, everybody; I
incorrectly identified the assistant editors of Adventure Bound,
1956, 1961, Houghton, Mifflin Company, as its editors. The
correct editors were Arno Jewett, Marion Edman and Paul
McKee. They were assisted by George A. Hughes, Marion
Kellogg and Georgianna Smith. According to one of my
sources, there are a few used copies of this out-of-print gem
out there somewhere for prices that do not seem too
unreasonable. Sorry for the mistake! H222: haunted house, mystery, witch trials I would have read this book in 7th or 8th grade (late 1970s). A
child or children living in an old house see ghosts of people in
the house from a previous time. The images come and go, but the
children learn more and more... until they find out (somehow?!)
that the people they've been seeing were tried as witches for
claiming to see people from the future! Not sure if this book
would be classified as SciFi, mystery, occult, or historical
fiction... I just remember being absolutely enthralled by it.
Barbara Michaels, House of Many
Shadows. I
hesitate to suggest this because the main characters aren't
children, but otherwise it is very similar to your
description. Barbara Michaels is, of course, also the
bestselling Elizabeth Peters. Jane Louise Curry, Parsley Sage,
Rosemary and Time. Your
question reminded me of this book, which I searched for last
spring. A rather starchy young girl goes to stay with her
free-spirited aunt in New England, in an old manor. While
there, she discovers that some magical thyme from the garden
will allow her to travel back in time to Colonial days.
She meets another girl, and a very young little boy, and they
all befriend an old lady with a cat who lives in a little
cottage in the woods beyond the manor's garden. The old lady is
accused of being a witch, because of her strange and mysterious
modern visitors. They are put in the gaol, and need to
escape back to modern times. There is a happy ending and
some surprises about who the other girl and the little boy turn
out to be in the present.
2008 H223: Hen
is barnyard outcast, hatches eggs Book in the 1970's with a scruffy hen who is picked on by others
in the henhouse; she is chosen by the farmer to hatch a clutch of
eggs and raise the chicks. I can't remember the author or title
but I loved this book!
Eve Le Gallienne, Flossie and Bossie. This book was written in the 1940's but
I believe a paperback edition was available in the 1970's. It's
long been out of print, so it will hard to determine if its the
book you are thinking of. What might help is that this book was
illustrated by Garth Williams. If you do an internet
search for "Flossie Bossie Garth Williams" you will you will
find a website that has 8 or 9 illustations from the book -
maybe that will help.
H224: Hungry Penguin My boyfriend remembers very little about this book from when he
was a child. He is about 34, so this would have been in the
early 80's. It starred a penguin who was very hungy, and his
stomach kept saying "grumble, grumble, grr, grr" or some other
hungry remarks. That's all I have, honestly. I hope
there's help.
Jonny Belt, Rumble Grumble Gurgle
Roar. Ok, so this
isn't exactly what you're looking for, but you might enjoy
checking it out anyway. It's an animated online storybook,
narrated by Whoopi Goldberg, and can be found at nickjr.com.
They've also played it on tv (Nick or Noggin) and my boys love
it. It's a cute story about a hungry little penguin whose tummy
keeps saying "rumble grumble gurgle roar." In her search for
something to fill her rumbly, grumbly tummy, she tries something
white and fluffy (a polar bear), something brown and plump (a
walrus) and something orange and shiny (a big daddy penguin)
before finally discovering that fish are what little penguins
should eat. I have not been able to find any reference to a
printed version, but I'm guessing that the online story may have
been based on an older printed book? I hope this helps you in
your search. Jonny Belt, Rumble Grumble Gugle Roar. A young penguin is confused about what
to eat but keeps trying different things because of his rumbly
tummy. You can find an animated version of this story
narrated by Whoopi Goldberg on line at Nick Jr.'s "Just for Me
Stories".
H225: Hilarious parochial school story Main character is a girl at a Catholic boarding school; her
friend tells the nun her name is Fay Wray. An old nun with a
lisp helps the girl to finish a sewing project - a plaid skirt -
late at night and says, "You haven't even finished your
thlip!" Also the girl and "Fay Wray" slip into the cloister
one night to see how the nuns live. This book is REALLY
funny; I probably read it in the early 60s, and I think it was
published in Reader's Digest. Please help!
Jane Trahey, Life With Mother
Superioror The
Trouble With Angels, 1966. Also made into a
movie starring Hayley Mills. Jane Trahey, The Trouble with Angels (originally Life with Mother Superior),
1963, copyright. Trahey, Jane, Life with Mother
Superior, 1962,
approximate. These scenes sound like the novel, sometimes
retitled The Trouble with Angels, after it was
filmed under that title in 1966 (with Rosalind Russell and
Hayley Mills). Be aware that there is a play version also being
sold under this title. Jane
Trahey, The Trouble With
Angels,
1966, approximate. An autobiographical account of
Jane Trahey's high school years, first published as "Life with Mother Superior", and renamed when it was made into a movie
with Rosalind Russell and Hayley Mills. Jane Trahey, Trouble
with Angels. It was originally called Life with Mother Superior,
but was retitled (and made into a movie with Hayley Mills). Jane Trahey, Culprit in the Convent,
1963. The Reader's Digest condensed version, which
appeared in August 1963, was called Culprit in
the Convent.
H226: Hedgehog with flowers Solved: Miss Jaster's Garden H227: House
That
Jack Built book Solved: The House That Jack Built by Seymour Chwast H228: Hares
with
magic spoon, greedy elephants Solved: Never-Empty H229: Historical
fiction/romance, San Francisco Historical fiction/romance I read
in the late 90's. I really don't remember too much but it
takes place in early 1930's or 40's San francisco main character
is independent girl. Large fire and earthquakes in
part. I think one of the main characters was a
journalist. At some point they are in the redwood
forests. The same author also wrote another historical
romance about girl on plantation during and then post civil war.
Whitney, Phyllis A., The Fire and the Gold.
Is the
requestor sure the book didn't take place in 1906, if it has the
earthquake and fire as plot points? "The Fire and the Gold"
is a young adult romance that begins with the earthquake (in
April) and continues to New Year's Eve, and describes the life of
Melora Cranby and her family as they try to recover from the
disaster. Phyllis Whitney is also the author of "Step to the
Music," which takes place around the time of the Civil War.
Another book which might be a possiblity would be one of the "Beverly Gray" series by Clair Blank from the 30's or
40's. I can't remember which book it was, but Beverly does
visit San Francisco. The series starts with Beverly in
college, but she later becomes a reporter, and is always solving
mysteries. H230: House, saltbox This book would have been written
probably between 1950-1970. It concerned a girl moving into a new
neighborhood. She decides to explore and finds an old house -- I
seem to remember it was described as being a saltbox house. She
and the neighborhood kids explore the house. I think it's in
danger of being torn down. They find documents and possibly
treasure, or something that shows the house has historical value
and saves it from being torn down.
Sterling, Dorothy, The Secret of the Old Post Box, 1968, copyright. This
is a story about a group of children who learn that one of the
families had ties to George Washington and the American
Revolution. Scholastic republished the book with the title The Mystery of
the Empty House. Dorothy Sterling, Secret
of the Old Post Box / Mystery of the Empty House.
The original title was Secret
of the Old Post Box; Scholastic reprinted it as Mystery of the Empty House.
. This is definitely the book. The woman and three sons
who own the house are in danger of losing it because they can't
pay the taxes. The papers in question relate to George
Washington's spy system. Dorothy Sterling, Secret
of the Old Post Box, 1960, copyright.
Girl moves into new neighborhood and explores an empty
pre-Revolutionary War house there with new friends.
Finds a historical treasure. I think book was reissued
much later with new title of Mystery of the Old House or something
similar. Mary
Calhoun,
Katie John. Sterling,
Dorothy, Secret of the old post
box, 1960,
copyright. Variant title: Mystery of the Empty House.
Absolutely definitely this book. I had a Scholastic
version under the second title. Pat is the girl -
she leaves their New York home to go and live in
Haven. The house next door belongs to the family -
can't remember their names but one of the boys is
Nathanial (called Nate) and the mystery links back to his
great great (?) grandfather and the Civil war. I
think his mother is a widow - anyway whatevery the find in
the tin box, saves the family. I remember too having
to learn what a saltbox house is. At one point
someone falls off the slope at the back of the house. Dorothy Sterling, Secret of the Old Post
Box, 1960, copyright. This
sounds very like Secret of the Old Post Box
by Dorothy Sterling....it
was printed in hardcover, as part of the Weekly Reader
series, and in paperback by Scholastic under the title Mystery
of the Empty House. H231: Horse Paddock Solved: Shadow Glen H232: Horace has eaten Grandmama Author?, 1953,
childrens. Very funny laugh-aloud for children ages
pre-school.
Coatsworth, The Story of Horace. Horace, a
bear, eats an entire family, one member at a time.
Hilarious. H233: Historical/romance novels set in
ancient times Looking for some older girl/teen
books written before 1968, as I read them in between 1968 and
1972. Most likely 1940s - 1950s, as I remember them being
old and tatty. They were historical/romance novels set in
ancient times, at least some of them in biblical times, and one
may have been a retelling of the Ruth/Naomi story. I'm
fairly certain the author's name ended in "Y" or at least some
other letter very close to the end of the alphabet. First
name may have been Betty or Betsy. (Definitely NOT Betty
Cavanah). Last seen in a public library in Vancouver, Canada
in 1976, but nothing matches from their catalog now. Sorry
not more information, but maybe someone who was a fan of the teen
historical romance genre from the middle of last century will
recognize. Great site, by the way. I identified one of
the other books I was looking for as The Forgotten Daughter.
Gladys Malvern. I'm not
sure that Gladys Malvern
is the right author but this is what came to mind reading your
description. She wrote some fiction books based on biblical women.
Possibly - Behold
Your Queen? Gladys Malvern, The
Foreigner. Gladys Malvern wrote some books about historical
figures, including some about biblical characters. The one
about Ruth and Naomi was called "The Foreigner". I'd wondered if it was Gladys Malvern as well, as
apart from the name, it did seem to fit. I guess I'll
have to find a copy of one of her books somewhere, and then
I should know. Not sure, though - at the same time I
was reading these books I was also enjoying Mara: Daughter of the Nile,
and I definitely remember the books as being later in the
alphabet than McGraw. Malvern might
have been later in the alphabet than McGraw, if the library
you borrowed books from went by an old cataloging rule,
which said that Mc and Mac were both treated as if they were
Mac and were alphabetized before any other Ma-authors.
Just FYI. I would have guessed
Gladys Malvern
too, but, depending on just how old the books were, you
might also check out Caroline
Dale Snedeker (e.g., The Forgotten Daughter)
and Edward Lucas White
(e.g., The Unwilling Vestal). I've now found reasonably
affordable copies of The Foreigner, Tamar and Rhoda of Cyprus
on line. Once they come in, and I've had a look
at them, especially The
Foreigner, I'm hoping this one will be
solved. I definitely recognized the cover of Heart's Conquest
as being a book I have read before, but haven't found
an affordable copy yet. Behold Your Queen
is just totally out of my league. Wish someone
would reprint these books. I will update once
the books arrive. H234: Hollow tree leads to other world The book I'm looking for, was
written before 1980. I would have read it around 1975.
It was about a boy who moved to the country or an aunts farm, of
course he wasn't happy about it, but he finds a tree that is
hollow, and when he gets inside of it he climbs up to another
"world" or "realm", with mean animals and dangerous
creatures. He seems to keep climbing up and down this tree
over short periods of time. He befriends one of the animals,
who helps him when he is in the new "world".
Ruth Chew, Magic in the Park, 1971,
copyright. While visiting Brooklyn's Prospect Park, Jennifer
meets Michael, and together they discover a magic hollow tree and
a secret underground world. H235: Halloween,
death, kids, lone ranger, witch, tonto I'm looking to find a children's
book I read sometime during elementary school, which would have
been between 1984 and 1993. The book was about a group of
small children who go out to investigate a supposedly haunted
house on Halloween. There is an old lady who the kids think
is a witch. One of the kids is dressed up as the Lone
Ranger, and one as Tonto. They sneak around the house for a
bit, but then the Lone Ranger falls off a balcony or something and
ends up dying. I think I remember an image of the kid Tonto
and the old lady holding the kid Lone Ranger with a touch of blood
at the corner of his mouth. It is a very somber book with
great artwork. The book is probably a short one and should
be paperback if I recall correctly. H236: Handlettered Q & A children's
book I had this in the late 70s/early
80s. For ages 7-12 I'd say. 9x12-ish, white cover (I
think). Paperback. It was a Q&A book for kids
covering lots of subjects. Each section (subject) had
colored pages. e.g. one section had all red pages,
another had all blue pages, etc. The text was handlettered
with handdrawn illustrations. One question I can remember is
"what would happen if a irresistable force met an immovable
object?" H237: Hunting guide become the prey Solved: Deathwatch H238: handicapped
girl, religious (saints?), single mom, dies I am another one looking for a book
from my childhood. I think this was a true story and there
may have been more than one book. Written by the mother, it
is about her life with a handicapped girl (for the life of me
can't remember why she was handicapped). Definitely
religious in tone, but the story transcended it. Clearest
scene I can remember is they are driving in Colorado and have to
put tire chains on the car because of the snow. Think the
mom was a single mom, can't remember a dad ever mentioned, but
could be wrong about that. Girl eventually dies. Has
driven me nuts for years trying to remember it! Have a feeling it
was set in the '50's. Thank you for a great service - how
fun!
Marie Killilea, Karen, 1952, copyright. This
reminds me of Karen and its sequel, With Love from Karen,
true stories written by Karen's mother, Marie Killilea.
Karen has cerebral palsy. The book is set in the 1950's and
often refers to the family's Catholicism. The mom isn't
single and Karen doesn't die, but there is a scene that involves
driving in the snow in one of the books. Marie Killilea, Karen.
Might be Karen.
She
has
cerebral
palsy. She doesn't die at the end of Karen,
though. There's also a father, Jim. The book is
written by her mom who is deeply religious. The book you are looking
for is definitely NOT Karen,
by Marie Killilea. In that book, there is most
definitely a father, Jimmy, and nobody dies except one of
Karen's grandmothers. The story takes place in Rye, NY,
a suburb of New York City, and as far as I know, the family
never visits Colorado. Sorry I don't know the book
you're looking for, but it's not Karen. H239: Hot enough to melt the fat off of
Mrs. ____ I'm looking for a children's
picture book read to me in the mid 1970's. The story is
about some children trying to find a way to cool off during a
summer heat wave. I think the pictures were black and white
drawings, but there may have been some color, not sure. Very
detailed illustrations. It was "hot enough to melt the fat
off of Mrs. ____" (can't remember her name), and the picture of
her sitting out on her stoop sure did make her look hot and
unhappy. I believe the setting was urban. There was
only one guy in the neighborhood with a fan in his apartment, and
I think the kids attempt to borrow, or steal it. I guess
they eventually cool off, but I wish I could remember more!
Obviously written before air-conditioning was common. I'd
love to find this book. Hope someone can help. Thanks!
Arthur Getz, Tar Beach, 1979, copyright. A long shot, but might be worth a
look. "Joey and his sister Teresa find that rooftops make
wonderful beaches on hot summer days." Front cover shows children
running through water spurting from an opened fire hydrant, in
front of apartment buildings. Lots of people in background, at
windows, doorways, and on front steps. I don't have a copy, to
check for the specific line and illustration you remember, but you
should be able find a picture of this on online and see if it
looks familiar. No, it is definitely not Tar Beach. We used to check the book
out of the library around 1976 or so. I'm thinking it
would have been published in the 1960's, or early '70's. H240: High school boy's father is a spy Read this book between 1993-1996.
children's/young adult book. The main character was a boy in high
school who was getting into trouble, possible drinking but
definitely an incident with a car. The father was a spy or part of
some secret organization. He got his son to deliver a package or
envelope to a place to try to get him interested in something and
as a way to connect with him. I think that then the father is
kidnapped and the son has to act like a real spy to save his dad,
but that last part could be wrong.
Winona Kent, Skywatcher, 1989, approximate. It might
be this book, though the main character, Robin, is in college. His
father is a spy and they are both involved in a huge car accident.
There are also two other brothers. If you remember a fictional TV
show that sounds like a cross between The Avengers, Man From UNCLE
and Mission:Impossible called Spy Squad which the spy dad starred
in, this is the book. Anthony Horowitz, Stormbreaker.
This
one
is a possibility. Teenaged Alex Rider's uncle dies in mysterious
circumstances, and it turns out he was a spy. Alex is recruited
to take his place. Thank you
both for your input but it's not Skywatcher or Stormbreaker. I really wish I could remember
more than what I already wrote. I imagine it was between
150-200 pages if that helps. Thanks again. I'll keep thinking
about it and add what ever might come up. Robert Cormier, I Am the Cheese.There are enough matching
details with I Am the Cheese by Robert Cormier that it's
worth considering. The boy sets off on a bicycle to deliver
a package for his father. The story is told in segments with
flashbacks about his life. Johnson, Annabel & Edgar,
Gamebuster,
1990, copyright. Could this be it? "Overhearing what
seems to be a bomb plot and discovering a dead body in the
trunk of his car are only the beginnings of a dangerous
adventure in which a high school senior rediscovers his
father, an undercover agent, and becomes involved in a
fight against dispossessing the Navajos of their lands
forever. Amerman, Lockhart, Guns in the Heather,
1963, approximate. This book and its two sequels (Cape
Cod Casket and The Sly One) date from the
1960s rather than the '90s, but had an extended life in
library and book club editions. The protagonist
and narrator is teen-aged Jonathan Flower, whose father
is indeed a US secret agent. In the first book,
Jonathan is kidnapped from his Scottish boarding school
by enemies hoping to pry information from his
father. In the second, he's on Cape Cod for a
summer job tutoring two precocious children when danger
erupts. The third (which has a listing in Solved
Mysteries) shifts the action to Philadelphia and New
York, where a devious mastermind is orchestrating a
gypsy conspiracy. The tone is what makes these:
fast action blended with literate humor and well-twisted
plots. They're the right length for this stumper,
and there's definitely a father/son dynamic involved in
the plots. Thank you all so much for
your comments on this. While these don't seem to be
the book I remember they do sound interesting.
Having scoured my memory I think the story was set
on the west coast. Thanks again for your
continued efforts. H241: "Hark!
Hark! Retard the spark!" Solved: Those Miller Girls! H242: Historic figures Solved: Childhood of Famous Americans
series H243: Haunted house, footprints in the snow I read this book in the late
seventies or early eighties. A boy thinks a house is
haunted, there is a wooded area in front of the house and there
are ghostly shapes moving through the trees but leaving footprints
in the snow. Thats all I can remember!!
Calhoun, Mary, The Night the Monster Came, 1982, copyright. "After
finding giant footprints in the snow, Andy is sure that Bigfoot is
stalking his house." A long shot, but check 13 Ghostly
Tales (1966), edited by Freya Littledale and illustrated by Wayne Blickenstaff.
Contents are: Wait till Martin comes / Maria Leach -- The trunk
in the attic / Adele DeLeeuw -- The railroad ghost / Murray T.
Pringle -- The dare / Maria Leach -- The wild ride in the tilt
cart / Sorche NicLeodhas -- The ghost with one sock / Freya
Littledale -- The most haunted house / Louis C. Jones -- The
witch in the wintry wood / Aileen Fisher -- The ghost dog of
South Mountain / Frances Carpenter -- The thing at the foot of
the bed / Maria Leach -- Ghost in the orchard / Aileen Fisher --
The golden arm / Maria Leach -- The ghosts from the graveyard /
Sorche NicLeodhas. The story I'm thinking of is Ghost in the
Orchard by Aileen Fisher. M. J. Engh, The
House in the Snow, 1987, approximate.
From the description, this *could* be The House in
the Snow...but it's not really a ghost story.
Instead, there are robbers with cloaks of invisibility.
The main character runs away from a cruel master and goes to
hide at "the demon house", which is an old abandoned mansion
where unexplained footprints appear in the snow around it. He
discovers a band of robbers, keeping several other boys
captive as their servants. After he joins them, the boys end
up stealing the cloaks and turning the tables on robbers. So far I am coming up empty, but I appreciate the
efforts. Hopefully one day I will figure it out!! H244: High school girl, mother makes pie Girl in high school named "Ella" or
Ellie" (?) whose mother makes a pie every night, has first
boyfriend. I read this in the late 1950's or early 60's. H245: human
minaturization experiment Solved: Cold War in a Country Garden H246: Hispanic brother and sister in New
York Children's or youth book from 60s
or 70s. Hispanic brother and sister in New York City with no
parents have to survive on their own. They hide out in vacant
buildings and take coins from pay telephones.
Charlene Joy Talbot, Tomas Takes Charge. I haven't read this one, but
it comes up so frequently on book search boards that I recognize
the plot! Talbot, Charlene Joy, Tomas Takes Charge, 1966,
copyright. This is a book about two children named Tomas,
11, and Fernanda, 14, living on their own in New York. Their
father has not come home in three weeks and they find an empty
apartment to live in. Fernanda doesn't leave the apartment
and Tomas is in charge of finding food for both of them. Children In Hiding.
This book was also published under the title "Children in
Hiding" and is the same as described by the others.
Tomas and Fernanda must hide out in the city after their
father goes missing. The sister is very afraid of going
out, and Tomas scavenges food and other needed items for her,
then meets a woman artist who befriends him and helps them
both. Great book!2009 H247: house
of my own 1950's, childrens. child
struggles for privacy. Builds her own house with blankets over
tables, with cushions in corners, other inventive places. Good
illustrations. Favorite book as a child in the '50's. Found a
title "House of my own" by Ebba Dane [London/Methuen: 1950], but
the brief bibliographic description wasn't enough to identify.
Not a solution, but I can tell you
that the book you are looking for is NOT "A House of My Own" by Ebba Dane. That one is an
autobiographical account of making a new life in rural France in
the aftermath of the Second World War. Joan G. Robinson, Mary-Mary,
1950's-60's. I don't have concrete proof (although this is
not in "Mary-Mary stories", which I do own), but there is
something about this description that reminds me of the play and
antics of Joan G. Robinson's
Mary-Mary.
("Mary-Mary", "Madam Mary-Mary", "More Mary-Mary" are the other
titles). Maybe worth looking into. I wish I could remember
details of the other books, which I read as a child. They're
delightful stories with charming sketches by the author.
Mary-Mary is a little girl with two older sisters (Miriam and
Meg) and two older brothers (Martyn and Mervyn). She is
determined to do whatever they are doing in her own noticeable
way and is a sturdy individualist, carving out "her own space"
in the family. Beatrice Schenk de Regniers, A Little House of Your Own.
I don't know that this is it, but worth looking at.
Child talking about her own personal 'house' under the dining
room table, then talking about other possibilities: a large
box, a big umbrella, behind a chair in a corner. Much
about how nice it is to be with people, but the need for a
place all to oneself. I don't know the
answer to this yet but think I may be able to find it.
We had a book growing up that I recall as being tall and
thin rather than the dimensions of an ordinary book.
The illustrations were pen-and-ink and were all about
various little houses and their equivalents. You were
never supposed to disturb somebody in her/his little house
unless invited in. One example was a father (or maybe
mother) sleeping on a sofa, which was a kind of a
house. Another was under the dining room table.
Another was a tree house. In fact, I remember a rather
elaborate kid's house in which two little girls were having
tea, either the tree house or a separate house on the
ground. And I think I remember a little child resting
on the ground with a paper bag over his/her head as a little
house, and a mother approaching politely and respectfully to
let the child know it was time for dinner. If this
sounds like what the requester is seeking, I can see if I
can locate it in my mother's house (or ask my siblings in
case they took it). It's funny -- I was thinking about
this book not long ago. De Regniers, Beatrice Schenk,
A Little House of Your
Own, 1954, copyright. I found it
(but it was at my sister's house, not my mother's).
I'm pretty sure this is what the requester is
seeking. It has great pen-and-ink drawings by Irene
Haas. I'd forgotten one of the little houses was a
tree house, and that there are wonderful pictures of the
view of people down below doing various things. I
was wrong about the sofa, though: that was the mother's
little house (the father's was the newspaper). H248: Horse poems childrens book
(1980-1990)? poems/ryhmes about Horses, or with
horses in them. the names of 2 of the poems: 1. Ride a cock horse
to Banbury cross 2. Windy night. another may have had a highwayman
in it. The book cover was greyish in colour and had a horse on it
definately had illustrations of hobby horses on inner sleeves.
Susan Jeffers, Mother Goose: If Wishes Were
Horses And Other Rhymes, 1979, copyright.
Reprinted as If
Wishes Were Horses: Mother Goose Rhymes during the 1980s.
A beautifully illustrated collection of rhymes about horses from
Mother Goose. Front cover is white, showing a dapple-gray horse.
Three children are seated on the horse's back. In front is an
African-American girl in a blue dress with her hair in pigtails
tied with brightly colored ribbons. She is smiling and is holding
two gray and white kittens in her arms. Behind her, with her arms
around the first girl's waist, is a red-haired girl in a green and
white dress and a straw hat with long pink ribbons which hides
most of her face. In back is a little boy in gray pants, white
blouse, and gray hat. He has his arms around the girl's waist and
is looking down somewhat nervously. All three children wear white
stockins and black button shoes. A small brown and white dog is
also running beside the horse. I don't know the book being
sought, but I don't think it can be Mother Goose, because I
strongly suspect that the windy poem the requester remembers is
Windy Nights by Robert Louis Stevenson,
which doesn't have a highwayman but does have a mysterious man
who gallops about on the highway. Then again, the
highwayman poem the requester recalls may well be the separate
poem The Highwayman by
Alfred Noyes, another
indication that it's probably not a Mother Goose book the
requester is seeking. H249: Horse,
dog and girl in Australia Solved: Tam, the Untamed Pre-1965. Possibly written by Mary
E. Patchett. Plot: girl lives on a ranch (?) with her family in
Australia. She loves the land and her dog and horse. She is sent
off to boarding school in the city. She is homesick. Her dog and
horse escape the ranch and travel to the city to find her--and
they do.
Mary Elwyn Patchett, Ajax, Golden Dog of the Australian
Bush (reprinted as Golden Dog), 1953,
copyright. The true story of a girl who grew up on a station
in Australia surrounded by dogs, horses, goannas and other
creatures, with a native girl for a playmate and a fear of being
sent away to school. Her golden half-dingo dog Ajax is a pup at
the start and grows up with a fiercely protective love of his
owner. They encounter floods, snakes and other dangers. The story
is continued in the book 'Tam the Untamed' about the girl's wild
white stallion which became the model for 'Brumby'. Mary Elwyn Patchett, Ajax
the Warrior, 1953, copyright. This
sounds like Ajax the Warrior by Mary Elwyn Patchett. First in a series, the
complete list, in order, is as follows: Ajax the Warrior, Tam
the Untamed, Treasure of the Reef, Return to the Reef, Outback
Adventure, The Call of the Bush, The End of the Outlaws, The
Golden Wolf, Ajax and the Drovers, Ajax and the Haunted
Mountain. I first want to say what a great service this is.
I've been enjoying just reading about all the books I missed
out on as a child. I'm the person who posted H249 and
I appreciate the responses, but they are very confusing to
me. First of all, I was happy to see that others think that
my book may have been one that was written by M E Patchett.
However, I don't think that I am any closer to knowing
exactly which one it is. I hadn't previously seen a
reference to a book by Ms. Patchett titled "Ajax, Golden Dog
of the Australian Bush." Is that just another title for
"Ajax the Warrior"? And a horse definitely plays an
important role in the book I remember. Does that mean it
must be one of the later books in the Ajax series? I
do know that I read 2 or 3 books by the same author--all
that was in my school library--so I suppose that I might
have conflated the plots of two of them. But I'm really
certain about the dog and horse traveling alone through the
wilderness to find their mistress. That's the book I'd like
to find. Mary Elwyn Patchett, Ajax the Warrior aka
Ajax: Golden Dog of the
Australian Bush, 1953, copyright. Ajax the Warrior is
the original title of this book, Ajax: Golden Dog of the
Australian Bush was the retitled American edition (published
by Bobbs-Merrill in hardcover, by Scholastic in paperback).
As you're not sure if you're conflating two titles from the
Ajax series, and want to be sure which title is the one you
want before you buy, I'd suggest getting this book, and any
sequels you can, via the library. Even if your local library
doesn't have any of the books, you may be able to request a
book via inter-library loan...you'd be amazed at how many
old titles are on the shelves somewhere in the country! M E Patchett, Tam the Untamed,
1954, copyright. Tam the Untamed is the M E Patchett book in
which Mary gets sent off to school and is terribly
homesick and Tam (her horse) and Ajax (the dog) follow
her. See also solved stumpers. I have
requested "Tam the
Untamed" through the Interlibrary Loan Service.
It will probably be awhile before I get it, but if it
turns out to be the right book, I'll post it as solved.
Thanks for all the helpful suggestions.
Mary Elwyn Patchett, Tam,
the Untamed, 1954, copyright. This is
definitely the book I remember the best. I also am
fairly sure that I read another of the books in the
series as well, although I don't remember which it was. H250: Horror
stories, 'The Ash Tree', ghost twins, lichen Old book of HORROR STORIES which
may have included the story "THE ASH TREE" and also a story about
GHOST TWINS, a fireplace and a girl who goes to sleep on a sofa
and wakes to find that LICHEN has covered her arms; twins help
her. I especially want to find the twins story.
1950s, approximate. I
also remember a book of horror stories that included one about a
woman who fell asleep on a grey sofa and woke up with grey lichen
starting to grow on her face, but the way I remember it is that
she got the lichen because she mocked the ghost twin children and
they caused the lichen to grow on her. I think the house was
haunted by dozens of ghosts but the twins were most feared because
disaster happened to whoever saw them (death by fire, etc.) The
curse was somehow lifted when some one eventually expressed
sympathy for the ghosts instead of fear, realizing that they were
"only children." I want to say I read this in an Alfred Hitchcock
anthology from my school library in the 70s - the book appeared to
be pretty old and so was probably from the early 60s/late 50s. The
only Hitchcock anthology to reprint James' "The Ash Tree" is
STORIES FOR LATE AT NIGHT, and none of the other titles in that
one (from a list I found) sound likely for the "lichen" story (the
only plausible title is "The Cocoon," and I know the plot of that
story and it's not it. If it's not a Hitchcock, anthology,
likelist among other anthologies that reprinted "The Ash Tree"
include MEDLEY MACABRE ed. Bryan Netherwood, 65 GREAT SPINE
CHILLERS ed Mary Danby, and LOST SOULS ed Jack Sullivan. E.F. Benson, How
Fear Departed from the Long Gallery.
This must certainly be your lichen story-here is a link:
http://www.horrormasters.com/Text/a0206.pdf. H251: Hunter
falls in love with girl whose family turns into partridges I long to find a novel that may
have been printed any time between 1945-1980, a lyrical, magical
lovestory. A hunter, deep in a remote wood, falls in love with a
girl (French-Candian?) & learns that her mystical family turns
into partridges. I can't remember the title, sadly. Thank you so
much!
Corcoran, Barbara, The Winds of Time, 1974, copyright. republished
as "The Watching Eyes" In her desperate attempt to escape custody
of her cruel uncle, thirteen-year-old Gail finds refuge with the
Partridges, a strange family living isolated in a spooky house in
the woods. Elizabeth
Coatsworth, The Enchanted: An
Incredible Tale, 1951. Solved on another board recently. H252: hunting, one bullet, bear, deer,
fish, partridge, turkey, honey I read this book when I was in
grade school , to the best of my recollection between 1965 and
1971. This is a story about a man that goes hunting so to
have meat for the winter months? He takes his rifle and has
only one bullet. He also takes a net to catch ducks or
geese....I can not remember which. The whole story then
evolves into this amazing hunting adventure/experience. To
the best of my recollection it goes something like
this. First the net gets filled with Geese or ducks, I
can not remember for sure. when he grabs the net to catch
the geese, there are so many, they take off and pull him up into
the air. While in the air he finally falls/lets go?
and falls into a hollow tree. The base of the tree is full
of honey so he is standing, in a hollow tree, waist deep in
honey. While trying to figure out how to get out, a bear
comes, attracted to the honey, and climbs the tree and starts
backing down. As soon as the bear is almost near the man,
the man yells and scares the bear so bad the bear starts climbing
out of the hollow log. The man holds onto the bear and it
pulls him to the top of the tree. When he gets to the top he
kicks the bear off the tree and the bear falls and is
killed. He then climbs down the tree and because he is
covered with honey he jumps into a pond to wash off. While
he is in the pond a large fish gets caught down his shirt.
As he is trying to hold the fish and get out of the water, this
causes a button on his shirt to pop off and strike a partridge
sitting near the water and kill the partridge. So now he has
a bear, a partridge and a fish and has not fired a shot. A
short time after this he looks in some trees and sees that the net
with all the geese has caught in a tree. So he decides to
cut the tree down. when he does this the falling tree
falls on a buck deer and kills it. So now he has the bear,
the fish, the partridge, all geese and a deer to take home.
When he is getting ready go go he notices a bunch of turkeys have
landed in a tree above him. So he decides to shoot one of
them.....but when he shoots, the bullet misses and hits the branch
the turkeys are perched on and causes it to split open. When the
branch slams back shut, it catches all of the turkeys by the
feet. I can not remember how many but 6-10 turkeys. So
the man now has a bear, fish, partridge, geese, a deer, and
turkeys. He loads all this on his sled to pull back to the
house and had all these animals with only firing one bullet.
The ropes on the sled break because the load is too heavy.
So he skins the deer to make rawhide roap to hook onto his horse
and sled. He heads for home.....but it is snowing or
raining? and the rawhide stretches. When he gets to
the house he notices the sled is not with him and the rawhide is
stretched all the way back to the woods. He is tired and
goes to bed....but the next morning the sun comes out and the
rawhide shrinks and pulls the sled to the house with all of his
game still in the sled. As I mentioned I read this story
when I was in grade school more than 40 years ago and have
searched and searched the internet to try and find this
book. I have no idea who the author is or what the title of
the book is or when exactly it was published except it had to be
prior to 1971 as I was in the 8th grade in 1972 and it seems I
read this in the 3rd or 4th grade?? I know at least one
comedian/story teller has used this for their shows. A
bluegrass band called Hickory Hill had a member called Roland
Foster that used to tell this story as part of their act. He
called the story, the "One Bullet Hunt"....and they recorded it on
a cassete tape called "Riminisn" in the 1990s. When by
simple chance I heard this tape.....I remembered the story....and
in a effort to find the book I called the band. They said
Roland had died and they had no idea where he got the story.
They thought he had gotten it from another commedian somewhere in
Louisiana and had no idea that it was from a children's
book. So, of course I was very disappointed and back to
searching the internet again. I ran accross your sight and
hope you can help me find this book, name and author and a source
I can buy it from.Thank
you so much.
This sounds a lot like Jack's Hunting
Trip by Richard Chase.
Jack's
Hunting Trip is actually part of The Jack Tales
by Richard Chase (sorry;
I don't have the publisher or copyright date). I found
Jack's Hunting Trip in Adventure Bound, 1956, 1961,
Houghton, Mifflin Company. See H221, except that there I
incorrectly identified Adventure Bound as being edited by its
assistant editors. The actual editors were Arno Jewett, Marion Edman and Paul McKee. They were
assisted by George A. Hughes, Marion Kellogg and Georgianna
Smith. Sorry! When I was a kid, I loved most of the
stories in Adventure Bound. See especially Lay it Down Ziggy
by Larry Siegel -- it might be years before you stop laughing! Sam & Zoa Swayne, Great-Grandfather in the Honey Tree,
1949, copyright. A tall tale of how Great-Grandfather went
out to net some geese but got stuck in a tree full of honey. He
manages to get loose, and through a series of fortuitous
coincidences, ends up with not only the honey but also a bear, a
deer, a fish, a partridge, a net full of geese and/or ducks, and
a bunch of turkeys (with their feet trapped in the split branch
of a tree). He tries to pull the load home, using sinews from
the deer to pull his sled, but the rain causes them to stretch,
leaving the sled behind. In the morning, the sun dries and
shrinks the sinews, delivering the load right to his door.
Reprinted in the 1960's and again in the 1980's. H253: Highschool "Rules" Frame Funny Teen
Novel Solved: The Alfred G. Graebner Memorial
High School Handbook of Rules and Regulations H254: high
school writing class 1970's-80's, childrens. A
group of teenagers come together in a special class (possibly for
creative writing). They all have various issues/challenges they
are dealing with there is bonding among the students along
with the teacher throughout the story as they deal with their
problems. One student is a boy called Palmer or Parker, though his
real name is Craig. He is an extremely shy boy who is overshadowed
by a very wealthy background and possibly a much popular older
brother. There is another student who has delinquent type
tendencies, as well as assorted others, possibly a girl named
Dana. The teacher is young and possibly newly married and she gets
caught up in helping the students deal with their various
challenges. I think one of the students who befriends
Palmer/Parker ends up trying to burglarize his home.
Possibly Libby on Wednesday by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. John Ney, Ox, the
story of a kid at the top, 1970,
approximate. This sounds like one of the Ox novels...there
were a couple more books: "Ox Goes North" and "Ox Under
Pressure" and "Ox and the Prime Time kid". I
can't remember which plot goes with which book. Ox lives
in Palm Beach, has lots of issues, and his real name something
like Bruce. There is a kid named Porter Cartwright in at least
one of the books, which is close enough to Parker/Palmer to at
least make this worth checking out. And there's definitely a kid
who tries to burglarize Ox's home in one of the books, an older
brother, and a writing class somewhere in the series. H255: Horse flying into the urban night sky 1958-1962, childrens. I'm
haunted by a picture that graced a short story in my parochial
school reader. A horse flying at night over city rooftops. I can't
remember if the animal was winged or had a rider. I do remember
that the story and the picture left me with a deep sense of
longing.
More Fun
With Our Friends, 1962 (there may be earlier editions with this),
copyright. This is one of the Dick and Jane books. The
story you're thinking of is "Dark Pony," the final chapter in this
particular edition. You're right, the pictures were very
haunting. I, too, remembered the story from my childhood,
and looked it up on the Internet a few years ago. H256: hollowed-out
book lets loose spiders Solved: The Curse of the Blue
Figurine H257: human babies start being born with
tails This book was about how human
babies started being born with tails. At first parents were
embarrassed and had the tails removed. After a while it
became a status symbol to have a tail. In a few years older
people would get fake tails to make themselves appear younger.
H. Allen Smith, The Age of the Tail, 1955, copyright. Almost certainly H. Allen Smith's THE AGE OF THE TAIL (Boston: Little
Brown, 1955) there was also a pb edition from Bantam in the
late 1950s.
H258: hedgehogs on a night train 1970's-early80's, childrens. There was
a book I loved as a child that had young animals (i.e.
hedgehogs, rabbits, etc) dressed in pajamas and I think it was
bedtime and they were going on a train (possibly called the
"moonlight express" or "midnight express"). I also remember them
eating in a diner or something to that effect. My brother and I
had another book by the same author and with the same characters
so I could very well be mixing the two stories up in my head. I
remember the hardcover books having softly colored
pictures. I would love to find either of these books for
my daughter.
I do recall the same book- but I do not recall its name.
There was also scenes where the all the animals 1)visit the main
public library 2)are around a Christmas tree with candles 3)go
stargazing 4)ice skating. I believe the cover had perhaps some
type of tree with lanterns? The hedgehogs pajamas has those open
buttoned back flaps. H259:
Horror, anthology, late 80s, man devouring limb in
forest on cover
One story contained a boy who raped a girl in school then
descended to madness; lived in forest near school killing others
after. Another story was about a space crew that finds a planet,
eats the vegetation and turns to butterflies. For more
description, go here, plz : http://tinyurl.com/n3azm9H260:
Huge Fairy/Folk Tale Anthology: 18x12"+ and 130+ pgs
full color!
Included the classics plus Blue Beard, Ali Baba, part of Tom
Sawyer & Tar Baby. Tales were 2-14 pages &
delicately colored. Original dark wording, such as the
mermaid's steps like blades. Unfortunately, by the 80's, I
had almost destroyed the book, no cover, first 40 pages
missing! Mom tossed it
Bridget Hadaway, Fairy Tales, 1974, approximate. This really sounds like the
book I searched for for years. It has all the tales you
mention and its beautifully illustrated. Some other tales are
Cinderella, The wizard of Oz, Snow White, The Swan Maiden and
the Goose Girl (which had the most beautiful pictures of the
princess in her golden gown and lovely white horse, Falada.)
Check out more information on the solved mystery page. Bridget Hadaway, Fairy
Tales, 1974, approximate. I think this is what
you are looking for, it has quite a variety of stories, and the
illustrations are beautiful. There is more information on the
Solved Mystery pages.
H261: Horse
Grows Wings Horse grows wings from an itchy back to leap
over creek. I read the book in the 80's, and it was old
then. Horse can't jump over a creek to follow Mom, back
itches, he sprouts wings and flies over the barn.
Wesley Dennis,
Flip,
1966, approximate. Pretty certain this is Flip by Wesley Dennis,
who frequently illustrated Margeurite Henry's horse stories as
well. Wesley Dennis, Flip, 1941. I loved this book as a
kid! It's definitely "Flip". There's at least one sequel
"Flip and the Cows", and maybe another. My copy is falling
apart, but I think there's a paperback still in print Wesley
Dennis, Flip, 1941, copyright.That's a
beloved classic. You'll get tons of responses to this. For some
reason it's out of print. Be sure to pick up an original or
first edition, not the revised Scholastic edition. Flip returns
in Flip and the Cows (1942) and Flip and the Morning (1951).
H262:
Homemade Rocket Solved: The Wonderful
Flight to the Mushroom Planet H263:
Helping Mother Bake a Cake I am looking for a particular book
from my childhood. It would have been sold in the mid 1950's
and has a red/blue cover with the subject of helping mother bake a
cake. The little BOY goes through each page sifting flour,
measuring milk, eggs.... It was a small "cardboard" type book. Any
suggestions?
Tamara Kitt, Billy Brown
Makes Something Grand (a wonder easy reader).
This was one of my favorites.he
manages to bake a cake containing a bird cage, an alarm clock and
even more bizarre stuff.lovely
pictures too!
Children's or YA fantasy.
Published pre-1982. Small kingdom with castle that teleports to
safety when attacked. The king doesn't know the magic word to work
it, but says it by chance when he sneezes or hiccups. The royal
wizard keeps his daughter in an mountain after turning her to ice
by mistake.
Nicholas Stuart
Gray, Over the Hills to
Fabylon,1954, copyright. Details are garbled, but I think you're
looking for this one. The city moves when the king does
the spell. The current king is very jumpy and the city has
been out and back 6 times since Christmas" or wtte.
There's the daughter turned into ice and living in an ice
mountain, too. Prince Alaric falls in love with her.
But Alaric falls in love with just about every young-looking
girl he sees, and promptly forgets each. There's princess
Rosalind who doesn't want to marry a prince, but a
shepherd. There's prince Conrad, the heir, who is
practicing calmness so he won't be as jumpy as his dad when he
becomes king. The puffball-thing that delivers mail.
The cats. The witches. The bears. Captain
Corrie and his horse Cobwebs. Any of this ring a bell?
H265:
Humans Inhabiting a Green Planet
Written around 1975?;
science fiction novel alien green planet with really enormous
tropical trees shipwreckedhuman
survivors evolve longer toes to climb and live on enormous tree
branches;giant caterpillar like creatures befriend humans for
life; deadly giant gas filled jellyfish roam tree canopy
Alan Dean Foster, Midworld.Sounds
like
"Midworld",
especially
the part about humans evolving long toes to live in giant trees.Was the main character called Born?
Alan
Dean Foster, Midworld.
This sounds a lot like "Midworld".The
main character is named "Born" and his companion furcot (not
earthworms) is named "Ruumahuum".'
Alan
Dean Foster, Midworld.
This might be Midworld, by Alan Dean Foster.A high-tech scientific group encounters a group of
"natives" that turn out to be the descendents of an earlier colony
ship.The natives live in massive
tree-communities, avoiding both the "Upper Hells" with the
floating and flying predators, as well as the "Lower Hells" toward
the ground. A later book called Mid-Flinx is also set on the same
planet.
1984, copyright.This
one might be The Intergral Trees by
Larry Niven. The detail about the prehensile toes is
correct. The descendants of a colony of astronauts live on the
tufts of giant trees. There is a sequel called The Smoke Ring.''Niven, Larry, Integral Trees
H266: Helping
Mother Bake a Cake
I am looking for a
particular book from my childhood.It
would have been sold in the mid 1950's and has a red/blue cover
with the subject of 'helping mother bake a cake'.The little boy goes through each page sifting flour,
measuring milk, etc. it was a small "cardboard" type book. Any
suggestions on where to go to get the publisher, or name of the
book. I would dearly love to find a copy.
H267:
Hidalgo and other stories: a Difficult Anthology to
Find Solved: Much
Majesty H268:
Hidden Treasure Probably published in the UK.
sometime between 1900 and 1950; illustrated hardback about a boy
and a girl who go into the countryside seeking hidden treasure. It
was an early precursor to the "Choose Your Own Adventure" genre
("If you think the children should talk to the farmer, turn to
page 24") H269:
Hobo boy from 1940's Book from 30's - 40's about a young
boy (~10 yrs) who runs away for a summer with a hobo. Camping out,
survival skills, etc. Plot: Boy from small-town
middle-class home joins passing hobo for a summer of
wandering adventure, ca. late '30's. Not sure if they rode trains
or went on foot, but they camped out & I recall there was
detailed lore (that I tried to re-enact) like making a hobo stove
out of tin cans etc. The older guy was a sort of wise
mentor, who eventually tells the boy its time to go back home to
his parents at the end of the summer. He returns home taller,
stronger, & mature. I read/reread this around 1943. I
don't think it was a "popular" book; as some copies were made
available in a "summer reading" project for third/fourth
grade. I'd guess that the writing and plot would date from
the '30's when many boys not much older did become wanderers.
Patrick and Terence Casey, The Gay-cat,
The Story of a Road-Kid and His Dog, 1914. I found this in Google Books while
trying to figure out your book-I know this is not your book,
but I started reading it and am very much enjoying it-just
thought you might enjoy it as well!
H270: Huge
Pink Hippo On Rollerskates with Children Climbing All Over Her The only thing I really remember
about this book was the huge promotional poster for it. The poster
was about 4'h x 6'w and featured a pink hippo on all fours, on
rollerskates with kids climbing all over her with rope ladders and
swings. The cover was pink, orange, yellow & white. 70's
maybe? Golden
Books poster, 1971. I still have a copy of the poster in question,
and it appears to be a generic advertisement for Golden
Books. The only text reads "Bring home happiness.
Bring home a Golden Book." It's copyrighted 1971 by Golden
Press. (Additional details: Hippo is wearing a
flowered shirt and striped pants boy in lower right corner is
drawing hippo clouds in upper right spell out "hippo".) Philippe and
Rejane Fix, The Pink Elephant
with Golden Spots,1970. So, this isn't exactly what you described, but the
cover is too similar not to mention. It shows a pink elephant with
big, yellow polka dots all over, sitting on broken boards. One
child is lying on his stomach on the elephant's head, a second is
climbing up the side of the elephant, using a bunch of ropes that
are secured around the elephant's tusk and its raised front leg. A
little girl is seated on a swing that is hanging down from the
elephant's trunk. The story is about three children and a magic,
wish-granting cupboard. One of them wishes for a pink elephant
with gold spots.
2011 H271: Hippo-like
creatures Book about creatures that
live in the woods, the animals/creatures are imaginary, some
resemble small hippos. Book is from the 1970s, it is a yellow hard
cover book, small type with some illustrations of the creatures in
black ink. The book is about the adventures of the creatures.
Thank you!
Tove Jansson,
The Moomintroll Series.This
is
a
marvelous
series of books set in the Scandanavian forests populated by
Moomintrolls and other fantastic creatures. Your description could
match many of the books, but I do remember that Tales from
Moominvalley had a yellow cover in the paperback edition, so maybe
this is the one you're looking for. Tove
Jansson, Moomins, 1940-70. Any
of
the
series
of Moomin books by Tove Jansson. H272: Hardback
picture book; bear or wolf and juicy strawberries Trying to find book that came out
circa 1960's. A children's picture book w/vivid pics of juicy
strawberries and a wolf or bear involved in the story. Could
have been a version of little red riding hood? A 2nd book,
written/illustrated by same author/artist had a birthday
cake/party theme. Thanks!
Wood, Don,The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe
Strawberry, and The Big Hungry Bear, 1984. This comes to mind, for
both the critter and the vivid pictures of the strawberries--- but
the date is later. H273: Harpers Ferry
mystery I read this in the late 80s/early
90s. Contemporary (20th century) mystery unfolds at Harpers Ferry
West Virginia. I believe the main characters are a boy and a girl.
There are parallels to the events surrounding John Brown's raid.
There may be time travel involved?? H274: House that
keeps getting bigger and bigger SOLVED: Helen and Alf Evers, The House the Pecks
Built. H275:Horse
boarding school Looking for a YA book about
a girls' boarding school where they bring their horses for
training and to ride in shows. The main character is allowed to
attend because her father works for the school. Her horse is
seriously injured in the end.
Joan Houston, Crofton
Meadows,1961.I think you're looking for Crofton Meadows by Joan Houston.
Sheila is attending the school on a scholarship because her father
is the stable manager of the school. There is intense rivalry with
a snobby, rich student over a mare named Jubilee, who is seriously
injured (but not killed!). Unfortunately hard to find and
expensive though! Back in the 70s I
remember a book called "Heads Up!". Not the famous one by Patsy
Grey, this was another one entirely. It was about a boarding
school/riding school with boy and girl students from all over the
world. The riding master was either German or Austrian, a good man
but very strict. You had to be meticulous about your own and your
horse's appearance. One of the students was called Ingrid, and she
pointed out early on that the main character was not a very good
rider compared to the others, so how had she qualified for the
school? (She then realized her question was less than polite and
said "I have been again stupid.") But the main character was not
offended by the question and agreed that she "stunk". She had some
kind of an "in" which might very well have been that her father
had some connection to the school. She had managed to be accepted
hoping to improve her riding. I can find no reference at all to
this book online, but it might be the one you're looking for. SOLVED: Joan Houston, Crofton Meadows. Thanks for
solving this one!! I really had my doubts that anyone knew this
book. Now if only I could find a copy! H276: High School
Murder Mystery from 1982-1986 High school murder mystery/horror
book published as a paperback in 1982-1986 (don't remember exact
year). A killer stalks a group of high school teachers. The only
scene I remember clearly is when the male gym teacher seduces a
female (fellow teacher/student?) in the school's pool after
hours/at night (it was dark). I think they were both drunk. They
don't know the killer put piranha in the pool are are attacked and
eaten. I seem to remember the writer was male and from
Massachusetts. Maybe the cover was green? Any help is very much
appreciated! H277: Hidden Door 1970's-1980's. This book could have
been one of the Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys/ or Dana Girls Mysteries, or
possibly a Scholastic Book Club paperback. I recall there
were several people in a house & they were in a room covered
with wainscot panelingand the people were feeling along the wall
with their fingertips until someone located a spot where they had
to push on a specific place to release a spring which opened the
door. There may have been a stairway behind the door and
some sort of box inside a recess in the stone wall inside which
may have been a manuscript.
Could this be Nancy Drew #2, The
Hidden Staircase? Carolyn
Keene,
Secret in the Old Attic.Nancy finds missing music manuscripts in
hidden places behind paneling and such in Secret in the Old Atticperhaps that's the book you want.If you remember spiders - tarantulas in
the original version, and black widows in the updated version, if
I recall correctly - this would be your book. Judd,
Frances K., Mansion of Secrets.The Mansion of
Secrets is filled with secret hiding places,hidden doors and
secrets under the stairs, where Kay Tracey and her friends find
clues to a valuable treasure.First
of the Kay Tracey series. Kenny,
Kathryn,
The Gatehouse Mystery, 1951. I believe it's in The Gatehouse Mystery that Trixie
Belden finds a hidden stairway and gets a little lightheaded
because the air is so stale. Kathryn Kenny, Secret of
the Emeralds.
No, the Trixie Belden where Trixie finds a hidden passage and gets
lightheaded is Secret of the Emeralds, not Gatehouse Mystery. Carolyn
Keene,
Nancy Drew.This may be part of either The Mystery of the Moss-Covered Mansion,
The Sign of the Twisted Candle, or The Password to
Larkspur Lane.All of them
had old houses and secret panels. (of course, a majority of other
Nancy Drew mysteries do too.) There are probably three versions of
each of the earliest Nancy Drews though (the originals, written
the in the 20s were rewritten in the 40s & 60s), so you may
have to check several versions with the same title! Meg and
the Secret of the Witch's Stairway. Nancy Drew's clue in the crumbling wall has the
box hidden in the wall like you describe. Meg and the
mystery of the witch's staircase has a hidden spring in an antique
cabinet that reveals clues to silver hidden during the civil
war. Is it possible that you read all the Nancy Drews you
could get your hands on and might be mixing 2 or 3 together? Meg
books are written by Holly Beth? Walker. It's possible that this may
be from one of Augusta Seaman's books. See Nancy Drew for Smart Kids by
Christine M.Volk for a discussion of the books and listing of
titles [...] I believe the titles were reissued as
Scholastic paperbacks. Enid
Blyton, Five go to smuggler's top,1970s. Your description
about the wainscotting and then the panel in the stone made me
flash to this book. Lots of secret passages in caves and there is
one in a stone room where they find a secret door/panel. Varied, Three Investigators Series. You might also want to check "The Three Investigators" series. There was at least one book with a scene
in an old house and a secret passage. I'm pretty sure it was
the Mystery of the Green Ghost (#4 in the series) that had a
hidden door plot, and I seem to remember the characters looking
all over the room for a way in until finally one of them thought
to push UP in a bookshelf. Unfortunately, a lot of kids'
mysteries had hidden passages, so it's probably going to be hard
to figure it out without going through a lot of the suggested
books...good luck! H278: Hereditary
facial disfigurement for knight and his son SOLVED: Gloria Skurzynski, Manwolf.H279: "Heads Up!" SOLVED: Don Stanford, Horsemasters, Funk & Wagnalls 1957.
2012
H280: Hippie
grandfather tries to burn flag, and is killed Short story from a 8th grade
English book.The story is from a grandsons POV (set in the future)
as his grandfather reads a news story about some new police force.
He mentions the US flag has 60 or so stars, and dresses up like a
hippie tries to burn a flag, and is shot by laser guns by the new
police.
Bruce Coville, Old Glory. It was part of an anthology which
may be called 2035, though I'm not sure about that, and the name
of the story itself is Old Glory. H281: High-school
Freshman Algebra book, early 1960s
This high-school Freshman Algebra textbook featured an avatar
wearing a mortarboard; its features consisted of plus, minus,
division, and multiplication symbols. I used it in Summer 1966 in
Manhattan. And I really. REALLY miss that book! (I don't think
it's by Isidore Dressler, but am not sure.) H282: Hawaii WWII
adventure novel Howdy --In
1957-58, I read a boy's adventure novel set during WWII in
Hawaii. Either two or three boys were involved, one of them
being native Hawaiian. They discover a secret Japanese
submarine base; and one of the more memorable scenes describes the
non-Hawaiian boy trying to eat poi. Anyone?
Howard Pease. This is a long shot, but could it be
one of the Tod
Moran series by Pease?He was a merchant marine, and in the
series managed to hit almost every busy sites in WWII.I only read a couple, but maybe there
are synopses of the titles online somewhere. I'm fairly
certain it wasn't part of the Tod Moran series by Howard Pease,
since it took place mostly on land, and the boys seemed to be
fairly young (13 or 14, tops). During WWII, Tod Moran was
already well into his 20s, so I know it wasn't him.
H283: Harlequin Presents, Russian prince
and English lady
Harlequin Presents published in between 1980-1982. Russian
prince, his first name might be Paul, visits England. He
meets mid 20�s English lady who falls in love with him. The
prince is married, but estranged from his wife. When English
lady finds out she joins Florence Nightingale nurses in the Crimea
during that war. English doctor becomes close to her and
loves her, but she still loves Russian prince. H284: Hand clapping
brings drawings to life I am looking for a book that has
collection of stories around 1976. One of the stories has a little
girl who gets a pen everytime she draws something if she clapps
her hands the picture comes to life. H285: Home, house Its a book about a run down house
that a young couple turns into a home. I particularly
remember loving looking attheillustrations as they transformed the
house - in one illustration of the house a child drew tic tac toe
on the walls. It was basically a story about a house being a home
for a family.
Ruth Krauss, The Big World
and the Little House, 1949. I no longer have a copy to check the
illustrations for a tic-tac-toe board, but I wouldn't be at all
surprised if this was your book. The general plot fits, and the
illustrations certainly have that "could stare at them for
hours" quality! "A family moves into a deserted and bare little
house, improves it, and makes it a home." H286 Human baby that
was adopted by fairies Can you help me find this
book. I think it was from the sixties and was a children's
picture book. I believe it was called The Fat Little
Fairy. It was about a human baby that was adopted by fairies
and felt left out because she couldn't fly because she was too
fat.
There's a very similar
book called Flight of the Fat Fairy by Caroline Ambrus
and Graeme Hume, but
the publication date is 1999. H287: House with
gables, birds/children on sills SOLVED: Mary
Chase, The Wicked Pigeon Ladies
in the Garden (aka The Wicked Wicked Ladies in the
Haunted House) H288: Hollow tree,
secret tunnel, wizard There was a book I read when I was
young, that I don't remember the name of, back in the 70'sish.
It's about some kids that play inside a large hollowed out tree
(with a room inside) that has a secret tunnel that leads to
another world with a wizard and some evil that follows them back..
HELP!
Alan Garner,
Weirdstone of Brisingamen. From one of the publisher's blurbs
for the reissue: "When Colin and Susan are pursued by eerie
creatures across Alderley Edge, they are saved by the Wizard. He
takes them into the caves of Fundindelve, where he watches over
the enchanted sleep of one hundred and forty knights. But the
heart of the magic that binds them � Firefrost, also known as the
Weirdstone of Brisingamen � has been lost. The Wizard has been
searching for the stone for more than 100 years, but the forces of
evil are closing in, determined to possess and destroy its special
power. Colin and Susan realise at last that they are the key to
the Weirdstone�s return. But how can two children defeat the
Morrigan and her deadly brood?" H289: High school boy
photographer, rural Pennsylvania, mystery This is a young adult book from the
1960's. It is set in rural Pennsylvania and the primary
protagonist is a high school boy who's hobby is taking wildlife
photos with his camera. There is a mystery, a hermit in the woods,
girlfriend named Penny, a honey competition at the fair-goldenrod
honey wins. H290:
Haunted Blood Mansion
Mid-late 80s book that was about a haunted mansion and was fully
illustrated. I seem to remember something about blood manor and
blood mansion the overall colour scheme of the book was red and
grey it had pictures of booby traps and eyes behind hanging
portraits? H291:
High school girl plays piano; new girl is rival
HS girl plays piano really well. New music teacher at school likes
a new girl better and gives the new girl the solo, but everyone is
wowed by the first girl who plays for other friends who
sing. Book about rivalry and friendship. Probably a
scholastic book fair book late 80's or early 90's. H292: Houseboat, girl, cat
I am looking for a book for an aunt who remembers it from
the 30�s and 40�s. It is the story of a little girl who
lives on a houseboat, possibly on the Erie Canal. She is
sent to the store and buys olive oil. On the way home, a
cat follows her, and she gets it to follow her to the houseboat
by dribbling the olive oil on the ground. Thank you. H293: Helping Mommy for Grandmother's
Visit
It's a story of Grandmother coming to visit. The little boy and
girl (they look a bit like Dick and Jane) help Mommy prepare for
her arrival. They specifically got fresh towels out and fresh
flowers for the table. H294: Harold Looking for a children's book for the 1980's that had a
little boy named Harold in it (it is NOT Harold and the purple
crayon or Harry Potter). That is all I can remember. Any chance of
finding something????
I know of two books by Donald
Carrick: Harald and the Great Stag(1988),
and Harald and the Giant Knight (1982). Both
are about a little boy in the middle ages, with really gorgeous
full-color illustrations. Perhaps the person who submitted
the stumper was remembering Harald as Harold.
Maybe Harald and the Giant Knight
or Harald and the Great Stag by Donald Carrick?
(Note unusual spelling of "Harald.") Both are picture books set in
the Middle Ages or thereabouts. In the first one, Harald and his
family are being tormented by knights who bully their way on to
the family's farmland to use it as a practice field. Harald's
solution is to build a giant, fake knight out of woven reeds
(similar to basket-making) and use it to frighten away the rogue
knights. The Great Stag plot I am fuzzier on but I think it has to
do with the decision whether to kill a deer for food or protect it
as a remarkable example of the species. H295: Hens at a dance I'm looking for a children's book,
not sure when it was written but I was a kid in the early 90s
and the copy I had looked similar to the Mercer Mayer Little
Critter books so I'm guessing it was fairly recent at that time.
The story is about a couple of rival hens who get really dressed
up for a dance, wearing high heels, big necklaces, feather boas,
big hats, ect trying to outdo the other and then cause a whole
bunch of chaos at this dance because their accessories keep
injuring the innocent bystanders. I think one of the hens is
wearing red high heels with a purple feather boa, and the other
is wearing purple heels with a red boa or something like that.
I believe I have the solution to H295, as I owned and loved this
book myself as a child. It is Fancy Dance in Feather Town,
by Ann M. Martin of Babysitter's Club fame. There
was another book starring Fran and Emma, which was Moving Day in
Feather Town. They were both part of the Golden Books
series, although they were paperbacks, and are now both
unfortunately out of print. H296: Halloween book about two girls - lost on
way to party Description: I am looking for a
beloved Halloween book from my childhood - I owned this in the
late 80s/early 90s, but it could have been published earlier
than that, perhaps in the late 70s. I believe the plot was
centered around trying to get to a Halloween party but getting
lost on the way - there were two girls, and they might have been
friends already, or they might have met in the woods on the way
to the party (and maybe one tried to scare the other?) - either
way, I remember two of them. I think one was named Spider, or
was dressed in costume as a spider. For years I have thought the
other girl's name might have been Hazel? But I have searched so
many times for variations of this and found nothing, so maybe
not! I think she may have been carrying a pie or other treat to
the party. Other keywords that come to mind are thorns and
briars - maybe these were an obstacle in the woods? It's also
possible that it was more of a cave/passageway where they were
lost. I loved this book and think of it every Halloween -
looking forward to any clues!
This could be Grace
Chetwin's "On All Hallow's Eve". It's been a
long time since I read it, so I'm not positive. The one
thing I do remember is that the two girls are sisters.
They're definitely going to a Halloween party though, and end up
in the woods in danger. There may be some time travel
involved.