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F212 I'm surprised you didn't recognize this:  I t must be: Hoban   Bread and jam for Frances
Thanks for your effort, but unfortunately that is not the book I am looking for.  In Bread & Jam for Frances, there are none of the babysitting scenes I described in my original posting.  The way I remember the title of the book, it was something like, "Frances babysits" although that can't be right, since I've researched all the Hoban books, and none of them are about Frances babysitting.  It's a conundrum!
I'm sorry to disagree, but this is NOT Bread and Jam for Frances (written by Russell Hoban, illustrated by Lillian Hoban).  In that book, Frances is cured of her picky eating habits when her mother serves her favorite snack, bread and jam, at every meal.  She quickly tires of bread and jam and longs for variety in her diet.  The stumper requester is looking for a different book!
This is definitely NOT Bread and Jam for Frances.
Sorry, this is NOT Bread and Jam for Frances.  In that book, Frances only wants bread and jam to eat because it is so wonderful, and so she begins to have it served to her at every meal.  At first she is happy with the situation but after awhile, watching her family and friends continue to eat makes her less of a picky eater, and she gives up her bread and jam.  It doesn't sound like the book in question.
This cannot POSSIBLY be Bread and Jam for Frances.   In that book, Frances only wants to eat bread and jam for every meal until her parents gently convince her to eat other things.  And Frances never had a little brother.
This is NOT Bread and Jam for Francis.  That book is about Francis being a picky eater, so her mother gives in and just gives her bread and jam for every meal.  After a few days of this, she realizes "What I am, is tired of jam".
No, this is NOT Bread and Jam for Francis!  In that book, Frances refuses to eat anything but bread and jam, and her parents indulge her ... with perhaps unexpected results.  No baby brother (Frances has a baby SISTER, Gloria), no pillow fight, no feathers.
This would not be the book Bread and Jam for Francis!  I'm afraid I do not know the title the reader is searching for, but Bread and Jam for Francis is about a little girl badger that only wants to eat jam sandwiches.  Her mother makes them for her so often that little Francis finally decides to expand her mealtime repetoire.  Francis does no babysitting, and she has a little sister, not a brother.
this may be one of the hoban's francis books but the previous solver said it was Bread and Jam for  Francis. Bread and Jam has no baby sitting and no mess. sorry
F212 I just looked at a lot of Google entries to see if it could be a  Marie Louse's heyday by Natalie Savage Carlson, but I guess it isn't.  A mongoose babysits 5 possums.
It's also not No trouble at all (Bardstown), about Grandpa Bear babysitting his two grandcubs, even though, oddly enough, there is both a pillow fight and a jam incident in it.
You are NOT hallucinating!!!I found your book today at a library booksale!!! Waddy and His Brother by Patricia Coombs (of Dorrie the Witch fame)(Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co.-1964) Kind of a rare book. While these animals look sort of like bears they are actually raccoons. The story is as you describe. The feathers from the pillow get stuck all over little brother because of all the sticky jam. A cute story!! Hurrah!
Yayyyy!!  Thank you so much to whoever it was that solved my book mystery!  I am so excited to start hunting down this book.  Thanks again!!

B204: Sounds like one of two books by Patricia M. Scarry - 1)Waggy and his Friends 2)More about Waggy (1973). There is a rabbit doll named Bun Bun, plus Lion and Lumpy. Sticky-sweet.

Possibly Wait for What Will Come by Barbara Michaels. The heroine inherits an old house on the Cornish coast. I was looking for my copy last night so I could check whether it's the one where she finds valuable
furniture and china stored away in the attic, but couldn't locate it. That does definitely happen in one of her books, though. And scones & clotted cream sounds a lot more like the UK than Maine. If it is this one, there's a mystery connected with the disappearance of a girl in the past and a selkie/merman creature.
Well this might by a stretch but it sounds almost like Wait for What Will Come by Barbara Michaels.  Carla inherits an old house in Cornwall from her Uncle.  She travels there and is served Scones and clotted cream by the old housekeeper.  Romance comes in the form of the friendly doctor, the mysterious housekeeper's grandson and a lawyer.  There is a mystery surrounding an ancient curse about mermen.  She finds a couple of barrels of old dishes in the attic that raise enough money to let her stay in England a bit longer.  She ends up staying intending to turn the house into a hotel or B&B and with the housekeeper's grandson who was a famous ballet dancer.
G38 girl inherits house: I found my copy of Wait for What Will Come, by Barbara Michaels, pbk edn 1990 (original copyright 1978). Carla Tregallas, American, inherits the ancestral house in Cornwall - not Maine, but similar rocky stormy coast with fishing villages. The house and estate are very rundown, paintings and furnishings have been sold off, staff let go and so on. In between dealing with the mystery and ancestral curse, Carla looks
for ways to keep the house. On p.197 "she attacked the attic with magnificent energy ... remembering the vogue for secondhand clothes, Carla saw silver, if not gold, in the trunks of old-fashioned garments." On p.202 she gets into an attic room that's been boarded up "filled with objects, every inch of it ..." and opens a barrel that contains "a cup of heavy earthenware, with designs in blue on a white background ... another cup and a small plate with similar patterns." (p.205) This turns out to be Delftware. "The antique dealers arrived bright and early the following morning, and for several days she sweated and strained in the dusty attic, making money hand over fist - or so it seemed to her." (p.220). Sample scones and clotted cream episodes are on pp. 14, 52, 94, and 146, by which time "she was really getting very tired of clotted cream."

Mary Downing Hahn, Wait Till Helen Comes.  Molly moves into a converted church with her mother, stepfather and younger stepsister Heather.  Heather is irresistibly attracted to the cemetery behind the church, while Molly is afraid of it.  Heather bonds with Helen, a mysterious ghost who tries to drown Heather so that they can be friends forever.

Marshall, James Vance, Walkabout, 1959.  Two children survive a plane crash in Australia. They are helped through the desert to safety by an aboriginal boy.
Marshall, James Vance, Walkabout, 1959.  In this story, an American brother and sister en route to a reunion with their parents are stranded in the Australian outback when their plane crashes. A young Aborigine helps them survice.  (The movie that came out in the seventies starred Jenny Agutter.)

T151: Only help I can give is to mention the movie based on a true story, Miracles Still Happen (1974). You can read the viewer comments here.  It takes place in the Amazon, however. The girl gets rescued by following a small stream to a river, since rivers, her father had told her, always lead to a village or a city. Side note: Camille Cosby said about the characters in The Blair Witch Project: "Why don't those idiots just follow the creek?"
David Mathieson, Trial By Wilderness, 1985.  Try this one:  "A girl survives a plane crash off the coast of British Columbia, and then faces survival in the wilderness, a feat which calls upon her courage, her endurance, and her skills."
David Mathieson, Trial By Wilderness,1985.  Maybe this? A girl survives a plane crash off the coast of British Columbia, and then faces survival in the wilderness, a feat which calls upon her courage, her endurance, and her skills.
I am the one who submitted this stumper.  It is definitely *not* Miracles Still Happen, as I am quite sure it did not happen in the Amazon.  And I will look for a copy of Trial by Wilderness, but I highly doubt that is it either.  Amazon has that one listed as a 9-12 age range, whereas the book I am looking for I am quite sure would be in the Young Adult (teen) range.  I will check it out though.  Thanks for the help so far! Any other ideas anyone?
Stephen King, The Girl Who Loved Tom Jordan (Gordon?), 2000?  Sounds an awful lot like this story, except no plane crash. Girl gets separated from Mom & brother on a hike. Mom & Dad are divorcing. Girl huge fan of baseball player- pitcher? Red Sox? She remembers dad telling her once to follow streams if lost. That advice leads her to barren bogs- in Maine of course, this is Stephen King. She survives, much skinnier too.
Thanks for the continued help, but my stumper hasn't been solved yet.  I found a copy of Trial by Wilderness at the library and that is definitely NOT the book I am looking for. And I know it is definitely not the Stephen King suggestion either. I so want to find this one! Any other thoughts anyone?
Susan Black, Crash in the Wilderness, 1980s'  Story of a sole survivor. Sorry, that is the only description!
Gary Paulsen, Hatchet, 1985.  Does this title ring any bells for you? It's about a boy, not girl, and it won several book awards and I know is taught in classrooms, so it certianly would've been available. "On his way to visit his recently divorced father in the Canadian mountains, thirteen-year-old Brian Robeson is the only survivor when the single-engine plane crashes. His body battered, his clothes in shreds, Brian must now stay alive in the boundless Canadian wilderness." See if it looks familiar.
Margaret E Bell.  This author has written many books about planes and girls in Alaska..or at least I am sure it is her. I read all kinds of Alaskan literature for kids and YA growing up in Alaska. Hope it helps you. You might also try to email an Alaskan library for help.
I read this book in 6th grade, along with The Hatchet and other survival-type books.  It's definitely not any of the currently
suggested titles, although I can't remember the title either.
This plot sounds a lot like a made for TV movie I saw back in the 70s or 80s called "And I Alone Survived." It may have been based on a book that may have been based on a true story.
Ann Elwood and John Raht, Walking Out: A Novel of Survival, c. 1979.  This is the book. The girl's name was Terry, and I've read it a dozen times! It was published by Tempo Books.
I have read this book, and used to own a copy. I can't remember the author, but the title is Walking Out
That book is called Walking Out: A Novel of Survival. I don't remember the names, but I believe there are two authors associated with this book.

G23: Goliath II -- I'm not sure of the title, but I *think* Bill Peet illustrated this and refers to it (along with a picture of Goliath II) in his autobiography (Bill Peet:  An Autobiography)
G23- Goliath II (Walt Disney Little Golden Book #D83)
Not much more information, but here's a citation for the suggested title: Bill Peet Walt Disney's Goliath II New York, Golden Press 1959 "Goliath Was an Elephant"

Because the title you recall indicates an Irishman rather than a Scot, I'll venture to suggest  Annie Bedford, Walt Disney's Little Man of Disneyland (NY:Simon & Sshuster,'55), about a leprechaun named Patrick.
Pretty sure about this one: Bedford, Annie North Walt Disney's LITTLE MAN OF DISNEYLAND New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1955. unpaginated, "A Mickey Mouse Club book. Book introduces Patrick Begorra, an inhabitant of Disneyland." "Patrick the leprechan wakes up one morning and finds BIG PEOPLE all over the place. What does he do now?" "A Leprechaun lives right where Disneyland is being built, he eventually moves in, but no one knows where he lives. DO you?" And I have to say, Patrick is NOT a Scottish name, and Begorrah is NOT a Scottish exclamation (try Sandy Hoots Mon or something).
Little Man of Disneyland. This is a Disney Mickey Mouse Club Little Golden Book with Donald Duck and
a leprechaun on the cover.

I52 has to be related to S178, the stumper about the square king.  I initially thought this had to be something from an Oz book, but the international stories don't really fit.
THANK YOU so much for the comment, at I52, regarding the mention at S178.   The book, Walt Disney's Surprise Package sounds as if that might be just what I am looking for.  After thinking about that book for the past 40+ years, I finally have a title to search for.  And, obviously, my memory of it being a Big Golden Book was/is inaccurate.  I will follow this lead and hope it nets me a copy.  I cannot thank you enough for this lead and the wonderful service you provide for so many.  It is so much fun to read through everyone's memories, trying to match theirs to mine in an effort to help.  Thanks.
Well, good news.  I do know that WD's Surprise Package looks and feels like a Big Golden Book, so your memory isn't too far off, after all.
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My mom used to read us a story/book about a square shaped king named the Mighty, Highty, Tighty.  He wanted everyone in his kingdom to be shaped like a square like he was.  He built a machine and made everyone who was round go through it to make them square shaped.  Everything was going well until new babies were born and they were always born round (like everyone in the kingdom used to be.)  This made the Mighty Highty Tighty very upset.  I can't even remember the end of the story.  But I do remember my mom used to read it off of these ripped out pages from what was probably a very old book.  There were illustrations along with the story as well. She used to read it to us as children during the 1970's, but it may have been as old as when she was a child 1940's Thanks.

A Square World.  I Googled it, and that's what I came up with.  I can't find it in book form anywhere, though.
H. Marion Palmer, Walt Disney's Surprise Package. (1944)  I found the answer based on the hint about Square World.  Thanks.  Name of the Book is Walt Disney's Surprise Package, 1944.  Related answers to S178, I52 in your archived stumpers area too.  Name of story is "The Square World." It is a Golden book.

This sounds like Walter Fish, which is a book that is not exactly for children, but more to make a point.  All of the people in the story "try to help" Walter get back into the water by empowering him to do it himself, instead of giving him the practical help that he needed by simply picking him up and putting him back into the water.  I worked at a home repair ministry camp where we used this book to illustrate that some folks really need practical help to move forward in their lives.

Anthony Boucher, They Bite, 1943. The story you're describing sounds like They Bite, which has been anthologized many times.  For the time frame you're looking at, you might try The 1st Mayflower Book of Black Magic Stories (1974), Wolf's Complete Book of Terror (1979), The Best or All Possible Worlds (1980), or A Treasury of Modern Fantasy (1981).  A man (Tallant) is out in the California desert, circa WW II, spying on a training school for gliders, when he starts seeing "something little and thin and brown as the earth" out of the corner of his eye, which he thinks is just his eyes playing tricks on him. Local legend tells of the Carker family, who had lived out there long ago, and were supposed to have been some sort of man-eating monsters. They are nearly immortal, can only be seen from the corner of the eye, and "they bite" according to one old man he meets. Tallant later kills a blackmailer who knows that he's a spy, and attempts to bury the body at the old Carker place - which is when he finally sees them face on. They look like small, brown, shrivelled mummies - but they are alive and he discovers that they do, indeed, bite.
I found and read that story "They Bite."  It is not the one I was looking for.  The one I read took place in a forest, perhaps in South America.  And the creature did actually bite the people.  It took triangle bites out of them.  It did have a very strange name like Wamagismwak.  It could only be seen from the side (not the front like the stumper title I submitted).  The people sometimes caught a glimpse of its profile, but then it would turn toward them and they would not know where it was.  I do appreciate your suggestion.
Margaret Ronan, Master of the Dead and Other Strange Unsolved Mysteries, 1974. One of the chapters in Margaret Ronan's anthology "Master of the Dead" is entitled WAMAGEMESWAK, about a ravenously hungry spirit that is so thin it can only be seen from the side. In this version of the legend, two white settlers along Maine's Penobscot river buy a stretch of land and are plagued by the Wamagemeswak, who leaves triangular bite marks on them. The creature is a spirit called forth by the Native American tribes of that region in order to destroy all white settlers who come to the land. Many of the tribes consider it "bad medicine" to summon this spirit, fearing the Wamagemeswak will turn on the natives once all the whites are eaten. The two white men in this story are rescued by an Indian girl, who gives them a canoe and tells them to go, after explaining the legend of the Wamagemeswak.
I originally submitted the Book Stumper called “Wana-games-ak.” The last suggestion was indeed correct, that the short story is found in the book Master of the Dead by Margaret Ronan. I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who helped solve it! My brother and sisters and I are very happy to be able to share the story with our kids :)

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The Wana-games-ak. After doing a lot of web research I found out that the story I am looking for is most likely called The Wana-games-ak.  It is based upon an Abenaki mythical creature who is so narrow that it is almost two-dimensional.  The mythical creatures are friendly and warn the Abenaki of coming attacks.  In the story I remember reading the Wana-games-ak is mean and bites people.

Wanted—A King
Fantasy book about a journey (Alice-in-Wonderland-style) through nursery rhymes, with illustrations in pen and ink.  Includes references to tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum, and the main antagonist  is called the "alphabet thief" or "ABC monster" or something similar.  Guessing turn-of-the-century.

Maggie Browne, Wanted—A King. The description made me think of the story Wanted-A King, about of girl who goes (in a dream, maybe?) to a Nursery land and has adventures with various Nursery Rhyme characters, and discovers that the bad things they do in the rhymes are all the fault of the villain. One place it is available is in a collection of Victorian fairy tales called Beyond the Looking Glass, edited by Jonathan Cott.
SOLVED: Wanted—A King. Yes, this is it. I checked this out of the public library in grade school, and now that I have daughter who loves Mother Goose rhymes, I have been wanting to read this fantasy to her. With my vague and inaccurate memories of the plot, the hours I spent on Google did not pull up the right book.  Thank you!!

Iain M. Banks, The Wasp Factory.   I'm fairly sure that this is the one. The copy I read had a vry stark, black and white picture of a wasp in the cover so that would fit, too.
Iain Banks, The Wasp Factory.  Fairly sure this is The Wasp Factory (1984), Scottish writer Iain Bank's first novel (he writes his science fiction under Iain M. Banks). NOT a children's book. I read it years ago as well. Written in first person from teenage boy viewpoint. Boy is seriously disturbed. Mother died long ago. Lives with his father on an island. I recall the plot point of his difficulties going to bathroom, explained by father as damage from an accident(?), really because he was born a female. Not a book like you 'like' as quite frankly he's a sociopath,  but one that does stay with you, also due to being well-written.Was the wasp on the cover in Black & White? - Abacus publishes his books in the UK and they're all stark b&w images.
I was the original poster for this book.  I'm sorry but when I posted this I didn't realize it was for children's books.  I was a little curious as to why you edited my original title.  I understand now.  The solution is correct.  Anyways, thanks for having this service and I hope it was okay to use it to find a book that was definitely not for kids.  Thanks again!!

Try Munro Leaf's Manners Can Be Fun, 1936.
Also by Leaf -- Fly Away, Watchbird! : a picture book of behavior, Munro Leaf, Frederick A. Stokes, 1941.
From the foreword from Flock of Watchbirds:  "This Flock of Watchbirds was rounded up from old favorites that first flew through the pages of The Ladies Home Journal.  They were put together before the war in three separate books Watchbirds, More Watchbirds, and Fly Away, Watchbird, but here they are now all in one flock to watch some of the regulars who are always with us -- like the Thumb-Sucker, the Show-Off, the Bed-Bawler who screams at bedtime, the Nail-Biter, Won't-Wash, and thirty-one others that could be removed to advantage from every home."
#G116--Good Manners Watchbird:  Evidently "This is a watchbird watching" appeared as a series of newspaper cartoons published around 1945-1950, as when my mom babysat she used the phrase to terrorize one of her young charges.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Leaf, Munro.  A Flock of Watchbirds. J.B. Lippincott, 1946, first edition.  Dust jacket has some small rips and tears, including at top of spine.  Front hinge reglued.  Looks a lot better than it sounds, and feels like the real McCoy (because it is).  G+/G.  <SOLD>

P39: keeps sounding like Zeee by Elizabeth Enright.
I have a nice new edition of Zeee here.  It's illustrated by Susan Gaber in 1993 and in As New condition. <SOLD>
the title doesn't ring a bell but i would like to try it anyway. i will be placing an order on your website.
After seeing these two books for sale on-line I thought they might show promise! Both are full of fairies, pixies etc. The  Story Wonder Book, edited by Harry Golding, and Ward Lock's Wonder Book, a picture book for boys and girls. Both books are related in some way. One came out in the 1920's and the other was put out later, maybe 30's.  Hope this is a lead!
I believe the story you are referring to might be a Little Golden Book called Water Babies.  The story is about three water babies named Nixie, Pixie and Trink.  Yes, Trink has red hair and they all lived on water lillies.  I believe my dad still has this book and if I can get anymore info I will be sure to pass it along.  It is also possible that it is just one story in a book of many stories and might be hard to locate.
The original Water Babies was written by Charles Kingsley in 1863, and has been reprinted in various editions with various illustrations since. I don't know which version your grandmother had, but it's probably this story.

C58 Could it be this? I have sold mine. It has just 2 stories. I've just searched Lib Cong and "Buck Dragon fish" in Google to see if I could find out what story  no 2 is about. Doesn't sound like jade lamps. Buck, Pearl S.    The water-buffalo children and The dragon fish; two stories.  il by Esther Brock Bird. Dell Yearling, 1943. 

The more I think about this, it seems like it was the Loch Ness monster in the story and that the people in the story set up the floating toys, like the horse innertube to make "nessie" feel more at home. I cant locate anything about this particular story online though.

Dick King-Smith, The Water Horse.  It's a Loch Ness Monster story, so it might be the one...

Walden, Amelia Elizabeth, Waverly, 1947.  Could this be it?  Hardcover, Morrow Junior Books, New York, W. Morrow, 1947, 285 pages. There is also a mass market paperback edition---N.Y.: Berkley, 1963.  Here's a description: "From blue jeans to dresses....That's how Jane Townsend's life changes when she enters Waverly, an all woman's college in the East. Jane fights against this change, wishing to remain more interested in fixing cars than in dances, and in using her head rather than feeling with her heart. But the school, her roomate and classmates have a tremendous influence on her. And after the first exciting year, Jane realizes that there is more to life than her own small world, and that the boy from back home is not always the right one.....".  Note that the copy they're selling is not cheap---$30 for a paperback.
Walden, Amelia Elizabeth, Waverly, 1947, 1963.  This is a possiblity, though I don't have the book in front of me to check the plot. Amelia Elizabeth Walden wrote a lot of YA books with romance mixed in with sports, as well as plots where the main character is conflicted and torn between tow very different people.
Walden, Amelia Elizabeth, Waverly, 1963, reprint.  I found this on ABE Books. Sounds like your stumper. Cheers, Angelle. Book Description: N.Y.: Berkley, 1963. Mass Market Paperback. Fair. 24mo - over 5" - 5¾" tall.  Sixth Printing. This is a good reading copy of this rare book. All Pages are intact and very readable. the corners are curled on the bottom corner of first 5 pages. There is a price written on the front cover in crayon, a black mark on the spine. and the bottom corner has creases in it.  "From blue jeans to dresses..That's how Jane Townsend's life changes when she enters Waverly, an all woman's college int he East. Jane fights against this change, wishing to remain more interested in fixing cars than in dances, and in using her head rather than feeling with her heart. But the school, her roomate and classmates have a tremendous influence on her. And after the first exciting year, Jane realizes that there is more to life than her own small world, and that the boy from back home is not always the right one...".

I've found a book by the title you name, 'Way Down in Tennessee.  It's by Elvira Garner in 1941.  Tends to be expensive, but I'll let you know when I can find a reasonable copy.  Here's a short description I found:
scarce title by this author/illustrator known for her distinctive style. Red boards, yellow illustrated endpapers,  colored pages alternating with black & white pages. The adventures of two little girls whose proper life in a big grey farmhouse contrasts vividly with the time they spend in a cabin with Aunt Rildy, Uncle Neal, and their ten children.
Dear Harriett, I am thrilled to hear the news that you may be able to find copies of Way Down In Tennessee!! Can't believe it. I have been looking for years. Keep me updated and thanks so much!!!!

Shucks, I was so sure I had this, but I guess I don't.  This very seventies book just came across my desk though, and I was saving it for the New Baby Catalog page.  The pictures are in color though, and there's a picture of dad and daughter painting  a dresser, and mom and dad with coffee, but no scrambled eggs.  Shucks.  Here's the reference anyway:  Jan Grant. Our New Baby.  Pictures by Phillip Lanier.  Childrens Press, 1980.  Ex-library edition, worn and stamped.  Poor.  $5
I think this is Mom and Dad and I are Having a Baby by Maryann Malecki.  But I can only find reference to a revised edition in 1982, and we no longer have a copy in our library, so I can't verify.
Vicki Holland, We Are having a Baby, 1975. I was read this book of black and white photos depicting the changes in family dynamics at the time of a sibling's birth when I was three and my baby brother was on the way.  I remember the part about scrambled eggs especially! I found a photo of the cover-I am sure this is the book!

See Q1
F46 frogs: this reminds me rather of Exactly Alike, written and illustrated by Evelyn Ness, where the girl has 4 younger brothers all alike. It's set in Edwardian or Victorian times, though, so the raincoats don't sound likely.
F46 frogs and Q1 quads: This doesn't look bad - We Four Together, by Helen Weissenstein, illustrated by Egon Weiniger, published David McKay 1947, 191 pages. "Vienna of lovely pastries, charming buildings and old gardens is recaptured in this story of little quadruplets who have an infinite capacity for getting in and out of mischief. Maxel, Poldi, Ferdel and Lisel, three boys and a girl, are fourfold fun, warmth and reqard to their family ... There is a birthday cake too, not four cakes, mind you, a wonderful one with forty candles." (BRD 1948) Is the poster absolutely sure they lived in London?
Yipeee! This must be it!! We Four Together by Helen Weissenstein (David McKay Co.)1947. Setting:Vienna! First chapter- Egon stays with grandmother for a short time and returns home to find Mother has had triplets! Chapter two- fast forward 10 years- "'Don't they look like four cheerful little frogs?' he had asked, and the family had used the name ever since because it was so handy." Book has green endpapers with 4 frogs sitting in a circle on lilypads.
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Book about quadruplets (3 boys and one girl) living in London, England. Their mother made them green raincoats which they wore when they walked in the rain. Their mother nicknamed them "Frog" because she said they looked like frogs in the green raincoats.

see F46
This was alredy solved in it's other location- WE Four Together. Takes place in Vienna!

There is an Eloise Wilkin Little Golden Book called Come Play House (by Edith Oswald, 1948,  LGB# 44); but the most popular of this ilk is Sharon Kane's Little Mommy (1967,  LGB# 569).
Lois Lenski, Let's Play House.  Another possibility that does include Molly and Polly washing the dolls' clothes and hanging them up to dry.  They also take their dolls for a walk, play grocery store with a boy named Peter, and play doctor when the dolls get sick.
Jean Cushman, We Help Mommy, 1959.  This book is about a brother and sister who are helping their mother with daily chores. The girl washes her doll clothes and hangs them on a toy-sized clothes line.

Cachiaras, Dot, We Like To Visit Grandma and Grandpa, Standard, 1975.  "Two children visiting with their grandparents play, work, visit others, and go to church with them."

This sounds like it was excerpted from Hildegarde Dolson's delightful autobiography, We Shook the Family Tree.  One chapter is titled "The First Prom's the Hardest,"  and fits the description:  after Freddie -- who
always wears short pants -- invites Hildegarde to the dance and she's unable to refuse, her mother fixes her dress and (to quote from the book) "listened unmoved to my wild-eyed descriptions of what the other girls were
wearing.  'I don't know what their mothers can be thinking of,' she'd say firmly, making it clear that my chances of getting a pleated red crepe and high-heeled satin slippers to match were as remote as Judgement day." Hildegarde does get to wear a Spanish shawl (formerly decorating the piano), resists the urge to push Freddie off the porch when he calls for her, and, at the dance, meets Fred's tall, handsome cousin.   The chapter concludes with the comment about knowing the boy's family and the reference to Guy Lombardo and long pants.
I'll assume that's it - thanks.
I happened upon your website while looking for author, Hildegarde Dolson, a childhood heroine of mine.  I lived in her
hometown, Franklin, Pennsylvania, and knew intimately many of the places she talked about in her book, we Shook the Family Tree. Fifty five years later, I decided that I had to own that book again!

Fisher, Arleen Lucia, We Went Looking, 1968.  "Recounts in verse the animals seen while looking for a badger."
Though I haven't read the book, it matches the description of WE WENT LOOKING by Aileen Fisher, 1968. Written in rhyme, it describes the animals found while looking for a badger.~from a librarian
I am B320  Badger.  Thanks to you and the retired librarian who posted a note, I did find the book. She is exactly right and I now have a copy from the Tucson Public Library that was being discarded.  I have thought about this book for years and even done some searches unsuccessfully before.    I am so glad I ran into your site and am grateful to you for keeping  it running so well.  Here's hoping lots more stumpers are solved for those looking for a special book!
I had to laugh when the poster of this stumper assumed I must be a retired librarian. I'm only 32 years old!~from a librarian

Liesel Moak Skorpen, We Were Tired of Living in a House. Check the Big Online Bookseller--copies are still available.
Liesel Moak Skorpen, We were tired of living in a house. 1969. I''m sure this is the book the poster is looking for. First the children decide to live in a tree, but they fall out, so then they try a pond, but they sink, then a cave and so on. Very cute. If Harriet doesn't have a copy of this book, I would be willing to give it to the original poster as my children have outgrown it and have no attachment to it. (I really need to thin out the bookshelf- lol)'
One of Doris Burn's books? She wrote/illustrated Andrew Henry's Meadow in 1965 (see Solved Mysteries), and it's due to be released as a film in 2008! However, other possibilities are Burn's The Summerfolk and a book by Liesel Moak Skorpen, We Were Tired of Living in a House, which Burn illustrated. See here for more on Burn: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doris_Burn . And this covers a good deal about her life. http://www.stumpranchonline.com/skagitjournal/Washington/Library/Burn/Burn01-BookBios.html
Skorpen, Leisel, We Were Tired of Living in a House, 1970s. We were tired of living in a house so we packed up our coats, and our --- and a frog who was a particular friend and we moved to a cave.  We liked our cave until .the bats came.....or something like that.  Very cute.  New edition listed on Amazon doesn't have original pictures.  I like the original better.'
Liesel Moak Skorpen, We Were Tired of Living In A House, 1969. 'I know this is what you are looking for. The original book was illustrated by Doris Burn. If you read this in the late 70s or early 80s these are the illustrations you will remember. There is a newer printing of the book with new illustrations which aren't, in my opinion, as good. I grew up on this book and still love it. Happy book hunting.
Skorpen, Liesel Moak, We Were Tired of Living in a House, 1969. The original that was printed in 1969, illustrated by Doris Burn.  There is a newer edition 1999, illustrated by Joe Cepeda'
Liesel Moak Skorpen, We Were Tired of Living in a House, 1969. 'I just weeded this story from my elementary school Library Media Center.
Liesel Moak Skorpen, ill.  by Doris Burn, We Were Tired of Living in a House, 1969. This seems to be the correct book. This one is a Weekly Reader version. (Unpaged w/ B/W drawings) A copy is currently on an Ebay store for 30 days, another with a different cover from a seller on ebay. Library of Congress # 79-79485Published by Coward-McCann, Inc NY.
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Story was that the kids were misbehaving in their own house, drawing on walls with crayons and their mom yelled at them, so they set out to find other house - ie, a bear cave, a treehouse, a houseboat, a fort in the tall grass?  But then realized the best place was home.

Liesel Moak Skorpen, We Were Tired of Living in a House.
We Were Tired Of Living In a House. Sounds like this story, the kids were made at their parents (and vice versa) over all the rules imposed on living in a regular house, so the kids and family dog pack up and try out several other places as described, a cave, a treehouse, etc. They enjoy each one, at least until something goes wrong, such as rain, falling out of the tree, meeting bears, etc. They finally return home along with pretty rocks, shells, other mementos of their adventures, all is forgiven on both sides. The story had a light-hearted air, told more as an afternoon adventure than serious running away, and had great illustrations of all the wild homes. Hope this is your book.
SOLVED: Liesel Moak Skorpen, We were tired of living in a house, 1969. That is the Book!  Thank you so much!!! I have been trying to find it for about 10 years!  Thank you!

Rosamund Du Jardin, Wedding in the Family.  Du Jardin wrote several series, one with a character named Tobey.
Rosamund DuJardin, Wedding in the Family, Mid - 1950's
I have a feeling I've read this series, although I can't remember the author or titles.  That wedding book had some difficulty with their Aunt Alicia or Great-Aunt Alicia, and the couple was going to live in a Quonset hut.  In another book, the protagonist's boyfriend, Brose, ends up taking some other girl to the prom, so Toby (?)invents a date.  Her little sister reads her diary and realizes Toby is going to be in big trouble, so get the older brother of a friend to be the date.  Does any of this ring a bell?
Rosamund DuJardin, Wedding in the Family, 1958.  From DuJardin's series about Tobey and her sisters Midge, Janet, and Alicia.
Du Jardin, Rosamund, Wedding In The Family, 1958.  Well, I don't know if this is the correct book since her name is Midge, but here's the description:  "During the summer of her sister's wedding, fifteen-year-old Midge finds a special boy herself."
Wedding in the Family - Rosamond du Jardin.  The bride is Tobey Heydon, and this book concludes her series and begins the one on her 15-year-old sister Midge.
HRL:  17 Rosamond du Jardin books have been reprinted by Image Cascade!
That's it! Wow!  Best $2 I ever spent! Thank you all. I'm looking forward to reading these again.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

du Jardin, Rosamond.  Wedding in the Family.   Image Cascade, 1958, new paperback 2002.  New, $12.95

At this link , I saw some sheet music mentioned, from something called Hip Hip Hooray, which includes the song "The Wedding of Jack and Jill."
Haven Gillespie and Abner P. Grunauer , "The Wedding of Jack and Jill".  In the fall and winter of 1929 the Gumm Sisters appeared in three of the "Vitaphone Kiddies" short subjects produced by Roy Mack, including The Wedding of Jack and Jill. The youngest Gumm sister was, of course, Judy Garland."  She didn't sing the song, but you'll get thousands of hits if you search for just the title.  Lyric is by Haven Gillespie and Abner P. Grunauer and music is by J. Fred Coots. If you search for their names, too, you can find places to buy the sheet music and recordings.
"The Wedding of Jack and Jill." A Google search indicates that Judy Garland performed this in a 1929 "Vitaphone Kiddies" short film when she was still one of the Gumm Sisters.   I also found an almost complete transcript from a performance by, strangely enough, the title characters of "Laverne and Shirley" here.

D2--The Wedding Procession of the Rag Doll and The Broom Handle and Who Was There by Carl Sandburg.
Yes!!!  That's it!  oh, thank you!

The answer to W30 WITCH ON A VACUUM CLEANER is The Wednesday Witch by Ruth Chew, 1969, 1972.
Obvious to you, but..."Wednesday Witch" by Ruth Chew.
Thank you Harriett!  Mystery solved!  The book is now on it's way to me. I can't wait to read it again and share it with future generations!  What a great idea you have on your site!
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I just discovered your site...It is fantastic! I've been searching for a book which I probably read during the early to mid-1970's.  Its about a tiny little witch who rides a miniature vacuum cleaner.  I believe she also has a tiny cat and goes to live in a girl's dollhouse.  I vaguely recall-  so this may not be accurate - that the girl made the witch tiny by cutting  a small picture with her scissors. It was a paperback and most likely purchased through the Scholastic Book Club Sales at my elementary school.  Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

This is definitely The Wednesday Witch by Ruth Chew.
THE WEDNESDAY WITCH by Rith Chew. Double-checked illustrations, and there was the tiny witch in the dollhouse, doing things like putting a chair in the bathtub so she'd feel more at home!
W54  is definitely Wednesday Witch by Ruth Chew.  A little girl, Mary Jane, meets a witch named Hilda who rides a vacuum cleaner named James.  Hilda is not very nice, so her cat, Cinders, hides out at Mary Jane's house.  Hilda comes back and makes the cat small with magical scissors and later the witch herself is made small and lives in Mary Jane's dollhouse for a while.
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Boy flies out his window at night on a hoover or vacuum cleaner and says "Home James"; I believe I read this in the early 1970s, and loved it, but cannot for the life of me remember title, author or even the names of the characters.

Ruth Chew, The Wednesday Witch, 1969. A wildly imaginative tale about a mischievous girl, a witch, a talking cat, and a flying vacuum named James.
Ruth Chew, The Wednesday Witch. Two characters (both female)  direct the flying vacume cleaner by saying "Home, James!"  One flies out her bedroom window.
Ruth Chew, The Wednesday Witch, 1969. Its a witch who says "Home James" and a little girl who rides on the vacuum cleaner, but this must be what you're looking for.  Check Solved Mysteries
Ruth Chew, the Wednesday Witch. If the main character could be a girl instead of a boy, this could be the Wednesday Witch by Ruth Chew. There is a scene in which the girl in the book, riding on the vaccuum cleaner, says "home James"

W34: Weeny Witch by Ida DeLage, 1968. (Also the author of Beware! Beware! A Witch Won't Share!)
I've been looking for this book everywhere!  I think it is entitled Windy Witch, or perhaps Wendy Witch. It is about a young, kind-hearted witch girl who is scorned and worked as a drudge by her evil witch guardians.  She doesn't fit in; she can't get excited about their wicked schemes or learn to hate the beautiful winged star fairies (moon fairies?) who live up in the heavens.  Sometimes the star (moon?) fairies fly down to earth, (perhaps descending in the moonbeams or in the starlight.)  One evening the jealous hags hatch a plot and manage to capture the star (moon?) fairies in thick nets of cobwebs.  Windy (Wendy?) Witch sees the plight of the fairies and cannot bear it.  She cries, "I'll save you, star fairies!" and uses her ever-present broom to sweep away the cobweb nets.  As the fairies escape, the enraged witches charge at Windy Witch -- but the fairies grab her hands and fly away, taking her up into their ethereal home.  There, before the queen of the fairies, Windy pleads to be allowed to stay with them forever.  Regretfully, the queen tells her it is not possible, since only those born of star fairies may live there.  Then the queen notices the moon-shaped (heart-shaped?) birthmarks on Windy's palms.  The queen exclaims aloud and announces that Windy is not a true witch, after all, but a fairy child who had been stolen at birth by the witches.  Windy is given a pair of wings and beautiful fairy clothes, and the fairies joyfully welcome their long-lost relative back to her true home in the skies.
This is a shot in the dark because I'm only going by the book's description, but it really sounds on target. It could be WEENY WITCH by Ida DeLage, 1968, 48 pages Witches capture the night fairies, but Weeny Witch helps them escape (and finds out she is really a fairy)
Wow!  I am overwhelmed.  Today, after sending my last e-mail to you, I stumbled upon the very book I'd just described to you.  (I was resignedly entering the same old keywords into the same old places, just like I have so many times -- I have no idea why it worked this time!)  Two "miracle answers" in two days!  DeLage, Ida.   Weeny Witch pictures by Kelly Oechsli.  New York : Chelsea Juniors, [1991], c1968.   Series: The Old witch series.  After the witches capture the night fairies, Weeny Witch helps them escape and discovers that she too is a night fairy, stolen years before by the witches.
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Beautiful color and hardcover book, early-mid 70's, about a poor girl who lived with a witch but really turned out to be the daughter of the fairy queen. She had a birthmark of "M" on the palm of her hand. She had no wings until her real mother found her...not sure if moonlight had anything to do with it. I just remember the book was always out as it was everyone's favorite. Would love to share this with my kids. It is not Little Witch that I have seen on here.

See Weeny Witch by Ida DeLage in Solved Mysteries.
Ida Delage, Weeny Witch, Awesome! Thanks so much. We have ordered it from our library. It sounds like the book!

Alan Garner, Weirdstone of Brisingamen, 1960.  This is Alan Garner's Carnegie Award winning The Weirdstone of Brisingamen: A Tale of Alderly. There is also a sequel, The Moom of Gomrath, published in 1963.
Alan Garner, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, 1960/1963, reprint.  It sounds like this book (or the series of book he has written). "Colin and Susan are holidaying in Cheshire. Unbeknown to them, Susan's charm bracelet includes the weirdstone of the title, a powerful stone of magic which the forces of evil seek to gain, while the wizard Cadellin (guardian of a band of sleeping warriors under Alderley Edge) helps her." It went back into print in 1998 so I'm sure there are copies available. Here is a site that discusses the book.

Kurt Vonnegut, "Unready to Wear".  I'm not sure about the tattooed guy, but the out-of-body parade sounds like the story "Unready to Wear" in Kurt Vonnegut's collection Welcome to the Monkey House where out-of-body folks get "embodied" once a year for a parade.
The solution posted for M376 [Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles] should be the solution for S445.
  Also, the story about the people who leave their bodies is definitely from Welcome to the Monkey House, by Kurt Vonnegut.  I looked at a table of contents on line, but couldn't remember the title -- my copy is AWOL.
Kurt Vonnegut, Unready to Wear.  Someone's suggestion of Vonnegut for the second story jogged my memory if it's a Vonnegut story, I think it's his "Unready to Wear."  First publication in the April 1953 GALAXY magazine also in his collections CANARY IN A CAT HOUSE and WELCOME TO THE MONKEY HOUSE, plus various anthologizations in sf anthologies.

Ellen Raskin, The Westing Game. Definitely The Westing Game.
Ellen Raskin, The Westing Game, 1978.  This is a great book that won the Newbery Award.  (And if you liked this, try a newer one called Holes by Louis Sachar!)
Ellen Raskin, The Westing Game.  One of my favorites! All the details match.
This is definitely The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. Sunset Towers is the apartment complex in the book and Tabitha-Ruth "Turtle" Wexler is the main character.
#T127--turtle:  You'll get a lot of solutions to this, at least, I hope so, as the title is a Newbery Winner!  The Westing Game, by Ellen Raskin.
Hi, I sent in a stumper after hearing about the site on NPR. My brother, taking this as a challenge for himself, solved the mystery for me. My clue word was "Turtle" and I described the book as being about an apartment complex and its residents who were trying to solve a mystery. The book is The Westing Game. Thanks for getting my brother motivated!
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This is a mystery story (at least I think it's a mystery)I read in high school in the early 80's. I have only one memory about it: One of the characters is a woman who is using crutches that she paints everyday to match her outfits. This will be better than winning the lottery (almost!) if anyone can help. Thanks

Ellen Raskin, The Westing Game, 1979
The Westing Game.  Sydelle Pulaski is one of the characters in the book and she does paint her crutches in different colours.
Ellen Raskin, The Westing Game.  This is the one!
Ellen Raskin, The Westing Game, 1978,1992.  Yes! Oh JOY! I NEVER thought I would know the name of this book! Thank you SO much! I've already been to the library today and checked it out -- can't wait to start it!!!!
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This book's title was The  ____________  Game.  I don't remember what goes in the blank.  It was a chapter book and I would have read it in the late 70s-early 80s.  It was about a group of people that received clues to solve some riddle/mystery. I think the people all lived in an apartment building across the street from a mansion. I also want to say that at the beginning of each chapter was a new clue. I remember the book jacket being black with a house on it.  I think the house was made of bright green bills.  I want to say it was The Money Game or The Playing Game or....

The Westing Game.Can't remember the author, but this book is readiily available, and great.
 I've already been to the library today and checked it out -- can't wait to start it!!!!
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This book was required reading when I was in 6th grade in 1985/86.  The girl and other heirs race to solve a riddle/mystery so they can inherit.  Her dad was a bookie (I didn't know what this was at the time, the book made it seem bad).  In the end she solves the mystery and the dead relative isn't dead after all (concludes in a big house on a hill, where the rich man lived).  Her name possibly starts with a J, maybe Janice?
Thanks!

Ellen Raskin, The Westing Game.Sounds like The Westing Game to me.
Ellen Raskin, The Westing Game. My daughter says it can't be anything but The Westing Game.  see solved mysteries for many descriptions.
Raskin, Ellen, The Westing Game,1978. Not 100%, I haven't read this since the 80's, but I'm pretty sure this is the book. I'm sitting here, skimming the 1st chapter and the girl's name is Turtle Wexler, but her father is Jake. Six families are specially selected as tenants for the Sunset Towers Apts. One of the tenants is a bookie, one is a burglar, one is a bomber, and one is a mistake. The will challenges the heirs to a contest to discover which of them is Westing's murderer. Lots of twists and a surprising ending. This was a Newberry Award book and was required reading in our elementary school in 86 or 87. You''ll probably get lots of answers on this.
Ellen Raskin, The Westing Game. Definitely this book, as I just read it (because I saw it mentioned on another stumper!).  The girl goes by the name of Turtle.
You solved my stumper!  Thanks so much.  Now the nagging in the back of my brain trying to remember the title is gone  :)   Love your site!

Keep finding more as I get a chance to read the list.  W26 sounds like Whales Go By by Fred B. Phleger and illus. by Paul Galdone.  it's a Beginner Book published by Random House in 1959  I got it from the book club when I was a kid.  Can't remember all the details but a whale is born and he and it's mother travel down the coast
to the winter feeding ground.
Oooo, good find.  Yes, please search for one.

Arnold Shaprio   Illustrated by Pat Paris, What Can I Dream About, 1987.  After months of looking for this book, I found it in a box in the garage!  It is just what I remember it to be and now I can share it with my grandchildren.
Arnold Shapiro, What Can I Dream About?1987  'The poster did not give an approximate year when she read this book to her children, so I am not sure if this one was published early enough to be it, but it seems to fit the description.  It is a rhyming picture book in which little Deborah thinks of all the scary things she might dream about and her mother turns each fear into a funny situation in which Deborah is in control.
Sesyle Joslin, What Do You Say, Dear?  Illustrated by Maurice Sendak It's long shot but the question of what is the mannerly response to a ridiculous situation reminds me of this series. Bad Nose Bill asks you if you want him to shoot a hole in your head. What do you say, Dear? No, thank you. You drop in on the Duchess only it makes a rather large hole in her roof. What do you say, dear? I'm sorry!  There is at least one more book in the same vein called "What Do You Do, Dear? A search by her name has given me a long list many of which are silly etiquette books.

Willo Davis Roberts, What Could Go Wrong?, 1989, approximate.Three cousins travel across country alone on a plane to visit relatives, and get involved in a mystery during their flights.  The cover has a crossword puzzle in the background, with three kids in front of it, and a man fleeing with a suitcase. I think this is the book you're looking for!

Willo Davis Rogers, What Could Go Wrong? Thanks for finding the book I was looking for!

This is Charlotte Herman, String Bean ('72). Harold aka String Bean.
A bit more on the suggested answer: Herman, Charlotte String Bean New York, Young Reader's Press 1973 "Everyone told Harold that he was too skinny, and called him String Bean. Harold tries to gain weight without much success." Doesn't say whether it's in rhyme.
Eileen Rosenbaum, What Daddies Do, 1970.  The stumper requester used the phrase "...Harold Bean, who's smile is wide, who's hat is green." This is NOT String Bean (I own that, too) This is from What Daddies Do by Eileen Rosenbaum. It is a rhyming book of all of the different jobs daddies go to when they leave the house in the morning. Following Harold Bean through the book we find out in the end that he is the ice cream man.

Richard Scarry, Things That Go.  I'm not positive but I believe you are referring to Richard Scarry's Things That Go.  I think he has some variations on that title as well as another book about cars and trucks etc. which is different.....but I think you are looking for the original.  Good Luck!
Richard Scarry, What do people do all day?  1968.  I've just reread my copy of this and I'm sure it matches.  The ocean liner is blue and rescues a boatload of fishermen who get caught in a storm and send out an SOS message. The scene with the motorists stuck in the mud is at the beginning of a story on making a road.  I always liked the pig running after the passenger jet too!

Bilsky, Eva, What Happened After?: some familiar fairy tales continued, 1942.
Mary Norton, Are All the Giants Dead?,1975. I fear this was published too late to be the title sought, but the description sounds similar to Mary Norton's Are All the Giants Dead? From the back cover of the 1997 reprint: "One night, when he should be safe in bed, young James is whisked away by his friend Mildred to the fairy-tale land of Happily Ever After. There Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty are middle-aged gossips
 Belle’s husband, the Beast, spends his days hunting dragon and unicorn and Jack-the-Giant-Killer and Jack-of-the-Beanstalk while away their retirement telling yarns about slaying the last of the giants." Perhaps worth checking, despite the date?
Bilsky, Eva, What Happened After?, 1942.After suggesting the Norton title as a possible solution, I came across a catalog listing for What Happened After? some familiar fairy tales continued, by Eva Bilsky, which would be in the appropriate date range.

Jane Edwards, What happened to Amy?. I haven't read this but it has a similar title
I believe this may be your book- What Happened to Amy? by Jane Edwards. The locale is Monterey. The young girl is employed by a mystery novelist and becomes curious about the former secretary!
Jane Edwards, What Happened to Amy? I did read this book and the description fits.  I seem to remember scratchings on paper (like from fingernails).
Thank you everyone for the answer. I have checked the title What Happened to Amy and it is the book that I had read. I have also found a library near me with a copy. I am surprised that I made no progress in my own search for a title like the one that I recalled. I am also disappointed by how inaccurate my memory was of a book that had left such a strong impression. Again, thank you for the answer. Thank you Harriett for this service. I have found many titles that have been pestering my mind for years. I also enjoyed coming up with the answer to many of the requests - too bad I came along with these well after others had already solved the question! I am quick to mention your website to others. And I will keep coming back myself.

Actually, it’s not a Little Golden Book, but it’s about the same size:
Engebretson, Betty.  What Happened to George.  NY & San Francisco: Rand McNally & Co. 1947 12mo.,
cloth, pictorial endpapers. George, the practically perfect pig, has only one fault. What happens to him when he
eats a whole platter of doughnuts? very good in very good dust jacket. <SOLD>

Thank you so much! It was my husband's favorite as a child.
Hi, I am trying to find a copy of a story  about a pig named George who ate too much,  way way too much.  This
would have been out approximatly 30 - 35 years ago.  He ate so many donuts one day that according to his
grandfather, he beleives George just  plain burst.  Thank You
Hello,  I am searching for a childrens book about a pig who eate too many donuts and at the end of the story he floats up into the air and then explodes. I am 44 years old so I'm asumming the book to be 1950's. can't tell u much more than that, but if anyone else was ever read this book I hope they remember more than I do.  I want this so bad!!!!!! please help. if u can.
This is a memory I've been searching for!!! I was read the book anywhere from 1958 thru 1963. It is about a pig and I belive his name is george. he loves donuts, at the end of the story he actually drifts up into the sky and then he blows up! I can't drive by a donut shop and not think of this book. I tell my kids about it but they look as though I must be nuts. I'mm 45 and my youngest are teens now. Please try to help me find my memory!!!!
mother pig bakes all the time. Puts cakes, pies, doughnuts on window sill to cool.  Son pig steals and eats same.  Mother always says, "someday you'll eat too much and explode."  Final pages, pig eats doughnut, explodes, ends up floating on cloud with halo.
You are Spectacular!
I remember it was a small book like a little golden book. It was about a pig who ate too many donuts and exploded through the roof of his house. There was a picture of the pig flying into the air as the house is in pieces like sticks in the air. I am not sure I have the right title. It would mean so much to have this book to rad again and to share with my kids. I had a terrible childhood and this story is a sweet memory for me. Thank you so much!
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I read this book a while back, about a pig who ate TONS of donuts, so many that he exploded!

Engebretson, Betty.  What Happened to George.  NY & San Francisco: Rand McNally & Co. 1947.  Already on Solved Mysteries.
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I want to thank you for your Solved Mysteries entry about What Happened to George. I have been wracking my brain for many years for the title of this well loved book. It was a favorite of my family. It coined the phrase among us...instead of "gorged himself" it became "georged himself" when one of the children ate too much of anything. The book belonged to a cousin and disappeared many years ago but the memory and laughter it brought has lived on. I hope to share it with a new generation.

There's a Little Golden Book called What If?  by Helen Tanous, with illustrations by J.P. Miller (LGB #130, 1951), but I don't think that's it.  The Big Golden Book of the same title is what you seek, written and illustrated by Robert Pierce, 1969.  I've even got one, ice cream and all.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Pierce, Robert.  What If?  NY: Golden Press, 1969.  Yellow pictorial cover, worn at corner and edges.  G. <SOLD>

Could the answer to C53, on Stump the Bookseller possibly be What Katy Did?  With What Katy Did at School to answer the next bit?  By Susan Coolidge.  Just a thought.
C53 - Probably What Katy Did and its sequels by Susan Coolidge (pseud. Sarah Chauncy Woolsey). In the first book Katy has an accident falling from a swing and is paralysed for several years, turning in the process from a hot-headed tomboy into almost a saint and the centre of the family. (It isn't as pious and 'good-goody' as this
makes it sound!). Book 2 What Katy did at School has a recovered Katy and her next sister Clover spending a
year at boarding school and What Katy Did Next  is an account of Katy's trip to Europe and meeting the man
she will marry. For a long time I thought that was it, but there are 2 other titles, Clover and In the High Valley.
Clover opens with Katy's wedding and continues with Clover's own romance; In the High Valley tells of an
English girl, Imogen, who comes to the valley where Clover and her husband and son, plus Elsie (the next sister
down) and her husband and baby daughter are living. Imogen marries Katy/Clover/Elsie's brother and Imogen's
brother marries the fourth sister.
This sounds very much like the Katy-did books by Susan Coolidge.  In What Katy Did, Katy falls from a swing and is bed-ridden for quite a while;  gradually her sickbed becomes the center of the household as everyone comes to her for comfort and help.  Other books are What Katy Did at School, What Katy Did Next, and Clover.  These books first appeared in the 1870's to 1880's but have been reprinted often.
C53 sounds like What Katy Did, the first of five stories about Katy Carr, by Susan Coolidge.  Katy, originally a tomboy, injures her back and is confined to bed; she's miserable until  (after a visit from an invalid aunt she adores) she learns to adjust, and gradually her room becomes the heart of the household.  The sequel at boarding school is What Katy Did at School.  Third volume, What Katy Did Next, takes her to Europe (after which
the series concentrates on her younger sister, Clover).  The early volumes are still in print (and highly popular in England).
That is exactly it! Even the name of the author sounds familiar, now that I hear it. Your web page is delightful! Thank you so much!  I would be very interested in purchasing all books.
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When I was about 10 - I'm 60 now- I read at least one book - there may have been several - that I'd love to see again. I can't even be sure the book(s) was a product of the 19th century. What I remember are bits and pieces of characters and scenes. If you could find the time to think about these bits and pieces and point me in any direction that seems feasible, I'd be very appreciative.
*several girls are traveling together - one orders the waiter to bring more waffles- she seems more experienced or worldly-wise than the others, accustomed to having her whims satisfied
*a bedroom (sitting room?) is described in great detail - Chinese screens, lavish furnishings- it may belong to a girl who is an invalid
*the girls are dressing for a party - there are detailed descriptions of dresses - lace, silk, ribbons, various colors of sashes

G56 girls' series sounds the same as W71 waffles & other memories
W71 (and G56?) Susan Coolidge, What Katy Did at School.  The waffle scene is certainly from this, and I think the other 2 bits are as well. Katy & Clover are being taken to boarding school by their father and meet their cousin Lily (and family). Lily orders the waffles and eats an astonishing number. During a holiday, rather than going all the way home, K & C go to Lily's and the room description and party dress bits that the poster remembers happens there.
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I read these books when I was about 10 (50 years ago). I'm not certain they constituted a series, and I could be wrong on the publication date, also. In other words, I can't be certain of much. What I remember are these fragments: several girls are traveling together and one of them, who is more worldly-wise or experienced than the others, orders waffles to be brought to their table again and again  a bedroom/sitting room is described in great detail, containing Chinese screens and perhaps wicker furniture one or more girls is given a large selection of dresses from which to choose - the dresses are of various colors and fabrics and many have satin sashes.

G56 girls' series sounds the same as W71 waffles & other memories
The selection of dresses sounds like an episode in Adopted Jane by Helen F. Daringer, though that isn't a series book and the other scenes described don't occur in it.  Jane's hostess for her holiday from the orphanage takes  her to choose new clothes at a department store, but Jane refuses them when she hears the cost then the hostess throws a party for Jane, at which all the other girls are wearing white dresses with silk sashes of many colors finally a seamstress comes to sew and "happens" to have enough material to make Jane several dresses.  There are descriptions of the colors and the old-fashioned fabrics such as dimity, chambray, Valenciennes lace.
What Katy did next.  I think there is an episode in either this or the previous one (Katy goes to school) when her cousin Lydia? orders waffles

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Coolidge, Susan M. What Katy Did.  Children's Press, 1968.  Previous owner's inscriptions on front inside cover and front free endpaper.  Issued as part of Library Classics (inexpensively produced) series; pictorial cover.  VG-.  $15 Coolidge, Susan M. What Katy Did.  Little, Brown, 1928.  Previous owner's inscription on front inside cover. Bottom right of paper cover illustration has been torn off.  Some smudging to first few pages.  Nice copy.  VG.  $28

This is What Miranda Knew by Gladys L. Adshead, illustrated by Elizabeth Orton Jones. Plot summary: "A strange little tale of 2 old people who wish for grandchildren & are given 2 babies by a group of angels who eventually take the babies & the old people back where they came from. Miranda, by the way, is a cat."

What shall I put in the hole that I dig?  I don't remember the author, but I do remember this book, in which the girl plants
various things and the plant bears "flowers" that are the same as the item planted - rocks and buttons were the two I remember.  A great book.
Great.  I came up with this refernce: Thompson, Eleanor, Illustrated by Aliki.  What Shall I Put in the Hole That I Dig?
Whitman, 1963 A Whitman Top-Top tale #2496.  A little boy and girl contemplate what they should plant in the hole they are digging and what they plant, what will it turn out to be?
My parents saved many of my childhhod books in boxes in thier garage. This book was among them and in very good condition. Now, my three year old son is crazy about it and requests i over and over. He even sleeps wih it! In the story, a small boy and girl wonder what would happen to buttons, rocks, whistles and sticks if they plant them in holes. Will they grow into trees? Then they decide to plant a kernel of corn, watch it grow, and eat corn on he cob at the end.

Crosby Bonsall, What Spot?, 1963.  This is an "I Can Read" book.
Peggy Parish, Ootah's Lucky Day, 1970.  I know all the details aren't right, but thought the date was close and
there are some similarities:  NY: Harper & Row, 1970 Pictorial bds. children's arctic tale of a small "hunter-to-be."  "Then suddenly the walrus popped out of the hole. He landed right on Ootah's sled." (Why? Read and see.)"
Crosby Bonsall, What Spot?, 1963.  Thank you. I checked the reviews online, and I'm pretty certain that the person who suggested What Spot? is correct. I was also delighted to discover that the author, Crosby Bonsall, also wrote another memorable book from my childhood entitled Mine's the Best.
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A picture book about a puffin who gets so buried in the snow, all you can see his the tip of his beak which looks like a dot in the expanse of snow.

Crosby Bonsall, What Spot?, 1980, approximate. This is definitely What Spot? By Crosby Bonsall - we read it to my younger brother so many times that we had it mostly memorized!
SOLVED: You made me so happy: I am the one who asked about the puffin book, the answer was "What Spot?" You made me so happy, I asked a million booksellers and no one knew. Thanks from me and my son (who will get to read it now!)

Geda Bradley Mathews, What Was That!, 1975. A Golder Look-Look Book. Just read this last week to a preschool visitor.  Baby Bear hears noises while in bed and runs to get in bed with brother. Brother explains that little mice are getting ready for bed. They both hear noises and swoosh into bed with biggest brother. All three hear more sounds and fly into parents bed which collapses and scares the little mice, spiders and bugs.

What The Witch Left by Ruth Chew
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I'm looking for the title of a book I read as a child.  It was about a girl who's mysterious Great Aunt stored a wardrobe (or dresser) at her house.  The girl ends up opening it and finding out that the contents are magic.  Gloves that help her write the perfect essay as well as flawless sewing skills.
Boots that enable her to travel.  The girl has many adventures before her Aunt returns to pick up her belongings.  This is all that I remember.  I hope that you can help.

Regarding the inquiry about a wardrobe filled with magical things (gloves that help a little girl sew, write essays, etc) -- it's a Ruth Chew book, one of the many she wrote about witches. I think it might be called What the Witch Left. The little girl and her friend find a trunk of items, all of which have magical powers. I think the witchy great-aunt comes for the trunk at the end, and is not surprised that the little girls found all her things!
W58: What the Witch Left by Ruth Chew.
Probably What the Witch Left by Ruth Chew
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I am DYING to find this book that I remember from my childhood--but unlike most other books from that time, I can't remember the title or author. It was a chapter book about a girl and her friend who find a pair of magic books in a closet  when they put the boots on, every step they take takes them to a different country around the world (and I think they collect souvenirs from the counties they visit). I
also seem to remember some magic fidge that they ate...but can't remember much more. Please help me remember (and even find) this book!!!!!!!

M116 sounds like  a mix between What the Witch Left (magic seven league boots carry children to different countries) and No Such Thing as a Witch (twochildren eat magic fudge). Both books are by Ruth Chew.
Ruth Chew, What the Witch Left, Early 1970s.  Those were seven-league boots, and since it was only one pair, the girls traveled together by each wearing one boot and holding hands!
Ruth Chew, What the Witch Left.  I'm pretty sure this is right - I remember the book too, and found this
solution on another site.
M116  This sounds like two Ruth Chew books. The seven league boots are in WHAT THE WITCH LEFT and the magical fudge is in NO SUCH THING AS A WITCH. ~from a librarian
#M116--Magic Boots:  Know I saw this on an inquiry that's gone to the solved  page, something like "Nancy goes traveling with boots from her aunt's magic wardrobe and has to return them before her aunt comes home" or something, but can't remember the answer.  All I could come up with was The Magical Cupboard, by Jane Louise Curry, and that's not right.
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Here's a stumper (I hope not!) for you.  I want to find a book I read as a child (9-13?).  The problem is I don't remember the title, the author, the main character, etc.  The only thing I remember about the book is the part of the storyline.  The main character gets a new dresser (bureau) and then can't seem to loose anything.  Everything he/she thinks is lost, ends up in the bottom drawer.  I seem to remember something about a key.

What the Witch Left By Ruth Chew? Except that lost articles turn up in one of the magical articles in the bureau, not the bureau itself. It's a locked bureau which is forbidden to the two girls, so when they take the key and lose it, they're in trouble - for a while.
Ruth Chew, What the Witch Left.  More on the plot of this book. This is one of my favorite books and I
still have it! (I am 37 now!) A girl has a bureau in her bedroom whose bottom drawer belongs to her Aunt who is traveling. The bottom drawer is locked. The girls best friend tempts her into finding the key-her mother has it one a key ring-and opening it. There are many strange items in the drawer. Two boots which are "7 league boots", they take you 7 leagues with each step, a shawl or cape which causes the person wearing it to be invisible, an empty jewelry box where lost things turn up-including the key to the bureau later. The two girls have many adventures discovering what each item does. The aunt eventually shows up for the items. Hope this helps!
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What a god-send this site is.  I have been trying to locate a favorite childhood book for over 15 years  now.  All I had was the sketchiest of details.  Today, on a whim, I typed those details into Google, and your site came up!  I typed in "Pilar" and "Seven-League Boots" and they corresponded to a request someone had already made.  So now I have finally learned the book's title, What The Witch Left.  THANK YOU SO MUCH TO YOUR TALENTED BOOK-SELLERS! A long-time mystery solved.
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looking for a book that Ireadas a young girl. These girls find all kinds of magic items in the botttom drawer of a dresser such as boots that allow them to walk a few miles each step. They end up walking to Mexico

Ruth Chew, What the Witch Left
Ruth Chew?, What the Witch Left. This is on the solved mysteries page, I think.
Ruth Chew, What the Witch Left
Ruth Chew, What the Witch Left. On the solved page
M149: Definitely What the Witch Left by Ruth Chew.  It's my favorite book of hers, especially because of
her description of the Mexican marketplace and her subtle portrait of Pilar's bargaining tactics - she speaks fast and loudly to the boy who's her age, quietly to the young Mexican man, and she plays dumb with the American man.
M149 Sounds like WHAT THE WITCH LEFT by Ruth Chew (appears on Solved Mysteries page) ~from a librarian
M149 is "What the Witch Left" by Ruth Chew.
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This is a book from the 70's and what I remember is that there is a young girl home alone with her friend. They go through either her grandmother's or mother's dresser (I think she ends as having been a witch) and she finds various magical things. The one I remeber is the boots, I thinks red goloshes? She runs in them and each steps takes her about a mile away.

I just sent you a stumper through paypal, in desperation, before looking over your solved mysteries, where I unbelievably found the answer: What the Witch Left. I just want to say that I have been searching for this book for about 15 years and without your site, I never would have found it. Thank you soooooo much!!!
What a wonderful, fascinating site!  I thought I'd have a hard time finding this book when all I could remember were the 7 league boots!  Thank you, thank you!
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In this 1970s book a group of children take turns sharing magic things.  I particularly remember the magic gloves that really amazed one little girl's piano teacher.  They were invisible and helped the girl, who couldn't play piano very well, keep playing harder and harder songs at her lesson.  As I am now a piano teacher, I chuckle to remember that.  There were also seven league boots in one chapter that took a child far away in just a few steps.

Chew, Ruth, What the Witch Left. I am positive this is the book, by a great author. Here's the online summary: A pair of gloves, a bathrobe, a mirror, and an old metal box--all items left behind by a witch--lead two friends on a fantastic journey.
Ruth Chew, What the Witch Left.  Definitely! Gloves, seven-league boots and all.
Sounds like Ruth Chew's What the Witch Left.
Definitely a Ruth Chew book--probably What the Witch Left.
Ruth Chew, What the Witch Left
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book about a little girl who finds things in a dresser drawer, magic galoshes, i think a magic mirror.  She can travel in the galoshes.  For some reason she lick jellybeans and paints her face like an indian. I read this as a child in school sometime around 65-70.  There are 2 little girls at one point and they each wear a boot and walk side by side to travel.  I hope this is enough information for someone to help. It is driving me crazy.

Chew, Ruth, What the witch left,1973.  definitely this one Two little girls have magical adventures with a strange assortment of items they find in a locked drawer.
Ruth Chew, What the Witch Left.  I'm sure you'll get a million solvers for this one ...
Ruth Chew, What the Witch Left
Ruth Chew, What the Witch Left, 1986, reprint.  Details match exactly.
#M364:  magic dresser drawer:  This is almost certainly What the Witch Left by Ruth Chew.
Chew, Ruth, What the Witch Left.  See solved mysteries
M364 This is definitely What the Witch Left by Ruth Chew~from a librarian
Ruth Chew, What the Witch Left, 1973, copyright.  This is definitely it. Katy's Aunt Martha (a witch, though the girls don't know it) has left a bunch of odd stuff with magical powers in a locked dresser drawer. Katy and her friend Louise have all sorts of fun adventures with the items they find there.  The galoshes (Seven-League Boots) allow them to travel to Mexico, where they befriend another little girl, Pilar. Katy and Louise each wear one Seven League boot, and one regular one, then coordinate their steps so that they can stay together. There are gloves (which allow them to do things like sew, paint, or play the piano extremely well), a tin fruitcake box (in which lost items reappear), a tarnished sliver mirror (which allows the girls to see what other people are doing, far away) and a bathrobe (which renders the wearer invisible). (The Indian "war paint" with the jelly beans was for a Thanksgiving school play, in which Louise wears the bathrobe - not realizing that it would make her invisible, and thus appear to be a floating head on stage.) The book is currently out of print, but used copies are readily available and affordable.
Thank everyone so much!  This is it, the gloves, I had forgotten the gloves!  What a great site and a great service.  I will check back often to see if I can ever help someone else. Thank you again and again.
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I don't remember much about the book physically, but it may have had a few drawings in it.  I read this in the late 1970's as a seven or eight-year-old.  The plot was about these two kids who find a bureau drawer in an attic or something and inside the drawer are a pair of boots, that when you put them on, each step is actually a hundred miles or something like that.  They don't realize it until they have put them on and taken several steps.  There is also in the drawer a box that has a magic quality whereby anything that you have lost or misplaced appears in the box.  I can't remember what else there was in the drawer--maybe a raincoat or something?  I think the characters were a girl and her younger brother, but I could be wrong about that. What the Witch Left by Ruth Chew (1973).  Please see the Solved Mysteries "W" page for more information.
Ruth Chew, What the Witch Left.  see solved stumpers!
Chew, Ruth, What the Witch Left.  This is the one you're looking for.
John Masefield, The Box of Delights. (1935)  Could this be the classic fantasy, The Box of Delights by John Masefield? Originally published in 1935, its been in reprint almost continuously since then.
Ruth Chew, What the Witch Left. (1993)  A story about kids finding magic articles.
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Looking for a story I read in my pre-teen years some 20 years ago, that involved, I believe, 2 friends, at least one a girl, who while visiting an older relative, maybe an aunt, find a box on top of or in her armoire, containing some magical items, one of which is a pair of boots that take them long distances with every step, but as there is only one pair, each wears one boot and ties their other legs together and each take one step.

Ruth Chew, What The Witch Left, 1973, copyright.  Definitely this one. Look under Solved Mysteries for more details.
Ruth Chew, What the Witch Left.  A classic!  It's on the solved mysteries pages.
Ruth Chew, What the Witch Left.  Very popular Scholastic book!
Ruth Chew, What the Witch Left.  details about boots match exactly.
Ruth Chew, What the Witch Left, 1993, reprint.  Two little girls have magical adventures with a strange assortment of items they find in a locked drawer.
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I would really like to find a childhood book on only the sketchiest description.  The only detail that I remember is that the children found several magic items (I'm not sure where) but they didn't work quite like in the fairy tales.   There was a pair of seven league boots that only travelled about half that distance and I think an invisibility cloak that also malfunctioned in some way.  I hope this jogs someone's memory...

Ruth Chew, What the witch left, 1973, approximate.  Pretty sure you're thinking of this Ruth Chew book.
Ruth Chew, What the Witch Left.  I haven't read this one, but it comes up so often that I recognize the description!
Ruth Chew, What the Witch Left.  Two girls find an invisibility cloak and seven league boots among other items in a drawer of an old bureau.
Ruth Chew, What the Witch Left.  It has to be this one!  Two friends open the locked drawer of a dresser and find what the witch (a friend of the mother's) left behind--an invisiblity cloak, seven league boots (the half-way part comes because they're each wearing one boot and have to hop) a magic mirror and a couple other things.  The paperback cover is very dark and has two girls bent beside a dresser, pulling a bright orange glowing cloak out of the bottom drawer.
Edward Eager, Half Magic, 1954, copyright.  Sounds like HALF MAGIC.  Requestor would probably also like Eager's later books in the same vein, and those of E. Nesbit, who was a great influence on Eager.
Ruth Chew, What the Witch Left.
Ruth Chew, What the Witch Left.  The Seven-League-Boots went half as far because the two girls were sharing them - each girl wore one magic boot and one regular one. The problem with the invisibility cloak was that the girl didn't realize what it was until she tried wearing it for her school Thanksgiving play - with the hood down, so that she appeared to be a floating head and frightened her classmates. These and other magical items were left behind by her aunt, in the bottom drawer of a bureau.
Most likely What the Witch Left. See Solved Mysteries.
Edward Eager, Half Magic.  Could this possibly be it?
Chew, Ruth, What the Witch Left, 1973.  This is definitely your book!  Katy and her friend Louise have lot of fun playing with the magic things left in the drawer of a dresser in Katy's room by her "Aunt Martha".  Great, fun book!
Chew, Ruth, What the Witch Left, 1974, copyright.  Two girls find items that had been left by an aunt of one of the girls and have adventures with them. There are seven league boots that take them to Mexico after they figure out how they can both travel, a cloak that makes one invisible during a school play, and a box that finds items you're looking for.  They are rushed at the end because they lose the key to the drawer and the witch is coming back!
Ruth Chew, What the Witch Left.  This is What the Witch Left, one of Ruth Chew's delightful books about magic.
Edward Eager, Half Magic, 1954, copyright.  This sounds like Half Magic. Four children find a magic coin that grants wishes, but it's only half magic -- so the magic only half works.
Chew, Ruth, What the Witch Left.  Two girls find a bunch of apparently ordinary things - like a bathrobe or gloves or boots- that turn out to have magical powers.
Edward Eager, HALF MAGIC.   this is book about children finding a magic coin that gives the possessor exactly half of what he/she wishes for----their mother wishes she were home, and is transported halfway there, etc.  Is this it?
Not Half Magic; those children found a magic coin that only did half of what they wished.  There was no invisibility cloak or seven league boots.  This is definitely What the Witch Left.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Other titles you might like: Chew, Ruth. The Hidden Cave. Scholastic, 1973.  Softcover.  First printing.  Small sticker removal mark to bottom of spine, one torn page (does not affect text) and homemade pocket on inside of back cover.  Else, VG-.  $15 Chew, Ruth. The Magic Coin. Scholastic, 1983.  Softcover.  Previous owner's name on inside of front cover.  Remainder mark to top of text block.  VG-.  $15 Chew, Ruth. Magic in the Park. Scholastic, 1972.  Lucky Star imprint.  Softcover.  VG-.  $8 Chew, Ruth. No Such Thing As a Witch.  Scholastic, 1971.  Softcover.  Fourth printing.  VG.  $15 Chew, Ruth. The Wednesday Witch.  Scholastic, 1972.  Softcover.  Fourth printing.  Small sticker removal mark to bottom of spine, else VG.  $15 Chew, Ruth. What the Witch Left. Illustrated by Ruth Chew.  Scholastic, 1973, later printing.  Trade paperback, cover shows wear and tear but inside is clean.  Previous owner's name on inside of front cover.  VG-.  $10 Chew, Ruth. The Witch's Buttons.  Scholastic, 1974.  Softcover.  First printing.  Small sticker removal mark to bottom of spine, else VG.  $15 Chew, Ruth. The Witch's Broom.  Dodd, Mead, 1977.  Hardcover, second printing.  Ex-library copy.  VG/VG.  $20

Daphne Hogstrom, What will we see? 1968.  My childhood favourite! I just pulled it off the shelf this week to read to my young son.  "Father and Mother / And Janie and I / Have moved to a farm / Where trees touch the sky..."  It's by Whitman Publishing Division, Western Publishing Company. Illustrated by Stina Nagel.
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'50's/ 60's/maybe early 70's, childrens.  It was not a golden book. Perhaps a "Wonder Book" or Rand McNally Elf book".  The cover has a girl and a rag doll on it with a green background.  The doll's name was Jane.  The doll has a dress with an apple print.  The doll had black hair.  The story is about a girl who moves to new house in the spring and sees trees with blossoms.  She does not know what kind of trees they are.  All summer she walks out to the trees and talks to her rag doll about them.  Then when they are ripe she says: "Apples red apples I cried out to Jane. / Apples red apples in meadow and lane. / Apples in orchards in boxes and bags".

Daphne Hogstrom, What Will We See?  I've never read this book but it's listed as a solved stumper and sounds remarkably like the book you're seeking- here's an excerpt from the earlier posting:  "Hi there- Now that I have a daughter, my Mom keeps remembering books  she read to me as a child.  One title she cannot remember, but remembers some lines from the book.  It's a children's book and the lines are  . . . "Apples, red apples, I cry out to Jane.  Apples, red apples, down meadow and lane." Anything? Have a great day!" "Daphne Hogstrom, What will we see? 1968.  My childhood favourite! I just pulled it off the shelf this week to read to my young son.  "Father and Mother / And Janie and I / Have moved to a farm / Where trees touch the sky..."  It's by Whitman Publishing Division, Western Publishing Company. Illustrated by Stina Nagel. "
Daphne Hogstrom, What Will We See?, 1968.  Just an addition to the poster who suggested this book: I've looked up a picture of the cover online, and it's a perfect match.  Green cover with a girl looking out the window, holding a rag doll against her shoulder. The girl has straight brown hair, and is wearing a red sweater. The doll has dark hair in braids tied w/ blue bows, a straw hat, and a blue-and-white striped dress with an apple print. Outside the window are bare tree branches against a blue sky. The tree branches and sky are a photograph, while the rest of the picture is drawn/painted. The book features both photographs of apple trees by James Conklin and art work by Stina Nagel.
Thank you for solving my book hunt.  I was looking for "What Will We See?" by, Daphne Hogstrom.  Thank you for having this web site.

The book that you are looking for is What's a Cousin by Helen D. Olds, 1962.  It has 4 chapters about cousins who visit their Grandma and lose the pink wagon that you mentioned.  Hope this helps!
Helen D. Olds, What's A Cousin?, 1962.  Yes, this is it!  I tracked down a second-hand copy, and it was the story I remembered.  The distinctive watercolor illustrations of the children by Velma Ilsley for some reason captivated me as a child - the mood evoked by them was bound up in my memory of the book.  The illustrator is credited prominently with the author on the cover.  Thanks!

Margaret Hodges, What's for Lunch, Charley?, 1961.  and yes, the cover is green!
This makes me think of What's for Lunch, Charley? by Margaret Hodges, illustrated by Aliki Brandenberg. NY: Dial Press, 1963 72 pages.  Charley forgets his lunch box and decides to eat at the King Charles Hotel. (If
that's the same Margaret Hodges who edited the exciting Japanese story The Wave, I'm surprised, to say the least!)
Hodges, Margaret, illustrated by Aliki, What's for Lunch, Charley? Scholastic 1967, reprint.  First printed by Dial in 1961. Charley forgets his lunch box and decides to eat at the King Charles Hotel. Other characters are Rosabelle and Jane Lane. Ring any bells? The Scholastic cover is yellow, though.
Margaret Hodges, What's for Lunch, Charley?1961.  This is a long shot as I haven't read the book, but the cover is green and shows a boy sitting at a restaurant table, it is an 80 page (thin) Scholastic book published in 1961, and it's apparently about lunch.  There is a picture of it on half.com.
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I'm looking for a children's book with a little girl who always eats a chicken leg, tomato soup and a piece of chocolate cake. I think the story is told from the point of view of another little girl whose box lunch isn't nearly so great and then one day she is invited to go to a restaurant to have the tomato soup, chocolate cake lunch, with her father. (I believe).

Margaret Hodges. Illustrated by Aliki, What's for Lunch, Charley? Charley has an ordinary lunch every day-  peanut butter sandwich, cookie, milk, and apple.  The new girl Rosabelle gets a chicken leg, tomato soup, fruit salad, and chocolate cake. He forgets his lunch one day so goes to a hotel dining room and orders the same lunch that Rosabelle always brings.  His dad shows up on a business lunch and bails him out by paying the bill.  It turns out that Rosabelle's mom is a waitress at the  hotel and that's where she's been getting the great lunches.
Margaret Hodges, What's for Lunch, Charley?  This was a stumper a while back - so I'm sure you'll get plenty of responses.  A girl (Rosemary?) in Charley's class always has the same lunch. He walks past the same several stores every day, including a fancy hotel with a restaurant.  One day he goes into each store - and eats lunch at the hotel, ordering the same lunch the girl has each day.
What's For Lunch, Charley?
Margaret Hodges, What's for Lunch Charley?  1961.  I remember this book, too! (it's in the solved mysteries). Charley is envious of a girl's lunches. Each day she brings in a wonderful lunch, spreads a cloth napkin over her desk (as I remember it) and eats everything daintily. One day, Charley forgets his lunch and decides to go to a fancy hotel. I think that the girl's father works at the hotel, and she's been bringing leftovers.
I don't remember the name -- but it was a boy. The little girl sits next to him in class and has the same thing for lunch. One day, he forgets his lunch, so he goes to the local restaraunt and has tomato soup, chicken and chocolate cake for lunch. The girl who sits next to him is the daughter of the restaraunt's manager.   But that's all I remember!!
Margaret Hodges, What's for Lunch, Charley?  It was a boy. The little girl sits next to him in class and has the same thing for lunch. One day, he forgets his lunch, so he goes to the local restaraunt and has tomato soup, chicken and chocolate cake for lunch. The girl who sits next to him is the daughter of the restaraunt's manager.   But that's all I remember!!
T217 What's For Lunch, Charley?
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1970's fiction book about boy who has crush on girl in class.  she has tomato soup in a thermos and lovely lunch spread out at her desk every day.  at one point he sees her through a window at a fancy restaurant having lunch with her father.

I haven't read it, but the girl with tomato soup and a lovely lunch immediately made me think of What's For Lunch, Charley? (1961) by Margaret Hodges (author) and Aliki Brandenberg (illustrator).  Please see the Solved Mysteries "W" page for more information.
What's for lunch, Charley.  I agree with whoever posted "What's for Lunch, Charley"  I have this book and it is definitely the one.
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When the little boy wakes up on the wrong side of the bed, everything goes wrong, but when he wakes up on the right side of the bed, he has a good day.  He is on his way to school one day and stops to buy chocolates for a gift for either his teacher or mother or classmate.  It may have been a Valentine's gift.  I remember he had to settle for a little box of chocolates because he only had so much money.  I am 48 now and I read the book in the late 60's or early 70's when I was in grade school.  Someone suggested Syd Hoff, I Should Have Stayed in Bed, but I checked the book and it's not the one.  There definitely was a passage in the book about the little boy shopping for a gift on his way to school.  I don't think Syd Hoff's book has that passage.  I would love to hear more book suggestions.  It was a wonderful book, and I would love to share it with my grandson.  Thanks!

Two possibilities that fall in your time period: The Wrong Side of the Bed / Edward Ardizzone / 1970 / "A little boy gets up one day and finds everyting goes wrong" / but it's a wordless book so it's probably not the one you're looking for  -- or  -- I Should Have Stayed in Bed / Joan M Lexau / 1965 / "One day Sam gets out on the wrong side of the bed and life is nothing but trouble. He comes up with an ingenious solution for the afternoon."
I don't remember the exact title but I remember details....the book featured a fancy restaurant called something like the King's Palace.  The boy in the story (Charlie?) always had "boring" things for lunch - that is, when he remembered to bring his lunch.  A new girl in his class brings very fancy lunch - tomato soup, chicken legs, etc (her last name is Riggles or Ruggles?).  One day when Charlie, again, forgets his lunch, he decides to go out to lunch at the King's Palace....and bumps into his father....
Margaret Hodges, What's for Lunch, Charley. When Charley has a good day, it's really good.  And when it's bad, it's really bad.  On one of his good days, he buys the little box of chocolates but really doesn't know who to give it to.  He just buys it because he's on time, has a little money, is feeling good and organized and on top of things.  On a subsequent bad day, he forgets his lunch (again) and in an attempt to make something good of it, bravely goes to lunch at the King Charles Hotel.  The mother of Rosabelle, a new girl in his class, works at the hotel and Charley has often envied Rosabelle's fancy lunches - made from leftovers of the hotel kitchen.  While dining, Charley bumps into his father...
Margaret Hodges, What's For Lunch, Charley? What's For Lunch, Charley by Margaret Hodges is the book I have been searching for.  Thank you so much!  I cannot express how delighted I am!!!

I 21 (Interactive Book with Zippers and Snaps)
I posted this stumper on the Google Group about children's books, and someone knew the answer immediately! It's WHAT'S IN MY POCKETS? A SURPRISE CLOTH BOOK that was put out by Fisher Price. It seems there were even plastic disks that had pictures on them (of a watch, an acorn, etc) and these could be put in the pockets. I didn't remember them, but I suspect they were all lost by the time the book was passed down to me! And just like you often do, he was able to provide with an online picture.  Thanks for your help - and if you ever see a copy, I'm interested!

S193  Meindert de Jong, The Wheel on the School.  Just a possibility--it's a novel set in Holland. S193: Well, there's Hans Christian Andersen's story The Storks, which includes a good boy named Peter and a bad boy or two....
S193 Sounds like it could be THE WHEEL ON THE SCHOOL by Meindert DeJong, 1954, a Newbery Award book. ~from a librarian
#S193--Storks building nests on chimneys:  Another Newbery Winner, The Wheel on the School, by Meindert DeJong.  Frequently mentioned as a pet peeve of mine, because the author seriously flawed an otherwise wonderful story by unnecessarily naming all his characters alike!
Meindert De Jong, The Wheel on the School, 1954.  The lead character is a girl, but the entire plot concerns bringing the storks back to a Dutch fishing village.
Meindert deJong, The Wheel on the School. This is about children in a small community (Shora) in Holland, and their efforts to get storks to return to their rooftops.
DeJong, Wheel on the School.This book is about school kids in the Netherlands who want to get a stork to build its nest on their school.  Most people put an old wagon wheel on top of their chimneys to encourage the storks to nest there, so the kids search for a wheel.

Sounds like Devlin's When Fletcher Was Hatched.  See the Devlin tribute page.
Harry Devlin, How Fletcher Was Hatched.  I agree! I defintely think you're looking for How Fletcher Was Hatched (although there is no wheelbarrow, the rest sounds like a very accurate description--right down to the purple, spotted egg!).
Harriett~ You are truly the best!  I checked my stumper and low and behold there is the answer. My heart skipped as I read your "sounds like:" so I checked out the Devlin tribute page as I scrolled I shouted, " that's it!"   I think my boss thinks I am nuts now... Now just to find a copy to buy... Many, many, thanks!

#C69, Counting book, and #W59, When I Go to Bed, are both When I Go to Bed, a Whitman Tell-a-Tale book by Margaret Yerian, illustrated by Ruth Ruhman, 1967.
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I am looking for a book, possible a little golden, or whitman tell-a-tell.  It is called When I Go to Bed
It is a story of a child that takes everything to bed. It starts  "When I go to bed I only take, 1 teddy bear and me.  When I go to bed I only take, 2 cuddly dolls, 1 teddy bear and me. " and on until the number 10 and there is no room for the child.  I loved this book and try to quote it to my 2 year old that takes everything to bed with her!

I was unable to find this wonderful book under it's original title, When I Go To Bed, but recently found it retitled and available as My Little Counting Book.

Hal Borland, When the Legends Die, (1963). Possibly this one?  The boy is not half white, but he does go back and forth between the two worlds.  "When his father killed another brave, Thomas Black Bull and his parents sought refuge in the wilderness. There they took up life as it had been in the old days, hunting and fishing, battling for survival. But an accident claimed the father's life and the grieving mother died shortly afterward. Left alone, the young Indian boy vowed never to retum to the white man's world, to the alien laws that had condemned his father. When Tom is a young adult, he becomes a bronco rider on the rodeo circuit, suffering many broken bones and other serious injuries. In the end, he returned to the mountains, to the old way of life, for a period of both physical and emotional healing, after which he intended to return to the "civilized" world, but not to the rodeo life.  I read this in the late 70's or early 80's, and remember it being an excellent book.
Conrad Richter, The Light in the Forest, (1953). Perhaps this one? The boy isn't half-white, but he does have the conflict between the two worlds.  When he was just four years old, John Cameron Butler was captured by the Lenne Lenape Indians. He has since been adopted by the Indians, who named him True Son, and has grown to love the only family he has ever known, as well as the ways of his people. But now it's 1765 and in order to make a land deal, the Lenne Lenape and other tribes have agreed to return all their captives to the white Army, including now-15-year-old True Son/John. When he arrives at the Butler home in Paxton, Pa., True Son chafes at his white family''s speech, customs and clothing, acting defiant and depressed. He soon manages (with help from his cousin Half Arrow) a dangerous escape and rejoins his Indian relatives. But once back among his people, True Son commits an act of betrayal that forces the Lenne Lenape to disown him forever, leaving him a young man unsure of where he belongs.
Conrad Richter, A Light in the Forest, (2004). Richter's classic tale of a boy torn between families and cultures makes for a compelling audio adaptation. When he was just four years old, John Cameron Butler was captured by the Lenne Lenape Indians. He has since been adopted by the Indians, who named him True Son, and has grown to love the only family he has ever known, as well as the ways of his people. But now it's 1765 and in order to make a land deal, the Lenne Lenape and other tribes have agreed to return all their captives to the white Army, including now-15-year-old True Son/John. When he arrives at the Butler home in Paxton, Pa., True Son chafes at his white family's speech, customs and clothing, acting defiant and depressed. He soon manages (with help from his cousin Half Arrow) a dangerous escape and rejoins his Indian relatives. But once back among his people, True Son commits an act of betrayal that forces the Lenne Lenape to disown him forever, leaving him a young man unsure of where he belongs. Bregy's assured, crisp delivery gives extra resonance to Richter's careful scene-setting, quickly transporting listeners to a distinct, long-ago era.
I remember reading a book similar to this my first year of college for a multicultural class.  The way I remember it though is that the boy is actually white, and he is kidnapped by the Native Americans as "payment" after a war when he is about 4 or 5.  The boy is raised by them, until he is a teenager, and he somehow returns to the white settlement, but he can't adjust.  He ends up back with the Native Americans, but he kills someone, I think and they send him away.  Does this sound familiar?  It wouldn't be hard for me to track it down.  I might actually still have my old copy.
Hal Borland (author), When the Legends Die, (1963).  A young boy and his parents flee the reservation when his father kills another man.  They live happily in the wilderness until an accident (and its aftermath) claims both parents.  The boy is sent to a school, escapes, is caught and brought back to civilization where he grows to be a bitter bronco rider on the rodeo circuit.  In adulthood, he completes the circle by returning to the wilderness and finding happiness.  The clash of cultures and the protagonist's search for his place in the world is the book's primary theme.
Hal Borland , When the Legends Die.  Thank you for solving my mystery! The title of the book is indeed When the Legends Die. I'm looking forward to rereading it. I can't believe how quickly you came up with the answer. I was racking my brain trying to think of the title and the correct plot. You're all amazing!

This is almost certainly When Marnie Was There by Joan G. Robinson.
I think that this is When Marnie Was There by Joan Robinson.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who'll suggest this, but - When Marnie Was There, by Joan G. Robinson, published New York, Coward-McCann 1967, "A young orphan girl has always found it difficult to make friends until she is sent to the seacoast where she becomes fascinated by an old house and the mysterious, elusive girl who seems to live there."

There is a later retelling of the Epiminados story called That Noodle-Headed Epiminados, but I no longer have the book in, so can't tell you if he wears a frying pan on his head.  There is also a cat, Bendemolena, who definitely wears a pot (not a frying pan, though) on her head, and thus can't hear very well, causing all sorts of mix-ups.  I do have better citations at work if either of these seems likely.
This is Kathryn Hitte, When Noodlehead Went to the Fair (NY:Parents Magazine,'68)
Kathryn Hitte, When Noodlehead Went to the Fair

Is this  Beverly Keller, The Night The Baby-sitter Didn't Come (Scholastic, 1994)?
Unfortunately this was was incorrect.  But thanks for posting it...I am sure someone will come a long that does know!
Bs:  On "Babysitter didn't come," there's a book called When the Baby-Sitter Didn't Come, 1967, by Jacqueline Chwast.
More on the 2d suggestion, and it looks good: Chwast, Jacqueline When the Babysitter Didn't Come NY Harcourt, Brace 1967 "A cute story about how Pam and Eve went shopping with their mother and the adventures they all had."
Yes! That sounds like it. I remember the little girl named "eve". Please do a search for it. I have been looking for this book for over 20 years!  Thanks so much for following up on it!

Lurlene McDaniel, When Dreams Shatter, 1980s. I remember this one...mainly because the authors name was memorable.

I think that G12, about a girl in a drum, sounds a lot like Bimwili and the Zimwi: A Tale from Zanzibar by Verna Aardema.  (Love your site, by the way!)
I've seen the book Bimwili and the Zimwi: A Tale from Zanzibar by Verna Aardema; and, I'm sorry to say, that that's not the book I'm thinking of. Although the stories are very similar (in fact this is the book that reminded me of the one I read as a child!), in the book I remember, the girl is kidnapped by an actual man - not a zimwi. Thanks though! (Think anyone else might have another suggestion?)
B29: Beating the Drum -- Don't know if it helps, but the story described is a folktale -- there are numerous variants; I think one of them (from India?) is titled Magic Drum (and isn't this the same query that's listed under G12: Girl in a Drum?)
I don't know the picture book but this is a Bantu story "The Singing Drum and the Mysterious Pumpkin" and can be found in Kathleen Arnott's African Myths and Legends.
Just thought I'd let you know that I found the answer to the book question I asked you several months ago (B29 & G12 on your book stumpers page). The name of the book is When the Drum Sang and the author was Anne Rockwell. It was published by Parents' Press Magazine. It is based on an African folktale so there are probably many similar stories floating around, but this is the version I remember reading as a child.  Hope you have a marvelous week! Take care, and may God continue to shower you with blessings.

Horwitz, Elinor Lander, When The Sky Is Like Lace, Lippincott, 1975.  "Describes the strange and splendid things that can happen on a bimulous night when the sky is like lace."
Elinor Lander Horwitz, When the sky is like lace, 1975.  '"Describes the strange and splendid things that can happen on a bimulous night when the sky is like lace."
Elinor L. Horwitz, When the Sky Is Like Lace.  Definitely this book -- "When the sky is like lace and it's going to be perfectly bimulous".
Elinor L. Horwitz, When the Sky Is Like Lace.  Definitely this book -- "When the sky is like lace and it's going to be perfectly bimulous".
Elinor Lander Horwitz, When the Sky is Like Lace, 1975.  This is without a doubt "When the Sky is Like Lace" by Elinor Lander Horwitz.  Incidentally, in the opinion of myself and several other people I know, this is one of the BEST children's picture books ever written.  Illustrated by Barbara Cooney.  It is a truly magical book with inventive language and storyline and amazing pictures.  Sadly, it is out of print and tends to sell for a LOT.  Why they don't reprint this one, I don't know. You remember one of the "rules" for a bimulous night well---they are: *Never talk to a rabbit or a kissing gourami *If your nose itches, don't scratch it *Wear nothing that is orange, not even underneath.
Just saw this on Amazon-- WooHoo!  Lists for $11.89, due out June 2004!  Happy happy day for readers-
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This is a picture book that was in my school library in the early to mid 1980's.  I don't know when it was published.  The jist of it is that "did you know that if you look at a full moon through a piece of cheesecloth and the man in the moon winks at you it is a (this kind of night)?"   I believe the kind of magical night is the title of the book.  Some of the details of what happens:  you have to leave your house in bare feet and you aren't allowed to wear anything orange.  The grass turns to purple velvet, katydids sing a song to the tune of the Mexican Hat Dance.  I don't rember any more specifics, but it is essentially a list of fantastical occurrences that always take place on this particular kind of magical night.

Elinor Lander Horowitz, When the Sky is Like Lace, 1975, copyright.  This is definitely the book. It mentions that you should wear nothing that is orange, not even underneath!
Elinor Horwitz, When the Sky is Like Lace.  That's it!!!!  WOW!  Solved in a day!  Thank you so much!

Barbara Helen Berger, When the Sun Rose.  This is definitely When The Sun Rose by Barbara Helen Berger. I remember my sister having a copy when we were little. The illustrations were beautiful, particularly the one in the middle, which was a two-page spread of the girls reading at opposite ends of a rainbow.  The girl who came in the carriage had a pet lion that they played with, and they gave him a dish of blueberries and cream. I remember loving the dresses on the dolls.
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This book is really beautifully illustrated, I don't remember much except something about a little girl who has an imaginary tea party and rides on a lion...I also seem to remember something about a rose.  I think it was probably written in the 1970s or 1980s.  Thanks!

Barbara Helen Berger, When the Sun Rose, 1986, copyright.  A little girl playing alone with a doll in her playhouse receives an unusual visitor: a little girl wearing a gown made of yellow roses, and riding in a golden carriage made from a rose and pulled by a lion.  The visiting girl & lion both enter the playhouse, and the lion feasts on blueberries and cream while the girls and their dolls have a tea party, play and read together, and paint a picture of a rainbow.  When the visitor leaves, she promises to return and the other girl knows that she will, as surely as she knows the sun will rise again. Beautiful, vibrant pictures featuring lots of rose images.
Berger, Barbara Helen, When the Sun Rose, 1986, copyright.  The Lion, the tea party, it all fits.
Barbara Helen Berger, When the Sun Rose, 1986, copyright.  Solved! Thanks so much :)

S74 - This may be A A Milne again - in his When we were very young, ills E H Shepard (First pub 1924 and in print ever since - note the entry for Now We Are Six) is a poem called Sand-between-the-toes.

I remembered somthing else! The book ends with the kitten finding her mother and saying something like " I was looking for you!", and the mother says  "I was looking for you too!"
From my daughter's bookshelf: Where Did My Mother Go? by Edna Mitchell Preston, illustrated by Chris Conover. Published by Four Winds Press in 1978. Lovely illustrations of small-town life represented by a wide variety of animals, but probably 1920's/30's style clothing, given the vehicles included. Little Cat tricycles to the library and businesses all over town, trying to find his mother. He asks the owners if they have seen his mother and if they will help him find her. But they all reply, "Not I, I have work to do." So he responds "Then I will find her myself." In the two-page illustration spreads, his mother, or part of her, can be seen somewhere in the background or to one side, usually just leaving that place. In the end, Little Cat goes home and finds his mother has arrived just before him. As the poster remembered, he says "I was looking for you." and his mother says "I was looking for you." He makes her promise never again to go away without telling him where she is going.

Where the Brook Begins
My book was about a forest waterway that grew over the picture pages from a tiny spring to a brook to a river.  It was from the 50s or early 60s hardback.

F120 This book alternates black and white drawings with bluish green and brownish orange ones.  "A brook is very litle when it begins. It is so little you can step across it."  Bartlett, Margaret Farrington. Where the brook begins. illus by Aldren Watson. Crowell, 1961.  Let's read and find out series

Meredith Ann Pierce, Where the Wild Geese Go.  Got to be Pierce's Where the Wild Geese Go.  I really liked the vegetable lamb bush.  The illustrations were gorgeous, and the story filled with Pierce's wonderful imagery.  The standalone picture book is long OOP, but the story is available in the recent Pierce collection Waters Wild & Deep.
This has to be Where the Wild Geese Go by Pierce.  All the details match except the cover painting, although there is a picture within the book of the blanket unravelling while the geese carry the girl.  I always liked the idea of the vegetable lamb.  And the reindeer who helps her is a nice character.  The illustrated edition is long out of print, but the story has been reprinted in a paperback collection of Pierce's shorter works:  Waters Luminous & Deep.
#G302:  geese that come out of barnacles:  The adventures being a dream, and a girl's hair being cut during an illness, are reminiscent of The Christmas Angel by Katharine Pyle, but the rest of the details don't match.
Meredith Ann Pierce, Where the Wild Geese Go.  This is indeed the book I have been searching for! Thank you very much for helping me!

WHERE'S WALLACE by Hilary Knight, 1964 and just republished in 2000.
A possibility for this is Detective Bob and the Great Ape Escape by David L. Harrison.  It's a silly rhyming tale about a bumbling detective who can't see the ape that's right in front of him even though he's obvious to the readers.
Thank you for the use of your fabulous website.  Not only did someone identify the name of the book I was seeking (Where's Wallace?) , they let me know that it had finally been republished after 36 years.  I immediately went out and bought 3 copies. Your little web page that grew and grew is an incredible resource.  Thank you again.
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I read this book around 1975 and  it was a color illustrated picture book like a "Where's Waldo" type with many characters.  One distinct character was a girl with ponytails and (glasses?) and you would have to "find" her within a scene with other kids. I recall a picture with this girl on top of a helicopter while holding on to a blade and having fun.  The book had lots of color and nicely drawn busy scenes and I can't recall if it had words. Later, as a teenager, I felt the Where's Waldo books were a rip-off of this book and its style.

Hilary Knight, Where's Wallace, 1964. This is a GREAT book, and I always thought Where's Waldo ripped off the idea too!  It is about an orangutan named Wallace who keeps escaping from the zoo and goes to a department store, the museum, the country, the beach, the circus, etc.  There are several reoccurring characters to find in the pictures, one of whom is a little girl with pigtails, and she's hanging from the helicoptor blades above the baseball game.  My family used to read me this book over and over again - they loved it too!
Hilary Knight, Where's Wallace. This is the book!!  I’d forgotten about the orangutan and the title is uncanny. Loganberry is berry berry good. I have the book on order ISBN# 0394620070  Thanks for the great memories!

I think this is referring to the Martin Handford books: Where's Waldo? et al.  In the US and Canada, he's Waldo; in Germany, Walter; France, Charles; in UK and Australia, he's Wally.  Don't know about Israel and Egypt, as the query mentions, but the rest match.

Bill Peet, The Whingdingdilly.  This could be The Whingdingdilly. A dog is changed by a witch into a strange creature made up of various animal parts - including a giraffe neck.
Bill Peet, The Whingdingdilly.Yes, The Whingdingdilly is the book I've been looking for.  Thanks much for helping me find it after all these years.  It's already on order and I'll be reading to my children very soon.

The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Edwards, perhaps?
I have a copy right in front of me.  Whirligig House  by Anna Rose Wright.  Pub. 1951 by Houghton Mifflin Company Boston.  One of my favorites.
Thanks so much for finding my book!  Yes, I would love to have you find it for me.  How much do you charge?  Just let me know what is entailed.  Thanks again!
Well, this is a tough one.  No charge for the search, though.  When I find one, I'll quote you the book, its condition, and price.
Whirligig House, by Anna Rose Wright, illustrated by the author's children, published Houghton 1951, 280 pages "Whirligig House is the home of the 5 Yates children, their parents and Handy Andy, the cook, who took care of the children the year Mother had to be in the hospital. "Some folks has an ear for music," said Andy, "some hasn't. Same way with children. Some has an ear for 'em, some don't." Luckily Andy did, or he might not have been able to handle the lively crowd."
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5 kids:  I think the oldest girl was Nan, then John, Cricket, Sue and Buster.  Each kid had an identifying color and animal; Cricket's was a purple pig and Sue had a yellow duck.  I think the others were Nan blue, John green and Buster red- they had toothbrushes these colors.  Episode I remember is that Buster is all upset when he joins the choir because he thinks he will not be able to wear pants under the choir robe (something like that!!)  This was a chapter book and very comical; I read it in 6th grade, I think, so that would be 1960.  Many thanks!!!

Wright, Anna Rose, Whirligig House.  This is it.  Very expensive.  Bought it for a quarter 35 years ago from the local library.  The children's librarian knew I liked it and called me up when it was being discarded.
Whirligig House.   THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!  I can't believe I finally have the name of this book after more than 50 years!!  I'm thrilled and VERY impressed!

Oh, and there was also a rabbit named Ho-Ho in the story...
Littlefield, William, The Whiskers of Ho Ho, 1970.  Well in that case, try this book.  "The story of an old Chinese man and his two pets, Ho Ho the rabbit and Tsee Tsee the hen, and how the three of them painted wonderful eggs to leave on the doorsteps of children on Easter morning."
The whiskers of Ho Ho

Mary Norton, The Borrowers Afield. In this second book of The Borrowers series, they camp near a stream and find
watercress. Don't recall carillon, tho.
Carol Kendall, The Whisper of Glocken, 1965.  Try this one instead.  "Another story of the Minipinns. This time they are threatened once again by the world outside their valley and five new heroes must be found to take the perilous journey to discover what is causing the River Watercress to flood. After enduring many unimagined horrors the five eventually return home in triumph."  (The main character is the bell-ringer of the village).  Sequel to The Gammage Cup.
C172 Spent an hour with this book but didn't see anything about a carillon, which doesn't prove anything-  Norton, Mary    The borrowers afield    illus by B Krush; J Krush.  Harcourt, 1955.  tiny people who "borrow" objects.
C172 Kendall, Carol. The whisper of Glocken. illus by Imero Gobbato. Harcourt, 1965.  sequel to Gammage Cup.
Hi!  I think you are right on with The Gammage Cup and The Whisper of Glocken. Once The Borrowers were mentioned I remembered that there was more then one book involved. I love your web site and enjoy reading other stumpers. It is great to be reminded of happy reads from my youth! Is there any chance you have either of the books in stock? Please let me know as I haven't located them locally, but am willing to order on line. Thanks a lot! 

Brown, Margaret Wise, Whispering Rabbit and Other Stories Golden, 1965 contents:  The Whispering Rabbit, Scupper's Song (sailor dog),  The Friendly Book (little mice in pictures), The Golden Egg Book (bunny pushing duck down hill), Rabbit Poem.  Don't know about the train story, though
Margaret Wise Brown, The Friendly Book 1954, This is definitely one of the books the requester is seeking, although I think the request actually describes more than one book.  Given that all three were written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Garth Williams, they're easy to confuse.  I've started with this one because it was, hands down, my favorite book when I was little.  The memories the requester has of "I like trains," the hot air balloon, and the little mice all come from this book, although it actually starts with cars: "I like cars.  Red cars, green cars, sport limousine cars.  I like cars. A car in a garage, a car on the road, a car with a flat tire, a car with a load.  I like cars."  It then goes on to trains, and it's there that, alongside a more full-sized train system "manned" by dogs, there's a much smaller system run by and for mice.  I think there's a sign at the station for "Mouseville."  Other things liked in the book are seeds, bugs, snow, fish, dogs, boats, whistles, and people.  The hot air balloon is operated by a rabbit and comes up in the verses on stars.  I remember the rabbit had a telescope, and I was always slightly unnerved by a little bird standing on top of the balloon who appeared about to peck it.  The verse (it's not a story) was wonderful, and Garth Williams's illustrations were genius, with lots to look at.  I'm not surprised the requester mentions The Sailor Dog, because the illustrations, also by Garth Williams, were done in a very similar style.  I was furious when I saw a cut-down version of the book put out several years ago with the name changed to "What I Like," as if Margaret Wise Brown was incapable of naming her own works.    Happily, I think it's in print now, under the real title, and with all the pages, in a slightly oversized edition.  I don't think the cover of the book is what the requester recalls, however: the real cover to the book has some children, a couple of rabbits, a cat, a mouse family driving by in a tiny car, the rabbit in the background in the hot air balloon, a bug flying through the air holding something, and a mouse tied to an umbrella floating down to the ground.
Wise Brown, Margaret, The whispering rabbit and other stories 1965, illus. by Garth Williams and lillian Obligado, Weekly Reader Book Club.  Yellow with gren lettering.  Stories include: The whispering rabbit, Scupper's song, The Friendly Book, Rabbit Poem
Margaret Wise Brown, The Golden Sleepy Book 1948, This is another Little golden Book illustrated by Garth Williams, and I think the requester's memory of The Whispering Rabbit is one of the short stories from this book.  My memory is that the rabbit swallows a bee who falls asleep, and all the rabbit can do is whisper until the bee wakes up.  The rabbit tries all sorts of things to get the bee to do so, and in the end I think it's the tiny click of a bee swallowing some honey many miles away that does the trick and wakes up the bee.  There's also a story about a lazy bunny who rests and sleeps most of the time but ultimately saves the others by sounding the alarm when a fox approaches.  I think there's a story about a bear going to sleep.  And at the very end I think the lullaby "All the Pretty Horses" is reproduced, with pencil drawings as illustrations.  Again, though, the cover is not what the requester recalls: this one is the wnderful one of the little bear wearing striped pajamas in bed who's stretching and yawning and has facing him on the bed the same book with the same illustration of him stretching and yawning.
Margaret Wise Brown, The Golden Egg Book 1962, I've changed my mind mid-stream: I initially thought the memory of a duck pushing a bunny down a hill and throwing stones at it came from Home for a Bunny, illustrated by Garth Williams, but I now think it's more likely this, which was illustrated by Lillian Obligado.  My vague memory of the story is that a little bunny comes across an egg and tries all sorts of things in an effort to see what's inside, including pushing it down a hill and throwing stones at it.  He ultimately falls asleep, exhausted from his efforts.  The egg, of course, hatches while he's asleep, and the little duckling is as curous about him as he was about the egg.  So the duckling tries all the tactics the bunny used on the egg in an effort to wake him up, including rolling him down a hill and throwing stones at him.  I don't remember what finally wakes him up, but I'm pretty sure when the bunny does wake up he and the duckling become fast friends.  I think this one also came out not long ago in a large edition, and Home for a Bunny did as well (although it may have been one of three stories, all of which were written by Margaret Wise Brown and/or illustrated by Garth williams).
Brown, Margaret Wise [Golden Macdonald, pseudonym]    The Sleepy  Book [orig title: Golden sleepy book] [incl The whispering rabbit]     illus by Garth Williams    Little Golden    1948, 1975    8th printing    bedtime  stories - anthologies
Margaret Wise Brown, The Whispering Rabbit and other stories, 1965 Golden Press Weekly Reader Children's Book Club.  When I started to read the responses, I cried.  Brought back wonderful childhood memories.  After reading the responses, I found a copy of the book, (it's sitting infront of me now).  The book is yellow with a yawning rabbit on the front, contents are as follows: The Whispering Rabbit, Scuppers' Song, The Friendly Book, The Golden Egg Book, and Rabbit Poem.  All by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Garth Williams and Lillian Obligado. This was a book that my sister use to read to me and I plan on giving it to her for Christmas.  Thanks to all who responded.  You don't know how much this means to me.
Margaret Wise Brown, The Friendly Book, 1954.  I'm so glad you found what you were looking for.  I know exactly how you feel.  If you get a chance, check out a copy of The Friendly Book.  They sometimes took out some of the illustrations and/or text when they reproduced these books in other books, and every word and picture from this one is worth having.  Even if you find it as a stand-alone book, though, you have to be careful, because for several years they were putting out reissues of the book that were short four pages or so.  If you find a version that has the parts about seeds, bugs, and fish in it, you've probably found the whole thing.

Robert Lasson, Which Witch?, 1959.   Could this be it?  I read it about 1969. This book is about two witches. One is rich, the other had an itch.  One lived in a palace, the other lived in a tree.  One rides on an electric floor waxer and decides to turn ice cream into pitch but her spell back fires and all the pitch, roads and roofs turn into ice cream.

Whirligig House
Family of 3 or 4 kids; oldest is a girl (Tara??).  Mom gets sick and goes to hospital, so kids form "Yebo" club ("obey" backward) to help maintain household.  They raise money to fill backyard ice rink.  Xmas:  mom comes home in refrigerator box!  Read in 70s; may date from 50s.  Thank you!
Anna Marie Rose Wright, Room for one more, 1950. I'm pretty sure this is your book.
Wright, Anna Rose, Whirligig House. This is definitely the Whirligig House.  Description matches exactly.  Good luck finding it, it is very expensive.
Anna Rose Wright, Whirligig House.
Anna Rose Wright, Whirligig House. Original requester here.  The "Yebo Club" book is very definitely "Whirligig House."  As soon as I saw the title, I remembered it. As one of the posters notes, it's VERY expensive, but at least now I know what to ask for through Interlibrary Services. Thank you so much!

It might be ( maybe by the title the person will identify it ? ) Red blanket  - by Helen Dickinson first edition in 1939.
C4 reminded me of a title about a Cree boy called Cree Finds the Way but all I recall is the title, none of the plot.
Thanks for your message. My! We talked about this so long ago (at least it seems that way) that I didn't understand what you were talking about at first.  Thanks for keeping the search alive!  To clarify, the boy is eskimo and his elderly mentors are eskimo.  He is afraid of the Cree indians who, he believes, have killed his parents.  The mentors take him in as an orphan and teach him how to be an expert caribou hunter and, especially, to make his own bow and arrows.  At the end of the story, he meets a group of Cree indians and prepares to fight them when his sister, in Cree dress,  greets him.  She was taken in by the Cree and raised by them.  My guess is that the book was published between 1950 and 1965.  Neither of the two you mention sound like a match but I'll take a look. Good luck to both of us!
This is James Houston's The Falcon Bow (1986)
Eureka!  You found it!!  My heartfelt thanks to you and your "helpers" for the good work.  While "The Falcon Bow" isn't the exact book I had in mind, it is its sequel.  I found a long list of books by Houston in "Falcon Bow"  and my guess is that "The White Archer" is book I remember.  I don't know any of the other Houston titles -- they seem like a rich vein for my son to mine.  Thanks again!
White Archer, written and illustrated by James Houston, published Harcourt 1967, 96 pages. "the Eskimo boy Kungo, determined to avenge his parents' massacre by Indians from the Land of Little Sticks, goes to the island of a renowned ancient hunter, who teaches him "to shoot the bow and arrow with the power of ... thoughts." There Kungo listens to the wisdom of an old woman and acquires the hunting skill of the old man's dwarf servant. Throughout the training his hatred of the Indians remains like "a core of hard ice." After four years he is ready to seek out the Indians - an archer clothed in white with a white dog team against the white snow. At the climax of the hunt, he suddenly understands the futility of revenge." (HB Oct/67 p.589)

I46  Paul Goble, Gift of the Sacred Dog, 1980.  This sounds like The Gift of the Sacred Dog although it is a horse that enables the boy to find the buffalo not a bird.  In this story a young boy prays for help for his starving people and in response he is sent the horse or sacred dog which enables his people to travel further and swifter than ever before.
This might be worth a look- Indian Hunting Grounds (1938) by Caroline D. Emerson.
John D. Nicholson, White Buffalo,1941.  I think this may be the book - it's taken me 2 years to get around to digging it out of my son's stored children's books. The full title, inside the book, is White Buffalo and Tah-Tank-Ka. It was mine, originally, so I thought it was from the early to mid-50's. But the copyright date is 1941, published by The Platt & Munk Company, Inc. A young Crow boy befriends a white buffalo calf and manages to protect it from the tribe's hunters, while keeping it a secret. One bad winter, the buffalo leave early, other game is hard to find, and the tribe is starving. But the white buffalo leads the herds back just in time to save the older people from starvation. The illustrations are nicely done - realistic black ink drawings over a pale orange background. Except the dustcover, which is in color.

B144 Lily  Duplaix, The White Bunny and His Magic Nose.  1945. He changed the other animals pink and blue, right?  This was reprinted in 1991 as The Little Bunny's Magic Nose.
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children's book-about a rabbit with a magic habit of turning pink or blue by wiggle diggle dee (wiggling his nose)  It was written probably in the late 40's or early 50's.  The rabbit felt like velvet and each time he turned pink or blue he would have the felt on his body.  Wiggle Diggle Dee is what he would say each time he wanted to change.

Lily Duplaix, The White Bunny and his Magic Nose, 1945.  This is a "fuzzy-wuzzy" type book with the animals depicted in velvety-to-the-touch pictures.  It is about a bunny with a magic nose who scampers through the barnyard using his magic to turn the other animals pink and blue.  It was "retold" in a new version by Michael Teitelbaum in 1991 that was titled Little Bunny's Magic Nose, but was based on the original story by Lily Duplaix.
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The Selfish Bunny (?) @1955.  Appearance - the book is about 11" high and 9" wide. It had a pale green background and a white flocked bunny on the cover. The story is about a bunny with the magical power of being able to change from white to pink to blue anytime he twitched his nose. Each time he changed colors, there was a new colored flocked bunny on the page. One day, in his pride, the bunny ran into something and hit his nose. Now he was unable to control when he changed colors and he was very sad, only wishing to be like a normal bunny. I don't know how it ended.

Lily Duplaix (author), Masha (illustrator), The White Bunny and His Magic Nose, 1945.  First published as a flocked book in 1945 by Simon and Schuster, released again in 1957 as a Little Golden Book with completely different illustrations by Feodor Rojankovsky.  Republished in 1991 as a Golden Fuzzy Wuzzy Book---it's a new version based on the Lily Duplaix original, but retold by Michael Teitelbaum and illustrated by Turie MacCombie.  Please see the Solved Mysteries W page for more information.
Lily Duplaix, The White Bunny and His Magic Nose, 1945.  I answered this title to another request a couple of months ago and wonder if this could be it again.  It is a "fuzzy-wuzzy" type book about a bunny with a magic nose who makes the other animals angry when he uses his magic to turn them pink and blue, but learns his lesson when it happens to him.  It was "retold" in a new version by Michael Teitelbaum in 1991 that was titled Little Bunny's Magic Nose, but was based on the original story by Lily Duplaix.

You almost have the title correct! It is White Ghost Summer by Shirley Rousseau Murphy.

Hoover, H. M., Children of Morrow, 1973.  Tia and Rabbit flee from their village to escape from the Major who wants to kill them because of their special powers.  The follow "the path" that leads through abandoned cities on the way to the ocean.  They are guided to other telepaths, who live in Morrow.
H65  Wyndham, John, Re-Birth.This book features a young male protagonist (a child as he remembers earlier events, a
teen during the time of the main story), who lives in Canada following a nuclear holocaust-type world war.  Any form of
mutation is looked on as being something loathsome and must be destroyed, whether it's a crop, a farm animal, or a newborn baby.  There are old paved roads near his house, but no one is sure how the ancients built them or why.  He and his female cousin are two of a handful of telepathic young people, and later during the book they must escape from authorities who are pursuing them for being "mutants" and "unclean."
John Christopher, The White Mountains, 1967.  This is a bit of a long shot, but there's not a lot to go on here.  this is the first book of a trilogy including The City of Gold and Lead and The Pool of Fire. "Long Ago, The Tripods -- huge, three-legged machines -- descended upon Earth and took control. People no longer understand automation nor machines, and unquestioningly accept the Tripods' power. But for a time in each person's life -- in childhood -- he is not a slave. Will still has time to escape." For the most part, people don't travel in these books, though I don't recall a specific discussion about the roads.  When the Tripods Came is a latter prequel to the books.
H65  John Christopher, The White Mountains, 1967.  I remember this one because I had the same sketchy memory of it when I was trying to find it to read to my children.  On a tip from an itinerant "lunatic" (recruiter), the hero of the story and a friend leave their village to escape being "capped" (a mind control device) at puberty by the Tripod "Masters".  Early in their journey to the White Mountains (a refuge for free men) they walk along an old railroad bed.  They did not know what it was, but they knew it had been built by the "ancients".
I sent you a stumper awhile back, I checked on it a few times with no luck. Today I saw it had been solved, went to see the description. The minute I read that the kids were trying to escape the Tripods to avoid being capped I knew that was the book! Thanks! Any chance you have a copy of The White Mountains? SO GLAD to know the title, it's been nagging at me for 20 years or so.
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Sci-fi story of boy living in world controlled by alien machines that implant chips (in base of neck?) to control people when they reach adulthood. Boy has older brother that undergoes procedure. Boy keeps and hides a watch that his father or grandfather owned -- it's illegal to own the watch. Somehow he tricks the machines and escapes the implant?? Published < 1982

Christopher, John, The White mountains.  This sounds like the start of the Tripods trilogy, where three-legged aliens keep humans under control by 'capping' them as they approach adulthood. The other two titles are The city of gold and lead, and The pool of fire. This was made into a tv series in Britain some years ago.
John Christopher, White Mountains, 1967.
L. Ron Hubbard, Battlefield Earth, c. 1980.  The plot sounds similar to Battlefield Earth, and the publication time period is the same, although BE is a 1000-page novel for adult sci-fi lovers.  (P.S.  Better than the Travolta movie.)
Christopher, John, The White Mountains -- Tripods Trilogy book 1, 1970.  Mystery solved in less than one day! Best two dollars I spent in my life!
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This is such a vague memory it may have been a dream for all I know.  I just remember a landscape with windmills and children trying to escape - I'm pretty sure it was science fiction.  There may have been the word "war" in the title?

John Christopher, The White Mountains. This is a long shot, but could the "windmills" be the "War of the Worlds"-style alien tripods from The White Mountains (volume 1 of the Tripods series)?
I just wanted you to know that you solved BOTH my stumpers right away.  I'm so glad I found you.  I'd been carrying around those memories for most of my adult life and I feel almost giddy with relief now!   I actually cried when I read the answers. I wish all those nagging things in life were so easy to put to rest!

Possibly White Panther by Theodore J. Waldeck, illustrated by Kurt Wiese, published Viking 1941, 193 pages "account of the education of a white panther, Ku-Ma, the swift, savage, stealthy beast of prey. The book follows his adventures as he stalks the beasts of the jungle; eventually he is caught by an Indian cage trap, but with his exceptional strength and cunning, he escapes. Set in the jungles of British Guiana." "Ku-Ma is a baby panther learning the ways of the wild from his mother when the events of a storm prove that he may be left on his own as he has learned to use his senses to help himself." Nothing about a monk, though. On the other hand, Black Lightning: the story of a leopard by Denis Clark, illustrated by C.Gifford Ambler, published by Viking 1954, 144 pages, is a story of a black leopard. "A beautiful tale once told to the author many years ago by an old Buddhist monk in Ceylon." No idea about floods.
A fuller description of one title - Black Lightning, by Denis Clark, illustrated by C. Gifford Ambler, published Viking 1954, 144 pages. "Sensitively written story of a leopard in Ceylon, unusual because of his all-black coat. Separated from his mother when he was still a cub, he had to fend for himself in the jungle; was captured and became part of a circus, but escaped with the sympathetic help of a small boy, and returned to his native haunts to mate and raise a cub of his own. Once he unknowingly saved the life of a monk who lived in a cave in the jungle, and in turn, the holy man was able to give protection to the leopard. It was this monk who told the story of Black Lightning to Mr. Clark." (Horn Book Jun/54 p.184)
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My stumper is Kooma of the Jungle, a childrens story about a mother jaguar with several cubs, a hurricane, a tree blows down and everyone is lost except for one white jaguar who has adventures on its own and opposes a black jaguar.  Probably published in the 1950's.  Thank you!

Theodore J. Waldeck, The White Panther, 1943.  Googled to get this one.  The animal's name is spelled "Ku-ma"

Could it be called CHAMP GALLANT COLLIE by Patricia Lauber, 1960?
There is also a collie book called Laddie, but I don't know the storyline.  [Author is Gene Stratton-Porter.]
There's an old book about a collie called White Ruff.  Could this be it?  I have this book and the picture on the cover has a picture of a collie with a yellow tint to it's ears.  The author is Glenn Balch.
Not sure, but Albert Payson Terhune wrote LOTS of collie books -some in a loose series, and several unrelated books.
I'd go with White Ruff by Glenn Balch. I just picked up a copy of this, and White Ruff is stolen and must find his way home. There are adventures with a circus on the way.

Lydia Scott, Whitey, the bunny whose wish came true, 1939.  I don't know the plot, but you might try checking this one. 55 pp., color illustrations, 18 cm. tall.

Beano, Dandy.  These sound very much like the Beano or Dandy annuals - they started around 1938 and are still going today.  Check out this website for pictures of covers.  They also link to Paul Morris's site - he has an index of the cartoons by title - it may jog your memory.  Beano's most popular character was Dennis the Menace - a very different version to the American one (he wears a red and black striped rugby shirt).  Check out the prices of older annuals - maybe you'll wish you had taken those ones after all!
I can't identify these books, but I can offer some leads. Plates of bangers and mash, with sausages sticking out of mounds of potato, definitely figure in British comics, as a sort of generic good meal each page being a single strip is characteristic too.  So I think your friend's books were probably British annuals.  Each Christmas an annual is published for each of the weekly comics: a hardback book with new strips for all the most popular characters, A4 in size and maybe half an inch thick.  Some that I had in childhood (in the '80s) may have been thicker than that.  I think I remember the family you mention.  Unfortunately, I can't remember their name or which comic they were in.  If I did encounter them, it's likely to have been in one of the following: Beezer, Buster, Topper, Whizzer and Chips, or Whoopee.  It's less likely to have been Beano or Dandy (we read those more often than the others, so I remember their characters better).   Have a look at Toonhound:  under 'Comic books' and 'Fleetway Street', and see if you recognise anything.  I think the Fleetway titles are more likely.  Something else that might help: This site is a specialist site for selling old annuals.  So the guy who runs it might be able to tell you which title you're looking for. Good luck with the search!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!  These websites did it!  I'm still not sure if it was "Whizzer and Chips," or "Whoopee," but definitely one of these Annuals!!  They both contained "The Bumpkin Billionaires," and "The Slimms."  Thanks again!
Whoopee comic, 1974 onwards.  The family that couldn't get rid of their money were the Bumpkin Billionaires, a comic strip in English comic Whoopee from 1974 onwards.  Annuals are probably still available from second-hand dealers.  The Toon weblink in the previous post will tell you more about the comic and it's strips...

Jane W. Watson, The Very Best Home For Me, 1953.I'm am pretty sure this is a book I also loved in the mid-60's, about animals who used to live together in one house who decide to find their own "very best" homes.  It IS a Little Golden book, and is currently available, just Google it.  I'm pretty sure it was illustrated by Garth Williams.  They animals do share a meal together in the woods before they go off on their own, and the squirrel does bring nuts which no one else can eat, because they can'\''t crack them open.  The dog brings a bone, the hen brings bugs, the rabbit brings vegies, etc. This is not the book by Leslie Perkins. This about animals who gather in the forest each bringing a different food to share. It could have been a Golden Book  I am not sure. I think the squirrel brought nuts...... I was very young so maybe in the early 1960s?
Ernest Nister?, The Animals' Picnic, 1920s, approximate. There is a vintage childrens book called The Animals'Picnic which shows a variety of animals walking on 2 legs and dressed in fancy clothes.  The cover shows a family of elephants carrying baskets/plates of food.  Other animals in the picture are a tiny monkey, a bear carrying honey, and a fox with a straw hat.  I saw the cover on flickr and also a biblio-blog, but no author was given.  I found there is a reprinted pop-up version of an antique picture book called The Animals' Picnic, that lists the author/illustrator as Ernest Nister, but no picture shown to see if the two match.  Hope this helps.
Sara Asheron, Will you come to my party?, 1961, copyright.This is the book that came to mind when I read your description.  It is a Wonder Book Easy Reader starring a brown squirrel who decides to have an eating party and invites some other animals.  When he learns that cat would like fish, dog would like bones, sparrow would like seeds, and bunny would like some carrots he gets upset because all he has is nuts.  Then he realizes that all the guests can bring their own favorite foods.

Thanks so much! The book is Will You Come to My Party by Sara Asheron. I have purchased a copy online. I really appreciate whoever submitted the answer!!

Winnemah Spirit
I had this book in the 1970s.  It was a hardcover weekly reader type book about a summer camp, and the cover art was in the mustard yellow-tan-beige range.  For something I loved as much as this, I wish I recalled more of the plot, but it was about kids (or girls) at a camp and their adventures.

Would this possibly be Sal Fisher at Girl Scout Camp by Lillian S. Gardner?
Catherine Woolley, Ginnie Joins In, 1951. I think the book you're looking for could either be "Sal Fisher at Girl Scout Camp" as an earlier solver has suggested or it could be the second in Catherine Woolley's Ginnie series, "Ginnie Joins In". Much of the this book concerns Ginnie's summer vacation with friends at a lake camping and learning how to dive, swim and sail.  This book has a mustard-colored cover and a golden yellow dust jacket.  I think that the Sal Fisher book has a tan cover.
Carolyn Lane, The Winnemah Spirit. As soon as I read the description this book sprang to mind - mustardy yellow cover, girls at camp . . . I haven't read it in forever, but I remember getting it from the Weekly Reader Book Club.

SOLVED: The Winnemah Spirit Your site is fantastic.  I would have never ever been able to remember the names of the two books I was looking for.  Kid Sister and The Winnemah Spirit covered both of my requests, and so quickly as well.  Thank you to everyone behind the scenes helping to solve the mysteries!

What Mad Universe
Scientist celebrates launch of  satellite-it crashes on his house-transported to an alternate earth-comes too in airport-an alternate chicago/la type-wants to get home-leaving finds city is covered by dark fog which mutants? Use to attack people-breaks into hotel for escape-questioned by police. Some differences he notices - they use 'dinars (or similar) instead of dollars and earth has some alien contact.  He has to find a way to get back into his regular life as he suspects sabotage of the satellite launch.  Hope this little bit helps. I remember this book from grade school reading it on a lunch break.  Just got through the first four chapters or so and could never find it again.

Fredric Brown, What Mad Universe, 1949. Sounds like Brown's WHAT MAD UNIVERSE.  See for instance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Mad_Universe  and http://www.sfsite.com/~silverag/brown.html
SOLVED: My book stumper has been solved.  What Mad Universe by Frederic Brown 1949.  That sounds very much like what I remember and the year of the book too. Thank you Thank you.  Now to find a copy somewhere.

Silver John, '70s?  The J170 stumper rang some very faint memory bells.  I recall reading some science fantasy short stories in the early 70s about a guitar-playing "mountain man" called Silver John.  Stories had a definite feel of magic, good vs. evil tone.  I recall one story involved a character named Mandy, another involved something about a character who was evil and referred to George Washington as "King Washington" and at the end of that story, Washington appears in the flames of a campfire.  Sorry I can't provide better information.
These are the Silver John books and stories by Manly Wade Wellman.
Manly Wade Wellman, Who Fears the Devil-- among other titles, 1963 and after.  A bit more.  As already stated, these are Wellman's "John" stories (Wellman himself disliked the nickname "Silver John," which was applied by the publisher to the blurbs of some of the late novels)  The complete short stories about the character have appeared in the collection WHO FEARS THE DEVIL? (several editions, late ones expanded to add some late stories  most of the stories had first appeared in the 1950s in THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION).  The basic WHO FEARS THE DEVIL? set of stories has also been published as JOHN THE BALLADEER and most recently in this hardcover edition: Owls hoot in the daytime and other omens,  Night Shade Books, 2003.  Contents: O ugly bird! -- The desrick on Yandro -- Vandy, Vandy -- One other -- Call me from the valley -- The little black train -- Shiver in the pines -- Walk like a mountain -- On the hills and everywhere -- Old Devlins was a-waiting -- Nine yards of other cloth -- Wonder as I wander -- Farther down the trail -- Trill Coster's burden -- The spring -- Owls hoot in the daytime -- Can these bones live? -- Nobody ever goes there -- Where did she wander?   Late in life, Wellman published a few shortish novels about John they're generally considered inferior to the short stories, but still worth reading (1979-1984): THE OLD GODS WAKEN,  AFTER DARK,  THE LOST AND THE LURKING,  THE HANGING STONES,  and VOICE OF THE MOUNTAIN.  Some of Wellman's other series characters, notably John Thunstone, have plots and settings comparable to the John stories, if not quite the same charm.  Most of these characters move in the same "world" and may mention having been in contact with each other in the course of a story etc.  In at least one of the novels (I forget which) John and several other Wellman series characters appear and act together.
MANLY WADE WELLMAN, who fears the devil, 1963.  Thanks for the tip re MANLY WADE WELLMAN, that did it. I found a copy of the who fears the Devil online and there was the cover I remember as a child but couldnt recall. It was the original printed in 1963 by Arkham House its the publication that I remember, apparantly a reprint was made in 1984 by Baen Books. The book is a selection of Tales by John the Balladeer and include tales of Silver John and his guitar. Further books about Silver John include: 1979 The Old Gods Waken,  1980 After Dark  and 1982 The Hanging Stones. Thanks Heaps for the info. I have been racking my brain for months trying to remember these books.

Who Needs Donuts?
In my elementary school library there was a book entitled "who needs doughnuts when you've got love." I remember very little of what the book was about, i just remember that the title is repeated throughout and it was heavily illustrated with the most intricate and chaotic line drawings I have ever seen. Probably published in the 1980s as a larger-sized floppy paperback. I have tried several times to look it up but nothing has ever come up. I recall it having an illustrated orange cover...Thank You

Not 100% sure, but sounds very likely. WHO NEEDS DONUTS? by Mark Alan Stamaty, 1973. Description says that a boy ends up having adventures because of his love of donuts.
Who needs donuts? Story & pictures by Mark Alan Stamaty. New York, Dial Press [1973], [40] p. illus. 24 x 26 cm.  Summary:A young boy's passion for doughnuts leads him into interesting adventures.
W50 who needs doughnuts: More on the suggested title - Who Needs Donuts? Written and illustrated in bw by Mark Alan Stamaty, published Dial, Pied Piper 1973. "Sam leaves home to go in search of donuts and ends up working with Mr. Bikferd collecting thousands and thousands of donuts." I saw pages from the suggested book on EBay and indeed, the illustrations are chaotic and detailed line drawings.
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somewhat macabre pen and ink drawings of a little boy and girl (?) adventuring about the city.  the boy loves  doughnuts.  every time they walk past a particular basement apartment an old lady yells the following query out to him:  "Who needs doughnuts?"  At a certain point there is a flood in the old lady's basement, and the boy just happens to be passing by with a shopping cart full of doughnuts.  He dumps the doughnuts through her window, soaking up the flood waters and proclaiming:  "You need doughnuts!"  I hope you are able to find this book.  My older sister and I have essentially the same recollections, and we would love to have it to swhare with our own kids.  We would have enjoyed this book in the late 70s.

Mark Alan Stamaty, Who Needs Donuts?1973.  This book is scheduled to be republished in October 2003 by Knopf.  Used copies are hard to find and seem to be quite expensive!
Stamaty, Mark A., Who Needs Donuts?  NY Dial 1975.  This is on the solved list, I think. The title matches, and it does seem to involve a doughnut seller with a pushcart.

could be Who Owns the Moon? by Sonia Levin, illustrated by John Larrecq, published Berkeley, Parnassus 1974, 34 pages. "An engaging tale of three good friends who farmed the same mountain every day and argued together every night. Abel, Nagel and Zeke fought about whose cow was best and whose wife was worst and, having exhausted all other subjects, began to argue about who owned the moon. Ages 4-8." (HB Apr/74 p.227 pub ad) The review notes "Bright yellow and blue endpapers depicting the moon in different stages ... composition of each illustration to fill an arch-shaped form ..."
The three Z names and the over-the-top premise sound Fleischmanesque.
Bill Peet.  Not sure of the title but believe it has three z names in it.
Sonia Levitin (author), John Larrecq (illustrator), Who Owns the Moon?, 1973.  This is definitely Who Owns the Moon? by Sonia Levitin, illustrated by John Larrecq. The cover shows a nighttime scene in shades of blue with three men facing a large yellow moon---the illustration has a white border.  Three farmers, Abel, Nagel and Zeke, argue incessantly about who owns the moon.  They quarrel so ferociously that they neglect their farms, so their wives send them to the Teacher to settle the argument.  The Teacher decrees that the moon belongs to Abel on Monday and Tuesday, Nagel on Wednesday and Thursday, Zeke on Friday and Saturday, and everyone on Sunday.  On the two evenings each man owns the moon, he must stay home and watch it from his own window.  On Sunday evenings he may sit peacefully with the others and be grateful that the moon exists for everyone.  The scheme works, peace is restored, and everyone lives happily ever after.  The phases of the moon are described in the story and shown in the illustrations.

Feil, Hilda, Ghost Garden, 1976.  I haven't read the book myself, but I think it's this one.  The description someone else gave on the solved mysteries page says, "Into this setting comes Jessica, whose father went butterfly hunting long ago and shows no sign of returning, whose mother has embraced transcendental meditation..."  This sounds a lot like the parents you describe.  It's worth checking, at least.  (Note that the "Ghost Garden" that you said it was *not* is by a different author.)
Not Ghost Garden by Hilda Feil either, although I'm delighted that you took the time to help!  The girlfriend in Ghost Garden dies and becomes a ghost.  The book I'm looking for is somewhat the reverse (girl has no friend at all, then has a ghost friend, then a flesh-and-blood friend).
Google again:  The Ghost Garden -- Amelie Troubetskoy  --  1918  --  [I decided not to keep looking there as I realized we're not even sure that is the title and there are too many entries [most "watering the ghost garden" whateever that is.]
Lois Duncan, Stranger with My Face.  This was a favorite of mine and I think I still have a copy (sorry, I don't think I want to sell it!) from the 70s.  However, I believe a new edition was released within the past couple of years.  A terrific book of that genre, so much better than those cheesy-but-gory series that seemed to be produced in endless quantity for young adults.
Oops- sorry I didn't read carefully enough.  Clearly it was NOT Stranger with My Face by Lois Duncan sorry to have sent in a false solution!
G92  Just wanted to keep this one alive.  Amelie Rives and Amelie Troubetskoy are the same person, and it's definitely not her's - by any name.  No reason to think the title is Ghost Garden.  Please help me keep looking - maybe the NPR influx can help...?  Thanks!
Paula Hendrich, Who Says So?, 1972.  Just got my copy in from inter-library loan:  didn't see the motorcycle, but everything else is there - the cover is right, the author's name is right, the apparition girl becoming flesh and blood while walking down the road at the end, the county fair, Victorian house, etc. etc. etc.  Consider it solved!  :)
Paula Hendrich, Who Says So?  THAT'S IT!!! THAT'S IT!!!   I MUST rhapsodize for a minute and thank the sleuth and Loganberry PROFUSELY AND WITH GREAT ADORATION!!!!  WAHOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!   This was also solved on the Abebooks site - possibly by the same person (Cathy in Tallahassee and Loganberry sleuth THANK YOU!) I am, without a doubt, in a state of absolute GLEEEEEEE!!!

Avi, Who Was That Masked Man, Anyway.World War II is just background noise for Frankie Wattleson. His life revolves around action-packed radio dramas like "Buck Rodgers" and "The Lone Ranger." Suspense, heroism, thrills -- what more could an American boy want? Frankie's mom can't stand her son's hobby, though, and neither can his teacher, MissGomez. It all spells doomsday for Frankie -- unless he, disguised as radio detective Chet Barker, can cook up a plan to save the day.  Tune in tomorrow to find out how this hilarious drama unfolds!

Loof, Jan, Who's Got the Apple?  1975.  The cover shows a portly gent with a black bowler hat and jacket walking down the street with a red apple in one hand, and a cane in the other.
Thanks!  Who's Got the Apple by Jan Loof is indeed the book I was searching for...

Who's In Holes? Richard Armour, Paul Galdone / McGraw-Hill, 1971.  Eighteen rhymes describe the dwelling places of a variety of animals: Mole -- Muskrat -- Fox -- Mouse -- Trap-Door Spider -- Woodpecker -- Pygmy Owl -- Apple Worm (larva) -- Termite -- Moth -- Conch -- Bear -- Otter -- Wolf -- Skunk -- Snake -- Hermit crab -- Rove beetle -- Man

J19 is NOT Patricia Scarry's Hop, Little Kangaroo - if that's any help.
I remember a book about Joey Kangaroo - don't know if it's the same one. This was a small book - probably a Tell-a-Tale or an Elf book, and would have been probably printed in the late-60's to early 70's. Mine had very bright, kind of cartoony illustrations - would this have been the same one?
Daphne Hogstrom,  Illustrated by Charles Bracke, Whoa Joey!, 1968.  I love this book and am not about to part with my copy but perhaps the title and author would help you to find a copy.  It was a "Tell-A-Tale" book.  Good Luck!
Maybe - Joey Kangaroo, by Patricia Miller, illustrated by Ed Renfro, hardcover, 6.5 x 9.25 inches Little Owl Book, Holt-Rinehart 1963 "This is an early-reader type of Kangaroo story with lots of pictures."

I solved my own stumper! The book is WHY ARE THERE MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS, GRANDAD? by Kenneth Mahood, 1974. The memory was slightly off- it was an attic not a study/library that the boy was in. And he does vacuum up, but the vacuum sucks up EVERYTHING, causing more problems. Finally, a magician comes out of the book and cleans everything up.
Why are There More Questions than Answers, Grandad?, written and illustrated by Kenneth Mahoody, published Bradbury 1974. "One question too many lands Sandy in a messy attic with orders to clean it. A talking parrot and a magical dictionary help Sandy with hilarious results. Then it's Grandad's turn to ask questions. Full color illustrations. Ages 4-7." (HB Oct/74 p.17 pub ad)

Watts, Mabel, Why Do You Love Me?,1970. Billy, a small bear cub, explores all the aspects of the question ``Why do you love me? with his mother. In their pursuit of the answer, they explore the positive and negative aspects of the mother bear's answers.
Mabel Watts, WHY DO YOU LOVE ME?, 1970. I'm pretty sure this is the book you are talking about.  I had a copy when I was little and loved it.
Mabel Watts, Why Do You Love Me?,1970.I think this is it - we have a copy of it around as well, and I remember the yellow cover.

I could have sworn this was on the Solved Mysteries page already, but I didn't see it when I took a quick look.  It's Helen Palmer's Why I Built the Boogle House, with photographs by Lynn Fayman, 1964.  It's part of Random House's Beginner Book series.  The boy in question has only one pet at a time, but they seem to get progressively bigger, thus needing rather amusing additions to his little plywood house....  I have one here, VG-, for $20.

D76  It's not a fly but a mosquito. It's WHY MOSQUITOES BUZZ IN PEOPLE'S EARS; A WEST AFRICAN TALE retold by Verna Aardema, illustrated by Leo & Diane Dillon, 1975. ~from a librarian
There is a version of this folktale with a fly - Why the Sun Was Late, by Benjamin Elkin, illustrated by Jerome Snyder, published New York, Parent's Magazine Press 1966, unpaginated. It starts with the fly landing on a dead
tree, which topples with a crash. The fly thinks he did it, and tries to push two boys out of another tree. When a boy swings at the fly, he instead knocks three squirrels out of the tree, which startles four snakes, who slither off into a herd of five elephants, who rush madly into a hill, knocking six eggs out of a nest. The mother bird says "Now my heart is broken, too. Never, never, never shall I sing again." Without the bird's song, the sun is not awakened. The Great Spirit has to look into it, and retrace the story, until he comes to the fly, who is too embarrassed to answer and just buzzes.
There is still another version of this story with a fly - Why Flies Buzz, retold and illustrated by Joanna Troughton, published Blackie 1974, 30 pages. "In this Nigerian cumulative tale a fly buzzing round a boy gathering palm nuts in a tree sets off a series of reactions that ends with the guinea-fowl neglecting to call up the Sun. Obassi, Lord of All Creatures, decrees that the fly shall lose its power of speech as a punishment." (Growing Point May/74 p.2410) It doesn't seem to have the counting aspect of the book described, though.

Why the Chimes Rang.  It's online here and a Google search turns up several other mentions and adaptations of the story.  This version has a small boy putting the offering on the plate, but there is an old woman in the story too.
Why the Chimes Rang was written by Raymond Alden in 1909.
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A children's book about a church, Christmas, a boy and his sibling, some kind of miracle, the church bells ring.  Thank you. I loved this book when I was little in the late 60's, very early 70's

Raymond MacDonald Alden, Why the Chimes Rang. Read it online here:
William MacKellar, The Silent Bells, 1978. Possibly this one?  See stumper # C471 for additional details.
Yes, WHY THE CHIMES RANG is the book.  I found it and read it online myself.  My mom used to read it to me when I was 5 and 6, and I remember the strong spirituality.

This sounds to me like The Wicked Enchantment by Margot Benary Isbert.Does that sound right?  If not, I'll post your stumper and see what comes in...
Thanks!  I was elated to have a possibility--I spent HOURS yesterday trying to check to see if this was right, but could not get a description of the The Wicked Enchantment's plot anywhere online.  I did go by our local library after work, and was able to find only one title by Benary-Isbert, Under the Shadow Moon, but on looking at it, it seemed unlikely that she was the author of the book I am remembering, since the library book was packaged somewhat like a Regency romance, and the book I remember had more the flavor of a simple legend/fantasy, or perhaps it was simply written for a younger audience than the Shadow Moon one.  I have burned up the Internet trying to find any clue, so I'd appreciate it if you would post the query.  In the meantime, I'll see if I can order The Wicked Enchantment via Interlibrary Loan and look it over.  Thank you so much.
I'll post it on the next go-round.  Wicked Enchantment is a slim paperback; cover shows a number of stone virgins, and the one in the middle has come to life and is looking out at the reader. Story involves subplots of a wicked sorcerer, a young girl escaping a potential wicked stepmother, and a strong feminist character who lives above the town and sells specially decorated eggs.  It's a long shot, but it's worth an ILL...hopefully someone will
post an answer to your stumper soon!
This actually sounds more likely than before, since I also had a vague sense that Easter was connected with the story (painted eggs).  But the cover still sounds unfamiliar, so if it's indeed the book, then I might have read another edition.  What I remember from the inside is  what must have been a pen and ink etching of the virgins on a round carousel sculpture, and one was missing out of the niche. Thanks very much; I hope mine is not the vaguest request you've ever had!!!!  I really appreciate it.
Later...
Dear Harriett,    I know you're on vacation, but I hope you'll read this when you get back--your assistant correctly identified from my vague description of a missing stone maiden this book by Margot Benary-Isbert.  I was delighted to find that it was exactly the book I had read when in about third grade.  What was uncanny is that SEVERAL elements of the plot I have incorporated into my own life
without consciously remembering them--the artistic feminist aunt who has a menagerie is pretty close to what I am now at 43 (and although my parrots do not say on hearing a knock at the door, "Come in unless you're a man," I think that's funny and the idea appeals to me!).   So thank you so very much; I had been trying to find this for twenty years and no librarian was ever able to name the author or title from my description.  I love your website and will recommend it to others.
The Wicked Enchantment, by Margaret Benary-Isbert, illustrated by Enrico Arno, translated by Richard and Clara Winston, published Harcourt 1955, 181 pages. "The inhabitants of Vogelsang were used to having spooky things happen. They had an old cathedral with statues and gargoyles, tombs and vaults - what could they expect? But the mysterious happenings never affected their lives much until the statue of the Foolish Virgin and the gargoyle above it disappeared. Then everything in the town began to go wrong; tyranny took the place of good will; the trouble grew until it culminated in "the Great Vogelsang Rebellion, or, as some chroniclers call it, the Battle of the Easter Eggs." Fun, suspense and fairy tale truths are blended ... much of the action centers around eleven-year-old Anemone and her dog, Winnie-the-Pooh." (Horn Book Oct/55 p.375)

Lo and behold, it's by Mary Chase, The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden.  Just thought you'd want to know if you hadn't found it yet.
I don't know if the reader is still looking for this book but I now have the title. It is called The Wicked, Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House... it was originally published as The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden. It was written by Mary Chase and illustrated by Don Bolognese and published by Scholastic Book Servies in 1968. I hope this helps.
What a fabulous site! I have a couple of answers to some of your stumpers. The first one concerns a book about a girl who explores a house with strange pigeons. I am almost certain that it's The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden (later renamed The Wicked Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House) by Mary Chase. I, too, have been looking for this book for years, but coudn't think of the title. "Pigeon" was the key word for my research!
First may I say that your website is wonderful! A reader wrote you asking about a book with a girl with an unpleasant demeanor that she believed was called the Weird Bird Sisters. I do know the book she is talking about, however it is at my mothers house at the moment and I don't remember the name of it off the top of my head. I am going to my mother's this weekend though, so I will find out the name and email you back with the information.
Omigosh I read that book too! The one about the pigeon ladies! I think it was called The (Stone) Court/Garden of the Pigeon Ladies. I can remember what section it was in in my childhood public library, so I'm guessing the author's name began with a "C." Hope this helps!
I was telling my sister about this website, what it does, and she said, "you know what book I would love to find? Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden. What a coincidence! Now that the mystery of the weird bird sisters is solved, how can I find it?
Hello! I think I can identify a book for you. The one about the little girl, an empty house, pictures of ladies and pigeons sounds a lot like The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden by Mary Chase. The little girl was named Maureen Messerman.
I knew this was a great site when I checked the "Solved Mysteries" page and found the answer to a stumper I'd been trying to remember for about fifteen years (The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden--all I could recall was an unpleasant girl, a garden, and old ladies).  Wow!
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I hope somebody out there can help me find this book from my childhood. Here's what I remember of it:  It was about pirates and was profusely illustrated with detailed yet odd and cartoony drawings.  I remember that my grade-school had this book in the library and I would check it out all the time during my kindergarten through about second grade range (1975-1977).  I don’t think the book was very new then, but it certainly was not OLD.  I do remember the drawings in the book were in black and white with a lot of yellow highlights as the only other color.  I also remember liking it because it was kind of creepy (I think it was the illustrations not the story that I found creepy).  I know that’s not much to go on but, I swear if I saw even one picture from it somewhere I would know it in an instant.  I of course have no idea who the author is or even if this book is still in print. Thanks to anyone who can help with this.

I am sure that P82 is, once again, The Wicked, Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House.  Also, printed as The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden.  I read this book about the same time the reader did, and absolutely loved it.  It was a Scholastic selection, and there was definitely somebody named Mauve in it.
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You have a great site. I have been trying to find the title/author of a book I remember reading in camp 30+ years ago. It might have been a Scholastic selection. There is a young girl who finds herself in an old mansion (a relative's, perhaps?)and there are several portraits n the walls. They are all of women, with old-fashioned names. I remember one name-Mauve. The pictures either come to life or the women do, or the girl is able to go into the portraits. I vaguely remember it as scary, but them I was young. I hope this is enough information for someone to recognize it.

Appears on the Solved Mysteries page. It is the WICKED PIGEON LADIES IN THE GARDEN also entitled THE WICKED, WICKED LADIES IN THE HAUNTED HOUSE
P82 sounds like The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden, (or The Wicked, Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House) by Mary Chase.  Alone in the dark spooky house, Maureen stares in horror at the pictures on the wall. Those wicked ladies--they've moved.  One of the pictures is of Maude.

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I read this book over and over when I was about ten or eleven years old (1978-79), but it may have been older than that.  I think I got it from either my school library or the local public library, but I can't find anything like it there now.  It was about a girl who passed an abandoned old mansion on her way to and from school daily, and she sometimes would sit by the gates of the estate, hiding behind a bush or rock or something, imagining the people who lived there.  One day she went in, and found seven (?) paintings of sisters who had once lived there, and I remember very vivid descriptions of their appearance and their dresses in the paintings.  After the girl (I can't remember her name) sees the paintings, she can't stop thinking about them, and goes back, hiding and imagining again, and somehow she imagines so hard that she goes back in time to when the sisters were alive, and for some reason they take her in and then either won't let her leave, or she can't figure out how to leave.  She finally goes home by getting out of the house and back to the rock/bush she always hid behind, and imagining that she was back home.  Please help!  This was a great book!

H34 is most definitely The Wicked, Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House.  It used to be called The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden.  I read it around the same time the person who wrote did, and there are seven sisters, one whose name is Maude.  (Not Mauve).  I looked it up in my copy at home, and I'm sure this is the one.  I kept it because it was one of my all-time favorite Scholastic books when I was in elementary school.  It's on the solved mysteries page because someone else was interested in this one, too.
I know about 5 other people are going to answer this one, but anyway - The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Haunted House / The Wicked Wicked Ladies in the Garden again.

I remember reading a book when I was about 10 years old (in the early 1980's), but I can't remember the exact title. I do seem to remember that it was "also published as..." The Wicked Wicked Ladies of the Haunted House, or something like that.  The story was about a little girl who was sort of a class bully, who somehow breaks into an old Victorian house.  At the top of the stairs are (I think) seven portraits of women, the sisters who used to live in the house. Somehow the little girl goes back in time to the late 1800's, and finds the seven
sisters there in real life, they are the daughters of the family in the house but they are wicked and are using magic to keep her trapped there so she can't go home.  Eventually the little girl gets home, but I can't remember how, and when she gets back she realizes that she should be nicer to people, not like the wicked ladies.  I know this is pretty vague, but if you could help me locate this book or at least figure out the title or author, I would appreciate it.
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I read this book in the early 1980s, but it looked at least 20 or 30 years old then.  The title was something like "Those Wicked, Wicked Girls", and was a juvenile book  involving time travel to the Victorian period.  I remember something about paintings on the walls that watched her, and these possibly had something to do with the time travel.  I checked it out from the Punxsutawney, PA, library once, and could never find it again to reread it.  I'm not sure of the title, but I know it had "Wicked, Wicked" in it because I thought that was very melodramatic.

Mary Chase's The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden.  The British title was The Wicked, Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House.
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This was a Scholastic paperback.  I think the story involved an old house haunted by the ghosts of several (six?) little girls who were sisters from the nineteenth century.  One of the sisters was definitely named Lucrece. The sisters were very proud of their fine clothing. There was also a modern (living) child who solved a mystery with the help of the ghost girls.  The living girl pronounced Lucrece's name "Lucreeky".

Chase, Mary, Wicked, Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House or Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden. See Solved Mysteries.
Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden?  Going off my own vague memory here because I don't have the book with me.  I think the "lu-creeky" mispronunciation is from this one though.  And it's about 6 or 7 sisters from an older time.
Thanks so much for posting my bookstumper.  I had been wondering about the title of that book for years! Now I know its Wicked Wicked Ladies in the Garden!
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This book was in my classroom library about 30 years ago and may be from Scholastic.  Lonely girl explores abandoned Victorian house with an overgrown fountain or statue in the yard.  Inside she finds dusty oil portraits of seven sisters.  At some point, the girl is thrust back in time and finds herself living with the family depicted in the portraits.  The sisters are rather nasty, so the experience is unpleasant, but the protagonist has difficulty returning to the present.  Any further information would be appreciated.  Thanks.

Chase, Mary, The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden.  See Solved Mysteries.
Isn't this The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden (again)?
Mary Chase, The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden
Mary Chase, The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden, 1968.  This one's on the Solved page!!
Chase, Mary , Wicked Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House.  Me and twenty other people say it's this one, or the original title The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden
G149
This is THE WICKED WICKED LADIES IN THE HAUNTED HOUSE (also published under the title THE WICKED PIGEON LADIES IN THE GARDEN) by Mary Chase. It has been out of print, but a republication of it is due out August 12, 2003. ~from a librarian
How could I have forgotten the pidgeons?!!  Thanks to everyone who responded. You've made my day.
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The book I am looking for is about a girl that goes back in time somehow.  She ends up in a house with sisters that I think were witches or something.  I don't remember much but I do remember several specific things from the book.  In one part of the book the one of the sisters was staring at her and the little girl thinks she is staring right through her as though she doesn't exist.  In another part the girl is having to put on these close and they are old with lots of buttons and she is having a hard time with the button hooks that they used back then.  The last thing I remember is a part where the girl is in the kitchen and the older ladies, cooks perhaps, make a statement not to speak in front of the girl by saying "little pitchers have big ears."  Sounds strange but I remember loving this book and would love to read it again.  I think in modern times the girl passes by this old house in her neighborhood and somehow she goes back in time to live with its old inhabitants.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Chase, Mary, The wicked pigeon ladies in the garden, 1968.  reprinted under the title The wicked wicked ladies in the haunted house. Nine-year-old Maureen is the terror of her neighborhood until the day she begins to explore an old deserted
estate and encounters a leprechaun and seven strange ladies.
MARY CHASE, WICKED PIGEON LADIES IN THE GARDEN.  Poster's question could be resolved with the Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden (AGAIN!)
Chase, Mary, Wicken Pigeon Ladies in the Garden.  I'm not sure about this, but it might be. The girl, Maureen, sneaks into an abandoned house, and mocks stern-looking pictures of seven sisters with odd names. She finds a bracelet at the house. Later, she is transported back in time, where she meets the sisters, who are mean and dont' deserve their extremely nice parents. There is a leprechaun tangentially involved as well. It turns out that the sisters are able to turn into pigeons because of magical bracelets, and they've been chasing Maureen trying to get a lost bracelet back.
T219 Lucky for this poster that this book was recently republished! It's on your solved and most requested pages - THE WICKED PIGEON LADIES IN THE GARDEN and also published as THE WICKED WICKED LADIES IN THE HAUNTED HOUSE. ~from a librarian
Thank you to all who answered.  This was the correct title and I have since purchased and read the book again.  What a wonderful trip back in time for me.
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The book I am looking for was published no later than 1983, and most likely after 1962.  It is the story of a girl that travels back in time and stays in a Victorian mansion with a large, wealthy family (with seven or eight daughters).  I believe there is some association with a hawk or crow that she meets at a birdbath on the grounds.  If I remember correctly, she travels back to the present through the help of the bird.  The story opens with the girl staring through the wrought iron gates at the dilapidated mansion.  Somehow, she falls asleep and when she awakens, she has been transported through time and is looking at the mansion in its original glory, and hears a horse drawn carriage behind her.  The family takes her in, and the story continues... If you have ever heard of such a book, or have any ideas regarding how I might search for it, I would greatly appreciate it.  Unfortunately, I do not remember the title, author or publisher.

Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden?  See Solved Mysteries.
Has to be Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden again. Man, that book shows up a lot!
This book was originally titled The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden, but the Scholasic edition I have and the new hardcover issue have the new title.
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I'm looking for a book I read probably 20 or more years ago.  It was about a house that was to be torn down and the neighbor girl ventured inside.  In an upstairs hall were portraits of the daughters of the original owner and they would come to life when she was there.  I remember one sister was named Maeve or Mavis--something along those lines.  I think most of the sisters didn't care for the girl, but one did.  I also think they wanted the neighbor girl to do something to save the house from being torn down.  Very vague I know, but I hope someone can help me :)

Good golly!  Save your time in submitting my request for the book I sent.  I just found it by chance in the solved section--about 80 times over!  Wicked Ladies of Pigeon Garden!!  I don't recall the birds AT ALL so new solving could have been hard!  I have another to submit though, will do that at a later time--Huge thanx, LOVE your site!!!
I know this doesn't matter because the poster found her own book, but the title is either The Wicked, Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House  (new title), or the original title The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden.
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I'm looking for a book about a girl who either falls asleep or gets knocked out in an old house.  She wakes up back in time when the house was occupied by seven little girls who's names all start with M.  They take her in to be a maid I believe and she just wants to go back to her family.

Chase, Mary, Wicked Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House.  Maureen Swanson is the scourge of the neighborhood. At age nine, she already has a reputation as a hard slapper, a loud laugher, a liar, and a stay-after-schooler. The other kids call her Stinky. So sometimes when Maureen passes the crumbling (and haunted?) Messerman mansion, she imagines that she is Maureen Messerman–rich, privileged, and powerful. Then she finds a way into the forbidden, boarded-up house. In the hall are portraits of seven young women wearing elaborate gowns and haughty expressions. Maureen has something scathing to say to each one, but then she notices that the figures seem to have shifted in their frames. So she reaches out her finger to touch the paint–just to make sure–and touches . . . silk! These seven daughters of privilege are colder and meaner than Maureen ever thought to be. They are wicked, wicked ladies, and Maureen has something they want. . .
Chase, Mary, The wicked, wicked ladies in the haunted house. (1968)  Originally published as "The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the garden" in 1968, this book was reissued as the "wicked, wicked ladies in the haunted house" and has been reprinted in 2003 with illustrations by Peter Sis.
Mary Chase, The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden.  Sounds like this might be the one you're looking for.  This book has been reprinted under the title, "The Wicked, Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House." There are seven sisters, and their last name (Messerman) starts with "M", though not all of their first names do.  The little girl (Maureen Swanson) likes to pretend that her name is Maureen Messerman, and that she lives in the old house. She travels back in time to the Victorian era, when the sisters still lived there, and has trouble getting back home. For more info, check under solved stumpers - this one has come up a lot.
Mary Chase, The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden. (1968)  The disagreeable girl's name begins with M ("Maureen Messerman"), and the 7 sisters' names do not, but I'm pretty sure this is the book you're looking for.  Check solved mysteries for more details.  Currently in print under the title The Wicked, Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House.
Chase, Mary, Wicken Pigeon Ladies in the Garden.  Alternate Title: Wicked Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House.
Mary Chase, The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden. (1968)  Sounds like this one again!  Nine year old Maureen Swanson trespasses in a crumbling mansion and travels back to a time when the house was occupied by Cleo, Constance, Maude, Sylvia, Lucrece, Mavis, and Ingrid Messerman. Reissued in 2003 with illustrations by Peter Sis and a new title: The Wicked, Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House.  Please see the Solved Mysteries "W" page for more information.
Mary Chase, The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden. (1968) Time travel and seven sisters - sounds like this one again! Republished as The Wicked, Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House. See Solved Mysteries. Could this person be thinking of THE WICKED PIGEON LADIES IN THE GARDEN
(also published as THE WICKED WICKED LADIES IN THE HAUNTED HOUSE)? The seven girls are the Messerman sisters (Mavis, Cleo, Constance, Lucrece, Maude, Sylvia, Ingrid). The girl who time travels is Maureen Swanson (at one point she pretends her name is Maureen Messerman). It might be worth looking into this one~from a librarian
Mary Chase, Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden. (1968)  Could it be The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden?  (Also published as a scholastic book as Wicked, Wicked Pigeon Ladies...or something like that.  It's a classic and was just reprinted with illustrations by Peter Sis.
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Story begins with 12 year-old (approx.) girl walking home from school, past a mansion w/wrought-iron gates.  She goes in and finds 7 portraits hanging in the hallway, of the evil sisters who lived there.  Sisters become black birds to 'watch.'  Girl gets caught in the past (footwarmer under covers in cold house), doesn't understand why no phone or TV.  Woman in home yells and has no patience with heroine.  I remember a pond or fountain on the back terrace??  I read this sometime in the 70's (I would have been 12-ish) and loved this story.  Any help??!

Mary Chase, Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden, 1968, copyright.  This is definitely The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden, also printed as The Wicked Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House. It came out in hardcover from Knopf, and in paperback from Scholastic. Luckily, it had a reprinting in hardcover quite recently with the latter title, so it's not too hard to find at the moment.
Mary Chase, The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden, 1968, copyright.  Certainly this long-time favorite.
Mary Chase, The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden, 1968.  Reprinted as The Wicked, Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House. See Solved Mysteries under either of these titles for more details - this one seems to come up a lot!
Mary Chase, The Wicked, Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House, 1968, approximate.  (Original Title: The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden) Maureen Swanson is the scourge of the neighborhood. At age nine, she already has a reputation as a hard slapper, a loud laugher, a liar, and a stay-after-schooler. The other kids call her Stinky. So sometimes when Maureen passes the crumbling (and haunted?) Messerman mansion, she imagines that she is Maureen Messerman- rich, privileged, and powerful. Then she finds a way into the forbidden, boarded-up house. In the hall are portraits of seven young women wearing elaborate gowns and haughty expressions. Maureen has something scathing to say to each one, but then she notices that the figures seem to have shifted in their frames. So she reaches out her finger to touch the paint- just to make sure- and touches . . . silk These seven daughters of privilege are colder and meaner than Maureen ever thought to be. They are wicked, wicked ladies, and Maureen has something they want. . . .
Mary Chase, The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden.   This is of course that recurrent stumper, The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden, also known as The Wicked, Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House.
Chase, Mary, Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden.   Sounds like this could be it.  Check Solved Mysteries for description.
Mary Chase, Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden, 1968, approximate.  reissued in 2003 as Wicked, Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House.
Mary Chase, The Wicked, Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House.  A nasty girl reforms after she meets the nastier ghosts of seven sisters.
Mary Chase, The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden.  You'll probably be inundated with responses. In Solved Mysteries pages.
Mary Chase, The Wicked Pigeon Ladies In The Garden, 1968, approximate.  Haven't read it in a long time, but this one has seven sisters, the portraits and the old mansion.  it was reissued ia few years ago under the title "The Wicked, Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House."
Mary Chase, The Wicked Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House, 2003, copyright.  Maureen Swanson is a girl full of trouble and mischief, but when she defies her mother's orders by sneaking into the old Messerman mansion, she has no idea it will lead to her undoing. In the upstairs hall, she comes upon seven portraits -- each of a different lady dressed in an old-fashioned party gown. Sassy Maureen greets each lady's portrait with a very rude remark, but her favorite mansion has a surprise in store for her. When she reaches out her hand, where a painted dress should be, she touches silk! And that's just the beginning of her spooky encounters with the wicked, wicked, Messerman sisters, who mean to teach Maureen a lesson she won't soon forget.
Mary Chase, The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden, 1968, approximate.  Also known as "The Wicked, Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House".  This one was my standard for creepiness when I was about ten...it scared me out of my wits!  It must be the one you're looking for, everything fits. It was reprinted recently, with illustrations by Peter Sis.
Chase, Mary, The wicked pigeon ladies in the garden, 1968, copyright.  retitled The wicked wicked ladies in the haunted house.  Maureen Swanson is a thorougly unpleasant girl.  She manages to break in to the haunted Messerman mansion and discovers the seven portraits of the truly evil Messerman sisters.
I'm sure you'll get swamped with answers to S617! It's Mary Chase's WICKED PIGEON LADIES IN THE GARDEN also published as THE WICKED, WICKED LADIES IN THE HAUNTED HOUSE. You have pictures of the covers on your Solved pages so they can doublecheck it. A new hardcover edition (with new illustrations) was published in 2003, and the paperback followed in 2006, so copies should be available.~from a librarian.
Mary Chase, Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden.  Sounds like Wicked Pigeon Ladies.  See Solved Mysteries.
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I remember starting to read this book in the early 80's.  It was mysterious, gothic.  There was a house with gables and birds sat on the window sills  but I think the birds were actually children or sisters who lived in the house or maybe it was a boarding school.  It was a bit sinister, dark. Help.

Mary Chase, The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden, 1968. It sounds like you might be looking for The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden (later reprinted as The Wicked, Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House). Bratty nine-year-old Maureen sneaks into the crumbling Messerman mansion, where she sees amazingly life-like paintings of the seven Messerman sisters - so life-like, in fact, that she could swear they actually move. She also finds (and takes) a bracelet belonging to one of the sisters, setting off a chain of events that send her back in time. Her only hope of returning home is an old leprechaun she befriends.
Mary Chase, The Wicked Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House. The person may be thinking of THE WICKED, WICKED LADIES IN THE HAUNTED HOUSE, also published as THE WICKED PIGEON LADIES IN THE GARDEN. It was published in hardcover, there was a Scholastic Book Club paperback, and it was republished in 2003 w/ new illustrations. If you do Google image searches under both titles you should be able to see the covers.
SOLVED: Mary Chase, The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden (aka The Wicked Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House), 1968. YOU ROCK!!!   I am so happy this mystery has been solved with so little to go on.  Best $2 I've ever spent!   I've thought of this book often and always wished I had finished reading it.   Now that I know the title,  I just bought it online and can't wait to finally finish reading it 30 years later!  Can't thank you enough! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

Eugenie, Wickedishrag.  Gwendel was a princess who was always naughty.  When she dressed up as a witch on halloween, a real witch snatched her away and took her to their witches' school.  They called her Wickedishrag and she enjoyed being a witch until one day her wig came off and the other witches discovered she was really a little girl.  She took off her witches costume but the nose wouldn't come off.  She flew home on her broomstick but no one recognized her because of the nose so she stayed and worked in the kitchen.  She became friendly and good and finally her nose returned to normal, she was recognized by her parents, and she was never naughty again!
Eugeni, Wickedishrag, 1968.  Gwendel was a very naughty Princess whose favorite game was playing witch and frightening people. Then, one Halloween, a real witch comes and carries her off to the Wicked Witches Kingdom.
Mystery solved!  That was fast.  If only I'd stumbled upon your site sooner!  It was indeed Wickedishrag by Eugenie.  Thank you very much!
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1960s or 70s? This was a small book with black and white illustrations. It is the story of a little girl who is naughty and doesn't want to do any of her chores or obey her parents. She is so bad, she is kidnapped by witches one day. These witches prepare her to become a real witch. She grows a large witch nose and learns to fly a broom. There's a picture in there of her with her witch nose washing dishes. (The nose appears to be attached with string.) I think there's another picture of her flying her broom. The littlegirl begins to realize she doesn't want to be a witch and is eventually returned to her parents as a little girl again. She has lost her big nose, etc., and is a obedient after that.

Eugenie, Wickedishrag, 1968. Definitely Wickedishrag. See Solved Mysteries for full description.
Eugenie, Wickedishrag. This is the one!  See solved stumpers for more details.
Fernandes, Eugenie, Wickedishrag,1968. Gwendel was a very naughty Princess whose favorite game was playing witch and frightening people. Then, one Halloween, a real witch comes and carries her off to the Wicked Witches Kingdom."

Flory, Jane, The Wide-Awake Angel, 1945.

I believe this mystery has been solved!  Some sent the author's name [Jane Flory] and the correct title, The Wide Awake Angel.  Now if I can find a copy of the book,  I will be so happy.  Thanks so much for making this decades old search end.

Theodore Sturgeon, The Widget, The Wadget, and Boff.  Famous story about the aliens running a boarding house and trying to find out whether humans can think clearly under stress.  It's in many anthologies.

Charles Dickinson, The Widows' Adventures

I remember sending this off to a friend who acquired a Baby Ben.  Wonderful book.  There's a series.
Barbro Lindgren and Eve Eriksson.  The Wild Baby. adapted from the Swedish by Jack Prelutsky.  Greenwillow Books, 1980.  Sequels:  The Wild Baby Goes to Sea (1982), The Wild Baby Gets a Puppy (1988).

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Lindgren, Barbro and Eve Eriksson.  The Wild Baby Goes to Sea. adapted from the Swedish by Jack Prelutsky.  Greenwillow Books, 1982, first American edition.  Beautiful condition, F.  $20

Maybe The Last Little Cat by Meindert de Jong, illustrated by Jim McMullen, published Harper 1961 "A blind old dog befriends the little kitten, last of a litter of seven." "The last little cat is ... born in a barn which houses cages of dogs of all descriptions, and so, neglected by his family, he finds a home with a big old blind dog. But even this cannot last, and one day the kitten finds himself locked outside the barn and compelled to search for a new home." Meindert de Jong's books can have rather harsh storylines, but this doesn't mention any kittens being eaten, so far from a definite answer.
Possibly Tweeney, by Harvey Foreman, illustrated by Cedric Rogers, published Lothrop 1959 "A deserted mother cat fights for her five kittens, born in an alley during a storm, and finds homes for them all." (Horn Book Oct/59 pub ad p.427) It doesn't sound as if any get eaten by a dog, though.
Thanks very much for your replies. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be either of those two books. I got The Last Little Cat out of the library and there is nothing there about kittens being eaten by a dog, so it's definitely not that one. My local library system doesn't have Tweeny, but the description doesn't sound right. This wasn't a happy story and I don't remember any illustrations either. Any further suggestions welcomed!
could be Nobody's Cat, by Miska Miles, illustrated by John Schoenherr, published Atlantic-Little 1969, 43 pages. The text begins "Born in an old box in a narrow alley, the cat knew many things about the city ... He knew when to run. And he knew when to walk without fear." Description says "He hunts for food, survives the thundering traffic, challenges an over-fed enemy, vanquishes a snarling dog, finds love and nourishment in a school, and returns in dignity and contentment to his alley home." (HB Jun/69 p.296) It may be too short, but the description suggests it's fairly gritty.
K21 kitten in alley: another try - Wild Cat, by Robert Newton Peck, illustrated by Hal Frenck, published Holiday House 1975. "From the moment of birth a female calico is thrown into a cold world of abandoned warehouses and rank alleyways. Ages 9 and up." (HB Apr/75 p.104)
I'm the original poster for K21 and wanted to let you know that the book turned out to be "Wild Cat" by Robert Newton Peck. I can't tell you how excited I was to read the book again 15 years later!  The kitten-devouring scene was just as gruesome as I remembered too <shudder>. I'd like to thank everyone who responded to my stumper. Your suggestions were very much appreciated! Thanks also to
Harriett for running a great site!

Michaels, Cherie, Wild Prairie Sky, 1985. #2 in the Dawn of Love series.  Betsy Monroe is 16, but she's more strong-willed than her older sister Willa.  Charlie Freeman is the handsom young trail guide.

Octavia Butler, Wild Seed.
Octavia Butler, Wild Seed, 1980, copyright. This sounds like the stumper:  "Doro is an entity who changes bodies like clothes, killing his hosts by reflex--or design. He fears no one--until he meets Anyanwu. Anyanwu has also died many times. She can absorb bullets and make medicine with a kiss, give birth to tribes, nurture and heal, and savage anyone who threatens those she loves. She fears no one--until she meets Doro. From African jungles to the colonies of America, Doro and Anyanwu weave together a pattern of destiny that not even immortals can imagine."
Octavia Butler, Wild Seed, 1980, copyright. Doro is an entity who changes bodies like clothes, killing his hosts by reflex--or design. He fears no one--until he meets Anyanwu. Anyanwu has also died many times. She can absorb bullets and make medicine with a kiss, give birth to tribes, nurture and heal, and savage anyone who threatens those she loves. She fears no one--until she meets Doro. From African jungles to the colonies of America, Doro and Anyanwu weave together a pattern of destiny that not even immortals can imagine. Prequel to the Patternist novels.
Octavia Butler, Wild Seed, 1980, copyright. Octavia Butler has a few books about these people, but I'm sure this is the right one.

Hans Christian Andersen, The Wild Swans.Here's a link to the text.  Now to identify the edition!
This is one of Andersen's Fairy Tales
Anderson, Hans Christian, The Wild Swans.  This story is anthologized in a series called "Best in Children's Books," published in 1959 by Nelson Doubleday.  The illustrator is Colleen Browning  I think the translator is Mrs. Edgar Lucas.
The princess might have had only eleven brothers. I've been researching this book and there are a lot of editions of Hans Christian Anderson's fairytale Wild Swans which seems to fit the description. The edition I'm looking for has very beautiful, very detailed, sumptuous illustrations. I'm thinking the book was probably published in the 80s, maybe around 86 or 87???
This sounds like Hans Christian Andersen's THE WILD SWANS (sometimes under different titles like THE TWELVE SWANS). I don't know which version because I don't what year she was in second grade - she'd have to check versions from around that time period. For example, there's a version illustrated by Marcia Brown, 1963.~from a librarian
Susan Jeffers illustrated a sumptuous Wild Swans in 1981, which might be it.  Check the image to see if that looks familiar.  Jeffers has become quite collectible; you'll understand why when you see her books.
P216 The story is called The wild swans. It is definitely in these collections:
Andersen, Hans Christian; introduction by May Lamberton Becker.  Fairy tales.  illus by Jean O'Neill.  World, 1946.
Andersen, Hans Christian. Fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen.  25 color illus by children of 18 nations. Orion, 1958.
Andersen, Hans Christian. Andersen's fairy tales. illus by Leonard Weisgard. Junior Deluxe Editions.
Andersen, Hans Christian; intro by Atwood, William T.  Andersen's fairy tales. black & white drawings by Frederick Richardson; colored endpapers by Donald E Cooke.  Holt, 1961.
The Susan Jeffers edition looks beautiful, but it's not the one I'm looking for. Everyone has the story right on, it's Hans Christian Anderson. The story was published as a single book, not in a collection. I guess I should try to describe the illustrations. I remember everything being outlined in black and coloured in a solid shade. There were no close up views, only full room/full scene sort of views.
They have the same basic storey different number of swans. Most were a spin off to say of the wild swans.
1.) The Six Swans - The Grimm's Tales pub. 1974
2.) Grimm's the six swans - 1989
3.) Wanda Gag's the six Swans - 1982
4.) Birdwing Rafe Martin - 2005 - 2007 ( I know this one is newer but i rather enjoyed it.)
Hope maybe these help her find the one shes looking for. Also she could check the antique book web it shows alot of pitures of old covers and the canadian Library antique book pages. None for sale there just a library info page

Happy the Bus Kitten.  This is a small picture book (not Little Golden, but same size, maybe the logo is an elf?) If this is right, it's just the one, not a series. The cover is pink gingham with a gray kitten and the name of the book is either Happy the Bus Kitten or Lucky the Bus Kitten. The children find kittens on the school bus and end up keeping one of them. He's like a mascot. They change his name from Happy to Lucky or vice versa.  I have the book, but not with me, so that's about all I can remember right now. Hope that helps a little. Let me know if it rings a bell and I can get the author's name and more info.
Lilian Garis, The Wild Warning, 1934, copyright.  I submitted this stumper a few years ago and never found the right book until today.  It is from the 4th book of the Melody Lane Series of books by Lilian Garis.  Really cute part of the story!!!!

F13 farm colors: could it be The Wild Whirlwind, written and illustrated by Dahlov Ipcar, published Knopf 1968? "Everything on Mr. Red's farm matched his name, until a whirlwind filled the barn with animals of all different colors. K-3." (HB Oct/68 p.514 pub ad)

This sounds like Annabel & Edgar Johnson, Wilderness Bride (Harper & Row, '62).
Yes indeed, it does! I just noticed it on your Web site; thanks for telling me, and thank whomever came up with the answer for me please!

Clementia.  (real name Agnes Feehan, aka Sister Mary Edward)  I found a series of books, one of which is Wilhelmina and several which have the name Mary in them, so maybe this is what you're looking for:  Wilhelmina (1939) / The Selwyns in Dixie (1923)  /  Quest of Mary Selwyn (1900?)  /  Uncle Frank's Mary (1917) / New Neighbors at Bird-A-Lea (1932) / Bird-A-Lea (1920) / Story of Berta and Beth, as Told By Mary (Stories of Berta and Beth By Mary (1922)  /  Mary's Rainbow (1922)
Sadlier, Anna, Cousin Wilhelmina, St Louis, Herder c.1900.  I wonder if it could be this writer, a Catholic author of historical novels, ghost stories and children's books? I have no plot descriptions, but another of her novels is titled Mary Tracy's Fortune (published 1902) so there are names and time period in common.
The first posting under my request are the books I have been looking for. The Selwyns in Dixie, etc. I am so pleased. The names and locations, etc. started to come back to me as I read the titles of the books. Thank you also to the second person who posted what they thought might be the books. I appreciate everyone's efforts. Have a nice week, all.

Gaynelle might have fun putting her name into a search engine such as  www.google.com  There are  2,660 articles there with that name in them.  Who knows? one of them might mention a book.
I hit Book Review Digest and checked the title index from 1910-1920 for titles beginning Gaynelle with no luck whatsoever. Haven't been able to find anything beginning "Gaynelle" in the LC catalog either.
I have had a feeling that this character is from one of the Oz books by L. Frank Baum. I hestitated to send in this suggestion because I could never verify it and the poster felt sure that Gaynelle was in the title.  I glanced thru all of my "Oz" books, but couldn't find any reference to a character named Gaynelle so I am probably way off base but the time frame would be correct  all of his books were published before 1930. Baum also wrote several other books  most of which I have read so I could be thinking of one of those.
Libbey, Laura Jean, The Lovely Constance?, or THE LOVELY MAID OF DARBY TOWN? early 1900s.  I couldn't find a site for "Book Review Digest" to make a search for just "The Lovely"... but anyway - I started doing all kinds of other searches and found some old fashioned romances by Laura Jean Libbey, two of which are the titles here.  I couldn't find any descriptions, or references to a "Gaynelle" but thought this might be a start.  Hope you find it!
Laura Jean Libbey, Willful Gaynelle,1890.  How about Willful Gaynelle?  The subtitle is "The Little Beauty of the Passaic Cotton Mills."
Laura Jean Libbey, Willful Gaynell or The Little beauty of the passiac cotton mills, 1890.  My grandmother was named after this book and it is my middle name and my daughters also. Read it once in my early teens and would love to get my hands on a copy. Its a story of a working class girl Gaynell who falls in love with Percy the man who owns the cotton mill she works in. Tragedy befalls them over and over but love survives.

Penelope Farmer, William and Mary : a Story, 1974.  Transported into strange underwater worlds by the half a sea shell William owns, Mary and William conduct a seemingly hopeless search for the other half of the shell."
#M161--Magic Shell, William & Mary?: William and Mary:  A Story.  Penelope Farmer.  New York: Atheneum, 1974.  Stated First Edition, 160 pp.  ISBN: 068950005X.  Subjects:  Fantasy.  Summary:  Mary was the headmaster's daughter and the only girl at a boys' boarding school!  Most of the boys paid her no attention until the Easter holidays when she made friends with William and his special shell that he kept in his pocket!  During the holidays, when the boys went home, life changed greatly for Mary.  This holiday was different.  William, a bright though generally aloof boy, had to stay on at school because his family was away, and he expected Mary to be his companion.  Mary and William found that a rare shell had the power to carry them into an aquarium and back to the fall of Atlantis.  Transported into strange underwater worlds by the half a sea shell, Mary and William conducted a seemingly hopeless search for the other half of the shell.
I read this book in Junior High--some 27 years ago--and all I remember is about Mary being the headmaster's daughter and only girl at a boys' boarding school.  She did not feel at all special as the only girl, but misfit and outcast.  I remember the scene when William first ate dinner with Mary's family.  He recited a poem beginning "William and Mary" of which Mary knew the last line to render the whole thing obscene.  He then stopped and said, "I don't remember the last line, do _you_, Mary?"  Mary became totally flustered, making her parents think she was rude and weird.  The only one of their adventures that made any impression was their going to see a Disney movie similiar to "Bedknobs and Broomsticks," and a relative of Mary's disapproving because "she disliked movies, Disney movies in particular," which I found very strange.  They then find themselves in an underwater cartoon sequence with fish of a much more sinister nature.  The fish are angry because people eat fish and William says his uncle was eaten by a fish--"he was a marine biologist"--at which the most belligerent of the fish accuses him of lying.  From the front cover and the one part I remember, you couldn't prove it by me that all their adventures weren't underwater, which obviously they were not.  I also remember near the end when Mary bursts into tears, "Oh, I _wish_ I was a boy!" startling her father.  Her parents had never realized she was unhappy at the school.  I honest to God remember all this from reading the book once, that long ago, and it is all I remember.  I didn't remember William bringing the sea shell as opposed to them finding it, or even the fact that he HAD a sea shell!  Guess in this case the sea shell was the real "McGuffin" in the story!
you can file this one away in solved, too!  that's 3 out of 4 for me.  now if somebody could tell me how to get a hold of a copy of this.  i've been looking under the title "william and mary" for years to no avail.  i finally had decided i was crazy and that that wasn't the name of the book.  thank you so much for reaffirming my memory.

The books are called the Williamsberg Series and were written by Elswyth Thane. Books in the series include: Dawn's Early Light, Homing, Yankee Stranger and Ever After. Fun historical fiction!
While browsing your web site I found a request for the name of an author and book titles for a series of books about the south and entertwined families. The author is Gwen Bristow and the three books were Deep Summer, The Handsome Road and This Side of Glory. Hope you can help your customer out. (I think the answer given was wrong I have every one of her books and have read them a million times).
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Series of historical romantic fiction I loved as a teenager.  It starts with the Revolution, main character named Tabitha, and goes on to her descendants in books of the Civil War (one of the characters is Eden, another is Sue), and continues up to at least World War II.  I loved this series and hope you can help!!  maybe they were written in late 50's or early 60's.

These are the Williamsburg Novels (because the original characters lived in colonial VA) by Elswyth Thane.  There are seven altogether: Dawn's Early Light, Yankee Stranger, Ever After, The Light Heart, Kissing Kin, This Was Tomorrow, and Homing. 1943 to 1957.  Wonderful stories, wonderful people.
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A series of books (6, I think). I read them when I was in high school (early seventies). The story line of the series follows one family through a couple of generations, from Williamsburg to London and back.

You've got it... it's the Williamsburg series by Elswyth Thane.  There are seven in the series: Dawn's Early Light, Yankee Stranger, Ever After, The Light Heart, Kissing Kin, This Was Tomorrow, and Homing. 1943 to 1957.

W53 Willy Mouse:  Try this series (spelling makes such a difference!) Pauline Vinson, author and illustrator
Willie Goes to the Seashore (Macmillan, 1954) Willie Goes to the Hospital (Macmillan, 1956) Willie Goes to School (Macmillan, 1958)  'The adventures of an enterprising mouse.'  There may be more, that's what I found online.
A bit more on one of these - Willie Goes to the Seashore, written and illustrated by Pauline Vinson, published Macmillan 1954. "A color picture book about a happy little mouse who spends a vacation at the seashore and discovers many new adventures. Ages 3-6." (HB Jan/54 p.67 pub.ad)

Willy Woo-Oo-Oo
years ago, my mom read to my brother, sister and i a book about a fire engine called "willy woo". we've been trying to find 6 copies every since...can you help? i'm not sure if that's the title, or was just the main character's name. thanks for any help!

#W64--Willy Woo:  Wright, Betty Ren.Willy Woo-Oo-Oo, Wonder Books, 1951.

There is a  later Madeleine L'Engle book called Ring of Endless Light...
Ursula LeGuin's books are usually in the same section as L'engle's, and they are somewhat similar in tone. I'm not sure about this title, but it sounds possible.
Thanks for your email! The Madeleine l'Engle book doesn't sound familiar, but it COULD be the one I'm looking for. In any case, since I've never read a book by l'Engle that I didn't like, I'm sure I'd enjoy it even if it wasn't the right one. And I'm almost positive that it isn't by LeGuin. Anyway, if you have this one, could you let me know?
Ring around the Moon is by Eric Linklater. It describes the hilarious adventures of 2 girls who run afoul of a witch.  She swells them to the size of balloons and they blow around the street.At one point they release several animals from the zoo, after hearing the animals talking to each other.  Their father is a prisoner in a mysterious Ruritanian-type country. they set out to rescue him. It is extremely funny. I think it was published around the 1940s.
It sounds to me that the reader is looking for the Madeleine L'Engle series about the Austin family.  The books deal with the coming of age of the oldest daughter, Vicky, who wants to be a writer.  She has a sister (thus
the two girls) and also two brothers.  The first book is called Meet the Austins, the second, The Moon by Night, and the third one, A Ring of Endless Light. The reader may have combined the titles of the last two.  I
love these books about the Austin family almost more than the Wrinkle in Time trilogy.  They are excellent books!
The Eric Linklater book may be the one, or it could be one of the 'Austin' series.
Is Ring Round the Moon the same as Wind on the Moon?? Perhaps the title was changed for US. Certainly in
Linklater's Wind on the Moon the 2 girls get changed into kangaroos.
The Wind on the Moon, by Eric Linklater, illustrated by Nicolas Bentley, published by Macmillan 1944 and 1958, 364 pages. "It concerns two children, Dinah and Dorinda, and their amazing adventures in the villaged of Midmeddlecum. Amongst the astonishing inhabitants of this village are Mrs. Grimble, who can brew a magic draught better than most people; Sir Lankester Lemon and his private zoo, where Dinah and Dorinda meet Mr. Parker the Giraffe, who is also a very remarkable detective; Miss Serendip, the Governess; the Golden Puma and the Silver Falcon, with whom Dinah and Dorinda share their greatest adventure, that of rescuing their father from the hands of that abominable tyrant, Count Hulagu Bloot." (from the dust-jacket) It's an episodic nonsense fantasy, and the two girls grow immensely fat and then terribly thin; terrify their governess by bringing the pigeons on her wallpaper to life; turn themselves into kangaroos and infiltrate the private zoo, from which they release the puma and the falcon, (with the aid of magic potions from Mrs. Grimble); make Mr. Justice Rumple release the Members of the Jury from Prison by stinking up his house; and travel to Bombardy in a furniture van to rescue their father. Among other things.

Isn't this something by Heinlein, from the 50's?
Thank you for the information but i already found the book. It was Windmaster's Bane by Tom Deitz.

Madeleine L'Engle, A Wrinkle in Time, 1962. If Charles Wallace, Meg and Calvin (friend) ring a bell this could be your book. As I recall, Charles Wallace becomes ill, because of his gifts when the children time travel, looking for their lost father.
L'Engle , Wind in the Door, 1970s. The person who posted the initial answer had the right author and characters, but the wrong book title for his/her description.  Charles Wallace actually falls ill in the sequel to Wrinkle in Time (A Wind the Door), and Meg and Calvin, aided by a cherubim, try to save him.  A crucial part of the book involves a character (actually a mitochondria) needing to deepen, to stay still rather than continuing to move about freely.  (Charles travels through time in the third book, Swiftly Tilting Planet.)

Tonks, Oliver Jesse, Smuggler's Moon, 1952.  This is just a guess.  I couldn't find a description so I don't know if it refers to smuggling gold, pirate treasure, or people.
Eric Linklater, The Wind on the Moon, 1944.  This might be "The Wind on the Moon" as at one point the two sisters Dinah and Dorinda travel in the back of a furniture van (in the company of Mr Corvo and The Puma) to rescue their father from the evil Count Hulagu.  Earlier in the book the girls spend some time as Kangaroos.  An absolute classic from 1944 (Macmillan) republised in the UK by Jane Nissen Books in 2000.  Enjoy!
I am sure you are right. It is Eric Linklater's Wind on the Moon. What a wonderful service this is as I am sure I would never have found the title out otherwise. Thanks to everyone.

There's a very fine film, "Jacoba," about Jacoba Omvlee, who hid the ten Brink family in a windmill in a Netherlands village. The book you remember probably was based on their story.
I believe the book about the windmill during World War II is The Winged Watchman by Hilda Van Stockum.
Thanks so much for your wonderful service. The two "mysteries" that I had posted were solved correctly by you or your readers, and I have now re-discovered 2 old favorites: The Doll of Lilac Valley and The Winged Watchman. I will certainly recommend your site to others searching for long-lost favorites!
Winged Watchman, written and illustrated by Hilda Van Stockum, published Farrar 1962, 192 pages. "The Verhagen family lived at the mill, the Watchman, one of the few nonelectrified polder mills in all of Holland, where the father, who was the miller had a chance to prove the value of the wind-driven mill in times of crisis. Mother kept her family fed and clothed by the utmost exercise of her ingenuity, fed countless starving refugees, and took three homeless little girls as her own. One was a Jewish child whose family had hidden her in the garden when Nazi officers had taken them away. An uncle was active in the Underground, and the two boys, Joris and Dirk Jan, found ways, often dangerous, of helping." (HB Oct/62 p.485)

Barbara Michaels, Wings of a Falcon. Stumper I177 Sounds like Wings of a Falcon by Barbara Michaels. From Wikipedia "Set during Italian Risorgimento of 1860, Francesca Fairbourn arrives in Italy after she becomes an orphan to live with her mother's family. Her aristocratic Italian mother and English father had eloped which resulted in her getting deisowned by her family. Francesca's mother died during her birth which left Franseca's father to raise her all alone. When she left school at 18 she lost her father and was in desperate situation until her dashing young cousin Andrea del Tarconti rescues her and sends her to Italy to the aristocratic home of Tarconti Castle. Once there Francesca finds herself intertwined in web of political intrigue as a local disguised hero named Il Falcone is helping peasants fight against tyrant rulers. Francesca realizes that the 'Il Falcone' is closer to her family than she thinks." Cousin may not be in a wheelchair, but he has a limp from a riding accident.
This sounds like: Wings of the Falcon, by Barbara Michaels
I think this is "Wings of the Falcon" by Barbara Michaels.
Sounds a lot like Barbara Michaels "Wings of the Falcon".
Best $2 I have spent in a long time. Thank you so much! My stumper was titled "Italian Romance Masked Man" and it was "Wings of a Falcon" by Barbara Michaels. I kept thinking it was heart of a raven or hawk. I never even tried falcon. Yay!

Louis Tracy, The Wings of the Morning, 1903. This is about Miss Iris Deane, rich girl, shipwrecked in the China Seas with Mr. Robert Jenks, a steward and common seaman. They are marooned on an island and later take refuge in a cliff when they are attacked by Dyak headhunters. Jenks turns out to be an ex-officer and a gentleman named Arbuthnot and they fall in love. This was a very popular book in its day, and might be the one you are thinking about.
Kaye, M. M., Trade Wind.  Historical romance about a girl who is swept off a ship (?) and is rescued by another ship of pirates/renegades (?).  Of course there are sparks between her and the captain.  She eventually makes it to island which was her original destination, and I remember some slavery issues coming up, a cholera epidemic, and I think a pirate raid (or some sort of uprising), in which the guy who rescued her helps her defend her house.  They end up burying some treasure, which is found by their descendents in another book the author wrote (I think it was "Death in Zanzibar").  Sorry I don't remember some specifics, it's been at least 15 years since I read this!
Yes, the book I remember reading is The Wings of the Morning.  I've borrowed it from the library and am going to reread it now.  I had no idea the book was 100 years old!

Carol Ryrie Brink, Winter Cottage
Carol Ryrie Brink, Winter Cottage.I'm pretty sure this is the book, though I think they had to stay at the cottage because their car broke down.  I might be confusing it with "The Velvet Room," though.  I think one of the girls was called Egg.

This is just a guess, but possibly The Winter of Enchantment by Victoria Walker, first published in 1969. Plot summary: "Sebastian resolves to free the girl he meets through the magic mirror when he learns she is imprisoned by a wicked enchanter."
I wanted to respond to the person who posted the solution to this stumper : I posted the query originally, and I just want to say many, many thanks to whoever posted the suggestion of The Winter of Enchantment.  Yes – this is the book!  A quote from another webpage I found : “A great fantasy tale of a young boy who must undertake a quest to free a girl from the eternal prison of the Enchanter, aided only by the Silver Teapot, Mantari the cat (who ate the Silver Fish and so inadvertently took its power), the Seasons, and their own courage.” I never expected to find the answer so quickly.  Many thanks for running this greatwebsite! 

Sherryl Jordan, Winter of Fire.
Yep!  That's the one. Thank you so much.  What a great site concept you have, too.  :)

Service, Pamela, Winter of Magic's Return.  Merlin is called "Earl" throughout the book, because they don't realize at first that he is Merlin. There is a sequel, Tomorrow's Magic.
Service, Pamela F., Winter of magic's return, 1985.  Convinced that a new age of magic is about to begin in the wake of the nuclear holocaust, a young resurrected Merlin and two friends set out to bring King Arthur back to the land
Pamela Service, Winter of Magic's Return.  Though not all of the details match, this is probably the book. "Convinced that a new age of magic is about to begin in the wake of the nuclear holocaust, a young resurrected Merlin and two friends [Welly and Heather] set out to bring King Arthur back to the land." 

Elizabeth Howard, Winter on Her Own (?), 1968.
I got a copy of Winter on Her Own and believe must be the book because of the cover art although my memory of the heroine was that she was younger.  Thanks for the solution.

Phyllis A. Whitney, The Winter People.  Bernardina marries a dashing artist who takes her to his family mansion in New Jersey. The house is on a lake, and the artist's evil, jealous twin sister torments Bernardina. The twins are given similar necklaces for Christmas.

Doty, Jean Slaughter, Winter Pony? This is a stretch, but could you be thinking of Winter Pony, the sequel to Summer Pony?  The pony was named Mokey, but there were a lot of snow scenes in Winter Pony, and a "wintry" sort of title that may have reminded you of snow? I seem to recall Christmas scenes when the main character and her friend are given a sleigh, albeit not a pony, and start trying to teach the ponies to pull the sleigh, lots of snowy scenes. The horse also runs away at one point, although it may have been in the first book, Summer Pony.

Perhaps Jay Williams' The King with 6 Friends?
This is a long shot, but could this be The King of the Copper Mountain, by Paul Biegel? A 1000-year old King is dying, and different animals keep coming by to tell him stories to keep him alive until the doctor can get back with his medicine. The king is tended by a rabbit, and it does have a beetle telling one of the stories.
Benjamin Elkin/Anita Lobel (illustrator), The Wisest Man in the World, 1967.   I was a young subscriber to Parents' Magazine Press around the time this poster was babysitting. I believe she is looking for The Wisest Man in the World. It is a story about Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Solomon is trying to get Sheba to be an ally. She tests him by making her artisans create a beautiful flower garden and asks him to pick out the one real flower in the bunch. The way he does it is a little bee finds the flower--just so happens Solomon had saved this little bee earlier in the book. I loved this book because of its beautiful, rich illustrations.

Bill Britain, The Wish Giver, 1983.
Bill Brittain, The Wish Giver:  Three Tales of Coven Tree, 1984.  Four stories about what happens when wishes are granted at a carnival. One boy turns into tree, a girl sounds like a frog, another boy floods his farm, and final wisher unwishes the problems.

Was this definitely a story, or could it be a poem? There is a book called The Wishing Fairies by Madge Bigham (NY, 1915): a poem for each month, illustrated by Fanny Cory.
Could this be the same as the series IDed under The Elephant and the Wishing Fairy? If so, it looks as if the whole series (Cottontail and the wishing-fairy, The peacock and the wishing-fairy, The zebra and the wishing-fairy, The elephant and the wishing-fairy, ...) may be collected in The wishing-fairy's animal friends by Corinne Ingraham, published by Brentano's, 1921. It is 140 pages, while the others are about 40 pages each.
Well, yes, I think you're probably right.  I'll move that other stumper over here....

I remember the book Stella the Wishing Fairy from my childhood. My mother read it to us probably around 1929 to 1930. It was a series of stories about how the various animals got their unique features: all from Stella, of course. How the elephant got its trunk, the giraffe its long neck, the zebra its stripes, the peacock its raucous voice, etc., etc.

Corinne Ingraham had a series of books published by Brentano's in 1921 of animal legends.  I know of four, illustrated by Walker: Cottontail and the wishing fairy, Elephant and the wishing fairy, Peacock..., and
Zebra....  Each was about 40 pages long.  There was also a collection, about 140 pages long, called The wishing-fairy's animal friends.  I saw a copy online the other day for almost $400.

Louis Slobodkin, The little mermaid who could not sing,  1956.  This is just a possibility.  My library doesn't own this book so I can't check the details, but the date and subject were right.  It also is a 38 page book, so probably a good andidate to be remembered as a "reader."  Another possibility may be The Mermaid and the Boy, by John Bowen (unless you're positive it was a girl), published somewhere between 1957-1960, 44 pp.  Also, The Mermaid of Kilshannig, by Maureen Pretyman, seems to be an Irish tale of some kind, published 1947, 40 pp.  Those were the most likely ones I found... hopefully one of these titles will ring a bell!
Parents Magazine Press  illustr. Anita Lobel, The Wishing Penny and Other Fantasy Stories, 1967.  I accidentally found this in the library while looking for something else!  This book has several stories by different authors, and the mermaid/little girl story is called Castle By The Sea, by Mary Trumbo Hill.  Karen builds a big beautiful sand castle.  Then the tide comes in, and brings in a small mermaid.  The mermaid asks Karen if she can keep the sand castle, and in return she will leave a gift for Karen.  The next day there is a big pink conch shell on the beach for Karen.  The other stories in this book are The Wishing Penny, The Magic Umbrella, The Runaway Shoes, The Boy & The Whistle, Egbert the Elephant (he is a plaid toy elephant that goes exploring), and Mr. Riggins & the Little Cloud.  Very cute book, gentle stories.
Thanks much, Harriet. Castle By the Sea, from the Parents Magazine collection (The Wishing Penny and Other Fantasy Stories, 1957) sounds the most promising (the main character in the Mermaid story was definitely a little girl).
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I think this may have been a weekly reader book, but am not sure.  I read it sometime in the 60s. There were illustrations - I'm thinking line drawings.  A girl is at the seaside for the summer and builds a wonderful sand castle which she improves day by day.  One day a tiny mermaid comes to live in the castle.  I have only the haziest memories of this book, although I know I checked it out of the library and read it several times.

Anita Lobel, Wishing Penny and Other Fantasy Stories, 1967.  I think it sounds like this book again.  "Traditional magic forms the basis for seven modern fairy tales: The wishing penny, by J. Gilchrist ; The magic umbrella, by K. Willse; Castle by the sea, by M. T. Hill;  The runaway shoes, by E. Preston;  The boy and the whistle, by E. Ireland;  Egbert the elephant, by H. Zahorik;  Mr. Riggins and the little cloud, by G. Douthit." There's more under "Solved Mysteries."

This may be Mabel Widdemer, The Wishing Star: A Mystery of Old Tarrytown ('48)
W7 could also be the book The Wishing Star by Norma Johnston, copies of which I have seen for sale on Ebay.  I have not read it, but the dust jacket description is "Life for a sensitive young girl back in 1900 was no bed of roses, anymore than it is today... Sixteen-year-old Julie Forrest, shy, dazzled by her beautiful mother's glamour, longs for some magic that will make her 'belong,' make her exactly like everybody else. She is too old now to believe still in the miraculous powers attributed by legend to The Wishing Star, the exquisite brooch which was her mother's good-luck piece during her years onstage, but all the same she feels that perhaps, if the brooch were hers..."
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I read a hardcover book as a young firl (11?) in the mid sixties.  The main character's name was Cassandra and I believe the title was The Wishing Star.

Dodie Smith, I Capture the Castle.  Probably not your book, but the main character in Dodie Smith's perennial favorite I Capture the Castle is named Cassandra. She's a seventeen year old who lives in a castle in England with an impoverished and eccentric family. If anything, a young adult book rather than a children's book.
Norma Johnston, The Wishing Star, 1963.  This is definitely the book. Julie Forrest is the main character, but her mother is "Cassandra" (too charismatic to be known as "mother"). The wishing star is a sapphire pin, a family heirloom, that Julie feels will change her life, and help her feel equal to her mother.
Johnston, Norma, The Wishing Star,1963.  Possibly this book, but the only description I could find is that it's a young adult fiction.  I found two other books with this same title, but they were 88 and 32 pages long and are probably meant for younger readers.

Your memory is absolutely right, it is called The Wishing Tree by William Faulkner, and I remember having a copy here not long ago.  Of course, I don't have one now, but I looked it up and it was published posthumously by Random House in 1964.  Most of the copies available are pricey, but I can get you an ex-library copy for $40 if you're interested.
Oh, good!  I was hoping at least part of the memory was right!  I may wait on buying this, though - there are so many books I want...  Thanks very much!  You have a wonderful website!
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all I remember about this book is that a boy found a cat, either near a tree, or the cat took him to a tree, and they entered a secret door to another world. I think the cat talked.

Possibly The Wishing Tree by Ruth Chew.  "A bird and cat that talk and a special tree in a nearby park involve a brother and sister in some magical adventures."

Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds, Witch series.I think this is one of the witch books by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. Try The Witch Herself.. The series, in order: Witch's Sister, Witch Water, The Witch Herself, The Witch's Eye, Witch Weed, and The Witch Returns. Mrs. Tuggle is the neighbor that is suspected of being a witch, Lynn's mother is a writer, Lynn has a friend named Mouse, and in Witch's Sister,  Lynn suspects her sister Judith is earning witchcraft. On a note of trivia, the tv show "Big Blue Marble" did a six-part serialization of the book, but it doesn't seem to be available on DVD or VHS.
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Witch series. We've been having problems with our computer connection, so I just wanted to make sure you did get the solution I sent previously for this one--I didn't see it yet in your updates.  The books are Witch's Sister, Witch Water, and The Witch Herself.
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, The Witch Herself, 1978.  The 3rd in the series. Lynn's author mother is renting a room from the witch (Mrs. Tuggle) to use as a studio. Lynn, (who Mrs. Tuggle calls "Dorolla" when trying to control her), and her friend Mouse use a spoon to hypnotyze Lynn's sister Judith (who was under the witch's spell in the first book) to get information on how to stop her.
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I remember in the book the two main characters are two young girls.  The mother of one girl is an author.  The girls are worried about a witch they believe live in the town, and at several points use hypnosis on each other.  The witch, it turns out, is "possessing" the mother as she is writing her current novel, which has a character I'm almost positive is named "Dorella."  Towards the end they are trapped in a crumbling church by the witch.

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, witch series.Witch's Sister, Witch Water, The Witch Herself are the original three books, and I think there's another one that was written later.  See the Solved Mysteries page.
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Witch Series, 1975-1992.  This sounds like one of the Witch Series books: Witch's Sister (1975), Witch Water (1977), The Witch Herself (1978), The Witch's Eye (1990), Witch Weed (1991), and The Witch Returns (1992).  See the Solved Mysteries W page for more information.

W21 is A Witch in the House by Ruth Chew (swings, wolfbane, botanical garden, and all!)
W21 about the witch and the upside down swing is definitely a Ruth Chew book but I can't remember which one - I vividly remember her liking to eat coffee grounds . . . kind of made me fond of them myself;)  Try any of the Chew books with the word "Witch" in the title, I think.
This one is mine.  Looks like it's solved!  How do I go about making a purchase?  I'd love to have this
around for my nieces to read.
More on the suggested title - Witch in the House, written and illustrated by Ruth Chew, published Scholastic 1975, Hastings House 1976, 112 pages "Girls Laura and Jane get involved with a witch and a flying carpet" - not much of a plot description!
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I was born in '72 and can't recall how old I was when I read this book...I just remember there is a young girl who came across this witch who for some reason is stuck living upside down.  The girl hides the witch in her room who I THINK hides in her closet. I remember the witch loved eating coffee grounds that the girl would sneak up to her from the kitchen.  I THINK the witch also loved eating buttercup flowers when they went on a walk outside??

Ruth Chew, Witch in the House, 1975. Don't swing over the top bar of the swing set!
Ruth Chew, Witch in the House, 1975. This is the much requested Witch in the House.  She does enjoy eating coffee grounds and she is stuck on the ceiling and hids in the little girl's closet.
Ruth Chew, Witch in the House, 1975.Definitely this one!  Laura finds a witch, Sally, who has become stuck upside-down through an accident with a swing.  Laura hides Sally in her closet (on the ceiling, naturally) and feeds her things like chicken bones, coffee grounds, and broken glass.  When Sally takes a shower, she accidentally enchants a pink bath mat, turning it into a flying carpet of sorts, which Laura and her friend, Jane, are able to use to travel about.  They must collect the ingredients that Sally needs to make a potion to cure herself of her upside-down-ness, including such things as tadpoles, jellyfish, poison ivy, ground glass, and Wolf's Bane (the buttercups).
Ruth Chew, Witch in the House, 1975. See the "solved mysteries" page for this
This is another Ruth Chew book...either Wrong Way Round Magic or The Witch in the House, I think...
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Looking for a fun children's book from either the sixties or seventies about a witch that some kids keep in their room.  Either one of the children or the witch swings over the top bar of the swingset - I can't remember.  The witch is funny and eats glass and coffee grounds. Help?

Ruth Chew, Witch in the House.  details match exactly.
Ruth Chew, Witch in the House, 1975, copyright.  Definitely this one!  Laura finds a witch, Sally, who has become stuck upside-down through an accident with a swing.  Laura hides Sally in her closet (on the ceiling, naturally) and feeds her things like chicken bones, coffee grounds, and broken glass.  When Sally takes a shower, she accidentally enchants a pink bath mat, turning it into a flying carpet of sorts, which Laura and her friend, Jane, are able to use to travel about.  They must collect the ingredients that Sally needs to make a potion to cure herself of her upside-down-ness, including such things as tadpoles, jellyfish, poison ivy, ground glass, and Wolf's Bane (the buttercups).
This is definitely one of Ruth Chew's "witch" titles.  Maybe The Witch and the Ring, but I'm not positive.

I think I remember seeing a movie in the 70's called The Witch from Glass Mountain, but I could be confused. Let me do some research.
How about The Witch Family by Eleanor Estes? Witches, mermaid, glass mountain that turns real at the end so the mermaids swim out... Cool book.
The book is The Witch Family by Eleanor Estes, which wonderfully has recently become available again - it is about Old Witch who is "baquished" to the glass hill by 7 year old's Amy and Clarissa, but they feel bad for her and allow her to have a Little Witch girl to keep her company, and then a baby witch, too. It does involve a mermaid and a baby mermaid named "Bebe" who live inside the glass hill. Other characters are Malachi the Magic Bumblebee and Old Tom (the cat) and Young Tommy (the kitten).
About a little girl whose name I can’t remember (sheesh, this could test you!).  It’s all to with witches: I think she becomes a little witch and it’s a very life-enhancing experience for her.  God, I can’t remember *anything* about it except that I loved it and she invented the word “banquish”: a combination of “banish” and “vanquish”.  It was a brilliant book.  Oh well.
its about a young girl who goes to live on top of a glass hill/mt with two witches, there were more in the series, maybe with a baby, then to witch school. It's been bugging me to read it again after 20yrs or so. *sigh* I suppose you're used to this feeling by now.
Here it is:
Estes, Eleanor. The Witch Family. Illustrated by Edward Ardizzone. NY: Harcourt Brace & World, 1960. Ex-library copy, stickers removed from title and copyright pages, otherwise clean. VG-/VG+. $15ppd.
AND, it's still in print, so I can get you a paperback copy for about $6.
I had one other book which I found on your site-- The witch family. All I could ever remember was the 'glass mountain' and mermaid. I cant even tell you how cool it is to finally know what book that was! I loved that book!  Thanks so much for ending years of frustration!!!
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This book is a fantasy book where two little girls, who are best friends, meet another little girl who is somehow magical. They live in Washington, DC and one has hair the color of sunlight, the other moonlight. Their magical friend takes them to a cave where the water reflects beautiful colors on the walls of the cave and mermaids live there.

This is Eleanor Estes' The Witch Family.  The magical friend is the little witch, who lives on top of a
glass mountain with the mean old witch...the two little mortal girls have "banquished" the old witch there.
This is The Witch Family by Eleanor Estes. The two little girls with hair the colour of sunlight and moonlight are Amy and Clarissa, and in one of their adventures they visit the mermaid cave, as described in the stumper.
H48 THE WITCH FAMILY by Eleanor Estes, 1960 (but recently republished). Amy and Clarissa are 2 friends - one has hair the color of moonlight, one sunlight. ~from a librarian
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I'm looking for a children's book for my 3rd grade daughter.  I remember reading a book when I was in third or fourth grade (around 1969-1970). The characters were children, at least one of whom was a witch, and there was a threat that the witch would be "banquished" (instead of banished).  Any recollection?  it was very popular among my classmates at the time.  Thank you.

Yeah, it's true.  Some queries I solve without the stumper fee.  Couldn't resist asnwering this one: it's Witch Family by Eleanor Estes.
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Sorry, I have very little to go on here. I remember very little specifically about this book: no title, author, or characters' names. I'm fairly certain the main character was a girl. The story was "magical," in both senses. I believe there was a witch? The keywords are the main things that stick in my mind. I remember the main character defining "banquish," as a cross between banish and vanquish. The stone egg was some kind of talisman or other magic device. The bumblebee? Don't remember! I do seem to recall that part of the story took place in a small clearing in the woods, the grass there perfectly clipped (as if by deer?). The only other thing I remember, despite what my sketchy description implies, is that I LOVED this book. To this day I carry around a remnant of the terrific, sunny -- yes, magical -- feeling it gave me. Help!

banquish plus witch equals The Witch Family by Eleanor Estes.
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Story about a bumble or carpenter bee who lives with a girl in a glass house on Nantucket. I think it is a girl it could be a boy.  The bee is named Malichi or Malici and he can talk I think.something about cold weather?  It not a story book more a longer novellette hardbound, maybe written in 1960s or 1970s or maybe earlier it was an old book and had that old book smell.  I hope someone knows this I read it when I was like 7 or 8.

Eleanor Estes, The Witch Family
Eleanor Estes, The Witch Family. There's a magic bumble bee named Malachi in The Witch Family.
Eleanor Estes, The Witch Family, 1960.  Old Witch lives on the top of a barren glass hill, banished by Amy for being too
wicked. She has Little Witch Girl and baby Weeny Witchie for company, and also Malachi the bumblebee to watch that she behaves herself. If Old Witch stays good for the whole year, Amy says, she will be free to fly around the world on Halloween night.  Seven-year-old Amy lives in the real world. She and her best friend Clarissa like to tell stories and draw pictures about the witch family ... such as how Little Witch Girl goes to witch school, or the time Old Witch challenged Malachi to a spelling bee lost.  And the more stories Amy tells the more mixed together their lives become -- until Amy is caught on the glass hill and Old Witch herself flies in the Halloween night, bursting with wickedness and hurly-burly!  Amy never blinks an eye when the line blurs between her real world and the witches' world, although the reader may be curious: Has Amy invented these witches and their adventures, or is she just unusually knowledgeable about them? Eleanor Estes never tells. Estes writes playfully, with bees and Bs, and spelling and spells, and she knows exactly what makes a good witch story: magic, secrets, and a properly wicked witch, pointed hat and all. The old witch is wicked, but not too wicked, and even Amy knows to ask "What is the good of Old Witch if she is good all the time?"
Eleanor Estes, The Witch Family, 1960.  Could this be The Witch Family by Eleanor Estes again?  The bumblebee Malachi is a spelling bee.  The story starts in the wintertime when Amy and Clarissa banish the witch to the top of a glass hill.  Malachi goes to watch over her.   The girls live in Washington DC, though.
Eleanor Estes, Witch Family, This is definitely it---Malachi is a spelling bee who spies on a witch who lives on a glass mountain.
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I can't remember exactly who lived in the crystal cave under the house - but the little girl would go visit?

Eleanor Estes, The Witch Family. This sounds like The Witch Family, by Eleanor Estes.
Eleanor Estes, The Witch Family. I think this is what you're looking for.
Estes, Eleanor, The Witch Family. The Little Witch Girl lives on a glass hill, which has a cave inside that contains a lagoon with a young mermaid girl.
Eleanor Estes (author), Edward Ardizzone (illustrator), The Witch Family, 1960. Possibly this one?  Please see the Solved Mysteries "W" page for more!
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I don't remember much, but I loved this book.  I read it sometime between 1976 and 1978.  It was about a little witch who had to prove herself, I think...she had to go to a huge glass (ice?) mountain and figure out how to get inside.  All the witches had palindromes for names--I think the main character's name was Hannah.

There is a glass mountain in Eleanor Estes' "The Witch Family," but no Hannah that I recall.
Eleanor Estes, The Witch Family
Eleanor Estes (author), Edward Ardizzone (illustrator), The Witch Family. (1960)  Your memories are sketchy, but this book definitely contains a little witch named Hannah and a glass mountain.  Please see the Solved Mysteries "W" page for more!
Eleanor Estes, The Witch Family.  This might possibly be the Witch Family, by Eleanor Estes, especially if the memories are very vague, as the details don't quite match...but the book does indeed have a little witch, a baby witch sister named Hannah, and a glass mountain (the glass mountain, as I recall, is to keep wicked Old Witch, with whom Little Witch lives, out of mischief).  What I always remembered most for some reason was the mermaid who lived in the mountain under a waterfall with her mermaid baby.  Good luck!
Eleanor Estes, The Witch Family. (2000)  The ever-beloved Witch Family! Here is the review from Amazon, see if it sounds right for the stumper: The Witch Family is about two girls who while drawing witches pretend to banish the head witch, also known as Old Witch, to a glass hill because she is very wicked. If you multiply the "Old" with one million, you get some idea of how old she was! The girls also let Old Witch do her abracadabra so that she can have a witch girl named Hannah and a witch baby. Old Witch gets to be wicked only on Halloween. At the end, the two girls take pity on Old Witch and turn the glass hill into a real hill with grass. After that, Old Witch is not wicked anymore except on Halloween. I think this is a good book to read on Halloween.
Eleanor Estes, The Witch Family. (1960)  I'm not sure about the Hannah, but the glass mountain and the little witch make me think this is it.  See Solved Mysteries.
Eleanor Estes, The Witch Family.  Must be the right answer.  The little girl's name is Hannah, but its the old witch who has to (im)prove herself on top of the glass hill.
This description makes me think of THE WITCH FAMILY by Eleanor Estes. The little witch girl's name is Hannah. Although all the names are not
palindromes, the book states that witches spell backwards. It might be worth looking into~from a librarian
Eleanor Estes, The Witch Family. (1960)  I'm not sure whether or not this is the right book.  It is about a Little Witch Girl called Hannah who is sent by two young American girls to keep the Old Witch company after they "banquished" her to exile on a glass hill.  Amy and Clarissa are in control of the story to some extent, and later send Hannah a mermaid friend (Lurie) and  baby sister (Beebee). There are no more palindromic names, though there is a Magic Spelling Bee called Malachi. The mermaid (and her baby sister Babay) live inside the mountain so Hannah does have to find the way inside at one point
Eleanor Estes, The Witch Family. (1960)  Could it be The Witch Family?  The glass hill sounds similar...

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Estes, Eleanor.  The Witch Family.  Harcourt, Brace & World, 1960.  Illustrated by Edward Ardizzone.  11th printing, hardcover, ex-library, minor wear and rear pocket removed.  VG/VG  <SOLD> Estes, Eleanor. The Witch Family.  Harcourt, Brace & World, 1960. , 1988.  New hardcover, $17 Estes, Eleanor. The Witch Family. Harcourt, Brace & World, 1960, 2000.  New paperback, $6

L115 York, Carol Beach.  The witch lady mystery. illus by Ethel Gold. Scholastic, 1976.  When Oliver rakes the leaves in Mrs Prichard's yard, will he find out if she is really a witch?
Thank you, Ms. Logan. You and your readers are excellent book detectives. Those three titles are the books I remember.

LC has Witch of the glens / by Sally Watson ; drawings by Barbara Werner.  New York : Viking Press, 1962.  275 p. With subject headings Gypsies--Fiction, Witches--Fiction, and Scotland--Fiction.  Those headings
don't necessarily look like a match, but maybe the author's name will ring a bell.
W41 sounds just like WITCH OF BLACKBIRD POND, by Elizabeth George Speare.  This should still be in print as its a Newberry Winner.
There is a book called Witch of Glensby Sally Watson.  It was recomended to me, but I haven't read it yet, so I don't know if the plot matches.
W41 (Witch of the Glen) sounds a lot like The Witch of Blackbird Pond.
W-41  Sally Watson wrote Witch of the Glens, which definitely takes place in Scotland.  The rest of the story sounds similar to the stumper though.
Elizabeth George Speare, Witch of Blackbird Pond. This is the book that you want.  Witch of the Glens, by Sally Watson, takes place in Scotland in 1644 and is about a gypsy who becomes involved in the conflict between 'covenanters' and 'loyalists'.  The plot described in W41 is the plot of Witch of Blackbird Pond, where a young woman comes to Massachusetts, befriends the local 'wise woman' who is supposed to be a  witch, and gets embroiled in the witchcraft trials.  Both Witch of Blackbird Pond and Witch of the Glens are excellent. Witch of Blackbird Pond is still in print  Witch of the Glens is not--the copy I have came from a library sale.

Calhoun, Mary, The Witch of Hissing Hill.  NY Morrow 1964.  I believe it's this one "A wicked old witch named Sizzle raises pure black witch cats, until a yellow cat shows up and things change."
Calhoun, Mary, The Witch of Hissing Hill, 1964.  After one of her black cats has a yellow kitten, Sizzle the wicked witch turns into a good witch.  Thereafter she takes to raising only yellow cats for fairy godmothers and good witches.
Mary Calhoun, The Witch of Hissing Hill, 1964.  A witch named Sizzle has a reputation for breeding the witchiest, wickedest, very worst witch cats in the world. They are all black, of course. Then one of cats has a litter with a yellow kitten, named Gold. Gold is full of powerful good magic and ends up transforming Sizzle into a good witch who raises yellow witch cats for good witches and fairy godmothers.
Yay!  I'm so glad my book is found Mary Calhoun, The Witch of Hissing Hill!
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A witch has a cat that's the "wrong" color - it's not black.  All "witches' cats" - that is, magic cats that help witches with their spells and potions - are supposed to be black, but this one is the wrong color (I think it was orange or yellow).  At one point, the witch tries to hide the cat by using a spell to disguise it as a cushion, but a visiting witch sits on the "cushion" and it yowls or hisses.  Eventually, the cat and witch are "found out" (maybe as a result of the cushion incident), but in the end, it's okay, and the witch is proud to have such an unusual and "special" cat after all.  I think it was a short-ish book with black-and-white illustrations, but maybe it was a story in a larger publication?  Thanks for any help you can give!

Mary Calhoun, The Witch of Hissing Hill, 1964.  About the witch Sizzle and her yellow cat.
Winnie the witch, by Valerie Thomas (Author), Korky Paul (Illustrator).  This HAS to be it!
Calhoun, Mary, The Witch of Hissing Hill, 1964.  This is it!  It couldn't have been easier to find the book and its description - complete with mention of the cushion incident - once I had the title. Thank you!  ("Winnie the Witch" was also suggested, but that book would have been too late, as it was published in the 1980s and I was remembering a book from the 1970s.) It's definitely "The Witch of Hissing Hill."
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Story about a mean witch who lives in a house with hundreds of black cats. By the end of the book, magic makes everyone happy and good. I remember all the cats turn a bright yellow color in the end. Published circa 1950s-1960s.

Mary Calhoun, The Witch of Hissing Hill.
Mary Calhoun, The Witch of Hissing Hill, 1964. It's about a witch called Sizzle, and one of her many black cats has a yellow kitten called Gold-he's the only yellow cat in the book, but he is so persistently loving that he finally wins her over!
SOLVED: The Witch of Hissing Hill. My book stumper mystery is solved thanks to Loganberry Books and fans of this website. It turns out that I was looking for "The Witch of Hissing Hill," by Mary Calhoun. I am eternally greatful to all.

#G58--Gillian, Gilly, Gill:  Mystery of the Witches' Bridge, by Barbee Oliver Carleton, has a girl named Gilly, and similarities to the book described.  Even if it's not the right one, it's cheaply and easily available online and well worth having!  Doesn't sound like The Great Gilly Hopkins, or Gillian, Gillian, Gillian Jiggs, your room looks as if it was lived in by pigs!
I am not sure but I think G58 might be Holiday Summer by Decie Merwin. It is set in the English countryside; includes an English and an American family; and one of the characters is called Gillian.
Decie Merwin, Holiday Summer, 1960.  Not sure, but sounds likely. The book is set in the English countryside
includes two families - one English and one American and one of the English characters is called Gillian.
Winifred Finlay, The Witch of Redesdale, 1951.  Winifred Finlay wrote children's series books about the northern English
countryside. The first was called The Witch of Redesdale and is dedicated to her daughter Gillian. There are 4 central characters called Gill, Sally,Peter and Bryan. They do go off on a holiday together into the wilds of Northumberland, travelling by bicycle and staying at Youth Hostels. Their adventure is largely unsupervised by adults. The same 4 characters also appear in Peril in Lakeland which is set in the English Lake District.I know both books well and have them available to check any further details that may be remembered.

Marion T. Place, The Witch Who Saved Halloween. I'm pretty sure that this is it!

Y25 This is definitely THE WITCH WHO WAS AFRAID OF WITCHES by Alice Low, originally published in 1978 with pictures by Karen Gundersheimer. It was re-published in 1999, 2000 with pictures by Jane Manning (so that's why pictures of the cover online may not match the cover you remember). Wendy has two bossy older sisters and when she loses her broom, they leave her behind. But she is able to enchant a new broom, and casts a spell on their brroms that forces them to walk home. ~from a librarian

Possibly the Witch Who Wasn't by Jane Yolen (author) and Arnold Roth (illustrator) (1964).  Here's a description from http://www.janeyolen.com/: "A silly tale of a little witch named Isabel...who cannot spell correctly.  That is--her spells go all wonky.  In the end she learns that being different makes the difference.  Something kids still need to know!"  Followed by a sequel, Isabel's Noel (1967): "A Christmas story in which the hapless little witch Isabel...ends up helping Santa on Christmas."  Both books are out of print, but they're inexpensive and not hard to find.
Jane Yolen, The Witch Who Wasn't. (1964)  Darn - the server keeps eating my answers!  Well, maybe 3rd or 4th time's a charm?  Anyway, if it's possible your witch was a blonde, rather than a redhead, this must be it.  "As a young witch, Isabel is a compete flop. She can turn a snake into a chocolate cake, but she can't do anything the least bit scary. With her blue eyes & curly blond hair, Isabel couldn't even look like a witch. And she isn't looking forward to the witches' Halloween convention where she is expected to cast terrible spells. How Isabel brews up a surprise & wins a blue ribbon in the process is a hilarious tale sure to bewitch all young readers.
I submitted this request. Thank you; this sounds right! I will be placing a request for this and several other books! I plan to make a pilgrimage to your store; I am in NY. How I wished I lived in Shaker Hts.!

I have this book! Trouble is, it's still in one of my 40 boxes from the Lansing Book Fair, and won't be unpacked until after the Akron Book Fair April 13.  Can you wait?  I'm positive it's there, I actually sat down and read it when I was supposed to be working....
THANK YOU, THANK YOU!  Yes, I can wait.  This is a really good lead for me, and I appreciate such a quick response.  I have going crazy trying to locate this book!  Thank you for checking.  I think the little girl's name was Jenny Marie  or Jenny Maria?  Does that sound like the book?
Yes, her name is Jennie Maria.  Here it is-- (sorry for the delay)--

Interpreting Condition Grades

Faulkner, Nancy.  The Witch with the Long Sharp Nose.  Illustrated by Ronald M. Lehew.  EP Dutton, 1972, first edition.  Ex-library but fairly clean in nice dust jacket.  Edgeworn.  G+/VG <SOLD>

The book is probably Witches and the Grinnygog, by Dorothy Edwards.

Barbee Oliver Carleton, The Witches' Bridge, 1967.  This has to be it.  It has the causeway, the scary house, the dog named Caliban.  It was also published by Scholastic as The Mystery of the Witches' Bridge.  "Evil haunts the Witches' Bridge . . . the foggy marshes . . . the Pride house! Now young Dan Pride has come to live there.  Can he escape the terror that hangs over the Witches' Bridge?"

Witch's Broom by Ruth Chew.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Chew, Ruth. Witch's Broom.  Dodd, Mead and Company, 1977.  Ex-library copy with usual markings and clipped dj flaps.  VG-/VG-.  $18

Diana Wynne Jones, Witch's Business
Diana Wynne Jones, Witch's Business. This was published in England as Wilkin's Tooth but the American title is Witch's Business..  It has the junkyard of children turned into furniture so it may be your book.

Chew, Ruth, The Witch's Buttons. Two girls have adventures with a witch magical buttons, including a man who has been turned into a button, a milky button, and a diamond button.
Ruth Chew, The Witch's Button's.  Someone had suggested this book on the website and I'm thrilled to say it is indeed the same book. Some of my "facts" and recollections were off and yet in just 3 short weeks the mystery was solved. My 10 year old son already read it in a couple of hours and loved it too. Thank you so much!
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I can't remember if they end up really being magical or if things just happen coincedently. There are, I think, 3 buttons that posses different powers. A cat who lives next door seems to be involved. Also there are several adults invoved. I think she thinks they're witches. Possibly two woman and a man?? One button is triagle and another is cloudy/changing in appearance.

yolen Jane, The magic three of solatia, 1974.  If you had three magic buttons on which you could make three wishes, what would you wish for?
This does NOT sound like The Magic Three of Solatia - those buttons were not different in appearance and there is no cat.
Ruth Chew, The Witch's Buttons. Wasn't there a Ruth Chew book like this?
Ruth Chew, The Witch's Button's.  Someone had suggested this book on the website and I'm thrilled to say it is indeed the same book. Some of my "facts" and recollections were off and yet in just 3 short weeks the mystery was solved. My 10 year old son already read it in a couple of hours and loved it too. Thank you so much!

This is THE WITCH'S CATALOG by Norman Bridwell, 1976, Scholastic.
H89 Bridwell, Norman.  The witch's catalog.  illus by Norman  Bridwell. Scholastic, 1976.   author imagines what a
catalog of witch's wares would look like.
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This pretend "catalog" contained witch supplies...friendly witch...nothing scary. For example you could order a doll house with real miniature people for dolls. The book was illustrated with line drawings. Paperback, I think. To submit an order from the catalog one had to place it in the hollow of a tree under a certain moon, etc. Conditions were obviously very unlikely which let kids know that ordering was just wishful thinking.

F125 This is definitely THE WITCH'S CATALOG by Norman Bridwell, 1976 ~from a librarian
see Solved Mysteries Witch's Catalog by Norman Bridwell

I found the book I was looking for, Witch's Egg, in theLibrary of Congress. I got the idea after reading through many of your stumpers. Thanks ever so much!!!!
I have an answer for you! W54 is most definitely called The Witche's Egg" I remember seeing this book at my library, it was a very thin early readerish beginning chapter kind of book with a green border around the picture of the Witch on the front cover.  This is by Madeline Edmonson BTW.  Thanks for your site!
Edmondson, Madeleine.  The Witch's Egg.Illustrated by Kay Chorao.  Seabury Press, 1974.
A strong possibility from Junior Bookshelf, August 1975: Edmondson, M. "The Witch's Egg", illustrated by K. Chorao, 40 pages, 237x185cm, Macmillan "Witch Agatha is not an attractive witch, being intent upon mischievous and malicious errands. One day she finds a cuckoo's egg in her nest and determines to hatch it out herself. The bird finally emerges and the two become great friends, Agatha teaching him her witch secrets so that they can cooperate in the work of scaring and annoying people. At autumn time however, the cuckoo decides that he with the other birds must migrate, and he leaves a very sorrowful witch behind. Spring however brings him back and thereafter he spends the summer with Agatha and the winter in Florida." An ad in the June 1975 issue for Macmillan says "The Witch's Egg, Madeleine Edmondson, illustrated in black and white by Kay Chorao. How bad-tempered Witch Agatha hatched a cuckoo's egg and produced Witchbird who made scaring people much more fun." There's a line-drawing which I can scan and send if it helps.

Mary Norton, Bedknob and Broomstick.  Sounds rather like Miss Eglantine Price, the witch from "Bedknob and Broomstick" (earlier published as two stories, "The Magic Bedknob" and "Bonfires and Broomsticks").
There is a book about witches with a Bathsheba (who is a witch's cat) by Barbara Brooks Wallace called The Trouble with Miss Switch.
Margaret Elliot, Witch's Gold, 1979. I found it! I found this person's stumper! This book is about a witch called Bathsheba, who everyone calls Bessie, she has her two grandchildren come to stay, called Hugh and Sophie, who are also witches. Her broomstick is disguised as an ash sapling. She is a good witch, but a bumbling one, and all her pots of spells always get mixed up and she picks the wrong one. Her and her grandchildren are in a race against time to prevent the Black witch, Marcia, from carrying out her plan to steal an ancient manuscript with the formula of the Philosopher's Stone, which turns metal into gold. The white council already have a plan to stop her, but Bessie and the kids try to help and everything goes pear shaped :_) it's a great book, I love it too : )

Margaret Elliott, Witch's Gold. I was the original stumper and I am sooooo thrilled that some wonderful person solved this! My husband just bought me a first edition of this and I am really looking forward to reading it, I can'\''t believe that I have a copy - Thankyou stumper solver!!!!

Dorothy Gilman Butters, Witch's Silver, 1959.  I think I have this book. Perhaps the following will help identify it as the same one: The heroine's name is Arbella Hewitt and she's six feet tall, most unusual for a woman in the early 1700s. Her young cousin, a sickly boy named Samuel, thinks she is a witch.  When Arbella decides to trek by foot from Boston to Maine to recover her family's silver -- buried before the Indian raid when she was captured as a child -- young Samuel secretly follows her.
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This is a story within a story.  The framing narrative is about a young woman engaged to be married to a man whose family is of a higher social class than hers and she feels very insecure about it.  Additionally, this young woman is self-conscious of being too tall and considers herself unattractive.  This whole business of social class distinctions and a girl being too tall to be attractive felt very old-fashioned to me when I read the book as a teenager in the early 1970's, so I tend to think the story took place in the 1950's or very early 1960's.  Also, I'm pretty sure it was in Boston, or New England at least.  Her mother, a hairdresser, apparently is of no help and actually exacerbates this dual problem.  Her fiance fell in love with her when they met while sailing, the one venue where she feels totally in control and free, and he doesn't care a whit about her origins or her height.  An elderly female relation of hers, probably a grandmother, wants the young woman to know that she has just as good a family as anyone and tells her the story of an ancestress.  What I can remember of this interior story sounds an awful lot like "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" in that it involves a girl coming to Puritan New England from the West Indies, and finding herself at odds with that society.  She has a romantic adventure with someone from the ship she arrived on --  maybe the captain's son? -- and there was something to do with a chest of silver.  The adventure moves from the sea to someplace inland, and then back to sea again.  At some point they end up sailing away together.  When the grandmother, or whoever it was, finishes the story, she gives the young woman a bracelet or a brooch or something that came from the treasure in question.  The young woman takes heart from this tale and goes out to meet her prospective in-laws with her head held high.  I'd really like to know what that book was.  Thanks for looking.

Dorothy Gilman Butters, Witch's Silver, 1959, copyright.
Butters, Dorothy Gilman , Witch's Silver.  Yes, you got it! And now that I've seen the other entry in your Solved Mystery section with details of the plot that are far more accurate than what I could recall, I'm certain this is the book.  Thanks for clearing this up for me.

W122  This is a series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. There are 6 books about Lynn, her best friend, Mouse, the old neighbor, Mrs. Tuggle whom they suspect is a witch, and Lynn's older sister. They are WITCH'S SISTER, 1975; WITCH WATER, 1977; THE WITCH HERSELF, 1978; THE WITCH'S EYE, 1990; WITCH WEED, 1992; THE WITCH RETURNS, 1992  ~from a librarian
Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds, Witch's Sister, 1975.  First volume in a trilogy.  "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." Other titles: Witch Water and The Witch Herself.
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Witch's Sister series. There were three books in the series--Witch's Sister, Witch Water, and The Witch Herself.  In the first book, the neighbour Mrs. Tuggle is supposed to be teaching the older sister Judith how to sew, but she is really pulling her under her enchantment  the younger sister breaks the enchantment. The struggle continues in the other two books.  Mouse (who wore a poncho all the time) was the best friend of the younger sister.
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Witch's Sister, 1975.  Must be this one.  The girl's name is Lynn, but her best friend is Marjorie known as Mouse.  It's a whole series: Witch's Sister, The Witch Returns, The Witch Herself, Witch Water, Witch's Eye andWitch Weed.

Nicoll, Helen, Meg and Mog.  1970's/1980's.  Maybe this is what you're looking for. This author wrote several other books with the same characters, but this is the one I had. It was given to me by my English grandmother ('Mog' is slang for cat in England) in the mid-late 1980's . The illustrations have lots of bright, primary colours.
Spooky.  nope i checked it wasn't that one.  thanks!!!  anyone else??
Mary Calhoun, Witch of Hissing Hill.  The illustrations sound a lot the those in this book, although mine was a hardcover, dark blue.
Calhoun, Mary.  The witch of Hissing Hill.   illus by Janet McCaffery.   Morrow, 1964 Weekly Reader Book Club.  Sizzle the witch sells wicked black cats to other witches - until one yellow cat is born,  changing her into a good witch selling kind yellow cats to other good  witches.
i checked it out and it wasn't that one either.  i looked on amazon for every book with the word witch, cat, or moon in the title and no luck!  maybe i just missed one?  anyone else?  thanks for the resonses so far!
Too two many.  I remember reading a hardback many years ago about a witch with two black cats she referred to as 'two too many'. The cats infer that one of them must be called 'two' and the other 'too many'. Overall, the humour was a bit adult for a children's books and it was very realistically drawn, which made it even more spooky. The illustrations were all plain black-and-white line-drawings, but occasionally blocks of  colour were used, and I seem to remember a very yellow moon with the witch silhouetted against it. However, this edition had a hardback cover (also yellow) with a black cat embossed on it. If it helps, the witch seemed to be american rather than european and lived in a tumble-down shack.
S428 This tells more abt story - if it is Hissing Hill.  Calhoun, Mary.  The witch of Hissing Hill. illus by Janet McCaffery.   Morrow, 1964 Weekly Reader Book Club. Sizzle the witch sells  wicked black cats to other witches - until one yellow cat is born,  changing her into a good witch selling kind yellow cats to other good  witches. Neat illustrations by Janet McCaffery; dark blue boards with cute witch’s head with yellow cat.
Nope none of those so far.  Darn!  I forgot to mention I believe the witch has red/orange-ish hair in the book, if I remember right...  My mom seems to think the book was about a witch whose broom wouldn't work.  I know that may be similar to the worst witch, but it wasn't that book...
This probably isn't it, because it's so very New Zealand, but 'The Witch in the Wellington Library', illustrated by Clare Bowes (I can't remember the author) has a final page that matches the one described.
I am happy to report the book I was looking for is The Witchy Broom by Ida DeLange.  I am happy to know I wasn'\''t crazy in remembering this book after all...because I looked for litereally hours and hours at hundreds of witch books and this one never showed up.  It will be interesting to see when the book comes in...just how closely I remember the actual story.  Happy book hunting!

de Leeuw, Adele, With a high heart, 1945, copyright.  A college girl is unwillingly assigned to an overcrowded, understaffed county library for a summer internship, but her bookmobile travels bring her into contact with many librarians and area residents who help her turn these three months into a valuable experience.
De Leeuw, Adele, With a High Heart, 1945.  "A college girl is unwillingly assigned to an overcrowded, understaffed county library for a summer internship, but her bookmobile travels bring her into contact with many librarians and area residents who help her turn these three months into a valuable experience."
I think this may be it!! With a High Heart by Adele de Leeuw.If memory serves me- a young girl gets a summer job at a library and gets to run the bookmobile which serves the remote areas of the district.I believe there is some friction between the head librarian and the girl.
I am the one who submitted this stumper.  Your readers are correct:  the book is indeed With a High Heart by Adele de Leeuw.   Thanks so much.

Mary Tannen, The Wizard Children of Finn, 1981.  Thanks to a magic book, two children travel back in time to the Ireland of two thousand years ago, where young Finn McCool is struggling to become leader of the Fianna, a famous band of
warrior heroes.  There is also a sequel, The Lost Legend of Finn.
Mary Tannen, Wizard Children of Finn.  A brother and sister (Fiona and Bran) visit an elderly uncle who is a professor. He has a book that tells the adventures of Finn MacCool, a legendary Irish hero.  The children are transported back in time to ancient Ireland to help Finn MacCool become a hero. Memorable scenes include the children helping Finn catch the Fish of Wisdom which he has to eat in order to gain wisdom, Fiona being very happy about being given a comb, the children helping him compose a poem describing his epic journey.
Mary Tannen, The Wizard Children of Finn, 1982.  "Ten-year-old Fiona and her younger brother are transported back in time to ancient Ireland where they share extarordinary adventures with the boy who claims leadership of the Fianna."  Has a
sequel, The Lost Legend of Finn.

Wizard of Earthsea
I was a teenager when a teacher made our class read a book that was not typical of the books I like.  What I remember is this.  It was either a set of three books or 1 book divided into 3 sections within the book and I believe it had something to do with a trilogy.  Their was some sort of magician type figure and he did a lot of traveling which you could turn to the front of the book and follow his journeys with maps.  I thought it would be a classic because a teacher made us read it but when I go to a bookstore and look in the "classics" section it isn't there.  Any help would be great!   Thank you.

Have you checked the Wizard of Earthsea trilogy by Ursula LeGuin?  The wizard does travel a lot and there are maps in the book where you can follow his journey.  Plus, they're sort of considered to be classic fantasy books and I know I had to read them when I was in school.
J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings.
JRR Tolkien, Lord of the Rings.  I hesitate to even submit this because it seems so obvious and therefore seems like it could not POSSIBLY be the book the poster is looking for...but maybe the Lord of the Rings trilogy? It is 3 books and contains maps.  It is oftentimes required reading in the secondary grades.  Gandalf the wizard (magician figure?) does travel a lot (along with many other characters). It seems to fit, but I would think it would be readily available in any classics section!
Ursula LeGuin, Earthsea Trilogy, 1968 onward.  I'd tend to weigh in on the side of the Earthsea trilogy, if for no other reason than that with the LOTR movies coming out the poster would probably have caught on to that possibility.  The books consist of  A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, andThe Farthest Shore (later additions include Tehanu, The Other Wind, and Tales from Earthsea, but the first trilogy stands alone).  There are certainly maps in the beginning of the books. "Often compared to Tolkien's Middle-earth or Lewis's Narnia, Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea is a stunning fantasy world that grabs quickly at our hearts, pulling us deeply into its imaginary realms. The books tell a tale about a reckless, awkward boy named Sparrowhawk who becomes a wizard's apprentice after the wizard reveals Sparrowhawk's true name. The boy comes to realize that his fate may be far more important than he ever dreamed possible. Le Guin challenges her readers to think about the power of language, how in the act of naming the world around us we actually create that world. Teens, especially, will be inspired by the way Le Guin allows her characters to evolve and grow into their own powers."
Patricia McKillip, The Riddle-Master of Hed, 1976.  This is only a possibility, because I don't remember whether or not there were maps, but McKillip wrote a fantasy trilogy (the other books are The Heir of Sea and Fire and Harpist in the Wind) about a prince with magic powers who has to make his way home following a shipwreck. A good plot description can be found here.
T134-  I believe that the first respondent is correct with the book I am looking for.   The Title and author seems right.  I'll email you again after I check out the book.  I know for sure it is not Lord of the Rings.  Thanks for your help!

I wonder if these are The Wizard of Oz books by L. Frank Baum.  There are four countries in the land of Oz and they are all different colors with everything in each land in that color.  The land of the Munchkins is blue, the land of Winkies is yellow, the Quadlings are red and the Gillikins are purple.  Baum wrote 14 Oz books from 1901 to his death in 1914.  The series was continued on by others and there are about 35 official Oz books.
#C68--Color lands:  Sounds a little like L. Frank Baum's Oz books.  In the book of The Wizard of Oz, the Emerald City was only emerald as long as the characters were wearing emerald-colored glasses.  When they removed them, all was white.
Not the Oz books?  Each quadrant of  Oz had a different colour, as well as the Emerald City where everything was green.  The colours are emphasized more in some books than others. I remember reading one in the 50's called Purple Prince of Oz.  It would have been written by one of the people who took over after Baum's time.

Could this be one of Rosemary Sutcliff's books set in English historical times? I'm sure there is one with a very similar plot line...? [obviously not one of the Romsan Britain ones, but she did set several in other periods!]
Hi thanks for the response but its not that author.  I think it is a really well known author that writes romance novels.
Kathleen Woodiwess, The Wolf and the Dove.  I happened upon the website and read this stumper. I read the book back in the early 1970's. The details submitted with the question are spot-on with this book. I'm 100% sure it's the same one.

Could this be The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, by Joan Aiken?  Bonnie and Sophie, the two main characters, are stuck in an orphange and escape during a fire. If evil governesses, missing parents, a wild boy in the woods, wolves and lots of last-minute rescues also sound familiar, you might check it out.
Not a solution, but a clarification.  In The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, the two girls did not escape from the orphanage during a fire.  In fact, they were rescued by their friend Simon, the goose boy (the so-called "wild boy in the woods"), when they are locked in the orphanage's coal cellar. He does it by taking the key when it is temporarily left in the lock, making an impression of it in clay, and from that, making a copy of it.  If this sounds familiar, this could be the book.  If you're sure that it was during a fire that they escaped, then perhaps not.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Aiken, Joan.   The Wolves of Willoughby Chase.   illus by Pat Marriott.   Doubleday, 1962.   Weekly Reader Young American Book Club.  Pages slightly yellowing, otherwise VG.  $8

Forest, Heather, reteller, The Woman Who Flummoxed the Fairies. (1990)  I seen that story as The Woman Who Flummoxed the Fairies: an old tale from Scotland, retold by Heather Forest.
Yes! It was The Woman Who Flummoxed the Fairies. I am so happy, that was one of my favorite picture books as a child and I tried so many keyword searches without success.  Now, when I have children, I can read it to them and afterwards bake a cake.
Heather Forest, Woman Who Flummoxed the Fairies : an old tale from Scotland. (1990)  As the subtitle says, it is indeed an old folktale.  I know it from Scotland only, but the Celtic folklore travels throughout the isles there, so you might find an anthology including it.  This is the only picture book I know of this story.
Just a note on Forest's book - the story may be the right one, but you're not looking for this particular edition.  The fairies are ugly and are on several pages, & there is only one cake and it's certainly not beautiful.  Was your book an individual book or was it part of an anthology?  I found several anthologies that have the story, but not another individual edition.

Well, it's a shot in the dark, but a fairly good one: I have a small black book called WOMEN. The title is in gilt on the spine, but black on black on the front cover, making it rather inconspicuous. No author is listed, but it was published by Knopf in 1919. The chapter headings are: The Women are Splendid, Characteristics of Women, Why Men Love Women, Women in Love, and The Best of Both Worlds. The copy I have is a second printing, 1919, in good shape with wear to the spine head and corners. Yours for $20, postage included.

Row & Peterson Company, The Wonder Story Books (It Must Be Magic, They Were Brave & Bold, These Are The Tales They Tale), 1953.  I'm almost positive these are books from The Wonder Story Books series.  The red one (It Must Be Magic, book 4 in the series) includes The Frog Prince, Tom Tit Tot, Marushka & the 12 Months, The Wild Swans, The Magician's Apprentice, Jack & The Giants, plus others.  Cover is red, w/ Magician in black robe & pointy hat over
steaming cauldron back cover shows man riding on eagle.  The blue book (They Were Brave and Bold, book 5 in series) contains The Girl Who Hunted Rabbits, Sinbad of the Sea, Grandpa Hopewell & His Flying Tractor, Pecos Bill, Beowulf,
Thor & His Hammer, Fin M'Coul, plus others - and the final story in this book is The White Cat.  Cover is blue, front shows Pecos Bill riding a mountain lion, back shows Grandpa Hopewell riding his flying tractor. There is also a green book (These Are The Tales They Tell, book 6 in the series) which includes such stories as Tony Beaver, Captain Ichabod Paddock and the Mermaid, Treasure on the Hudson (about phantom Flying Dutchman), Riquet with the Tuft, Three Golden Apples, The Winged Horse, Jason & The Golden Fleece, Joe Magarac Man of Steel, and other stories. Cover is green, front shows Joe Magarac lifting a strong-man in one hand, three barbells in the other, back cover shows Bellerophon riding on Pegasus. These books were published as school readers, and while they are copyrighted in 1953, they were reprinted in 1955 (the editions I have, which I've described above) and again in 1962, w/ slightly different covers and some changes to the contents (some stories removed, poetry added.)

#A106 sounds like The Wonderful Fashion Doll by Laura Bannon.  In it, a little girl finds an old doll with a trunk full of beautiful clothes, including a reticule.
Norma Kassirer, Magic Elizabeth. 1966. The "Antique Doll" stumped sounds like it COULD be Magic Elizabeth.  There is a trunk, and a long-ago girl's diary, and the antique doll is eventually found.
Sheila Greenwald, The Secret in Miranda's Closet?  Miranda finds the antique doll in her babysitter's attic, but I always pictured it as bigger than Barbie-size. I'm not sure, but I think there might be a scene where she's playing with the doll during a snow storm.  If I remember right, Miranda's doll doesn't have a trunk, though, she has a hat box.  The doll had old-fashioned clothes, which is what made me think of it when you mentioned "kid gloves."
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I'm trying to find a book from my childhood.  It was probably written in the 1950s.   All I can remember is that a young girl goes into the attic and finds a doll in a trunk.   All of the clothes were described.   I must have checked this book out of the local library a hundren times, but have no clue as to the name.  Any ideas?

Kassirer, Norma.  Magic Elizabeth. Scholastic, Inc., 1966.  Young Sally while staying in creepy old house with her Aunt Sarah, tries to find an old doll named Elizabeth. B&W Illustrations by Joe Krush.
No, sorry, that's not it.   It had to have been written before 1958 or so.    I don't think there was anything "creepy" about it, she just loved looking at the clothes in the dolls trunk.  It even described, in minute detail, the buttons on the clothes.
Okay, how about this then?  Field, Rachel. Hitty: Her First Hundred Years.  Illustrated by Dorothy P. Lathrop.  Newbery winner.  Macmillan, 1929.  See more on the Solved Mysteries pages.
Back when Alibris had a lost-books board, there was a very long thread about this, and lots of people made suggestions, but they were never right.  Eventually somebody came up with one book that sounds like the one you're looking for but I can't remember the title and the board isn't in operation anymore.  Does anyone else remember this one?  It wasn't a complicated title, something like The Wonderful Doll.
Sounds like the other poster may be thinking of THE WONDERFUL FASHION DOLL by Laura Bannon, 1953. It appears on your Solved Mysteries page, and the time frame is right.~from a librarian
Bannon Laura, The wonderful fashion doll, c.1953.  Published by Houghton Mifflin, Boston.  A little girl finds a doll in a trunk in her grandfather's attic.
Bannon, Laura (author & illustrator), The Wonderful Fashion Doll.  Houghton 1953.  I believe the book the red poster refers to is this one - it might be the answer, as well. I'm not positive that doll is found in an attic (though I think it is) but it does have a trunk and lots of clothes. 

Eleanor Cameron's Mushroom Planet series.  See more on Most Requested Books.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Cameron, Eleanor. The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet. Illustrated by Robert Henneberger.  Little, Brown, 1954, 1988. New paperback, $8

Ruth Helm, Wonderful Good Neighbors, 1956, copyright.  Before you could even get this posted, I was looking in a catalog and found the title; checked out a description and it is definitely the same one.  Oops!  Almost left it for others to solve but figured i should 'fessup.

#R87--Railroad locomotive dream:  The Wonderful Locomotive, by Cornelia Meigs.  A great favorite in our family.  My mother's uncle knew Cornelia Meigs during the Second World War, and my mom once met her, making her the only person in our family to meet any Newbery Award-winning author, to my knowledge.  Mom raved about how great The Wonderful Locomotive was, but the more she said, the shyer Cornelia Meigs grew, until she finally stopped talking.
R87 -  Golly, I didn't recognize this one. It used to be a favorite of mine 75 yrs ago; think I gave it to my nephew, Peter. I always considered CM my favorite author. I never met her, but she was my mother's English teacher in a private school in Davenport, IA

The Wonderful Magic-Motion Machine by Albert Miller

O-3 -- Sounds like it could be The Wonderful O by James Thurber. Bad pirates forbid the use of the letter "o" on a small island....leading to all sorts of misery. Including poor Ophelia Oliver having to resort to seclusion out of embarrassment.

Of course.
Thurber, James. The Wonderful O. Illustrated by Marc Simont. Simon & Schuster, 1957. First edition. F/F $45
... another copy. Also a first edition, but lacking the dust jacket. $18

Ulf Lofgren, The Wonderful Tree, 1969, 1970 (1st American ed.). After all these years I found it!!!  Thank God for Ebay!!

Laura Lee Hope, Bobbsey Twins Keeping House (original), 190something.  If it's at all possible that you're combining stories, I do know one very old book that has a stained glass window broken by a snowball:  the first edition of The Bobbsey Twins Keeping House.  It's sort of a Home Alone story about the childrens' parents having to go away and leaving them with an old lady whose back immediately goes out, so they have to take care of themselves.  At one point some bad boys throw a snowball with a rock in it through a church window, and the oldest Bobbsey twin gets blamed.  I don't think there's any Christmas part or angel in that book, though.
Vardon, Beth and Byj, Charlot, Wonderful Window.  I'm betting this is the book. The full text can be found at this link.
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Patron is looking for this book.  It starts like this: "Its Christmas, its 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./Relax, all but one/for one angel is sad/........Katie/...... Katie is bad."   Is this at all familiar to you?'

C50 christmas angel katie: long shot, but Christmas Always, by Peter Catalanotto, published Orchard Books 1991 is about Katie, a young girl who is visited by the Sandman, Jack Frost and the Tooth Fairy on the night before Christmas, until they hear the approach of the most important visitor and quickly leave. Nothing about her degree of badness or whether it's a poem, though. It's also pretty recent.
Sue Carabine, The Angel's Night Before Christmas.  I have not read it, but I know that it is a storybook in rhyme about angels and Christmas, so it's a possibility.
Re C50: I remember everything about this book except the title and author! Perhaps more details will jog someone's memory. Katy was a rambunctious girl, with an overworked guardian angel. Katy accidentally breaks the big stained-glass window of the church before Christmas, I think while playing football. She and her friends piece together a huge patchwork quilt and put it up where the window should be. Her guardian angel then asks for "one small miracle, please" and the quilt is transformed into stained glass just in time for Christmas services. The book was fairly large with full-page color cover, predominantly blue. I think the page with the miracle window may have had a pop-up. It was very colorfully illustrated on each page. Great themes of faith and unconditional love, but most of all that God helps those who help themselves.
Beth Vardon, the Wonderful Window
Beth Vardon, The Wonderful WindowThe Wonderful Window by Beth Vardon -- rhyming verse about Katie and her guardian angel.  "Katie's a child who is terribly hard/ For even the best, kindest angel to guard./ And here's why she's keeping her angel perplexed:/ No one but Katie knows what she'll do next."  She makes a kite that lifts children off the ground and she breaks the church's stained glass window with a football.  The book also had some pop-up pages.  I've seen some incredibly expensive original copies on ebay, but there are less-expensive reproductions out there.  Hope this is the one.  Glad to help.

The last person's info is absolutely correct.  I am looking at the book as I type this and it is called "The Wonderful Window", authored by Beth Vardon, illustrated by Charlot Byj.  I was online looking for where I could buy a new copy because mine is worn out.  

Jeremy Gury, and illustrated by Hilary Knight, The Wonderful World of Aunt Tuddy, 1958.  You're so close, you must have seen the book at some time! "Aunt Tuddy" is illustrated by Hilary Knight, who also illustrated most of the "Mrs. Pigglewiggle" books. "There was a feud between Aunt Tuddy and Major Dexter / which dated back forty years or more / When he was lieutenant in the Quartermaster Corps / And she was a sweet, young frivolous thing, / A debutante of the preceding spring. / And one evening when he came to call, / The proudest young officer of all, / She managed to put in his new Army hat /Several fresh eggs--and that was that."  The illustrations are priceless, and the rhyming story is a hoot!
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There was an Aunt Tuttle character and a house with many cats, all of which were named, ending with the name Ashurbanipal. Then there was an old guy named Dexter P. Dexter. For some reason I am thinking that she was rich and was going to leave her money to the cats and Dexter P. Dexter was trying to stop her from doing so.  The illustrations are reminiscent of Hilary Knight's (the illustrator of the Eloise books and certain Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books), but I've checked the Library of Congress catalog and Hilary Knight apparently didn't illustrate the book (perhaps I'm mistaken? or perhaps the illustrations are "in the style of" Hilary Knight).

I suggested Hilary Knight because I was thinking of The Wonderful World of Aunt Tuddy, written by Jeremy Gury and illustrated by Hilary Knight in 1958.  Maybe not, but worth a shot, at any rate...
Hi -- I'm the one that sent in that stumper and you were right  I do think it is The Wonderful World of Aunt Tuddy.  That does sound exactly like the book that I wanted -- could you please look for the book for me.  I need one copy, and may take two if you find two.  Thank you so much for your suggestion.
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This book was about an excentric old woman (maybe named Tilly, but I'm not sure).  She had a number of cats.  The king of the roost was named Asher Banipul.  The woman went to a department store in a raincoat and galloshes.  She took a ride on a motorcycle, and if I remember correctly, ended up in a river.  I also remember one of the cats looking at a picture of this woman as a baby, and the cat having a very funny look on its face.  I think the book may have had a picture of a Victorian style house on the front.  The whole thing was done in detailed line drawings.

I don't know the title of C143, but Ashurbanipul was the name of an Assyrian king. Perhaps that spelling will yield more results?
Gury, Jeremy, illustrator Hilary Knight, The Wonderful World of Aunt Tuddy. NY: Random 1958.  This is on the Solved list, and one of the descriptions says that Aunt Tuddy has a series of cats, each named Ashurbanipul (a Biblical character who "scattered his enemies" I think. Hilary Knight's illustrations are distinctive and may help ID the book.
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Trying to identify a favorite illustrated hardcover book.  Story is about older lady who lives alone with her many (10??) cats is given a gift certificate by her neice (?) to the local department store but the store misprints the check for $10 into a gift for $1,000,000.  When the lady goes to spend the check, she causes a panic.   I used to think this was a Kay Thompson and/or Hilary Knight book but i haven't been able to identify it.  Would love to!

Gury, Jeremy, Wonderful World of Aunt Tuddy, illustrated by Hilary Knight, NY Random 1958.  Could it be Aunt Tuddy? That has an eccentric lady, cats, a department store and illustrations by Hilary Knight.
I submitted the following search and it is correct!!  Please thank the  respondent…..  With sincerest gratitude…

Nancy Barnes, The wonderful year, 1946.  Ellen (yes, with pigtails and she does play the piano) leaves Kansas with her parents for a fruit-farming ranch in Colorado.  Her mother has deep dimples and Ronnie is the older English boy. This is a wonderful story of Ellen growing up.
I believe K-86 is The Wonderful Year by Nancy Barnes.  Everything is the same as described except the family moves from Kansas to Colorado--not California.  The English boy is in there, the braids, the piano, the pretty mother.  It is a great book, one of my favorites when I was a child.  Tell your searcher to check it out, and I believe she will have found her long lost book.

Shimin, Symeon, The Wondrous Works of God, 1956.  I finally found the name of this book! It is beautifully illustrated by an artist who illustrated several other children's books of the 60's and 70's. It's well worth finding.

Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present by Charlotte Zolotow illustrated by Maurice Sendak.
Hi - B7 is definitely not Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present, which is a story about a little girl looking for the perfect birthday present for her mother.
I am holding this wonderful little book in my lap as I type!  It is Won't Somebody Play With Me?  Story and pictures by Steven Kellogg, Dial books for young readers, Copyright 1972 by Steven Kellogg.  ISBN 0-8037-9612-9  (Where do I redeem my brownie points?)
WOW!!! I mean WOW!!!!!  I was just perusing your website and found a request I had made quite a while ago (gotta be a year). I think I remember just sending in an email, so I don't think there was a place to check back. Or maybe there was (see, my lousy memory still hasn't gotten any better . . .). ANYWAY, I was looking at a message board I frequent and someone was looking for another long-lost book. One of the other members suggested she check here. I was just looking through your "Solved Mysteries" on the off chance someone else might have been looking for this same book I was and voila! There it was!! (I was doing a search on the word "birthday") At first I didn't even remember writing the original request and was amazed that this person also thought the girl's name might be Rosie (I've really got to start taking ginko-baloba or something).  So I guess my question is "Who is this fabulous person typing in brown who has my book and is it still around??" Also, to whom do I present the truckload of brownie points?  So if you're the mystery-solver, let me say THANK YOU!! That has been driving me crazy for years (I'm not kidding. I wish I was.)! Now, how can I get my grubby little hands on this book? :)  Thanks and WOO-HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Looks like Woody Woodpecker Shoots the Works by the Walter Lantz Studios, illustrated by Fran and Armstrong McSavage, Whitman Tell-a-Tale, 1955.  There's a picture of the factory on the cover, and Woody is holding a lantern, as a night watchman might.

Herzig, Alison Cragin, A Word To The Wise.  Scholastic, 1978.  "The thesaurus stolen from their teacher alters the lives of eight fifth-graders in a special reading group."
Alison Cragin Herzig, A Word to the Wise, 1978.  The thesaurus stolen from their teacher alters the lives of eight fifth-graders in a special reading group.
Alison Cragin Herzig, A Word to the Wise, 1978.  "The thesaurus stolen from their teacher alters the lives of eight fifth-graders in a special reading group."
Alison Cragin Herzig, Jane Lawrence Mali , A word to the wise, 1978.  Boston: LIttle Brown.  The thesaurus stolen from their teacher alters the lives of eight fifth-graders in a special reading group.

Editors of Time-Life, Time-Life Books: Mysteries of the Unknown series, 1980s.  A visitor to the loganberry site posts a query about a 1980s-era series of large but thin hardcover books on the paranormal. Another loganberry peruser remembers the "Time-Life: Mystery of the Unknown" oeuvre, which included titles like "Hauntings," "The UFO Phenomenon," "Mystic Places," "Mysterious Creatures," "Psychic Powers" &c. -- all of which were large but thin hardbacks published in the 1980s. It's dismissed as......... coincidence.
unfortunately, the Time Life series isnt it - though I do remember these as well! (esp the commercial). The books I am looking for are more specificly for young adults and have a cover with - as stated - the title in all caps with silouhetted images kind of collaged on a white background, so the spine & entire bg behind pics is white. May have also been glossy...
The World of the Unknown series, 1978.  Check this series of 3 books published in 1978: All About UFO's by Ted Wilding-White  All About Monsters by Carey White  All About Ghosts by Christopher Maynard.  I have found copies for sale with the titles just given as UFO's, Monsters, and Ghosts, so be sure to check for them that way, as well.  ISBN 0884364682, 0884364674, 0884364690.  They were also published later by Usborne, as recently as 1990.
Hi - I posted this bookstumper... The World of the Unknown series, 1978:  could be it, but I cant find a pic of the covers anywhere online to be sure!
Maynard, Christopher, The World of the Unknown:  All About Ghosts, 1978.  This is definitely the right book.  The phantom hound Black Shuck with his single cyclops eye is on pgs. 14-15.

Junior Classics, Vol 1.  Sounds like this part of the set. Fairy Tales (Vol 1) was red. Listed under solved mysteries, of course.
Hi,  I am looking for a book set that sounds VERY much like a volume listed here.   I feel certain the Fairy Tales volume described above is part of the set I’m searching for and it is NOT Junior Classics  (not what I’ve seen on other sites.)   My set would have been around  1960 publication.   The set would have 10 or so hard back volumes.  Anyway,  I’ll post more on the Stumper and pay, but this person should have an update.
The book was a complete and not part of a series. I looked at this, and this was definately not the book that I am looking for. The book had only one illistration per story.
Reader's Digest Anthology, The World's Best Fairy Tales, 1967, 1977.  Well, your physical description doesn't match my book, but I'm almost positive you're looking for this Reader's Digest book.  It's 800+ pages, 5"x8", and my version's cover has vine-like circles with pictures from fairy tales in each circle in red/cream/gold (almost a wall paper effect), and the spine is solid maroon/red with the title in a dark pink circle.  BUT, it has all of your stories, there is one illustration per story,  it has the picture of a man jumping into his pants which are strung up between two trees (Six Sillies), and it has a naked Emperor (one of the tailors has his arm across the Emperor's private parts as he brushes his leg with a brush).
The World's Best Fairy Tales, 1967.  Yes, this is the book!  Thank you so much.  I've got two sisters that will be excited to hear that we solved the 10 year book mystery.

is this Witch Dorrie?  byCoombs
The Witch Family by Eleanor Estes - my absolute favorite childhood book - I used to pretend I went to school with the witch girls.
Nope:(  Unfortunately, after reading some of the summaries of this book on the web, it's not the one I had.  The book I had was about just one little witch - it was almost a Cinderella-type story - one little misunderstood witch - the kind of story that's always appealed to me, lol.  I'm afraid I'll never find out who it was by or what it was called unless I find the copy in my mom's attic:(  Thanks so much for your wonderful service, though.  I've found quite a few books I've never read (as well as rediscovered some old favorites) because of your website:)
The descritpion of the book in W15 seems very familiar to me.  Could it be the series about Mildred, a girl at a wotch school who is terrible at everything she tries?  The part about the nose seemes familiar.  The only title I remeber is the first: The Worst Witch.  I seem to remember the author's first name being Jill.  Hope this helps.
I hope this may help you.  I think the book you are talking about is call 'The Worst Witch.  If it's the one I remember, it was made into a mini series for children on British TV a few years ago.
OK, I've found this:
Murphy, Jill.  The Worst Witch. Miss Cackle's Academy for Witches has one student who is not like the rest, she has a grey cat, her bootlaces always trail to the floor and worst of all, she is afraid of the dark....Mildred Hubble! 1981.
There is also: The Worst Witch at Sea, The Worst Witch's Spelling Book, The Worst Witch Strikes Again, all from the recent 1990's...

Barnhart, Peter, Wounded duck, 1979?

Madeline L'Engle, A Wrinkle in Time.  Not sure if this is the book, but it has some of the elements - three children, a brother and sister, interdimensional travel, and a scene where they visit a neighborhood of eerily identical houses.
Madeleine L'Engle, A wrinkle in Time, 1962.  This sounds a lot like A Wrinkle in Time. Meg, her little brother Charles Wallace and friend Calvin go on a search for her missing father. They end up on Camazotz, a planet where all the people must conform to IT or face severe punishment.
Madeleine L'Engle, A Wrinkle In Time, 1963.  Probably this one, which (surprisingly enough) doesn't seem to be on the "Solved Mysteries" pages!  Meg Murray, her brother Charles Wallace, and Meg's schoolmate, Calvin O'Keefe, travel to a distant planet, Camazotz, to rescue Meg's father.  Camazotz values conformity, not personal freedom, and the children travel through a neighborhood full of children playing ball and skipping rope in rhythm.  One boy who is bouncing his ball randomly is later punished by the authorities.  This is a wonderful book that won the Newbery Medal.  Followed by three sequels that along with the first book are known as the Time Quartet series: A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet and Many Waters.  I think the three sequels are inferior to the original, but others may disagree!
Madeleine L'engle, A Wrinkle in Time.  Almost certainly.   There are some scary scenes in that, and the town where everyone has been programmed to be the same is unforgettably creepy:  all those kids on the sidewalks in front of their houses, bouncing their balls in exact synchronicity...
This sounds something like Madeline L'Engle's A Wind At the Door, the first book in a trilogy.  Meg, her little brother Charles Wallace, and a male friend of Meg's (can't recall his name) travel (via "tesseract") to another planet to rescue her scientist father. The planet is "dark," meaning it's controlled by an evil entity that looks like a brain.  Everyone on the planet is totally controlled by the evil brain-thing.  There's more to the story, but the scene described in this query sounds like the description of the "dark" planet - a city with all the houses the same, where identical kids come out and bounce identical balls in perfect unison until identical mothers call them in at the exact same moment, etc.
Madeleine L'Engle, A Wrinkle In Time, 1962.  Except for the fact that the eerily regimented neighborhood wasn't their own, but one on the planet Camazotz, this sounds a lot like A Wrinkle in Time.  Meg Murry, her little brother Charles Wallace, and their friend Calvin O'Keefe "tesser" through space trying to find Meg's father and later to rescue the precocious Charles Wallace, who is brainwashed on Camazotz by "IT", a disembodied brain that controls everything.
Madeleine l'Engle, A Wrinkle In Time
I sent in a solution saying this book might be A Wind At The Door, but I SHOULD have said it might be A Wrinkle In Time.  I got the first two books in the trilogy mixed up.  The scene I was thinking of in the conformist neighborhood on the 'dark' planet is in A WRINKLE IN TIME.  Sorry.
L'Engle, Madeline, A Wrinkle in Time.  I know this is kind of an obvious suggestion (and I probably won't be the only one making it!) but this is very similar to an episode in Wrinkle in Time, where Calvin, Meg and Charles Wallace land on Camazotz, where all the houses look the same and everyone does the same things at the same time.
L'Engle, Madeline, A Wrinkle in Time, 1965.
Madeleine L'Engle, Wrinkle in Time.  Sure has elements of this classic with Meg Murray, her little brother, Charles Wallace, and Calvin O'Keefe, who set out to rescue the Murray's father from a planet run by It, who thinks that conformity equals happiness.  All of the kids on the block play in rhythm except for one little boy who does not bounce his ball properly.  He is being punished later in the building where Alex Murray is imprisoned and where Meg eventually returns to rescue Charles Wallace.  Sequels: Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters, An Acceptable Time
Madeleine L'Engle , A Wrinkle in Time.  I'm sure many people will write in with this answer, but just in case they don't, this is almost certainly A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle.
Madeleine L'Engle, A Wrinkle in Time, 1962.  Meg Murry and her little brother, Charles Wallace, along with a school friend, Calvin, travel to another planet in search of Mr. Murry, who is being held prisoner.  They walk through a neighborhood in which all the children bounce balls at the same time, and the one child whose bouncing rhythm is off gets punished.  The whole planet was strictly controlled like that.
Madeleine L'Engle, A Wrinkle in Time, 1962.  Could this be A Wrinkle in Time? There were three children - Meg, her brother Charles Wallace, and her friend Calvin travel through alternate dimensions to rescue her father. They get trapped in a place where all the people are required to be exactly alike, and individuality is punished.
Madeleine L'Engle, A Wrinkle in Time,1962.  It sounds like A Wrinkle in Time even though all the details aren't the same.  There certainly is the street of houses all the same where anyone different gets punished (It's on another planet though.).
Madeliene L'Engle, A wrinkle In Time, 1962.  This may  be what you're thinking of - the children (Meg & Charles Wallace Murray, and their friend Calvin O'Keefe) travel to a different world to try to rescue Meg & Charles' father. The other world is very like our own to look at but eveything is controlled - the kids all bounce their balls in unison, and there is a scene where they see a boy being 're-educated' because he was bouncing his ball out of time with the others.The book is quite frightening but no blood or guts. Hope this helps!
L'Engle, Madeline, Wrinkle in Time, 1963.  L'Engle's Wrinkle in Time, with Meg, her child-genius younger brother Charles Wallace, and their friend Calvin, traveling through space and dimensions in search of Meg's father.  Aided by Mrs. Who, Which, and Whatsit, the trio visit assorted planets including one where all conform (except for a little boy bouncing a ball out of rhythm).  Sequels are A Wind in the Door and Swiftly Tilting Planet.
Madeleine L'Engle, A Wrinkle In Time, 1962.  Although the children don't see "their" neighborhood, (It's a neighborhood on another planet.) I believe everything else fits.  There is a brother/sister combination.  The third child is a neighborhood boy.  The brother/sister also have a set of twin brothers.  There is much more to this story.  It's one of my favorites, and won the Newbery Medal.  Should be available in any bookstore.
Madeleine L'Engle, A Wrinkle in Time, 1962.  "Everyone in town thinks Meg Murry is volatile and dull-witted, and that her younger brother, Charles Wallace, is dumb. People are also saying that their physicist father has run off and left their brilliant scientist mother. Spurred on by these rumors and an unearthly stranger, the tesseract-touting Mrs Whatsit, Meg and Charles Wallace and their new friend Calvin O'Keefe embark on a perilous quest through space to find their father. In doing so, they must travel behind the shadow of an evil power that is darkening the cosmos, one planet at a time. This is no superhero tale, nor is it science fiction, although it shares elements of both. The travelers must rely on their individual and collective strengths, delving deep within themselves to find answers."  If it isn't this book it is one in the series, I just read them recently and that particular scene stands out.
Madeleine L'Engle, A Wrinkle in Time, 1962.  Meg Murry, her brother Charles Wallace, & their friend Calvin O'Keefe travel thru space via "tesseract" to rescue her father.  The planet they end up on, Camazotz, looks like our world but everything is regimented...boys bouncing balls at same time etc.  Those who don't are punished & brainwashed.
Madeleine L'Engle, A Wrinke in Time, 1962.  Sounds very much like Chapter 6 of "A Wrinke in Time" when Meg Wallace, her brother Charles and her friend Calvin travel (via Tesseract) to Camazotz (had to find my copy for the details and now will be up all night re-reading!)
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This book probably came from Scholastic, in the mid 70s or so. It was about a brother and sister who traveled through time or into another dimension. I think the brother's name was Charles. Somehow, the dad was involved. A witch or something helps them back by reminding them to LOVE.

Sounds like A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle.  Meg and her little brother Charles Wallace have to rescue their father by travelling to other dimensions.
L'Engle, A Wrinkle in Time.  Definitely sounds like A Wrinkle in Time. The boy is named Charles, his sister is Meg, and they're joined by Calvin, a friend, as they travel across time and space to rescue Charles and Meg's father. They're helped by three magic women, Mrs. Who, Mrs. Whatsit, and Mrs. Which, who do remind them to love one another. This should be it.
Madeleine L'Engle, A Wrinkle in Time, 1962, copyright.
Madeleine L'Engle, A Wrinkle in Time.  Three supernatural beings who appear as quirky old women help Meg and her brother Charles Wallace rescue their dad from a planet where he is held captive. Meg, her friend Calvin, and Meg's father all escape to another planet but Charles Wallace is left behind. Meg goes back to rescue him and is able to reach his mind through the power of their love. There are other books: A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters, An Acceptable Time.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

L'Engle, Madeleine.  A Wrinkle in Time.  Farrar Straus, 1962.  new paperback, $6.50.  new hardback, $17.00