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Solved Mysteries Catalog   A-F G-M N-R S-Z

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A A Milne, A Gallery of Children, 1925.  I found the title and author, now I just need the book!

Carole Kendall, The Gammage Cup.
The Gamage Cup (Harcourt, 1959)   "A handful of Minnipins, a sober and sedate people, rise up against the Periods, the leading family of an isolated mountain valley, and are exiled to a mountain where they discover that the ancient enemies of their people are preparing to attack." Major characters= Fooley (balloonist), Gummy (writer), Curley Green (painter).

M41 Moon path -- The Garden Behind the Moon by Howard Pyle? Plot description from the Parabola reprint (1993) "A lonely young boy discovers the secret of walking the glimmering path across the ocean waves to the moon, where he then learns of the beautiful, happy garden behind the moon"
M41 moon path: more on the suggested Garden Behind the Moon, a Real Story of the Moon Angel, by Howard Pyle, copyright 1895, reprinted 1988 by Parabola. "David, a lonely young boy who's ridiculed as a "moon-calf" by the other children in his seaside village, one night learns the secret of walking the glimmering path on the ocean, where he discovers the beautiful, happy garden behind the moon. Passing behind the Moon Angel, he also passes into manhood and starts on a hero's journey to bring lost treasures back to earth, riding a winged horse and fighting a giant along the way and winning the hand of a princess in the end... Howard Pyle wrote this book following the death of his young son. It is a touching and tender allegory."

George Selden, The Garden Under the Sea, 1957.  "Humorous juvenile fiction, where talking starfish and crabs and lobsters make an underwater garden of the things people leave behind on the beach, like people do when finding rocks and shells and glass from the sea."

I believe that's Louisa May Alcott.  Originally published in 1908.

Sound like a cross between Mary Chase's Harvey (the seven foot rabbit) and the comic strip by Crockett Johnson called Barnaby...
I10 I just bought this book at a thrift shop. Gary and the Very Terrible Monster by Barbara Williams, illustrated by Lois Axeman, Watertower, 1973. "When Gary was five, he had a pet monster, a very terrible monster. His name was Mr. Green Nose." Mr. Green Nose makes a terrible noise "a noise like a little boy burping" Because only Gary can see Mr. Green Nose, other people think it's Gary who throws the rock through Mr. Mudd's window into his goldfish bowl, ties cans to Mrs. Fitt's fat cat and puts a fly in Debbie White's milk.
I10 imaginary friend monster: Gary and the Very Terrible Monster sounds like a good match - Gary is close to Harry, and the fly in the milk episode sounds pretty distinctive.

I'm hoping you can help find a cherished book from my childhood.  It was one of my favorites, but I believe my little brother destroyed it, (he was a book shredder in his toddler years).  I read your Stumper page and believe it may be the same book being searched for under P4?  Two pigs, a brother & sister, I believe their names were Francine & Francois traveled to Paris, they rode a train & a cruise ship & were locked in a barn to be fattened up.  They escaped & returned home.  I believe the book was old when it was read to me, some 30 years ago.  Would love to have it again to relive childhood memories.  Would appreciate any help your site can offer.  Thanks!
I think I remember the same book.  I've been looking for it on the Internet. I think it's a Little Golden Book called Gaston and Josephine (I remember that when I read references to "Alphonse & Gaston" I thought they were talking about my book.)  I remember something about the two little pigs go into the dining car but they don't have any money for their food, and the
little boy pig wears a navy blue sailor suit and sort of a blue tam with a white pom-pom.
P-4  Gaston and Josephine! Yes!  Those were the pigs. How could I ever forget those names...
Yes, indeed. It's Little Golden Book #65 by Georges Duplaix and illustrated by Feodor Rojankovsky in 1949. And hard to find, of course! 

I'm pretty sure that the book is The Gauntlet, by Ronald Welch. Oxford U. Press, date unknown. I can check my copy at home if you like.
See also the listing under Danny Dunn: Invisible Boy.
Description from Four to Fourteen: a library of books for children compiled by K.M. Lines, 2d ed. 1956:
Welch, Ronald, The Gauntlet illustrated by T.R. Freeman, Oxford Univ Press, 1951 "The finding of an armoured gauntlet takes schoolboy Peter back into the past and through his experiences the reader shares life in a castle on the Welsh Border in the fourteenth century."

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Welch, Ronald. The Gauntlet.  Illustrated by T.R. Freeman.  Oxford University Press, 1952.  VG/VG.  <SOLD>

Genevieve Goes to Bed Early (title of story within book).  This was a story within a collection of short stories  not a separate book. I can't remember the title, author or any of the other stories, but I do remember that this was the title of the story. I read it as a child in England in around 1966/1967. So not really a solution, but a little additional info.

hee, hee, I love it when I know the answer!  George and Martha by James Marshall.  There were several in the series, starring simple drawings of very funny (and big) hippoes.  I don't know why these books aren't better known, they're classic!  Maurice Sendak, for one, spares no praise for the "judicious, humane, witty, and astonishingly clever head of James Marshall."
The original books are hard to find, but these are new and in stock:
Marshall, James.  George and Martha.  Houghton Mifflin, 1972.  New hardcover edition, $16
Marshall, James.  George and Martha: The Complete Stories of Two Best Friends.  With a foreword by Maurice Sendak.  Houghton Mifflin, 1972-1988, 1997.  New hardcover edition, $25

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Marshall, James.  George and Martha: The Complete Stories of Two Best Friends. Foreword by Maurice Sendak.  Houghton Mifflin, 1997.  New hardback,  $25 Marshall, James.  George and Martha.  Houghton Mifflin, 1972.  New hardback,  $16  New paperback, $7 Marshall, James.  George and Martha Encore.  Houghton Mifflin, 1973.  New paperback, $7 Marshall, James.  George and Martha Rise and Shine.  Houghton Mifflin, 1976.  New paperback, $7 Marshall, James.  George and Martha One Fine Day.  Houghton Mifflin, 1978.  New hardback,  $16.  New paperback, $7 Marshall, James.  George and Martha Tons of Fun.  Houghton Mifflin, 1980  New hardback,  $16.  New book.  $16 Marshall, James.  George and Martha Back in Town.  Houghton Mifflin, 1984.  New hardback,  $16.  New paperback, $7 Marshall, James.  George and Martha Round and Round.  Houghton Mifflin, 1988.  New hardback,  $16.  New paperback, $7

This sounds familiar - could it be Georgie and the Robbers, a smallish paperback I believe Scholastic book, probably from the 70's?
Robert Bright, Georgie and the Robbers. This is definetely Georgie and the Robbers It is still in print.

Thanks for your message.  We have two copies of Geraldine Belinda in stock...
Hi, I just want to be sure it is the book I am looking for. I thought it was called Geraline Belinda Mabel Scott. What is the picture on the cover of the book. Thank you.
It's the right book.  The dj shows a little girl flouncing across the cover with hands in a muff and braids trailing behind.  The first page talks about Geraldine Belinda Marybel Scott.
I am delighted that you have the book. Please reserve one for me.
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Ever heard of a book called Geraldine Belinda Marybell Scott - a childhood favorite of mine.  Would love to get copy for grandchildren.

Yes, and I have a beautiful copy of Geraldine Belinda for you.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Henry, Marguerite.  Geraldine Belinda.  Illustrated by Gladys Rourke Blackwood.  Platt & Munk, 1942.  Glossy folded pages with softly illustrated plates.  Red cloth with pictorial paste-on and dust jacket with only minor chips.  VG/VG.  <SOLD>

S11 may very well be Richard Peck's The Ghost Belonged to Me, about Alexander Armstrong and Blossom Culp ("the spidery-legged little spook") who Alexander continually refers to as a spider. It was made into a Disney TV movie in the 76-77 timespan.  I am having fun with these, and I'm suggesting the site to others!

I have no idea if this was a book or not.  I saw this movie on TV when I was young (mid to late 70s), so it was probably a Disney or Sunday night movie for kids.  It was about a boy in the South (Louisiana?) who discovers the ghost of a little girl.  She asks for his help in solving her murder. I think she was thrown down a well.  Maybe by an uncle.  I think it was antebellum or thereabouts.  I've tried Disney sites and haven't had any luck, so I thought I would try you.
G10:  The Disney movie is Child of Glass. It is based on the book The Ghost Belonged to Me by Richard Peck.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Peck, Richard.  The Ghost Belonged to Me.  Puffin paperback reprint, 1997.  New.  $5

Yes! I know this one and I have the book right in front of me!!  The book the reader is looking for under M19 is The Ghost Next Door by Wylly Folk St. John.
THE GHOST NEXT DOOR by Wylly Folk St. John, 1971

I have been looking for a book that I read as a child.  I've received several responses in the past from sites like this one, but none of them have been the right one.  I remember that the "ghost" in the story is named Miranda--she drowned as the child.  The two children who are staying at the house find her diary and a ceramic owl that she made.  They are trying to solve some sort of mystery surrounding here.  Anyone have a clue?  Thanks!
The Ghost Next Door, by Wylly Folk St. John, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman, published Harper 1971, 178 pages. "Miranda Alston was deeply loved by her aunt Judith. After her parents' divorce, Miranda and her father came to live in Georgetown with her aunt, and Miss Judith became mother and friend to the lonely little girl. Together they made roses turn blue, had a secret place in which they left small notes to each other, and created a cement owl 'with love in its eyes'. Then in a pond at the back of the property, Miranda was accidentally drowned. Miss Judith was shattered, and Dr. Alston, unable to restrain his grief, left the family home and tried to bury the memory of his daughter in his work. Consequently, when he returned to Georgetown - for the first time since the tragedy - with his second wife and their 10 year old daughter Sherry, all mention of Miranda was carefully avoided. And then Sherry developed a mysterious playmate - one who could not be put to rest until both she and her half-sister were once again lovingly recognized by their family. The plot, which is narrated by the budding-adolescent-next-door, Lindsey Morrow, is punctuated with seances, pregnant rabbits, and infamous psychics." (HB Apr/72 p.148)

I think that person is looking for The Ghost of Dibble Hollow by May Nickerson Wallace.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Wallace, Mary Nickerson.  The Ghost of Dibble Hollow.  Illustrated by Orin Kincade, cover by Dom Lupo. NY: Scholastic Book Services, 1965, 4th printing, 1967.  Paperback with creases on front cover.  G+.  Hard to find!  $45

N10 is Thomasina, the cat who thought she was God, by Paul Gallico, Doubleday, 1957.
The Disney movie was based on the book Thomasina by Paul Gallico.
N10 - I am wondering if the could be The Ghost of Opalina by Peggy Bacon. Opalina is a cat and the book recounts her nine lives among generations of a family.  I think there is a hidden treasure.
This couldn't be Finnegan II: His Nine Lives, by Carolyn Bailey, could it?  My sister and I *adored* this book growing up in the mid 1960's.
It's got to be Thomasina by Paul Gallico.
I think The Ghost of Opalina is definitely the book I'm looking for.  I must have seen the Disney movie about the same time and blended them together in my memory.  I have reserved it through the library's loan service.  It's a children's book and I remember as being on the first shelf of the library(A-B
authors). The full title is The Ghost of Opalina or Nine Lives and I'm certain the cat was female. Thank-you very much for the great leads.
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Children (a brother & sister) are playing in the attic while visiting their grandmother for thanksgiving.  They discover that grandmother's cat (a tabby) can talk because, in the ninth life of a cat, they acquire the ability to speak.The cat tells stories to the children of all of it's previous eight lives living in that house. Since the cat has lived a very long time, the stories are dramatic and date back to days of kings & queens.  I think the book was written for sixth or seventh grade levels.  I originally checked this book out from the Cedar Rapids Public Library. I've looked for it there but had no luck. I would like to purchase this book if we find it.  Thank you!

Peggy Bacon, The Ghost of Opalina or Nine Lives, 1967.  This is the all-time favorite book of anyone who's ever read it. Maybe that's a bit hyperbolic, but probably not. Searching the web for succinct synopses (to be ultra-brief, Very Important Presence Opalina tells three children of her adventures from the 1700s to the modern day), I came across this 'net post that for some reason brought tears to my eyes: "We who have loved Opalina are free to think of her still in her velvet chair in the paneled room. She's a very special cat and couldn't possibly be limited to nine lives."
Bacon, Peggy, The Ghost of Opalina or Nine Lives.  Little, Brown, 1967.  "A ghost cat tells three children, the latest inhabitants of an old house, all about the people who passed through and the events which took place in the house during her previous eight lives."
C159 This might be THE GHOST OF OPALINA; OR NINE LIVES by Peggy Bacon, 1967 ~from a librarian

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Bacon, Peggy.  The Ghost of Opalina, or, Nine Lives.   Illustrated by Peggy Bacon. Little, Brown, and Company, 1967, 4th printing.  Ex-library copy, quite edgeworn, cocked spine, usual library markings including label on dust jacket spine.  Hard to find.  G-/G+.  <SOLD>

Wow that was fast. Just listed it for sale on Saturday! And it is indeed yours. I'll await your check.
Thank you so much - we're expecting our first child and I wanted very badly! The check will go out today.

THE GHOST OF GRAVESTONE HEARTH by Betsy Haynes, 1977
I think this is The Ghost of the Gravstone Hearth by Betsy Haynes ('77)
WOW!!!  That's it and I can't tell you how impressed I am!  Next time I'm in Cleveland, I'll swing on by.  Thanks and have a great weekend!

To me, #S56, "Sadie's Grave," sounds like a description of the same book as #W29, Witch's Garden, which was identified as Ghost Garden.
S56 Sadie's Grave:  Sounds like the same answer for W29 - The Ghost Garden by Hila Feil, 1976.
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I hope you can help me with this request, I have been searching for this book for at least 15 years. I think the title was The Witches Garden but I am not sure. It was not by Ruth Chew but is possibly an American book. The story was about a 12 year old girl who goes to stay with her Aunt? while her parents are overseas. The Aunt runs a big boarding house/inn/hotel. I think the girls name was Sarah she becomes friends with a girl named Christine? who is described as being very pale - hair, eyes, skin. Christine is fascinated by the local graveyard where a 12 year old girl named Sadie was buried many years before. The girls discover that Sarah is living in Sadie's old house and they find her room behind layers of wallpaper. It still contains her furniture and toys. The girls say a spell at midnight on Sadie's grave in the hope that they will see her ghost but it doesn't work. Then Christine dies, she leaves Sarah some seeds which she eventually plants on her grave, I think they are sunflowers. The rest of the book tells of Sarah learning to accept change. And thats all I can remember.I hope you can help as I would love a copy of it. Thanks in anticipation

Could this be A Witch's Garden by Miriam Young?
No thats not it! Thanks for trying though. If only I could remember the title correctly!!!
W29: Witch's garden: I have this book, although it is in my old room in my parent's house. There is a scene where the girls spread gold dust in a "ceremony" to talk to the ghost. I'm fairly sure the title is The Ghost Garden by Hila Feil, but I'll give them a call and confirm it if I can. **Later...Hello again, I talked with my mom who confirmed the title and author. Hope this helps the person who was looking for it!
Thank you for your help and yes that is the book!!! I have just received my own copy from a bookshop in the US and am very happy!!!
More on the suggested title - Ghost Garden by Hilda Feil, published New York, Atheneum 1975, 236 pages. "A story of childhood friendship, set against a real and vividly drawn backcloth, that of Cape Cod. Into this setting comes Jessica, whose father went butterfly hunting long ago and shows no sign of returning, whose mother has embraced transcendental meditation and a new boyfriend. For the holidays Jessica has been wished on a scatty aunt who lives in a commune in Wellfleet, in a sagging house which reminds Jessica of "one of the old horses that pull the carriages in Central Park". It is anyone's dream of a haunted house and certainly Jessica senses a strange presence in it. Truro churchyard too seems to be haunted, but the pale elusive figure hiding among the graves is no ghost but Christina, another ten-year-old of an unhappy home. The two little girls make an ideal partnership in many holiday activities, notably ghost-hunting and witchery. At the end of the holiday they conduct an eerie seance in the churchyard at midnight, but the reflection which Jessica sees is not that of the ghost but of Christina. Christina, who has always seemed to exquisite to be quite real, dies. Jessica is left to keep her part of the pact which they had made, in blood, at the end of the holiday." (Junior Bookshelf Aug/77 p.233)

I don't have the title, but just a few more things about it.  The ghost, Felicia, is really obnoxious.  She rides a swing a lot.  The copy I read in 5th grade was hardback but without a jacket--the cover had an actual picture, though; it wasn't just blank.
The Ghost in the Swing, by Janet Patton Smith, publ. by Steck-Vaughn Co., 1973.
G28 ghost felicia: plot description from the LC catalogue for the suggested title The Ghost in the Swing: "A twelve-year-old girl visits her aunt and makes friends with a ghost inhabiting the house." which is a reasonable match.

St. John, Wylly Folk, The Ghost Next Door, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman, NY Harper 1971.  Probably not the only one to suggest this - mystery about the ghost of a young girl called Miranda, clues include a cement owl made by her and her aunt. It's on the Solved List with more detail.
Wylly Folk St. John, The Ghost Next Door, 1971.  This is definitely the book. It has all the details the poster mentioned. From the back: "Sherry Aston had never been told about her dead half sister Miranda. So when Sherry came to visit her Aunt Judith, no one could explain the odd things that started to happen. Who was the elusive friend Sherry said she saw in the garden? Was she an imaginary playmate-or could she be the ghost of Miranda who had drowned in the pond years ago? Uncanny reminders of Miranda began to turn up- a blue rose a lost riding whip..." The main part of the plot is Sherry looking for the "owl with love in its eyes".
It must be THE GHOST NEXT DOOR by Wylly Folk St. John, 1971. More info is available on the Solved Stumpers page. ~from a librarian
A Gift of Magic (Laurel-Leaf Books) by Lois Duncan
You'll probably get a slew of responses to #O24--Owl with Love in its eyes.   It's The Ghost Next Door, by Wylly Folk St. John, and appears on your "Solved Mysteries" page.
Wylly F.  St. John, The Ghost Next Door.  This was one of my favorite books too.  I remember reading it many times. My copy is in storage, but I am certain of the title - not sure about the spelling of the author's name.
This is a Wylly Folk St. John book - it is either The Mystery of the Ghost Next Door or The Mystery of the
Girl Next Door.  The main character is visiting her (grandmother?) and discovers that there was a little girl who had died, she and the grandmother died roses blue, made the owl in question, etc.  She drowned in a pond in the backyard after hiding the owl for the grandmother's birthday and the grandmother hadn't been able to find it.  The children, along the way, expose a "psychic"'s fraud when he claims to have found the owl buried by the pond.
Wylly Folk St. John, The Ghost Next Door, 1971.  This seems to be a popular book.  It's been asked about a few times.
Regarding my stumper, O24: Owl with love in its eyes, I just wanted to thank everyone who wrote in and solved this 25-year-old mystery for me. Now I can share this book with my daughter when she is old enough. Thank you! Thank you! This service is terrific!

N5--The Ghost of Five Owl Farm  has a similar storyline. I probably first read this in '70 or so.
This could be Me and Caleb by Franklyn Meyer.  It is about brothers who live in a small Missouri town.  There is a lengthy description of Halloween activities including greased doorknobs, stuck car horns and a "garbage-launcher." .  There was a sequel, Me and Caleb Again.
More on The Ghost of Five Owl Farm by Wilson Gage, illustrated by Paul Galdone, published Cleveland, World 1966 "Surprised by the visit of two cousins during a vacation, Ted decides to frighten them with ghost stories about an old barn on their property. They all too soon discover that there really are goings-on as they are led through a series of hair-raising experiences. Ages 9-12." (Horn Book Feb/66 publ.ad. p.105)

Clyde Robert Bulla, The Ghost of Windy Hill, 1968.  I remember excitedly snapping this up from the Bookmobile!
Clyde Robert Bulla, The Ghost of Windy Hill, 1968.  I believe this is the book. Its about a girl named Lorna and her brother Jamie. They are housesitting with their parents for the summer because the owners of the house think it is haunted. The children meet some strange people, including a crippled boy and and eccentric old woman. Plus they solve the mystery of the 'haunted' house. My copy of the book is a dark blue hard back with a silhouette of a house in a darker blue, with one window lit.
I am the original poster.  Thank you so much for responding to my request. Yes, I believe this is the book.  I have been trying to remember this for years and am very excited about this website.  This is so cool.  I have called my local library and will check this out this week.  Will let you all know if this was it.   THANKS!!!
This one is solved.  Thank you to the responder, the title The Ghost of Windy Hill is correct.  I NEVER would have remembered this...  THANKS SO MUCH!!!! 

Ghosts, The

The Ghosts by Antonia Barber, 1969, 1993. Great book!
I just wanted to thank you for your help! I saw the information added to the e-mail I sent you and I'm going to find the book mentioned there. What are the odds that someone else would know the story I was trying to describe and with so little to go on! I really appreciate it!!
"The Amazing Mr. Blunden" was the name of a movie adaptation of this book.  It's apparently not currently available on video.

Hi Harriett!  I feel like a real goof---just after I submitted my stumper on the teenage car crash ghost story, I solved it.  It's called Ghosts of Departure Point and is by Eve Bunting.  Go ahead and put it up on solved mysteries if you want---maybe someone else is looking for it too! If you get a copy of it, let me know!

C134 This drove me crazy because I know I read it and I knew we had it in our library. It's THE GHOSTS OF AUSTWICK MANOR BY Reby Edmond MacDonald. Donald inherits a dollhouse that is a model of the ancestral home. There is a curse on the MacDonald family, and the sisters and brother end up experiencing the past through the dollhouse. Don's friend Charlie has a scar that marks him as the one who carry out the curse, and Charlie ends up in a car accident. ~from a librarian
Reby Edmond MacDonald, The Ghosts of Austwick Manor, 1982, reprint.  Ten-year old, Hillary and 8-year old Heather MacDonald are excited when their 15-year old brother, Don, inherits a dollhouse made to look like the family's old home in England.  Their parents discover 4 sets of dolls in a drawer with a "do not touch" note attached but put one set in the dollhouse anyway.  The children then find that on certain nights they can enter the dollhouse.  There is also a curse on the family that places Don in danger.  A book review on the net reads:  "I think the best part is when the kids visit the Tudor House in the 1700's during a robbery. Donald with his fighting skills saves the day, or so you think! This book isn't scary until you get to the end, it turns out that Don & friends get into a car crash. Was Don supposed to be in the car and die that day? Or was it just a coincidence?"
Hello!  My post C135 is solved!  It is The Ghosts of Austwick Manor.  Thanks very much!  I appreciate your help, and the two folks who helped solve my stumper! 

#M131--Mortimer:  If this is the one I think it is, Ghosts Who Went to School, by Judith Spearing, it was until recently or still is in print, a classic not to be missed.
Spearing, Judith, Ghosts Who Went to School

Giant Jam Sandwich

The Giant Jam Sandwich by John Vernon Lord, 1972 - it's told in rhyme. Check out his article "Creating
the Giant Jam Sandwich."
Yes, that is the book!  Thank you for the information.

Giant John is definately the book you seek.  I have a copy here and read it to confirm, cute book!
Lobel, Arnold.  Giant John.  Harper & Row, 1964.  Pictorial boards.  Excellent condition.  VG+.  $18 plus $3 shipping.
I located the book several months ago, my sister found it on ebay. My son loves it as much as I did or still do.  I can't believe it is out of print-it's such a wonderful story.

I remember a book from the early 60's and I came across your site by doing some random web searching. The name of the book may be George the Gentle Giant. Can you tell me anything about this book that might help me identify whether or not it is the book I'm looking for and also do you have a copy available. The book I remember had some great, fun illustrations of a giant that wandered around different landscapes - country, small towns, etc.
I'm not sure about the plot of George the Gentle Giant, but I can tell you about Giant John by Arnold Lobel,
which sounds much alike in name and plot (and might help you distinguish between the two titles):   Giant John's mother is very poor and sends John out to find work.  He finds work at a nearby castle, holding an umbrella over them during rain and shading them in sunshine.  A group of fairies comes by and begin to sing, causing John to dance uncontrollably.  He tries to stop, but can't, and winds up stepping on the dog and knocking over the castle.  When the fairies do stop, John rebuilds the castle, and although it is not the same, the people are happy, and John goes home with his pay and invites the fairies to join him and his mother for dinner.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Lobel, Arnold.  Giant John.  Harper & Row, 1964.  Weekly Reader Children's Book Club edition.  F.  $18

William Pene du Bois wrote a couple books featuring a huge yellow dog named Otto.  They're hard to find, but I do have Otto at Sea (1936) presently.  Sounds like you want the first of the series though, Giant Otto.  I'll keep my eyes peeled for you.
duBois, William Pene.  Giant Otto.  Viking Press, 1936.
Thank you very much.  I had assumed it was from the 50's because that's when I read it.  Looks like it was something my mother saved from her childhood.  Hey, I'm just thrilled to know it wasn't a figment of my imagination.

Interpreting Condition Grades

duBois, William Pene.  Otto at Sea.  Viking, 1936.  First edition.  Worn at edges, and especially at the spine.  Brilliant color.  Rare.  G+ $95

G99: Sounds like Jolly Roger Bradfield, GIANTS COME IN DIFFERENT SIZES, 1966. Plus, there's an
evil wizard and hamburger trees. 

I think this may be A Book of Fairy Tales published by Dean & Son and illustrated by Janet and Anne Grahame Johnstone.  My edition was published in 1977 and has all the stories you mention.  Some of the other stories are Little Red Riding Hood, Hop O' My Thumb, The White Cat, Blockhead Hans, and Thumbelina. The cover is grayish blue with Mother Goose and some of the story book children waving to her. There is no castle.  It states it was originally published as Janet and Anne Grahame-Johnstone Gift Book of Fairy Tales, Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales, Gift Book of Fairy Tales, and The White Cat.  I don't know if that means the book had four previous different titles or the other four books were combined to make this edition.
The edition suggested was reprinted in the 80s under the title Dean's Book of Famous Fairy Tales: Stories After Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Janet & Anne Grahame-Johnstone, published London: Dean, 1984, Pictorial Cover.
could be Treasury of Hans Christian Andersen translated by Erik Christian Haugaard, published Garden City NY, Nelson Doubleday 1974 - book club edition - hard cover - 528 pages, 72 tales includes classics like: Ugly Duckling, Emperor's New Clothes, Red Shoes, Snow Queen, Little Mermaid, Little Match Girl, Tinderbox, Steadfast Tin Soldier, and many others. Deluxe edition has dark blue cover with gilt decoration, no information on cover of book club edition.
Dean's A Book of Fairy Tales, 1977.  This is def. the book you're looking for.  You can see the book under
Loganberry's Most Requested Books, but the cover is a different edition, probably an older one.  I looked for this book for years without a title of good idea of the cover until I found it though Harriett's Book Stumper.  I'm sure this is the book by your description.  If Harriett doesn't have any in her store then you an probably find a copy on ebay.  Janet and Anne Grahame Johnstone are the illustrators.

Ruth Stiles Gannett, My Father's Dragon (in Three Tales of My Father's Dragon, 1997, reprint.)  The story of the little boy who gives gum to the tigers is from My Father's Dragon. The other parts of the story are not
Phyllis R. Fenner, Giggle Box, 1950.  I was the one who originally requested this, so you can know that the solution was found!  By looking up the Ruth Stiles Gannett book, and knowing The Mudhen and Homer Price was in it, I found it in my local public library.  Phyllis R. Fenner put out a similar book in 1953 called Fun, Fun, Fun.  Now I want to buy My Father's Dragon!

P. L. Travers, One of the Mary Poppins books. I think I remember this scene in one of the Mary Poppins books, though I'm not 100% sure.  I don't remember which one, though.
Oh yeah!  I'll bet it's the Little Golden Book version of the Mary Poppins chapter:  The Gingerbread Shop illustrated by Gertrude Elliott, LGB# 126, 1952.
P110b: Sounds like the Mrs. Corry(?) chapter of Mary Poppins - except it's Mary Poppins who swipes the
kids' gold stars left over from the gingerbread and then she and Mrs. Corry, the shopkeeper, paste them on the sky as the kids watch unseen from their window. Mrs. Corry also has fingers made of candy which she can break off and make grow again - though in Reading For the Love of It, Michele Landsberg gets this fact wrong and uses it as one excuse to hate the MP series in general! For those who know only the movie, be aware that the kids in the book love MP not because she's magical and sweet, but because she's both magical and a no-nonsense tyrant who never gives hugs. The fact that she was an imperfect grown-up while the kids are somewhat more fair-minded made the series a novelty (in the 1930s) in kids' literature.
#P110b--Pasting stars in the sky:  Oddly, this is the one scene from Mary Poppins, by P. L. Travers, that readers seem to remember best, and one that didn't make it into the movie!
Travers, P L, Mary Poppins...Sounds like the chapter in one of the Mary Poppins books where the children visit Mrs. Corry's shop and eat gingerbread with paper stars pasted on it.
This episode is very similar to one that occurs in P.L. Travers' Mary Poppins series. I can't remember the exact book in the series.
Travis, P. L., Mary Poppins.This sounds like the Mrs. Cory chapter from Mary Poppins.  They children collect the stars from the Gingerbread and Mary Poppins sneaks them away and with Mrs. Cory and her two daughter climbs ladders and pastes them into the sky.
Regarding the comments about P110b (Gingerbread Shop).  Someone found it odd that this scene didn"t make it into the movie.  I found that the movie took a lot of liberties with the original and wonderful book.  The charm of the bok was Mary Poppins' outward gruffness and grouchiness (yet she secretly did wonderful things for the children.  Julie Andrews' Mary Poppins was sickeningly icky-sweet.  The time period was changed from the World War II era to about 1910, and Mrs. Banks was a suffragette!  Really bizarre.  And what happened to John, Barbara and Annabel?  I'll bet you can guess that I'm no fan of the Disneyized version of one of the all time greatest children's series.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Travers, P.L.  The Gingerbread Shop: A Story from Mary Poppins.  Illustrated by Gertrude Elliott.  NY: Simon & Schuster, 1952, first Little Golden Book edition (LGB #126).  Edges worn, rear gutter cracked, otherwise VG.  <SOLD> Travers, P.L.  Mr. Wigg's Birthday Party: A Story from Mary Poppins.  Illustrated by Gertrude Elliott.  NY: Simon & Schuster, 1952, first Little Golden Book edition (LGB #140).  Fine copy. <SOLD>

For G2--in the 60's Scholastic Books had a paperback called Ginny and the---it was "and the New People" or "the Mysterious Strangers" or some such and was about a girl named Ginny who met American Indians and ate a soup they made during a blizzard..
Could this be Julie Campbell's Ginny Gordon series?  I think there were 4 or 5 books in the series.  Ginny solved mysteries while setting up business concerns in her town.
I had emailed you a week or two ago about the above stumper. I thought it was the Ginny Gordon series written by Julie Campbell. I checked one of the books at home, and she did live on Maple. Hope this helps.
You have a request for information about the "Ginnie" series on your website.  The Ginnie books, written by Catherine Woolley, were my absolute favorites.  I have been collecting them for my daughters, who are now enjoying the stories as well.  Titles include Ginnie and Geneva, Ginnie Joins In, Ginnie and the New Girl, Ginnie and Her Juniors (later reprinted as Ginnie's Babysitting Business), Ginnie and the Cooking Contest, Ginnie and the Mystery Cat, Ginnie and the Mystery Doll, Ginnie and the Mystery Light.  I am still seeking a copy of Ginnie and the Wedding Bells to add to my collection.
I remember that book too!!! Ran to my bookshelf in the attic and found it. Woolley, Catherine. Ginnie and Geneva. Illus. by Iris Beatty Johnson. New York, W. Morrow, 1948.
Funny you should wonder about the Ginnie books. Two weeks ago I was going through my childhood books and came across Ginny and the Mystery Doll. I am reading a chapter a night to my own 8 year old daughter now and we are both loving it!

There are two books I want desperately, whose titles I cannot remember: Book One--a little girl loses her beautiful doll. The book traces the doll over the next 50+ years until the girl (now an old woman) is reunited with it.
D3  This is just a guess, but the answer might be the ever-popular Magic Elizabeth by Norma Kassirer. After all, even though the old woman isn't the focus of the story, it is her doll that Sally recovers after all those years.
Actually I have recently learned that it is Ginnie and the Mystery Doll by Catherine Woolley.  I think I got a few of the details wrong.  I now have a copy and am so excited.  By the way, just a day or two ago I found a paperback copy of Magic Elizabeth.  Can you believe I never read it as a child, but I keep hearing other people say it was one of their favorites, so I just had to have it.  Will keep looking for a hardback copy. Love your website.  It has solved a couple of mysteries for me and I am most appreciative.  I have more to submit later on, but do not want to be piggy.
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Received the book and was thrilled at the condition.  I was expecting something really dirty and yucky based on your description, so was pleasantly surprised at how nice it was. Began reading it last night with my little girl, who I had to force it on, I think because it looked old and not so beautiful.I thought I remembered this story, but so far it is all fresh to me, although I recognize enough to know it is definitely the right book! Anyway, my little girl is loving it as much as I did as a little girl. So - to the point of this e-mail - can you locate other books in this series
for me?  I recall there are several.

this sounds good - Ginny and Custard, by Frances Clarke Sayers, illustrated by Eileen Evans, published New York, Viking 1951. "A charming story of a little New York girl's happy year in Los Angeles with an  understanding father and mother to enjoy exploring with her all sorts of new and exciting things - the famous Farmer's Market; the wonderful fields of wild flowers; Olvera Street where they took Ginny's much-loved cat, Custard, for the Easter Saturday Festival; and many, many more. I enjoyed the story of Ginny; and the book left me with a feeling of really having had a happy time myself in Los Angeles, so well does Mrs. Sayers picture the city." (Horn Book Sept/51 p.331)

Paul Goble, The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses.  Is this The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses? befriends the stallion, eventually becomes a horse herself.  the stringy, wind-blown manes sounds right.
#I28--Indian and her horse:  The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses, by Paul Goble, won the 1979 Caldecott medal.
Goble, Paul, The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses, 1978.  Could this be the book you're looking for?  The girl ends up leaving her tribe to live with the wild horse.  Each year she brings a colt back to the tribe, but one year she doesn't return and the tribe believe that the girl turned into a beautiful mare.  Paul Goble won the Caldecott Medal for this book.
Possibly The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses, written and illustrated by Paul Goble, published New York, Macmillan 1978, reprinted several times, 32 pages. "There was a girl in the village who loved horses... She led the horses to drink at the river. She spoke softly and they followed. People noticed that she understood horses in a special way." And so begins the story of a young Native American girl devoted to the care of her tribe's horses. With simple text and brilliant illustrations. Paul Goble tells how she eventually becomes one of them to forever run free." "A young American Indian girl has an unusual rapport with wild horses and during a storm she runs off with
them and joins a herd led by a beautiful spotted stallion."

Marguerite De Angeli, The Goose Girl, Doubleday 1964.  I am afraid I don't know the old school reader to which you refer but I did come across a reference to The Goose Girl by Marguerite De Angeli. (Doubleday, 1964) Perhaps that was the one included in the reader.It might prove a key to help track down  the reader!
The Little Girl Who Sat In The Ashes...  When I was a child, I had a bunch of discarded school readers and lately I've been thinking often of a story in one of them, and I'd like very much to find it again. The story was a version of Cinderella. The young lady in the story was a gooseherd. Everyday she went through the village and rounded up the geese and took them to pond and pasture and watched over them. One day, she heard that a party was being held for the prince and all eligible young women were invited to go. But she only had one old grey dress. The geese seemed to understand her plight, and at the end of each day, they raised thier wings and flapped thier wings until feathers (down) flew like snow. She gathered up and saved all the small downy feathers. She sat and sewed all the feathers on her old grey dress. There was a color illustration of her standing on a rock, holding her long golden hair piled on top of her head, wearing the white fluffy feathered dress and gazing at her reflection in the pond while the geese watched. She went to the ball and the prince fell in love with her. Her dress of goose feathers rivaled expensive gowns of richer women, her bare feet were as pretty and dainty as the finest slipper, her flowing locks as lovely as elaborately arranged hairstyles, and her face shining with happiness...   This is quite definitely "The Little Girl Who Sat In the Ashes" one of my favorite children's books ever. It's a LOVELY version of the Cinderella story. I had to BEG and make a major donation to a local library to get first dibs on mine...I waited a decade till it was finally knocked off the shelf and into the discard section! LOL

This must be Girl with the Silver Eyes by Willo Davis Roberts.
Hey!  I was right and actually had a copy in stock.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Roberts, Willo Davis.  The Girl With the Silver Eyes.  Scholastic, 1980.  Paperback.  G.  $8

I'm not sure, but I know there's a story by Joan Aiken called "Jehane of the Forest" in a book titled Girls' Adventure Stories of Long Ago.
Not a solution, but C97 and W76 appear to be the same book.  [W76?  wrong number...]
Thank you for posting my stumper!  I was so excited to see a response so soon.  I think the contributor is onto something, I think my books WERE called "Girl"'s Adventures...".  Hope now springs very strong!
C97 collection for girls: more on the suggested - Girls' Adventure Stories of Long Ago, published London, Hamlyn 1968, reprinted 1971, 1979 and 1984, illustrated by Will Nickless. Contents: Sign of the Hawk, by Renée Frazer; The Wreckers, By Elizabeth Sheppard-Jones; Jehane of the Forest, by Joan Aiken; A Lamp for Elizabeth, by Kathleen O'Farrell; Highland Escape, by Judy Thomas. The cover is either blue cloth or laminated pictured boards, though.

The tree story certainly sounds like The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein (1964).  I have a nice copy with dust jacket for $10.  Can't think of an anthology that contains it, but I'm sure there is one.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Silverstein, Shel.  The Giving Tree.  Harper Collins, 1964.  New hardback, $16.

Check out the comments under Blowing Wand on the Solved Mysteries page to see if any of these suggestions are familiar.
Maria Gripe, Glassblower's children. That is the right title, I found it listed in several libraries online. It does look to be hard to find.
Maria Gripe, Glassblower's Children, 1960s?  Originally published in Sweden (?or Denmark) but certainly the title is right and I think I have the correct spelling of the author's name. It's a long time since I read it, but the story sounds right, too.

?, Go Tell Aunt Rhodie.  There is a song we used to sing in school as a child. Here's what I remember of it: "Go tell Aunt Rhodie, go tell Aunt Rhodie Go tell Aunt Rhode, the old gray goose is dead.  The one she'd been saving, the one she'd been saving, The one she'd been saving, to make a feather bed.  She died in the mill pond, she died in the mill pond, She died in the mill pond, standing on her head."
Aliki, Go Tell Aunt Rhody, 1974, 1986.  If it's not this particular book, it's gotta be this folk song.
Would this possibly be a version of the old song, "Go Tell Aunt Rhody"?  "Go tell Aunt Rhody, go tell Aunt Rhody, go tell Aunt Rhody, the old grey goose is dead. The one she's been saving (3x) to make a feather bed.  The goslings are crying (3x) because their mother's dead." I believe it's sometimes called "Go Tell Aunt Patsy" also.
"Go Tell Aunt Nancy."  This is a traditional song:  "Go tell Aunt Nancy (repeated twice)/ Her old grey goose is dead.  The one that she'd been saving (x3)/ To make a feather bed.  She died in the duckpond (x3) Standing on her head.  Old gander's weeping (x3) Because his wife is dead.  Goslings are weeping (x3) Because their mother's dead.  Go tell Aunt Nancy (x3) The old grey goose is dead."  There are several versions of this some feature "Aunt Rhody" rather than "Aunt Nancy".
I don't know the title of it, but doesn't this refer to the song "Go tell Aunt Rosie/the Old Gray Goose is dead"?  I know there are many verses to it.  The original poster is a little younger than me and I know we used to sing it all the time.
Well, I did think of this folk song when I posted this, but how wonderful to receive so many different answers!  I'd forgotten about the Aliki book.  Here it is (see below--)
Go Tell Aunt Rhody:  When the Weavers sang this in concert, they had the audience sing the song as each person originally learned it.  When they reached the name they got a mix of Sally, Polly, just about every possible two-syllable female name.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Go Tell Aunt Rhody.   Illustrated by Aliki.  Macmillan, 1974.  First edition thus.  Ex-library edition in well-read shape: pages are worn and several have small tears.  Ready for another read though, and the dust jacket is well preserved.  P/VG-  $10

W67 witches cat doesn't fit in: Would suggest Gobbolino the Witches Cat, written and illustrated by Ursula Moray Williams, published 1942, reprinted Puffin 1973 "The trouble with Gobbolino was that he had blue eyes and one white paw, so he didn't want to be a witch's cat. He wanted to be a kitchen cat, and sit by the fire and sing like the kettle on the hob, to keep down the mice and mind the baby, and sit in his mistress's lap. His mother Grimalkin didn't like him because he wasn't wicked, but all the other homes he went to mistrusted him..." 

C37 probably is a Carl Burke book.  There are several copies of  God is Real, Man, listed on bookfinder.com  and the description is quite similar.  128 pages published in 1966.  Ack, I started this a few days ago-- better send it now, before I forget!
I got the book and yes, it certainly seems right - the actual name is God is for Real, Man. The feast is the wedding at Cana. It includes a slang glossary -  it's amusing to remember that in 1966, "long-hairs" used to mean not hippies so much as classical music-lovers!

Referring to A-36, I am sitting here holding my copy of what I think may be the correct book.  It is called 365 Bedtime Stories, from Whitman Publishing Company, Copyright 1944.  The cover does indeed have mostly blue, and shows two young girls propped up on pillows in a canopy bed, one reading to the other.  However, the book in the cover picture is plain navy blue, no pictures on it, so I am not certain.  Perhaps there was a later edition, but mine seems to be the earliest.  The story for January 6 is called Twelfth Night, and is about Tommy and Billy finding a special "bean" in a cake.  Hope this information will be of some help.
A36- I have a 365 Bedtime Stories by Nan Gilbert that was published by Whitman in 1955 and 1970.  The cover is blue and shows two children in bed being read to by their mother, who is holding a blue book.  The story for january sixth is about 12th day.  A Mrs. Apricot is telling the children about how they used to celebrate 12th day.
I hope this will help A36. I have The Golden Book of 365 Stories, pictures by Richard Scarry, copyright 1955. This book has a blue cover with a little boy and girl reading a book with a picture of a little boy and girl reading a book --they are surrounded by a group of animals. the story on January 6th is about alittle boy that recieves a pitcher from his grandmother in Italy and he doesn't like,but his mother puts it on the table every day and in time he comes to love it.
A36:  I believe you are definitely looking for the 1944 edition of 365 Bedtime Stories which had several different covers from 1944 through the early 1950's.  Some of the stories do have poems, and there are Bead Buddies
stories throughout the book (if that rings a bell).  Each page has a black and white, or a color picture at the top of the page.  If you browse the auctions for this book on EBay you may very well recognize the cover from the book you had.
A36 anthology: from the description of the cover, would suggest The Golden Book of 365 Bedtime Stories: a Story for Every Day of the Year, illustrated by Richard Scarry, published Golden 1955, 235 pages. The blue cover shows 2 children, in 2 beds pushed together, surrounded by animals who are apparently being read to. The children hold a blue book with the same cover.  NOTE! There is another edition? of this same title, the stories credited to Kathryn Jackson, also illustrated by Scarry, possibly a 1983 reprint, which has a very similar cover, but the children in the beds have been replaced by a bear in a chair, holding a book with a cover of a bear in a chair.

Elsa Jane Werner, The Golden Book of Nursery Tales. 1948.  This book indeed is illustrated by Tibor Gergely.  I have a copy sitting in front of me and it was published in 1948 by Simon and Schuster.  It has 127 pp in all and you are missing the beggining and the last two stories. 

I stink at anthologies.  But I know the goblin line is from James Whitcomb Rilley's Orphant Annie.  Do you remember the illustrations?
Jane Werner (ed.), The Golden Book of Poetry, c1947, 1949, reprint 1971. Subtitled "85 Childhood Favorites," this book contains all the poems mentioned, including "Little Orphant Annie." Charmingly illustrated by Gertrude Elliot. I had a copy as a child in the 50s.

Ritchie, Rita, The Golden Hawks of Genghis Khan, illustrated by Lorence Bjorklund. NY Dutton 1958.  The first one could be this, here's a plot description: "Jalair has been told from infancy that Mongols slew his father Darien, the greatest hawker in the Empire, and stole the Golden Hawks-a spectacular breed of hunting bird Darien had perfected. Since then, the Mongols have searched relentlessly for the son of the slain hawker." Can't ID any of the others yet, but The Year of the Horse, same author & illus, Dutton 1957, is "about the nomads of Mongolia".
We are thrilled and amazed. Yes, we're pretty sure this is the book! We are horrified at the going price for this book on ebay and the online book resellers but now we're on a mission to find it at a reasonable price!! Armed with the actual AUTHOR's name and the TITLE we're sure to succeed! This is just so GREAT. We gave you an obscure shot in the dark, and you came back with what we consider a small miracle. In barely two weeks !! LOL Thanks so much. Well worth the $2 !!!
F69 falconry genghis khan: Golden Hawks of Genghis Khan, by Rita Ritchie, NY Dutton 1958. More on the other titles wanted - some possibles: The Year of the Horse, by Ritchie, NY Dutton 1957, "Story of a Mongol boy in the year 1211 - The Year of the Horse. Botokai's father had been an honoured officer in the army of Genghis Khan, until his conviction as a traitor. Although his father had died in disgrace, the young boy was
determined to prove his father's innocence and restore his family honour." "Botokai's restoring of a weak colt provides him with a swift, half-Mongol half-Persian horse to help in his search for clues to right that wrong." Secret Beyond the Mountains, by Ritchie, NY Dutton 1960, 240 pages, "story of the days of Genghis Khan ... description of the great Mongol hunt. Because Taikal had violated the law by slaying a mysterious  black-and-white monster to save the life of his superior officer, he lost his command. Taikal and his friend Yarkut journeyed to Lhasa, and in discovering the secret of the beast they also uncovered a plot to overthrow the empire of Genghis Khan."

Jennie Lindquist , The Golden Name Day.This is a really long shot, but the cover does have the main character Nancy standing in her frilly dress with fireflies around her. Nancy has come to live with her Swedish grandparents because her mother is ill. She learns about many Swedish customs, including name days. Since her name isn't Swedish, she doesn't have a name day and feels left out. She meets a Polish girl and learns Polish-Americans celebrate name-days and that there is a day for her middle name--Wanda. There is also a quite a bit on how she and her cousins decorate their rooms. Nancy chooses yellow rose wallpaper--some editions of this book have a pattern of yellow roses on the endpapers.
Jennie Dorothea Lindquist, The Golden Name Day, 1955.
Wow, now I remember the Name Day stuff that everyone is talking about, but I wouldn't have made the connection with this book!  This is so great!  I didn't think this one would be solved so quickly.  I looove this web site!

The book is probably The Golden Pinecone, by Catherine Clarke. I think it was published by Clarke Irwin, but if you need the details let me know as I have a copy at home.
The Golden Pine Cone, by Catharine Anthony Clark, illustrated by Clare Bice, published Toronto, Macmillan 1950, 182 pages. Bren and Lucy live with their parents in a log cabin in the woods. After Lucy finds a gold pine cone on its broken chain, and the wise dog Ooshka comes to live with them, they learn that they have entered Tekontha's kingdom, and can see the Spirit People and understand the speech of animals. Nasookin the giant hunter is after the pine cone, because it holds some of Tekontha's magic, and the children have to flee. To get the Pine Cone Earring back to Tekontha and to free Ooshka from the Spirit People, the children go underwater and fight the Lake Snake, fly with the Canada geese (who carry them in a net), are captured by Nasookin and escape, meet old Bill Buffer who made the gold pine cones, ride with the reindeer, and escape from the Ice Witch on mammoth-back. 

This sounds like Rutherford Montgomery's Golden Stallion series

See what I have for sale on the Horse Catalog Page.

JBS Haldane, Mr Leakey, 1944.  I don't know if the searcher is looking for the anthology or the story, but if it's the latter this might help.  I recently bought a 1944 Puffin copy of My Friend Mr.Leakey by JBS Haldane
which contains 6 stories including the one mentioned:  Rats;  The snake with the golden teeth;  A meal with a magician; A day in the life of a magician;  Mr Leakey's party; and My magic collar stud.  The book was first published in 1937 and then was published in 1944 as one of the earliest 'Puffin' books.
Untermeyer, Bryna & Louis, Golden treasury of Children's Literature: Volume 6: Unfamiliar Marvels. 1962, copyright. I posted the stumper originally. I found a copy of the anthology with the Leakey extract. It didn't have any Tolkein, so I guess I was thinking of another book for that. The book store also had 2 copies of the Puffin edition of the entire Leakey book, although I already had a much earlier edition.

No doubt you're referring to Jane Werner's Golden Books Treasury of Elves and Fairies illustrated by Garth Williams.  It was originally published in 1951, reprinted in 1999, and out-of-print again.  It's a high demand item.  See Most Requested Books for more.

This may be Joanna Cole, Golly Gump Swallowed a Fly. Parent's Magazine Press, '82.
Could this be Shel Silverstein, Uncle Shelby's Zoo:  Don't Bump the Glump and other Fantasies?  It has drawings and poems of creatures like the "Glub-Toothed Sline" and the "One-Legged Zantz" ("consider his feelings, don't ask him to dance").  1964.  Out of print.
Real long shot here - Romper the Rabbit 1948, illustrated picture book by Ann Falconer. "This picture book has both the story and the music. Romper is a little bunny who lives with his family in a hollow tree. He hops through the pages with his sisters and brother. But while the other family members all go hoppity-hop, Romper goes ga-lump, ga-lump! During Romper's busy day he meets Fannie Field Mouse, Dickie Duck, Pookey Pig, and Uncle Puff and tries to find someone else who goes ga-lump, ga-lump!"

This is Gone Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright. There's a sequel called Return to Gone Away. The children don't travel back in time--they go to stay with relatives in the country and while exploring discover a community of old, deserted summer homes. An elderly brother and sister live in two of the old homes and wear the old clothes they've found there. The children become friends with the old people, who tell them stories of their childhood, when they would spend their summers in the now-deserted summer community.
I just have to tell you that I stumbled on your website completely by accident. I had been thinking about a book I read as a child. All I could remember was that it was about a girl on summer vacation and she came across a lake with old houses, and elderly people lived there still. I believe they had been forgotten. So I decided to go on my search engine and punch in the words 'childrens book girl summer lake elderly'. Much to my surprise up came your website. Someone else had been looking for Gone Away Lake too! I was thrilled to find the name! I just wanted to tell you that you made someone's day without even knowing it! Thank you very much.
this book is readily available. It is one of the choices on the Accelerated Reading Program on the middle school level and can be found in any school library or any bookstore which stocks books for required reading in schools.
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children's mystery which I read around 1959. I think it was a new book and possibley an award winner. It concerns two children who meet two elderly people in a victorian house deep in a forest. The plot somehow involves the search for ginseng roots also referred to as "sang" in the book.

Elizabeth  Enright, Gone-Away Lake, 1957.  Almost certainly this book. Cousins Portia and Julian discover an elderly brother and sister living in old abandoned houses on the shore of a dried-up lake. I don't remember ginseng but "Aunt Minnehaha" had a garden in the swamp.  They both dressed in old Victorian era clothing and "Uncle Pin" drove an ancient automobile. In the sequel, Return to Gone-Away (1961), Portia's family buys a house at Gone-Away Lake and moves there.
Elizabeth Enright, Gone Away Lake. 1957.  This was, indeed, a Newbery Award winner.
Elizabeth Enright, Gone Away Lake.  Brother and sister on vacation in country find elderly brother and sister living in a set of abandoned summer homes by the edge of what was a lake at the turn of the century and is now a marsh. The elderly gentleman collects and sells botanicals including ginseng.
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The Lost Lake????? 1960/61  When I was in the sixth grade, living in Philadelphia, I checked  a book out of the school library (it was a brand new book).  It was about two children (brother & sister?) who spend the summer with relatives ( Grandparents?) at a lakeside home.  Only the lake has disappeared, it has dried up or is drying up.  All of these beautiful old victorian mansions lining a disappearing lake and the children try to solve the mystery of where the water has gone.

Elizabeth Enright, Gone-Away Lake, 1957.  Newbery Honor Book.
Elizabeth Enright, Gone-away Lake.  Same as C194
Elizabeth Enright, Gone-Away Lake
Gone-Away Lake.  This one sure shows up a lot!

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Enright, Elizabeth. Gone-Away Lake.  Scholastic, Inc., 1985.  Softcover, VG-.  <SOLD>

(GREAT SERVICE!! One of my favorite bookmarks!)  I believe the story you are talking about is in an early 60's Childcraft volume of folk tales. The name of the story in this collection is Gone is Gone. The husband puts the cow on the roof to eat and tries to make soup. He ends up with a disastrous mess.   I John 2:4 Look it up : )
Hi, I was searching for information on another book on the Children's Picture Book Database at Miami University website, and came across this book title and description. I think it might be what you're looking for. The title is Gone is Gone; or, The story of a man who wanted to do housework.  The description reads: "A man wishes to trade a day's work with his wife who does 'nothing' all day. He soon learns he was wrong." Retold and illustrated by Wanda Gág New York, Coward-McCann, inc. [c1935]
Oh, Wanda Gag (of Millions of Cats fame)!  Of course!
What a wonderful site! I am looking for a story about a husband and wife who swap places for the day. The husband stays at home and has to do all the household chores etc.. I don't remember the title, but it was in a collection of stories. I used to make my father read it to me every night before bed. One thing I remember most is that the husband ties the cow to the roof of the house to graze. Any thoughts??

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Gag, Wanda.  Gone is Gone, or, The Story of a Man Who Wanted to Do Housework. Coward McCann, 1935.  Library bound and worn.  Scarce.  G.  <SOLD>

W15:  The Good American Witch by Peggy Bacon.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Bacon, Peggy.  The Good American Witch.  Franklin Watts, 1957.  First edition.  Corners bumped, otherwise VG.  <SOLD>

This is probably the reading series known as The Good-Companion Books, by Arthur I. Gates, Franklin T. Baker and Celeste Peardon; illustrated by Florence McAnelly.  New York: Macmillan, 1930's.  There were at least four volumes: Nick and Dick, Fun with Nick and Dick, The story book of Nick and Dick, and The Caravan of Nick and Dick.  Probably just as hard to find as Dick and Jane!

no plot, but maybe this one? Though '63 seems late for blocks of ice: Rutherford, Bonnie and Bill. A Good, Good Morning (A Tip Top Tales Book) Racine: Whitman 1963, illustrated boards, gorgeous color illustrations,  This title is closer, but it's a boy character: Polgreen, John and Cathleen. Good Morning Mr Sun (A Little Owl Book) NY Holt, Rinehart and Winston 1963, illustrated boards, "story about sun, shadows and a little boy"
#G11--Good Morning, Sun:  I thought of A Good, Good Morning too.  It does indeed feature a little blond girl, but looking through my copy I see it takes place in summer--so no school books and certainly no ice trucks!
Thanks.  This book IS called A Good, Good Morning.  I have been looking for it for years.  Thank you for your contributions!

This book may have been "Grimms Fairy Tales." Check it out, and compare the stories in it to the ones you remember. I know "Puss and Boots" and "The Frog Prince" are in the copy I have from the 1960's, although my copy is a green hardback, not a gray one. Good luck!
A16 is NOT Child's World gray series.
Well, if I knew when the seeker was young (70s? 80s?) it would help. However, it has to be an anthology not limited to Grimm or Andersen, so possible are: Opie, Iona and Peter A NURSERY COMPANION Oxford University Press, 1980. Gray Cloth, Folio 400 color illustrations, a collection of the old fairy tales and children's stories  beautifully illustrated. THE ARTHUR RACKHAM FAIRY BOOK A Book Of Old Favourites With New Illustrations  Philadelphia, Lippincott c.1950 8vo 286 pp. Gray cloth, maroon stamping, 8 full-color plates and over 50 black & white illustrations by Arthur Rackham.
The Good Housekeeping Best Book of Bedtime Stories, edited by Pauline Rush Evans (1957) has a gray  cover.  It is a thick volume with 384 pages. It is not lavishly illustrated, rather there is one black and white picture per story. The tales you  mentioned are here as well as a smattering of many other stories: Androcles and the Lion, The Brownie  of Blednock, Winnie the Pooh, The Lost Merbaby, Sudden Mary: many stories are excerpted from larger stories. There are some poems as well.
Sounds like it could be the same book as A15. Dean's Gift Book of Fairy Tales.

You are right in thinking that this is a Little Golden Book.  It was written in 1951 by Esther Wilkin and illustrated by Eloise Wilkin.

As a child (1970's)I remember reading a book about a good little girl and a bad little girl.  I think it was a Golden Book, but it may not have been.  At the end of the book the two girls turn out to be the same little girl.  I remember a couple of illustrations where the girl is having a tea party outdoors, and one where she is standing on a fence.  I do not know the actual title or the author.  Any ideas? 

G41 could possibly by , What the Moon Sees What the Sun Sees by Nancy Tafuri.  It was published within the last several years.
this book is a flip flop book i think thats what it is called.  any help in locating this one or even the title would sure be a great help
[related message] Around 1913, Rand McNally published The Goody-Naughty Book by Sarah Cory Rippey, illustrated by Branchel Fisher Wright.  On one side are the goody stories -- featuring Rose-Red, Polly, Teddy & Betty -- on the other side the naughty stories -- with Willie, Molly, Jean & P'rapsy.  It was reprinted several times through 1935.  Originally published in tan, there are also (at least) green and light blue covers.  They also published by the same author The Sunny-Sulky Book.  Rand McNally also published another book called The Goody Naughty Book.   It was a tip-top elf book, published 1956 by Mabel Watts, illustrated by Helen Prickett.  It also has a "Goody Side" and a "Naughty Side".  The "Goody" cover shown in Santi's collectors' guide has a broadly smiling boy and a demonically smirking -- er, smiling little girl in pigtails.
thanks though that is not the book it's an up-side down book about a girl and boy i remember how the girl gets to take a bubbly bath and the boy has a plain bath. one side was all yellow andthe other was blue with stars and the title thanks again.  this book would have come out beofre 1970 since im 30 now thanks
On the Good Morning, Good Night book, there is a Little Golden Book of that title by Jane Werner, illustrated by Eloise Wilkin, 1948.  Not a flipover book, but seems to fit the description in other ways.
This sounds possible: Luther, Frank, Good Morning and Good Night: a Two-in-One Wonder Book Wonder Books 1952, illustrated by Beatrice Derwinski "Read a story then turn upside down for another story. Tells about two children, what they do when they wake up and what they do when they go to bed." color illustratrions.
thanks so much that is the book and i was able to find it and now a have a copy of it again!!!!! thank you for all your help this is a great site and i hope to use it again!!!!!

Betty Ren Wright, Good Morning Farm, c. 1965.  Published by Golden Press.
Betty Ren Wright, Good Morning, Farm, 1964.  Illustrated by Fred Weinman.  Seems a likely candidate, mixing drawings and photos. May be a few different printings: 1964 Whitman giant tell-a-tale book.  1971, 1974 Golden
S220 Wright, Betty Ren. Good morning, farm.  illus by Fred Weinman, Whitman c1964.  collie? sheltie? dog goes around the farm saying "Good morning" to all the animals. photos mixed with colored art.  11 1/2 x 14; glossy boards, Giant Tell-a-Tale.

R27 -  I have the vaguest memory of having read this, too.  I don't remember the name of it, but are you sure it was a separate book?  I almost think it was one of the stories in a larger collection.
R27 ratty and mousie: this seems very likely - Good Neighbors, written and illustrated in color by Diane Redfield Massie, published McGraw Hill Weekly Readers 1972, 32 pages. "An enchanting exploration of neighborliness,  and how two friends, Mouse and Ratty, learn its true meaning and application. Ages 4-8." (HB Oct/72 p.504 pub ad) "Story of a pocket mouse that lives in the desert in a nice cozy little home underground. Then a packrat moves in next door & imposes himself."

I think I remember seeing this in two storybooks - at any rate, you can also read it in Goops and How to Be
Them  (1900, Gelett Burgess). They were Better Homes and Gardens Storybook, Vol 1 (1950s) and The
Illustrated Treasury of Children's Literature (1970s?). The second one, when you removed the dust jacket, had a pale blue cover with tiny reproductions of the drawings of Alice, Humpty Dumpty, Toad and maybe another famous character, all repeated constantly over the cover.
G36: Goops  Try GHASTLIES, GOOPS & PINCUSHIONS; NONSENSE VERSE by X.J. Kennedy
G36 - I'm sure you'll get numerous answers for this one.  Has to be one of the Goops books by Gelett Burgess (e.g., The Goops and How To Be Them).
This is an old traditional book that is still in print in paperback & audio cassette.  The title is (yes, all of this if you want to include the subtitle): Goops and How to Be Them: A Manual of Manners for Polite Children Inculcating Many Juvenile Virtues Both By Precept and Example. To add to all of that, there was also a sequel that's also in print & with a similarly long title: More Goops and How Not to Be Them: A Manual of Manners for Impolite Infants, Depicting the Characteristics of Many Naughty and Thoughtless Children.  Note that the 1st title says HOW TO BE THEM while the sequel says HOW NOT TO BE THEM.  Both are by Gelett Burgess.
The Goops is a poem about a messy family.... I remember this, as does my fiance, and we're pretty sure that it was an entire book, not just a single poem. It had as its goal demonstrating to youngsters how gross and rude it was to do nasty things like pick one's nose or burp. My fiance's in his late thirties, I'm in my early thirties, so it has to at least be a 1950 or 1960 publication. I seem to remember it as something that might have been read to my father, as I recall reading it at my grandmother's house. Hope this helps. If I can find it, I'll send more info.
The Goops give some good book advice too:  I have a notion / The Books on the shelves / Are just as much persons / As we are, Ourselves. // When you are older, / You'll find this is true; / You'd better be careful / To make Books like you!

This is one of the grimmer Grimm tales called "The Goosegirl."  Not exactly an intuitive title, as everyone who reads the story remembers Falada's head nailed to the wall.  The deliciously nasty beginning involves the princess and her maid traveling to a new household, and during the trip, the princess's maid assumes the princess's identity.  **Want a copy?  We have a number of cool Grimm's collections.  Just e-mail!
Thank you for your help in solving the mystery!  I re-read it and it was therapeutic -- for some reason, I was horrified at the thought of passing a dead horse's head (not to mention having it speak to me) when I was little.

There are at least three!  Patty Cake by Elizabeth Moody, 80 pp., published 1974. Gorilla Baby: the Story of Patty Cake by Pearl Wolf, 32 pp., published 1974. Gentle Gorilla: the Story of Patty Cake by Susan Kohn Green, 303 pp., published 1978.  The book by Wolf says it is illustrated with black and white photographs.

Could be The Golden Egg Book by Margaret Wise Brown, illus by Leonard Weisgard. A Big Golden Book, 1947.
No, it's not The Golden Egg Book - that one is about a little bunny who was all alone, and found an egg.  He wondered what was inside the egg.  Then it cracked, and out popped a baby chick.  And they lived happily ever after.
Grandpa Bunny (Walt Disney Golden Book), 1951.
I must be getting confused in my old age (or with all these stumpers!):  yes, it's definately Grandpa Bunny Bunny.  There's both a Little Golden Book and a Big Golden Book version of it.  Check out the Most Requested Page.
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My "Stumper" is a children's book (I think it was a Golden Book) about bunny rabbits who were Easter Bunnies.  One of the characters was Grandpa Bunny Bunny.  It had pictures of the bunnies coloring beautiful easter eggs. Then one of the bunnies, a girl bunny, delivered the eggs. Can you help me? It was a book I read to my little brother and then to my kids in the 60's.  I would like to read the story to my grandchildren but I lost the book.

I think you're confusing two books, actually.  Your keyword, Easter Bunny magic shoes, refers to Dubois Heywood's The Country Bunny and The Little Gold Shoes.  But the description you write is definately for Grandpa Bunny Bunny.  Both have more info on other Loganberry pages, follow the links for each.

C91 The book is GRANDPA'S FARM written and illustrated by James Flora, 1965. Grandpa tells tall tales about his farm. One of them is "The Terrible Winter '36". There is indeed a picture of a man, his gun, his bullet and a bear all being frozen in mid-air.  ~from a librarian
There are several 'tall tales' about cold days in the mountains, including the frozen bullet and frozen shout stories. I believe I've seen a children's book similar to the one described, but I'm not sure if it was a single story or collection of tall tales. It might be this one - McBroom's Ghost, by Sid Fleischman, illustrated by Robert Frankenberg, published New York, Grosset & Dunlap, 1971 Weekly Reader, unpaginated, "The ghost comes
a-haunting when an "uncommon cold winter" sets in, though it is "not so cold that an honest man would tell fibs about it." That being said, farmer Josh McBroom does have a tendency to stretch the truth quite a bit. He, his
wife and eleven children are amusing characters."
Grandpa's Farm, written and illustrated by James Flora, published Harcourt 1965, 32 pages. "Grandpa, the farmer, is almost as tall as a tree, but not quite so tall as the wildly preposterous tales he spins for little boys. He tells of the great wind of '34 that blew him a fine blue barn; of Grandma's cow salve that could make anything grow, from cows' tails to cornstalks; of the miraculous productions of Little Hatchy Hen; and of the terrible winter when conversation froze in the air and remained unheard until summer." (Horn Book Oct/65 p.498)

Philip Turner, The Grange at High Force  Colonel Sheperton's Clock.  Philip Turner wrote these and possibly others, published by Oxford University Press. I think they may be the ones
You might try CHORISTER'S CAKE and A SWARM IN MAY by William Mayne. I haven't read them for a long time, but they definitely take place in a choristers' school.
Philip Turner, Colonel Sheperton's Clock, The Grange at High Force, Sea Peril, War on the Darnel, Skull Island. The series referred to is definitely by Philip Turner. It is called Darnley Mills. Details can be found on the web by using a search engine and typing in "Philip Turner Darnley Mills". There are 9 books in all
I sent in the query about choirboys and their adventures.  As soon as I saw the note that they were The Grange at High Force and Colonel Sheperton's Clock by Philip Turner I knew that was the answer (somebody has suggested another alternative as well).   Thanks again, it's a great idea and service!  And my colleague tells me you will be featured on NPR tomorrow morning,  so I hope it goes well and you enjoy the experience.

V9: Easy as pie. It's The Story of Fairyfoot by Frances Browne from her book Granny's Wonderful Chair (1857). You can read the whole book online, and the Fairyfoot story. Prince Fairyfoot is made an outcast because of his small feet, he falls in with the fairies and discovers a princess from another land who is burdened with magically overgrown feet. They both discover the magic as to how to change back and forth according to which country they're in.    I know it well because I have the My Book House Series (ed. Olive Beaupre Miller) and the story is in vol. 2 or 3 - at least in that particular edition. They kept changing. Very beautifully designed books, though not with a lot of color in the illustrations - they didn't need it that much.
Finaly, V9 - This story is actually by Frances Hodgson Burnett, not Frances Browne and is available in The Racketty-Packetty House and Other Stories.
Re the last entry - I didn't read Racketty-Packetty House, but Frances Hodgson Burnett was born in 1849
and the above link will tell you that Granny's Wonderful Chair was written in 1857, and My Book House also claims the Fairyfoot story comes from GWC. (Frances Browne died in 1879.) What this says about RPH, I don't know - maybe Burnett wrote some of it and helped pick the rest of the stories?
V9: Mystery solved. In the preface to RPH, it says: "Fairyfoot came from a story Mrs. Burnett read and
loved as a child, in a book called Granny's Wonderful Chair, written by a blind Irishwoman, Frances Browne, in 1856. Being unable to find a copy she rewrote it from memory, adding many delightful touches of her own". So far, I've only skimmed the Burnett - but I think the original is better, IMHO.
Thank you, very much!  It has been such a relief to put a name to that story.

This may be it: Ruth Reuther, Gray C Circus Horse (Houghton Mifflin, 1970)
I finally got a copy of Gray C: Circus Horse by Ruth Reuther off the web (question C61) and you nailed it on the head!  Thanks so much!  I've been trying to remember that one and get a copy for years!  Thank again!

I'd forgotten all about this book until I read the query, but this sounds like one I read when I was younger.  It was
probably Scholastic Book Service, and it had three friends or siblings.  They turned into animals, and their quests
made them face their worst fears.  One of the girls turned into a cat, and I remember she found a magic ring and had to carry it in her mouth because she had no hands.  I think it was called STONE MAGIC.  Aha!  It was Gray Magic by Andre Norton (and on the cover it said, original title Steel Magic).  And here I never knew I had read Andre Norton!

Margaret Lovett, The Great and Terrible Quest, 1967.  This is a wonderful story that I've kept since my childhood.  The jacket blurb starts: "Silver hidden in the gold, young man hidden in the old, laughing lord with weeping eyes"--a few lines of this mysterious verse and a golden ring are the only cludes the boy and the old man have as they set out on the great and terrible quest in a moving and suspenseful tale representing the finest tradition of fantasy.  There are various copies for sale online, and to my surprise they are mostly very expensive!  Others must treasure this book too!  Enjoy.  Now I'll read my copy through for the umpteenth time. <g>
LOVETT Margaret, Great and terrible quest.  Complete rhyme is - Silver hidden in the gold/ Young man hidden in the old/ Laughing lord with weeping eyes/ Bring king and ring before sunrise.
S131 silver hidden in gold: could this be The Great and Terrible Quest, by Margaret Lovett? (See R36 for details) It is set in a medievaloid world and features a lost heir and a mysterious verse that provides clues.
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I can't remember the title, author, etc.  I used to borrow it from the library and I know the alphabetical section I got it from meant the author was between G and L in the alphabet...  It was about a boy who went on some kind of journey to find a ring which had to be matched with another ring, the whereabouts of which he didn't know, but in the end turned out to be hidden in the inlay of the musical instrument (lute?) which he carried with him.  I seem to remember some of the decoration on the lute (?) was an ivory rose.  The setting was kind of mediaeval, I think.  The book must have been written before the mid-70s, was hardback and I have the vague remembrance of the cover being pale in colour, with a dustjacket, and a musical instrument as its illustration, just a line drawing, maybe.

Not 100% sure because I'm just going with the book summary, but maybe the title or details will ring a bell. THE GREAT & TERRIBLE QUEST by Margaret Lovett, 1967, 107 pages. Summary reads that a young boy mistreated by his grandfather goes off on a quest with a man who has lost his memory. All they have as clues to help them are a ring and a verse.
A slightly different summary of the Lovett book: "Set in the middle ages, a quick-witted orphan, abused by his grandfather, risks his life to care for a wounded knight who is on a quest but can't remember what he is searching
for."
I saw the cover of Great and Terrible Quest on Ebay, and it is a sketchy drawing of a lute, in white, on a brown background, which does seem to match the description.
More info on the suggested title The Great and Terrible Quest, by Margaret Lovett, published Faber 1967, 170 pages. "A boy of ten, abusively treated by a robber-baronish grandfather and his band of hired killers, manages to escape with a dog and an injured knight, and all make their way to the City. The reader gradually realises, long before young Trad, that the boy is the true heir to the throne which must be claimed by entering the City gates between sunset and sunrise within a week of the old king's death. He is a nice child and his adventures should hold young readers, being a sort of endurance test of gruelling marches, climbs, struggles to keep the wounded man going and ending with a grand fight near the close. Lighter moments are provided by the fearful juggler the pair pick up while disguised as a minstrel and his granddaughter. The ingredients are familiar: wicked Lords Regent, a kind Wise Woman, an unfinished verse which provides a clue to those seeking the heir, a lost
ring - but they are well handled." (JB Apr/67 p.125)
Margaret Lovett, The Great and Terrible Quest.  I concur with the other "answerers." This book is a favorite of mine, which I have read and re-read.  The boy is named Trad,  and early on he finds the ring and fits it into the inlay in an old lute he's found and repaired.  The significance of both ring and lute become apparent toward the end of the story.

#F55--Frontier brothers' adventures:  I would suggest a look at Magical Melons, the sequel to Caddie Woodlawn, by Carol Ryrie Brink.  Set in Wisconsin in the 1860s, some of the adventures do concentrate on Caddie's two brothers, Warren and Tom, and it's a wonderful book written at the same time as the Little House series and very much in that vein.
John D. Fitzgerald, The Great Brain, Me and My Little Brain, etc.  1967 - 1974, reprinted early 1980's as Dell paperbacks.  Could the poster be thinking of the "Great Brain" series?  They were set in frontier Utah in the 1890's, and although there were actually 3 brothers in the family (plus one adopted), the main characters were the narrator, John or "J.D." and his brother Tom. (Their older brother was away at school.) They had a lot of
adventurous episodes in each book.  I think some public libraries still have these around.

No chance this is L. Frank Baum's A Kidnapped Santa Claus (1904), is there? I never actually read it, so I
can't compare the storylines.
I don't think I've read A Kidnapped Santa Claus either but I don't think that's it because I remember the book I'm looking for being reasonably modern - cars, escalators, etc etc.  Thanks anyway!
Jean Van Leeuwen,The Great Christmas Kidnapping Caper, 1975.  I don't believe I've read this since circa the time it was first published, but it's still on my shelf next to its precursor, The Great Cheese Conspiracy, and still prominent enough in my psyche for me to instantaneously know exactly to what the inquiry was referring! Here's the blurb for The Great Christmas Kidnapping Caper (my edition, incidentally, spells it Kidnaping, which is apparently a valid variant): "Settled in a toy department dollhouse for the winter, Marvin the Magnificent and his gang of mice, Fats and Raymond, make friends with the store's Santa Claus. The months ahead promise to be cozy and plentiful for the three mice--until one morning Santa disappears. Marvin suspects foul play, and he's right! In the rollicking tale that follows, he and his gang undertake the dangerous mission of solving the great Christmas kidnapping. Whether they're collecting clues, setting booby traps or embarking on zany rescue missions, Marvin, Fats and Raymond are a hilarious trio."  Now I'm going to have to reread this!  Fantastic website, by the way! I'm not being hyperbolic in saying it's an invaluable service to humankind. These books helped form us, and finding them again is to rediscover a long-lost part of ourselves.
Fabulous - that definitely sounds like it!  I found one copy for $150 (Australian) so if you can find something cheaper that would be nice!  Thanks a lot.

Great Escape or the Sewer Story

This may be Harold Goodwin, Top Secret: Alligators (NY:Bradbury Press, 1975). My favorite appearance of this urban legend is in Pynchon's V.
I was wrong in guessing that this is Top Secret: Alligators; it's probably Peter Lipman's The Great Escape or the Sewer Story (NY: Golden, '73), which is notably tall (12-15"). But I still say Pynchon's V has the best NYC alligators. (And I'm a NYC native.)
Wonderful!  Thank you for your help.  I did a quick web search on the titles that you suggested and found a site with a picture of the cover.  The book is Peter Lipman's The Great Escape or the Sewer Story (NY: Golden, '73).  Next logical question, do you have one or know where I can get one and at what cost?
Top Secret: Alligators! written and illustrated by Harold Goodwin, published Bradury Press 1974. "A comic escape story with the most unlikely heroes and heroines - the fabled alligators that live in the city sewers!
Beneath the warm humor is a lightly handled plea for all wild creaturs in these polluted times. Black and white illustrations. Ages 7-10." (HB Oct/74 p.17 pub ad)

This poster is describing Great Swedish Fairy Tales illustrated by John Bauer. The book was translated by Holger Lundbergh and the tales were compiled by Elsa Olenius. It was published in 1973 by Delacorte Press/Seymour Lawrence.
Ha, the trolls should have tipped me off. (Not to mention the gloomy mood of the stories.) Maybe the moose (actually an elk) misguided me since I read it in Maine and thought maybe it had been written there! I see I was way off from the original dates - John Bauer died in 1918! 

A6 - I guess it's always hard to find a specific anthology, but not so hard to find individual stories.  The writer is looking for Leiningen Versus the Ants, a thriller that I remember anthologized in a high school collection.   My local library has it in a  collection called Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural, ed by H.A Wise and Phyllis Fraser.  The author is listed as Carol Stephenson.  Thank you for a delightful website. 

S53 Shark headed boy
This sounds like it could be THE GREAT WHITE MAN-EATING SHARK: A CAUTIONARY TALE by Margaret Mahy, 1990 The boy wants the cove to himself so he pretends to be a shark, but then a female shark comes along...
Thank you for thinking of me! I'm not certain this is the book, as I recall the boy didn't want to be a
shark, but his head was shaped like a shark.  I'm going to try to interlibrary loan it to see if it is the one.  Thank you so much for giving me this title.
The Great White Man Eating Shark: a Cautionary Tale by Margaret Mahy, published Scholastic, "Norvin is a boy who looks like a shark. When he straps a homemade dorsal fin to his back, all the other swimmers run for the beach. He loves having the water to himself - until a real man eating shark comes along!"

it would be too easy for  G7 to be Go Away Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley. A color concept picture book with cut outs and the monster that appears and disappears piece by piece.
Thanks for your response...I might not have been too specific with my request.  Green-eyed Monster is about a young girl working at a fish cannery for a summer (assuming Pacific Northwest) and some of her adventures.  I also seem to remember she is helping care for some younger children, and they come down with diptheria, and how she nurses them back to health! (This part I'm not to sure of, could be confusing it with another story!)  I loved this story...I'm sure when I got it, as most of my favorite
books from my youth, the book fair from Weekly Reader!  (also where I found Magic Elizabeth, The Velvet Room, and On Your Toes Suzy!)  And you can still by reprints in paperback of Magic Elizabeth.   Once again, your website is a real treasure!  I thank you for trying to help me restore memories of a very happy childhood, made complete by these wonderful stories!  There is a special place in heaven's library for you!
This has to be Green Eyes by Jean Nielsen.  It is about a high school senior in the Pacific Northwest who wants to be a journalist.  She works for the town paper, babysits for kids, and nurses one through diphtheria.  There wasn't a fish cannery in the story, but her dad did work at a logging camp.  The green eyes in the title did refer to jealousy.  It is a good book and did come out in a Scholastic paperback or one of those other paperback series.
That sounds like the story...any ideas where I can find it?
If the poster is looking for the other book she might have confused with Green Eyes, it could be A Girl Called Chris by Marg Nelson, in which Chris spends her summer working at a fish cannery.  This was a book-fair paperback of the same era.

Change the green egg to a green ring, and this sounds very much like The Magician's Nephew by CS Lewis.
R8 is definetely The Magician's Nephew. This book isn't remotely like The Magician's Nephew.
Green Egg may be The Green Futures of Tycho by William Sleator, E.P.  Dutton, 1981.  In this book, Tycho Tithonus finds a silver egg in his garden that transports him through time, where he meets his frightening future self.
I just wanted to write to you and tell you how much I appreciate your site of Solved Mysteries. Normally, I don't send emails to webmasters unless I have problems with their page, but I am just so ecstatic about finding the
title and author of a book I have been searching the internet for hours trying to locate. Apparently I have been searching for the book the Green Futures of Tycho by William Sleator. I have spent roughly 5 hours each week for the last two weeks looking for this book I was really getting frustrated and depressed about not finding a book I knew I had read in grade school. I finally happened to type in the right phrase on NorthernLight.com and up popped your website (I tried the same phrase on Yahoo later and it didn't come up there, so I am glad I was on NL.com). Also, I have done a little research and discovered I have read 3 or 4 more of his books and remember enjoying them greatly too.  Thanks so much for the help! Very soon I'll be off to the bookstore to see if I can buy these books.
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I am looking for an older child book featuring a character named Tycko. He was named after a famous scientist and has several siblings named Ludwig and other famous names.  Does this sound familiar?

This is William Sleator's Green Futures of Tycho (NY:Dutton,1981). Sleator's son, Tycho, grew up to be a physicist.

Zilpha Keatley Snyder, Green Sky Trilogy, 1971, 1976, 1977.  It's just a _different_ fine children's author. :)  Below the Root:  "When thirteen-year-old Raamo is surprisingly chosen to join the priestly class of Ol-zhaan rulers, he uses his telepathic abilities to discover some dangerous secrets about the governing body to the land of Green-sky"  And All Between: "When her father asks her to give up her pet laban for food, Terra, one of the Erdlings who live underground, flees, falling into the hands of the Ol'zhaan, who take her to the world above ground"   Until the Celebration: "Resistant to their forced union, the Kindar of Green-sky and the Erdlings are shocked when their disappointment and misery is capped off by the disappearance of the Holy Children, Pomma and Teera."
Sounds like Below the Root by Zilpha Keatley Snyder.  The people lived in a magic land underground and were able to fly from tree to tree.  Very beautiful and surreal. I believe there may be more than one in the series.
#F106--Flying people living in trees:  Below the Root, by Zilpha Keatley Snyder.  Sequels are And All Between and Until the Celebration.

G35 is definitely The Green Ginger Jar by Clara Ingram Judson.
Clara Ingram Judson wrote The Green Ginger Jar, a mystery set in Chicago's Chinatown concerning the contents of a ginger jar.  I haven't read it, but if you can't find a copy I do have one and can look to see if it's anything like the story described.
There is a book The Green Ginger Jar, A Chinatown Mystery by Clara Judson, Houghton Mifflin, 1949.   I was thinking of a Phylis Whitney, but this might be the one.
How about The Green Ginger Jar by Clara Ingram Judson, illustrated by Paul Brown, published Houghton Mifflin, 1949, 210 pages. "A story of modern Chinatown in Chicago. Ai-Mei and her brother, Lu Chen, feel themselves to be Americans first and Chinese second. In their conflicts with the older members of the family (particularly their grandmother), the reader gets a good picture of the traditional Chinese way of living ..." (cited in Good Books for Children, 1946-61 Eakins, 1962)

I have an answer to G8 in your Stump the Bookseller page. The book *is* titled Green Smoke and is by Rosemary Manning. Originally published by Constable in 1957. My paperback is a Puffin published in England in 1967 and reprinted at least 4 times. The flyleaf also mentions "Dragon in Danger" and "The Dragon's Quest" which I assume are part of the series.
Could this be Rosemary Manning's Green Smoke (c1957)?  It's listed in an online library catalogue with the subject headings "Dragons" and "England--Fiction".
I remember this book quite vividly from my childhood. It is indeed called Green Smoke. It was written by Elizabeth Manning, and has a copyright date of 1957.

A39 sound like the version of the Grimm tales I had in the 50s
A39 (again!) the Grimm story about the old woman who lives at the bottom of the well and shakes out her eiderdown to make it snow is 'Mother Holly' (or 'Frau Holle'). Two sisters (or possibly half or step-sisters) visit the well, the good one is kind and does everything right and comes back dropping gold coind every time she speaks or combs her hair, the bad sister is sent by her mother to get rich too and is rude and lazy and when she comes back nasty things come out of her hair or mouth (some aspects of this are similar to 'Diamonds and Toads' another Grimm tale with slightly different begining but ending with the 2 sisters speaking diamonds and other jewels (the good one, of course!) or toads and other nasty creatures.

The following GRIPS plays have been translated into English, according to the London Goethe-Institut.
All in Stitches (Heile, heile Segen). Tr. Roy Kift;  Alles Plastik Von Volker Ludwig and Detlef Michel;   Banana  By Rainer Hachfeld and Reiner Lücker. Tr. Jack Zipes;  Bizzy, Dizzy, Daffy and Arthur(Balle, Malle, Hupe und Artur); Boy oh Boy (Mannomann) By Volker Ludwig;  Don't Be Daft (Mensch Mädchen) Tr. Roy Kift;  Don't Lump It (Mannomann) Tr. Peter Gilbert; Herbie and the Broken Robot (Trummi kaputt) Tr. and adapted by Baerbel and Ken Rugg;  Julie, What is Wrong? (Jule was ist los?) By Jörg Friedrich and Thomas Ahrens. Tr. Peter Gilbert; Line One (Linie eins)  The Magic Grandad(Kannst du zaubern, Opa?)  by Stefan Reisner and Rainer Hachfeld. Tr. Roy Kift;  Man oh Man (Mannomann);  Mister Robinson's Party (Ein Fest bei Papadakis) By Volker Ludwig and Christian Sorge. Tr. Roy Kift. Mugnog (Mugnog-Kinder); The Mugnog Kids (Mugnog-Kinder) By Rainer Hachfeld. Tr. Roy Kift. Operation Pollpoppa  Tr. Roy Kift; Papadakis Throws a Party(Ein Fest bei Papadakis) Tr. Gerhard Fischer and Olav Reinhardt. Shtockerlock and Millipilli (Stokkerlok und Millipilli) By Rainer Hachfeld and Volker Ludwig. Tr. Helen Mayer-Hajek; Stronger than Superman(Stärker als Supermann) By Roy Kift; Things That Go Bump in the Night. Tr. Roy Kift.  Trummi Kaput; What Can Be Done(Mannomann) By Volker Ludwig. Tr. Norbert J. Mayer and Chris Westwood. 

G29 sounds as if it is Nicholas Fisk - Grinny - fairly sure Grinny is an alien 'nanny'
G29 I've got Grinny by Nicholas Fisk (London, Heinemann, 1973) at my desk here. It's written in diary format. Grinny is Great Aunt Emma, who smiles all the time. She comes to stay with the family without warning. Grinny
avoids electricity. Beth sees her break a wrist, revealing steel bones and skin that heals over while she watches. They see a UFO and find Grinny lying in bed with open eyes, grinning and glowing. Eventually they discover
that she is an alien "wearing" an artificial human body, come to prepare for an invasion. Couldn't find a scene where she takes off her face, though her whole body is disassembled right at the end. She does purposely break a finger to show the narrator how she heals.
Finally I was able to get this book through our inter library loan system and it is the right one, Thank you very much!!! My friend was really excited.

Burke, Anne Parks, A Groovy Guide to Decorating Your Room, Signet/NAL, 1969.  My copy is a  paperback cover shows a girl in bell-bottoms standing on a ladder putting up some type of rectangular pattern (shape similar to a door) over flowered wallpaper.  Interior has line drawings.   First section discusses four types of rooms -- "way out," "romantic and feminine" (four-poster with flowered spread and curtains, a flowered cloth over a circular table, even a hanging wicker seat with flowered pillows), a studio (black-and-white stripes and designs, including zebra wall-hanging), or "vivaciously Victorian." Various sections of the book tell how to make pillows, stencils, wall plaques, etc. Illustrator is Luciana.

possibly Lone Hunter's Gray Pony by Donald Worcester, New York, Oxford University Press 1956, later Fort Worth, Texas Christian University Press 1985, Illustrated by Paige Pauley. 8vo., "Lone Hunter's pony is stolen by Kiowas. Risking his life, Lone Eagle stalks the Kiowas to their camp and reclaims his beloved pony and as he flees home he is able to warn his people of an ambush." Nothing about another boy, but in one of the sequels "Lone Hunter and the Cheyennes": "After capture Lone Hunter and friend Buffalo Boy escape and make their way home, being confronted by a grizzly and many hardships."
#B75--Brave, his pony and his friend:  Lone Hunter's Gray Pony, by Donald Worcester (1956) does include a stolen horse, but not so sure about any of the other plot elements.  Definitely not Indian Two Feet and His Horse, by Margaret Friskey, to save you the trouble of even trying that one.
#B75--Brave, his pony, and his friend:  Sanderson, William E.  Horses are for Warriors.  Caldwell, ID: Caxton, 1954. 1st.  The dustwrapper art, pictorial endpapers, full color frontispiece & 15 black & white interiors are by Pers Crowell.  A tale of the Shoshone & the Nez Perce before the arrival of Lewis & Clark.  This portrait of the horse-oriented plains culture is one of the best. This is the story of a Nez Perce boy living in the Wallowa Valley (now Oregon) concerned that his horse would be stolen by Shoshones.  Since the above url (see camera icon above) shows the dustwrapper, it could be useful in determining if this is NOT the book you seek.
Another possibility is Groundhog's Horse, by Joyce Rockwood, drawings by Victor Kalin, published by Holt, Rinehart and Winston 1978, 114 pages. From dustjacket: Joyce Rockwood has written vividly and beautifully about the Cherokees before. This warm,  amusing novel, which takes place in 1750, shows the same brilliance, but with a lighter touch. It is about Groundhog, a young Cherokee boy, and his horse, Midnight. Midnight is a most unusual horse, so Groundhog tells everyone. But since Midnight is neither a fast runner nor seems remarkable in any way, everyone in Frogtown laughs at him. One day, Midnight is stolen by the Creeks in a raid on Frogtown. No one thinks Midnight is worth rescuing so Groundhog decides to find him by himself. This is the story of Groundhog's adventures as he makes his way to and from Rabbit-town over enemy terrain and Dismal Places... Joyce Rockwood is from Georgia and is married to an anthropologist (she studied anthropology as well). She and her husband have immersed themselves in the culture and history of the Indians of the South. Her previous novels about Cherokees -  Long Man's Song and To Spoil the Sun, won acclaim. The latter was an ALA Notable book of 1976 and an International Reading Association honor book.
A little more information on the 1978 title Groundhog's Horse, by J.Rockwood, illustrated by V. Kalin, 116 pages. "Groundhog is a Cherokee Indian who has to try to rescue his own horse from the Creek Indians when it is stolen because everyone else refuses to do so. Groundhog is greatly helped in his attempt by Duck, another Cherokee, who has been stolen from his tribe and adopted by a Creek family. Against great odds they finally win through and are re-united with their families." (Junior Bookshelf Dec/80 p.297)

The Growing Summer, Noel Streatfeild, May 1994, reprint. Did a simple search on Google and found it.  Here is the Synopsis: The Gareth children are shipped off to Great Aunt Dymphna, who lives wild in an extraordinary half-ruin in Ireland. Here they are not only expected to look after themselves, they also discover that they have company - a mysterious boy who announces that he is on the run. The children hide him from his pursuers - but who are they? And who is the boy? The children are determined to find out...
Streatfeild, Noel, Magic Summer

That is the title itself!.  It is very hard to find, but I have had it before.  The text is in green ink....
Coffin, Patricia.  Gruesome Green Witch.  Illustrated by Peter Parnall.
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hi, i've been trying to find a book that i read in 6th grade.  my friend and i  can only remember a few things, we dont know the author or the title but this is what we do know.  the characters went thru a closet, there was a witch in this forest and if the characters looked at her back they would turn into
something and the last thing we remember is that the book was printed in green. i know this is not alot to go on but i would appreciate any ideas you may have.

Wow, I think of several different books with the closet and witch theme, but the only one I know printed in green is Patricia Coffin's Gruesome Green Witch.
More on The Gruesome Green Witch, by Patricia Coffin, illustrated by Peter Parnall, published by Walker 1969, 85 pages, text printed in green ink, illustrations in black, white and green. "Two schoolgirls, Puffin and Mole, discover a magic land entered through a closet. They have various adventures, do their homework in Merlin's concentration cave, where answers are caught as they bounce off walls, attend an undersea party presided over by Neptune, with Cinderella, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy among the revellers, then Puffin incurs the wrath of the villainous, gruesome green witch (who turns her enemies into statues) by seeing her back, and Puffin's brother is captured when the girls bring him into the land so he can profit from the concentration cave. But eventually the witch is conquered by a magic brew which Puffin slips into her tea, and melts down into a pile of green rags." (School Library Journal Book Review 1969-70 p.49) This does seem to match what's recalled.

S188 Spencer, Louise Reid. Guerrilla wife. pictorial endpapers of couple in jungle, People's Book Club, 1945.
Philippines - guerrillas; World War 2 - Pacific; WW2

The book this person is thinking of is THE GUNNIWOLF retold by Willhelmina Harper and illustrated by William Wiesner, 1967. It is out of print. (Just in case the person is interested, another version THE GUNNYWOLF [note the spelling difference in title] retold and illustrated by A. Delaney, 1988 is available in print. The little girl doesn't sing the "kumquat" song, but instead sings the alphabet.) ~from a librarian
Wilhelmina Harper, Gunniwolf, 1967.

That's an easy one for me; I liked it as a kid too.  In fact, when the wind gets strong here and blows open the door open, I generally say "Hello, Gus."  Although sometimes I say "Hello, Casper."  There's a series of them:
Gus and the Baby Ghost, by Jane Thayer. Illustratedby Seymour Fleishman. Morrow, 1972.
Gus Loved his Happy Home, Jane Thayer ; Illustrated by Seymour Fleishman. Linnet Books, 1989.
Gus was a Christmas Ghost, by Jane Thayer. Illustrated by Seymour Fleishman. Morrow, 1969.
Gus was a Friendly Ghost, by Jane Thayer. Illustrated by Seymour Fleishman. Morrow, 1962.
Gus was a Gorgeous Ghost, by Jane Thayer.  Illustrated by Seymour Fleishman. Morrow, 1978.
Gus was a Mexican Ghost, by Jane Thayer.  Illustrated by Seymour Fleishman. Morrow, 1974.
Gus was a Real Dumb Ghost, by Jane Thayer.  Illustrated by Joyce Audy dos Santos. Morrow, 1982.
What's a ghost going to do! by Jane Thayer. Illustrated by Seymour Fleishman.  Morrow, 1966.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Thayer, Jane. Gus Goes to School.   Illustrated by Joyce Audy dos Santos.  Original title:  Gus Was a Real Dumb Ghost. NY: William Morrow, 1982.  A Weekly Reader Book Club edition.  VG.  $10 Thayer, Jane. What's a Ghost Going to Do? Illustrated by Seymour Fleishman.  Morrow, 1966.  A Weekly Reader Book Club edition.  VG.  $10

Hello! I have a copy of it right here.
Sherman, Nancy. Gwendolyn the Miracle Hen.Illustrated by Edward Sorel.  Golden Press, 1961.  It's an ex-library copy, in library binding, with one ripped and taped page, but otherwise just as you remember it.

Possibly Once There Was a Kitten, by Janet Konkle, published Chicago, Children's Press 1951, 28 pages, illustrated with photographs. LC plot description is "Little Kitten tries to be a young lady but keeps ending up
in trouble."
I recently saw a copy of Once There Was a Kitten.  It is not the book I remember.  (There are so many cat books!)
C77 cat story: The Silent Miaow: a manual for strays, translated from the Feline by Paul Gallico, photographs by Suzanne Szasz, published Crown 1964, 159 pages, has a similar feature. Alongside the regular text of advice to cats, there is a series of photographs of a kitten exploring and learning, with captions like 'these must be for me to play with' and so on. Might be worth having a look at.
I just discovered the book I had in mind.It is Gypsy,wriiten and illustrated by Kate Seredy,copywright 1951.I feel great because I just happened to be browsing among old books-and actually saw the book I was looking for!

C W Anderson, Afraid to Ride.  I read this as a child  don't remember any of the names of the characters  but the plot sounds right.
Sharon Wagner, Gypsy From Nowhere,1960.  Girl named Wendy, short for Gwendolyn, Gets hit by a car while horseback riding. Is sent to her Uncle Art's ranch to recover and finds a filly who she names Gypsy.
It was solved, but it isn't Afraid to Ride, it's Gypsy from Nowhere by Sharon Wagner (the 2nd entry on the page).  Do you have that one?

Possibly Natalie Savage Carlson's The Half-Sisters (A 12-year-old girl looks forward to a summer filled with many events, especially showing her half-sisters, arriving from boarding school, how grown up she is) and Luvvy and the Girls (12-year-old Luvvy is delighted that she is at last old enough to accompany her older half sisters to boarding school)??
Natalie Savage Carlson, The Half Sisters, Luvvy and the Girls.  Here's the plot of  The Half Sisters:  "The story takes place in the years around 1915 on a farm near Frederick, Maryland. Luvvy, Maudie, and Marylou's mother remarries a man who has 3 older daughters. Luvvy (Luvena) is almost 12 and thinks that she should be one of the older girls now and not have to have 7 year old Maudie hanging around her all the time or have to take care of little 4 year old Mary Lou. During the year Luvvy grows up quite a bit and learns that sometimes it's nice just to be a child and not to want to grow up too fast."
Natalie Savage Carlson, The Half Sisters, sequel: Luvvy and the Girls

His name is Hamilton.  I get lots of requests for this one, and only recently got my hands on a copy.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Peck, Robert Newton.  Hamilton.  Illustrated by Laura Lydecker.  Little, Brown, 1976.  Hard to find!  This copy is unfortunately musty, and the boards are a bit warped.  I try not to have musty books, but it was the first time I'd ever found it!  Aside from that, it looks good.  Poor.  $30

M13:  Hangin' Out With Cici by Francine Pascal (And there was an ABC Afterschool Special based on it. It was called My Mother Was Never A Kid).
It looks like my stumper has been solved--now I know the name of the book. Wouldn't you know, it is out of print!  I would be very interested in purchasing a good reading copy (it doesn't have to be in collectable condition), if you have one.  Thanks!
The stumper identified as "Hangin' Out With Cici" is - *I* think, Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers. Still in print. :)
Hangin' Out With Cici - I'm going to agree on this ID and disagree with the suggestion of Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers, published Harper 1972. Freaky Friday takes place in the 70s, there is no time travel, and Annabel and her mother switch bodies, rather than being girls together.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Pascal, Francine. Hangin' Out with Cici.  Archway, 1978.  Paperback.  G+.  <SOLD>

The answer to H30 is HANNIBAL'S ELEPHANTS by Alfred Powers; NY, 1944. The 13 year old boy is named Agenor. The book is 272 pages and is illustrated by James Reid.

caffrey, nancy, Hanover's Wishing Star

The Thumbelina refrain sparked these remembered lyrics (probably not exact): "Thumbelina, Thumbelina, tiny little thing,/ Thumbelina dance, Thumbelina sing,/ What's the difference, what's the difference, if you're very small?/ For when your heart is full of love, you're nine feet tall." My guess is these come from a Disney recording, because that's what my siblings and I listened to (over and over) as children.  I don't remember a book, though.
T-10  If it helps at all, I remember Danny Kaye told a version of  Thumbelina where the song went: "Thumbelina, Thumbelina, tiny little thing.  Thumbelina dance, Thumbelina sing.  Thumbelina, what's the worry, though you're very small, when your heart is full of love, you're ten feet tall."
T10- I think I have the record you are talking about.  It was my favorite and I have passed it down to my children. However,I don't remember it as a book.  The record is Tina the Ballerina and it came out in the mid 1950's.  It is a 45 R.P.M.  PeterPan record. Tina always wanted to dance and when she the prima ballerina couldn't go on, she got her chance.  The refrain:Tina, the ballerina, the belle of gay Paris; dancing, dancing on her toes, round and round and round she goes...  Hope thishelps.
The song is one from Hans Christian Andersen: the musical. 

B123 birthday plant: perhaps worth looking at The Happy Birthday Present, by Joan Heilbroner, illustrated by Mary Chalmers, published Harper 1962, Weekly Reader I Can Read Book, 63 pages. "Charming tale of little Davy and how he makes the perfect gift for mother's birthday. Two young brothers, Peter and Davy, search all over town for a birthday present for their mother with a dime. At the end, they have a 'happy birthday tree.'"

Jerry West, The Happy Hollisters,  1953-1970.  Could it be this series?
#F84--Family series:  At least two different authors wrote series about families named the Tuckers, Virginia Baker in the 1940s and Jo Mendel in the early 1960s.  The Tuckers in Baker's books appear to be English and the American editions were published in Chicago by Moody Press.  Mendel's Tuckers appear to be American.  Her books were published by Whitman in Racine, Wisconsin, meaning they were those flimsy cardboard hardcovers printed on cheap, quickly-yellowing paper, which wouldn't last long in a library, but many copies can still be found.
Regarding my request F84, I think someone solved it. I went to my local library and checked out several Happy Hollisters books to verify. Although my memory is sketchy, this must be the series I was searching  for; all the pieces fit. In less than one week, a personal mystery has been solved. Thanks for your service! 

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Harrison Bergeron, 1961.  Classic SF story.  From Kurt Vonnegut's "Welcome to the Monkey House".
Kurt Vonnegut, Welcome to the Monkey House, 1970.  This sounds like the short story Harrison Bergeron from the book Welcome to the Monkey House.
Kurt Vonnegut, Harrison Burgeron.  This science fiction short story was originally published in Fantasy and Science Fiction magazine in 1961.  It has since been anthologized widely, often for student use.  The following link leads to text online.
Kurt Vonnegut, Harrison Bergeron, short story.

This sounds an awful lot like Harry and the Terrible Whatz-It but I can't seem to locate my copy of the book, so I am not sure of the date, author, or even quite sure how to spell "Whatz-It!"
Harry and the Terrible Whatzit is by Dick Gackenbach (Clarion, 1977.)  The pictures are done in red, brown, and black.  Harry's mom didn't come back up from the cellar so he went downstairs, armed with a broom,  to save her from the double-headed, three-clawed, six-toed, long-horned Whatzit that lives behind the furnace.  When Harry attacked it with his
broom, the Whatzit got smaller and smaller because Harry wasn't afraid of it anymore.  When it was the size of a peanut, Harry sent it to live in the cellar next door because "Sheldon Parker's afraid of everything." 

m64   I'm pretty sure that that they are describing Harvey's Hideout, by Russell Hoban.  See description for H14
Yes!!!  Thank you so much!!!!!!! (Now if only someone remembers my tall ships book stumper .....)
Thanks again!!
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It had a main character (small furry animal) like Frances (of Bread and Jam...), but it is not one of the Frances books in print now.  The main character runs away with a hobo pack (stick with a handkerchief tied on the end). She then makes a house in the dirt and eventually finds another animal is living in a den next to hers.  They have some sort of hole in the dirt between them like a window.  It had black and white illustrations much like Lillian Hobans.  I tried to look in the Library of Congress index, but there were not subject descriptions on a lot of the Hoban books.  Any ideas?

In A Baby Sister for Frances, jealous Frances makes a hobo stick and runs away... underneath the dining room table.  I don't think she even got outside.
Hoban, Harvey's Hideout.  Brother and sister muskrats aren't getting along  they each have a secret hideout and it turns out their places are right next door to each other (brother accidentally tunnels into sister's place).
I wonder if this could be Harvey's Hideout again.  They certainly end up with two burrows close to each other, and ultimately make just one hideout.  The illustrations are Hoban, but I don't know about the hobo stick as I don't have the book any longer.  The submitter might want to read the solved listing as well as the stumper listed as H14 with lots of plot details to see if it sounds familiar.
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I am looking for a book that I have described to all my siblings and several bookstore clerks, but no one seems to remember. I can see the illustrations in my mind so I really don't think I'm making this book up.  I think I read it in the early 1960s when I was a little girl.  The illustrations are very similar to Bread and Jam for Frances.  So the illustrator must be LILLIAN HOBAN or maybe Russell Hoban.  The story is about two muskrat/otter/beaver/badger siblings--a brother and a sister.  They are not getting along well.  They both tell each other that they are going to their own private, secret clubhouses and Nya-nya-nya who needs you anyway?!  The mother calmly packs them each a lunch IN A PLASTIC BAG and they swim across a river WITH THEIR PLASTIC LUNCH BAGS IN THEIR MOUTHS.  As it turns out there is no one else at the brother's underground clubhouse but him.  I remember a CALENDAR hanging on the clubhouse wall with a picture of an INDIAN muskrat/badger/otter/beaver on it.  The boy feels sad.  Next door there is no one else at the sister's underground clubhouse either.  She has some girly things in there, maybe a muskrat/beaver/otter dolly, some flowers, and a tea set.  She is lonesome and begins to cry.  They didn't realize that their clubhouses were right next door to each other.  I think the brother hears the sister begin to cry.  They tear down the adjoining wall and make one big clubhouse and are happy to play together in their new secret club.  This book reminds me of my younger brother and me, the two youngest of five children.  I would love to find it.  My parents have died and we did not come across this mysterious book as we sorted through their estate.

H14 is HARVEY'S HIDEOUT  by Russell Hoban  It was was my little brother's favorite book.  I don't know why, I was a very nice big sister.
This sounds like Harvey's Hideout again.  Check H14 for description in Stump the Bookseller and in solved mysteries.
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This was a title I read in 1970's.  It was about a family of beavers or muskrats???  There was a brother and sister and I remember the sister was going to a party so she had to put her dress in a plastic bag so she could go to the party.  I think this is an illustration I remember.  I don't recall the plot.

B83 sounds like Harvey's Hideout, by Russell Hoban.  There is a better description somewhere in Stump the Bookseller.
Harvey's Hideout.This is definitely Harvey's Hideout. Another one of my favorite books! I remember the part about his sister going to a party and putting her dress in a plastic bag and carrying it in her mouth when she swam accross the stream. Other plot points: Harvey doesn't get along with his sister and finds an old hole in the
ground which he makes into his "hideout". He cooks there, I think bacon and eggs. She eventually finds out about it. They become friends in the end. Hope this helps!
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I am 35 years old and enjoyed this picture book as a child. I believe the cover is primarily dark blue. The story is about a brother beaver and sister beaver (named Mildred??). At least I think they were beavers. The brother builds a raft. The sister has a tea party in a cave and wears a fancy dress. No one comes to her party. Her brother shows up and they quarrel. He throws dirt at her, messes up her dress and makes her cry. At around the same time period I was also enjoying the books "Miss Suzy" and "Never Tease a Weasel". I just cannot remember the name of this book or its author. Can you help?

Sounds like Harvey's Hideout by Russell and Lillian Hoban.  See more on Solved Mysteries.

I found mention that the story "Good Morning Herr Muller" could be found in Chassidic Tales of the Holocaust by Yaffa Eliach, but could find no further information.
J37: Yaffa Eliach, Hasidic Tales of the Holocaust, 1982 (pb reprint 1988).  Alternate spelling: Chassidic Tales of the Holocaust

There was a famous Nip and Tuck book in the 30's...  look on the Solved Mysteries page under Nip and Tuck to see if that's the one.
N37 Hadn't thot of it for yrs, but it was always one of my favorite books from 75 years ago. By Caroline Emerson, Oh, I
DO have it here behind me on my daughter's old bookshelves. A hat-tub tale. Dutton c1928 1st ed 1928 Sorry to make you
drool I see 3 requests for it on ABE's want list. Does customer live anywhere near central WA state - to come read it -
or to photocopy it?

The Haunted Spy by Barbara Ninde Byfield, 1969  A spy retires to a castle in the country, only to discover it is haunted by a ghost (in one picture he is shown rowing in a small boat with the  ghost to get to the treasure)
Hi, I came across your site and just had to read some of the stumpers. See, I'm a children's librarian and stumpers are my favorite (although they can drive me insane at times!) I had to send you the answers to some of your posted stumpers- The stumper about the castle, crypt, spy, ghost, dog: It's THE HAUNTED SPY by Barbara Ninde Byfield (1969). And your customer might be interested to know there were sequels (THE HAUNTED TOWER, THE HAUNTED GHOST, THE HAUNTED CHURCHBELL) although I myself think THE HAUNTED SPY is the best one. 

F5 - This has some similarities to Jean Little's Mama's Going to Buy You a Mockingbird where it is a boy who has to come to terms with his father's cancer and death, and a girl who wears odd clothes that help him do so.
F5--Just wanted to say "Mama's Going to Buy You a Mockingbird" is a novel which would have been published quite some time after this short story.
Not too sure, but - THE HAUNTING OF JULIE UNGER by Valerie Lutters, NY, Atheneum 1977, 193 pgs, cloth. "Julie finds she is living in Maine with the ghost of her beloved father, a ghost she has built out of love & guilt. The wild geese, an old neighbor & a boy with a dog help her back into life with the living." Julie isn't exactly an unusual name though, so I'm not too certain about this.

Farjeon, Eleanor, Faithful Jenny Dove. 1930s, reprinted 1950s. This was the title story in a short story collection by E F - it may well have been anthologised separately - girl ghost waits in the lane where she promised
to meet lover who has gone away, and meets another ghost instead.
Hi!  I wanted to let you know how thankful I am for your site.  I posted a stumper to your website a long while back & someone finally replied that one of the stories in my stumper was "Faithful Jenny Dove" by Elanor Farjeon.  I had to let you know how imensely it helped.  I got my local library to search for anthologies w/H.G. Well's "The Magic Shop" and "Faithful Jenny Dove" in them & they found my long lost anthology!  It is titled Haunting Tales edited by Barbara Ireson and published in 1973 and even has illustrations by Freda Woolf.  If you ever have a reasonable copy in your shop, you have a customer!

Dorothy Evelyn Smith, He Went for a Walk, 1954.  Not sure but the title ties in perfectly with the description and the fact that you can't find the book. It's somewhat hard-to-find.
Dorothy Evelyn Smith, He Went for a Walk, 1954.  Sounds like a plausible title, though I haven't read it. Other possibilities include Lost Hill, O the Brave Music, Beyond the Gates, Huffley Fair, Proud Citadel, Brief Flower, or My Lamp is Bright.
I could only find 3 books that Smith wrote in the 40's - O, the Brave Music (1943), Proud Citadel (1947), and My Lamp is Bright (1949).  Her other books were written in the 50's & 60's.
Dorothy Evelyn Smith, He Went for a Walk, 1954.  This sounds like it might be the book I'm looking for.  The other Smith book , O,The Brave Music is definitely not the one--it is my favorite book and I still own it, and the others don't sound right.  So I hope He Went for a Walk is correct.  I'm ordering it anyway.  Thanks again.

Headless Cupid

Snyder, Zilpha Keatley. The Headless Cupid.  When Amanda comes to live with her new stepfamily she creates quite a stir with her interest in the occult, her weird hairdos and clothes and the triangle on her forehead.  This book is the first of a series of adventures of the Stanley family.
Amanda with a mirror triangle in forehead: The Headless Cupid, by Zilpha Keatley Snyder.  At least three sequels don't quite live up to the original, but are fun to read.
Zilpha Keatly Snyder, The Headless Cupid. 1975, approximate. Amanda is very unhappy about her mother''s divorce and subsequent remarriage, so she wraps herself up in occult studies and even invents a poltergeist with which to frighten her new family.  She wears a little mirrored triangle on her forhead and calls it her  "third eye".  She also wears her hair in many tiny braids and wears witchy looking clothes.  There is a mystery involving a headless cupid in the story.
I'll add my voice to the likely chorus - probably The Headless Cupid, by Zilpha Keatley Snyder, published Atheneum 1971, where proto-goth Amanda joins the Stanley family and tries to make herself special by conducting seances, claiming to be psychic, etc. "When the four Stanley children meet Amanda, their new step-sister, they're amazed to learn that she studies witchcraft. They're stunned to see her dressed in a strange costume, carrying a pet crow, and surrounded by a pile of books about the supernatural. It's not long before Amanda promises to give witchcraft lessons to David, Janie, and the twins. But that's when strange things start happening in their old house. David suspects Amanda of causing mischief, until they learn that the hosue really was haunted a long time ago. Legend has it that a ghost cut the head off a wooden cupid on the stairway. Has the ghost returned to strike?"
a Newberry Honor Book, 1972.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Snyder, Zilpha Keatley.  Headless Cupid.  Illustrated by Alton Raible.  Dell Publishing: a Yearling paperback, 1971.  1985  printing. Signed by Snyder on a sticker placed on front free endpaper: "From one author to another."  Corner tab of front free endpaper is clipped.  VG.  $20 Snyder, Zilpha Keatley.  Headless Cupid.  Illustrated by Alton Raible.  NY: Atheneum, 1971.  Hardback early edition.  Slight stain on title page and ex-library copy with usual marks.  G/G.  $10

??, Heads Up! (at least in Scholastic edition), c. 1960.  I'm 99% certain of the title on this, but my copy's been in storage for 10 years and inaccessible at the moment.  It *may* have had a different title originally (I seem to remember one of those notices in parentheses on the cover.)  I do recall it was one of the Scholastic Book Services paperbacks I bought in elementary school.  The girl's name was Peg or Peggy, and either the family or
their son (or both) were called Tuck, short for Tucker.  I think the horses were referred to as "Liberty" horses -- one of the tricks may have involved standing on the horse's back  posing as the Statue of Liberty.  Good luck -- hope this helps.
Patsey Gray, Heads Up!, 1961.  This is definitely the book.  A summary I found online told about the story exactly as I remembered.  Thanks to the person who wrote in with the title so that Iwas able to look it up.
O19 orphan rodeo: more on the suggested, Heads Up, by Patsey (Patricia) Gray, illustrated by Leonard Shortall, published Coward-McCann 1956, reprinted Scholastic 1961, 191 pages. "a girl and a horse have their problems but amidst a setting of California State Fairs and horse shows, they are straightened out with a healthy realism" ... "story of little-known life behind the scenes of horse shows and fairs and the sensible handling of a warm family relationship" ... "seems improbable that a girl of ten would be allowed by the authorities to sleep by herself in a stable". None of which really confirms anything, though.

Martha Reben, The Healing Woods, 1952.  "Author chose to return to nature and the woods as a last resort to gain back her health. The story of how she found peace and health in the quiet of the Adirondack mountains and the friendliness of the wildlife." Sounds like it's right on the money.
A136 Reben, Martha.  The healing woods. illus by Fred Collins. Crowell, 1952. Saranac Lake; New York State.

S76 Squeak and S83 Shakespearean treasure hunt sound similar (can you say that 5 times fast?)
This is Hearts in Trim by Lavinia R. Davis.
Davis, Lavinia R Hearts in Trim New York, Doubleday 1954, "Serena Bruce, commonly known as Squeak, learns that old Mrs. Frostgate has left her a legacy. They begin to organize the books for selling and try to unravel the mystery of a glamorous actress who had settled in the village." "Serena and Cliff find themselves in hot water when they set about making the most of an unexpected legacy. Ages 12-16."
Davis, Lavinia R. Hearts in Trim New York. Doubleday 1954, "Serena Bruce, commonly known as Squeak learns that old Mrs. Frostgate has left her a legacy. They begin to organize the books for selling and try to unravel the mystery of a glamorous actress who had settled in the village." "Serena and Cliff find themselves in hot water when they set about making the best of an unexpected legacy."

HECKEDY PEG! I solved my stumper, shortly after I posted this! oops! oh well..I'm glad I found it! I think Heckedy peg was already submitted, but it didnt ring a bell when I read it, I know remember, yes the children all had different names of the week. I found it through the library of congress, all I did was enter, "mother child witch" under keynotes, and I found it! yippee!!
Iona and Peter Opie, Childrens Games in Street and Playground,  1969.  This is unlikely to be the actual book that you read  but it does describe the story as a traditional British folkstory/ acting game. It is described under the heading "Mother, the Cake is Burning" (pp. 317-329  see especially pp. 323-325).

H78 Long shot, but may be worth checking. Could it be one of the books about HENRY REED by Keith Robertson? He started writing them in the late 50s. ~from a librarian
Henry Reed's dad is in the diplomatic service overseas.  Henry Reed Inc., Henry Reed's Big Show, etc. take place during Henry's summer visits with his aunt and uncle in Grover's Corner, New Jersey.  So these wouldn't be the books you're looking for.
There's a series, including Henry Reed, Inc (1958), Henry Reed¹s baby-sitting service (1966), Henry Reed's big Show (1970), Henry Reed¹s journey (1963).

Keith Robertson, Henry Reed's Journey, 1963.  This is a definite answer to this stumper!!  This is one of my all time favorite children's books!! There are four Henry Reed books this is the second in the series. Henry has lived overseas his whole life and come to spend the summers with his aunt and uncle in New Jersey. He travels across the U.S. with his friend Midge Glass and parents in order to experience the U.S.

H44 is definitely Henry's Awful Mistake by Robert Quackenbush
H44 It's HENRY'S AWFUL MISTAKE by Robert Quackenbush, published by Parents Magazine Press in 1980. ~from a librarian
H44 Henry and the ant: This is one of the suggested answers to A56 ant and flood: Henry's Awful Mistake, by Robert Quackenbush, published Parents Magazine Press 1980 "Henry the Duck attempts to chase an ant from his kitchen and ends up sinking his house!"
A56 ant and flood: Suggesting also Andy Ant, written & illustrated by Pops Winky, published Pacific Publishing House 1977, 34 pages. It's a picture book with bright detailed illustrations of ants working. "Firdale was the
largest ant town in the forest. The town gate, a big old ant hill, stood among the trees not far from the crossroad ... Through many trials and tribulations, Andy Ant finds his worth and value in the working world."
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There was a book that I used to read every time I went to the dentist, but they moved  offices and the book was lost in the move.  I was very little when I read it, and all I can  remember is that it was a story about an ant and a flood.  The pictures were so vivid and I always wanted to be part of the story.  I would say it was printed in the seventies, maybe early 80's.  I know that's not a lot of information, but if you have any ideas, I'd appreciate it so much.  Thank you!

Could this possibly be Mona Minim and the Smell of the Sun by Janet Frame?  Mona is a house ant who meets and spends the summer with a field ant and has outdoor adventures.  My sister and I had it in the early 70's, and made our grandmother read it over and over.  Ours was a somewhat oversized hardback with chapters and, I think, a yellow cover, and the illustrations were big and detailed. The ants traveled down the stairs, a big undertaking, and Mona had a "stair game" involving things like a spider swing.  Near the end, a queen gave birth.  I didn't find out the book was by a famous writer until quite recently-  remembered the title but not the author.  It had a magical, evocative mood, with what I recognized even then as beautiful prose.
well, maybe - Quackenbush, Robert Henry's Awful Mistake Parents Magazine Press 1980 "Henry the Duck attempts to chase an ant from his kitchen and ends up sinking his house!" Nothing mentioned about the illos though.
Another ant story, no mention of flood, and a bit early - Nimblefoot the Ant, her Adventures, by Vytas Tamulaitis, illustrated by Pranas Lape, published New York, Manyland Books 1965  hardcover octavo. "Author won the Lithuanian Red Cross Literature for Juveniles Award. Story of a black ant captured by red ants and her escape home. Illustrations are delicate line drawings."

Gene Stratton Porter, Her Father's Daughter

Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine by Jay Williams and Ray Abrashkin?
Maybe Hazel Wilson's Herbert series? Titles include Herbert's Homework (1960) and Herbert's Space Trip (1965). All illustrated by Kurt Werth, published by Knopf.
More on a suggested title - Herbert's Space Trip, by Hazel Wilson, illustrated by Kurt Werth, published New York, Knopf, 1965 "the fifth fabulously funny tale about that fabulously funny boy, takes him to a planet run by canny canines. Ages 8-12" (Horn Book Oct/65 p.544 pub ad) A picture of the cover (from another source) shows a boy crawling out of a barrel-like spaceship section? watched by a hound dog, with two other boys standing behind.

Alice Low, Herbert's Treasure, 1971. Just coincidence that my little boy checked this book out from the library last time we were there!  Wonderful story my boys had me read over and over again. Pictures are by Victoria de Larrea.
H47 herbert's treasures: more on the suggested Herbert's Treasure, by Alice Low, pictures by Victoria de Larrea, published Putnam 1971 "To Herbert, his room was his castle-a castle filled with exciting treasure. To his mother, his room was a total mess bulging with useless junk." Sounds like a good match.

Albert & Arabella (raccoons) are Lillian Hoban characters, featured in Here Come Raccoons (Holt, Rinhart, & Winston, '77) & The Case of the Two Masked Robbers (Harper & Row, '86).
Thank you so much.  I had myself found them through a library search site and have obtained The Case of the Masked Robbers.  It was even incredibly cheap!  So, if you could find Here Come Raccoons for cheap that would rock!  Otherwise, I'll have to wait until I have a more disposable income.  Thank you so much though, what a great site!

I think this poster is referring to the Strawberry Shortcake series of the early 80's.  They were dolls such as Lemon Meringue, Blueberry Muffin, Apple Pie, and Starwberry Shortcake.  They were all dressed in different
colors.  There were books and cartoons as well.
The Charmkins, 1980s.  I'm not sure, but I think the previous poster may be wrong about this being a Strawberry Shortcake book. The female villain in that was called Sour Grapes, IIRC. The only one I'm familiar with that fits that description is Charmkins. The villainess was named Poison Ivy. It was primarily a toy/cartoon line, but there were also some books: The Charmkins and The Charmkins Discover Big World by Edith Adams and The Charmkins' Sniffy Adventure by Denise Fleming.  There's also a Charmkins web page.
Herself the Elf, 1983.  I'm pretty sure that was Herself The Elf.  I still have a cartoon on video from the 1980s.
I don't know the book, but I'm almost 100% sure that's Herself the Elf.  The other characters were named after flowers: Snowdrop, Willow Song, Wood Pink, and Meadow Morn (probably the green & yellow one).  The villainess was Creeping Ivy, who could make Ivy grow out of her hands, I think, and there was some other minor
villainess named Vendetta who was all green.  Also, there was a boy wood sprite with a 'wooly-worm'-type caterpillar for a hat.

M52 Sounds very much like a Ruth Chew book.
Could M52 be The Hidden Cave, by Ruth Chew.   Two children Tom and Alice go through a hidden drainpipe-cave and come out on the other side and find the enchanted tree that Merlin was trapped in.  They let Merlin out and  bring him to places like the library and the zoo.  Merlin also enchants the wading pool in the backyard so it is like and enormous lake for the children.  He then goes back in time to help Arthur.
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I remember a book from the 70s about a brother and sister (sister older) who turned their backyard wading pool into a lagoon by tossing in some magic herbs.  The summer is spent swimming in the ocean and eventually tangling with pirates.  I seem to remember a visual of the kids sneaking out of a ship's cabin, leaving behind fluffed bed linens and locks of their hair as decoys.  They somehow acquire doubloons, and end up telling their  father they 'found them in the back yard'. Of course the dad proceeds to dig up the yard....and that's all I remember.  Does this ring a bell with anyone?

Chew, Ruth, The Hidden Cave, 1973.  Tom and Alice go through Hidden Cave and find magician Merlin.  They have a few
adventures.  The last half of book Merlin gave them special herb that turns wading pool into ocean with pirate and gold coins, Etc.
Edward Eager, Magic By The Lake.
This isn't Magic by the Lake.  That has four kids, features a magic turtle, and is lacking many of the details described in the stumper.

Could this be Susan Cooper's "Over Sea, Under Stone"?
And I second the suggestion of  Over Sea, Under Stone for H9.  It's the first book in Susan Cooper's Dark Is Rising series.
This isn't by chance The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Gardner?
I checked your website last week and saw the reference to Susan Cooper's book.  I put a hold on it at my library this week and just got it last night.  I haven't had a chance to read it yet though... I will let you know.  I think this website is a wonderful thing...I located another lost favorite, others had asked and id'd it.
H9 - sounds more like Alan Garner's Elidor
H9 - I've been looking again at Alan Garner's Elidor and am now not so sure about it as an answer to this query. Plot summary - 4 children get into a Manchester (England) church scheduled for demolition which is one of the doors to the world of Elidor. They escape into their own world with 4 'treasures' of Elidor a lance, a stone, a sword and a grail-type bowl. These are disguised as rubbishy items in this world but send out electrical signals to give the people of Elidor a 'fix' so they can find them. Eventually a unicorn comes through to Manchester and is killed by the 2 'treasure seekers' from Elidor. It's dying song fulfils a prophecy and Elidor is saved. By contrast Susan Cooper's Over Sea Under Stone has 3 children going on holiday to Cornwall and working out, with the aid of an old map, where the Grail had been hidden for safety 'over sea, under stone' - in fact on a ledge in a cave only accessible at low tide. Their 'Great Uncle Merry' - an avatar of Merlin - helps them, and various people on the side of the Dark try to hinder and get the Grail for themselves. Eventually they succeed and the Grail gets put in the British Museum.
Eleanor Jewitt, Hidden Treasure of Glaston, 1948. Alan Garner is too recent. Crippled boy named Hugh is left at abbey by Crusader father. Has been reprinted recently.
I'm fairly confident of H9, but it's a common theme, so could be something else. Here's more detail, if that helps.
Eleanore Jewitt, Hidden Treasure of Glaston, 1948. Crippled boy named Hugh is left at abbey by Crusader
father. Together with another boy, he explores old tunnels and caves beneath the abbey, has a vision of the death
of King Arthur, and sees the Grail which cures him of lameness.  More details here.
The Hidden Treasure of Glaston, by Eleanore M. Jewett, illustrated by Frederick T. Chapman, published Viking 1946, 307 pages. "A story laid at the famouse Abbey of Glastonbury whose association with the cherished memory of King Arthur is even yet aglow. It was a crippled boy named Hugh, left by his father at the Abbey on a stormy night, set to do scriptorium work, who with his friend Dickon discovered lost pages of a precious book about the Holy Grail. ... background involving the underground chambers of a great Abbey, the monastery life with its library and reverence for old parchments, the retreat of a mad hermit, the manor castle of the King. The illustrations happily combine the actual and the visionary." (Horn Book Nov/46 p.472)

N23 noonday rocket: would suggest High-Noon Rocket, by Charles Paul May, illustated by Brinton Turkle, published Holiday House 1966, 34 pages. "Wilson Watson Wooster got a present from his Aunt Alice. It was a small balloon basket with rocket attached for him to fly to visit her in the West. He rescues a lady off the roof of her apartment building when she got locked out. He rescues a farmer who has gotten caught on his water windmill. He finally rescues his aunt who has climbed up on a tall pole with pigeon houses on top. Each time he is invited for lunch since it was 12 o'clock noon. He learns about time zones and has an adventure too."

This sounds like a slightly garbled version of Vivian Breck's High Trail. The girl is 17, the guys are 19-20 (in college). The girl's father breaks a leg while fishing; she makes him comfortable, promises to hike out the long but safe way, but changes her mind & tries to make it over Foreter Pass, & runs into a storm. She ends up charming one of the guys; the book ends with them going off for a rock climbing date. I always thought the guy was based on David Brower.
definitely High Trail by Vivian Breck.

Interpreting Condition Grades

[related title] Breck, Vivian.  Hoofbeats on the Trail.  Illustrated by Hubert Buel.  Doubleday, 1950.  First edition.  Dust jacket missing an inch from top of spine and worn at edges.  VG+/G.  $20 See also the Horse Book Catalog.

I don't know the plot, but Elinor Lyon wrote a book entitled Hilary's Island in 1949.

Watts, Mabel, Hildy's Hideaway, 1961.  This is the only "hideaway cat" I could find:  WATTS, MABEL, Illustrated by Winship, Florence Sarah Hildy's Hideaway. Racine, Wisconsin: Whitman Publishing, 1961 Pictorial Cover.  Tip Top Tales. Sweetest light brown kitty on the cover. Hildy's hidaway in the attic is a perrrfect place to have kittens!

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Watts, Mabel.  Hildy's Hideaway.   Illustrated by Florence Sarah Winship.  Whitman, 1961.  Tip Top Tale #2473.  Quite worn at edges and spine, otherwise VG-.  $10

Alas, I don't have a copy...
Your description sounds like Hill's End.  I think the author's name is Strasser.  I'm sure it's not Lois Lenski.  I remember having this book.  I must have gotten it from the Scholastic Book club back in the late 60s or early 70s.
#F42--Flood Friday?  I do happen to have a copy of this extremely rare Lois Lenski book, which I haven't read.  It is the true story of a flood which  struck in Connecticut on August 19, 1955.  Most of it seems to involve
children taken to a schoolhouse, not as a punishment, but as a safe place until they can be released.  There is another famous story, Hills End, by Ivan Southall, about how seven Australian children survive after their town
is wiped out by a storm.
Southall, Ivan, Hill's End. Hi.  I just wanted to correct myself.  I previously sent in a solution to this book.  This title is correct, but the author is a different Australian writer. The correct author is Ivan Southall, I believe.
Ivan Southall, Hills End,1968.  Here's the back cover blurb for this book: "The remote logging town of
Hills End is deserted.  All its inhabitants have set off on their annual picnic. Left behind are seven chidlren who, with their schoolteacher, are exploring nearby caves in search of Stone Age drawings.  Suddenly without warning, a violent storm breaks -- When it is over, six of the children find themselves cut off from all adult help and from the outside world.  Isolated by wild mountains, forest country and a flooded river, with their homes in ruins, they must face urgent problems and perils: How will they handle the enraged bull set free by the storm?  Can they find their missing schoolteacher and one of their schoolmates?  What are they going to do about food and shelter?"
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Another one I may have read in middle school (1971-1973). I remember the plot quite well, because I owned and read it over and over. It took place in England, in small town. Everybody in town went on a picnic in the country, and a group of 7-10 children of varying ages were exploring a cave or something, when a severe storm with high winds and flash flooding hit. The group of children were somehow able to get back to town, but nobody else was. So they had to survive on their own. They had to figure out what they would use for shelter, and find food, and repair (?) an electic generator  and then started a clean-up process. The most memorable character was a mentally-challenged boy, who was wearing dress shoes on the picnic and suffered a lot of blistering and foot pain before the storm hit, and then had to be nursed or taken care of during the rest of the story. He also had a memorable incident in which he found the sausage making machine, and tried to make sausage (having watched the butcher do it before), but with his adenoid problem, or whatever, his very poor sense of smell prevented him from realizing that the meat was rotten.

#C103--Children disaster a flood England:  Check out Hills' End on the "Solved Mysteries" page.
Southall, Ivan, Hills End, 1968.  You remember many details correctly, except for one important one:  The story takes place in Australia, not England.
Southall, Ivan, Hill's End, 1962.  I was looking for this book earlier and a helpful person pointed it out to me.  It takes place in Australia, but the rest of this story is correct, down to the little boy whose nose doesn't work right and can't tell the meat is bad when he makes strings of lovely sausages.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Southall, Ivan.  Hills End.  NY: St. Martin's Press, 1962, 1963.  A very clean ex-library copy with nice dust jacket.  VG-/VG.  $15 Southall, Ivan.  Josh. NY: St. Macmillan, 1971.  Very clean ex-library copy.  VG/VG.  $15

H3 was my request after about 3 years of independent searching.  Tonight after I looked at your page, I went to the LOC and just started reading book titles that have begun w/ the word "Hippo."  I feel certain that I have found "my" book at last:  Hippo, Potta, and Muss by Barbara Lovely, illustrated by Tony Veale.  I have requested a copy from a dealer and am eager to see if it's as good as I remember!  Thank you for the service you provide! 

I think the book from your March 1997 doll book inquiry might be: Hitty, Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field. It might have won a Newberry Award. I seem to remember that a lot of students studying to be schoolteachers had to read it. I hope this helps.
Well now, I have that!
Field, Rachel. Hitty: Her First Hundred Years. Illus by Dorothy Lathrop with 3 color plates and many black & white plates. NY: Macmillan, 1929. Newbery Award winner.
Copy 1: 1933 edition. Front free endpaper clipped. Larger format. VG-. $36ppd.
Copy 2: 1941 edition. Dust jacket is worn and has small chips. Smaller format. VG/G. $38ppd.
Hitty even has her own homepage and photos of the original doll and her traveling clothes!

The person who posted that may actually have been thinking about another book, called (I'm *pretty* sure) The Secret in Miranda's Closet. I had this book as a girl - I think it came through Scholastic. It was about a sort of frumpy girl with a "feminist" mother who was proud of the fact that her daughter "hated" dolls. Except one day, said daughter found a beautiful old china doll with a trunk of clothes in the attic of a friend of her mother's (?) and was allowed to "adopt" it. At first, Miranda has these huge plans for the doll - to build a house for it in secret in the closet and all. I also remember a harrowing scene with an antique dealer who tries to rook her out of her doll. In the end, her mother discovers the secret, and the doll seems to become less special to Miranda - she doesn't build the fabulous dollhouse and all. I thought it was sort of a depressing ending, personally. I don't remember the author, but I'm pretty sure of the title.
You had another reader who was looking for a book title about a china doll with a trunk of clothes you and another reader said the book must be Hitty but that can't be right. Hitty was carved out of mountain ash by a peddler who stayed the winter at the Preble farm. She had a dress and a little chemise that had her name crossed stiched and that was all, no trunck, no china head. I was an avid reader when I was young and have kept almost all of my books, Hitty is just one of them.
Readers sent in the Hitty titles, but there's another book called The Wonderful Fashion Doll by Laura Bannon. It's about a girl who finds a trunk with a china doll with a beautiful and exceptionally detailed wardrobe. I remember something about the girl learning that the doll was used to advertise the latest fashions before fashion mags became popular.
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I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR THIS BOOK FOR A LONG TIME!! I'm only 13 years old and my mother used to read it to me when I was about 5.  The story is about a wooden doll, and she comes to life. In the beggining she is all dusty and old.  I remember the story being very majestic and on the cover there is a picture of the wooden doll looking out her window.  I think  the writer was a female... but I'm not sure? LOL - sorry for the lack of information
#S46--Sandalwood:  this sounds like Hitty:  Her First Hundred Years, by Rachel Field.  Even if it isn't, read it anyway; it's great.

Interpreting Condition Grades

Field, Rachel  Hitty: Her First Hundred Years.  Illustrated by Dorothy P. Lathrop.  Newbery winner.  Macmillan, 1929.  31st printing, 1964.  Wear to corners, otherwise VG/VG.  <SOLD>

#T138--Tirpy or Terpy (dogname):  This is a story in one of my Beacon Readers, most of which I finally located!  The paperbacks I have were published in 1957 and reprinted in 1962.  In this version, Book 4, "Careful Hans," contains the story "The Hobyahs," in which the hero is a black dog, "little dog Turpie."  The original Beacon Readers were copyrighted 1922 and some dated as early as 1912.  The author is James H. Fassett.  The older hardcovers turn up quite often while the paperbacks tend to be extremely rare and expensive.  The trick would be in knowing which of the many original volumes included this story!  The 1916 collection "Animal Folk Tales" may contain it.
T138: Well, if it is The Hobyahs, here's Joseph Jacobs' version, with illustrations.

Kathleen McLaine, Jean at St. Hilary's,1949.  I cannot find a summary of the book other than that it is about a girl who plays field hockey.  Does this title sound familiar?
Scott Corbett, The Hockey Girls, 1976.  Think this might be the one - it's about the introduction of compulsory
sports at Wagstaff High.  No-one was keen except a 9th grader, Irma Tuttle, who used to walk along whacking crabapples with a crooked stick she called Old Faithful.  A coach spotted her and she joined the team so her friends did too.
C112 crabapple girl: more on the suggested - The Hockey Girls, by Scott Corbett, published Dutton, 1976, 104 pages. "While Irma Tuttle walked alone whacking crabapples with a crooked stick she called Old Faithful, she was observed and recruited by the hockey coach and her life changed dramatically." "Irma's only solace was whacking and dribbling crab apples on her way home with a crooked stick -- Talent-scouted by Miss Tingley, the wizened but spry field hockey coach". This sounds like a good match. My first thought was one of the multitudinous English girls' school stories, but those girls are always already playing compulsory games, so thankfully that was out.

Mildred Hark and Noel McQueen, A Home for Penny, 1959.  This book has a scene in it that matches the desciption.  Penny lives in a children's home with lots of other children and really wants a family of her own.  At one point, Penny is carefully drawing a picture of what her mother would look like if she had one.  While she's drawing the red polka dots on the "mother's" apron, Penny gets distracted and her crayon slips.  She draws a line that looks like a tail instead of a polka dot.  At the end of the book, Penny does not have a new family, and she realizes that her picture looks like Mrs. Brown, the director of the home.

Fairweather, Jessie.  Home, Matilda, MacElroy and Mary, 1950.  The answer to this one appears under stumper #T116. Fairweather, Jessie Home, illustrated by I.E. Robinson, Matilda, MacElroy and Mary.  Racine, Whitman Tell-a-Tale 1950.
Fairweather, Jessie Home, Matilda, MacElroy and Mary.  It's a Whitman Tell-A-Tale book from 1950.
#H61--The House of Mrs. Mouse:  The solution of this was one of several recently offered as possible solutions for another stumper, I don't know was solved.  If not solved, it should still be under "Stump the Bookseller," perhaps the Ms--something about three mice with names beginning with M.

This is the inimitable Homer Price, by Robert McCloskey (NY,'43). Always in print. With reason.

L48: Honestly, Katie John! (1963) by Mary Calhoun. Simply has to be. Third(?) of the Katie John series. There were at least four. I should re-read it, because from what I remember, she had quite the identity crisis - first she's disgusted with boys and their ways, but when the girls start acting girly-girly, she rebels and becomes a "vulgar" tomboy (as one girl put it - I, myself, reading it in the late 1970's, couldn't grasp why Katie would wear a skirt to school during that phase) because she can't bear the idea that her idea of 6th-grade feminine maturity isn't the norm. Or that she can't make the girls conform to it. (Writer Deborah Tannen would have a field day with that!) "Slam books" are part of the story, and there's a boy with whom she has a long rift before they're friends again. Mary Calhoun truly knew how to write and was almost certainly ahead of her time in her creation of Katie.
L48 (lipstick eating outsider girl) is most definitely, without a question, positively Honestly, Katie John! by (I think) Mary Calhoun.  The girl that calls everyone "sugar" is Priscilla, and Katie and her friend Sue go to a fair in the first chapter.  Katie finds an old book about female etiquette and tries being "a lady" briefly, then tries being the complete opposite to protest the "girly" behavior of her classmates, especially towards boys.  She eats Priscilla's lipstick before a school concert.   Her antics cause the other girls to ostracize her for a time.
Mary Calhoun, Honestly, Katie John!  I'm pretty sure this is the book. There is a series of Katie John books, and in this one, the 'tomboyish' Katie John becomes something of an outsider when her classmates become preoccupied with boys and make-up, etc. The lipstick episode is an example. Priscilla is the popular girl who calls everyone 'sugar'  but she hasn't just moved to town - I think that must be something from another book.
Wow, I remember reading this same book.  I don't know when the first book in the "Alice" series was published, but I have a feeling it might be that one (the series is by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor).  I think there's a description of how grossed out the girl is when she bites into the greasy lipstick.
Honestly, Katie John!  I can't believe it!  This is the book I have been looking for for absolutely ages and here it is a week later and it's been solved.  Thank you all so much!  I can't wait to read this again.

Honey Bear

The one that is driving me to gnash my teeth is B61.  I actually own this book and thought I knew exactly where it was.  Went home to check the title and can't find the book.  It was my mother's when she was little so is probably from the 20's or 30's.  I think it is called Honey Bear or something similar.  It is told in verse...a little baby toddles away from her house in the forest. Mother and father are frantic.  Baby is found by a friendly bear who gives her honey to keep her happy.  Parents find her, safe and sound, covered in honey...and the poem ends up saying something about that is why all babies are now called honey...it's an adorable book with darling illustrations and as soon as I find my copy, I will post the title and author if no-one else yet has done so.
Yes!  I know this one now-- it's illustrated by Frank Lloyd Wright's sister, Maginel Wright Barney, and published by one of the greats of American children's book publishing, Volland.  Very art deco.  I hear, also, that this was a favorite of Dare Wright when she was growing up.  Here's a beautiful copy for sale:
Willson, Dixie.  Honey Bear. Illustrated by Maginel Wright Barney.  P.F. Volland, 1923.  12th edition. A Sunny Book.  Excellent color illustrations.  Spine paper worn off in places, wear to corner, otherwise VG. A scarce title.  <SOLD>
I noticed Honey Bear illustrated by Maginel Wright!  She is the mother of  Elizabeth Enright!! I only recently found all these family  connections. I  knew the author of Gone-Away Lake was no mere mortal!

B72  Could these be the Honey Bunch and Norman books?
B72 Bobbsey Twins not quite -- Could this be Howard Garis's Cherries series (published c.1924)? One is
called Two Wild Cherries at the Seashore. The same author wrote the Curlytops series including The Curlytops at Sunset Beach (1921). He also wrote the Bunny series mentioned. Another possible, though I think less likely, is Elizabeth Gordon's Dolly and Molly books, which include Dolly and Molly at the Seashore.
Ran across this description while looking for something else: Margaret Kent The Twins at the Seaside Harrap 1949, 96 pages "Prudence Penelope Inglis and Christopher Malcolm Inglis aka Sugar and Spice."
Helen Louise Thorndyke, Honey Bunch: Her First Visit to the Seashore, 1924.  One of many Honey Bunch books!

P4.5 pig and otter: it sounds awfully Richard Scarry, and the time is right for his books - with all the Scarry fans out there, can't someone recognise it? (I don't like his books, myself)
Carla Stevens, Hooray for pig! 1974.
P4.5 pig and otter: okay, right after I suggested Richard Scarry, I ran across this - Hooray for Pig! by Carla Stevens, illustrated by Rainey Bennett, published Seabury and Scholastic 1974, Weekly Reader, 48 pages. "Pig is very fond of picnics. His idea of bliss is a picnic with loads of peanut-butter sandwiches. He would really love to swim, but doesn't feel brave enough to try. So while all his friends - Raccoon, Otter, Beaver and Muskrat - wallow and splash in the cool water, he endures a few hot, lonely summer days." (Children's Book Review 1976 p.13)  "Easy to read text matched with illustrations in relaxed cartoo-line decked with brown or green wash, describing the traumas and accidents that occur because Pig allows Raccoon and Otter to teach him to swim." (Growing Point Sept/76 p.2934) So there's a pig, an otter, and peanut-butter ...

About G31, that is the same book I am looking for! My entry is T81.
"The Shadow" by Goldsmith is in HORROR TALES: SPIRITS, SPELLS, AND THE UNKNOWN ed. Roger Elwood (Rand McNally, 1974), which as I recall is indeed a "slightly oversized hardback" (and the date fits).  But Mendoza's "The Devil's Pocket" is not in that book--it is in THE CRACK IN THE WALL AND OTHER WEIRD TALES (Dial, 1968) by Mendoza and in the Lee Bennett Hopkins (ed) 1977 anthology MONSTERS, GHOULIES AND CREEPY CREATURES.  Possibles, anyway.
This isn't much help, but there is a story called Tom and moT, by Max Trull, published 1930, 178 pages, about a little boy (the nursery rhyme one who threw pussy in the well) looking down the well and seeing his own
reflection, which changes places with him. He then has to live moT's life in the topsy-turvy underworld. He finally reaches home, much improved by his experiences. If this is the same story, it must have just been a chapter excerpted for the collection.
Roger Elwood, editor, Horror Tales: Spirits Spells and the Unknown.  1974-75 Mystery solved! The book I first described is indeed Horror Tales edited by Roger Elwood! THANK YOU! By the way, the story with the children and the echo is not The Devil's Pocket it is called something about El Dorado. And the Tom-Mot story is different too.
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I am trying to find some very beloved books from my elementary school days in the '70s.   The first is a collection of somewhat gruesome scary short stories.  I think it was at least slightly oversized, hardback with illustrations.  I only remember three stories - one was about a tree that cast evil shadows inside a bedroom, one was about a boy who called things into an echo canyon and the words that came back to him were very different from the ones he had called and the third one I remember the most vividly.  A boy and a girl discover a formula to turn things into gold - unfortunately (inevitably!), something goes wrong and the girl is turned into a fly - the cat smushes the fly, and the story ends with the boy running up the stairs screaming because the fly is turning back into the girl...and she's smushed.  Yech.  (see what I mean about gruesome?!)

I don't have the exact book - but I can tell you two of the short stories' titles and authors, and this might help your search. The echo story may be The Devil's Pocket by George Mendoza. Two brothers are playing in a
quarry nicknamed the devil's pocket. One throws a penny in, and the quarry echoes back his voice as he calls out. But when he finds a penny, his brother insists it's not the same one because it's too shiny. The one insists "IT'S MY PENNY" and the quarry doesn't echo back his voice. And then when the brother whispers "better not take it", the quarry echoes his voice, getting louder. The boys take the penny, but during the night they both have the same nightmare that the quarry is calling, and in the morning, the penny is gone. It's a creepy story.  The tree casting an evil shadow sounds like The Shadow by Howard Goldsmith. The tree, planted over the body of a hanged witch, casts it's shadow into the boy's room.
The Devil's Pocket is anthologized in The Haunted House and Other Stories edited by Vic Crume.  Tthe cover featured a haunted house with a psychedelic aura.  Probably not what you're looking for, but very creepy.
About G31, that is the same book I am looking for! My entry is T81.
"The Shadow" by Goldsmith is in HORROR TALES: SPIRITS, SPELLS, AND THE UNKNOWN ed. Roger Elwood (Rand McNally, 1974), which as I recall is indeed a "slightly oversized hardback" (and the date fits).  But Mendoza's "The Devil's Pocket" is not in that book--it is in THE CRACK IN THE WALL AND OTHER WEIRD TALES (Dial, 1968) by Mendoza and in the Lee Bennett Hopkins (ed) 1977 anthology MONSTERS, GHOULIES AND CREEPY CREATURES.  Possibles, anyway.
T81 & G31: Laughing Shadow - Eldorado.  Hope this info helps, I recall both stories mentioned as one's I read in grade-school...  The story with the shadow - about a boy moving to a new town, house has a tree in backyard, supposed to have a witch buried under it (former owner), warned not to disturb tree (he does) and the  shadow-witch is let loose.  I loved this story and I believe the book was The laughing shadow and other tales (or stories) - searching this title alwasy pulls the 3 investigators title of the alfred hitchcock series - not an easy find.  The story about the boy and the canyon of echoes, is not the devil's pocket, but was called El Dorado, and the setting was in California (I remember wanting to go find this place after reading the story)  A boy hiking gets lost and or a storm comes up, he takes shelter in an old ghost town, and during the night he hears crying and calls for help from a nearby ravine, it turns out to be the ghosts or "echoes" of a boy and a girl.  "we are only echoes, echoes echoes... waiting...."  pretty creepy!!  Hope this Helps

The book is Hoppie the Hopper by Albert Baller, illustrations by Eleanor Corwin, published in 1951 by Rand McNally.  It was part of a series called InAction books.  I know because it was one of my favorite childhood books and I'm lucky enough to still have it. 

This sounds like Anne Digby, A Horse Called September.
Thank you Harriett!  That sounds exactly right!  Now to find a copy of the book...

Possibly Found: One Orange-Brown Horse (1957) by Patricia Lauber, author of Clarence the TV Dog. The book is in fact illustrated by Shortall, I think!
#H21:  The one I'm thinking of was like Found:  One Orange-Brown Horse  but can't be the same book as I have that one and the one I'm thinking of I never had.
Nancy Caffrey, illus. by Paul Brown, Horse Haven, 1950's.  The exact scene you describe is in this book.

B130a boy sky green: a story at least similar is A Horse of Another Color, by Nathan Kravetz, illustrated by Susan Perl, published Little, Brown 1962, 58 pages. "In this all-so-true-to-life story about Henry who loves to paint horses, the author, an elementary school principal, reveals a concern for the independent and imaginative child. As a non-conformist in the use of color, Henry fills the school authorities with anxiety, although he seems to be happily normal in every other respect. It takes the College exhibit, to which Henry's horses in blue and green are sent by mistake, to bring down the worried eyebrows, for a time at least. Cartoonish drawings have the right kind of humor." (HB Oct/62 p.478)

The book is The Horsemasters, by Don Sandford, he who also wrote Red Car. It was made into a Disney move starring Annette Funicello, and was about the English Horsemastership Program. The old horse mentioned was Cornish Pastie, who was messy, aged, and a phenomenal hunter.
Thank you!! Yes! Please! The book IS The Horsemasters by Don Stanford. If you cd try to locate a copy for me at a good price, that wd be great! (eBay has a copy, but I'd prefer to support your great service if I can afford it!) Let me know.
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The book I'm looking for was about a girl going to a special school where she learned about horse care and riding. She got a really ugly horse but then ended up loving him and doing well. That's about all I remember! Please let me know
if this works!

G113  Stanford, Don, The Horsemasters.  See Solved Mysteries
Don Stanford., The Horsemasters, 1970s.   Puffin book. Would seem like one possibility.
Don Stanford, The Horsemasters.  This stumper sounds like The Horsemasters, about a girl named Dinah who goes to a
riding school in England where she is assigned to a homely horse named Corny (short for Cornish Pastie).  She dislikes him at first, but eventually grows to respect him.
G113 This must be a darned good story to have even Scholastic copies so expensive! Stanford, Don; foreword by Sheila
Willcox    The horsemasters.  dust jacket by Doremus.  Funk & Wagnalls c1957 American girl learns firsthand about training by the British Horse Society for a Preliminary Instructor¹s Certificate; horsemastership course

Regarding question M15 "Morel Mushroom", the book is Hothouse by Brian Aldiss; the novel is out-of-print, but still excellent in its descriptions of the carnivorous plants, flymen, etc.

Duvoisin, Roger, The House of Four Seasons, 1956.  "When a family buys a new house, each member has a different idea of what color to paint it." Maybe?

Have you looked at Enid Blyton?
Enid Blyton, The Enchanted Castle.  This stumper does sound very close to the plot of The Enchanted Castle.
Nina Bawden, The House of Secrets/The Secret Passage (UK title), 1963.  Worth a look? John, Mary, and Ben Mallory go to England to live with Aunt Mabel, who keeps a boardinghouse. Young Ben meets the eccentric , elderly boarder Miss Pin, who tells stories of her fabulous treasure, and of the secret passage in the cellar. The passage leads to the big house next door, where the children meet a mysterious girl who has run away from school.

William Sleator, The House of Stairs
William Sleator, House of Stairs. One of my favorite books-- my daughter just read it too, and loved it.
William Sleator, House of Stairs, 1974.  I have read many of William Sleator's books, and enjoyed most of them.
C102 HOUSE OF STAIRS by William sleator, 1974 (make sure it's by that author. There's another book with a similar title) ~from a librarian
Sleator, William, House of Stairs, 1974.

After thinking about it some more, it's possible that the main character was an alligator not a dinosaur.
Norma Klein, Dinosaur's Housewarming Party.
Bernard Waber.  I wonder if this could be one of the Lyle Crocodile books, particularly Lyle and the Birthday Party?
The colors and visual style sound like Sendak's Alligators All Around, from Nutshell Library. It's actually an alphabet book, but the main character, a little alligator, wears a decorative cap throughout the book (and has balloons on the B page), which may leave the impression there was a party.  No bathtub, though.
Bernard Waber, The House on East 88th Street, 1962.  I believe the book you are thinking of may be this one. There are a couple of pages with Lyle the crocodile in the bathtub. Apparently lazing in the tub is one of his favorite activities. There is also a lot of green in the illustrations.

King, P.E., The house that had enough,1986.  A Big Little Golden Book. I have a copy which was passed to us when we adopted my son. He is not tremendously attached to it, so if the person who posted the query would like our copy, she may have it.

Maybe this one?  The House That Grew by Jean Strathdee & Jessica Wallace, 1979. 32 pages of cute colorful illustrations. "This English book is a story of a big hippie family living in a giant house. They decide to buy a plot of land and build a giant communal house, but they can only build a little bit at a time. This house just grows and GROWS! Vintage English commune hippy story!" Or this one?  Mrs. Caliper's House by Muriel Cooke and Headley & Anne Harper, illustrated by Sherman Cooke, NY Knopf 1943, 63 pages. "Nonsense picture story book about Mrs. Caliper, who was so very friendly that she invited everyone who came along to live in her house. Rooms were added for the farmer, the milkmaid, the small boy Peter, and at last for the old lighthouse keeper. Finally rooms had to be built on top of the house, which made it possible to expand almost indefinitely." Though I'm wondering if it isn't one of the Peterkin stories by L. Hale?
This is in answer to F40.  I believe it is called The House the Pecks Built, by Helen and Alf Evers.  They start out with one room, and keep adding rooms on until the house is so huge they need a train to get from one end of it to the other.  They tear all the additions down, and at the very end of the story  one of them says something about needing more room...
F40 full circle house: more on the last suggested - The House the Pecks Built, by the Evers, (reprinted Jan 2001) "As Mr.Peck, a poor carpenter, grows prosperous he begins to add one room after another to the family's one-room house until it covers so much territory that he and his family must take the train to the next town just to get from the living room to the dining room."  Providing a prescient vision of suburban sprawl, The House the Pecks Built by Helen and Alf Evers is as relevant today as when it was first published in 1940. Not content with their one-room house, the newly monied Pecks keep adding on. Soon, it's so large that tourists come to visit the "Biggest House in the World" and dinner guests travel "from the living room to the dining room by train." Three-color artwork adds nostalgic charm." (Publishers Weekly)

How Fletcher Was Hatched

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How Joe the Bear & Sam the Mouse Got Together

How Sam Adam's Pipe Became a Pig!  I found info on two editions of this book.  There are copies of this title
in only four colleges/universities in the US, so I don't know how easy it will be to find a copy for yourself. Don't know if this will help you, but for what it's worth here's what I found: How Sam Adam's Pipe Became a Pig! by John William Kirton (1831-1892), illus. George Cruikshank, pub. by S.W. Partridge (London) 1864. First separate edition -- orig. published 1857 in the British workman. How Sam Adam's Pipe Became a Pig! by John William Kirton, illus. George Cruikshank, pub. by S.W. Partridge (London), 1869 (date approximate).  Series - Illustrated penny readings, 15pg., 2 illus (woodcuts). 

Oh thank goodness, one I know.  I needed that.  Unfortunately, I don't have one in stock, and they're hard to come by!  But I could get an ex-library copy for around $40.
Kraus, Robert.  How Spider Saved Christmas.  Windmill, 1970.

First Nations fable, How the Chipmunk Got Her Stripes.  This is a long shot, but...there are similar lines in a Native American fable of "How the Chipmunk Got Her Stripes."  There is a bear who sings "I am big and strong and this is my bear song.  I am smart and I am brave and I am never wrong."

Hmm... I don't remember Mr. Mole from The Wind in the Willows getting into any traffic jams...
A mole in a traffic jam sounds more like Richard Scarry than Kenneth Grahame to me- although I thought it was usually a pig or a cat behind the wheel in his drawings.
I stumbled across your site while sending a query out for a children's book my brothers and I have been searching for over many years. The M16 query in your data base looks like it might be the same book. I don't have a
solution, just more details. We believe the book was Czech in origin, translated into English. The car was a pink car, much smaller than regular cars - the mole was able to drive underneath other cars. We lived in England
at the time - we're talking about the early 1960's. It wasn't a long book, but it was richly illustrated with colour drawings. The book was also in a fairly large format. I have no idea if these details will help, but the fact
that someone else is looking for the same book is already encouraging! Thanks for an interesting web site!
Eduard Petiska, How the Mole Got His Car, 1960.  This is definitely the book.  It was printed in Czechoslovakia for Spring Books of London and was illustrated by Zdenek Miler.  A mole becomes fascinated by cars  visits a junkyard and tries to build one himself using nuts for tires, etc.  is unhappy when this doesn't work, but then notices a tire rolling down the street  locates the source -- a windup car that a boy has smashed with a hammer  puts the tires around his neck and carries the car to a repair shop, where it's fixed  and then drives it home.  The last picture is of the mole sleeping happily and clutching the key.
Just to complete the story of the Mole and His Car (M16) that was solved under the title How the Mole Got His Car, I recently came across a website for European books in translation that lists the book, along with several others in the same series about the same character. This delightful set of books is illustrated by the same person, Zdenek Miler, but each book is written by a different writer, with Eduard Petiska as the author of the "Little Mole and His Toy Car" book, as indicated by the person who submitted the solution. The books are available online at this site   I bought the set - they are all delightful.

Huckleberry, by Marks, Mickey Klar; Illustrated by Irma Wilde.  Is this the one?
Possibly Mickey Klar Marks, Hucklebones (Whitman, '49)?
H22 hucklebones: more on the suggested title, Hucklebones, by Mickey Klar Marks, illustrated by Irma Wilde, published Whitman 1949. "A Cozy Corner Book. A story of a small horse named Hucklebones who is invited to the Steeplechase Ball and he doesn't know how to dance. Cover illustrated with horse, flowers, and sky." Sounds like a good match.

William Saroyan, The Human Comedy, 1943, 1971.  It takes place in California in WWII. "...Fourteen-year-old Homer, determined to become the fastest telegraph messenger in the West, finds himself caught between reality and illusion as delivering his messages of wartime death, love, and money brings him face-to-face with human emotion at its most naked and raw."  There was a movie made with Mickey Rooney in 1943.

Lorna Balian, Humbug Rabbit, 1974.  What a great book! My children love it too. This author has written nine other stories, all seeming to have a seasonal or holiday theme. Good luck!
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The children's book that I'm looking for was available in the late 1970s. It was a lovely picture book that showed a grandmother above ground preparing for her grandkids to come for Easter. Meanwhile, a grandmother rabbit below ground was also preparing for her grandkids to come for Easter. The two were shown doing the preparations on each page with an above ground and a below ground view.

Balian, Lorna, Humbug Rabbit, Abingdon 1974.  "Father Rabbit's reply of "Humbug" to the idea that he is the Easter Rabbit doesn't spoil Easter for his children or Granny's grandchildren. Two stories go on at the same time. One above at Granny's house, one below in a rabbit's burrow. All are related and are about the approaching Easter holiday. See how the two stories merge into one." Sounds plausible and the date is right.
Sounds like it could be HUMBUG RABBIT by Lorna Balian, except it's a grandmother above ground and a father rabbit below. The rabbit children think their father may be the Easter rabbit, and he just scoffs at this.
Meanwhile, above ground, the cat is stealing the hen's eggs, which might ruin the Easter celebrations for the grandmother and her granchildren. I've forgotten how, but somehow the father rabbit saves the day (maybe the cat pushed the eggs into his burrow?) ~from a librarian

H2: Could the humming hamster be Sylvester of a collection called Sylvester and other stories?  Orange book, picture of Sylvester with, I think, the mandolin he rides in.....
could you tell me more about this book? I'm hoping it's the one! Thank you!
I remember that he plays an instrument, maybe a guitar. I remember something about Sylvester with the musical ear, and I think I also remember a tail, which means he isn't a hamster. Is this possible?
No, unfortunately I don't think that's the book, but I appreciate your efforts.
How about a humming possum? Harold Berson, Henry Possum (Crown,'73) -- or is this too recent to be the book you recall? (Instead of playing possum, i.e., playing dead, he keps humming & looking around.)
Unfortunately it doesn't sound like the book.  But I certainly appreciate your continued efforts and the forwarding of possible matches.
The unsolved mystery listed on your page as "H2: Humming Hamster" sounds suspiciously like a book I recently "rediscovered." The animal was a mouse, and he loved music. He lived in a guitar in a guitar shop, and every night
he would play when the shop was closed. I believe the name "Sylvester" is correct. I know the time frame is right (my aunt read this to me in the early 70's). It was, as the first post suggests, an orange book that's a collection of
stories. As my children's book collection is at my Mom & Dad's house, 8 hours away, I can't put my finger on it. But I'll check while I'm home at Thanksgiveing. Good Luck Hunting!!
H2 Humm the Singing Hamster by Catherine Bing, 1961, a Whitman Top Top Tales book
I think that is the book!!!!!!!!  Do you have it?  Can you find it?  Why is that listing posted with no
additional info?  Did someone enter that info as a possible answer to my search?  The date is right on, and the title sounds like THAT IS IT! Please let me know if you can get this book!!!  Oh I'm so happy my long long search may be over!!!
I've gotten hold of a copy, and it's a small book with picture of a happy hamster on the blue cover.  It's about a
classroom hamster who was very special, because he could hum--but after lunch one day, he disappeared!  The
kids look for him everywhere and finally find him having a Hummburger.
Oh I am SO EXCITED!!!  It's my book!!!!  Oh, how soon can I get it?   I AM SO THRILLED!!!
Score!  Another book and reader reunited.
Oh Audrey, thank you so much -- for getting the book out, for posting the thank you in the solved "section" - and for your friendly and warm personality.  It has been a truly rewarding experience -not just finding my book, but dealing with people like you.  Many blessings to you in the new year.

I have Good-by, Gray Lady by Anne M. Greene published in 1964.  The cover is purple with a large house with columns and railings in the background and a large tree with children in the front.  The main characters, however, are Louisa and Richard Gilbert who are 12 and 10.  The family ghost, Gray Lady, walks whenever the family  home is in danger. I believe it is set in the Carolinas and the children have adventure in the swamp.  I don't know if this is the one you are looking for or not.
I don't believe this is it. The characters were a little older and not brother and sister. There was more of a sinister feel to it. The girl had come to visit or live with an aunt or grandmother, some female relative. Thanks for checking. I'll keep trying to remember!
Could this be a Mary Stewart one? I seem to remember one--the heroine (Dorcas) has always been able to
communicate telepathically with a distant (male) cousin, but never knew which cousin.  She has to choose (romantically) between her two cousins, I think, and she knows the other one is dangerous to her...there's also a question of an inheritance.  "Cat"  may have been in the title...The Grey Cat?  If this isn't the right one, but anyone recognises it, I'd like to know--I really enjoyed it!
The Mary Stewart book the blue poster asks about is Touch Not the Cat published 1976 "When Bryony's father is killed in a mysterious automobile accident, ownership of Ashley Court passes by legal trust to her cousin Emory." Bryony has the second sight. The title refers to the family motto and a Roman mosaic with a cat. I doubt this is the book wanted.
well, maybe The Humming Top, by Dorothy Spicer, published Phillips 1969. "Throughout Dorcas Gray's solitary childhood, in and out of orphanages, she holds onto one treasure - a humming top. One spin of the plaything envelops the girl in a misty other-world, making her witness to events secret and sometimes terrible. When Dorcas' powers of precognition are publicized, evil conspirators recruit the innocent seer for their evil purposes. The villains and their villainies in the ESP thriller are exaggerated, but the heroine, country-hewn and candid, is original." (HB Apr/69 p.195) The book is apparently in print, and a review on Amazon.com mentions that Dorcas is befriended by an elderly woman who wants help finding her missing grandson Steven, and that she is aided by Michael, another relative.

Eleanor Farjeon, Hummingbird. Yes, sure this is Farjeon's Hummingbird - Dauphin 'hidden' in Watteau fan & eventually finds true love years (?centuries) later...

THE HUNGRY THING by Jan Slepian and Ann Seidler, illustrated by Richard E. Martin, 1967 (repub. in 1988?) There are also some sequels.
Thanks for solving  the mystery. THE HUNGRY THING was the book that I was thinking of!

Barbara Hobbs, The Hungry Sea Monster, 1959. I finally found of copy of the book that I've been looking for through an online search of books with "sea monster" in the title.  The book is "The Hungry Sea Monster" by Barbara Hobbs, copyright 1959, Houghton Mifflin Co. Boston.  The story involves Marta (a girl with remarkable common sense), and her little brother Montgomery, who find the hungry sea monster on the beach.  Through trial and error they determine that the monster's diet consists of people, so they pack it up in a crate and ship it to New York City.  It's an interesting and amusing story.

D75 is NOT   Denan, Corinne, retold by.    Dragon and monster tales    illus by Jennie Williams. Troll, 1980.
Nicholas Stuart Gray, The Hunting of the Dragon, 1965.  This is a short story which appears in the collection Mainly in Moonlight.

I'd forgotten this book until I read this post, but I loved it too, and I'm almost certain it was called Hurray for Captain Jane.
More on the suggested title - Hurray for Captain Jane! by Sam Reavin, illustrated by Emily McCully, published Parents' Magazine Press, 1971. "Story line centers on girl in bathtub with a wax paper sailor's hat playing with a bar of soap. Suddently the tub water becomes ocean, and Jane becomes the captain of a ship in her imagination." "Jane came home from a party with 3 prizes; a box of jelly beans, a sailor's hat, & a bar of soap that floats"

I seem to remember a book called Hurry Up, Simon with a similar plot. Couldn't find anything under that title, though. Might have been Don't Dawdle, Simon (man, is that ever an unhelpful memory).
I think the book was called Hurry Up, Slowpoke.  The sister's name was Lucy.
Well then, it's probably - Hurry Up, Slowpoke, by Crosby Newell, published by Wonder Books, Easy Reader 1961, 61 pages. Two little mouse children set off to visit Grandma, but 'slowpoke' dawdles. The cover is yellow and shows the little boy mouse in a red sailor suit, and far off in the distance the grandmother in a long blue dress with white apron, and the little girl mouse in a red dress beside her.

Sara Teasdale, Flame and Shadow, 1920.  The title of the poem itself is "I Remembered."
There never was a mood of mine, / Gay or heart-broken, luminous or dull, / But you could ease me of its fever / And give it back to me more beautiful. / In many another soul I broke the bread, / And drank the wine and played the happy guest, / But I was lonely, I remembered you // The heart belongs to him who knew it best. 

Arnold Lobel, Ice-cream Cone Coot and Other Rare Birds, 1971.  Yes, this is a Parents Magazine Press book. "All the birds inside this book are very strange and rare. And if you travel to the zoo, you will not find them there. Don't look for them in nature books, in parks or pet shop cages, and thus it goes. a very entertaining children's book with really great artwork."
I immediately thought of The Ice-Cream Coot, And Other Rare Birds by Arnold Lobel (Parents' Magazine Press, 1971) but we no longer own the book so I couldn't check to be sure.  Here's the summary: "Describes in verse such unusual birds as the shuttercluck, the milkbottle midge, the waterglass goose, and the highbutton bobolink."
Ice-Cream Cone Coot & Other Rare Birds.  This was a Parent's Magazine Press book from the 60's or 70's.
Unfortunately, they don't reprint any of their books so you can only find it used.
Lobel, Arnold, The Ice Cream Cone Coot and Other Rare Birds, Parents Magazine 1971.  "All the birds listed are very strange and rare, and if you travel to the zoo you will not find them there." Sounds like a good bet.
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My book had fanciful color illustrations of birds that I believe were all in the shape of different types of ice cream cones but my memory may be faulty on that (it was sort of Dr. Seussian but not not quite).  I loved this book and would appreciate any help figuring out my mystery! Thank you.

I know this one.  Of course, I don't have it (not right now anyway, sold a copy last month), but if you want me to search for it, just let me know (I can get one for around $24).  It's a fabulous, fantastic, funny book.  Lobel, Arnold.  The Ice-Cream Cone Coot and Other Rare Birds. Parents' Magazine Press, 1971.

I remember that poem.  I did some searching for it and came up with the following:
Thomas Gale Joan.  If Jesus Came to My House. London: Mowbray A. R., 1958. Cloth / Hardcover, Very Good, 32mo - over 4" - 5" tall 25th edition,  theboards are mildly soiled, Two tone color illustrations, red
and black.  <SOLD>

Check out D'Aulaire's Greek Myths:  it's a tall picture book with stylized 1930's illustrations, and decent history.  Then again, maybe it was more focused on the Trojan War?
I have not seen any of these  books so I cannot check out illustrations but some possible tltles: Iliad of Homer by Barbara Picard (1966)  Tales of Ancient Greece by Enid Blyton (1953)   The  Wooden Horse and the Fall of Troy by I.M.Richardson (1984) (too late?!)  Faber Book of Greek Legends by Kathleen Liner (1973)  Tales of Troy and Greece by Andrew Lang (1962).
Two more possiblities: Padraid Colum's Adventures of Odysseus and the Tale of Troy, (1918) illustrated by Willy Pogogy  Or Tale of Troy retold from the Ancient Authors (1935?) by Roger Lancelyn Green, illustrated by Betty Middleton-Sanford. Hope this helps!
In a second hand store today I pulled down a large volume from a high shelf and when I saw what it was I thought -Eureka, maybe! It is The Iliad and The Odyssey (surprise!)-the heroic story of the Trojan War, The fabulous adventures of Odysseus adapted from the Greek classics of Homer by Jane Werner Watson.(1956) Simon and Schuster (The Golden Library) Pictures by Alice and Martin Provensen--and what pictures they ARE! They dominate the book, sometimes having the look of wood cuts. The illustrations fill each page: along borders, sometimes along the lower half,sometimes the upper half- sometimes they fill a whole page and flow onto the text page opposite! Figures: soldiers, gods and godesses are large, sometimes 10 or 11 inches high- solid, dramatic! The colors are mostly muted, somber earth tones-browns, tans, slate gray-greens, terracottas, and blacks. It is a gorgeous book. I sure hope this is it! The bold dramatic pictures resemble those featured in the other Provenson book The Golden Treasury of Myths and Legends found under Anthology Finder at this site!

I believe R42 is Katia by E.M. Almedingen, in which a motherless little girl in tsarist Russia is sent to live with wealthy relations.  (In my library, it was shelved with the biographies.)
More on the suggested title - Katia(UK title Little Katia) by E.M. Almedingen, illustrated by Victor Ambrus, published Farrar 1967, 207 pages. Based on the author's great-aunt Catherine's memoirs (published 1874),
describes Katia's life when as a child of five she went, after the death of her mother, to live with various relatives in the Ukraine and St. Petersburg.
Mara Kaye, In Place of Katia.  1960's.  I think you may be looking for In Place of Katia.  This was a favorite of mine back in the '60's when I was in elementary school.  It took place in Russia during the Revolution and the  part that I always remembered was the exciting escape when the girl was hidden in labyrinth.  I searched high and low for this book so that my girls could read it.  Finally found it at a library on the Central Coast of California (Santa Maria?).  Received it through library loan and the kids enjoyed it.  I know the book is out of print.  Mara Kaye wrote other books of children in Russia, so if this isn't it, maybe it is one of her others.

This 1946 Caldecott Honor winner comes to mind:  Marie Hal Ets. In the Forest.   "Join the fun! There is a parade and a party in the forest."  It's been in print almost since its publication.
I was thrilled to find out the name of the book I had you post.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Ets, Marie Hall.  In the Forest.   Viking, 1944. Caldecott Honor Book. new paperback, $6 used ex-library copy, library bound, 1950 printing, G, $6 first edition, top of spine worn, o/w VG-  $60

I think you'll get plenty of responses to this! It's In the Keep of Time by Margaret J. Anderson. The story is based on a real Scottish keep called Smailholm Tower. The youngest, a 5-year-old girl (Ollie), actually falls into a misty room in the keep near the beginning and when they rush to find her, she's turned into another entical-looking girl (Mae)and they're back in 1460, just before King James drives out the English - and the kids are English, so
they have to keep quiet about it. After the battle, they manage to get home and they take Ollie-Mae with them, but she is still Mae and they have to train her to be Ollie and adjust to the 20th century. They learn to cooperate as a loving family as a result, but they still can't get her to remember her life as Ollie. They (all four) go into the tower again, into the future, and find an old blind woman, Vianah(sp?) whose tribe has not yet returned and she needs them to get food from Kelso. They see her in daylight finally and she looks just like the old aunt (Grace) they're vacationing with. When they get back to Grace's home in Scotland, Ollie apparently remembers some of her modern life in London but won't answer questions. They find the same thing happened decades ago to Grace that happened to Ollie, so they both have a stronger and more abstract understanding of "family" than they did
before. What is also fascinating but somewhat  secondary is how Anderson subtly paints how "primitive" societies can be patriarchal or matriarchal and how each system can learn from the other. (Elinor wants nothing but to run back to the 20th century in the first half - especially since the women have nothing to do but hide and wait for days to hear if their loved ones have been killed or not - and Andrew's shocked and horrifed to find the 22nd century to be anything but high-tech and needs Elinor's methods to prevent him from getting completely lost at
one point.) Beautiful and thought-provoking. There's a sequel of sorts, with mostly different characters and
some chilling remarks about guns and bombs being common in the 20th century. They were both written before the mid-80s, I think.
Sounds like it might be IN THE KEEP OF TIME by Margaret J. Anderson, 1972 4 children slip back and forth in time in an ancient Scottish tower. There were two other books with the same kids.
YES, YES, YES!!!!!  I am so excited.   If you can find a copy that would be great. The girl's name (Ollie) was the thing that did it, because I remember thinking that was an odd name.  Phew!!
So excited...I got the book today!!!  Could you keep your eyes peeled for the others in the series?  Thanks!!! (I'll see if I can solve some more stumpers for you).

I16 - Is called Indian Bunny and is by Ruth Bornstein.  My daughter got a copy from Scholastic in first grade.  Cute little book.
I16 indian bunny: More on the suggested title Indian Bunny, written and illustrated by Ruth Bornstein, published Scholastic 1973. "One day a bunny said, "Good-by, I'm going to be an Indian."

I just recently purchased a lot of horse books on eBay, and I think one of them is this book.....copyright is 42, but this printing is a paperback from 1960.  Story is of the son of an Indian chief who tames his horse, son of a mare his father gives him, but runs away, he follows the horse and spends a year taming him, the story ends when Little Falcon rides "Shadow" back into his camp.  The horse is a paint....Sure sounds like this would be the correct book!!
You were right in thinking it was a Little Golden Book, for here is exactly the story you seek:
Zolotow, Charlotte.  Indian Indian.  Illustrated by Leonard Weisgard.  Simon & Schuster, 1952.  Little Golden Book #149.  First Edition.  Worn at top and bottom of spine, otherwise VG.  $12 <SOLD>
I received the book today and am thrilled beyond belief.  I had forgotten parts of the story but it essentially was the same as I recalled.  Being 53 now, it is so interesting to see how a book had such an impact on me.  I am now a pet sitter and a local columnist on pet issues.  Even then, animal connections were important to me.  Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I have this one sitting on my bookshelf right now.  The title is Inside Out, and it is indeed by Ann M. Martin.

William Sleator, Into The Dream
William Sleator, Into the Dream, 2000, reprint. I loved this book too!  I remembered the title and looked up the author using the ubiquitous Amazon. Hope this helps!

Pamela Stearns, Into the Painted Bear Lair, 1976.  Mark this one solved - I love this book.  The boy crawls under a table in a toy shop (marked "Bear Lair"), and finds himself in another land ... he befriends Sir Rosemary ( a female knight) and a bear, they go on a quest, etc.  Houghton Mifflin.
Stearns, Pamela and Strugnell, Ann. Into the Painted Bear Lair.  Houghton Mifflin, 1976.  "Entering another world through a toy store, Gregory joins Sir Rosemary and a gourmet named Bear on a journey involving princesses, magic spells, and hidden passages."
Pamela Stearns, Into the Painted Bear Lair, 1976.  '"Entering another world through a toy store, Gregory joins Sir Rosemary and a gourmet named Bear on a journey involving princesses, magic spells and hidden passages."
Harriett apparently needs this book herself...

Sean Morrison, Is That a Happy Hippopotamus?, 1966.  This looks like quite a likely prospect for this book.  "When there is a large thumping, the question is asked who is it and various animals are expected, until the end!"

M157: Richard Scarry, 1964, Is This the House of Mistress Mouse? (Yes, that's the whole title.)

Silver, Jody, Isadora.  Doubleday, 1981.  "A lady donkey who buys a red feather boa instead of a toaster comes to terms with her sense of frivolity."

Thomas Baum, It looks alive to me!, 1976.  "The exhibits at the Museum of Natural History come alive as a young boy searches during the night for the stolen moon rock."

B65 could be Down a Dark Hall by Lois Duncan
Could this be Down a Dark Hall by Lois Duncan? In that book, a rather sinister woman enrolls 4 girls with "psychic" abilities in a boarding school. Somehow, the woman is able to use the girl to channel historical figures--one girl is able to play the piano like Schumann, one girl is able to paint, one does mathematics. The woman's plan was to take the art or songs produced by the girls and pass them off as "lost compositions" or "lost masterpieces." It was my favorite Lois Duncan book--very creepy.
B65 my first thought was the Macdonald Hall books by Gordon Korman, but those seem to have been published in the 80s.
I reread Down a Dark Hall and it is a great book but not the one I was looking for this time. I remember it being a boys' boarding school and one of the mishaps was someone breaking their leg (which I believe was the pic on the cover of the hb). The other guess isn't it either, written too early and this was more of a mystery book.
How about It's Murder st St. Basket's (1972) by James Lincoln Collier. The setting is an ancient London boarding school and involves three new friends: an American ,Christopher Quincy, an English student, Leslie Plainfield, and David Choudhry, a Pakistani." A truly macabre and dangerous situation is building up" at this seemingly traditional educational institution.
James Lincoln Collier, It's Murder at St. Basket's.  This book is about 3 friends in an English boarding school, one of whom gets his leg broken by a teacher with a hockey stick.  The picture on the cover of the book shows 2 boys, one of whom has an injured leg.

I believe this is J.T. written by Jane Wagner, 1969 (of Lily Tomlin's In Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe fame), with photographs by Gordon Parks.
Neville, Emily, It's Like This, Cat. I see there's a solution up for this, and I can't be sure of my answer either, but it could be worth a look.
#B125--Boy finds cat:  This is definitely NOT It's Like This, Cat, by Emily Cheney Neville.  That boy did live in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of New York, but he was white.  The cat was given him by a neighbor, not found, and he kept it at home.  His father wasn't thrilled about the arrangement, but the cat was never evicted or kept outside anyplace.  There was one scene when the cat got out and the boy was teased by bullies while carrying it home, but the cat was never killed or seriously harmed.  I forgot to mention it is also not illustrated with photographs.

This might be Leo Mero, Jack & Jill Visit the Zoo (Whitman Publishing,'40). Die cut scenes, 12-15" tall.
How Amazing!  Talk about Cast Bread . . . .  I am sure that is right. It would have been in stock after a few years in the war and my mother gave me some other Whitman books too.   My Goodness ,want want want.   I had given up on it. Please let it not be the case that AlephBet books buy this kind because the price will be out of this world. At very worst I may be able to get a colour xerox of it from somewhere. Or have you got a copy? I will look at my list and put some more up I think! Many thanks for letting me know!

Well, I finally got a xerox of Jack and Jill visit the Zoo.  At first I wasn't sure, the cover was not as I had recalled it, the cage bars had become a kind of lattice work at the zoo entrance. No gorilla, but there was the giraffe house with the peaked roof and bellpull and the peanut bags and the monkeys at the end, though not with the vendor.  However, it looked so 1930ish, I kept wondering whether I was just imagining this to be it.  Then I looked at the elephant and I knew the identifiaction was right.  Up welled the old feeling of shock that the elephant was eating his food off the FLOOR and, my goodness, the keeper was EATING one of the elephant's carrots.  I hope he washed it.  Yup, that is the book.   Well done, only about half my clues were right!!

I read this book to my daughter just the other night.  It is James the Jaguar by Mary Lystad, illustrated by Cyndy Szekeres.  Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons.  Copyright 1972.  LC # 76-187562.  It is also identified as coming from The Weekly Reader's Book Club. I bought my copy at a garage sale or library book sale.  I did a search, and it doesn't seem to be in print.
D6 dress-up baby brother: more on the suggested - James the Jaguar, by Mary Lystad, published New York, Putnam's 1972, Weekly Reader, 24 pages. "Charming color illustrations by Cyndy Szekeres on every page highlight this story that tells of young James who is constantly picked on by his older sisters. When his uncle sends him a jaguar suit, James is transformed into a strong willed jaguar who sets his sisters straight."

S60 Supernatural Thriller with Female Teen Protagonist--I think this must be JANE-EMILY by Patricia Clapp, 1969. The female teen goes with her young niece stay with a family in Massachusetts. In the garden, there is a reflecting ball. The ghost of a spoiled young girl is trapped in the reflecting ball.
S60 sounds like Jane-Emily published in 1969 by Patricia Clapp.  Louisa, the main character, is 18 and is sent to accompany her niece Jane to her grandmother's house, where Jane becomes possessed by her dead aunt Emily.  Emily had a reflecting ball in the garden.
Thank you a ton for this service!!  The responses to S60 (my request) were right. I have spent a year trying to figure this out without success asking everyone I know.  I absolutely am addicted to your site now. Only wishing your store was in my town!
Thank you so much!  I have been looking for this book for so long and I am so thrilled.  Your website is a life-saver!!

T-9  This story appeared in Cricket Magazine.  I remember it.  I believe her name was Janet, and she lived in Ireland with her two brothers and grandma and grandpa.  Their farm was called "Faraway Farm" or something similar, and she had another adventure where her brother George told her not to look in the well or she'd see a horrible creature I can't remember the name of.it.
Thank you for this response from Cyberspace.  Did the story appear in Cricket Magazine recently?  If not, do you remember roughly when?  Years ago, or months ago?  I will contact them.  I'm so thrilled that someone actually remembers this story!
It was Janet of Reachfar, I remember now.  It appeared in Cricket magazine in the late 70's, maybe 78 or 79.  Gosh, I hope I'm  remembering right!  If it's not the right series, then it's terribly similar.  I still remember the pictures of the girl leading the cow past the stones.
Janet of Reachfar - There was a whole series of about 20 books by Jane Duncan called My Friend ... written for adults but with the main character Janet Sandison whose childhood had been spent at the family
croft/smallholding called Reachfar in north-eastern Scotland (not Ireland). Three stories of Janet's childhood were
rewritten for children and published as picture books with illustrations by Mairie Hedderwick. They were: Janet
Reachfar and Chickabird, Janet Reachfar and the Kelpie and Herself and Janet Reachfar. In that part of Scotland people were often called after their property rather than having their surname used when people spoke of them. Jane Duncan wrote a kind of autobiography, Letter From Reachfar in which she indicates which bits of the My Friend and Janet Reachfar books are autobiographical and which imaginary.

Janice in Tomorrow-land by Emory Holloway published in 1936 by the American Book Company.
WOW!  Thank you!  Another grateful book lover applauds you!  Do you know of anyone currently having Janice in stock?  Many thanks! 

B117 boy in outer space: I just picked this up at a consignment store - Jed's Junior Space Patrol: a Science Fiction Easy-to-read, by Jean and Claudio Marzollo, pictures by David S. Rose, published Dial Press 1982, 56 pages. In chapter 1, Help! Jed and his parents land on Planet X5. Jed hears a call for help and explores a cave. "He saw a strange animal lying under a rock. He could tell that it was hurt. It talked without moving its mouth. "Please," said the animal. "Take care of my babies." The animal died before it could say more." The babies are 'cogs' something like cats and something like dogs. Jed takes the animals to the ship, but a Planet X5 patrolman takes them away to study at Headquarters. Jed's parents give him a "teddy robot computer. It's programmed to take care of you and to be your friend." The robot is a large teddy bear, about the same height as Jed but wider, with wheels on its feet and antennae. A printout comes out of Teddy's nose (I'm not making this up) telling Jed how to find the cogs at Headquarters, and boy and robot go on a rescue mission. I think this is it.

I love that little rhyme myself.  I think it appears in Eloise Wilkins' Good Little Bad Little Girl (A Little Golden Book), but it must appear in other places too.  I think it's one of those common-domain old-as-the-hills kinds of rhyme that has lost its authorial roots, but I could be wrong about that...
Not a solution to this request... but here is the rhyme that the person is referencing: There was a little girl, who had a little curl, Right in the middle of her forehead. When she was good, she was very, very good,  And when she was bad, she was horrid.
N29: This, according to Louis Untermeyer in The Golden Treasury of Poetry (easily the best poetry book for children as they grow) may have been written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow! See the poem here.   See an additional verse here.
And Longfellow apparently named this little girl Jemima.
I think this rhyme appears in a Junior Elf book called Humpty Dumpty and other Mother Goose Rhymes.

I'm still looking for it too... don't despair...  here's another request:

I'm looking for a book called A Gift for Jennifer. The book was set during the late 1890's or early 1900's. It had a rural feeling. Jennifer seemed to be attending school in a one-room school building. It was Christmas time and there was something about gifts (for the teacher? for the other children?). I don't remember much about it besides the title and I may be wrong about that, but it made such a great impression on me that I named my second daughter for the Jennifer in the book. I do vaguely recall the art work on the cover: it seems to me that there was a picture of the heroine dressed in winter clothing - coat, hat, mittens, etc. - and that she was smiling and waving. As I said, I may be wrong about all of this, but after nearly fifty years, I would love to see this book again and determine whether it was as wonderful as I remember it.

Well I certainly hope it is that wonderful, and you're not the only one who remembers it! It must be the same series as the previous search request here, and now if I can figure out who wrote the gem, I hope to find copies for both of you.
News from the field--there are four books about Jennifer: The Jennifer Prize, Jennifer Dances, The Jennifer Wish, and The Jennifer Gift. They were published in the late 40's and early 50's by author/illustrator Eunice Young Smith.
At last! Now the trap is set! . . .
Not only have I discovered the author of your long lost memory, but I found a copy of the book!
Smith, Eunice Young. The Jennifer Wish. Bobbs-Merrill, 1949. Green cloth, ex-library, bottom of cover worn. Binding tight and pages clean. G+. <SOLD>

Would you believe the first  requester called me from England to thank me?!?!  And here's another thanks:
My book arrived yesterday - so exciting to see it after all these years! All very familiar (except I could have sworn the cover was blue, not green...! ) Oh well, the memory plays tricks. Thank you very much for all your help! I can't tell you how many book searches I've tried for this one.
Regarding the "Jennifer" series of books by Eunice Young Smith, your stump the bookseller page states that there are 4 books in the series, actually there are 6. You missedJennifer is Eleven and High Heels for Jennifer. I have been collecting this series for years, and I have all but The Jennifer Gift. Let me know if you have a copy! Thanks!
My second search is for The Jennifer Wish, by Eunice Young Smith.  It is the first of a series of several books
about Jennifer who visits a country home and makes a wish that her family might some day live there. Over the
years, I have often looked in used bookstores and even in libraries for the first 2 books in the series, and I found
the second book, The Jennifer Gift, on eBay a few months ago.  Now I am even more eager to find the first.
 Perhaps you can help??
Yep, that's the story all right!  Got my hands on a copy of the Jennifer Wish, and would also like a copy of the Jennifer Gift.    If I could obtain that, it would be wonderful.
---
It's about a girl named Jenny, I think, and it takes place around 1890-1900.  I don't remember much about the story with the exception of a couple of things:  The story seems to center around a pond in the woods.  And the main character used two slang terms throughout the book.  One was "spiffy," and the other was "spondelux (sp?)."  I would love to find this one...have no idea of the title or author.

J9 is possibly Jennifer Wish, by Eunice Young Smith.  Jennifer and her family move out to a house in the country for the summer.  The pond in the story is her wishing pond where she goes to wish that they could live there forever and not go back to the city.  I don't have this book in front of me but I do have the Jennifer Gift, a sequel, and they do use the word "spondelux".  I think there are other descriptions of these books in solved mysteries.
The Jennifer Wish, illustrated and written by Eunice Young Smith, published Bobbs-Merrill 1949. This is the
first story in the JENNIFER series. "And that was how the wonderful summer of 1908 began. For the four Hill children, living on the farm was like a dream come true. They explored the woods, the creek, the barn and the
pastures. What a perfect place to spend a summer! The creek was shallow enough in spots for wading, deep enough elsewhere for swimming, fishing, sailing a raft. The boys could have a menagerie. The girls could have a
playhouse. The barn would hold all the pets they could accumulate, and cat, kittens, pigs and chickens were
soon added to the family. There sere no neighbors to complain about noisy games--the children were as free as the air for two whole months!"
J9 jenny: there's no Jenny, but some other similarities, so perhaps The Lost Pond, by Marguerite Fellows Melcher, published Viking 1956, 190 pages. "A New Hampshire village in the 1890s is the setting for this story of Pauline Franklin's 15th summer in the beautiful old house to which the Winn sisters brought their families every year. There are exploring trips in the woods, a reception and dance for an older cousin, a County Fair, and various family activities; but the story centers around Pauline's growing up, ... She knows that Lost Pond, so deeply hidden in the mountains that it is almost impossible to find, has a special secret meaning for all who do come upon it, and at the end of this last summer of her childhood she herself finds it ..." (HB Dec/56 p.460)
Eunice Young Smith, The Jennifer Wish, 1949.  After decades of searching, I have finally obtained all of Ms. Young Smith's "Jennifer" books and can say with certainty that the book referenced in Query J9 is indeed "The Jennifer Wish".

#J14:  Jenny becomes a cat--Several people sent this same inquiry into the message board at Alibris, and none of them were quite clear on it either.  One was sure it was about a boy struck by a car, who, while in a coma, becomes a dog named Jenny.  Another was sure it was a cat.  Finally they came to the consensus that the book was Jenny by Paul Gallico.  Jenny was the name of the cat the boy temporarily became.
thanks so much.  i knew the book was called Jenny.  by all means, please search for it
thanks but i live in canada
Jenny by Paul Gallico, About a little boy who loves cats but is not allowed pets. He is knocked down by a car while running across the street to see a cat, and goes into a coma. During this time he 'becomes' a young male kitten, mentored by the street cat, whose name is Jenny. She teaches him how to act like a cat, including the invaluable advice "when in doubt, wash". They have many adventures. By the end of the book Peter is almost a grown cat.

A longshot: Jenny and the Insects (New York: American Sunday School Union, 1857), 298 p."A children's book written from the perspective of a girl conversing with insects. Contains 7 handcolored plates of butterlies, ant eater, moths, etc."
Thanks!  I'll follow up and see if I can find out more about it.  I didn't think it was that old, but, it may have been reprinted in the edition I read.  It sounds very similar, though, and the right length for the book.
Just another possibility, and a later publication: The Journey to the Garden Gate by Ralph Townsend, published by Houghton, 1920s "Prudence-Anne goes down through the small end of the telescope, and finds herself a companionable size with Bluebottle Fly, Bee, Wasp, and the other creatures encountered in one's garden. Naturally the journey from the house to the garden gate becomes a series of adventures. Entertaining, well-written nonsense for those who like "
Another more recent book in a similar theme is People With Six Legs, by M. Bosanquet, illustrated by R. Reckitt, published Faber 1953, 92 pages. "Belinda, like the immortal Alice, becomes small and goes into a strange world. Here it is her own garden, and the people she meets are insects. Ants, bees, dragonflies and beetles go about their daily tasks and show the little girl how they live. Belinda's visits only occur now and again, as she has her ordinary life at home as well - in fact, when she has been talking to the old Professor who lives nearby, we wonder whether the magic has happened at all, or whether all the adventures have taken place in her imagination only. It is a pity that the woodcuts are for the most part unpleasing and even frightening for a small child." (JB Oct/53 p.176)

I DO remember seeing on another booksite a book entitled : Jenny Lind's Cat, or Jenny Lind and the cat.  I will try to remember which site it was.......
Now I remember!! The book is called Jenny Lind and her Listening Cat by Frances Cavanah.  Thanks to you and everyone who reads your site for continued assistance in recapturing a bit of childhood long gone ! 

Eugenie, Jenny's Surprise Summer, 1981.  This book is definitely the one being looked for in K11.  This book has been reprinted and retitled Kittens for Keeps. It is considered a Beginning Reader. It is the same book as Jenny's Surprise Summer, but larger and in hard cover with no Goldenbook binding. Inside it says adapted from the Little Golden books.

I asked my famous friend Scott, who sees all, knows all, in the world of animation, and here is his answer:  Not only do I know the information, but I worked as a designer on the special at Hanna-Barbera in 1993, when it was produced.  The special was called "The Town That Santa Forgot". It was based on the story "Jeremy Creek" by Charmaine Severson, and written for television by Glenn Leopold. The entire special was spoken in verse, and
narrated by Dick Van Dyke.  Hope that info helps!  Scott.  Fascinating, the people you can meet online!
That at least answers my question!  I'm sure that is the right book (Though I would still love to be able to find it.)  Thank you so much for your help, you run a great web site!

I'll put World Travels of Jeremy Mouse on my wants list and see what happens!
Hi! I saw the question about Jeremy, the traveling mouse and came up with the following title and author: The Travels of Jeremy Jukes by Bernard Odell. I don't know if it's the right book as I never read it but just thought I'd throw the information your way. Maybe you could find a copy of the Odell book and see what it's about or something like that.
Actually, I did some homework and found out that it's this:
Scarry, Patricia M. The Jeremy Mouse Book. Illustrated by Hilary Knight. American Heritage Press, 1969. Large format, 11" x 10". Ex-library copy, edges worn and well-read, but ready for another run down memory lane (in small red convertible, of course). G. $18 postpaid.

Philip Ressner, Jerome, 1967.  Illustrated by Jerome Snyder. A frog must do three princely deeds in order to prove to the townspeople that he really is a prince.
I really don't think this is it.  Jerome is a sweet frog who just wants to play in his own puddle.  It was published by Parents Magazine Press, I believe, and has funny, happy cartoonish drawings.  I don't think there are any dragons or scary art.
F76 frog prince: Jerome might match after all. The plot descriptions I've found say that Jerome is a frog told by a witch that she has turned him into a prince (she has actually done nothing, he is still a frog), he goes to the townspeople and they give him 3 tasks to do, which he succeeds in - the crows stop eating the crops, the dragon burns garbage, and the wizard becomes young again. So there is a dragon, and the illos are pretty colourful & rich.

J10--Jessamy by Barbara Sleigh
#J10, #J11, and #K15 are all descriptions of the same book, which someone identified as Jessamy, by Barbara Sleigh.
This is the book. I would love to own a copy. I assume if you find one, I can decide whether to purchase based on its price.  Thanks--I'm very excited to be able to read again this book.
---
I remember a book I use to take out of the library round 1977.  This book is about a young girl (Jamie?)who goes to stay with relatives (couple of old Aunts?).  While exploring the house, she enters the old nursery with faded wallpaper.  Opening the cupboard, she sees markings on the wall where children were measured their heights.  She is then transported back in time to when the nursery was filled with children of which one of them is named Kit.  Could you help me with the name/author/finding a copy? Thanks

J11 sounds like the same search as J10. But the book is Jessamy
---
I'm looking for a children's book in which a girl goes into a closet in an old house and is transported back in time (~100 years).  She makes friends with a boy, Kit, and later in her own time, meets him as an old man.

Check out Tomorrow's Children on the Solved Mysteries page.
Thanks for the prompt response.  None of these sound right.  My book wasn't science fiction.  Still looking?
K15 looks like J10 and J11
Thank you so much.  Yes, I would love to have a copy of the book.  Could you tell me what it would cost to find it?
Jessamy by Barbara Sleigh, illustrated by Philip Gough, published London, Collins 1967 "Evocative story of lonely child stepping into family (which, unknowingly, she is linked with) two generations back. Jessamy, a little orphaned schoolgirl, is sent in an emergency to stay with the elderly caretaker of a long-empty country mansion, Posset Place. ("I daresay you won't mind being treated like a grown-up person. I don't know any other way.") A cupboard in the old nursery - the magic link between present and past - takes her back half a century to 1914, and to a family of lively children. From her double time-position she not only learns of her relationship to them, but is able to solve a mystery at last - what became of the Book of Hours when scapegrace Harry went off to the wars." (Best Children's Books of 1967)

T85 train through fictional places: the closest I've found so far is The Train to Yesterday, by Paul Jennings, illustrated by Patricia Casey, published Harrap 1975, 72 pages. "One hot summer's day four children, or is it three, for one is a rather odd boy who does not belong, are transported back into the Victorian age by means of an old steam train. There they meet a sick boy whom, on a subsequent trip, they are able to help." (Children's Book Review, Spring/75 p.16). A similar plot is in The Old Powder Line, by Richard Clark, published Weekly Reader, Nelson 1971, 143 pages, "Fifteen-year-old Brian discovers a railway line that was never there before, that can carry its passengers over the frontiers of time. Ages 12 to 16." "Brian goes for a ride on a mysterious steam train that takes him back into his childhood." "Story of a train that takes 3 people into the regions of their own past, but danger surrounds such adventures and a change in the return trip threatens disaster."  There's an old book by Cornelia Meigs, The Wonderful Locomotive, illustrated by Bertha and Elmer Hader, published Macmillan 1928 (reprinted 1955), 104 pages, but it may be too old, and the plot is not so much magical as about magically fast travel, across the continent in four days and nights.
I browsed through your book stumpers "just for fun", and I think, T85 "Train thru fictional places" might be Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivfuehrer by Michael Ende (first published in Germany 1960) or the continuation "Jim Knopf und die wilde 13" (first published 1962). The books were published in English as "Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver" and "Jim Button and the Wild 13"   The story is about the boy Jim Knopf and his friend Luke, who live in a very small country called "Lummerland" - an island with two mountains. Together with the engine "Emma" they have the most phantastic adventures with half dragons, emperors, pirates and other phantastic creatures in just as phantastic countries.  These books are very popular here in Germany; "Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivfuehrer" won the German prize for children's literature in 1961, and there is a very popular adaption by the "Augsburger Puppenkiste" (a puppet theatre), which was shown on TV.  I first hesitated to write to you, because in Germany every librarian for children's books would know Jim Knopf, so I thought that can't be a "mystery". But of course, he may be not as well-known in the USA.

#V19--Vanishing Lessons:  "Jimmy Takes Vanishing Lessons," by Walter R. Brooks, Knopf, 1950, has been published as a book by itself, as well as in anthologies, various times.
Jimmy Takes Vanishing Lessons by Walter R. Brooks is in Alfred Hitchcock's Haunted Houseful, Random House, 1961.
Walter R. Brooks, Jimmy Takes Vanishing Lessons
I think this is actually "Jimmy takes vanishing lessons," which is a short story by Walter R. Brooks.  It has been included in many ghost story anthologies, including Alfred Hitchcock's Haunted Houseful in 1961.  It was also published separately under its title.

I have the answer to the C7 stumper: Jingle Bell Jack by Miss Frances (Dr. Frances R. Norwich) who was host of the 1950s TV show "Ding Dong School". It is a Ding Dong School Book (similar to a Little Golden Book). Illustrated by Katherine Evans. Copyright 1955. Golden Press. The little red-haired girl's name is Jean.
I believe there's a typo in the response to C7:  the last name of "Miss  Frances" is Horwich.  I hope this helps locate the book.
Yes, this is the book!  I loved this book so much when I was growing up.  I hope that I can find it somewhere.  Thank you for all your help.

A possibility: there is a short story entitled Jinx, the Alaskan Husky, in the book "The Hairy brown angel and other animal tails" by Grace Fox Anderson.  It was published in 1977. Description: Twenty-two short stories featuring animals in a religious setting.

I think this could be a book called, SCAT, SCAT by Sally R. Francis.  I have this book and it is filled with colored pictures and large colored print and features a little girl named "Rosy Runabout."  The cat gets chased away with a broom, but the woman is sweeping the sidewalk.  There is another woman that chases the cat away later in the book that has her hair up in a bun because the cat was causing trouble. The line throughout the book is, "Scat, scat" go away little cat!"  Good Luck!
Is there any way to ask the "answer person" more details. Is there a Negro woman in the book? Scat Scat Little Cat does not sound familiar. I don't think this is the answer.
We'll keep looking!
Relating to J-4, but not an answer, since they already stated that this was not the right story, I remember the story that goes "scat, scat, you old street cat, go away and never come back" or something like that. It was in a collection of short stories and poetry that included a story about a tiny old lady and a fly that stole her omlette off the windowsill,  a man who adopted stray dogs, A little polar bear who swam to an iceberg but I don't remember why, and the poem "the spider and the fly". It was a hardcover book, probably about a foot to 16 inches tall, not
very thick......I would love to find it. I had it when I was 4-5 years old, about.....early 80s but I think the book was published much earlier, judging by condition and style.
I saw the cover of Scat Scat and it's illustrated by coloured drawings, not by photographs. The kitten is white and sheltering under some leaves. possibles: Janet Konkle Once There Was a Kitten Chicago: Children's Press, 1951, illustrated by photographs Blyton, Enid The Laughing Kitten London, Harvill Press, 1954, Black &
white photographs by Paul Kaye
would suggest Joan Wanted a Kitty, by Jane Brown Gemmill, illustrated by Marguerite De Angeli, published Hale 1937, 150 pages. It's illustrated by line drawings and colour plates rather than photographs, but the kitten is found in the rain, and there is an "Aunt Jemima" type black woman who is the housekeeper or cook and 'boss of the house'.
Gemmill, Jane Brown, Joan Wanted a Kitty, illustrated by Marguerite de Angeli,  Hale 1937.  Okay, now that I have a copy to hand, I think this may be the book. It is NOT illustrated by photos, though. There is a black cook, named Maggie, who looks quite Jemima-ish, and a little girl named Joan who desperately wants a kitty. Mother says "And Maggie would not want a kitty under foot in the kitchen. She says 'Scat' to every cat she sees." Below this is a picture of a woman's feet, long skirt, and a broom shooing a cat away. Joan tries to talk Maggie around, but she says she will have to leave if a cat comes to the house. Joan eventually finds a kitten in the rain, with a hurt paw, and Maggie cleans it up, bandages its paw, and agrees to let it stay. Joan names it Fluff. Any of
this ring a bell?

Nothing on this end.  Can you get a bit more info on this Bonner guy?  I found an evolutionary biologists's autobiography, but it's something like "Reflections on the Life Cycle."  Let me know.
That's all I could find-plus some fellow from San Francisco who is the wrong one. If you find something, let me know.
Bunnell, Paul, Thunder over New England, 1988.   The story of a New England tory family during the Revolution and their settlement in Canada after the war. I know this isn't right on, but the similarity in the author's name made me wonder if this could be
Pulse, Charles K., John Bonwell : a novel of the Ohio River Valley, 1818-1862, 1952. Could this possibly be the book?
Pulse, Charles K., John Bonwell: a novel of the Ohio River Valley, 1818-1862. NY, Farrar, 1952.  After some fruitless yahoo and LC searches for a possible author named John Bonner (or something similar), followed by a search through listings for books on the early history of Chillicothe and Ross County, Ohio, I tossed in a partial title search and this came up. It is 436 pages, and the LC subject listings are: Frontier and pioneer life, Fiction and Ohio River Valley, Fiction. It seems worth checking out, since memories can be faulty, and the search for the author John Bonner is going nowhere. Would be nice to know whether the book was fiction or nonfiction to start with ...

I've only been able to find one reference to this book, and it isn't a book; it's a record (and expensive at that).  Here's the info: Walt Disney's Story of Johnny Fedora and Alice Blue Bonnet Western Publishing Inc. 1970, softcover book with 33-1/3 Long Playing Record, 24 Page book.
Do you think that's it, or do you remember a book?  There might have been a book....

Johnny Go Round is a Whitman Tell-a-Tale book from 1960 (#2525)  by Richard Walz and illustrated by Betty Ren Wright featuring a smiling cat on the cover.

I wrote to you a few weeks back searching for information about a "Dragon from Kell" story. I received a call today from the Santa Monica Library Research Service.  Someone on their listserv had solved the mystery!   Since it has taken me two years to find this answer, I thought you might like to know it as well.  Apparently the story is Jonathan and the Dragon by Irwin Shapiro.  It was first published in 1962 by Western Press and then in 1969 by Golden Press.  It is no longer in print.  Do you have this book or a way of obtaining it?   If it is possible to obtain it, can you give me an idea of how long it might take and how much it might cost?

I think this is Gladys Malvern, Jonica's Island (NY: J Messner, 1945)
Thank you so much.  Jonica's Island is the right book and I just received it from used book dealer.  What a great site this is!
The only place I had ever come across the name Jonica was in one of Gladys Malvern's historical novels for young people, Jonica's Island.  But I thought of it again when I was expecting our first daughter.  We liked the sound of names like Jennifer and Jessica, but with the family name Smith, we thought we should choose a first name less frequently used.  (It was several years later that we found out that in the Netherlands, where the name is quite common, it is pronounced with the initial sound as "y" rather than "j.")

In Anne Pence Davis' book, Mimi at Camp the children found a crow and I believe attempted to teach it to talk. But "Mimi" is from the 20s, not the 50s so I don't know if it's the one you want.
Is the book you want called Jo-Jo the Talking Crow.  Houghton Mifflin, 1958
t65 - Talking Crow - This may not be correct, but Wylly Folk St. John's The Secret of The Seven Crows has a young girl (Gale) who has a crow that talks (Dracula).  Another character tries throughout the book to tame a crow of his own ...
Bannon, Laura.  Jo-Jo the Talking Crow. Houghton Mifflin, 1958. "...an amusing and attractively illustrated story of a tame crow whose personality and endearing traits made him the children's favorite pet."

Grimm Brothers, Jorinda and Joringel.  This sounds very much like the Grimm fairy tale of Jorinda and Joringel.  "The favorite fairy tale about a witch who turns maidens into birds."

#B110--Bagnold the doll:  My condolences on the fire.  Most likely this book is The Journey of Bangwell Putt, based on the history of a famous early American doll, but for your sake I hope not, as this is exceedingly rare and hideously expensive!  So I hope your parents were insured if you wish to replace it.
The Journey of Bangwell Putt was written by Mariana, published by Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1965.  Same author as the Miss Flora McFlimsey books. Description from the jacket flap:  "Hand-lettered and hand-colored, this rare little book was first published in a limited, signed edition of a few hundred copies. Still hand-lettered, and still evoking its inimitable atmosphere of long ago, it tells the tale of an old and authentic museum doll.  She is followed on her journey by some other tiny characters who also live in museums and who appear and reappear on the pages like a toy orchestra accompaniment to the beguiling tale."

Journey Outside, Mary Q. Steele, 1969.  The Raft People live in darkness and travel a circular journey on a
underground river. One boy finds his way outside and tries to learn as much as possible so he can ultimately lead his people there to the Better Place. This was a Newbery Honor book for 1970.
Mary Q. Steele, Journey Outside, 1969.  Might be this one -- it's a Newberry Award book, hence likely to have been read in a classroom, and it fits the time frame.  The only different detail is that it's a boy and not a girl.  Publisher Comments:  "Grandfather said they were headed for the Better Place, but Dilar suspected they were headed nowhere, simply following the dark underground river blindly. And so one night he leaped onto a shelf of rock and watched the flotilla of the Raft People disappear. And from there he found his way Outside, into a world so beautiful and strange he could only suppose he had died-a world of day, and sun, of trees and sky." Synopsis:
"The Raft People live in darkness and travel a circular journey on an underground river. One boy finds his way outside and tries to learn as much as possible so he can ultimately lead his people to the Better Place." 

H40 hungarian refugee: Could be Journey With a Secret, by Showell Styles, published Gollancz 1968, 142 pages. "Two young teenagers spending a half-term hiking across Wales are caught up in a hardly credible adventure of blackmail and spies when a mysterious Hungarian girl stumbles into their camp. ... Though they know the girl is hiding from the police as a suspected murderess, they feel no qualms at being alone with her in the remotest placest; and nobody shows the least surprise when all the baddies turn out to be goodies, and the goodies baddies in the end. Nevertheless, the pace and excitement one expects of this author is maintained." (Junior Bookshelf Dec/68 p.387)

S-13 might be Joyride by Betty Cavanna though some of the details mentioned by the writer don't seem to match. In Joyride the main character is a girl named Susan who has polio, but I don't know about the rest of what the writer said.
I forgot to say that Joyride does take place in the 1920's, so it seems to be more than a coincidence: girl named Susan; polio, 1920's.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Cavanna, Betty.  WANTED: A Girl for the Horses.  William Morrow, 1984, second printing.  Ex-library copy with stamps on brown endpapers, otherwise very bright and clean.  VG/F.  $8

I think I know the answer to C80:  Joy Sparton of Parsonage Hill  It mentions on the back:  "and the Vacation Mix-up,  and the Money Mix-up, And her problem twin."  By Ruth I Johnson,  1958,  Moody Bible Institute of Chicago.  Christian, twins, pastor's kids... I think this is it.

Looks like your title is right-on.  Cross, Genevieve, Illustrated by Ruhman, Ruth.  Judy, Junior Nurse.  Garden City, New York: Cross Publications, 1951.

J. Jackson, Julie's Secret Sloth.

I emailed you two days ago about a book of which I didn't know the author or illustrator. The more I thought about it, the more I wonder if Paul Brown was the illustrator?  So I looked him up in the Library of Congress search, and saw that he illustrated a book called Jump-shy by Joan Houston.  Could
that be it?  If so, can you locate it for me?  She apparently also did two ther books-- Horseshow Hurdles and Crofton Meadows-- if they are part of a sequel, I'd also like you to find them for me.

My children had this book, many years ago. The title is probably Victoria and the Magic Feather or Victoria and the Golden Feather or Victoria and the Golden Bird. It is a picture geography book in which a little girl rides on the back of a magical, golden bird and sees the world's countries beneath her. the drawings are beautifully colored and rather fantastic.--on a black background, I seem to remember.
G15 Pauline Baynes (as in Narnia books) did a book called Victoria and the Golden Bird. Her drawings have a Persian look to them. It was published in London, but I don't have a date for it.
G15 Golden Feather -- Probably not right, but "The Bird of the Golden Feather" is a collection of 8 Arabic folktales, retold and illustrated by Gertrude Mittelmann, published by Roy in 1969, 125 pages. The illustrations are b/w line drawings and the book is 21 cm, regular octavo size, so that doesn't fit. Stories include "The Rogue from Cairo and the Rogue from Damascus" and "The Talking Nightingale". The review in School Library Journal Book Review says 'there are several quest tales, including the title story ... the exchanging of royal babies with animals ... humor ...'
I don't believe it was Victoria-anything.  I believe it had a young *boy* in the book -- who rode the flying water buffalo or ox.  The golden feather or necklace was around the animal's neck?
Evans, Ruth, The Jungle of Tonza Mara, 1963.  A possibility?  Dust jacket of a small boy riding a water buffalo through the sky. Eight tales about Dekdek, a little Southeast Asian boy, and his water buffalo. Illustrated by Lawrence Beall Smith.
G15 golden feather: it does sound like a good bet - The Jungle of Tonza Mara, by Ruth Evans, illustrated by Lawrence Beall Smith, published Macmillan 1963 "Real and impossible, fun and frightening - this is jungle
fantasy at its best. Not only are the magical adventures exciting and humorous, but the Asiatic setting makes them even more appealing." "Eight amusing and amazing tales about Dekdek a little Southeast Asian boy, and his water buffalo Loy." The cover does show Dekdek on Loy's back flying through the sky, and there seems to be something long and golden around his neck, which could be the golden feather.

Benson, Sally, Junior Miss, 1941.  L49 is most definitely Junior Miss by Sally Benson.  The girl's name is Judy and she is too chunky to wear the fur-trimmed coat she fell in love with in an ad.  Her sister makes snippy remarks, but she is the one who comes up with the solution--alterations!!
That's it!  Thanks for the quick solution to a mystery that's been bothering me for almost 20 years!

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Benson, Sally.  Junior Miss.  Garden City: Doubleday & Company, 1937, 1941.  Ex-library copy in library binding with usual marks and pocket on front free endpaper.  G.  $9

Yes, that's the title all right.  Junket Is Nice is by Dorothy Kunhardt, 1933, and it's a landmark in American children's publishing for its use of script and child-like humor.  It's highly sought after by collectors; I've had one copy in 8 years.  See more on the Most Requested page.

S54 is almost definitely Just Like Always by Elizabeth-Ann Sachs - red headed Janie and blond Courtney are sharing a hospital room while they wait for surgery and casts for scoliosis.
T54--Just Like Always by Elizabeth Ann-Sachs. The second book is something like I Love You Cow Patty.

Sounds like the Treehorn books illustrated by Edward Gorey, but I don't remember any about a kid-turned-into-a-sheep. Hmm...
I had that book when I was little, & I'm pretty sure it was illustrated & probably written by Robert Kraus.I believe he also did a book called Mr. Meebles (Also Whose Mouse Are You? & Leo the Latebloomer). I think the title may even have been Just John. Hope this helps, if you haven't already found it.
The book where "John eats from a jar of jellybeans and turns into a sheep" is one of my favorites! It's called Just Only John by Jack Kent. We bought it in the 60's from the Parents Magazine Book Club. 

Beim, Lorraine, Just Plain Maggie, 1950.  I solved my own stumper!  I checked it out of a library just recently and loved it!

This is definitely not Grandpa's Farm. I just had a copy of this and sold it, but have no idea what it was called. This will bug me to no end, so I'll be working on it!
Just Right by Lilian Moore, illustrated by Aldren A. Watson, Parent's Magazine Press, 1968. In the end the grandson, Tommy shows up with the parents in tow. Robbie, the son, decides to buy the farm  he wants his son to grow up just as he had-" to fish in the pond and play in the meadow"

Lifton, Betty Jean, Kap the Kappa.  NY Morrow 1960.  No plot description, but the title is close. Kappas are a Japanese water-spirit, looking like children but with a depression in the top of the head which holds water. If the water spills out they are weakened.

Just in case, check out Paulus and the Acornemn.  It's Dutch, Paulus is teeny tiny, the illustrations are fabulous, and he can fly, at least if he rides on the back of a bird....  Aside from that, no match....
Strong possibility: Astrid Lindgren, Karlson on the Roof  illustrated by Ilon Wikland, published London, Methuen 1975, 120 pages, also published Oxford UP 1958 as Eric and Karlsson-on-the-Roof. "He is a small and very stout and determined gentleman, and he can fly. Karlson has only to turn a knob which is just about in the middle of his stomach and - whoops! - a tiny engine which he has on his back starts up. Karlson stands still for a moment while the engine warms up. And then - when the propeller has got up enough speed - Karlson rises in the air and glides away, as dignified as a bank manager, if you can imagine a bank manager with a propellor on his back." He has a little house on the roof, behind a chimney stack, and says "Heysan hoppsan!" a lot.

This one I'm pretty sure of: Karius and Baktus by Thorbjorn Egner. Published in English twice, first in 1962 by Bobbs-Merrill, then a different translation in 1993 by Skandisk. The 1962 blurb is "Karius and Baktus are Dental Trolls who live in the mouth of a small boy named Jimmy." The later version says "With names derived from tooth 'caries' and 'bacteria', these mischievous, microscopic rascals make life miserable for Erik, in whose mouth Karius and Baktus have made their home." It was first published in Norwegian in 1949.

M95 mud bath: Let's try this one - Karoleena, written and illustrated by Charlotte Steiner, published Doubleday 1957. "Karoleena has good intentions, but she always seems to get into trouble - like giving someone's lap dog a mud bath, and making friends with a goat who eats her hat. 2-color illustrations. Ages 4-8." (HB Oct/57 p.345 pub.ad)

H9  This sounds very familiar.  Could you be thinking of the Katie John books by Mary Calhoun?  I think the first three (Katie John; Depend on Katie John; Honestly, Katie John!) were all written in the 1960s.  I know I read about the hot potato episode somewhere, and I read the first three books, so maybe it's in one of them.   There was a later book (Katie John and Heathcliff), but I didn't read that one and don't know when it was published.
Isn't that question referring to the Katie John books by Mary Calhoun?  I seem to recall there being a chapter about the potatoes...If so, there were  four of them--Katie John, For Love of Katie John, Honestly, Katie John!, and Katie John and Heathcliff.
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We love your web site.  What a great service.  My wife is looking for a series of adventure story books she read in the late 1950's or early 1960's featuring a girl named Karen.  They were sold through her school when she was in the fourth grade or so.  Sorry, but that's the only information I have.  Any help would be appreciated.

Two wonderful books, written by Karen's mother, Marie Killilea. Marie and her husband Jim started the United Cerebral Palsy Foundation. The books are titled Karen, and With Love, From Karen.
I would have to disagree; the Karen books focus on Karen and her family and how they cope with her cerebral palsy.  They are wonderful books, though.
Tizz series, 1970s.  Could this be the Tizz series, about a girl and her horse?  (My sister's name is Karen, and I vaguely remember that she loved this series  for that reason.)  I don't remember the author, but the last name
probably began in the C - F range...
Bialk, Elisa. Tizz & Company.  Childrens Press, 1958.
Mary Calhoun, Katie John series.  I sent you this stumper a while back.  We've found the books my wife was looking for - the Katie John series by Mary Calhoun, the first three books of which were published between 1960 and 1963.  I guess memory plays tricks, since the main character's name was unfortunately not precisely Karen.

So far I've found only two really worth checking: De Angeli, Marguerite. Thee, Hannah!  Doubleday, 1940.  Although this concerns a Quaker girl, it seems to me I was going to look at it as a possibility for my "Amish Sleepover" unknown, but never got hold of a copy to see if the pictures and story looked familiar.  If someone who has it could look to see if there's an incident where Hannah goes on a visit and isn't used to running water and so on it could either make or eliminate this as a possibility.
Later, regarding Thee, Hannah!: I found this book online and it's definitely NOT the "Amish sleepover," as it's set in the pre-Civil War era.  The book I'm thinking of took place in modern times, at least in the 1920s or whenever "city folk" had electric lights and running water as a regular rule.
Could be Plain Girl by Virginia Sorenson, illustrated by Charles Geer,  Harcourt Brace 1955, 151 pages (grade 4-6 reading level) "A sensitive, sympathetically told story of a young Amish girl's growing understanding of her people and their religion. Esther faced her first days at school with mingled curiosity and dread." (Good Books for Children 1948-61 Eakin, 1962) It may be at a higher reading level than the reader described, though, and no mention of visiting the city.
#A46--I'm pretty sure I've seen "Plain Girl" and it is not the book I'm looking for.
For a reversal of this, there's Wonderful Nice! by Irma Selz, published Lothrop 1960 "Alison, who lives in a tall apartment house in New York City, speds a day with Katy Zook on an Amish farm in Pennsylvania, discovers that riches are not just a matter of money - and friends are 'wonderful nice!' Ages 4-8." (Horn Book Jun/60 p.183 pub ad)
let's try Katy, Be Good, written and Illustrated by Irma Selz, published Lothrop 1962. "The story of an Amish child who goes to spend an overnight visit with her friend who lives in the big city. Told in rhyme. Text uses the Amish speaking syntax and words like ferhoodled, schnoopduf and schwitz.
#A46--Amish Sleepover:  as "Katy, Be Good" is rather rare, I've been unable  to look at the book so far, but the plot and an example of the artwork online convinced me, so for now I am assuming this is the story I'm after.

Any chance this is Mystery in the Doll Hospital by Elizabeth Honess?  There are twins in the story and the doll that is being restored has sapphire eyes.  The doll belongs to a old neighbor whose father was a ship's captain
and he gave the doll to a man on his ship for safekeeping.  Unfortunately, the man was a jewel thief and hid gems
in the doll.  He was put in jail without recovering the jewels, died, and told someone else the story.  That man got
out of jail and tried to recover the gems.
hi. thanks for your response. Your synopsis of that book doesn't ring any bells, but it sounds like a great book. Again thanks for responding.
#D38:  If it's the one I am thinking of, this was one of my all-time favorites.  Amy's Doll, by Barbara Brenner, published in the '60s, illustrated with black-and-white photographs of Amy, her brother, and the doll.  Unfortunately scarce.  I'd love a copy!
D38 - doll hospital - might be Laura Bannon's Katy Comes Next, a favorite of mine, too.  A library catalogue synopsizes it as "Ruth's mother and father own a doll hospital where they are so busy repairing other children's dolls, they never seem to have time to mend daughter Ruth's toy" (but eventually Katy does get a complete makeover).
Katy Comes Next works for time period, here's more info: Bannon, Laura Katy Comes Next Chicago, Whitman 1959 hardcover, "Story ofa little girl whose doll, Katy, needs fixing and her father runs a doll hospital. Beautiful delicate illustrations."
this sounds like it. if you can find a copy ok
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I'm actually looking for two books and I don't have very much info. The first was a book about a doll hospital. It described the dolls, their clothes, and the family who fixed them.
the doll hospital book sounds like Katy Comes Next, listed on the Solved Mysteries page.
You and your website are BRILLIANT! Thanks much.
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Story about a woman and her little girl.  The Motherhad a little shop where she made and repaired dolls for a living.  One day she locked the door of the doll shop and worked on repairing her daughter's doll that had become very worn and broken.  It was a small book with a navy blue cover (it may have been rebound as it was a library book) with pen and ink drawings scattered throughout of the Mother, the daughter, the broken doll, and the repaired doll.  It was an old book and had an old-fashioned format/feeling at the time we read it in the "60's or 70's".  Fiction.

Sounds like Laura Bannon's Katy Comes Next from the Solved Mysteries page.
Possibly - Katy Comes Next by Laura Bannon, A. Whitman, 1959.  "Ruth's mother and father own a doll hospital where they are so busy repairing other children's dolls, they never seem to have time to mend daughter Ruth's doll."

This is just a guess, but it sounds like it could be Katie John (or one of the sequels) by Mary Calhoun.
Could be Katy Rose Is Mad by Carol Nicklaus published by Platt and Munk in 1975.
I remeber this story.  It was my favorite when I was 4 years old.  I do not know the author or title but I think the girls name was Katie Rose.  I remember how mad Katie Rose would get when her mischief would backfire.
Nicklaus, Carol, Katy Rose is Mad, 1975.  Katy Rose is so mad that she threatens to hold her breath until she turns blue. I found this info at the library of congress site.  I would like to thank the person who figured out the correct title and author- posted in blue on your site.
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Katie Rose is Mad or Katie Rose Wants to Play,  1976?  I think this is the same book listed as k22 under book stumpers.  I remember the little girl as being Katie Rose.  Katie Rose gets so mad each time she does something destructive and it backfires.  She throws blankets off her bed, drinks the last cup of milk that was supposed to go in a cake, and picks all the her mothers flowers growing in the flower box just to be praised for being so good.

The Katie Rose books are by Lenora Mattingly Weber(see Most Requested Books).   Mary Calhoun wrote a series called Katie John, both in the 60's.
Could be Katy Rose Is Mad by Carol Nicklaus published by Platt and Munk in 1975.
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It is about a girl (with freckles) who is trying to get across how mad she is by saying several times that she is going to hold her breath until she turns blue.  I'm sorry I don't remember much more than that!  It is very cute and I used to love saying along with her in the book "I'm going to hold my breath until I turn blue!"

G111  Judy Blume, Tales of a Fourth-Grade Nothing, 1972.  Did freckle-faced Sheila Tubman (who later starred in her own Blume book, Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great) badger the eponymous Peter with this threat?
I thought that the book Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing was a chapter book (?), this one wasn't. The character was talking to her parents (whom you never see).  Does this still sound like that book?
Carol Nicklaus, Katy Rose is mad, 1975.  Is this it?  "Katy Rose is so mad that she threatens to hold her breath until she turns blue."
That sounds right.  I tried to find it online to confirm, but I can't find it anywhere.   I'm going to keep an eye out for it. Thanks!

There were two books about Keeko that I had as a child.  The one I still have is Chee-Chee and Keeko by Charles Thorson published by Follett in 1952.  The other one was just Keeko or maybe Keeko the Indian Boy.
Yes, this does help, Harriett....I've found several copies of his old Keeko books on the 'net!  Thanks!
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Keeko, little indian boy and his forest friends, including an eagle that he tried to take a feather from.

S117 isn't a short story, but a book -- Monica Hughes's Keeper of the Isis Light, still in print.
Monica Hughes, Peddlar of Isis and two other books, 1980's?  I am sure the book is by Monica Hughes.  She wrote three books about the planet of Isis, and this girl with the mutated skin wasthe main character.  Hughes resides in Canada, and has written many great books.
Follow up to my e-mail yesterday.  I had a chance to check our library catalogue, and the title in question is Keeper of the Isis Light.  There are two sequels.
S117 This is THE KEEPER OF THE ISIS LIGHT by Monica Hughes. A great sci-fi read. This was one of my own personal stumpers that took me ages to find. Luckily, it was republished in 2000. ~from a librarian
Monica Hughes, Keeper of the Isis Light, 1980.  This has to be the one - down to the scaly UV protective skin her robot companion gives her - only trouble is it's a full-length novel - though not a long one! Unless it was published in an abridged version as part of an anthology of SF stories?
S117 THE KEEPER OF THE ISIS LIGHT by Monica Hughes 1980, 2000 ~from a librarian

Parrish, Peggy, Key to the Treasure.  One of my absolute favorites!  Three children go to stay with their Grandparents in the summer.  Above the mantle is a picture with a key an indian headpiece and a pot.  Each of these things in the picture holds a clue of how to find the treasure.  The "key" in the picture opens an old stone in a part of the house.
Sounds like KEY TO THE TREASURE by Peggy Parish, 1966. Siblings Liza, Bill and Jed stay with their grandparents. When their grandfather tells him of a treasure hunt that his grandfather set up and that was never solved, they set out to solve it. I believe one of the clues was found in a secret compartment in a porch column, I think one was found when a feather from a Native American headress was pulled out, and the treasure itself was found hidden in a space under a stone in the old well. I forget what the treasure was though! I'll have to check my copy. And good news - it's still in print. ~from a librarian
Key to the Treasure, by Peggy Parish, illustrated by Paul Frame, published Macmillan 1966, 154 pages. "Liza, Bill, and Jed, spending the summer at their grandparents' farm, are determined to solve the puzzle of an often-told family legend of authentic Indian relics which, a hundred years before, vanished without a trace. Young readers will be immediately involved when the children accidentally stumble upon the first of the coded clues." (HB Dec/66 p.706)

Interpreting Condition Grades

Parish, Peggy. Key to the Treasure.  Illustrated by Paul Frame.  MacMillan, 1966.  Weekly Reader edition.  Sturdy hardcover.  G+.  $7

Kid Sister, 1958, by Margaret Embry. This book works like a karate chop on stereotypes from that period. Not only is Zibby brazenly atypical as a fictional female character, but so is her elderly aunt. On top of that, Zibby's more "feminine" older sisters are nasty and have far less maturity and appeal.

The kidnapping of the coffee pot / story by Kaye Saari ; pictures by Henri Galeron.  [New York]: Harlin Quist, 1975.   A coffee pot, a lawn mower, and a pair of old shoes live happily together in the city dump until the coffee pot is kidnapped.
K9 kidnapping of the coffee pot: The suggested author and publisher are correct, and there can't be two books with this title!

Hi, I have C75. It's called The Kids' Kitchen Takeover and the author is Sara Bonnett Stein. It was published in 1975 and includes all the recipes and activities mentioned, including many more! 

Make it a teenager and this could be My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George.
T42: Sounds like Lloyd Alexander's Wizard in the Tree. The wizard is actually sucked into the tree and
kept a prisoner until an orphaned girl servant lets him out, and she still has to help him until he finds out how to get home. Not as much fun as the Prydain Chronicles, but the message is the same - that magic ultimately isn't what matters in life and that happiness and respect are found through work and acceptance of moral responsibilities, not luck or daydreaming.
Might also be Kildee House by Rutherford Montgomery.  The tree forms the back of a man's house in the woods.  He actually has families of animals living with him.
Kildee House by Rutherford Montgomery, Doubleday 1950 sounds the most likely, "When old Jerome Kildee went to live in his redwood grove, he meant to be a hermit. His odd little dwelling, backed by a giant tree, was set in the midst of his hundred California acres ... a big raccoon thought he owned the tree, and presently a pair of skunks set up housekeeping under the floor ... Emma Lou discovered it and then came Donald Roger ..."

Janet Gillespie, A kind of Summer Love, 1971.  Abridged from A Joyful Noise The family has an old Dodge called 'The Artful Dodger', and in the first chapter the author reminisces about loading (or overloading) the
car. Her father is a chaplain at Princeton, her grandmother teaches her botany, and her cousin Tink is developmentally disabled. I think that this is the book!
Oops! Tink is her grandmother's son.
Janet Gillespie, A Kind of Summer Love, 1971. Abridged from A Joyful Noise. I sent this in once before, I'm certain that this is the book as I've since reread it. All the details match.

Yes.  King and the Princess by Jack O'Brien, illustrated by Robert Doremus.  Whitman, 1938, 1949.  A Cozy Corner Book.  Look, I even have a copy!

Interpreting Condition  Grades

O'Brien, Jack.  King and the Princess. Illustrated by Robert Doremus.  Whitman, 1938, 1949.  A Cozy Corner Book. Spine paper tattered and corners worn, otherwise VG-.  <SOLD>

Not 100% sure, but take a look at THE KING WITH SIX FRIENDS by Jay Williams, 1968.
The previous suggestion was exactly right.  I have a copy of The King with  Six Friends by Jay Williams, illustrated by Imero Gobbato.  This copy is  parents' magazine press, 1968.  It's about a good king who loses his kingdom, so he's "out of work" and goes to find a kingdom looking for a  king.  He comes across an axe, an elephant, a fire, a snake, a tree, and a  swarm of bees, all of which turn out to be men.
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This will probably be impossible to find but in elementary school in the early 1970s I read a children's book about a young boy on a quest.  Along the way he encountered a number of strange individuals who were misfits and outcasts.  Among their number was a chubby man that could transform into a swarm of bees, a red-haired man that could turn into living flame, a darkly elegant man who could morph into a large serpent and a tall gentleman who could become an enormous tree.  Through the boy's courage and encouragement they overcame their insecurities and helped the boy in his quest.  But of course I do not recall the title, author, publisher, or illustrator.  And it's driving me crazy!  Any help or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Jay Williams, King with Six Friends, 1968.  Illustrated by Imero Gobbato - I loved this one, too, and my copy is somewhere in storage, but you can visit Eric's books read page.
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I recall this book from the early seventies.  It was a variation on the five Chinese brothers story, but set in 19th century Europe, with colorful, painterly illustrations.  Five men were enlisted to traverse a mountain pass, a river, etc, and each of them turned out along the way to have a special skill...the man with bright red hair could turn into fire, the man with a large George Washington-like nose could turn into an axe to cut wood.  I seem to recall one man in blue who could turn to ice and/or water.  That's about all I remember.  Any ideas?

Jay Williams, The King with Six Friends, 1968.  This was a Parents Magazine Press book, one of a series you could order by mail.  King Zar loses his kingdom, meets six strange men who can turn into things like fire and axes, and then has to face three tests to win a princess.
Jay Williams, The King With Six Friends,1968.  This sounds like The King With Six Friends to me.  I am sitting here looking at the book in front of me and one friend does turn into a fire, another into an ax.  It is about King Zar, the king with no kingdom going on a "quest" to find one...he is kind to the odd people he meets along the way, and they end up helping him in the end.
The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship.  Maybe?
Jay Williams, The King With Six Friends.  I'm not sure that this is the title you are looking for, but it sounds like what you are describing.  I am a retired elementary schl librarian and had this in my former library.  If more info is needed, I could try contacting that source.

Your memory is right on.  Here it is:

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Farjeon, Eleanor and Herbert. Kings and Queens.  Illustrated with 38 coloured plates by Rosalind Thornycroft.  London: Victor Gollancz.  NY: E.P. Dutton, 1932.  This early American edition goes up to King George V.  Wonderful color plates.  Inscription on front free endpaper.  Dust jacket torn at top edge and missing a couple chunks from bottom edge, now secure in a plastic dj protector.  VG/P.  $48

Benjamin Elkin, The King's Wish and Other Stories, 1960, approximate.
K39: I love this one, it's so clever for its age level. Benjamin Elkin, Illustrated by Leonard Shortall. The King's Wish and Other Stories. Beginner Books, 1960. 

Nina. with illustrator Feodor Rojankovsky, The Kittens Surprise, 1950s.  A Little Golden Book  later reprinted as The Little Lost Kitten. May possibly be the one.
Little Lost Kitten, 1950 - 1962.  I have a Whitman Tiny Tales book entitled Little Lost Kitten.  It's a 3"x 4" cardboard book with no author or copyright information.  The number 2952 is printed above the price tag (5 cents) on the upper right hand corner of the cover.   I was born in 1961, and have had this book as long as I can remember, it may have even belonged to my mother or aunt.   Brother and sister twins, Pat and Prue, go to Grandma Winkies house for a visit. Prue does find the kitten hiding under the sofa. However, Prue is blonde  the kitten is a tabby  and the sofa is blue with pink throw pillows.
Nina    The kitten's surprise    Feodor Rojankovsky    Little Golden Book, 1951
"Nina", The Kittens Surprise.  Little Golden Book, illustrated by Feodor Rojankovsy, first published in 1951. Later re-published as The Little Lost Kitten. Not sure it's the one, but seems likely.

Are K7 and K5 the same book?
#K7--Kittens, dirty:  In one of these stories, the mother cat holds the protesting kitten down by the ear to clean it.  Anyone recognize this?
Louise P. Woodcock, ill by Adele Werber and Doris Laslo, The Kittens Who Hid From Their Mother, 1950.  I have a copy if the searching party is interested...

Hello! I am answering my own question! About a month ago I sent you a "stump the bookseller" question about a group of children who have time-travelling adventures involving, among others, Ivanhoe, and the herb Thyme. Thanks to a lucky break on eBay, I have discovered the book. It is Knight's Castle by Edward Eager, and he wrote 6 more books all on the same theme. I now have a list of all the titles. In the meantime could you search for any of his books for me? 

Well, if the memories are a bit garbled and it's Parents' Magazine instead of Weekly Reader, it could be: Devlin, Wende and Harry THE KNOBBY BOYS TO THE RESCUE Parent's Magazine Press, 1965, 38 Pages. "Bright full page colorful illustrations highlight this book about Raccon, Fox and Crow [so self deemed as the Knobby Boys 'cause they liked the name] who meet Baby Brown Bear [complete with baby bonnet] who has no mother. Mom was captured by the gypsies. How the Knobby Boys save the bear for a happy ending makes for great reading."
Knobby Boys to the Rescue:   I think is the book they are looking for.
See the Devlin Tribute page for more on these famous authors.

I believe these books are indeed published by Ladybird.  Small books, mostly common domain stories, with a ladybug on the cover of each.  I do get them from time to time, and will let you know when I have some in stock.
Ladybird published a great number of different series in the same format of small hardcover books. The fairytale series referred to was called Well-Loved Tales, and was graded by reading difficulty into grades 1, 2 and 3. Grade 1 included The Elves and the Shoemaker, The Three Little Pigs, The Gingerbread Boy, Chicken Licken, The Enormous Turnip, The Big Pancake, etc. Grade 2 included Sleeping Beauty, Puss in Boots, Rumpelstiltskin, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood, Pinocchio, etc. Grade 3 included Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Snow White and Rose Red, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Princess and the Frog, etc. The two remembered are from the Grade 3 level.

About two months ago, I sent in a stumper about a family who sailed around the world in a Chinese junk - my friend couldn't remember much else about the books, just that they were a series. Well, I have since discovered that the books were written by Janet Lambert and are about the Campbell family. So, if anyone else ever asks you that question, here's the answer! Meanwhile, we have found some of the books, and I think my friend wants to just search out the rest on her own. Thanks!
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I am looking for a young adult's book (maybe geared to about 5th grade?), probably part of a series, that was set on the East Coast (New York?) on an army (or other) base in the 1930s or 1940s.  It described the lives of he girls in a military family who lived on base.  One girl's name was Carol and she ended up marrying David, either in that book or a follow-up (if it is a series).  I remember descriptions of bicycling in pedal pushers, making fudge, going for bridemaid dress fittings, etc.  (definitely a girl's book!).  I read this in the 1960s.

Janet Lambert, Introducing Parri, Star-Spangled Summer, Wedding Bells, The Stars Hang High, c.1962.
These books are about the Parrish family and were written by Janet Lambert  the details you mention are correct.  They took place in New York and had a lot to do with West Point.  I've read most of them and they were all wonderful.  Still have my copy of Introducing Parri, "...the 14-year-old daughter of famous actress Penny Parrish. Her trip into New York for a 'sensible' coat ended with a tryout for a Broadway play...and began a whole new life of fun and dating!"

I have a copy of this story The Lambkin in a big red book, The Classic Volland Edition GREAT CHILDREN'S STORIES, illustrated by Frederick Richardson and published by Rand McNally. It is not a small book, instead it has 17 traditional tales.
L2: This story appears in a skinny British paperback collection of  stories called Rom Pom Pom that I have at home. Will send more details when I have access to the book.
Hi . . . I just wanted to write and say that I had a book as a child called Lambykins.  It was a Tell-a-Tale book, and the story was as the person that wrote the e-mail described. (The lamb fooled everyone and rolled away in a drum).  Hope this helps.
I am looking for a children's book (like a Golden Book , but not one of theirs) which is called The Lambkin or The Little Lambkin. It was one of my favorites, and now that I am expecting a baby I would like to include it in his "library." Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!! 

Albert J. Harris & May Knight Clark, Lands of Pleasure, 1965.  This was my first grade reader, too, and I have a copy of it. The exact story of naming Zipper the cocker spaniel is in here. The twin boys are named Jim and Jack Jones.

L3  I'm pretty sure you're thinking of Sally Watson, who wrote Lark in 1964 and wrote several other books in the 50s, 60s and 70s.  Some other titles include Jade and Linnet, Watson's books feature young girls in different adventures and are set in various times and countries. 

There's something called The Last Out by Jerry Taylor, but that's certainly not it!
Wilfred McCormick, The last put-out : a Bronc Burnett story, 1960.  Possibly?  I'm not familiar with this series, but this is a kid's fiction book about baseball.
How about The Last Put-Out: A Bronc Burnett Story, Wilfred McCormick, Grosset & Dunlap, 1960.  Sorry, no description other than the subjects Baseball and Juvenile fiction.

I solved my own stumper - H13's Humpty Dumpty story is actually called Lauraby Binette Schroeder.  I happened to be in the Strand Bookstore in NYC and I was so shocked when I saw it!

There is an old English fairy tale with this plot called Lazy Jack that I have read in several different versions but it is usually a princess that doesn't smile.  In the version I have in front of me Jack loses his penny and his mother scolds him and says he should have carried in his pocket.  The next day he gets a jar of milk and puts it in his pocket, so his mother said he should have carried it on his head and next he gets cheese and puts it on his head and so on and so on until he ends up carrying a donkey on his shoulders and the princess laughs and Jack marries her.  I also have read a version where several people and animals are all stuck together and travel in front of the castle causing the unhappy person (princess?) to laugh.
Another possibility is The Frowning Prince, by Crockett Johnson, published by Harper 1959 The prince's frown has the power to break glass and wilt plants. "What happens when a prince with an immovable frown meets a princess with an irresistable smile. Ages 4-8." (Horn Book Apr/59 p.92 pub ad) This does at least have a prince who doesn't smile, rather than a princess. In the usual form of the Lazy Jack story, the (marriageable age) princess smiles because she sees a ridiculous sight, while the (very young?) prince in the questioner's story smiles perhaps because he is given a golden toy instead of golden treasures that he can't play with.
Lazy Jack: I think this may be - The King Who Learned to Smile, by Seymour Reit, illustrated by Gordon Laite, a Golden Book Beginning Reader, published Western 1960. "approximately a 2nd grade level, the story of a young king who had gold everything, but who wasn't very happy. This story tells what made him happy enough to finally smile." "A young king named Harold has all the gold objects you can imagine - shells and bells, skates and plates, even a gold toothbrush. But Harold is still unhappy." The cover shows the young king lying on the grass with animals around him, smiling at one who is wearing his golden crown.

It's way too simple to think this might be Ray Bradbury's short story "The Veldt," right?
Could H11 by Lazy Tommy Pumkinhead by William Pene du Bois a picture book in which machines do everything for the boy including getting dressed.
Most likely "Lazy Tommy Pumpkinhead" by Willem Pene du Bois. Very funny. This was supposed to have been part of a "Seven Deadly Sins" series, another being "Call Me Bandicoot" (about avarice) but the series was never completed.
Thank you very much.  Your stumper answer sounds right!  Now I want to get the book.  I looked for it at amazon.com. holy cow, the lowest price was $180 used !!!  Unfortunately, my upper limit is around $30.  if you see the book cheaper (but in decent condition), please let me know. Thanks.
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story about a boy who lives in a mechanical house that pours him out of bed and into the shower machine, dressing machine, he's got mechanisms for making breakfast etc.

L28: Same as B79 - Lazy Tommy Pumpkinhead by William Pene du Bois. Part of a Seven Deadly Sins series. This is the best, IMHO, of the four actually written - the second best is Call Me Bandicoot.
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Help! I am looking for a children's book that I read as a child (late 60's early 70"s) about a little boy who doesn't like to do things so he invents machines that will do the tasks for him (i.e. brush his teeth, etc). At first the machines work fine but then start to malfunction, i.e. brush his toes instead of his teeth. Have you heard of it? I would love to get it for my son. Thanks so much.

Lazy Tommy Pumpkinhead (1966) by William Pene du Bois, I believe. Very funny. Check it out in the Solved Mysteries page. The only other books in that series I heard of were Pretty Pretty Peggy Moffitt (1968),
Porko von Popbutton (1969), and Call Me Bandicoot (1970).
#L28--Lazy boy:  Several stories contain these elements.  The introduction to William Pene du Bois'sThe Twenty-One Balloons notes its similarities to F. Scott Fitzgerald's story "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz."  I started to read the Fitzgerald story, but it's not nearly as good as "The Twenty-One Balloons."  In "The Twenty-One Balloons," these magical devices are the work of industrious Americans rich on a huge diamond supply, while in "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz" the diamond discoverers rely on slave labor.  When I got to the part about how the whole scheme wouldn't have worked except that the slaves placed absolute trust and complete belief in their masters, *poof,* that was it for my suspension of disbelief!  William Pene du Bois said some of the similarities were obvious but he couldn't account for how he and F. Scott Fitzgerald would choose to spend their money in identical ways!  The other story that has some of these elements is "The Veldt," the most famous of a number of stories Ray Bradbury wrote on the theme of what did not then exist but are now known as "smart houses."  In "The Veldt," Peter, the boy, complains to his father, "I didn't like it when you took out the picture painter."  "I want you to learn to paint your own pictures," father replies.  At last father disconnects one too many "lazy" devices and plans to take the children off to "rough it," which the children put to an end through rather violent means.  (If what you read was this--or any other Bradbury story--you'd probably never forget the ending.)  His other famous "smart house" story, "There Will Come Soft Rains," involves no people, but rather a "smart" house which goes on working even though all its occupants have been killed in a nuclear holocaust.
L28 Lazy Tommy Pumpkinhead -more info. appears on your Solved Mysteries page ~from a librarian
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I loved this story! It was about a lazy boy who didn't want to do anything for himself (either that, or he was an inventor boy). He made this contraption that did everything for him (got him out of bed, got him dressed, made him toast & eggs, etc.). I believe that the contraption may backfire in the end of the story. I think it's a picturebook. Definitely from the mid-seventies. Thanks!
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Seeking a child's book about a lazy boy who is fed and dressed by machines - machines break during a storm

Lazy Tommy Pumpkinhead (1966) by William Pene du Bois.   See more on Solved Mysteries.

This is William Wise, The Lazy Young Duke of Dundee (Rand McNally, '70), ill. Barbara Cooney.
I'm happy to offer a copy of The Lazy Duke of Dundee:
Wise, William.  The Lazy Young Duke of Dundee.  Illustrated by Barbara Cooney.  Rand McNally, 1970, 1st printing.  Some light soiling and edgewear, VG.  <SOLD>