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Well now!  I remember Logan's Run....but I've never run into a comic strip character with my name, so please educate me!
Logan is the real name of X-Man Wolverine in Marvel comics.  And they've been going for many years so it would fit the date......

Barbara Brenner, A Year in the Life of Rosie Bernard.  I love this book!  Rosie goes to live with her extended family in New York while her father pursues his stage career - she is taken up with a number of projects, including a Mind/Body book, choosing a religion, etc. Her father marries an actress and Rosie has a difficult time acacepting her.
Barbara Brenner, A Year in the Life of Rose Bernard, 1971.  This book is definitely A Year in the Life of Rosie Bernard by Barbara Brenner.  The religious dilemma is there as described.  Rosie's father is an actor, and at the end of the book, Rosie is reconciled to the idea of leaving her relatives to go live with her father and his new wife.
Are You There God, It's Me Margaret by Judy Blume does sound slightly like this.  Perhaps some details may have become confused?
Thank you so much, solvers!! A Year In the Life of Rosie Bernard is definitely it.  I'm so looking forward to reading it.

Rita Ritchie, The Year of the Horse,1957.  Novel about the nomads of Mongolia. 

Now that I've thought about it, I believe it was set in CANADA, not England, because I remember something about the girl and her brothers going to a flea market in Kitchener, which I believe is in Ontario.  I don't know if this helps or not.  I think it must have come out in the 80's, maybe late 70's, and I had both books, in paperback, sometime between 1979 and 1984.

H39 horse called horse: let's try The Year of the Horse, by Diana Walker, published Abelard 1975, 179 pages. "Suddenly transferred to Grandmother Tate's farm in Ontario while her peripatetic parents are completing a reserach project in Mexico, 15 year old Joanna Longfellow considers the latest interruption in her life a particularly unfortunate development. Her initial exercise in self-pity is short-lived, however, when John Holmes, the handsome son of well-to-do neighbors, rides into her life on one of his family's prize-winning horses. Overnight, Joanna envisions herself as an equestrienne fatale. Capitalizing on the sudden interest, her younger brothers inveigle her into helping them care for the horse of a hospitalized neighbor. It is through Horse - and the hilarious but succesful schemes of her brothers - that she finally gains the opportunity to become part of the 'horsey set.'" (HB Apr/76 p.160)
Move this one to the "Solved Mysteries" page!  I was just sitting down tonight to tell you I had remembered that the girl's name was Joanna, only to find you'd already solved it for me.  Thank you so much, Harriett!

Any chance this is Go Ask Alice?
Could this be I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith? The main character is an older teenager, but it's written like a diary.
Donna Balcombe,The Year of Janie's Diary, 1965. I was researching this book and fell across this entry. This book is so well read, and indeed, so well liked that the girls who read the book wrote their comments on the back endpapers! (It is an ex-library book.)

Floethe, Louise Lee , A Year to Remember, 1957.  I don't remember a gondala scene, but this book, about an American girl named Elise who goes to a a very strict, almost convent-like, French boarding school sounds like it might be the one.  I think the boy she develops a romance with was named Jim.  I seem to recall that they manage to meet illicitly in the lobby of a hotel during a ski trip.  Elise writes a poem called something like "love came in the snow" and enters it in a contest (?), but it doesn't win, because it suffered from being translated into French.  Another plot strand involves helping a friend deal with her divorced father's remarriage.
A Year to Remember by Louise Lee Floethe is the correct book. Thank you very much to whoever solved the stumper so quickly.

This reminds me of the children's Christmas special The Year Without a Santa Claus, which has the same basic plot and is done in rhyme. A quick search at Amazon showed a book entitled Year Without Santa Claus by Phyllis McGinley. There's also a cassette version which looks like it was read by Carol Channing.
The Christmas special was indeed inspired by McGinley's poem.
Yes, that's it. Pretty well-written verse.

I, too, remember the "yellow cat with purple ears!!!"  --the phrase recurs throughout the book, and as I remember causes much amazement.
I have the book C6 is refering to. It is the Yellow Cat by Betty Ren Wright. It is a Tell-A-Tale book and a Fuzzy Wuzzy Book Copyright, MCMLII, by Whitman Publishing Company, Racine, Wisconsin. The cat on the cover was flocked and throughout the book.  The flocking has worn off on my copy. I loved this book when I was about 3. It includes this: "Is a yellow cat with purple ears, / A flouncy, pouncy kind of cat, / With pointed, purple ears. / But I'll never see that."  Hope this helps you out. Love your site.

YES!  Someone out there really has a copy of this book!!  That fact gives me hope that I too might find a copy to call my own.
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Some of the lines are: Jonathon Wonathon Higgins McGee and There's no such thing as a yellow cat

I found this query on another page, and thought it might be useful here, as it has a few more of the words:  "When I was little I had a children's book that was a poem about 'Jonathan Wonathan Higgins McGee.'  It said he 'jumped out of bed with a one, two, three.  Put on his...'(??)  Then said 'There's no such thing as a purple cat.  Yet there it sat at the foot of the bed, winking its eye and nodding its head.'
I hope I can help someone else out the way you both helped me.  While I was looking through your list again, I was delighted to come across Stumper U4:Unk.  I know this book well.  I loved it to pieces as a child and am currently holding the ragged remains in my lap.  The book is called The Yellow Cat, written by Betty Ren Wright and illustrated by Sari.  It is one of the "Fuzzy Wuzzy Series" of the "Tell-A-Tale Books," published in MCMLII (1952?) by Whitman Publishing Company.  I feel wondrously gratified that I was able to recognize this book on the same day you brought me such good news about my own book.  The system works!   Now, it occurs to me that if I'd been the one looking for The Yellow Cat, I'd want my brain to have closure on that unfinished poem that was quoted in the description.  So in case your inquirer wants the rest of the words to the book, here they are:  "The strangest thing that ever could be," / Said Jonathan Wonathan Higgens McGee, "Is a yellow cat with purple ears, /A flouncy, pouncy kind of cat, With pointed, purple ears.  /  But I'll never see that. NOT A YELLOW CAT!" Yet there she was by his bouncy bed, / Washing her paws and cocking her head, Drinking her tea from a silver cup, / Saying, "Jonathan Wonathan Higgens McGee, GET UP!"  Jonathan Wonathan Higgens McGee / Jumped out of bed in a one-two-three, Put on his coat and his tie and his spats, / "Said, "Theres no such thing as yellow cats." Jonathan Wonathan shook his head. / "Now the cat is gone and I'm glad," he said. "I'll never believe in a yellow cat." / Something wiggled under his hat. With claws / On its paws. Jonathan chased her around the room / With a cane and a map and a prickly broom, Till his wife said "Stop!" / And they all said "Stop!" We're pos-i-tive-ly certain that  THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS A YELLOW CAT!"(I know; I know -- too much information.  I'm just excited!)
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This children's book (read in the '60's) begins "The strangest thing I ever did see," said Jonathan Wonathan Higgins McGee, "is a yellow cat with purple ears.  A bouncy, flouncy kind of cat with (???) purple ears."  Later, the cat tells him to get out of bed, and he puts on a tall silk at and some spats, I think.  My fuzzy memory says this is a Little Golden Book, but my mother doesn't think so.  The whole thing is in verse.  I seem to remember a picture, maybe the cover, with a tree, some steps, the cat, and Higgins-McGee in his tall silk hat, but this is a very fuzzy memory and I may be making it up.  We would love to find this book for my children.  My mother thought it was in a collection of stories, but I think it was a complete book. Thanks for any help you can give!

Wright, Betty Ren.  Yellow Cat.Whitman Tell-A-Tale, 1952.   Already on Solved Mysteries.
Another point about "The Yellow Cat", which my sisters and I loved, too, when we were little.  The person who gave the text left out part of it.  I can't remember it all, but there was a middle section that said, "Jonathan Wonathan Higgins McGee was about to climb out of the apple tree when his children's shouts and his wife's dark glares reminded him to use the stairs".

I was born in 1951.  The book, The Yellow Cat, was given to me as a gift on either my first or second birthday.  Mom read it to me constantly until I was finally able to read it myself.  She put it away for me when I outgrew it, and when I was married I hunted through a ton of old boxes she had in her shed, until I found it.  I read it to each of my 3 children until they outgrew it.  It was read, by my daughter, to my first grandchild till she finally became too old for it, and it now sits on a bookshelf waiting patiently for further grandchildren to enjoy its pages.  I was not at all surprised to read that so many people remembered it so well.  I can barely remember my phone number, but I can still recite *The Yellow Cat* word for word.

Not quite the same details, but check out The Wild Orphan by Robert Froman. Very good. Also, it's illustrated by Mort Kunstler, whose other work includes MAD magazine.
Rutherford Montgomery, Yellow Eyes. Apparently has been reprinted and found it on Amazon.  Growing up, I LOVED this book about a young cougar who outsmarts the white hunter who killed his mother and fed his siblings to his dogs.  No anthropomorphizing or sentimentality, but wonderfully affecting.  Hope this is it!
Rutherford Montgomery, Yellow Eyes.  That is the book exactly! Thank you so much, I cannot tell you how often I've thought about this book. I thought I'd lost it forever.

ed. by Andrew Lang, The Yellow Fairy Book:  The Glass Mountain.  The Glass Mountain is one of about forty stories in The Yellow Fairy Book by Andrew Lang.  Other stories are The Tinder Box, The Hazel-nut Child, and The Iron Stove.  In looking this up, I noticed that he seems to have lots of different "fairy" books (blue, brown, crimson, lilac, olive, orange, red, violet, and yellow) with multiple fairy tales that probably solve a lot of the stumpers listed here.

Yellow Jacket : the story of a domestic cat / Russell Gordon Carter.  Ralph Carlyle Prather, illus.  1931 / Fiction : Juvenile audience 270 p. : ill.   Philadelphia : Penn
Carter, Russell Gordon, Illustrated by Ralph Carlyle Prather, YELLOW JACKET The Story of a Domestic Cat, 1931.  Ask your mother if this sounds right.
Cheers, Angelle YELLOW JACKET The Story of a Domestic Cat.   Philadelphia: The Penn Publishing Co. 1931 First Edition. Large 12mo. Red, hardcover buckram. No dj. Endpapers are delightful penciled drawings of a cat walking a fence at night.
additional info: there is a photo of the cover of Yellow Jacket at this website, run by Russell Gordon Carter's daughter. Scroll down to see it.

Jean Slaughter Doty, Yesterday's Horses, 1985.  This sounds like Yesterday's Horses by Jean Slaughter Doty
Jean Slaughter Doty, Yesterday's Horses, 1985.  I believe this is the book you are looking for. "While riding in the mountains, Kelly finds an orphaned foal that seems to belong to a breed of wild horses supposedly extinct for thousands of years and which holds the secret to a modern medical mystery."
Jean Slaughter Doty, Yesterday's Horses, 1985.  I don't know for sure, but try this one. Description: While riding in the mountains, Kelly finds an orphaned foal that seems to belong to a breed of wild horses supposedly extinct for thousands of years and which holds the secret to a modern medical mystery.

Vercors (true name Jean Bruller), You Shall Know Them, 1953.  A group of primitive hominids is found in New Guinea, and the question arises as to what rights, if any, they have. For example, is there any reason why they should not be used as
slave labor, as an Australian businessman plans to do? When a hybrid human-tropi baby is born and the father kills it, the case goes to court, and the jurors must decide whether the baby was human or not."
Jean Buller aka VerCours (Vercors), You Shall Know Them, 1953.  Translated from the French, originally titled "Les Animaux Dénaturés".  "Book addresses the age-old question "what is man", in this sophisticated novel for moderns, the author turns from realism to the tradition of Voltaire, Anatole France and George Orwell. A science fiction novel concerning the discovery of a new species of primates with very human- like characteristics. One of the creatures is killed and a murder trial ensues in which the prosecution is compelled to define 'human being' with scientific precision in order to win the case."
Vercors, You Shall Know Them, 1953.  I found this summary: "Not far off, Derry, the strange creature who mothered the 'son' that Douglas killed, is quartered happily in London Zoo. Not science nor philosophy, not Parliament nor clergy, can decide if she is manlike ape of apelike man.

#R37--Rocket to the Moon:  You Will Go to the Moon, by Mae and Ira Freeman, illustrated by Robert Patterson.  New York:  Beginner Books, 1959.  (From the same set as the Dr. Seuss Books, with the Cat in the Hat on the cover.)
Possibly YOU WILL GO TO THE MOON, by Mae and Ira Freeman. a Random House Beginner Book, 1959

Isn't this You were princess last time by Laura Fisher?
I'm almost positive you're right with You Were Princess Last Time!  I remember the word 'princess' being in the title -- and the last name 'Fisher' is a match.  Can't wait to find a copy after all these years -- thanks so much!!

C198 du Jardin, Rosamond. Young and fair.  Lippincott, 1963. Chicago, Illinois - 1880¹s - juvenile fiction, department stores

Bamman, Henry A & Whitehead, Robert J., Bush Pilot.  Possibly part of the Top Flight Readers series?
B151 Here is another possiblity just forwarded to me by an Oregon smokejumper who has bot a lot of bks from me.  These may be what that fellow was seeking.  Young bush pilot ... Jack Hambleton.  Toronto: Longmans, Green and Co., 1949.
Hambleton, Jack , Young Bush Pilot, illustrated by Thoreau Macdonald, 200 pages. Toronto Longmans 1949.  More on the suggested: "A true story of the forest fire at Chapleau, Ont. The main characters are actual people, Big Jim Holden is the only character who is fictional." Hambleton also wrote Charter Pilot, published Longmans 1952, "the final Bill Hanson story, a story of flying in Northern Ontario", Wolverine, Longmans 1954 "a Bill Hanson story" and Wings Over Labrador, Longmans 1957, "This story is based on the actual development of Labrador's famous iron deposits and a pilot whose job it was to run the largest civilian airlift to build a railroad to bring the iron to the docks for export. The exploits of the pilot are harrowing."
Thank you for your help in solving my stumper!  The book I was looking for was Young Bush Pilot by Jack Hambleton and I was able to track down a copy in very good condition.  Thank you again and keep up the good work!!

Just noticed the new entry K72, I think this is one of the same books. It remember the name Paul, but it was definately about a group not just one main character. The 1950's sounds about right for a publishing date......

Joseph Altsheler , Young Trailers series, 1907.  This series includes The Young Trailers,  The Forest Runners, the Keepers of the Trail,  the Eyes of the Woods, etc. The characters include Henry Ware and his friend Paul (the scholar).
Joseph Altsheler, The Young Trailers series, 1907.  I think it could be these.  The series has 8 titles: The Young Trailers, The Forest Runners, The Keepers of the Trail, The Eyes of the Woods, The Free Rangers, The Rifleman of the Ohio, The Scouts of the Valley, and The Border Watch.
f191 and k72 (the same series).....one other characters name was Sol.... of the group there was Jim, Paul, Sol, and ??? (the leader)
Altsheler, Joseph, Young Trailers series, 1907.  Yes! That is the series! Thank you all, good work. I loved these books as a kid, remember being kind of bummed out when I finished the the last one and there weren't any more..... Looking forward to reading them again. Funny that after all these years of searching for "Eyes of the Forest" it never occurred to me to try "Eyes of the Woods"!
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The Young Trailers series
GROUP OF 4-5 YOUNG MEN IN EARLY AMERICAN EAST, KENTUCKY, WHO HELPED EARLY SETTLERS, JIM HART = ? 1, ONE WAS SCHOLAR =? PAUL, LEADER WAS VERY ATHLETIC, RAN THROUGH WOODS LIKE WIND, IN LIBRARY 1954

I think this is one of the same books as the stumper I just submitted, F191.
Joseph Altsheler, The Young Trailers series, 1907.  See F191.  I think it could be the same.
f191 and k72 (the same series).....one other characters name was Sol.... of the group there was Jim, Paul, Sol, and ??? (the leader)

Could this be Swords from the North by Henry Treece (publ 1967)?  Failing that, Treece did write several other Viking novels for children in the 1950s/60s so he may be an author worth investigating.
Sorry, that's not the one. The one I'm thinking of is most likely well under a hundred pages, is simple
enough to be read to a first grader, has many black and white drawings, and largish print. Thanks anyway.
Actually, this one sounds more like Beorn the Proud by Madeleine Polland, illustrated by William Stobbs, published by Constable in 1961, 175 pages. "Beorn is the son of a Viking warrior, and when his father raids the coast of Ireland, he saves Ness, the daughter of a slain Irish chieftain ... many vicissitudes to face both on the return journey by sea and in their own homeland, where Beorn's right to his father's inheritance is disputed by his cousin Helge." (Junior Bookshelf review Nov/61 p.286) There's also an illus from the book shown on page 324, showing a young person being thrown into the sea from a ship with a carved dragon-tail on the stern.
I checked Polland's book and that doesn't seem to be the right story either - besides, her writing level is a good deal higher than what I'm thinking of. Let's try again...
V10 viking boy: two possibles published by Scholastic - Viking Adventure, by Clyde Robert Bulla, illustrated by Douglas Gorsline, 117 pages, first published by Crowell/Weekly Reader 1963, Scholastic 1972 "Sigurd lived in Norway at the time of the ancient Vikings. A Viking boy was expected to be prepared for an adventuresome and rugged life, so Sigurd's father, Olaf the Strong, taught him to be stalwart and courageous. The lessons were hard, but Sigurd practiced well." Then there's Young Viking, written and illustrated by Jack Coggins, published TAB Scholastic 1959 and Scholastic 1973, 63 pages, which makes it the right publisher and size, but I couldn't find a plot description.
Young Viking written and illustrated by Jack Coggins - yes, that's it! It takes place in 994 and they sail all the way to Istanbul, or Mikligarde in Norse. They raid a town in Gibraltar for food and capture Muslims whom they exchange as slaves for more food in Sardinia. Fascinating story.

The book being looked for in item A8 sounds likeYoung Years: Best Loved Stories and Poems for Little Children.  I still have my copy from childhood and not long ago, purchased a second copy on e-Bay.
Yes, this sounds like it!!!  I am so excited!!!! Now, how do I get a copy of it?
I think I forgot to say THANK YOU in my earlier reply.  I was so excited to have the title of the book, and hope you can find me a copy soon!
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Book from Parents Magazine Press. Read Aloud Club. 1960, 61, 62 or 63. Free book was part of a package of 24 books sent over a two year time frame. This book had many stories; Mrs. Gooses hatbox cake - Cheese, peas, & chocolate pudding, The little train that could, etc.

Baker, Augusta (ed.), Young Years:  Best Loved Stories and Poems for Little Children.  I found several Parents Magazine Press collections listed, but crossed most of them out because they had the wrong stories in them.  This one doesn't have a full description, but it's one of the only ones left on the list.
Nope, it's not Young Years.  I've got a copy in front of me and neither of those stories are in it.
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I am trying to find a book from childhood. It has beige linen cover, title must have been obscured (cause I have a great memory) also title page & author was missing. Had to be 300 pages, small print, lots of illus. some color. The first section was mother goose nursery rhymes, then stories, Snow white, Cinderella, Brer Rabbit, Mr. Vinegar man, Aesops fables, It had sections of different stories. Hundreds of stories, Grimms, Anderson. I am nuts to find it. It was a heavy book, illus were beautiful. The largest collection of varied stories I had ever seen. Please help!!! Ps, I was born in 1953 and was an early reader (3-4 years old) and the book was old when I was a child!! Thanks so much for your wonderful site!!

Young Years, Best Loved Stories and Poems for Little Children.  At this time, I'm thinking this may just be the book A75 seeks.  Copyright is "MCMLX"--is that 1945? [no, that's 1960.] Contents:  Nursery Rhymes, Nursery Stories (including The Three Billy Goats Gruff, Tale of Peter Rabbit), Fables (there  are 20), Fairy Tales (including Snow White, Cinderella, The Wonderful Tar Baby Story--Brer Rabbit), Poetry (including Wynken, Blynken and Nod).  I'm not familiar with Mr. Vinegar Man but he could very well be in this 511 page anthology published by Parents' Magazine Press.  In fact, this could be the book described in several of the anthology requests.  I jumped out on eBay to see whether the book is on auction right now but it was not.  I would be glad to look up anything in the book or describe it further if any of your anthology seekers want to ask me any  questions about the book.  Feel free to pass on my e-mail address.  My book is definitely not for sale but I would love to answer questions for anyone who thinks this might just be THE BOOK.
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HB, Think it was yellow with illustrations cover? full of nursery rhymes and stories toward the back.  Published before 1970. Color illustrations of Goldilocks. Seems to me full page picture of snow white dead, with dwarves around her, possibly in a glass, above groud coffin. Rhymes i remember Jack be nimble, rock a bye baby, peter peter pumkin eater.  Please give me a few possililities  I loved this book as a child.

Definitey one of those Disney collections.  I had this one.
Pauline Rush Evans (ed), Family Treasury of Children's Stories.  The colour of the book you describe doesn't match our set (ours are gray with small coloured illustrations on the covers), but I think this still could be Volume 1 of the three-volume Family Treasury of Children's Stories, ed. by Pauline Rush Evans.  Unfortunately I have only the other two volumes, so can't check the Snow White picture, but it sounds very familiar--Im pretty sure there was a colour plate of Snow White in the glass coffin.  I know Vol. 1 is the one that had all the nursery rhymes too, which would fit your description.  But there are probably quite a few other possibilities too.
The memory of the picture of the dwarves around Snow White in a glass above ground coffin sounds like it comes from Disney's Snow White story book.  You might be confusing two books here.
Hilda Boswell, Hilda Boswell's omnibus: a treasury of favourites.  Hilda Boswell illustrated beautiful books of fairytales and nursery rhymes.  The omnibus is an anthology of four books: the fairy tales (including Goldilocks and Snow White with an illustration of the glass coffin displayed on a hill); the nursery rhymes; RL Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses and a set of stories including an extract from the Water Babies and a snow maiden story.
Augusta Baker, Young Years best loved stories and poems for little children, 1960 reprint.  I fianally found it wonderful book thank you all for your input.  I am so happy to be able to share this book with my son.

I know this one is on the Solved Mysteries page somewhere...  oh, dilemnas, do I stop and search now, or keep posting this pile of stumpers and give one of you Stumper Magicians an easy one to solve?
Cassedy Sylvia, Behind the Attic Wall.  1994. Does this sound familiar? An unloved orphan's ancestors have been turned into dolls that live in a secret room. "But from behind the closet door in the great and gloomy house, Maggie hears the faint whisperings, the beckoning voices. And in the forbidding house of her ancestors, Maggie finds magic...the kind that lets her, for the first time, love and be loved"
Sylvia Cassedy, Behind the Attic Wall, 1983.  This might be "Behind the Attic Wall" by Sylvia Cassedy.  "After having been kicked out of many boarding schools, 12-year-old Maggie goes to live with her great-aunts in a huge stone house. There, from behind the closet door, Maggie hears voices & finds magic."  Does involve dolls and a hidden room.
I don't think it could be Behind the Attic Wall, since that wasn't published till 1983, and the book being sought was read in the 1950's.
Zilpha Keatley Snyder, The Velvet Room, 1965.  The Velvet Room is about a young girl from a migratory farm family who finds a hidden reading room with velvet lined drapes and cushions in an old abandoned mansion.  I believe the story may be set during the dust bowl era of the 1930's.  Her family are something like "okies" and she is embarrassed that they travel around with all of their possessions in a broken down model T (I think that's what it was.)  I can't remember the girl's name but she seemed to be about 12 and just wanted to get away from her family and from having to constantly work, so she slips away to this velvet room to read.  There is some sort of mystery surrounding this room too, which is resolved by the end of the story and I think she and/or her whole family get to stay on at the ranch where they were working once the mystery is solved.  She also befriends the beautiful, rich girl whose family owns the ranch.  I remember horses but I don't remember a doll.  This was also written in the wrong decade, but I thought I'd give it a shot anyway.
Erwin, Betty, Go to the Room of the Eyes, 1969.  Just a possibility- the date is later than the person mentioned.
#H60, Hidden Room Mystery, is definitely NOT The Velvet Room.  It could be The Wonderful Fashion Doll, by Laura Bannon, Houghton Mifflin, 1953.  This is either in Solved Mysteries, or was suggested as a solution for another stumper, so should appear somewhere among the pages.
Elizabeth Honness, Mystery of the Square Tower, 1957.  As I remember, some of the items fit.
Could this be the first of the Mandie series, titled Mandie and the Secret Tunnel, by Lois Gladys Leppard? Mandie fins a tunnel leading to a secret room in her grandfathers house.
Lattimore, Eleanor Frances, The Youngest Artist, 1959.  "The Youngest Artist" was the first novel (compared to an easy book) I ever borrowed from the library (I was in first grade) and it obviously left an impression on me since I've remembered it for so long.  This sounds like the book you were asking about.  It concerns a little girl in Charleston who lives in an older run-down house and discovers that there is a secret staircase in it.  The family then decides to open the house to tourists and have candlelight tours down the stairs.  The girl also paints a picture of her doll, and her father puts it in the window of his art shop.

This is probably The Youngest Omnibus edited by Rosalind Vallance; I can get you a copy...
I can't believe you found it after all these years. My mother-in-law thinks it was bought around 1941! She remembers the book as having a blue cover but the only story she can remember is about an orange peel family? I'm sending a money order ASAP and keeping my fingers crossed. With many thanks

This is just a guess: Edith Heal's Teen-Age Manual (S&S, '48) seems to have been pretty popular, & she was an illustrator...I haven't seen the book, but it might be worth checking out.
Why Harriett!  You are amazing!  I thank you so much for your message.  I'll try to check it out and let you know if that is the book.  Could very well be it! More later and thanks so much for staying with this.
Another possible is Your Manners are Showing: the handbook of teen-age know-how illustrated by Betty Betz with verses by Anne Clark, published Grosset 1946, 95 pages, illustrated cover. "Many humorous colored
illustrations and bits of verse to inform the younger generation not to hold hands in public, greet guests 'en negligee', borrow money from friends ... It may be a little too breezy for the conservative parent but will surely appeal to the high school group ..."
More on Your Manners are Showing written & illustrated by Betty Betz, verses by Anne Clark, Grosset & Dunlap 1946 "Extremely Charming book! 7 1/4 & 8 1/2" and 95 pages. Hardcover book, dust jacket has identical graphic design as is printed on the book itself. Front has top 3" in greenish-blue where title is, below that are color line drawn picture of teenagers at a party w/balloons, streamers, punch bowl & table, these depictions are comic-like. This design wraps around spine to back, top says.. Your Manners are Showing is the bright & breezy low-down on dates, popularity, clothes, jobs, parents, smoking, money, table manners,parties & dozens of other vital teenage matters. Betty Betz has been featured in Seventeen Mag. etc."

James Marshall (author and illustrator), Yummers!, 1973.  Eugene the turtle takes Emily the pig for a walk to help her lose weight, but she stops at every concession stand and restaurant she sees and stuffs herself sick.  A hilarious look at how good intentions are thwarted by the inability to resist temptation.  Followed by a 1986 sequel, Yummers Too: The Second Course.
James Marshall, Yummers!  This is certainly the book.  There is also a sequel:  Yummers Too: The Second Course.
Thank you so much for your help in finding this book  I have already ordered it and look forward to reading it to my grandchildren

Joyce Stranger, Zara,1975? I don't have the book, but this is its description from another of her books: "Richard Proud coveted the golden-brown mare from the moment he saw her. Although he couldn't afford Zara, he bought her nevertheless, hoping she would breed him winners - foals that would restore the fortune of the Yorkshire stud where he bred and trained racehorses. Zara was born a winner: she had to be raced. Richard was determined that she should race  so - despite personal crises, caused by his reckless wife, by a snowstorm that isolated the stud only a few days before Zara was due to run, and by an accident to her jockey - he had to find a way to let Zara prove her ability."
Joyce Stranger, Zara.  I had this in paperback as a child in the 1970s and am sure it is the same book.  I think Zara was a racehorse and Richard spent more time with her than he did with his wife.

Virginia Hamilton, Zeely.  This sounds like it might be the book Zeely, by Virginia Hamilton.  Though I don't remember any vodoo taking place in the book, the rest of the details are on target.
Virginia Hamilton, Zeely.  This is almost definitely Zeely, by Virginia Hamilton.  The two children are living in the south and are convinced that the tall, black, regal woman next door is an african queen. still in print, I believe.
Hamilton, Virginia, Zeely.  Your description of the imagery reminds me of Zeely.
Virginia Hamilton , Zeely.  Worth a look!
Hamilton, Virginia, Zeely, c.1967.  Library catalog summary:  "Geeder's summer at her uncle's farm is made special
because of her friendship with a very tall, composed woman who raises hogs and who closely resembles the magazine photograph of a Watutsi queen." (The catalog doesn't mention it, but Geeder's brother is also part of the story.)
Hamilton, Virgina, Zeely, 1967.
K55 Hamilton, Virginia.  Zeely.    illus by Symeon Shimin    Scholastic,  1967.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Hamilton, Virginia.  Zeely.   Simon & Schuster, 1967.  New Hardback, $17.95  New paperback, $4.99

Frans & Joyce van Lamsweerde, Ziggy books. Ziggy and his music / Author: Lamsweerde, Frans van. Lamsweerde, Joyce van. Publication: Milwaukee : Ideals Pub. Co., 1968.  Bookseller description: "A story in verse told by Ziggy, an elfin little boy, who captures all the wonderful sounds of wind, trains, crickets, birds, wagons and others in a net, stores them in a box, and them stops and listens to them. " Ziggy, what animals say / Author: Lamsweerde, Frans van. Publication: Milwaukee : Ideals Pub. Co., 1968. Ziggy and his colors / Author: Lamsweerde, Frans van. Dolan, Mike. Publication: [Milwaukee] : Ideals Pub. Co., 1969
"Hello again, I'm Ziggy! And how are you today? Here's a magic color game That both of us can play. We're going on a color hunt! I'm anxious to begin. This bucket is a magic one To gather colors in."  Ziggy and his friends : music, animals, colors. Author: Lamsweerde, Joyce Van. Lamsweerde, Frans Van. Publication: Chicago : Childrens Press, 1980, ? Document: English : Book : Fiction : Juvenile audience ISBN: 089542939X, 0516092030  This one is a combination of all three books.

Edward Gorey (author), The Utter Zoo, (1967). The Ombledroom, the Posby, the Quingawaga, and the Raitch are but a few of the strangely engaging creatures that inhabit the world of Edward Gorey's Utter Zoo Alphabet. Taken from Gorey's book of the same title, these twenty-six dark, delightful drawings, one for each letter of the alphabet, lure you, as only Edward Gorey's work can, into an animal kingdom never before encountered in the ordinary world. 26 black-and-white reproductions."   -- does it sound like your alphabet book?  Also published in one of the Amphigorey anthologies .
in regards  to stumper w204.the answer someone posted is not my book.

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